All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Fifth Year : The Week Before

Wednesday 21st April 1976

Regulus was following him again.

Sirius sighed as he turned the corner, gripping his school bag. It had started after Christmas, though he wasn’t sure exactly when—one day in late January he’d realised that his brother was tailing him on the way to Astronomy. He’d turned to confront him, but Reg had scurried away the moment he realised he’d been spotted.

After that, Sirius had begun to notice it more frequently. He’d be on his way to class, or sneaking off to rendezvous with Mary, or working with James on a prank, and he’d feel that prickling sensation on the back of his neck, like someone was watching him. He didn’t always catch his brother—Reg was very good at sneaking around—but he caught him often enough to know that it was always him.

It had gotten so bad that he’d even complained to Mary about it, one evening when they thought they were alone in an empty corridor only to hear the distinctive sound of scuffling footsteps around the corner.

“Bloody little creep!” Sirius had snarled, when he dashed over only to see a dark flash of robes disappearing down the stairwell.

“He’s been following you?” Mary asked, trotting over to stand next to him. Sirius nodded, and she leaned her head against his arm.

“My baby sister used to do that,” she sighed, wistfully, “The first year I left for Hogwarts. She was too little to understand why I was gone, so when I came home for the summer she followed me all around the house, scared I’d disappear again.”

Sirius frowned. “Regulus isn’t a baby.”

“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss you.” When she saw the look on his face, Mary had shrugged. “You miss him, too.”

Sirius stared at her. “You think he’s a hateful git.”

She laughed, but it was a sad sort of sound. “Yeah,” she agreed, “But I know what it’s like to miss your siblings.”

The words had stuck with him, burrowing. When he’d talked to James about it, the boy had agreed wholeheartedly that Regulus was being a spiteful little creep—he didn’t have a shred of sympathy left for any one of Sirius’s family members after what had happened over Christmas. This had vindicated Sirius’s own frustration with the situation, and made it easier to ignore the guilt struggling just beneath the surface of his anger.

But Mary’s words dislodged it. After that, he couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with Dumbledore on Christmas day—how the headmaster had said there wasn’t anything they could do to get Regulus out. Not unless he was in danger—or he wanted to leave. Every time Sirius noticed his brother trailing him in the halls, it was another painful reminder that he had abandoned Reg.

Again.

By the end of April, Sirius had had enough. He was on his way to the Astronomy tower to meet James for a prank involving the telescopes and a mild confunding charm, intended to rearrange the constellations anyone saw through the lenses so that they made slightly more...interesting pictures. But he couldn’t exactly work in peace if his kid brother was hiding just around the corner.

Sirius began a series of evasive manoeuvres on the seventh floor, walking briskly up and down corridors, making sharp turns and doubling back, ducking in and out of classrooms—hoping that Regulus would give up the chase and bugger off back to his dorm.