My Godfather

Chapter XLVIII: Of Angst and Conflict

That night, neither of them slept.

The next morning, Sirius stopped outside Regulus' door and tried the handle.

It opened. Frowning, he went inside and found the room empty.

Where could his brother have gone? It was only six thirty and Regulus was never a morning person.

"Kreacher!" He wasn't quite sure if the house elf would come since Kreacher had always hated him. But it was worth a shot.

Luckily, the creature appeared immediately. "The blood-traitor Master summoned Kreacher?"

He didn't have the patience to chastise Kreacher. "I need you to find Regulus, Kreacher. I haven't seen him since last night."

"Master Regulus has already gone to work."

What?

Most days, Regulus had a hard time getting out of bed before six. Today he was already at work?

Sirius dismissed the house elf and quickly got ready for the day.

When he reached the Auror Department, he found his brother at his desk, going through a file.

"Reggie?"

Regulus looked up and Sirius was rather taken aback by the expression on Regulus' face. He hadn't seen that look on his little brother in nearly two decades.

It was that damn stoic mask which he'd worn all his childhood, shielding his emotions and thoughts from the rest of the world.

"I uh... you left early today. That's surprising considering that I have to haul your lazy arse out of bed almost every morning."

Normally, Regulus would have said something witty or sarcastic but his mask didn't slip.

"Yes well, I realized that there's a psycho bitch out there we need to catch and we're not going to accomplish that by sleeping in."

"Hmm."

Sirius didn't want to talk out here since other Aurors were also present near Reg's office. "Come into my office for a minute, will you?"

"I have wo—"

"It will only take a minute."

There was a mild flicker of annoyance on Regulus' face. "Fine."

Sirius closed the door once they were inside. "You had me worried last night."

"I'm fine, Sirius."

"Regu—"

"Sirius, I'm fine. Like I said, there's a maniac who needs to be put away so you will forgive me if I don't have the time nor the inclination to speak about my feelings."

Sirius didn't bristle at Regulus' surly attitude because he knew his little brother all too well. This was the exact same way Regulus behaved when he wanted to avoid something.

Dry and sarcastic to mask the pain. It was a tactic he himself had previously employed on numerous occasions.

"You need to go to Hogwarts this afternoon, you remember, right? Draco's weekly lesson?"

Regulus tensed immediately. "I'm afraid that's not possible. I already wrote to Draco, telling him that I won't be coming over to Hogwarts for a while. There's a lot of work to be done here, Sirius."

This wasn't about work. Any idiot would've figured that out.

"It's only three hours a week, Regulus. I'm sure you can spare that much time. I would go but there's a meeting this afternoon with the Wizengamot."