No Control // Wolfstar

Forty One

Sirius pounds on the concealed entrance to the Slytherin common room, his fists turning red. "REGULUS!" he bellows. Standing back, he pulls his wand out aiming it at the wall. "RE-"

"Sirius!" Regulus shouts. Sirius turns around, lowering his wand. "What the hell are you doing?"

Regulus backs up when Sirius marches towards him with menacing eyes. He holds his wand out in defense, but Sirius already has his wrist gripped tightly. "I'll give you one minute to tell me why you were there the night Lisa Ward was attacked."

"Fuck you!" Regulus sputters, wriggling his arm desperately.

Footsteps echo down the dungeon and Sirius growls. He drags Regulus behind him, heading up the staircase to somewhere more private.

"Let me go!" Regulus shouts, kicking at Sirius. It only causes Sirius' grip to get tighter. "Sirius!"

Sirius swings open a door, flinging Regulus in. He slams the door shut, pointing his wand at it and saying, "Colloportus."

"What the fuck Sirius?" Regulus exclaims rubbing his wrist. Sirius' fingermarks bruised the surface slightly, turning it a light shade of purple.

"You were there that night. You attacked Lisa Ward."

"I don't know what your'e talking about."

"I fucking saw you!" Enraged, Sirius kicks a chair over, "You nearly blew my fucking head off! And then framed me for attacking Ward! I care for you! Look out for you! And you do this to me? Did one of your Death Eaters put you up to this? An initiation process?"

Regulus clenches his jaw. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"So you weren't there that night?"

He tears his eyes from Sirius, looking at his feet. "I was there. But nobody told me to go!"

"Right, you did it because you wanted to look cool in front of your friends."

"No!" Regulus takes a step towards Sirius, fury building. "I did it -" He stops himself. "It doesn't matter."

Sirius, of all things, laughs. "I thought there was something to save. But clearly I'm an idiot. I'm done Regulus. You want to get killed? Go right ahead. Do it. See if I give a fuck anymore!" He grasps the door handle prying at it to open, but it wouldn't budge. "Alohomora!" The door unlocks and Sirius rips it open.

Everything becomes blurred as he heads back to the Gryffindor common room. Noises are just murmurs, people are just dots of color. Sirius flies up the stairs, knocking into a few people along the way. The right thing to do was go straight to Dumbledore. But it was Regulus. No matter how much Sirius claimed to hate him, he didn't. He couldn't rat out his little brother, could he?

But was he willing to take the fall for him?

Sirius runs up to the dorm, startling Remus. "Sorry," he mutters striding to his bed.

"I've been looking for you," Remus says calmly. "I wanted to talk."

"I'm really not in the mood to talk right now, Remus."

"Sirius. This is important. I have to tell you." Remus sits beside Sirius on the bed, grabbing his hand. "No secrets, remember?"

Sirius rubs his temple. "Yeah I remember."

"The night of the full moon...I was leaving the dorm and I ran into Abigail." Sirius sits up straighter, suddenly more interested in where this conversation was going. "And we kind of fought, but not really. It was just her yelling at me, that sort of thing. You know, she still thinks -"

"Remus."

Remus takes a breather, sorrowfully admitting, "She kissed me."

"She kissed you?" Sirius repeats.

"Yes."

Sirius groans, falling back onto the bed. "I don't care, Remus. Abigail is the least of my worries right now."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away. I didn't want to add any more stress to you." He lies down next to Sirius, their hands intertwined. "No secrets, right?"

"No secrets." He closes his eyes, resting his head on Remus' shoulder, enjoying the few moments of peaceful quietness.

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Frances Berkshire had sat behind Regulus Black for the past five months. She knew how he crossed his T's and dotted his I's. How he chewed on the tip of his quill when he was confused. How he rested his head when he fell asleep. She didn't want to believe he actually disliked her for her blood. Sirius didn't. Surely Regulus was only acting up because of his fellow Slytherin friends.

Time was ticking for Sirius, she knew. It was only a matter of days until Dumbledore made a decision. She was determined to help prove his innocence. Of course, she didn't know much about the night in detail.

Sirius hadn't told her much, just the general story. It was Snape, Lisa, and Sirius. There was a curse that rebounded, causing the Whomping Willow to create a storm and knock them out. A curse was cast sometime in the meanwhile, hitting Lisa. Snape's Potions textbook was found in Sirius' bag with the curse in it. Snape and Sirius are both suspects.

Everything she said aligned with Sirius' story. He left to go talk to Remus, and at that same time Lily Evans was going to find Remus for some unknown reason. She'd never met Lily Evans before, she barely knew what the girl looked like. Sirius told her not to pry on why they were going to talk to Remus too much, and she respected that. Sirius left so quickly earlier, she could barely ask him anything more; the only thing he said was 'Regulus.'  But there was something missing. Regulus wouldn't attack his own brother, would he?

She didn't know much about him personally, aside for the fact that he was Sirius' younger brother. Maybe it was the fact that she still had a crush on him, despite his nasty words, that she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know much about the family of Black, only that they were rumored to be bad. But Sirius wasn't bad. So perhaps Regulus wasn't either.

Frances lounges on her bed as her roommates went about their daily business. None of them were that close to her, but they didn't dislike her. Walking across the room, Frances reaches in the bin. She digs through makeup wipes, empty ink bottles, and scratch parchment until her fingers feel the silky smoothness of her ribbon. She pulls it out, wiping away the dust. It was weathered, not prime condition, but it was her. Dipping her head forward, she gathers up her curly black hair into a ponytail. Suddenly, she snaps up, tying the ribbon around hastily with one thing on her mind: she had to find Sirius.

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A/N: Rip this book is coming to an end soon