Growing up Pureblooded

Come With Me

Sirius walked around in a figure eight, his feet tracing a well-worn pattern as his eyes looked up at the stars. It was a clear night, and the constellations shone brightly, watching over him as so many familiar friends. His thoughts flashed back to another night, some fifteen years before. It was late at night, and rain beat furiously against the windows. James had married Lily just a month before, and Sirius was not yet used to being all alone in his flat. He sat on the sofa, sipping a glass of fire whisky and listening to music over the wireless. Merlin, how he hated being alone!

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a loud pounding on the door. Sirius groaned and rose to his feet, setting his glass on the table as he walked to the door. Part of him thought hopefully that perhaps Prongs had got into an argument with Lily, and she had kicked him out. The better part of him scolded himself for entertaining such an awful fantasy. Perhaps it was Moony, or Wormtail. Sirius couldn't think of anyone else who would come to his flat in the middle of the night.

He opened the door, and his face instantly twisted into a scowl. It was no one he wanted to see. It was his brother Regulus, and he was drenched from head to toe. "What do you want?" Sirius snarled. "Have a message for me from your Death Eater friends?" Regulus shook his head somberly. "Can I come in?" he asked in a timid voice. Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Why would I let you? I don't want your kind of scum in my home." "Please, Sirius," Regulus insisted, giving Sirius that look, the one he had never been able to refuse. Sirius sighed and motioned for his brother to come in.

All appearances to the contrary, the Black brothers cared about each other immensely. Before Hogwarts, they had been inseparable, their games and fantasies providing them a common refuge from the difficulties of growing up in a home with their domineering, manipulative and emotionally-abusive mother and their highly-critical, relentlessly-demanding and emotionally-absent father. They grew slowly apart over the years, but they continued to care about each other, though they could also fight like cats and dogs. Sirius kept an eye on his brother at Hogwarts, and was known to exact nasty revenge if anyone but him picked on Regulus. For his part, Regulus tried to play the role of mediator between Sirius and the rest of the family, with little success.

Their relationship didn't really sour until Sirius ran away from home at age sixteen, and it finally fell apart when Regulus joined the Death Eaters a couple of years later. Both brothers felt that the other had betrayed them, and they spoke sporadically after that, and then mostly to exchange vicious barbs. In the end, however, they were still brothers, and that mattered to both of them immensely.

Sirius cast a drying charm over Regulus and gestured for him to sit down on the sofa. "Thanks," Regulus muttered. "Can't have you dripping all over my clean carpet," Sirius replied. He snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't do it yourself. I'd have thought even you were a strong enough wizard to manage that." Regulus did not take the bait. He sat there on the sofa, looking down at his shoes. "I need your help, Sirius," he said. Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I beg your pardon?" He asked in complete disbelief. "I need your help," Regulus repeated. "What for? Going Muggle-hunting with the Lestrange brothers and need a fourth person?" Regulus frowned. "Sirius, this is important." Sirius scrutinized his brother carefully. Regulus did seem unusually out-of-sorts. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's the Dark Lord," Regulus said quietly. "He wanted me to do something...but..." His voice trailed off. "Go on," Sirius urged. "It's just not right," Regulus went on. "It's too horrible even to imagine." "Of course it is," Sirius replied harshly. "You work for bloody Voldemort. You ought to have considered that before you decided to join the effing Death Eaters." "I don't know that I want to be a Death Eater anymore," Regulus whispered. "Then leave," Sirius said flippantly.

"Where would I go?" Regulus quietly asked in a hoarse voice. Sirius thought about that. "Well, I'm sure the Order..." "Just because I don't want to serve the Dark Lord anymore doesn't mean I want to have anything to do with that Muggle-loving old fool and his merry band of blood traitors!" Regulus snapped. "So your views haven't really changed then," Sirius observed coolly. "You still think Voldemort has the right idea, you just don't like how far he's willing to go." He snorted angrily. "You're no better than Mum and Dad." Regulus stood up. "It was a mistake coming here," he said. "I had thought you could help me. I was wrong."

Sirius frowned. "if you don't want the Order involved, how could I possibly help you?" he asked. His younger brother looked him intensely in the eyes. "Come with me, Sirius," he said pleadingly. "You can help me finish this one thing I have to do, and then we can run off together." "What is it you have to do?" Sirius asked. Regulus shook his head. "I don't want to say. It's too risky. He might find out."

Sirius shook his head at his brother's cowardice. "Come with me, Sirius," Regulus repeated. "I'll explain everything on the way. Then we can leave, just the two of us. We can go to France, or Transylvania. Hell, we can take Uncle Alphard's gold and run off to America if you like." Sirius would have been lying if he had claimed that he was not sorely tempted by the offer. Life hadn't been quite the same for him in England ever since his best friend got married. He rather liked the idea of getting away from it all for a bit. It would also give him a chance to get reacquainted with his brother, whom he had missed.

But he couldn't leave James. He might be spending all his time with Lily for now, but he had just got back from his honeymoon. James still needed Sirius, and Sirius would be damned if he abandoned his best friend in a time of war, just so he could go have an adventure with his brother. He shook his head. "I can't, Reg," he said, and the disappointment in his voice was real. "I have responsibilities here. The Order, my friends." In the twinkling of an eye, Regulus's expression changed from hopeful to deadly cold. "It's James bloody Potter, isn't it?" Regulus snapped. Sirius didn't have to answer; his eyes gave him away. "You've been on about him ever since you met him," Regulus went on. "I swear to Merlin, it's like you think he hung the bloody moon." "James is my best friend," Sirius said defensively. "If you had actual friends, you might understand what that means."

"Best friend?" Regulus was incredulous. "You care more about him than you do any of your family." "James is more my family than anyone else," Sirius replied. "He'd do anything for me, and I'd do anything for him." "Merlin, it's like you're in love with the fellow," Regulus said, rolling his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," Sirius shot back. "I'm not in love with him." "That's good," Regulus replied lazily. "It would be too embarrassing for the Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black to be tossed aside in favor of some Mudblood whore."

"GET OUT!" Sirius roared at the top of his lungs, his face turning bright red. "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Regulus turned on his heel and left without another word. Sirius watched him leave, then cast a Blasting Curse at a vase sitting on the dining room table. It shattered into a thousand pieces, and bits of flowers flew everywhere. "Damn fool," Sirius muttered beneath his breath.

A week later, when Order spies brought word of Regulus's death, Sirius assumed that the idiot had tried to run away on his own, only to be caught by Voldemort. He tried to act nonchalant about the whole thing, but James saw through his act at once. He took Sirius to their favorite pub and they both got totally pissed. They sat up late into the night talking about Regulus. Sirius kept on about what an idiot Regulus was, but goodhearted James, even at his most drunk, kept finding good memories to share. "At least he left Voldemort in the end, mate," he said, trying to comfort his friend. "Even if it was only because he was a coward. What else could you expect? He was a Slytherin."

Sirius and James dragged each other back to James's house at three in the morning. Lily shook her head disapprovingly when she saw the state her husband was in, but she said nothing about it. She even offered to let Sirius spend the night. "It's not safe for you to Apparate in your condition," she warned. "It's all right, Lily," Sirius mumbled. "I'll just fly my motorcycle home." Fortunately, there are very few motorcycles, cars or pedestrians in the air at three o'clock in the morning, so Sirius's wild swerves didn't cause too much damage – though a couple of trees lost their tops. Sirius eventually reached his flat and staggered into bed. Briefly, before he passed out, the thought came to him, the one horrible truth that he had been avoiding all night. If he had gone with Regulus, Voldemort might never have caught up with him. Sirius had killed his own baby brother.