Jordan Wolfe (fickleprince) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-07-28 15:40:00 |
|
|||
There were more textbooks in the bag slung across his shoulders than should have been healthy to carry. Even still, it was weightless even as it knocked into his hip with an unsettling rattle. The undetectable extension charm made the bag nearly weightless...and endless. He shuffled along, glad that the castle was quiet for this time of night. He had finished his essays, and would need to be up early the next morning for Quidditch practice. The beginning of season practices were some of the most important, after all. A chorus of raucous laughter caught him off guard, but he recognized one of those voices. Regulus ducked into a darkened corridor just before his brother and his friends rounded a corner. It was for the best, after all. They mostly avoided one another when possible. Sirius kept his friends from making Regulus into a target of their taunts most of the time, though there had been a few times with exception to that rule. Whenever they did cross paths, the tension in the air could be cut through with a knife. He hated it. He hated that the boy that had once been his brother - his best friend - roamed these halls as a stranger to him now. Sirius had been the one to forsake his own family, though. He had been the one to choose them, leaving Regulus with only one option. He was the heir to the House of Black. All of their parent’s expectations fell upon his shoulders now. They were just coming off of a summer break in which Regulus had not seen Sirius for the entirety of the summer. It had been an uncomfortably tense summer, especially when Regulus passed by the family tapestry where Sirius had been burned clean off of the family tree. Sometimes he swore that the spot still smoldered as though his mother had come back to make certain just in case blasting him off the first time hadn’t been enough. His entire summer had been spent studying...and being lectured by his parents on the way that things were supposed to be. He had not seen his brother since their return to school, except from afar. He wanted to keep it that way. Their voices were like a roar of white noise in his ears. He didn’t try to focus...to pick out what they might really be saying. Something about a prank they had pulled off...the look on someone’s face...it didn’t really matter. The carefree attitude that Sirius managed to take on was something that Regulus was a little envious of, truth be told. He could never be that boy. He didn’t have that luxury. He had to perform well in school and uphold the values of their family. He had to be a prime example of what a Pureblood was capable of. In classes, Regulus had to be better - smarter - than his peers. In Quidditch, he had to be faster and more athletic than any other Seeker. At home, he had to be obedient and quiet. From his spot with his back against the wall, he saw them pass by. James had his arm thrown around Sirius’ shoulders, and Remus shoved both of them playfully, a quip on his tongue. Peter laughed right along, as always. Regulus waited only a moment or two after they had passed by to slip out of the corridor and walk in the opposite direction without sparing a glance over his shoulder at them. If one thing had become abundantly clear over the last few years it was that Sirius was never going to return to how things were. There was no sense in mourning it any longer... He had lost his brother the moment that Sirius had chosen three others to be his instead. Maybe it was time that he chose new brothers of his own. |