It had been a weird fucking morning. Sirius and James had been off on a recognizance mission for the Order, looking into some Death Eater activity in Sheffield. They'd split up at one point, trying to detect any magical wards, when he'd felt this weird tingling. He'd pulled his wand, ready for whatever the assholes threw at him, and then he must have blacked out or something because the next thing he knew he was standing outside bloody Hogwarts of all places. An empty Hogwarts, which was honestly the strangest thing about it. It was January, there should be kids everywhere. Even if class was in session there should at least be Hagrid wandering around. But there was nothing. At all. Hogwarts was silent, and it was starting to really freak him out.
"Hello? Anyone? James?"
If this was some sort of Death Eater plot then it was a weird one, and he couldn't figure out what exactly they planned to gain from it. Maybe it had been a portkey? It didn't feel like a portkey, but that made more sense than anything else.
He headed for the school, crossing the grounds and hoping that Dumbles or McGonnagal could shed some light on this mess.
"Let's go see what happened."
Sirius froze. He knew that voice. But it couldn't be, because Regulus was dead. Moody had confirmed it, even if he'd been vague on the how of it all. It couldn't be Regulus. It couldn't be.
He pulled his wand and rounded the trees, ready to kill whatever the fuck this voice imposter was. Except that was definitely Regulus. Definitely. With bloody Kreacher standing beside him, and Sirius didn't really give a shit if this was a trap or not.
He ran forward, swooping his little brother up into a hug before he'd thought it ecen slightly through.
"Holy shit. Reg, what the fuck Reg? How the booody Hell are you here?"