Prompt 24 - Kid Fic
@wolfstarmicrofic July 24, word count 975
Part five of werewolf Sirius
CW - Mentions of child abuse (Not described)
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When they’d gotten back to the camp, Greyback had disappeared but a lot of the wolves that had been friendly to him since he got there were now keeping their distance. It was definitely because of what Greyback had said the day before. And then the whole Regulus thing. Regulus's death had been reported in the papers. Sirius had mourned him, but now there was a chance that he was still alive. Sirius slept poorly that night. He dreamed of his brother.
“Sirius, Sirius, where are you?” The worried voice of his little brother cried out in the dark.
“Hey, hey. Shhhhh, I’m here,” Sirius soothed Regulus, slipping into his bed and cradling him against his chest. Regulus had night terrors almost nightly. Sirius normally got to Regulus’s room quicker, but his mother had punished him that afternoon when he covered for Regulus when he’d dropped a glass at lunchtime. He was so sore that he’d just fallen asleep and was woken by Regulus’s screams. He had to get Regulus to stop quickly or else their mother would come and Sirius would have to listen to Regulus’s screams without being able to help him.
Regulus was shaking in his arms. Sirius began telling him fairy tales from a muggle book he’d read in the local library. His parents, of course, had no idea he'd even stepped foot in a muggle library, but there were only so many times he could read Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump before he went insane. Tonight’s story was about a mermaid who fell in love with a prince and traded her voice to a sea witch in exchange for legs. It did not have a happy ending, but that was muggles for you.
Regulus had fallen asleep by the end and an exhausted Sirius followed soon after. He slipped out when the birds first started chirping and went back to his own bed.
“What do you boys have planned today?” Orion asked over the top of his newspaper when they came down for breakfast, already dressed in smart clothing befitting the young heir and his brother of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
“I thought we could go out into the gardens and identify the uses of the magical plants in the greenhouses,” Sirius said as formally as he could. He didn’t care about the plants, he wanted an excuse to be outside all day so he could teach Reggie how to fly.
“Uh huh,” Orion raised his eyebrow. “No more than five feet off the ground and do not let your mother catch you. Ensure you are back inside and presentable before lunch is served.” Sirius and Regulus wolfed their food down and hurried outside.
“Are we really going to fly?!” Regulus asked him excitedly. Sirius couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.
“We are,” Regulus leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly. “You have to listen to everything I say, Reggie, okay?” Regulus dropped his feet back to the floor and nodded his head so hard his curls flew everywhere. “Good. Follow me.”
Sirius pulled out two brooms from the small broom shed behind the greenhouses. “Okay, so first thing you have to put your hand above the broom and very clearly and confidently say ‘Up’, like this. Up,” He ordered the broom and it shot into his hand. Regulus took a deep breath and copied Sirius’s movements.
“Up,” He said quietly. The broom didn’t move. He looked at Sirius, his eyes filling with tears.
“Don’t worry, try again. Just be a bit more confident. You can do it, I believe in you,” Sirius ruffled Regulus’s curls.
“Up,” Regulus repeated, his voice a little stronger. “Sirius, did you see, did you see? It moved!” The broom had rolled over.
“Amazing, try again,” Sirius encouraged. It took a few more attempts, but finally, the broom rose to Regulus’s waiting hand.
“Well done, Reggie. Alright, step number two. Kick off gently from the ground and we’ll hover. Be careful not to kick off too hard, or you’ll rise too high. Copy me,” Sirius barely pushed his feet from the ground and slowly rose until his toes were just brushing the grass.
Regulus had a death grip on his broom handle, but he copied Sirius exactly and rose to the same height. Being shorter than Sirius, his feet were a bit higher off the ground than his brothers.
“Wow, that was excellent, Reggie, I’m so proud of you. Right, you’re going to lean forward and follow me. We’ll start with a few circles.” Sirius showed him how to make the broom move, and soon they were racing around the garden having a wonderful time.
“Boys,” Orion called them in just before lunch. He shook his head when they ran over to him after landing and putting their brooms away. He raised his wand and both boys tensed, but Orion just used Scourgify on their sweaty faces, smoothed their wayward hair and straightened their rumpled clothes. “Hurry up, your mother will be back shortly,” Orion warned, before returning to the house.
“I love you, Sirius,” Regulus threw his arms around Sirius’s middle.
“I love you too, Reggie,” Sirius chuckled, stroking his brother’s head. He kept an arm wrapped around him as they went to join their parents for lunch, only letting go when they were outside the dining room.
Sirius woke crying as the dream still played behind his eyes. He and Regulus had been so close when they were young, it was only when he’d left for Hogwarts and made his first-ever friends and been sorted into Gryffindor that they had begun to drift apart, and it had only gotten worse over the years.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll find him,” Remus whispered lovingly into his ear, pulling him closer and lulling him back to sleep.
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