@hauntedmystic
Regulus was under the impression he had repaired his time turner with enough fiddling and charms because by the looks of the placement of the setting sun and pale moon and the misting rain, it seemed the same time as when he had departed his normal timeline.
The wards on Grimmauld Place still recognized him as an authorized apparator. “Kreacher I’m home!”
Somewhere in the house the elf passed out from hearing his voice after many years.
Sirius didn't have the luxury of fainting. Someone who looked like his brother and was powerful enough to get past the hateful house's defenses had just infiltrated the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. His mind was racing not so much with how they could have done it, but who could have. His best guess was that they'd been betrayed, though whether it was intentional or not, he couldn't have said.
He was poised at the top of the stairs, wand at the ready, ignoring the lurch of his heart at the sight of his baby brother's face. "You have ten seconds to explain who you are and how you got in."
His dash up the stairs came to a halt on the landing half way up. With Sirius now above him and suddenly in his line of sight, his heart skipped a beat. Sirius shouldn't be here; the audacity of his presence was shocking--and the audacity of his strange demand infuriating.
It was entirely absurd that Sirius should threaten Regulus in his own home. HIS not his; not when Sirius had abandoned the family.
"You wait until Mother hears about this!" he snapped out more through habit of the phrase than anything... How easily past behavior could be roused without thought.
Although accustomed to appealing to his Mother, Regulus was more than adept in defending himself. He drew his wand in response, and his sleeve slid out of place to uncover his dark mark--
But he had to bring his free hand to his mouth for a moment, coughing up some blood. He wasn't exactly in the condition to address his brother picking a fight for seemingly no reason.
"I DON'T have to humor you! Go bother your worthless friends instead!" Regulus suggested before apparating; however, trying to apparate upstairs proved too challenging and he ended up back downstairs instead.
Whatever. Some dizzyness struck him and white briefly edged into his vision; he needed to sit. Conveniently he had appeared beside the piano in the parlor that had not been touched in over a decade--to him it was a few days ago.
Like anything else in this house, the piano was cursed. This detail did not dissuade him; Regulus lowered into the seat and opened a book of music. As he worked through the pages, the occasional mistake triggered its curse to inflict pain in retaliation. It took pain to learn. It took pain to become the best.
The idea that playing the piano should not make someone's hands bleed did not occur to Regulus. He did not question Mother.
It was so unexpected that he took a step back, eyes widening in shock. He couldn't have sounded more like the Regulus he remembered if he'd tried, and it was too spot on to be an imposter. Brothers fought, sure, but with those exact same words with that inflection? With that same familiar look of annoyance on his face? This… was a very strange and convincing dream. It was the only explanation. He surreptitiously pinched himself with his free hand, not daring to take his wand off Regulus, but though it hurt, he could draw no conclusions from it.
"Are you tattling on me to her portrait now?" The response was delayed and contained half its usual bite. He was too flummoxed to work up any proper scorn. It sounded a lot like Reggie didn't know their mother was dead, which would make sense. She'd died after he was gone. Sirius wasn't altogether certain he wanted to be the one to break that news to him, but the kneazle was out of the bag now. He couldn't very well take it back.
Alarm shot through him at the sight of the blood, a thread of apprehension winding through him. If this was actually his brother… Sirius would not lose him again. The idea caused more pain than he'd expected. Of course he'd mourned Regulus. Despite all the bad blood between Sirius and the rest of the Blacks, they were still brothers. He didn't want to mourn him a second time. He followed the distinctive crack of Apparition downstairs, boots quiet on the lower landing so he wouldn't wake that screaming hag, and peered cautiously into the parlor. "Reg, are you hurt?"
