For Reasons Unknown chapter 2

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Remus/Regulus
Genre: Romance, Drama
Rating: R (overall)
Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to J. K. Rowling
Authors: M3535 & Zayhad
Summary: It is a scandal, yes, but not a huge surprise that Sirius the rebel is sorted into Gryffindor, but when the same thing happens to his younger brother, the perfect son, a model Slytherin, everybody is in shock. Regulus is not at all happy about finding himself in the wrong house and neither is his family. Non-canon, obviously. Remus/Regulus.

A/N: This is a bit of an unusual fic, as it’s a rewrite of an RP between M3535 and me (Zayhad). Of course major rewriting has been done to adapt the style. As we were writing the RP we followed a set plot line but still with room for a good deal of improvisation.
While the fic is a Regulus/Remus slash, it is just as much about the brotherly relationship between Reg and Sirius. Since we’re starting out when they are small children, the romance part will not start for quite a long time.

I will make an illustration for each chapter. See link at the bottom.


Chapter 2 – “Where’s Your Sense of Adventure?”

A few years had passed and Sirius had not shaped up when it came to behaving. At least a few times a week he was sent to his room and not allowed out before the next day. Had it not been for Regulus, he wouldn't have gotten many of the sweets that were usually served after dinner. Regulus would hide some in his pockets and sneak them into Sirius' room.

"Thanks," Sirius mumbled and sent his brother a smile. "I don't see what the problem was. Kreacher wasn't badly hurt."

"He could have been," said Regulus, frowning. "You should be nicer to Kreacher, Sirius. He's a good elf and helps us all."

"He’s also very fun to play tricks on," mused Sirius and fumbled with a sweet wrapper. "But fine... I'll try not to make so much fun of him if you really want me to."

"Thank you," said Regulus, hugging the big plush hippogriff uncle Alphard had given him for Christmas. Regulus rarely went anywhere without it. 

o0o0o0o0o0o

"SIRIUS! REGULUS!" a voice called up the stairs the next morning. "Come down for your French class!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and got up from his bed. "Guess we have to go and listen to boring stories about the French Revolution in a language no one cares about."

"In the lounge," said their mother, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. "Professor Chapelle is waiting. And put away that animal, Regulus! It is not time for play."

Regulus grudgingly called for Kreacher and asked him to take his hippogriff back to his room. 

Sirius took his little brother’s hand and walked into the lounge where Professor Chapelle was waiting by the table. Sirius felt sleepy just by looking at her with her dull clothes, hair in a tight bun and round glasses that made her eyes look too big for her face.

Two long hours later the lesson was over and they had an hour's break before the Latin professor arrived. They had lunch in the kitchen. Regulus liked to eat there because it was where Kreacher spent most of his time and Regulus liked to hang around there. Sirius liked it only because their mother did not think it was suitable for wizards to eat in the kitchen.

Sirius pushed his plate away and laid his head on the table. "Ugh... feed me to a dragon, already," he moaned. "I can't see any reason for us to have French and Latin at such a young age. I bet Muggles don't."

"You're not a Muggle, Sirius. Wizards are more civilized, especially pure-bloods, especially Blacks. That's why," said Regulus as if it were an undisputed fact. 

"Oh stop it, Reggie, you sound like Mother. Who says we are better than they are, anyway?”

"Everyone says so, so it must be true. And you don't know any Muggles, so you don't know that it’s not. "

"Well you don't know any either," Sirius pointed out.

"Do the young Masters want some strawberry tart?" sounded Kreacher's bullfrog-voice. "Kreacher has just baked them."

Mrs. Black normally did not allow the boys sweets in the daytime, but Kreacher liked to spoil Regulus in secret.

Sirius turned his attention to the elf. "Yeah, I want some."

Kreacher ignored Sirius and waited for Regulus to answer. When Regulus said yes please, Kreacher gave him a tart and then turned to walk back to the kitchen counter.

"Hey, what about me, you stupid elf? I said I wanted one too!" yelled Sirius.

Kreacher stopped and hesitated for a second, then turned around and trudged back to the table. "Sorry, Master, Kreacher did not hear."

"I bet you did," Sirius snapped. "You just didn't want to give me one. And if you didn't hear me, then that means you’re getting old and your head is going on the wall."

"Sirius!" gasped Regulus, staring at his brother in disbelief.  "How can you talk to him like that?"

"No worries, Master Regulus," hummed Kreacher as he placed a tart on Sirius’ plate. "Kreacher is used to his abuse.” Then he left to go back to his duties. 

"Why are you always so nasty to him?" Regulus demanded. 

"He doesn’t treat me any better," Sirius said and took a bite of his cake. "And this one he asked for. He didn't give me a tart like he did you. He just ignored me."

"That's because I'm nice to him. If you were nice to him too, he would also be nice to you. It's your own fault."

"It isn’t," Sirius protested and took another bite. "I could be a lot meaner if I wanted to. Besides, it doesn’t really hurt him."

"It does. He has feelings too, and he's a good person," insisted Regulus. 

"He's an elf, not a person," Sirius mumbled and sat back in his chair. "He isn't your friend. He’s a servant of this house. I thought you listened to everything Mother said."

"And you say I should be open-minded. Muggles are not our friends but Kreacher is. Why do you want to be nice to Muggles but not Kreacher?"

"Who said I wanted to be nice to Muggles? I just said that they probably have a lot more fun than we do. And fine, I won't bother Kreacher so much. That make you happy?"

"Yes, that makes me happy," said Regulus and smiled. “If you can actually keep your promise this time.”

o0o0o0o0o0o

"So,” asked Mr. Black, while he was giving the monthly pay to the professor who was teaching both English and Math. “How are our sons doing?"

"Sirius is an extraordinarily bright boy. Very intelligent. He can get far if he wants to."

"And Regulus?"

"Very intelligent too. Perhaps not quite as talented as his brother, but he's a hard worker and so well behaved," smiled the professor. 

Mr. and Mrs. Black exchanged looks, satisfied to hear that their boys were doing well.

"Make sure that Regulus keeps up the good work and keep an eye on Sirius so he behaves," ordered Mrs. Black.

"Yes," sighed the professor. "That does seem to be his only problem. He does not have a lot of self-discipline, I'm afraid. But I suppose age might mature him some. Regulus, on the other hand, is very quiet and concentrated for a five-year-old. And so polite."

"Regulus has always been a good boy and we are proud of him," nodded Mrs. Black. "And about Sirius: don’t hesitate using whatever punishment you see fit to keep him in line. Merlin knows he needs it.”

o0o0o0o0o0o

"Sirius, no!" whispered Regulus and pulled at his brother’s sleeve as he snuck the front door open. "We're not allowed to go into the street!"

"Where’s your sense of adventure?" asked Sirius, turning his head. "I’m just going to have a look outside, that’s all."

"But..." protested Regulus as he let himself be dragged outside. “What if Mother finds out? She will punish us very hard."

"She won’t find out, you sissy," Sirius muttered and stepped outside. The sunlight blinded him and he had to put a hand up to shield his eyes. "Wicked!” he said, looking around. “Let’s go find some Muggles!"

"Muggles?" gasped Regulus. "They're dangerous, Sirius! They aren’t like us. And Mother says -"

"Mother says a lot of things but how are we supposed to know for ourselves if we don’t see any? I promise I won’t talk to them. Just watch."

"W-what if they attack us? They walk around with all sorts of weapons. Things that explode and stuff. We don't have wands. We can't protect ourselves," protested Regulus.

"They’re not dangerous," Sirius said and started walking down the pavement. 

"How do you know?" persisted Regulus, as he followed Sirius, shooting a glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching them. "You've never met any."

"Well, neither have you so how do you know they will hurt us?" Sirius grinned. “Blimey - just think what mother would say if she saw us now!"

Regulus let out a whimper at the thought of what she would say if she could see them now. "Where are we going, Sirius?"

"Just a bit down the street and see who we meet." Sirius took his brother’s hand as he continued down the street. However, they did not get far before a roar sounded behind them.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING? GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Sirius turned on his heels and spotted his mother in the doorway. Seeing his brother cower in fear, he hurried back to the house with him in tow.

"Inside," Mrs. Black hissed, her face contorted with rage. 

As soon as the door slammed shut she rounded on them and started screaming like only she could scream. 

Regulus tried to hide behind Sirius. He had heard his mother scream and rant like this before, but rarely as loud and rarely at him. 

Sirius gulped. He knew they were in very big trouble. He only hoped she wouldn’t hit them. Especially Regulus.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE ARE YOU SETTING FOR YOUR BROTHER? YOU’RE HIS ROLE MODEL!"

"I just wanted to see some Muggles! I’ve never met any and I wanted to know more about them!”

“You know all you need to know about Muggles," hissed Mrs. Black. "They're uncivilized and filthy! I will NOT have my blood interacting with them!"

"But Mother," Sirius started but she slapped him hard across the cheek before he could say another word, leaving the boy stunned and fighting back tears.

"NO EXCUSES! You know perfectly well what the rules are and when you break them there is punishment! I'm going to have a serious talk with your father about whether we have been too soft on you!"

Regulus had reeled back when their mother had hit Sirius, and he was still standing there, staring at her with wide eyes. 

"And you -" said Mrs. Black, stepping in front of Regulus. "What were you doing out there?" She wasn't yelling like she had at Sirius but still speaking loudly and sternly. 

Regulus' mouth fell open. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to blame Sirius, but he was also afraid of saying something that would land himself punishment. 

"Speak, child!"

Regulus just stood there, frozen in fear. Had he known what to say, he probably wouldn't have been able to talk anyway. 

"It’s my fault," Sirius said and hung his head. "I made him go. Told him to grow up and not be such a baby."

Mrs. Black looked at her eldest son and then back to Regulus. "Is that true?"

Regulus still didn't speak. If he said yes, he would be blaming Sirius, if he said no, he would get punished. 

"SPEAK!"

"I... I..." he trailed off, but Mrs. Black didn't seem to have any more patience and smacked him across the cheek. Not as hard as she had smacked Sirius, but still leaving an angry red mark. 

"I said it was my fault!" Sirius yelled, glaring furiously at his mother. He looked over at Regulus who stood with his head bent and shoulders raised to his ears, sobbing quietly.

She rounded on him, snarling, "Oh, I know it was. But this should teach him to not listen to you!" She turned back to Regulus. "You obey me and your father, NOT your brother! Is that understood?"

Regulus nodded, keeping his head down, so his fringe shielded his eyes. 

"Is that understood?" she repeated. 

"Yes, Mother," Regulus whispered, trying to hide that he was crying. 

Sirius glared back at his mother before he dropped his head and stood with his arms down his sides.  He felt very guilty and promised himself that he wouldn’t get Regulus in trouble again. It wasn’t worth it. His brother was crying and he probably hated him now for putting him in this situation.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Later that night Sirius snuck out of his room, tiptoed down to Regulus’ room, and carefully pushed down the door handle. 

"Reggie?" he asked as he slipped inside and closed the door. "Are you awake?"

Regulus pretended to be asleep. He hadn't been sleeping at all and, in fact, still had a few tears on his cheek. He didn't want Sirius to see how weak he was, and he was also a little mad at him for insisting on going out when he knew it was wrong. 

Sirius stepped closer to the bed and looked at the back of his still brother. "I dunno if you can hear me, but I’m really sorry. I thought we could get away with seeing just one Muggle. I was just curious. But I’ll leave you alone now," he mumbled and turned to walk back to his room.

"Sirius," said Regulus as his brother reached the door. "I'm not asleep."

Sirius turned and walked back to the bed sending his brother a careful smile. "I’m sorry she slapped you, Reggie," he said after a moment’s silence. "I didn’t think she would find out."

Regulus just nodded, clutching his hippogriff to his chest with one arm and lifting the covers with the other, hoping Sirius would stay the night. He felt horribly lonely, even though Kreacher had tried to cheer him up. He was pleased when Sirius climbed in and made himself comfortable.

Regulus felt better lying there, feeling his brother's warmth. He snivelled and asked, "How can you keep disobeying when you know how angry she gets?" He didn't understand how Sirius dared. Regulus was terrified of their mother, and Sirius had received frequent and much harder punishment from her than Regulus ever had. She had only hit him a couple of times but Sirius had tried it countess times. And all the screaming was almost as scary as when she beat, Regulus thought. 

Sirius sighed and shook his head slowly. "I don’t know why I did what I did, but I just thought that it would be fun to see some Muggles. I didn’t think we would get caught and surely not that she would hit you."

"I don't mean just today. You behave bad almost every day. Not always as bad as today, but still. Why? You know you get in trouble."

"I don’t know why," Sirius mumbled.

Regulus didn't say anything else. He just crept a little closer and wrapped his arm tighter around his brother as he let sleep take him. 

oOooOo

To be continued...