Starry skies and Gardenias

Chapter 107

The atmosphere in the room was stuffy again.

"What are you planning to have for dinner?" Sirius said slowly.

He didn't get an answer. 

He had been trying for long now. Regulus simply refused to acknowledge his presence.

Regulus wanted to ignore Sirius. But every time he did that, he would hear Jefferson's voice in his head, comparing him to her grandfather, a muggle!

Sirius kept sitting on his tail for a long time, and finally, he snapped.

He got up from his seat, and stormed towards Regulus who was sitting at the other end of the room. 

"Listen to me!" Sirius said, slamming his hands on Regulus' table to get his attention. 

"What?!" Regulus snapped back, glaring up at him. 

"Just let me explain," Sirius said. 

Regulus laughed humourlessly. 

"No," he said. "I don't want to listen to your pathetic excuses. I don't care anymore,"

"Regulus, it'll only take a few minutes," Sirius said. "Listen to me. I really couldn't stay there one more minute. You heard her,"

"I said, I don't care," Regulus said angrily. 

He got to his feet, and shoved his things into his bag. Forget detention, he wasn't going to stand around any longer.

"You are going to give some selfish reasoning, like always," he said. "It's always you-you-you with you, isn't it? Always has been,"

Regulus had had enough of Sirius' 'explanations'. He wasn't going to listen to him again. Everything he did was for himself. Sirius didn't care for anyone but himself. 

"I'm sorry,"

Regulus froze. 

"I'm really sorry," Sirius said again. 

An incredulous laugh escaped Regulus' mouth.

"You're sorry?" he scoffed, turning around to face Sirius. "You are sorry? Sorry that you left?"

"Left? No," Sirius said honestly. "I'm sorry that I didn't think of you,"

"Nothing new there," Regulus snapped. "When have you ever? I told you not to do it. I told you to stay! 'I can't do it' and you left!"

"You left!" he yelled accusingly. 

Sirius didn't have an answer to that.

"Why don't you just go change your name too?" Regulus said. "Sirius Potter must sound wonderful to you,"

"Yeah, it does sound fine," Sirius sighed. "But, Regulus, listen to me. Please?"

Regulus rolled his eyes, and stamped his foot in frustration.

"You want me to listen to you?" he sneered. "When have you ever listened to me?"

"Regulus—" Sirius started, but Regulus cut him off.

"When have you ever taken anyone into consideration?" he yelled. "You are a selfish prat, who thinks only about himself and no one else,"

"Regulus—"

"No one matters to you. Only what you want. What you need. It's always YOU!"

"REGULUS!—" Sirius yelled, but Regulus kept speaking.