The Four Interchanging Lives of Regulus Black (Harry Potter Fanfic)

Who Are You

"Who are you?"

The man in front of him—Sirius didn't recognize him, but more importantly—

"This person shouldn't be here. At Hogwarts. They're not one of the teachers, so who..."

"What are you talking about?"

Sirius' eyes blinked, suddenly noticing Evan Rosier standing next to the person. "Huh?"

Evan sighed. "Figures you'd be mean to him, pretending you don't know who he is."

"But I don't."

"Sirius, this isn't funny," James said.

Sirius turned, looking at James in confusion, his mouth opening. "Yes, but..." He pointed at the man. "I don't."

"It's alright, James," the man said, his voice quieter than most men, the soft way the man spoke seeming familiar even though Sirius couldn't place it.

Sirius looked the man over, taking in the jeans and hoodie. "You're not at all bothered, either of you, by what he's wearing?"

"School robes?" James said. "Or are you bothered they're Slytherin school robes?"

Sirius' eyes blinked as the person reached up pale hands with thin fingers to pull the hood back. "How tall am I again, Evan?"

"This again?" Evan sighed. "I don't know where your weirdness is going this time, but you are shorter than me. Always have been."

"Anyways, do the two of you mind if I talk to Sirius alone?"

"No," James said.

"Yes!" Evan snapped, turning to the person. "If he makes you cry again, Regulus..."

"That's not..." Sirius lifted a finger, pointing, staring.

"I'll be fine," the person claiming to be Regulus said. He took a deep breath. "If I'm not, you can chew me out for it later?"

"Fine. And I will, Regulus Black," Evan said, leaving.

"Sirius," James said.

Sirius turned to look at James. "What?"

"Try to work things out with him?"

"I..."

"We will, I think."

Sirius turned, waiting for James to leave. "I don't know who..."

"I told you, didn't I?"

Sirius' mouth twitched. "That you're Regulus? You didn't. Evan did, but you're not. You're..." Sirius pointed. "You are..."

"I told you, didn't I?" the person repeated.

A shiver ran down Sirius' spine. "I already don't like this place."

"I don't much either," the person said. "But I did, didn't I, say I was alive?"

Sirius' eyes widened, remembering how Regulus kept insisting he'd not died, that he'd not drowned, and then—

He couldn't help it.

"You bloody idiot!" Sirius let out a deep breath. "I don't know how, but you bloody went and stepped through the veil! And that means now you're dead."

"I don't think so," Regulus said, looking around, grinning like an idiot.

"Regulus, as nice as it is to see you alive, grinning your arse off like the idiot you are..."

"I told you before..."

"Yes, yes, that you're alive, but now..."

"No. The other thing. About not being able to see the flow of magic?"

"Uh, yeah?" Sirius let out a sigh. "What's with that?"

"Simple," Regulus said. "The flow of magic is something I've always been able to see."

"And now you're talking mad because nobody can see that."

"No. Certain people, rare as we are, can see the flow of magic. At least, that's the best way to put it."

"No. I'm sure I would have known."

"Given I wasn't allowed to tell anybody?"

"Sure. And what else were you not allowed to tell people?"

Regulus took a deep breath. "That I'm autistic?"

"Huh?"

Regulus' eyes blinked. "Oh. Wait. That's a Muggle term." He sighed, his eyes closing. "It's why I never returned yours or Papa's hugs, why someone needed to teach me to do that, among other things." His eyes opened. "But Sirius, you experienced it. Rather recently."

"What are you talking about?"

"As much as they were able to hide it, the fact I'm different, you actually saw one of my episodes. Mother was really good at drilling those out of me, of snuffing out anything that made me different from everyone else. But I think she rather delighted that I wasn't an overly affectionate child, as it wasn't something she had to, you know, get rid of?"

"I'm not sure what..." Sirius sighed. "Why are you here?"

"To save you," Regulus said. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Don't know," Sirius took a deep breath. "The first day of school hasn't passed yet."

"No. Not that." Regulus took a deep breath. "It's been sixteen, seventeen years now? That you've been blaming yourself for what happened to me."

"That..." Sirius' eyes widened. "That was my fault."

"I don't see how it is."

"Because I bloody couldn't be there for you when you needed me when you disappeared."

"Neither could Evan, though."

"Evan?" Sirius swallowed. His eyes blinked. "Wait? The cousin-by-marriage who'd follow you anywhere?"

"Yeah. Never occurred to you that maybe I was protecting you from whatever trouble I'd gotten myself in."

"That..." Sirius took a deep breath. "Regulus Arcturus Orion! It's my job as the older brother to protect you! So don't tell me..."

"Well, I know that now," Regulus said, holding out his hand. "But I think, right now, in this situation, I'm the older brother, so I'm the one who's supposed to protect you."

"What?"

"Take my hand, and we can leave."

"Regulus, we're both dead now because you decided to walk into that veil."

"I think that's a misconception."

"You bloody idiot."

"Trust me?" Regulus continued holding out his hand. "Look. I know you never trusted me in the past, Sirius. What about knowing I'd gone and signed myself up for the Death Eaters? Can you trust me now? Can we maybe move forward from here and actually be siblings? That is what you want? A second chance for—well, you said for you to make things right, but don't I have to as well? I mean, make things right by you."

Sirius reached out, taking Regulus' hand. "I actually think I'm the one who needs to be making things right, Regulus, but.." He closed his eyes. "We don't really have any other options, do we?"

"Nope. If it doesn't work, though, I'll puzzle something else out, though I really didn't like this puzzle before when my mind was pulled into it in the first place."

"Noted," Sirius said. "Let's get out of this place. No more 'please try again' from this place."

"Not sure what you're talking about, but okay."