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Tags: fic-hp fanfic100 regulus
Published : 1 year, 11 months ago (Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:12:30 PDT)
Searched: fic-hp
http://allesrosa.livejournal.com/10207.html 4 links
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Title: Seven Days, Seven Dreams (1)
Prompt: Stranger
Character: Regulus and Sirius
Word Count: 3927
DH Spoiler?: It's a little difficult to say; the whole thing started before DH, but I think there's at least a little bit of spoiler after I edited it
Rating: PG for death
Summary: The last of his days, he indulged himself in dreams
Author’s Note: Just as usual, I suck at grammar. But I am just too excited to not post this after I finished it. I hope I would get around to improve it, later. For ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) fanfic100
Disclaimer: Not mine, as much as I wish it to be
Seven Days, Seven Dreams
The last days of his life, he dreamed seven dreams.
His days were numbered.
He didn’t know why they haven’t got to him yet. Maybe the Dark Lord had other priorities needed to be attended to first, so a treacherous cowardly Death Eater could be dealt with later. He clutched his fingers over the small golden locket, feeling coldness sipped through his skin.
They had not discovered this little secret of his yet. Or else the Dark Lord would not allow him to walk away from the cave in one piece and free, albeit damaged and frightened.
The pale moonlight fell across the lake, painting the environment into an eerie shade of ivory. He tried not to think of what there were in the water. His house elf crouched at his feet, mumbling incoherently about something, sounding very much like “what would Mistress said”.
“Kreacher, bring us home.”
He said softly. He really didn’t have any energy left to apparate. Of course, even if he did, this place would not allow him to.
“And silently, do not disturb Mother or Father.” he added quietly before Kreacher could make any attempt to take them back.
He felt sick, his body was sore, and he was very sure his legs were hurt. Gripping Kreacher’s hand firmly, Regulus let Kreacher get them back to his room, dark and slightly dusty.
“Kreacher, you can go now. Do not say a single word about this to anyone. Not even Mother or Father. Do you understand?”
Kreacher grumbled something unintelligible, nodded slightly; something looked remarkable like tears glistening in his eyes.
Regulus sighed inaudibly and gave a soft pat to Kreacher on his back and ordered quietly again, “Go back and rest. Go.”
Kreacher nodded silently and retreat. Looking at him disappearing outside the door, Regulus shut his eyes tightly, didn’t want to think of what had just happened.
He muttered some healing spell to his leg and then stumbled onto the bed, slipping the locket inside the bedside drawer.
Any worry would be left to tomorrow, now what he wanted most was to sleep, to forget everything about this world, about his life. He slowly fell into a slumber; then he saw another world of magic opened its doors to welcome him.
Sunday. Stranger
He couldn’t breathe. Struggling vainly for air in the water, he panicked.
His head was dizzy, and he had no idea how he ended up in the water. He should be on the way to Hogwarts, looking forward to his sixth year. A very important year; or so his parents said. He struggled fiercely, trying to get more air.
A hand suddenly grabbed his left arm and pulled him forcefully up the shore. When he was able to breathe he let out a sigh of relief. Thank Merlin there was someone nearby. Wanting to thank whoever it was that pulled him up, he looked up into a pair of familiar grey eyes, filled with concern.
Sirius.
He was more than surprised by such open display of concern in his brother’s eyes.
Sirius stopped worrying about me the moment he made friends with Potter.
Regulus thought, wanting to laugh mirthlessly. He made an effort to stand up, brushing Sirius’ hand aside.
Reluctantly grumbled a “Thanks” to the air, deliberately not looking at Sirius, he turned to leave.
Sirius was not letting him go without a talk. A hand from behind grabbed his shoulder, Sirius asked impatiently, “Are you alright, Reg? What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong? What’s wrong?
Regulus whirled around and looked at Sirius in his eyes, wanting to scream “Everything is wrong, Sirius! Everything is wrong the moment you decided to be sorted into Gryffindor!”
Yet he stood there staring at Sirius, could not utter a word; a sense of weirdness suddenly threatened to drown his mind. There was something wrong about Sirius; or about himself; or about this place; he just couldn’t figure out what.
Sirius walked towards him slowly, eye contact never wavering.
“You are very touchy and strange today, Reg. Care to tell me why? And by the way,” Sirius pointed to his robe and tie, voice strained, “What happened to your dress? Why are you wearing those?”
“There’s nothing wrong with my dress!” Regulus looked down briefly to ensure his attire was indeed alright, “and I am always touchy around you, so go away!”
Sirius frowned.
Regulus suddenly felt nervous. This wasn’t the Sirius he knew. The Sirius he knew would tease him mercilessly as soon as he was out of the water (but he would pull him out of the water first, of course), and within two minutes he would be gone together with his friends. Sirius never liked staying around him. The sudden change in attitude and Sirius looking at him strangely now, eyeing him up and down suspiciously, all these unnerved him.
“I am sorry to break it to you, but Regulus was never quite this touchy around me. So,” Sirius said in a deliberate low voice slowly, looking intently at Regulus, “Who on earth are you?”
Regulus swallowed and retorted, “Who do you think I am? Of course I am the unlucky brother of Sirius Black. On the other hand, while we are at it, who are you?”
Sirius narrowed his eyes, “Unlucky brother? Now, I think, is a time we are good for a chat with Dumbledore.”
He grabbed Regulus’ left arm firmly and dragged him towards the castle.
“What—”
Regulus stopped his question abruptly and struggled half-heartedly for a moment; soon he gave up and let Sirius drag him along.
Yes, he decided, we did need to see Dumbledore. Everything just doesn’t make sense.
Not that he’s particularly fond of visiting the Muggle loving fool’s office; but if there’s anyone who could make sense of the current situation, it’s probably him.
It was the first time he’s been to Dumbledore’s office. Not like Sirius, who must have been in this place more times than he could count.
When McGonagall led them into the office, he looked around rather curiously. This was a place full of interesting magical objects. If he could just explore it, that would really make his day.
Before he realized it he was already standing in front of Dumbledore’s desk, left arm still in Sirius’ grip. He finally shrugged Sirius off. Suddenly feeling nervous out of nowhere – he knew he did nothing wrong, he stared at the desk instead of looking at Dumbledore.
“Ah, young gentlemen, what brings you to my office, may I ask?” Dumbledore’s voice was pleasant and mild as ever, and he sounded like rather amused.
Sirius hesitated for a moment before he started, “…it’s Regulus. Or whoever this is. There’s something wrong with him. He doesn’t sound like my brother, and he’s wearing Slytherin colour! This definitely isn’t my brother!”
Regulus straightened his back a little and finally looked up at Dumbledore, “Sir, I would say the same thing about him! He doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve never seen him behaving like this. And I see nothing wrong in wearing Slytherin colours!”
Dumbledore’s amusement only seemed to grow, “Hmm, may I ask, what were you doing before this happens?”
“He was…”
“I was…”
Sirius glared at Regulus, “Let me say it.”
Regulus shrugged and remained silent after that.
“He was drowning in the lake - I didn’t know how he fell into it. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. After that, every strange thing happened.”
“So, before the incident that he fell into the lake, everything was normal?” Dumbledore asked.
“Yes!” Sirius answered hotly. Regulus merely nodded.
Dumbledore stood up and walked to them. He looked at them both intently. The amusement half gone. Though there was still something like a twinkle in his eyes.
“Young Misters, I think this is really something that needs a very good explanation. I only hope that you will listen to me.”
“I would assure both of you, that none of you is wrong in your claim. No one lies in this little event. But sometimes, just sometimes, fate has a little twisted humour to play on us. What you experienced is a very old magical occurrence that’s rarely seen these days.”
Dumbledore took another fifteen minutes to explain to them what this strange event meant.
Finally Sirius spoke, “So, what you are trying to tell us in the past fifteen minutes is, we are from two different worlds; and in that world of his, the Regulus standing beside me is in Slytherin, while my brother Regulus is in Gryffindor. Now because of some twisted magic, he enters into our world.”
“Essentially, yes.” Dumbledore nodded.
Sirius turned to looked at Regulus, his face wearing an expression of wonder; like he couldn’t wrap around the idea of a different Regulus. One that doesn’t belong in Gryffindor.
Regulus didn’t blame him. He had every difficulty imagining himself a Gryffindor. He could only wonder how his mother would react if this happened in his world.
“But, but what happened to my brother then? What happened to Regulus in our world?” Sirius stammered slightly.
Dumbledore put a soothing hand on his shoulder, “Do not worry, Mr. Black. If I did not speculate wrongly, your brother would be in his counterpart’s place. There will be a way to rectify the problem. Most often, the nature corrects the slight twist of fate itself after a short period of time.”
“What if it didn’t? He, my brother, he’s going to be in a world where everyone expects him to be a Slytherin; but he’s not!” Sirius wouldn’t back down.
Dumbledore replied calmly, “I am sure he would seek the help of my counterpart, or whoever that’s responsible for Hogwarts in that world. And we would do our best to help.”
He turned to Regulus, “I hope I am right to assume that there is someone who can offer help to your counterpart?”
Regulus nodded slightly, “I think…he would look for your help, sir. Or rather, your counterpart’s help.”
Dumbledore smiled mildly at him and nodded, “That would be great. Meanwhile, young gentlemen, we have to settle Regulus’ stay in this place. I think I would have an easier job than my other self who occupies the other world. I assume Regulus could stay in the Gryffindor tower with Sirius. Is this arrangement pleasant enough for both of you?”
“What—” Sirius spluttered, “Let him stay with me? But he’s not Regulus. Well, not really! At least not the Regulus I know! He’s a Slytherin!”
Regulus looked down again. He didn’t want to look too eager. He wanted to spend time with his brother. Well, not his brother exactly, but Sirius nonetheless; Gryffindor, short-tempered, looking-for-trouble Sirius. He wanted to stay with Sirius, even though that meant he would also be staying with all those Mudbloods and such; but he didn’t want to look too eager.
If Sirius would not have him stay in the Gryffindor tower, he’s not going to plead. Just like when Sirius ran away.
If Sirius wasn’t going to stay, he sure was not going to plead.
Dumbledore looked at Sirius for a while, and then turned to Regulus, “What do you say, Regulus?”
Regulus didn’t prepare for the question to be directed at him so quickly and he stuttered, “Eh, well, whatever Sirius is comfortable with.”
He regretted saying this right after the words left his mouth. He should reject the offer right away; say he wanted to stay elsewhere. With the Slytherins, probably; though that would surely complicate the whole problem.
He was surprised to find Sirius’ expression softened at his words.
Sirius sighed a little, conceded, “Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. He could stay with me.”
Dumbledore smiled, “That solved a big issue. Now, just a word of caution. I will be looking into the solution for this problem with other professors. However, you should keep this strictly a secret between the two of you. The fewer people know this the better.”
Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it and stopped. Regulus simply nodded.
“Great. Now off you go. Please continue your daily activities.” Dumbledore finally dismissed them.
They trotted out of Dumbledore’s office quickly. Regulus was walking half a step behind Sirius, remaining silent along the way.
It was Sirius who finally broke the silence, “So, what is it like over there?”
Regulus stared for a moment and then realized Sirius meant what it was like in the other world.
He shrugged, “Well, nothing really struck me as too different in this place yet. The same old castle, Dumbledore’s more or less the same. Everything else I couldn’t really compare yet.”
“Oh.” Sirius kicked the wall absentmindedly. After a moment of silence, he asked again, “What about me? Is there anything different about me?”
Regulus faltered at this question.
“Eh, not essentially. Not really different.” He finally said after some hesitation.
“But you insisted just now that I don’t feel right. Not like your brother.” Sirius pressed.
“Well, my brother, he, isn’t really on speaking terms with me. So when you asked whether I was alright at the lake, well, I was just, a little surprised.” Regulus said hesitantly and very quietly.
“Why is your brother—Oh…” Sirius was going to ask ‘Why is your brother not on speaking terms with you’, but realized at once what might cause it and caught himself in time.
“Yeah…” Regulus replied vaguely.
They continued their walk towards the Gryffindor tower in silence.
Finally they reached their destination, Sirius gestured to the Fat Lady and said dramatically, “Welcome to Gryffindor, the most magnificent of four houses in Hogwarts! Be my guest. Well, at least if you don’t make too much trouble.”
Regulus gave him a weak smile and attempted a retorted, “I thought you were the one who would make too much trouble.”
Sirius laughed, “That’s too true! Of course, me and James, who couldn’t stay out of trouble’s way!”
He said the password happily and the Portrait swung open.
He turned to find Regulus stood where he was and did not follow.
“What’s the matter?” Sirius asked.
Regulus hesitated for a moment and then finally said, “I…don’t get along very well with Pott-James Potter. Or most of Gryffindors, for that matter. Just, help distract them a little, or I am afraid I will slip something.”
Sirius frowned, but agreed nonetheless, “Okay. Just stay close with me when possible then.”
Regulus nodded mutely and he was suddenly very jealous of his other self. He could picture when first sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius said the same thing to him.
Stay close with me.
This meant in Sirius’ vocabulary, I would protect you.
Not like what Sirius said to him after his sorting, ‘Go back to your friends. Here’s not where you should be!’
He followed Sirius into the Gryffindor common room without a word. Luckily the common room was rather empty in this hour of the day. Sirius led him to the Boys’ Dormitory and pointed to him which bed would be his to stay.
Regulus then watched Sirius dug out books and other belongings of his other self.
“Not sure how long you are going to stay, so maybe you will need all these. Just be careful with them. Don’t scribble anything on the books; take care of the books and such. Regulus will go insane when he gets back if he finds out his books are not under good care. A book-loving freak, he is.” Sirius said with a rather fond smile.
Regulus returned the smile slightly, “Don’t worry, I am quite a freak regarding caring for books myself. I think they will be under good hands.”
Sirius laughed, “That’s good. Now I am more confident that you really are Regulus, although not exactly the same one as mine.”
Regulus only nodded.
Sirius patted his shoulder, “Just do whatever you like. I will ask one of your classmates to excuse you from today’s lessons. I am having Transfiguration soon, so I need to get going. See you tonight then. Don’t get yourself into trouble!”
He then jogged off.
Regulus waved his goodbye and wondered, was Sirius this overprotective with everyone around him. He never had the chance to find out with his brother.
He stared at the books lay before him, didn’t know what to do next. A feeling of dread suddenly rose inside his mind after Sirius left. He was in a completely strange world. No, not completely strange, but strange enough that he didn’t know what to expect, and how to behave. What would the other Regulus do when he was asked a question? Or when he met a Gryffindor? Or worse, when he met a Slytherin? Would he taunt them or make pranks on them like his brother would? He was confused and he wanted so much to go back to his world, where he knew what to expect from everyone.
Grabbed a random textbook, he headed downstairs to the almost deserted common room and decided to revise. Or maybe just to occupy his mind, so that he would stop thinking about the feeling of dread.
He looked at the textbook he picked up and find that it was a Potions textbook.
Soon he was engrossed in his revision and forgot everything about worry.
After a few hours – or what he thought was a few hours, someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around to see a redhead. Lily Evans.
“What’s the matter?” He regretted his harsh tone right away.
Evans frowned, but made no comment of his manner. Instead she just replied, “Nothing too important, really. Just want to ask may I get my Potions textbook back. You borrowed it last night, remembered?”
Regulus frowned and he almost asked, why would I borrow from a Mudblood like you instead of from Sirius, but he caught himself in time. Right, this was the other Regulus; and knowing Sirius, his textbook’s probably forgotten in some corner, so borrowing from him might not be an option.
“Sorry, I was a little tired. I would get you your book right now.” He ran up to his dormitory and found the Seventh Year Potions textbook.
He headed back down to the common room and handed the book to Evans. Evans smiled and thanked him politely before leaving.
He’s now having the urge to wash his hands. It felt strange. Touching something belonged to a Mudblood. Muggleborn. He suddenly felt he heard someone correct him. The voice sounded remarkably like it belonged to Sirius.
Yet Sirius stopped correcting him after the second year. He would just try to hex him right away if he ever heard Regulus saying Mudblood. However, his mother would punish him if he ever said Muggleborn within her earshot.
He smiled wryly. Irony of life.
Staring at his hands, he wondered what exactly about Mud-Muggleborns that would harm him. He didn’t feel any different handing an item to a Muggleborn than to a Pureblood.
Of course their poison is invisible.
Bella probably would say this.
He gathered his textbook and other items to leave. He shouldn’t stay in the common room for any longer. More and more other students were coming back. He couldn’t risk a slip like what happened just now. He wasn’t sure he could manage to stay away from trouble until Dumbledore found a solution. That seemed to be a hope so far away and he was constantly in the risk of saying the wrong thing.
Sitting on his bed with nothing else to do, he wished Sirius would come back soon.
He slowly fell asleep while waiting.
When he woke up it was already rather dark outside the window. He wondered what time it was now. He definitely missed dinner.
When he tried to get up a voice startled him.
“Oh, so you are awake. Great. I was thinking I really need to wake you up by now.”
It was Sirius; and he felt his heart beat slowed down to normal pace.
“I fell asleep in late afternoon. I must have missed dinner.” Regulus said.
Sirius lit up the room and grinned, “Don’t worry. I never let anyone starve under my care. I’ve saved you something when I realized you were asleep. If that’s not enough, we could always sneak out to the kitchen later.”
“Oh…Thanks…” Sneaking out into the kitchen? That definitely sound like something Sirius would do.
Sirius went downstairs and brought up a rather large piece of cake, some chicken wings and lots of fruit. He sat down next to Regulus carefully.
Regulus looked at what Sirius brought and smiled. He finished the food as quickly as he could.
“Thanks.” Regulus said again, grateful that Sirius remembered to bring something for him.
“No problem.” Sirius grinned. He suddenly stood up and grabbed Regulus’ arm, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Regulus’ step faltered while he was dragged along, “Okay. Just let go of me. I can walk.”
They half jogged until they were outside of the castle. Not the time of curfew yet, they could enjoy a few moments in the open air.
“Tell me about yourself.” Sirius finally said after a few moments standing in silence, “I wanted to know…what would Regulus be like if he’s in Slytherin.”
Regulus pressed his lips hard.
“You wouldn’t want to know the details.” He said after a moment, “it is what you could expect.”
Sirius said slowly, “So, you think Mother and Father are right…That Muggles and Muggleborns are filthy; that I am a blood traitor…and…”
“Yes!!!” Regulus interrupt fiercely, suddenly feeling angry, “So don’t be too nice to me. I am not the Regulus of yours. I am not your brother!”
Like you painstakingly reminded me every time I met you and your lot, that only they were your brothers.
“No, I am not.” Sirius looked at his expression closely and said softly, “Yet you miss your brother, do you not?”
Oh, he’s going to see me crying if he doesn’t stop staring.
Regulus thought desperately.
Sirius suddenly took a step towards him and embraced him tightly.
“I am sorry. I am sorry if I ever hurt you. I am sorry if sometimes I said something that I didn’t mean to. I am sorry if I treated you badly. I am sorry.” Sirius said quietly to him.
And he was crying in Sirius’ arms now. Sobbing in his shoulder, he thought in despair.
If only this is my Sirius, if only he could say something like this to me.
He rasped, “And I am sorry! I am sorry I listened to Mother and Father! I am sorry I didn’t realize you are right! I am sorry I joined them. I am sorry I’ve killed! I don’t want to anymore! I am so sorry!”
He was suddenly frozen and Oh what had he said!
Sirius’ face in front of him suddenly distorted, changing into an expression of hatred and distain. His eyes filled with disgust.
“No Sirius, please! Don’t! Sirius, please don’t…Listen to me…”
But suddenly Sirius was no longer there. He disappeared along with everything else; he was now standing at the shore of that lake, looking into countless deathly faces of inferi.
He screamed.
Panting heavily and sweating, he opened his eyes to realize he’s still in his dusty room.
He sat up and stared at the empty space. He thought he could still feel Sirius’ warm embrace around him. Sirius’ voice still echoed in his ear.
I am sorry if I ever hurt you.
And he wept silently in the darkness.
End of Sunday |
