A broken promise

Screaming. It had gone on for hours. For so long that Regulus thought it would never stop. He was huddled beside his bed, hands against his ears and eyes clenched shut. He refused to cry but he could feel the tears trying to escape. Finally silence. It rang loud in the home. Louder then the screaming had. Impossibly so. Regulus lowered his arms, eyes opening only to be blinded by the light in his room for a couple of seconds. A loud slamming of a door rang through the hallways, making Regulus wince at the sound. He scrambled to his feet, moving quickly to the bedroom door to peer out of it. Sirius door was opened and there was shuffling around. Regulus’ lips curled down into a frown at the sound of things being shoved into something. He shouldn’t pry. He should go back into his own room and shut the door. He should have but Sirius and Regulus always was there for each other. And the screaming had gotten harsh halfway through. Tiptoeing towards Sirius door he poked his head inside. Brows furrowing as he watched Sirius move from one side of the room to another: shoving clothes into a bag that laid open on his bed. “What….What are you doing?” It took a moment for the words to get out of his throat. He didn’t need to hear Sirius speak to know what he was planning. The words ‘I can’t do this anymore, Reg. I’m leaving: James already said I’m allowed to stay there whenever I needed to’ were spoken but Regulus did not hear them. They were white noise to his ears. His chest felt as if something was squeezing his heart and his throat felt as if he had swallowed a ball. Sirius’ concerned face and hand reaching towards him had Regulus reeling backwards: to escape that hand. He pressed a hand against his chest, eyes wide as he stared at Sirius. “You can’t! You promised me!” Sirius scrambled forward, grabbing Regulus’ hands before he could move away again. “Come with me! James won’t care. His parents will adore you. They’d treat you better then Walburga and Orion ever could.” Regulus shook his head. He wanted to believe him. Wanted to say yes. Wanted to go back to his room and pack but he couldn’t. He managed to jerk away from Sirius, ignoring the hurt look in his eyes. “Reg.” “Regulus!” His mother’s voice shrieked through the house: jerking Regulus upright and causing frantic eyes to dart around the hallway in search of said shriek. “Regulus…..Please. Come with me. Get away from this house. This family. We can finally have a happy family that doesn’t force us to do what we do not want to do.” Regulus eyed the hand that was outstretched, fingers ready to curl around Regulus’ own hand. He reached forward, fingers brushing against Sirius’ outstretched ones when his name was screamed out again. “Regulus!” Hand snatched back and pressed against his chest, Regulus shook his head and fled down the hall: towards his mother. Leaving Sirius behind. When he returned to his room after watching Sirius leave and his mother blast his name off the tapestry he collapsed onto the bed: silent tears falling as he buried his face into his pillow. A promise to always be there for each other had been broken. All because Regulus feared his mother more then he loved his brother. Feared the image of the Noble house of Black being tarnished more then it already had with a Gryffindor. He was the prefect heir, after all. Years later when he was betraying Voldemort and his family the only thing he truly regretted was never leaving with Sirius and never fixing their relationship.