SOLACE , r.black x oc x s.black

chapter thirty-four

"She told you that, did she?" Regulus drawled, his voice low and cold. "She wants you even when you can't bring yourself to put her before all your other girls?"

"You know nothing." Sirius told him, his voice now taking on that cocky air that Jackie hated. "And she didn't need to tell me. She did a good enough job of showing me."

Jackie glowered at that statement and when James offered her a congratulatory handshake, she was tempted to grab his glasses off his face and let him walk around half-blind for the rest of the day.

"You keep your filthy hands off her." Regulus snarled, and Jackie could hear the rustle of his robes as he drew his wand. "The only thing you're good for is leaving behind damage wherever you go. I won't let you do that to her too."

Jackie had a feeling that this had a deeper meaning. Sirius had a habit of leaving others to pick up the pieces of his mess. Regulus had been a victim of it already and he obviously thought she would be next.

"Oh because you're so much better than me?" Sirius questioned incredulously. "You're still stuck in the back pocket of Death Eaters: Malfoy. Snape. Nott." He rhymed off meticulously. "Are you determined to bring her down with you too?"

That was Regulus' snapping point apparently. Jackie could hear the scuffle of feet and then his ragged voice. "What are you trying to say?" He asked furiously.

"I'm trying to say that she's in danger now. She ran away after her father tried to Mark her and now she's as much of a blood traitor as me." Sirius explained, his voice lowering viciously. "Do you know what those Death Eaters you hang around with do to blood traitors?"

"Anyone who tries is as good as dead." Regulus promised soundly.

"They'll round her up along with the rest of us." Sirius told him. "And there's nothing you'll be able to do about it."

"They won't." Regulus denied with a shout, finally showing a scrap of real anger.

Sirius knew he had an in now. Regulus would snap under the knowledge that he couldn't protect her. Sirius would finally be able to get the reaction he had been searching for.

"Coward." Sirius goaded menacingly. "They'll kill us all while you watch from the sidelines."

Sirius didn't know yet that Regulus wasn't on the sidelines. He had picked a side and the evidence was residing on his forearm. All because Sirius had run away and left him to serve the Dark Lord in his place. This reminder only helped to spark his temper.

"Get out before I do something stupid." Regulus threatened, raising his wand and pointing it at Sirius with a frighteningly unwavering hand.

"See brother?" Sirius replied, not at all scared. He knew he wouldn't have the nerve to do anything. "You're just like them."

A searing beam of blue light flew from Regulus' wand and would have hit Sirius in the chest squarely, had he not ducked at the last second.

Sirius shook his wand out from his sleeve and shot a Full Body-Bind Curse at Regulus which he deflected with a lazy flick of his wand.

Just as Jackie was about to turn the corner and tell them to grow up, Regulus shot a Stunning Spell at Sirius, so powerful that he was blasted back and his body crumpled against the wall.

"Reg!?" Jackie gasped, revealing herself and looking between Sirius' unconscious form and Regulus' tense expression.

James was there immediately, wand raised, eager to become Sirius' second now that he couldn't duel any longer. Jackie shook her head at him and he lowered his arm.