ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴇʀᴀ

x. diadem

Sirius crawled up and out the Whomping Willow, trying to follow his younger brother. He tripped and even almost fell but he caught himself fast. Regulus wasn't too far from him but he was speeding.

"Reg! Reg! Regulus!" Sirius yelled furiously, running even faster.

Although Regulus walked fast, his older brother managed to catch up to him. Sirius grabbed his elbow, forcing Regulus to face him.

"What do you want?" the young Black spat through gritted teeth. He seemed to be controlling himself, preventing the bomb to explode.

But Sirius didn't care, he needed answers. "I want you to tell me how idiotic you've been and why did you have that mark," he demanded with a clenched jaw.

"Why? You don't know why?" Regulus scoffed. "Think about it, brother. Why do you think so?"

Sirius' grip slowly loosened. He had just stepped across the line he shouldn't, had he not?

"Come on! Think about it!" Both of them are surprised that the silent Regulus Black just screamed. Even the four people who did not step out of the Whomping Willow were equally surprised. "Think about what happened two years ago that gave me this mark!" Regulus raised the sleeve of his uniform, revealing the Dark Mark he had been hiding since summer.

Their eyes started to well up in tears. Regulus tried to blink them away but it was no use, they kept coming back.

"You left me," it was almost a whisper. "You left me in that house, all alone! You, the heir of the Black Family! Where do you suppose all your burden will befall? Who else was in that family should carry the burden you left no matter if he could or could not do it?"

Guilt wash over Sirius. He wanted to say something, to apologise. But no words were coming out of his mouth. He couldn't even make a sentence in his head.

Regulus nodded. "Yes, this is your fault, Sirius. So don't come at me, yelling and telling how idiotic I was for having this on my forearm because it was you who put it here."

He walked away, leaving his brother stoned where he was standing. Sirius could not bring himself to follow Regulus further. He wanted an answer and he gave it; a harsh honest answer.

It hurt that he was the reason why his brother had gone to the dark path. He hadn't been the brother to Regulus that he was supposed to be. But at that moment, he was determined to be.

°°°

That night, the Marauders once again sneaked out of their common room. Sirius was still slightly shaken about his brother but he must accept what had been done and proceed to make things better.

James, Peter, and Sirius were hiding and waiting by the walls, hoping not to get caught by Filch or anyone. Remus was fetching Callie in the shack. He used James' cloak in order not to be seen.

It didn't take them long enough to wait for the two when they appeared after Remus took off the cloak above them. He gave it back to the owner and James folded it.

"We need to go to the seventh floor," Callie whispered and the four nodded.

Slowly and silently, the five climbed the moving stairs towards the seventh floor. It was a hard journey going up there. Because the stairs were moving, it would sometimes direct them elsewhere. It moved without a prompt that made Callie yelp, creating unwanted noises that could be heard by anyone.

They luckily got to the seventh floor with some struggles. Fortunately, no one had caught them sneaking around, much to Callie's relief. She thought they would be seen because of her yelps.