Icarus and His Sun

December- 1972 [Part Two]

"Blow up the ballroom !"

He rushes out the kitchen door calling to his brother. He catches Regulus just as he's about to leave the dining room.

"Reggie ! Reggie, I need your help !" He takes the platter out of his hands and drops it on the table behind him. The familiar buzz of excitement flows just under the surface of his skin.

Regulus shrinks back against the door, slightly frightened.

"Listen, I need you to get something from my room, alright ? In my trunk, at the bottom, there should be a little brown chest. I need you to grab it and bring it back here, I'll go out and make sure no one comes through the hall for a while."

"Sirius, what are you—"

"Just do it, Reggie, please ?"

His eyes are wide and the smile on his face has got to be borderline psychotic. Regulus studies him for a second, looks at his forgotten platter on the table, then sighs and shakes his head.

"If I get in trouble for this I'll hex you."

"Good boy," Sirius says, pushing Regulus out the door and towards the stairs.

He only has to stand watch for a few minutes until Regulus is coming back down, chest in hand. Sirius is practically bouncing off the walls as he brings Regulus back to the dining room to explain the plan.

He opens the chest and digs inside, pulling out a few bundles of small red sticks. He hands two bunches over to his brother and takes two of his own.

"Right, put those in your pockets," Sirius starts, following his own directions. "When you get back to the ballroom, find a place to hide them. Somewhere that you can't see them but that'll draw a lot of attention once they go off."

Regulus draws his eyebrows. "Go off ? What are these ?"

"You'll see," he says as he takes another pack from the chest to demonstrate. "Now look, there's a little tag in one of the sticks here, see ? When you find a good spot, leave it and pull the tag. They're gonna kick in fast, so you'll have to hurry to plant the second one."

He picks up Regulus's platter, handing it back to him, then runs back to the kitchen to grab his own. Together they walk back to the ballroom to carry out the mission.

"I'm placing mine now. Be quick," he whispers before speed walking to the other side of the room.

There aren't many options for his hiding spots, but he's had practice and can make do. He leaves one bundle in a large potted plant, dropping it into the soil to wait.

He should've planned ahead though, as he soon realizes he's posted himself far away from any remaining objects to hide them in. The only available spot is a table farther down the wall. He resigns himself to throwing them underneath and pulls the tag when someone walks up to him.

"What do you think you're doing ?" Narcissa whispers angrily. She grabs at his hand, snatching the bundle of sticks away. "You always have to go looking for trouble, don't you ?"

Sirius's eyes go wide, his mouth falling open in shock. This will not end well.

"Narcissa, give that back." His eyes are on the sticks, watching them carefully.

"And let you spoil a perfectly good party ? Honestly, Sirius, for once just calm down."

"Cissy this isn't a joke, you're going to get hurt."

Something in his voice must sound panicked enough to get her to listen. She stops, staring skeptically, but doesn't hand them over.

He doesn't have time for this. He quickly grabs her hand, wrenching the sticks free of her grasp, and ignores her shouts of protest. Without thinking, he hurls the sticks into the air directly above the crowd.