James and Sirius Apparated to the Ministry one day in March, dragging two unconscious Death Eaters. They handed them over to Bartemius Crouch.
"Caught them, have you?" asked Crouch. "Good job, both of you. These deserve Azkaban...and maybe some torture procedures too."
As James and Sirius prepared to leave, Crouch said, "By the way, Black, got the news yesterday—your brother is dead."
Sirius stared at him blankly. "What?"
"Regulus Black, your brother. He's dead. Vanished without a trace. Heard that he tried to give Voldemort the slip. Voldemort killed him, from what I heard."
"Oh," said Sirius.
James took his arm and thanked Mr. Crouch. "Let's go, Padfoot."
Back in Sirius' flat, they sat down for lunch, as there was an Order meeting later that evening.
"He wasn't my brother anyway," said Sirius after some time of silence.
"Not much," agreed James.
"I couldn't have done anything to prevent his death, could I, Prongs?"
"Of course not. You tried to convince him, mate. What more could you have done?"
"But he tried to oppose Voldemort in the end..." said Sirius thoughtfully.
"Good for him. After all, he's your..." James' words were interrupted by a knocking at the window. An owl was carrying a letter.
Sirius took it and silently read it. "It's from my father. He wants me to meet him in the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow."
James studied his best friend, whose eyes had clouded over. "I'm not going," said Sirius flatly.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," said James.
Yet, when that evening Hestia said that they needed a new tablecloth for the dining table at Orme Square, Sirius volunteered to get it from Diagon Alley the next day.
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Orion Black was already present in the Leaky Cauldron when Sirius arrived there at noon.
"Hello, son," he said, standing up and shaking Sirius' hand. "How are you?"
"Fine, thank you," said Sirius coolly. "Is there a reason you wanted to meet here, father?"
"Yes, have you heard about Regulus?"
"Yeah, I heard yesterday that he's dead."
Orion studied his son's emotionless face. "He seemed to have renounced the Dark Lord."
Sirius shrugged. "Maybe."
"Did he contact you in any way before he died? Did you influence him?"
"No, father," said Sirius, looking straight into his father's eyes.
"What is your take on your brother's death, Sirius?"
"Nothing, I guess. I don't care one bit whether he lives or dies." This time Sirius could not meet his father's eyes.
"You haven't got better at lying, son."
"Can I ask you one thing, father? Why d'you keep calling me son? Didn't you disown me?" asked Sirius, his voice rising.
"No, we didn't. You disowned us. We didn't tell you to leave."
"You were telling me to join Voldemort!"
"We were asking you to take the right path, Sirius—the safest path."
"Safest? Killing and harming innocent people? Who wants that sort of safety?"
"As you have seen, a lot of people."
Sirius stood up, fuming.
His father continued. "Maybe some of your own team want that safety."
"No," said Sirius distinctly. "None of them do. Goodbye, father."
Sirius strode into Diagon Alley.
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When he was passing through Muggle London on his flying motorbike (now going on the ground) to drop the tablecloth at Orme Square, he passed a Muggle family walking on the footpath.
He casually glanced at the parents and boy and girl and suddenly his heart gave queer pang, which he couldn't understand.
It wasn't until later that night that he realized—the Muggle girl had been walking in a way that closely mirrored Marlene's awkward gait.
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Another letter was waiting for him in the morning. Sirius opened it and recognized the handwriting at once.
"By the time you get this, I'll already be dead. But I want to tell you that you were right, as usual. I should have listened to you instead of our narrow-minded parents. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor. I asked it to put me in Slytherin, Sirius. I joined Voldemort to make mother and father proud.
But I have realized that it would have been better to make you proud. I was never brave like you, Sirius. I gave in to the easy way—the coward's way. I'm sorry.
Now that I have realized it myself, I am doing my best to defy the Dark Lord.
Hope you guys defeat him in future.
I love you, Sirius. You were a much better brother than I was. Sorry and thank you.
~Reg."
Sirius gritted his teeth and tried to blink back the tears, but it was no good. He collapsed on his bed and cried till noon, when Remus, James and Peter came to fetch him for an Order duty.
The war was cruelly taking away everything from them. And yet it didn't seem to draw to an end.