[HP] Magic didn't give up on you

In the night wind that raged in the middle of December, Sirius turned his head and looked carefully at his half-brother for a while with serious eyes that he hadn't seen for a long time.

Regulus was only one year younger than him, and the two of them had no half-sisters, only three cousins.Although the Black family is as noble and pure as their mother Walburga claimed to be (Sirius sneered at this thought), it is an indisputable fact that those families who still insist on only marrying pure blood are often populous. Withering, there are fewer and fewer heirs, and it is not always possible to find playmates who come and go. Everyone is still arrogant and self-confident under the education of pure-blood families, so they seem to be more and more alone.

Before he entered Hogwarts, was sorted into Gryffindor, and met his three best friends, Regulus was his closest playmate during the 11 years of growing up in the Black family.The two of them are only one year apart, and they are biological brothers. The well-behaved Regulus will get more praise from his parents, but he has been naughty since he was a child, and has always caused headaches for his parents, but there is no doubt that he himself knows—— His parents actually valued him as much. He was the eldest son of the Black family, and they had high hopes for him.

Just look at the things they want him to do: go to some boring parties, play bureaucrats with people with fake smiles, talk to people with pure blood at a young age, be smart, be dignified , You must use your nostrils to look at everyone who is not a pure-blood, and you must take the glory of the family as your highest mission... To be the same as everyone else in this circle, not to be an outlier.

He has always been a little dismissive of these requests.Look at those who meet their requirements in their mouths. Lucius is so hypocritical that it makes people sick, and Rabastan is so reckless and stupid that it makes people sick.Rodolphus is still a standard pure-blood family heir, so his behavior is particularly annoying.Objectively speaking, he had felt that Rodolphus was not good enough for his cousin Bellatrix when he married him, but now they are exactly the same.

Everything is boring, and everything I come into contact with seems to be preserved intact from the ancient historical inheritance, and it will be ashes at the touch of one hand.He once complained about all this to his brother, who agreed with some of his views, but disagreed with others.

"If you don't like it very much, then you can improve him, Sirius." During the Christmas holiday when he was sorted into Gryffindor and went home, the ten-year-old Regulus said to him seriously, immature With a serious expression on his face, "For example, if you don't like the banquet held at home and feel that you have invited a lot of inexplicable people, then you can stop inviting them after you become the head of the Black family and reduce your contacts with them. Freedom to do so."

"It sounded like two kids arguing, and one of them decided not to play with the other for three days." He twitched the corners of his lips at the time, making Regulus laugh like this, but it was very old-fashioned frowned.

"You know, sometimes we can only do this." His younger brother said, "For example, if the person you don't like is Lucius, then all you can do is reduce the frequency of dealing with him. We can't break off our relationship, and we can't stop seeing each other... Our cousin Narcissa is already engaged to him, and they will get married after graduation, and he will become our cousin's husband, so we can't completely ignore him."

"Maybe I can only stop being tortured by this inexplicable rule if I turn myself into a person hanging in the picture frame earlier." He muttered at the time, and was patted by Regulus, cursing himself for him open mouth.

"In short, there are obviously many more gentle and appropriate solutions, Sirius." His younger brother said, "Don't choose the most intense one every time... quarrel with parents, don't listen to their arrangements, and get yourself into trouble." Gryffindor..."

"Hey." He interrupted his younger brother's enumeration, frowning, "Why did I get myself into Gryffindor—I was sorted into Gryffindor! The Sorting Hat thinks I belong there."

Of course, the parents of their family didn't have the leisure to keep the mystery of school admission for them. They told their sons the experience they thought was useful in detail, and after he let them down, they taught it to Regule without reservation. Si, since he was sorted into Gryffindor, the relevant content of the Sorting Hat has been added urgently, and it has become the top priority of imparting experience to Regulus.

"Yes, I know..." Regulus was interrupted by him, froze for a moment, thought for a while, and said, "But you could have asked for the Sorting Hat, I guess? You could have said to it that the whole Black family It's Slytherin, and you want to go too, not to Gryffindor, you can prove to it that you are a Slytherin..."

That was probably the first time he really realized that he was different from his brother.It's not the difference in height and appearance, but some deeper differences... At the age of 11, he still can't accurately describe this difference.

So at that time, he could only frown and say in disbelief: "I won't do that! Because I'm a Gryffindor! What do you want me to do, pretend to be a Slytherin? Do I have to pretend for the rest of my life?" ? Just so you don’t feel like there’s a freak in the family? Don’t make you feel ashamed?”

At the end, his voice raised unconsciously, and he stared at his brother in front of him, feeling a kind of anger and loss of being denied.He had had enough of this kind of treatment in front of his parents, and he thought his younger brother who was as friendly to him as before would be different.

He thought...thought that at least his younger brother could understand him better...they were brothers who grew up together, didn't they?

Ten-year-old Regulus looked at him, hesitated for a while, and whispered, "I don't know...but if the Sorting Hat also sorts me into Gryffindor, I will, Sirius .”

At that time, he stared at him, unable to understand the other party's choice at all.Looking back now, I can understand his logic.Yes, his younger brother has always been this kind of person, well-behaved, sensible, well-measured, never doing anything out of line, always hoping to achieve his goals by means that are not too radical, and a person who pays attention to dignity all the time.

Maybe this is at least better than parents who want to write their arrogance and pickiness on their faces, but Sirius feels objectively that he is a bit too naive. What is amazing is that even though he joined the Death Eaters early, he still has not changed own this.

Maybe there are always one or two aspects of people, which are related to their own essence, and they will not change no matter what they experience.

On such a Christmas Eve where thousands of families are reunited, the two brothers who are in the opposite camp blow the cold wind together, Sirius really didn't expect his Christmas Eve to be like this.It's been a long time, maybe it's actually the first time he's looked at his younger brother seriously, and found that the two of them have become a little bit more alike after they grow up. The similarity in eyebrows and eyes may only be five points, but they both have a description If the two of them have the opportunity to walk side by side in the sun like this now, people who don't know them will definitely be able to see that they are brothers.

"Sirius?" Regulus looked over questioningly and asked him, "What are you thinking?"

Sirius looked at him and said calmly, "I wonder if you have killed anyone since you joined the Death Eaters."

Regulus shuddered suddenly, looking at him with a blank expression.The corners of Sirius' lips slightly curved, and he turned his eyes back to the river, staring at the calm lake.

"You haven't graduated yet, so you probably haven't." He said flatly, "But there will always be a day, and it's not far away from you. Maybe you should make mental preparations early, otherwise it may be very difficult for your master. Difficult job. You've seen it before, haven't you? The night at Lestrange Manor, I know you were there. Eli's father's body is in front of you, and you've been around for a long time, look How do you feel when you see that corpse?"

Regulus' expression froze completely. He hastily and embarrassingly withdrew his gaze from Sirius. He didn't dare to look at him at all. He turned around abruptly, also staring at the river, without saying a word.

"His mother dragged Rabasta to die together, what do you think?" Sirius continued to ask him, twitching the corners of his lips, "Do you people think she is a lunatic who lost her mind? Perhaps in the countless days and nights after escaping from the manor, You have scolded her with the most vicious words, and cursed her to live in hell forever. You will probably learn your lesson and not leave people with the opportunity to cast the curse in the future, or under the leadership of your master, kill a few more people to vent your anger... ...That's pretty much it, isn't it? But Linda Smith was a successful career, a happy family, and a peaceful and happy life before that day. If she really went crazy that night, it wasn't someone else who made her crazy. It is you who cruelly took everything from her. You think she is just an ant blocking your great path, and death is not a pity, but in our eyes, she is an excellent witch, an excellent wife, and a great mother. We Heartfelt pain to lose her."

"I don't think so!" Regulus said in a low voice. He spoke very eagerly, as if he was afraid that his brother would misunderstand him a second later, and misunderstand that he was also such a cruel and ruthless person who didn't care about other people's life or death, " I don't think she deserves to die... I know she's a good person, I know Eli and her husband love her, I know, I've always known..."

"But you don't have the ability to change everything." Sirius said quietly, "Listen to Eli, you think Voldemort's way is right, but the way is a little more radical. After watching it for so long, do you still think so? You used to want to change something, but now you still think, can you really change something? Do you dare to resist the order of the mysterious man? How can you protect your family under his hands? You can really do it without paying anything ?"

Regulus remained silent like a statue, and Sirius didn't wait for his answer, only sighed lightly.

"You know, I can't imagine," he said, "that my younger brother, who thinks it's cruel to look at the heads of house-elfs lined up in the house, wants to abolish this family tradition himself one day. Will he pick up his wand like this, point it at a person he knows is innocent, and take his life after inflicting painful torture? Maybe he also has entanglement and pain in his heart, but he will still do it, maybe he can only do it, But that won't affect any results. He'll be a standard Death Eater through and through, and maybe the next time we meet, he'll be able to point his wand at his brother, like his cousin, without hesitation, Go back happily to receive the reward."

Regulus was silent for a long time, and Sirius didn't speak anymore. The two of them just stood by the river, letting the cold wind blow away every ounce of heat from their bodies.

He stood like this for a long time, until the darkest part of the night passed, and the sky had already revealed a dark blue with a glow.Regulus finally gave a slow wry smile, swallowing the bitterness in his mouth.

"You're right, Sirius," he said softly. "You've always been right, maybe since you were eleven years old... Do you remember that conversation we had at Christmas in your first grade? I think so." Too easy, sorry."

Sirius twitched the corner of his almost frozen mouth: "There's no need to apologize, maybe it takes practice to get the result."

"...It's really cold." Regulus shivered uncontrollably in the cold wind, and murmured, "Do you remember? I'm very afraid of the cold."

"I'm not old enough to be foolish." Sirius clicked his tongue. "Slytherin's common room is at the bottom of the Black Lake, and it's not very warm there, is it? There's no sunshine all year round."

"Yeah, it's the same as at home, I don't really like it." Regulus said softly, with a low laugh, "This seems to be the first time I've confessed to someone...Slytherin students don't like his Common room, weird isn't it?"

"It's not bad." Sirius responded casually. "In the eyes of others, he is definitely not as strange as his brother Gryffindor."

Regulus curled his lips.Holding such a light smile, he finally turned his head again and looked to the side.

"I won't." He said seriously.

Sirius froze for a moment: "...Nothing?"

"I won't point the wand at you the next time we meet." He said, his tone was filled with indescribable depression, but the expression on his face showed a little bit of relief, "Whether it's the next time, the next time , no matter how many times later... I will not point my wand at you, nor at any other innocent person. I am a Black, not a thug who cares less about human lives."

"Beautiful wish," Sirius said, "How are you going to negotiate with your master that you have suddenly become a Squib?"

Regulus laughed and shook his head.

"Wish me success, Sirius," he said. "Send Eli to visit Kreacher in three days, okay? I might have something for him. And... speak to him for me I'm sorry that night I... I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Eli?Sirius frowned: "Why don't you tell him yourself?"

Regulus smiled, and a very light sigh escaped from the corner of his lips.

"It's a little too late," he said.

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Thanks to Jiuduo Sunshine, Big Orange Picking Heavy Eggs, Night Like Night, Burning Bracelet Fr's landmines, Excessive Chuanbui.'s landmines x 2, and Yuqian's grenade~