Exploding Into Existence

What was it? Sirius watched interestedly as he saw for the first time the puddle of blankets that his parents were devoting all their attention to. Feeling ignored, he squeezed past his Daddy and onto the bed.

"What's that?" he asked his Mummy. But it seemed she had no interest in listening to the petulant demands of a two-and-a-half-year-old. "What's that? What's that? What's that?"

At last Mummy stopped talking to Daddy and said, "This is your BABY brother, Regulus."

"Okay." Sirius pushed past his Daddy, dragging his friend, Snuffles. "Play dwagon!" he informed Snuffles. Dragon was Sirius' favorite game to play, especially with Snuffles.

Then it began to cry.

"Hush, little BABY Regulus," his Mummy said.

Sirius didn't like this one bit. "No!" he shouted, turning back to the bed. "No BABY!"

"Sirius, the BABY needs quiet right now," his Mummy said. "He needs to sleep. You must be quiet."

"No!" Sirius shouted again, splaying his legs onto the floor and kicking them. "No, no, no, no BABY!" Couldn't Mummy see that it was the BABY who needed to be quiet?

"Orion, will you make him shut up?"

His Daddy muttered something and took Sirius' voice away. Sirius tried to say something, to explain that this was not a situation that he was happy with, but no sound came from his mouth. Scared, he tried to wail, but couldn't. He stomped on the floor with all his might, falling over in the process, but they didn't even look his way! They were still paying attention to that stupid BABY or whatever it was in the blanket bundle.

Well just what was so interesting about that thing? All it did was cry. He could do that too, if he wanted. He threw Snuffles at his Mummy. The green Clabbert hit the BABY.

"Sirius! You don't hit the BABY! You're being a Bad boy, Sirius!"

Sirius threw himself on the floor once again and tried to yell. Why did Mummy not hug him? She always did, even if he was being a Bad boy. It wasn't fair. The BABY was crying again, but Mummy was still holding it, and wasn't saying that it was Bad.

Then Sirius decided that if the BABY got to be Bad, and was still hugged, then he wanted to be a BABY too. He stopped hitting the floor.

His Mummy said something, and then his Daddy said something, and gave him his voice back.

"Now apologize to Mummy and Regulus," his Daddy said.

"I BABY!" he said. "I BABY!" He climbed onto the bed with difficulty. He tried to push the BABY out of the way so he could lie in his Mummy's arms.

"Bad Sirius! You Bad boy! Orion, take him out of here before he hurts the BABY."

His Daddy picked him up and Sirius explained to his Daddy that he was the BABY, not that dumb thing Mummy was holding. He told his Daddy that he was being silly and asked why he was taking him away from Mummy and the BABY. Sirius told his Daddy that he would be a Good boy if he got to be the BABY, but his Daddy didn't listen!

"Sirius, you need to stop screaming right now, you're being a very Bad boy and I'm going to have to punish you if you don't stop."

All he wanted was for his Mummy to hug him. He didn't understand why his Daddy was being so mean. Defeated, he cried on his Daddy's shoulder and put his thumb in his mouth. Then his Daddy said a lot of things he didn't understand.

"You'll have to learn not to cry, Sirius. Blacks don't cry. I'm not going to comfort you because you need to know. It is crucial that you learn this."

He set Sirius down in his room and closed the door. Sirius tried to open it, but he couldn't turn the handle. That didn't make any sense; he knew how to open a door! And now he didn't know where his Mummy or Daddy was. He did the only thing he could do: lie on his bed and cry. He wanted Snuffles back.

He was allowed to see the BABY again. It was in a crib in his Mummy and Daddy's room. This was good. Now he could get it to go away so he could be the BABY again. He could see just over the cushion and into the crib. Clutching the bars, he peered in.

This wasn't a BABY at all. It looked just like him! It was his Little Brother. No one else's. Sirius stared in awe at his Little Brother. He couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Sirius, it's time for you to go to bed. Regulus needs his rest and so do you."

"No!" He couldn't leave now! What if something happened to his Little Brother? He needed to keep him safe. "No bed! BABY!"

His Little Brother opened his eyes and looked at Sirius. "Aaaaooooh," he said. Sirius touched his Little Brother's face. He couldn't leave at a time like this. He took the smaller hand in his own.

Someone picked Sirius up and he saw that it was his Daddy. "No!" he shouted. He struggled unsuccessfully to get out of his Daddy's grasp.

"Sirius, Mummy needs to take care of Regulus right now. It's your bed time."

"Mine!" He was his Little Brother, not Mummy's! Sirius needed to keep him safe. "Miiiine! Mine!" He was still screaming for his Little Brother that night in bed. He wanted him back. He wanted to tell his Little Brother that he would never leave him again.