Coeur Pur

Regulus Black wore a dark shirt and grey pants and sat on one of the steps at the middle of the stairs. Remus was surprised to see he was up, since the sun was just now rising. Regulus' words had startled him and there had been a tone of disapproval in his voice that didn't make Remus feel welcome at all. Also, he felt that there was a metallic kind of coldness in his dark eyes.

"Remus Lupin. You're Regulus, right?"

"Lupin?" said Regulus. "I've heard about you. Sirius has been talking about you... And so have some of the people at school. I've heard quite a bit about you. There are lots of rumors circling about."

He ogled Remus from bottom to top and there was no doubt that the people at school hadn't been saying very nice things about him. You could say many things about Remus Lupin, but one of them weren't that he had the newest or fanciest clothes, nor was he very impressive to look at. Even now, he felt like Regulus was the authority, the older of the two of them.

"Rumors are mostly untrue," he said carefully.

"I heard what you and Sirius were talking about, you know."

Regulus stood up and walked down a few steps. He was shorter than Remus, and while standing two steps up he only just reached his height. And it was with true aversion in his voice that he then hissed, "I don't think mother and father would like the idea of having a half-breed in their house. Do you, Moony?"

"That's enough, Regulus," said Sirius' voice from the top of the stairs. "Why don't you crawl back to bed, you tiny git?"

Regulus spun around, looking up at his brother, and exclaimed, "You! Is it true you are dating this abomination?"

"That's none of your business."

"Oh no? But it is my business when you bring a werewolf into the house I live in. What the hell are you doing bringing a friggin' werewolf into this house, Sirius? Do you want us all to be killed? Why is it you like to surround yourself with half-breeds, brother?"

"Oh, be quiet, won't you? Whenever you talk, it only makes you look more stupid!" said Sirius, walking past him and putting an arm around Remus' shoulder, leading him back up the stairs.

"I want that thing out of this house! Do you hear me?" Regulus yelled.

"Don't you yell at me, you narrow-minded bastard!"

"Dad will kick you out of the house when he finds out about this, just you wait!"

Sirius pushed Regulus up against the wall with one arm and dragged Remus pass him by the hand with the other.

"Get it out of this house or I'll hex you, Sirius!"

Regulus had pulled out his wand and was now pointing it at Sirius, who slowly turned around on the spot and gave his little brother a dark look. They stared angrily at each other, but Sirius didn't make any attempt to get out his own wand.

"You dare threaten me?" he said with a hard, cold voice.

"I'm warning you, Sirius, get that freak-show out of here or I'll kill him right after I've hexed you."

Remus stood frozen, watching the scene without knowing how to act. Sirius didn't move, but looked firmly at his brother, whose arm was now starting to shake. His face was sweaty and his eyes open wide in a sort of crazy, mad-looking stare.

"I've always known that mom and dad had you wrapped around their fingers," said Sirius calmly, "that you were their tiny marionette. But I never thought that they'd actually manage to make you think that their sick values were yours as well. I never thought you were that weak."

"Shut up, Sirius, you self-righteous arse."

"Self-righteous? You're calling me self-righteous?"

"Yeah, I am! You always talk like you're so much better than everyone else, like you're so much smarter than the rest of us. But you really aren't, are you? You're just a smug and insecure freak-lover, that's what you are!"

"As opposed to a brainwashed racist?"

There was a temporary silence between the Black brothers, during which only the breathing of the three present boys was heard. Regulus refused to lower his wand and Sirius refused to break their eye contact. They both seemed to be thinking hard about their next move.

"I guess we all should have known when you ended up in Gryffindor," said Regulus. "Every member of this family have all been in Slytherin, but you had to go and end up among that bunch of conceited arses."

Sirius remained silent.

"I don't know why mom and dad didn't get rid of you already back then, but it doesn't really matter now that you're finally going to get what you deserve. Nobody in this family wants you here, Sirius, don't you see? You're the shame of our family tree. I've just been waiting for you to screw up and make it obvious and for everyone to see."

"Shut up, Regulus."

"Why? Can't you handle the truth? You're not worth more to me than that monster friend of yours. No one would miss you if you died, you know."

Remus could see Sirius' facial expression change. He was beginning to look really, really angry, but he still said nothing.

"Very well," said Sirius in a resolute voice, grabbed Remus by the hand and headed for his room.

Once there, he pulled out his wand to pack down his things. He didn't speak or look at Remus, while his clothes and some of his belongings flew into a trunk, and Remus didn't know what to say. They both heard Regulus steps disappear into his room and the door closed with a bang.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that. It was a stupid idea to invite you over."

"Sirius," said Remus, trying to make eye contact with him, "what are you doing?"

"Leaving," Sirius snapped.

"Where are you going to go?" Remus asked him in a concerned voice.

"I don't know," he replied shortly.

"You can't just run away. Sirius -"

"Why? Why should I stay? It's like he said, no one wants me here and I don't even want to be here. I could come live with you -"

"You know that's not possible."

"- or James. The Potters have always been kind to me, I'm sure they'll help me."

"But Sirius -"

"Look, Remus," said Sirius, finally facing him and holding him by the shoulders. "Please don't try to convince me to stay in this hellhole. I'm not happy here, I never was and I can never be. I have to get out of here and I really thought that you of all people would understand that. I'd really appreciate your support in this."

He looked Remus straight in the eye.

"Fine," Remus said after a moment's silence. "Okay. But as I said, you can't live with me... I'll follow you to James' house and we'll talk to his parents."

"Thanks, Moony. That really means a lot to me."

Remus stretched out his arms and Sirius willingly accepted the embrace.

"But let's get some sleep first, okay? I'm tired and I think we both need some sleep."

Sirius looked at him and considered his suggestion, then replied, "Okay. Let's do that."

Sirius stopped packing and closed the trunk. The both of them started unbuttoning their shirts in silence. When they had stripped down to their underpants, Sirius crept down under the covers, soon followed by Remus. Remus cuddled up into a ball next to Sirius, who was lying on his back.

"It's okay," Remus said, placing a kiss on Sirius cheek. "It's going to be alright, you'll be out of here in no time."

"Yeah," said Sirius, closing his eyes.