Chapter Text
“You’re an idiot!”
Sirius screamed. Regulus, meanwhile, leaned back in his chair before turning his attention back to his brother. From the moment that he decided to deflect from the death eaters, Regulus knew that he was going to face Sirius at some point. Today was the day! Instead of jumping into the argument and screaming profanities back at Sirius, Regulus decided to let his older brother rage. This seemed to infuriate Sirius all the more.
“You join the fucking death eaters now you want us to accept you back? You really are one arrogant piece of work!”
Professor Dumbledore sat between both brothers in case one decided to start cursing the other. He finally looked up after seeming to be amused by the argument.
“Sirius, you have made your point.”
He said in a gentle tone. Sirius shook his head.
“I have waited a long time to say this. He’s ruined enough lives and needs to hear it. You should be ashamed of how you did Y/n.”
Regulus finally looked up then. Hearing your name caught his attention. Sirius scoffed.
“You look up now.”
“What about Y/n?”
Regulus questioned. Sirius crossed his arms over his chest.
“So you know her name now? She is just the girl that you dated in secret for two years then ditched her for some arranged marriage that mummy and daddy signed you up for. Y/n is just the girl that you…”
“Sirius, stop.”
Remus quickly came in. He had been sitting beside Sirius until the other man jumped up and started going on a warpath.
“He needs to know! He needs to know what he did to her.”
Remus stood up and gently put his hands on Sirius’ shoulders as Regulus stood up. Curiosity finally had gotten the better of him. What was Remus trying to keep under wraps?
“What is being kept from me?”
Regulus asked. Sirius and Remus exchanged another look before Sirius crossed the room and snatched a framed photo off of the shelf. He turned his wrath again on his younger brother before slamming the frame in his hands.
“Tell me what you see?”
Sirius had nearly knocked the breath out of Regulus’ lungs. He looked down and immediately froze the moment that he saw a baby in your arms.
“Sirius...I….”
“I know you had no idea. She found out after you married fucking Ambrosia Parkinson.”
Regulus wasn’t able to breathe as he looked down at the baby girl. His “control freak” nature was going into overdrive knowing that this was a situation that he wasn’t able to control.
“She didn’t tell me.”
He managed to get out, feeling the panic attack building. Every negative emotion that Regulus ever felt was hitting him harder than it had the first time.
“Do you blame her? You had broken up with her to marry some pureblood bitch. You’re lucky that you know right now. I wanted to come home to kick your ass but no one would let me.”
Sirius snapped and Regulus put his hands over his face. Regulus quickly stood up as what little control he had on his emotions snapped.
“If I knew...things would have been different! She wouldn’t have gone through this alone.”
Sirius snorted.
“I’m sure Ambrosia will be thrilled to know that her husband has a baby with a secret girlfriend that he was too ashamed to make known.”
“I was trying to keep her safe! I wasn’t ashamed of Y/n. Sirius, you know our parents. They hated the Potters. If they found out that I was dating James’ sister...”
Regulus yelled. He put his hand over his mouth and paced a few times before speaking again.
“It doesn’t matter what Ambrosia thinks. We aren’t together anymore. She figured out that I was in love with Y/n and left.”
Sirius rolled his eyes and faked a gag.
“That is what you get for not growing a pair and telling our crazy family no.”
Regulus spun around. His icy gaze narrowed on his elder brother.
“I was trying to make up for you leaving. I was trying to be the son that you weren't. Now, look where it has gotten me.”
Remus knew that he had to get the situation under control FAST. If he left it to Sirius, Remus had a feeling that both Black brothers would be fist fighting soon.
“Sirius, go get some air.”
Sirius waited all of two seconds before heading toward the door. He stopped for a moment before turning to face his brother again.
“You’re lucky that James is dead. He would kill you right now.”
“Sirius...out.”
Remus snapped. He waited until Sirius was out of the house before turning back to Regulus. The younger man had sunk back into the chair. Regulus was trembling as he looked down at the photo that was still in his arms.
“Talk to me, Remus.”
Regulus managed to choke out. There was no way that he could apologize to Sirius or Remus. Regulus would never be able to tell them how hellish the most recent parts of his life have been. They would never understand how Regulus felt when he stood at his wedding to Ambrosia. He didn’t love her. The last thing that he wanted was to marry her to begin with. He wanted you. Regulus would always want you.
Remus sat down.
“Her name is Renee. She’s 13 months old now. Y/n has gone through a lot over the past year. She has lost you, her parents, and her brother. I would suggest taking things delicately.”
Regulus pressed his lips together before looking down at the baby girl’s photo again. Remus took a breath.
“All I ask is that you don’t hurt her again. If there is any chance that you would go back to your family or Ambrosia...you should leave now. It will be unfair to Y/n and Renee. Sirius and I can take care of them.”
Regulus jumped up. The fury was starting to build right back up to volcano strength.
“I can’t walk away now! I’m not that kind of man.”
Remus motioned back to the chair in front of him.
“Sit down. There is a lot that you need to hear.”
(Meanwhile)
Sirius sat on the front stoop with his head in his hands when you walked up with Renee in your arms. You couldn’t help but smile and wonder if your best friend was nursing one of his god awful hangovers. Adjusting Renee in your arms, you reached down and gently tapped his head.
Sirius jumped up. His eyes were wide as he realized it was you in front of him. Right away he started trying to think of a way to tell you “gently” that Regulus was in the other room having a breakdown.
Renee, meanwhile, was holding her little hands out to him and letting loose a string of happy baby babble. Sirius didn’t hesitate in taking his niece. He pressed a kiss to her messy curls before meeting your gaze.
“Did you have a long night last night?”
Sirius shook his head.
“No, long day. Look, Y/n I need to talk to you. This is big...dinosaur big!”
You flipped your hair over your shoulder before leaning against the stair railing.
“Okay, what is your dinosaur-sized problem today and how can I fix it for you?”
Sirius let his eyes fall down to Renee. The little girl looked so much like her father that it made his heartache. How Regulus could have gone so long without having this little treasure in his life was beyond Sirius. Sure, Regulus had no idea of her existence. There was that but it was still painful for Sirius. Regulus didn’t realize just how much he missed.
Lucky little bastard missed out on waking up at 3 am. Jerk!
Sirius thought with a smile. That was one thing Regulus definitely lucked out on.
“Sirius, what’s wrong?”
Your soft voice pulled him from his thoughts. He took a breath before beginning to speak.
“Regulus is here.”
Your face went to a shade that resembled the Hogwarts ghosts. This was the last thing that you ever EVER expected to hear! Regulus was happy with his new life. He was so in love with Ambrosia (or so you heard.) You still cringed at thinking of that woman’s name. Granted, Ambrosia hadn’t intentionally done a thing to you. She married Regulus because that is what her family wanted.
It was Regulus that you had issues with. After spending two years in a secret relationship that you couldn’t even tell your best friends about; you expected more from him. You expected him to tell his family “how it was going to be” and be the boyfriend that he was in secret.
When he stuck with his family and not with you; you were devastated! Devastated was putting your feelings lightly. Had it not been for Sirius and Remus, you would have gone mad. They stuck with you when your life fell apart. You had lost your boyfriend, brother, best girlfriend Lily, and parents in one fucking tailspin of a year!
Sirius was the one that scooped you off of the bathroom floor when you found out that you were pregnant. Remus was the one that held Sirius back when Sirius was ready to go to Grimmauld Place and start kicking ass.
“Sirius, it won’t make any difference. Regulus doesn’t know and if you turn up and start attacking him things won’t end well for anyone. Just let it go.”
It took Sirius a few days to calm down enough to “let things go.” He tried convincing you that it was Regulus’ responsibility to man up and take care of the child that he helped make in private.
“Why is he here?”
You finally asked. It had taken you a good two minutes to reply. You never expected to hear a peep from Regulus Black again and if you did it probably wouldn't be for anything good. The last meeting that the two of you shared wasn’t friendly in the slightest. It was you screaming at Regulus for not being honest with you and for him not manning up to his parents. You told him very coldly if he thought that you would be some kind of “secret side chick of a lover” he was insane. He wouldn’t be coming to you smelling like Ambrosia Parkinson’s old lady perfume. The last thing that you would do was spread your legs for him when he had a wife at home. There were a lot more cold feelings and angry words that you really didn’t want to think of at the moment.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
“The little coward deflected from Voldemort. I think he got a taste of what Voldemort has going on a chickened out. Dumbledore seems to trust him. Apparently, Regulus has given him a lot of useful information. On a funny note, Ambrosia left his ass. Apparently, it just took him being an asshole this long for her to ditch him. She may have been having an affair on him too...I really wasn’t listening because I wanted to strangle him. I need to work on my temper.”
Your attention went to Renee who was eagerly playing with her uncle’s long hair. The poor little angel had no idea what was actually going on and it was for the best. She didn’t know that her father had no idea of her existence and now he probably felt like the rug was pulled out from under him. All that Renee cared about was pulling on Sirius’ long hair to get her uncle’s attention..
“I see you, sugar.”
He cooed before cuddling the little girl again.
“Did you tell him about Renee?”
Sirius nodded with an expression that reminded you of a child with their hand in a cookie jar.
“I got mad and mistakes were made. Long story short I slammed the picture of her in his arms and was like take a look at this bitch!”
“Bitch.”
Renee squealed, happily. Sirius quickly started shaking his head.
“No, princess. That’s a bad word.”
He looked up at you with an innocent expression that left you laughing.
“I forget that she is in parrot mode. She’s a cute parrot. She isn’t one that is going to stalk after you and steal your soul or anything.”
You couldn’t be mad at Sirius. While you would have liked to tell Regulus yourself about the baby that the two of you shared; Sirius’ protective nature was excusable. In fact, you would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to witness Sirius’ meltdown on Regulus.
Taking a breath you glanced toward the front door that hadn’t opened. You had expected Regulus to be waiting in the doorway.
“I guess that I better go face him and get this over with. Can you keep an eye on her for a bit? I think that I should talk to Reggie alone first.”
Sirius nodded and sat back down on the stoop.
“If you need me to toss him out, just yell.”