the_debt_of_time

"Hush, you're ruining my story."
"Your story is weird," Sirius complained. "I don't think you're very good at telling
it."
"Shut up. So the little cub became a fierce lion, and the little snake grew into a
proper serpent, as he'd been raised to be. They became enemies and rarely spoke to one
another and the venomous serpent struck out, biting and attacking the lion's friends. But
he regretted it."
Sirius had once again gone still, and she wondered what he was thinking.
"One day, whilst in the snake pit, the young serpent came across a treasure that
belonged to the King Cobra," she said with a grin as she recalled the moment that they had
found the fake Horcrux with the note from R.A.B. inside of it. "And he stole it away and
ran, hoping to share this wonderful secret with his brother, the lion. He wanted to
reconnect with him so they could be a family again."
"But the cobra killed him," Sirius said, interrupting her.
Mia frowned. She had planned on changing the ending of the story, of course, but
Sirius was just too smart for it. He could not be fooled by lies. Could not be swayed by
fairy tales. "But the cobra killed him," she agreed.
"They found his body in the Thames on the beach up near Gravesend. Death Eaters
just dumped his body there. Muggles pulled him out."
Mia furrowed her brows as she remembered the truth behind Regulus's death. His
fellow Death Eaters had nothing to do with it. He had died a hero. Saved a house-elf,
defected from the Dark Lord, and sacrificed his life in the end in an attempt to bring him
down.
"Maybe... maybe he drowned."
"Yeah, and maybe he was really a good person," Sirius said sarcastically. "Too many
maybes in this world if you ask me." He grabbed the bottle taking another long drink from
it. She felt some of the liquid pool on the fabric of her skirt. "He wanted out. I didn't
believe him."
"You couldn't have known, Sirius."
"I could have... I... just stood back and watched. I had the power to do
something, anything." His voice was soft and his breath grew shallow, drifting closer to
sleep. "'Stead I just... just sat back and let my only brother die."