Title: Hide & Seek

Characters: Regulus Black and Sirius Black.

Prompt: Write about a Death Eater (or 'dark' character) who is in need of affection, (word) hidden and (word) discover.

AN: Written for the Jurassic Fever [Challenge] held by whitetiger91 at The Golden Snitch Forum. First drabble to be written about the Black brothers.

Word Count: 621

When Sirius and Regulus were young they used to play a lot of hide and seek. It was the only game they both liked. Sirius because it was a game for muggles and his parents detested hearing him ask, for once speaking in the speed they would like him to, if Regulus wanted to play hide and seek. Regulus loved the game because he was better than Sirius at it. He stayed hidden longer and would discover Sirius hiding places quicker than his brother would his. It suited them both.

Regulus often thought about that when he sat by the table in the Great Hall and saw his big brother with his friends; Sirius was always laughing, talking loudly with big gestures and never noticed the way that girls from all tables would look at him. Even some from Regulus own house would look at him with heart eyes; but they would never admit to it.

In some way, this was like playing hide and seek. But unlike when they were younger Regulus were hiding in plain sight. He sat amongst the students of his house and pretended to listen to whatever Snape and his gang were talking about that time. He would hum when required to and give them a disinterested look that in some way had them fooled. Sirius would never have fallen for it. But he wasn't really there. He was hiding from the world as the secret he kept weighed down on his young shoulders.

No one noticed because no one was looking.

Regulus remembered the way his heart would beat quicker when he and Sirius played hide and seek. The reason for his quickened heartbeat was the knowledge that Sirius was looking for him and when he found Regulus he always did the same thing; he smiled confidently and told him that he knew he would find him and then hugged him. Regulus always acted like he didn't want to be hugged but that was the best part of hide and seek.

He loved feeling his brother wrap his arms around him and hold him close. He didn't mind that Sirius long hair ended up in his eyes or tickling his nose; affection, like that, wasn't a regular occurrence in the Black household. And since Sirius left Regulus hadn't been hugged once. He missed it.

No one asked how Regulus was handling his brother's departure. They were too focused on the shame of it all. His parents spoke loudly about it with venomous voices as they cursed their former son and asked themselves what they could possibly have done to deserve this act of treason.

Regulus had no one to tell that he missed his brother. He had no one to look for him when Regulus hid from the world by locking himself into Sirius room and crawling up in a corner in his dusty closet. He no longer had anyone to hug him, no one to talk to and no one to support him.

"Black, are you listening?" Snape nudged his shoulder and the young Black nodded. "Are you okay? You look a bit distracted."

"I'm fine." Regulus answered shortly and Snape bought it.

He bought it because Regulus was excellent at hide and seek.

He knew that he couldn't tell Snape that he was anything but fine; he definitely couldn't tell him the truth which was that Regulus wanted, no needed, a hug from his brother. Regulus was excellent at discovering; and because of that he saw Sirius looking his way with a frown on his face. Regulus ignored him but could feel a warmth spread inside of him.

The second-best thing about playing hide and seek was the knowledge that someone was looking.

The end