Before everyone goes crazy on me, I'm letting you know now that this is slash. That's right, boy-on-boy, or in this case brother-on-brother. Yeah, you heard me. Incest. So get outta here if it isn't your cup of tea. Sirius/Regulus, PG.

and in the moonlight, they will dance

No one knows that Sirius can dance. And dance well.

Regulus was a magnificent dancer. He glided across the room as if on air and an unknown grace would enter his limbs. One day he persuaded (threatened) Sirius to dance with him, and with their arms around each other and Sirius's eyes rolling heavenward, they danced. The sweet melody of a Classical symphony played in the background and he swayed in time to the music, to his brother.

One, two, three, slide. Three, four, five. In time with his movements Sirius would lay his head on top of his brother's and breathe in the soft scent of his air; only then could get away with it. Only then could he act as if he didn't hate him: the infuriating aristocratic brat too girly for his own good, and too blue-eyed and black-haired for Sirius to ignore.

Every afternoon they would dance, because it was summer and too hot to go outside, and it was nice. Nice in a way that was the exact opposite of their mother, their father, their whole stupid existence. Nice in a way that he knew would disappear, without a trace, as soon as the wind got cold and their Hogwarts letters arrived. But it was nice for the time being—in the way their movements coordinated, the way Regulus acted as if in a spell, infatuated with his art and, Sirius imagined, with him.

Step, two, three, four, and turn, five, six, and dip, and seven and—

Oops.

"Reg—"

"Get off!"

"Regulus, I'm sorry!"

Sirius reached out for Regulus instinctively but his brother flinched and ran away, leaving Sirius sitting on the priceless carpet and staring after him.

"I didn't mean to kiss you," he lied to the floor. "I…didn't want to."

Lies. All lies.

Today Regulus is dead and no longer will he dance—no longer will he sway to the music he loves, or step to a beat that makes his eyes sparkle and his face smile. No longer will Sirius be able to have peace in the arms of the one he loved most.

Sirius can dance, but no one else knows.

xx