The slight boy of ten shifted from his left foot to his right, his long curly black hair brushed his shoulders. One would think that, as a family reunion filled with so many kids, there would be raucous laughter and noise all around the house, and probably in some other house, there would have been the raucous laughter, the cheers and the noise. But not in No.12 Grimmauld Place. Everyone was too scared of his mother to even utter a word of amusement. No, in their household, immaculate mannerisms were expected. Regulus knew that his elder brother had a deaf ear to the rules set down in the household, which affected their mother's nerves and drove her to the brink of hysteria.
Sirius had chosen that particular evening of the family dinner, before he went off to Hogwarts for his first year, to prank their cousin Bellatrix by turning her hair bright red, apparently a colour Bellatrix hated because it reminded her of some Wesley girl from Gryffindor.
Gryffindor… Gryffindor was a taboo word in the Black Household. The house was frowned upon, and looked at with disgust on face and by every single Black, save for Sirius.
Regulus could say that Sirius and he were close. As close as they could be, with their mother constantly claiming Sirius as a bad influence, and either trying to keep them apart, or forcing rules on Sirius through punishment. The latter usually had opposite result, but their mother was quite resilient, when it came down to it.
Presently, their mother was furious, to the point that she was turning purple, and all the mannerisms and propriety she usually proclaimed so, seemed to be seeping out of her system, curse words (which Regulus was not allowed to hear, let alone utter), were flowing out through her painted lips.
His father gave him a stern look at the smile that threatened to escape from his lips. He quickly pursed them, trying to avoid the funny sounding words, looking around the room, away from the unapologetic face of Sirius. His gaze fell on the still red-haired Bellatrix.
Passively, Regulus thought that the colour did suit his cousin, but right now, her skin matched the colour of her hair, and her furious expression, though threatening to the slight boy of ten, who had been to the wrong end of her bullying ways, didn't stop the giggle which did escape him.
"Stop," Narcissa nudged him from his left and spoke in an urgent whisper, others were too preoccupied by the screaming match, or rather, monologue going on in the room. "You don't want to be on Bella's wrong side right now, she is furious with Sirius as it is, and you know how it goes when she is angry at Sirius…"She trailed off. There was no need to complete, Regulus did know what happened; Bellatrix never got to take her revenge on Sirius because he was always one step ahead from her. This left Regulus to Bellatrix, who was not at all hesitant to take her revenge through his brother, it was all but right in her eyes.
A shudder travelled down his spine, shaking his skinny shoulders as he remembered more than a few ways of Bellatrix taking revenge.
Sirius knew not just about these 'pranks' (as Bellatrix framed them and got away with them, as she was their mother's favorite niece) but also their cause. Instead of stopping with the pranks, he fought back double-fold… This had formed a seemingly never-ending cycle in the Black family.
Regulus sighed and decided to just keep quiet, averting his eyes from Bellatrix. His gaze fell on Andromeda, who was her unusually dreamy self. She paid no mind to the curses that flowed from her usually prim and proper aunt. Regulus doubted that she had even noticed the fact that her sister was now sporting red hair.
Andromeda had been in that state since she had returned from Hogwarts that summer, she would just get lost in her thoughts and would not respond to calls.
Currently, she was seated on the table, as opposed the other standing members of the family, which included his aunt and uncle, too. She was staring out of the window, almost as if she was expecting an owl to come swoop in But it was meaningless, because, even Regulus, the youngest, knew that tracing Grimmauld place was not that easy, what with the spells his father had put around the house.
His eyes shifted to his father, who was trying to coax his mother, but to no avail. it never worked anyway. His mother would listen to no one, not even their father, a stark contrast to their aunt, who did just as little as their uncle told her to do.
After a long while, his mother calmed down and informed Sirius that he would not be allowed any privileges until next year at Hogwarts.
Sirius nodded, but then smirked when their mother turned away.
Regulus sighed. He had not heard a single word she had said.
That night,Regulus entered Sirius' bedroom and asked him solemnly, "Why do you insist on vexing her so much? Can't you tone it down?"
"Who?" Sirius asked nonchalantly. "Bellatrix?"
"Our mother, Sirius," Regulus replied, "You should stop. She was beside herself today, and you do know pranking Bella will get us nowhere!"
"About Bella," Sirius replied, "Pranking her puts her high and mighty ass in place. And you need to stop cringing from her. About our mother, if you're so worried about her, then be her ideal son. Mother's got you, she really doesn't need me."
That night, Regulus swore, to be his mother's ideal son, even if it would cost him his happiness, deep down, he knew, this was not for his mother's sake, but because Sirius had appointed him to do so.
Written for the QLFC, Captain, the Bats