"We've given him enough warnings, Orion. You know that as well as I do. We have tried again and again to make the boy see reason, and I'm starting to think he's a lost cause." Walburga shook her head with a semblance of dejectedness. "Personally, I'm waiting for him to cross the line one more time, then he is out. I don't know what else we are expected to do in this position."
Orion gave her his usual stony glance, completely sharing her thoughts on their good-for-nothing son. "The only matter concerning me is, given the losses this family has recently suffered, it may be too soon to estrange him now."
"What choice do we have, Orion? He is a disgrace, you cannot argue that. I won't give him more than one other chance."
x
His eyes flashed a heated grey, Sirius' voice dripping with disrespect and disloyalty. This was nothing new to Walburga, she'd been expecting him to do this for years, and now Sirius had finally reached the last straw.
"I can't do this anymore, I'm sick and tired of it. I don't care about you or any of it. I never did," Sirius shouted. Walburga didn't interrupt, fuming at her eldest son. "I'm done putting up with your cock-and-bull nonsense."
"This is not how we raised you, Sirius Orion. You will not behave this way, I will not stand for it. I am finished with this conversation."
"Me too," Sirius retorted. "I've been done for years. I've listened to what you've had to say, and I'm done hearing it."
"How did you go so wrong? You used to be a suitable son, you would support our truths. You never argued, now look what's become of you."
"I didn't say you were right, though, did I? Sure, I didn't argue, I was smart enough to avoid that. But that was years ago, and I'm not going back to who I was back then. Now, before you continue this pointless fight, I'll be going. I won't be seeing you." Sirius turned around with a sense of finality, picking up his trunk and walking out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.
x
Walburga all but bolted up to the drawing room of the house, stopping before the tapestry depicting the Black Family Tree. She directed her gaze to the bottom of the pedigree, to the name Sirius Black.
Her spite fuelling her emotions, she blasted his name from the tree, a mix of anger and slight exasperation pulsing through her veins.
He was out of her hair, she needn't bother with him anymore. It wasn't a complete loss—he would hardly have made for a decent heir in the first place, and she still had Regulus to carry on the family name.
"He'd better not disappoint me," she muttered under her breath.
x
Walburga heard the news of her younger son's death through the paper. No one had bothered to inform her of the foolish loss of her only remaining heir; apparently, no one had deemed it important enough to share with her.
She had heard what and how he had died, and to be honest, was having trouble not thinking of him as selfish and daft.
Regulus had been the only hope she had left, and now, ashamed, she was forced to admit that she wouldn't be able to bring forth an heir.
She vaguely wondered if Sirius would've pulled through for her, had he not been a traitorous blood-traitor.
No, she concluded. She had warned him enough. There was nothing he would've ever done differently.
x
For the Journey Through Hogwarts Challenge (Diagon Alley, Potage's Cauldron Shop: Write a fic of 500 to 600 words. Must be the genre drama. Must use the prompts warning, grey, and "I didn't say you were right," in that order.) Also for the Represent that Character Challenge.
