Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This was written for the second regular Froday challenge for March, the prompt being artist with Regulus being the artist who painted the painting Sirius hates so much.
That Painting
The sound of a woman screaming drew him to the Slytherin Common room, his face twisting into an uncharacteristic frown for the head of Slytherin. Yet, in his mind, Slughorn knew there shouldn't have been any woman screaming at the top of her lungs, nor did he like the words she used as she cried.
For the life of him, he couldn't figure out how the woman made her way into the common room, though strangely enough, Slughorn found himself imagining that the intruder was, in fact, the parent of one of his students, Walburga Black, which made him frown even more as she had never shown up to yell at Regulus, only Sirius and only when he'd been extra troublesome, which he'd not been of late.
And as he stepped into the common room, he saw the students staring in the direction of the yelling, and he found himself staring, seeing no woman there. It was simply the alcove that Regulus tended to escape to, to paint, one of the activities such as Quidditch that he'd put the young Black onto to relieve the stress of being in that stressful family.
And Regulus was there, staring at what should have been his painting, as the screaming continued. Slughorn frowned, unsure of what was going on, when one of the students said, "All I did was mention Sirius Black's name, and…"
Suddenly, the yelling increased. Regulus looked up, a somewhat apologetic look on his face. "I am so sorry, professor. I didn't think…"
"Of course, you didn't think! It bothers me that you don't ever think of this kind of things," one of the other students said, making Slughorn walk over and—
He discovered why he'd thought the mother of the Black brothers was there yelling at one of them, for she was literally there, in painting form, yelling because she'd heard Sirius' name. "Oh my!"
"I'm really sorry. I'll…"
"Aren't you talented! You've done this one your first try, bringing the painting you made to live."
"But I didn't intend for it to be like this. Really."
"It's fine. We simply need to keep it covered. And I'll take it out of your way." It wasn't a painting he'd think anyone would want, yet it was something one of his precious students made.
One he would eventually lose, but the painting—
Walburga wanted it, even though she looked at it in horror when she first saw it. After all, it wasn't the most pleasant or flattering depiction of her, and he explained it's not what Regulus intended. Still, something told him that was how Regulus perceived her or at least perceived her when she was fighting with Sirius, and Sirius wasn't there anymore.
And then she smirked, saying she wanted it because it was something of Regulus', and…
He gave it to her, not knowing what she ended up doing with it.
