Written For:
- Chocolate Frog Cards: Cornelius Agrippa (Bronze): Challenge: Write about someone who has been punished unfairly, or for something they didn't do.
- Day 10 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge: Filthy
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Charmed: (Action) Grabbing someone by the neck, (Word) Truth
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Exclamations: 'a bone to pick'
Pairings/Characters: Walburga, Regulus, Sirius
Word Count: 682
A Brother's Love
You can't hold me down, 'cause I belong to the hurricane, It's gonna blow this all away.
"Sirius Orion Black!" a dreadful voice screeched from the living room below. Sirius looked over at the door from behind his Muggle motorbike magazine and sighed loudly. "Come down here now!"
He threw the magazine to the bed and groaned as he made his way downstairs, desperately trying to think about what he could've done wrong this time. It was the winter holidays of his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he had been trying his best to stay out of his mother's way. That, however, was easier said than done.
As soon as he walked through the living room door, a bony, sharp-nailed hand clawed at his neck and grabbed his throat, shoving him roughly into the wall. His mother, though now a couple of inches shorter than him, was standing in front of him, preventing him from moving. Sirius glowered down at his mother, trying to look unfazed.
"I have a bone to pick with you!" she snarled, her thin eyebrows knitting together and her dark eyes glittering cruelly. Sirius noticed the family's pathetic house-elf lurking in the background, pretending to polish a metal plaque that sat on the dresser. He was, however, shooting glances in Sirius's direction.
"What have I done now?" Sirius snapped, earning himself a rough shove from his mother. His father, who was reading the Daily Prophet on the couch, sighed bitterly.
"Walburga, you don't have to handle him so roughly."
Walburga ignored Orion, and he went straight back to reading his newspaper. Sirius inwardly cursed his father's cowardice—why were the patriarchs of this family always so afraid of their wives? "Kreacher tells me that you've had a little visitor today," she sneered, her voice low and condescending.
Sirius cocked an eyebrow. Of course he hadn't brought one of his friends here. Why would he? There's no way in the world that he would ever be tempted to invite one of them here, where they would likely have to face his vicious mother and cowardly father, and probably get caught up by one of the old house's many dark booby traps. "I don't know what that horrible runt is talking about, but he's lying!"
"Tell the truth, boy!" Walburga hissed. "It was your filthy little werewolf friend, wasn't it?" her eyes flashed at the look of shock that passed Sirius's face. "Oh yes, I know all about him! I have eyes all over Hogwarts, my dear."
"I didn't bring anyone here, for Merlin's sake!" yelled Sirius, spraying spittle in his mother's face. "Why would I want any of my friends to come to this mad house?" he was cut from saying anything else, as Walburga slashed her palm across Sirius's face, the sound of the slap cracking through the room. She let go of her son, and Sirius crumpled to the floor, cupping his face.
"You're a horrible little child," she hissed, glaring down at him. "And you're going to be punished for bringing filth into the proud house of my fathers!"
oOo
Sirius emerged from the living room thirty minutes later, his thighs and behind sore from Walburga's slaps. He was angry, flushed and embarrassed at being punished in such a childish, mortifying way. A pair of dark eyes observed him from the darkness of the stairway, and Regulus shuffled forwards, looking guilty.
"Did you tell her?" he whispered, fidgeting with his thumbs. Sirius couldn't help but glare at his younger brother.
"Did I tell her that you sneaked in Barty Crouch Junior for the night; the boy whose father put half of her friends in Azkaban?" Sirius muttered, rubbing the backs of his legs. "Did I tell her she'd mistaken him for one of my friends? No, I didn't."
Regulus shuffled from foot to foot, looking down at he floor. "I'm sorry, Sirius," he mumbled.
Sirius's heart lifted a little, and he walked over to Regulus, placing his hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, bro," he said quietly. "I wouldn't let you take the wrath."
