Chapter 3: A Loving Household
"SIRIUS! SIRIUS BLACK, YOU GET DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! GET UP! NOOOOW! Distasteful shame of my household…"
A young boy lay in bed, eyes closed yet apparently not asleep. Pulling his long black hair out of his face, he stretched his arms in a yawn and smiled grimly. Good morning to you too, mother. Sighing half-heartedly, Sirius slid off of his sheets and trudged out of the room.
As he dragged his feet along the ancient floorboards, a bent-over, wizened creature with bat-like ears and a sneaky expression passed by his knees, talking under its breath.
"Young master has displeased my Mistress… oh, if she would only disown the unworthy wretch… young master does not deserve her generosity."
Rolling his eyes, Sirius kicked the elf in the rear, accidentally sending him flying down the staircase on his bottom, yelping all the way. "YOUR INSOLENCE WILL KILL ME YET!", screeched his mother for the thousandth time that week. "Oh, I do wish…", Sirius muttered vehemently as he reached the bottom step upon which a resentful Kreacher sat. Not even bothering to meet the house elf's hateful glare, Sirius strolled into the dining room and sat down at the dark-stained table.
"Took you long enough.", said a small dark-haired boy sitting adjacent to the aging woman. Wrinkling her nose, the witch sniffed in distaste as she buttered her scone.
"Your darling brother Regulus and I have been waiting for such a long time. Look, the tea is cold and seven flies are already perched on the butter plate. What kept you, indolent boy?"
Sirius was about to reply, but after one look at the smug look on his little brother's face he held his tongue. The table was filled with hardboiled eggs, rye toast, "cold" tea, butter, and preserves. Feigning boredom, Sirius proceeded to reach for the green-tinged teapot, a porcelain snake serving as the handle. Fast as lightning, his mother's bony hand whipped out and grabbed his wrist, her dirty fingernails digging into his skin.
"HOW DARE YOU EAT, BOY!" Her voice was shaking with fury, her eyes bulging out of their deep sockets.
Then, as a storm might recede from a battered coastline, the old woman took a deep, rattling breath, and the wildness left her face only to be replaced by cold tiredness. Sirius winced in pain as she took her hand away, leaving crimson blood droplets where her nails had been.
"You shall sit there, motionless, until your brother and I have finished our breakfast. Afterward, you shall silently clear away the ENTIRE table and wash every single dish in the kitchen." Mrs. Black began tapping the top of her egg with a spoon, breaking the shell into little pieces and then flaking it off with her claws.
"Every dish in the kitchen, or every dish that I carry in from the dining room to the kitchen?", Sirius asked hesitantly, immediately regretting it. His mother smirked as she wiped the corner of her lips with a stained napkin.
"Every dish in the kitchen, dear."
- - - - - - - - - -
Ten minutes later, Sirius was standing by the grimy kitchen sink, up to his elbows in greasy pink soapsuds. Kreacher never did the dishes, knowing full well that at least twice a month Sirius would be assigned to do them as punishment. As a result, the remnants of approximately thirty meals were affixed to the towering plates. Sirius would have to spend hours scraping the dried tidbits into the waste bin. Biting his lip in annoyance, he grabbed the moldy dishcloth and set to work.
Not a minute later, his brother peered through the door.
"What do you want, pest?" Sirius was in no mood for Regalus's smugness. Regalus and he got along fairly well, so long as mother wasn't about. Sirius never bothered to kiss up to his mother; theirs was a mutual hatred, but Regalus never missed an opportunity to please her. Sirius kind of understood. Regalus wanted mother to love him just as she adored their cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa. Mother doesn't love, Regalus. She dotes and she favors, but she never loves. Sirius cared for Regalus some days, the days when Regalus's eyes were red from too many tears of disappointment and his nose was runny from too many sniffles. Nevertheless, Regalus's foolishness annoyed him at times. This was one of those times.
Tautening the washcloth, Sirius flicked dishwater into Regalus's eyes. Scrunching his eyes up in discomfort, Regalus sighed bemusedly.
"Ah, never mind," Regalus said, smirking determinedly despite the soap in his eyes. " I suppose I won't tell you then." And with that Regalus left the room, whistling a happy little tune of his own invention.
"Fine! What is it?" Sirius asked before he even realized the words had left his mouth. He was curious, and he had let his brother get the better of him. Ah well.
Regalus's face reappeared in the doorway. "A letter from Hogwarts has just arrived. Its addressed to you, so I assume that means you're accepted. Mother will be thrilled. That you'll be gone this year, that is…"
A wide grin spread across Sirius's face as his sullenness was replaced by elation. Nothing could spoil his day now. Hogwarts? And he'd be away from his mother for months on end! Feeling hospitable, he tossed his brother a clean rag. Wiping the soap suds out of his eyes with the whitest corner of it, Regalus smiled back at his older brother, a little exasperated.
Hogwarts. At last!