Christmas Dinner at McGillivray Manor, Part III

One – zero. The game was won, effortlessly. An easy one, of course, what with Sirius having no opportunity to contradict. Mother was cross with him already. And he, Regulus, was the true heir of the family after all. The true firstborn Black because Sirius was not worth the name. Or was he? When the small group of sullen, silent boys proceeded towards their assigned room at the end of a newly refurbished corridor Regulus wondered if Sirius did, technically, have any chance of re-gaining their parents' favour if only he started behaving normal again. During the past two years, a change had taken place in his older brother, which was quite hard to pinpoint and yet – it was there.

He was no less irascible than usual, oh no. On the contrary, whenever the two of them were alone, Regulus had noticed an increasing amount of verbal attacks from the older boy, whom he had used to admire more than anything in the world before things had started getting all wrong. Sirius had always liked to push people around, but his open hostility towards his younger brother did nothing to improve their relationship, which had been strained since their parents had started putting all their hope for the Black line's future into their younger son instead of Sirius.

The brothers' cousin regarded the pair of them with a hateful, defiant look when they reached their destination. Apart from a few, ancient looking pieces of furniture, this room was empty and, due to a remarkable lack of tartan curtains, astonishingly cold and unwelcoming. Sirius settled down on the floor, quite unceremoniously, as though to demonstrate that he was going to bear the boredom of the remaining evening all by himself. Regulus hesitated. He did not know Severus well. In fact, he had not spoken to him at all, in spite (or possibly because) of the lanky third-year's habit of spending most of his free time in the Slytherin common room.

Right now, Severus did not seem particularly inclined to talk. Even less than usual, if that was at all possible. Upon closer observation, Regulus now noticed that the other boy's eyes were still glittering slightly, probably due to his father's previous encounter with their annoying Herbology teacher. What exactly was it she had said? Regulus lowered his gaze compassionately. He did not have any experience with dying relatives, let alone dying parents. He could only imagine what it would feel like if his mother died from an illness - had possibly known for some time that she was in for it... but, of course, he did not actually know what had happened under the Snape's roof except for what he had picked up here and there. Christmas Dinners were quite useful for that purpose. Regulus took a deep breath and played with his sleeves for a while, giving the other boy time to reassemble himself before saying, "That's one Christmas Dinner this year, isn't it?"

There was a small pause, in which Severus seemed to consider whether the brother of his archenemy was worth acknowledging.

"Yes," he eventually said. "Particularly pleasant."

"I was glad you and your father turned up," said Regulus quietly. "I thought my parents and I would be the only of our kind to turn up when I heard about this year's location."

"Yes, DO exclude me from the family branch, why don't you, Regulus?!"

It had only been a matter of time. Regulus smirked, involuntarily. "The only person to exclude himself from anything is you, Sirius. Right now, for example, you are sitting on the floor, pitying yourself instead of engaging in conversation…"

"I wouldn't talk to him anyway!" Sirius snapped.

Severus pulled a grimace of utter revulsion. "Nor me neither!" he retorted.

There was another pause - longer than the one before, and more awkward. Eventually, Regulus turned and walked towards one of the tall windows, letting his gaze wander over the vast forest they had had to cross before entering the manor.

"Some place to live, ey?" he muttered to Severus, who was standing close by.

"I'd hate to live this far away from civilisation," remarked the other boy dryly. "No wonder one would start wasting one's time with Transfiguration out here. There is nothing else to do but turn trees into… well… other trees." He grinned and Regulus saw Sirius roll his eyes.

"You hate it because you can't do it," the older Black sneered. "That's pathetic."

"Careful!" Severus snapped, not wasting any time to take the challenge. "We are not on your premises this time. I will not take any bullshit from you-…"

"Any of you bought of The Caterpillows' new album yet?" Regulus said quickly, knowing full well that his brother, at least, was not at all interested in wizarding rock bands. Two irritated gazes met his.

"No?" snapped Sirius.

"Not interested in bug-ology," Severus added.

"That's entomology," Sirius corrected, a smug expression on his face. "Really, don't they teach you anything down there in the dungeons?"

"Trust you not to notice that classes rarely ever take place in the commons," Severus snapped. "Besides, not everyone can be enough of a Muggle-lover to know their academic branches by heart."

Sirius stared. Regulus was sure that he was not used to this kind of talk from his classmate because he was wearing the exact same look as whenever Regulus managed to think of a witty remark and catch him off-guard. Interestingly, Severus was staring, too, at a point next to his right shoulder, as though an invisible person had suddenly appeared by his side to speak the words for him.

"You are nothing but a slimy git, Snape," said Sirius, resorting to the safety of insults. "Someone who can't transfigure a needle into a matchstick after three years of schooling shouldn't -"

"I can transfigure a needle into a matchstick! As much as I can and will transfigure you into a toad if you don't watch your mouth, you pathetic piece of beetle dung!"

Again, Severus seemed taken by rather more surprise than either of the two Blacks. Regulus craned his neck to see if there was indeed someone or something speaking up for Severus, particularly since the greasy-haired boy's voice did not at all sound like his usual quiet self.

Sirius, meanwhile, had stood up slowly, pointedly, and drawn his wand out of the pockets of his robes. "Well then," he said dangerously, advancing on his much smaller classmate. "We'll see about that, shall we?" And he bowed, quite unspectacularly, as though he was a grown-up wizard challenging another for a duel. Regulus held his breath. Severus drew his wand. All three boys knew that as soon as he bowed back Sirius would blast him into oblivion – or try, at the very least. Regulus had rarely seen his brother this angry, although he usually seemed more willing to contain himself for the sake of his dinner.

"Don't," he attempted weakly, "our parents are just a few rooms away and you are not allowed to use magic outside of school…"

"You know as well as I do that duelling is a traditional practice during the Christmas Dinner," Sirius snarled. "And anyway, Snivellus here is too much of a coward to actually accept."

A blast of green and white foam hit his mouth the moment these words had left it.

"Duelling is," Severus snarled, "but the bowing isn't. It was introduced by fools such as yourself, who weren't quick enough to strike when they had to."

Sirius choked and spat.

"-xpellia-s," he managed, but his wand seemed to obey properly spoken words only.

" Impedimentia," Severus attempted, but the spell missed its target by inches, due to Sirius moving quickly away from his former place and towards Severus, who gasped, backed away, and attempted another spell, but muttered it so that neither of the two boys understood what he was saying. It missed again.

Regulus' skin had got cold under his heavy, black dress robes. What was he to do? A first year, involved in a fight between two third-years? He would be useless, no matter which side he took.

" Petrificus Totalus!"

This one had been cast by Sirius, but although Severus had remained motionless, thunderstruck for a second, the spell did not seem to have met its target. The hook-nosed boy remained unharmed and comparatively unconcerned while thinking of another spell to use against his opponent.

"Oh, screw it!" Sirius suddenly said, throwing his wand away and lunging at his cousin with such malice and force that the other boy was too surprised to act at once. Certainly, Regulus had to admit, throwing away your wand in a duel was not something he would have expected anyone to do, least of all his magic-obsessed brother who never missed out a chance to use his magic.

Severus reaction was consequently something he could quite easily appreciate, even though it now put the Slytherin in a highly disadvantageous position, what with Sirius squashing his fragile body underneath his own.

Regulus suddenly became aware that he was still standing at the exact same spot as before, rooted to it, it seemed, without a trace of an idea of what to do about the situation at hand. In a jolt of sudden panic, imagining a grown-up walking in on them, possibly blaming him for all this, he turned on his heel and sped out of the room.

"Please, sir," he said to the first person he bumped into, only a few yards away from where the two other boys were still fighting, "we require assistance in a matter of great disagreement."

"It is hard to miss," observed the colonel darkly. "At least from the kitchen. After you, boy." Regulus was relieved, for a second, that it was not his mother who was now marching towards the place of fight with large, heavy steps. Surely, a person could survive only so many days without food?

The colonel stepped into the room and, without much ado, pulled both, Sirius and Severus apart, who had been lying in a little huddle on the floor, each trying to squeeze the other into a more or less successfully performed headlock. Severus had a part of Sirius's robes between his teeth, while the latter took some time to free himself from strands of what looked like Severus's unwashed hair.

The colonel placed both boys back on the floor, a little apart from each other, as soon as they had realised that the fight was over. He grabbed Sirius's neck quite unceremoniously, and smacked him in the face several times before turning to repeat the same procedure on his own son.

Regulus's eyes widened and he backed away slightly as the soldier built himself up to his full height, grabbing both boys' necks again firmly to make them look him in the eye.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" he bellowed. "FIGHTING ON CHRISTMAS EVE LIKE A BUNCH OF TODDLERS GONE WILD? WE ARE GUESTS IN THIS HOUSE AND YOU ARE TO ACT ACCORDINGLY! IF YOU CANNOT BEHAVE LIKE RESPONSIBLE YOUNG ADULTS FOR ONCE, YOU WILL LEAVE AND NOT COME BACK!"

He let go of the two of them, who were staring at him – wide-eyed on Severus's part, disturbed and cautions on Sirius's.

"I told you," the colonel said sharply, turning to Severus alone now, "that if there was one more incident of this kind you would go to the office tonight, Christmas Eve or not. And by Merlin, so you will. You," he turned to Sirius, "can rest assured that your father will hear of this!"

"I heard, I heard," came another grown-up voice from the door. Regulus spun around to see several adult witches and wizards enter the room. All the guests, it seemed, had grown curious about the source of the colonel's shouting and had come to have a look at the spectacle. Professor McGonagall pushed herself through from behind her massive best friend, as well as some other guests, and moved quickly towards Regulus's uncle, placing a hand on his shoulder as though feeling that he was in need of being calmed down a little.

"Lance…"

The colonel turned, a perfectly composed expression meeting that of the deputy headmistress. "I am very sorry for the interruption, Minerva," he said politely, taking her hand. "A regrettable incident to occur during a get-together as pleasant as this one."

"Don't worry about me," said the Professor quietly, apparently confused by her opposite's rational tone. "What have the boys done to warrant such shouting?"

The colonel turned to Sirius. "Explain," he said curtly. Regulus saw his brother hesitate, gulp, and then recount what had happened, in rather favourable tones for his own position. Snape senior's expression was unfathomable. "Severus," he said, as calmly as before but with a dangerous twitch in his left hand, "you attacked first?"

The silence that followed was unnerving. Severus shifted from one foot to the other and threw help-seeking looks around before lowering his head, stammering, "Yes'r, but… but -"

"I see," cut his father in. "Well, we shall have time for further discussion tonight, of course. Perseus, I trust you'll take your son over from here?"

Regulus's father nodded while his mother threw murderous looks at her older son. Professor McGonagall's face displayed concern, but for once, she did not speak nor ask any further questions. Severus, on the other hand, had gone from purple to a deadly shade of white now, obviously not pleased with how the events were turning out. Regulus could only imagine how the day was going to end for his cousin and what exactly a trip to 'the office' entailed. Personally, he was quite glad not to have been involved in the fight after all. The colonel's appearance alone had been enough to make him wish he had not been present during this highly unpleasant encounter at all.