The Houses Competition: Year 11, Challenge Round 1

House: Slytherin

Class: History of Magic

Prompt chosen:

- [Family] The Blacks

Word Count: 1521

Warnings: This story is a light horror story, it contains hauntings, mentions of death, and other elements that attempt to be scary

Notes: There is a time skip between the first two sections. Also, I have changed the Black Sisters' ages. Regulus is 7, Sirius is 8, Narcissa is 10, Andromeda is 12, and Bellatrix is 14.

Regulus knew not to go up into the attic. Mother always told him never ever to go into the attic, but Sirius had dared him and he wasn't a scaredy cat. No. He was going to go up into the attic and go into the room. He was even going to count to thirty, not just twenty!

He tried not to sneeze at the dust that billowed upward as he pulled open the door. The room felt weird, frightening almost. It made his stomach ball up in knots, just like the row of house-elf heads on the wall did whenever he and Sirius would sneak downstairs for a midnight snack. There was a gray bed in the corner, and the whole room seemed to be full of cobwebs and dead beetles.

He walked carefully to the center of the room, his bare feet leaving footprints in the dust.

"One, two, three…"

There was a stuffed teddy bear on the bed, leaning against the pillow. An old one just like in that storybook Sirius had read him once. He walked to the bed, still counting, and picked up the bear. It was a little dusty, but that was okay. He didn't have a teddy bear, not since Mother took his last year. He would keep this one. No one came up here, so no one would miss it. He could hide it from Mother, and Sirius, and everyone! He finished counting and left the attic, slipping into his room and placing the teddy bear on his bed before returning to Sirius' room.

—

"Thank you for coming, Cygnus," Father said.

Regulus watched closely from where he sat between Sirius and Mather as Uncle Cygnus and his family entered the drawing room. Scary things had happened in the house before, but Father had always fixed them with a wave of his wand.

"Of course, anything for family," Uncle Cygnus said. He crossed the room proudly in a way that no one but a patriarch of the House of Black could and turned to face all of them in the room. "Now, tell me where this all began."

Father nodded. "It began with small things—nick-nacks being tipped over, pillows pushed off the settees—I barely noticed them at first, but recently…" he paused to take a breath. Regulus had never seen Father look so scared, not before this week.

"Recently what, Orion? We might not have much time before this entity strikes again," Uncle Cygnus said impatiently.

"Earlier this week, Kreature reported to me that the family tapestry had fallen off the wall. Then, while Regulus was practicing the piano, every string broke. Then we came into dinner and found the chandelier had fallen onto the table," Father said. "The list goes on. Despite my best efforts every day for the past week, there have been several incidents, many of them seemingly directed at Regulus."

"What do you mean, directed at Regulus?" Aunt Druella asked.

Regulus tried his best to sit still as everyone turned to look at him. He hadn't done anything wrong, really. He was only seven, and he didn't know why anyone would be angry with him.

"I mentioned the piano. Pictures tend to fall as he passes, lights go out when he enters the room, and at dinner tonight—" Father glanced at Mother, "—a knife flew off the table and would have killed him if Sirius hadn't pulled him out of the way."

There was a heavy silence for what seemed like several minutes to Regulus, but really couldn't have been very long. His cousins were still staring at him, but Sirius wasn't.

"Could it be Amaltheia?" Uncle Cygnus asked.

Mother and Father immediately stiffened.

"That's impossible," Father said. "My father locked her in—"

"Perhaps," Mother said, cutting Father off with a sharp glare. "Bellatrix should take the children upstairs."

—

They all gathered in Sirius' room, but not before Regulus stepped into his to grab his teddy bear from his bed. It was always there on his bed, leaning against the pillow, no matter where he left it. Regulus was glad of that; it meant Mother could never take it from him. Teddy bear in arms, he sat down next to Sirius on the bed. Bella was standing and pacing around the room, Cissa was sitting on Sirius' desk chair, and Andy was sitting on the floor.

"Who's Amaltheia?" Sirius asked, struggling to pronounce the name.

Bella and Andy shared a look.

"We overheard Father mention her a few years ago," Andy said. "I think she was a squib."

"From what I can tell," Bella added, "she was Uncle Orion's older sister, but she was hidden away from the world so she wouldn't taint the family name."

The candlelight seemed to flicker more than usual.

"But if she's a squib, how is she doing all this?" Sirius asked.

"Well, that's obvious!" Cissa said, rolling her eyes. "She's dead now, and her ghost is haunting you!"

"Cissa! You shouldn't say things like that, you'll scare the boys," Andy scolded.

"It's the truth!" Cissa said.

Regulus clutched his teddy bear tighter to his chest and shrunk backwards into Sirius' pillows. "But why's she haunting us," he asked.

"Yeah!" Sirius said. "And why's it trying to hurt Reggie?"

The candles seemed to go out completely for a second before returning to normal.

"You must have done something to make her angry," Cissa said.

"Narcissa! What did I—"

"No, she's right," Bella said, cutting Andy off. She stopped pacing and turned to face Regulus intently. "Before all this started, did you do anything unusual? Break any rules? Say anything? Do accidental magic?"

Regulus shook his head, still hugging his bear tightly. Everyone was looking at him again.

"There has to be something!" Bella said. "I won't tell your parents if you broke any rules."

"I didn't," Regulus said. He could feel tears prickling in his eyes. Why did he have to cry about everything?

"Oh, come on, there has to be something!" Cissa said.

He buried his face in the top of his teddy bear, trying to hold back or hide his tears. Blacks weren't supposed to cry.

"Think really hard, anything you—"

"He didn't do anything, alright!" Sirius shouted.

The candles flickered again, but this time in the darkness there was a loud tearing sound, and Sirius' bed curtains fell to the floor.

Cissa screamed a little, and Sirius grabbed Regulus in a tight hug.

"Regulus," Andy said calmly after the tension in the room had settled slightly. "Where did you get that teddy bear?"

"It's mine," Regulus said.

The window flew open so hard and fast that the glass shattered.

"It doesn't look like the one Aunt Walburga took from you," Andy said.

Regulus hugged the bear tighter. "I found it."

Bella, who had been looking between Regulus and Andy, fixed her gaze on Regulus. "Found it where?"

"It's mine, you can't take it from me!" Regulus shouted, not caring if they knew he was crying or not.

Every piece of glass in the room shattered—Sirius' cup of water, picture glass, the mirror, the inkwell. The bed creaked, too, as if it was about to buckle.

Bella marched over to them and grabbed the bear by its arm. "Give it to me!" she said.

"No!"

The creaking of the bed grew louder, and dust fell from the ceiling.

"I'm being serious; give it to me. It's dangerous," Bella said.

Regulus shook his head and held the bear tighter.

"Regulus, do you want to die?"

Regulus burst into sobs. It was his bear, his. He didn't want to die, but it was his.

Bella pulled the bear from his arms and marched towards the fireplace. Regulus tried to stop her, but Sirius held him back.

"Kreacher," Bella said. Kreacher appeared with a crack that was almost drowned out by a loud, angry screaming that suddenly filled the room as all the broken glass began to float. "Bring me salt now."

The screaming grew louder, and the glass began to fly towards Regulus. He squeezed his eyes shut; he didn't want to die.

The screaming stopped. The glass clattered to the bed and floor. The door burst open, and their parents came rushing in.

"Are you alright? We heard screaming," Aunt Druella said.

Mother rushed to Regulus and pulled him into her arms. He reached for Sirius, but she was holding him too tightly.

"We're alright," Bella said. She was standing by the fireplace, her wand in hand, and in the fireplace, the teddy bear was burning.

Father walked over to the fireplace and crouched down, looking at the bear with a strange expression on his face.

"Regulus had it," Bella said. "He said he found it."

"What is it?" Uncle Cygnus asked.

"I think it's Amaltheia's bear," Father said. "The one father locked her spirit in."

Regulus stared at the bear as it slowly burned to ash. He didn't mean to steal her bear. He didn't mean to burn her. Everyone else was talking, sounding happy or relieved, but Regulus couldn't look away from the bear.

It was almost like he could hear it screaming.