The Incident
There were few things Regulus had yet to see in their house. Sirius and Walburga fighting was not one of those, as it was expected when Sirius was home. What was new was what Walburga brought up at the dinner table that night.
The dinner had started pretty standard for the Black family, Orion at the head of the table, Walburga to his left. Sirius to his right, and Regulus next to Sirius, Kreacher nowhere to be seen. The quiet scraping of utensils on plates fills the tense silence until Walburga brings up the letter she had received from Mulciber Sr. stating Sirius was caught kissing another boy in the halls of Hogwarts by Mulcibers son. After finishing reading the letter aloud, Sirius's face was ashen, his already pale skin almost transparent. Orion's eyes were almost glowing with rage, while Walburga was eerily calm as she stared Sirius down. Regulus was frozen. He knew this would happen eventually. He had tried hard to stop this from returning to their parents. Sirius cleared his throat and said: "well, that's not exactly how you were supposed to find out. You weren't supposed to find out, but what can you do?" He shrugged one shoulder and continued eating as though nothing had happened. As if their mother's raging silver eyes weren't trying to burn a hole through his forehead. Their father then, without a word, snaps his fingers, and Kreacher clears the table of all dishes. Walbura slides her wand out of her sleeve and points it at Sirius. With a wordless 'Levicorpus, ' Walbuga deposits Sirius on the floor. That's when the screaming starts. Regulus hasn't moved yet. Still attempting to register what exactly is happening. Sirius' shriek of pain snaps him out of his thoughts so hard that he becomes disoriented momentarily. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK BACK TO ME, YOU FILTHY FAG. YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE GRACED WITH THE NAME WE HAVE GIVEN YOU!" Walburga shrieks, her tone strained with rage as Sirius begins searching for his wand. Realizing their wands are still locked in their father's study Regulus sprints through the house, calling for Kreacher. As soon as the telltale "pop" of Kreacher appearing, Regulus turns to him and says, "Kreacher, I order you to disable all wards in and around my father's study for exactly 3 minutes." Panic slowly creeps into his voice, but miraculously Kreaacher obeys. Regulus rips the doors to the study open and slams to portrait behind his father's desk against the adjacent wall in his hurry to snag the two wands hanging from the charmed wand holder made from charmed snake skeletons. As soon as both his and Sirius's wands are in his hand, he immediately slams the portrait back closed and books it for the doors to the study. Sliding through the doorway into the opposing wall, Regulus hears a "snap" from his shoulder and collarbone. Paying the pain in his right arm no heed, he returns to the dining room, where the screaming hasn't stopped. Sirius is now covered in bright red blood, his before white shirt stained crimson with the blood still leaking from a wound diagonal on his chest. Regulus can't tell how bad the wound is, but he can tell it's not good from the amount of blood. The words have long since stopped being coherent from their mother, lost to her rage. She doesn't even notice Regulus entering the room. Sirius is sobbing on the floor when something Regulus has never seen before. "Crucio" The word rings in Regulus' ears as Sirius begins screaming anew. Sirius's raw, throat-shredding sound is so loud that Regulus can only wonder how his eardrums haven't shattered. As the first seizure-like convulsion rips through Sirius, Regulus, without thinking, raises his wand against the woman that calls herself their mother. "STUPEFY" Regulus all but screams the word. Walburga turns to him a second too late, the spell hitting her chest, sending her into the far wall behind where Sirius lies, almost unconscious. With Walburga knocked out and no sign of their father, Reg calls for Kreacher one last time. "Kreacher, I order you, Pack both Siri and I's trunks, Gather all of his belonging for Hogwarts and send them to the library beside the fireplace. Bring all of the pictures hidden within my bookshelf as well. Bring me the floo powder as well. Go now." as Kreatcher dissaperates to do as ordered, Regulus rushes to Sirius's side. "Siri, SIRI! Come on, brother. You need to wake up. I can't carry you to the library without your help." Groggily, Sirius opens his eyes. Awake but not focused enough to respond, he attempts to sit up. Reg helps him stand, and slowly, swaying, they make their way into the library. The floo powder has been set on the Mantel. A second after they stop in front of the fireplace, a 'pop' followed by two 'thumps' draws Regulus's attention. Kreacher is standing next to the two trunks looking solemn. "Thank you, old friend." is all Regulus can manage before he grabs the two trunks that Kreacher offers. Holding two trunks and his older brother is not easy, and his right shoulder is screaming at him, but he manages to get them into the fireplace. Floo powder in hand, he states, "Potter Manor," and with the roar of the green flames, both he and Sirius hit the floor. Hard. Just as the world is fading from view, he sees a pair of obscenely Gryffindorish slippers, and the last thing he hears is "MUM! HELP!" and then everything goes black.
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James
Now James hadn't exactly expected his summer to be very exciting. Sirius was forced to go home with his brother, Remus went home to Wales only to return to Hogwarts once a month for obvious reasons, Peter was in France with his family all summer, and the girls were all busy with family to hang out with. So James spent his summer training for Quidditch next year and hanging out with his parents.
James woke up at around 2 in the morning to get some water. He did not expect to hear the floo go off or two thumps come from the living room. Rushing in, James spots two boys lying on the carpet before the fireplace. The boys look so similar you'd think someone used the Gemini jinx on them and created a double. The only difference was that one had longer hair, and the other was slightly taller. James, as soon as he processed the two on his floor, was, in fact, the infamous Black brothers that practically filled his thoughts; he yelled for his mother, "MUM! HELP!" the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs. Then Euphemia Potter burst into the living room med-kit in hand, followed by a slightly less awake Fleamont Potter. "James, help your father get them off the floor and onto the couches." Euphemia's voice was soft yet commanding as her boys rushed to do as she said. Fleamont then calls Minky, their house elf, to prepare two rooms across the hall from James's room.
Meanwhile, Effie is slowly waving her wand over Sirius, as he has the worst visible injuries, casting diagnostic spells and gasping at what they revealed. Regulus is gradually coming too on the opposite couch James stands next to. James glances down, and he absolutely does not shriek, no sir, he does not (he totally did) when starry gray eyes meet his own.
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Regulus
The first thing Regulus hears when he regains consciousness is a gasp. Not exactly sure where he is, Reg decides to keep his eyes closed for longer to gather more information on where he is. The thing he's lying on is very soft and slightly too small for his lanky 5'10 body. As the memories from last night come rushing back, he gathers that he is on a couch somewhere in the Potter manor. Finally, he decides to open his eyes, and immediately he is greeted by the hilarious sight of James Potter shrieking and jumping after meeting his unexpected gaze. Fighting a slight smile, Regulus sits up and fully takes in his surroundings. Upon meeting the gaze of one Euphemia Potter, he freezes, not knowing how this house was run. "Hello, Ma'am. I am truly sorry to bother you so late. I had no idea where else to bring him. St. Mungos would've called our parents as soon as we crossed the wards and-" Euphemia's raised hand cut him off. "There is nothing to worry about, my dear. I am glad you felt you could bring both him and yourself here. You are no bother, and we are thrilled you are here. Though it would have been nice to meet under better circumstances, I believe introductions are in order. You know James, and we know who Sirius is. I have heard of you from James and Sirius's letters." nodding, Regulus says "I am very pleased to meet you Mrs. Potter, my name in Regulus." the gentle smile he gets from the woman across from him is almost enough to drain the tension in his body. Almost. "Please, my dear, call me Effie or mum if you wish, your brother certainly already does." she says the last bit with a fond smile aimed towards Sirius's sleeping form, the large gash now healed, with his bloody shirt removed, Regulus can see just how big the scar is, raised white and pink tissue spanning from just below his right collarbone, to just above his left hip bone. Seeing Sirius's injury seems to remind Regulus of his own ailments, and he hisses a breath as he shifts his right arm. In an instant, Effie walks over to him and asks, "Can I see your shoulder, my dear?" with a small nod Regulus begins attempting to get his shirt over his shoulder without irritating it further, which proves to be much harder to do by himself. Suddenly warm hands are helping him pull his shirt the rest of the way off. Once his head is no longer lost amid the white fabric, Reg glances back to see James holding his shirt, cheeks flushing. Reg immediately turns back to face Effie, who is currently staring at his bruised shoulder. "My dear, how did this happen?" she asks. "I slammed into a wall after stealing our wands from our father's study. The wall may or may not have been concrete." Effie's bewildered look is slightly concerning, almost more than the piece of bone sticking from his collarbone. "Oh. that's probably not good," he says before glancing back at James, whose usually warm hazel eyes were filled with such rage that they were frosty and cold. Regulus could tell the rage was not directed at him, but he still flinched nonetheless. Upon seeing Reg flinch, the cold in those eyes melted into the warm hazel he was used to. Effie clicked her tongue at the hiss Regulus emitted after the flinch jostled his shoulder. "That collarbone is broken, and it appears the wall was spelled with something because the shoulder is out of the socket, and your shoulder blade has also sustained a mild fracture." Euphemia states sourly. "You and your brother need someone more adept than I." Regulus starts to protest. "But we can't go to-," Effie cuts him off. "I know that you cannot go to St. Mungo's. I have another place in mind. Poppy does owe me a few favors after all," she says the last bit with a smirk. James looks ecstatic, and Regulus can guess it's because Remus should be at Hogwarts for the full moon tomorrow night. After helping Minky set up the spare rooms, Monty comes back down and says, "Hello lad, good to see you awake. My name is Fleamont, but you can just call me Monty," he says with a wink. Effie glances up to see her husband and says, "We need to call Poppy, I can't heal Regulus's collarbone without Skellegrow, which we don't have, and Sirius was hit with the Cruciatis curse." Effie states simply before walking to the fireplace to floo call Madame Pompfrey. Regulus greets Monty with a "Hello sir, er Monty. I'm Regulus; I apologize for showing up so out of the blue this late at night." "none of that now, son. You're not bothering anyone of us, we are happy to help, and we are honored you felt safe enough to come here." Before Regulus can respond, Effie turns and says, "Alright boys, we can floo into Poppy's office now. Monty, can you get Sirius? James will help Regulus through, and I'll meet you on the other side." with that Effie steps into the floo states "Madame Pompfrey's office" and disappears with a flash of green flames. Next, Monty goes through with Sirius in his arms. Then it's finally his and James's turn. "Would you like to do the honors, or should I?" James asks with a small comforting smile. Seeing as Reg is being held up by his good arm wrapped around James's shoulders, he says, "You're going to have to. I can't exactly do much with my arm right now." "Oh, right. Sorry" James stutters, slightly embarrassed as he waves to Minky and grabs the Floo powder. "Madame Pompfrey's office," and then everything goes green.