I'll defend You until my voice is hoarse
A shrilling scream is what wakes Regulus up early on the second of september, it's unmistakable his mother because the pure rage in that one scream is something that he has only ever seen her be able to achieve. He´s body immediately tenses as he tries to listen, many things can make their mother mad but only Sirius has ever managed to make her lose it completely.
And right now?
Walburga Black is on a warpath.
He hears her long before he even sees her, her footsteps smacking hard against the wooden floor, making it echo in the long dark hallways. Regulus manages to unfreeze and jumps out of bed, standing before the door with a painfully straight spine, he hurriedly runs his fingers through his hair to try to tame his wild bed hair. It doesn't matter if it's six in the morning or ten at night, it doesn't matter that he was just sleeping peacefully a few seconds ago, their mother always expects them to be presentable.
The door slams open and Walburga storms in, wand in hand and eyes ablaze with fury as she stalks up to him, she reaches out, ignoring his flinch at the action and grabs a fist full of his hair in a tight grip. Regulus lets out a painful gasp as she drags him out of his room, his small hand coming up to clutch at her grip to try to relieve some of the pain to no avail. His mother drags him down the stairs, going so fast that he has trouble keeping up and making him stumble multiple times. As soon as they cross the threshold to the drawing room Walburga throws him forward, he lands on the floor with a small grunt but manages to catch himself before he falls face first into the carpet.
“Would you like to know what your dear cousin sent us this morning, Regulus?” Her voice is sickly sweet when she asks, his mother steps forward and walks around him toward the loveseat where he sees his father sitting for the first time. His gaze is cold and hard as he studies his spare lying on the floor, the clear detached look in his fathers eyes makes Regulus scramble to stand up, going to smooth out his dress shirt only to remember that he's still in his pajamas. He feels small and exposed before his parents.
“Well?” His mother says, voice still sickly sweet but some irritation seeping into it at being ignored.
She said his cousin sent something, and by her fury he can assume it has something to do with his brother, who is at Hogwarts. Bellatrix graduated last year meaning that Andy or Cissa sent something, but if whatever was sent made her this enraged it had to be bad, and Andy would never do something to hurt either Seirius or Regulus. Neither would Cissa but her loyalty to the family can blind her sometimes, so it had to be Narcissa.
“What did Narcissa send mother?” His voice was flat and unemotional, he didn't want to give away the fear he's feeling.
It wouldn't end well for him.
“Why don't you read it yourself hm?” The smile on her face is one of the fakes he has ever seen her give, his mother holds out a parchment toward him, prompting him to take it.
Dear Aunt Walburga.
I am writing to you with some upsetting news about Sirius sorting. I don't know if you have already heard from elsewhere but Sitius was not sorted into Slytherin, but Griffindor. I tried to talk to him immediately after the sorting but he only said that he never wanted to be in Slytherin. I just wanted to write to you and inform you of this unexpected turn of events.
Love Narcissa.
Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor? Regulus kinda wished that he was more surprised than he was. Sirius has always been different from their family, loud, outspoken and bright, always so bright. So him being sorted into the house of lions, the house that valued courage and bravery is not the biggest shock to ever occur.
It's quite fitting actually.
Regulus lifted his gaze from the parchment with his cousin's graceful handwriting and met his mothers eyes. “I think Gryffindor suits him more than Slythe-.” A sharp pain on the side of his face cuts him off before he can finish his sentence.
He never even saw her move but from one second to the other his mother was standing before him with her hand still raised from where she just slapped him across the face. The pain is a familiar one, one that he has felt throughout his whole life, as usual she is wearing her heavy ring with the family emblem and a long slash is left on his cheek where it cut into the soft skin. The cut isn't that deep but blood immediately starts to swell and run down the side of his face in a poor imitation of tears that he´s not allowed to shed.
She grabs his jaw in a painful tight grip and moves his head so that he is looking into her ice cold blue eyes. In moments like these Regulus is glad that he and Sirius inherited their fathers silver eyes, because having to look in the mirror and see her day in and day out? He knows it would drive him mad.
“We are Blacks, Slytherin is the only acceptable house in that mudblood infected castle, do you understand me Regulus?” His mother hissed, her grip on his face tightened and her fingers digging into the fresh cut making the burning feeling flare up. “Huh?!” She screamed in his face, shaking and smacking his head furiously.
“Yes mother.” He managed to get out with only a slight shake to his voice, his chest feels tight and it's starting to become hard to breathe but Regulus knows that if he shows that his mother, like the vulture she is, would sweep down and obliterate him. She huffed but let him go when his father cleared his throat and stood up, slowly he strode over to tower over his small son. He reached out his hand and used his thumb to clean away some of the blood that was still falling from the cut on his cheek. The action itself could come across as affectionate but the cold in his fathers eyes convinced Regulus that this was not the case for.
“You will make us proud won´t you Regulus? Sirius has already proven that he is not a suitable heir so it's up to you to carry on the family name.” His fathers voice was as cold and detached as the look in his eyes, like he wasn't even completely there.
“But Sirius-” One second he was standing before his father, being looked down upon like he is nothing more than dirt under his dragon hind boots, another he was being slammed into the wall, squeezing all the air out of his lungs.
“I did not ask for your opinion! I am telling you that you will make us proud and not embarrass our family any further than what your blood traitor of a brother already has! You will get sorted into Slytherin and make allies with the right sort or there will be consequences!”
Regulus could barely hear his father shouting over the sound of his own coughing, trying to get some air into his lungs. He knows that his whole back will be littered with black and blue bruises in just a few hours. He can only hope that his parents don't feel the need to punish him anymore than this because he doesn't know if he will be able to take it considering just how angry they are right now.
Of Course Regulus never has had that good of luck.
He doesn't hear from whom the spell first comes from but by the end he can safely say that his parents took turns casting different cutting, slashing and stinging hexes on him, and of course their favorite that would get them thrown in Azkaban, the Cruciatus. He doesn't know just how long it went on, all he knew was the pain. He blacked out many times but one of them would always Enervate him, meaning that he never got a break in the form of blissful unconsciousness. After what felt like days tha pain finally stopped coming and he felt a hand lift his head, Regulus opened his eyes with great difficulty and looked up into his mothers icy eyes.
“We do this so that you´ll learn Regulus, we don't want to hurt you but after what your brother did we can't take any chances.” With that she dropped his head and walked away, his father followed but stopped just before exiting, “If you follow your brother and get sorted into Gryffindor then you won't be returning for your second year, be sure of that.”
After that his father left and Regulus laid emotionless on the floor, the pool of blood under him continuing to expand as the multiple cuts on his body bleed. He wants Sirius, he wants his big brother to hold him and tell him everything would be alright. But he wouldn't get that, Sirius is at Hogwarts and he is at home, alone with their parents. For a whole year.