Should’ve kept every grocery store receipt/Yes our teeth and ambitions are bared
Sirius thought that if he just pretended the dinner was never actually happening, he would be fine, but of course the evening eventually came. He was getting ready in his room when he realised what he was actually getting himself ready for and he almost felt like throwing up. He immediately rushed into the bathroom outside his room and sat down by the toilet. Why did he agree to this?
Almost to his disappointment, he didn’t throw up. He sat down by the toilet for a while, wishing he had said no to doing this, but now he was fully wrapped up in this. Hell, he had even defended his parents to Regulus!
No, Sirius was going through with this. If they hadn’t changed, he would know that after this. And he would be happier… or at least more comfortable with that knowledge. He stood up and looked in the mirror. He was wearing the red suit Alphard bought him a year ago. It reminded him of David Bowie, and if he was going to own a suit it was gonna be one worth a rockstar. He let out his black hair and unbuttoned the highest button. He wasn’t going to look more formal for his parents. No, if they had changed they would accept this.
“Do you regret it?” Regulus said. He was wearing his matching green suit and his hair was natural and curly.
“Yes,” Sirius said, feeling bad admitting this after pushing it to Regulus.
“I only said yes because it seemed like it meant so much to you,”
“You certainly know how to cheer a guy up, don’t you,” Sirius said, sarcasm obvious.
“I try,” Regulus smirked. “Whatever, are you ready yet? They’re here any second now,”
“Yeah, I’m ready,” Sirius tucked that one strand of hair behind his hair and then turned to Regulus, who he had only looked at through the mirror before now. “You?”
“If I wait until I’m ready I’ll have to wait forever,”
“Okay poet,” Sirius laughed. “Let’s go down,”
The brothers walked down the stairs and were greeted by Alphard, wearing a regular black suit. He told them the plan for the night. They would arrive at 18.00, and they would then eat the main dish. When they felt ready, the dessert would be served and then Walburga and Orion would leave after that.
“Ready?” Alphard said. The brothers nodded, and then they sat in the living room quietly until a knock on the door was heard.
They had arrived.
Alphard left the living room and greeted Walburga and Orion at the door. Sirius and Regulus heard their parents talking. They sounded… nice? Kind? They made a quick decision and walked out of the living room, into the hall.
“Oh, Sirius, Regulus!” Walburga said, as she saw them. “Don’t you two look grown up?”
“Hello mum,” Sirius said, and went to shake her hand. He didn’t want to hug her, the thought almost making his stomach twist again. Regulus followed his lead, also shaking her hand after Sirius went to say hello to Orion. He was not able to look his dad in the eyes.
“It’s so good to see you both,” Orion said. “We brought a gift for both of you, They’re in the bag,”
He pointed at the one of the bags they had brought, Sirius quickly looking inside to find a vinyl Queen’s album A Day At The Races.
“Oh, thank you!” He said politely, still not being able to look his dad in the eyes. Regulus picked up his gift which was a vinyl of Billy Joel’s album The stranger.
Regulus and Sirius looked at each other quickly and they both knew that Alphard had told them what to buy, otherwise they would just have brought clocks. Maybe they were changing? If they wanted to make an effort like that…
“So, let’s sit down at the table, shall we?” Alphard said, clapping his hands together.
Sirius and Regulus sat down next to each other, Sirius facing Walburga on the other side and Regulus facing Orion. Alphard sat at the end of the table, like some kind of family therapist, or a teacher trying to talk to a student’s parents. Sirius sat on his left, and Walburga to his right.
Alphard’s personal chef, Kreacher, served them lobster, the main dish. Walburga and Alphard made polite conversation while Regulus and Sirius glanced at each other every once in a while. If they had paid more attention to the conversation they might have been to prevent what was coming, but for now they were staring down, poking at their food, only eating the food when somebody was looking at them.
“So, Sirius, how are your studies going?” Orion suddenly asked.
“Oh… It’s going well,” Sirius said. “I’m going to university soon, so deciding what I want to do for uni is the next step, I suppose,”
“Shouldn’t you do business, since you’re supposed to inherit the company?” Orion said.
“Well, that’s definitely on the table,” Sirius hesitated before he continued. “But I have thought about letting Regulus inherit the company instead, since I’m not sure if I want to,”
Regulus nodded. They had talked about this a lot, and Regulus wasn’t a big fan of the company either, but he had a better eye for that kind of stuff, already helping Alphard with things in the company.
“I’m considering it, but there’s nothing decided yet,” Regulus said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry Alphard!” Walburga suddenly said, Sirius looked to see that she had accidentally knocked down Alphard’s glass. She reached for the wine bottle and poured another glass, while Kreacher came and cleaned up the mess she had made.
“It’s okay, Walburga,” Alphard laughed uncomfortably. “Don’t mind,”
They continued the dinner, and soon Kreacher brought in the dessert. Alphard, Walburga and Orion were laughing and having fun, and Sirius guessed it made sense, since Walburga and Alphard were siblings. Alphard reached for his wine glass, but as soon as he swallowed he started coughing.
“Oh my, are you okay?” Walburga said, as Alphard continued coughing. “Sirius what’s wrong with him?”
“I- I don’t know,” Sirius froze in his seat, trying to go through his brain for what it could be. “He’s allergic to peanuts but I don’t know-”
“Well, do something!” Walburga shrieked. “He’s going to die! Sirius do something!”
“I don’t know what to do-” Sirius was close to crying, Alphard was turning blue, scratching at his throat.
Walburga continued screaming at him to do something. Alphard fell to the floor and Sirius stood up quickly, his chair falling to the floor.
“Alphard-” Regulus said next to him, Regulus also close to crying. “Sirius, what happened-”
“I don’t know!” Sirius cried. “Mum, what did you do?!”
“Save him, Sirius!” Walburga said. “He’s going to die!”
The noise ringing in Sirius’ ears, he fell down next to Alphard, who was still coughing and scratching his throat. He made a sound, like a croak, before finally becoming still. When Sirius realised, he couldn’t move. He barely even heard Regulus and Walburga behind him, his ears ringing with a high pitched noise. This was all his fault, Walburga was right. He should’ve done something.
“I’m so sorry Sirius,” Walburga put a hand on his shoulder. “I can't imagine how it must feel,”
“Can’t imagine… what?” Sirius's voice was hoarse.
“How it must feel… being responsible for someone’s death,” Walburga said. “You should probably leave this house, before someone finds out what you did,”
“No!” Regulus shouts, but Sirius has already stood up, ready to leave. “Sirius, don’t do this!”
Orion grabbed Regulus, dragging him out of the living room. “I think Walburga is right, son,”
“It’s all my fault,” Sirius says, turning to his parents and Regulus. “They can’t find out…”
Walburga nods, and while Regulus shouts at him to not do it Sirius has made up his mind, and in only his suit he runs to the kitchen door and out of the house.
Alphard is dead, and the blood is on his hands. This is what is repeated through his brain while he runs out in the city. He doesn’t stop until his chest is burning, and that’s when he realises people are staring. It’s not every day you see someone running with a red suit on.
“Excuse me, are you Sirius Black?” Someone approaches him, it’s a lady in her 20s. “Are you okay?”
Sirius fakes a smile, and says: “No, you must be mistaken. And I’m very much fine, don’t worry,”
“Okay, because the two of you are very similar,” The lady says, clearly not believing him.
“I hear that a lot,” Sirius says, and then walks past her.
He almost forgot that he was well known. It wasn’t going to be easy avoiding being recognized, he was going to have to do something about it. He stumbled into a park and sat down on the nearest bench. It was almost getting too dark outside, and Sirius was tired. He had nothing of value on him, so he decided to try and sleep on the bench.
While he was sleeping, he dreamt nightmares about what had happened.
Alphard’s dead body. Regulus screams at him not to leave. His parents. Oh, his parents. He saw Walburga yelling at him for not stopping what was happening. He knew about Alphard’s allergy, so why didn’t he stop the reaction? He saw Orion dragging Regulus out of the living room, while Regulus was crying.
He had ruined everything for Regulus.