All in the Family

Chapter 158: The Seer Overheard

If I could have named this chapter, it would have been entitled The Affect of a Black Nature, and if you don't get why that's funny please ask. For those who have been missing Regulus for this book, I planned this chapter just for you. This is my pièce de résistance to him.

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This drinking establishment was well cared for and brightly lit. Despite how late in the evening it was by the front window being fully dark, there were beverages about on every surface in large glass mugs, the highly polished assortment behind the bar was only at half stock as the pretty bartender was so flighty on her feet she hadn't yet managed her refill charms.

Every single one of them crashed headlong in like a pistol had gone off to start a brawl.

Peter yowled as he shattered a glass on impact, the shards slashed across his face and he changed on instinct to be away from the danger, his fur absorbing the blood around his eye but too shocked to change back straight away from the pain. Regulus once again landed on the bar, his backside glittering like another Christmas tree at the wrong time of year as he thrashed in pain and dug them in deeper.

Alice crashed headlong into the register, the ka-ching of it striking open not warning enough as the metal tray popped out to slam into her face and send her to the clean floor with a bloody nose.

Remus landed in the kitchens and got a plate of chicken bones on his head along with the rest of the trash cans contents scattered all over the now unsanitary floor he'd apologize for later as he brushed wilted lettuce from his hair and tried to go to the swinging door.

Sirius landed on the stairs almost upright, caught the banister on pure impulse, and his reward was a messy fall and the wooden steps slamming into every available surface while accomplishing nothing but a lopsided view below with a very sore shoulder. James crashed just below him in the far corner on a table and got the pleasure of thirty-two individual chess pieces trying to attack him, but vaguely avoided that by continuing his descent and sending the table and all of it down on top of him instead.

Frank landed in the fireplace, which a lot of drunks must do repeatedly, because it was in fact a false bit of cheerful warmth. He sat screaming like an idiot for several long moments before he realized he wasn't being burned alive and crawled free.

Lily got to land on a bed upstairs and lay there wondering for a single second what the hell all that noise was before the painful reality of their life crashed back into her as her head stopped spinning. She nearly trampled Sirius as she crashed into the hallway and tried to go down the stairs as fast as possible, he just waved her to keep going as he got ungainly to his feet like he'd drunk himself blind.

Deja vu took the rest of her out as she saw Remus Lupin bending over Alice with a concerned expression as she had blood down her face, but her eyes warped the rest back into a clear view. His face wasn't as easy going as before, but scrunched up a bit as if to plug up his nose without use of his hands to keep the smell away while he gently tapped her wound with a quick episkey, and then hopped back with a guilty look around.

Yet Frank had only watched long enough to see she was okay, seeing her curse just a bit in fact for the pain more than anything which was what really had him standing there looking at the sight of her unusual foul mouth before jumping to Regulus and forcefully getting the kid on his side to help.

Lily went over and immediately began plucking glass out with an apology each time, and actually switched to grateful acknowledgment she didn't need even that anymore when James Potter stepped up beside her and tapped the kid with his wand, numbing his back and healing each abrasion practically before the blood could ooze out. He finally sat up with a relieved sigh and thanked all three of them while brushing the last of it from his hair, the plunks of it hitting the counter free of more red from his thick hair.