Jegulus: the escaping of a broken home

"Hi, I'm Kiara Saanvi."

TW! Self-deprecating thoughts about how skinny he is? Idk if this needs a TW as I struggle with the opposite, but just putting this out there in case🤷🏽‍♀️

TW! Mentions of abuse

Regulus' POV

I woke with a start as the shrill noise sounded from next to my ear. I turned to face my beeping wand and tapped it hastily to stop the alarm spell. I lay there, my heart pounding from the rude awakening. Alarm spells were efficient, but I had forgotten how bloody scary they were.

Finally, with a small sigh I got up from the floor, my back and neck sore from the unforgivingly hard ground. I stretched my arms out, swaying dizzily as the blood rushed to my feet. My vision clouded over, and all I could see was black while I remained still in an attempt to regain my balance.

Finally, the black spots clouding my vision disappeared, and I gathered up my wand, looking around the dingy classroom. I stumbled towards the door and opened it. It swung open with a loud bang, and I jumped.

Apparently, the jump hadn't startled only me, for Ms. Norris bolted from where she had been sitting a few moments ago. She gave me one last scathing look with those yellow eyes, before she turned and disappeared around the corner. I groaned.

It was 6:00 am, and I was sure I was going to get in trouble for this, so I closed the door, not caring about the volume now, before sprinting in the opposite direction.

But Filch seemed to have expected that. I rounded the corner and skidded to a stop as he waited in front of me, leering eerily. He raised a barely visible brow.

"Ah. Black."

I stood there, unsure of what to say.

"Well, let's hope you aren't as troublesome as your brother, or you'll get a second detention. And don't think your parents are not hearing about this."

I swallowed audibly and looked down, crossing my arms.

"Well, follow me then." He said impatiently as he turned around and hurried off down the corridor. I followed him, rolling my eyes as he complained to no one in particular. Maybe I could get him distracted and have him forget to tell my parents.

"Kids staying out at night, making a mess or the corridors, doing drugs, pranks, I'm sick of it all! And me cleaning it all up! Can't wait till we can use the chains and whips again..." he trailed off, muttering random insults every now and then.

I bit my tongue to hold back my question when we passed his office and kept going. Asking questions led to problems more often than not. That was rule number... something of the rule list you needed to follow to live with my parents.

But my question was soon answered when we stopped outside the Professor McGonagall's classroom.

"But sir, my head of house is Professor Slughorn, not-" I began, but he cut me off rudely.

"I didn't ask, boy. What you seem to be unaware of is how big of a deal this is. Students are not allowed to be out of bed past curfew, and spending the night in a classroom is unacceptable. So the Deputy Headmistress has the duty of seeing what punishment will be fit." He explained this gleefully, and gestured me in, before turning around and hobbling off to torment some other kids.

I steeled myself and pushed open the wooden door. There sat Professor McGonagall, her hair neatly up underneath her hat, decked in her emerald green robes. She was grading some papers, and I wondered how she was awake and ready at 6 am. She looked up when I arrived, her lips thinner than I had ever seen them.

I grimaced. Slughorn had favorites, and I was one of them, so maybe I could have wormed my way out of that one, but McGonagall was stern with everyone, and had no favorites. Perhaps one could say she had a bit of a soft spot for my brother and his friends, but that was as far as favoritism extended with her.