All in the Family

Chapter 99: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

The dust hadn't even settled, nor the pain of landing flat on his back, when an ear-piercing, yet almost familiar shriek began in earnest. Regulus felt his heart slam into his throat as he sat up to see what once would have been the most welcoming sight in what felt like a very long time now. Mum was telling off Sirius.

He was just sitting there, gaping up at her, Regulus really would have thought he'd know better than anyone now that was only going to make it worse. Regulus was still fighting back a smile as he got unsteadily to his feet, stumbling towards his mother to distract her away from whatever she was mad about him now to explain, finally, to someone what had been going on! Surely she could help, she could see this future and know, like him, how things needed a change- he slowed though when he really looked into her face, and then fell back to the floor in shock at registering her portrait.

In a slow, almost nightmarish daze, he began turning slowly on the spot to take in the fact that they were home once more...but not exactly as he remembered it. They were in the portrait gallery, the door right off to the side where it should be, but there were several more portraits in here besides mum's that shouldn't be. Dad's was directly across from hers, his aunts and uncles all varying across the walls to draw attention and add to their retribution. The noise all piled up on each other, had him covering his ears, though they weren't doing a good job as badly as they were shaking.

"Shut up, you-" Sirius finally found his voice, but there was barely a hint of air, it was so lost in the mess that when finally the shout of 'Stupefy' rung, it was only the red sparks that gave away something new was happening.

Several more voices took up the spell, and then blessed silence fell.

"Sirius," the voice was gentle, calm now, but Regulus still flinched even as his eyes finally fluttered open, he didn't even remember closing them. Adrenaline was hitting so hard though it wasn't until Lupin had grabbed his brother's arms and was guiding him out of the room, and the troll leg got knocked over on the way up the stairs that it even occurred to him he could move as well.

Peter and Potter were already trying to go after them, but Frank's soft yet startling words stopped them. "Shit kid, are you okay?"

Regulus didn't need to look up to know he was being spoken to. He swallowed several times and didn't have an answer. He wasn't even sure how he did it, but he got to his feet and took off up the stairs as well, racing past so fast he wouldn't have seen Fluffy standing in his way until he made it to the very top floor. Only mum and dad's room stood on his left, but that wasn't his goal. He tapped the wall impatiently with his wand, but the stairs to the attic didn't descend as they should have. He was trapped.

He'd never felt trapped in his own home before, was this how Sirius always felt? Surrounded by those portraits, nothing but an echo of his parents, he'd swear the walls were closing in on him and he'd tried running to his favorite spot where nobody but Kreacher ever found him. He could hide up there for days until Mum and Dads fights subsided, just because he was used to them yelling at Sirius, or each other, or anything on their mind at all hours didn't always mean he wanted to be here listening to it. At least during Mum and Dad's lessons they spoke with calm dignity, he'd happily listened to them talk like that for days.

He heard soft footsteps behind him and cringed at the idea of Sirius following just to keep yelling at him and tell him to grow up.

James watched as Peter took off after Regulus without hesitation. Regulus, he knew that for a fact, not Sirius. The only reason Remus had beat him to get Sirius out of here had been because James had been watching everyone to make sure those portraits weren't going to jump clean out and slit their throats, they were that kind of horrifying.