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Christmas break was here. The holidays had started, and because of a lot procrastinating (mostly on the twins' part), they had little to no idea how they were going to pull off the Homonculous Charm on Christmas Eve.
The halls were packed full of students, mostly going through their belongings a last time, a few handful here and there wishing their friends goodbye. After the earlier attack and the suspicious 'disappearances' of the muggles, no parent was willing to risk their children staying at Hogwarts. Even though Hogwarts had Dumbledore, as a Gryffindor first-year so cleverly pointed out.
There was little hope escaping the four boys who practically latched themselves onto the back of the twins' robes as they contemplated leaving for the Black Manor for Christmas. It was the first time they had been away from their house, away from their parents for a major holiday, and they were feeling the dip in spirits because of that.
It seemed that Sirius could detect their sorrow as he dragged the both of them by the back of their robes to the kitchens that very night after curfew.
"Sirius, this is really excessive and unnecessary. We can walk just fine on our own, you know," Regulus grumbled as he attempted to fix his robe that was being pulled by Sirius.
Sirius stopped pulling them for a second as if he was going to let them go, as any normal person would do.
Alas, this was Sirius, and he was as far from normal as one could be.
"Nope, you're not fooling me into letting you two go. I know you're sad and shit, boo - fucking - hoo, but i promise you guys, we're going to have way more fun making the map than you were going to have back at the place," Sirius said cheerfully.
"You're the only one who hates that place as much as you do, Sirius," Regulus said softly.
"Yeah, sure, it's a bit too silent at times, but, it's still our family," Aquila gave a small smile.
Sirius let out a humourless smile. "They may be family to you guys, since you made it into Slytherin. I'll never forget the terror I felt the first day in school and Bellatrix with her wand out and I-" he broke off.
"What? You told us about the Stinging Hex but this is something else," Aquila spoke sharply.
Sirius shrugged as if to say it's nothing. But it clearly was something, because Sirius was not one to dodge any opportunity to milk concern out of his sibling. Aquila pursed her lips, but said nothing except a shallow nod to Regulus.
"We heard Bellatrix over the summer," Regulus began. Sirius' head turned sharply to him at this, raising an eyebrow to ask him to continue. "She was talking to mother and father. Something about-" he broke off. Can I? Should I? He asked Aquila.
Aquila twisted her lips to the side, but nodded.
"I think it's best if instead of telling you, we show you, Siri," Regulus said softly.
Sirius had nothing to say to this, confused as to what his siblings were doing. They were still standing in the corridor outside the kitchens, which was very prone to discovery considering the Hufflepuff Common Room was just nearby, and the younger Hufflepuffs were nosy at best and babblemouths at worst. So, once again, Sirius grabbed them by the back of their robes and dragged them to the painting of the fruit bowl.
"You could just ask us to walk, you know!" Aquila shrieked, clearly not a fan of being dragged.
Sirius said nothing, but poked the apple in the painting. Aquila began to say that they were supposed to tickle the pear, but a passage appeared below the painting, stairs leading down to a dark, unlit passage, most likely dusty. Regulus waved his wand with a silent Scourgify, and the three Black siblings descended the stairs.
They reached a dark room, a cube chamber, with torches lining the walls, which Sirius lit up with a wave of his wand and a whispered Lumos. There, he turned to them and gestured for them to continue.
The twins just stared at their brother bewildered at this turn of events. Aquila prided herself on knowing the whole underground network of Hogwarts and her pride was promptly deflated at her brother's casual display of knowledge of Hogwarts.
Sirius was, number one, older than her and had come to Hogwarts a year before her. Two, he was more inclined towards mischievousness which gave birth to curiosity and intelligence for performing pranks, escape routes and whatnot. But, Aquila was not about to admit this, and simply gave him a look of begrudging respect, before gesturing to Regulus to continue.
Regulus cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're going to show you what happened, but keep it away from your boyband, please." Sirius hesitated but nodded, holding out his pinkie for the most solemn of promises. Regulus held his hand up in a fist, and then dramatically and slowly took his pinkie out of his fist. The two brothers exchanged identical looks of deep understanding and clutched each others' pinkies.
Aquila just watched, having a hard time controlling her eyes from rolling at her brothers' dramatics.
"Well, how will you show it to me?" Sirius asked excitedly.
Aquila and Regulus took their wands and pricked the tips of their fingers. They joined their hands, the point where their blood met sizzling, and faint red and blue patterns appeared around their conjoined hands. Sirius made a vaguely human noise, his mouth and eyes wide open at this new display of magic. He was aware of the twins' extra powers, with the occasional accidental magic they displayed, along with the softening of Bellatrix's blow during the summer, but it was clear that the two of them had been experimenting with their powers and had actually advanced in them.
Through a furrowed expression, Regulus beckoned a hand towards Sirius, as did Aquila. And so the trio stood, with joint hands, until Sirius suddenly felt a jolt and there were flashes of Regulus, Aquila, Kreacher, Avery, Mulciber and Sirius himself and his friends and James and Quidditch tryouts and Slytherin Common Room and their parents and all he could feel was panic and adrenaline as he saw himself being attacked by Bellatrix and a younger version of the three of them getting scolded by their mother from playing with the muggles living next to them and gasp!
A fuzzy memory was playing in front of him. Faintly, if he squinted really hard, as if one would if they were smiling really hard and fake, he could very faintly see the outlines of Aquila and Regulus who were concentrating hard on keeping the memory on the surface of all memories and actually keeping Sirius in it.
Bellatrix was standing in front of him. Her figure was blurry, as if a badly taken photograph with a dirty lens. She was standing with her back to the fireplace, the fire giving her an unholy halo. Her face was pale, as it always was, with high arching cheekbones and the aristocrat jawline that every Black possessed. Facing Bellatrix with stiff shoulders were Sirius' parents. Bellatrix appeared to be saying something to them, but the sound reached his ears as if Bellatrix was speaking from underwater. Sirius heard Aquila gasp next to him and the images turned clearer, and Bellatrix voice, now out of whatever water body she was in, came clear.
"You know He grows, dearest Auntie. It would be wiser to get him in line before the old fool takes him in," Bellatrix was sneering.
"Do not tell me how to raise my child, darling Bella," his mother said, her words affectionate but tone cold.
"But of course not, Auntie! Splendid job you have done, raising all three of them! Sirius, wonderfully clever, just his attention needs to be directed towards the correct things. Regulus and Aquila, so talented, the pair of them, don't you agree?" Bellatrix's face turned wicked now, with a smirk gracing her features. His mother grew more stiff, if possible. His father stayed silent throughout, knowing to step out of way when Walburga's claws came out.
"Indeed. Horace is particularly happy with their progress," his mother said, her lips set in a thin line.
A maniacal grin set itself in place of the smirk on Bellatrix's lips. "Oh, but of course I'm sure their, ah, extra curricular activities no one is aware about?"
"Regulus is interested in Quidditch, but it is not a sport to be played by ladies of fine-bred houses. Thus, Aquila has little interest in extra curriculars," Walburga replied stonily.
"Mark my words, Auntie," Bellatrix said, all pretense of niceness gone from her voice. "The Dark Lord rises, he gathers followers. Do not be one of the foolish ones who stand against him, and prevent your children from doing so. Train your children in the power they possess. They will be of great use to my Lord when the time arrives."
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i planned this as a filler and whoops
this turned out exciting
happy april fools you fools
omg hy you're so funny
much love,
༻hy༺