(16) the blacks.
THE BLACKS had lived a complicated life -- a life worth living. They were one of the few pureblooded families that remained untainted, their blood perfect and pure, not muddied -- not many could say that. There were new generations of pureblood families that were on the rise, but the Blacks had been here since the beginning -- they were the backbone of the community, everyone looked at them with adoration or fright. Walburga preferred when their eyes had both in them. Walburga was born to be an ornament, someone to put on display and parade around -- she wasn't a fool, she knew with her brother in the picture she had no way of being the sole heir of their family. Alphard had the gall to act bothered about it, walk around and pretend he was above it all.
Walburga did everything an heir should, but when she realized all her efforts would go unnoticed she found another way. Orion Black. Orion was malleable, a simple man -- a simple man with a simple mind that had simple needs, but unbelievable power. It wasn't out of the norms to marry into your own family and so Walburga weaved her web, and Orion got trapped in it. Silly man, he never quite realized what she'd done to him, he believed because she didn't look him the eye or speak against him, he was the one in power -- but it couldn't be the farthest thing from the truth.
The truth is if you let men believe they're the ones in power, they never quite doubt it. Orion could walk around boasting as much as he wanted, about the wealth of the family, his wife being the most dull person to talk too but the best lay he ever had, his brother and his brother's wife, the Blacks being the Most Noble and Ancient house. Walburga didn't care, she worked behind what everyone saw, she worked tirelessly and she didn't care if her children saw her as the enemy, she didn't care if her children saw her for who she truly was -- hard, cold, relentless, and a monster. To be honest, she didn't quite care about what they thought of her at all, some days she did -- she cared a lot, those were the good days. The days her children thought of when the bad days clouded everything around them. Those were the days that made her children stay as long as they did.
Walburga knew the blame was on her, because Orion was the simple minded man and she was the one working the puppets, but the blame still came down on her with a harsh strike. She had always had a scattered mind -- it was something that was just there, always, no matter how much she tried, how much discipline she tried to include in her life -- it was always there. She had seen it in Sirius too, so she'd done her best to beat it out of him, cast as many spells as she could, but in the end Walburga was no better than her parents -- she cast imperio and let him walk around, unaware of himself, because it was just easier that way.
It wasn't that she didn't love her kids, or maybe it was, the bad days made her feel like she never wanted to see them again, but the good days made her spread all her love out on them. Orion remained detached on the days he should've taken charge. Walburga was a terrible person, she was a terrible daughter, a terrible wife, and a terrible mother. It was just who she was, and she couldn't beat it out of herself, so she just didn't.
When Regulus fled, Walburga lost all hope. She could blame Sirius' rebellion on Gryffindor, his no-good band of friends, and the Potter, but Regulus leaving solidified the fact that now the House of Black had become a target -- a house with shaky foundation, waiting to be destroyed by one strong gust of wind.
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THE DINNER TABLE was finally at a comfortable enough pace, Maggie passed Regulus a wink after she effortlessly started a conversation about Quidditch so James would participate in the conversation more. James who had now completely let down his guard leaned forward, the spark in his eyes lighting up for Regulus for the first time. When James looked at someone, he did it with such intensity that it was almost impossible to keep looking at him.
"You know, Reggie--" James started, a smile on his face as he finally got the energy to talk to people. He had a tough day at work today, and no matter what people thought of him -- he wasn't always a people person. Some days when he was frustrated with the amount of times he had to interact with people, anger came out of in bouts.
"Oh, I'd prefer if you didn't call me Reggie--" Regulus said to him.
James ignored him, "I always told Sirius you had such raw talent, the best seeker I've seen--"
"What the fuck, James?" Jackie threw her hands back with offense. She frowned at her brother -- she could not believe he'd just said that to him. She was so going to snitch on him the next time he did something.
"Will you let me finish, you impatient freak!" James threw his napkin at her, Jackie charmed his mash to hit him in the face. After a quick 'Kids!' from Euphemia, both of them calmed down. James wiped his nose with Lily's napkin after Jackie refused to throw his napkin back at him, "As I was saying, before someone," he glared at his sister who only turned her nose up at it, "Interrupted me. I always thought you were the best seeker the Slytherin team had ever seen. There, are you happy?"
"Very." Jackie grinned triumphantly.
"Ugh, seekers. They're such big vanities." Maggie said as she rolled her eyes.
"Of course you'd think that, chaser." Regulus shot back.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Maggie and James said together, both of them offended -- Maggie had been James' protege. He had taught her everything she knew, when she was on the pitch there was one thing running through her mind -- what would James do? It helped a ton, but it did sometimes make her feel like she'd rather die on the pitch than miss scoring. James loved her, he said she was the best player on the team by far, but every time he mentioned it Jackie got red in the face and stomped around until he got her something to apologize.
"Yeah, he's right, we all know the beaters do the heavy lifting." Marlene said with a smug smile on her face, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she waited for the chaos to ensue.
"Oh, don't start with that!" Maggie said, completely done with her antics, "You guys get appreciation for taking your anger issues out on the field!"
"Woah!" Sirius said, finally offended enough to join the discourse, "That coming from the girl who pushed the Ravenclaw beater off his broom?"
"Even you know that's the wrong thing to bring up!" James said to Sirius, he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, "He was crashing into her the whole game! He was beater, beaters are always supposed to be hands off!"
"He was incredibly high up on the air! He could've died!"
"And he would've died like the pussy he was. Sue me for not giving a fuck," Maggie crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair, a satisfied smirk on her face, "I don't mean that, but I did kill him when it came to the game. I took him the hell out."
"Besides Dumbledore cushioned his fall and took the fun out of it," James said, he rolled his eyes like it was some great inconvenience that he didn't get to witness him walking around with a bruised hip, "So, he wasn't even wounded."
"Alright you bloodthirsty freaks," Jackie rolled her eyes at them, "Back to the important matter in hand -- seekers are obviously the most important players, the game can't even end without us."
"Thank you for mentioning that!" Regulus said, holy hell, maybe the Potter Manor had some charm to it that made everyone happy. Maybe Regulus was just happy and free because he wasn't choking on the sorrow of the House of Black for once.
"Oh, please!" Sirius argued with his brother, "You guys are such attention-seekers," he said and then made a stupid face intended to mock his brother as he waved his arms around for the next part, "Oh, look at me, I'm so special and talented because I caught a ball. A ball!"
"You're the one talking? You're the most attention seeking person I--"
"Don't even start with that!"
"Stop arguing about this, everyone knows chasers are obviously the best!" James said.
"Enough!" Lily yelled at them, "You are all stupid running around chasing balls and finding ways to rub all over each other! Be stupid together!"
Everyone's jaw dropped at that.
"Alright, kids!" Euphemia said, instantly drawing the kids' yammering to a stop, "How about we talk about something else, yes? How about the roast? I worked very hard on it this evening."
"Oh, its delightful, Effie!" Dorcas said, immediately and not missing a beat -- ready to suck up to her for as much motherly love as she could hoard, "Did you try a new recipe for the chicken--"
"Shut up, kissass," Jackie said to Dorcas -- yeah, don't ask about Jackie and Dorvas. Jackie had a long and painfully hopeless thing for Dorcas. Her way of showing it had been by bullying her -- the Potters were incredibly hopeless, "But she's right, Mum. The food is really great tonight."
"Pardon me for being intrusive, Miss Potter--" Regulus said, a confused expression on his face as he stared down at the roast dinner on his plate. Euphemia kept adding more and more food to his plate when she saw how uncomfortable he looked in front of the food. She hoped he would try to finish at least half of what she put on the plate out of politeness -- it would still be way more food than what he put on his plate, "But your house elf doesn't cook your food?"
"Oh, you're not being intrusive at all, dear -- and please call me Effie, or Mia -- we let our house elf rest as much as we can. She's gotten quite old, you see. It would not be fair for us to keep working her like that." Euphemia explained, a simple smile on her face as she explained it to him. She had grown up in a traditional pureblood family herself -- a Ravenclaw in a family of Slytherins, so she could get Regulus and Sirius in a way they needed to be understood.
"Yeah, we just hang out with her these days -- she's so cute. She loves painting my nails." Jackie said, she put her hands out in front of Regulus -- showing him her nails. They were just black.
"What are you showing me? They're plain black?" Regulus said.
"You've been fooled!" Jackie said, maddening cackle came out of her face after.
"Oh, Christ. Here we go again." Maggie said from Regulus' side, she took a sip of her water.
"Look, these may look black but when you cast lu--" Regulus tuned her out. He was happy here, he thought.
The Blacks had a difficult time in new places, around new people. Regulus had always assumed he wouldn't have to find his own way in Slytherin because he had his brother. That was the way it was when he was a kid -- Sirius would always go first, and Regulus would model his life after him, pick and choose what he wanted to be and what he didn't want to be. He knew where to jab the knife and when to twist. He knew what got his parents to love him and what got them to punish him.
Regulus understood now that it couldn't have been easy for Sirius -- being who he was -- loud and unapologetic. Regulus was quiet and apologetic. Sirius learned how to fly a broom and how to land -- Regulus learned how to fly a broom and how land faster and more safely. Sirius got put under imperius curse when he was little and misbehaved during big events, Regulus didn't speak.
Perhaps now... there would be a way. Perhaps they could learn who the other was without their parents' shadow on them.