The night turned into morning real quick. James, Regulus, Sirus and Remus didn't get a wink of sleep but instead, they stayed at bay, not talking or moving all night.
"I'm so hungry," Sirius complained, ruining their silence streak.
"I mean we haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday so we should probably head down to the kitchen,"
The four had to walk back down the stairs and through the dining room to reach the kitchen where they then stood awkwardly.
Turns out none of them truly knew how to cook. James was able to make a bowl of cereal and boil water for pasta and Remus could cook up eggs but neither Sirius nor Regulus had ever touched the stove.
"We could make pancakes," Remus offered.
"Waffles are better," James replied at the same time.
"Jinx!" James shouted, earning an unamused look from Regulus.
"Do you guys have a waffle maker?" Remus asked.
"A waffle what-" Sirius interjected before Regulus could respond.
"Ooh, we have one of those, it's how you cook and get the pattern on the waffles," James explained.
"If we have one Kreacher would know of its location, he does the cooking," Regulus shrugged.
"Right, pancakes it is then," Remus stated, earning a grown of complaint from James and Regulus.
"If you two want waffles then you'll have to find a waffle maker and make them yourselves," Remus declared.
"A pancake is just a waffle without the holes, just add your own holes," Sirius exclaimed.
"A waffle is not just a pancake with holes!" James shouted.
"Waffles are more crispy, taste better, and never become soggy and can be savoury or sweet," Regulus defended.
"Pancakes are fluffy and delicious, I will not take your criticism on that," Sirius argued.
"Waffles hold syrup better," James pointed out.
"Exactly," Regulus agreed.
Sirius gasped. "Remus, you agree with me, right?"
"I think that if you three don't shut up soon you're all not getting breakfast," Remus ignored the initial question and went to get two eggs out of the fridge.
Remus preceded to rummage through the cupboards and get out the baking powder, salt and vanilla extract. From the fridge, he got out butter and milk.
"James, find two large/medium-sized bowls, and Regulus, find measuring cups and spoons. Sirius, help me clear off the counter," Remus ordered.
Once the counter was cleared, the four boys made pancakes with Remus' guidance. The pancakes turned out too salty but they managed to hide the saltines by drowning their pancakes with maple syrup, which they found an unopened bottle of in the back of one of the cupboards.
"Has your dad eaten?" James asked, directing his question towards either Sirius or Regulus.
"Uh, I can't picture him in the kitchen and Kreacher is missing so I doubt it," Sirius scoffed.
"So shouldn't we bring him some food, he's probably hungry and we have two leftover pancakes," James said from where he was seated at the dining room table.
"But why?" Sirius looked at James with a black face.
"Because it's nice, and his wife just died?" James replied although it came out more like a question.
"The pancakes are salty and quite horrible, I say we give them to him," Regulus shrugged.
"Fine," Sirius grumbled. "But we're not giving him any maple syrup,"
The group decided to bring a plate of the awful pancakes down to the dungeons to find Orion.
They followed the familiar path down the stairs and through the dungeons to reach the door of Orion's room.
They knocked a few times, waiting for an answer but there was nothing but silence on the other side of the door. They knocked again before giving up and opening the door to reveal an empty room.
"Maybe he's elsewhere in the house," Remus commented.
"Could be in his office," Regulus commented.
"Mhm," Sirius agreed, walking further into the empty room.
"What are you doing?" Remus asked his boyfriend.
"Just snooping,"
Sirius walked in a circle around the room before pushing the door which lead to an attached bathroom.
Sirius stopped dead in his place as his eyes landed on something in the room.
"What is it Padfoot?" James called from in the bedroom.
In front of him laid Orion Black, dead.
Orion was laying face first -fully clothed- in the water-filled bathtub, arms and legs tied up with thick rope.
Remus pushed his way into the room to check what had gotten Sirius all quiet.
Remus gasped as he saw the pale and blue body lying motionless.
James and Regulus also entered the room, only to stop once they saw the dead body.
"Oh," Regulus mumbled, feeling lightheaded.
Wednesday, December 22nd Walburga was brutally murdered by being decapitated, so were the five family owls, Kreacher also was Awol. Now, on Thursday, December 23rd, Orion Black was laying in front of the four scared teenagers, the cause of death being drowning.
Regulus shakenly hobbled over to the edge of the tub and kneeled down in front of it, getting a better look at the stiff body. It was only now that he had noticed the horrible smell of rotting flesh, making him scrunch his nose, trying not to breathe in the scent.
The four boys all looked ghostly and now were regretting eating the pancakes as they had the sudden urge to throw up everything that they'd eaten that morning.
No one could muster up the courage to speak, not after the events of the day before added to the most recent murder.
The holidays were supposed to be something you look forwards to, a break from school, time to relax and to do nothing but lay in bed all day long but this, this was not that. There was no relaxation and no break.
They've seen two dead bodies in the span of fewer than twenty-four hours as well as the dead carcasses of the Black family owls, that's not how the yule was supposed to go.
Just like the day before, the boys stayed in silence, not daring to speak a word.
Sirius was squeezing his boyfriend's hand, feeling as if he could pass out at any second. Remus was squeezing Sirius' hand back, gladly excepting the contact. James had backed out of the close-quarters room, leaving Orion's room altogether and heading to the common room between Walburga and Orion's rooms, escaping the scent of death that lingered in the air.
As the boys were contemplating what to do next, time went by quickly, they had managed to spend -yet again- a large portion of their day being traumatized by death.
YOU ARE READING
Reggo My Eggo
FanfictionWhat if James was in love with Regulus as well as Lily? After Sirius left for Hogwart he left his younger brother, Regulus Black behind to deal with their parent alone. Now, Sirius has made new friends and left his family in the past. Regulus knew...
