INFERI (REGULUS BLACK)

30

"Oi, wake up," Regulus heard a frantic voice. Someone was shaking him.

Regulus was getting annoyed. Why doesn't anybody let him sleep in peace?

Then suddenly, all wakefulness was washed away.

"Wake up Reg!" Smith was yelling on the top of his lungs. Regulus just lay there, deep in sleep.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on?" Lenora asked irritably, entering the room.

"It's half past twelve, and he still hasn't woken up. He usually wakes up at 6. He won't even respond to all the shaking. Look at the room, it's been ransacked!"

"I spent hours cleaning it," Lenora bemoaned. "But wait, did you say he's not waking up?"

"Yes, i did! Did you even hear what I said?" Smith shrieked.

"What's happening? My beauty sleep's been disturbed," Sirius walked into the room, grumbling.

"Your brother is not waking up, you dimwit!" Both Lenora and Smith screeched.

"Oh...oh," Sirius pales when the words registered with him. "Empty a glass of water on him."

"Glass of water...glass of water. Where is the glass of water?" Smith searched around the room frantically.

"Just cast aguamenti on him," Lenora suggested.

Sirius pulled out his wand. "Aguamenti!"

"Protego!"

Regulus Black was very much awake, though bleary eyed.

Sirius gaped at him.

"You idiot!" Smith yelled at him. "Did you do that to scare me?"

"Do what?" He looked genuinely confused.

"Ignore all my prodding and yelling! You were out like a log. Look at your room! I thought something happened," Smith trailed off, quite distraught.

"What happened to my room?" Regulus jumped off the bed, but accidentally lost his balance, falling on Smith.

"Watch it mate! I may look it, but I'm not a pillar."

"What is he doing here?" Spotting Sirius, Regulus tried and failed to inject venom in his voice.

"Oh, um...good to know you're fine," he said awkwardly, dashing out of the room.

"I'll be back," Lenora sighed exiting the room.

Regulus started pacing around the room, stopping here and there.

"Someone or something was here, no doubt. But who, and why?" Regulus said grimly.

*****

"Why'd you run away?" Lenora entered the kitchen. It seemed as if she was talking to an empty room, but she knew Sirius was there. The Black brothers always retreated to the kitchen whenever they were sad.

Sure enough, a voice came. "Go away."

"Well, I'm not going to," she said simply, seating herself onto the kitchen table.

The voice huffed, and Sirius Black came out of the pantry, the biscuits her grandma had sent her in hand.

"I hope you don't mind," he said morosely, sitting on a chair.

"Have them. I don't even know why my grandma sends them," she scoffed. "You and I are not very different, you know? What happened between you and Reg?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Sirius mumbled, munching a biscuit.

"I was sixteen," Lenora started. "When my brother disappeared."

Sirius furrowed his brow, munching on the biscuit.

"I left Reg when I was 15," Sirius muttered. "I'm not proud of it."

"You know why my brother disappeared? It was the pureblood mania that scared him. He was my bulwark. My confidant. Till this day I wonder, why did he leave me? I'm sure Reg feels the same way."

"I've never heard of you? Which family are you from? Avery?"

"My mum is friends with Seraphine Nott, Abraxas Malfoy's wife . I'm from France. The Aambly des Ayvelles. Very powerful and ancient family. Mum's nice, I suppose. It's father who's the pureblood maniac. Mum's soft-spoken, it's father who commands the house with an iron fist. That's why my brother left. I'm just camping out here because of the wedding. Make amends with your brother Sirius," Lenora warned. "Or else it'll be too late. Like it was for me."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, when Regulus burst into the kitchen.

"Run!"

*****

Sabhi readers ko Vijayadashami ki hardik shubhkamnayein!
Happy Dusshera.