A Slice of Dread

Chapter one

TW: mentions of abuse, death eaters, mentions of murder, screaming, and blood. Underage drinking, the prank briefly mentioned, Sirius has some self hatred
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The first day of Christmas break in Regulus' fourth year of Hogwarts started off better than prior years.

For the first time in about two weeks Regulus was able to sleep, stress of school and nerves of coming home had left him with barely any sleep and he was grateful he was catching up on it.

He looked around his bedroom, it was incredibly organized and everything exactly where it goes. Really this room didn't feel like his, only minor things showed his personality. A snake banner for Slytherin, pictures of him and Sirius, pictures of Pandora, Evan, and Barty by the lake. And a sketchbook full of his drawings.

Everything else was his parents. From the wall color to the bed spread. The walls dark and intimidating, like they were always starting down. Which he supposed they were.

Regulus remembered rather quickly that his parents were leaving for their separate holidays, leaving the boys alone for the entire break. Regulus looked at the clock and realized he missed saying goodbye.

His stomach dropped, he was always supposed to wake up and say goodbye or very bad things happened.

He ran out the room, hoping they just decided to leave late. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, Kreacher informed him of their departure,  and that his brother was in the kitchen last time he saw him.

Regulus headed to the kitchen, but didn't see Sirius. What he did see was a chocolate cake, which meant Sirius was either in a really good mood or a very bad one, and a note.

Morning Reggie, couldn't sleep with all the excitement of the bastards leaving. Eat as much as you want.

Love,
The handsome brother.

He rolled his eyes but ate a slice anyway. It was delicious and the icing was sweet. He ate it pretty quickly and then made sure the cake was covered afterwards.

He took the note from the counter and slipped it in his pocket.

The kitchen was still a mess, which was unusual but if Sirius was sleep deprived it was possible he was too tired to clean. So Regulus did it for him.

The dishes didn't take long, nor did putting away the leftover ingredients. Really the whole thing took forty minutes before everything was perfectly clean.

Well except there was something on the floor, Regulus realized. He grabbed a towel and went to wipe it when he noticed it was dark red. Like blood.

All the color drained from his face. And he felt sick. There was blood in the kitchen. Which meant that someone was hurt.

It was possible that Sirius cut himself with a knife on accident, but... it was a bigger possibility that someone attacked him.

Regulus ran upstairs to his brother's room. He heard faint sobs from the inside.

Regulus didn't knock, instead he slowly opened the door and saw sirius laying on his side. The white shirt he was wearing was spotted in red.

He was pretty sure he was going to be sick. Sirius was just laying there, crying as quietly as he could.

"Siri?" Regulus felt small, like he was five years old not fourteen.

"Reggie?" Sirius didn't move, so Regulus went on the other side of his bed. His face was bruised, and there was a scratch on his cheek.

"What happened?"

Sirius shook his head. Regulus knew it was their parents. He just ending know why, Sirius was pretty well behaved according to their standard's yesterday.