𝖙𝖔𝖚𝖏𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘 𝖕𝖚𝖗

𝐸𝓅𝒾𝓈𝑜𝒹𝑒 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒

Cassiopeia, Sirius and Regulus are now home for Yule.
The house was decorated to perfection. Solely for the reason that they had guests coming. Uncle Alphard, uncle Cygnus, aunt Druella, and their cousins: Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. Even their grandparents were coming for the first time since the children got into Hogwarts. Their father's parents Arcturus and Melania, and their mother's parents, Pollux and Irma.

It was a big day and the children had to be on their best behaviour, otherwise the punishment would be much worse than regular.

The main decoration is a beam of magical light on the ceiling, charmed by the head of the family. along that, there's several smaller balls of light for each adult wizard.

Sirius and Regulus wore traditional tight-fitting robes made from black velvet, while Cassiopeia wore a formal bell-sleeved black dress that almost reached the floor.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

To say that the children were terrified was an understatement. Even Sirius was behaving. Yes, their parents are horrible every day, but when their grandparents are there- a hair out of place, not sitting straight enough, not holding their utensils correctly, could get you severely punished.

It was 20:27 and guests were starting to arrive. You can call the Black family many things, but late is never one of them. The family was waiting around the table until both the elderly and the head of house were seated, only then were they allowed to sit themselves. The house elves had set the table before the guests arrived and so the appetisers were already on the table.
They were all eating in silence.
When it came to the dessert, however, people were free to talk while eating treacle tart and drinking tea.

"So, Cassiopeia, how is Slytherin? Am I right to say you are getting top marks?" Cassie's grandfather, Arcturus asked.
"Of course sir, I'm on top of all my classes and very much intend to stay that way. I have also been invited to join professor Slughorn's club for his top students." Cassiopeia replied with a firm nod.

"Good, very good. And you, Sirius, I expect that you are doing something to make up for the embarrassment you caused the family by being sorted to Gryffindor." He spit out the last word as if it was poison.

Sirius really wasn't doing anything like that. And he frankly didn't care for any embarrassment he had caused the family. He welcomed any chance to embarrass them with open arms. But he was so scared, so so scared. He knew if he said the wrong thing he would be in for a lot of pain. So he lied.

"Yes sir. Regardless of my sorting, I have made many connections with other pureblood Slytherins and have taken an interest in transfiguration. Professor McGonagoll has recently informed me I am one of the top in the class." Arcturus simply nodded and went on to his next victim.

"Regulus, I hope you wear my name proud."
"I do indeed, sir. It's a privilege."
The children were perfect. They appeased their relatives and it all went according to plan.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Until Sirius made a grave mistake. He mentioned the marauders. Not as the pranksters peace disturbing marauders. But as his friends.
His relatives, however, recognised the name Potter as blood traitors, and the rest- as not even purebloods.
And they were furious. Walburga tried restoring peace by assuring them she would punish the boy. But that was not enough, they demanded the boy should be punished now in front of his family. To make embarrassment a part of it.

Cassie had to think fast. She knew her brother was about to experience pain he had not yet felt, pain he couldn't imagine. A pain she had felt before, after her sleep-deprived mother thought the best way to calm the screaming baby Regulus was to crusio him. And Cassie stepped in and took the curse herself.

"Mother, would it be ok for me to do it? I would like to practice my curses for my future fighting alongside the death eaters. I want to be prepared accordingly as to not put any further embarrassment on our name." She said, glancing at Sirius towards the end. Sirius looked heartbroken. He really tried this time, and now his sister volunteered to torture him. However, his relatives looked proud of Cassiopeia and accepted her request, going as far as to give her Walburga's wand so that the ministry wouldn't get reports of underage magic.

"I would like you all to be able to keep enjoying this dinner as much as possible. We would take this to the other room so as to disturb you much less." Cassiopeia once again won over her relatives, knowing exactly what they wanted and needed to hear in order to get exactly what she wanted from them.

Once they got into the room farthest away from the rest of the family and closed the door. Sirius began speaking again.
"Cassie I-"
"Listen to me. I want you to scream like you've never screamed before, I want you to scream as if there are one thousand white-hot knives, boring into your skin. Scream as if dying would be the sweet release instead of a dreaded fate."
There were not many times when Sirius Black didn't know what to say. This was one of them.
"Do you understand?"
"I love you."
"Scream."
You would have thought Sirius was being burned alive with the way he was screaming. After a few minutes, Cassiopeia messed up his hair a little and splashed water at him so it'd seem like he was sweating. She told him to lay down on the floor and if anyone that isn't Regulus comes to check on him, do not respond and look straight ahead.

That's how the children's winter break went. They couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts.