The Other Side: A Harry Potter FanFiction

Chapter IX

Standing before the old, battered door, Lana stared at the heavy knocker before spotting a doorbell off to the side a bit.

            Happily surprised, she pressed the button and heard the bell ring throughout the house.

            Then she heard a woman start screaming.

            "FILTHY MUDBLOODS!!! POISONING THE AIR OF MY HOME!!! BLOOD TRAITORS AND HALF-BREEDS ALIKE!!!"

            "Shut up, will you?" a man's deep, booming voice shouted, followed by a crashing sound and several loud squeals of fright.

            "Sirius!" a woman's voice shouted, "Please refrain from throwing your bottles of Firewhisky at Walburga!"

            "She deserves it!"

            "Quiet, you lot!" another man's voice shouted, "There's someone at the door!"

            Lana, trying to hold back laughter, waited as she heard footsteps coming closer to the door.

            Then it was opened, and a man stood in front of her, with jet-black hair and gray eyes. He wore a light gray shirt that made the color of his eyes seem to pop and dark jeans, and he leaned against the doorframe with a sort of casual elegance.

            "Resa sent me," Lana said before the man could say anything.

            His eyes widened. "Really?"

            "Yes. She told me I'd be safe here."

            "What are you?" the man asked, and, at her confused look, added, "Muggle, muggle-born, or half-blood?"

            "Muggle," Lana replied.

            The man hesitated a moment before quickly looking around, and then he said, "Come inside."

            Relieved, Lana stepped inside the house, the man closing the door behind her. "What's your name?" he asked.

            "Lana Herondale," she said, "You?"

            "Regulus Black." He stepped ahead of her into a long hallway, lit by gas lamps and an overhead chandelier. Portraits lined the peeling walls, and the carpet was worn thin. All the decorations seemed to be made of snakes, and there was a large umbrella stand that seemed to be made of some sort of severed leg.

            As she walked past the portraits, Lana noticed how they were moving. Some of them glared at her as she walked, and two women placed next to each other were actually talking quietly to each other. They all wore the most ornate gowns and suits Lana had ever seen, and as she stared, one of them said, "What are you looking at? Filthy muggle."

            Taken aback, Lana looked away and saw an older woman wrestling with a set of curtains. "Walburga, what will it take to get you to stay quiet?"

            "Take the curtains off me, horrible blood-traitor! TAKE IT OFF!"

            "I will when you learn some manners, Aunt Walburga," the woman said, and finally gave up on the curtains. Behind them was an enormous portrait of a woman who shared Regulus's black hair and gray eyes. She wore a black cap and a pretty gown, and her arms were crossed unhappily. As she spotted Lana, she screamed on top of her lungs, "MUGGLE!!! HOW DARE YOU BRING A MUGGLE INTO THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS???"

            "Not very pleasant, is she?" Lana muttered, getting a laugh from Regulus and the woman, who were now both trying to cover the portrait with the velvet curtains. "Does that help?"