The Family Honor

"Regulus, wake up! Wake up, boy, if you know what's good for you!"

Regulus came awake with a start, opening his eyes to see his mother's face, twisted with rage, perched in front of him. He recoiled for a moment, still groggy with sleep, and she narrowed her eyes, then raised her hands as if to shake him, and he seemed to realize that she was there.

"Mother? Mother, what are you doing here?" Regulus asked, rubbing his eyes to try to wake himself up further. His mother sat back, seemingly satisfied that he was now awake, though anger was still visible on her face. Regulus felt a moment of trepidation--she wasn't angry at him, was she? Frantically, he thought back through the past several days, trying to think of what might have roused her wrath.

"Boy, do you know where your brother is?" Mrs Black snapped, and Regulus stopped his mind's frantic recounting of events with a start.

"Sirius?" he asked stupidly, though he had no other brother. What had Sirius done now? "Where is Sirius, Mother?"

"That is what I am asking you!" she snarled in return, and Regulus winced. He never liked it when his mother was angry, much less when she was directing that anger at him, as it seemed she was, as Sirius wasn't here.

"He isn't here, then?" Regulus asked, just to make sure. "If he isn't here, I don't know where he might be."

Mrs Black stood up and paced angrily around the room. "When was the last time you saw him then, boy?"

"Last night," Regulus said quickly. "When he came to bed, after..." after that awful row, Regulus wanted to continue, but didn't dare. He didn't want to do anything to raise his mother's ire, and reminding her of that dreadful fight she had with her son last night might be just the way to do it.

Regulus had been in his room, completing his Transfiguration homework for the Christmas break, and his could still hear the shouting that had gone on downstairs. He had heard Sirius verbally betraying everything the Black family stood for, had heard his mother proclaiming her son a traitor to his name, had heard Sirius's loud acceptance of that new position. And when he had heard angry footsteps on the stairs, he'd opened the door to his room to see his brother striding past, his face set. Sirius had seen him and stopped for a moment outside his door and bared his teeth, reminiscent of a growling dog. "I suppose you agree with them?" Sirius had asked. "Think that the Muggleborn are scum, do you? Think that Remus and Peter aren't worth the dust on my shoes, and neither is James?" Regulus hadn't said anything, and after a moment, Sirius had gone on to his room. The door slamming shut behind him was the last that Regulus had seen of him.

But Mrs Black didn't seem to notice that he hadn't finished his sentence. She just continued her angry pacing, every once in a while muttering something that Regulus couldn't hear, and wasn't sure he wanted to. He never liked it when his mother was in these moods of hers. It always seemed like she'd be able to bring the house down with nothing more than her will.

Then suddenly, she stopped, and turned to face him. Regulus's heart started beating faster at the look in her eyes, and he was suddenly acutely aware that he was still in bed, in his nightclothes, and that she held all the advantages here. And right now, he wouldn't put it past her to simply curse him in lieu of Sirius.

"You haven't seen him since last night..." it didn't appear to be a question, but Regulus shook his head anyway "...and he isn't here now. He hasn't told anyone where he's gone, and his Hogwarts trunks have been packed and disappeared along with him." Regulus didn't like the way her voice had gone soft, almost crooning. Combined with the look in her eyes, he was sure that it meant nothing good.

Suddenly, she turned on her heel and strode out of the room. His eyes widening at the abrupt gesture, Regulus scrambled out of bed, shoving his feet into slippers but not bothering to put on anything else, sure that he didn't have time if he was to try and stop whatever it was that his mother was doing. He almost skidded out of his room and hit the stairs at a run, just barely managing to keep himself from tumbling down them and breaking his neck. He wasn't sure just why it was so important that he get to his mother, just that it was, before she did something she would regret.

Regulus ran, and only slowed down when he saw his mother standing in front of the huge tapestry that held the Black family tree, her wand outstretched and her mouth open. He started forward again, but not before she screamed a spell that shook the house to its foundations and a tiny fire shot out of her wand towards the tapestry.

When the smoke cleared, Regulus could see that there was now a tiny hole amidst the embroidery, one next to his own name, and where the name of his brother should be. With growing realization, Regulus saw that Sirius's name was gone, obliterated off the tapestry...just like cousin Andromeda, who married a Muggleborn, and Uncle Alphard, who, like Sirius, protested against Black family values.

Regulus swayed on his feet as Mrs Black turned to look at him with triumph in her eyes. "Well, my son," she crooned, "see what your brother has done for himself? He has run away...besmirched the family name with his Mudblood-loving ways. Vermin like that must not be allowed to grace the family tapestry. Vermin like that must not be allowed to claim the Black family privileges. Vermin must be eradicated, and you must never forget that, Regulus. And now that Sirius has shown himself to be vermin, you are my sole son, my sole heir." Her black eyes glittered, fastened on Regulus. "Remember that, my son. You are the only one left to uphold the family honor. See that you don't forget."

Mrs Black turned her back to him and strode away again, and this time Regulus didn't follow. He stood in his nightshirt and his slippers, and his gaze was drawn, almost magnetically, to that small hole beside his name on the tapestry. Sirius is a fool, he thought fleetingly. He doesn't understand what he's gotten himself into. He doesn't understand the price he's going to have to pay for throwing away his heritage. Sirius is a fool. Regulus stood in front of the tapestry, looking at it and thinking, and he shivered.