The summer dragged its belly through the heat like a wounded animal, slow and limping, bleeding tension into every hallway of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
It was always like this.
The curtains stayed closed. The dust was sacred. The portraits watched like prison guards. And the house creaked as if burdened by the weight of its own legacy.
Sirius was pacing. Again.
Dinner was served, if you could call it that—grey roast, wilted greens, potatoes boiled to death and back. The table was a slab of dark wood, oppressive in its silence. Four plates. Four bodies. A whole war of words just waiting to snap.
Sirius’s fork scraped the edge of his plate.
Regulus, across from him, sat like a ghost with a heartbeat. Hands folded. Eyes on the potatoes. Breathing shallow, like if he stayed quiet enough, he might vanish completely.
At the head sat Walburga, bone-straight posture, eyes like frostbite.
At the other end, Orion, thumbing through the Daily Prophet like nothing on Earth could possibly interest him less than his own family.
No one spoke.
A clock ticked in the hall.
Then Walburga’s voice cracked through the quiet like a whip:
“Sit up straight when you eat, Sirius. Are you an animal?”
Sirius didn’t blink. Didn’t even lift his eyes. “I’m sitting fine.”
“You’re slouching,” she snapped. “Slouching like some lazy Muggle boy on the street. You’ve no respect—”
“I don’t have any respect,” Sirius muttered. “That’s the point.”
Her nostrils flared.
“Sirius Orion Black,” she barked, her voice rising like the tide, “you will not embarrass this family—”
Regulus didn’t react. Still and silent, chewing slowly. He didn’t even look up.
Walburga’s glare went nuclear. “You think you’re clever?”
“I know I am.” Sirius pushed his chair back a fraction. “You’re just mad your favourite turned out as rotten as me.”
“I raised you to be strong,” she hissed. “To be proud of your blood, your name, your birthright. And instead, you whore yourself out to Mudbloods and traitors and—”
“Better them than this crypt,” Sirius growled.
“This crypt is your home.”
“It’s a mausoleum,” Sirius snapped. “You buried us before we ever got a chance to breathe.”
Orion cleared his throat. “That’s enough—”
“Don’t even,” Sirius snapped at him. “You don’t get to play peacekeeper when you’ve been pretending we don’t exist all summer. Go back to your paper.”
Orion returned to the Prophet without a word.
Regulus was still eating. Still quiet. Still watching his plate like it had the power to save him.
Then—like something venomous had just slithered through her mind—Walburga turned her eyes on him.
“And you,” she said, her voice sharp enough to draw blood, “just sit there. Hunched like a rat in the walls. No wonder no one sees you. What exactly is wrong with you, Regulus?”
He stilled.
Fork halfway to his mouth.
His fingers twitched, then settled.
“Don’t talk to him,” Sirius snapped.
“Why not?” Walburga said, sweet and cruel. “He never speaks for himself. Maybe he enjoys being spoken about.”
“Mum,” Sirius growled. “Shut the fuck up.”
“I should’ve sent him away instead of you,” she said, her lip curling. “At least you were loud. This one? He just hides. He skulks around this house like a curse. He embarrasses me. Whispers to himself like a lunatic. Maybe it’s time we dealt with that properly.”
Silence.
Everyone froze.
Regulus still hadn’t moved.
“What do you mean ‘dealt with it’?” Sirius said, voice suddenly low and dangerous.
Walburga leaned forward like a vulture.
“I mean we should put him somewhere he belongs. A place that handles people like him. They’d keep him quiet. Fed. Sedated.”
Something cracked behind Sirius’s eyes.
But before he could speak, before he could shout or break something or start throwing chairs like last time—
Regulus exhaled. Just once.
Lifted his head.
His face was pale as parchment. Eyes sharp as broken glass.
And then he said it.
Voice calm, cutting through the air like a scalpel:
“Someone should put you in a box and float it down the fucking river, you hag.”
Silence.
Utter, cataclysmic silence.
Sirius stared.
Walburga’s mouth hung open.
Orion lowered the paper.
Regulus blinked once. Then again.
Then dropped his head back and muttered, “Oh fuck me sideways.”
Sirius exploded into laughter.
Unholy, unhinged, wheezing laughter. His chair skidded back as he doubled over, slamming his hand against the table.
“OH MY FUCKING GOD—REG!”
Regulus just pinched the bridge of his nose.
Walburga had gone the colour of old bricks. Her hands twitched like she was about to hex the skin off someone.
Orion—stoic, granite-faced Orion—was covering his mouth with one long hand.
A snort betrayed him.
“Are you all laughing?” Walburga shrieked, her voice rising an octave with every syllable. “Do you think this is funny?”
“Fucking hilarious,” Sirius cackled. “He called you a hag. A fucking box-float hag. Oh, this is the best day of my life.”
Regulus whispered, “Shut up,” under his breath. “Oh, shut up, you idiot, I’m gonna die.”
“You’re already dead, Reggie,” Sirius wheezed, wiping tears. “Mum’s gonna kill you. Oh God, I hope I get to watch.”
“YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH!” Walburga roared, slamming her fist against the table. “You will not speak to me that way, you vile little—insane little—”
“Say it,” Regulus said quietly, looking up again. His voice was steady now, empty and cold. “Go on. Say it.”
Walburga sneered. “You’re mad, boy. Everyone sees it. You were born wrong.”
Regulus stood up slowly. Chair legs scraped the floor like a scream.
“I’m not the one who talks to paintings.”
Sirius collapsed into laughter again.
“You witchspawn!” Walburga screamed. “You’ll go to St. Mungo’s, I swear it. I will have you dragged there myself—”
“I’ll pack a bag,” Regulus said. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been locked in a room and drugged, would it?”
Orion finally spoke. “Walburga, enough.”
She turned on him like a banshee. “Don’t you start.”
“Regulus,” Orion said, quieter now, still firm, “sit down.”
“No,” Regulus said. “I think I’ve had my fill. Of dinner. Of this family. Of all of you.”
And he walked away.
Left his plate half-full.
Walked out with his back straight and his shoulders drawn like knives, past the portraits, past the heads of ancestors who’d rather see him chained than free, and up the stairs with nothing but Sirius’s howling laughter chasing after him.
Somewhere behind him, he could still hear Walburga’s voice, screaming after him.
kim's response to the pigs situation being "i'll just get the station to call the sanitarium" is pretty horrifying but honestly the worst thing about it is he's not even doing it because he's a cop. i mean, he is in the sense that as a cop he has some supposed responsibility for civilians in his jurisdiction but that's also what a healthcare worker would do and. idk that's even more horrible to me
I can’t remember if the last ask was about her being in the hospital or not, but she’s in the hospital. I think it was originally supposed to be a 72 hour hold, but it’s going on longer. My dad and I are taking care of her dog.
Which brings me to this morning. I found out from one of the neighbors that she had accused said neighbor of filming her when the neighbor was just playing candy crush. My roommate had an episode a few months ago where she was hallucinating people and animals outside the house, but I’m not sure if this was during the same episode or if it was a different episode. I called my dad to ask him to tell the social worker about it, since he had offered to help, and he was the one to handle talking to the hospital roommate is in, since I had dealt with calling the local hospital and the police. But he didn’t want to because he didn’t want her to end up in the system, and when I called him out that I’d end up being the one to take care of said roommate and that I can’t handle it, he changed it to “well they’d rather hear a first hand account.” I got him to agree to being there with me to call the hospital to tell them what’s happened in the past couple months. I also told him I can’t live with her after this, cause I’ve reached the end of my rope, between financially helping her out a lot over the past 6 years, and dealing with her decline the past couple months, and dealing with my own mental health, and switching jobs.
I know I shouldn’t live in my car, but at this point, I don’t know what else to do. My dad has a really long history of saying he’ll help or be there for me and then not doing that because of the woman he’s with at the time. My ex stepmom, my dad’s current girlfriend, and my roommate who rents from him, he’s been really good at enabling all of them to either take advantage of me or emotionally abuse me. And between dealing with my dad and dealing with my roommate, I can’t stay here any longer, but I don’t have enough money right now to live on my own. At least, on my birthday in a couple months, I’ll get full access to the money my grandma left.
This sounds really rough, nonnie. I'm glad you were clear about being unable to continue to be there for her, but I really hope you don't have to live in your car after all. It's so good to hear that you'll have access to more money soon!
Your dad sounds really shitty. I'm sorry he's been enabling others to abuse and take advantage of you. You really didn't deserve that.
I hope things change for the better soon and you don't have to worry about your roommate's safety or where you're going to live. Sending all my support your way ❤️
Hey. This is the anon who was complaining about her roommate.
So, she’s in the hospital, and me and my dad are in charge of taking care of her dog. I had to call the police to find out where she was. We don’t know when she was taken in, who had her taken in, or when she’s going to be released, but the social worker who’s been assigned to her said yesterday that she’s not talking. Since my dad and I aren’t related to her, we can’t see her, and we’re only able to get a limited amount of information.
I feel bad that she’s being forced to stay in the hospital, but I really hope they can help her. I don’t know if she’ll be allowed to come back here when released, or if they’ll send her to a halfway house or something. I’m really tired of all of this. I feel bad for saying this, but I kinda hope that she gets sent somewhere else, cause after the past few days (starting with her breakdown in Thursday), and her general history of asking for money/help, I don’t think I have the energy to support her at all.
Hey again!
Oof, that sounds really rough :( I really hope they can help her too, and I think it's completely understandable that you don't have the energy to support her.
Her situation sounds really complicated. I hope things can change for the better for both of you!
θanks fꙮr read|ng, yꙮu’ll knꙮw abꙮut θe latter happen|ng bc |’ll be reyllgg|mg a bunch ꙮf gꙮꙮd luck pꙮsts (please send me sꙮme! θey wꙮn’t dꙮ much but placebꙮs, but placebꙮs are all | can get) and u|nally θ|s ꙮne.
θgnkb fꙮr rssd|nb, yꙮu’ll knꙮw tjꙮuj θa ltjbsr htppsn|nt ic |’ll js raylljb|mt g iunch ꙮf tꙮꙮd luck pꙮtbb (plagba bsnd ma tꙮmg! θay wꙮn’j dꙮ much juo plgcaoꙮb, juo plgcgjꙮt srg sll | cgn jao) gnd u|nslly θ|t ꙮng.
[So, a couple things.Y’plural may have noticed that the queue may be much faster now. this is because two major things are coming up:
Posts review - I’ll be going back over every post I’ve made starting when the queue ends two days from now. I will also be checking in with mutuals, etc. As well as this, I will also make a new separate small blog and, when I reach 10 followers, do drawings of all of them with permission. I don’t really have any experience, but I’ll do what I can. Also I’m using the ‘typing quirk’ now because i immediately forgot to after coming up with it.
I will be coming forward with some stuff in real life, which is really going to be shit hitting the fan. I’ll be likely in hospital, coming out in pretty unfavourable conditions and may be in an inpatient thing for a while, so past January 13th, any expectations are out the window
thanks for reading, you’ll know about the latter happening bc ill be reblogging a bunch of good luck posts (please send me some! they won’t do much but placebos, but placebos are all I can get) and finally this one.]
I was wondering if you guys were taking a break from the blog for a while? It's perfectly fine if y'all are
I’m sorry but I think we are! Both me and Nat are facing a lot of difficulties in our personal lives (me - the threat of homeless, Nat - institutionalisation) and I’ve been meaning to post for a while but processing difficulties have meant that it never happened! Don’t worry, we’ll be back posting soon
