BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

37 - "WRONG BLACK"

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

song of the chapter - "i found" by amber run

"wrong black"

Hollis had her back turned to the main hospital wing entrance while she sat on top of her sheets and did Care of Magical Creatures homework on the mating habits of chimeras that Sirius had dropped off an hour or so ago. She had tried to stack the thick, old textbooks and worn leather notebooks he had given her on the wooden bedside table earlier, but that attempt had ended in a series of loud crashes and loose notes flying across the stone floor.

There was a pair of footsteps behind her.

"I swear, Sirius, if you brought me more work," Hollis started to groan in frustration as she set down her sparrow feather quill next to the deep navy blue pot of ink on the table. "There's already about a dozen-"

She was cut off by a different voice than Sirius's.

"Wrong Black," came Regulus's quiet voice from behind her.

The bed creaked slightly Hollis turned around quickly with her almost healed back not protesting loudly as it would have a few weeks earlier. Regulus was standing there with a slightly nervous look on his face, like he was breaking some sort of rule by visiting her.

"Godric, I'm sorry, Reg," muttered Hollis, rubbing her eyes as Regulus sat beside her on the edge of the cotton sheets.

He just shrugged casually and wrung his hands together. "Sorry I haven't visited earlier, it's taken this long to get away from Roldolphus and Evan," Regulus explained apologetically.

Hollis shook her head. "Is there something, in particular, you wanted to talk about?" she asked as she set down her essay, fully turning towards him.

Regulus blinked twice and slowly nodded, rotating towards Hollis as well. "We need a plan, Hol," he whispered, nervously quiet even though there was no one else in the hospital wing.

"What you mean, a plan?" Hollis questioned, reaching behind her and hugging a white, cushy pillow to her chest.

Regulus looked down at his ringed hands for a few seconds and then back up at Hollis with a serious expression.

"If something like this ever happens again, we need a plan."

Hollis raised her eyebrows.

"We?"

"Think about it, Hol," Regulus said, sliding a little closer to her. "Our parents are together at Rosier Manor or Grimmauld Place all the time during breaks. I could just ask to come along with them. I can't imagine why they'd say no. And you could do the same."

Hollis knew where Regulus was going with this.

"And, I dunno, we could have some sort of signal if you needed to get out of there," Regulus shrugged.

There were lots of things wrong about that, Hollis thought, silently ticking them all off. If all of her troubles with her family could be gone with some secret signal, then she would have been long gone years ago.

"And go where?" Hollis asked, her eyebrows furrowing. "I can't just 'get out of there'."

Only the sound of the crackling gas lamps could be heard for a few seconds. Regulus sighed again.

"Ok, fine. Then what can I do? Pull another stunt like on Christmas night?" Regulus asked, becoming more and more frustrated with his lack of usefulness in this situation. "Because I don't think either of us enjoyed that."

A thought occurred to Hollis. "Have you ever considered what's going to happen to you over the summer?" she asked.

Regulus looked confused and he shook his head, black hair falling slightly out of place.

"What do you mean?"

Hollis had told no one what she heard last summer at the Death Eater meeting held in her family's ballroom. Maybe now's the right time, she thought, scanning Regulus's face. He deserves to know as much as anyone.

"Last summer, I got caught eavesdropping on a Death Eater meeting," Hollis started. Regulus went very, very pale. "And I heard them talking, Reg," Hollis continued, her voice lowering to a shaky whisper. "They were talking about us."

"What do you mean, us?" he asked. Hollis took a deep breath before continuing.

"I mean that they were talking about recruiting us this summer."

Black blinked once too many times. "We're too young," he said firmly. "No."

"I'm not letting it happen," Hollis stated firmly, nodding in agreement. 

Regulus was silent as he stared off into the windows behind Hollis. The expression on his face was scaring her. There was fear and loathing for what their parents were trying to force them into, she also detected a tiny flare of excitement that made her blood curdle.

"Reg," Hollis whispered, and Regulus turned his eyes away from the cloudy night and back on her. "Please tell me that you aren't considering doing this."

Regulus remained silent.

"Reg, please," Hollis begged, gripping his arm. "You don't want to be like your parents, my parents. Especially not so young. It's not right, and you know that. We know that."

"What choice do we have, Hollis?" he said suddenly, his face broken. "Become one or be killed?"

Hollis shook her head.

"No, no you don't mean that. They wouldn't kill one of their own children."

She found herself not believing her own words, and Regulus didn't either.

"They wouldn't?" he asked, looking at Hollis's back. "Because they sure as hell already do some pretty disgusting things to us, don't they?"

The stare only lasted for a few seconds.

Regulus reached out first, wrapping Hollis in a tight hug that was somehow gentle around her back. They were holding onto each other like it would melt away all of the pressure and fear of their parents. A small wet patch was forming on both of their shoulders, the hot tears piecing through their shirts. It was so easy for them to understand each other, their pasts being filled with many of the same horrors.

Except that Regulus had witnessed them while Hollis endured them.

"I'm scared, Reg," Hollis said softly, and she felt Regulus close his eyes.

"Me too."

And then, there was a creak of hinges as the hospital wing doors flew open suddenly.

bbys </3 + gryffindors are the ceos of running moments

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