BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜.

The instant the Blacks arrived in Rosier Manor, they were greeted by Vindia, Mulstone, Evans graciously. Essentially, the whole purpose of this dinner was a form of an apology for the way Hollis had acted the first day back from Hogwarts. The Rosiers were all extremely embarrassed by the way Hollis had lashed out towards Walburga and Orion, even though it was highly warranted. It was a personal strike down of their pride to have their daughter that they were supposed to have refined into a proper pureblood young lady thoroughly battered and berated for her behavior that rebelled directly against every tradition enforced upon her.

So, when Regulus was greeted by Mulstone Rosier with a firm shake of his hand, he knew that tonight was going to be a little slice of pretentious hell. But he also noticed the disturbing absence of the youngest Rosier in about a half second. Regulus secretly hoped that Hollis was just using the restroom or running slightly late, but deep down he knew that something far worse had happened.

After the expressions on the Rosier's faces when Hollis's anger had been channeled into her inherited ability, Regulus knew that the girl was in deep shit. That one slap that Regulus had heard echo through Grimmauld Place was the minimum pain that Regulus correctly believed that Hollis could be going through.

There were quite a few possibilities that Regulus could think of for what state Hollis would be in when he found her. First, her parents could have just completely ignored her as they had over the summer. A jolt of fear shot through Regulus as he considered that Hollis could be starving again. Or, they could have gotten more bloodroot and threatened the Lupins, which was just as worse. Shutting his eyes briefly, Regulus thought of the cut on Hollis's shoulder and how there could be many, many more of those that he just hadn't seen. There was always the possibility, though, that Mulstone and Vindia had thrown aside their usual twistedly creative punishments and just full of hit Hollis over and over, leaving her covered in cuts and bruises.

Mr. Rosier's voice snapped Regulus out of the mental hole he was digging himself deep and deeper into.

"Appoline is feeling under the weather and we wouldn't want any of you to get sick, now would we?" Mulstone asked with an obviously false smile. "She'll just be staying in her room for the time being."

Regulus noticed how one of Hollis's father's knuckles had split open. That sort of thing only happened when you hit something that was so hard to break your skin, or you just hit something hard.

Under the weather my ass, Regulus thought with a frown. This is such bullshit.

"Excuse me, mother and father," Regulus coughed, clearing his throat before speaking. "I'll be right back, I just need to use the restroom."

Orion nodded tersely, and Walburga called after her eldest son.

"We will be in the west wing's dining room," she reminded with a firm, strict tone, and Regulus nodded. "Don't be too long."

Regulus continued down the black marble floors with a calm, even pace as he walked away from the five pretentious purebloods. However, the instant Regulus was completely sure that his feet were out of eyeshot and the sound of his steps could no longer be heard, he glanced behind him and broke into a jog. He now knew his way around Rosier Manor remarkably well, second only to Hollis.

Turning away from his original direction, Regulus veered sharply away from the direction of the bathroom and towards Hollis's bedroom. Climbing up the marble stairs, Regulus was just as silent with his footsteps as his brother's animagus. The Black brothers would always be more similar than they would ever care to admit.

Wrapping his hand around the silver dragon knob, Regulus took in a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for whatever physical state Hollis would be in.