The Losing One || Sirius Black

5. The Invented Curse

Sirius Black

Tuesday, 31st August 1971.

12th Grimmauld Place

Sirius was currently lying on his bed, head pressed into the mattress, sweating from the pain and trying to keep himself from vomiting all over the room. The throbbing pain from the cuts on his back and arms didn't seem to fade no matter how much he tried not thinking of them. He could feel the blood dripping down his left hand that was hanging loosely from the bed. The drops were making their way from the shoulder, to the elbow and down to his fingertips, slowly falling to the floor.

The main problem was that if anybody looked at him, they would just see a child laying on their bed in some sort of pain. All the imaginary cuts and the feeling of the flowing blood were only visible to his pulsing mind which, it seemed like, he still couldn't take control of.

It all started as a silly game. He and Reg were playing wizarding chess when it seemed like a great idea to implement the game into the real life, naturally the scheme came to Sirius. It wasn't anything brutal of course. The idea was that they would get pieces of parchment and shape them into little balls. Then they would throw the balls at each other and play dead. It was more like a war with the mixture of hide-and-seek than chess if Sirius was being completely honest.

They were in the library filled with bookcases that went from the floor up to the selling. Everything was going great, Sirius was even winning. He shot Reg five times while Reg shot him only three times. There was only one parchment-ball left in his possession, so he wanted to make it special.

Sirius sneaked up behind the part of the library dedicated to hexes and dark arts. He knew Regulus will be there because he always hid under the table near the window there when they played hide-and-seek.

His theory was proven to be correct when his eyes caught a head of dark curls peeking out near the wooden desk.

"BU!", Sirius yelled on top of his lungs making Regulus jump from his hiding spot, hitting his head lightly on the table and stumbling forward.

Unfortunately, in all that chaos and confusion, the little boy crashed his weight on to the bookcase next to the table. The whole thing started shaking and Sirius knew it will fall in approximately two seconds.

He didn't have time to think. He threw himself towards Regulus, pushed him out of the way with all the strength he had and waited for his demise. Fortunately, while he was pushing him, the younger boy grabbed his wrist, pulling Sirius away from the falling bookcase as well.

Grabbing each other to steady themselves, they watched in horror as the bookcase went down with a loud bang and, not even a minute later, on the library entrance stood Walburga Black in all her fury.

Her hair looked silky smooth, falling down her narrow face in a perfect line. It made her face look even thinner than it actually was and that much scarier.

"You stupid boy!", she glared at Sirius, "What have you done! Do you have any idea how valuable those books are?! They date back centuries, you disgrace of a child!"

Like always, something inside Sirius woke, some will to fight and irritate the women who didn't even stop to ask if he and Regulus were okay. The mess was immediately his fault without even the chance to explain, so why would he be submissive towards someone who didn't even seemed bothered about her sons safety.

Like always, Regulus tried to be a peacemaker, "No, mom, it wasn't Si—", but his obedient voice was interrupted.

Sirius put on a sly smile, stepping in front of his little brother, "Sorry mother, I just thought that they needed a little cleaning.", he looked at the shelf that was on the floor and shrugged, "Dust and all that, you know."