Sirius sat shivering in the snow outside. The snowflakes brushed his cheeks and landed on his eyelids but he didn't move. The boy was contemplated how he felt about this new form of abuse his parents had concocted. For the past 3 days he had been shut outside in a small area. Once a day he was served a small amount of stale bread. Debated on weather being cold or bruises, cuts, and burs were worse when a chunk of bread and glass of water appeared beside him, the pop that accompanied it alerted Sirius to its presence and he fell on it hungrily. It was nothing new that his parents were almost starving him but this was when he was cold it made it so much worse. After eating half the bread Sirius saved the rest, knowing he would be hungry later and resumed his thoughts, trying to distract himself from the violent shivering and tried to pull himself into a tighter ball.

A few hours later a harsh cough escaped Sirius' lips and he was startled out of his dreamland. After a few more coughs Sirius' breathing was back to normal and he took a sip of the water, enjoying the feel on his throat but the temperature of the water causing him to shiver even more. Staring up at the sky he tried to guess what time it was and when his parents would let him back inside. He couldn't even remember what he had done this time to piss them off so much. It was probably his "blood traitor" friends or some other nonsense like that. As another cough tore out of his body he thanked the fact that there were only 6 more days until Christmas break was over and he was finally heading back to Hogwarts for his 4th year.

Two days later Sirius was so happy to be back inside he almost forgot about the terrors that could be inflicted inside, although he was happy that they couldn't do him too much visible damage or else people would know since he wounds wouldn't have time to recover, but he was wrong. Although the Black manor was somewhat cold Sirius relaxed in what felt like extreme warmth to him, but this was a bad idea. The next thing he knew the pointy end of a shoe caused him to fall forwards and he was lying on the floor, face down, with a heal digging into his back. Sirius tried to crawl away but the heel was dug deeper into his back and Sirius winced with pain and stopped moving, for fear his mother would break the skin. However his mother smiled and dug the heel into his skin, using the sharp side, until blood was pouring out of the wound and his mother's heel was somewhat embedded in his back.

Putting all her weight on his back Sirius' mother bent down and whispered in her son's ear, "Welcome back inside son. Hopefully now you will remember not to spend time with your filthy friends, especially outside of school." Sirius gasped in pain as his mother dug her heel in a little deeper then walked off. Sirius slowly got up and started to drag himself to his room before his father got home in two hours remembering why he had been left out in the snow.

Flashback

"Mother?" Sirius asked tentatively.

"What you insolent son?" she had snapped with scorn.

"Well I was wondering if I could visit my friends during this break?"

"Which friends?" she asked icily, "Have you finally come to your senses and decided to hang out with wizards who share our pure blood?"

Sirius swallowed, "The Potter's," he said tentatively hoping his mother wouldn't remember their views on wizards with muggle parents although he knew she would.

His mother glared at him, "Well I see that you still do not understand what it is to be a Black." With that she stood up and walked over to him and smacked him across the face so that her ornate and gem encrusted rings scraped his face, drawing blood. She gave him a nasty smile as she left, full of malice and planning. Well it was worth a chance, Sirius thought to himself, at least the punishment was bad at all.

End flashback

It was a bad punishment, Sirius corrected himself in hindsight, as he sat alone in his room bandaging his back. Sighing he lay back on his bed, only to wince in pain and quickly turn to his side. He suddenly let out a harsh coughing fit, wincing at the pain in his throat. Over the other 2 days in the cold his cough had gotten steadily worse and Sirius hoped it would go away before he went to Hogwarts because he never got sick. He had decided by the end of his punishment that the 5 days and 6 nights spent outside was one of the worst he had ever faced. Despite it all Sirius was happy to back inside and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Sirius awoke to the sensation of falling onto the hard floor. He looked up and saw his father looming over him, a displeased look on his face. Sirius scrambled to quickly stand up and fought the wave of dizziness. He looked at his father.

"Stupid woman," his father boomed, looking down at his son disappointedly, "She let you out so early. I would have left you there at least another day or two. No matter, it would have been a problem it you had contracted frostbite." Without a warning Orion Black raised his hand and smacked it across Sirius' other cheek so hard that it echoed. Sirius just stood there, mutely. If only my friends could see me now, he mused, hah they think of me as the brave and loud spoken one. Yet here I am just sitting here and taking his abuse like a coward. Sometimes I fight back though, another part of him reasoned, it's just because I'm still cold and tired from my time outside. But as he tried to tell himself these things he knew he was just lying and he was a coward in his heart.

Several punches and a couple kicks to the ribs later Sirius lay sprawled in front of his father, gasping for breath. Orion hauled his son up by his collar and punched him hard in the stomach, Sirius gasped and tried not to throw up as his father did it again and again. When he had tired of that Orion sat Sirius on a stool and muttered a spell to himself. Then slowly, painstakingly slowly, he traced his wand across Sirius' skin. Wherever it touched a deep cut appeared. Across his chest, back, thighs, and arms he carved into Sirius' skin. Finally he came around to his face and started the gouge his face too.

"Wait," Sirius yelled out, Orion gave him a venomous glace but Sirius continued, "If you cut my face people will kno-"

"Silence you impertinent boy!" Orion boomed, "If you do not think that I can make these scars disappear you will be disappointed. Then he proceeded to carve on Sirius' face. Seemingly Satisfied Orion took a step back and admired his handiwork, allowing himself a thin smile. Summoning a potion from downstairs Orion proceeded to dip his finger into the black liquid and smear it into one of Sirius' cuts. Sirius' body went taunt and his back arched from the pain. Clamping his mouth together he promised himself that he wouldn't make a sound as it felt like the cut was rotting from the inside and being burned at the same time. The cut went from burning hot to icy cold and back again and Sirius' didn't know how long he could stand the pain.

Orion smiled with his success and directed the potion to each one of Sirius's cuts at the same time and Sirius fell off the chain in pain, writhing on the floor. His whole body ached and he felt like his head was splitting apart. He felt like he was being attacked by an army of house elves and they were all stabbing him with knives. Finally the potion's affect eased and Sirius dragged himself into the chair.

Orion then healed Sirius's cuts on his face, but in a way so that the energy needed to complete the spell came from Sirius. Then Orion walked downstairs to join his wife Walburga and his perfect son, Regulus, in dinner leaving Sirius sprawled over the chair with no strength left and covered in blood and black potion.