Sorry this one's so long.

Family

Jessica stayed with Sirius until he got off the train. She kissed him goodbye and ruffled his hair.

He really needed to learn her name.

The moment she left he braced himself. Sure enough, a body smacked into him. Turning slowly he saw his family, glaring at him.

He quickly looked down, avoiding eye contact. He'd learned early in life that treating his family as if he too was human was a mistake.

He followed behind them, as they left the platform. He didn't need to look up to know that his mother was gushing over his little brother. He didn't need to look up to know that his father was glaring at anyone who looked at Sirius.

But what he didn't know was that his three friends were looking at him with sad expressions.

: :

Sirius sat on his bed, he was proud of his room. He had pictures of motorcycles and muggles. Gryffindor posters…

The one time he'd been in his brother's room since Regulus started school he'd seen that his brother's room was very different.

Regulus had silver walls and Slytherin flags. Pictures of famous relatives holding trophies or plaques.

Regulus had made the quidditch team this year so he was probably pinning up an extra jersey right now.

Sirius had made the team last year… Beater. He'd been kicked off because of his 'busy schedule' which was mostly pranking, planning, and flirting. Somehow James managed to stay on… Of course Sirius flirted much more…

Sirius had been meaning to put up a picture of his friends too. He wasn't quite sure where to fit it in. His walls were almost plastered with his decorations.

That was another thing, Regulus had a neat orderly room.

Sirius's room was wild.

Of course he cleaned it up (Threw everything under the bed.) when his parents came. Otherwise he could only imagine what they would do to him if they saw all the clothing and possessions that littered the room.

Shuddering he scooped his little hand mirror out of his trunk. His anger at James had died down, in fact he didn't have room for anything other than fright. His parents hadn't 'welcomed' him yet.

It would happen soon.

He needed comfort.

"James." He whispered, raising his voice too loud meant no dinner. "James are you there?" He could hear fast footsteps on the other side.

James' messy black dark hair and warm hazel eyes appeared. Grinning James said, "I've been trying to talk to you but you never answer!"

Sirius cringed. James was so loud. James saw his friend's reaction. Sorrow and pity reformed his features.

"Sorry. About the train ride, we had no idea. We're –"

"Sorry. Yeah… Forget it."

"So… er. How's it been so far?"

"They haven't done anything yet." James nodded, he wasn't sure what to say.

"So… where'd you go on the train?"

Sirius gave a small smile. "Jessica."

James looked confused for a moment. "You mean Julie?"

Sirius shrugged. "Not sure… maybe it was Julia."

"Or Jillian. Or Jordan. Or, Jennifer, Jean, Jen, Jacelyn, Jade, Jacey, Jamie, Jane, Janette, Janice, Jenny, Jenna, Jennelle, Jerrica, Jessie, Josie, Justine… maybe Jokella."

Sirius laughed, momentarily forgetting about his surroundings. "Jokella?"

"My mom said that was what she was gonna name me if I was a girl."

"Your mom is weird sometimes…" James smiled.

"She's French."

"I don't think Jokella is French."

"Whatever." James waved his comment aside. "So-"

The door opened. Sirius turned and James fell silent.

"Mistress wants to talk to you." Kreacher said, frowning at him. He took to following his orders very obediently. He never said 'master' to Sirius or was polite to him.

Sirius put the mirror in his pocket, forgetting about James. He walked to the drawing room, the moss colored curtains clashed slightly with the olive green walls, the black carpet was convenient because it easily hid any missed blood stains.

His mother was sitting on the couch with Regulus. His father sat in an armchair.

"Give us an update on your year so far. Regulus will tell us if you're lying so don't bother."

"I don't see the point then, I bet Reg has already told you everything."

"ANSWER YOUR FATHER'S QUESTION." Sirius sighed, his mother yelled every chance she got.

"My friends are James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew-"

"YOU ARE STILL FRIENDS WITH THOSE BLOOD TRAITORS? AND THAT FILTHY HALF-BLOOD?"

Sirius held back his extreme wish to cower. 'Those Blood Traitors' were James and Remus. Peter's father was a muggle born.

"WELL ANSWER ME!"

"Yes. I am still friends with them."

"WHAT ON EARTH POSSESS'S YOU? HOW DARE YOU DIRTY THE NAME OF BLACK!" An invisible fist hit him. His family never touched, his 'disease' might spread or something. Instead they had magic do it for them.

The fist continued to pound Sirius's stomach, then it moved to his face. At last Mrs. Black lifted the curse. Sirius quickly stood up, gasping, before she yelled at him again.

"Continue." His father said.

"I have an E in Charms, O in Transfiguration, O in Defense Against the Dark Arts, A in Potions, O in Care for Magical Creatures, E in Herbology, P in History of Magic, and a D in Astronomy."

He waited for them to comment.

"You are Dreadful in Astronomy?" His father asked, Sirius couldn't read his face.

"Yes."

"WHY DO YOU HAVE A D IN ASTRONOMY?" Sirius knew he couldn't lie to them, they had their ways of knowing things, but he really didn't want to tell them why.

"WE'RE WAITING!"

"I have a D because… I hate Astronomy… because… the dedicated" he chose this word carefully. "pure-bloods are often named after stars."

Silence.

Sirius fell as three different sets of invisible fists pummeled him. He whimpered, and cried, and gave little gasps as the occasional bone broke.

"STAND UP!"

Sirius hadn't even realized the invisible minions had stopped. He stood up like he was tipsy. Wobbling slightly before he got his purchase.

"What else?"

"That's it" He mumbled.

His parents turned to their other, better, son.

"He has a girlfriend. Jacinda Poprey. Mud-blood."

"She's s'not my girlfrien." Sirius protested, leaning on a thin legged table.

"Is too. They're always snogging."

"YOU ARE SNOGGING A MUD-BLOOD! FIRST YOU BECOME A GRYFFINDOR! THEN YOU MAKE GOD-AWFUL FRIENDS! AND NOW YOU'RE SPENDING TIME WITH A MUD-BLOOD? YOU FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR!"

He waited but the fists didn't come. Looking up he saw his father smiling. His mother looked at her husband with intrigued curiosity.

"I think we'll just have to dispose of this problem. No one will miss a mud-blood. Any others to put on my hit-list?" He turned to Regulus.

"He's always chasing after Lily Evans." His father laughed with delight. He smoothed his white hair down and stood up.

"Well I have two mud-bloods to get rid of." Sirius broke out of his shock.

"No!" He couldn't let him kill Lily and… Jacinda(?). Jacinda was one of the few girls who realized that Sirius wasn't just a hot, smart, funny boy. She knew he had feelings. And if Lily died James would, without a doubt, commit suicide. (Even if she still ignored him…) And what would Sirius do without James?

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"I said no. You are not going to kill them. I won't let you."

"CRUCIO!"

His mother's spell hit him in the chest. He flew back into a cabinet.

All he felt was pain, heat, cold. All he heard was screaming. All he saw was blackness.

"NOW STAND UP!" Sirius wanted to stand he had six faces burned on the back of his lids. In his right eye he could see James, Lily, and Jacinda. On the left he saw his parents and his brother.

But he couldn't stand.

He opened his eyes, colors looked brighter than usual. His mother was glaring down at him.

"I SAID STAND UP!" She threw glass, Sirius wasn't sure what form it was in, he guessed it was a cup, at him. It burst into pieces cutting his arms. Glass continued to crash down on him. His face, his hands, his arms, his neck. Every piece of exposed flesh.

Crying Sirius lay motionless. Helpless.

: :

It was an hour later when his mother got bored of throwing glass at him. "Well have a nice time killing those filthy mud-bloods!" She kissed his father's cheek as the man stood up.

"No." Sirius croaked. His voice was so hoarse no one heard him. If he had his wand he could stop them. He knew he could.

Slowly he moved his hand, wetness and warm was mostly what met him. But after a moment he found his weapon, lying next to his left leg.

"Stupefy!" His voice was shaky and uneven but it did the trick. His father flew across the room.

His family stood, frozen with shock for a minute.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU DISGUSTING-"

"Stupefy!" His mother flew to the other side of the room. He looked up at his brother. Sirius's eyesight was slightly blurred and black spots were here and there but his brother was plain in his sight.

Sirius could remember a time when he loved his little brother. They used to talk and have fun. Regulus had thought Sirius was the best thing since chocolate frogs. Which, Regulus very much loved.

"Reg…?" Sirius gasped. He needed to know if Regulus planned to help him or not…

"They'll kill me. You know that."

Sirius nodded. Regulus was too afraid to help him. "Say I threatened you or something. Please, at least help me up."

Regulus hesitated, calculating. Then he rushed forward, grabbed his brother's collar and hoisted him up. Sirius just fell down again.

"Ow. Ow. Ow."

"I think your legs are broken."

"Uh-huh." Regulus held out his wand and muttered a spell.

"That will only help you for an hour."

"Thanks." Sirius stumbled down the stairs, he felt so dizzy…