My submission for QLFC Round 5 as Beater 2 for the Harpies.

Team Character: Sirius

Beater 2 Year: Sixth

Prompts: 1,234 (word count)(accurate according to Word), "ridiculous" (word), "I don't do well with snakes" (dialogue)

Thanks again, Lizzie (for boosting my self-esteem if nothing else)!

"Sirius," Lily whispered. "Shouldn't you be studying for your Potions exam?"

Sirius tore his eyes from the Daily Prophet that so captivated his thoughts. "Who bloody cares?"

Lily frowned. "You have to do well in the exams, Sirius, or else you won't be able to do your NEWT-level—"

Sirius stood abruptly, knocking his books to the floor. The Daily Prophet was still gripped tightly in his fist. "Do you even know what's going on out there, Lils?" he hissed. "How can you even pretend to care about exams?"

Lily stared, bewildered, as Sirius' chest heaved with his silent fury. He never talked about the war. He never spoke much of what he thought at all—nothing that was serious, at least. To her, his words had come out of nowhere. For him, they'd been building for far too long. "Forget it," he muttered.

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius was already heading for the portrait hole, his mind a sea of doubt and anger.

When he finally burst out into the glaringly cheerful summer day, he made a beeline for the forest and escaped into the cool shadows. His fist collided with the first significantly sized tree he encountered. The pain shot across his knuckles and up through his hand, soothing him giving him something else to focus on. He punched the tree again for good measure.

"What are you doing?"

The question was awkwardly voiced, hesitant. But that didn't matter; it was the voice itself that set Sirius instantly on edge. "Get lost, Regulus."

The voice grew cold and formal. "Suit yourself, then. But I hardly think Mother would approve of such activities."

Sirius' wand was in his hand faster than he could account for. "You may be the favourite, Regulus, but don't suppose that I'm bloody well jealous of your boot-licking. You cozy up to Mother all you like. I don't give a damn what she thinks."

Regulus eyed him with that icy Slytherin look Sirius knew so well. Their entire family had it, though Sirius could remember a time when Regulus hadn't. There had been a time when they'd only been brothers, when Sirius had dragged him into playing pranks and breaking rules. Regulus had always been a mama's boy, but he hadn't always been evil. Sirius felt like punching the tree again.

"Well you should—"

"Why, Reg?"

Regulus' words froze on his lips. "Why what?"

"How could you do it? How could you follow that monster?"

Calculated blankness filled Regulus' eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sirius scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows, Reg. Mother's been grooming you since the beginning, and even if she hadn't been, it's not like I don't know who you hang around with here. There's no secret in it. You're going to graduate and then you're going to join him. Just like Bella. Just like Malfoy. You and Barty Crouch make a cute couple, but everyone knows, Reg. Everyone knows where you're headed. I know it. Mother knows it. Dumbledore knows it. You're a Death Eater." The words flowed more easily than he might have expected. But he'd kept them locked up such a long time, had composed them alone in the darkness so many times, that maybe he just knew them by heart.

"So what if I am?" his brother hissed. "You're just jealous. Jealous Mum always preferred me. Jealous I landed in Slytherin. Jealous—"

"Excuse me?" Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Have we met? I don't do well with snakes, Reg. Slytherin was never going to be me." He leveled him with a heavy gaze. "I begged not to be put into Slytherin. 'Anywhere but there,' I told the hat. 'Don't let me be like them.' And you think I'm jealous?" He eyed his brother with disgust. "You make me sick."

Regulus had lost all of his Slytherin façade and was staring at Sirius wide-eyed. "But… why?"

"You are aware of the fact that I'm friends with Lily 'Mudblood' Evans, aren't you? That I'm in Gryffindor? You recall the past sixteen years of me rebelling against our family's Pureblood insanity? How in the hell did you still think I wanted it all?"

"I… What about the honour of the family?"

"You're grasping at straws," he spat. "Even if I cared about the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, I hardly think killing defenceless Muggles and decimating half the magical community is going to increase its honour, do you?"

Regulus gave him a long look as he collected himself. "No," Sirius interrupted him. "No more choreographed responses from you. No pre-planned rebuttals." He threw the Prophet at Regulus' aristocratic face. "That's your Dark Lord. That's what he stands for. That's an entire family, Reg. Mother, father, two daughters, a baby boy. Dead. Slaughtered. Tortured. That's your honour. That's what our family stands for. Can you honestly tell me you don't think that's twisted?"

Regulus remained silent, his gaze on the photograph in the paper, where the Dark Mark writhed in the night sky.

"You think Lucius is a big man for killing children?" Sirius hissed. "You think your Dark Lord has the right of it? Just kill anyone who stands in the way of purity? Kill anyone who isn't like him? Who's next, Regulus? The younger families? Anyone who can't trace back to the founders?"

Still Regulus said nothing.

"What do you suppose the odds are that he even believes this blood purity crap?" His brother's eyes shot to his face. "He's probably just using it to get the purebloods on board with his psychotic genocide. Just wants to kill people. To use the Dark Arts until he's consumed the world." Sirius felt the anger leave him suddenly. He leaned back against the tree he'd punched only minutes before. "Don't do it, Reg," he whispered. "Don't follow him. Don't kill people for this maniac." There was a touch of pleading to his voice, one that spoke of childhood memories and almost-fractured hopes. "Be free of it."

Several heartbeats passed before the lost look on Regulus' face dissolved. "The wizarding world must be cleansed, Sirius."

Sirius felt something inside him break. It snapped in half, splintering through his heart. "Fine," he said. "Just… fine."

"Something going on here?"

Sirius and Regulus looked up to see James entering the forest.

"Nah, mate," Sirius said casually. "Regulus here was just leaving."

The Slytherin looked from James to Sirius and back to James, whose eyebrows were raised in an arrogant dismissal. "Yeah, just leaving. I'll see you back home, Sirius."

"Whatever."

James waited until Regulus had disappeared into the castle before turning back to Sirius. "Lily was worried. Said you seemed upset?"

"I'm not going back." There was a quiet ferocity in the words.

"What?"

"I'm not going back to Grimmauld Place. I'm not going home, Prongs. I can't live with those people. I can't sit in that house. I won't."

There was a long pause. "Come live with us."

Sirius stared at him.

"Mum loves you anyway. She'll probably be ecstatic. Besides think of all the time we'll have for prank planning!" James' words continued, but Sirius barely heard anything he said. A warm glow was easing its way around the splinters in his heart. James threw an arm around Sirius' shoulders. He had a new family now, he reminded himself. A family he was proud of.