Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books.

AN: I am so sorry to all of you people that have favourited or reviewed this story so far that I haven't updated in so long. I had exams and then went on a family holiday. When I came back I found it really hard to get back into fanfiction, but now I'm into it again I hope I'll stay there. I hope you enjoy this, but because it has been so long here's a quick summary. The story is below it.

The story so far

Regulus is scared his parents will disown him if he isn't sorted into the right house, so insists that the hat puts him in Slytherin. Sirius is annoyed that his brother isn't in Gryffindor and argues with him, resulting in Regulus being upset. Regulus wants to show Sirius he isn't a coward so wanders into the forest where he is bitten by a werewolf. The next day, Remus wakes up in hospital and is told he has bitten someone. Sirius is later told that this person is his brother and goes to visit Regulus. He sees how ill Regulus is and feels awful and that it is fault that Regulus has been bitten. He also doesn't know how to act around Remus.

Sirius gets a letter telling him he has been disowned. He heads to the library, and finds books on how to become an Animagus. Perhaps he can help Regulus and Remus before the full moon? When he finds out that he can't he gets upset and confides in Lily. Remus overhears and thinks Sirius is telling Lily about his lycanthropy and tells James. Sirius falls asleep and James comes down and finds the letter. He reads it, and after talking to Sirius realises what has happened.

Peter and Remus overhear Sirius shouting and work out what has happened. Everything is now sorted out between the Marauders.

Chapter Seven: Waking Up

To his surprise, Sirius actually managed to get a good night's sleep that night. He was relieved that all three of his friends knew what was going on; it made everything just a little bit easier to deal with, which was something he had really needed. James seemed fine with everything and had even offered for him to live with him (well at least he had before Sirius had mentioned Regulus – the issue hadn't come up again after that), and Peter seemed okay with everything too. Remus… well at first he'd been quite stubborn about the fact that everything was his fault and not Sirius's, but eventually everything had been sorted out. According to Peter, neither Sirius nor Remus was to blame for anything that had happened.

He awoke at about 8:00am to the sound of James raking back his bed-side curtains. He groaned, rolled over and then looked up at his friends: they were all already dressed, although James had managed to make his hair even messier than usual.

"Hurry up, you two," said Peter, who was standing by the door with Remus, "we've got less than an hour left to get ready!" Sirius knew why Peter wanted him to hurry. It didn't take an hour to grab one's school books and eat breakfast, but the four of them wanted to go to the Hospital Wing before lessons started. At least, Sirius, James and Peter did – Remus seemed a bit reluctant for obvious reasons.

He quickly got dressed, while his best friend James made a show of getting a comb stuck in his hair. This was very odd behaviour because Sirius knew that James knew that it was completely useless to try and make his hair neat. That meant James was either more serious than anyone had previously thought about impressing Lily Evans, or that he was trying to make an idiot of himself on purpose to cheer his best mate up - Sirius suspected the latter. Whatever the reason, it was Remus that ended up having to pull it out.

As soon as Sirius was what James deemed sufficiently-clothed (what James's mother would have called 'untidy', and what Sirius's mother would have called 'unfit for society'), he was dragged out of the dormitory. He was still trying to put his tie on when they entered the Great Hall.

The four of them ate their breakfast in a similarly rushed manner, until an owl landed in front of them carrying a letter addressed to Sirius. He carefully removed it from the owl's leg, dreading what it would be about. He didn't recognise the owl, but judging by the rate his Mother lost her temper with owls and House-elves, he wouldn't have been surprised if she's 'replaced' the last one - he still had nightmares about the time his mother had beheaded Kreacher's mother just because she had dropped a teapot. He slowly opened the letter and read:

Dear Sirius,

I am hoping you are aware of your Mother's decision regarding you and Reggie. If not then please don't panic when you read this. She has decided that you and Reggie are to be cast out of the family and has blasted you both from the tapestry much like your Uncle did with me. Both Bella and Cissy know the real reason for this, and though they will not tell anyone about it, they are extremely angry about it. Of course, neither of them realise that none of this is either yours or Reggie's fault. Your Father and mine too are both of a similar opinion on the issue and wish to completely dissociate themselves from the pair of you.

On a slightly better note, my Mother is disgusted about what Aunt Walburga has done. Apparently, she firmly believes that family is family whatever the circumstances. Of course, being only associated by marriage, she has no say whatsoever in family affairs. That's why she wrote to me to see if I could do anything for you. I'm glad she did, because I otherwise I wouldn't have known anything was wrong at all – I know how reluctant the pair of you usually are when you need to ask for help.

Anyway, I want to make it clear to you that if you wish to, you and Regulus are welcome to come and stay with Ted and I for Christmas. I know you are okay with him being muggleborn, but I haven't seen Regulus since I left. I do hope your Mother hasn't got to him and made him hate me. I'm sorry but you will have to share a room because we only have one spare at the moment.

Hope to see you and your brother soon.

Love Andromeda.

P.S. I have some very exciting news to tell you when you next see me.

"Who's it from?" asked James as he tried to lean sideways to read it over Sirius's shoulder. Sirius wasn't crying, so he assumed the letter contained good news.

"My cousin: the nice one. She says me and Regulus can stay with her during the summer."

"Well, that's good," said James. "But you are still staying with me at Christmas aren't you?"

Before Sirius could reply in the affirmative, the conversation was interrupted by Professor McGonagall, who was stood barely a foot away and towering over them. She had come to tell Sirius that there had been an improvement in his brother's condition, and that he was to go to the Hospital Wing immediately.

…..

When Sirius entered the hospital wing he was alone: James, Peter and Remus waited outside because they didn't want to intrude on something that would surely be a personal moment. The curtains were still drawn around the bed, obscuring Regulus from view, but by now Sirius had been to visit so many times that he didn't really need to see his brother to know that he was still there. He quickly slipped behind the curtains.

He was upset to see that Regulus was still as limp-looking and bandage-covered as he had been before, although he was a lot less pale compared to two days ago. Sirius stretched out a hand to hold Regulus's as he had done before, and this time Regulus responded by shifting in his sleep.

"Reg, it's Sirius. Can you hear me?" whispered Sirius, daring to hope that his brother would answer. Of course, Regulus didn't, and just lay completely still except for his chest moving up and down. "At least he's not dead," thought Sirius. "Please wake up."

This time he got an answer. It was a tiny whimper; barely audible and certainly not coherent speech, but it was still there.

"Regulus?" asked Sirius.

Regulus made a similar noise to before. His eyelids fluttered and then the small boy scrunched them tightly shut. Sirius didn't blame him. He remembered waking up in the hospital once before and finding the natural light rather too bright to take in.

"Siri? Is'atyou?" murmured Regulus as he opened his eyes fully.

"Yes. I'm so glad you're awake, Reg, I've been so worried," said Sirius. He tried to hug his brother, but Regulus cried out in pain when Sirius touched him. Sirius immediately felt guilty.

"Siri," whispered Regulus, "I know I shouldn't be still upset about it, but…"

"It's okay, I'm here," Sirius said. He wanted to add an 'everything's going to be an okay' in there too, but somehow it didn't seem to be okay. He helped his brother into a sitting position: it was difficult because Regulus had so many bandages (and therefore injuries) but eventually Regulus was propped up with pillows. Then, to Sirius's dismay, Regulus started crying.

"Sirius, I had a horrible dream last night," Regulus said between sobs. Between each word, Regulus had to take a breath of air because he was sobbing so much. "It was after the argument we had and…" after this, the only words Sirius could make out were forest and wolf and then "it tried to eat me, Siri!"

Sirius wished he had some way to calm Regulus down, but he didn't. He was afraid to touch Regulus in case he accidently hurt him again and there was nothing he could say that wouldn't make Regulus even worse. He couldn't say, or "it was just a nightmare," or "werewolves are just something scary that Bellatrix made up," like he had when Regulus had had that nightmare about the 'demenpire' (a hideous cross between a vampire and a dementors). Nor could he laugh it off like he had when Regulus had crawled into his bed one night crying hysterically about a monster that sounded rather like one of those machines muggles used for cleaning the streets. The reason he couldn't say any of this was because this time Regulus's 'nightmare' had not been a 'nightmare'. It had been real.

Regulus, on realising that Sirius couldn't tell him that it wasn't a nightmare, was now sobbing and shaking even more than Remus had been. Sirius put a protective arm around him and Regulus buried his head in his brother's chest. The only thing Sirius was glad of was that he hadn't had to tell Regulus all of what had happened to him.

After a while the crying ceased. Regulus slowly detached himself from his brother and looked up at him.

"Sirius, I want Mum," Regulus said in a very quiet voice. This was a very odd request since their Mother rarely did anything to show that she cared for them, but Sirius knew Regulus always hoped that if he was good enough, she would. That was why Regulus always tried to be good and did was he was told back at home. In Sirius's opinion it was a foolish hope that their Mother would ever treat them like other Mothers treated their children. In his opinion, their parents treated Regulus even worse than they treated him – Regulus was not the heir so according to Mr and Mrs Black it didn't really matter what happened to him. That was why when a young Regulus followed Sirius up a tree and fell out of it, the only person who took any interest in the incident was Sirius, who patched him up in the downstairs bathroom, even though Regulus had been screaming for his Mother.

Sirius had thought that all people's parents were the same as his and Regulus's until their Mother took them to play at the Rosiers' house one weekend. Although Mr Rosier had been as cold and stern as Mr Black, Mrs Rosier had been extremely kind to them. They had played outside for the Rosiers had a large estate with an enormous garden. Then, when Evan, who was her eldest and a full year older than Sirius, had fallen over and grazed his knee, she had come running over and healed it with her wand. She hadn't even told her son off for crying, like Mrs Black would have done. Sirius had known then that not all parents were like his and his opinion of the ideal parent had changed again when he had seen Mr and Mrs Potter waving James goodbye at the station, and when he had seen Mrs Pettigrew flinging her arms around her son at the end of last year.

However, Sirius had never really had the heart to tell Regulus that no matter how beautifully he played the piano, or how tidy his bedroom was, or how many chores he volunteered to do, his parents wouldn't show him any more affection than they did Kreacher. Once when he had been feeling especially sorry for Regulus, who had just been told off for trying to make his Father a cup of tea (which apparently was the House Elf's job and a Black should never stoop to their level), Sirius had actually asked the two of them to be nicer to Regulus. This had resulted in Sirius spending the rest of the day locked in the cellar so he hadn't tried that again.

"Reg, I don't think Mum is going to come and visit you?" said Sirius gently.

"Why not? She came last time I was in a hospital," sniffed Regulus.

There was silence as Sirius thought about what to say next. Last time Regulus had been ill he had been in St. Mungo's for almost three months, and yes, their Mother had visited him. But the visit had not been for very long and had only been to show the healers that she hadn't abandoned him. The visit had not been so that she could comfort Regulus or show any sign of affection. Sirius also had to somehow tell his brother that the two of them had been disowned.

"Regulus," be began.

"Yes Sirius. Why do you look so worried? Has something happened to our parents too?"

"No," said Sirius. "They're okay." He paused and then continued, "do you remember what Father said would happen if we shamed the family any more than I have already?"

"You mean when he said he'd disown us?"

Sirius nodded.

"But we haven't done anything. I'm in Slytherin just like Mum and Dad wanted, and you can't have done any pranks that bad already. What's there to worry about?"

Sirius didn't say anything; a couple of tears started to run down his cheeks.

"Sirius what's wrong? Why are you crying? Mum and Dad aren't just going to throw us both out. They were probably only making threats so that we'd do what they say."

Sirius wiped away the tears with the back of his hand; he was the oldest and he wasn't going to cry. He certainly didn't want Regulus trying to cheer him up: that was his job. Still, there was no need to beat about the bush. He had to tell Regulus what had happened.

"Reg, they already did – disown us, I mean. It was about what happened to you."

"You mean about me going in the forest? I only did that so you wouldn't think of me as a coward! And I only went in Slytherin so I wouldn't be disowned! Sirius, I'm so sorry," said Regulus. He looked on the verge of tears again.

"It's not that, Reg. It's not your fault. It was mainly about what happened in the forest – they don't like it."

"What do you mean?" asked Regulus quietly. He looked down at his himself, and realised really for the first time how much of himself was actually covered in bandages, even the parts of him under his pyjamas. And then he thought about the forest, and the creature that had attacked him. And then he looked up at Sirius, and the sad look in his brother's eyes told him everything. "I was attacked by a werewolf wasn't I? Now I'm one too and Mum and Dad hate me."

Sirius nodded again, indicating that all of what Regulus had just said was true, and then just let Regulus lean on him and cry until Regulus had no more tears left. There was nothing that he could say, so he didn't say anything at all.

"Sirius?" asked Regulus, a while later.

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen to me?"

"Well Dumbledore says you can stay at Hogwarts if that's what you mean."

"Really?"

"Yes. He let a good friend of mine study here, even though he knew he was a werewolf." Sirius didn't elaborate. He wasn't sure what Regulus's reaction would be if he knew Sirius was friends with the person who bit him, especially now. He'd tell Regulus eventually, but he felt it would be too much for Regulus to take in on top of being so ill, a werewolf, and disowned.

"Oh. What about the holidays?" asked Regulus.

"Well, James says we can stay with him at Christmas, but if you don't want to, we can stay here, or we can stay with Andromeda and Ted."

"Won't they mind?"

"No, I had a letter from her today. She says she has a surprise for us when we next see her," said Sirius.

"What do you think it is, Sirius?" asked Regulus. The two of them talked together until they were interrupted by Madame Pomfrey, who told them that Regulus ought to get some rest and that Sirius ought to go to lunch. It was only when Sirius entered the Great Hall that he realised he had missed several lessons, and that Madame Pomfrey hadn't chucked him out to go to any of them.

…..

AN: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. What do you think of the letter? Did you like Regulus's reaction? How do you think Regulus will cope when he is out of the hospital wing?

Please review.