Disclaimer: Still a fanfic

Chapter Eight: The Great Plushie War of 1972

After telling James Regulus hated when people messed with his stuff, he'd thought up the best prank in the world. Regulus loved the stuffed Dog Andromeda gave him when he turned four. He slept with it every night since then, including when he went to Hogwarts. Sirius took care of the other First year Slytherins making fun of his brother for it, because that's what he had to do as his big brother. But he couldn't understand why this stupid thing needed to be cuddled while he slept every night for the rest of his life, it should have stopped before he went to Hogwarts but his parents couldn't stand the wailing he did if they took the dog away. So, while James was spending the night three days before Christmas with them, they decided to take it from him during the night to break his habit. They stuffed it in the back of Sirius's closet and laughed.

"That's hilarious. I can't believe he still has one, I got rid of all of mine when I was nine." James crossed his arms. "You just have that one but you don't sleep with it, it's our mascot."

"Slytherins are good for laughs." Sirius replied. "Bet Snivillus has loads of them. They're his only friends." Both boys laughed.

"Kreacher." Sirius said suddenly, the House Elf had obviously been cleaning as he had large gloves on and he glared at Sirius.

"Yes, Master Sirius."

"Get James and I Dad's wine." He said nonchalantly.

"Master forbids me from giving the young masters things they should not have." He replied with an air of annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be punishing yourself because your not doing what I ordered?" Sirius added, not at all bothered by his comment.

"No, Master and Mistress Black ordered me not to obey their delinquent son when he is asking Kreacher to aid him in his lawless acts. They say Master Sirius is a bad boy and should be punished, I should tell them as soon as I can."

Sirius crossed his arms and looked him over with a great deal of dislike. James only laughed and patted his friend on his back.

"We'll just have hot chocolate then Kreacher." James said, the House Elf only nodded before disapparating.

The boys woke up the next morning to Regulus knocking as loud as he could on the door of the spare room Sirius and James where in.

"What did you do with it!" He yelled at the door rousing Sirius and James from their slumber. "I know it was you, who else would bother things of mine!"

Sirius opened the door and looked his brother over while rubbing his eyes. "Why you yelling…?"

"You took my dog. You and your friend took it from my room while I was sleeping."

"Regulus stop. You've been yelling and banging on that door for ten minuets. I'm growing tired of hearing you. You likely left it at Alphard's. Did you check your trunk?"

"I went to bed with it Mum." He frowned. He turned to the stairs where she was ascending and gave her a look of humility Sirius had never mastered.

"Well maybe you knocked it behind your bed."

"I checked my room…I looked all over.."

"Well check again." She replied sharply. She crossed her arms and she and Sirius watched him sulk away reluctantly. As soon as he was out of an earshot she rounded on Sirius. "Did you take it?" Her tone was stern and emotionless.

"He's too old to be sleeping with a stuffed animal. You and Dad tell him that all the time." He said, trying to sound respectful, but it only came off as arrogant.

"You know he doesn't like his things to be bothered." She replied the tone of her voice unchanging.

Sirius scoffed. "He'll get over it, it's just a stuffed animal…."

"You better see to it he gets it back by this afternoon." She said nicely, brushing his hair into a more proper position.

"Yes Mum…"

"Do make sure you take a shower before breakfast, your hair is horribly dirty.. Have you bathed at all since you came back from Hogwarts? I never have to remind your brother about proper hygiene." She said before turning abruptly and heading back downstairs.

After breakfast, James and Sirius went back up to his room. They laughed at their cleverness, hiding his brother's stuffed animal in a new spot he was not likely to notice unless he really tried his hardest to look. All through breakfast, Regulus was moody. Sirius was sure if James wasn't with him, his Mother would have yelled at him through the entire meal had he not went back upstairs and retrieved it. However she was about to lose it when Regulus excused himself from the table, telling their mother he needed to spend a few hours cleaning his room thoroughly.

Mrs. Black called Sirius aside in a falsely sweet voice. He'd obeyed, as if he didn't she'd just cause a fuss and there would be no afternoon in the park playing soccer with James. He'd be practically exiled to his room. While they were still in the kitchen with James, she stroked her son's head pulled him close and gave him a light kiss by his temple. "Why don't you put your brother's dog back in his room?"

"I put it where he'll find it, don't worry. He'll get it back in no time. It was just a laugh Mum, he'll be fine…."

"So you understand your brother better than me?" She looked him over angrily. "Yes, he thinks it so hilarious he was in tears this morning when he woke up without it. Purebloods don't act this way, your unlawful ways will have to stop Sirius. I may not be able to control you while your in school but I will certainly not allow you to be such a senseless abomination…"

"How am I an abomination..? I'm Twelve Mum…"

"Yes, I would think I'd remember how old you are. Just…just stop all of your antics Sirius. Every day I feel like I regret giving birth to you a little more.."

His eyes were on the ground he listened to her footsteps on the staircase, as apparently did James. As soon as they heard her on the floor above them James came out from the dinning room and frowned at his friend. He sighed causing Sirius to lift his head, James watched him rub his eyes, were he was sure tears had been previously. He hid it will despite the sniffle before he went to the door to retrieve his shoes so they could play soccer. They walked out the door and were quiet James spun the ball in his hands, they'd both been looking foreword to this day all week, and now he wanted nothing more than to make his best friend feel better.

"She didn't mean it mate, she just said it to make you upset since your brother's upset about that stuffed animal."

"She says stuff like that all the time." Sirius replied moodily, kicking up some snow from the ground. "It's just different when she says it to my face you know…"

James frowned. "Yeah…I don't know what I'd do If my Mum did that to me. You should just spend a couple of days at my place."

"It won't work when it's Christmas time, we have to visit everyone in our family.. She's been telling us we're spending five days with them…There are only what…six left of our break. I'll stay at your place sometime this summer. She has to let me stay over then, she was really mean every time I asked her last year.. She said some rubbish about not knowing how to live without a house elf.. load of rubbish…"

"That's stupid…We're fine when were at school aren't we? Load of rubbish…"

"I think she just knows I want to go over to your place because we can do so much more, like flying, and we'll get into trouble eventually and maybe she's worried your folks will send me back and ruin her time without me." He shrugged.

"We'll figure something out." James said happily. "Who'd you learn this Muggle sport from? Your folks are dead set against Muggles."

Sirius grinned. "My Uncle Alphard gave me the ball for Christmas one year, so I 'd sneak out to the part and watch people play. As long as no one caught me coming back through the front door I was all right, Dad didn't like us leaving the house, when we were little he fixed up the back so we could play…but now he probably thinks it's a waste so they just locked off that door. Wouldn't you want to get out for a few hours and play.."

"Yeah, lucky for me I never had any problems getting out to play. My Mum and Dad wanted me to play as long as I could.. I didn't study as hard as you did I guess." James laughed. "Every other lesson I could convince her to let me play outside, it was great."

Sirius told him about how to play soccer every day for about a week before they came home. James seemed excited about the sport, but showed no interest once they'd actually started to play. He told Sirius it was because of the cold weather and the few inches of snow attempting to wrap itself around the ball at every kick. So, they had a snowball fight, which was successful in nothing more than making them cold once they'd run out of energy to hide behind trees and roll into the snow fort they made. The whole way back they talked about things they'd like to get for Christmas. Sirius was happy with the broom he had, as he hadn't entirely expected his parents to get him something so big when they'd done nothing but tell him he was bad when he was in school. But the difference was James played Quiddich, and his Father did when he was younger so he knew everything about Broomsticks and wanted the latest model, which really meant nothing to Sirius, his broom flied and it wasn't a training broom, which was what Regulus was stuck with until he started his second year.

"I think I'll get it for sure, My Dad was talking about it when we were heading back to our place from Kings Cross. I never really know for sure though, he could say it's built too big for me. He did that with my Nimbus but Mum told him I'm still growing so it'll be fine."

"I didn't really say I wanted anything to them. There's lots of prank stuff that'd be useful, and lots of stuff for my broom that would be nice, but, I don't know.."

"You should ask them to be better parents for Christmas…"

"No…I don't want a whipping…" when they reached where his house should be he James couldn't help but laugh when the house appeared, the first time Sirius showed him the house disappear and reappear he thought it was hilarious. But Sirius agreed any Muggle would look at it and head the opposite direction, especially after seeing the door knocker.

"You say the door only opens if you have a wand mate?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I don't really understand why, if you can't see the door you can't open it…" He seemed to look around to see if his parents were on the first floor before he went inside. James followed and hung his coat next to Sirius's.

"Well I was just wondering who's wand you had when you went to watch football.. I mean your Mum wouldn't lend you hers."

"Uncle Alphard's…I told him I fancied a walk and he'd let me.. saying it was all right for a healthy boy to want to get some fresh air.."

James scoffed and rumpled his hair, they both used a drying charm on their boots before ascending the stairs. "No wonder your rebellious, they practically suffocated you for twelve years." When they got to the top floor, James held back a laugh Regulus was using a perm sticking charm to his door..

"What are you doing?" Sirius looked over the sign and started to laugh causing Regulus to glare at him. "Do not enter without the express permission of Regulus Arcturus Black huh? Or what a Dragon will come out and rip my head off?"

"MUM!" Regulus yelled down the stairs. "Sirius told me he wants to go back outside to visit some Muggles!"

"SIRIUS BLACK THAT BEHAVIOR IS COMPLETELY UNEXCEPTIBALE IF YOU SO MUCH AS STEP A TOE OUT OF THIS HOUSE YOU WON'T HAVE A HOME TO COME BACK TO!"

James chuckled and said under his breath. "Sure he will he can come live with me you old hag. Anything would be better than living with you."

After James left he'd decided it would be a fine time to move Regulus's stuffed animal again. So he pulled it out from behind the shelf of books they read when they were little in the library and shifted it to some books their Dad would likely read when he came home. He sniggered at his cleverness, Regulus started to use the library to do his school work so he was sure he'd come across it before long. He'd apparently been wrong in assuming he'd look through that set of books, but James and Sirius had agreed if he had a stuffed animal he slept with, that was about his reading level. When he went back down the stairs to the kitchen, for any hint of what they were having for dinner, he wasn't surprised to see Regulus at the table. He'd taken to reading a chapter of his Charms textbook.

"Hey Reg, any luck with your stuffed dog hunt?" He teased.

"No, not so much as a hint of where it may be, do you want to tell me where it is now?" He replied, he didn't look up from his book. Which was Sirius's first sign there was something very wrong with this situation.

"Why would I this is much more fun. What would you do about it?"

Regulus shrugged but didn't hide the smile forming on his face. "Yes, I'm just incredibly helpless and weak. I can't do a thing for myself."

"Nah, your just soft. You like giving people in your house the idea your friends so you can rip them apart and tell everyone how much better you are than them. Ruthless.. Certainly not helpless. You wouldn't do that here because your soft though, Mum and Dad like hearing you say they're right about everything, especially the things we don't understand. But you don't get detentions like I do, so your their perfect son. I still say your only like that at school because you like Cissy. Shame she's with Malfoy right? I mean, she always did stick up for you when Bella started picking on you, and Cissy's the only one Bella will listen to right? She could just pick on me when I stood up for you and you'd cry to Cissy…"

"Shut up Sirius." he said suddenly. "Like your any better than the rest of us. Your so stupid acting rebellious because you don't agree with them. What are you going to do when they actually say something and it actually is in your best interest you listen to them? When you die I'm not going to be sad in the least because I'll know it's your own fault…"

"If your going to parrot everything Mum says at least make it a legitimate complaint. She hasn't been saying that Rubbish since you went off to Hogwarts. Besides, your only acting like this because you know I took your stupid dog. You'll be fine when you figure out where I put him, then you'll be all ready to hang 'round me when we're visiting everyone. Especially Aunt Lucretia, she hates everyone but Dad…"

"She likes you plenty. Always says your face looks just like Dad's so she'll give you every sweet she can find to make Mum furious."

"Why you complaining about that? You always take them when I share with you."

He closed his book and set it on the table. "Well…I do like the chocolates she buys…" For a minuet he thought Regulus was mulling in his mind a reason other than 'they taste good, and I can have about fourteen before Mum decides to tell her off for trying to make you unhealthy.' But he was so perplexed by how he always did anything his mother liked him to do, except when he'd get some type of reward he'd never expect from her.

Sirius laughed. "Your great Regulus, really, your such a Slytherin…A hilariously Hufflepuff like Slytherin, but you're a Slytherin."

"STOP CALLING ME A HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Well it wanted you in Hufflepuff right?" Sirius teased. "Come on Reg, don't get all bent out of shape, I said you're a good Slytherin didn't I? You've got the whole…self perseverance thing going for you. You don't really care about anyone other than me and Cissy at school right now. You like when Slughorn has you at his parties and introduces you to all those important blokes because you're a Black. But your real friendly and nice to anyone until you find they're a half blood or less."

"Come on Siri…You think Hufflepuffs are stupid, you said yourself you'd rather have me in Slytherin than in Hufflepuff because at least I wouldn't be boring." He replied.

"I'd rather you be in Gryffendor but you're as brave as a turtle. We can't even play duel because you'll run to Mum and cry because I'm 'picking' on you.'"

"No I don't we can play duel now." He said firmly.

Sirius shot a stinging hex at him, when it hit Regulus he gave him an angry look then started to whine. "You could of at least waited until I had my wand you bully."

"Oh my mistake. Where's your wand?" Sirius replied his mood hadn't changed since he'd complained. He seemed rather amused.

"Up on my bed.. We can do it up stairs Mum won't hear us then." He grinned. "I got this new one I learned. It's really fun, you'll like it."

The boys laughed and teased each other as they play dueled in the hallway. Some of the spells Regulus used surprised Sirius as he'd only been at Hogwarts a few months. But then he had learned from one of the best people he could learn from, Sirius.

"Hey Siri?"

"Yeah." He reflected his spell and grinned. "Your pretty good Reg, who else you practicing with?"

"Anyone." He started to laugh, "Are you going to miss your Lion the way I do my dog?"

Sirius paused, Regulus's hex hit him and knocked him into the door. "You didn't! You went in my room and took my Lion?"

"Yeah, but it's your fault you took my Dog first. I'll give it back when you give me back my dog." Regulus said firmly.

"It's in the library, it's been there all bloody day you moron. If you actually went to look around for it you'd of found it by now."

They both sprinted down the stairs to the library and Regulus started to tear through the books before Sirius charmed the door to open for him. The second he got into the room he pushed his brother hard into the bookcase knocking him onto the floor and knocking the rest of the books onto the floor. They made such a loud thud his mother decided to go up and see what they were doing to make so much noise. When she walked into the room Sirius was dangling the dog over Regulus' head, Regulus decided to pick up one of their very ancient leather bound books and wave it at the dog in an attempt to knock it out of his older brother's hands.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? DECECRATING OUR HOME? TO YOUR ROOMS NOW! NOT ANOTHER BLOODY WORD ABOUT ANYTHING!"

"But Mum…" Regulus whined, he was horribly upset he'd been so close to having it back.

"WHAT DID I SAY! I SWEAR IF YOU WHINE ABOUT THAT STUPID STUFFED ANIMAL AGAIN I'LL THROW YOURS AND YOUR BROTHERS IN THE FIREPLACE AND YOU CAN WATCH THEM BURN!"

He glared at the dog at the end of the bed. Surprisingly enough his parents didn't take the thing back when they came to talk to him. They told him James wasn't allowed back over 'if he was going to continue to be a selfish brat.' The entire time Regulus was standing outside his door whining about his stuffed dog. He'd gotten off easy because of it, he'd just scoffed and crossed his arms before they left to yell at Regulus.

He picked it up in one sweep and looked it over. It had clearly seen better days, he squeezed it, but it didn't bark like it did when they still played with their stuffed animals. The black color of it started to fade and it had patches missing in it's fur. He didn't actually start to feel bad about taking it in the least, until he found the nametag on his collar. It was a faded gold colored patch of felt he'd written the name he thought up for his dog. He could barely make out that it said Sirius through the faded colors of felt and ink.

"Little idiot…" He feel back onto his bed, now lying down and half thought about keeping it for the night. He could go one night without it after all. So, in an attempt to spy on his brother he slipped back out of his bed, leaving the dog just because, and opened his bedroom door as quietly as he could. It took every ounce of effort to not let a floor board cheek as he walked the width of the hallway.

"You know better than to do that. The library is not your personal playground, regardless of if your brother thinks it's funny to hide your things there or not."

"Yes Mother…" His voice was shaky, and his response came in between sobs. "I'm sorry, I don't want to make you mad."

"Oh of course not. That's why you've been so needy all day. Your as bad as that brother of yours, and you know where that will lead you. Why don't you just settle down and act like a good boy?"

"….I will…I'll be perfect…I just…" He heard his brother burst into tears again, the first strike of his father's whipping spell and he'd already started to scream and cry. He went back to his room and shut the door as quietly as he could. He could still hear Regulus crying and he laid back on his bead, now facing the dog and covering his ears with his pillow. They'd find a harsher punishment for him, he knew it whether it was going to happen tonight, or tomorrow was the question he was faced with. He heard the door to Regulus door close and their footsteps were heavy, he'd just managed to whisper nox before he heard his door open again.

"You think he's faking?" Orion asked he held his eyes shut as he felt his hands on him.

"Well he's not going to respond to any punishment anyway. We just have to ignore him and hope for the best." Walburga replied.

"You can't just ignore him, he's just a boy." His father took the pillow he'd had over his head to muffle the screams and adjusted it so it was under his head. "We're just going to give the impression we don't care what happens with him. I thought you said you didn't want anyone to think we neglect him?" He grabbed for his comforter and sighed when he noticed he still had his boots on. "Watch them more carefully tomorrow."

"Yes, it's entirely my fault." She replied venomously. She watched him pull his boots off and crossed her arms.

"Well, tomorrow just.. control what they're doing better. Set them down at the table and have them do their assignments or something. I doubt Alphard told them to do anything, they probably just walked around town…"

He felt the comforter fall over him, and couldn't help but cuddle into it's warmth. "I thought you liked Alphard, but it's about him watching the boys you have a fit. I'd be more than happy to let your sister watch them, but she doesn't want them creating a mess in her house, and she won't come here so…"

When their voices faded he groped for the dog. He knew he'd have to wait a few minuets for them to be far enough away to not hear he was out of bed. He gripped his wand in his other hand and walked the hallway again.

"Alohamora." He'd whispered to the door, when it opened he could still hear Regulus sniffling, he had to be in bed and struggling to calm down. He pushed the dog into the door, just far enough into the room so he'd see it when he looked that way. He shut the door making sure it made no sound before heading back to his room, the way he did before, in absolute silence.

The next day however, Regulus seemed to be in a good mood when Sirius came down for breakfast. He'd obviously found his dog when he put it back in his room as he had it next to him on the table next to him. It did however prevent Sirius from sitting next to his father because he wasn't going to move his dog. So, he went to sit on the other side of Regulus, away from both his parents when his Father stopped him. "Why are you sitting down there? Afraid of being punished since you slithered out of it last night are you?"

"No Sir…It's just…Regulus has his stuffed animal where I usually sit and…"

For some reason or another Regulus grinned. "I'll move him we were just waiting for you to come back down." He'd put the dog in his lap and continued with breakfast. Just before He sat in his regular spot, his father shook his newspaper out loudly, causing him to jump.

"You want to know something very odd Sirius?"

He didn't know what to answer, so he nodded lightly before his Father continued. "When we were punishing your brother I could have sworn he didn't have that back because you were still picking on him. So he comes down here to day, practically floating on clouds because it just appeared in his room. Now where do you suppose he got it from?"

Sirius shrugged. "I guess Kreacher brought it back to him when he was sleeping…"

"No, he didn't this time, we've already asked him and he couldn't lie to us so that only leaves us with one more option…."

"Your thinking of a different punishment." His mother said from behind him. "He's a growing boy and he needs a good breakfast. Unless you want to explain to your sister why he keeps telling everyone he's famished, and parched…"

"You're the one who always said it was fine for him to have a wider vocabulary." He said simply. "It was rather amusing when he told Cygnus that when he was five though…" He held back a smirk as his wife turned to glare at him instead of their disobedient son. "Well Sirius, it seems to appear you don't understand what it means when we send you to your room for the night so you can stay up there alone until we go to Aunt Lucretia's and Regulus isn't going to be allowed to play with you, so don't bother leaving your door open to tempt him, he's learned his lesson about being a good boy."

"Yes Father…" He replied sourly.

"So after Breakfast you are to go to your room and think about why your being so insubordinate, and we're going to think of some new ways to control your behavior problems, and if you step out of line the rest of your stay with us you'll be regretting it deeply. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir…"

He figured, he was the only person ever to be punished for doing something nice to his sibling. He had been the one to make him upset in the first place, but as long as he got it back Regulus wasn't going to hold a grudge. He heard him, chattering excitedly to who he expected was Kreacher, as he was supposed to be locked in his room until he learned his lesson, whatever that was supposed to be. He was easily bored, he'd wrote to James to tell him he was being punished for giving his brother back his toy, then he watched a few minuets pass on his clock before he thought of picking up a book. He started to read, then quickly fell back asleep about an hour later he woke up to his brother giggling and chattering outside his door. He got up and seemed to shuffle to the door. He was absolutely certain about two things, one or both of his parents were going to come upstairs as soon as they realized Regulus was having fun with something upstairs and two he was going to be yelled at then ignored because he wasn't doing anything wrong. Unless he could open the door and tell him to stop, which if he didn't get caught might work. The second his hand went to the door knob he heard something that made his eyes widen.

"You're my Sirius, we don't like James. James is mean he's trying to take my brother away from me. He's mine, he's supposed to like me best…."

He opened the door and stared his brother down. "What are you doing trying to get me into more trouble?"

"I wasn't I put your Lion back by your door, I'm playing with my Dog…" Regulus looked him over, Sirius never realized until he went to school how much Regulus still acted like they were young. Every so often he'd get bored with acting how they Mother wanted him to act and he'd go into his room and seemingly create a new world where he was literally a king, why he never understood, as their parents always treated them well. They may have had some added pressure because they tried so hard to prove to everyone the Blacks were above the rest, but as far as Regulus was concerned, his room was his thrown room and no one could touch him.

Sirius picked up his lion and tossed it onto his bed carelessly. Regulus raised his eyebrow as if he'd just told him he was going to commit some crime. "What are you doing up here anyway? Shouldn't you be telling Mum and Dad how fun school is…"

He was about to interrupt when he heard her voice from the stairs. "Your Father told you not to play with your brother." Both Sirius and Regulus looked at each other, almost as if they questioned who she was talking to. However she continued to move closer to Sirius and as soon as she was within an arms reach she smacked him across the face causing Regulus to tear up. "Get back in your room now and change."

He rubbed his cheek and seemed to admit defeat as he slinked back into his room. She turned to Regulus and ushered him into his room. "You too Regulus, and make sure you don't pick up anymore bad habits from that troublesome brother of yours."

"Yes Mother…." He shuffled into his room.

"It you disobey us again today you'll be getting one of your brother's punishments." She replied whilst she inspected the shine on her ring.

"I won't….I was just…I was playing….and Sirius came out to yell at me because I was by his room…" Regulus replied. She looked him over before she replied with a sigh.

"I don't really care. You've never been the troublesome one, why decide you want to now? It's nearly Christmas don't you want the lovely things we've picked out for you? Maybe we've replaced your broom since in every letter you send back home you remind us you want to try out for seeker next year. But I'm sure if you'd like to go the route of your brother your current broom would be fine. After all, his is the older model."

"I'd do anything for a broom…" He replied.

"Now you know….so stop disobeying us…I've warned you your Father will not take lightly to being embarrassed in front of his dear sister. Your leaving that horrible looking stuffed animal here. You will not be bringing it back out while we have company. Do you understand."

"Yes Mother…" He replied half heartedly.

"Mum…" Sirius called from his room.

"What!" She snapped.

"I think our clothes got mixed up again. My shirt's too small…"

She sighed. "Well are your initials sewn into it?"

He peaked his head out from his door. "Yeah. The French way of spelling Sirius starts with an R."

She glared at him and reached her hand out. "Stop playing before I smack the smile off your face. Give me your brother's shirt. I'm certain you have a clean one you can wear in your closet."

He handed it to her before slinking back in his room, after sticking his tongue out at her luckily for him only Regulus saw and it caused him to giggle before she thrust his shirt at him. "Don't wear this one, we have no idea what if any charms he put on it." She sighed. "Do hurry up, if you keep your Father waiting he'll have quite a temper with you."