Disclaimer: I do not own any of the pureblood families mentioned in this chapter. I also do not own the magical world of Harry Potter.

AN: This takes place in late May. The McMillan boy mentioned is Ernie's father, and the Potter boy mentioned is James Potter, (Dorea is James's mother). Gideon and Fabian Prewitt are also mentioned. Also, Rodolphus Lestrange is one of the few people that actually enjoy using the torture curse, and thinks that children are ideal for practising on because they are too scared to tell anyone.

This chapter is dedicated to all those who have reviewed and with special thanks to TricksyBee for a nice long review.

Chapter Ten: Guest Lists and Promises.

"Why on earth would you want to invite a Hufflepuff, mudblood fourth year, Bellatrix!" shouted my Mother. Bella had come over to our house to discuss the guest list for the wedding with my Mother, and had, rather unhelpfully, suggested that they invited Ted. I'm sure Andromeda would have loved it, if he came, but they were supposed to be keeping things secret.

"I was only joking. You should have seen the look on your face though!" said Bella, only Mother was not laughing. She looked like she wanted to kill.

"Well, now is not the time for joking. You were supposed to have written this weeks ago," she snapped.

"I know, but there's so few pureblood families left. We've got the Malfoy, Rosier, Crabbe, Carrow, Mulciber and Goyle families coming, as well as the Lestranges and all of our family. Hey, what about Great Aunt Dorea? Doesn't she have a son about Sirius's age?"

"Yes she has, but she is married to a Gryffindor blood traitor, and I don't want Sirius mixing with that kind of filth. He'll see enough of that in lessons," said Mother. I was quite disappointed. I'd never met my great Aunt, and I had another second cousin/potential playmate, but Mother wouldn't let us see them.

"What about the McMillans? I know they're all Hufflepuffs, but they are quite respectable," said Bella.

"Fine, alright. Invite them if you really want," said Mother, irritably.

"Crouches?"

"If you must."

"Prewitts?"

"No, they're all blood traitors, and I don't want Sirius and Regulus picking up any ideas from those awful twins."

"Weasleys?" asked Bella. All I knew about the Weasleys was that they all had red hair, and not much money, and that Mother said that I was never ever to talk to one unless I wanted to be disowned.

"Certainly not. They're worse than the Potters!"

"Can Rebecca's family come?" I asked. I hoped Mother would let me have at least one friend at the party.

"Shut up, Regulus, no one asked you for your input. And her family are blood-traitors anyway," said Mother. I was confused - since when was Becky's family blood traitors? They didn't agree with the blood-purist views of my parents, but they didn't go around openly declaring their love of muggles like the Potters and Prewitts did!

"Aunt, I don't think consorting with the half-blood makes them blood-traitors. They're even accepting them into Slytherin now – there's a half blood Slytherin in Andy's year, and he's alright," said Bella. I gave her a quick 'thank you' look.

"Alright, we'll invite them then, but that 'half-breed' is not coming!" Mother said. I think she was referring to Xenophilius Lovegood, but I wasn't sure. He was a bit bonkers, but he wasn't evil, so I didn't see why it would be so bad if he came to the wedding.

"Hmm, I think that's enough people now," said Bella. "Are you coming over to help me write the invites, Reggie?" She asked. I nodded, glad for an excuse to get away from Mother.

…..

Bella lived in a house almost as big as ours with her parents, Cissy, Andromeda (when she wasn't as Hogwarts), two house elves, and most recently Rodolphus (when he wasn't at his own family home). When we got there, Bellatrix opened the door, and as soon as she had done so, Cissy's body slammed into me, giving me a tight hug.

"Hey Reggie, guess what we did yesterday!" she began. She didn't wait for me to answer before telling me: "We went to Diagon Alley to get wedding dresses! Do you want to see mine! It's pink and-"

"Not now, Cissa," said Bella, "we're going to write invites now. Do you want to help?"

"Yes please. Can I do the envelopes?" Cissy said brightly.

"Of course you can," said Bella. She led us into the drawing room, where Rodolphus was standing. He was very interested to see whom Bellatrix had invited:

"Why have you invited those idiot Hufflepuffs and those blood traitors, Bellatrix?" he asked. I glared at him. It was a horrible thing to say about my friends.

"The McMillan family are not idiots, and dating a half blood does not make someone's whole family blood traitors," said Bella. "I'm only inviting them at all because Reggie is friends with them, so if you can't think of anything nice to say then go away." He didn't go away completely, but sat in the corner, clearly annoyed that Bella wanted to invite my friends to his wedding. (Ok so I wasn't a best friend of McMillan – he was too snobby – but he wasn't horrible, and was all right to talk to if no one else was available.) Bellatrix didn't seem to care that her fiancé was sulking, and ignored him.

Bella began writing out the invites on paper, and then handed them to me, to write on people's names. Cissy would then write the same name on the envelope, and put the invites inside. Luckily, Bella soon realised that it was much easier to duplicate the unnamed invitations with magic, than to decorate around fifty pieces of paper, so it didn't take as long as we had expected to do all of them.

Bella told Cissy that she would help her get changed, so that they could show me the bridesmaid dress. Bella wanted to show me hers too, but she couldn't with her fiancé present – for some reason you are not supposed to let the person you are going to marry see your dress. I wanted to go upstairs too, but Bella said that boys were not allowed in girls' bedrooms, so I stayed downstairs with Rodolphus – I didn't want to have to explain why I didn't want to be left alone with him.

I hoped he wouldn't do anything to me, because he didn't have his brother with him, so I sat at the table and pretended that he wasn't there. Some people believe that if you can't see something, then there is no proof that it exists, so I closed my eyes, and pretended I was alone.

It didn't work. I felt his heavy hand on my shoulder and looked up, opening my eyes to see his ugly face leering at my. His eyes were dark and cold, and I could see no kindness in them like I sometimes could with Bellatrix and sometimes with Father. I felt his wand dig into my side, and I trembled, thinking he was going to do what he normally did. "Don't tell anyone about this, unless you want him or her to die a very painful death," he had said to me last time. I wasn't going to tell anyway. When the pain hit me, it was worse than before, and I had to bite down hard on my forearm to stop myself from screaming. He must have practised it on someone else as well, probably a muggle or someone else who would be too scared to say anything. The pain was unbearable, and I felt the room going funny, as if there were several copies of everything in it.

When he had finished, I was a trembling wreck. The room was spinning round and round, and there were now two Rodolphuses standing there. Maybe he had used a multiplication charm like Bella had on the invitations. To my surprise though, he pretended that he was sorry, and tried to hug me. I was most confused, until Cissy and Bella came in, and I realised what he was doing. Cissy was wearing something pink, sparkly and frilly, with a sticky out skirt, and Bella was just wearing her normal clothes. I briefly remembered something about a bridesmaid's dress, and figured that that was what Cissy was wearing.

I didn't realised that I was lying on the floor until Bella lifted me into her arms. I must have fallen off the chair at some point. "I don't know what happened. He just collapsed," said Rodolphus and his new twin. Bella seemed to believe him, and told him that it was nothing to worry about, and that I got ill all the time. I wish she hadn't because now Rodolphus would think he could hurt me and get away with it.

I tried to tell Cissy that I liked her dress, but I don't know if it came out right. In the end, Bella just carried me home, and put me to bed.

…..

Later that day, I awoke to prodding and poking and noticed Sirius sitting beside me. "Shhh, Reg," he said, "I brought you some food, because you missed dinner."

"Thanks Siri," I said, but I felt to sick to eat anything.

"You're so soft, Reg. If you don't end up in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, I bet you anything you'll end up in Hufflepuff," he said.

"Why not Gryffindor?" I asked.

"You're not brave enough to be in Gryffindor," Siri replied. He was right. If I was brave I would stick up for myself and not let Rodolphus hurt me. He was also quite right about Hufflepuff, but for the wrong reasons: I stuck up for my friends, and if that wasn't loyalty, I didn't know what was.

"Siri," I asked. "If I do end up in a different house to you, will you still be my brother?"

"Of course I will, silly. You don't think I'd abandon you because of houses do you?" said Sirius.

"No. I won't mind either, if you go in a different house," I said. And I meant it.

…..

AN: If you are reading this and are confused, don't worry. Regulus is definitely going to go in Slytherin, because that is what the books say. He just happens to have traits form all of the other houses – sticking up for friends can be seen as either bravery, or loyalty. It will also turn out that Sirius thinks that he has joined the Death Eaters, as that is what Sirius believes about him in the 'Order of the Phoenix'. Regulus is very loyal to 'Cissy' and 'Bella', but is absolutley terrified of Rodolphus. Sirius is still being kept out of the loop about everything, including Regulus's muggle friends.

I don't know if you picked up on this, but the nicknames are different depending on who is talking to who.

Special thanks to all those who reviewed this story and 'Finding Family', and also thanks to 'thecompletebookworm' for advertising my story on hers.

Please tell me what you think in a review, and please suggest a prank for Sirius to do at the wedding.

Sadie K.