Hey guys! I just wanted to say I LOVED writing this chapter. I always like it when they explain everything in a book why people get killed or, in this case, kidnapped and tortured and I quite enjoyed myself solving the mystery to you. Some people thought Peter wasn't tortured because he worked for Lord Voldemort, but that's not true. It's something completely different and I hope you'll like it!
Sirius noticed his little brother leave the Great Hall with Dumbledore. He saw how Bellatrix grimaced when Dumbledore put his hand on Regulus' shoulder.
"I'll see you in the common room, guys," he said to his friends. "Prongs, do you have the Map with you?"
"Yeah, sure, why?" James asked as he grabbed the now blanc piece of parchment.
"Just want to check something out," Sirius shrugged. He stood up from the bench and followed Regulus and the Headmaster on their way out of the Great Hall. It didn't take him long to find them, thanks to the Marauders Map, but he still wondered why Dumbledore was interested in a 15-year-old kid. He stopped when he saw his brother and Dumbledore enter the older man's office and he swallowed when he saw the other names. Alastor Moody, Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"I wonder –" Sirius said aloud, but he shut himself up and hid behind a corner when two other Aurors walked to the entrance of Dumbledore's office. He looked at the Map and it said: Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks. Andromeda's dot stopped moving and it took Ted a couple of seconds to figure out his wife wasn't walking anymore. He turned around and closed the space between them.
"Love, are you sure it was him? I mean, he's only fifteen," he heard Andromeda say. Her voice was trembling. Were they talking about Regulus? What did he do?
"I don't know," Ted replied, "but Albus is, so I'm prepared to listen." The dots started walking again. "Rubber duck."
Sirius heard a scraping sound and the next time he saw the two people's dots, they were in the Headmaster's office. He stuffed the Map in his pocket, drew his wand and walked to the stone eagle at the end of the corridor. With his wand pointed at the statue, he said: "Rubber duck." The eagle started moving until a gigantic, moving staircase showed itself. Sirius jumped onto the stairs and let it lead him upstairs. It was a rather plain journey, as the staircase pushed him up a cold, dark corridor with no paintings at the wall and no torches to lighten it up. When the stair stopped, the dark haired boy faced a door. He walked towards it and changed his mind when he reached for the doorknob. It was better he cast a spell on the door so he heard what was said behind it.
However, before he could fulfill that thought, the staircase behind him moved again.
Crap, Sirius thought. He looked around, but the place was round, with no corners, nowhere he could hide. He was trapped.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius demanded in a whisper when he saw James on the stairs, grinning at him.
"Wicked ride, man," he whistled.
"How did you know the password?" Sirius snapped, pushing his hands through his hair in frustration. Why was it his best friend was the most intelligent guy in the whole school?
"I was right behind you, under the Invisibility Cloak," James shrugged, grinning proudly.
"No, you weren't," Sirius argued, "I looked at the Map a hundred times, and I never noticed you."
"That was because you weren't looking for me," James winked at him and he clapped Sirius' shoulder. "Now, Padfoot, are you going to be mad at me or are we going to figure out a way to listen to what the grown up people have to say to your brother?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, but cast a spell on the door, anyway. The voices behind it became suddenly very clear.
" –do it, Regulus? You knew it was dangerous," Dumbledore's voice said.
"You don't understand, professor. The Dark Lord is dangerous, threatening, terrifying. I just did what he asked me to do out of fear," Regulus answered. His voice was shaking, Sirius heard. "He promised it was the only thing I had to do."
"Listen, kid," Moody said, "If you do something for Voldemort –"
"Don't say his name," Regulus warned.
" – and you do it right, there's no way back. He'll call for you when he needs you, wherever he needs you. You're trapped."
"I can back out, I can ask Bellatrix –"
"Miss Black won't be able to do anything for you, Mr. Black," McGonagall said. "Like Alastor said, you're trapped."
"But then… What do I do?"
Andromeda's kind voice spoke to Regulus now. "I know you don't trust me, and I know Walburga has burned me of the family tree, because I married Ted, but I want you to listen to me." When no response came from Regulus, Andromeda continued. "You have to talk about what happened. You have to tell us what You-Know-Who told you, so we can help other people with the same problem, so we can help you."
"Why would I do anything you tell me?" Regulus hissed and Sirius clenched his fists at the words.
Just do what they tell you, baby bro. Just one time, he thought. Please.
James saw how Sirius' shoulders tensed and he put his hand in a consoling way on one of them, but his best friend didn't seem to notice.
They heard Andromeda's response a little less clear because of the fading spell. "Because I turned out to be way more happy when I ignored Walburga's orders. I refused to do as she told me and now I'm married with the most amazing man in the whole world, I'm pregnant with this breathtaking child and I can fight the bad guys, all the while I have a safe home to return to. Don't you want that? Someone you can say goodnight to when you go to bed? Someone who teases you, laughs with you, stands by your side when you need it? A mother that gives you advice about girls, or a dad who learns you how to play Quidditch? You have a brother, Regulus, a brother who is prepared to be all of that, but you don't see it. Get Voldemort out of your head, sweetheart, and embrace the family and friends that are ready to embrace you."
"Andromeda – right –you know," the eavesdropping boys heard and then it was silent.
"Damn it," Sirius swore, and he cast another spell. The voices became clear again. "That's better."
"He told Narcissa to brew Polyjuice Potion," Regulus whispered, "about a month ago."
"That's possible," Kingsley Shacklebolt interrupted. "It takes approximately one month to brew Polyjuice Potion."
"Let the boy talk, Kingsley," Dumbledore said.
"He asked her, since she's the best in potions, and after a month, he had a whole box of the potion. He called Severus and told him he should bring Pettigrew to him. Unconscious, but alive. So Severus did, and the Dark Lord's next command was to lock him in the cellar and to make sure he didn't get out. So we did. I was surprised when he called for me, but I went, anyway. He told me I had to drink the Polyjuice Potion Narcissa had made, with some of Pettigrew's hairs in it. He told me I had to pretend I was him in front of his friends, and I had to kidnap Prewett as soon as I could. I knocked Longbottom out, still disguised as Pettigrew and took her." Regulus stopped. He took a shaky breath, and with all the courage he had in his body, he continued. "Once we were there, Fenrir and Rodolphus took her from my hands and brought her to the dungeons. My task was done, and the Dark Lord sent me back to Hogwarts where I had to pretend nothing happened."
"So Mr. Pettigrew never suffered an Unforgivable Curse?" McGonagall asked.
"No. Bellatrix put a curse in his mind that left a fake memory. If anyone tried to find out what happened, that was what they would find. We wanted you to think that," the boy explained.
"'We'?" Ted asked.
"Bellatrix put the curse in his head, but it was my idea."
"But… why?" Andromeda asked. Her voice was muffled, so Sirius assumed she was embracing Ted again. "Why Alice?"
"She's of age," Regulus shrugged. "V… the Dark Lord thought she knew about the Order of the Phoenix, whatever that may be."
"How did she escape, Regulus?" Ted asked. "If she was tortured and Peter was unconscious and they were locked up in the dungeons, how did the Aurors find them?"
"I… I was the one who sent the letter to you, Headmaster," the youngest Black confessed.
Sirius and James heard the rustling of cloth over the floor and the sound of footsteps. "Why?" Dumbledore asked. "Why would you do that?"
"Sometimes, we went home without the teachers knowing it. The Black family, I mean. Our mother has made a passageway to our house so we could go home when we needed something. When we did, we usually stayed the night there. I slept in the room above Prewett's dungeon. Every night I went home, I heard her screams, her sobs, her broken voice. They tortured her for information she didn't have and I kept thinking it was all my fault. I had given wrong information, causing her to almost die. I almost died out of guilt. So I helped her. And Pettigrew. I helped them out of the house and hid them in the old ruin just outside Malfoy Mansion. I knew the Dark Lord trusted the Malfoy family, so he wouldn't go searching there. Pettigrew wasn't hurt that much, so he fought like a tiger. I had to silence him with some Stinging hexes and a Stupefy, because otherwise they would have been discovered before the Aurors found them. I also erased his memory, so he wouldn't remember me."
"You… you saved them," Andromeda gasped. "You saved them."
"You can't tell anyone about this," Regulus suddenly snapped. "No one can know!"
"Why not?" Kingsley asked.
"If they know I talked to you, they'll kill me!"
"We have special Aurors to protect you," Dumbledore told him. "We can protect you."
"No, you don't understand! I wouldn't be able to go class anymore! I would always be hunted, they wouldn't stop before I'm dead if they know I blabbed!" Regulus' voice was desperate.
"Okay," Dumbledore decided. "We won't tell." Sirius heard how his brother took a deep, relieved breath. "But we'll be watching you. There will be no step you make in this castle and outside we won't know about. Am I clear?"
Nothing. "Answer me."
"Yes, Headmaster." Regulus' voice was nothing more than a deeply ashamed whisper.
"Then off you go. Tell your friends I called you to my office because you tortured Mr. Filch's cat. You lost Slytherin 75 points for that and you have detention for a month. Now off you go."
On the other side of the door, Sirius' and James' eyes widened at that last sentence.
"The Cloak, the Cloak, the Cloak!" Sirius kept saying while James was struggling with his robes to pull the cloth out of his pocket. Finally, James succeeded in untucking it and throwing it over him and Sirius just when Regulus opened the door and let his tears fall over his cheeks.
The now invisible Sirius felt his heart break. Why did he run away from home when he still had a younger brother to take care of? How could he leave? Sirius always thought he was a better person than his family, less evil, but when he looked at it like this, he saw he was just like the rest of them. Selfish and ruthless.
James and he watched as Ted, Andromeda, McGonagall, Shacklebolt and Moody made their way out of the office, ten minutes after Regulus. Dumbledore walked out last, but stopped before he stepped onto the staircase.
"You know, it would have been easier to ask me after my conversation, Mr. Black," he said, staring at the eagle. "Although I must approve your spell work; no one else noticed." And then he was off.