Sirius Black watched in confusion as a death eater was led out of the house by six of his fellows, presumably to be reprimanded for his interference in the battle. Had it not been for that death eater, Sirius himself would likely be dead. Why would a death eater save him?

He knew that Voldemort was delusional enough to believe he would change sides in the war. Perhaps the kid thought he would win points with his master if he preserved Sirius' life, made him indebted to him, even?

No, no matter how many scenarios Sirius came up with, he knew the only explanation. His 'savior' had to have been his brother. The little idiot.

Now he was going to be punished, not that he didn't deserve it. All of the death eaters deserved punishment. In Azkaban. And what was even thinking, 'It wasn't as if that killing curse would have even hit me,' Sirius thought to himself. He had been battling two death eaters at the time after all, so it wasn't as though he would have been standing still.

Though the more Sirius thought back to the battle the more he began to doubt that. In fact, as he recalled more from the encounter, it was even more evident that he had been drawn into an ambush. While he thought little of it at the time, he now realized the two masked death eaters had been throwing their curses at strategic angles that kept him relatively stationary during the battle. In that case the curse very well could have hit him. And after all, Regulus was many things, but reckless was not one of them. For him to risk admonishment there must have been very little chance of the curse missing him.

Sirius wondered what he would have done if the situation had been reversed. He had not spoken to Regulus in years, and he was certain they had nothing in common now, but it had not always been that way. In fact, there was a time when Sirius was unsure if he loved anyone else in the world besides his little brother. He would have done anything to keep Regulus safe back then, even if it meant taking a beating himself. That was a long time ago though. It had also been a long time since he had seen anything in his brother worth 'saving'.

Sirius had just finished helping to bring all of the wounded Order members to the hospital wing at Hogwarts. The school's infirmary had been The Order's preferred place for healing, even before the recent death eater raid that had taken place at St. Mungo's. The majority of healers at St. Mungo's were too inquisitive for their own good. Madam Pomfrey had determined early on in the war that she preferred knowing as little as possible about the missions of The Order.

Sirius had intended to go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink to calm his nerves, but found himself instead approaching the gargoyle outside Dumbledore's office. To his surprise, Professor Dumbledore approached him from behind,

"Hello, Mr. Black. I'm glad to see you were uninjured in the recent attack. I take it you wanted a word with me?"

"Yes, sir... in your office, if that's okay?"

"Of course, right this way," Dumbledore answered as he led Sirius up the spiral staircase. Once inside the office, the headmaster took his usual seat behind the desk as Sirius took the one across from him.

"Now then, Mr. Black, what is it you wanted to speak with me about?"

Now that Sirius was here, he felt incredibly foolish. He certainly wasn't going to admit he was worried about what punishment his death eater brother was going to get into with his 'master'.

"I'm not sure sir. It's just, you asked me a while back whether I had been in contact with Regulus. You never really had a chance to tell why you asked though."

"Ah, yes of course. We were interrupted that night weren't we?" Dumbledore chuckled softly as if privately amused by something. "I asked because your brother contacted me. He wanted to know everything I could tell him about Voldemort. I wondered if he may have been in contact with you for similar information. I know now I was mistaken. As you said you haven't been in contact with him for several years."

"Right, I haven't been. Why do you think he wanted to know about Voldemort all of a sudden? And from you... he should know more about him than any of us do."

"I was curious of that as well. He was a bit evasive when it came to details. When I asked whether his loyalties had shifted, he eluded to only seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself. I wonder if you can make anything out of that."

Sirius snorted, "Only that he should have been a Ravenclaw."

Dumbledore chuckled at that before asking, "Nothing more?"

"Not really," Sirius answered vaguely before pausing to consider how to phrase what he wanted to say. Eventually he added, "Regulus was at the battle. He conjured a stone shield to block a killing curse."

"Impressive. That is both incredibly clever and would have required a great deal of magical power. I daresay few wizards could conjure a shield powerful enough to deflect such a curse, even fewer would ever dare attempt it in a battle."

Sirius was temporarily distracted by that response. "Why not? If you could block a killing curse why wouldn't you? I've never even heard of it being done before."

"Perhaps it hasn't. It's natural to hear that something has never been done before and assume that must mean it cannot be done. However there are always people clever enough, like your brother it seems, that will hear something hasn't been done before and will find a way to do it anyway. To answer your other question, the conjuring of stone as substantial as his shield must have been to be effective, would have undoubtedly exhausted significant magic from him. Would it not have been better for him in a duel to preserve his energy and merely dodge the curse? Assuming that was an option of course."

Sirius looked down for a moment before replying sheepishly, "Well, he- Perhaps he would have if it were aimed at him. He actually blocked the curse that was aimed at me." Sirius felt the need to justify his need for assistance and quickly added, "I was battling two death eaters. There had been some sort of ambush set up I think. The killing curse came from behind me. I didn't really know what was going on as it was happening. I heard someone yell my name and I turned around to see the stone shield crumpling, and the deflected green light hitting the wall. It happened really fast. The death eater, I can only assume it was Regulus, was quickly surrounded by other death eaters. They escorted him outside of the anti-apparition wards and left immediately."

"I see. And now you are concerned of the fate that awaits your brother for his interference?"

"Of course not, sir, he is a death eater. I just wondered if you might know why he would do something so stupid."

"He is your brother. Is it possible that witnessing your murder while he did nothing to stop it might not have been a viable option for him?"

"He was disappointed at St. Mungo's when he couldn't kill me. He said The Dark Lord was still hopeful I would join them. Otherwise I reckon he would have taken relish in committing my murder then."

"Could it be that he said that to protect you? As I understand it you were unarmed and outnumbered nine to one at the time. From what you said, you received only a warning from Ms. Lestrange. As horrible as the cruciatus undoubtedly was, doesn't that seem like a much better outcome than what it could have been?"

"Maybe, I don't know. It's just so stupid of him. How badly do you think he will be punished?" 'Okay, fine I am a little worried,' he added to himself.

"I could not say. If it is true that Voldemort still hopes to recruit you, then it is not unreasonable to think young Regulus may be pardoned. That would be the best case scenario of course. However, if I know Voldemort like I think I do, then I am afraid a test of Regulus' loyalties might be required."

"Test? What sort of test?"

Dumbledore steepled his fingers and observed Sirius for a moment before responding. "I could not say. Though as his loyalties would be in question because of an interaction involving you, I do not think it unreasonable to suspect you will be involved somehow."

Sirius laughed, despite the potential implications, "So your saying I should be aware of little brother's in dark alleys then?"

"I was of the impression you no longer thought of Regulus as a brother, but yes. I strongly advise you to remain alert of all death eaters in dark alleys, brother or not," Dumbledore responded, blue eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Right, well, thanks for everything as always professor. It's getting late and I don't want to keep you from-er," Sirius realized he had no idea what the headmaster did in his spare time. "Anything." he finished lamely before quickly getting up and making his way for the door. "Good night, sir."

"Good evening, Mr. Black," he heard just as the office door closed.

After speaking with Dumbledore Sirius was even more confused by his brother's actions of late. Forget about what he did tonight, if Voldemort found out that Regulus had met with Dumbledore he would be murdered for sure. He wondered what his little brother was hiding. He decided it was time for a long overdue chat with the heir to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

Upon exiting the iron gates of Hogwarts, Sirius immediately apparated into Diagon Alley and searched as many of the places he could think of that his brother might be. He did not have any luck, not that he expected to really. While Regulus was not one of the most widely known death eaters, there were a lot who suspected he was one. Many, for no other reason than because of who his family is. Those same idiots were aloof towards Sirius as well, completely ignoring the fact that he had been disowned. Regulus though actually was a death eater, and as with any suspected criminal, it was safest for him not to be easily located by anyone who could arrest him.

If it were anyone else he was searching for he would enlist said person's mates to help him find them. Unfortunately for Sirius, anyone that Regulus hung out with these days would be more likely to try to kill him than help.

He vaguely considered enlisting the other marauders for the task, but quickly dismissed it. James would be more interested in turning Regulus into the aurors than finding out what he was hiding. Peter would be too afraid of actually finding a death eater to be of any real help. Remus actually would be ideal in this situation, but as last night was the last of the full moon, Sirius thought it cruel to disturb the poor bloke. Sirius would have to carry on alone if he wanted to find his brother tonight.

It was possible that Regulus was still with Voldemort. Or perhaps he had been punished and was now at home licking his wounds. Sirius didn't know whether Regulus still lived at Grimmauld place or if he had moved out. He thought it likely he still stayed there often even if he had his own place elsewhere. He, after all, had a good relationship with their parents and Kreacher would see to all of his needs.

The wards of that house were also some of the strongest in Britain. He could rest there knowing he was safe from the aurors, or from other death eaters. Likely even from Voldemort himself if it came to it.

For all the protection the wards at Grimmauld Place offered from outside sources, Sirius had always found them to be majorly flawed. They did nothing to protect against the evil that occurred within their walls.

Not knowing where else to look, Sirius apparated to the front door step of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He desperately hoped his parents were not home. He stood on the door step ringing the doorbell for several minutes. Where was Kreacher? Finally he gave up and grasped the door knob. He tried to remain calm as his finger was pricked and blood drawn to ensure it was a Black seeking admittance. He did not know what sort of nasty taboo his father might have added to keep him out, he had been disowned after all.

Blessedly, it seemed his parents believed him when he said he would never return and the door unlocked without causing him any bodily harm. He slowly opened the door and entered the house he had not seen in over four years. The house he vowed he would never return to.

The farther he walked into the house the more apprehensive he became. He kept waiting to encounter one of his parents and be asked to leave in an impressive display of hatred and rage. However, that did not happen. It seems he was lucky and his parents were out. That still didn't explain Kreacher's absence. 'Perhaps he had died,' Sirius thought, almost cheerfully.

As he walked he tried to close off all of the memories that were fighting for him to revisit. There was not a room in this house that did not hold at least one painful memory for the elder Black brother. It didn't help to notice, that if anyone who didn't know any better walked through the house, they would believe Regulus was an only child. It seemed that in addition to having his name burned off of the family tapestry, all his pictures in the house had been removed as well.

As he walked up the stairs, the portraits that were still awake peered at him warily. He pointedly ignored all of them and walked to Regulus' room. He briefly knocked on the door but after not hearing any response opened the door and walked in. Regulus was not home either it seemed.

Sirius was annoyed to have wasted a trip here and decided to glance through his brother's desk to see if he could figure out what he had been up to of late. He was prepared to have to undo a ridiculous amount of enchantments to get the desk drawers open and was therefore surprised when they were not even locked. 'That doesn't seem like Regulus,' he thought to himself before, 'ah, that explains it'.

It seemed that Regulus did not bother to lock his desk drawers because nearly everything inside of them was sealed in its own magical containment mechanism. The likes of which Sirius had never seen before, and thought best not to test out.

The last drawer he tried to open on the desk was the smallest and the only one that was locked. After several failed attempts, Sirius managed to get it open. It was empty aside from a framed picture. Upon turning the picture over, he found that it was of himself and Regulus standing together, laughing. Judging by their appearance and the fact that they seemed genuinely happy to be in each other's company, Sirius guessed it was the summer before he started Hogwarts.

Sirius was for a moment overwhelmed by the sentiment. He had been disowned. His name had been burned off of the family tapestry. Every picture and other evidence of his existence had been removed from the house, likely destroyed. Yet here, in his 'perfect Slytherin' brother's' room was proof that he had once belonged to this family.

Suddenly Sirius became nearly overcome with an irrational fear that something had happened to his brother and the two of them would never have the opportunity to work things out. He did not know where these thoughts were coming from. Before today he did not think it possible he and Regulus would ever speak again, let alone ever get along. On an impulse he flew down the stairs to the tapestry room. He quickly searched for Regulus' name next to his burned one. He was relieved to see his brother was alive, at least according to the tapestry. In better spirits he decided he would call for Kreacher to see if he knew when Regulus' return was expected.

"Kreacher"

To Sirius' surprise it was a sobbing Kreacher that apparated in front of him. Sirius stood looking at him a moment waiting for the elf's usual disparaging comments. They did not come. Instead, after a brief pause in which Kreacher appeared to be thinking something through, the house elf frantically latched on to Sirius' arm and apparated the two of them to parts unknown.

Sirius and Kreacher reappeared on what seemed to be a cliff overlooking the sea,

"Brilliant, Kreacher. I suppose you are trying to kill me now too?" Sirius demanded.

To Sirius' confusion Kreacher said nothing before disappearing into a small entrance that led into what appeared to be a cave. Sirius was completely baffled by this but followed the elf cautiously. Before he had time to ask what was going on his eyes noticed a lake filled with what could only be inferi. A moment later and the inferi disappeared into the water and the surface instantly became unnaturally smooth.

Kreacher's eyes seemed fixated on the scene, though he had begun shouting all sorts of nonsensical things that left Sirius even more annoyed with the house elf. Then suddenly his comments began to make sense. Only Regulus had ever been able to give orders to Kreacher that the elf was truly unable to break. He had been forbidden by Regulus to tell what was going on.

"Kreacher, did the inferi take something or… someone down with them just now?"

The house elf began nodding vigorously, his bat-like ears flapping up and down.

Sirius was confused and he felt incredibly foolish, as if this was somehow a trick to make him look stupid. But how? No one could have expected him to be at Grimmauld Place, he hadn't been in there in over four years.

In what he thought would likely be more of a precautionary spell rather than a fruitful one, he pointed his wand at the center of the lake and cast, "Levicorpus."

After a couple of moments a body ascended from the smooth lake. Kreacher immediately summoned it to them. In the intense darkness, the corpse was unrecognizable, though Sirius had a good idea of who it must have been.

He attempted to 'catch' the body and help lower it to the ground as it approached, but instead lost his balance trying to catch the surprisingly heavy person and they both hit the stone floor rather painfully- though only Sirius noticed. The person who he now knew for certain was Regulus, was unconscious at best.

Sirius was horrified at his brother's appearance. His skin was much bluer than could ever be considered normal. He was covered in painful looking marks, around his arms, his legs, and his throat. Sirius was fighting off feelings of panic as he was unable to find a pulse. He had never been good at healing spells and was at a complete loss of what to do. Kreacher probably could have done something if he wasn't crying his eyes out in misery at the moment.

Sirius forced himself to calm down. An idea had occurred to him. He had no idea if it would work or not, but it was all he had. He had once dated a muggleborn who worked as a lifeguard during the summer. She had shown Sirius how to do something she called CPR, much to his enjoyment.

In a much less explicit version from how she had shown him, Sirius attempted the same steps on his brother. After several rounds, Kreacher seemed to come to his senses and began performing magic that was more efficient than the CPR Sirius was attempting. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Regulus began coughing. He then began hacking up water. More water than Sirius would have ever guessed possible for someone to hold. Finally when he seemed to be done he laid down on his stomach, presumably too weak to do anything else. After a few moments Sirius realized that Regulus had passed out.

'Though this time he at least has a pulse,' Sirius thought after verifying just that.

In another situation, Sirius would have found his brother's abhorrently disheveled appearance quite amusing. However right now he was soaking wet and it was freezing, not to mention he was filthy. Sirius cast warming charms and cleaning charms on Regulus before carefully gathering his little brother up in his arms as gently as he could and addressing the house elf,

"I take it only you can apparate in and out of here?"

"No wizard can apparate inside this cave, but Kreacher can apparate you and Master Regulus from the outside. If you're ready, we can all go now."

"Yes, we're ready, Kreacher."

And with that Sirius, carrying Regulus, and Kreacher walked outside of the cave, disapparating at the first moment it was possible to do so.