Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it.

A/N: edited and reloaded 21 June 2013

Someday You'll See Things My Way

She came out of nowhere. One minute, he was just about to hex a disarmed Snape a few more times— the next James was gone and Sirius' nose was gushing blood down the front of his robes.

There was also a very irate girl screaming at him.

"YOU FOUL, LOATHSOME, MISCREANT BASTARD!" she screamed as her right fist collided with his nose again, the force causing him to snap his head back.

"Yob jub punched me! Agaib!" he managed to yell, holding his nose. "Whab wab thab for?"

Atlanta Black was pissed. She was radiating with anger. Her usually sleek, perfectly coiffed mahogany hair seemed to be standing on end. Her magic flared around her, sending red sparks through her hair. Grey and black sparks danced all over her skin and her face was contorted in fury, making her look almost ugly.

"What the hell is your problem, Black?"

Taking a swipe under his nose, he suddenly felt outrage swell and swirl in his veins. "What is your problem, Black? You suddenly a defender of greasy scum?"

She snorted, narrowing her flashing eyes. "Oh? Is that what you think this is?"

"What else would it be?" he asked thickly. It was hard to talk properly when his nose felt like it had been jammed into his brain. He was amazed he was still upright and able to form complete sentences.

"Oh, I don't know. He is unarmed, jinxed to the ground and you and Potter loom over him for no reason. You're a bloody bully, Black. A rude, mean, nefarious bully."

Sirius attempted to open his mouth and tell her that someone like Snape didn't deserve anything other than foul treatment, but he forgot who he was dealing with.

He forgot her words in the Chamber of Mischief. While he hadn't used a thing from the room against Snape, he'd forgotten her aversion to picking on people. Sirius had a lapse in memory that he was standing before the girl who'd singly handedly doled out rather devious and creative punishments for those who taunted his little brother. She'd managed to get at least THREE of them expelled. And she'd managed to do this without informing anyone her true intentions: protecting Regulus.

Sirius was sure he was the only soul who knew what Atlanta had been up to. He was the only one who observed her eyeing the three ugly, brawny Slytherins for three days. During these three days, one broke out into hives that contained actual bees, one suddenly had super large teeth and the other was unable to actually do anything than walk in circles for three hours. Thinking it was Regulus who set them up after they'd attempted to beat the crap out of him, the three had rounded on Regulus only to be caught by none other than Dumbledore himself. They were expelled, as the moment Dumbledore rounded the corner, one of the boys shouted, "Crucio."

Further investigation showed, the other two had attempted cast the spell on Regulus. Regulus had dodged each time, as he was a Seeker.

Sirius, while outraged, wasn't surprised the wanna be Death Eaters would resort to an Unforgivable.

But, this was too much.

Atlanta's protecting bubble included Snape now? That Sirius just could not agree with. Regulus was at least a decent human underneath his Slytherin outer shell.

"You think just because YOU DON'T HAPPEN TO LIKE HIM it gives you the right to taunt him? To hex him whenever you please? To pick fights with him for no reason other than your BOREDOM? IT. DOES. NOT. BLACK."

"He's a DEATH EATER WANNA BE!"

Atlanta had the nerve to laugh at him. It was a dark sounding laugh, one that sent a cold shiver down his spin.

"Oh, is that so? The world isn't separated into Death Eaters and Phoenixes, Black. The world isn't black and white, it's shades of grey you git."

She took another few steps towards him, still radiating power and rage. The sparks were leaping through her hair, jumping over her robes. She flicked her wand behind her, then brought it up and shoved it into Sirius's chest. Sirius dared a glance over her shoulder to find she'd somehow managed to stun Snape without even looking at him.

"Did it ever happen to occur to you the reason he might go off and do something like, oh, I don't know, becoming a Death Eater would be due to the fact you treated him like dirt for six years? That you, Sirius Orion Black, drove him to the Dark Side. Granted, I am not about to give you so much credit, because you're simply a jerk, but think for a moment. Use that brain you supposedly have and think. Are you any better than those so called Slytherin idiots? You bully, you taunt, you pick on others. You and Potter pick on everyone you think is unworthy. And guess what? There might not be ANYTHING WRONG WITH THEM. YOU JUST PICK THEM OUT BECAUSE OF THEIR HOUSE. IT PROVES YOU'RE JUST AS BIGOTED AS THOSE YOU CLAIM TO WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH. YOU ACT JUST LIKE THEM, ONLY TOWARDS THEM. THAT WILL GET NOTHING DONE, BLACK. YOU ARE MAKING THE PROBLEM WORSE."

Suddenly, Atlanta took a few steps back from him, her lip curling in disgust. Never in his life had any one looked at him with that expression except his mother.

"You disgust me," Atlanta spat.

She glanced to the left. Sirius was too shocked at her outburst to do anything other than follow her line of sight. She was looking at James in the same manner she'd bestowed on Sirius.

"You too. I know you can hear me. Someday your son is going to figure out what a bully you were and feel embarrassed for saying you weren't an arrogant asshole."

In a whirl of robes she turned and stared at Snape, who was frozen on the ground.

"You're not any better," she informed him in a low voice. "I'd hoped more of you, but I guess…I was too late."

She whirled again and stormed down the hallway, students parting for her. She turned the corner as McGonagall appeared at the other end.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall demanded, her mouth set in a tight line.

Sirius didn't answer her. Mostly because at that moment, his little brother appeared from the direction Atlanta had vanished. And he looked pissed.

"What did you do now? What did you do?" Regulus yelled, grabbing the front of his brother's robes, jerking him forward.

"Mr. Black!" McGonagall chided.

"I didn't do anything!" Sirius shouted, trying to push Regulus away. Regulus, though, had managed to grow since Sirius had last seen him. He was no longer short and scrawny looking, but had shot up a few inches so he was almost as tall as Sirius. He wasn't as brawny, but he wasn't weak either. Evidently his summer alone in Gimmauld Place had done some good for the runt.

"Yes, you did!" Regulus shouted, roughly letting go of Sirius. Sirius stumbled backwards, landing with a thud on the ground. "She's right."

Regulus glanced around at the gathering around him. He looked from Snape, who had been unfrozen by McGonagall, to James who was rubbing his head.

"She's right."

Sirius figured his little brother was over his tirade, till he ripped the Slytherin badge off his robe and threw it at Sirius's head.

"You're a prejudice prat," Regulus said. "You were perfectly fine with me till I sorted into Slytherin. You don't understand what you've done! You do think the world is black and white, Slytherin and Gryffindor! You all do!"

And with that last outburst, Regulus stormed off.

"MR. BLACK!" McGonagall shouted after his retreating form, but he turned the corner. McGonagall huffed, taking in the scene. "Clear out! Now. Potter, Black, Snape. Come to my office."

James and Snape got to their feet, scowling at one another. McGonagall glared at each in turn till her eyes settled on Sirius and his Gushing Nose of Doom.

He'd forgotten he had a broken nose.

"Black, go to the Hospital Wing. Then, meet me in my office for your punishment," she snapped, grabbing James and Snape.

Not needing to be told twice, Sirius hurried off in the opposite direction towards the Hospital Wing. He caught sight of Regulus hurrying up the stairs to the seventh floor. Wanting to give his little brother a piece of his mind, Sirius changed directions and hightailed it after Regulus. His nose could wait.

Being lithe didn't hinder Regulus, as he was rather quick. Since Sirius couldn't exactly breathe through his nose it was difficult for the usually athletic Sirius to keep up with his little brother. Regulus came to a stop in a spot that Sirius hadn't paid much heed to in the past. Regulus walked back and forth three times before a door materialized. Regulus ripped the door open and walked into the room. Darting forward, Sirius managed to get his hand on the door before it slammed shut. He quickly darted inside and hid behind a chair as the door slammed. Peaking out he noticed the room was filled with junk. The ceilings were high and room seemed to go on forever. Books, furniture, random doodads were all over the place, some in piles that looked like they'd fall over at any moment that reached the ceiling.

"Marco!" Regulus shouted, turning around in a circle.

"Polo," came the lacking response from deep within the maze of junk.

Regulus judge the direction and took off down an aisle. Trying to be quiet, Sirius followed.

"Marco!"

"Polo."

Regulus turned right.

"Marco."

"Polo."

Regulus paused and turned back the way he'd been walking then darted up yet another passageway.

"Marco."

"Polo."

Regulus turned left and came to a stop. "Hey, Marco."

"How you doing, Polo?"

Sirius crouched behind a broken cabinet and peered around it to find Atlanta sitting in a heap of purple robes, her hands over her face. Her knuckles were bloody and bruised.

Regulus sat down next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. His eyes worriedly wandered over Atlanta, landing on her hands. He frowned deeply.

"So?"

"That did not go right," Atlanta mumbled. She dropped her hands and let out a noise of frustration. "I never saw the memory, but it totally upset Harry. Remus told me about it. It bothered him. I mean, the instance he was worked up over happened fifth year after the OWLs, but it kind of broke Harry's delusion of how grand and great his father and Sirius happened to be."

She fell silent. Regulus chose not to say anything. Sirius, though, had a strange inkling he knew what she was talking about. Chills ran down his spine.

"It's worse seeing it in person," Atlanta muttered. "Oh, god. Has he tried to feed Snape to Remus yet?"

"Excuse me?" Regulus asked, thrown off. "I wasn't aware Lupin was a carnivore."

Atlanta slapped his arm lightly, wincing slightly. Regulus caught her hand and held it in his own, studying it with a frown. "He's not, you dolt. Has your brother tried to kill Snape yet with, well, uh…"

"I think I know, Addy," Regulus said quietly, pulling his wand out.

Sirius had only heard Remus and Regulus call her "Addy." He'd tried it once. If looks could kill, Sirius's nose wouldn't be broken as he would have jumped to the other side already.

Regulus waved his wand over her hand, murmuring. Atlanta let out a hiss, but studied her hand. Regulus dropped her hand and looked over at her. "Werewolf?"

Sirius was shocked Regulus said that statement so calmly and without a bit of hate or fear in his eyes.

"I knew you were clever," Atlanta muttered.

Regulus shrugged. "I noticed the signs. I pay attention. It's easy to figure out if you know what you're looking for."

Atlanta grimaced. "You're not going to…"

"Tell the world? No. Lupin's a good person. Even if he's friends with my brother."

"God, I suck at this." Atlanta let out a frustrated growl. "If I really had simply just gone back in time, I think I'd be thrown into Azkaban, as you're not supposed to mess with time per wizarding laws. Which, is stupid. You can't keep time the same—"

"Don't. It makes my head hurt when you go all Time Travel Theory on me," Regulus moaned, running his hands through is hair. He grabbed up her other hand and repeated the same action as before with his wand. "You're gonna need some bruise ointment. I don't have that on me."

"That's fine. But, back to time travel. Why does it exist if you can't change anything once you go backwards in time? And why with everything I'm doing do things keep, well, not changing? Why tell people not to change things, go so far as to make it a law, if things don't change?" Atlanta huffed.

"Addy," Regulus said in a warning tone, giving her a look. For a second Sirius thought Regulus had spotted him, but then he realized Regulus was gazing at Atlanta. He could only see Atlanta. "We both acted irrationally."

"I still don't know why you flipped out, Reggie," Atlanta said, shaking her head at him.

She ran her fingers through her hair a few times. It made a static sound and seemed to finally fall flat. Her eyes lingered on the hole where his patch once been sewn. She reached out and fingers the frayed edges.

"I mean, I know you hate your fellow Slytherins, but if you think about it, dude, you kind of really screwed yourself over."

Atlanta dropped her hand into her lap.

Regulus banged his head a few times on the object behind him. "I know, I know. Bloody hell, what was I thinking?"

"You weren't. You were channeling Sirius and not thinking," Atlanta pointed out. "I think it's a deeply ingrained Black trait, as I did the same thing."

Sirius noticed Regulus' wince.

"I've never seen you loose it, though. You're so controlled."

"I'm tired of him being such a bully," Regulus sighed. "It's not like him to pick on people. He wasn't like this till he met Potter."

"Arrogant toe rag," Atlanta muttered. "I always thought Snape was just being a jerk. A world class, makes you want to rip your toe nails out jerk…"

Regulus threw her a look. "If you really think this is a different reality and a totally different time-space than where you came from, then why do all these things keep happening and within the correct character?"

"I don't know. I don't understand. I mean, almost everything is the same. I don't have a real good grasp on this time period, as I wasn't exactly alive, but there is a key thing MIA from this reality. Also, I don't remember Tom."

Who the hell was Tom?

Regulus snorted. "That's because you never came over at Christmas and dumped spoiled potions on a notebook."

"Well, yeah, but who is he? A guy with that brilliant of a mind doesn't just vanish off the face of the earth. Plus, what about the other thing?"

"Sirius and Lupin are poofers and in love with one another? I'll believe that when Draco Malfoy finally shows up."

"He will. In 1980."

"I mean, when he shows up how you left him," Regulus corrected. "Sirius isn't a poofer. Have you met him?"

"Slimy git," Atlanta muttered, staring at her bruised hand. "Thinks he's so damn charming. And I have. And, well, he is. Trust me. It's Remus I'm not sure about. He was so easy to read before…I could always tell, see it in his eyes."

Regulus snorted. "Sure. The werewolf, the master secret keeper himself, easy to read."

"Okay. You have a point. It's just, well, the one I knew from my time period…I could tell he was in love. It was in his eyes."

"And Sirius?"

"Well, the thirteen years in Azkaban kind of killed his eye feelings."

"Eye feelings?" Regulus laughed, seemingly not bothered Sirius' counterpart had spent thirteen years in Azkaban.

Sirius felt something cold settle in his stomach. What did he do to land in Azkaban? Why did Atlanta seem to think he was currently in love with Remus? He loved Remus, but as his best mate, not his…whatever. Why was he given any merit to the bonkers things she was saying?

"Why are we talking about this again?"

"You brought it up."

Regulus made a noise of frustration and rammed a hand through his hair again. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Oh, I dunno. My goal is to keep you alive, you gorgeous boy. And I think you just signed your death warrant. You ripped off your badge and yelled at your supposed brave and just brother. And accused him of being prejudice towards everyone in your house and disowning you because you happen to be a Slytherin."

"He did," Regulus muttered.

The hurt in his voice was evident. Sirius cast his eyes away, not sure how to take this. He had always assumed Regulus had bought into all the hype and pureblood mantra his family had attempted to shove down Sirius's throat. Had he been wrong?

"I know, Reggie," Atlanta said softly. "But you ripped off your badge. Do you know how your fellow Slytherins are going to take that."

Regulus groaned. He grabbed at his hair.

"You know it's true. What I shouted at him, you know it's true. In both realities. Sirius was-slash-is bigoted when it comes to Death Eaters verse non-Death Eaters."

Atlanta nodded, looking sad. She grabbed his hands and removed them from his hair. She carded her hands through his hair gently, arranging it so it didn't look like Regulus was suffering from a mental breakdown.

"I was dead in your lifetime, so you never knew me. Only saw my name on that damn family tree," Regulus said, leaning into her touch. "And Sirius knew nothing about me, other than I was a Death Eater and I was dead. For all you know, I did this same thing before, only without you to protect me from all the bad monsters."

"Remus said you got scared and tried to back out" Atlanta offered quietly.

"Yeah, sounds like me," Regulus spat. Atlanta smacked him lightly on the arm with the hand not in his hair. "What? Before you, Sirius protected me. Then he left me and I had the worst four years of my life. Now, I've got you."

"Reggie, you can protect yourself. You don't need me. Or Sirius," she insisted. "And you will be brave. You can be brave. I know you can."

Regulus scoffed. Atlanta moved to face him, grabbing both his hands and bent her head towards him. Regulus bending his head till they butted foreheads together. They remained silent for a long time, seemingly communicating without words.

"Kreacher knew something," Atlanta insisted breaking the silence. "Only he was half INSANE and Sirius wasn't bothered. God, he was a moron. Is a moron. He never grows up!"

"He had no chance."

"I know."

They fell into an aggravated silence, still sitting with their heads together. Sirius was baffled. When he'd first met Atlanta all those months ago, when she'd randomly appeared in the hallway in front of him, he thought she was mental. She kept spouting things off about the future. Saying things that made little or no sense.

Just like she was currently.

The next day, though, she was perfectly fine. She was pulled together, posh and collected.

Now, he was sure she was mad, only she'd managed to convince his little brother she wasn't.

They were both mental.

"Sometimes, I think this would be easier if I had simply traveled backwards in time," Atlanta muttered. "I wish I knew what Malfoy was trying to do. And where the hell he went."

Regulus didn't say anything.

"Okay. First step: keep you alive. The Slytherines are going to pissed as hell at you and will more than likely try to murder you in your sleep. I'd give you the Riddler, but I don't think he'd do much, as he's not solid around you."

"I'm pretty sure they've tried to murder me in my sleep a few times already," Regulus muttered. "And I don't want Tom. I don't think he likes me."

"Of course he likes you. He'd like you better if you could make him solid. He's desperate to get back into the Slytherin Common Room for some reason," Atlanta muttered. "I don't want to go to the Slytherin Common Room."

"No one wants to go there," Regulus muttered. "Any idea how to keep me alive in the Common Room?"

Atlanta frowned. "Let's go. We'll figure something out to tell those evil gits in your house."

Atlanta sat back, dropping Regulus' hands.

"I need the Marauder's Map," Atlanta said, pushing herself to her feet. "I need to know who's there before we go in."

"The what?"

"The Marauder's Map," Atlanta said.

Sirius felt his stomach drop out. How the hell did she know about the map?

"I'll need more than that, Atlanta Dorothy Black."

"It's a map, Regulus Arcturus Black. It's how they knew my name when I got here and I didn't get to make one up," Atlanta said. "Potter and Black were staring at it when I appeared."

"I wish I'd been there," Regulus muttered.

"No, you don't," Atlanta said, heading off. "You'd think I was two cards short of a set."

"I do think you're mad," Regulus offered, following her. "One of your best friends is a sentient thing that rose out of a sketch book."

Huh?

"Ah, but my dear Reggie, you know I speak the truth! And let's not talk about Riddler, okay? Bugger, I told him I'd pick him up after class and take him to the library."

Sirius didn't catch Regulus's response to this statement, because there was a loud crash and they both began laughing, till Atlanta screeched.

"REGGIE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS!"

"Uh, no," Regulus offered.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod" she chanted, stringing the words together. "I can't believe I found it! This was what Harry was looking for when I got here! I'm sure I heard Hermione say they were looking for this and that's why Ginny and I had to leave the room!"

"Then you went out, fought, got dirty, were told by the Dark Lord to gather your dead and then you ran after Malfoy and POOF you were here."

"But, Regulus, don't you UNDERSTAND? Oh," Atlanta breathed, sounding awed. "Oh. Reggie. Reggie! Moldy Trousers is doing again! He's still doing it in this reality with the same objects! I can feel IT."

The clattering footsteps began again, getting father away.

"Atlanta! ATLANTA DOROTHY BLACK!"

Sirius heard running and a door bang shut. Coming out of his hiding spot, he felt mystified and curious. It'd been a long time since he'd felt curious to the point he wanted to get to the bottom of something. He made his way out of the mysterious room and entered the hallway. Atlanta and Regulus were no where to be seen, so he hurried to the Hospital Wing. Hopefully he hadn't waited too long to get his nose fixed.