Warnings for this chapter: Violence/Child-Abuse and Swearing

Also people... If any of you are reading this and Pointless Surrender, I was thinking of making the last one from Regulus' POV which I think will be interesting later on. If you would read, please tell me XDD

"Upstairs!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Sirius muttered, trudging slowly through the kitchen and towards the stairs.

"You can move faster than that! Get upstairs now!"

"I'm going!"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! IF YOU DON'T DO AS I SAY RIGHT NOW, I'LL CALL YOUR FATHER HOME!" screeched Walburga Black angrily, grabbing Sirius by the scruff of the neck and dragging him upstairs. It hurt, but Sirius didn't want to protest – she'd only be more rough with him.

"Now, you stay in your room till I call you downstairs. Do you understand me?" she spat.

"Yes," said Sirius tonelessly.

"And if I hear any noise coming from this room... anything at all, your father will be hearing about it."

"OK," Sirius said. She nodded her head and slammed the door shut, making the chandelier shake. When he heard her footsteps getting fainter and fainter, he punched the wardrobe hard. "Bitch!" he said under his breath, clenching his teeth.

Sirius wasn't sure when he'd be let out of his room, and he really didn't care. He didn't want to be downstairs with his mother, and he certainly didn't want to see his father at all. The very thought of seeing Kreacher made Sirius want to vomit. All he wanted was Regulus. He needed his brother with him. Where was he?

There was a faint knock on the door. Sirius laughed. "Speak of the devil," he said to himself. "Come in," he said more clearly. He waited while the door opened and Regulus walked in, wearing his best robes. Sirius laughed again.

"What are you wearing?" he asked, looking Regulus up and down. Regulus didn't look happy at all.

"Mum's making me wear them," he said, frowning and tugging at his sleeve. "They're hideous... I know."

"Why does she want you to wear them?"

"I don't know," mumbled Regulus quietly.

"Do you know when she'll let me come downstairs?" Sirius asked, leaning back on his bed.

"She said you can come down when we finish dinner," said Regulus.

"When you finish dinner? So, she isn't planning on feeding me then? Charming," said Sirius bitterly.

"Please don't talk back to her," whispered Regulus. "I don't want her to kick you out."

"If she says something I don't like, then I will talk back!" Sirius shouted, making Regulus jump. Sirius' eyes softened slightly and he stood up, pulling Regulus in for a hug. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just hate it here."

"It's not that bad-"

"-Not that bad?" shouted Sirius incredulously, pulling away from his brother. "Maybe for you it isn't that bad, but for me... I can't stand it here!"

"But maybe if you held your tongue, then mum wouldn't be so hard on you!" Regulus said.

"Yeah right! I didn't do anything today, and the first thing she did when I walked in was send me upstairs!"

"Maybe you looked at her funny," Regulus said, and Sirius gave a dry laugh.

"Oh! So I didn't look up to her with admiration! That's it... I get punished because I don't treat her like royalty! She isn't royalty! I hate her! I hate her so fucking much!" yelled Sirius, making Regulus back away towards the door. The sound of footsteps stomping upstairs made Regulus' eyes widen and he ran out of the room quickly, leaving Sirius to sigh and fall onto the bed.

"WHAT IS THAT RACKET?" Walburga screamed, slamming the door open and glaring at Sirius with much dislike.

"I wasn't making any noise," said Sirius. "I was just lying here."

"I heard a sound!" she said, nostrils flaring.

"Well, you are getting a little old... you must be hearing things," Sirius said, shrugging. He knew instantly that he'd said the wrong thing. His mother stood very still, observing him with dark, beady eyes. Without warning, she wrenched him up from the bed and struck him across the face hard, making him fall back and hit his head against the chest of drawers. Putting his hand up to his head, he stared up at her loathsomely. A satisfied smiled was etched on her face as she spat at him. Turning on her heel, she spoke.

"You don't speak to me like that, you filthy blood-traitor! I suggest you come downstairs this instance. Put on your best robes, and do not speak unless spoken to, or you're looking for a couple of nights in the cellar!"

With that, she left the room, leaving Sirius on the floor shaking with fury. He couldn't bring himself to move. He couldn't remember ever being angrier.

"You'd better be getting ready, Sirius Black!" screamed his mother from downstairs. Unwillingly, he stood up and made his way to his wardrobe where he picked out his most expensive (and ugly) robes, and changed into them. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had a large bruise on the side of his face from where his mother had struck him, and his hair was messy. He grabbed a hairbrush and quickly brushed it, so that it looked satisfactory, and then made his way downstairs.

The walk downstairs was longer than usual. He took one step at a time, hoping that maybe his mother would change her mind and send him back upstairs before he managed to get to the bottom. This didn't happen however, so when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he sighed and walked towards the Dining Room, where he could hear laughter.

He peered through the door and nearly walked straight back upstairs when he saw who was in the room. His father was sitting at one end of the table, and his mother was at the other end. Regulus was sitting next to his father, and opposite him was Bellatrix.

Sirius gritted his teeth. He couldn't stand his cousin Bellatrix. And she was with her new husband, Rodolphus Lestrange. Beside them was her sister, Narcissa, and there was a spare seat next to Regulus. Across from Narcissa was her fiance, Lucius Malfoy, and Lisa Parkinson was to his left. Bracing himself, Sirius stepped into the room, and all heads turned to face him. When he was in the room, he noticed that there were actually three spare seats. He stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Sit," said his mother, pointing to the chair beside Regulus.

"Who's the other chairs for?" he muttered to his brother.

"Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella," Regulus whispered back. "They just went down to the cellar."

"I hear you've been talking back to your mother, boy!" said Orion Black loudly, staring at Sirius with piercing eyes. Sirius gulped, as everybody watched him.

"N-not intentionally," he said, looking anywhere but at his father.

"Do you have anything to say?" Orion asked.

"I'm.. uh... I'm s-sorry," Sirius said. Before anything else could be said, his Aunt and Uncle returned from the cellar, taking their seats on either side of Walburga. They each had a couple of bottles of Fire Whiskey in their hands.

"Today," said Orion, clearing his throat. "Is a very important day. Do you know why, Regulus?"

"N-no," Regulus said, sitting up straight in his chair.

"Why doesn't he know?" hissed Orion to his wife.

"I was going to tell him," said Walburga. "But this blood-traitor of ours has been misbehaving all afternoon! I didn't get the time!"

"I see," said Orion, casting Sirius a nasty glare. "Very well. I shall be the one to inform you all, then. Today, is a very important day for my son. Today is the day that he will be engaged. Regulus, I'd like you to meet Lisa Parkinson."

Sirius felt his heart drop. He couldn't think properly, and he wasn't sure of what was going on. He didn't dare look at Regulus, but continued listening as someone's chair moved.

"Hello, Regulus," said Lisa. "It's lovely to meet you."

There was a low whisper, and Regulus' chair moved as he stood up to shake her hand.

"It's great to meet you, too," Regulus said, though he sounded ill. Regulus quickly sat back down on his chair, and Orion cleared his throat again.

"We have arranged for your wedding to take place in February. Until then, it would be best if you got to know each other. Lisa is in Slytherin too, Regulus. I'm sure you'll get along very well. Now, a toast to Regulus and Lisa!" he held his glass in the air. Everybody else at the table followed his lead – all except Sirius. He felt Regulus nudge him in the ribs, and quickly raised his glass.

The rest of the evening went painfully slow. Sirius tried to keep quiet, but when people talked to him, there was no way out of answering them.

"What will you do with this Gryffindor scum?" Bellatrix asked Walburga, nodding towards Sirius.

"I still haven't decided," Walburga answered. "I believe it's up to his father."

"You know," said Sirius through gritted teeth. "I am still at the table. Stop talking about me as if I'm not here."

"Sirius, don't," muttered Regulus.

"What did you say to me?" Walburga asked crossly.

"You heard what I said," said Sirius simply.

"You let him get away with this?" Bellatrix asked with a confused expression. "Whenever Andromeda used to speak like that to mother or father, they used the cruciatus curse."

"Always worked," said Cygnus approvingly. "Made her think twice about who she was talking to."

"The cruciatus curse?" Orion repeated, looking from Bellatrix to Sirius. Faster than Sirius could have imagined, Orion pulled out his wand and pointed it at him.

"Crucio!" he screamed, making Sirius fall off his chair. The pain was unreal. It was agonising, and it wouldn't stop. He could hear the manic laughter of Bellatrix, and the laughter of a few other family members. All he could think about was Regulus.

"Reg," he managed to say. "Make... him... stop..." But still, the pain continued. Regulus wasn't doing anything. He was just sitting there, while Sirius was being tortured. Sirius let out a scream as he felt like he would pass out from the pain. It was all over his body, like a vicious fire, burning away everything. With all his strength, he opened his eyes and looked up at Regulus pleadingly. "PLEASE!" he screamed, and Regulus looked close to tears but remained silent.

Sirius could no longer feel the pain – the only thing he could feel was betrayal. Regulus was betraying him. He couldn't stand it. Trying not to cry, Sirius lost everything – sight, smell, sound, feeling – everything went black.

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