Written for Hogwarts' Auction Challenge: "Never think you're ordinary just because you don't have magic."

Also for the Writing Club - Character Appreciation: (trait) loyal, Shannon's Showcase - Switzerland: (relationship) brother/sister, Lyric: "Sins of the father make us fall, And I can't do anythinga bout it", Showtime: The First Attack - (action) crying, Sophie's Shelf: Stefano - Write about someone who isn't safe, Photography Month: Monochrome Photography - Write about someone who is quite downcast or depressed, Scavenger Hunt: Write about a member of the Black family, Cocktail Corner: Cherries - (restriction) no character older than 11, (word) innocent.

Word count: 576

tell me how to breathe (and feel no hurt)

Dorea found him by the pond, out back in the garden.

(Two days ago, their father had held his head down under for so long that Marius had thought he would die. His lungs had been burning and he had screamed so much that even now, his voice still didn't sound right.

Their mother had stopped it, in the end. She had saved him before their father could kill him — because Marius knew he would have.

Part of him had always known, he thought, and yet he still hadn't expected it.)

"What are you doing here?" Dorea asked, hurrying to his side. "You'll catch your death if you stay out here in the cold!"

It wasn't funny, but Marius found himself laughing anyway. He drew his knees to his chest. "Good," he said, refusing to look at her and instead staring into the black, inky depths of the pond. "That'll save anyone from having to do it."

It was the silence that made him turn, in the end. It wasn't like Dorea to stay this quiet for so long after all, and he hadn't heard her leave.

His sister was staring at him in horror. She wasn't crying, but Marius could tell she wanted to. He sighed, guilt twisting his stomach.

Merlin, she was even younger than him. She shouldn't have to endure any of this, not any more than he had to.

But they were Blacks. Pain and sorrow might as well run through their veins, and there was no room for the innocence of childhood left.

"Hey, come here." He scooted to the side a little, gesturing at Dorea to join him.

"I don't want you to die," Dorea whispered as she settled at his side. Were they any other family, Marius thought she might try to hug him, but that had never been something they did.

Marius swallowed back the bitter taste in his throat. "Why? I'm nothing, Dorea. I'm no one — useless and ordinary," he spat, repeating the words their father had thrown at him in disgust as Marius had still been shivering by this pond, chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

"Never think you're ordinary just because you don't have magic. And you're not useless," she spat, her eyes suddenly lit with a fire that Marius was more used to seeing in Cassiopeia. "You're my big brother no matter what." She swallowed. "Ma — Magic or no magic."

"That's kind of you to say," Marius replied, a wry smile on his face. "But…"

"No buts," Dorea retorted, shaking her head resolutely. "I don't…" She bit her lip. "I don't care that you don't have magic."

Marius knew their family wouldn't approve of the sentiment — from the mulish look on her face, Dorea knew it too — but that had only made it worth more to him.

"You should care," he replied half-heartedly.

"Well, I don't," she retorted, glaring at him haughtily. "And you shouldn't either."

Marius laughed wryly. "Somehow, I don't think Father would agree with you."

Dorea shrugged, but Marius could see the shiver of apprehension she tried to conceal. "I know. But he's wrong." Dorea seemed to shrink suddenly, pulling her knees to her chest in a position that half-mirrored his. "He has to be."

Marius didn't know how to answer that, and so he said nothing.

They sat there, in silence, for a long time.