A/N: So sorry about the delay. I'm back home with my laptop now. As an apology we've decided to give you an extra chapter in a few days, so you can look forward to that :)

Chapter 14 - You're Killing Him, Mate!

Remus agreed to go to the common room that afternoon with Regulus. It had become easier for him the past few weeks to be there as long as Regulus was with him. The male nurses were careful to keep a good distance to him, so he had become more relaxed, his heart no longer hammering away as soon as one entered the room.

There was still a bit of a gloomy atmosphere in there after Frank had killed himself. James seemed to be the only uplifted spirit in the room. "This place is so boring I think I'm turning into an old piece of wood," he complained.

"Then you might actually become useful," said Sirius, slouching in his armchair with both arms dangling over the sides. "Could make a table out of something you. Or a club that I could beat Evan with whenever he became too much of a prat."

James grinned. "Yeah - I wouldn't mind being your beating stick. A good fight might be just what this place needs in order to wake up."

Remus sat quietly next to Regulus, who had had withdrawn into a book. Remus knew not to disturb him whenever he did that. It was like talking to wall. So he pulled out an easy-read book and started spelling his way through it in his head.

"What you doing there, little boy?" sounded a voice.

Remus' head snapped up to spot Avery standing over him with a malicious grin on his face. Avery, although not quite a fully grown man, was a big lad of 18 and Remus was not comfortable with him so close. The same went for Evan. Sirius was also 18 and well-build, but Remus was okay with him. Perhaps it was because his face looked so much like Regulus'.

"A baby book?" Avery grinned, snatching the book out of Remus' hand. He laughed, eying the cover. "How old are you? I could read better than this at six!"

Avery's laughing had torn Regulus out of his own world. He jumped to his feet, furious, and snatched Remus' book out of the much bigger boy's hands. "Have you nothing to do but pick on people smaller than yourself? Do you think that makes you cool?"

Avery was a little taken aback for a second. Then he pushed Regulus hard in the chest, sending him stumbling back into a table. "Mind your own business, freak!" he snapped. "I can pick on who the fuck I want! And a retard like that deserves to know that he's a retard." He smirked at Regulus. "Didn't your cult kill retards? And here you are, defending one? What is he - your boyfr– "

Before Avery could finish the sentence, a fist smashed into his jaw. The blow was so hard that a tooth flew out of Avery's mouth as he crashed to the floor. "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!" Sirius roared and threw himself at Avery on the floor.

Remus flew up and retreated to the window, trying to get away from the fight, his eyes huge as he watched the drama unfold.

For once Regulus actually appreciated Sirius' meddling. Avery deserved a beating. He joined Remus by the window, telling him not to let it get to him what Avery had said, that Avery was an idiot who said whatever he could think of to hurt people, and that it wasn't true any of it.

Regulus didn't think he had seen his brother this enraged before. Sitting on his chest, he was raining punch after punch down on Avery's face, blood splattering up with every blow. "DON'T! EVER! TOUCH! MY BROTHER! AGAIN!" he roared, punctuating every word with a punch.

The whole common room stood frozen in shock. Only Marlene and James dared intervene. "Sirius! Stop it!" cried Marlene as she tugged at her boyfriend's shirt.

"You're killing him, mate," said James, trying to no avail to pull Sirius off. "They're going to lock you up!"

Then Kingsley and Thorfinn were on him, Thorfinn grabbing him into a headlock. Molly and Arthur both tended to Avery as Sirius was dragged off, kicking and screaming.

"Bloody hell," said Miles, staring at the boy on the floor. "Literally."

Lily rushed into the common room and gasped at the sight of the unconscious Avery, his face such a bloody mess that she couldn't even tell who it is.

"Medic! Quickly!" Arthur called into his radio.

Antonin ushered the other patient out of the common room, ordering them to stay out until told otherwise. Lily followed Remus and Regulus to their room.

o0o0o

"He will be alright," said Regulus to Remus; just as much to convince himself.

"I hope so," mumbled Remus, feeling sick to his stomach. There had been so much blood that he wasn't even sure if Avery would survive.

They sat down on Remus' bed, opposite of Lily.

"Do you think Sirius will be in serious trouble?" asked Regulus. "You don't think they will send him away, do you?"

Lily sighed. "I don't know. I guess it depends on Avery's recovery what sort of punishment Sirius will receive." She suddenly realised that this was the first time she had heard Regulus express any concern for his brother. He had barely admitted that he existed.

"He was being nasty to Remus," said Regulus. "Avery. He said some very nasty things. He... he didn't deserve to be beat up this badly, but he deserved something."

Lily eyed him curiously. "What did he say?"

"That I was a re... retat?" Remus tried, looking at Regulus to see if that was the right word.

"It means stupid," explained Regulus. "But you aren't! It's not your fault you didn't go to school and learn to read. But you aren't retarded, because you're a fast learner. He's a fast learner," he looked at Lily. "He knows the alphabet by heart and can read simple sentences already."

"Yes, you're very intelligent, Remus," Lily smiled at the small boy. "And you're a good teacher, Regulus."

"In a year you'll be better at reading than Avery, even though he has gone to school many years." Regulus desperately wanted to avoid Remus getting upset. Although it was clear that the boy was doing much better than when he arrived and had clearly gotten something to live for, Regulus couldn't shake the fear of a repeated suicide attempt.

"Mm... I hope," Remus mumbled.

Lily looked at the boy and her heart sank a little. "Come over here," she said. Remus got up and went to sit down on the edge of Regulus' bed. She put an arm around both boys' shoulders and said. "I know I'm not really supposed to say, but... Avery is a prat for saying such things and the two of you should not listen to him." She looked at Remus. "Remus... are you upset because of what Avery said or because of watching Sirius beat him up?"

Remus chewed on his lip for a moment. "Both... I don't like what he said to me and I don't like violence," he mumbled, keeping his head down so his fringe was covering his eyes.

"Of course not. And it's not okay. Sirius is a good person but he needs to learn to control his temper."

Remus nodded, still keeping his head down. His main focus right now was how much blood there had been. "Is… is that boy going to die?" he asked carefully.

"No, but I think he might be in the hospital for a while. Maybe I should go see how things are going, alright? I will come back and tell you a bit later."

When she came into the common room Avery had been removed and Pomona was cleaning the blood off the floor.

"He regained consciousness after ten minutes," said Arthur when Lily asked. "Thank goodness."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Arthur replied. "He might have a broken nose and a concussion. Plus a few teeth were knocked out." He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what will happen to Sirius at this point. I guess it's up to Crouch and Dumbledore. Crouch might want to send him to jail, but Dumbledore sees the good in Sirius and will argue against it for sure."

"But he has never done something this serious, has he?

"No, I have never seen him go this ballistic before. I reckon it was because Avery attacked his brother."

Lily, who had not seen the incident, asked in surprise, "He attacked Regulus?"

"Marlene explained that he first snatched a book from Remus and called him names. Then Regulus defended Remus and Avery pushed Regulus rather violently."

"Well, it makes sense that that set Sirius off. He is very protective of his brother," said Lily. "Regulus actually showed concern for what's going to happen to him. I think he's afraid that he will be removed from the ward."

"Is that so?" Arthur said, looking uplifted. "Regulus has never even acknowledge his brother." He smiled. "Perhaps this will make him realise he cares for him after all. And perhaps start acknowledging him soon. Whenever he gets back. If he gets back..."

Lily returned to the boys a bit later and sat down on Remus' bed. She could ease their minds by telling them that Avery had regained consciousness. "Sirius is in solitary, as you could probably guess. Nothing had been decided about him yet. There will be a meeting about it tomorrow, I'm sure, but Arthur thinks Dumbledore is going to talk in favour of Sirius staying."

o0o0o

"Let's go to the kitchen for some food," suggested Regulus later. "Lily said we were excused from the dining room today because of what happened."

On their way there, Remus finally built up the courage to ask Regulus about his brother. "How do you feel about Sirius?"

"What do you mean? I'm glad that Avery isn't dead."

"I just mean you seemed worried about him when we got back to our room…"

"Well, although he's not a nice person he didn't deserve to be hurt that badly," said Regulus, pretending he didn't know it was Sirius Remus was talking about.

Remus bit his lip, deciding that maybe Regulus didn't want to talk about Sirius at all, even though he had seemed like he was truly concerned.

The kitchen was empty when they entered, but a minute later Hagrid came in, beaming at the boys. "Well, 'ello there, lads. Yeh finally brought yer friend!" the giant boomed.

When seeing Hagrid, Remus flew backwards, sending a couple of pots crashing to the floor.

"Don't – don't touch him," warned Regulus, kicking himself for not having used his head before bringing Remus into the kitchen when he knew how men – especially big and masculine men – terrified Remus.

Bud Hagrid didn't seem to hear Regulus' warning. "There, there, little lad," he said, moving over to put a huge hand on Remus' shoulder. "No harm done -"

Remus screamed in fear when Hagrid touched him and he reeled back, crashing against the wall. He stood there shaking violently and crying hysterically, eyes bulging out of his head, staring at the big man.

"It's okay, Remus -" said Regulus, stepping between Hagrid and Remus so the boy could feel shielded.

When Hagrid backed away, Remus darted out the kitchen, racing down the hall towards his room.

"Remus!" called Regulus after him. Then he hurried into the common room. "Lily! Lily, come quickly!"

Lily, who was sitting with Severus, looked up. "What is it?" She placed her hands on Regulus' shoulders and tried to read his expression. Then she noticed that Remus was not with him. "Where's Remus?" she asked, feeling her heart skip a beat.

"Our room, I hope. Come!" said Regulus and started running, followed by Lily. "He panicked when Hagrid touched him. It was just a pat on the shoulder, but..."

"Oh dear," Lily gasped. She stopped with Regulus just outside the door, hesitating before going in. She did not want to scare Remus any further. "Remus?" she called as she slowly opened the door.

Remus sat on the floor at the far end of the room, his back pressed against the wall. He was holding something in his hand. When Lily got closer, she could see it was a pair of scissors, which she figured he must have snatched as he ran from the kitchen.

"Remus!" gasped Regulus, seeing the scissors. "Don't do it! You promised!"

"Regulus," said Lily and stopped him from approaching the boy on the floor. "He isn't trying to kill himself. It's a weapon. Stay back!" She sent Regulus a quick look to make sure he understood to keep away. Then she slowly approached Remus, her hands held up in a peace gesture. "Remus, It's me, Lily. It's okay. Nobody's going to hurt you."

Remus' wide eyes were glued to the door, looking past Lily and Regulus. He was shaking and clenching the scissors so hard that his knuckles were white. "I won't let him take me!" he cried, kicking himself back against the wall even though he couldn't get farther back.

"Who, Remus? Hagrid? He didn't mean to hurt you," said Lily.

Thinking quickly, Regulus asked Lily for her key. When she gave it to him he locked the door. "He can't come in now. The door is locked. See?" He pushed the handle a few times to show Remus that it was indeed locked.

Remus seemed to calm down a bit and lowered his hand slightly. Lily squatted next to him, finally gaining eye contact, and carefully pried the scissors from his hand. Tears were running down Remus' face as he leaned in against her, still shaking violently.

Lily held out the scissors for Regulus to take. "Put them away for now. I'll take them later."

"Do... do you want me to leave? If you're going to talk?" he asked hesitantly.

"No. You're the one who makes him feel the safest, so please stay."

Regulus put the scissors on his shelf and sat down on his bed, watching Lily and Remus.

"What happened, Remus?" asked Lily slowly and pushed Remus' hair back.

"We went to the kitchen," explained Regulus when Remus didn't answer. "I forgot to think about Hagrid. It's my fault. I knew how he feels about men and I took him anyway. Hagrid came in and Remus got scared, because he's so huge. Then Hagrid put a hand on his shoulder to calm him, but Remus panicked. It's my fault..."

"Don't blame yourself," said Lily. "Hagrid is such a kind person and it's easy to forget that he can look intimidating to someone who doesn't know him." She put an arm around Remus and pulled his frail body close. "Remus, you have nothing to fear from Hagrid. He's kind and harmless. Did he remind you of the man who hurt you?"

Remus was quiet but then nodded.

"Who was that man?" she asked, hoping to get a little closer to solving the mystery of where Remus came from.

I miss daddy…

I'm your new daddy!

Remus shut his eyes tightly as he heard the voices in his mind. "My... my new daddy."

"New daddy?" said Lily. "What do you mean? Your step-father?"

Remus hesitated a little and then nodded tentatively.

Lily hugged him. "He won't hurt you ever again, Remus. Don't be scared. You're safe here. You will never have to see him again. "

Remus melted into the hug. On a rational level he knew that Lily was right, but he still didn't feel safe. The only place he felt safe was in his room with Regulus and Lily. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he had calmed down and his eyes had drifted shut. He was exhausted after having had so much adrenalin pumping around in his body.

"Come," Lily said and helped him to bed. "Get some sleep."

As soon as Remus was asleep, Lily asked Regulus for the scissors. When he handed them to her, she said, "Regulus… I think it's best that we keep quiet about these. It wouldn't look good for Remus if it came out that he took them." Lily was quite sure that the boys would be separated in order to protect Regulus, regardless of whether they believed Remus meant to use the scissors on himself or others. "Unless you don't like being dishonest –"

"Of course," Regulus cut in. "Of course I won't tell. Remus didn't mean to hurt anyone. Nobody needs to know."

o0o0o

The next day, Lily decided to take Remus to a session. They had had quite a few the past weeks but hadn't really gotten anywhere with him, but after Remus had opened up the day before, Lily hoped he would tell Pandora more about his past.

Pandora got Remus to relax by starting the session with showing him new pictures of her roses and horses on her phone. "Look - that's Merlin with his morning carrot. I always give them a handful of carrots before I leave for work."

Remus looked at the pictures with great interest and even smiled a little. He was still a little shaken from the day before but Regulus had read to him for a few hours when he woke up in the night.

"Lily told me what happened yesterday and what you told her. I was hoping we could talk a bit more about that? I know it makes you feel bad talking about, but Remus - it's the only thing that will help you dealing with what happened."

Remus shifted in his seat. He didn't like to even think about it, so how was he supposed to talk about it? Put it into words? "I don't know if I can," he mumbled.

"You don't have to tell it all at once. Just be open to talking about it. At your own pace, okay?"

"It's like with Regulus," said Lily. "He has been here half a year and he still hasn't told Dumbledore everything. Much of it he doesn't even remember yet. It comes in pieces, one at a time."

Remus nodded slowly.

"Lily told me that your stepfather hurt you," said Pandora. "Did he keep you in that basement you have mentioned before?"

Remus nodded while looking down at his hands.

"It's okay," Remus," Lily said and ran a hand over Remus' back.

"You slept down there?" asked Pandora. "How often did he let you up in the house?"

"Never," Remus mumbled. "Bathroom was down there."

"You need a shower," he said, buttoning his trousers.

Remus tried to sit up but his whole body was aching.

The man took a few steps towards the stairs before turning his head. "You have been a good boy today. I'll turn the hot water on for a few minutes." He shook his head to himself. "Sometimes I spoil you too much."

Remus shut his eyes tightly and shook his head forcefully, trying to get the memory out of his head.

"It's okay, Remus," repeated Lily, giving his back a gentle rub. She sent Pandora a glance to see how she was reacting to Remus' distress.

"Tell me if you need a break," Pandora said, leaning forward in her chair. "You don't have to say more today if it's getting too much for you."

Remus took a few breaths though his nose and then finally looked up. "I almost didn't say anything," he said in a distraught voice. He felt like he was failing miserably at this.

"There are no rules as to how much you have to say each session. And you already told us more than you ever have. So you just say when you don't want to talk anymore."

Remus gave a quick nod, before dropping his gaze again and prepared himself for the next question.

"Okay," smiled Pandora. "Tell me – when did your stepfather move in?"

"M-move in?" Remus asked confused, looking up again. "I don't understand. It was his house."

"Oh. I thought your parents lived together at first. Did your stepfather live with you from you were little? Or did you and your mother move into his house when your parents split up?"

Remus looked confused. "My mum was not there."

Pandora and Lily exchanged looks. "Remus... did your mother die when you were little?"

"I… I don't know. My mum was not there," he repeated.

"Do you remember your mother? Did you ever know her?"

"Yes... I remember her," said Remus, looking like he was thinking hard.

"But you don't remember what happened to her?"

Remus shut down, starting to tremble and looking around nervously.

"I think that is enough for today," Pandora said as she saw how the boy was reacting. "Thank you for sharing with us," she smiled.

"Come, Remus," said Lily and helped Remus to his feet. "You have done so well today."