A/N: Thank you for the continued love shown to my story, I'm really happy you like it! Shit goes down in a hand-basket in this chapter, and, fair warning, I'm toying a bit with the magic of the House of Black in here. It should be simple enough, and will not change anything from canon. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, or any other recognizable character for the Wizarding World universe. I own, however, my OCs the Selwyns and several minor OCs. The plot had been written purely for entertainment value.

Chapter thirteen: Traitor!

August 1995. Selwyn Manor.

After the Dark Lord's return to power, Selene's life took a turn for the worst. While the past year had been almost idyllic, this one was proving to be deserving of an award.

First, Sirius and Remus disappeared from her Dorset house. Sirius sent word that he couldn't tell her much about what they were doing, but that they were safe and in the same place. Losing them both was a low blow to her. She'd gotten used to their presence, especially Remus', and after the kiss they had shared on the eve of the Third Task, she would have liked to share more tender moments with him.

Second, the Death Eaters who had always been gravitating around her family started hovering around as they used to in the early 80s. Aurus, having become the Head of Selwyn House, was receiving many important and equally appalling people at the Manor, and, obviously, he invited her to each of these dinners.

Selene could no longer hide behind the pretence that she was weakened because of her late fiancé's passing and betrayal. Too much time had passed. So, she was forced to be present, to dress the part, to smile and agree with the horrors that all these men – and rarely women – vomited in-between the entrée and the main course.

The worst of all of Aurus' old and renewed friends, of course, was Antonin Dolohov. The man who had been trying to convince her to marry him for years.

One such evening where Aurus was hosting a dinner for the Malfoys, Yaxleys and Notts, Selene found herself sitting between the abhorrent Corban Yaxley and the she hated the most in her existence, Lucius Malfoy.

"My dear Selene, tell me, has the Improper Use of Magic Office done everything it could to get rid of the Potter boy?"

Internally, the witch winced. A few weeks prior, Harry Potter had been caught using the Patronus Charm in the presence of a Muggle, his cousin. He'd been immediately sacked from Hogwarts and asked to surrender his wand, but Dumbledore had intervened. She believed there was a trial to be held a few days later.

She smiled, albeit coldly. "I'm sure our Head of Department is doing all in her power to impede Dumbledore's meddling. She's quite dangerous when set on a target."

Lucius sneered. "Is Dolores still lying about being related to your family?"

Aurus, from across the table, huffed. "As if such a creature could share blood with our noble House. Lucius, my friend, you know better than to claim such things."

"I claimed nothing, Aurus, I assure you!" With a predatory smile, he added "Although the nobility of your blood can sometimes be put to questioning…"

Selene knew he was talking about Cassiopeia. Although Aurus was trying to hide his daughter's weaknesses to the outside world, leeches such as Lucius Malfoy could always be counted on to find things out.

Her dear brother, however, decided to play it as if she'd been the one mocked thus. "Lucius… Selene is much stronger than what she was fifteen years ago or so. She's recovered from her…grief, and will join our ranks shortly." He stared at her then, and it was as if a dozen daggers were piercing her eyeballs. "Won't you, dear sister?"

Selene paled, the smile freezing on her lips. "Of course, I will. I have been waiting for that honour for years, as you well know."

"Indeed," Aurus answered, sarcasm dripping from his lips.

Lucius, on the other hand, delighted by the icy atmosphere of the room, chose to comment on the hand he was closest to and that was reaching for a glass of wine. "Are you still wearing that traitor's ring, though, Selene? Is that wise?"

Selene eyed Regulus' engagement ring, which she put back on each time she was to be in…less than agreeable public. She toyed with it, forcing tears to spring to her eyes. "Try as I might, I can't seem to part from it. Regulus was- Despite his errors and his betrayal, he still was my intended. I'm sure you'd be equally as sentimental if Narcissa was to die, Lucius."

The blonde clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Not if she had betrayed our Lord, I don't think. I'd burn every single one of her belongings, if that happened."

"Then perhaps I am still too weak to join such strong-willed ranks as yours, my friends, or too soft-hearted."

Aurus' eyes snapped her way, the glare he sent her capable to setting the whole Manor on fire.

Selene was glad for the first time in her life to be acquainted with a Yaxley when her neighbour addressed her next, changing the subject as if oblivious. Which he wasn't, of course. "Selene, you would be breaking poor Antonin's heart with such words…"

With an acidic smile, she said "Alas, I'm truly sorry. I have told him countless times before that he could marry anyone much more interesting than I…" And it would be a resounding victory for her, for sure. But Antonin Dolohov was, blissfully, still imprisoned in Azkaban, and her life was much sweeter for it…

Thankfully, the topic of his failed courting steered Aurus' glare away from her…for now.

Their 'guests' had left not ten minutes prior, and Selene had retired to her childhood bedroom for the night. She'd unpinned her hair when the door slammed open, making her turn around and reach for her wand.

Aurus barged in, his own wand pointing straight at her head, eyes crazed with anger as he grabbed her by the arm, hard enough to bruise. "You think I do not see what you are playing at, little trollop? You think I do not know how much of a failure you are?"

Selene kept her cool. It wasn't as if she hadn't been expecting this. "What are you talking about, brother?"

"This ring," he said, grabbing her hand and almost ripping the band off her finger – and her finger with it – "is as precious to you as the dust under your shoes!" He threw the ring away, grabbing her by the neck this time. "You don't want the honour of taking the Mark. And I know why."

"And why is that, Aurus?" she hissed, breath itching as he squeezed her throat harder.

"You are a filthy, Mudblood-loving, Blood-Traitor! I told Father, back then, that you were acting when you were trying to find excuses. I told him to interrogate you, to punish you! But he was too weak, he couldn't fathom his daughter being a disgrace. But I can fathom it, and I'll prove it. Legilimens!"

It wasn't the first time he was trying the spell on her. Twice before, he'd attempted it. Not knowing that Selene had had time and practice to master Occlumency on her own.

Calmly, she closed her mind off his attacks, picturing his face, seething with hatred, as he stared down at her. She pictured his face, and let him feel all the contempt and loathing she felt for him.

After ten seconds, he took a step back, panting under the effort of the spell.

Selene picked up her own wand, and smirked, cruel, implacable. "What is it, Aurus, didn't your spell work as you intended? Aaaw, I am so sorry for you." With a swish of her wand, her cloak flew from the wardrobe and wrapped around her shoulders. "Try something else, next time. You won't find any proof of any betrayal anywhere."

And she Disapparated back to her flat first, then to Dorset.

Back home.

Where she could seethe and celebrate in equal measure.

October 1995. London.

After the fiasco of that dinner, Selene was put under tight surveillance from her sick brother. Whenever she walked out of her flat – to which she Apparated back each morning to keep appearances – she would have the distinct certainty of being followed. At work, it was even worse. Some people knocked on her office door at any given time during the day, opened it, checked she was there, and excused themselves, apologizing by making it sound like they had knocked on the wrong door.

She wasn't stupid. She knew what this meant.

Thankfully for her, Selene had resources. She was as cunning as her Hogwarts House suggested, and she knew Aurus' modus operandi too well.

She didn't do anything suspicious during office hours. She accepted missions only if they meant she was to be accompanied by a colleague. She never sent out notes of any kind, preferring to walk to the person directly to deliver the information loud and clear. She got home on a straight path, switched on the lights, placed wards on the doors, and Disapparated to Dorset after an hour or two, asking Minty to use her own magic to make it appear like she effectively lived in that dark and unpersonal place.

She had it nailed. She was perfect.

Until Sirius wrote to her.

He hadn't done it in a while, knowing the scrutiny she was under. Even though her post couldn't be intercepted, and even though she burnt his letters as soon as she'd read them, there was that slight risk that Aurus would find out.

She valued her life more than she valued having news from her cousin. Especially since he was safe, so she didn't need to worry about him anymore…

Sirius' newest letter was written in a hurried way, as if he had rushed to finish it and had done it in a state of nerves.

'S,' it read, 'I'm slowly turning mad in this place. I can't get out; I'm stuck in these rooms that I've abhorred all my life and run from as soon as I was able. I'm going to flip out one of these days. Do something. Anything to distract me. This house is killing me. Literally. Sirius'

Selene stared at the words; mouth agape.

Sirius had told her quickly that he was living in a safe-house, although she wasn't supposed to know where it was, who he was with, or what it was a safe-house for. He had never mentioned anything that could give her any clue as to his whereabouts, until that day.

It was clear, it was too simple to understand: the house he'd been bent on leaving as soon as he could. 12, Grimmauld Place. The almost ancestral home of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. The house she'd been to countless times when she'd been engaged to Regulus.

No surprise he was turning mad. Even she would have lost her mind, locked into that forsaken place.

She didn't have time to second guess her decision, Selene grabbed her cloak, told Minty she was quickly going out, and Disapparated away to a lonely patch of grass somewhere in London.

12, Grimmauld Place was invisible, the numbers 11 and 13 squished together as if someone had miscounted when attributing mail-boxes. But Selene knew better. Her Uncle Orion had already placed powerful charms and curses on his home, and she knew which one was causing the place to remain hidden to her knowing eye: the Fidelius Charm.

She couldn't bypass that, unfortunately.

But, by a twist of fate, old Black magic was powerful enough to cancel any charm, however strong. A particular branch of that magic was Blood magic, of course, and generations before Orion Black had even drawn breath in those dark rooms within, the curse was placed upon the house.

Selene shared blood with the Head of the House of Black. Sirius. The closest heir to the previous owner. She shared blood with him. And that granted her the right to get inside no matter what. She could Apparate right in the kitchen without any of its occupants' say so.

She didn't know who or what was waiting for her between numbers 11 and 13. Only that she had one ally in there. Maybe two.

Perhaps it was the thought that Remus was there that made her think of the dark and horrifying hallway of Grimmauld Place and turn on the spot…

Dust made her cough, loud enough for something to bang loudly before the unmistakeable voice of Walburga Black rose into the hallway – as disgustingly dark as it had always been. "Another Blood-Traitor soils my halls, and this time it's the trollop who almost married by dearest boy! Get out, you filth, before I struck you dead!"

Selene started. Hadn't Walburga died a few years back? How could she hear her voice?

Taking a tentative step forward, she then realised that the angered insults were coming from a crude portrait of the former mistress of the house hanging from the wall, heavy curtains open on either side of it.

A door slammed open nearby – the kitchen, if she remembered the place right – and she heard someone loudly curse as they ran her way. "Tonks, how many times do I-"

Stopping dead in his tracks, long hair messy, eyes crazed as he had told her in his letter, was Sirius.

With a gasp and a glance towards the door, he strode to Selene and drew her into a hug even as his mother yelled "Get out of my house, you disgrace! Filthy Mudblood-lovers, traitors, cowards!"

Sirius squeezed Selene hard enough to make her push him away, but before he uttered another word, he forced the curtains closed again, hiding the portrait and blissfully muffling its cries.

It was suddenly silent in the hallway. Sirius gently took his cousin's hand and led her away from the portrait and into what had once been the dining-room – and which wasn't in use anymore, if the state of it was any clue. "S, what are you doing here?"

She stared at him, surprised at his question. "You…sounded rather desperate in your letter."

He chuckled unbelievingly. "I only asked for a distraction, not for you to come here!" He furrowed his brow. "How did you manage to come in anyway? The house is under a Fidelius!"

Selene smirked. "Someone didn't study Black magic…" Under his quizzical gaze, she elaborated. "This house is protected by a Blood curse. Anyone sharing blood with the current Head of family can enter, no matter what charms or other curses have been put on the door. So long as the owner – that's you – is granting the person entry, they will be able to Apparate within these walls."

Sirius looked flabbergasted. "So, what you're telling me is that any of our crazy relatives can-"

"Only if you want them to be here. I doubt you'd let by brother within ten feet of this house, let alone Narcissa Malfoy…"

He pursed his lips. "This complicates matters…"

"Why?"

"S," he sighed, "this is Headquarters. For our side against Voldemort. When the others know that you can come and go as you please, they won't like it."

She crossed her arms, angered all of a sudden. "Because I'm a supposed Death Eater?"

He sighed again. "They don't know you. They don't trust you."

"Isn't Remus here?"

"My word and Remus' don't hold enough power here, I'm afraid…" He seemed to think very hard about a solution to their current problem. Apparently, letting her stay wasn't an option.

"I could just Disapparate away, you know…"

"That would be unwise, Miss Selwyn…" said a severe voice from the doorway.

Sirius and Selene's eyes snapped to the person who'd interrupted them, his wand held at his side, loosely, but threateningly enough to anyone who had ever since Albus Dumbledore perform magic. "I hope you have a good explanation for this, Sirius…"

"I do, Albus," the dark-haired wizard said at once, instinctively placing Selene behind him as if to protect her. "I may have told Selene I was going crazy in this place. She came to offer a welcome distraction."

"How did you cancel the Fidelius Charm?" The Headmaster's eyes were as piercing as ever, and Selene felt a shiver run up her spine.

Pursing her lips as she answered, she said "Black magic. I'm a Black, I can come and go so long as Sirius grants me entry. Don't worry, none of our degenerate relatives can come in."

It didn't seem to appease him. "I'm afraid this isn't a good enough reason for you to come here, Miss Selwyn. You see, Grimmauld Place is now hosting a group of individuals who could be put in grave danger should you ever…mention their allegiances to one of your delightful friends…"

Sirius' eyes widened at the same time as Selene laughed darkly. She couldn't help it. "My friends? Oh, Professor, do you really think yourself that clever? Those animals aren't my friends. The only two people I honestly call friends reside within these halls, and one of the two is standing right next to me."

Again, this didn't appease the stern-looking Headmaster.

Sirius sighed. "Albus, let her go. She's only seen you and me, surely-"

"I cannot risk it, Sirius. Mister Selwyn is too much of a danger to our organization. If he gets even a sliver of information from his sister-"

"Aurus can go rot in Hell for all I care," Selene seethed, enraged, now, that she'd be treated with such mistrust.

Dumbledore looked back at her, nonplussed. "Perhaps you do not hold him dear, but Aurus Selwyn is, unfortunately for us and you, an important informant of Lord Voldemort's. Therefore, anyone who'd be susceptible to give him material to report is…a liability."

A word she understood only too well…

"What do you suggest, then, Albus? She's my cousin, my friend, you can't-"

"Miss Selwyn will remain here until I have made a decision concerning what to do with her. Bring her to an empty room. She is not to exit it under any circumstances."

He strode out of the room then, leaving both cousins in stunned silence.

Selene then understood the full weight of his words. She was a prisoner. In her late fiancé's home… A prisoner of war.