heyho, I am back with chapter 5! :D

First of all, thank you to my awesome reviewers, luvinmylife247365 and lilyflower101! Lilyflower101, Godric and Aurelius are only evil at the beginning, they will get better, I promise- and Karma will both get them at some point in this story, too :D

Secondly, I have decided to write 25 and NOT 20 chapters, I am currently working on chapter 21, it was just impossible to finish the story after 20 chapters. The main scene I had in mind before I started writing this does not even happen til chapter 20 now lol. I promise I will not change the amount of chapters again :D

WARNING: The chapter title says it all- Aurelius is NOT nice to Sirius here and found quite a...creative way to torture him in this chap, and Tom will also suffer some abuse.

Hope you all like it anyways ;)

"Hey Scipius, wait for me!"

Sirius turned around, smiling at Colin Creevey who came running after him, an excited look on his face.

Colin was shy, and scatterbrained, but he was also friendly and loyal and in the few days Sirius had been here, had tried really hard to make him feel welcome.

"Did you finish the assignment for Mr. Lupin?", Colin asked now, "it was easy, don't you think?"

Sirius nodded, but the truth was, he had not found the assignment easy at all.

Even though Aurelius had made him study for hours every day, he still found every lesson rather difficult so far- Potions with Snape being the worst.

"There's a Quidditch game this afternoon- Hufflepuff is playing against Ravenclaw", Colin went on, "do you want to go see it? It's just a tryout game, but still, it might be fun."

Sirius smiled. Colin was actively seeking his friendship, and after forced being around Aurelius and Gryffindor for almost a week straight, it was a nice change to feel wanted and liked.

They were outside now, it was break time, and the students were standing around in groups, talking to their friends and eating snacks.

"Sure, we can do that", Sirius finally said, "isn't Gryffindor having tryouts soon, too?"

"Next week", Colin replied, "who do think they will choose?"

They were getting closer to a big group of students now, and Sirius' heart sank when he realized that one of the students in the group was Aurelius.

Like always, his pretend brother was leading the conversation, and now he was apparently making a joke, because everyone around him started to laugh.

Some other students joined the group, wanting to know what the fun was about, and they were some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws among them, too.

"Come on, let's go see what your brother is talking about!", Colin suggested, already moving in the direction of them, Sirius following hesitantly.

Everyone was laughing again, and Aurelius, not being at all intimidated by having a huge audience kept on telling some hilarious tale, and right next to him were the Weasley twins, laughing the loudest.

Sirius knew from conversations with Harry that Fred and George had always been the undeclared leaders of fifth grade, but apparently, fifth grade had a new leader now…

He should not care, but the weird feeling was back in his stomach when he saw Colin staring at Aurelius in awe, and some girls giggling, literally hanging on his lips.

"…and the rest of the story will have to wait- I promised my little brother to spend some time with him today", Aurelius was grinning at him now, "hey Scipius, everything cool?"

Sirius forced himself to smile.

You did not promise me anything, he wanted to say, you never even say words like cool usually, he wanted to say, you don't even care how I am doing…

But instead, he smiled bigger, "everything's just perfect. Great story, by the way. Are you going to tell me the rest of it?"

"Anything for my favorite little bro", Aurelius walked over to him and ruffled his hair affectionately, "come on, let's go for a walk."

They left the group, and as soon as they were out of sight from everyone, Aurelius' relaxed attitude disappeared, "I heard you are not done with your Potion's homework", he started, his voice cold, "and this morning, you were late for breakfast again- and your uniform looked wrinkled. I have warned you about what would happen if you keep ignoring my orders."

"I…had to help Colin this morning, he was looking for…"

"I do not care about your excuses, Scipius, all I care about is…"

"Our image, I know", he hated how bitter he sounded.

Gone was the Aurelius from the train who had let him sleep on his lap, and instead, the cruel, unforgiving Aurelius was back.

"After class, I want you to meet me in my study. We are going to have a little talk."

Sirius paled, "I…please…I'll try harder, I swear, just…not today please, I promised Colin to watch the tryout game with him, I could come see you aft…"

He sobbed when Aurelius slapped him hard across the face, "who do you think I am, Scipius?", he hissed, his voice dark, "do you think I am some kind of house elf waiting for you and you can just show up whenever it is convenient for you? You won't waste your time at a senseless Quidditch game, instead, you will finish your homework for Snape, and then we will talk about your behavior- and tonight, instead of playing around with that Colin boy, you will study. Do you understand me?"

His whole face was hurting, "yes…Aurelius, I understand."

"Good", his voice was still dark, "remember, my father is coming next week and he will want to see results- and so far, all I see you doing is fooling around. Get. The. Cloak. and stop drawing negative attention to yourself, it all reflects on me. I am not going to have people think that I don't have my little brother under control."

"I am not your brother", Sirius' voice was quiet, "if I was, you…you wouldn't be so cruel."

Aurelius laughed scornfully, "thank you for reminding me, Scipius- trust me, no one is happier about that fact than me. I would be ashamed if I had someone like you for a brother. You are absolutely useless."

Sirius did not respond; he was too busy blinking back the tears.

"Go wash your face and then go back to class- break is almost over."

"Ye…yes, Aurelius."

The older boy gave him one last, cold look, and then he turned around and walked away.

Sirius waited until he was gone, and then he broke out into tears.

You are useless.

"I hate you", he whispered to himself, "I hate you so much, Aurelius."

It had taken three days until he felt like he could move again without groaning in pain.

His whole body was bruised, and he was certain one of his ribs was broken, but the wardens had refused to let him see a healer.

The other boys completely ignored him now, probably certain he had gotten the message- and that he had.

Done playing the hero, Thomas?

He knew this was Gryffindor's doing- and it made him hate the Founder even more.

His desire for revenge grew stronger every day, to the point that he could not even sleep at night because he spent his time imagining all kinds of brutal and painful deaths for Gryffindor, and it gave him pleasure to think about how he would personally wipe that damn smug, confident smile off Gryffindor's face.

Even worse, even in prison the Founders were seen as some kind of superheroes, everyone spoke about them in awe, and he wanted to throw up every time he heard someone mention their names and how supercool and awesome they were.

They are liars, he wanted to scream every time, and your precious Gryffindor beat me, and humiliated me, and made you beat me up- he is a criminal, nothing better than any of you!

But, because he did not want to get beaten to the point of unconsciousness again, he kept his mouth shut- he barely said anything these days, and he was always by himself, he sat alone in the classroom, silently, he ate his lunch by himself in the huge dining room, sitting at a table all alone, and he worked by himself in the afternoon, while the other boys were laughing and playing and talking around him.

It was a lonely existence, and while he did not mind doing things by himself, I hurt that he had drastically become completely insignificant, after being served and catered by dozens of house elves, after having the Death Eaters worship the ground he walked on- and now, he was a nobody.

The wardens also left him alone for the most part, except for two of them- Evans and Thompson. They made his life hell by waking him up constantly at night, by spitting in his food, and by making him work harder than the other boys.

While Thompson's hatred against him seemed somewhat personal, Evans was just plain sadistic and enjoyed treating him like scum.

He also was the only one who never got a visitor. Everyone else had a least one family member or friend or relative who cared enough to come by, and even though he wanted to deny it, it made him green with envy to see the other boys getting candy, nice clothes, books, or just small things like a comfortable pillow or a good smelling soap.

He had known that no one would bother to come visit him, and that's why he had told the man at the office that he did not want any visitors- he had not wanted to humiliate himself any further in front of Gryffindor.

Also, he kept telling himself that he would find a way to escape, and that this would be only temporary, but the more time passed, the more hopeless he got.

"Focus, Scipius!"

Sirius winced, "I…am…just…thinking…"

"You are daydreaming- and it better not be about that ridiculous Quidditch game- finish your work."

"Yes, Aurelius", he bent over his books again, feeling remorseful. Colin had been disappointed when he had told him that he could not watch the game with him, and when he heard that Colin was going to go with some other third graders instead, including Ginny, it had hurt.

Now he was sitting at his small desk in a corner of the spacious living room that the Founders had been using as their quarters and were now being used by Aurelius, which no one knew about obviously, but it was not like someone was going to come by and check them out anyways.

Sirius hated the fact that the quarters were in some remote part of Hogwarts, and he knew that one reason why Aurelius made him see him there was because he could punish him all he liked, no one could hear him scream.

The quarters were nice, especially the living room with its big fireplace and comfy couches, and Sirius would have loved to test out how comfortable they really were, but he was never allowed to sit on them.

"I…am done, Aurelius", he eventually said quietly, handing his pretend brother his assignment, "is…that…okay?", he hated how anxious he sounded, but the last beating was still fresh on his mind, and he hated the burning sting of the cane.

"It's…decent", Aurelius said after minutes of silence, and Sirius let out a deep breath, feeling relieved.

Aurelius must have noticed, because he raised an eyebrow, "I have not forgotten what I have told you earlier about ignoring my orders, Scipius. Go get me a log of wood."

Sirius' eyes widened, but he obediently got up and walked over to the little shelf next to the fireplace where the wood was stored.

He is not…going to beat me with that, is he?

He slowly walked back, holding the wood, trembling.

Aurelius smiled scornfully, he was enjoying this, "now, I want you to put that log in the corner by the fireplace, lay it out on the ground- and then, you are going to kneel on it, facing the corner. Understand?"

Sirius paled. The log was heavy, with rough edges, and he knew that putting his whole weight on it was going to be incredibly painful.

"Yes…Aurelius, I understand", he eventually forced himself to say, "please…may…I ask a question?"

"You may."

"How…how long do I have to do this?"

"However long I feel is sufficient for you, Scipius."

Sirius hung his head, dreading what exactly that meant- surely he was not going to let him kneel all night, was he?

"Go on, Scipius- and just a reminder, you are going to be absolutely silent- I don't want to hear any sniffing, or moaning, or coughing or whining- and if I do hear even the smallest sound from you, I am going to make you wish you kept quiet. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Aurelius, I understand."

He forced back the tears when he walked over to the corner and put the log down. Afraid to make a sound, he bit his lips while he carefully lowered himself onto the log.

It hurt even worse than expected, the sharp edge of the wood dug into his knees, and after a couple of minutes, he wanted to scream in agony, but the fear of making Aurelius upset stopped him.

After ten minutes, his knees were bleeding, and they had gotten numb, but the pain was still excruciating. He was crying in silence, praying and hoping Aurelius would end this torture soon.

Please, it hurts, it hurts, hurts so bad! Make it go, please, I am sorry, I am so sorry…

After fifteen minutes, Aurelius slowly walked over to him, "now, are you going to be late for breakfast again, Scipius?", he asked calmly, examining him closely.

"No…no, I won't, I won't be late ever again, I'll behave, I'll get the cloak, I'll do anything you want, I swear!", the words came rushing out of him, he would have said anything to make the pain stop, "please, please, Aurelius, I am so sorry, it won't happen again, please…"

Aurelius smiled and sat down right in front of him, "so you are going to be my good boy from now on?"

"Yes, I'll be good, I'll be so so good, I…I won't…disappoint you anymore, I'll be your good boy, please please please!", he was holding his hands up now, crying, "please let me get up, please, I'll do anything…"

"Get up, Scipius."

He immediately scrambled to his feet, and the new position hurt just as much and he whimpered in pain, "hurts…hurts so much…"

Aurelius did not respond; he calmly took out his wand and pointed it at Sirius' blood soaked pants.

Seconds later, the blood had vanished and the pain lessened, but it still hurt.

"Look at me, Scipius."

He did not want to, but he was too afraid of the older boy to disobey him.

Aurelius smiled, "now, I won't have to do that ever again, right, little brother?", his voice was calm, but Sirius knew him well enough by now to hear the underlying threat in his tone.

"No, you won't, Aurelius", he whispered, tears still streaming down his face, "I'll…be good."

"Good- go wash your face and then go back to your Common Room- I will give you some work to do for the time after dinner. I expect you to show it to me tomorrow morning."

"Yes…Aurelius."

He slowly walked over to the bathroom, and when he stared at the boy in the mirror, he saw a picture of misery. His face pale and tear stained, his brown hair sweaty, his eyes sad and his lips bloody from biting on them so he would not scream…

"I hate this", he quietly said to the mirror, "I hate this life…"

It was lunch time, and just like everyone else, Tom got in line to walk over to the dining hall. They were never allowed to go anywhere without the guards, and they always had to walk in the same order. He was always last in line, escorted by at least two guards.

Today, something seemed different- the other boys were whispering among each other excitedly, and Tom suddenly wished he had a friend, or someone who would care to tell him what was going on.

Life in prison was incredibly boring- he had no books, no newspapers, no games, nothing to kill time with, so he felt himself longing for some kind of information and distraction.

He tried to get closer to the boy in front of him to listen, but all of the sudden, the guards pulled him back, "you are staying with us, your Highness", one of them hissed, and Tom realized with growing horror that it was Evans, "we gotta talk to you, scumbag."

Evans never called him Thomas or even Voldemort, but it apparently gave him great pleasure to invent every kind of insulting name under the sun for him.

"What do you want from me?"

The other guard, it was Thompson, gave him a hard punch on the head, "keep your damn mouth shut!", he was glaring at him, and they dragged him back into his cell, "your damn mouth is what got you here in the first place, right?", Evans grinned at him, an evil glint in his eyes, "and we don't want our visitor later to hear you blabber", he hit him so hard that he stumbled and fell on the floor.

"I don't understand…"

"Course you don't. You are an idiot, that's why", Thompson sneered, exposing his yellowish teeth, "you lil asshole will keep silent later, no word about any…incidents, right?", he kicked him, right into the stomach, and Tom groaned in pain, "fine…I won't say anything…", he grunted, even though he had no idea what the wardens were talking about.

Evans took pity on him, probably realizing their plan made no sense if he did not know what they were talking about, "Godric Gryffindor is coming this afternoon", he informed him, "and in case he asks you- no one ever touched you, understand?"

Tom was so taken aback for a minute that he did not respond, which Thompson took for a sign of disrespect, "you filthy little brat, let me spell it out for you: If Gryffindor asks you how you are doing, you say fine and if he asks how we treat you, you will say fine, and if you don't, if you rat us out, we will cut your tongue out and nail it on the wall for you to look at, bitch boy", he kicked him again, this time between his legs and Tom let out a shrill scream, "you'll be screaming more tonight if you can't keep your damn mouth shut!"

He spit on him, and then he and Evans left the cell, leaving him whimpering and curled in a ball on the ground.

Minutes passed where Tom just focused on getting enough air in his lungs again, and when his breathing finally normalized, he tried to get up.

He was used to being in pain by now, but this pain was different, it felt more…personal somehow, and he hated how weak it made him feel.

When the blinding pain eventually lessened, he started to think about what they had said.

None of it made sense, Gryffindor had bribed them to beat him up in the first place, so why were they suddenly so keen on keeping that abuse hidden from the Founder?

Surely, Gryffindor would enjoy stories about him getting punched and spit at, he could see him smiling mockingly already-

If you were my boy, I would have spanked you until you cried.

He threw up, all over the floor and over his clothes, and then he made the mistake of thinking about Gryffindor again, and he threw up once more.

Coughing, he stumbled over to his tiny bathroom and turned the shower on. The water was cold, it always was, but right now, he did not even care. All he cared about was getting the smell of the vomit off himself.

Minutes later, he was dressed again in one of his shabby prison outfits, a pair of washed out jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, his hair still wet from the shower.

The cold water had helped numb the pain a little, and now he was sitting on his small bed, trying to make sense out of all of this, and he flinched when the door to his cell suddenly opened again, "let's go- Gryffindor is waiting", Evans snarled, a mean look on his face, "and don't forget what we told you."

He followed the guard wordlessly, and as soon as he stepped out of his cell, he realized that all the other boys were standing straight like tin soldiers in front of their cells already, no one was talking, no one was moving, and no one was even breathing loudly.

The air was filled with excitement, even the guards seemed excited, and Tom stood still like the others, staring straight ahead.

For endless minutes, that was how they stayed, until finally footsteps were coming closer, accompanied by some mumbled voices.

"…and here we have our younger boys- the twelve to fifteen old ones", a guard said, his voice thick with deference, "they are all very excited to meet you, Sir!"

Someone laughed, and Tom felt bile rising in his throat by the sound of it.

He would never in a million years be able to forget the sound of Gryffindor laughing.

You are quite amusing, has anyone ever told you that?

They stopped at the end of the hallway, and he heard Gryffindor exchanging some words with one or two of the boys, but he did not understand what they were saying.

Then, they kept walking, stopping again- and Gryffindor talked to some other boys, and this time, he must have said something funny because they all started to laugh.

Tom did not laugh, he kept staring straight ahead, completely stone faced, even when Gryffindor came closer, close enough to see him this time.

Thankfully, Gryffindor ignored him and started to talk to the boy right next to him, and the boy was stuttering, telling Gryffindor that he was his hero, and that this was the best day of his life- and Tom could not help it, he snorted disdainfully.

"Something bothering you, Thomas?"

You. You are bothering me.

Gryffindor stood right in front of him now, watching him, clearly expecting an answer.

Well, he would not bother to enlighten him, he would do as told and keep his mouth shut and his face straight, and he was proud of himself that he did not even blink when Gryffindor came even closer.

"Still the little rebel, hmm?", he sounded amused now, "how are you, Thomas?"

"Fine."

Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, "fine, Sir", he corrected mildly, "don't make me punish you again for being disrespectful."

"Respect has to be earned- and you have done nothing to earn mine."

There were gasps of horror from the other boys, and the boy next to him looked like he was about to faint, and Evans looked like he wanted to kill him, but Gryffindor seemed completely unmoved, "I think we should have a talk, Thomas."

He bit his lips, staring right through the man in front of him, "I've got nothing to say to you."

"That wasn't a suggestion, Thomas", and now his voice was cold, "follow me."

He did not want to, he wanted to tell him to fuck off and leave him alone, but when he noticed the dangerous look in Gryffindor's eyes, the same one he had had before he had caned him, his resistance crumbled.

His body was still bruised and battered, and it would have been stupid to add more injuries to it- and least that was what he told himself when he slowly followed Gryffindor through the hallway.

yeah...things will get better for Sirius and Tom, I promise! :)

I would love some feedback! :D

xoxo, Antonie :)