Disclaimer: Rudyard Kipling owns the title, J.K. owns the main character and setting. The rest are mine.

His footsteps were heavy as they rang in the hall. They brought up stirrings, stirrings from deep down, the chittering of rats, the hissing of those --

They.

Who would never come out.

You have to lose a dear one to see them, the house elves had reasoned when as a child he demanded they appear. They don't come for you otherwise.

He had lost enough. Why would they not come to him? Why did they run? Why did they flee?

They stayed there, haunting, alluring, always there but never to be seen, swirling around him as he walked down the passage --

How he had loved them.

And how cruel they could still be.

One by one he traced faces as they turned away, sickened by contact with his traitor's flesh. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins ... he could remember their features as distinctly as if they stood before him alive. They had ignored him but he had loved them nevertheless. He would cling to their robes and beg soundlessly, the words stuttering and tumbling into silence from his mouth.

Do not go -- do not leave me alone.

His duty was to remain. To obey the family, to love and to serve.

And he had betrayed them all.

Slowly he turned to the last portrait in the hall. None of them would look at him, but this one would. This one would provide him the peace, castigate his soul and burn his flesh until his sins rose up in wracking pain that was his only means of penance.

"No longer son, no longer heir, no longer kin ... You dare show your face here?"

And then the release came.

"Crucio."

Note: This is a one-shot product that somehow got itself written in the middle of the night. It will probably not make sense to anyone but myself, so I apologize for any confusion, grammatical errors, etc, since it happens to a first fic as well. Also for the record I would like to say that disapproving portraits are not limited to the Black family -- the idea was running around in my head long before OotP, specifically with the Snapes as shown here.

The title "They" is taken from Kipling's short story. The main theme is fairly different from what's going on here, but somehow the "craving for love" concept got stuck in my brain and wouldn't get out.

Thank you for reading, please R & R!!!