A/N: On the plus side, I know what to do with the chapter after this one. This one is just going to be…random.

Warning: Mention of attempted rape in this chapter. Nothing explicit though.

After dinner, James dragged both Regulus and Sirius up to his room. He pulled out the trundle bed, and then looked at them. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Sirius asked innocently. James gave Sirius a look that told both of the brothers he was not amused by that act.

He gave Sirius a quick shove, which resulted in him landing hard on the bed. "You know very well what. Not that I'm not glad to have you here, because I am, but I need to know what happened so I can help."

Sirius sighed, kicking off his shoes and looking slightly defeated. "You might want to sit down for this. It could take a while."

Both James and Regulus did just that. Sirius was sitting on the pillow, and Regulus crawled and sat next to him- knees pulled up to chest and arms hanging limply around them. James sat cross-legged across from them.

Regulus looked down at the quilt that covered the bed. It was a patchwork of all the Hogwarts house colors in the pattern of the seal. James was sitting on the Slytherin part.

"I'm waiting."

"I know. I'm just…" Sirius ran his hand though his hair. "Just, not sure where to begin. Our mother is insane, you know. She should never have been allowed to breed, never mind raise children."

"How's she insane?"

"She screams," Regulus said quietly, "all the time. Not like your mother."

James looked at him curiously, but said nothing. He just stared until Regulus shifted uncomfortably and looked down again.

"She's just mad." Sirius said, in a tone that said he clearly didn't think James was getting it. "She's…she…show him, Reg."

"What?" Regulus looked up at Sirius now, slightly shaking his head.

"Come on, Regulus. It's nothing to be ashamed of. James won't hurt you."

"I don't want…"

"He needs to understand."

It was futile to argue, and Regulus knew it. Sitting up fully now, he pulled his shirt up over his head, feeling James's eyes on his every movement. He turned around so his feet now hung off the edge of the bed.

"Merlin!" He heard James gasp. He could feel cool fingers reach out and touch the skin on his left shoulder blade. Could feel the fingers trace the letters that he knew were burned black there. Toujours Pur. Always pure.

"She did that to him, a few years ago," Sirius said. Regulus could hear the barely suppressed anger in his voice. Regulus knew that Sirius was remembering that day, and how he had held him as blood from the burn had been falling down his arm. "She found out that he had a crush on the muggle girl next door. She used her wand to pin him to the wall, and then used a hot poker- magiced it into the motto- and burned it on him."

"God," James breathed, his fingers still tracing.

Regulus closed his eyes, trying to force the memory of the pain away. He didn't want to remember pleading for her to stop while tears burned his face the way the poker burnt his skin.

"She put a charm on it so it won't heal," Regulus finally managed to say in a thick voice. "It will never go away."

There was silence for a long time after he said that, but James didn't remove his hand from Regulus's back until Regulus pulled away to put his shirt back on.

"That's the kind of woman she is, James." Sirius said softly as Regulus turned back around. "The kind of woman that can do that to a five-year-old child."

"I…how could you…"

"I don't know," Sirius whispered. James leaned forward and gave Sirius a hug.

"Well, you're here now, Padfoot. It will be okay."

"I know, Prongs."

James pulled away and, much to Regulus's surprise, pulled Regulus into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Regulus didn't know how to respond. He just tensed up, and allowed James to hold him for a moment longer.

"That's why we had to leave," Sirius said. "Our mother is insane and Dad isn't much better. He tried to curse us while we were leaving."

James shook his head, "you told me they were crazy, Padfoot, but I never quite understood what that meant."

"Yeah, well, not many people can. You have to meet them to understand, and even then…they would put on a show for you. Hide what they truly are from everyone else. Yesterday was just too much. I can handle being yelled at, or beaten, or punished. Sometimes, I even deserve it. I can't handle when…"

Sirius didn't finish, but he didn't need to. Regulus knew that what Sirius couldn't handle was having Regulus punished with him.

As children, they had taken the blame for each other. It was impossible to avoid trouble, so they would alternate turns as to who took the blame. Until Regulus was old enough to catch him at it, Sirius would sometimes take their mother's wrath several times in a row and claim that Regulus had done it last time.

Sirius needed to protect him, and though during school he pretended Regulus didn't exist, he really did still care about him.

Gently, he reached over and gave Sirius's hand a squeeze. Sirius responded in kind, making Regulus's fingers tingle for a moment.

"Sirius," James whispered after a beat, "what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Something happened last night that was too much for you. From personal experience, I know it takes a lot to get you to run from a problem. What happened?"

Sirius looked away, and Regulus suddenly felt his heart stop. Where those tears in Sirius's eyes? Sirius never cried!

"Sirius?" He asked tentatively, not sure how to react to this situation.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You need to, Padfoot. I can't help you if you don't."

Sirius sighed, and a few of those tears managed to escape from his grey eyes. Regulus was officially worried for his brother now. He'd been locked in his room most of the day. Any number of things could have happened while he wasn't there to help him.

"You…" Sirius's voice caught, and he swallowed before he could continue. "You remember Nott? He graduated a couple of years ago."

James shook his head, but Regulus nodded.

"He was a Slytherin. Sometimes hung out with Severus."

"Right, him. Well…he's a Death Eater."

Neither James nor Regulus seemed overly surprised by this information, but they said nothing. They just allowed Sirius a few minutes to try and regain his composure.

"Well…Dad invited him and a couple other Death Eaters- Bellatrix and her entourage- over to try and pursued me to join them."

"You? A Death Eater?" James stared at Sirius like he'd suddenly grown two heads.

"I don't want to be! That's just…what was expected."

James said nothing, just nodded. Regulus scooted a little closer to his brother, trying to offer what little comfort he could. There was more to the story, there had to be. Their parents had been trying to get Sirius to become a Death Eater for almost a year now.

"Well…Nott was the last to leave, and he decided…decided that forcing me too…too…" there was no mistaking the tears now as Sirius pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "James he tried to…he wanted to…rape…me."

James let out a small kind of yelping noise, his hazel eyes wide behind his glasses. Regulus felt like he was going to be sick at this, and instinctively grabbed Sirius's hand tightly again.

Sirius wasn't looking at either of them anymore, but instead staring resolutely at the wall behind James's head. "I was stronger than he was. Knocked him out. I told my Father…hoping to have him never come around again. He said…" Sirius's voice dropped to a shaky whisper now. "He said that I'd led him on. Told me I deserved it, and then punished me for not fulfilling my obligation."

"Oh bloody hell, Padfoot!" James reached over and hugged his friend tightly again as Sirius finally broke down completely. "No one is going to make you go back, I promise. You and Regulus are going to be safe here. I'll protect you. You're okay now."

Regulus said nothing at all, but cuddled up to Sirius's side. He wanted to do something to take his brother's pain away, but knew he couldn't. Knew there was nothing he could say or do that would alleviate the pain. All he could do was be there for Sirius, and let him cry.

After a few minutes, Sirius's sobbing subsided. He began to look embarrassed for his loss of control, but neither of the other two occupants of the room mentioned it. They talked about nothing for a few hours, the conversation not really closed but none of them willing to bring it up again. Eventually, the three of them got ready for bed in silence.

Regulus set his pillow and blanket on the trundle bed, along with his cat. It had been years since he'd actually slept with it, but it was something familiar. Even if he didn't really want a reminder of home right now, he wanted something that was constant.

"You gonna' be okay down there, Reggie?" Sirius asked as he crawled under the blankets.

"I'm fine," Regulus responded, curling up to sleep.

"Good night then," James said, turning off the light.

Regulus awoke hours later with a start, his body glistening with sweat and the nightmare he'd just had playing round and round in his head. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, the pain from his dream in which he was receiving that tattoo again while Sirius was screaming for help in the other room having carried over.

He could hear Sirius snoring on the lower bunk, but didn't dare wake him. Not for something as silly as a dream. Picking up his cat from where it had fallen off his bed, he walked over to the window, expert eyes combing the night sky.

When he found his star, he let out a sigh of relief. It was another one of those constants in his life that he needed. He was reaching up to wipe away the fog caused by his breath when someone spoke.

"Kid? You okay?"

Regulus jumped, dropping his cat, and whirled around. He could see James, dressed again in the red pajama bottoms, standing at the bottom of the ladder to his bed.

"I'm fine," Regulus squeaked. James didn't look convinced, and instead walked over to where Regulus was standing.

James looked up at the stars for a bit before turning to look at Regulus. "Had a nightmare, did you?"

Regulus nodded mutely. It was kind of pointless to deny it if he already knew. James smiled a knowing smile and walked over to his dresser. He dug around the top drawer for a bit before removing what looked like some kind of stone. He pressed it into Regulus's hand.

"It's a dream stone," James explained. "I got it in Romania when I went with my dad. It keeps nightmares away."

Regulus peered curiously at the midnight blue stone that was now resting, warm and pulsing slightly, in his palm. He smiled at James. "Thanks."

James just grinned and walked back toward his bed. Regulus remained by the window for a moment longer. He gave his star one last look before closing the rock in his fist, picking up his cat, and crawling back under the blanket.