A/N: Isn't this just like me? I don't update for a long time, and then suddenly I write two chapters in two days! Anyway, this chapter is a bit different from the others, and maybe a little disturbing, but I like it. Oh, and I made a few small changes to chapter two that have a bit to do with what's going on here, so you may want to reread it if you first read it beforeI posted this chapter. Cheerio dahlings!

Chapter Ten

The young Death Eater sighed in resignation as he paced around the confines of the small room that served as his living quarters, considering the turn his life had taken in the past few months. His family had always supported the Dark Lord, had even encouraged the children to enter His service, and he'd somehow known that he would eventually do as his parents wanted him to. He simply hadn't thought it would happen so soon. When his parents had come to him at the end of the summer, their faces glowing with pride, and told him that they were taking him out of school, that the Dark Lord himself had requested to meet him, he hadn't had much choice. He wouldn't go against his parents.

Things had progressed quickly from there. The first meeting had taken place at his own home in London with the Dark Lord, a few of the top ranking Death Eaters, and his parents the only witnesses. He'd been nervous, struggling to hide his fear as he entered his father's drawing room to find his parents – whom he'd always found intimidating – as well as the Dark Lord and three masked Death Eaters waiting for him. He'd been questioned both by the Dark Lord and by the Death Eaters about his beliefs concerning the purity of blood, the treatment of half-breeds, and many other issues of concern. The young man – boy really, as there had still been a part of him that wished for his older brother's protection – had given all the right answers. Who wouldn't, when surrounded by such company?

He hadn't taken the oath right away, but it hadn't been long after that. His father had received a missive from the Dark Lord a few days later, informing them that he would speak with them again in late December. The second meeting took place in the Malfoys' manor, and this time he hadn't been the only recruit – many others had been present, most of whom he'd recognized as sixth and seventh year Slytherins and Ravenclaws. His parents, as proud as they'd been to know that the Dark Lord wanted him, had been happier than he'd ever seen them when they realized that their son was to be the youngest new Death Eater. The others had looked at him in shock, wondering what sort of skills he had that he was called upon when he'd only just turned fifteen.

After another round of questioning they'd dueled each other, thus giving the Dark Lord first hand knowledge of their skills and reflexes. Those who had failed to impress were dismissed in shame with a simple frown. Those who had passed the test had been paired up with a full Death Eater and taken into separate rooms. It was in these rooms that the real trials had taken place.

The Death Eater he'd been assigned to was Augustus Rookwood, a ministry employee who'd been a guest at parties held by his parents on a number of occasions. The boy could remember Rookwood showing quite a lot of interest in his brother, but barely acknowledging him. His brother, as brave as he'd seemed when they were younger, had always shied away from Rookwood's presence. As soon as he'd stepped into the tiny room on the top floor of the Malfoys' mansion, he'd known why. A part of him had wanted to resist the orders Rookwood had given him, but he knew that if he did the Dark Lord would be displeased. He did not want to incur His displeasure, and so he'd submitted.

He'd been forced to undergo a series of dark curses, including the Cruciatus, in order to see just how much pain he could stand. Rookwood had then put him under the Imperius Curse, as a means of determining his strength of will. Those who failed to fight the Curse were accepted, but at a lower rank. Those who threw the Imperius Curse off almost immediately became honored members of the Dark Lord's inner circle. The boy had fought the curse, something that wasn't as surprising as it might have been – he'd willed himself to not disappoint his family. The Dark Lord had been informed of his success, and the first of two initiation stages had begun.

After speaking briefly with the Dark Lord, he and Rookwood had returned to the tiny, cell-like room. As soon as the door had been shut and locked, Rookwood had ordered him to remove his clothes and get down on his hands and knees. Doing his best to hide his fearful tremors at what he knew was about to happen, he'd done so. Yet again, there was a part of him – a part that sounded painfully like his brother - telling not to do this, that he had another choice. Yet again, he'd squelched that little voice, knowing then that it was too late – that he had no other choice. He'd dropped to his hands and knees and tried not to make a sound as he was consumed with a burning pain that was altogether different from what he'd experienced earlier.

That had been nearly two weeks ago, and he'd only seen his parents briefly the next morning before traveling with the Dark Lord, the current Death Eaters, and those who had managed to survive the night to the dismal, almost gothic castle they were in now. His parents had been…pleased. Pleased that this one would be more of a success than they'd ever thought possible.

He and the other new members had spent their time at the castle being trained under the Death Eaters they'd been assigned to. The second stage of his initiation would begin soon, though he had no idea what he would have to do. Perhaps he would-

The wooden door to his small room opened with a squeak, bringing him out of his reverie. He turned to see Rookwood standing in the doorway, light filtering in from the hall shrouding his face in shadows. "Come," the man said his voice deep and rumbling. "It is time for you to prove your worthiness to the Dark Lord once and for all."

The boy bristled slightly at Rookwood's tone, which said quite clearly that he didn't think the boy would pass this particular test. The boy nodded and said only, "I will prove myself."

Rookwood smirked in response as he stepped back into the hallway, saying, "We shall see. Come this way."

He followed the other wizard through a series of maze-like passages until they finally reached a narrow corridor with only a few flickering torches perched precariously along the walls at various intervals. He mused absently on what he might be required to do, wondering all the while if the rumors he'd heard from the others who'd been recruited that was holding prisoners were true. Perhaps he'd have to take part in torturing them. He'd been to this part of the castle before, and knew that this area would be the best place to keep prisoners – near enough to the other parts that it wouldn't take guards long to get here, but far enough away from any potential exits to prevent anyone who didn't know their way around from escaping.

The young Death Eater was so deep in thought that he almost didn't notice when Rookwood stopped outside a heavy stone door that was barely visible against the darkness of the corridor. Rookwood removed his wand but paused before unlocking the door. He turned to the boy and said, "The Dark Lord is in this room with two prisoners. Your task is to torture them. You will start only when told to, perform only the spells the Dark Lord orders you to, and stop only when He tells you to. You will not speak to the prisoners, unless given permission to do so. Is that clear?"

Taking a deep breath to hold back the bile rising in his throat, the boy nodded.

"Excellent," Rookwood said as he performed the charm to unlock the door. "Perform your task adequately and you shall receive your mask – and His mark. Fail, and you will die." He opened the door before anything more could be said.

The boy barely managed to hold in his shocked gasp when he recognized the prisoners.

"Sirius?" Remus asked quietly, shaking the sleeping boy beside him. After leaving them manacled for two days, the Death Eaters had finally returned to unchain them a few hours ago. Their arms were both quite sore, but at least they could move around a bit easier.

"Yeah, love?" Sirius responded groggily. Despite the gravity of their situation, Remus blushed at that. Following their first kiss a few days ago, the two had had a long discussion concerning Remus' feelings for Sirius. They'd decided that if they only had a limited number of days left they wanted to be as happy as they could – which meant that they were now a couple.

"Tell me about Regulus," Remus said hesitantly. He felt Sirius stiffen beside him, but continued anyway. "I mean, about how he was before Hogwarts. I just want to understand what happened between the two of you."

Sirius sighed, but then nodded his agreement. "Okay," He murmured, wrapping an arm around his love. "When we were little, Reg was…good. He was - we had a cat one time that we'd found in the park. It was a sickly little thing, but it was cold outside and Reg begged me to help him sneak it home so we could take care of it. We managed to get into the house and up to my room without anyone noticing. We fed it, and Reg even wanted to give it a bath, but that didn't work out," Sirius said with a small smile.

"I bet not," Remus said, laughing a little.

Sirius' eyes became glassy and his expression distant as he continued, "We managed to hide it a few days, but then it escaped from the box we had it in. The tiny little thing ran all the way to my dad's library before we managed to catch it. Unfortunately, Dad saw us. That was the first time I ever saw Dad get really angry. He didn't hit us or anything – Mum would have, but Dad – he made us watch Kreachure drown the cat in a tub of water. Regulus was only seven, and – late that night, he crept into my room. He'd been having nightmares about the cat."

"Every time," Sirius' voice had dropped to a choked whisper, and Remus almost had to strain to hear him. "Every time he got scared, he used to come to me. He wanted me to protect him. He was a good kid, but he was really small for his age – our cousins and the children of our parents' friends used to tease him all the time, and it was my job to stand up for him. I kept him safe. I let him sleep in my bed when he had nightmares…I remember thelast night before I left for school, he came into my room crying. He said he didn't want me to go, but I told him that I had to go so I could learn spells to protect him from Bella and Cissy and the others when they came to visit. I didn't realize," Sirius said with a forced laugh, " didn't realize that would be the last time Regulus and I would be as close as that."

Remus barely had time to marvel at the changes that had been wrought on the once strong relationship between Sirius and his little brother before the door to their cell unlocked with a small click, and opened. They both looked up to see who their visitor was, and were shocked to see that it was Voldemort himself. Remus tensed, and felt Sirius tighten his hold on him.

"What the hell do you want?" Sirius asked boldly, glaring at the dark wizard before them.

Voldemort smirked, his red eyes and pale face glowing with cruel amusement. "Patience, Black. You shall see in a few moments."

"I hope you realize that whatever you're about to do to us, it won't work," Sirius growled. He was trying to present a brave face, for Remus' benefit as well as his own. He refused to show his fear to that tyrant.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. You see, I've prepared quite the surprise for the two of you," Lord Voldemort said with a sneer. Remus heard the lock in the door click, and registered two hooded figures standing in the doorway. One moved aside, allowing the other, smaller one to enter before closing the door. The new arrival paused upon catching sight of Remus and Sirius, but recovered himself and bowed subserviently to Voldemort.

"You know what you are to do," Voldemort said to the Death Eater. "But first, I want you to greet our guests. Remove your hood."

"Yes, my Lord," the figure murmured with another small bow. Remus held in a gasp as he recognized that voice. He glanced at Sirius as the Death Eater pushed his hood back, and his suspicions were confirmed.

"Regulus!" Sirius shouted in fear and anger, surging to his feet. He took a step forward, but then held himself back when Regulus pointed his wand at him.

"Hello, brother," Regulus whispered, his ebony hair falling into his face as he briefly glanced down at the ground. He was shaken, but when he looked back up, feeling the force of the Dark Lord's stare, his expression was hard. He tightened his grip on his wand and once again pushed back the part of him that clamored for him to stop this madness, to not hurt his brother.

Sirius' last thought before his body was plied with exquisite pain was, I was supposed to keep him safe.