Decima didn't want the break to end, but it did. Mr. and Mrs. Potter took the three of them back to King's Cross station and they boarded the Hogwarts Express, finding the rest of the Marauders and sitting with them.

"I've just realized something," she muttered to Sirius.

"What, love?"

"Regulus," she said.

"What about him?" he muttered, eyes growing dark at the name of his brother.

"We're the prefects. We have to work together…" Her voice trailed off as she looked away. "I don't know if I can face him after what happened."

Remus and Peter stared at them and blinked. Apparently, Sirius hadn't kept them up to date on events. He looked at them and sighed.

"I'll explain later," he said. "Look, love, everything's going to be fine, okay? You can sleep in my dormitory. You can eat at our table. You can partner with Gwen in your classes, and you can hang out with Remus and Lily at the prefect meetings, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Right, Remus?" he added, giving his friend a pointed look.

"Not at all," said Remus sincerely, giving her a soft smile. "It's always good to have company."

Decima had just stared to feel comfortable and contented when the door to the compartment slid open and there was Regulus, standing in the door way, looking straight at her.

"Decima," said Regulus in the softest, most pathetic voice Decima had ever heard escape from his mouth. "May I speak with you in private?"

She froze and grasped Sirius's hand tightly, not looking Regulus in the eye.

"No," she said, not as firmly as she would have liked.

"Please, sweetheart," he begged, his voice making her heart break.

"You heard her," Sirius snarled. "If you've got something to say, why don't you just spit it out and leave?"

The venom in his voice was unmistakable. If there had been any hope in Decima's mind that they would get along for her sake, that had just been shattered. She really had nothing left by Gwen and the Marauders.

"I – I'm so sorry, CiCi. They made me write that letter. It broke my heart to send that to you. I knew it would hurt you. You know I love you. I never wanted any of this to happen."

"Well, it did," spat Sirius. "It happened and you just let it. You didn't have to write that letter, but you didn't have the guts to say no to them." He was on his feet now, bellowing in his brother's face. "You left her with nowhere to go, and without me she would have had no one to turn to. Don't just stand there and pretend if you put on a sad face she's obliged to forgive you. She's not a slave of pureblood society anymore, remember? They kicked her out!"

"Padfoot, calm down," said Peter. "You're scaring her."

Decima flushed a little as she trembled in the corner, worried about the fight she was sure would happen.

"Why don't you two take this outside?" James suggested. "And take Remus with you. We don't want Padfoot throwing any punches."

As the three boys made to step outside, Decima found her voice again and said, "Regulus?"

He froze and looked at her with pleading eyes.

"You're not allowed to call me CiCi anymore."

His face fell as Sirius and Remus grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him out of the compartment, closing the door behind them. The mood in the compartment was still tense as the three remaining occupants sat in silence, listening. At first, the voices in the corridor were something like civil. I didn't take long, however, for Sirius to start shouting again, which went on for what seemed like forever. Finally, he paused to breathe and she heard Regulus's soft voice remark a response with a bite in his tone. They heard the sound of a fist hitting a jaw and the two Marauders slid back in and she heard Regulus skulk off. Sirius's face was red with fury as he sat back down and slid his hand into Decima's.

"I thought I said no punches, Padfoot," said James dryly, though Decima suspected he didn't truly mind.

"Actually, that was me," said Remus, reopening his book casually.

"Moony's got a mean right hook," seethed Sirius, clearly wishing he had been the one who had thrown the punch. "I think you broke his jaw."

"Good," Remus spat. Decima was shocked at how furious he sounded.

"What did he say?"

Her voice was soft and scared. Sirius calmed considerably and looked down at her.

"Do you really want to know?"

She probably didn't, but she took a resolve-strengthening breath and nodded.

"He – he said it was a shame you had become one of my whores," Sirius spat. "He said it was too bad I had poisoned your mind and you had forgotten your place because…because…"

His jaw set and his eyes looked at her with a sort of pity as Remus finished his sentence.

"Because he had so wanted to own you. He said the other Death Eaters viewed you as a great prize, despite your family's standing."

Remus's ears were red behind his book and his voice seethed with anger. For a moment, Decima tried to digest this with all eyes on her, except Remus's, which were staring into the book she was fairly certain he wasn't actually reading. The weight of Regulus's words hit her all at once and she began to cry, shaking and sobbing, clutching onto Sirius as he held her, petting her and making calming noises in her ear.

Decima had grown up with Regulus. She thought they had known everything about each other. She couldn't believe she had never seen this side of him before. She wasn't crying for herself anymore. She was crying for him. He was turning into one of them and she was worried how far in he would get before he realized he wanted out.

"It's okay, love," Sirius cooed. "It's all going to be okay."

Decima wanted so badly to believe him, but she knew he was lying. He wasn't lying on purpose, of course. It was just one of those things people told themselves and their loved ones with the war on the way, more wishful thinking than a promise they could keep. Regulus was joining the Death Eaters. Everyone in that compartment knew it wasn't going to be okay.

The door slid open to reveal an annoyed-looking Lily Evans. James jumped, but he didn't give her his usual suave smile.

"Hey, Evans," he said, almost glumly, but she ignored him.

"All right, Black, I saw your brother's face and I fixed his jaw. I really ought to take points for his, you know."

"Don't," said Remus, putting his book down. His face was contorted with rage. "That was me. And I wish you wouldn't have healed his jaw. He deserves to suffer."

Lily blinked and looked at Remus, then at Sirius, then at Decima and said, "What happened?"

Sirius and James exchanged a worried look and James said, "We need to borrow you for a minute, Lily."

Sirius whispered, "I'll be right back, darling." Then he kissed Decima's forehead and followed James and Lily out of the compartment.

"Remus?" said Decima softly as the boy lifted his book to his face once more. He paused. "Thank you."

The anger disappeared from his face and his features softened.

"It was really my pleasure, Decima. We're not going to let him bother you anymore."

The door slid open and James and Sirius reentered, looking relieved.

"Well," said James, "Lily says we can give you the Gryffindor password."

"That's nice of her," said Remus, "but we were going to, anyway. I don't know why you bothered asking."

"So she doesn't take points off when Decima moves in," said Sirius. "What's gotten into you today, Moony?"

He shrugged.

"I've lost my patience with all this…this…oh, I don't know. The real world is coming and we're not playing games anymore. People are dying. This isn't Gryffindor or Slytherin for the House Cup. Points don't matter. This is war. We're out of time for petty insults and childish feuds."

Decima was suspicious that Remus's rage had little to do with her and everything to do with his anger at the Death Eaters, but she was grateful, all the same.

The door slid open once more and Gwen poked her head in.

"Hey, CiCI, would you like to tell me why Regulus was sporting a broken jaw earlier and calling you a dirty no-good whore?"

Oh, that awkward silence.

"I'm glad the train ride is almost over," said Peter. "This is getting old."

"Oh, I'm so sorry my life is boring you, Peter," said Decima dryly. "Perhaps you wouldn't find it quite so boring if it was happening to you."

Sirius smacked the back of Peter's head and Gwen slid in, sitting between Remus and James.

"What happened?"

Decima looked down at her hands, which were tightly holding Sirius's hand. The compartment was deathly quiet.

"I had a bit of a bad break," she began. No one spoke, so she went on. "I'll tell you details later, but Regulus and I are over, he's joining the Death Eaters, and I've been disowned. I'm moving into the Gryffindor dorms and I need a new partner for classes. Maybe you'd be willing to help with that?"

"At your service," said Gwen. "So, do I need to go around spreading the rumor that his penis is too small, or do we have a far more legitimate break-up story?"

"Well," said Decima, "the truth is he was going to let me be raped and assaulted by his father, but I don't mind the other rumor, why not spread both?"

Sirius snorted, which made her feel better. Joking felt good. It felt like she was in control again. Maybe that's why Sirius was always making jokes and pulling pranks. It made him feel in control of something in his life, because he wasn't getting that feeling at home.

"Well, my dear CiCi," said Gwen, "I fully support you, and if you wish me to cut off his balls, I shall do so."

"That's probably not a good idea," said Sirius solemnly, "although I'd love to know that you had. But if the Black family heir is incapable of producing further heirs, someone's going to come after the one responsible, and if they don't find out it was you, which would be bad, they'd think it was Decima, which would be worse."

"Hey!" said Gwen. "What makes Decima more important than me?"

"Easy," said James. "You're not sleeping with him."

"Ah," said Gwen. "In that case, Decima, you have full permission to be more important than me for as long as you'd like."

Sirius and Decima laughed at this, but Remus looked up from his book curiously. Of course, they hadn't mentioned yet that they were sleeping together, but surely he would have guessed? Or maybe not.

It wasn't long until the Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade Station and students filled off. Decima could feel the eyes of many students around her watching her, and it wasn't just paranoia. Gwen and Sirius each had her by and arm and were ushering her through the crowd, the other Marauders following close behind, shooting dangerous glares at the staring bystanders, as though daring them to say something. Nobody crossed someone the Marauders approved of. What had Regulus been saying about her? Did she even want to know?

Sirius and Gwen led her to a carriage and pulled her inside, allowing the other Marauders to get in on the other side before Remus shut the door and the carriage started moving. Decima buried her head in Sirius's shoulder and cried miserably. She just wanted all of this to be over.

"When we get to the school," Sirius said to James, petting Decima gently, "you and Remus go with Gwen and get her things and bring them back to our dorm. I don't want her to have to go back there."

"Do they do official house transfers?" said Peter thoughtfully.

"No," said Remus, "but she should be alright."

"Oh, no!" she cried suddenly, causing them all to jump in shock. "I'd forgotten about Quidditch!"

They all groaned. She would not only have Quidditch games on Regulus's team, but she had to practice with him.

"Could you maybe resign?" suggested James.

"You wish, James," Gwen snorted. "She's not resigning. We're not losing the cup to you goons again. She'll keep tight to me. It's not like Regulus is a Chaser, he doesn't train with us."

"She'll still have to train with Christa, though," Sirius said.

"Fysshwyk won't let it become a problem," said Remus. "He's not letting anyone's prejudices spoil their team dynamic, if I know him at all."

As the carriage finally came to a stop they climbed out and Sirius grabbed Decima's hand, leading her up the stone steps and straight along the path to the Gryffindor Tower, which was strange and foreign to her but oh, so familiar to Sirius. Peter scampered along behind them, trying to keep up. They didn't even bother stopping to see if Gwen and the others had been separated. Decima knew Sirius wanted to get her out of there in case Regulus or one of his friends came along.

Sirius led her into the tower behind a portrait of a very fat lady in a horrible pink silk dress and straight up the stairs to his dormitory where he pulled her on his bed and closed the curtains around them, kissing her passionately as before she even had a chance to take in her surroundings. They heard Peter come in and she pulled back in surprise, but Sirius just grinned, lacing his fingers through her hair and pulling her back into the kiss. Apparently this was normal. Apparently his curtains being closed was like a Do-Not-Disturb sign for the other boys. It didn't really matter, though, because Sirius leaned into her ear and muttered, "I've needed you all day and it hurt that I couldn't have you. I want you now." She could care less if Regulus himself were to open those curtains. She wanted him too.

It was an odd experience, shagging Sirius while she could hear his friends moving and talking outside the curtains, bringing her things to the room and setting them next to Sirius's. They didn't talk about the pair they knew were behind the curtains, though, and that was fine by Decima. She didn't think she could bear the thought of Sirius's friends discussing their sex life while they were right there, having sex. She kept her noises very soft so as not to make things awkward, but Sirius didn't bother. When he came he cried out her name so urgently that the people on the other side of the curtain paused a moment before returning to their conversation about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Boys.

It was getting late and Sirius curled up beside her, holding her tightly to him, breathing deep, tired breaths. It was time for bed. The other boys outside the curtains were beginning to yawn and simmer down as well, and Decima turned over onto her side, facing Sirius. She nuzzled her face into his perfect chest and he gave her a sleepy kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, CiCi."

"Good night," she breathed back. In the morning, she would have to face the world again; she would have to go to meals, have classes with the Slytherins, and even have Quidditch practice. She wasn't sure if she would have the energy to face her new life, but she had to, and that was okay, because she had Sirius.

Halfway through the night, she woke up to a whimpering noise, soft in her ear. She looked at Sirius's face. His eyes were closed, but his features were screwed up in pain. The words he whimpered were barely whispers, merely breaths, but when she listened hard enough, she could just make them out.

"Mom, please, stop. Please, you're hurting me. Please, they're starting to ask questions at school. I'm sorry, mom, I don't know what I did wrong…"

He groaned in pain and she gasped. He was having a nightmare of his mother torturing him. Did his friends know now, or had he hid it from everyone but her and James? How many secrets did this group have? She had always thought that the Marauders were like the school celebrities. They lived this charmed life, good-looking, intelligent, and had their own fan club. But apparently there was a soft underbelly full of dark secrets and lies that she had never seen before. They were more like celebrities than Decima had realized, and now she was a part of their world. She had her own secrets now, and she shared in a few of theirs.

Petting him softly until he calmed down, Decima thought about what Remus had said about the war. Their games were nearly over. School was nearly done, especially for the boys. The real world was waiting for them, counting down the days until it tried to make them fall apart. She wasn't ready for that. Decima didn't even know who she was anymore. Still, lying there beside the great Sirius Black, talented, handsome, and powerful, she couldn't help but feel like an outcast holding another outcast, two lonely, lost souls that the world didn't want and couldn't understand. He had been right about her from the beginning. Regulus had been all wrong for her, because she and Sirius were one in the same. They needed each other, maybe even to survive the world as it was, and as it was about to be in the years to come. Sirius Black had looked into her soul with those gray eyes, and they had seen someone who needed him. Now that she could see it too, Decima was scared. She didn't know what came next.