Chapter 3: Familial Matters

It was a Friday evening in May at Hogwarts castle. And, as usual, there were the usual nighttime prowlers looking for trouble. Among those troublemakers were everyone's favorite gang of fifth year boys; The Marauders.

That night, they had accomplished a great feat; they discovered a new secret passageway on the third floor to add to their map. The only reason they hadn't discovered it sooner was because it was blocked by a mirror. The only reason they had was because Sirius Black had been smoothing out his hair in the mirror when his fellow Marauder, Peter, or Wormtail, had knocked into him, hence causing Sirius to topple into and break through it, only to find his head was not smashed against a wall, but was inside a tunnel.

Sirius, or Padfoot, as his fellow Marauders called him, was especially giddy about this. When it was discovered, he practically leaped for joy, only his head was still wedged through the mirror. Remus Lupin, also known as Moony, had to calm him down before he physically harmed himself. And as always, James Potter only encouraged his best friend's behavior, to Moony's displeasure. And as always, Wormtail just agreed with James.

However, in contrary to their belief, they were not they only wanderers of the witching hour that night. For, another group was wandering the corridors of the castle.

The second year Slytherin, Regulus Black, had been dragged out of the comfort of his dorm room by his roommate, Julius Avery, to meet his relative of lament, Bellatrix Black. She wanted to meet some stupid Gryffindor first year so she could demonstrate some Dark Curses to the boys, who were to be her protégées.

Regulus knew Bellatrix had a sick mind. But, as his brother was doing to his best to cut all ties with their lovely mother, he was expected to be the Death Eater of the family. He was not thrilled. However, he needed to keep up appearances.

Both groups were now just rounding the same corner next to the portraits of Tomas à Becket and Melville the Maniacal. James heard footsteps from the corridor and held up his hand to silence the reveling of his friends.

"Who's there?" he asked into the darkness. There was a sick sort of maniacal laughter coming from the darkness. Suddenly, a tall, dark, beautiful figure emerged from the blackness and into James' wand light. She had pin-straight, pitch black hair and her lips were contorted into a mocking pout that made her look like a loon. She was twirling her wand carelessly through her hair, winding her hair around it, like a snake. She eyed James and chuckled creepily again as James raised his wand, ready to strike.

"Aww, baby Potter," she said in a baby voice throatily. "You can put down the wand. Do you honestly think you could beat me."

"What are you doing here!" yelled Sirius. His face had gone from his handsome cheeriness into a deep red scowl.

"Ah," Bellatrix sighed, eying him as though he were a slug. "It's you. Figures. You always did need all of your little body guards to face me. Last time I saw you, you were hiding your room... I thought you were supposed to be brave."

"Shut up!" Sirius screamed. His face was burning red as a tomato. Bellatrix just gave him a nasty, satisfied grin.

"Is the baby too cowardly to face big bad Bella?" mocked Bellatrix in the baby voice again.

"I thought I told you to shut up, you sick bitch!" he screamed. Suddenly, his angered expression fell significantly. He saw the dimmed silhouette of his little brother in the shadow of Death Eater.

"What are you doing?" Sirius demanded if his younger brother. Regulus opened his mouth to answer, but Bellatrix answered first.

"Oh, Baby Black is coming with me to meet one of your younger house mates." she answered in a grin fit for the Cheshire Cat. "For future reference... you know. Same things I took you to when you were younger."

Sirius lunged at his cousin with out hesitation. He took out his wand and pushed it against her neck, his breathing was rapid. Instead of acting concerned, she chuckled lightly.

"What are you going to do to me, Sirius? Kill me?" She cackled maniacally, but Sirius just shoved her further into the wall. The portraits near them began to edge away from their frames and away from the scene in fear of being cursed.

"Try me," he whispered deathly. Bellatrix smirked. She muttered a strange incantation under her breath and Sirius was blasted against the other wall with a sickening crack. Bellatrix now had a full blown smile. She had probably just killed him. She knew Walburga would be pleased with her work. She guided the two second years away from the limp body of Sirius Black.

The Marauders had witnessed the entire exchange silently, in shock. They knew from experience to never get in between Sirius and Bellatrix. When the Death Eater walked away, they hurried to Sirius, who was not waking up. The crack they heard when he hit the wall had them all frightened beyond belief.

"Is he... you know," gulped James. Remus scrutinized Sirius's body carefully.

"Broken neck," he said.

"How can you tell?" asked Peter.

"The angle of his head," Remus explained, pointing toward the awkward angle his best friend's head was at. James gagged.

"We need to get him to the hospital wing now," said Remus, picking Sirius up and supporting his head. "I run the fastest. Go tell McGonagall what Bellatrix is doing."

From their shock, all the other two Marauders could do was nod and run as fast as they could toward the Deputy Headmistress' office. Remus ran down the corridor at twice the speed of a normal man, thanks to his lycanthropy.

As it turned out, Sirius would be fine. Madam Pomfrey had been awake, doing paperwork in her office. She flipped when she saw the severity of Sirius' injury. Fortunately, she repaired his neck in about ten minutes. She also told Remus that if he had gotten there a minute later, Sirius would have been paralyzed. Remus left that bit of information out when he recounted his experience with the nurse to James and Peter later.

Remus, James, and Peter had stayed in the hospital all night in chairs next to the bed Sirius was in. It was now 9:00 in the morning. Remus had fallen asleep and was now snoring like... well, like a werewolf.

Sirius opened one eye cautiously. He found himself with bandages all around his upper body. He couldn't sit up. He turned his head toward the figures next to his bed. He tried to speak, but he found it quite impossible. He rolled his eyes and settled for staring blankly at the wall. His friends hadn't seen him move. He did this for about an hour, until Madam Pomfrey announced that his friends needed to get to class and that he had another visitor. He couldn't see who it was, but automatically, he knew. On a piece of paper on his bedside table, he wrote, 'Hey, Reg.'

Regulus watched his brother looking so helpless, knowing that it was Bellatrix's fault. He loved his brother. He really did. He knew Sirius loved him too, even if he didn't always want to show it. That's why Sirius cared about what Bellatrix was doing to him.

"Hi, Sirius," he whispered. Sirius smirked. "I'm sorry," Regulus whispered. "You should know, I didn't want to go see Bella hurt that Gryfindor. Avery dragged me. And you know what she would've done to me if I didn't go." He shuddered.

Sirius wrote, 'I know. I had to do it too.'

"She's sick," Regulus said bluntly. "I don't want to be like her, Sirius. But I may not have a choice."

Sirius wrote, 'That's my fault. I'm sorry, Reg.'

"I don't blame you," Regulus whispered. "You're just lucky. You have the right friends. You're in the right House. Not me, though."

Sirius wrote, 'Reg, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Thank you," Regulus said. "For everything, Sirius."

He squeezed his brother's hand and let go quickly. Regulus left with his black robes billowing behind him, and did not look back.