A/N: Hey, so this is to let you guys know that there is a time jump. Sirius is now in his third year already. As I mentioned in the first chapter, I only hope to capture important scenes and this isn't like a continuous story.

Chapter 05: Their resolve

"Alright Mary, I'd see you at 9 30 near your common room," Sirius said a tiny grin flitting onto his lips. "Be ready for the best Hogsmede weekend ever. I know all the cool places to go,"

Mary blushed profusely and said, "But you are a third year. You haven't even been to Hogsmede before,"

"Come now love, don't expect me to give away all my secrets prematurely," said Sirius slyly waving at her as he turned back and started walking to the adjacent corridor. He was still thinking about the Quidditch practice he had just had and his conversation with the Ravenclaw and didn't really watch where he was going. He didn't of course feel the need to; Sirius at this point knew the castle inside out.

He had just walked into a darker passageway which would prove to be a shortcut to the Gryffindor tower when he felt himself hanging upside down, mid-air.

Sirius cursed. His defences had been down. It was usually a near impossibility to catch him unaware. He knew that the spell was levicorpus, a useful spell that someone had invented recently and everyone has taken to using. He also knew that the counterspell was liberacorpus which most people knew.

He raised his wand to let himself down when someone said, "Expelliarmus,"

He deflected the charm easily, having become somewhat good at simple nonverbal spells. It was the same theory as Occlumency, really. He felt another jinx come at him which he barely managed to deflect, as he acted on gut alone, still hanging upside down, blood rushing to his head.

"Liberacorpus" He thought pointing at himself, quickly. But it was too late; the time that he had taken to do the countercharm had been enough for a stunner to hit him, the staggering impact of it sending him flying, crashing hard against the stone surface.

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When Sirius came to be, his arms were tied and he was suspended mid-air. His eyes were blindfolded but the smell was horrible and the air didn't seem like it was anywhere in the Hogwarts castle.

"Sirius Black," said a giggly male voice. "You have been brought to answer to your crime of betraying an old and noble house, to live your life as a blood traitor; fraternizing with mudbloods and muggle lovers,"

"Could you be any more douche?" Sirius said with a small snigger, sounding more amused than he felt.

He was rewarded with a kick to his rib.

"I would keep my mouth shut if I were you, Black. Times are changing; blood traitors and mud blood and scum are no longer as safe as you once were. Dumbledore will not be able to help you forever,"

"Blood traitor that I am and not half blood or muggle born, do you really think you can tell me anything I haven't heard at home?" said Sirius.

"Oh I bet we can tell you a hell lot of things you don't know, Sirius," said a female voice this time, laughing coldly. "Blood traitor runts usually get half the information,"

"But lucky for you," continued the male voice. "You do have access to what we need. Think about it Black. You can turn your life around. We will help you on your way to becoming one of the most powerful wizard in all of Britain,"

"All out of the goodness of your heart, I'm sure," replied Sirius laughing humourlessly.

"Oh we serve the cause for its own sake." The man giggled coldly this time. "Now, one of your little blood traitor friend's father is becoming quite a problem,"

"Yeah yeah, Charlus Potter is threatening our old and important ways, my dear mother has told me innumerable times," said Sirius, getting tired of this tirade.

"No dear boy," said the female voice, colder and more dangerous than the male one. A soft finger moved to brush his cheek, a long fingernail tracing its way to his chin. "We could care less about that old fool. No, we have a problem with old Argyle Longbottom,"

"He may be drafting a bill which if passed by the Wizengamot, would cause us problems that you little boy cannot comprehend," said the man, wheezing slightly.

"And while I grieve for you and my heart bleeds itself out for you, I don't understand where I come in, in all of this," said Sirius sarcastically.

"We don't have time for your witty comments Sirius Black," said a third voice, he had not recognized till now. It was harsher and colder than both the other voices. It didn't even seem like a student's. "You will trick Frank Longbottom into a trap. We handle everything else; get his dear old daddy to drop the bill. Your little friend walks away unscratched. You redeem yourself, get your little honour back,"

Sirius didn't say anything for a while considering the words that had just been spoken. He spat on the ground. "That's what I think of your little plan," He said fiercely. "I will never betray Frank. I would rather die,"

"If only I could give you, your wish Sirius Black. But killing you would have certain repercussions, which I admit I do not want to deal with. But you will learn respect boy, and suffering shall be your teacher. CRUCIO!"

Sirius felt pain like he had never done before, it felt like he was being stabbed time in and again. He felt like he was going to collapse with pain when the curse was lifted.

"Did that loosen your tongue Black," the third voice drawled. "Ready to work with us?"

Sirius blindly beckoned the person forward and soon enough he felt someone draw close to him. "Come closer," He whimpered. "I don't want more people to know this information which may be crucial,"

When he felt the person's ears close next to his lips, he moved as if to tell him a secret but instead bit him hard on the ears, drawing blood before spitting again on his general direction.

"I. WILL. NEVER. BETRAY. A. FRIEND!" He yelled. Next, he felt a hand grab him by the hair and with a thud his head hit the wall and he felt consciousness leave him just as he heard a crack sound and a familiar voice roar in anger.

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Bellatrix was furious. He had heard about this plot all too late. She realized long back how handy it would be to have ears everywhere in Hogwarts and two of these spies reported two 7th year Slytherins, twin brother and sister, talking about abducting Sirius for their master. She didn't know any of the Dark Lord's supporters in Hogwarts to be twins and she really doubted the dark lord would order the abduction of her cousin. So who is this master? Bella planned to find out. All of them would suffer.

She had gone into Hogwarts, disguised in Polyjuice. Her little spies had followed them to the point where they had whiskered Sirius off. She found with delight that they had used an illegal portkey. She had managed to get a contact at the Ministry trace it immediately to an old shack in Scottland to where she disapparated immediately. She had rushed in, reeking with fury, her wand aloft, hair flying behind her.

The sight that greeted her enraged her so much that all the precaution of being sneaky left her. She let out a roar of fury as she waved her wand first at the girl closest to the door. She was stocky but slender in her own way. She fell to the ground, petrified. She moved gracefully, almost thoughtlessly, deflecting several spells both the other figures were throwing at her. The boy was the picture of his sister, except he had gone into the lumpy side. Bella hadn't been able to register the man so far. She sent spells that send the boy flying, blasting him out of the way and into the next room. He dodged the spell that the third wizard threw at her and sent a cutting curse at him, which he dodged.

They danced around for a little more time, deflecting spells, and dodging, throwing spells all at the same time. She noticed that the man had long blonde hair, but she still couldn't see his face properly.

She needed to bring him down and bring him down fast; her cousin was still unconscious in the corner. "Agaumenti!" She hissed, surprising him as he hadn't expected her to shoot water at him, after having thrown dark curses all this while. Because of his shock, he was unable to deflect the spell and water sprouted all over his body. As the shock registered in him, Bella had successfully hit the water that he was drenched in, with an ice charm. The man fell to the floor, trapped in a block of ice.

Bella moved quickly to his side and looked down in distaste and surprise at the face that she recognized, well.

"Malfoy!" She said venomously, moving her wand once more to unfreeze only his face.

"Bellatrix," said Malfoy, trying to keep his voice composed as he lay there, freezing.

"How dare you abduct my cousin, Malfoy?" She spat. "YOUR future cousin, being engaged to my sister"

"Calm down Bellatrix, I did not intend to harm him," said Malfoy, annoyed.

"You used the cruciatus on him!"

"Half of us have the cruciatus used on us as kids. It won't kill him," said Malfoy, rolling his eyes.

"We'd test out that hypothesis, just you and me, Lucius when I get back," Bella sneered. "Maybe that would teach you one simple Black family tradition; you don't betray family,"

With that she rose up and moved towards Sirius who was still unconscious. Bella didn't have much healing knowledge, but her initial observation didn't reveal any major harm done to him. She magicked a stretcher and put on him it and quickly cast an "Incarcerous" charm on the twins and touching all of them, she used the old tin portkey to transport them back near the Hogwarts gates.

Her mind worked fast. Lucius was not a death eater, he believed in the ideals yes but so far the Malfoy family had maintained themselves away from either side in the war. These two definitely weren't death eaters. She will make Lucius talk about this little operation of his, but what to do of these two? She didn't think it wise to kill them till she was sure they had nothing to do with her lord. She decided to turn them over to Dumbledore, let the old fool deal with them. Bella would personally prefer death over being in Dumbledore's "care."

She positioned the three of them, laying Sirius down carefully, near the gate and called. "Kreacher!"

With a soft crack, the Black family house elf materialized in front of her.

"Miss Bella, how can Kreacher help –"

The house elf let out a small yelp.

"Young master Sirius, what happened to him?"

"Don't be dramatic, Kreacher,' Bella said annoyed. Her aunt gave too much liberty to the elf. "I need you to transport all three of them to near the Headmaster's office here in Hogwarts. You'd be able to find out where that is won't you?"

Kreacher nodded.

"Do not be seen by anyone. Create a diversion to make the old fool come down and see them. No one from the family hears anything about this Kreacher!"

Kreacher nodded again.

"Now go!" She watched as the elf touched all three students and disappeared with them.

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"I'm telling you Bella, all I wanted was to scare him a little into turning back to the right side. I've heard rumours about him becoming a blood traitor," said Lucius Malfoy, his voice anguished.

He was suspended mid-air like Sirius was, his hands and legs tied. His robe was taken off and he was wearing only shorts, the ice still clinging to him from chest down, making him freeze even more. He shivered openly.

"Lies, Lucius, you should know better than to lie to me," Bella said softly. She was standing next to Lucius, brandishing a small dagger; one of her choice weapons. She traced the tip of the blade over Lucius's chest, a small gash appearing where she cut. "Why don't you start with some honesty, Malfoy? I do want my sister to have a full husband, not one in pieces,"

"I swear. I wanted to rattle him up a little," He said panicked.

Bella moved her dagger to just below Lucius's scalp and grabbed his blonde hair with one hand. She used her magically sharpened dagger to slice its way through his long hair. Lucius Malfoy screamed in anger and humiliation as his long hair fell away, leaving only a tuft of uneven hair behind.

"It's a shame really. I always thought you had amazing hair," said Bella sweetly, caressing his face.

"You bitch," Lucius cried, his eyes tearing up. Bella reached out with her left hand for the firewhiskey that she had brought with her. She drank half of the bottle in one go and looked at Lucius.

"You should know, that I take harm done to my family very seriously, Lucius," She said smiling at him, cruelly. "It would be an important detail to remember when you plan on marrying my sister as well,"

With this, she tipped the rest of the firewhiskey onto Lucius's chest which sported several gashes and cuts from her blade. He screamed in agony as the alcohol poured over his wounds.

"Oops," said Bella with a cold giggle. "Now tell me dear Lucius, why did you abduct my cousin?"

"Because he was a merlin damned blood traitor, you crazy bitch!" screamed Lucius.

She just smiled back at him as he waved her wand, making the ice thicken around his groin, making him scream out in anguish again.

She took her knife and moved to put it near what was left of his hair again.

"Muggle ways of torture are sometimes just more fun isn't it Lucius?" She said conversationally. "Now tell me the truth before I rid you of the rest of your hair,"

"I wanted him to abduct Frank Longbottom," said Lucius, crying openly now. "To force old Argyle to drop the bill. That would benefit your family as well as mine,"

Bella narrowed her eyes. "I agree with your sentiments about the cause, Lucius. You would have done better to seek help from the right people." She looked at her knife as if considering the blade then looked up at Lucius with a cold piercing stare. "There are other ways to make Argyle whimper. You should really not have involved my family in it," With that she used the knife to brutally shave off what was left of Lucius Malfoy's hair.

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Sirius Black looked from his hospital bed at the blue x-raying eyes of Albus Dumbledore, who was seething with fury. He had not seen the usually warm, humorous headmaster this angry before and he truly understood now why he was the most powerful wizard of his age.

"I must confess myself deeply ashamed Mr. Black," He said. "You should have been better protected within this castle. It was my duty to keep you safe. I apologize,"

"I am alright, Headmaster. There was nothing you could have done," Sirius said softly.

"Well rest assured, the students involved have been expelled and would be transported to Azkaban on this night to await their trial. Their memories have been addled so that Legilimency would not reveal who they were aiding or who came to your rescue but they do remember everything else well and are still arrogant about it," said Dumbledore distastefully.

Sirius shared the headmaster's sentiment.

"Are you sure Mr. Black that you do not remember anything about who they were working for and who came to your rescue?" asked Dumbledore.

"No sir," said Sirius truthfully. "I was knocked out,"

"It was elf magic that brought you to my door. Magic always leaves a trace and I've been able to deduce so much," said Dumbledore. "I trust your family has an elf. Maybe you called for help in distress,"

"I really doubt that Kreacher would be the name that would come to me in distress Professor and I doubt that the elf could have taken down all three of them and rescued me," said Sirius sceptically.

"House elves do have extraordinary magical powers most of us cannot and choose not to comprehend properly out of our arrogance as the superior race," said Dumbledore wisely. "And yet, I find myself agreeing with you, Mr. Black. No, if I am right and forgive my lack of modesty, I usually am, it was a witch or wizard hat rescued you. And while I am eternally grateful to whoever it is, in order for us to find out who was involved in the abduction, it's important for us to know, who the rescuer was and from where you were rescued,"

Sirius nodded but didn't say anything, allowing the Headmaster to continue.

"Do you think it was a member of your family, who used the elf's help to rescue you?" asked Dumbledore

"I don't think so, Headmaster. How would they have known?" said Sirius, though a trace of doubt entered his mind.

"How indeed," Dumbledore mused.

"I'm not in the best books with my family, Headmaster. I don't quite see them going out of their way to help me especially given the circumstances and what those people were asking of me, would be something they approve of," said Sirius shrugging.

"Family functions in mysterious ways, Sirius," said Dumbledore smiling sadly. "Love even expressed in the strangest of ways, helps us do things we would never imagine to be possible. It is both our greatest strength as well as undoing. But usually, I tend to believe it to be a strength, but like the rest of men, too am often mistaken,"

They sat in silence, old man and thirteen year old boy, pondering over the mysteries of familial love. Finally, he got up to leave. "Don't worry about it Mr. Black," He said reinstating the use of his surname. "I will take care of everything. You must concentrate on recovering and getting back to school life. A little group, so named the "Marauders" eagerly await your recovery. I just hope you would keep your return prank to a safe level,"

Sirius let out a bark like laughter and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he walked out of the Hospital Wing leaving Sirius to ponder over his words. Was it possible that it was familial love that had caused someone to rescue him, battling three strong opponents as well as their own morality? And Sirius already found himself thinking of one person, who had the skill and talent as well as who held familial love close enough to maybe have attempted such a feat. He doubted that he would ever know for sure.

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Bellatrix fidgeted slightly. It was not often when she was anxious or nervous. But one man had the power to bring this reaction out of her, the same man who she respected more than any and loved more than her life.

She had felt the dark mark burn when she was using the crucio on Lucius Malfoy, enjoying the amount of pain she was putting him through. She had immediately known by intuition that her lord knew about what had passed. She had apparated both herself and Malfoy to the hideout, where the Dark Lord had commanded her to await his pleasure, while he spoke to Malfoy.

"Bellatrix" A voice said. She looked up to see one of the junior death eaters at the door. "The dark lord requests your presence,"

"The Dark Lord does not request, he demands, boy," She said getting up confidently, eager not to show any weakness to such lower ring supporters. She walked out gracefully and elegantly in a way that befit her position as his most beloved, closest lieutenant, not revealing how much she feared having just lost this position.

She moved off the corridor and into the hall which she entered regally, showing no fear, her head held up high.

The dark lord sat in the centre of the room, looking majestic and divine in a long chair where, different death eaters sat in a row on either side of him. He noticed her as she entered, smiling at her, in his cold, brief way.

"Bella, we've been expecting you," He said.

She moved to take her place by his right side as she usually did but the Dark lord pointed a long finger beckoning her to a spot in the right row, five people away from him. She did not show the emotion she felt at this distance as she walked to her seat and sat down.

When she was seated, the dark lord commanded, "Bring them in,"

A junior death eater moved to open the door and the twins walked in followed by the now, bald Lucius Malfoy. He was covered in bandages and walked with a limp, leaning on a walking cane. Bella had to put in an extra effort to conceal her surprise at the presence of the twinss. They moved to kneel before the dark lord.

"You have been very stupid tonight. All three of you. You went after a member of one of our oldest and most noble houses, the heir himself. It was unbecoming. But you will learn. Your cause is right and your methods will improve. I shall teach you if you are willing," The dark lord spoke in the charismatic tone, which was only his to command.

"We will serve, my lord," Lucius volunteered. "It has been our dream for long to come under your service,"

"We are yours to command," the twins chanted.

"We promise you our wands and our fealty," all three spoke at once.

The dark lord moved to stand up from his chair. He took the left arms of the brother and touched his wand to the forearm, before proceeding to do the same with the sister.

"Rise as my vassals and my loyal death eaters Alecto and Amycus Carrow," He said and the twins rose, their faces gleaming with pride.

"Rise as my vassal and my loyal death eater, Lucius Malfoy, Lord of the noble house of Malfoy," said the Dark Lord, brandishing the mark on Lucius's forearm.

Lucius rose, looking like he had just won the lottery. As much as she hated Lucius Malfoy, she understood how he felt right now.

The dark lord gestured the Carrows to sit way down the line, amongst the junior death eaters and gestured Lucius Malfoy to a position closer to him in the inner circle itself.

"Bella step forward," said the Dark Lord, sitting back in his chair. Bella moved from her chair to kneel before her lord.

"My lord," she said reverently.

"Lord Voldemort is very disappointed in you, Bella. You did not act like yourself. You disobeyed protocol. You went in directly without consulting your lord. Am I not a good master? Had you consulted me, Lord Voldemort would have allowed you to save your cousin, would have ordered my death eaters to help you," said the dark lord.

"I am sorry, my lord. I have erred grievously." was all she could manage.

"Instead, you tortured your captives, who had strong potential of becoming my followers, nearly killed Lucius, and nearly got these two potential death eaters into Azkaban. I had to send a team of my death eaters on a risky mission to rescue them during the transport. How could you just give them to that OLD FOOL? That was very stupid, Bella." The dark lord's eyes bore into hers, coldly.

Bella whimpered on the floor, but she looked into his eyes, knowing that her master respected courage. "I wasn't thinking my lord. I did modify their memory, however. I did not think it would do for Dumbledore to find out Malfoy's involvement. I remain your faithful death eater, my lord. I would do better in the future," she said.

"You know how much we need spies in Hogwarts and you just lost me two with a lot of potential. Their cause is right, Bella. There are few enough wizards who truly believe in the cause. Be glad you didn't make such a grave error. I should make an example of you, show everyone that Lord Voldemort does not take insubordination lightly,"

"My lord is most just. I will accept whatever punishment, you choose to bestow on me," she said her voice stronger than she felt.

"Lord Voldemort admires your courage. I find your torture tactics highly amusing as well," said the Dark lord with a cold laugh. "It is an undeniable reality that your level of strength and magical talent is irreplaceable. Lord Voldemort is merciful, Bella. I choose to replace you back to your station as my right hand and my top most lieutenant,"

"My lord is most merciful, most gracious," Bella said her eyes brimming, gratefully.

"But you cannot escape punishment Bella. You and everyone else needs to know that they can't get away unharmed with an act like this. Crucio!"

A/N: Just a note to remind you guys, that contrary to a lot of fanfiction timelines, Lucius as actually much older than Snape and Sirius generation, being only a year younger than Bella.

Thank you for the reviews. It inspired me to write the slightly longer chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, writing it.

Also, the quote "You will learn respect and suffering shall be your teacher" is directly taken from the tv show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. So, all credit goes to the amazing writers. If you haven't watched it, it is very atrocious and you should rectify your mistake like, now!

Lastly, I know that Levicorpus was invented in Snape's fifth year but for the purpose of that tale, I've changed that little bit of history.

Read, enjoy, review!