"Well, well, well," said a menacing voice from underneath the hood of the cloak, "It looks like you're all here…"

Chapter 20: Regulus Black

Lily's POV:

Clara and I glanced at each other. We had stood up when the man had arrived (and, incidentally, when our couch had disappeared) and we were now arm in arm, Clara shivering.

The man took of his hood. It was Sirius! Only Sirius playing a joke on us! I sighed with relief, until I realized that it wasn't Sirius. He looked a lot like him, but he was not Sirius. His eyes were much more evil-looking, for one thing. His features were much more angled, almost sharp, again giving the appearance of being evil.

It was Regulus Black, Sirius' brother.

"Who-who is it?" Clara whispered to me, her voice echoing in the objectless hall.

"I am Regulus Black, brother of the well known Sirius Black."

There were gasps from the other muggleborns.

"I have orders from my master, the Dark Lord, to… well, shall we say," he paused, seeming to contemplate, "clean out this school of dirty blood. Meaning," he paused again, and gestured at the crowd, "kill you."

Clara went white, as did many others. One boy started panicking.

Phil, though white, stared angrily at Regulus.

"We aren't any worse than you!" he shouted, "We're better, even! We don't judge people on the 'purity' of their blood!" He was taking great, shaky, breaths.

Regulus had looked at Phil silently until he was finished. "Now, now, we can't have any of that, can we? Avada Kadavra!"

There was a flash of green light and Phil dropped to the ground.

"PHIL!" Clara screamed, letting go of me and running to the dead boy's side, tears running down her face. "No, Phil, you can't be dead! Phil! Phil!" She began shaking Phil, as if to try to awaken him.

Regulus looked on, a smirk on his face.

After a moment, Clara turned to Regulus, sorrow replaced by hate, tears still there. "YOU! You did this! I'll- I'll-" she rushed at him, forgetting her wand, but I ran up and grabbed her arms, pulling her back. Through her tears, I heard her say, "I never got to tell him I loved him. I never even-" she collapsed into sobs.

I hugged her, whispering into her ear. "Shhh, shhh, you'll be okay, shhh, Clara, you'll be okay."

Regulus' voice broke me out of my comforting. "Everyone grab a partner! Someone you are friends with, or like, or something!" he snapped.

I had a feeling that it wasn't for a dancing partner, but I grabbed Clara. She needed me right now.

"One partner on one side of the room, the other on the other side!" Regulus ordered.

I felt an urge to do what he said, the same kind of urge I had felt when I had wandered down to the third floor. Was I under the Imperius curse? I doubted it. Then, as I walked to one side of the huge room, I remembered.

Filthy mudblood.

Regulus must have been the hidden person. He must have put a spell on me then that made me do his bidding when he wanted me too, but otherwise let me lead a normal life.

"And now," he paused, seemingly for effect, "you shall perform the Cruciatus curse on one another."

Gasps spread around the room.

I felt an urge to point my wand at Clara and say "Crucio!" but I knew she couldn't handle any pain in her current state. She seemed to be struggling with herself, too, as shrieks erupted from both sides.

Then she seemed to give up, and raising her wand she shouted "Crucio!"

I braced myself for the pain, but none came. I stared confusedly at Clara, as she stared at her wand. She tried again. "Crucio!"

I braced myself again, but no pain arrived. Just then Regulus walked up to her.

"You aren't trying hard enough," I heard him say to her, "This is what it should feel like. Crucio!"

Clara fell to the ground, writhing, obviously in terrible pain. Then her body went limp. My eyes filled with tears. "NO! CLARA!" I rushed towards her, but when I was halfway across the room Regulus pointed his wand at me, his lips forming the spell.

I screamed. All I could feel was pain. Pain, the most horrible, terrible, mind numbing pain. Worse pain than you could ever imagine.

Then it stopped. "How do you like that, mudblood? That's for dirtying my brother even more than he was."

The pain came again. This time, I dropped to the floor. When it stopped, I could barely see Regulus, only the outline of his body. Tears streamed down my face.

"This is how mudbloods should always be treated," he said, kicking me. I winced and tried to inch away, but he kicked me again, "They should be treated like the filth they are."

After kicking me a few more times, he walked away. I thought that he was stopping, and I let out a breath I didn't know that I was holding. But then, he turned around and I vaguely heard him say "Crucio!" before the pain ambushed me yet again.

This time, he tossed me about in the air, doubling the pain. I didn't think I could stand much more. Soon, I knew, I would meet the same fate as Clara, and Phil, and who knows whom else.

Death.

AN: I deserve lots of reviews after that, right? Also, I borrowed the "mind numbing pain" thing from Eldest. I was listening to the audiobook, and it was talking about Eragon's back, and how the pain was "mind numbing" and I was like, "Hey! I could use that when Lily's getting tortured! :D" heh.