Alex's mother stood stiffly in the park. Oh god… Witches… Wizards… Child abuse… Could this day get any stranger? She had been curious why Regulus' mother allowed him to walk over by himself. Now she understood. Their mother didn't know. What had Regulus said? His mother hates non-magical people? Why? Were all wizards like that? Did she just drink too much last night? No, what was she thinking? There wasn't any alcohol in the house. She personally had always found the taste disgusting. Thinking back, Alex's mother could remember times where Reggie had had bruises on his arms. There had been once where he had had a bruise on his cheek. When she asked about it, he'd just brushed her off, saying it was nothing. Then he had turned to make the bruise fall into the shadows. He had been good at that, like he had a lot of practice. It all made a terrible amount of sense. Many parents abused their children, but that didn't make it right. She couldn't imagine hurting Alex like that. Regulus had seemed star-struck at their house. He didn't seem to know how to work anything, or what it had been called. She'd thought it was strange, but she had accepted the fact that Reggie had grown up in an old-fashioned family. It had been possible that Reggie had never seen a television or a radio. Sometimes, of course, she was slightly confused by his lack of knowledge or by certain things that were done differently. All of it added up to say that Reggie and – what was his brother's name? Sirius? – had grown up in a different world. Even their mother had been dressed strangely. What had she been wearing? A black dress?

"Come on, Alex," she said, "Let's go home."

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Once back at home, Sirius' mother shook with anger. Truthfully, it was mostly directed at Regulus, but Sirius couldn't help but be scared. Who wouldn't be? His mother turned towards him and said,

"Go to your room. Now." Sending an apologetic glance at Reggie, Sirius left the room. He knew why he was not being punished. It was quite obvious that his mother wanted to. However, he had to go to Hogwarts the next day. He could not have any bruises that were visible, nor did his mother trust him to not show anyone. Reggie stood in front of his mother, back straight, prideful. He looked – he looked like a Black. Arrogant, yes, but with an edge to him somehow. Something in his appearance said, don't mess with me. He was terrified, but it was nothing he had not felt before. As Sirius walked up the stairs, he heard the resolute crack of a slap. Ouch. He winced on behalf of his brother. That had been a bad one. Suddenly, he froze on the steps, one foot expended in midair. A voice, which admittedly sounded a lot like Regulus, was telling him to go back downstairs and check on his brother. He agreed with it. So, he spun around and slowly stepped back into the hallway. Quiet… Quiet… Silence was key, or at least it was according to Reggie. Sirius could tell that Reggie had snuck out many times before this night. The key question was did mother know, too? Sirius hoped not. Merlin, he hoped not. The punishment would be bad enough without her knowing that.

Outside the door, the first thing Sirius saw was that Regulus was on the ground. Mother stood threateningly above him. Reggie had a hand on his cheek, and Sirius could see how red Reggie's pale skin was. It was already beginning to bruise. Mother had hit him hard. Sirius watched as his mother hissed threateningly,

"How dare you sneak out of this house? How dare you be in the company of muggles! You – you Bloodtraitor!" Reggie, fire burning in his eyes, rose to his feet.

"And proud of it," he spat back at her. "I don't believe in what you say, mother. You're wrong." Stiffening with complete surprise as Reg said that to her face, Mother cried out,

"Orion! Come here!" Sirius felt a shiver of fear for his brother. His mother may slap them, but when she called their father… That was when they were really… punished. It had only happened to Sirius once or twice. Reggie had had it happen many times, but still, even he couldn't get rid of the fear in his gaze. It was scary, Sirius thought, to see Reggie frightened. Ever since he could remember, Reggie had been the brave one. He was the one that would make a joke and play it on Bella or Cissy. He was the one who took his punishment without flinching. Even though he was younger than Sirius, Reggie had always seemed like the one who could handle worse things in his life.

"What did he do now?" Sirius' father growled, staring at Regulus with a bit of disgust. Oh yes, the Black family was not proud of their second born. Usually, a second son in the family would be married off to a girl with a good ancestry. The second son would be a pawn, not useful for anything other than making the Black family more powerful. Breeding stock. Reggie found it disgusting, frankly, and Reg was not one to do something he didn't want to. One thing was for sure. Sirius could not see that happening to Regulus.

"He snuck out of the house to visit a muggle, and he brought Sirius with him!" It was strange, really, that his parents blamed their younger son for dragging their older son into things. Unfortunately, it was quite true. Sirius had always admired Reggie's ability to laugh at danger, admired how brave Reggie was. Sirius' father did not find said bravery very admirable. Instead, he grabbed Regulus' arm tightly, pulling him closer. Sirius had to respect how Reggie didn't flinch. His father, eyes narrowed, mouth a tight line, raised his wand. With a jerky wave, a bit of purple light flew out and hit Regulus. He slumped in father's grasp. Sirius could see a dark red color begin to ooze into Reggie's white shirt. He was bleeding. Reggie scrambled back up to stand on his own, wincing at the cut across his stomach. That was his only reaction to the pain. His face seemed to mock their parents with its impassive gaze. Its meaning was clear: been there, done that, and survived another day. Waving his wand again, Sirius' father watched impassively as Regulus' nose began to bleed. Reggie barely reacted. Suddenly, Sirius realized why Reggie's nose was slightly crooked. His father looked angry at the minimal reaction. He didn't let go of Reggie's shirt. In fact, his father appeared to have just noticed something.

"Why are you in muggle clothes?" he asked with malice. Regulus' eyes narrowed as he said,

"Because they make me look more handsome." Sirius winced. It was not a good idea to be cheeky with their father. In the end, it only made it worse. Reggie's tone could only be taken as audacious and sarcastic. Sirius already knew what was coming was bad. He never expected his father to yell the unforgivable spell. Never. Nothing Reggie had done was that bad. Sure enough, however, his father shouted,

"Crucio!" Sirius gasped with disbelief. Then he clamped a hand over his mouth so quickly it made a slapping sound. For a moment, he felt a bit of guilty relief that no one had heard him. His parents would have certainly heard him, but for the fact that Regulus' screams covered it up. Sirius stared at the grotesque sight of Reggie writhing with pain, clawing at himself as he screamed so, so loudly… Sirius had never heard Reggie scream before. It scared – no, terrified – him to listen to it, but he couldn't turn away. He hated to see the look in Regulus' eyes, the expression that was crazed with pain and fear. They were the eyes of a wild animal. In that long, drawn-out moment of bitter pain – and so, so much more – a person was reduced to using animal-like instincts. Reggie seemed to choke on the thick pain as he screamed. Finally, the spell ended, leaving Regulus gasping for breath on the floor. Sirius let out a hardly audible squeak. Reggie's eyes focused on him. Still trembling, he discretely nodded his head towards the stairs. The message was clear. You shouldn't have to see this. Without another thought, Sirius obeyed. Racing up the stairs as quickly yet silently as possible, Sirius was in his room by the time another shriek was heard. He was trembling harshly. Reggie didn't deserve that… Then there was silence.

Sirius felt cold relief. They had stopped. Wide-eyed, Sirius stared at the ceiling. Reggie… Was he okay? It was a long time to wait, but Sirius wouldn't – couldn't – fall asleep until he heard Reggie climb up the stairs, as per usual after a punishment. After a long time, Sirius' emotionally and physically exhausted body began to tire. He closed his eyes both unwillingly and unwittingly. Just before he slipped away into sleep, he heard a voice. It was his father,

"No son of mine will be a bloodtraitor! Obliviate!"

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Hey guys! I know I said that I'd be updating this slowly but… This was flowing and my other fics weren't. I know this chapter is a bit short, but it's not too bad… Also, I really had to use that cliffhanger at the end…

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! My basement flooded last year and all the legal documents were lost… (No, really, my basement did really flood last year when my family was on vacation. 90,000 gallons all on the floor when we got back. My brother's guitar was floating…)

I'm not going to lie, but I'm a bit disappointed that this only got two reviews . I'll keep writing it, but I'd appreciate a bit more support (This just made a saying pop into my head: Friends are like bras: they support you and are always close to your heart.) Sorry, I'm really tired and slightly slap-happy at the moment.

Anyway, please review! I'm going out of my comfort zone with this fic. It's the first time I've really done any writing with young-ish children in it. Tell me how I did.

Also, take my poll. It's on if I should keep answering reviews at the bottoms of my chapters.

So far:

Yes: 3

No: 2

Only the most frequent questions: 1

Mrs. Regulus Arcturus Black : Hey, it won't be cliché; I can tell you that. Reggie will certainly change, and so will Sirius. Will Reggie's change be permanent…?

MissSadieKane : Thanks! I'm always trying to kill off clichés. I decided to do something I'd never seen before at all. Their parents weren't bad to Sirius, but Reggie definitely took a harsh punishment. With the child abuse, I did a bit of research. Reggie was born in 1961, and Sirius was born in either 1960 or 1959. Child abuse was mentioned for the first time in the 1960s. It was much more common back then. The problems were publicized in the 1970s (at least in America. I'm not sure about England…) This fic takes place in 1971.