The next morning, Sirius woke up with a mix of anticipation and dread flying through him. He was going to Hogwarts. HOGWARTS! Merlin, he couldn't wait! Even though he'd miss Reggie – wait, Reggie. Was he alright? What had happened? Sirius tried to remember the spell that his father had thrown at Reggie, but to his horror, he couldn't. It started with an O; that he could remember. The rest, however… Was it dangerous? Silently, Sirius scoffed. Of course it was dangerous! His father had used it to punish Reggie! When weren't his spells dangerous? Suddenly, it occurred to Sirius that the punishment the night before was much, much worse than usual. His father had used an unforgivable on Reggie. Crucio. And – and Reggie had screamed. For as long as he could remember, Reggie had never screamed as he had been punished. Never. He always faced them, brave, calm, eyes staring at their father with no fear. Reggie was brave to do that.
"Sirius!" his mother called suddenly. "Come down here!" Immediately, he stood up and began throwing his clothes on and getting ready. Wand? Check. Robes? Check. Trunk? Check. Owl? Check. Then he bounded downstairs. At the bottom, his mother scolded him.
"Don't run down the stairs! You're the heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black! Act like it!" Sirius nodded, not really hearing a word of it. Reggie wasn't down there. Merlin, Reggie wasn't down there. He had always been the first up. Always. He wasn't one to sulk. If he wasn't down here; then that said he was too injured to make it down the stairs or their parents had locked him in his room again. They had done it before. It had been terrible every time. The suspense in waiting was… just cruel. Sirius guessed that if he said one thing that Reggie had to be afraid of, then it was small spaces. No, scratch that. Reggie was afraid of small spaces he was trapped in. Sirius could remember the heavy, hyperventilating breaths. Afterwards, he'd been young enough to ask Reggie why he was so scared of it. For, at that point, he'd never seen his younger brother seem so shaken. Reggie said that the walls close in on him; that they always come closer. Of course, this punishment was extremely popular with their parents due to the fact that he reacted to it. After the years, however, even his fear of that seemed to fade. It was still there, only weaker, but their parents began having to turn to violence more and more. Unknowing of her heir's pensive thoughts, Sirius' mother was eating breakfast. His father had already eaten, alone, as usual. Finally, Sirius could hold it in no longer.
"Where's Reggie?" he blurted out suddenly. His mother sneered at him, distaste in her eyes.
"He's feeling slightly… ill and isn't well enough to come with us today." Sirius felt his eyes widen. For Reggie not to come and see him off… This was serious. More serious than he'd imagined, at least.
"Will he be okay?" Sirius asked desperately. His mother smiled cruelly, sending shivers up Sirius' back.
"I think he'll be a lot better now." Sirius quelled his urge to jump up and began shaking his mother, demanding to know what she meant. His mother prophesized a change in Reggie? What had they done to him? They had had to have done something! Something bad – no, terrible. If it was bad enough to break Reggie's spirit… Merlin, it would have been horrible. Sirius knew his mother wouldn't make a claim like that unless she was sure. Something had been done to Reggie, and whatever it was, it was worse than any other punishment than he ever received.
After a bit of silence and a good breakfast, Sirius' mother stood.
"Get your trunk. We're leaving," she ordered. Not wanting to antagonize his mother, Sirius stood and quickly ran up the stairs. Pausing in front of Reggie's room, he called out,
"Reggie?" There was no answer. Worried, Sirius tried the door knob. It was locked, just like he expected. Reggie was in there, obviously. Yet, he either was too hurt or not even awake to answer. If he wasn't awake, then it wasn't a natural sleep. Could it really have been that bad?
Clenching his eyes shut as if in physical pain, Sirius shook his head roughly before walking past the room and into his. Then he grabbed his trunk quickly and ran out, rushing down the stairs. Well, at least he tried to rush. His trunk was too heavy for him to go fast. In fact, Sirius thought for a second that he'd fall, but he was able to regain his balance quickly. His owl, Ary, was not impressed by the near slip and expressed her anger with a loud hoot. His mother was waiting for him in their Hallway. From there, she would use side-along apparation to take him to the Platform. Sirius would've preferred floo, but there was no way he'd be able to hold onto his trunk.
Without preamble, his mother held out her arm. Sirius grasped it, and suddenly, he was feeling the sickening reaction unique to apparation. When he landed at the Platform, Sirius let go of his trunk, causing it to bang heavily and more than a few heads to turn. Then he doubled over trying to keep his breakfast in. His mother hissed, too quiet for anyone but Sirius to hear,
"Get up!" Sirius straightened shakily, still struggling to not vomit. His mother was not sympathetic. Walking at a brisk pace, she plowed forward. She bumped into someone, and when she saw they were wearing muggle clothes, she sneered and made a show of looking at them in disgust. Sirius followed behind, sending the man an apologetic glance and feeling thoroughly disgusted at her behavior. This was what Reggie always meant. His mother – and father, had he been there – both treated nice people as trash, for no valid reason. Sirius had never realized how horrible it really was. How did Reggie understand that before he did? Now, she expected Sirius – no, both her sons – to grow up in her image. According to her, she was bringing honour to the Black family. Sirius personally thought the family would look much better if they weren't so inbred and nasty to all but a select few (most of whom were relatives.) As soon as his mother stopped, she played the proud, pureblood parent role that Sirius was sure she had had to practice. There was no way the slight hint of tears in her eyes could be real... Mother didn't care enough for Sirius to cry over him as he left. No, it was all an act. It became clear to Sirius when she hissed quietly,
"Do not bring dishonor to the Black family!" Sirius glared at her, something that she tried to hide from the other people on the platform.
"I'll bring the Black family honour from Gryffindor house." He didn't know why he said it. All in all, it was a bluff. He wasn't Reggie, who was a sure Gryffindor. No, in fact, he didn't know why he said that at all. It wasn't something he'd normally say. Then again, he was in public, so his mother couldn't hurt him. She did, however, stiffen spectacularly
"You will be Slytherin! Or you will no longer be a Black!" Sirius snorted. He knew that was a false threat. They wouldn't dare make Reggie their heir. If anyone was going to be disowned, then it would be him. Still, Sirius couldn't help but think of his mother's certainty that Reggie had changed. It was just a bluff, right? Sirius knew it wasn't; his mother wasn't the type to make a false claim. Then again, she had been in Slytherin herself at school.
"And then who'll be your heir? Reggie?" Sirius was hoping she'd look horrified at the thought. To his horror, she didn't. A crafty, unrecognizable expression crossed her face; it was terrifying. What had she done to Reggie?
"He'd make a better heir than you would." Sirius knew shock had visibly flashed across his face very vividly. His mother smirked.
"Get on the train. You'd better be in Slytherin, Sirius!"
1231231231231231231231231231 2312312312312312312312312312 312312312312312312312312312
Hey guys! How's it going? Sorry this is a bit short, but I wanted to end it there, so…
I'm not guilty over how long it took to update. When I started this, I said the updates would be slow. Sorry!
Please read and review! I must say that I expected more than I have now.
Please vote in my poll! What house should Reggie be in?
I'm not sure if you guys heard yet, but I decided to quit answering reviews personally at the bottom of my chapters.
Some questions asked:
Is it permanent?
No. Even if Regulus only remembers after drinking the potion in 1979, he will remember.
Why would the Black's abuse their children when their pureblood is so valuable?
In Sirius' case, his parents are grooming him up to be their heir, and he acted like it. So, it says it had only happened once or twice to Sirius because he didn't need it, in their eyes.
With Reggie, he always showed signs of being a bloodtraitor. And to Voldemort, Bloodtraitors are just as bad as those with dirty blood. (Ex. Weasley, Prewett, Potter, Longbottom…)