Sirius, dragging his heavy trunk behind him, followed James into the compartment. He was going home.

Home. His parents were going to be ridiculously angry. He was a Gryffindor. Sirius had finally realized what his parents would do to him.

Just like what they did to Reggie.

Suddenly, his blood froze. Reggie.

He'd forgotten about his little brother. His brother had been with their parents all year, and he'd never sent a letter. What had they done to him? Reggie hadn't even congratulated him on being in Gryffindor! Where was his brother?

"…excited to go home," Remus said. Sirius looked up at him.

"What?" he said, finally realizing Remus had been talking to him. Remus sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"I asked if you were excited to go home." Sirius froze. From the corner of his eye, he saw James wince slightly. Sirius bit his lip, his worries flooding his head stronger than ever. After a moment of silence that was dreadfully uncomfortable, Sirius managed to rasp,

"I'm excited to see my brother." Then, James, thankfully, turned the conversation away from his family.

"So, Remus," James asked. "You're probably… er… glad to be able to spend time with your mother." Remus shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah. She's starting to get better. Though, the disease comes in bursts. We never quite know when it will get worse. I'm lucky Dumbledore let me see her so much this year." Sirius could see that Remus was uncomfortable with the current topic. Merlin, it seemed like none of them could talk about their families.

"That's too bad, mate," Sirius said. "What about you, Peter?"

"I don't know, Sirius," Peter said with a shrug. "I suppose it'll all be the same." Peter, at least, did not seem uncomfortable with the topic, so Sirius pursued it, trying to stop his own thoughts.

"What's it usually like?"

"Oh-" Peter said. He was beginning to look a bit uncomfortable. Sirius frowned. Could none of them talk about their family? "Mum'll be paying more attention to my sister – like usual. Dad won't be around much, but it's okay."

Sirius wished his father wouldn't be around much. Unfortunately, that was all it was. A wish. He had no way for it to come true.

"You have a sister?" James asked. Call it cruel, but Sirius was glad the still-slightly-uncomfortable discussion was not focused on him.

"Yeah. Her name's Paula. We never got along well. What about you and your brother, Sirius?" Damn. He'd really been hoping to avoid the topic of family from being focused on him.

"We've been pretty close," Sirius said with a fake calm. "He should be joining us in Gryffindor next year." He shifted, uncomfortable. Finally, after a short silence, James burst out.

"Okay! We're talking about something else! Who's excited to join the Quidditch Team next year?" Sirius, glad for the change, managed a weak smile.

"Me!" he called in a subdued voice.

"I know I am," James babbled, trying to continue the conversation. "What about you, Rem?"

"I think I'll prefer to keep both feet on the ground," he said with a frown.

"Where's the fun in that?" James cried. "What about you, Peter?"

"I'm with Remus. I fall down the stairs weekly. I'm lucky that I don't break my neck. The last thing I need to do is go hundreds of feet up into the air."

"I agree with you there, Pete," Remus said.

"I don't know, Rem. You might read faster up there," Sirius said with a grin, pushing his thoughts from his mind. Remus snorted.

"I doubt that. You two'll be up there breathing down my neck. If I'm lucky, then I'll get some peace while you two are in the air."

"And who knows?" Peter said with a twinkle in his eyes. "One of them might fall hard enough to knock some sense into themselves."

"Oi-" Sirius began, ready to tell them that he had a lot of sense and intellect.

"I hope not," Remus interrupted. Sirius jumped in the conversation.

"See! Rem thinks we don't need it!"

"That fall would have to be from very high to achieve that. I'd be worried if they'd ever wake up again."

"That would still be an improvement, though," Peter pointed out, not allowing the other two to speak.

"I guess you're right, Pete," Remus concluded thoughtfully. " I knew there was a reason I talked to you. Now, concerning James and Sirius…"

"Hey!" James said. "At least I didn't manage to end up swapping my wand for McGonagall's in Transfiguration."

"I fully intended that to happen!" Sirius declared. "After all, I had to keep Minnie on her toes. Couldn't have her looking too calm up there."

"Of course, Siri," James snickered.

Siri. He had signed Reggie's letter with that.

"You fully intended to get the three weeks of detention."

"It's not my fault that my amazing sense of humour is so advanced that a simpleton like Minnie could never hope to understand it."

"Using big words, Sirius?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't. It doesn't make you sound smarter. Nothing can do that, you know." At the same time, James laughed.

"And an advanced sense of humour that simpletons couldn't understand? Please, Sirius! Let's try a sense of humour that no one sane could understand."

"Oi! You wound me!" Sirius said with a grin. "Besides, what about when you tried to imitate Minnie and turn your desk into a pig? You ended up giving yourself a pig nose! Even McGonagall didn't know how you managed that!"

"At least self-transfiguration is a very hard, advanced skill!" James sniffed, holding his nose in the air mockingly.

"Please!" Sirius laughed. "My brother's done it since he was five to hide the bruises!" The three others froze. Merlin, he didn't just say that. Sirius laughed weakly.

"Yeah… Reggie's so clumsy… What – what about the time Pete fell down three flights of stairs?" he managed to say before anyone commented it. Half-heartedly, Peter frowned.

"I was pushed! James pushed me!" he exclaimed.

"I did not! It was Snivelly for sure!"

"He was in front of me, James," Peter wailed. "I know that for sure; I knocked him down, and we fell together."

"Yeah," Remus said with a small laugh. "We know. I'll never forget the look on your face when you realized you had Snape's hair in your mouth."

"I had to wash it out, twice, and if I think about it, I can still taste the grease!"

"Well, let's just blame it on Sirius and leave it at that," James suggested. Sirius had been staring at the ground, lost in thought.

"Oh, yeah. Sure," he said, not really hearing what they had been saying.

Reggie would be fine. He started to chant that in his head. He'd be fine. Mother couldn't change him. He'd be the same as always. Nothing would change. Nothing. James frowned at Sirius' lack of attention.

"Sirius-" Before he could truly say anything, Sirius interrupted.

"Guys, I'm a bit tired. I think I'll try to sleep for a bit." He leaned his head against the window, watching the world go by.

Sleep was the last thing on his mind.

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"…Sirius. Sirius! We're here!" Someone was shaking him, roughly. blinking open his eyes, he saw black hair staring down at him.

"Go away, James," he muttered.

"I would," James said impatiently. "But I don't think Minnie would like it if you rode back to Hogwarts again!" Sirius finally blinked open his eyes. He was on the train.

The train. He was back in London.

Sirius jumped to his feet, knocking James out of the way. It was likely Reggie wouldn't be with his mother. After all, he was probably being punished for something or other.

"You're welcome, mate," James muttered from behind him, rubbing his head from where it had smacked the window. "Next time I'll just let you sleep."

"More time to sleep," Sirius said, glancing behind him as he grabbed his trunk. "Great."

"I can't win, can I?" James asked.

"Of course not, mate," Sirius answered. "Did Rem and Pete leave already?"

"Yeah," James said with a frown. "Rem refused to wake you up. He said he did it enough over the year, and Pete wasn't brave enough to stay. Y'know, just in case you forgot you couldn't use your wand and began to curse us."

Sirius flashed James a smirk before hustling down the hallway. As he exited the train, he could already see his mother. She was tall – like he remembered, scary – as always, and she had someone smaller standing next to her. They both wore black.

Reggie.

Ignoring James grumbling behind him, Sirius ran over, knocking both kids and adults out of his way. Regulus stared at the ground, ignoring his brother's approach.

Sirius ran his eyes over his brother. He didn't see any bruises. That was rare; Reggie always had at least one bruise or two.

"Reggie? Are you okay? Why didn't you answer my letter?" Slow, painfully slow, Reggie's eyes rose to meet Sirius's.

The eyes were dark, cold. They looked so unlike Reggie that Sirius had to stare. When he spoke, his voice seemed older, less playful. In fact, his whole body appeared more regal, more, dare he think it, like a Black's.

"Don't call me Reggie, Sirius," he said calmly, coldly. He sent Sirius a small, twisted smile that was so different then what Sirius remembered.

"Wh-" Sirius began to splutter. Turning away, Reggie locked eyes with his brother for one final time.

"And why would I write to a bloodtraitor?"

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Hey, guys! I know this was quick. Ridiculously quick, really. It seems I underestimated my ability to write a humourous conversation between the Marauders.

I love, love, love the cliffhanger I gave this chapter! It makes me want to read more, and I'm writing it. Although, I know you guys will not be very happy with it.

So, random, strange thing that happened to me today: I got an email from a different writing website saying that someone I followed updated a story. That was normal. Then, at the end, it said, and I quote, "Seriously, stop. You're going to hurt yourself."

I'm slightly frightened. Should I be?

So, please read and review! And thanks to my old reviewers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.