Regulus stood in Sirius's room. Sirius was still unconscious, but that didn't surprise him. After all, Sirius had hit his head pretty hard off of the fireplace.

At least, he wanted to believe that was why Sirius wasn't waking up. He was still bleeding. Regulus had been alternating between desperately trying to stop the blood and pouring blood replenishing potions down Sirius's throat.

Unfortunately, as the blood wouldn't stop flowing out of Sirius, the extra blood did nearly nothing, only causing it to come out faster.

Regulus was terrified. Later, he wouldn't admit it, but he sincerely thought that Sirius would die. That scared him. After all, he was only ten, and Sirius, even though he was a Bloodtraitor, was his brother.

Later, it would surprise Regulus that he knew so much about healing. He couldn't remember ever having to control bleeding to that extent, but he found that, even though his mind was nearly paralyzed with fear, his hands knew what to do.

He was grateful that they did it readily.

Eventually, the blood did slow, and Regulus was able to use a few bandages that Kreacher had brought and wrapped the worst cuts.

Sirius was pale – too pale – but the bleeding had stopped. Regulus moved his focus to the broken bones.

Once again, while his mind wasn't sure of what to do, his hands were prepared.

At any other time, he would have questioned that, but he was truly too relieved that Sirius was looking better to inquire about it.

He grabbed one of the potions Kreacher had brought. Regulus knew enough to know that repairing bones hurt quite a bit, and for the moment, he was glad that Sirius was unconscious.

This would not be pleasant for him.

He forced Sirius to drink the brew, pouring it into him slowly so that he would not choke. Then he waited.

After a few minutes, he could see the potion began to take effect. Some of Sirius's ribs began to shift slightly. It was slow, but Regulus was sure that it was agonizing.

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Sirius groaned, the thick pain forcing him to a semi-conscious state. It seemed timeless. There was only him and the pain. He wasn't sure how long he spent like that – it felt like an eternity.

There was a deep pain that pulsed over his entire midsection. He tried to hold his breath – anything to dull it – but that only made his heartbeat pulse in his ears. The throbbing pain immediately matched up to his heartbeat.

Lub (throb) dub. Lub (throb) dub.

It seemed to be a continuous cycle.

Finally, when it faded enough that he could actually think past the pain, he immediately became aware of the pain in his head.

On the back of his head, there was a continuous pain. He found himself wishing for the throbbing, just to have a little reprieve rather than the horrible constant.

Sirius could hear someone moving. Where was he? He remembered being on the train, but the rest was a hideous blur.

Blinking open his eyes, he regretted it instantly when bright light flooded into the crack in his eyelids. The pain in his head doubled, something he would have believed impossible before.

"Sorry," he heard someone whisper. Or at least, he thought someone whispered it. They seemed to be coming from very far away and their voice was distorted.

To Sirius's surprise, however, he recognized it.

"R – reggie?" he croaked. What had happened?

"Sirius?" the voice whispered back. This time, it seemed a bit louder.

"W – what – what happened?"

"You can't remember?" Reggie asked. Once again, his voice was coming across as if from very far away. Sirius tried to open his eyes again – he wanted to see if Reggie was far away – but as soon as the light entered his eyes, the pain intensified.

He closed them again with a moan.

Behind his closed eyes, there were flashes of light echoing through his head, like fireworks.

He tried to remember what Reggie had asked.

You can't remember?

Remember what? Should he have remembered something? Sirius knew he had been on the train coming back from… from Hogwarts.

He had been talking to his friends…

James Potter.

Remus Lupin.

And…

And…

He couldn't remember the last kid's name. That was strange. Sirius was sure he knew him.

Maybe he didn't, though. The kid's face seemed fuzzy in his memories. Sirius decided that he probably didn't know him that well.

Then what happened?

He – er – he got off the train? Sirius couldn't remember that, but it seemed valid.

He had been excited to see… his brother.

Why?

"R – reggie?" he asked again.

"Yes?" Regulus asked. Was it just him, or did Regulus seem nervous?

No. Reggie was never nervous. He was brave!

"You think I'm brave?" Reggie asked incredulously.

Oh. Apparently, he had said that aloud.

"Yes," Sirius garbled. "Reggie? What happened?"

"You – you hit your head, Sirius."

"Oh. I think it hurt."

"I'm sure it did. Are you still in a lot of pain?" Reggie asked. At the same moment, another flash of white fireworks echoed across the darkness Sirius saw.

"Did you see the fireworks?" he asked.

"What – no?" Reggie said. He sounded worried. Sirius felt aggrieved that Reggie hadn't seen them. For some reason, it seemed important that he did.

"They were pretty," Sirius slurred. "Reggie?"

"Yes, Sirius?" It was clear – even to Sirius – that Reggie felt uncomfortable.

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"What happened?" Sirius asked again. Regulus stared at his brother with concern. Sirius was lying still on the bed, too pale and in obvious pain. His words were indistinct, and his eyes were clenched shut, blocking any light from entering.

Combining his appearance with his speech, Regulus could easily deduct that Sirius had something wrong with him.

There were multiple potions that could get rid of the headache, but Regulus didn't know if they would help when Sirius was obviously not in the correct state of mind. He was concerned that it would damage him further.

Sirius must have hit his head harder than Regulus had thought. Much harder than Regulus had thought.

"You – you… What can you remember?" Regulus asked. He really didn't want to say that their father had knocked him unconscious – something still seemed wrong about that, no matter how much Sirius had deserved to be punished.

"I remember – I remember being on the train… And getting off… I wanted to see… you." Regulus wondered if Sirius truly had wanted to see him. They had never gotten along well, after all. Their views and character traits were just too different. Then again, Sirius apparently thought that he was brave, so maybe Sirius didn't believe they were as different as Regulus thought they were.

"Why did you want to see me?" he asked. Really, he should have probably wanted to ask Sirius what happened next, but he really did want to know why Sirius had wanted to see him. From the beginning, Sirius had been talking about how he had 'changed.' This was his best chance at finding out what he meant. Regulus felt distantly guilty that he was using his brother when Sirius was obviously not in his normal mental state, but he wanted to know what Sirius thought. He just called it his Slytherin side and went with it.

"I was… worried. I thought they would – would hurt you. Try to change you."

"How?" Regulus asked. Now, he was even more curious. It seemed like Sirius was going to tell him how he thought that Regulus had changed. Who did he think tried to change him, though?

It couldn't have been their parents. After all, it had always been Sirius that had been the one being punished.

"You're like them…"

"Like who, Sirius?" he asked. Sirius, however, wasn't done speaking, and he continued to talk like Regulus hadn't spoken.

"…But you can't remember."

"Remember what, Sirius?" Regulus asked. Now, his curiosity seemed much more urgent. He needed to know what Sirius was talking about. It didn't make sense that he wanted to know so much. After all, Sirius was lying in bed with a head injury. He had already spoken about nonsense, and he couldn't open his eyes.

Most of what he was saying was probably nonsense anyway.

"Remember – remember… Are you sure you can't see the fireworks?"

"No, I can't-"

"You should see them. They're really pretty."

"I know, Sirius-"

"Reggie?" Sirius asked suddenly, interrupting him.

"Yes, Sirius?" Regulus asked. He didn't protest against Sirius using that ridiculous nickname. Though, Sirius had never called him it before, and he wondered why he would now.

"My head hurts." Regulus was silent for a moment. On one hand, he felt immensely guilty that he had been keeping Sirius in pain in order to find out information. On the other hand, he really wanted to know what Sirius was talking about.

"… Reggie?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, Sirius?"

"Why does my head hurt?" Sirius asked.

"…You hit it. Here, I have a potion… Drink this."

He opted not to give Sirius the headache potion. Instead, he gave him a potion to put him to sleep. Regulus knew that Sirius needed more rest. Maybe the next time he awoke his head would feel a bit better.

Regulus sighed as he looked at his sleeping brother. He did want to know what Sirius had been talking about. Regulus also wondered why Sirius had acted so friendly to him. They had never been too close – they were too different.

Turning around, he left the room, closing the door behind him. It probably hadn't been the best idea to keep the door open. Who knew how their parents would have reacted to what Sirius had said? Regulus had never liked closed spaces. In fact, he avoided them as much as possible.

Sirius would sleep for a couple hours at least. He had quite a bit of time before Sirius woke up.

Regulus knew what he had to do during that time.

Sirius had said things that made him question things. Why couldn't he quite remember specific occasions when he was younger? He faintly remembered fights with Sirius, but there were none that he remembered clearly. That didn't make sense.

It was time to take advantage of the time he had –

And it was time to talk to his parents.

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Hey, guys! Sorry that it took a bit long to update. I'm in school again. And yesterday, I had my level 8 state gymnastics meet. I left the house at 9:00 AM and got home at 2:00 AM. I did pretty well, though.

So, tell me what you thought. I know that I kind of overdramatized the head injury. It was supposed to be a severe concussion…

I have a teammate who just got a severe concussion, and she couldn't remember what she did to get it, so I figured that was valid. The description of his headache is based on when I get migraines. (Including the flashes of light. I also get strange hallucinations and hear things. ._.)

Please review!

Thanks to all my old reviewers!

Please check out my story previews! It's called "Which Should I Write? Two Story Previews." Tell me which sounds better! Currently, I am leaning towards the second one with the Dark Sirius!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!