Alex's mum watched as her boy pulled his heavy trunk onto the Hogwarts Express. She couldn't believe it was real – never, in her wildest dream, had she expected her son to be magical.

As he walked towards the train, two boys joined him. Both had rather long, dark hair and both already wore Wizarding robes.

She recognized them easily – Reggie and Sirius Black.

Alex's mum swallowed hard as she saw the boys smiling and greeting each other. Alex had shown her Sirius's letter – how he was scared for his brother. Then Regulus hadn't showed up for months, and when he finally did, God, was he different.

The childish gleam had been lost from his eyes, and it had been forced out of him. She had seen signs of abuse on Reggie. Bruises – more than even a young boy whom she never saw roaming his own yard – in fact, she wasn't quite sure what house he lived in – could get. His demeanor, if she had had to raise her voice to be heard over them. The young boy would go silent, and one time, she thought she could even see him trembling.

But she had never said anything.

Not until both brothers were caught doing something they weren't allowed.

It was hard to believe that such sweet boys could have assholes for parents.

Reggie seemed a bit better – no doubt because of his brother's return. However, his posture was still stiff, and there was a darkness to his eyes that she had not seen before. He had changed – his parents had twisted their sweet son into a cold, unfeeling being.

Despite the boys's assurances that nothing could be done, she had asked the witch – Minevra McGonagall – about them. The Professor had told her that there was nothing that could be done for the poor boys – at least until they got to school.

She had explained that the older families had a picture of how their children would act and behave. If a child didn't fit the picture, then they were forced into it using brutal, painful ways.

It was sick; it was twisted. She honestly couldn't believe any parent would try to alter their child's very being through cruel ways.

But it was happening. Alex's mum looked through the crowd to find the parents of the two boys that she had grown fond of.

They stood stiffly and glared at those around them. The woman was large, with sharp features and a short stature. The man was tall and thin, and his presence spoke of power and hate.

Making a (bad) decision, she began to walk over to the parents.

"Excuse me?" she greeted, stepping into their line of sight.

The woman ran her eyes over her with an obvious sneer of disgust.

The man didn't even glance at her.

Undeterred, she stepped forward again, eyes narrowing in righteous determination and anger.

"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Black?"

The pair looked at her, faces fixed in contempt and disbelief.

"Who are you?" the man sneered, looking down at her and sniffing like he couldn't believe he had to talk to her.

"My name's Veronica Steek. My son's a friend of your boys, and I wanted to talk to you about them." The man ran his eyes over her, making her shuffle, uncomfortable in the harsh gaze.

"A muggle? A Mudblood? I knew my sons were Bloodtraitors, but I never thought they'd fall that low."

Veronica ignored the man and his glare, meeting his eyes.

"I think what you do to your sons is disgusting. Hitting them like that – they're children, and they're a hell of a lot kinder than you are. Whatever you did to your son, Regulus, was terrible, and it made it him so much more like you."

"Thank you," the man said, turning away. Both began to step away from her.

"What did you do to him?" Veronica asked, needing to know just what had changed the poor boy.

The man stopped, despite the fact that his wife continued walking forward. Without turning around, he said,

"I erased his memories."

"What?" she demanded, eyes wide and shocked as fear pulsed through her.

"A muggle like you could never understand what or how or why."

The man began to walk again, being absorbed into the crowd as he went.

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Regulus boarded the train with Sirius and Alex – he couldn't believe that he was finally going to Hogwarts!

They found an empty compartment almost immediately – with all of their excitement, they had arrived slightly early. Sitting, Sirius began telling stories – Regulus knew he exaggerated to extraneous amounts, but he couldn't help but be filled with wonder at the world of castles and mystery and magic that awaited him.

"Sirius!" a loud voice exclaimed, and Regulus turned to see a boy with a mop of black hair come flying into the compartment.

Regulus knew he should have recognized him, but he couldn't seem to reach the memory. Sirius hadn't stopped talking about the bloody kid, and he couldn't remember his name.

He sounded fun, though, and nice. Regulus thought that he'd get along well with the kid.

"Mate, how you've been?" Sirius exclaimed, clasping the boy's shoulder.

"I've been great! You? I brought a broom this year," the kid said, nearly bouncing out of excitement over seeing his friend. Sirius grinned back, just as excited as his friend.

"That's great! I've been – well, I was busy… but I have a broom this year too!"

"We're going to be on the Quidditch team, mate!" the boy exploded.

Alex leaned towards Regulus.

"Quidditch is the sport – right?" he asked, whispering the question. Regulus smiled at him.

"Yeah – it's a great game. You can learn how to fly this year, and if you like it, you can try for the team nest year! I definitely will be!"

Sirius's friend seemed to notice the other occupants of the compartment for the first time.

"Oh – hi!" he exclaimed. "You must be Regulus and… Alex? Right?"

"Yeah," Regulus said, trying desperately to remember who the kid was.

"You're James, right?" Alex jumped in.

"Yep – James Potter, at your service," he said, faking a small bow. Regulus froze. James Potter, whose family was one of the worst Bloodtraitors in this century. James Potter, the son of the Aurors that had been trying for years to catch the Black family doing anything illegal.

Sirius's friend was a Potter. Suddenly, Regulus couldn't seem to see past that. The kid before him, smiling like an idiot, was a bloodtraitor and a Potter, at that!

Regulus turned to Sirius, disbelief visible in his gaze.

" A Potter? I knew you didn't have many standards, Sirius, but I thought –" Regulus sneered, ignoring James, who still stood there, silent and shocked.

Sirius flinched and held up a hand. James's mouth had fallen open. Regulus stopped, allowing his brother to speak.

"Reg, this – this isn't you," he said quietly, sadness and pain echoing from his voice. Regulus froze again. He knew what Sirius was talking about.

The memory charm.

Their father.

Irreversible.

(a year ago, you would have loved to be friends with a Potter)

"Oh," Reg said, hardly making a sound. "I – I'm sorry, Sirius… James, I – I didn't mean…" Reg trailed off. He couldn't tell James that he hadn't meant what he said because something inside of him did mean it.

It just hadn't been him that said it.

"It's alright, Reg. It's not you. It never was you," Sirius said.

"What – what's going on?" James asked, looking between Sirius and Regulus, wary of the two brothers.

"You remember how nervous I was for Reg last year?" Sirius asked him.

"Yeah," James said. "You couldn't wait to see him."

"I was right to be nervous. My parents – our parents – did something terrible to him…" Sirius seemed unable to say exactly what they had done.

"They erased my memories," Regulus said. "And they molded me into the perfect pureblood son. I began to break the charm, but I haven't been able to break it completely. No one can, really. What I just said to you – that was the me that listened to everything mother and father spouted about Muggleborns and Bloodtraitors. It wasn't the real me.

"I'm sorry that I said that stuff to you. Hopefully, it won't happen again, and we'll be friends. Here – we can try this again." Regulus held out his hand to shake, and James, still staring at him, shook it.

"So, you were practically being brainwashed this whole past year?" James asked.

"Yeah," Regulus said with a strained, bitter chuckle. "I guess you could say that."

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Hi everyone! sorry for taking forever to update… I promise more RAB and SOB scenes in the future (as soon as I decide where Reggie should be sorted… feel free to throw an opinion in…)

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! It makes my day, reading your comments.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Regulus.