A/N: Hello lovelies! Special hello to all of you new readers/followers/favouriters and reviewers! I'm sorry I haven't replied to your comments - I totally meant to, but I've been so busy with work!

I'll answer VampirePrincess86's question here, so that everyone can see it. I honestly never thought about what accents they'd have, but yeah, I guess they would have British accents! And in that case, I imagine Emma to have an East London accent (youtube clips of EastEnders if you don't know what that is), Regina to have a posh accent (the one everyone thinks of when they think British), I'm imagining Ruby as a Northerner (youtube clips of Emmerdale for an example), Mary Margaret as a Scouser (youtube it), Aurora is Welsh (youtube Eve Myles) and Maleficent is a Geordie (think Cheryl Cole)! I think a variety of British accents is needed! I kept Henry calling Regina 'Mom', though, because it's cute! ;)

x

P.S. Happy birthday Luce! This chapter is dedicated to you. Sorry it's not more... cheerful... ;)


"Mother?" Regina fought to keep her tone light and even as she entered her mother's house. It seemed to be in complete darkness and the brunette flicked her wand, causing the candles that illuminated the Black Mansion to leap into life. "Mother, are you here?"

"She's out with Cissy."

Jumping slightly as her eldest sister's voice cut through the silence of the grand entrance hall, Regina whipped around and fixed Bellatrix with a fierce glare. The older woman simply laughed and wandered back into the large parlour she had emerged from, her tumbler of deep crimson liquid clutched tightly in her hand.

"Wine?" Regina asked, nodding towards the glass which was quickly drained.

"Berry Ocky Rot." Bellatrix informed her seriously, waving a bottle at her. "The Hog's Head's finest. Want some?"

The younger sister curled her lip at the thought and shook her head. "No, thank you, Bella. I'll stick to Firewhisky."

"Suit yourself." Bellatrix muttered with a shrug, draining her newly poured drink in one gulp. "What d'you want, anyway? Mother isn't happy with you!"

"Which is why I'm here."

"Why?"

Regina sighed exasperatedly. "Why what, Bella?"

"Why are you here?"

"How many of those have you had? It seems to be rotting your brain."

Bellatrix laughed and danced across the room towards her sister. She grasped Regina's chin roughly, shaking her head from side to side before yanking it upwards and looking at her hard. With a scowl, Regina wrenched her face out of the older woman's grasp and stepped backwards. Bellatrix laughed again and moved back to the drinks cabinet, pouring herself yet another drink.

"Seriously, Bella…"

"Oh lighten up, Gina!" Bellatrix urged with a laugh. She carelessly poured two glasses of the pungent smelling red drink and held one out to her sister, ignoring Regina's refusal to try the Berry Ocky Rot. "Anyone would think you were the older sister."

"Someone has to be the sensible one, Bellatrix."

"Someone has to be the boring one, Regina."

With a loud huff, the younger woman threw back the alcohol her sister had handed her, wincing as it burnt its way down her throat. She coughed, holding out the glass for Bellatrix to replace on the cabinet, shaking her head as she made to refill it. Bellatrix raised an eyebrow and smirked, simply shrugging and leaning against the wall. She kept her eyes trained on Regina's face, waiting for her to speak.

"What even is that stuff?" Regina asked, wincing at the aftertaste. "Actually, I don't care. When will Mother be back?"

"I don't know."

"Well where is she?"

"Out."

"Helpful as ever, Bella." Regina rolled her eyes. "Do you even know?"

"Of course I know!" Bellatrix snapped, acting exactly as her younger sister had expected. "She and Cissy have gone to a meeting at the Hog's Head."

At once Regina's attention was solely focused on what she was saying. "What kind of meeting?"

"They're planning a tea party." Bellatrix threw back her head and laughed at her own sarcastic comment. She ignored her sister who was waiting patiently for her to recover, chuckling softly once the raucous laugh had subsided. "Where better to plan our next moves than in plain sight?"

"What exactly is being planned?"

Bellatrix smirked. "If you don't know…"

"Bella! Whatever it is, if it concerns me or my family or my job in any way I have a right to know."

"Mother told me not to tell you." The older woman replied childishly, a broad smirk spreading gleefully across her face.

"You are such a child!" Regina snapped, losing her patience as her anxiety increased. "What if I just go to the Hog's Head and tell Mother you sent me?"

"She'd be angrier with you than me."

"No, she wouldn't!"

"Yes, she would."

Regina sighed; arguing with Bellatrix was strongly reminiscent of arguing with Henry when he was a small child. The oldest of the sisters had always been the most spoilt and the most childish; the apple of their mother's eye. Bellatrix could do no wrong as far as Cora was concerned. Even her arrest and stint in Azkaban had done nothing to dent the immense pride the woman had in her eldest child, while it had done rather a lot to addle Bellatrix's already unstable mind. Regina had to admit, though, that her sister would never hurt anyone she cared about and that did include the brunette glaring irritably at her at that moment.

"Alright, dear, I'll just wait here until she returns."

"You won't have long to wait, Regina." A cold voice replied from the doorway.

Regina turned slowly and found herself being regarded by a small crowd. Cora and Narcissa were there, along with several of her mother's closest acquaintances. They couldn't be described as friends, because Regina was under no doubts that her mother would disregard them as easily as old socks if it suited her to do so.

"Mother, it's lovely to see you. How are you?"

"If you'll excuse us?" Cora asked pleasantly, ignoring her daughter's question and turning to the Death Eaters that had followed her into the parlour. "I need a private word with my daughter." The small crowd immediately left the room. Then Cora turned to her older daughters. "Bella, Narcissa…"

They both left as well, Narcissa shooting Regina a wary look and Bellatrix looking half amused and half disappointed that she wouldn't get to watch whatever was about to happen. She smirked at Regina as she passed her, pushing her arm through Narcissa's and drawing her from the room.

Cora raised an eyebrow at Regina, settling herself carefully on the expensive sofa in front of the fireplace. She patted the cushion beside her as the younger woman hesitated, unsure whether to join her or not. Regina crossed the room and sat down nervously, crossing one leg over the other awkwardly and smoothing out her skirt.

"Well this is a surprise, Regina. To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Regina was not fooled by the fake warm tone her mother employed. She smiled weakly. "I felt terrible that Henry and I were unable to see you over the holidays. Things at Hogwarts have been… busy."

"Really, darling."

"Yes… I didn't realise how much work teaching involved. Planning lessons and marking the children's work really–"

"And so you're here to apologise?" Cora cut across her, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, Mother."

"It's going to take more than an apology to stop me being upset, Regina. You went against my express wishes and you know how much I dislike it when you disobey me."

"I'm sorry, Mother, I just–"

Cora smiled at her, her eyes dangerous and her teeth bared in a well-disguised snarl. "I have no use for your apologies."

Regina knew what was coming and closed her eyes, attempting to prepare herself for the white hot heat that would soon begin coursing through her veins. There was no point bracing herself against the inevitable pain and, when it hit, it was all Regina could do not to cry out. Cora hated it when she screamed and often the punishment would last longer.

All coherent thought left the brunette as her body convulsed in response to the Cruciatus curse being used on her. She tried to cling on to some semblance of rational thought as the pain threatened to overtake her completely. Her last thought before the familiar blackness hit was that, at thirty-six-years-old with a thirteen-year-old of her own, she should not still be allowing her mother to do this to her.


Regina glanced sideways at her friend, watching as Severus scribbled something into the margin of his Potions text book. She sighed as he frowned at the instructions they were supposed to be following in Advanced Potion-Making, before crossing something out and writing his own version above it. They were supposed to be working on brewing an Elixir to Induce Euphoria, following Libatius Borage's instructions. Severus, as always, thought he knew better than the author of their text book and was doing his own thing; correcting the method as he went along.

"Stir twice anti-clockwise, once clockwise and then repeat…" Regina read the boy's spidery writing exasperatedly. "Sev, it says to stir it four times anti-clockwise after adding the Porcupine quills."

"This will work better." He assured her, barely looking away from his potion to meet her gaze.

"How do you know that? How do you know it won't explode in your face and, due to the fact that I'm stupid enough to work next to you, my face."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you so little faith in my Potions abilities, Gina?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot. You're almost as good as your precious Lily Evans." Regina sneered at him, looking over his shoulder to where the girl in question was working at a table with the other sixth year Gryffindors who were taking Potions. Despite the fact that Lily and Severus had fallen out the year before, he still got irritated when Regina made comments about the other girl. "I think if Slughorn praises either of you once more before the end of the lesson I might just tip the contents of your cauldron over your head."

Severus chuckled. "Oh, come on, Gina. Slughorn loves you."

Regina snorted. "Because I am my mother's daughter."

"Because you are an extremely talented witch." He corrected her gently, seeing the familiar disgust flitting through her eyes as she thought of being compared to her mother.

With a dismissive shrug and roll of her eyes, Regina returned to her own potion, determinedly ignoring his attempts to offer suggestions on how she could improve her work. Severus merely focused on what he was doing, continuing to make additions and alterations to the instructions and smirking a little as his friend grew more and more irritated as her potion refused to turn the required sunshine yellow colour. She was desperately re-reading the instructions for a hint as to how to stop it being dark orange.

When Professor Slughorn announced that it was time for them to stop working and made his usual rounds to inspect their potions, he raved over Severus and Lily's attempts with his usual enthusiasm. He gave Regina a warm smile and told her that her potion looked good, while quickly bypassing the table of Hufflepuffs behind them. He nodded approvingly at several more potions, while turning his nose up at others. To Regina's immense satisfaction he actually recoiled from Sirius' cauldron and poked at whatever James had created with distain.

As Severus began packing up his things and pushing them into his bag, he managed to knock his copy of Advanced Potion-Making onto the floor. With a sigh, Regina bent to pick it up, glancing down at the page it had fallen open on. She snorted as she read the words 'Property of the Half-Blood Prince' in Severus' handwriting at the bottom of the first page and casually flicked through the book.

"Severus!" A frown appeared on her face as she scanned one page quickly. "The Muffliato Charm is mine! I invented that and you know it!"

"So?"

"You've written it in your book as if it was yours!" She glared at him, before flicking through the book more carefully. "That's mine too… and that! You've even written down the Langlock jinx?"

Severus grabbed the book off her and stuffed it in his bag. "Why are you getting so–?"

"They are mine! You can't just claim credit for–"

"Are you hoping they'll make your Mummy proud of you, Regina?" Severus asked spitefully. "It'll take more than a muffling charm and a childish jinx that sticks someone's tongue to the roof of their mouth to make Cora proud of you."

"Something like your stupid Sectumsempra curse you mean?" The girl hissed, leaning in so that no one else would be able to hear what she was saying.

Severus' eyes flashed dangerously and his hand twitched to where his wand was tucked away out of sight. Regina arched an eyebrow at him, daring her friend to make a move. Before either of them could do anything else, however, a very unwelcome voice behind them made them whirl around. They were instantly united against their common enemy, their argument forgotten at once.

"Alright, Snivellus?"

Regina glared at Sirius as he grinned broadly at them. She said nothing, however, not deigning to afford him such a privilege. Instead she curled her lip into a snarl and turned away, tugging gently on Severus' arm to get him to follow her.

"That's right, Snivellus, do what your girlfriend says." James laughed.

"Calvorio!" Regina spat, aiming her wand at the boy.

A jet of red light burst from the end of her wand and headed straight for James. He yelped in surprise and raised a hand to his, suddenly cold, head. A horrified expression crossed his face as he realised what the Regina's curse had done. Neither she nor Severus were able to hide the amused smirks from their faces as they took in the sight of the newly bald James Potter, who was always so vain about his hair. Even Sirius spluttered with laughter at his friend as James went red with anger.

"Fix it, Mills!"

"No." She answered calmly, smiling at him.

James turned to his best friend angrily. "She's your cousin! Make her fix it!"

Both Sirius and Regina looked disgusted at his words, but it was the Slytherin who spoke first. "He is not my cousin!"

"She's not even a Black!" Sirius shot back.

"I'm more of a Black than you are, you filthy blood traitor!"

"You make that sound like something to be proud of!"

They were both grinding their teeth furiously, wands out and hands clutching them so tightly that their knuckles were white. Regina was about to utter another curse, she had just decided on the Ear-Shrivelling Curse, when Professor McGonagall's voice, in her most unimpressed tone, broke through the crowds that had gathered to watch the argument.

"Mr Black, Miss Mills, my office… now!"

"Professor! She made me bald!" James complained, waving his hand over his head.

Regina couldn't help a smirk twisting her lips as she looked at him. She could have sworn that the Transfiguration Professor was trying not to smile as she corrected what the girl had done. But then McGonagall was frowning at her again and Regina schooled her features into a less amused expression.

"I think perhaps you should join us, too, Mr Potter. And Mr Snape, as well."

"Gina…" Sev started as the woman turned and strode away, expecting the four sixth-years to follow in her wake. "You don't have to protect me, you know."

She raised an eyebrow at him, the hint of a smile tugging at her mouth. "Who says I was protecting you? I don't want people saying I'm your girlfriend."

As their eyes met, both of them chuckled, their argument completely behind them.