Dear Regulus,

Sorry I didn't write back sooner. It's been hell, but I am walking again and even climbed the steps all by myself. I should, eventually, get back to normal. I'm sure Mum told you we fought again in the hospital. Sorry about that. I know you wanted us to make up, but I can honestly say I would not have been able to recover as much as I have if I'd gone home. Cissy saved my life by smuggling me out of the hospital (don't tell Mum, she'll blame Cissy).

I love you, Reg. I know I was always a prick to you at school, but I want you to know now that I am proud of your awesome grades and prefect badge and generally being perfect. You're a prissy swot, but you're also my little brother, and I wouldn't change a thing about you. (Besides your hair, now I think of it. Get with the times!).

Remember what we talked about the last time we were together. The most important thing to me is for you to stay safe and succeed in life. That's not just me being bossy and overprotective. You are our family's future. Don't forget that.

I'd love to see you over the break if you can talk Mum into letting you out to visit me. No, I'm not coming home for Christmas, and you can't make me.

Love,

Sirius

It was perhaps incautious to owl Regulus that letter the day before going into hiding, but in Sirius' defense, it had been a very difficult letter to write, and he hadn't had much time. He couldn't just not write his little brother before going into hiding after almost dying. Even if it was also cruel and manipulative.

Sirius was as gung-ho as any Gryffindor when Shit Needed Doing, but it was truly alarming how fast the Order of the Phoenix moved. It was Friday that Sirius discovered the horcrux and Saturday when Moody told him they wanted to break him out. It was the next Thursday that he learned all the Malfoys would be gone in the afternoon on Friday and dutifully told Moody. And it was Friday morning that Moody confirmed the operation would move forwards without delay. He had thought it would take more than a week to stage the biggest Order offensive Sirius had been aware of since ambushing Lucius and the others back in August. Apparently not. No wonder the Dark Lord was doing so well. He and his closest followers were all Slytherins and actually planned things, even if half of them were also insane.

Moody's agenda for today was terribly simple. Once the Malfoys were gone, Dumbledore, Moody, the Potters, the Marauders, and whichever other Order members they rounded up for the day would arrive and batter down the mansion's wards as quickly as humanly possible. Sirius would fetch the horcrux as soon as the wards fell. The Order would fake the scene of an impressive duel, and they would all go outside to set fire to both the horcrux and the walls of the second floor drawing room before clearing out to let the Death Eaters and/or Ministry clean up the mess as soon as one or the other noticed something was going down at Malfoy Manor.

The paranoid auror had been disinclined to take Sirius' suggestion to use the Marauders in the attack, but Albus Dumbledore overruled him. The headmaster could see the value of attempting to preserve Sirius' cover for as long as possible, even if it meant bringing less experienced Order members into a very dangerous and volatile operation. That was the only concession safety-minded Moody had allowed, but Sirius had some of his own modifications to the plan in mind.

Firstly, Sirius joined the Malfoys for both breakfast and lunch in the actual dining room. He had been attempting the stairs daily since Rodolphus' visit (and finding the horcrux), but this was the first time he had come down for mere meals in weeks. He even left the cane upstairs. Lucretia smiled and congratulated him on his progress. Abraxas offered congratulations as well when Lucretia glared at him. Narcissa on the other hand declared she was so happy for him she would stay home this afternoon instead of visiting Lucius after all, in order to celebrate his recovery with a walk in the gardens or perhaps a pleasure flight through the arboretum. Sirius put up a token protest only. Moody might want the house empty, but Sirius preferred Narcissa be on hand. He had promised to help her flee the house. And so they would today, in spectacular fashion.

By two o'clock, the cousins were ensconced in the family drawing room, Sirius having declared after bare minutes in the garden that it was too cold to stay outside for very long. Narcissa tasked Dobby with polishing all the silver downstairs to keep him busy while they talked.

Objectively speaking, their conversation was not very productive. There just weren't very many ways for Narcissa to abruptly move out that wouldn't set Abraxas Malfoy off and lead to a blood feud between their two houses. "Honestly, Cissa, I think we should just give up on being subtle and fake your death. That's much, much easier to explain than a sudden and inexplicable Ministry warrant for your arrest, a severe allergy to peacocks, or something else requiring you go live somewhere besides here. All we'd have to do is have Bella and me stage a duel with an auror while you just happen to be visiting Diagon Alley. Tragic accident, you know."

"And you'll put what in my coffin, exactly?"

"Two options. Shred someone else's corpse beyond recognition, or I transfigure something to look like you. Easy."

Narcissa pursed her lips. "I suppose it could work. It's just so... unrefined."

"Sometimes, simple schemes are better than twisty, sophisticated, Slytherin ones," Sirius said.

"Hmm. Wh-" She broke off when the house suddenly shook around them. Sirius glanced at the mantle clock. Right on time. That would be Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, and Euphemia Potter punching through the wards on this place, while Fleamont and everyone else stacked up anti-apparition, anti-floo, and anti-portkey charms. Despite the danger, his heart lifted to know his friends were all outside.

"What was-" Sirius began for form's sake.

A caterwauling charm interrupted him. Narcissa's eyes widened in panic. "Someone's crossed the wards. We're under attack!"

Sirius drew his wand and cast the spells to confirm the anti-apparition and anti-portkey fields were already in place. "Morgana's tits, we're locked down already. Homenum Revelio! ...There's ten of them, at least. Two are already in the house," he said in a low voice.

"How? How did they get through so quickly?" Narcissa asked frantically, leaping out of her chair. Her fear and confusion were very real and valid. Old pureblood homes like this were defended with layers of enchantments that should stand up to attack for hours under normal circumstances. Of course, normal circumstances did not include resisting the most powerful wizard in the world, nor someone inside the house spending rather a lot of time cataloguing all the wards in great detail earlier in the week. That stupid Hand of Glory had helped him find and read all the ward stones pretty easily while Abraxas was out on Wednesday. He had transfigured a duplicate Hand to leave in the drawing room and then disillusioned himself in order to carry the original along the exterior of the mansion while Lucretia and Narcissa thought he was taking a nap. (Dobby was occupied giving the Ladies of the Manor their biweekly pedicure).

"They'll have cut off the floo too, Cissa," he informed her before she could bother with the pot of powder on the mantle next to her. "And I'd say the how is obvious. Dumbledore must be here, for some reason. Only he or the Dark Lord himself could bring the protections down like that. Dobby!"

The elf appeared immediately, wizarding wards no impediment to house elf magic. Thank Merlin Sirius had read up a little on house elf history and magic the day after his strange encounter with the little creature after finding the horcrux. Turns out, he would have seriously underestimated the elf before. "Wizards is invading!" Dobby shouted. "We is-"

"Dobby, get Narcissa out of here. Take her to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place in London. You have my permission as Heir to the House of Black to pass through the wards. Then alert Lord Abraxas what's happening." Moody and Dumbledore didn't want Abraxas here, but Sirius did. Abraxas would not hesitate to point the finger of blame at Sirius after this, even without evidence, which meant Abraxas had to go.

Narcissa held up a hand to stay the elf temporarily, staring at Sirius. "What about you?"

Sirius pushed himself out of the chair and hugged her. He quietly said in her ear, "Cissy, this the best chance you're ever going to get to leave, so leave. I have to stay and try to defend, well, whatever it is Abraxas assumed I was here to guard in the first place."

She stiffened. "We're not sure about that."

"Uncertainty will not be accepted as an excuse if a treasure belonging to Him is lost. Don't worry, I'll call for His help if it really is the Order down there. Go." He started rolling up his left sleeve, just to reassure her.

She grimaced, then nodded. She was a sly Slytherin and Black through-and-through. She would take the opportunity Fate had conveniently offered her to get out and let him cover her tracks. If and when he returned, she hopefully would be his best advocate. She took Dobby's hand, and the two of them disappeared with a loud crack. Quickly, Sirius bent down and pulled the lever inside the hearth. He crossed the room, slashed through the peacock tapestry with his wand, and descended into the secret Malfoy hoard. He walked to the bookshelf, retrieved the horcrux, and tucked it into his robes. He left the rest of the cursed trove without a backward glance.

Moody strode into the drawing room just as Sirius emerged from the stairwell again. They stared at each other. Sirius tapped his pocket where the horcrux was. Moody grinned. "Dumbledore's outside monitoring the wards and preparing to repel any reinforcements. Everyone else is trashing the place. Ready to go?"

"Almost. There was a hiccup earlier I couldn't communicate to you. Narcissa decided to stay home this afternoon."

"Merlin's saggy... Where is she?"

"Fled with the house elf, who will doubtless soon return with Abraxas. She deduced the Order was behind this right away. If Abraxas sees us..."

"Got it. Prisoner routine. Let's go. Bombarda." Moody's hex was pretty weak, but it still blew him back into the wall and left him with a bleeding lip, a few tears in his robes, and what felt like bruised ribs. Damned, crazy auror. "Incarcerous. Mobilicorpus." Thick ropes sprung up around him, but they were tied so loosely he could easily wriggle his arms free if he wanted to. Moody didn't bother to disarm him.

"Thanks," Sirius wheezed as Moody casually floated him into the hallway. "I was going to say we might not want to wait for Dumbledore to destroy the journal if Abraxas arrives before we get out."

"That's a terrible idea."

"Because the Dark Lord will be close behind when he realizes half the Order is here," Sirius finished.

"...And if You-Know-Who interrupts, we could lose our chance entirely. Damnit, you're right. Good thing the Headmaster had me practicing how to cast Fiendfyre all week. We'd be toast if you had to do it. You look like my twelve-year-old niece could blow you away with a Ventus."

"Thanks again," Sirius grumbled. He wasn't that pale and weak any more.

There was a crack of apparition on the stairs below them, a sudden chorus of Protegos in his friends' voices, and then renewed spell-casting as the Order and Abraxas began to duel. "Speak of the boggart," Sirius groaned. He squirmed in his bindings, but Moody neglected to release him. Impatiently, he touched his wand and thought Liberacorpus. He fell to the floor. He next maneuvered the tip of his wand against the ropes that bound him and said "Avifors." He was too restricted to perform the usual wand movement, but the transfiguration still worked well enough. Half the ropes fell apart into a flock of songbirds that took flight and screeched away. Quickly, he pulled the horcrux free and flung it down the hall behind them. He cast a few blind Stunners and an Avada in the other direction to maintain the illusion of a fight in case Abraxas interrupted them or, Merlin forbid, got away. He glanced at Moody, who was frowning at the hole in the distant balustrade left by Sirius' offhand killing curse. "Ahem. Casting Fiendfyre is the easy part. If this gets away from you, we'll need either Dumbledore or the Dark Lord to put it out. Also, so long as Abraxas is here, we should probably pretend to duel, until he is stunned or until he sees you overpower me and apparate me away."

Moody scowled but nodded and helped him up. "I hate it when plans go this awry this quickly," he muttered. The auror took a deep breath and leveled his wand. "Ignis Diaboli," he incanted. A gout of white-hot flame erupted from his wand.

"You madman!" Sirius roared dramatically, for Abraxas' benefit, grinning all the while.

Moody ignored him, focused on his task. Fiendfyre was supposed to appear as a huge, continuous stream from the wand tip, and then with every flick produce monstrous flame-creatures that hunted down living prey and any loose magic. Moody kept his hand as steady as he could, his casting perfect. The plan had originally been to destroy the drawing room with cursed fire from outside the manor, where they could more easily flee the area. Trapped inside, it was crucial they create no difficult-to-contain flame beasts.

The horcrux had other ideas. As soon as the cursed fire struck it, the horrible thing screamed. With its death throes, it ripped the cursed fire from Moody's control. An enormous, fiery human head exploded upwards out of the journal. It slammed into the ceiling and shattered it, spreading in both directions along the hall.

Moody immediately stopped casting and tried to tamp down the flames with his will. He failed entirely. A burning tiger shape crawled out of the conflagration. Luckily, it clawed its way through the wall of the drawing room rather than pouncing on them, presumably attracted to the feast of Dark magic waiting for it in there. Both wizards shouted the counter curse at the next incandescent beast. "Mundarmori Annihilare!" The ravening wolf collapsed back into smoke, but the rest of the fire burned on, completely out of their control.

"Shit!" Well... this had been a mistake. The horcrux was destroyed, but it had a good chance of taking them with it. They needed Dumbledore now. Note to self, Padfoot, don't try to be sneaky. You're a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin.

"Run if you can, boy!" Moody ordered. He cast the counter curse again to cover their retreat. Sirius obediently started stumbling to the stairs as fast as he could, holding onto the walls to keep his balance. His tired legs refused to actually run. Moody growled and clawed his free hand, levitating him alongside while jogging away from the growing inferno behind them. It was only a little faster.

"What are you doing, you lunatic?" Sirius hissed. "Run ahead and alert the Headmaster before everyone gets caught in this. Get out of here! I'll follow as quickly as I can. Abraxas won't try to stop me."

Moody cursed under his breath, but he released Sirius, bolted down the hall and actually dove over the railing to the floor below. "Time to run!" he heard the auror yell at the other Order members downstairs.

"Carpe Retractum," Sirius muttered. A rope of golden light shot out of his wand and wrapped around the balustrade at the top of the stairs. With another flick of his wand, the spell pulled him forwards much faster than he could hope to move otherwise. He barely managed to keep his feet. A sheet of fire streamed over his head just as he reached the landing. He almost ran into Abraxas coming up the stairs. The man looked both livid and terrified. "Idiot!" he snarled, gesturing at the wall of fire. "Do you know what this means?!" The older wizard pointed his wand into the hellscape, no doubt hoping to quench the cursed fire and save his home, his Dark collection, and his master's horcrux. Sirius did not let him try.

"Avada Kedavra." He whispered it quickly, and softly. They were standing level with each other. There was no time for Abraxas to dodge, if he even realized what was happening. The lord of the manor fell backwards silently, his face illuminated by angry red flames from above and brilliant green death from below.

Behind him was Dobby, Sirius noticed, standing stock-still and dazed as the death of his master reverberated through his bond. Fortunately, the elf had been watching his master's opponents and protecting his back. He would not have seen what happened...

"Expelliarmus!" Sirius' wand flew from his hand, and Euphemia Potter caught it. Down in the reception gallery, Sirius could see James and Euphemia both staring up at him with expressions of shock and horror. Both their wands were raised and still pointing up the stairs. Sirius' heart skipped a beat as he realized what they were thinking. They had just watched him kill a man, and now they thought he was going to kill Dobby too.

To preserve his cover, he probably should. He could do it with a wandless levitation charm, throw the elf right onto the pyre while he was distracted. But he didn't want to do that. "Dobby, go to Master Lucius. Don't come back until it's safe," Sirius ordered. Dobby obeyed him immediately and without question.

"Sirius, behind you!" James bellowed. "Accio!" Sirius fell forwards with the force of James' summoning charm, out of the way of a gust of fire. He rolled the rest of the way down the stairs and groaned in pain.

"Agh! His robe's on fire! Diffindo! Expulso!" Sirius winced. The severing charm cut into his left arm, not just the sleeve. But at least he wouldn't lose his arm to cursed fire.

He flopped onto his back and watched listlessly as Fiendfyre curled along the carved wooden ceiling. It was moving fast, about to cut them off from the front door.

"Finite Incantatem!" Euphemia screamed, flourishing her wand at the fire. Not being the proper counter curse, this had no effect. "Sirius, do you know how to control this stuff?" She offered his wand back. He took it and pointed automatically at the nearest glob of fire. His arm wavered. He was seeing double after that fall down the stairs, and he felt the distinct urge to vomit. He was probably concussed. He started laughing for some reason. There was no way he could put out this fire.

That was okay, though. This was still all according to plan. Mostly. He wanted the house to burn down, because that would both allow Narcissa to disappear and disguise the purpose behind the Order's presence. He wanted Abraxas dead in the confusion, and he was. Now he just needed to call for help to cement his cover story. Moody hadn't endorsed that part of the plan either, but with the Fiendfyre spreading ever further, it seemed like an increasingly good idea to summon more people who could actually put it out. So he flipped the wand around and touched it to the ridiculous manticore tattoo before Euphemia could realize what he was doing and think to stop him. The Dark Mark hidden underneath burned. Sirius felt a strange duality, an awareness of Headquarters where the Dark Lord was, as well as his own awareness of being in mortal danger in Malfoy Mansion. He let his arm fall. "Drop the anti-apparition wards and go," he said, then lost consciousness.

Author's note: so, that definitely could have gone more smoothly lol. Sirius is way more interested in both Malfoy family drama and in preserving his cover as a spy than Moody is, though, and no way would Moody have signed off on planning to have Abraxas Malfoy present for extrajudicial execution. And once he witnessed Sirius murder a man in cold blood, he definitely would not have let him then summon Voldemort either, even as a kind of "ding dong ditch" right before they all apparate away. And Sirius doesn't know Dumbledore well enough to trust him to go for that either. So, recklessly forcing it all to happen it is... On the plus side, he's also started thinking of Dobby as a "he" rather than an "it."

Updates will continue on Saturdays. Thanks as always for reviews.