Sirius and Regulus stepped into the office of their grandfather, Lord Arcturus Black. He was sitting behind his desk, staring at the two boys as they came in. He didn't smile like many people would when they came into a room. Arcturus had a thoughtful look on his face with a slight frown.
"Good morning," he said finally. "Please sit. We have much to discuss." When they were seated, he continued. "Your grandmother tells me that you both have been abused by your mother."
"Father too," Sirius cut in. Arcturus glared at him for interrupting him. "Sorry, Grandfather."
"So, your mother and father both have been abusing you?" Arcturus asked.
"Yes," Regulus replied, nervously fidgeting.
"Explain," their grandfather demanded. Both boys gulped. Sirius was first to speak.
"Mother enjoys putting us under the Cruciatus curse whenever she feels like it. We don't even need to have done something wrong. If she's in a foul mood, she'll take her foul mood out on us. She will also threaten to punish us if we don't behave, and we know what that means. It usually means about a minute under that curse." Sirius paused just long enough to see how Arcturus was handling this news. To put it simply, he looked angry.
"And she is physical with you as well, I'm assuming?" Arcturus asked, looking at Sirius' hands. He waved his wand over them to clean off the dry blood.
"Yes, Grandfather," Sirius answered. "She will sometimes get physical. This morning, she dug her nails into my hands when I was ignoring her. That was my fault."
"That is no excuse to get physical!" Arcturus snapped. "What about your father? What does he do?"
Regulus finally got up the courage to speak. "Father will not use the Cruciatus curse on us, but he also doesn't do anything to stop Mother from doing so. He will watch her torture us. He likes to use bone-breaking curses on us."
Regulus shut his mouth quickly. Arcturus looked as though he could kill someone. It felt as though the temperature in the room had dropped. Sirius and Regulus couldn't even look at their grandfather. The look on his face was murderous.
"Go wait in the dining room," he finally said. "Zippy will bring you something to eat. Your grandmother and I need to discuss next steps." They took this as dismissal, and quickly left the room, not wanting to be in the same room as a furious Arcturus Black.
As they left, Melania walked in and closed the door behind them. Sirius and Regulus ran into the dining room.
"I've never seen him that angry before," Sirius commented as they sat down to eat some sandwiches left out for them.
"Are we in trouble?" Regulus asked shakily. "Are they going to send us back? Are they going to tell Mother and Father? We'll never survive this one!"
Sirius had never seen his brother this nervous before. "I think he got more furious the more we told him," he said. "Something tells me he's not angry with us, he's angry at our parents."
"But what are they going to do?" Regulus asked. Before Sirius could answer, Zippy popped into the room.
"Young Master Regulus must take this potion," she declared. "This potion is good for curing bad curse!" Regulus looked at Zippy strangely, but took the potion anyway. Immediately, he looked better. He was no longer pale, and he no longer looked like he was in pain.
"Thanks, Zippy," Sirius said, remembering Harry saying house-elves deserved to be thanked after everything they do for their family.
"Oh, young Master Sirius is too kind," Zippy said. "Zippy doesn't need thanking. Zippy is just doing her job." She popped out before Sirius could form a response.
"Er, did you just thank a house-elf?" Regulus asked, surprise written all over his face.
Sirius shrugged. "Why not? That's the least we can do considering she does so much for us," he stated. Regulus nodded.
A few minutes later, they could hear footsteps. They knew that their grandparents were about to tell them what they decided on. They would not be surprised if they found themselves back in Grimmauld Place very soon.
Sure enough, their grandparents walked into the dining room moments later. Sirius saw that Arcturus no longer looked murderous, though he still wasn't smiling, but that wasn't a shock. Sirius never remembered Arcturus smiling in his old timeline.
"We have made a decision," Arcturus announced.
"What did you decide?" Sirius asked, being the braver of the two.
"You will not be returning to your parents' so-called care," Melania stated.
Sirius and Regulus gasped in shock. They had not seen this coming.
"But-but where will we stay?" Regulus asked.
"You will stay here," Arcturus answered.
"Stay here? In Black Manor?" Sirius asked. He never thought he'd be staying with their grandparents.
"Unless you really want to go back to Grimmauld Place," Arcturus said, raising an eyebrow at Sirius. Sirius shook his head quickly. "I didn't think so."
"Your grandfather and I never raised your father to be the way he is," Melania spoke up. "He should have known better than to let abuse continue. I promise we will take good care of both of you. If anything, better care than your parents ever gave you."
"Thank you," both boys said in unison.
"We will go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get Sirius' school supplies," Arcturus informed them. Sirius grinned. He couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts, and to see James and Remus again. He had already changed so much by confiding in the people he never thought he'd confide in. He supposed his brother had been right. Not all Blacks were evil.