AN: Warning: there is a little fight and torture at the end of the chapter, but not much hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I Don't Own HP or Marvel.

Chapter 55: A Regulus Chapter

To say Regulus was bored would be an understatement, he'd already read both books Andromeda brought him, and neither had been appealing enough to read over, especially in such a short length of time, he had been moved to a room with a window, but since he was on the top floor at the back of the hospital, there wasn't much but the sky to look at outside, and when the sun was pointing from that direction, the window shades had to be closed, so, that left Regulus with only four walls and a ceiling to watch, and unless Sirius was here for him to talk to, Regulus ended up getting lost in his thoughts and memories, mostly bad memories, or thoughts of his older brother, who had never told him why he went to Azkaban or even brought it up since that first day, so, out of curiosity and worry, Regulus turned to another source for information, the mudblood Ted Tonks, who after asking multiple times finally gave in and told Regulus. And to find out his brother had spent twelve years of his life in that hellhole and hadn't even done anything to be put in there, and actual Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy were still running loose and never faced consequences for their actions really pissed him off.

People might think Regulus' thoughts were hypocritical, after all, he had the Dark Mark branded into his skin as proof that he was once a stupid idiot, but he was only eighteen when he was brainwashed by his cousin Bellatrix to get this mark to prove to his mother what a good son she had raised; Regulus had been the youngest member of his entire family at that time, and everyone thought he was a perfect son, because he did whatever his mother asked, acted in the the way she had wanted, and did whatever he could to make her happy, in reality, he had just been too scared to tell her no, Regulus saw the mistreatment and abuse Sirius got on an almost daily basis and didn't want that to happen to him, he's always hated pain, and witnessing his brother's punishments was horrifying, and hearing his screams gave him nightmares. Regulus obeyed his parents so he wouldn't get the same treatment.

Regulus didn't love his parents like people thought, he hated them and played along with what they wanted like a good little boy when in reality he wanted to be more like Sirius, have his courage, tell them all to go to hell, but when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, and him Slytherin, they grew further apart the older they got, and the more that happened the easier it was for those around Regulus to brainwash him into thinking like them, and all Sirius' work of trying to keep Regulus from those beliefs faded away, and he accepted what his family and Slytherin friends said to be what a pure-blood was supposed to believe, but deep down he knew it wasn't right.

Regulus wondered if he'd fallen for all that if he hadn't been shorted into Slytherin, the hat had wanted to place him in Ravenclaw, but after witnessing what Sirius received for being placed in Gryffindor, Regulus was too afraid to go into any other house, and had begged the Shorting hat to put him in Slytherin, that fear cost him his brother, Sirius hardly talked to him anymore, unless it was to make a snarky comment, his brother no longer came into his room patted his foot and said, "hey, kid" and it hurt because Sirius had been the one he looked up to, idealized, and because of what a stupid hat had called out Regulus had lost him, and he turned to look up to other members of his family, but his affection and idealization of his brother never truly faded, it just got buried deep into his mind, and the moment he found out Voldemort had made Horcruxes, Sirius was the first person he thought of, of what his reckless, arrogant fool of a brother would do and Regulus knew right away, Sirius would risk his life to destroy them, and Regulus knew why, because Voldemort was too evil to allow him to keep living.

At first, Regulus was going to go to Sirius, find his brother, and tell him, but he didn't know if he'd listen, or even agree to talk to him, how would he even approach him? He had heard about Bellatrix sending a letter to Sirius pretending to be him, just so Voldemort could ask Sirius to join him, Bellatrix had ranted about how disrespectful Sirius had been, laughing right in Voldemort's face, and Regulus had been once again shocked over Sirius' bravery, many would have seen that as stupid, called Sirius a fool, but Regulus saw it for what it was bravery, and after getting over the shock of that, it had dawned on Regulus that Sirius had shown up in a sketchy pub in Knockturn Ally because he thought Regulus had asked him for help, proving that deep down Sirius still cared for him, but Regulus couldn't seek him out for help this time, because of what Bella had pulled Sirius wouldn't believe any letter Regulus sent him, and was likely to curse him if Regulus approached him, without even waiting to hear what he wanted.

So, Regulus decided to just do it on his own, to fake his death, and destroy Voldemort's Horcrux, doing something that not only helped put an end to the mad wizard but something he knew would make his brother proud of him if he knew, something Sirius, and all his reckless bravery would have done himself, unfortunately, his plan didn't go as Regulus had wanted, and now he was sitting bored out of his mind in St. Mungo's.

Regulus had missed so much trapped in that stupid cave, and he was certain his nephew didn't like him, yeah, Regulus had laughed it off as normal moody teenage angst, and he couldn't blame the kid if he was in Harry's shoes he wouldn't like him either, but Regulus will just have to prove to Harry he was trustworthy and get the kid to like him, he had wanted to keep Regulus' box as a keepsake when he thought him dead, so, he was sure there was some interest to get to know him and like him deep down in Harry somewhere, but Reigna or rather Loki was a different story, Regulus could feel the distrust rolling off her when he kissed her hand and the warning in her eyes when she looked at him, Regulus had no doubt that she'd kill him in a heartbeat if he did something she didn't like, and Regulus didn't trust Loki as well, not after being filled in by Sirius who Loki was, it took him a while to convince Regulus he was telling the truth and once he believed him, and realized the horrible things Loki had done, Regulus made a vow to kill the so-called god the moment they broke Sirius' heart, or hurt anyone he cared about because Regulus did not believe for one moment Loki had changed.

People would probably say Regulus was a hypocrite for not looking past what Loki had done, but Regulus may have once been a Death Eater, but he'd never caused hundreds to die and never tried to kill his own brother no matter how much he and Sirius didn't get along, and Regulus had never taken a life, despite what people might think due to the mark on his left arm, or even his last name, but all Regulus ever did was just stand and watch in horror as his fellow Death Eaters tortured and killed innocent people, yeah some would say that's just as bad, and Regulus had no doubt he had it in him to kill someone, after all, he was a Black.

A soft knock on his hospital door broke Regulus out of his thoughts, the door opened without him voicing to whoever it was they could come in, and Regulus looked to see it was Sirius, he knew it would be, he was the only one who knocked then just walked right in, he wasn't alone though, he had Andromeda and Nymphadora with him.

"Hey, kid," Sirius said, walking over and giving him a one-arm hug, Regulus didn't know why Sirius was suddenly so touchy-feely when they were younger, the pat on his foot was the only affection anyone in his family ever showed him. Sirius forgiving him, and accepting him back in his life so quickly was still surprising to Regulus.

"Hey, Siri." Regulus greeted, frowning in suspicion at Sirius' large grin. "Why do you look so happy?"

"I have a little surprise for you," Sirius said, "But first, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," Regulus said, looking Sirius over, he was once again in muggle clothing and that stupid leather jacket; Sirius acts more muggle than wizard anymore.

"Excellent, now to that surprise," Sirius said. "It's Christmas, Reggy, and Ted, has given you permission to come home to spend the holiday with us, unfortunately, you have to be back here by eight-thirty, though Ted did say if you don't get too exhausted, you might get to go home by New Years."

"I get to leave here?" Regulus asked, "Do I get to leave now?" He didn't care if it was just for a few hours, and he'd be stuck in another building and not actually outside, he was just happy to get out of here for a while.

"Of course." Sirius grinned he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulled out a pile of muggle clothes, and laid them at the foot of the bed. "Get dressed and we can leave right after."

"We'll just wait outside," Andromeda said, and she and Nymphadora left the room and closed the door behind them; he then felt Sirius tap his foot and turned back to him.

"Do you need help to get dressed?" Sirius asked, then laughed at the look Regulus gave him, Sirius was in a good mood, likely because of the holiday.

"I can dress myself, I am an adult," Regulus said, tossing the covers off and turning to stand, he was getting stronger each day, and he no longer stumbled around like a drunk man when he walked more than a few steps. Regulus grabbed the muggle clothes off the bed and entered the restroom, he removed the hospital robes to put on the outfit Sirius apparently had just bought at some muggle shop somewhere if you go by how the tags were still on them, Regulus guessed they were nothing fancy for muggle wear, just jeans and a white dress shirt, and a pair of underwear. The jeans were a little baggy on him, and the shirt a little big, but not too bad.

Regulus ran his hand through his hair and looked at his left arm, it was a good thing Sirius got him a shirt that had long sleeves, yeah, he still wore a bandage on that arm, but anyone who wasn't an idiot would know what it was covering, and with the long sleeves, hopefully, no one will even think about it.

"Are we going to Grimmauld Place?" Regulus asked, walking out of the restroom.

"Yes."

"Whose going to be there?" Regulus asked.

"You and I, Harry, Reigny, Moony, Natty, the Weasleys are stopping by at some point, and Andromeda, Tonks, and Ted," Sirius answered, "You look nice in the muggle clothes, Reggy."

"So, the Avengers won't be there?" Regulus asked, ignoring Sirius' remark about his clothes, he didn't care how they looked on him, once he was able, he'd be wearing nothing but wizard robes.

"Just, Natty, the others went elsewhere for the holidays," Sirius said, "You don't have to worry, only family until the Weasleys come later if you start getting overwhelmed we can leave. I have a coat for you too, are you ready to go?"

Regulus nodded his head and took the coat Sirius handed him it was red, of course, Regulus was somehow able to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he slipped it on, then stepped over to the tray by his bed, picked up his wand, stuck it in the pocket, then picked up the sunglasses Sirius had bought him, they were gold with dark green lenses and were far better looking than the ones that belonged to Buck Barnes. Regulus was glad that for the most part there weren't going to be many people there, especially Bucky Barens, he wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was intimidated by the muggle, he was too freaking strong, the man had thrown Regulus over his shoulder like he was a ragdoll and carried him out of the cave, and then while still holding Regulus on his shoulder he climbed up the separate cliffs with one arm. Regulus had never felt so humiliated in his life.

Sirius had Regulus cover his head with the coat's hood, and then, the two of them walked out of the hospital room, where Andromeda and Nymphodora waited, and the four of them walked in silence to the lifts, his new room was on the same floor as the last, but on the opposite side, and in a more isolated area, it was at the end of a corridor that had no other rooms. They walked in silence to the lifts, then Andromeda pressed the button to open the doors and they all stepped on, then while still not talking they rode the lift down to the lobby. When they arrived at the bottom floor, the lift doors opened, and they left the hospital, and went into an empty ally not far from the building, and Sirius pulled an old metal tin out of his pocket.

"Ted thinks it's better if you use a portkey instead of apparating," Sirius explained, looking around, he laid his hand on the tin whispered the spell to turn it into a portkey, and held it out to Regulus, and the other two, the three of them laid their hands on the tin, and Regulus felt a tug to his navel, and next thing he knew he was on the ground in the yard of Grimmauld Place.

"Reg, you alright?" Sirius asked, reaching his hand down to pull Regulus to his feet, the hood had fallen off his head.

"I'm fine," Regulus said, letting go of Sirius' hand and looking around, Andromeda and Nymphadora were already on their feet, and Regulus didn't see the house anywhere. "Siri where-"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Sirius said, pulling a piece of black parchment paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Regulus, once he read the words written in gold ink on it, he looked up to see his family home was now standing there.

"Fidelus Charm," Regulus said, handing the note back to Sirius, "Who's the Secret Keeper?"

"Reigny," Sirius said, and Regulus scowled, as they headed towards the house, Sirius pulled out his wand, the first time Regulus had seen him with one, and knew it wasn't the one Sirius had years ago, which made sense, the Ministry probably snapped that one when he was thrown in Azkaban.

"New wand eh?" Regulus asked as he gripped his wand in his pocket, the same wand he got when he turned eleven, aspen wood with unicorn hair core.

"Yep, dogwood with a dragon heartstring core," Sirius said. "It's mostly for show since I don't actually need one unless I'm at the Ministry, and of course to unlock the door to our lovely childhood home."

Regulus grinned at Sirius' sarcasm as he turned around raised his wand and tapped on the door, Regulus heard the locks click, and then Sirius opened the door and motioned for him to go in first, Regulus stepped over the threshold, then paused as he looked around the entryway, it looked nothing like Regulus remembered, the family portraits hanging on the wall were gone, replaced by muggle paintings of various scenery, and the walls were no longer covered in green and silver wallpaper, instead was painted a light stone grey, the floor had been refinished in mahogany and a large rug that wasn't there before laid in the middle of the floor, the troll umbrella stand was gone, replaced by a normal one and there had been more lights added to the wall, making the room brighter, and more welcoming.

"We spent this past summer fixing up most of the house," Sirius explained, as he stuck his wand back in his pocket. "Everyone should be in the kitchen."

Sirius led Regulus toward the door that led to the basement kitchen, he noticed a large muggle picture of Sirius on a motorcycle hanging next to the wall next to the door, he walked through it and followed Sirius down the steps; Sirius opened the door leading into the kitchen and allowed him to walk in first. Regulus got another surprise, the kitchen had been redone too, and the walls painted a cheerful color, the floor had been refinished, same with the wardrobe that held the dishes, and the cabinets too, and as he looked around he noticed all their mother's old trinkets were gone, replaced with cookware, and food storage containers, and the dishes with the family crest were gone from the hutch, replaced with a set of fancy green and gold china. Regulus' heart sank when he realized Sirius likely threw them away.

"Is Kreacher still around?" Regulus asked as he took the coat off.

"We ordered him to stay in the attic today," Sirius said, removing his jacket, and tossing it on the back a chair. "If you like to see him I could call him."

"No, I'll talk to him some other day," Regulus said, his attention going to the table, Andromeda and Nymphadora had taken seats across from Lupin and some red-haired woman, who was helping Lupin peel potatoes.

"Have a seat, Reggy," Sirius said, pulling a chair next to Andromeda out, "You know Moony, the redhead is Natty, Natty this is my baby brother Reggy."

"Regulus," Regulus replied, he didn't know this woman, so she had no right calling him by his nickname.

"Natasha." She replied as Regulus sat across from her, apparently in the same mindset as Regulus, they didn't know each other and nicknames were too personal for just meeting someone.

Regulus turned his attention back to Sirius who had walked over to the stove where a man dressed in black and green stood making a cup of tea, Regulus watched as Sirius said something to him, and then the two kissed before the guy picked up his mug and walked away, it dawned on Regulus that he was looking at Loki in his male form.

"How are you feeling, Regulus?" Lupin asked, and Regulus turned from Sirius to look at him.

"Glad to get out of that bloody prison for a while," Regulus said, Lupin smiled slightly, and next to him Andromeda chuckled.

"St. Mungo's isn't that bad," Andromeda said.

"Where's Harry?" Regulus asked, looking around the room.

"He and Ted are upstairs in the parlor playing chess," Loki replied as he sat down at the head of the table, which annoyed Regulus; if anyone should be in that spot, it should be Sirius. He was after all, the head of the family now. Reg,ulus kept his thoughts to himself though and gave a nod of acknowledgment; it would do him no good to upset Sirius by mouthing off to his lover.

"Hey, Reg, would you like a cup of tea?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, please," Regulus answered, and Sirius reached into the cabinet pulled out a Gryffindor mug, made a cup of tea, and carried it over to Regulus. "Very funny, Siri."

Sirius smiled at him, as he walked back over to the stove and started preparing other food, while they all struck up a conversation on various topics, then Sirius started telling tales of the "old days" that had them all laughing, at one point both Natasha and Nymphodora had left the kitchen to go join Ted and Harry in playing games, then about three hours after Regulus had arrived dinner was ready, the table had been set, and all kinds of food had been placed in the middle, and everyone was sitting around the table putting food on to plates when Regulus looked down at the plate that had been sat in from of him not knowing if he'd be an allowed to eat this food, he noticed it was green with a gold symbol of entwined snakes, the same symbol that was on one of Sirius' tattoos.

"Don't worry, Ted said you can eat Christmas dinner with us," Sirius said, startling Regulus a little, he hadn't noticed Sirius set down next to him.

"Just try not to eat too much, and take it slow." Ted said, "We don't want you to get sick."

"Thank Merlin," Regulus said, then put some food on his plate and picked up his fork, he looked across the table at Harry. "Hello, Harry, how have you been?"

"Fine," Harry mumbled, barely glancing at him, before turning to Remus, whom he sat next to, and starting a conversation, Regulus turned back to his food and listened to the conversation Sirius and Loki were having, every once in an a while they would include him in, but Regulus mostly stayed quiet observing everyone else, and how they acted, and he felt a pinch in his chest, this was how he had always wanted his family to act growing up, normal, carefree, and loving each other despite their differences, all the people sitting in the kitchen right now were who Sirius saw as family, and Regulus wanted to be apart of it, he wanted them all to accept him as family, even the stupid werewolf, since Sirius saw him as another brother.

After dinner they had dessert, and Regulus was a bit surprised that Sirius was such a good cook and wondered when he learned it but didn't ask, after dessert, they started passing gifts around, and Regulus leaned back in his chair, and watched not excepting to get anything, but then Sirius sat a large gift on the table in front of him.

"Happy Christmas," Sirius said, "From Reigny, Harry and I, not much, but you can use them."

"You didn't have to get me anything," Regulus said, sitting up and unwrapping it, then opened the box and pulled out the first thing on top, which was an expensive set of emerald green robes; they weren't the only pair either, Sirius had bought him several pair, of various styles, colors, and materials, there were both winter and summer robes, casual and dressy, and the box also contained a few packages of socks and underwear, and a pair of brand new shoes and some slacks to wear under the robes.

"I figured you'd need some and knew you'd curse me if I bought you muggle clothes," Sirius said, and Regulus laughed.

"Thanks, Siri." He said as Andromeda handed him a gift from her Ted and Nymphadora, which was a new winter cloak, he thanked her and watched as everyone else opened their gifts when they were down with the gifts they all sat around the table talking and having a drink, Sirius allowed Harry to try a drink of his Fire Whiskey, and Harry gagged at the burning sensation as the drink went down his throat, he then made a look that had them laughing and Loki told him to stick with Butterbeer for now as he patted Harry's back.

It was at that moment the Weasleys arrived. Sirius had told Regulus earlier that he had invited them to dinner, but Molly had declined because it was the first time in years all her children would be at home. and had wanted a family dinner but had promised to stop by sometime later to bring Harry his gift and stay for a little bit. Regulus had been surprised that Molly and Arthur had seven children, and the kitchen started feeling crowded. As he watched Molly hug Harry and hand him a gift, she then frowned.

"Why does your breath smell like Fire Whiskey?" she demanded.

"I let him have a sip of mine, Molly," Sirius said she opened her mouth as if she was going to lecture Sirius on Harry being too young for that, but Arthur suddenly spoke up loudly wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and Molly let it go for now, as Sirius started introducing Regulus to everyone, and the Weasleys took seats around the table, they had a girl with them, another friend of Harry's a mudblood by the name of Hermione Granger, she kept shooting Regulus distrustful looks, along with the older Weasley sons, and Harry's friend Ron, and feeling uncomfortable, Regulus decided to escape the kitchen, using the excuse he needed the restroom, he had excused himself to Sirius, and left the kitchen.

Regulus stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, before he climbed them, then entered the entryway, and went straight to the staircase leading upstairs, the stairs were still in bad shape, so Sirius hadn't gotten around to fixing them up yet, though the house-elf heads that used to hang on the wall of the first landing were gone, the wall was bare, nothing hung in their spot, and Regulus kept going, he peeked in each room on his way to his destination, some had been redone, and others hadn't, the parlor was a game room now, and the drawing room was full of some kind of muggle equipment. Finally, Regulus got to his destination, the Black Family Library fearing the worst, he opened the door and stepped in.

Regulus was both relieved and surprised that the library was still intact, and none of the books looked to be missing, though it was obvious someone was using the library, it was clean, and the books were well organized on the shelves, not one spot of dust anywhere, growing up, Regulus used to hide in this library to get away from the sounds of his mother and Sirius arguing, and being the only one who came in here he, Kreacher had kept the books cleaned for him, he doubted the elf was who was doing it now. Re,gulus wandered the shelves going to his favorite section, which was a little embarrassing because it was the shelves with wizard fairytales and legends; he loved fiction stories because he could get lost in them and escape reality.

"Was it getting too crowded downstairs?"

Regulus jumped startled at the voice, and looked around the bookcase to see Loki standing in the doorway, he turned back to the bookcase and pulled out a book.

"I thought maybe I could find something to take back to the hospital and read," Regulus said, "It's so boring just lying around."

"Indeed," Loki said as he walked into the room and watched Regulus for a moment. "I assume Sirius did not tell you, but, he gave me this library and all the books in it."

"Of course he did," Regulus mumbled, putting the book back, and taking another out. "My brother has been careless with our inheritance and to be honest, I have no idea how I feel about that, he threw away the family dishes didn't he? The ones with the family crest on them?"

"He did, after breaking them into hundreds of pieces, and melted those god-awful silver goblets and made weapons out of them," Loki smirked, "Bullet for his muggle friends."

"You don't like me do you?" Regulus asked.

"I don't trust you." Loki answered, "I know what you did, and I respect that, but I also know how most your family treats Sirius, for all I know you're sticking around until you get better, then you'll turn on him for your Dark Lord."

"He isn't my Dark Lord," Regulus said, "Never was, I never wanted to be a Death Eater or have my arm branded." Regulus suddenly felt a pain through his arm and gasped dropping the book, he gripped his arm tightly and closed his eyes, he hated this pain, hated this disgusting mark.

"Voldemort?" Loki asked.

"He's calling his puppets to him," Regulus said through gritted teeth. Loki watched him a moment, then reached out to take his arm, but Regulus jerked away.

"I can help." Loki offered, and Regulus opened his eyes, hesitated, then held his arm out to Loki, who took it in his hands which were surprisingly tender, as he unbuttoned Regulus' sleeve, and rolled it up, then unwrapped the bandage, then while holding his arm with one hand, Loki covered the mark with his other, and Regulus watched as his green eyes glowed, while the same glowing green color flowed from Loki's hand, onto the mark, then looked to soak into his skin, Regulus winched at the weird feeling, but then, the feeling faded, along with the pain in his mark, and somehow Regulus knew the connection between it and Voldemort was gone, and his arm, felt lighter, and cleaner.

"How did you-" Regulus pulled his arm out of Loki's grip, and held it and looked at the mark in amazement, while Loki just smirked at him. "You… couldn't get rid of it all together, could you?"

"Perhaps," Loki replied "But, we'll leave it like it is for now, as a reminder of your past mistakes."

Regulus glared at him, feeling a little angry, as Loki took hold of his arm once again, and started wrapping the bandage back around it.

"Let this also be a reminder of how powerful I am, and what I can do," Loki said, looking at Regulus with an emotionless face. "I warn you this, If you hurt Sirius, harm him in any way, I will kill you, very slowly, and painfully, just like I did your mother and half of your family."

"You what?"

Loki bent down picked up the dropped book and held it out to Regulus, he took it while still keeping eye contact with Loki.

"As long as you behave, you need not worry, I'll be nice, for Sirius' sake, so if you wish to borrow a couple of my books, you may, but I wouldn't take any too dark, you might give the hospital staff a heart attack."

Regulus couldn't help but grin at that as Loki, turned and headed for the door.

"Loki" Regulus called out, and the god of mischief paused in surprise at being called Loki, instead of Reigna, and turned slightly and smirked at Regulus. "I'll let what you said about my mother and family slide because I see how happy you make Sirius and my mother probably deserved it, but if you hurt my brother, I'll show you in a very slow and painful way, why you shouldn't cross a Black."

Loki stared at Regulus for a moment, then his smirk turned into a grin and he inclined his head.

"You might just be likable after all," Loki said; Regulus grinned as he turned and left, and then he turned back to the bookcase maybe Loki wasn't so bad after all.

St. Mungo's was even busher tonight than usual, due to it being Christmas, there were a lot of witches and wizards coming in with various injuries, everything from prank presents to family fights, so, combined with the usual mystery injuries, the healers and most of the nurses on the patient's floors had been called down to help with the emergencies, they were already short-staffed tonight, due to many having it off because of the holiday, so, no one noticed when a group of sketchy looking people, two men, and a woman, walked into St. Mungo's, got on a lift and rode it to the top floor where they got off, and headed straight to the room, that was isolated from the others, and far down the corridor.

Regulus Black was in that room, sleeping when the door suddenly slammed open, he jerked awake, pulling his wand out from under his pillow, but before he could look up and see who it was, the bright light over his bed, was flipped on, and he had to close his eyes.

"Whose there?" Regulus demanded, pointing his wand out, and opening his eyes a little to try to see, he could see the outline of three people, but couldn't tell who they where.

"Regulus, you hurt my feelings" a familiar voice said, sending a shiver down Regulus' spin. "You're alive, and didn't even let your favorite cousin know."

Regulus didn't answer, instead, he cast a stunner, not knowing if he was actually pointing at anyone directly, and to his surprise he heard a grunt, and a thump when someone hit the floor hard.

"Rabastan," the voice of Rodolphus Lestrange cried, and now that Regulus' eyes adjusted to the bright light some, he saw Bellatrix standing in the doorway, next to her, was her husband Rodolphus, and Rabastan was lying on the floor out cold, Regulus then turned his wand toward Rodolphus, who rushed at him, and before Regulus could move he landed on top of him, and tried to wrestle the wand from his hand.

Regulus tried to fight him off, but he still didn't have all his strength back and was tired from his day out, so, when he punched Rodolphus it didn't do much but make him angry, and he grabbed Regulus' wrist and squeezed so hard, that Regulus heard a pop, and pain shot up his arm, causing Regulus to start fighting back harder, he brought his knee up, hitting Rodolphus in the gut, he gasped as he let go of Regulus and stumbled back, Regulus pointed his wand at him, only for Rodolphus to jump back on him, and the two wrestled around on the bed, with Rodolphus trying to get the wand out of Regulus' hand, while Regulus tried to fight him off, and managed to roll over on his side.

"Stop, stupid!" Rodolphus said, as Regulus brought his elbow up and caught him in the chin, he gripped his wand and pointed it towards Rodolphus, and cast the Knockback jinx, Rodolphus dodged it, but since he had to get off Regulus to do so, he was able to roll out of the bed, and land hard on the tile floor, causing more pain to shoot up his arm, and he dropped his wand and just laid there, out of breath and in pain. He quickly picked up his wand when Rodolphus landed on the floor next to him and tried to grab him, and Regulus started struggling to get out of his grip.

"Use your wand you idiot," Bellatrix yelled, Regulus heard Rodolphus call out a curse, that he was able to roll away from, now on his back, Regulus held his wand out towards his cousin-in-law.

"Stupefy"

Regulus' spell hit Rodolphus knocking him into the wall hard, and then he fell over forward on his face.

"Crucio"

Regulus screamed as his wand slipped out of his fingers, when Bellatrix hit him from behind with the torture curse, his body felt as if he was on fire, and his body jerked and shook, Regulus just wanted the pain to end.

"What's going on in here?" a nurse called, running into the room, Regulus felt some relief as the curse was lifted and he lay there panting and out of breath.

"Avada Kedavra"

Regulus heard the nurse's body hit the floor, and fear engulfed him, Voldemort must have somehow found out he was alive, and had sent Bellatrix and the two idiots to kill him, Regulus was frozen in fear as he heard Bellatrix walk over and revive Rodolphus, then make her way over to him.

"Cousin," she said, "The Dark Lord wishes to see you,"

So, Voldemort wanted to kill him personally, well, Regulus wasn't going to let that happen, he was going to finally be brave, like Sirius, Regulus took a deep breath, gathering what strength he could, as Bellatrix got closer, he grabbed his wand off the floor, and turned over on his back.

"The Dark Lord can go to hell." He shouted, then cast the Knockback Jinx, it hit Bellatrix in the chest, and she went flying into the wall, Rodolphus yelled in furry, then pointed his wand at Regulus.

"Crucio"

Regulus screamed once more as pain shot through his body, Rodolphus lifted the spell when Bellatrix jumped up, she looked wide as she pointed her wand at Regulus.

"Sectumsepra"

Regulus felt the curse he knew Severus Snape had invented cut him across his cheek, and blood poured out, onto his hospital robes, Regulus gasped in pain, holding his cheek, he glared at Bellatrix.

"Sirius is going to kill you." Regulus said and Bellatrix laughed.

"That pathetic blood traitor couldn't handle me on his best day," Bellatrix said, then pointed her wand at Regulus again.

"Cruico"

AN: The entryway being redone happened during the summer, as did the kitchen, but the picture of Sirius is new, I just thought it'd be funny that he replaced his mother's picture with one of his own, it's not as big as hers was though. But still a good size for a picture.

I'm sorry if Regulus staying being in the hospital or goes to Gimmauld Place for just a few hours then back to the hospital doesn't make much sense, but I wanted him to celebrate the holiday with Sirius, but didn't want it to be in a hospital room, and I needed Regulus still in the hospital so he'd be taken, as you might have realized I plan for the battle at the ministry to happen during winter break instead of toward the end of the school year, I have something planned to happen to Harry during the summer, and didn't want the two events so close together.