Author's Note: I like this chapter a lot. I may have messed up Harry Potter's paternal grandmother's name. I like the name Dora. But her name could be Dorea. Or perhaps according to canon it's completely different. This is easily fixed so just let me know if it's unacceptable. Harry Potter is not mine, I just enjoy playing in JK Rowling's Sandbox. Please review and let me know what you think.

Chapter 8: Black Promises

I hated the lot of them. My parents, with their pure-blood mania… my repulsive cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange…[he points to a scorched hole in the tapestry] My mother did that after I ran away. Charming woman."

~Sirius Black~

Sirius didn't even try to convince his brother, he simply took his hand and said, "Come on!" Dragging his sibling down the stairs to the fireplace. He had to pull a stool over to stand on so he could reach the mantle where the floo powder was in a glass jar. He put some of the powder into Regulus' hand. "You first. Throw the powder in and say, Black Manor." He made Regulus repeat it several times before letting him do it. The fire flashed green and Sirius followed him immediately.

Only when he stumbled out onto his grandfather's welcoming hearth did he breathe a sigh of relief. No doubt his home's alarms were blaring, informing all the elves and his mother of their disappearance, but he couldn't dredge up a single drop of remorse. This was the only way. Well, the best way. He hoped.

An elf appeared that Sirius recognized but couldn't remember her name and she gasped, "Young masters! You nots tell us you were coming!" She rushed to them looking puzzled and worried. "Is everythings okay?"

"Yes," Sirius said, trying to act as normal as he could given the circumstances. "Can you let my grandparents know we are here?"

She nodded, "Mimsy be right back. You go to kitchen and JinJin will get you a treat." The tiny elf nodded then disappeared with a snap of her long fingers. Sirius remembering the way to the kitchen, dragged a nervous-looking Regulus behind him. The poor kid looked bewildered and scared. Sirius squeezed his hand in what he hoped was a reassuring way, "It's okay Reggie. Grandfather won't make us go back. I'll tell him that we won't." He made a promise to his brother. Reggie looked at him and nodded, but Sirius saw the doubt. He smiled inwardly, knowing for a fact that Regulus would never be subjected to his mother's insanity again.

The Black Ancestral Estates belonged to Lord Arcturus Black, patriarch and head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. He would summon the entire Black family once a year to the sprawling manor, make proclamations and rule on family disputes, and mete out punishments and rewards. Sirius remembered those visits, many of which were in his past and some that had yet to come, where he spent weeks with his cousins, Narcissa and Bellatrix, and his favorite cousin Andromeda. Some of those memories were actually fond, he realized with a shock. Not everything was as excruciating as he sometimes thought they were. Looking at his childhood from a more mature perspective he realized he was, to some extent, the author of his own torment.

He remembered once pulling Bellatrix's hair and tripping her in order to win a race to the kitchens and then lying about it when asked and calling the girl mental. At this time, Bellatrix was just a young girl with dreams and a future that didn't include a Dark wizard, if things had gone just a bit differently. Somewhere along this timeline she becomes lost, he mused. But there was a point when she might have been saved.

His thoughts had darkened by the time he was seated in the heart of the house, the kitchen. It was difficult for him to wrestle with shared memories. How time had muted the sensations but inhabiting his younger self brought them into sharper focus. Things he had passed over as insignificant suddenly seemed so much more important. His mind wandered to Lilly's list. Be a spy. He was perfectly poised as a member of Lord Black's household to be just that...but he felt dirty contemplating it. He did have some familial loyalty after all he mused.

His grandmother came in just as they were finishing the piece of pie JinJin had served them. Sirius was licking chocolate off his spoon when she caught him up in a hug and he almost choked on it. This made Regulus laugh for the first time since he'd arrived.

He relished the sound of his brother's laugh. The innocent sound of joy that only a young boy could make. He swallowed back a sob and would blame the tears in his eyes on his over-exuberant grandmother. He wondered how his father could possibly have married such a crazy woman like Walberga when his own mother was her exact opposite. Where Walberga was hard, Dorea was soft. Where Walberga was uncouth his grandmother was kind and genteel. Night and day, good and evil.

"What a wonderful surprise. My two favorite grandsons come to visit!" She moved next to Regulus, scooping him up into a bone-crushing hug. Dora was not a tiny woman and her hugs were epic. Sirius got his mostly happy nature from her, at least he guessed as much. He certainly didn't take after his mother. He shuddered at the thought.

His grandmother released Regulus who looked a bit squashed but unharmed and put her hands on her hips, her keen gaze moving from one brother to the other, and said, "Why do I get the feeling that you aren't here just to visit an old woman?"

Regulus sank down a bit in his chair and seemed to take an inordinate amount of interest in his shoes. Sirius sighed. Looked at his grandmother and weighed his options. Diplomacy or bluntness? He decided he should just out and out say it.

Sirius gave his grandmother a look that left her speechless. It was the same look Arcturus got when he laid down the law. "I've come to ask that you let Regulus live here with you from now on." He gave Regulus a smile, "Regulus and I ran away today. But we didn't run away from home. That place has never been a home. It's been a prison." He wondered if he was being too eloquent for his age but he sat up straight and tall and said, "I'm done hiding it. I won't let mother crucio Reggie as she did me. I don't think mother is completely well. She needs help." He took a breath and then let it out deflating like a balloon and said. "I'm sorry that we sort of dropped this all on you. But please don't make us go back there. Or if you really want to send me back that's okay. I'll be at Hogwarts soon anyway but...please let Regulus stay." Tears came almost unbidden to his eyes. God, he cried so easily these days. But for now, he used it to his advantage.

He realized that he was experiencing catharsis, telling someone about what his mother had done, trusting someone. Knowing he could trust his grandmother because he had talked to her just that afternoon in the afterlife.

He remembered her words to him, softly spoken as their mirror call was coming to a close. "I hope you remember this above all else. I would have moved heaven and earth for you if I had known what was really going on. I would have shielded you. I would have protected you and Regulus with my own life. I loved you both."

The truth of that declaration was revealed in the old woman's eyes, a combination of unbendable steel and towering rage. A thrill of terror arced through him. Bloody hell! she's gonna kill Walburga and be sent to Azkaban!

He lept to his feet in a sudden panic and said, "Uhm...you aren't going to do anything crazy or anything right?" Taking her hand and winced as her not insignificant strength crushed his tiny boy fingers.

She seemed unaware of the fact as she shook her head and said, "I am going to -speak- to your grandfather. You take your brother to your room and stay out of trouble." She was practically vibrating with barely suppressed anger before she released his poor fingers from her death grip and said, "Thank you for telling me, Sirius. I need you to know one thing." She looked forbidding, " You and Regulus are never going back." She then stormed out of the kitchen, looking for all the world like a warrior going into battle.

Sirius suddenly felt very sorry for Arcturus, and his parents. He didn't doubt that he had kicked a hornet's nest but felt this was one hornet's nest that could be fixed by a little bit of hard cold truth. He looked over at Regulus then who was staring at him with his mouth hanging open, looking like he'd taken a bludger to the head.

"Are you okay?" He asked Regulus, suddenly concerned.

"Mother Crucio'd you?" Regulus looked like he was going to faint. Sirius froze. His brain simply refused to function for a full thirty seconds. "Well. She threatened to." He admitted. "I had a dream that she did. It felt real." He tried to recover. His mother hadn't cast that spell on him yet. Hopefully, now she never would. But he felt sick. He really had to be more careful.

"Who are you?" Regulus asked. "And what have you done with my brother?" The question jolted him from his contemplations and he took the coward's way out.

Sirius laughed and shrugged, brushing away his brothers' shock with a question sure to divert his attention. "Wanna play some exploding snap?"

Regulus nodded and followed him, a contemplative expression in his eyes as he watched his older brother bound up the stairs like a wild dog. He laughed, "Same ol' Sirius." He whispered to himself. But there was still a kernel of doubt whispering in the back of his mind that something was just not right with his brother.

It wasn't until dinner was served by Jin Jin in the nursery that they finally received news about what was going on, and the news was rather vague. "Mistress and Master are away on important business. They say not to expect them home for a while and be good boys, eat your vegetables, and then off to bed. They will see you in the morning." JinJin explained while he laid out a small feast for the boys which didn't actually include that many vegetables after all.

Sirius tried to keep his brother distracted but he was failing miserably at the task as he himself needed a distraction from imagining what his grandparents were doing to his parents at this very moment. He wondered if he could somehow convince his grandfather to share the memory. His own mood vacillating between worry and pleasure. He chafed at having to pretend to be a kid as most children wouldn't be consulted regarding their fate in a situation like this.

He sighed inwardly and glanced at his brother who kept looking at the clock on the wall. "Don't worry Reggie." He had lost track of how many times he'd had to say this to his brother in the last few hours. "Worrying about it isn't going to help either of us. What happens now is anyone's guess, but I bet you a galleon it's going to be okay."

Regulus glared at him and finally, his kid brain just exploded, "This is all your fault! Mother is going to be so mad! She'll burn you off the tapestry!" The tears he had been trying to hold onto poured down his cheeks like a river. "Or me." He sobbed quietly that last. He looked at his plate sadly pushing it away sullenly.

Sirius tried to assure him rather than rising to the boy's outburst. "Regulus, that tapestry means nothing. She doesn't have the power to make any of us not be a Black. The only person that can disinherit us is grandfather, and I can't see him doing that. Can you?"

Regulus thought about it and then said, "But what if they send us back Sirius? She's gonna whip us! Then she really is going to Crucio you! And you even lied about that! I just don't know why you did it?" Regulus really was scared.

Sirius grinned. "No, she won't hurt you or me. Wanna know why?"

Regulus shrugged non committedly and Sirius plowed on like it was an endorsement to continue. "Because I won't let her." He smirked.

Regulus regarded him then and chuckled, "You don't even have a wand. How will you stop her?"

Sirius winked, "I'll punch her in the nose so hard she won't be able to see, then I'll kick her in the shin and she will have to hop on one foot, and then I'll spin her so fast she'll get dizzy, and then I won't stop until she begs me."

He knew he was being fantastical but the goal was to get Regulus to laugh and to let him know unequivocally that Sirius would be his shield. That Sirius would take the blame and that he'd fight hard to keep his mother from hurting either of them. Also, he knew some mean martial arts and really didn't need a wand if it came to physical combat. Even an 11-year-old could beat up someone who had never done a day's labor or a moment of physical exercise her whole life.

But he was fairly certain that his actions today short-circuited any future contact either would have with the wicked witch. His animated discussion of what he would do to his mother had the desired effect and Regulus was giggling as the descriptions got more and more ludicrous.

They passed the evening quietly playing exploding snap before getting ready for bed. Their room had two twin beds separated by a dresser. Regulus was asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow. Sirius however had a hard time following suit. The day was overwhelming him. So much had happened since he'd woken up in heaven, and was now going to sleep in his 11-year-old body.

He worried about the consequences of changing so much in such a short time, but every change he made, he had planned to make. Perhaps not on the first day though? Course he'd been dumped into the timestream very close to the beginning of the term. But no matter what. he couldn't bring himself to regret today's decision. He wanted to write down everything in his diary and felt a bit bereft without it.

Was he being too impulsive? Too quick to act? He knew he needed to be strategic. He had his plan and his litmus test. What was in Harry's best interest? Would it hurt Voldemort? What would change? What wouldn't?

He longed to be Padfoot. He wondered briefly if he could? Did he have enough magic? He closed his eyes and concentrated, seeing his animagus form in his mind and slipping into its body like a familiar coat. He quickly glanced in the mirror in triumph and was almost surprised that his animagus form had not changed in age, as he had. He glanced over at Reggie, listening to his even breathing, and then changed back to his human form. It wasn't worth the risk of revealing that particular talent yet.

He tossed and turned a while when it occurred to him that it was his younger self he was ignoring. Guilt kept him from dealing with this particular problem. Essentially he had tossed the hapless victim into a deep dark well. He contemplated keeping him there and decided that at least he owed the young lordling an explanation.

It was hours before he finally was able to sleep. He was sure that was because the young Sirius Black had passed out from either shock or exhaustion. He wasn't sure how far he could trust his younger self to behave and not screw everything up. So he was going to have to take this slow. He finally fell into dreamless oblivion just as his grandparents floo'd home.