Traitor

   Sirius woke up on the floor in a dark, dusty cellar with blurry vision and a pulsating headache that made it hard for him to open his eyes all the way. For a moment, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there, he could only blink at his dim surroundings in confusion, the smallest bit of light peeking through a singular ground window that didn't do much to illuminate the room. If he focused, he thought he could hear distant voices, but couldn't make out any words until a loud, manic cackle suddenly broke through the hum of voices, sending a cold chill down his spine. Bellatrix. Sirius gasped, the memory of last night crashing down upon him.

    Moody had put him on a job, a simple guard rotation of precious supplies to aid the ongoing war. Supplies that the Death Eaters had been pillaging the last few weeks. He was meant to be on guard duty with a partner, an older man in the Order he'd never met, and it was quite boring for the first few hours. He and his partner didn't speak, and Sirius found himself restless, spending the time walking around aimlessly and humming under his breath. He was on the other side of the storage facility when the Death Eaters came. He sprinted toward the cacophony of spells and curses as fast as he could, but he had been too late, and the Death Eaters killed the man instantly. Before he could call for help, they were upon him, five Death Eaters including Bellatrix Lestrange who grinned at him wolfishly, predator cornering their prey. Sirius put up as much of a fight as he could, managing to take down two of them with him, but Sirius was vastly outnumbered. He expected them to kill him, maybe draw it out, knowing the sadist his cousin was, but she had different plans for him. Bellatrix brought him home. For the first time since Sirius was 16, he was back in Grimmauld Place.

   "Oh, cousin!" Bellatrix sang, her footsteps thundering down the stone steps to the cellar. Sirius fumbled around for his wand on instinct, though he knew they'd taken it from him sometime in his unconsciousness. He pushed himself up to stand, only wobbling a little, blinking harshly as his vision swam with black spots. If Bellatrix was going to kill him now, he would die on his feet, fighting like he always has. He could hardly see out of his left eye, and couldn't remember if he'd been hit by a spell or punched, he could barely remember how he got there in the first place. Bellatrix's face appeared between the bars of the cellar door, a wide grin stretching across her face showing off her rotted teeth. "Are you ready to have some fun, cousin?"

     "Bella, do try to keep your mouth shut, your breath is enough to kill me without using Avada," Sirius sniped, doing his best impersonation of his usual smug grin despite how off-kilter he felt.

    Bellatrix's smile melted away, replaced by an unhinged look of fury that never failed to leave him uneasy, though he'd rather die than show his fear. "I do wonder what'll happen when I cut out your tongue. Who are you without your snarky comebacks to hide behind?" She ripped open the cellar door, stepping back to let two Death Eaters he didn't recognize step in to grab him by his arms, yanking him roughly out of the room. He stumbled trying to keep up with the pace, the grip the Death Eaters had on his arms was bruising, Bellatrix following behind with her wand sticking in his back. 

    Sirius let himself be dragged along, keeping his head high, scanning the halls, and wracking his brain for a way out. He wondered where his brother was, hoping he was far away and safe somewhere. It wasn't only dangerous for Sirius to be here, it was dangerous because Regulus' position in the war was one of the only reasons the Order was still active, that they were still able to fight back and actually stand a chance at winning against Voldemort. Regulus was a great actor and spy, but Sirius was afraid if his little brother knew he was in trouble, he would do something stupid to try and help him, and risk blowing his cover in the process. 

    They threw him on the floor of the drawing room with enough force that Sirius practically bounced off the floor, all the breath knocked out of him at once. It was awfully reminiscent of the night he ran away, the night his blood had spilled over the dark floorboards, his mother had tortured him within an inch of his life, and the night his brother had shoved him through the floo, sending him straight to the Potters with glossy eyes and a whispered goodbye. It didn't take long for Bellatrix to begin torturing him, and he'd tried not to scream, tried to stay on his feet. Sirius knew what the cruciatus curse felt like, and had it inflicted upon him a few times throughout his terrible childhood, but Bellatrix was more creative. Her curses were dark, sharp, and cutting, boiling the blood inside his body, bending his bones, and ripping at the tendons. It didn't take long at all for his knees to give out, and it wasn't long before he began to scream. 

    ~

    Regulus has always been good at playing his role as the heir of the Black family, much to Sirius' dismay. He knows how to put all of the unacceptable parts of himself away in locked boxes and bury them deep inside himself. To his family, he is just as ruthless as Bellatrix, as stoic as Orion, refined as Narcissa, and cruel as Walburga. He is the perfect heir or would be, if he wasn't a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. He has done horrible things as every Black must, and he has never hesitated to fulfill his duty, no matter how disgusted Regulus feels with himself most days. He has tortured and killed innocents with his cousin's hand tight on his shoulder, and he didn't flinch. He has stood in front of the Dark Lord and allowed the dark magic to taint his arm and his soul. Regulus has simply hidden away all the parts of himself that do not fit with the picture-perfect Black heir he's meant to be because he had no other choice, he has only done what he needed to survive all this time. 

    He awoke to screams. It wasn't necessarily abnormal to hear screams in Grimmauld Place, the Death Eaters have been known to take captives and keep them in the cellar, either for information or just to torture them when they were restless and wanted to feel powerful. He tried to forget about them, tried to forget that even though he was a spy, he had a hand in the cruelty, and played a part in the senseless violence that this side of the war perpetuated. He'd wanted to be a potioneer at one point in his life, maybe even a teacher, though he suspected he was too antisocial for that. He had dreams once, but that was before Sirius ran away, before he became heir, and before the war. Regulus shook himself, that train of thought was useless to him, it only made him morose. When the screams floated up to his room from downstairs again, Regulus' mind went blank, heart lurching in his chest painfully. He knew those screams anywhere, and heard them often in his nightmares, could vividly see the ways those sounds were drawn out. They had Sirius. 

    He pulled himself out of bed and summoned his robes, fumbling with the buttons as his hands shook violently. Regulus had to get himself together, he needed a plan. How long had they been torturing Sirius? When did they bring him here? Regulus had gotten back late in the night, a clandestine meeting with Dumbledore to pass on some of the research he'd requested Regulus for. Nobody had been home then besides Kreacher, so they must have brought him back sometime when he was sleeping. Regulus squeezed his eyes shut as another scream echoed through the house, trying desperately to think past the panic surging through him, childishly wishing he could cover his ears with his hands and crawl under the covers. Instead, he checked the locks on his door, casting extra wards against it as well as silencing charms. 

    "Expecto Patronum!" Regulus said, waving his wand in the familiar motion. He only succeeded in a few misty wisps drifting out of his wand and sighed through his nose. The screams were muffled through all the charms and wards at his door, but he was still shaken, the dark mark squirming accusingly on his arm. His fault, it was always his fault. It took him three more tries before the ghostly white figure of a cat took form. "To James: They've taken Sirius to Grimmauld Place, and they're torturing him, maybe for information. I'm going to try to get him alone, I need you to bring Remus and the invisibility cloak, and come through the service entrance by the gardens, Kreacher will let you in. I'll key you into the wards and get as many people out of the house as possible. I'll do what I can, but please be careful. You're the only ones who can get him out," He swallowed past the lump in his throat and sent his patronus off at once, scrubbing at his face for a moment and silently cursing his brother for getting himself kidnapped.

   ~

    James was utterly exhausted, he was awoken early that morning to the chiming of the wards and Remus stumbling through the floo in a whirlwind of chaos, looking as if he'd just woken up, still in his pajamas with sleep-mussed hair. He'd nearly tackled James when he ran into the living room, who had been expecting an intruder and was still half in shock when Remus grabbed him by the shoulders roughly.

    "Is he here? Did he come here instead? Is he hurt?" Remus babbled anxiously, releasing his friend, eyes bouncing around the room like he expected Sirius to walk in next. 

    "Hold on, you mean Sirius? I haven't seen him since he left for the job yesterday. What's going on, Moony?" James guided them to the couch, a hand on his friend's shoulder, his heart sinking at the fear on Remus' face.  

    "Sirius hasn't been back, and he hasn't sent a patronus or anything. It was just guard duty, it shouldn't have been that dangerous, but I woke up and he was still gone, so I came here," He answered shakily, elbows on his knees and face buried in his hands. His fear wasn't misplaced, loads of people went missing these days, and they usually were found dead, if they were found at all. Sirius has always had a bigger target on his back for being a blood traitor to a family full of bloodthirsty Death Eaters.

    "We have to go to Moody or Dumbledore, they might know where he is, or send out people to search for him. They'll do something, they have to." James said at once, standing up and beginning to pace, never one to be still, especially when he was nervous, driving his hands through his hair.

    Remus shook his head miserably, "They won't, we're already spread too thin, and Moody won't risk it just for one person. When have they ever sent out a team to rescue one of ours?" His tone was bitter and defeated, angry and hopeless at the same time.

    James scrawled a quick message to Dumbledore anyway, determined to find a solution, to find his friend. They waited in heavy silence until Dumbledore sent back a response, informing them that Moody had gone back to the scene and found Sirius' partner dead, but saw no sign of Sirius. He suggested they wait to see if he shows up and asked that they contact him immediately if Sirius does. So Remus and James had been taking turns pacing, rambling aloud bad ideas and half-formed plans to save him, to do what nobody else would. Regulus' patronus reached them only an agonizing hour or two after they spoke with Dumbledore, bringing with it simultaneous relief and dread. Sirius was alive, but he was being held and tortured in Grimmauld Place, and Regulus was going to risk his cover to try to save him. They needed only a second to look at each other before James and Remus were scrambling to leave, throwing on clothes and shoes wordlessly. 

   ~

    It wasn't hard to empty the house, Regulus may have been one of the younger Death Eaters, but his family held a powerful position in Pureblood society and in Voldemort's inner circle, so most Death Eaters wouldn't dare challenge any order he made. Kreacher hadn't been too happy with him ordering that he let in two blood traitors, but he couldn't disobey him either, bound by house elf magic to obey his master and sworn to secrecy. The problem was Bellatrix. 

    "I have a surprise for you, Reggie," She said playfully, dark eyes gleaming with malice and excitement. She stood outside the drawing room doors, twirling her wand around her hair. Regulus strained his ears, but couldn't hear any more noise coming from the room, he wondered if Sirius was still conscious at this point, the screaming had stopped abruptly minutes ago. 

    "You know I hate surprises, Bella, but do tell," He tilted his head, adopting a curious look and mentally preparing for what might be on the other side of the door. Regulus noticed there was blood caked under her fingernails, tainting her fingertips with a faint red color. Anxiety squirmed in his stomach, and he thought he could feel the dark mark burning on his arm, a constant source of guilt and shame he couldn't escape. 

    "Oh, I'd rather show you," Bellatrix smiled sharply, throwing open the doors behind her with a flourish. 

    Regulus bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood, trying to prevent his face from reacting at all, though it took all his restraint to keep from crossing the room to his brother. Sirius lay sprawled out in the middle of the floor, face swollen and bloodied, various wounds seeping blood where his clothes had been torn. Cutting spells, if Regulus had to guess. Dozens of them. His eyes looked swollen shut, purple, black, and blue bruises marring his cheekbones and face. His forearm was covered in blood, pooling in certain spots where the cuts were the deepest. Regulus couldn't tell if he was conscious or not, but could see Sirius' chest rising and falling shallowly, his breathing labored and rattling in his chest.

    "Caught him on guard duty, and thought he'd make a lovely plaything. We never did get to pay him back for betraying the family, so I thought we'd make up for lost time. And we've had a good time together, haven't we, blood traitor?" Bellatrix kicked him in the ribs, only receiving a faint moan in response. It was work to drag his gaze away from his brother and to appear entirely unaffected by it all. He stood with a straight back, hands at his sides, head high. 

    "You know I don't indulge in such childish things, Bella, even if he is a blood traitor," Regulus responded, keeping his tone dull and bored as if he found what she was doing merely distasteful, like it was below him. Sirius let out a small sound, and turned his head sluggishly, blinking his swollen eyes at Regulus, though he couldn't quite tell if Sirius could see him. Regulus only glanced at him before turning his attention back to his cousin.

    "Oh, you can't honestly tell me you don't want revenge? Unless you still care for him?" Bellatrix questioned lightly, stepping closer to him and narrowing her eyes, "Have you gone soft, Reggie?" She whispered, a dangerous look on her face Regulus knew too well. 

    Regulus rolled his eyes, hand twitching around his wand, "I couldn't care less about the blood traitor," he spat the words out as if he were disgusted by the mere idea, before brushing past his cousin to stand before Sirius, a sinister smirk playing on his face. "But on second thought, maybe I would like to have some fun. Leave us to it then, Bella, it's my turn." 

    Bellatrix curled her hand around his shoulder, gripping it tightly as she had done several times, a threat and a promise of punishment if he were to fail. It always reminded him of his mother. "Not until I see it for myself. See, I'm not entirely convinced you don't care for him, you always were soft for your big brother." Her tone was light and playful, but her nails dug into his shoulder hard enough to make her intentions clear. 

    "Leave," He snapped, he didn't have any more ideas, the plan he strung together was barely feasible to begin with, Regulus wasn't sure he could keep his calm much longer. Now that he was closer, he could see that Sirius' arm wasn't just covered in blood, there were letters carved into his arm, blood bubbling up around the lines and smearing it. Bellatrix had carved the word traitor into his arm. Regulus felt like he was going to be sick, whether she left the room or not, he was struggling to keep up the act as his brother bled out in front of him.

    "Curse him and I will," Bellatrix responded simply, watching his every movement suspiciously. He had no choice but to do it. If Regulus chose an easy curse, Bellatrix would be on him in a moment and might suspect his loyalty to the cause, which wouldn't be good for him or Sirius. He shifted his eyes towards Sirius helplessly, to find his brother already watching him, face creased with pain and fear. 

    I'm so sorry, he thought, hoping Sirius could tell what he was thinking, hoping he wasn't about to kill them both. Regulus took a deep breath, pointing his wand directly at his brother, and cast, "Crucio,"