Sirius
Sirius tried to run to the stairs, but Remus grabbed his collar.
“Don’t be impulsive! Think!”
“Get the fuck off of me.” Sirius’ voice was scathing. He pushed Remus backwards, causing them both to stumble.
Remus quickly regained his footing, surging forward and slamming Sirius against the kitchen wall.
“Think,” Remus pleaded. “There’s always more than one.”
Death Eaters.
The sudden realization made Sirius stop struggling. This wasn’t an ordinary intruder— this was articulate, planned, most likely thought up months ago by one of his family members.
James was gone. Lily was gone. Emmeline was gone. Alice and Frank and the Weasleys were gone. All in Diagon Alley.
They were alone.
Remus blinked quickly, his nose crinkling, and Sirius knew he could feel the dark magic.
Powerful. Strong. Black as tar.
Remus could keep sniffing the air for all he cared, but Sirius’ body was screaming at him to run towards the children— towards the conflict. He needed to save them now— right now— Oh, Merlin, he needed to get to Harry—
Remus’ voice was just a breath on his neck. “I’ll send a patronus to Lily. Don’t do anything until we have guaranteed backup, alright?”
“Fine.” But Sirius knew his eyes said the opposite.
Remus’ grip on his shirt loosened, and he waved his wand, whispering, “Evans, assistance needed—”
Sirius didn’t hear the rest. He slipped around the corner, into the sitting room where Effie had once led him in dance, and Bellatrix Lestrange shrieked, “MY LITTLE COUSIN!”
The air left Sirius’ lungs.
His older cousin stood awkwardly in the middle of the sitting room, arms flung out with fake glee. Her grotesque teeth cut through a smile, and she let loose a cackle that echoed against the chimney. “Oh, I hoped you’d be here. And your Level XXXXX friend, too!”
Sirius turned just in time to see Remus skid into the room, lips moving to mouth “Fuck” as he took in the scene.
Sirius raised his wand. “How many friends did you bring along?”
Bellatrix’s lips settled into a pout. “This wasn’t meant to be a competition. I thought this would be more fun, Sirius. A reunion of sorts.”
“We can have fun.” Out of the corner of Sirius’ eye, he saw Remus start to inch towards the stairs. Sirius kept Bellatrix’s harsh gaze focused on him, praying she wouldn’t turn around.
Bellatrix’s grey eyes flashed. “You’re right. You and I do think alike, little cousin.”
With a maniacal laugh, she waved her wand around her head, and every window on the first floor exploded in a burst of broken glass. The shards glowed red as they reflected the setting sun and sprayed across the sitting room.
Sirius and Remus dove to the floor, but wayward pieces of glass slashed Sirius’ face and nestled into his clothes. He felt a warm ooze begin to coat his arms as he pushed off the floor and stumbled to his feet.
Bellatrix laughed again, then gave a huff of indignation when Remus reached for his wand. “Will you two keep still?” she cried, slashing the air with her wand.
Sirius’ muscles jerked him upright. A slow spread of paralysis started at his feet, but before he could shout a counter-spell, his mouth glued shut.
Remus was frozen on the other side of Bellatrix, even the frayed strings on his sweater floating in midair.
“That’s better, isn’t it?” Bellatrix let a beat of complete silence pass before continuing. “It’s exhausting how much you all move. It was the same with that man at the Ministry two days ago— what was his name… his name… Kingsley! Kingsley! Kingsley! He would not stop moving. Until Barty Junior got him under crucio. Poor baby.”
Sirius’ heart pounded. The Ministry had been broken into two days ago? Then who had told James and the others about the Death Eaters? Why hadn’t they asked any questions about the source of the information? It didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. Where was Percy? Where were the twins?
“I took your file, cousin.” Bellatrix waved a manila folder in Sirius’ face. “That’s what Kingsley didn’t want to give up. I understand now why he guarded it so… passionately. It’s a fascinating read. Even I learned lots.”
Sirius strained against the spell, but it was no use. Bellatrix’s magic was undoable, it always had been. Once, she’d taught him how to twist Latin to create his own dark magic. His spells had come apart easily, just frail attempts at something evil. Hers always held strong. The difference between the two of them was that she always meant it. He rarely did.
Bellatrix cleared her throat. “Sirius Orion Black. Twenty one. Parents: Fleamont and Euphemia Potter.” Her eyes quickly cut to his. “Untrue. They did not make you.”
Yes, they did, Sirius wanted to scream. YES, THEY DID.
“Failed the Ministry Auror test three times… Prohibited from ever working alongside James Potter or Remus Lupin due to skewed sense of priorities… Boring, boring, boring!” Bellatrix flipped through the file, and the pages of Sirius’ life fell to the floor. “Ah! Now this is what caught my attention.”
Where is Harry where is Ron where is Neville where is Fred where is George where is Percy where is Missy where is James where is Marlene—
“Weakness: boggart.”
Sirius felt sick. He tried to move his head, his eyes, anything, just so that he could see Remus. To remember that he was not alone.
Alone?
He was never really alone. Never ever, not even in the darkness of night. There was always—
“Regulus,” Bellatrix said absentmindedly. “I always thought Regulus was the frightened one. But looking back, you were scared of everything. The shadows in your childhood bedroom, the Black Lake, your own mother. Would you agree that you are the weakest Black cousin?”
Air raced into Sirius’ lungs as Bellatrix lifted the spell, and he sank to his knees, gasping. “Where are the kids?”
Bellatrix sighed, then raised an eyebrow. “Upstairs, where you left them. Scared and all alone.”
In a quick movement, she pointed her wand and sent Remus flying up the stairs.
Sirius heard a crash in the hallway and swore, scrambling to his feet and taking the stairs three at a time.
He fell head first onto the stairwell, and the air immediately changed. It felt dark, heavy.
Wet.
“Fuck!” Sirius shouted. “Remus, you better get the fuck up right now and get the fuck out of this hallway—”
The shadows moved and Regulus took a step out of the darkness. His eyebrows knit together in a familiar, heart wrenching display of confusion and fear.
Sirius raised his wand. “Hello, Reg,” he said shakily. “I think we can both agree that we see each other far too often.”
Regulus looked behind him. “Sirius, who was that?”
At the sound of his brother’s voice, the initial disappointment gave way to a choking fear. Sirius couldn’t tear his eyes away from Regulus— his eyes had grown more sunken, his face gaunt, barely a little boy and almost completely a corpse.
Sirius’ breath came out shallow. “That was Moony. That’s all. Remus, from school.”
Regulus cocked his head. “I saw someone on the ground. He looked like you. He looked like me.”
Fuck.
The same words, over and over.
The shock stole Sirius’ own words from his throat, and the light at the tip of his wand shook, sending shadows dancing across the room. “It’s Remus.”
But Regulus’ face contorted, responding to sentences that Sirius had spoken in the past. “Why are you saying that, Sirius?” his chin quivered. “I am real.”
“I know,” Sirius whispered. “Please stop. I know.”
“I’m not dead. I’m alive. I feel my hands and my heart. Sirius, don’t say I’m dead. I am real.”
Sirius’ mouth opened and closed, unable to speak past the lump in his throat. He wanted it to be true. He wanted it so badly it hurt.
But this was not the Regulus of his childhood. This was a monster, a sick copy.
The real Regulus walked to class so close to Pandora that they’d trip each other. The real Regulus could create the most intricate story that tricked even the smartest of professors. The real Regulus swore he’d kill his older brother as he swung from the chandelier in the Hogwarts library.
A laugh bubbled up in Sirius’ throat and the boggart stumbled backwards.
An idea flashed through Sirius’ mind, and he quickly tried to imagine the library— Madam Pince, the endless shelves, Evan Rosier pissing himself on top of the restricted section.
In a rush of confidence, Sirius raised his wand and shouted, “RIDDIKULUS!”
The boggart flew into the air and hooked on one of Effie’s light fixtures. Its mouth opened in slight surprise, and Sirius burst into laughter.
He easily cast another spell, forcing the boggart back into the linen closet and closing the door with a slam.
It howled and scratched at the door, and the hallway air lifted. The lights flickered back on.
Sirius stared at the closed door for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, he remembered the sound of Remus’ body crashing against the wall.
He ran towards the opposite end of the hall, praying over and over, though he didn’t know who he was praying to.
Alive. Please let him be alive.
But Remus didn’t look like he was breathing. He lay crumpled in a corner, blood trickling from his nose and a bruise already blooming by his left eye.
“Moony? Moony, wake up.” Sirius violently shook Remus’ shoulder, panic building in his chest.
Remus didn’t move.
“Hey! Moony, wake up! Come on… Remus!” Sirius leaned closer and felt a wash of relief when he heard a quiet, rattling breath escape Remus’ lips.
Suddenly, an explosion sounded from the first floor and Sirius heard Bellatrix scream.
He quickly turned back to Remus, brushing a curl— thick and heavy with blood— away from Remus’ eyes. “I’m not letting you die, not when I just got you back. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but this is going to hurt like hell and I won’t be there.”
Sirius whispered a simple healing spell and watched as Remus’ breathing grew steadier. He got to his feet and backed away, waiting for another sign of life.
Remus’ eyes fluttered open, and Sirius turned to face the beginnings of the battle.