A Nightmare's End

A full moon rose slowly into the sky, much to the dismay of a handsome, dark-haired boy who watched it from his bedroom window. His nearly silver eyes narrowed at it, and an involuntary growl rose harshly from deep within his diaphragm. "No," his vocal chords ground out. "No, you leave him alone."

In his second year, now sixteen year old Sirius Black had discovered that one of his best friends from Hogwarts was a werewolf, and his hate for the night and all of her comrades had increased tenfold. Knowing about the torture Remus went through each month made it decidedly easier for Sirius to bear the misery he endured at home. He told himself to be thankful each day, even as his cheek burned red and his stomach groaned in hunger.

He heard a soft knock at the door, and he snapped out of his reverie. "Come in," he called, not turning away from the window. He noted that the door opened and then closed in turn, but the lack of muttered or insults alerted him that the presence was that of his younger brother, Regulus, and not the family house elf, or his mother. The mouth watering aroma of the cook's shepherd's pie filled the room, and Sirius ripped his focus away from the moon.

His little brother was struggling beneath a tray of dishes laden with food, and he rushed to relieve Regulus of his burden. "Thanks, Sirius," the younger boy sighed, looking up at his brother with identical gray eyes. Sirius gazed fondly at his ally before turning his attention to the food before him. "That'll be enough, yeah? Tilly said she didn't have anything else to spare, plus I couldn't carry anything more."

"It's more than enough, Reg. Just don't tell Mum, or she'll go mad that you gave me food when she's trying to hard to starve me."

"Don't say that, Siri. She just doesn't know how to punish you now that you're grown up. She can't make Father take a belt to you anymore. You're almost an adult," Regulus said desperately, trying to defend his mother with a childish sort of loyalty, even though he knew that Sirius was right. Sirius saw a futile sort of sadness flash across his brother's equally as handsome face, and he changed the subject.

"You shouldn't be carrying so much weight so soon anyways. You only just got over that nasty case of dragon pox, and you haven't got all your strength back. I don't want my only Quidditch partner ill again." Regulus pouted and crossed his arms.

"I've nearly got all my strength back. Father says I'm too weak to be called a Black, anyhow. I need to bulk up by carrying things so Mother and Father aren't ashamed of me anymore." At the saddened expression on his brother's face, Sirius felt the vile taste of fury rising in the back of his throat, and he pulled Regulus into a hug. Skinny, fragile and pale, Regulus was small for twelve and susceptible to every disease known to wizard. Sirius spent many days at school fretting over Regulus' health, and writing letters to him to make sure their mother hadn't corrupted him yet.

"Dad's completely nutters, Reg. Don't you go listen to him. You're whatever you want to be, whether you want to be a Black, a king," he bowed formally to his brother, who shrieked with laughter, "or even a Muggle outlaw!" He drew his fingers from his pockets in the shape of guns and the two of them engaged in a very intense, and very loud, mock standoff. It wasn't long before Sirius heard footsteps heading to his bedroom, though, and he looked at the door like a dog who had heard his abusive master come home. The door burst open, revealing a livid Walburga Black.

"Sirius Orion Black!" she hissed, and Sirius winced. Nothing good ever came from that deadly quiet tone of voice, that much he knew. "What are you doing to your brother?" She drew her wand and pointed it dangerously at her elder son. He gently gave Regulus a nudge out of harms way, and tried his best to give the boy a reassuring smile.

"Reg, could you please excuse us? I have a feeling our dearest mummy wants to have a bit of a chat with me," he said clearly, his voice dripping with sarcasm and disobedience. Walburga locked eyes with Sirius, hatred and disgust etched in every line on her face. Regulus nodded nervously and started to walk out of the room, but their mother grabbed her younger son's arm tightly and painfully.

"What makes you think you can speak to him that way, boy? With him the good son that your father deserves?" she spat at Sirius, who clenched his fists in order to fight the urge to do something very disrespectful with his hands. His mother noticed this with her cold blue eyes and let out a shriek of laughter. "Why should he leave? Do you not want him to see the sobbing mess you become when you disobey me?"

Sirius desperately tried to control his temper in front of his little brother. Just as he was about to say something in response to his mother's question, her hand shot out at him like a viper. He was knocked to his knees at the force of her strike, and he recognized the metallic taste on his tongue as that of blood as it leaked from his lip into his mouth.

He gazed up at his mother, astonished. She had never knocked him down before. She had struck him, yes, but only hard enough to leave a mark, never enough to make him bleed.

"Answer me, you insolent coward!" she screamed. He stood on shaking arms and legs and faced his mother.

She howled as his blood hit her face.

Regulus gasped and stood in horror as his brother towered over their mother with a face of obvious satisfaction as she wiped his blood and spit from her eyes. "You miserable little wretch!" She ran at her elder son and began to slap him repeatedly across the face. Regulus ran into the hallway and banged on the door of his father's study.

"Father, father, come quickly! Mother is going to kill Sirius!" he screamed, consumed by his childish fear. He raced back into his brother's bedroom to find Sirius lying on the ground, his blood flowing everywhere, with his mother's wand pointing directly at Sirius' weak body. Sirius was staring at her with dull, foggy eyes, as though his mind had vacated his head and left Sirius as an empty shell. Seeing his brother's eyes so lifeless make Regulus choke back a sob. His father strolled casually past and touched his mother's shoulder.

"Walburga, dear, don't do anything you'll regret," he murmured soothingly, looking at Sirius with something like distaste. "He is, after all, our..." he scanned Sirius' bleeding body up and down, "...firstborn." Walburga turned to her husband, want still pointed at her son who was struggling to stand.

"Firstborn?" she screeched. "This traitor, this abomination of my flesh could never be my firstborn!" her eyes rolled as her wand shook. "He is the only thing I regret! Not only does he befriend half-bloods and mudbloods, he's a homosexual!" A stunned silence filled the room as Orion turned away from his son, disgusted and Regulus froze in his task of trying to lower his mother's wand by force. He turned to look at his brother, who confirmed it by clapping his hands stiffly.

"Very good, Mother, I didn't think you had the brains to figure that one out. Well of course you could have gotten help," he snarled, glaring at Regulus who noted, unhappily, that the life in his brother's eyes had been replaced by a bitter shine of hate. Sirius then turned back to his mother, grinning wickedly. Blood dripped down his face from his cheeks, forehead and mouth. He looked insane.

"Guess what, Mummy?" Sirius chimed in a singsong kind of way. "I even have a boyfriend, one who loves me very much, and on the nights we're not fucking, he's transforming into a werewolf. At least his mother was a pureblood." He laughed heartlessly, and Regulus ran out of the room.

"CRUCIO!" his mother howled, and the last thing Sirius heard before everything dissolved into blackness was Regulus' sobs.