Age 16
Regulus had barely left my side after he discovered what I had done to my arm, he saw straight through the fake smiles I gave other people and saw the true me that was numb and feeling terrible about what Sirius had said. He made sure I was eating enough food, attending all my classes and actually sleeping at night, every morning he would be waiting outside of the Ravenclaw common room for me, and he would walk me to breakfast where he made sure I ate at least a piece of toast, and then he would walk me to my classes, and when those classes were finished, he would be waiting outside to walk me to the next one. I think he's nervous that I'm either going to disappear into the Forbidden Forest or try to kill myself, neither of which I would do.
Regulus and I were waiting in the prefect bathroom, Regulus had convinced Sirius to talk with us after he finally admitted what I had done to myself and my arm less than a week ago. The prefect bathroom was spotless, each of the white marble counters gleamed and the large golden bathtub that was the size of a swimming pool looked eager to be filled with fancy soaps and bubbles. Regulus leaned against a wall, examining his pristine fingernails, while I sat on the sink counter, impatiently clicking my own fingernails against the counter.
I jump off the counter, my boots thudding against the floor, "He's not coming." I say with annoyance.
"He's coming Aurelia, he said he would." Regulus said, trying to calm me.
"He said we were dead to him Reg, he's not coming." I say, disappointment dripping from my words. I let out a small sigh and go to leave the bathroom when the door swings open revealing Sirius. He looked the same as always, leather boots with mud stains, dark pants, untucked shirt and sweater vest with his tie untied.
"Sorry I'm late," He said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking guilty.
"We didn't think you were coming," Regulus admitted, pushing himself off the bathroom wall and coming closer to us.
"You're still my siblings, I still care about you." Sirius says, looking between Regulus and I.
"But not if we have the Dark Mark right?" I say with disgust, crossing my arms over my chest, staring daggers at Sirius.
"Aurelia I-" Sirius began but was cut off by the sound of footsteps coming from the far entrance of the prefect bathroom. We all turn towards the approaching footsteps to see Severus Snape, a older Slytherin in Sirius' year. He had a big smirk on his face and was twiddling his wand between his fingers.
"Awe," He mocked. "What a nice family reunion."
"Piss off Snivellus." Sirius growled, clearly not wanting to deal with the Slytherin boy at the moment.
"Oh, I don't think I will," Severus smirked, his eyes flickering from me to Regulus to back to Sirius.
"Severus please, this will only take a few minutes then we can talk." Regulus tries to reason only to be met with a viscous glare from the older boy.
"I don't want to speak to you Regulus, I want to speak to Sirius," He says slyly, his wand passing through his fingers smoothly.
"We're in the middle of something greaseface, leave us alone!" Sirius spat, getting frustrated by Severus. Within a second, Severus' wand had stopped twirling between his fingers and was pointed at Sirius.
"Severus!" Regulus yelled, sounding almost like Father when he is angry. Severus only ignores him and continues to point his wand at my brother.
"You don't get to tell me what to do after you nearly killed me Black." Severus sneered, his lip curling.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, having finally rediscovered my voice.
"Your brother locked me in the Shrieking Shack with that monster he calls his friend!" Snape yelled, glaring at Sirius.
"Don't you dare call Remus a monster!" Sirius yelled back, his hands balling into fists.
"That's what he is! Bloody werewolf should be put down." Severus spoke, causing Sirius to whip out his wand and point it back at him.
"I didn't lock you in there, I simply told you the shortcut we use to get there." Sirius says surprisingly calmly, justifying what he did.
"You could've had me killed! I could be dead and it would be that beasts fault!" Severus bellowed, his voice echoing off the porcelain walls. I can hear the hiss of Sirius' voice as he goes to cast a hex him or one of his friends made up but before he could form the words, Severus yelled his own spell, "Sectumsempra!"
Without even knowing what could possibly be the effects of the spell Severus had just cast, I push my brother out of the way and am hit with a violent jolt that I can only describe felt like a thousand knives piercing my skin. I fall to the ground with a heavy thud, suddenly feeling pain all over my body and as I look down I see the cause; my clothing was torn and I had deep cuts where it looked like invisible knives had slashed their way through my flesh and I was bleeding heavily. My hand hovered over my stomach, where I was bleeding the most as dark crimson blood started to pool around me and within a split second, both Sirius and Regulus were by my side.
"What did you do?" Regulus shrieked, looking at Severus who looked stunned.
"I- I didn't know it would be this bad," He stuttered, clearly also not knowing the effect this spell would have. His face looked shocked, the blood rushing from it, almost making him look as if he would be sick.
"Fix it!" Sirius yelled, looking from me to Severus desperately. "Take it back!"
Severus shakes his head dumbly, looking at me in fear, "I-I don't know it yet." Before my brothers could say another word, he was running from the bathroom, his feet nearly slipping on my blood that was flowing heavily and staining the once beautiful marble floors.
I could hear moans falling from my mouth, whimpers and tears running down my face, my hands were shaking and the edges of my vision were fuzzy. My ears felt like they were stuffed full of cotton, the voice of Regulus sounding like it was a hundred years away as he tried to reassure me that it was okay, that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
"Go the hospital wing, tell Madam Promfrey what happened. I'll be there in a minute." Sirius ordered, looking down at my bloody frame. When Regulus hesitated, trying to absorb the words just spoke, he barked "Go!"
Regulus runs from the bathroom, also almost slipping on a smear of my blood. I felt Sirius' arms snaking around my back and under my knees, cradling my bloody body to his chest as he lifted me from the floor, making me whimper and whine in protest of his movements. "You're okay, it's okay," He breathed, trying to reassure both me and himself.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, my words slurring as vision goes in and out of focus. "I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad Lia, I'm not mad anymore. It's okay, you're okay." He whispers, walking gingerly over my blood, careful not the slip. He tried to walk as smoothly but as fast as possible, trying not to disturb me as I babbled endless slurred apologizes.
My vision tried to focus as Sirius' pace began to slow, we were near the hospital wing. Sirius' untied Gryffindor tie was stained with blood, my blood. He tried as gently as possible to kick open the door that led to the hospital wing, the same mud stained boots he's been wearing for the past two years, the same mud stained boots I gave him for Christmas after he said how much he wanted them from a local Muggle shop. I could barely hear the stern voice of Madam Promfrey, the head nurse, ordering Sirius to lay me on a cot as she filled her arms with even more medical supplies that she was currently holding.
"How are you feeling Miss Black?" She asked as Sirius laid me down, my blood immediately staining the clean white sheets beneath me.
"Sleepy," I whispered, my eyelids threatening to close.
"No sleep!" She said quickly, using scissors to cut through one of Sirius' old shirts he let me borrow months ago in order to get closer to the damage.
"No sleeping Lia," Sirius whispered, kneeling beside me, taking my hand.
Regulus kneeled beside Sirius, placing his own hand on top of Sirius' and mine, "Gotta stay awake for a bit okay?"
"Keep talking Lia, stay awake," Sirius pleaded, squeezing my hand tightly. He looks to Regulus quickly, the gears in his brain turning as he thought of an idea. "Promenons- nous dan les bois," He began to sing lightly, a song he used to sing to Regulus and I if we ever had nightmares as children because our parents never would. It was a silly song in French about a wolf loosing his underpants but it always calmed me down.
Regulus joined in on Sirius' song, singing the next line quietly, "Pendant que le loup n'y est pas,"
They wait for me to sing the next line, repeating the previous verse a few more times as my mind cleared, remembering the words say to me countless times, "Si le loup y etaitt il nous mangerait."
The song continues, my eyes threaten to flutter closed every so often until Sirius squeezes my hand, bringing me back to consciousness as Madam Pomfrey tries to clean and stop the bleeding. Madam Promfrey steps back from the bed and whispers gentle words, making me very calm, and my slurred words turned to quiet whispers and then to silence.
Before Sirius or Regulus could protest, Madam Pomfrey raised her hand to silence them, "It's just a healing spell, it will calm her mind and make her drowsy."
"Is she going to be okay?" Sirius asked, hoping to hear positive news but dreading the words Madam Pomfrey may say.
"She will heal." Madam Pomfrey says, nodding her head.
"And the cuts?" Regulus asks, looking back at me with hopeful eyes.
"They will heal, but the scars will be permanent."
