Sirius Black's Twin

Deaths

"This war is getting serious," James frowned, folding up the Daily Prophet and placing it next to his bowl of cereal. "You-Know-Who is getting more and more powerful, and he has a good army too."

"Anyone we know?" Remus asked, his face blank.

"No," James said, frowning sadly. "But what about those other families who are suffering for their lost ones? This war is getting seriously out of control, and the Ministry is no match against You-Know-Who."

Lyra frowned, her appatite lost. The war at first seemed like such a small thing that the Ministry oculd squash quickly, but now it was getting more an more serious. What if she lost Andromeda? She had already lost her Uncle Alphard, she couldn't loose the only family member she actually liked besides Sirius.

"I can't wait till we leave Hogwarts," Sirius said. "Then we could go out their fighting with everyone else. I never felt so useless, just sitting here all safe while people are out their dying."

"Me too," Lyra said sadly. She looked around herself, at all the happy students chatting to eachother as though they were oblivious to the fact that danger lied just outside the walls of Hogwarts.

Lyra supposed that she should be happy that she was here, safe. But she couldn't get over the nagging feeling that Hogwarts was just a small fairytale land, and Lyra was never one to want to live in a fairy tale.

"Education," Lyra sighed. "What's the point of all of this? Our Defense Teacher this year isn't very good at teaching us how to actually defend ourselves. He just keeps giving us rubbish tests."

"Look on the bright side, Claws," Peter said, awfully cheery despite the serious conversation. That's what Lyra loved about Peter, he was always cheery. "We'll be starting our Apparating tests in a few months."

Lyra smiled dryly, but only being polite for now; inside she was fustrated.

"How is the Ministry planning on telling everyone about these deaths?" Remus said, his face showing fustration. "There are so many already. . . how will they tell the families?"

"Send letters," Sirius shrugged. "They can't really invite them over for tea, can they? That'll be a large tea party, there are too many people who lost someone. . ."

"Sending letters?" Remus looked aghast. "No one could be that heartless. . ."

"Marlene's cousin died," Lyra said solomnly. She had spent the whole night that day comforting her grieving friend. "She found out by a letter. The Ministry didn't even make it sound as though they were sorry. All they said was that they were sorry for her loss and that was it."

"That's cruel," James said, pushing his cereal away from him. He looked strangely lost and confused.

"What's on your mind, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"My Mum and Dad," James said miserably.

Lyra jolted, on her feet. "What about your Mum and Dad? You siad there was no one we knew in the-"

"They are alive, Claws," James sighed.

Lyra sighed, relieved. She sat down and glared at James. "Then what are you so miserable for? You nearly scared me to death. . ."

"Us Potters have to be the biggest blood traitors out there," James said. "And you know how old my parents are. What if You-Know-Who decided to go to them and do them in? They're not as quick to throw a curse as they used to be."

Sirius, Lyra, Remus and Peter were silent, knowing how right James was but none of them wanting to voice it. Finally, Remus opened his mouth; "Don't worry, Prongs. If you're that worried I can get my parents to go check in on your parents every day; make sure that they are safe."

James looked up and gazed at Remus. He looked so serious that Remus already knew what he was going to say before he said it; "Thank you, Moony. Really, thank you."

Remus smiled at him. "I'll go send my Mum and Dad a letter right now before Charms. If I'm late tell Professor Flitwick I split my bag and everything fell or something."

"Alright," Lyra, Sirius, James, and Peter said at the same as they watched Remus leave the great hall with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder.

Lyra sighed and took the Daily Prophet, reading through it more carefully then James had.

"You-Know-Who crashed a Muggle Wedding," Lyra told her friends. "Twelve muggles were found dead and five were Crucioed."

James frowned. "I didn't read that."

"You barely read," Lyra joked weakly. "You barely scimmed through the words."

Lyra looked down at the paper, a guilt weighing down on her terribly.

"What's wrong, Claws?" Peter asked.

"Nothings wrong," Lyra said, glancing at the Daily Prophet.

"We known you sice first year, Claws," James said. "We know that something is wrong. I told you what was wrong, so now you have to tell me."

Lyra lowered her voice and leaned forward so that no one could eevesdrop on what she was about to say.

"I think Regulus is a Death Eater," Lyra said lowly.

The three boys stared at her in disbalief.

"What?" Sirius scoffed. "Come off it, Claws. Regulus is barely fifteen."

"Do you think You-Know-Who cares how old his Death Eaters are?" Lyra asked. "As long as he's got another servent he doesn't care how old."

"But Regulus?" Sirius said doubtfully.

"Haven't you noticed how strangely he's been acting?" Lyra pointed to her younger brother who was sitting with a group of his friends, though he was very quiet and solomn looking. "He always wear's black long sleeves and he isn't acting like his usual Quidditch fanatic anymore."

"he probably grew up a bit. . ." James looked doubtful at his own words.

"A Death Eater at Hogwarts?" Peter's eyes were big and round, even more watery then normal. "What are you going to do?"

"Should we tell Dumbledore?" Sirius looked expectantly at James, who usually made the serious decisions in our group.

"On your own brother?" James looked surprised. "He probably didn't even do anything."

"He probably didn't," Lyra shrugged. "But what if he did? We don't want him killing off anymore Muggles."

"He'll be sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life," James said.

"He'll deserve it," Sirius said. "He shouldn't have joined You-Know-Who in the first place."

"I'm sorry Sirius, but I don't think anyone deserves a life sentance to Azkaban," James shook his head. "And we can't just tell DUmbledore that we think Regulus is a Death Eater. We have no proof. . ."

"The funny thing is that we should have suspected this a long time ago," Lyra sighed, looking at Sirius. "Remember that time we went into his room? It was full of You-Know-Who stuff. Mum were so proud that Regulus was worhsiping him."

"I doubt they are now," Sirius laughed darkly. "They'll be frightened at what You-Know-Who would do to rise to power."

Lyra nodded, then her eyes widened. "Do you remember the last time we ever seen Bellatrix?"

Sirius looked grim. "I was thinking about that. You don't think . .. "

"Almost posative," Lyra said.

"What?" James said, not liking being left out.

Sirius and Lyra glanced at eachother and turned to James. "Our cousin has become a Death Eater. Bellatrix Black."

"Your cousin?" James didn't looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"She had some splendid news last summer," Lyra said. "We never got to hear it because I got into a fight with Regulus but I'm guessing that she wanted to brag about joining alliances with You-Know-Who."

James didn't look doubtful at all. They all knew that Bellatrix would join You-Know-Who the moment they had heard about his rise to power.

"That makes more sense," James nodded.