Sirius Black's Twin

Bad News

"Kreacher!" Sirius growled, finally finding him. He grabbed him by the shawl and threw him across the room, not even feeling remorse when the elf hit the wall with a yelp of pain. "Stop sneaking things out! Go to your room, now!"

Kreacher, despite being thrown across the room painfully, got to his feet and glared at his master with eyes full of solid loathing. He bowed slowly, his eyes flashing dangerously. "As master wishes."

Kreacher left, the evil glint never leaving his eyes.

"Something is up with him," Lyra said.

She had been sitting at the kitchen table, filing her nails so that they were dangerously sharp. She didn't seem bothered by the abuse Sirius was showing Kreacher; she wouldn't, she had thrown him across the room many times herself.

"You mean more then usual," Sirius said, plopping down in the seat across from Lyra. But Lyra could tell he noticed too, and was too bothered by it to want to talk about it.

"You don't think he did something?" Lyra asked. "Peed in our bed or something?"

"No," Sirius shook his head. "I ordered him to never go in my room. Ever."

Lyra nodded. "Well, he did something."

They were both silent, none of them wanting to get further into the conversation about Kreacher. They knew that Kreacher was capable of doing many dangerous things to them, but they went out of their way to ignore him - and that included not having conversations with or about him for more then two minutes.

A loud ring vibrated through the house, making both Lyra and Sirius look up expactently. The usual shreiks of Walburga Black flew through the house, reminding Lyra of the day Sirius had ran away.

"MUDBLOOD SCUM! TAINTING THE HOUSE OF BLACK! CREATURES OF DIRT SHAMING MY FATHERS' HOME!" Walburga screamed. "OH, THE SHAME! THE SHAME!"

"She always was one to be dramatic," Lyra said tiredly as Sirius got up to go blast her curtains closed.

"A bit too dramatic," Sirius growled, coming back into the room.

"I see where you to get it from, then," said a oily voice from the hallway door.

Both Lyra and Sirius stiffened and turned, like dogs catching the scent of a rabbit. Snape looked no better, he was looking at them with a bit of a hungry gleam in his eyes, and though he was thoroughly disappointed that they were there.

That was new. Most of the time, he looked gleeful at seeing the two here. Though Lyra could leave, she was now spending more time with Sirius. It shouldn't have been a surprise, they were together always. Bothers and sisters to the end. They lived together, they suffered together.

"What are you doing here, Snape?" Lyra asked cooly.

"Just here to make sure your brother is following Dumbledores orders," Snape looked at Sirius. Their eyes locked, lifeless black to lifeless grey.

Lyra was then struck on how alike they were there. Both in appearance and circumstance.

Sirius hadn't washed his hair in months, causing it to look greasy and tangled, instead of the usual lushious texture it should have bee. Sirius was skin and bone, his skin pale and dark bruises under his eyes; his eyes themselves had darkened over the years, making them look like endless grey tunnels. He looked like a vampire.

Greasy hair, thin body, and pale skin. That's how people would describe the similarities between Snape and Sirius. But to Lyra the similarities were much more deeper then that.

The lifeless look in their eyes. Like they had long since given up hope that they would ever be truly happy again, like they were only living on something that had died long ago.