SURPRISE! A 2 am surprise in my country lol, but I can't sleep and my boyfriend's already asleep, so I'm bored and wrote this without sleeping or eating after my uni exam. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes here, I barely feel like myself.

Leave comments!!

This chapter is so important!

The highlands of Scotland were known for their rainy disposition and bitter cold even throughout the more amene seasons of the year, therefore it was no surprise that sunbathing days were rare and celebrated whenever the sun decided to appear for enough time to let the students that had free periods to lie in the grass outside.

So, when October accepted one single day of a lukewarm temperature in its schedule, Pandora and Luna were outside in a moment, lying on the sunlight with their legs crossed, arms on their stomach and eyes closed, taking in the little vitamin that they could manage. It had taken a long time of convincing in third year for Pandora to actually believe that vitamins were an important thing and had taken a letter from Hope, a nurse, to accept completely its importance and the ways of getting it, so now – when possible – she drank lemonade and orange juice, sat in the sun for a few minutes, ate wholegrain breads and accepted more fruits into her (far too selective, according to Hope) diet.

"I wish I was one of those people that tanned easily," Luna said. "I think I'd look beautiful tanned."

"I like you being pale," Pandora said.

"That's because you're also pale, and you're used to everybody around you being pale," she said, turning to lie on her side on the grass, feeling herself warming up alongside the day. "Besides, have you seen Marta's right after summer? She tans easily, so when I saw her with her parents in Diagon Alley a couple of years ago, that one year that she went to Mexico, she looked so beautiful!"

"Marta is beautiful," Pandora said.

Luna waited for Pandora to say something else, but nothing came, so she went back to lying on her back, sighing in clear disappointment for the conversation being over. She said nothing, but kept her eyes open.

Looking around, she lied on her other side, giving her back to Pandora while she watched some of the other students that had taken refuge from the cold of the castle on the courtyard – some groups were lying and sitting near the benches, others were near the trees (such as Regulus, Evan and Barty), but most were under the sun.

In the group that caught her attention, under the shadow of the tree, but still in the warmth of the day outside, Regulus was sitting against the tree, reading the book that Luna had told him to so he could finish his essays soon, she noticed (it was her book after all, of course she was paying attention), but didn't seem too entertained by it, because he was listening to something that Barty was saying, nodding along with interest but no facial expression. Evan was lying on his back, hands behind his back. Barty, however, was sitting against the tree bark as well, talking and moving his hands as he told some story that – clearly – Evan was enjoying.

It seemed a common, tranquil day.

Until Sirius Black came walking through the courtyard, cutting his way to go to Divination with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. No Remus Lupin in sight.

She wasn't sure what made her tense up and push herself to her elbows, but her whole body started to tell her to get up.

"Oh, no," she whispered.

Pandora opened her eyes at her whisper, not knowing what her friend had said, but pushed herself to her elbows quickly as well, knowing that something had gone wrong.

"What is it?" Pandora asked.

Sirius stopped in front of Regulus' group, a smile on his face and a forced casual body language.

Luna couldn't understand what he was saying for she was on the other side of the courtyard, but the people nearby seemed to react as well. Some started to get up, hurrying to gather their things, others moved away, but without plans of running away before the brewing apex of the confrontation had been reached.

Pandora was standing in a second, starting to walk towards the group.

"...don't fucking threaten me, you little shit," Sirius was saying.

"I wonder who would have a worse reaction to the truths that I know. Remus Lupin or Father," Regulus answered. "Perhaps the Ministry. But... you do make a lot of people angry at you easily, brother," he sighed. "But you don't care, because you think you can just waggle your tail or bare your teeth, like a fucking dog."

A girl screamed, foreseeing what was coming, before Sirius had ever reached for Regulus.

Sirius pulled Regulus to stand by the collar of his shirt, hissing something in such a low voice that even Luna – who was walking closer with Pandora – couldn't hear. But Regulus didn't fight straight away, he held the book in his hand and let his head roll back, listening to what his brother had to say to him with a smirk in his face.

James put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, ready to pull the fight apart, but Sirius shrugged him off. James then stepped away, irritated, but just groaning something to Peter beside him in annoyance. Mirroring the worry seen in one group, Evan and Barty were already standing when Pandora reached her brother, but neither were staring at the confrontation between brothers, they watched James and Peter in exchange – precipitating that they would get involved in whatever came next.

Regulus' bitter chuckle made Luna look at the two once more.

"You are impossible, Sirius," he laughed, as if he was in a social situation, calmly teasing an old acquaintance.

"And you are stupid if you think you're doing the right thing threatening me," Sirius answered.

"I know what I'm doing," he said, pulling back from his brother to look at his face. "But you brought this on yourself, you fool."

The first punch came from Sirius. A first to Regulus' fights.

James groaned so loudly that it was almost as loud as the scream of one of the Hufflepuff girls near the benches, at least James was smart enough to pull Peter back by the back of the shirt, taking him out of the line of fire, knowing what was coming.

Regulus still had the book in hand and used the spine of the thick Transfiguration book to hit the side of Sirius' face. At the same time, he moved his leg, hitting the back of Sirius' knees and dropping the both of them to the ground – Sirius was, after all, still holding Regulus' shirt. The thud of the bodies hitting the ground made Barty wince.

Evan gently pushed Pandora and Luna behind him, putting them so near the tree that its bark was digging into Luna's back.

Regulus wasn't nearly as scared as Luna expected him to be, there was no panic in his eyes nor anger, there was a terrifying sort of coldness that was taking over his whole face from up to down, like someone had lowered the curtains.

As he fell on top of his brother, his fist was already coming down with him. The punch hit Sirius so perfectly on the nose that the loud crunching noise wasn't unexpected. His legs were to the left of Sirius, so he had to get on his knees to get more punches in – that was enough time for Sirius to raised his arms, defending himself from a few on them and getting a punch on Regulus' face as well.

Luna gasped at the amount of blood that Regulus spat to the side, trying to get Sirius' shirt blindly to push him down to the ground once more, but he wasn't fast enough. Sirius was climbing on top of him and straddling him stomach in the blink of an eye.

While Regulus tried to breathe, Sirius punched.

"SIRIUS, STOP!" James yelled. "Enough of this. He got it."

Sirius hit Regulus in the nose, breaking it.

Pandora screamed.

Sirius finally stopped, finally, panting. Regulus didn't take the chance to fight back, just lying on his back under Sirius, trying to breathe through his mouth and blinking slowly, trying to keep himself awake through the concussion he had just gained.

Regulus had just lost his first fight since starting Hogwarts.

With a chuckle, Sirius lowered himself to say far too near Regulus' face.

"I taught you how to fight, Reggie," he said through his heavy breathing.

"Bitch," Regulus said.

Sirius lowered himself even more, smirk growing on his lips as he whispered something that nobody heard.

Regulus' energy went up suddenly.

Most people were screaming at this point, because Regulus Black opened his mouth and bit down his brother's ear. Even Luna started screaming, horrified by the amount of blood seeping through the wound, colouring Regulus' face and teeth alongside Sirius' neck and clothes as the older boy screamed in agony.

Sirius, in pain, let go of Regulus and the boy reached for the shirt of his older brother, pushing him off him and to the side. Regulus had some semblance of mercy for not tearing the piece of ear out of his brother's head.

Struggling to stand, Regulus used Barty's standing person to pull himself up.

Sirius was still on the ground, screaming. Regulus' mercy was already dead, because he turned to his brother, vulnerable and in pain, and kicked him right in the ribs.

"Never say that again, you fucking monster!" Regulus spat towards him.

"MISTER BLACK!" Professor McGonagall screamed, not noticing that the whole class he had been pulled off from to part the fighting had followed her – several second years, running right behind her. "MISTER BLACK, UNHAND YOUR BROTHER RIGHT NOW! GET AWAY FROM THE OTHER MISTER BLACK RIGHT AWAY! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE."

Regulus didn't seem to mind too much, because he took the book that he had dropped and used the spine of it once more, using it to hit Sirius' nose again. James was about to reach for Regulus himself when Peter pulled him back, knowing that he'd get in trouble too if he got involved. He pushed to stand once more and turned to Luna.

"I'll buy you a new one," he promised.

His eye was bruising and swollen, his nose crooked and bleeding, his mouth cut on the sides and on the middle. He spat out even more blood. With his bleeding and bruised knuckles, he offered her the bloody and torn book.

Luna couldn't find in herself voice to answer, but her mouth did open. She took the book from his hand, just staring at him as he turned and walked towards Minerva McGonagall and showed her his empty hands.

"No magic in the corridors, ma'am," he said.

McGonagall did not like the joke.

While the rumours were growing and everchanging during the whole day that Sirius Black was left in the infirmary and Regulus Black was stuck in the Headmaster's Office with his parents, nobody knew for sure what had started the fight, nor what had really ended it. Regulus could've done worse, and yet he had given up before starting again – something had happened, Sirius had said something.

Remus stumbled into the Hospital Wing with such a loud noise that even Madame Pomfrey – ever so used to the show of fear and pain – flinched, stopping her duty of mending Sirius' forehead to turn and look at the person.

"What happened? James said that you were very hurt and that Madame Pomfrey – hi, Madame – kicked them out," Remus said, ignoring completely the fact that he was being glared at by the matron. "What happened? Why did you get into a fight? Why didn't you use magic?"

Sirius grumbled something, but Remus was unable to understand it.

"Well, whatever it was the reason for Mister Black's temporary lapse of judgment, I believe he learned his lesson and shall never do this again," Madame Pomfrey said, glaring at Sirius and Remus. "And you, Mister Lupin, should know better than to burst through that door without proper acknowledgment that this is a Hospital Wing. Would you break through a medical room's door?" she looked at Lupin and sighed, rolling her eyes back to Sirius. "Who am I fooling? Yes, you would."

Lupin gave her a wicked smile, not denying her accusation at all, but did walk closer with less speed that he wanted to, standing a few feet away from Sirius' hospital bed and watching as the Healer went back to mending the boy's face.

"What happened to Regulus?" Sirius asked, voice choking to get out.

"Your mouth is hurt, be quiet," Madame Pomfrey scolded.

Sirius' eyes went to Remus, begging for information.

Remus shook his head.

"We're not sure," Remus admitted. "He spent the whole day in Dumbledore's office, didn't even come out to eat. However, I've heard Pandora speaking to Luna, saying that your parents came."

Sirius winces, either because his nose was put back in place with a loud crack or because the idea of Walburga and Orion Black being in school was just terrifying. Either way, it caused Remus to wince a bit in sympathy.

"Breathing alright, Mister Black?" the matron asked. Sirius nodded. "I'll take care of your mouth now, so don't move."

"My ear –" he started.

"I'll take care of your ear last now that it stopped bleeding," the woman said, cutting him off. "You, boys, always getting into trouble and forgetting that I am the one that must put you back together. I'm working overtime whenever I heard that one of you got into trouble."

Remus snickered.

"You love us, Poppy," he teased.

"Love or not, I fear that I might be getting white hairs," she said, looking Sirius up and down while she finished with his mouth. "A broken nose, a twisted ankle, a busted lip, a broken finger, two teeth missing, this gash in your forehead – and the worst of all: an ear almost torn from its place by teeth, of all things! Teeth!"

Sirius frowned.

"He's a fucking animal. A wild fucking animal," he complained.

Remus shook his head, crossing his arms.

"James said that you were the one that started the fight," Remus said.

"I was just teasing."

"What did he say to make you lose your patience?" Remus asked.

Sirius glanced at Madame Pomfrey before looking back at Remus.

"He called me a dog," he said.

The matron sighed.

"You started this fight only because he called you a dog?" she repeated, tone disappointed. "I wonder what you would've done had he called you a bigger animal, or a wild one, as you just called him."

Sirius shrugged, not really caring for her opinion, but certainly not wanting her to know the truth about why the 'dog' commentary had become such a tension point between the brothers. Being an underage and unregistered Animagus certainly had its perks, but the idea of it becoming a common knowledge was not one of them.

"And what did you say to him to make him bite your ear off?" Remus asked, trying to move on with the subject away from such a dangerous theme.

But the matter didn't seem to make Sirius any less tense, on the contrary, he tensed up even more, grinding his teeth together and ignoring Remus' question completely, turning in the bed to look at his friend.

"Did you know he and Luna are hanging out?" he asked.

Remus raise his eyebrows.

"My Luna?" He nodded. "Why?"

Madame Pomfrey sighed, exasperated.

"My, my, Mister Lupin. Not too long ago you were complaining your sister made eyes at your friends in this very room, shouldn't you be happy that she found someone else to make eyes to?" the Healer asked.

Remus shifted his weight, uncomfortable.

"But... Regulus Black?" he said.

Sirius seemed to agree, because he nodded, eyes closing in sleepiness because of the pain potions.

Madame Pomfrey scoffed.

"He's as good as any boy, and handsome as she deserves," she said, shaking her head of Remus' rudeness. "Your sister deserves some fun as well."

"Fun," repeated Remus.

"Well, it's not like she's going to date and marry him," Sirius said, agreeing with the matron. "Whatever they have, it's probably just that, fun." Remus crossed his arms. "What? Your sister can't sleep around?"

Remus didn't answer.

Though he knew, logically, that his sister had – most likely – already slept with someone in her life, he didn't want to know. In fact, he liked to imagine that she would forever and ever be the little girl that had gone to their mother (days after he found out where babies came from) to ask why, if the babies came from storks, why she couldn't fly like them, rather irritated with the fact that she was forever stuck to the ground. Besides, he had grown up with a heavy purity talk in his household, both coming from his mother and father (the only thing that they seemed to agree on, actually) and, although he didn't agree at all, there was a small part of him that still held onto those ideals for his sister.

It was hypocritical, but he couldn't stop himself.

"Enough of my sister," Remus quickly said. "Let's talk about your brother. He's hanging out with Luna, alright. What does that have to do with your fight?"

Sirius looked away.

"Nothing, I just thought that you should know. I know that you worry about her," he dismissed.

Remus narrowed his eyes, taking a few steps forward.

"Sirius..."

Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat, noticing the growing tension between the two friends and how Sirius' heartbeats had doubled under Remus' sudden complete attention and suspicion. She could put two pieces together, of course – Luna's visits for contraceptive potions before the summer and now Sirius' sudden despair with his friend's questioning.

"You're getting in my way with your exhausting questioning of Mister Black. If you so wish to talk to him, wait until visiting hours. I was already kind enough to not kick you out right away, but kindly retrieve yourself from the Hospital Wing, Mister Lupin," Madame Pomfrey said. "I have a lot of work to, and I can't do much with you underfoot."

"But Madam –" he started.

"Now, Mister Lupin, please," she said, stepping away from Sirius and crossing her arms, turning to look at her not-patient. "You are completely healthy, I expect, therefore I don't want you in my Hospital Wing with any more frequency than complete necessary. I already have you here for long enough during the year."

Remus sighed.

"Alright, Madame Pomfrey," he grumbled.

Moody and pouting a bit, Remus turned and walked towards the doors of the Hospital Wing. Without saying his farewells, he walked out.

Sirius sighed in relief.

"Think better before speaking, Mister Black, if you don't want to compromise Miss Lupin with unthought commentaries," Madame Pomfrey said.

Sirius shifted in bed.

"May I have another pain potion?" he asked.

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"I believe it has impaired your cognitive abilities enough, therefore you shall have to do with the two potions that I gave you beforehand," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Perhaps that'll help you think better before getting into another fight."

As she walked away to fill paperwork, she was almost sure that she heard Sirius grumble 'sure thing' under his breath. She smiled to herself.

"Regulus, of course, was in trouble and has detention until after Christmas," Evan was saying, sitting with Pandora and Luna for the first time in his life in the Ravenclaw Table. "Barty's in the kitchen right now, asking the elves to send him something up to the dormitories since he's not allowed to come for lunch."

"How cruel!" Pandora lamented.

"He can eat, he just can't come here," Evan explained.

Luna raised her eyebrows.

"Do they think he would fight again?" she asked.

"No. They just said that he couldn't come to the Great Hall until Sirius was in a good enough state to leave the Hospital Wing; it was only fair, of course," Evan said. "Besides, Dumbledore is livid because Lod and Lady Black did little to discipline him once they heard that he had won the fight, let alone once they heard who he fought with."

Luna shook her head in between disgust and shock, rolling her eyes.

If any of her parents had found out that either Remus or her hand gotten into a physical fight in school, they would be punished severely. Even their grandmother would be in favour of punishing them in case they had gotten into a fight, and that coming from her – who loved to spoil them – would mean a lot. The fact that Regulus' parents didn't punish him and seemingly enjoyed the fact that he had gotten in such a fight was beyond surprising to her, perhaps even disgusting.

"I wonder what Sirius had in mind!" Luna said. "Everybody knows that Regulus Black never lost a fight."

Evan snorted.

"If there was someone Regulus could lose to, it would be Sirius Black," he said. "Who do you think taught Regulus everything that he knows?"

"They fought often?" Luna asked.

"Well, someone needed to teach Regulus to defend himself," Evan said, shrugging. "He was an amazing duellist since he was younger, but her wasn't very strong, you see? Tiny child. Skinny arms. When he came to Slytherin as the second son, nobody cared much, people even picked on him – Sirius did what he had to do as an older brother; one of the few duties that he had taken on willingly. Of course, Lord Black condoned the violence under the pretence of defence, but everybody knows that he rather likes to watch violence and there's some sense of pride on Regulus being able to stand up for himself and for his family now that he is the Heir, with or without magic."

"I always thought purebloods would stick to magic no matter what," Luna admitted.

"Most do. It's rather humiliating to lose a hand-to-hand combat to someone that has used magic their entire life," Pandora explained. "Almost as if they said that they didn't need much to win from you in the fight."

"A commentary on skill, really," Evan added in, nodding to his sister.

Purebloods were confusing creatures, Luna thought. One moment they looked down on people that didn't use magic and in the other looked down to people that used magic all the time. It was a rather pressuring situation, in her opinion.

"And is Black alright?" Luna asked.

"Yes, is Regulus alright?" Pandora agreed, frowning.

Evan shivered.

"The broken nose took a while to heal and for the swelling to go down, so the black eye was not even taken care of until his face looked like a face again. Other than that, quite well, a busted lip and bleeding knuckles, but those were expected, really," Evan dismissed. "Not quite happy about losing his first detention of the year to Sirius bloody Black."

Pandora sighed.

"I'm sure Lord and Lady Black are not happy about it, of course, but I couldn't imagine Regulus' situation had he lost this fight," Pandora said.

That caused a heavy silence to fall on the table.

Though, of course, Regulus had never confided anything in Luna, he didn't need to. Everybody knew the rash punishments that the pureblood families inflicted in their own children to the point of Aurors being involved from time to time – though the violence inside the families was a dying tradition, some of the more... traditional families held onto the practice with some affection.

"It was good Regulus won. Now, Sirius hates him even more," Evan said. "I think Regulus is the most hated person in the Marauders' group right now."

That was when Luna couldn't hold himself and gasped.

The idea was too good to deny it to brew in her mind, no matter how oddly Evan was staring at her as she smiled to herself in silence.

A shorter chapter, yes, but so much happened here, so give me a little break over it, alright? Thank you. Did you all like it.

With this done: What are you most excited about seeing here?