Upside Down Mirror: Granger Yet

It's Not

Seeing the wand made Sirius angry.

More importantly, he recognized the wand held in Remus' hand. Sirius swallowed, seeing the wand which belonged to his younger brother - his brother's first and only wand. He remembered Regulus sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs that drawfed him in the drawing-room moving the wand around in his hand as if he were unsure of how it felt in his small hand.

And here was this stranger, intruding upon Regulus' room with Regulus wand.

Sirius felt bile rise in his throat while his hands clenched, the anger he felt intensifying. "It's bad enough Dumbledore said I'd be stuck here or wherever we did end up making the headquarters for the Order of the Pheonix. But this?"

Sirius stepped over, folding his arms as he looked down at the intruder whose eyes were clenched shut, one hand behind the back of his head, fighting back the urge to seriously hurt the person in front of him, although he knew Remus would stop him. He finally spoke. "Remus, help me get him up to the drawing-room."

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, thoughts of Voldemort being back, having just come back the day before suddenly rattling around the back of his head. "Let's get him up there first."

Sirius reached down and forced the person to sit up. The color in their face drained, leaving a slightly green tinge. Remus reached out and helped him get the person up. "There you go."

"You don't need to be nice to him," Sirius stated, not wanting to treat the person intruding into Regulus' old room, stealing his wand with kindness.

The person they lifted didn't answer, except to loll their head slightly which made Remus flinch as they started back up the stairs while the portrait started to yell. "He's got a concussion, Sirius. Plus, why aren't you of all people being nice to him?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, choosing to focus on getting the person up the stairs and into the drawing-room into one of the overstuffed chairs before using a spell to tie ropes around the intruder as the intruder's head lolled slightly while they tried getting a grasp of their surroundings. He pulled Remus aside. "What did you mean by that, asking me why I wasn't being nice to him?"

Remus held out the wand again. "You recognized this, didn't you?"

Sirius slipped his wand into his pocket and took the wand from Remus. "It's Regulus'. What of it?"

"Doesn't that mean he's Regulus?"

Sirius felt a chill run down his spine, his gray eyes widening. He smiled at Remus and clapped his free hand onto his friend's shoulder. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, old friend, but my brother's dead. Plus..." Sirius turned his head to look at the intruder. "There's no way that could be him."

"Why? Why do you say..."

"Regulus is left-handed and that jerk is right-handed," Sirius muttered. "And Regulus wouldn't be caught dead painting his nails black, or doing that to his hair, let alone wearing a damn choker like a girl. That's what he'd say too, you know if you even suggested it to him. Not that I ever would have, what with the looks he gave me when I wore Muggle clothing around the house. Plus, the tapestry doesn't lie."

"If that isn't Regulus," Remus pointed, "Then how does he have Regulus' wand?"

"Good question," Sirius felt his throat tighten. He stepped over, watching as the person tied up in the chair avoided eye contact. Sirus felt his anger point and reached out to grab the intruder by the hair on top of his head, tugging slightly so that he was forced to look him in the eye.

"Sirius..."

"Don't! Moody would be interrogating him anyways," Sirius said, looking in a pair of silver-gray eyes and the black hair which were known trademarks of members of the Black family, yet... "It's not Regulus. It can't be him. Not when there are so many differences." Sirius narrowed his eyes. He held up the wand the intruder dropped. "This. Explain..."

"My wand."

Sirius heard Remus take a deep breath. His anger grew. "It's not your wand! It belongs to my brother."

"Your brother," the person muttered. Sirius let go of the person's hair, not looking into their eyes which were the same color as Regulus', yet that wasn't the only thing that perturbed him. He couldn't shake the pain in the person's eyes, and not just physical. The person muttered again, their voice taking on an angry tone. "Your brother."

Sirius reached out, wanting to grab the other person's hair out of irritation, and instead sucked in his breath. "Why do you have my brother's wand?"

"None of your business." There was a slight tremble to the stranger's voice, almost as if Sirius' words hurt.

He of course didn't care that his words hurt. "Except it is my business? Do you have his wand because you killed him? Did you kill Regulus? Did you go to his room to find something he left behind?"

The stranger turned so they might look Sirius in the eye, obviously hurt by what he said, though Sirius didn't understand why, particularly when the stranger said right after looking away, "Maybe."

Sirius pulled back, his stomach-churning. From the corner of his eye, he saw Remus let out a sigh while covering his face in frustration. "Maybe." Maybe the person sitting in front of him was the person who killed Regulus, which in turn meant... "You're a Death Eater, aren't you."

"Yes."

Remus let out a groan which made Sirius look up to see his friend heading over to the wall so he would lean up against the wall. "What?"

"Sirius. Stop and think about what's going on here."

"It's not as if he can escape this place," Sirius retorted.

"Exactly, but more importantly..."

"If you want to know whether he's lying or not," Sirius narrowed his eyes, "We simply have to look at his forearm."

"Don't!" the stranger piped up. Sirius turned, watching as the intruder continued not looking him in the eye, although the fact he'd hit his head on the floor of the ground floor did explain why he seemed unable to focus on looking someone in the eye. "Please don't."

"You don't want us to look at your left forearm?" Sirius asked. "Because the Death Mark isn't there?"

"No! It's there. It's definitely..." The stranger closed his eyes. "That's not why. Please, just don't."

"You think I'm going to comply with your request?" Sirius walked over, slipping Regulus' wand into his pocket, and quickly pulled his sleeve backward, revealing the left forearm. Sirius stiffened upon seeing the Dark Mark, or what he assumed was the Dark Mark as scars were marring the young man's arm as if he'd been clawed by some kind of creature. His mouth opened. "You aren't a werewolf, are you?"

"Not like him," the person said, softly, without prejudice while still avoiding eye contact, yet it seemed like he was now trying to avoid eye contact. He then said while pressing his mouth together as a child might do when someone hurt their feelings, "I hate you."

"I don't care if you do," Sirius said, letting out a deep breath. For some reason he suddenly patted the top of the intruder's head, only to find himself freezing, not understanding why he was doing that. "He's not Regulus. He can't be." Of course, they didn't have a name for him. "What is your name?"

"Sebastian," the person muttered.

Sirius let out a sigh of relief but gave Remus a look that was meant to say, "See. It's not Regulus. He admitted as much."

Yet, the way Remus looked at him said he wasn't convinced. He opened his mouth to say something when Walburga's yelling interrupted him from saying anything. Except, it wasn't the portrait yelling, making Sirius tense up, confusion setting in.