Sirius couldn't believe it his entire immediate family was dead. His father and brother for years, his mother, that bitch, how dare she keep it from him. What letter was Grimjaw talking about though? Sirius thought back to the last time he was at Gringott's in London. He remembered the oath with Ironclaw, the negotiating, it took him several tries before he finally remembered the letter that had been brought with the meal.
Sirius went to the storage room in the gatehouse. When he had first gotten the house, he had gone through the trunks from the cottage. He had first removed the items that had no magic like the sampler from Alice to put them in Harry's room. Oddly that small touch had seemed to cheer the forlorn toddler. So he had used freezing charm and a muggle camera to reproduce many of the photos of James, Lily, the three Potters all together and a couple of photos of the Marauders without Wormtail in them. Harry's response still made Sirius tear up… Finally, he had taken a couple of the toys that wouldn't be affected and canceled the spells on them then let Harry play with them, Harry had been ecstatic.
Sirius thought carefully where might he have placed the letter, and after three hours of searching he finally found it. He carefully broke his brother's seal and unfolded the parchment. His brother's handwriting was sloppy as if he'd written this in a hurry.
Sirius,
You can say it. You were right, the Dark Lord isn't who or what he claims to be. I thought, well I guess it doesn't qualify as thought does it? I followed charming handsome Lucius Malfoy with his connections and power, and believed him when he said the Dark Lord would lead us into a new purer era. He sweet talked me almost the same as he sweet talked Cissa, and I listened. That's the part that bugs me the most. Slytherins are supposed to be cunning, but I followed Lucius like a dammed sheep. You have to believe me when I say I didn't know. I didn't know that I was supposed to bring Him access to money. the Black family fortune to be exact. I didn't know until the night when he called myself and others to a dark revel and I saw… I was forced to… I raped a eight year old muggleborn, I wasn't the only one. I think I was third to do it. I'm not even sure she was still alive. Remember Stephan Doge he had been marked the same night I was and it was his first revel too. Lucius cast imperio on her, her two younger siblings who she tried to protect, she killed them by gutting them. He told Stephan to rape her first, he refused. Said he didn't make war on children. The Dark Lord crucioed him for five minutes straight. When Stephan still refused he AK'd him. Stephan was brave, I'm not. I'm a Deatheater that only goes to a revel when forced. I'm sorry I'm not like you. I've been to a couple of revels since then. Not that I wanted to, but the pain in my arm is so bad. I can't live like this any longer every time I close my eye I see that girl. I have a plan though, I found out that He has divided and created vessels for his soul in hopes of living forever. He asked me for an elf. This was before the revel so I thought nothing of it. I gave Kreacher instructions to go with him and do what he was told. But that he should return to me when the Dark Lord was done. That should have been my warning. Kreacher came back, but he was tortured and sick from the potion the Dark Lord made him drink. After the revel I asked Kreacher what the Dark Lord did. It took a few weeks before he told me the Dark Lord was hiding a Horcrux. I looked in the family library and found a book about them. I found it in the section that Dad always said don't go to because the magic there is so black it drives you mad. The definition of a horcrux is a fragment of a soul is broken off by committing murder and is stored in a vessel usually non- living. It protects the creator from death by anchoring the soul to the living world. I think He has many of these. He used Kreacher to hide a locket in a cave. I saw him give Lucius an old diary and Bellatrix a chalice. I can live like this anymore I intend to have Kreacher take me to the cave where He hid it. I will destroy it or die trying. If I can't do it, I will order Kreacher to either destroy it or hang on to it until someone asks him for it. I'm sorry Sirius, sorry for everything, for believing the crap Mum and Dad said for letting other people tell me what and how I should think. I'm proud that I had a brother that was brave enough to think his own thoughts. I love you please forgive me.
Regulus
Sirius' eyes teared up as he remembered his baby brother. He had hauled Reg with him everywhere. He and Reg had been very close right up until he got sorted into Gryffindor. The thing he'd missed most when he'd arrived at Hogwarts had been his brother. Thank Merlin James had been in the same dorm or he'd have done something crazy. His heart had felt broken when he came home at Christmas first year and Reg had avoided even looking at Sirius. He looked at the information his brother gave him about Voldemort. Apparently he and the rest of the wizarding world were wrong when they thought Voldemort was dead, gone when the killing curse he fired at Harry backfired. If Reg's letter was correct he wasn't dead and he would be back. Merlin how was he supposed to protect Harry. He sought the closest bathroom, and promptly threw up. As he sat trying to regain control of his stomach he scanned the part about what a horcrux was again. He threw up again because he suspected somehow Voldemort put a horcrux into Harry.
A little later he staggered back to the main house. Liana saw him and promptly dragged him into his bedroom and put him to bed. Grateful for the waiting oblivion of sleep, Sirius crashed.