Blacks and Potters
Dorea looked on with a smile as James and Sirius ran around the house. They were such nice children, and she had never seen two boys who were quite that close. They were very young too, and had only known each other for a year.
From what she had heard from Charlus' brother, James constantly talked about the mischief he got up to with the other boy. There were also two other boys from their dorm who participated, but they weren't quite as involved in their pranks, apparently.
As she picked up a mismatched pair of green and blue socks, she thought back to what her sister-in-law, Mary, had said. It had been when she was visiting for tea two weeks before. They often got together like that, and always enjoyed talking about Mary's kid. This time though, Mary had expressed a few worries she had about him.
She had talked about how James was far less active then he usually was. He was moping most of the time, and after some prodding, Mary found out he missed the friends he made during his first year at Hogwarts. But mostly one boy, Sirius. Dorea had immediately recognised the name, and upon asking, found out that it was indeed the Sirius that was her grand-nephew.
It was when Mary mentioned the fact that she couldn't possibly ask Sirius over to her house, that Dorea got the idea. If she invited both boys, they could enjoy time together at her house. And she herself also got her enjoyment out of it
Sirius' parents didn't like the Potters. So they couldn't spend time with each other during the vacation. But Dorea's house was fine with both boys' parents. She was a Black herself, so Sirius was allowed to come. And the Potters trusted her because she was married into their family. So now she had two boys running around the house. She loved it though.
Her son had died a few years before, and she loved having other kids around. She was usually pretty bored with her job as housewife, which caused her to buy lots of little trinkets that were quite useless generally. She just needed something to do. She used to work at the Ministry of Magic, but after getting pregnant she had given up the job to take care of her son, Henry. After he had died, she just couldn't bring herself to go back to that job. It would be like continuing as if nothing had happened, but something had. And it had changed her.
Convincing Mary to allow James to stay hadn't been hard at all, she had barely mentioned the words, or James had stumbled out of the fireplace. Getting to Sirius was a bit harder. Walburga had never liked her very much, but at least she could appeal to Orion's kinder side, and managed to convince him that it would be good for Sirius to come over to her place for a few weeks. Sirius himself had also been pretty eager, so Orion allowed it.
She really didn't understand how Walburga treated her own son just because he was different. Of course, Walburga didn't like Dorea herself for the exact same reason. But Dorea had always been more sensible than the young Gryffindor, so she still was on the family tree. It seemed Sirius wouldn't be long anymore though. He would probably be disinherited like his uncle. Dorea didn't really need money, but she liked her family, she just avoided talk about blood purity.
She sometimes wondered about how Sirius turned out. How he became so different from his younger brother. They were raised the same way, but yet it was Sirius who questioned everything he was ever told. Regulus just accepted it.
Walking up the stairs with the pair of socks in her hands, she listened to the excited shouts coming from outside with a smile on her face. Charlus had taken a day off and was now flying with the children.
Dorea had taken this short period of calm to clean up somewhat. It was no use trying to put away toys and dirty clothing while they were running around. It would immediately be replaced. Sometimes by the exact same object. The they would tell her they needed it to be there, and just run off after that.
She now understood why Mary had received so many letters from Minerva throughout the year. She had known that both boys separately were quite impish, but together they were downright devious.
Dorea didn't mind. She loved the fact that the house seemed so alive with them there. And, well, she wasn't scared of pulling a few pranks herself. Opening the door to the boys' room, she carefully laid the socks down, and then sprinkled some itching-powder over it. She cast a last look around the room, shaking her head at the mess, before disappearing with a mischievous look on her face.
An hour later she had prepared dinner and went outside to get the boys and her husband.
"Charlus! Boys! Dinner time!"
It didn't take long for all three of them to get down. James and Sirius were always hungry, and Charlus was trying to act like them. Said he was still young. Her husband was such a child sometimes. Then again, so was she.
Looking them over, she started to laugh in her mind.
"James, Sirius. Why are you barefoot? You'll get my floor dirty, go put on some socks," Dorea commanded.
The boys looked at her as if to ask whether she was serious. When she didn't say anything, they grudgingly trudged up the stairs, casting suspicious looks back at her.
Charlus looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head. A few seconds later, two identical screams were heard from upstairs.
"Aah! Get it off! Get it off!"
"No, you help me get mine off first!"
Dorea giggled as Charlus stared at her with raised eyebrows, that slight sticking charm was a really great idea.