Chapter 3—

Harry was so intrigued with Sirius's story that he couldn't wait to hear more, but Sirius didn't appear to be anxious at all to tell Harry about his marriage to Demetra. He didn't want nag his godfather, but he just wanted to know everything. He was having trouble getting Sirius alone; he doubted that Sirius was avoiding him on purpose, but it was becoming frustrating. But one evening, Harry found Harry in the tapestry room, staring at the obliterated family members that displeased Mrs. Black.

"Harry, come on in," he said pleasantly. "I think Molly was looking for you. Maybe you should duck in here for a while."

"Thanks, Sirius." They looked at each. Harry cleared his throat. "Um, Sirius?" Clearly nervous, he cleared his throat again. "I was wondering if you would finish the story you were telling me about, De, uh, your wife."

"Ah," he looked down at his hands. He nodded. "Demetra," he said reverently. He sat down in a comfortable, but well worn arm chair and Harry sat on the floor by his feet. "Where was I?"

"In the library in Romania."

"Ah yes. The first time I saw her. She was beautiful and regal…"

"Yes, you were smitten."

"Totally. I was ready to tell Moony to get up and go away, that I'd meet up with him in a hundred years somewhere. I would have spent my last dying day happily in that creepy library staring at her. I was captivated.

"I got up the nerve to ask her what a pretty witch was doing in a place like that, trying to be funny, but she got very serious. 'I'm looking for clues,' said she. She looked around to see if anyone was looking at her, but no one paid her any mind.

"'Clues to what?' I asked.

"'Clues to finding my sister.'

"'Do you think you will find her in the library?' Again I was trying to be funny, and this time she blessed me with a smile.

"She shook her head and leaned in very close to me. 'I received a cryptic message from her and the only clue I had was that more clues would be here.' She pushed one of the large volumes away from her. 'I don't know what I'm doing!' she said. 'And I don't know where to start!'

"I told her not to worry that I would help her. Her smile was so genuine that I thought it would break my heart. She touched my hand. 'Thank you. I'm afraid my sister's in danger.'

"It turned out that her sister, whose name was Marisol, by the way, worked as a covert agent for the ministère français de Magie, the French Ministry of Magic, and she was in some kind of trouble. It wasn't until much later that she found out that she was alive. But I digress."

Sirius looked uncomfortable, as if he was suppressing some painful memory. Harry didn't want to pressure him, so he sat silently watching as Sirius's hands shook slightly. He put his hands together to stop the trembling.

"I never left her side after that day," he said finally.

"I encouraged Remus to move on, that I was staying in Romania, and reluctantly, he agreed. I know he thought me mad, but I convinced him it was for the best.

"I told her I would help her find the clues and we went to silly extremes looking for something that ultimately wasn't there.

"I did everything I could to be charming and I finally won her over. We talked for hours and I found out she was from one of the oldest wizarding families in Europe. The signet ring she wore bore her family's coat of arms. She was the bluest of the blue bloods, pure lineage from the eleventh century; the Grimaldi family were royals. And she loved me.

"How I got that lucky, I have no idea," Sirius said shaking her head. "But she did. I proposed to her after the first week and she laughed in my face, but she kissed me and told me to ask her again after the second week, and I did and she said yes."

Sirius looked happy for the first time in a very long time. He grinned and clapped his hands together while leaning in very close to Harry. "Her parents had a fit. They hated me; The name Black may have meant something in England, but it meant shite in Romania."

"She was threatened with disinheritance; I was threatened with my life. I told her I wasn't worth it and family was more important than romance, it absolutely broke my heart to say it, but she wouldn't listen. It was me she loved and it would kill her to lose me.

"She chose me. I swore by all that was holy that I would make her happy every day for the rest of her life. And we were. You know, Harry, I had already separated myself from my own family so we were kindred souls. We were so poor; I don't know how we lived.

"In an act of defiance, she sent her grandfather back his ring and the rest of the family jewelry; I told her she was crazy because we could have gotten over a thousand galleons for that ring alone. But I understand because she was exactly like me."

Harry knew that Sirius had rebelled against his family and he spent more time at the Potter's home than he did at his own house and Harry's father closer to him than his real brother.

"We had been married for six months; I save enough money to take her out for a special dinner. That's when she told me that she was pregnant. I didn't know how we were going to be able to manage with a baby, but it was the happiest day of my life.

"I decided then that we had to move back to England where I had good friends and prospects of a better life. We had to travel using more traditional means, but we moved back home three weeks before our daughter was born."

"James and Lily were engaged by then and we decided that we would be friends for life. Lily and Demetra got along very well.

"But at the same time, the Dark Lord became more active and as bad as it was before, things were getting a lot worse."