Ignorance

It was only a short while later that Lene left the two remaining Marauders alone with Harry, claiming that she needed rest and that they needed to talk without her there to interrupt them.

As soon as she had left the room and closed the door behind her did Harry turn to his fathers friends:

"How could you be ok with her relationship with the Malfoys, they are Death Eaters and did you forget what Lucius Malfoy tried to do to Ginny?"

For a moment Sirius and Remus looked at each other, deciding who would answer Harrys question before turning back to the boy.

"As I said, I was rather surprised as I heard that Lucius joined the Death Eaters", Sirius began, "sure, he was a Slytherin and proud of it, making sure that everyone knew that he was superior – but that was it. He didn't go out of his way to torment muggleborn or halfbloods, he just ignored them as if they were too inferior to him to matter. Then again that is how most purebloods treat them. When we played as children – as much as you can call it playing as he was four or five years older than I am, a year older that my cousin Narcissa, now his wife, he mostly ignored me and Reggie for being too young. He had no problem with being pranked, well anymore than most people do, but he was never cruel.

So yeah, it was a huge surprise that perfect Malfoy who deemed almost everyone not family beneath him and would never get his hands dirty, had joined a group of murdering, raping and torturing idiots.

That's another matter: I heard what he is said to have tried to do to the Weasley girl – and frankly I do not believe it. Sure he dislikes the Weasleys as much as they dislike him but the Lucius Malfoy I know would have never hurt a child or tried to get one killed, even if the child in question is a Weasley or a muggleborn."

Seeing that Harry was about to interrupt him he raised his hand.

"No Harry, no matter what you have seen, and I fully believe you about that, there is more to that matter then what you are privy to, there always is with Lucius Malfoy.

But what really interests me is if you were also so against the Malfoys if you weren't friends with the Weasleys. It seems to me as if you dislike them mostly because the Weasleys hate them. Am I correct in assuming that you do not even know the reason of the family feud you got so carelessly involved in?"

It was clear that Harry was equally confused and offended by Sirius question.

"How can you defend him? He is evil! And what do you mean by family feud?"

Alarmed Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance,

"Do you mean to say that you were not even aware that there exists a family feud between the Malfoys and the Weasleys? "

Remus questioned their friend son, hoping that they had misread the situation, that Harry acted fully informed, even though it was clear that he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Either your friend Ron or his parents should have informed you at least before you choose sides!", he continued more forcefully, " How often did you stay with the Weasleys? Trice? And you still were not told? That seems to me very much as if the Weasleys are using you to gain sympathizers – after all if the Boy Who Lived is on their side they have to be in the right, no matter that in this case the Weasleys are at fault – as most Purebloods know."

Sensing that Harry was about to interrupt his friend Sirius spoke up:

"Harry, there is a reason why the Weasleys are called blood traitors – and it has nothing to do with the fact that they tolerate muggleborns and muggles! Two and a half centuries ago – or somewhere around that time – the Weasley heir wanted to marry the Malfoy daughter, no matter that she was days away from marrying someone else. As the tale goes he cursed the groom to become infertile thus making a wedding under the old ways impossible and ending a primary pureblood line. The Malfoy girl on her part took revenge on the Weasley heir with a curse that indirectly killed him.

Till now only the heirs and the only Malfoy daughter were involved but after the death of their heir the Weasley patriarch and his wife got involved: together they cursed not only the brother of the girl, the Malfoy heir but his whole bloodline. Till a Weasley, either the heir or the spare, married a daughter of the Malfoy patriarch all daughters born to a line of the brother would be either squibs or die before they reached their eighteenth birthday, the age of the girl their son had wanted to marry."

Seeing Harries pale but interested face Sirius continued more softly:

"As you can see the feud is still ongoing and, as the ancestors of the Weasleys we know, are directly responsible for the end of the primary branch of a pureblood family and caused the death of many female purebloods they were dubbed by the chief warlock of that time blood traitors. When we were children there were rumors that Lucius had a sister – but they were never confirmed, and even if there had been a Malfoy girl in our generation she would most likely be dead by now."

"The rumors were true, Lucius did have a sister", startled all three looked to the doorway as her soft words altered them to Charlenes presence as neither of the three had noticed that Charlene had returned during Sirius last words, "and she was born a squib so she should have been able to live beyond her eighteenth birthday, and yet she is dead – weather it was because the curse is gaining strength or because of something, someone else does not matter, Lucretia died despite everything her family tried to save her – no matter what they had named her."

"Why is her name important?" Harry questioned, his voice more subdued then before.

"Lucretia was a much beloved roman noble who committed suicide after she was raped by a house guest as she was not able to live with both the shame and the perceived guilt of what had happened to her. " Sirius answered Harry while still looking at Charlene. Standing up he went over to her and bend down to her to whisper in her ear:

"It was for her he joined, wasn't it? Either she was threatened or He promised to save her – am I right?"

He didn't even wait for an answer before he straightened up and took her softly by the arm to lead her to a chair.

'You look tired Pixi, are you getting enough rest? No, don't bother to answer it is clear that you don't. At least sit down."

Allowing herself to be led to one of the kitchen chairs the young woman smiled slightly:

"Just because my magic is out of sync with my body doesn't make me an invalid. Yes, I am pregnant and yes I shouldn't use too much magic but that doesn't mean that you have to coddle me – no matter how cute you are when you do that Snuffles."

When Sirius and Remus finally returned from their visit most of those who were staying at Grimmauldplace were either close to panic or furious even though they had not yet missed the Order-meeting that was scheduled for the late evening that day.