Welcome to part two of 'cleaning up Sirius' house'! YAY! Be expecting Naruto, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys continuing their battle for cleanliness in the Drawing Room; and learning about Sirius' family tree from Naruto's point of view.
Naruto: Shippuden © Masashi Kishimoto and Harry Potter™ © J.K. Rowling. I don't own them at all. Shouts out to Kuro Mitsu for all her lovely, detailed reviews. I'd like to see some more, please :)
SIRIUS' FAMILY TREE
"Sirius, please be reasonable." Hermione pleaded much to Sirius and everyone else's exasperation. Naruto was convinced Hermione was crazy – nobody in their right mind would want to stick up for something so obviously evil. It appeared his new friends agreed with him. "It's quite possible he's not right in the head. Must you be so harsh?" She protested disapprovingly, but when she saw the unconvinced expressions on her friends' faces, Hermione started to elaborate. "Maybe he doesn't realise that we can hear what he mutters?" Sirius sighed. He knew Hermione meant well, but sometimes he believed that she needed a reality check – and fast.
"Yes Hermione. I do need to be harsh – he's been alone for far too long. He's taking twisted and crazy orders from my mother's portrait, muttering to himself and being reclusive. Besides he's always been such a foul little—"
"Why don't you set him free then?" Hermione interrupted hopefully. Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"And risk him revealing all of the Order's secrets to the nearest Witch or Wizard loyal to Voldemort?" Everyone except Harry and Naruto flinched. "I don't think so. Besides I think the shock might kill him." He said, looking like the idea was growing quite appealing, at least until Hermione started looking unconvinced. Sirius merely shrugged. "But by all means, go ahead and suggest to him the idea and see how it takes it. I'm sure I'll find his answer extremely amusing." Sirius stated nonchalantly then strode away from the door, passed a thoroughly unamused Hermione who was currently scowling resentfully at Sirius' back as he approached the Tapestry Kreacher had been talking about and glaring at disgustedly as though the piece of fabric had done him a personal wrong.
Naruto walked up beside the older man along with Harry as they both studied the Tapestry. They could see that it was extremely old, was worn in places and had holes dotted randomly all over it. Presumably because of moths, however Sirius immediately corrected him when Naruto had inadvertently said this out loud and claimed that the holes were the work of the Doxies they had just stunned moments before. The tapestry had gossamer fine golden thread decorating it, so that it came together to create a very detailed drawing of a tree. Just above the tree were large words written both in flowery calligraphy:
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
And underneath that were two words in Latin which had also been written in flowery calligraphy:
'Toujours pur'
Naruto frowned. What was this supposed to represent anyway?
"You're not on here!" Harry announced grabbing both the ninja and Sirius' attention as he frowned and pointed towards the bottom of the Tapestry.
"Why would he be on the Tapestry? I don't understand." Sirius chuckled with amusement.
"This is my family tree, Naruto. All well-to-do families have them to remind younger generations of where they came from." Naruto nodded now understanding as he let his thoughts drift.
Would Sasuke's family have a 'family tree' somewhere in their home?… He pondered as Sirius extended his index finger towards a large black spot on the tapestry that reminded the blonde of cigarettes - as the spot looked very much like somebody had stubbed out their cigarette in that exact spot. He noticed that there were several places where black spots had been dotted randomly over the tapestry.
"I used to be there." Sirius explained to everyone in the room, before letting his arm flop back down against his side lifelessly as he sighed. "My mother did that when I ran away from home. Charming woman. I was sixteen." Naruto's eyes widened when he realised that the older man had obviously had lived a rough life like both Harry, himself and dare he say it, even Sasuke had had. Sirius chuckled humourlessly. "Kreacher amuses himself by muttering the story about how it happened loudly underneath his breath."
"How nice." drawled George sarcastically frowning at the spot.
"Where'd you go when you left home?" asked Naruto. Sirius' hand landed on Harry's head as he scuffed up the boy's hair as he replied affectionately.
"I went 'round to Harry's father's house. I had had enough." He said reminiscently, "I was always welcomed at the Potter's house. I stayed at their house during the school holidays until I was seventeen when I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard gave me a decent amount of gold to go towards the place." He said before walking over to point at another black spot. "See? Even he's been blown off the tapestry as well."
"Why'd you leave anyway?" asked Harry quietly, looking sympathetically at his godfather. Naruto refused to look at the man, his eyes still fixed on the black spots. The normally hyperactive ninja could feel the same corrosive anger welling up within him when Sirius first started bitching about his family. He took back those words now - he could see why Sirius would personally disown his parents. Nobody should be treated like that. Sirius smiled bitterly and carded his hand through his long, black unruly hair before answering his godson.
"I hated them. My parents were obsessed with their 'pure-blood' enthusiasm. Stating that to be a member of the 'Black' family was to ultimately be a part of royalty." He scoffed acidly. "My brother was soft enough to believe them." He added, "That's him right there." He pointed towards a magically moving picture of a handsome dark-haired young man who looked similar to Sirius, except that he had a superior looking smirk on his handsome face. The name stencilled underneath the picture read 'Regulus Black' followed by both his birth and death - which had occurred fifteen years ago. "He was younger than me. And as my parents liked to remind me was 'a much better son' than I was." He scoffed resentfully.
"But he died?" Naruto questioned quietly. Sirius' black eyes fixed upon Naruto before he nodded.
"Yes." He said, then scoffed sardonically. "The stupid fool… joined up with the 'Death Eaters'." Naruto's eyes widened comically as Harry's mouth dropped open.
"You're kidding."
"Seriously, Harry? Haven't you seen the contents of this house to know what type of wizards my parents were?" Sirius asked him testily. Harry flushed in embarrassment.
"Were your parents Death Eaters too?" Harry asked.
"Wouldn't surprise me in the least…" Naruto muttered disgustedly earning approving slaps on the back from the Weasley brothers and causing Sirius to smile at him.
Well that answers that question then… Harry thought as Sirius shook his head.
"No. But they believed that Voldemort had the right idea about killing off all the muggle-borns and letting all the pure-blood families rule the roost. They believed Regulus was a bloody hero for joining up first."
"Was he killed?" asked Naruto. Sirius nodded.
"Yep, by Voldemort - or one of his associates. Doubt that Regulus was important enough to Voldemort to be killed by him personally." Sirius sighed again before looking up at his brother's face again, "I found out later on after he died that he had gotten in too deeply within Voldemort's group that he panicked about what he had to do and tried to get out before it was too late." He chuckled bitterly once again. "You see, if you sign up into Voldemort's gang, you cannot just simply hand in your resignation if you decide you don't want to do it anymore. Once you sign up, it's for life or it's your death." Sirius explained to everyone in the room grimly.
Naruto hummed understandingly drawing everyone's attention towards him, not that he minded. He was too lost in his thoughts to actually care.
"You remind me a lot of my best friend, Sasuke." Naruto stated to a surprised looking Sirius.
"Really? How do I remind you of him?" Naruto had told Sirius confidentially about Sasuke and knew for a fact that being reminded about that particular boy was not always such a good thing. He prayed that it was a positive memory.
"Well, the way you described your parents, your brother and your relationship with the three of them was almost completely identical. Except of course that Sasuke's mother and older brother, Itachi, loved him with all their hearts, as did his father in his own way. And that Sasuke didn't run away from home." Naruto explained to him. Sirius nodded.
Hermione frowned. "I don't think I completely understand." She wanted Naruto to elaborate further. But the blonde shook his head.
"It's not my place to explain Sasuke's life story to people he wouldn't want to know. Hell, he'd probably kill me now for even mentioning that he and Sirius were to all intents and purposes quite similar. All I can tell you is that the Uchiha family were once one of the richest families in Konoha. They believed that they were better than everyone - only a few of them were humble." He explained vaguely. "Sasuke is a mixture of both personalities." Harry clapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"What did you mean by 'were'?" He asked slightly worried what that answer might be.
"Sasuke's family were massacred when both of us were eight. By his older brother." Naruto explained sadly, causing everyone to gasp with shock. However…
"Lunch." Naruto gulped loudly and turned to see Mrs Weasley standing in the doorway with an angry look on her face - luckily it was directed towards Sirius, not them. Though, he knew that they were likely to cop it BIG TIME. Mrs Weasley was carrying in a tray loaded down with sandwiches which she had balanced by the tip of her wand. Instantly, Naruto brightened - both happy to change the subject from him and towards the food and quickly made a beeline for the food, joined swiftly by everyone else except for Harry who stood silently next to his godfather who was still looking at his family tree tapestry. Naruto silently thanked Kyuubi for the use of his enhanced hearing as he eavesdropped on their conversation, while he crammed sandwiches into his mouth.
"I haven't looked at this for years." Sirius explained gingerly touching the old fabric with his fingertips. Harry scanned the tapestry interestedly before his eyes lit up.
"You're related to Tonks?" Naruto frowned.
Who's Tonks again? Then he remembered the woman with the hair that constantly shifted colours and grinned before continuing to chewing away at the sandwiches, still listening to Harry and Sirius.
"You're related to the Malfoys?" Harry sounded shocked and Naruto coughed. Not because he was surprised about the fact that Sirius was apparently related to some family known as the Malfoys, but because of Harry's overly loud outburst that startled Naruto and sent food travelling down the wrong path in his throat. Ron thudded smartly on Naruto's back.
"Woah, you alright there, Naruto?" He asked concerned. Naruto nodded trying to draw breath in.
"Yeah, peachy." Naruto gasped and cleared his throat by taking a swig of something his new friends called Pumpkin Juice. He found that he enjoyed the taste of the orange coloured drink. It was even in his favourite colour. "Who are the Malfoys?" He asked curiously and grinned when he noticed everyone scowling immediately.
"One of those 'pure-blood' families Sirius mentioned before." answered George with his mouth full, "You'll meet Draco Malfoy when you go with us to Hogwarts next month." added Fred distastefully. Naruto smirked.
"He's an asshole, right? That's why you're pulling faces?" Everyone nodded.
"He's worst. He makes Kreacher look sweet." Ron commented, earning a reproachful look from Hermione. "Oh c'mon, Hermione. You gotta agree that you can't not compare Kreacher to that idiot." Ron placated. Hermione conceded but still had an annoyed expression on her face for the remainder of the afternoon.
"Why do you ask, anyway?" said Ginny munching away on a sandwich. Naruto thumbed over his shoulder at Harry and Sirius who were still chatting away over the Tapestry.
"Well, apparently Sirius is related to them." He said boredly taking another sandwich and stuffing it into his mouth. Ron dropped the sandwich he was holding in his hand.
"You're joking."
"How did you find that out?" asked Hermione disbelievingly. Naruto pointed towards his ears.
"I have enhanced hearing thanks to Kyuubi." He explained - ignoring when said fox started grumbling about how certain privileges were being abused. Naruto mentally retorted that it was strictly so he could gather information that the two wizards would probably have been sharing. Hermione looked intrigued while everyone else appeared a little freaked out.
"That's understandable. Foxes have been known to have better hearing than humans." she conceded, but then scowled disapprovingly at Naruto who flinched slightly, instinctively believing that Hermione would king kit him like Sakura usually did when throwing looks at him like Hermione was. He was surprised when no blow fell. "But that doesn't excuse the fact that you were eavesdropping on Harry and Sirius' conversation." she stated, causing Ron to roll his eyes.
"Oh c'mon Hermione. That could be handy if we want to dodge Filch in the corridors back at Hogwarts." said Ron looking at Naruto with a calculating glint in his eyes. A fact that Mrs Weasley immediately picked up on.
"What was that Ron?" she asked warningly. Ron flinched, now looking guilty that he had been caught out with his 'idea'. Naruto, Fred and George sniggered while Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes.
"Nothing, Mum." Ron lied, knowing his mother didn't believe him. Mrs Weasley sighed in the way mothers usually do when they're frustrated with their children before looking over at Harry and Sirius.
"Hurry up, you two, or there won't be any food left!" she called out to them, before they both nodded and hurried over to the table. Harry looked distracted by something - but Naruto couldn't question his charge about what was bothering him, as what they were doing next in their cleaning took a lot more effort than they originally thought. This time Sirius stuck around to help with the cleaning.
While they were cleaning the Drawing Room, Naruto noticed with interest and at times amusement when Kreacher snuck in and started taking objects from a large sack that everyone was disposing of various objects. He was caught by Sirius of course who immediately kicked the house-elf out of the room. Kreacher immediately started chucking a massive temper tantrum that shocked Naruto, who was not used to seeing a House-elf behaving like a misbehaving child. He was very amused when Kreacher noticed Naruto observing him and got a filthy look in return. Naruto merely stuck his tongue out childishly at the house-elf who started swearing colourfully at both him and Sirius before the latter finally got fed up and closed the door on the house-elf, locking the door afterwards.
The drawing room took three days to sanitise and the only objects still in the room was the Black Family Tree and the violently rattling desk.
"That was tougher and more annoying than one of my D-ranked missions." Naruto bitched tiredly to nobody in particular. Then sighed when his friends asked him what he meant by D-ranked mission. Naruto then quickly explained what he could remember the Third Hokage tried to explain to him and the rest of team seven long ago when he foolishly complained about the amount of D-ranked missions they had to go on.
And incurred Sakura's wrath… He remembered, absently scratching the back of his head where Sakura had walloped him that day, while they moved to the Dining Room where Ron panicked and left the room in a hurry, much to Naruto's amusement and sympathy when they found large spiders hiding in a dresser. It was a fight to the death, and the contenders were Wizards and Ninja versus the rather smart and vindictive house of Black - and it was a close match, backed up by a very resentful Kreacher - who constantly tried to smuggle out belongings that had been tossed and once got threatened with clothes by a thoroughly fed up Sirius.
Naruto caught glimpses of his future 'teachers': Snape whom reminded Naruto of an older looking Sasuke. Except Naruto knew that Sasuke wouldn't be caught dead with lanky, greasy hair unless he had no alternative, such as being on a lengthy mission where he had no choice but to wait until he got back from the mission, whereupon he'd immediately return home and scrub his hair until it squeaked. Snape's mannerisms also freakishly resembled Sasuke's and Naruto knew that should Sasuke ever meet Snape (unlikely to happen, of course) that they'd get on like a house on fire, and Professor McGonagall paid a brief visit and only Naruto was permitted to go downstairs to meet her at her insistence.
His first impression of the stern looking woman was that she was definitely not the type that would enjoy being called 'baa-chan' like Tsunade, and definitely not the type to be fucked with. However, Naruto also liked her and respected her enough to know that he would get the information he required to complete his mission without any hassles. Naruto discovered that cleaning up in a magical household could be dangerous as well when he found himself wrestling with a murderous ghoul that he, Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Tonks - who was visiting and whom offered to help - and the Weasleys found in an upstairs toilet. Naruto decided that Lupin was definitely a friend he would love to keep as he enjoyed spending time joking and chatting with him when the Werewolf (Naruto learnt what he really was during the Dinner Harry and he clashed at) helped him and the others repair a Grandfather clock that liked throwing its bolts. Naruto ended up getting bashed in the head by one of the heavy weights the clock decided to throw at him - thus proving that he was tougher than he appeared at first glance.
Naruto and Ron were rudely woken up one night by Harry tossing and turning in bed.
"Harry? Are you alright?" When Naruto didn't get a reply, he grew worried. Immediately, he hopped out of his bed and went over to the raven-haired wizard, Ron following swiftly. Naruto gently shook Harry's shoulder.
"Oi! Harry, wake up!" Naruto loudly whispered causing the wizard to bolt upright in bed narrowly missing Naruto by inches. The blonde gulped in relief.
Thank God! I don't want a repeat performance of that event happening… He thought, but felt his cheeks reddening and his heart fluttering distractedly at the memory.
~FLASHBACK~
Naruto remembered an event back at the Academy in Konoha when he was going to be meeting his team and teacher shortly after they had graduated. The blonde had been jealous of the attention Sasuke had been getting from all the kunoichi in the classroom. The raven was sitting casually at his desk, ignoring everything and everyone and Naruto was annoyed and curious about why Sasuke was receiving this attention. What exactly was so fascinating about him? He had been intrigued to find out, so he approached Sasuke - noticing that the raven stiffened when he approached - and perched on the desk, squatting and leaning in to squint at his face.
"Is there something you require, dobe?" Sasuke had rudely asked from behind his clasped hands and scowling at Naruto. The hyperactive twelve year old ignored the question and the negative attention he was receiving from the kunoichi.
"Naruto! Get away from Sasuke-kun!" demanded Sakura imperiously.
Naruto remembered hearing her cracking her knuckles in an unladylike fashion to put her point across. But even that didn't deter him from his 'mission'. It was clear that Sasuke was getting both irritated and uncomfortable with Naruto's scrutinising, then the unthinkable happened all at once. The person Naruto was standing in front of moved unexpectedly and unintentionally pushed Naruto forward. It couldn't have been deliberate - who wants to be placed in the Uchiha's bingo book for publicly humiliating him, and with Konoha's most hated resident no less? Naruto gave a surprised 'ooof' and lerched forward finding himself locking lips with the aloof Uchiha. All hell broke loose as nearly all the girls shrieked with horror. Uzumaki Naruto, the village idiot, had stolen Uchiha Sasuke's first kiss! Both boys were extremely surprised for a split second before they realised what they were doing and immediately broke apart, coughing and retching and throwing each other filthy looks.
"NARUTO!" The blonde paled and hesitantly looked to the side to see a livid Sakura getting ready to deck Naruto. The luckless blonde started backing away from the temperamental girl.
"S-sakura-chan. Th-tha-that wasn't my fault. S-somebody pushed me…" Naruto stammered before turning and running for his life. Hours later, Naruto would realise that he had been lying about his initial reaction to that unexpected kiss and understood that he liked it and that his affections had now transferred from Sakura to Sasuke. However, because he was afraid of the Uchiha's reaction, he pretended that he still liked Sakura whilst admiring Sasuke secretly.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
Naruto came to when somebody's hand was waved in front of his face. He shook his head and saw Ron giving him a funny look.
"You okay, mate?" He asked concerned. Naruto nodded vehemently.
"Sorry, must have dozed off." He turned his attention towards an equally concerned and slightly annoyed looking Harry who was staring at him questioningly.
"Are you okay, Harry? Did you have a nightmare?" Naruto asked changing the topic from him to Harry's obvious distress. Harry nodded and clutched his head where his scar was. It was burning badly.
"Yes."
"Was it the same one as before?" Naruto asked seriously, knowing that if the answer was correct something bad was going to happen. This wasn't the first time Naruto had to wake Harry up from his sleep. The first time, Naruto made Harry explain to him exactly what his nightmare was so he could help him. He was Harry's bodyguard after all. Ron frowned.
"Before?" Both Naruto and Harry nodded.
"Yep, during the night when Harry and I had our little 'talk'" Naruto explained causing Ron to make an 'ah' expression before listening in to what Harry had yet to say. Harry yawned.
"It's the same corridor as before. Only every time I see that door I can't go past it. Do you think it mean something?" Harry asked sounding vulnerable. Naruto frowned but shrugged one shoulder, indicating that he didn't have an answer to that particular question. Frustrated, Harry nodded resignedly before sinking back into his pillows and rolling over to go back to sleep. Ron looked confused and looked like he was going to ask a question, but a very loud yawn stopped him. All three boys went back to bed, temporarily forgetting about Harry's nightmare.
Hope you're all enjoying my story. xx
