A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long! The further I get in the story the more there is to edit to incorporate all the changes I made. And since I'm doing this simultaneously in German I really have to watch out that I'm writing the same things - in the two languages :-)
That said - enjoy! And I don't mind reviews at all...
Chapter 10 – Of Horrible Surprises
Saturday, 20.3.1999 / Hermione
I've not taken the potion. Two days after our little bath together my period started. That would mean these days now can be the dangerous days… well, would be, normally, now I'm feeling strangely careless and as I'm pulling Harry in my arms after going to bed I try to work out if this is going to feel different, now that we actually want something to happen. I'm not telling him, I know he's fairly oblivious about the whole concept of the female cycle. Of course he knows the theory, but he's sort of surprised every time I'm telling him that my period has started and he's asked me more than once if I didn't just have it a few days earlier. Since he hardly knows when I'm menstruating I don't expect him to know when I'm ovulating.
But maybe I'm giving it away by my behaviour, because I'm pulling him on top of me. That's not usually my favourite position. He gazes down at me, puzzled.
"Since when do you like it this way?" he asks and leans in for a kiss.
"Occasionally I do… I do like to feel your weight on me," I remark.
"Mind you, I'm not complaining. Gives me some more control for once…" he grins.
I'll tell him. Afterwards. Now I can't really think of anything but feeling him. Three and a half years after our first sexual experiments we're a pretty experienced couple and we know exactly what buttons to press and when. Before we press those buttons we can just enjoy ourselves and feel.
When we finally collapse in a heap of limbs and hold each other for a last kiss before falling asleep I'm telling him:
"It's the days I could conceive right now, Harry… your last chance to back out if you prefer to wait with a baby."
His face splits into a wide grin. He pulls me even closer and places a couple of kisses on my neck and my mouth, then he whispers:
"No way! I'm daring, Hermione, and I can't wait until we hit!"
"Oh, Harry! I feel the same… I want to give that to you so much. And to myself of course. It will be so much fun to see our child grow up with your siblings and Sirius' and Remus' children! And hopefully with a few of our friends' as well… though we might have to try a few times, before we hit, mind you!"
"Who cares! It is somehow not the same when I know that you have no protection right now. And I really like that 'devil-may-care' attitude you have about it."
HarryShe's hit me with that one! I could sing though… what an amazing feeling to be inside of her with the knowledge that we want to let happen what we normally prevent. I'm holding Hermione in my arms after the sex and we're kissing and caressing each other for a long time. I've always thought I was leaning to be very tender, but I think I'm even more tender with her at this moment. One of these days she's going to conceive our baby… in my mind it's already taking form! Not only an amazing, but still such a strange and already familiar feeling. I wonder why? We thought that being around the little ones in the family would help us wait until after the academy, but we have both decided we don't want to wait. So that must mean we're both ready to start the family. It's certainly too early to decide on the size for our family we want to have, but I know for sure I don't want an only child. And I have the suspicion that the same goes for Hermione. We know that we have a fair amount of time, so we can space out our children a bit. According to Madam Pomfrey it is quite normal to see a witch having children at the age of eighty. I'm getting a mental image of a pregnant McGonagall! Well, if her husband comes back alive it could even happen!
It's an incredible concept, but only now it becomes clear to us that we have the chance to live twice as long as non-magical people! Once I've understood that I've understood why it would be no problem to have children at such an advanced age. If you get to live until you're 170 or so then at sixty you've only spent one third of your life! I've never even thought about that, even though I knew that Professor McGonagall was over seventy, Professor Flitwick something over 110 and Professor Dumbledore has a good 150 years in his bones and still seems to be quite well.
Anyway… our sex has yet again another quality. It's nothing different actually, but I do think there's something like more 'depth'? More sentiment in any case! Hey, it's her who should be attacked by the hormones, not me, or is it? Or why am I so maudlin? Argh!
The word cherish has a new value in our relationship.
Sunday, 21.3.1999 / Quintus
I am happy to join Sirius, Remus and the little ones at Hogwarts for a few days. I still need my strengthening potions, I still don't know how I'll manage to go on without my wife, but for the moment I enjoy my sons and my grandchildren. What an enormous thing that is! I wouldn't ever have dreamed that I'd actually be a grandfather, but there are two little ones who are going to call me grandpapa, which I'll absolutely love.
Where I'll take residence I don't know yet. There are a few options. I might take over Remus' and Sirius' lovely cottage, which is in Essex and thus close to London. I'll go and have a good long talk with the old head of the Department of Mysteries tomorrow. When I contacted him a week ago he only replied to ask when I could start. That made everyone smile. I loved my work there, I am a researcher by nature.
Remus takes me up to Dumbledore's office to meet him. He's been too busy with preparations for his retirement to come down to the Sunnegg to visit. We're called inside the office, which I've seen a small number of times while my son was at school, and mostly because Madam McGonagall called us in to discuss some of the pranks, which the Marauders played.
"It is very good to see you alive again, Quintus," says Dumbledore kindly and we shake hands.
Then he conjures up some tea and we sit down around a small table.
"Thank you, Albus. It feels good, too, especially since I'm coming back to peaceful times. Seeing my son so happy is just the crown on everything."
"Yes, I would have to say that I've never seen him so happy since he came to school here."
"I was just thinking that I've only seen this office when he was in trouble. Which was thankfully rare."
"Only because they didn't catch me very often, papa," Remus throws in.
We all laugh.
"I had my suspicions more often about you, Remus, but there was usually a strange lack of evidence to prove anything," Albus remarks.
"That would be because I, unlike my three less talented friends, was quite skilled in not leaving any evidence behind, Albus. Easy to admit that now," Remus shoots back and grins.
"As long as you don't teach those little ones of yours how to do that it's alright," Albus resigns.
We laugh again and Remus has yet another comeback:
"You don't expect me to cut off the branch on which I'm sitting, Albus? They can learn that all by themselves – if they can."
"You must be very pleased to have grandchildren, Quintus, aren't you?" Albus asks.
"It's wonderful to have them. They're getting used to me and I'll love to see them often. Fanny and I always wanted more children, but then Remus was bitten, and we wanted to be there for him as long as he needed us and then there was the war and we wanted to wait until after the war. Well, that would be now…"
"Don't give up hope… it may take a while still, but if the wand that has killed Fanny is in the possession of the Ministry, she will come back," says Albus.
"That's what I have to keep telling myself."
"Have you already settled back in?"
"Only just about. There are still quite a number of things I have to purchase. I do have the basic supply of clothes and my new wand!"
"Which is the true basic I'd say. Do you know where you will live?"
"Not yet for sure. I might move into Sirius' and Remus' cottage, or I might stay in Switzerland, I don't know yet. I'm still rather easily exhausted. But I have seen my wife's relatives and it was good to see them. They were all very pleased and of course hope that Fanny will come back, too. I'm glad that Remus has remained in contact with them, if not very often."
I throw a glance at my son who just grins. I still can't see enough of him! How proud I am of Remus and how proud and delighted Fanny will be.
"In any case I'll go back to the Department of Mysteries. I'll see Tiberius tomorrow."
"Ah yes, it's still Tiberius Vance in charge there. He must be older than me!"
"What's your criterion to find that out? Whether you've had them as your students or not?" Remus asks cheekily.
Albus laughs.
"That comes close. It is certainly one of them. I have been at Hogwarts for so long… it really is time I'm handing over to the younger ones, isn't it?"
"That is for you to decide. You are perfectly in your right to enjoy some quieter times now," I tell him.
Wednesday, 24.3.1999 / Remus
Papa is going to stay at the Sunnegg for now. He's seen his old boss and will start working again at the beginning of June. Tiberius Vance, who is the great-great-grandfather of Emmeline Vance, has taken him right back with open arms. Once he's really fully recovered he'll go back to work. Well, it should be said that he is probably rather going back to his greatest hobby as he loves to do any kind of research.
Meanwhile I really dislike to leave my family behind to attend meals in the Great Hall. We've decided to start and keep the twins away from the main school. They're not supposed to grow up privileged, they'll have it a bit easier than other children anyway once they will come here. But it's hard to leave them behind. It's also hard not to share my meals with my lover. Sirius is certainly doing the right thing. One of us should stay with them and I'll skive dinner as often as I can.
"Remus, where are Sirius and the little ones?" Minerva asks.
"We're not taking them out here for the meals anymore, Minerva. They start to really take in their surrounding now and we'd prefer them to stay out of the main parts of the school. We want them to discover Hogwarts when they get here as students, that will be early enough."
"Ah! Very reasonable! You're right about that. It would only spoil it for them and they wouldn't even know."
"That's it."
"But why aren't you with them?" she asks on.
"I thought at least one of us should be out here…"
"You should be with your family, Remus! At least for dinner."
"I will be. I'm missing them awfully!"
Minerva laughs.
"You're one great and devoted father, Remus! I'm sure you're doing great with your little ones."
"Thank you, I think, we're getting on quite well with them. But so far they're making it quite easy. I really don't know what we did to have such lovely children!"
She smiles.
"They are quite extraordinary, Remus. Maybe because they have extraordinary parents?"
"Many thanks for your complement. I'm quite convinced they will be a handful sooner or later. But for the moment they are really still little darlings."
Neville and Pomona Sprout come to the teacher's table. Neville is all smiles. He's not even really taken his vacation, he's come right from his old job to start here with Pomona.
"Hello Neville! How did your first morning as a teacher go?" I ask while he sits down a few places away from me.
"Just great! All sixth and seventh years. Though it was a bit strange to teach them when less than a year ago they were still my classmates."
He starts chatting about his morning's experiences and I ask him a few questions. I'm glad he's found a new home here. I do think he will do very well as a teacher and he's really in his element. He'll soon be as much liked as Pomona.
Monday, 29.3.1999 / Sirius
Sitting at the breakfast table I hear an owl tapping on the window to the courtyard. I open it with my wand and the bird comes in, dropping a letter onto the table. It leaves again immediately. I pick up the letter and open it with my knife. It's from Gringotts.
"Dear Mr. Black,
Since you have been acquitted we have waited for you to ask for our assistance in getting your family inheritance here at Gringotts in order. As you have not done so by now we thought it opportune to call you in to discuss our future cooperation as soon as you can see us. Please ask for the undersigned, as he's the one responsible for the Black family accounts. We will be pleased to receive you at any time.
Sincerely
Tookook, responsible for the Black family vaults
Gringotts Bank"
I decide not to let this slack and I'll go in today. I'll set some self study work and a fairly easy potion to brew for my students during my absence. Then I inform Minerva and Albus about my errand and Floo directly to Gringotts at half past one in the afternoon.
At the bank I first give my business to a clerk who then goes and gets Mr. Tookook. He introduces himself and leads me into a small conference room.
"Thank you for responding to our letter so soon, Mr. Black. You know what this is all about. We need to finalise the Black family inheritance. We know that you are the direct heir, so it all goes to you, but there's quite a muddle of vaults besides the ones you have been using. And we need some justification from you to know which vaults will actually be yours."
"I never even thought of contacting the bank, quite foolish really, I would like to apologise for any inconvenience I might have caused," I explain.
"Oh, think nothing of it, it really is not an inconvenience for us. But it might be for you though in the meantime you have gathered a considerable amount of interest by not touching the vaults."
"The main problem for me is the fact that I haven't set one foot into my family's house since I came back there after my fifth year at Hogwarts. So I really have to go and look through what's left of the papers after my parents' demise. Would you tell me what you need?"
"Wills, vault keys, deeds, anything that hints you are the rightful owner of these vaults. Here is a list of all the vaults we have found that are in your family's possession. If you can find any kind of relevant proof that these vaults are yours we can set up the contracts in your name again. Due to your imprisonment and the fact that there were no other direct heirs we couldn't get the business finished. As long as the main heir is alive, the Black family vaults are not passed on to any other person. In fact they remain blocked for anyone except the heir and that's why you had unhindered access to them so far."
I quickly scan the list and almost faint. There are about fifty different vault numbers. Some names I recognise, others I don't, but I take the list and promise:
"Well, I have my work cut out there. I'll see what I can find. Will you give me a few days to go over the available papers? I will have to dig into my father's study, a realm I avoided as best as I could when I was a child. So I really don't know well where to start searching."
"Yes, of course, now that we've spoken with you we know that something will be done about it. Would you please contact me when you're ready? You can just ask for me in the main hall of the bank again. Also please remember that it might be a good idea to contact your family's barrister and have him accompany you."
"Very well, I'll do just that, Mr. Tookook. Thank you for your assistance and advice."
Upon my return home I write two letters. One is to my family's law firm, which is Griffiths and Vaughan, an old, old law firm that my family has used over the centuries. I know they are clean of being Death Eaters as they have tried to stay out of everything by remaining rather sinister and inconspicuous. So I invite Mr. Ethan Griffiths, the current head of the firm, to come and see me tomorrow evening at Hogwarts for some family business related questions. The second letter goes to my own barrister, Mr. Lynton, who I took over from Uncle Alphard. If possible I want to transfer the family business also to his firm, but I'll see about that after my meeting with Mr. Griffiths tomorrow. I ask Mr. Lynton for advice how to proceed after seeing the family barrister. The letters go out and not an hour later do I get a call on my Commumirror from Mr. Lynton.
"Hello, Mr. Black! I am very pleased to hear from you and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that you are doing a good thing to get this all in order. I do wish to remind you that your contract with your partner and the funds you set up for your children will probably have to be adjusted later on."
"Hello, Mr. Lynton. Thank you for calling immediately. I was wondering if you or one of your associates would be willing to accompany me when I go to my ancestral home on Saturday for a first investigation. I hope to see Mr. Griffiths tomorrow and I'll ask him as well."
"Yes, I could certainly do that. I myself will be absent, but I can guarantee that you can fully trust our younger partner, Mr. Quigley, who, as I believe, you might remember from Hogwarts."
"I couldn't place him right now, but I'm sure I will once I see him. Was he in my year? I finished 1978."
"No, he must have been two or three years before you, and he was in Ravenclaw."
"Ah, then it might be that I don't remember him at all. But if you put your trust in him, then so will I, thank you very much, Mr. Lynton. I do think I will need some assistance to sort through what is left in that house."
"Then that's settled. I shall notify Mr. Quigley to contact you so you can fix date, time and meeting point."
Mr. Quigley is on the Commumirror a few minutes later and we determine to meet in the Leakey Cauldron at eight on Saturday morning.
The next caller is Mr. Griffiths. I have never spoken to him before and my first impression is a neutral one.
"Mr. Sirius Black?"
"Speaking."
"Good evening, sir. I am Ethan Griffiths and you have sent me an owl this afternoon."
"That's right, thank you for calling, sir. As we have never spoken before I was wondering if you could give me a short summary of your activity for the Black family in the past years."
"The last time we had anything to do was when we set up the will for your deceased father. It is kept here at our offices. I have already made a copy, which is ready to be sent to you any moment. Are you aware of your family's statutes and the meaning of the articles in it?"
"Only partly. I remember that my Uncle Alphard explained some of it to me, but I'd be very interested in a full copy also of the statutes. So my father made a will?"
"Yes. Even though the will is a matter of form only, as the statutes clearly state who inherits and what. Only personal belongings can be bequeathed to any particular person. Therefore the will does not contain any surprises. Your father had no other choice but to name you as the family's heir because according to the family statutes he could not disinherit you."
"Thank you for sending the documents then, I would like to study them. Gringotts asked me to help them finalise my inheritance and setting up the existing vaults in my name, which hasn't been done so far, so I need to go back to the family home to find all evidence and justification for the Gringotts vaults. Is anything of the sort kept at your offices?"
"Probably there are some. I would be glad to supply you with the necessary documentation. We'll be going to the archives to look for anything."
"Very good, I'll send you a copy of the list of vaults then to give you some information to know what you'll have to look for. I plan to go to Grimmauld Place this Saturday. Since my Uncle had his business with Messrs Lynton, Quigley and Blake I have used them as my personal barristers. One of them will be present on Saturday, could I count on you to accompany me as well?"
"Yes, I would like to be there, since I am representing the Black family. At what time are you meeting?"
"Eight in the morning at the Leaky Cauldron. It will probably be a larger party, as I will have some family with me to be able to go through the big house a bit quicker."
"I'll have your documents ready for Saturday and I shall meet you in the Leaky Cauldron then."
"Thank you, sir!"
Well, that's settled. Remus looks at me and says:
"That will not be pleasant. Better round up as much of the family as you can…"
"That I intend to do right now…"
I actually Floo over to the Three Broomsticks and apparate over to the Sunnegg to explain what's going on and get the support of most of the gang. We'll have James, Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Padma, Quintus and Mandy coming along. Lily wants to come, too, so Ginny promises to watch the children on Saturday.
"Thanks so much, everyone! I couldn't possibly go there all by myself, not even with the barristers. Meeting point is the Leaky Cauldron, at eight in the morning."
"We'll be there!"
Wednesday, 31.3.1999 / Remus
A 'blue moon' today. The second this year. That really doesn't happen very often, but if there's a blue moon in January there's always one in March as well. For some reason unknown to me these are always a bit more difficult than regular full moons. I wonder why, really, but every time I have transformed on a blue moon my transformations have been extremely violent. Now with the Wolfsbane potion and the Animagus transformation it shouldn't be as bad. I still cancel tomorrow's morning classes and give all those students extra homework to do in the periods they'd normally have lessons. That's no problem with the fifth years, I can call on the prefects to hold the class together and either order them to work in the Great Hall or in the classroom. Then the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff classes shouldn't be too bad either, these first and second years are eager to learn and curious. The third year Gryffindors and Slytherins will be a bit more difficult, so I check where the older students of these houses are in that period and find out that Sirius has the sixth years. I ask him to send two of the prefects to check on the class which I have ordered to stay in the classroom.
"No problem, love, I'll have them check on the kids."
The weather is ghastly, so we don't even plan to go out. It's been windy and rainy almost all month long, everything around the castle seems to be moist and even colder than usual. I'm shuddering at the mere thought of having to transform without my Animagus. I've asked Sirius to set an alarm for me before the moonset, so I can concentrate on keeping the wolf form beyond. Even though coming back to my human form is less bad than transforming into the wolf it leaves me weak and hurt and exhausted for hours.
Thursday, 1.4.1999 / Remus
It's been better than expected. Moony has been well behaved, I've slept most of the night and most of it next to my lover. I've transformed early enough for the children to still be around, but they're usually unfazed. They just seem to take that as a part of our family and since they know nothing else they just accept it and don't even think of being afraid.. I'm always a bit anxious when they come close, but as much as I feel of Moony during the full moon nights he knows very well that these are our 'cubs' and that he has to protect, not endanger them.
The alarm has given me enough time to concentrate on holding the wolf form past the moonset. That means I was able to transform back through the Animagus spell and that again meant no pain. There are no words to express my gratitude to Sirius, Harry and James for pushing me to try this. I now know that there are two ways of making life more normal for me and both work together smoothly. I still get the Wolfsbane potion from Sirius, Hermione and Ginny, they have continued to brew it in turns. Ginny has told me that she's making larger batches and that she's brewing it every month for the Werewolf Support Unit. Mandy gives it to those werewolves who can't afford it or brew it themselves. She has quite a number of werewolves on her list who go and pick it up every month at the Ministry. I think, Hermione has joined Ginny in doing that. The good thing is that they will keep the routine of making it. That and Ginny gets not only the money for the ingredients but also a small compensation from the Ministry, which gives her some extra pocket money.
Right after turning myself back I'm cuddling deep under my duvet again and fall asleep.
Saturday, 3.4.1999 / Sirius
It's so good to feel the protectiveness of my chosen family who don't want me to suffer from having to go to my old family home alone. It's a wonderful feeling if one has been out there bustled around without a will of one's own for so long. Others might feel smothered by such protectiveness, but I have got used to it fairly quickly. Especially since the gang's protectiveness isn't an oppressive one. So it's a good group of friends who meet at the Leaky Cauldron early this morning.
We take Seraina and Denny along. I know that the place will be dreary, but I think I will need their positive energy and their laughter.
I've already shown the scroll to my lover, now I hand it over to James, who gasps. Not only the amount of vaults is impressive, what's in those vaults is incredible. According to that list I own several millions of Galleons! Since one Galleon is about two ounces of pure gold I don't even want to convert the value into Muggle money.
"Oh dear," James whispers.
The others look at the parchment quickly and gasp, too.
"Wow, Sirius! You are one wealthy man," Blaise remarks.
"Classic understatement, Blaise! I won't ever be able to spend that much! I suppose I'll find a few good uses for some of that money. I'll talk to Amelia Bones about it, but that's not my first priority. First we have to search Grimmauld Place to find anything that links with those vaults. Anyone seen any of those two barristers yet?"
They both show up only a few minutes late. I suggest:
"Let's go directly to Grimmauld Place, then we can discuss everything at the study there. We take Muggle transport, since it's right around the corner from here."
We board the Tube at Tottenham Court Road and leave it at Chancery Lane. From there it's about ten minutes to walk until we get to the dreary square that is Grimmauld Place. It's not totally run down, but it has definitely seen better times. Nevertheless there are some nice Georgian houses lining the square, which have come down, but the structures are still clearly visible. I've always wondered why the Black family, as haughty as they all were, have decided to settle in the middle of a Muggle area. We pass No 11 and the next door is No 13. I have to make them see the place, because it's unplottable and covered with more than a simple 'notice-me-not'-spell. It is a large house, which was built in 1738, on the site of the original family house, which had been there since the late tenth century.
"The house is so well hidden that not even wizards find it unless they're shown. It's also unplottable and only a Black by blood can open the door. Let's see if they were able to bar me from doing so."
I walk up to the door and tap my wand on the knob. There's a creak and the door opens to the inside. A cloud of must comes out and I decide to leave the door open to let some air in. The moment we step inside and move a bit there's an incredible screech coming from one wall. What the fuck is that? Then I recognise the voice when she starts to scream:
"FILTH! SCUM! DIRT HAS ENTERED THE NOBLE HOUSE OF THE BLACK FAMILY!!!! ARCTURUS WHERE ARE YOU WHEN YOU'RE NEEDED? OUT! OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!!"
My mother. That ugly portrait of hers in the entrance hall has been enchanted to be a talking one in the meantime like all the others. Oh dear, that's going to be fun. Luckily there are two mouldy curtains that can be closed around the painting. I quickly close the door after all.
"Sorry, guys. Meet my lovely mother. Isn't she charming? Shut up, you old hag! Arcturus is dead as are you and you can't call for him. This house and all is mine now."
Remus helps me to pull the curtains closed. We mute the children as best as we can and move forward. Amazingly the house smells musty, but it's clean. Is there a house-elf still here? They're bound not only to the family who owns them, but to the house as well, so I start to look around and really, not long after we silence the portrait, one of them comes scrambling out of the staircase that leads to the kitchen in the basement. It's Kreacher, my own personal jailer back in my childhood. I grab him by one of his long ears and pull him into the nearby drawing room on the first floor. The others follow and Harry has the good sense of closing the door.
"Kreacher! What's my mother calling for Father?"
"I is not telling, Master, I is not telling!"
"Oh, you're not? You know that I'm the only remaining heir of the Blacks and as you so promptly found out I'm also your master. Will you deny a direct order?"
"Young Master is not ordering Kreacher, Mistress would be so angry! Master is still my master."
"The Mistress is dead, Kreacher! Has been for some time now. Will you deny a direct order? And what do you mean that the master is still your master? My father is dead, too."
"No, young Master. Master is ill, but he is not dead."
"I might not have been in my right mind in Azkaban, but I know that I was told when my mother and then when my father died! The Ministry has their death dates. Here is the family barrister who told me that my father has died, did you not, Mr. Griffiths?"
"Yes, according to all the information I have, Arcturus Black died in 1987."
"So what are you talking about him still being alive?"
I'm startled. I remember now that I never asked anyone for confirmation about that and look at Remus who shrugs his shoulders.
"I've seen the obituary notices ages ago, but I wouldn't remember when exactly. Certainly before you left Azkaban," he explains.
We all turn back to Kreacher.
"So, where is he, if he isn't dead?" I want to know.
"In his bed," he tells us.
So my father staged his death? Did he possibly stage my mother's as well? And why? Did they go insane after all? More insane than they already were, that is. I look at Mr. Griffiths.
"The best thing would probably be to go and see him," he says and shrugs his shoulder.
I nod. Yes, we'll do that in a short moment. I turn to Quigley and ask him:
"Do you think there is any chance to get our hands on some approved Veritaserum? Any chance of us being approved by the Ministry to use it?"
"Let me call the Ministry…" he says, but Mandy interrupts:
"Wait, let me call Jason Taylor, a DMLE barrister, he might be able to help us. He's in a position to authorise the use of Veritaserum. If there ever was a case of it being needed, then certainly this one."
"That's a much better contact than what I could have come up with, Miss, go ahead," says Quigley.
She calls Jason in. He joins us only half an hour later, with an appropriate vial in his hand.
"Hey guys. This must be the weirdest story I ever heard! I got back-up from Joanne, and she said we can go ahead. I can see that there are some colleagues already present, that should be enough neutral witnesses."
I'm glad we haven't gone to search for my father yet. We've kept rather quiet in the Drawing Room and discussed the situation. Mr. Griffiths has explained some of the articles in the family statutes to me, for which I had noted a question or two down. Now we all get up. I want them all with me, or I'll kill that old bastard. More witnesses can certainly do no harm.
The house is a black cavern! There are gas lights, which give a flickering light, but hardly enough to brighten up the huge entrance hall, staircase and corridors. It's just as I remember it to be, horribly dark, because there's not one window that is not covered by heavy dark green velvet curtains, which won't let in any light at all. We need to go up one more flight of stairs to reach the master bedroom on the second floor. Of course we can't fall over him all at once. I turn to Mr. Griffiths.
"Sir, may I ask you to go in first? He'll probably have a bit of a fright and I don't want him to just fall down and die – I want some answers before that. The last time I have seen him he's cursed me with a Cruciatus and I'm not about to repeat that experience. You are a neutral person, he should not break down right away seeing you."
"I'd be pleased to, Mr. Black. Please step back for a moment, ladies and gentlemen, so he won't possibly see you too early."
I watch as Mr. Griffiths enters. He looks around for a moment, then moves in and says:
"Mr. Black? I have to say that it is quite a surprise to meet you here… I was supposed to look around the house for some information about the Black family inheritance, since the Ministry decided that this needs to be finalised…"
A scream in my father's voice tells us that he's still rather shocked.
"Griffiths! Get out of my bedroom! How dare you to step into the bedroom of a gentleman!"
"I'm truly sorry, sir, but I could not possibly have guessed you would be in it. I expected it to be empty…"
"How did you get into the house? This house is unplottable! Only a Black by blood can show anyone here!"
"Oh yes, I was just sent ahead. It's your son who's here…"
My cue to go in as well.
"Well, hello, father! You're still there after all? Haven't you joined mother in hell yet then?" I say with the iciest, most poisonous voice I can muster.
"My son? You are no son of mine! You are disowned, and have been for I don't know how many years…" he screams.
"You forgot that you could disown me as much as you like, but you could not disinherit me, father. And since you are officially dead I am the sole representative of the Black family now. I could even kill you and no one would be the wiser, you know!"
"You wouldn't dare! You have a witness!" he hisses and tries to grope for his wand.
But I've already summoned it. He's been good with his wand, but he's been useless without. My father was only a carrier of strong genes, he himself was only clever, not powerful or strong.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, father. You stay right where you are and we'll have a few questions for you in a moment. Before that I present to you Mr. Jason Taylor, a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and authorised to administer Veritaserum. I'm not sure if you already know about this potion, but it is a really powerful truth serum, which we'll give you now. I want the truth from you, father, enough of it to be able to let you rot in Azkaban for the rest of your miserable life. I can prove that you used an Unforgivable and you know what is at stake for those. Let me just give you two or three facts you might not know since you've buried yourself in here: your stupid Dark Lord is gone, dead, finished. We have caught the whole of his Death Eater scum and many of them are dead, including my horrible cousin. I know you've never been one of them, but only because you gave them Regulus once I was out of the picture. And Regulus paid with his life for it."
We manage to give him the three drops of Veritaserum that are needed to get the truth out of him. Until the potion works I look around. The bedroom is clean, but kept as dark as the rest of the house. I pull the curtains open to let in some light. Then I notice an opening I have never seen before in one wall. I'll have to investigate that later on. Right now I send Harry and Hermione to the library to look for anything that could help us.
"There should be a desk with some of the family papers and stuff. Look for something like the family chronicles or a book that might give information about the family tree. The Blacks were deep into that kind of thing, so I expect there is something. Don't touch the library books, many of them are charmed that only a Black by blood can open them. Just use a revealing spell and they'll give off enough of a response to tell you which ones not to touch."
"Okay!"
The two of them go off. Then I ask Blaise and Padma to go on and look through all the rooms on the upper floors. Lily and James take the twins and go downstairs with them to do the same in the rooms on the ground floor.
The rest of us remain there to question my father. Quigley sets up a parchment and a recording quill. I start the questions for my father. A few standard questions to be sure that the Veritaserum works and that he can't fight it.
"What is your full name?"
"Arcturus Orion Black."
"What is/was your wife's name and what are the names of your children?"
"Leda Black, three children, Sirius Orion, Regulus Alphard and Adara Bellatrix."
Mr. Griffiths and I look at each other immediately. Quigley, Jason, Remus and Quintus look equally baffled.
"I didn't know there was a third child," Mr. Griffiths says quietly.
"Who is Adara? When was she born?"
"Adara is my only daughter. She was born on 15th December 1988."
We're even more taken aback. 1988? That would mean that mother had not died when the Ministry informed me of her death either!
"Why did you stage your death and that of mother?" I ask.
"We wanted to have another heir. Unfortunately it was only a girl. Leda died a year after she was born."
"Where is the girl?"
"In there…"
Father points at the opening in the wall. Remus gets up and goes over there immediately. After a moment we hear a small cry and a few minutes later a little girl comes out, looking like my twin. She shies back again immediately, but since Remus is behind her she comes into the room. She looks dreadfully frightened. I let Remus handle her and continue the questioning.
"How did you treat her?" I ask.
"She is just as horrible as you are, so she has to stay in her rooms. I teach her to read and write. She is not going to be spoiled. She is going to marry a decent pureblooded man one day."
"What do you mean, she's just as horrible as I am?"
"She doesn't do right. She is not following my orders. She wants to go out!"
"Any sane person would want to go out of here. Do you have any contacts outside of the house?"
"I have not left my sanctuary in years. I believe it must be fourteen years by now, I have lost count."
"I want you to confirm that you have used unforgivable curses, including at least one or two Imperius and a Cruciatus curse on me, father. Is that true?"
"Of course it is true! You needed to be punished! You were not doing right, you needed to see the true way. I punished you with Cruciatus because you would not want to become a follower of our Dark Lord."
"Yours maybe, but certainly not mine, father. What happened to mother's body?"
"She is buried in the back garden."
"Seeing how similar Adara and Regulus are to me I only want to know if you used a spell to override mother's respective genes…"
"Yes. This has been done traditionally in the Black family. Normally you would have been informed of this spell when you got married. It is not a dark spell."
"Good. I think, we've covered the most important things. Just two more questions: where do I find Gringotts keys, deeds and the likes?"
"The keys are here in the desk, the deeds are in my desk in the study and some of them are in the library."
"That's it. Jason? How do we proceed, what do you suggest?"
"I have to quickly see with Kingsley, but he's probably taking him to Azkaban on the direct way. We have his admittance to having used Unforgivables and that's enough to send him off. I know you're sensitive in that point, but in his case there's not even a trial needed. We need to get the message through again that no playing around with the Unforgivables will be tolerated anymore."
"I have to say, I hope he rots there. Here's his wand."
I turn to little Adara and look at her. She's my little sister. If what father says is true and she's like me, then there may be hope that he hasn't been able to fully brainwash her into becoming a little pureblood bitch. It seems that Remus has managed to calm her down a little. She's standing close to the opening to her rooms, which seems to be closed now, because I see nothing of it anymore.
She wears a set of robes that has obviously belonged to my mother once and which has been shrunk to fit her small size. She has long black hair, which she wears in a plait down her back. Her eyes are the traditional grey of our family. She's as cute as a button! I sit down on a chair and ask her:
"Hi, Adara. I'm Sirius, your oldest brother. Do you know about me?"
She looks at me, but says nothing yet.
"I have come to clean up this house. I didn't expect to find anyone living here at all, I knew nothing of your existence, Adara. Were you at least taught how to read and write?"
"Yes. And he taught me other things, too. Astronomy and English. And the family history."
"Okay. You're not afraid of us, are you?"
Adara looks at us and admits:
"A bit. I've never seen anyone but my father and Kreacher."
"There are many people outside, Adara. You will learn about them soon. I will have to take you to my home, where we will prepare a room for you. Then you will get some nicer clothes, alright?"
"Nicer? Isn't this nice?"
"I recognise this one from my mother and she didn't have what you could call taste… no, it's not too nice, you'll like much more what we'll get you because it will be clothes made for children."
Merlin, but I'm still shocked! I have discovered in the course of an hour that my parents haven't died when the public thought they did and then find out that they have in fact left a little girl who they, well my father, locked up for all of her life. This is going to be very hard.
"Adara, may I call you Addie? You have a very lovely name, by the way."
"Thank you. You may. But why do you not want to call me Adara?"
"Addie is a pet name, much better for the little girl you still are. Once you're grown we can always go back to Adara, which is really a nice name."
"Okay."
"Well, then let me introduce you to the people who are here. Father did tell you that you and he are not the only people in the world, did he?"
"He did. What is wrong with him? I haven't ever been out here and I haven't seen him for a long time."
"He is ill. He will not be here anymore very soon, I'm sorry. He's treated you very badly as it seems. He will be brought to the wizarding prison, Azkaban, before the afternoon is over for the way he's treated you and for the evil curses he's used before. Can you tell me how you have grown up?"
"I have been in there all the time. Kreacher brought me to eat. Father has taught me and when I did not learn well he has punished me. That hurt a lot. He said I needed a lot of punishment. I don't know what I did wrong."
We all breathe in hard. I shake my head and turn to father.
"Am I glad that you'll be in Azkaban in an hour or two, father, else I'd have to give you a good cup full of your own medicine. Merlin, how could you mistreat a little child like that? You are one sick and insane man! I'll take Adara off your hands now, father, and believe you me, what's left of her childhood will be as happy as I can possibly make it for her! She'll be out in the light, she'll meet children of her own age and she'll learn of the bright side of life from now on! You sick bastard! I'd love to break every bloody bone in your body, you miserable old scumbag!"
I'm so angry! And I'm obviously not the only one. Even Griffiths looks disgusted, but for Adara's sake we all try to keep our calm. Finally we can guide Kingsley and two Aurors here, who take father directly to Azkaban, no other questions asked. Jason takes the protocol of the questioning and informs me:
"I'll see to it that the formalities are drawn up immediately. Since he's officially dead you are the heir anyway, just go ahead and clear everything with the goblins. If they should ask about this here, I'll send a copy of everything around. Can I just ask for all of your signatures as witnesses?"
We all sign the document and Jason leaves us. All that's left is to collect the different boxes and folders with the documents, which we find rather quickly. Down in the study we find the twins and I take Adara there to meet them. Lily and James stare at her, certainly baffled with her likeness to me:
"Who is that?" James asks.
"That, my dear James, is Adara Bellatrix Black, my little sister."
Two jaws drop. Lily comes forth and bends to Adara, to softly talk to her and soothe her. I explain to my friends what my parents have done.
"That's unbelievable, Sirius!"
"Isn't it though? I'm still so shocked and so mad at him!"
Then I turn back to Adara.
"These are Remus' and my children, Adara, Lily here is their mum, so they're twins, together with their brother, who's Lily and James' son they're even triplets. This is Dennis, he's my son, and this is Seraina, she's Remus' daughter."
"They are cute, Sirius," Adara remarks, much to my astonishment.
"Yes, they are. You can play with them, if you want to."
"What do I play with them?"
I roll my eyes secretly. I'm sure Adara has never really played. She'll have to relearn everything she had been taught, the poor dear.
"They have toys, do you see? If you sit with them I'm sure they'll come soon and show you their toys and what they play. Just be with them for a while and you'll see. They're very nosy and will check you out," Remus explains softly.
Adara nods and sits down on the carpet. We just watch for a while. It doesn't take long and the two little ones come crawling closer. They look up to us with the question in their eyes who this is. Remus and I crouch down and explain:
"This is your Auntie Adara, my little Marauders, so be nice with her. She wants to play with you, but she doesn't know what to play with you, so you best both show her!"
Our twins, being the open minded and curious things they are, soon take Adara in completely. I look at Remus and whisper:
"Who knows, these kids could help her out of that stupor, in which she seems to be. I imagine it must be very hard that all of a sudden people come into her life, when she's spent it practically alone in the company of two lunatics all those years."
Remus nods.
"She's a very lovely child. Looks like your mirror, Siri," Lily remarks.
"I know, that's what I thought when I saw her in that room upstairs. Father has used the same spell on her that Remus and I have used for Seraina and Denny. I have to admit that I'm really thankful for that, just imagine if I looked more like my mother! He said it's always done in the Black family… I didn't know that. But at least that one isn't a dark spell."
HermioneHarry and I enter a fairly well sized library. It's dark and we have to light our wands to find chandeliers that we can light. Once we have some better visibility I try to find the nearest windows, so I can let in some natural light. When I find it, I draw back the curtains and open the windows as well as the shutters. Sunlight streams into the room now. Harry switches the chandeliers off. After a first glance at some books he shudders:
"Wow, this is darkest stuff, Hermione! I think, Remus should be very interested in what's in here."
"We'll have to go through the books once. To find out what's better to be destroyed or safely locked away. This looks much more dangerous than even the restricted section at Hogwarts!"
"It does. Now what are we looking for?"
"Anything that looks like it could be a safe, desk or other storage system… and then maybe something like a book where the family births are registered," I suggest.
"Okay."
We go over the books first. We try the extraction spell we used at the Sunnegg library and four books come out of the shelves. I take them to a table to study them, while Harry searches the empty wall parts for a safe or something. His revealing spell actually brings forth some metal case that could be a safe.
"I won't touch that, it's certainly bound to the Black blood…" he says.
"That's surely sensible. We'll call Sirius for it. There's no hurry."
"No, there isn't. Found anything interesting?" he asks.
"This one here. Records every family member it seems. I'm about half through, start of 18th century…"
"Look at the end. Regulus should be the last entry!" Harry suggests.
I open the last pages and search for the last entries, one page for each entry. There's text… then I gasp.
"Look here, Harry! Dennis' name is inside! It seems to record every Black ever born!"
"Wow! But what's this? Look, here, right after Regulus and before Dennis! Adara Black, born 15th December 1988, to Arcturus and Leda Black."
"No idea. But let's look at Sirius' father…"
Sirius' birth is registered two pages earlier right before Bellatrix Black's.
"Sirius Orion, born 18th October 1959, to Arcturus and Leda Black. – That tells that Sirius' mother was also still alive then if she's recorded to be Adara's mother. And that means, Sirius has, or had, a little sister, Harry. Since there's no death date recorded we have to assume that she's still alive, too."
We quickly leaf the entries through until we get to Arcturus.
"Arcturus Orion Black, born 2nd May 1908, to Deneb and Solange Black. No death date."
"Not surprising, since he's still up there in his bed…"
We pick up this book and others and quickly head downstairs to tell Sirius of what we've found.
"We still don't know when his mother died, but certainly later than he was told. And what happened to the girl she gave birth to. There's no death date like with Regulus' entry," Harry summons the findings up.
"That's right, and that means she's still alive. There's no death date to Sirius', Andromeda's and Narcissa's entry either," I shoot back.
We find them downstairs in what looks like the study and go inside – only to find the answer to our question. There's a black haired girl sitting on the carpet that looks exactly like Sirius.
"We've found something, Sirius…" I call.
"We did, too. Not only did my father not die yet, my mother definitely lived longer, too. Meet Adara Black, she's my little sister," Sirius tells us.
I stare at the girl in awe. She's alive and well. I've been so worried from the moment I've seen that entry.
"I know about her! Here's a book that records every new born Black child. Even Dennis' birth is recorded, here the very last one!"
"Wow! I didn't know there was something like that."
"We just used the retrieval spell that we used at the Sunnegg. I used the search criterion Black family birth records and voilà, there it was! And Harry's found something that looks like a safe, we didn't touch it beyond revealing it."
"Ah, good. That will all be looked through in the end. We found Adara after questioning my father and then lots of jewellery and another box full of keys. These keys cover most of the list from Gringotts. Some may still be in any of the vaults to which we have the keys here. We've just got to get through the book to find links to the remaining four names. Remus plans to look up the Book of Names at Hogwarts to see if Adara's name is recorded. That's not usually done, but in this case…"
"Understandable," says James.
"Why did he stage his death, Sirius? It's so… I don't know… unnatural!" I ask.
"They only wanted to have another heir. No matter that they couldn't disinherit me, they wanted to have another boy. Unfortunately it turned out to be a girl. Then mother died when she was a year old, so another try was out of the question."
"That's horrible! Not that you have a little sister of course, but their motivation!"
"Don't tell me! I was so shocked. And now he's already on his way to Azkaban. He's naturally admitted the use of Unforgivables and that doesn't require a trial, not even a simple hearing. Life sentence to Azkaban, no further questions asked."
Jason has gone back to check the Ministry records. He returns with a woman he introduces as Mrs Hazel Wood.
"She's working at the youth department and will be the person you have to contact about getting custody over your little sister, Sirius. According to Ministry documents your mother died mid-August 1986 and your father died a year after that.
We shake hands and Mrs Wood asks:
"You claim they died later?"
"Indeed my mother did. I'll start with the beginning of this. I received a letter from Gringotts requesting material to be able to finalise my inheritance and to change all the Black family vaults to my name. So I decided to look for such evidence at my parents' house, which I hadn't visited since I left it after my fifth year at Hogwarts in 1976. I was officially informed about my mother's and then my father's death in Azkaban, but since I had lost all sense of time by then I couldn't remember when exactly that was. Coming here today we immediately found out that there was still a house-elf around, who told me after a while that my father is still alive, if very ill. We contacted Jason to get the authorisation to use Veritaserum on my father, who informed us that there is a young girl, whose name is Adara Black, my little sister, born in December 1988. She has been born to my own mother, thus making it impossible that Leda died when I was informed of her death," Sirius tells Mrs Wood.
"Do you accuse the Ministry of informing you falsely?" Mrs Wood asks defiantly.
"No, no, nothing of that sort. I thought that my parents actually staged those deaths to withdraw completely from a society which they thought was tainted by bad blood, blood traitors, scum and half-breeds etc. They used to have a good number of derogatory terms for everyone with less pure blood than their own."
"Ah!"
"Well, then my other young friend here found this book in the library. It magically records every birth occurring in our family. The immediate family only. See here at the end even my one year old son shows up. My father's entry naturally does not show a death date. My mother's death date is not recorded, as she's not been born to the immediate family of course. She's only recorded as the mother of myself, my brother Regulus and the little lady there on the carpet, Adara. Since Adara is only ten years old, that official death date of my mother's in 1986 must be false. I suppose my father was rather insane in his last years. Maybe the 'loss' of his 'Master' has unhinged him after all."
"So this girl over there is your sister?"
"Undoubtedly. She's my spitting image, too. Just look."
A few glances are going back and forth and she nods.
"Yes, the family resemblance is definitely there. You are her closest relative of age, will you take care of her? I know that you do have children already, don't you?"
"Of course! We're mostly living in Switzerland and at Hogwarts, but I'll take her along. Just two more years and she'll come to Hogwarts as a student anyway. The poor girl has been imprisoned more than long enough. Now we'll want to show her a few better things in life and let her out in the sunshine often. I couldn't let her know of course, but I was shaking with anger about my father's cruelty. I do hope he never cursed her. But I'm afraid he probably did, guessing from how he's treated me."
"I'll have her birth recorded and will send the necessary documents to you. Your mother's death date will have to be corrected with an estimated date. What I'd like to know now is what happened to the body of your mother's?"
"According to my father she's been buried in the back garden. I'll have to call for the house-elf to try and find out. He's certainly been the one who had to dig the hole."
Sirius
I do that and a while later Kreacher shows up.
"Master has called Kreacher?"
"Yes, and you took long enough to turn up! What happened to my mother's body after she died?"
"I is burying her, Master, as Master had requested!"
"Where?"
"In the back garden, Master."
"You'll show us where in a moment. Why didn't you say anything about Miss Adara?"
He looks at my sister with the same dislike he used to look at me. That tells me enough. He doesn't like her. And he doesn't answer my question at all. I sigh.
"Show us the place you buried the Mistress," I order.
We follow him out of the house into the huge backyard, which is completely surrounded by a very high wall. It is big enough to fit half a park inside. I can hardly remember it, because when I was a child I wasn't even allowed in this garden. Kreacher silently points to a corner.
"Do we have to have her exhumed?" I ask Mrs Wood.
"We can identify her through the earth I think. If the body is there we'll find it."
"Maybe I'll have her exhumed and buried properly in the family burial vault after all…" I sigh.
Mrs Wood nods.
"I'll have the place checked over. Can you grant me access to this house?"
"Yes, you can apparate in again, I'll leave the anti-apparition ward down. No one apart from us knows and I'll order Kreacher to stay in the house until this is done," I confirm.
"Thank you, Mr. Black. This must be very hard for you, too…"
"It's certainly not the easiest thing I ever went through and it was more than just a little shock, but I'm happy that I can help my little sister now. I want to give her at least a happy childhood as long as I can!"
"Good. That's it for the moment, I'll have the papers issued for your sister giving you the custody and will contact you about the identification process, then we can see about the relocation of the body to the family vault. Is it at Hogsmeade or in the cemetery in Diagon Alley?"
"Diagon Alley. Thank you, Mrs Wood, you can reach me by owl or on the Commumirror."
"Fine, thank you. Goodbye!"
Jason and Mrs Wood leave us and I turn to Adara.
"Well. I suggest we pack up what you would like to take with you, Adara. You'll not return here if I can help it. It was a prison for me and I suppose it wasn't much less than a prison for you."
She hangs her head a bit and then nods. I can't but pull her into my arms and hold her close. At first she struggles a bit, but then she presses her body to me and buries her face in my robes. I softly stroke her back and her head and promise:
"You'll not suffer anymore, little one! You'll come with us and learn to know many nice people and hopefully find a way to be happy. Will you let me help you?"
She nods into my robes. I tenderly stroke over her head and say:
"Good! So we go home and make your room ready and on Monday you go out for a shopping trip with Lily, okay? Will you be afraid to see many people?"
"I see people down on the road…" she says.
"Very well. They're a bit more real when you walk through throngs of them, but it's a normal day and there won't be as many as on a Saturday or so. Will you show us now what you'd like to take with you?"
She takes me by the hand and I follow her back to her little flat. Remus comes along since the children are under the gang's watch. Kingsley and the Aurors have already packed up my father. He'll not sleep as comfortable tonight, that's for sure, but I don't feel sorry for him. Probably he won't live long anymore anyway.
In Adara's bedroom there are only a few books and she picks some nightclothes. Then she gathers her toiletry and I conjure a small suitcase to put these things inside. The room is quite bland. There's nothing that should be in a child's room, no warmth, it's as bare as my own room was. The sitting room doesn't contain much more and she only picks up another book. No wonder she doesn't know how to play! Gods, had I only visited this place earlier. I almost feel guilty for not at least coming after my name had been cleared. It's been almost four years since then after all. I could have spared her at least three years of hell. And she didn't even know that she was in hell!
The tiny suitcase is packed, reduced in size and placed in the pocket of my robes. Remus offers his hand and Adara looks up at him and takes the hand. I give her my other hand and we leave that small place.
"Have you ever left this house before, Adara?" Remus asks.
She shakes her head.
"Never?"
"I can't remember," she says.
"Oh dear. Did you learn some geography?"
"No, what's that?"
"That's learning about all the countries in the world…"
"I've seen maps if that's what you mean?"
"That's a part of it, Addie."
I can see that we'll have some work having her tutored in the next year, so that she'll be able to start Hogwarts. I'm glad that we do have some time to do that at all, as she'll only actually start two school years from now. With a birth date in December it will be better to hold her back until the following September, that will be 2000.
Back down on the ground floor we gather all the Gringotts keys and the list, several of the books and papers that we still want to inspect more closely. I think, we've been very lucky with the keys. The last four names I'll try to find out, but if they're lost, who cares…
I look around.
"Are we ready to go home?"
"Definitely. I don't know about you all, but the air in here isn't the best…" says Harry.
We all laugh and go about closing all the windows we've opened, then the others leave the house through apparition. Hermione takes care of Denny and Padma has Seraina. I charm a book to be the Portkey that will take Adara and myself to the Sunnegg.
"This will feel very strange, Adara, but it won't take long, then we'll be far away from here, in Switzerland, that's a whole other country. Don't worry, you'll not be hurt!"
"Okay."
"Then step closer to me and we both touch the Portkey. I'll be with you."
She puts her hand on the book and I touch it as well, then tap it with my wand and say: "Portus!"
The Portkey takes us into the typical whirl and sets us back down in the living room at the Sunnegg. I hold up Adara and steady her.
"There we are. Now let's see what we can do about a room for you. But first let's introduce you to the family who lives here. We're a very big family as you will see!"
Ginny, Ernie, Morag, Neville, Parvati and Draco are at home. When I turn up with my sister they all stare with big eyes at the girl.
"Who's she?" Draco asks.
"She's my little sister and her name is Adara. I'm afraid she'll still be very shy, because she's really not used to people. Prepare for a very gruesome and rather morbid story. Let me first introduce you all to her, okay? Fine. Okay, Adara, let's start with this lovely young lady here who is Ginny Weasley. Then this is Ernie McMillan. Morag MacDougal. This is Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy, he's your cousin once removed, Parvati Patil, as you can see she's Padma's sister. They are all living here, together with Remus and I and the four people you already know. And then there are Ginny's older brother Ron and Justin Finch-Fletchley who are probably out at the moment. And last but not least here are little Lizzie and Andy Potter, Harry's little siblings. I know that's a bit much for you right now, so take your time, you'll get to know them all slowly but surely. We also have a couple of guests fairly frequently. But there is enough space to give you your own room."
"She can have mine. I'm mostly at Ernie's anyway, Sirius," Ginny says immediately.
"That's great, Ginny! That would be perfect."
"She needs to be close to you, we're all strangers – yet. Hello, Adara, it's nice to meet you. We all love your big brother, so I hope you'll like him, too! He's a lot of fun and a good source for knowledge, too! Do you want me to show you the room?"
For a moment I feel Adara's hand hold tighter to mine but then the grip loosens, she looks at Ginny and nods.
"Fine. Come with me then, Adara! Do you have some luggage?"
"Not much, Ginny. Lily will go clothes shopping with her on Monday! I don't think she's ever received anything new. This is a set of robes reduced in size from one of my mother's," I tell her.
"Oh dear! I'll give you something more comfortable from my things, so you can go out in it and shop, okay?"
Ginny holds out her hand and Adara takes it. I smile. Ginny has an incredible way with children. She gives me a little wink, leaves the room with Adara and I can finally sit down and bury my face in my hands. Remus sits down next to me. The shock still sits deep. I can't believe what my parents did to her. It's a crime and it's so painful to know that I could have shortened that imprisonment if I had only…
"Stop musing, Sirius! It's not your fault and you couldn't know anything about it!" Quintus says tiredly.
"Quintus is right. That's just the kind of guilt we had about the other things, Sirius, and it was you who talked me out of it," Harry adds.
I sigh.
"I know, but…" I trail off.
They all know what I mean. I'm thinking what if… and I suppose that even they do.
"Who will baby-sit for us on Monday, so we can take Adara shopping?" Lily asks, to change the subject.
"With everyone at work or in school I suppose I will," Quintus offers.
"Thanks!"
Quintus
I've watched all that happened today with growing horror. I had known Arcturus Black, like most other pureblooded wizard did, like a very distant acquaintance. We talked a few times at the Ministry, but he probably wouldn't have remembered me. Today I was deeply shocked. Not only that he staged his death, but what he did to his daughter. I knew of course of many of the things he had done to his older son, but that he would repeat the same thing to another child, and a girl no less I wouldn't have believed. My heart flies out to this lovely child. I'm probably going to look after her for a few days until she can settle in at Hogwarts, because together with Lily and James I have the time to do it. She's really a cute child and I bet that in a few years Denny will look like her twin brother with that spell used on both of them. I'd like to find out just how much alike siblings like these are. Might do a little research…
Sunday, 4.4.1999 / Remus
After a night of sleeping over yesterday's shock Sirius and I are a bit more relaxed. He wakes me up and we enjoy our daily dose of our children's babbling. And that reminds us that all of a sudden we have a third child. Who's a bit older but needs a lot of tutoring in just about any subject. Sirius talks about that first:
"We'll hire a teacher for her, Remus. She needs to be taught in so many things and even though we will have less lessons soon we won't have enough time for that. I'll gladly pay a private teacher. I'll ask Madam Reeves, she's the current headmistress at Hogsmeade Primary, to give me a few pointers. Then we'll see that we have her busy until she comes to Hogwarts."
"Yes, I think that will have to be. She's certainly not a dumb kid, Sirius. And she has two years of time, with a teacher at her sole disposal I'm sure she'll be up to speed and ready to start Hogwarts."
"I think so, too. Let's get up and start showing her what living and having fun means."
Sirius grins. It's still quite early, but as the twins are awake already we have to get up anyway. We find our twins happily babbling and entertaining themselves. Denny beams at me when I go in and calls for me.
"Baba! Baba!"
So good to hear this. I love you, my son!
"Good morning, my sweet one! Want to get up and go to breakfast? That's the good boy! Come!"
Once Denny and Seraina are up and dressed I go up to Adara's room and knock on the door.
"Adara?" I ask softly.
She opens the door, already dressed in the clothes Ginny has prepared for her. Ginny's given her a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a Weasley jumper, to which all she has added a pair of winter shoes.
"Good morning, Adara. You're already dressed? You could have come down and have some breakfast! You don't need to stay in your room, you know."
"Oh! I didn't know. Good morning, Remus."
"Well, now you know for sure. We'll certainly send you off to bed in the evenings, but otherwise you can move inside of the house as you please. The good side is that we get to eat breakfast together now! Hungry?"
"Yes, I am."
"That's very good. You'll love Dobby's breakfasts. Or Winky's for that matter. They are great cooks."
She follows me down the stairs to the kitchen, where Dobby is at work and then out to the living room.
"You'll get used to this place pretty soon, I think. Here, that's your place at the table now."
We enjoy our breakfast, together with James, Lily and their little ones. Sirius and I have a bit of a hassle to feed the twins. Giving them bottles was definitely easier! Now we have to start teaching them table manners and eating with a spoon and a fork. Sirius and I cut the scrambled eggs and the bacon into tiny bits so they can pick it up with the spoon or the fork, which they try, but they still have a bit of a problem and scourging charms are required to resolve the mess in the end. Adara grins when she sees them.
"They have fun and look funny, don't they?" Sirius remarks.
"They are messy."
"Yes, I suppose they are. But they have to learn and that's not easy."
While we're still eating, Hermione comes from the kitchen. She's got her nose deep inside of a book, but looks up and wishes us all a good morning. Lily starts making a list of everything she will have to buy for Adara. I see that it gets very long. Lizzie looks at Adara with huge eyes. She asks her a few questions, which Adara can't answer and so she tries to hide behind Sirius. We have to coax her out again and explain to her that Lizzie can't understand that she doesn't know these things.
We take Addie out and get her used to people around her by visiting the zoo. There is a street musician playing the guitar and singing. We listen for a while and then I feel Addie's hand in mine.
"Remus, is that something only the Muggles do? I never heard something like this…"
"Actually there are lots of wizards who like music, too, we also have a wireless, just like the Muggles. But this here is certainly a Muggle. These are probably all Muggles here."
"Oh. Father said they are bad and must be eliminated… he wanted only pure-blooded wizards and witches to live."
"Let's just say that this is a somewhat twisted view and it would become very lonely on this planet. The world consists of mainly Muggles and a handful of wizards. We would have a very hard time to rot out all those Muggles, don't you think?"
"Yes, I believe that."
"Besides it's cruel. No one has the right to take the life of anyone. No one is better than someone else and certainly not because of his blood, or the colour of his skin or the amount of money he possesses. We should all let others live like we want to live. There is a multitude of creatures for a reason, Addie, we're not entitled to say that one kind has the right to exist and another kind has not," Sirius explains.
"So Father was wrong?"
"Yes, Addie, Father was wrong – very wrong. One day you'll understand that what he did to you was a crime. You have every right to be very angry at him. Even now that he's in Azkaban," Sirius says.
"He did nothing to me, Sirius, he only punished me when I was not good," Addie states.
"Didn't you ever ask to go out of the house?" Sirius asks.
"Yes, but he said I was to stay inside, because outside were the Muggles and they should not see me, I'm too pure."
Everyone who's around us rolls eyes simultaneously.
"See? He kept you in a prison. Isn't it much nicer out here? To walk freely as you like and to feel the sun on your skin? He denied you the contact with other people. We all need other people, Addie, human beings are born to be with other human beings. We can't be happy if we don't have others to be with."
"Oh."
"You'll soon know what I mean, even if you don't understand yet. You'll learn a lot of things in the next few weeks and months, because you have been missing out on so many things. You've never actually missed those things, because you've never seen, heard or felt them. But just like the music, there's a lot more to discover."
Once we're back on the Sunnegg Addie looks already a lot happier. She has definitely loved to see the animals! We explain to her that we have to leave for Hogwarts and that she'll stay here for a few days:
"We have to find out what to do at Hogwarts to give you your own room, probably we'll get the neighbouring flat next to ours and make a connection, then you could have a nice room there, too."
"Hogwarts? I thought you have to be eleven to go to Hogwarts?" Addie asks.
"That's right, but you'll still be there, sweetheart, because Remus and I are working there. We're both teachers, you know."
"Oh."
It's time for dinner and the others turn up from all sorts of sides. We have started the custom of serving a little aperitif before the meal, so we're all a bit early. It's half past five. Addie receives a glass of Coke, something she's certainly never tasted before and gets a taste of some Muggle aperitif snacks. We just watch that she doesn't eat too much of those. She's still wearing the pair of jeans and the shocking pink t-shirt, which Ginny has made for her and which suits her raven hair and her ice blue eyes perfectly. Sirius looks at her with affection and I swear he's already thinking of her as his daughter.
"One could think, Addie was your daughter, not your sister, Siri," Ginny teases him.
I laugh out loud.
"Ginny, great minds think alike, I've just decided to keep this observation to myself."
Sirius isn't fazed one bit. Addie looks a bit confused from us to him and back, but he just smiles and says:
"Well, I'm old enough to be her father twice over! I was almost thirty when she was born!"
"He's got a point there…" James says.
"Whichever, I'll act as her guardian, thus I might as well be her father! Thinking of our parents I'd have to say she's got bad blood, but then, so have I and look how I turned out! We'll be great, the two of us, won't we, Addie?"
Everyone laughs, so she tries it a bit, too, but I think she'll take quite a while to really be comfortable with all of us. It's hard to leave her at the Sunnegg, but Sirius and I have to return. We show her the Commumirror and promise to call her every evening.
Sirius
Once we're back at Hogwarts with the twins Remus takes the children and Winky to the flat and I look for Albus. I find him in the teachers' lounge where he talks with Filius and Minerva.
"Ah, hello Sirius! Did you have a pleasant week-end?" he asks politely.
"Hello everyone! Well, I wouldn't calling going back to no 12, Grimmauld Place pleasant… and indeed we got there and were shocked to the bones."
"No! What ever happened then? Come on, take a seat and do tell, Sirius. Can I tempt you with a shot of Scotch?" Minerva asks, obviously very curious.
I grin and nod. She hands me a glass with a good shot and I sit down with them.
"So what shocking story do you have to tell, Sirius?" Filius asks mildly, but equally curious.
I tell them what we found two days ago. They stare at me with open mouths and wide eyes and are hardly able to believe me. Minerva finally gets up and leaves the room, returning only a few minutes later with the huge Book of Names floating behind her. She puts it down on the nearest larger table and taps it with her wand:
"Adara Bellatrix Black," she says.
The pages in the middle of the book start to rustle and turn and after a while they split and Minerva looks down, finally beckoning me over and pointing with a finger.
"There she is…"
"Good. You can't even imagine how I felt when I saw her. She looks exactly like me! But father has confirmed that they used the spells like we used on Seraina and Denny and that this is traditionally done in the immediate Black family to keep the family likeness… I didn't know that or we probably wouldn't have used them ourselves, even though they're not dark spells."
"I'd say that's rather shocking," Filius brings forth. He really looks amazed.
"I've heard a number of stories about your father, Sirius, I even taught him right when I started here at Hogwarts and I wasn't impressed by his exploits, but I wouldn't have believed anything of your story if there wasn't the proof in the Book of Names!" he admits.
"Well, I probably wouldn't have believed it either. Now we'll have to make space for the little one…"
"You'd have to put the twins into one room together again, but you could also have the neighbouring flat, Sirius. We can have the house-elves renovate it in the next week and take down the wall around the fireplaces. They've been down before… the place needs a thorough cleaning, then the walls can come down," Minerva offers.
"That is most generous of you, Minerva, I gladly accept. We do want to make her feel at home! She needs people around her whom she can learn to trust unconditionally and for that she really needs a safe and stable private area."
"I agree with you, Sirius. Please get the house-elves in motion from on tomorrow morning, Minerva and thank you," Albus butts in.
Minerva has the house-elves under her as part of her job as deputy headmistress. She calls one of them and orders him to take a few of his colleagues and prepare the flat.
"It's the flat next to the one of Professors Black and Lupin, Stumpy, please take as many of your friends with you as you need to have it all done and neat by the end of the week at the latest," she instructs the little fellow.
"I is doing that, Mistress, I is needing three other house-elves to finish by Friday."
"That is perfect. They are assigned only on this job for this week then. Thank you, Stumpy."
"Yes, thank you, Stumpy. If you have any questions you can always come and ask either Professor Lupin or myself," I thank him.
"All house-elves will always serve Masters Black and Lupin! They is being old friends of the house-elves and they is never forgotten, sir!" Stumpy says.
I smile. He's still been a young house-elf when we were at school, but of course we were always amazed by the kindness of the elves here at Hogwarts. I'm sure this will go smooth and fast. Then I turn to Minerva, who stands there with a frown and a rather strict look on her face and explain:
"That's what you reap when you know how to complement the little fellows for their wonderful cooking and caring during your school time. You never know when it pays off to be friendly, Minerva! We only showed up in the kitchens and they piled the best food up on the tables in several levels! They love it when you love their food!"
She just shakes her head, sighs and then laughs.
"I just hope that your kids will be such a horror as you Marauders were! Then it will be my turn to laugh, Sirius. You do know you four were the bane of my existence then? And I had only just started to teach…"
As a belated sign of compassion I pat her on the shoulder.