I am so sorry that this took so long. I've been stuck on the next couple of chapters for so long now. I've got past the block, thankfully. :)

I own nothing

Thanks to Michy Drarry Shipper for being such an excellent beta. :)


Remus took a slight step away from the door, and Lily and Sirius looked at the decorations that covered the house. They all waited patiently as they heard a shout from inside.

"They're here," the voice shouted, just as the door was opened.

"My babies!" Dorea Potter cried, as she threw her arms around James and Remus. Both boys blushed, and Sirius let out an amused chuckle.

She offered a warm smile to Lily and Sirius. "Come in, take your coats off, it's freezing out here. We can do introductions in the living room."

The pair followed James and Remus in, depositing their bags in the same place, and hanging up their coats, and they followed through to the living room.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs Potter, it's lovely to meet you, I'm Lily." the redhead said, smiling nervously.

Dorea surprised her by hugging her and Charlus took her hand and kissed it.

"Lovely to meet you Lily."

"And I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said, shyly. "Remus' boyfriend."

"It's lovely to meet you, Sirius," Charlus said.

"We've heard so much about you," Dorea added. "We've been looking forward to meeting you both." She stepped forward and gave him a hug in greeting, and Charlus shook his hand.

Sirius grinned. "I've been looking forward to this too. I did buy you chocolates, Mrs Potter, but I'm afraid your son ate them."

Dorea let out a laugh. "That doesn't surprise me," she said, glancing at Remus' blushing face.

"Well, in my defence, you're always leaving boxes of chocolates around, and you insist that I should help myself to them," Remus said.

Sirius laughed. "Well, I gotta keep you interested, and that includes supplying your addiction," he said, winking at Remus.

"Well, it's the thought that counts," Dorea said, smiling warmly at the dark-haired man, who her son was smiling at.

"Sit down, make yourselves comfortable. Would you like something to drink?" She offered, but James got her to sit down.

"I'll get the drinks," James offered, leaving the living room, with Lily following him.

"So, Sirius, tell us about yourself," Dorea asked.

"I guess there isn't much to tell," he said nervously. "I grew up not far from here, and got my own place on the other side of town once I was old enough. I met Lily, and she ended up moving in with me, and then when we could afford it, we opened the bookshop and moved in above it."

"What made you choose to open a bookshop?" Charlus asked.

"I wanted to start my own business, instead of working for someone else, and I wanted it to be something we'd enjoy doing. Lily loves books, and a bookshop seemed like the best choice. It's pretty laid back in there. I run the kids' corner, where I read stories to kids, which is fun. We do deals with the local schools and nurseries, too."

Charlus noticed that Sirius seemed a lot more talkative when he wasn't talking about his past. He still wondered why his name was familiar.

"How did you and Remus meet?"

"Well, it was just before we opened the shop. Me and Lily were in the café, discussing running the place, and James and Remus walked in, and I liked the look of Remus, but he wouldn't turn around. Then they sat behind me, so I couldn't even see him, and Lily started complaining that she was being stared at. I got a very quick glimpse of him on the way out, and I really liked what I saw, and just hoped that I would see him again."

Dorea turned to look at a grinning James, who had just walked back into the room. "Oh, she might have complained back then, but she's with me now," he said happily.

"Well, I got Sirius to leave, and he sulked," Lily said.

"Then Remus got into the habit of meeting me from work everyday," James said. "Took me a while to realise it was because he got to walk past the bookshop every day and stare at Sirius, when Sirius was painting and getting the place set up... shirtless. I swear Remus was almost drooling."

"Shut up, James," Remus said, blushing.

"I saw him a couple of times, and went out to meet him, but he always rushed off," Sirius said, with a grin. "If he had waited around, I would have asked for his number. James dragged him inside, and he ended up leaving with an interview for the job, but I had Lily do it; knowing me, I would have hired him solely on the fact that I fancied him."

The Potters let out a laugh. "Remus has always been quite shy," Dorea said, smiling at her son.

"Remus was just perfect to work in the bookshop, and it's been a long time since Sirius has shown an interest in anyone. I mean, I would have hired Remus anyway, but me and James plotted to get them together, it took them all this time, we had to pretend to go on a date and everything."

"Wait, that date wasn't real?" Sirius asked. "It looked real," he shared a look with Remus, who nodded in agreement.

Lily shook her head. "But it was nice, and I enjoyed myself, so I agreed to go out with James again, and I'm glad I did," she said, smiling softly at James, who wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"So why did it take so long for you both?" Dorea asked Remus.

"I wanted to get to know Remus first, I didn't see the point of just rushing into a relationship when we knew next to nothing about each other," Sirius replied.

"So, do you see a future with my son?" Charlus asked.

"Dad, we've not been together long," Remus said, embarrassed.

Sirius nodded solemnly. "Of course I do, Remus is amazing, I'm really lucky to have found him," he said, and Remus' hand slipped into his. "I know it's not been long, and it's a bit much for me to say, but I can't see a future that doesn't involve Remus."

The Potters could see the sincerity in his eyes. "I really care about Remus," he added.

Dorea turned to Lily.

"Do you know, James is just like his father, the names I've heard over the years..." she shook her head in despair. "But the Potter men are good men, under all the insanity."

Lily let out a laugh. "James is really sweet," she replied. "I should have seen it sooner. He's very persistent."

Dorea smiled. "Well, their charm is always hidden behind the bad pick-up lines," she said. "Charlus was the same, we met when I was pregnant with Remus, and he convinced himself that I was turning him down because of my pregnancy hormones. As you can understand, I wasn't very impressed when he told me that. Charlus insisted on driving me to every appointment... in his police car. He'd have the lights flashing and everything. It was so embarrassing. It wasn't until Remus was born, and seeing Charlus holding Remus, and the way he was looking at Remus, like a father would look at his new-born son, he looked so proud, that I realised he wasn't just in this for the short-term, plus I was just too tired to say no anymore."

Lily made an 'aww' sound, and looked at Remus, who grinned back.

Lily started to look more ease, and Sirius looked more relaxed too. Charlus looked proud of himself.

"Well, persistence is key," he told them. "That's what I've always told James. When he meets 'the one', don't take no for an answer."

James grinned wider, and pulled Lily closer. "It worked too," he said, his lips pressing against Lily's cheek, as she blushed.

"Like father like son, it's a good thing that Remus didn't turn out like that," Dorea said. "He's much more sensible, like I am."

She stood up from the sofa. "Well, I have cooking to get on with. Boys, would you like to take Sirius and Lily's bags and show them where they'll be staying?"

"Hold on a minute, Mum," James interrupted, before turning to look at Remus. "We actually came here early because there was an incident in the bookshop."

Charlus straightened up, and grabbed a bit of paper and a pen from his desk.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at Sirius.

Remus' smile dropped and he looked down. He had managed to push the letters to the back of his mind.

Dorea narrowed her eyes at him. "Remus?" She asked, knowing that it was something to do with him.

Remus stayed quiet.

"Remus has been getting threatening letters, because of his relationship with me," Sirius said.

There was a pause.

"What do you mean, because of you?" Charlus asked curiously. "Is the sender someone you know, or someone Remus knows? Or do you not know who the sender is?"

"What do these letters say?" Dorea asked, worriedly.

Sirius looked at Remus. "It's someone from Remus' past," he told them. "He's been watching Remus for a while. He's threatening both of us, if we don't stay away from each other."

"Remus, do you have the letters?" Charlus asked.

"I'll go get them," Remus mumbled, and left the room, as Sirius pulled the one he got out of his jeans pocket, and held it out to Charlus.

"There were two this morning, one for Remus and one for me," he said. "We didn't know about them until this morning. Remus kept them a secret. It was only because I was the one to find them this time... I called James straight away."

Charlus took the letter and opened it.

His eyes flicked back up to Remus, as he came back into the room. Dorea took the letter from Charlus. She let out a gasp as she read it and she put it down.

"Remus, I want the other letters."

Remus handed over a stack of letters.

"When did they start?"

Remus hesitated. "The day after I started working with Sirius," he replied. "They should be in order, newest at the top."

Charlus' eyes read through the one on the top, before he pulled out his phone, to call the police station.

Dorea looked at Remus, who was pale, and Sirius, who had wrapped his arms around Remus, pulling him close.

"So... the mugging, that wasn't true?" Dorea asked softly.

"I'm sorry, mum, I didn't want you to know, I thought he'd leave me alone," Remus whispered.

Dorea threw her arms around him, and Sirius who was already holding Remus.

"You should have told us straight away," Charlus said, firmly. "We're your family, and we'll always do our best to protect you, but we can't do that if we don't know that you aren't safe. Now, the last letters arrived at the bookshop, Sirius, do you have security cameras?"

"Yes, Sir. All the security footage gets uploaded to both my laptop, and a backup drive, which I brought with me. I'll set it up."

He set the laptop on the table, opened it and turned it on. Remus gave a small smile when he saw the picture of the four of them set as the background.

Remus gave a date when he received a letter during story time a few weeks before, and Sirius found the file. "It's a good thing that I keep these," he said, playing the file.

They watched the video. Sirius had sped the viewing up, so everything was happening a lot quicker. It showed Sirius coming into the shop from the staff room door, that led to the flat upstairs, and opening the shutters. Once they were up, Remus walked into the shop, and they spoke for a moment, before Remus headed into the backroom, Sirius watching after him, before he started getting the shop ready.

Remus came back in a couple of minutes later, as Sirius turned on some music, and they both stood around the counter, talking.

As the kids' corner came up, he slowed the video down. The angle of the camera showed the till and where Sirius was sitting, and Remus shifting closer to the corner and back again. They watched the laptop as Sirius and Remus shared lingering looks for most of that half an hour, and as Remus got closer and closer to Sirius to listen, a man came out from the corner, and dropped something behind the counter, then was out the door within a few seconds.

"I didn't see him come in?" Dorea said, and Sirius rewound it. They watched again, and spotted the man walking in with a couple of women, when Remus was occupied.

"But he was waiting around for fifteen minutes," James said.

"Waiting for the perfect moment when Remus wouldn't look at the counter," Charlus said.

Sirius kept it paused.

"I'll need these files. If I get a memory card, can you transfer them?"

"I can do better, they're all on the hard-drive, the password to open them all is Regulus." He spelt the name out to them.

Charlus' eyes widened in recognition at the name, but no-one else but Dorea noticed. Charlus pulled out some sheets of paper. "Write down everything," he said, to Remus. "Including what really happened in the attack before." His hand landed on Remus' shoulder gently.

He looked at Sirius. "Should I make a statement too, since I got a letter?" he asked, and Charlus nodded.

They started writing, Sirius finishing a lot quicker than Remus, and once they were done, Charlus picked the statements up.

"Remus, do you want to come with me? I'll bring these to the station, you can give information on him, and we'll stop in at Ted's on the way back?"

Remus nodded, and quickly hugged Sirius, before following Charlus from the room.

Dorea went into the kitchen to start on Christmas Eve dinner, and Sirius followed her, hoping to give James and Lily time alone, as they were curled up together on the sofa. He ignored Dorea's insistence that he should go and sit down, and not to worry, she finally agreed to let him help her.

Soon he was peeling potatoes, as Dorea was chopping vegetables, and she was telling him stories about Remus and James when they were small.

Sirius was enjoying himself. Dorea wasn't as scary as he had expected, she was quite friendly, and very accepting of his and Remus' relationship. He was glad that she had warmed to him so easily, because he had been scared they wouldn't like him and he was worried that if Remus' parents didn't like him, then Remus might not want to stay with him.

"So, you said you see a future with Remus?" She asked.

"That's right, Mrs Potter. I knew it from the moment I first saw him that he was special. For fear of sounding like James..." he said, blushing, "I think it was love at first sight for me. That's why I didn't rush anything, because I don't want to scare Remus off."

Dorea smiled at the shy looking man in her kitchen.

"Darling, that must stop. Call me Dorea," she told him. "I don't think you'd be able to scare Remus off. He's never invited anyone to meet us before, that already shows me that you're special to him. Plus, you sticking by him after him getting those letters, even though you got one yourself, proves to me that you're a loyal young man, and I'm very happy my son met you."

Sirius blushed slightly.

"Thank you, Mrs Potter," he said.

"Darling, what did I just tell you? Call me Dorea, we're family now," she replied, and his smile grew wider.

Once the food was cooking, they joined the others in the living room.

...oOo...

"So, Ted, how's Andy?"

"Andy's fine. We were going to pop over, but you mentioned you had guests, so we were thinking about waiting until Boxing Day. I was going to call to see what was happening with dinner, whether it was still suitable."

Remus' eyes moved around the living room, as he waited for Nymphadora to return with the glass of Fanta she had promised.

"So, Mummy said that you have a new boyfriend?" she asked, walking back into the room. Remus nodded, his eyes fixed on a picture of a boy who looked a lot like Sirius... but he wasn't quite the same.

"That's my cousin, Regulus," Nymphadora said, as Ted and Charlus came back into the room. Charlus knew he had recognised the name. It was an unusual name, and he had recognised Sirius' name. Andy was the only person he could think of who would have mentioned Sirius, her family were named after stars if he remembered correctly, and it was a massive co-incidence that Sirius was a star name, and he had mentioned Regulus, a relative of Andy's.

Even if it had only been in the form of a password.

Remus nodded. "Sorry, I was just looking at the pictures. You were asking about my boyfriend? Yes, I do, and he's spending Christmas with us. You should come over and meet him one day. He's great with kids and –"

"Remus," Dora said, her hands on her hips. "I'm six. I'm not a kid."

"You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that he's great with kids and young ladies," Remus said with a grin.

"Is he handsome?" She asked, and Remus nodded, his eyes flicking back to the photo of cousin Regulus. He frowned at it. What a strange co-incidence that this boy who looked like Sirius, had the same name as Sirius' password.

"Do you know my cousin, Regulus?" Dora asked, and Remus shook his head. "He looks... similar to someone I know," he said, moving closer, and taking another look. There were some similarities in the features. Plus their names. Sirius and Regulus, couldn't just be a co-incidence, right?

They both had names of stars. Even bigger co-incidence.

"Your Mum's name is Andromeda, right?"

Dora nodded.

"Are all your family named after stars?"

Dora nodded a second time. "Well, most."

"I recognised the name over dinner, Remus, but I didn't place it until he told us his password," Charlus said. "I suspect we'll find out more here."

"I made a family tree, do you want to see it?" Dora asked, and Remus nodded. "It's not finished, there are some people I don't have pictures of, because Mummy doesn't talk to the family. She says there are bad people."

"Ted, what was Andy's name before she married you?" Remus asked.

"Black," he replied.

"So, the Black family tend to have the names of stars as their names?" Remus asked, and Ted nodded. "Horrible family though, very few good ones turn up, and they just get beaten down. You should have heard what Andy went through."

Remus looked at his dad, whose gaze was lingering on the picture of Regulus on the sideboard.

Dora turned up with a roll off paper, which she laid out on the floor. Remus sat next to her, as she pointed to herself on the paper.

"This is me," she began, and she slid her finger up. "This is mummy, and these are her sisters, Bellatrix and Aunty Cissy, whose name is Narcissa."

"Why do you call Cissy your Aunty, but not Bellatrix?"

"Because Mummy says that Bellatrix is no family of ours," Dora pointed out. "Now stop interrupting me."

"Sorry," he grumbled, trying not to smile.

"Grandad is Cygnus, His brother is Orion, and, then there is cousin Regulus and –"

"Sirius," Remus whispered.

"Cousin Sirius died a long time ago," Dorea said, sadly.

"It has to be him. Sirius Orion Black. It's too much of a coincidence. That's Sirius' full name, and it's on here," Remus said, softly.

"Wait, are you saying that Sirius isn't dead?" Ted asked.

"He's at my house right now," Charlus confirmed. "I knew I recognised his name, and it was only when he mentioned Regulus, that it hit me why. It's because Andy told us about them before. Do you have a picture of him, just to be on the safe side?"

"Dora, love, please get Mummy's special photo album," Ted asked, and Dora rushed upstairs, returning a minute later with a large album.

"Mum doesn't let me touch this. I tried to take a picture of cousin Sirius for my tree, and she started crying."

She flicked through the family photos.

"Very formal," Charlus said, seeing one of Andy, her sisters and her parents. A look of distain on her face. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else.

Dora flicked the page, and there on both sides of the album were pictures of Sirius. The first was with his brother, his arm over his shoulder, a slight smile on his face.

The second picture made Remus feel cold. He took in the cruel expressions on Sirius' parent's faces. He could see by their eyes. They weren't good people at all. No wonder Sirius didn't talk about them. But why did they think Sirius was dead?

"Mummy says Orion is worse than Bellatrix and Grandad Cygnus. She said he's evil, and if I ever see any of them in the street, I shouldn't talk to them."

Ted and Charlus looked at each other, remembering the time they had met Cygnus and Orion, and how cruel the man had been. They also recalled the time they had encountered Bellatrix.

"So, what happened to Sirius?" Charlus asked.

Ted was silent for a long time.

"Andy thought he was dead. What Andy had going on wasn't nearly as bad as what was happening to Sirius. He upset his father somehow, and the next day he was gone. Andy said that she thinks her Uncle finally snapped."

"I heard Mummy and Daddy talking. Mummy thinks that Orion killed Sirius because of all the blood," Dora told them, and the other three turned to look at her. Charlus and Remus' eyes wide with shock.

"What was going on with Andy?" Remus asked, after a moment.

Ted looked back at Remus, his eyes flicking to Dora and back, and Remus understood that the conversation wasn't going to happen in front of her.

"She had some trouble, called the police, and me and Charlus were the ones that turned up to help her with her problem. Her family weren't pleased by the fact that she had called the police. She ended up living in my spare room, and then we started dating, got married and had Dora."

"This is definitely him, but I've never ever seen an expression like that on his face," Remus said.

"Because the poor boy was terrified of them," Ted stated, pointing at the parents. "He hated them, and his father thought he was weak, and tried to turn Sirius into another version of himself. Some of the stuff they went through at his hands..." Ted trailed off, not wanting to repeat it in front of his young daughter. "Charlus, you remember how scared Andy was of her family?"

Charlus nodded.

"Sirius had it a hundred times worse," Ted finished.

"But sometimes he was happy," Dora said, flicking the page, where Sirius and Regulus stood with Andromeda and another girl. Andy was holding his arm, and Sirius was smiling widely, looking more like the Sirius that Remus knew. The next few pages were snapshots, one of which contained a drunk Sirius sprawled across the floor, still managing to look attractive.

"That's Narcissa. She's still under her parents' control, but she's managed to sneak away and come and see us a few times," Ted said, pointing to the other girl in the photo.

Ted pointed at a picture next to Sirius sprawled on the floor. "This is the last picture taken, Sirius and his best friend, Benjy."

Remus observed the picture. "Are you sure that's all they were?" He asked with a smirk. It was obvious, to him at least, that Sirius' arms were wrapped around the other boy in a way that suggested more than friends.

Ted looked confused. "Oh, Sirius was engaged to marry some girl, called... Rose Zabini. The engagement would happen when he turned 18, and she turned 17, and when she was 18, the marriage was due to happen. It had been planned since he was about 11, apparently. The Zabini family were a powerful match for the future heir. She got married to someone else, once Sirius disappeared, and became Rose Parkinson, and they have a little girl, Pansy."

Remus shot his father a look.

"That was the last picture of him. His parents went away for business, and Andy was in charge of them all, so they had a sixteenth birthday party for him. The next day, the parents returned, and the day after, Sirius was summoned from the room by his father. Andy heard upset in the study for a few minutes, they left the house together. She sent Regulus to follow, and only Orion and Regulus returned, and Orion was covered in blood."

"Could he have run away?"

Ted shook his head. "Andy thinks that's unlikely, he wouldn't have run away without contacting her somehow. Regulus returned an hour after Orion did, looking pale, and refused to even utter Sirius' name again. Andy thinks he saw what really happened. Regulus never misbehaved after that. He became the perfect son. He was terrified."

"So, Dora. What do these stickers mean?" Remus asked, his voice shaking. He didn't even want to imagine what that man had done to his Sirius.

"Oh, those mean family members that are disowned," Dora said. "Mum was disowned because she ran away from home and got married to Daddy. Uncle Alphard was disowned for being gay, and I don't know about the rest."

It all clicked into place. Remus knew exactly why Sirius didn't talk about his family. Clearly they had found out about his sexuality, and hurt him badly, and he had had to disappear.

"Ted, we would still like you to come over for dinner. It's a tradition, and we'd like for you to meet James' new girlfriend, and especially want you to meet Remus' new boyfriend. When will Andy be here?"

Ted's eyes widened in understanding.

"I'm here," Andy said, walking into the room, with a few shopping bags. "Did I hear dinner and meeting your future daughter-in-law and son-in-law?"

"Yeah, they turned up early, so I came over to invite you for dinner now, if you want?"

Andy nodded. "Sounds great. Let me put the shopping away first. Dora, get your coat, scarf and gloves on."

As she went into the kitchen, the rest got their coats on, and Ted picked up some bottles of drink from the kitchen.

Andy came back in a few minutes later, with some containers of food, and looked curiously at the photo album.

"I was just showing Remus the family tree," Dora said. "Can I bring the album?"

Andy hesitated.

"Do you promise not to take any pictures out?"

Dora nodded.

"Keep it away from food and drink?"

Dora nodded again.

"Okay, lead the way, Charlus," she said with a smile.

...oOo...

Remus walked into the living room in a daze. Sirius might be angry with him for putting him in this situation. He walked over to the man in question, letting his lips brush his, ignoring the fact that his mother and brother were both watching.

"Promise that you won't be angry with me, I didn't know," he mumbled.

"What happened, Remus?" Sirius asked with a smile.

Remus stepped away, his hands running over his face.

"I didn't know until we got to Ted's house, and they were already planning on coming over."

"I know you," came a loud voice, from behind them.

Sirius looked towards the door.

"Do you? he asked curiously. "Do you come to kids' corner in the bookshop?"

"Of course not," Dora stated, carefully flicking through the pages of the book, and handing it to him with a smile.

Sirius took one look at the photos and dropped the album. "Who are you?" he whispered, nervously, moving closer, and looking at her closely. "Oh God, your mother is Bellatrix, isn't she," he said, horrified, looking towards the window, and wondering if the Potters would still like him if he climbed out of it.

"Mummy is going to be so angry that you dropped this," she said crossly, scooping the book up and leaving the room.

"Please tell me she's not Bella's kid, because if she walks into this room, I'm going out of the window," Sirius whispered, shaking slightly.

"I told you to be careful with the album," came a voice outside the door, and Lily got up from her seat, tucking her arm through Sirius', watching the door carefully. She looked ready to fight whoever came through that door.

Dorea looked confused. "How do you know Bellatrix?" she asked, but Sirius didn't hear her.

He was too busy staring at the door, looking like he was about to have a panic attack.

"It wasn't me, I showed cousin Sirius his picture, and he dropped it."

James and Dorea looked at Sirius in confusion.

There was a long silence, and Sirius noticed the window looked more and more appealing.

"Darling, you don't have a cousin Sirius. He passed away, remember."

"No, he's standing in there with Remus and James and a girl. I like her hair, it's really pretty, and–"

"Darling, I'm sure he only looks like him, it's not your cousin –"

The woman stepped into the room finally, and froze at the sight of Sirius Black standing in the centre of the room.

"Told you," Dora said, skipping into the room, and grabbing Remus' hand. "Come sit with me," she demanded.

"Andromeda," Sirius said coldly.

"Sirius," she replied, trying to sound as cold. "So, it seems my assumptions were wrong."

"You know they were wrong. Is that what you've told people? That I'm dead? Or did father orchestrate the idea?" No-one missed the sneer on his face at the mention of his father.

"That's the conclusion I came to, because of the circumstance. As for your father, well, he banned the mention of your name. Your picture was ripped from the family tree, as mine most likely has been."

"You were very aware of what happened," Sirius hissed. "Regulus told you. You were the one that let me down. The only one I needed, and you didn't want to know, didn't want to come to the hospital. You left me alone, Andromeda."

"I know you disappeared with Orion, and that's it, I knew nothing more."

Sirius' face filled with anger, and his teeth clenched together. He pulled his wallet from his pocket, took a small folded bit of paper from one of the card sections, and opened it, handing it to her.

She took it quietly, her eyes scanning over the words. As she reached the end, her eyes met his, the hardness gone.

"Oh, Siri," she whispered. "You are aware this isn't my writing?"

She watched his eyes widen, as he snatched the paper and read through it.

"But... but it's identical," he said, confused. His voice had softened slightly.

"Siri, this isn't my writing," she insisted, her voice softer too. "Is that what you really thought? You think I'd do that – say that – to you? Just look at my name at the end, I don't write my name like that. Now who writes my name like that?"

Sirius stared at it for a long time. "Bellatrix," he whispered.

"You've carried that around for eight years?"

He nodded. "I wanted to come and find you, but every time I got the urge, I'd read it and remember the words saying how much you despise me, and think I'm a freak, and don't want me anywhere near you."

"Now, I'm angry at you. We had a deal. We'd save everything, and the day before the wedding, we'd take what we could, and we'd run, and you left me there to deal with it alone, Sirius. Do you know what I went through without you? I almost had to get married to Amycus."

"What you went through?" Sirius snapped. "I was..." he trailed off, his gaze moving around the room at the Potter family, and Ted and Dora. "I had no choice, Meda, I thought you didn't want to know after what happened, what I am. I thought that our deal was off. I did as you asked in the letter, I stayed away. I needed you, Meda, I was so alone, and then Regulus brought me back this letter, and I thought you had written it." His gaze moved to Ted and Dora again.

"This is my husband, Ted," Andy said. "He's a police officer."

Sirius started laughing, although it sounded weak. "I'm sure old Ciggy must have had a heart attack to find his daughter wasn't marrying Amycus Carrow."

Andy's mouth twitched. "Well, you should have seen the look on Wally's face when one of us tried to slip your name into a sentence. There's only so many time's me and Cissy could say something, and the other one say 'are you serious?' afterwards. She looked like she sucked on a lemon."

"She always looked like she sucked on a lemon," he replied with a laugh.

"Wouldn't dare say it in front of your father though," she said, sobering a little.

"I always told you that Amycus was bad... he was dark, there was something about him that made me want to..." he trailed off and looked towards Dora again, trying to mind his language. His gaze shifted to Ted for a moment. "Are you happy?" He asked her, his voice going really soft. "I hope you are."

She nodded. "I am. Are you?"

Sirius smiled and nodded. "I wasn't for a long time, but things slowly looked up," he replied, his gaze falling on Remus, Lily and James, before looking back at his cousin's family.

Sirius reached out to shake Ted's hand. "Nice to meet you," he said.

Ted returned the sentiment, and Sirius turned to Dora.

"Hey kid, so you're my cousin?"

She nodded. "I'm Dora," she told him.

"Brilliant, you were lucky to get a normal name. You should see some of the names in our family. You're lucky you weren't called something as insane as Andromeda, or Cedrella or something stupid."

"Dora is short for Nymphadora," she grumbled, and Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, Dora, if I was around, I would have stopped her doing that to you. That's just cruel."

Dora let out a little giggle. "I know, right!"

"So, why are you here, Sirius? This is kind of the last place I expected to see you," Andy asked.

"Mum, isn't it obvious?" Dora said, moving from her seat where she had dragged Remus to sit with her, and getting up to hold Sirius' hand.

Andy shook her head.

"We're here to meet James' girlfriend, and Remus' boyfriend," Dora explained, rolling her eyes. "Well, the pretty girl is James girlfriend, so that makes cousin Sirius Remus' boyfriend, right?"

"You have a smart kid," Sirius said, "She must get that from Ted. He seemed to have clocked on pretty quickly. You can close your mouth, Meda."

Andy stared at him for ages, in shock.

"There isn't a problem with that, is there?" he asked, some of his reserve back up.

"Why didn't you tell me, I could have set you up with someone –"

"Yeah, I was sort of still working it out, you know, with Benjy Fenwick. It was his carelessness that caused me to get found out by father."

"When?"

"My sixteenth. Did you know father installed new security cameras in the house?"

Her face was filled with horror. "No, he saw...?"

"We weren't sha... doing that," he said, trying to remember to curb his language with the child in the room. "Just kissing, but it was enough."

"That's why you hated Rose so much?"

"Ah, old pug-nose Rose," he said, grinning. "She used to follow me around like I was God's gift. Granted, I am, but it was sickening. She kept trying to kiss me, like I'd ever kiss a girl," he said, with a snort.

"Oh, yes, Pug-nose Rose. She ended up getting nose job, because the name wouldn't go away. She got married to William Parkinson, they have a little girl, Pansy."

"Pug-nose Pansy?"

Andy nodded, and they both burst out in laughter.

Andy waited for the laughter to die down. "I thought you were dead, Siri. Reggie followed you both, and he was terrified when he came back. I never saw someone more terrified. Uncle Orion was covered in blood, was that yours?"

Sirius' smile dropped quickly, and he gave a quick look towards his friends and boyfriend, before nodding.

"I would have been dead, had it not been for Reg," Sirius mumbled.

"What happened?"

"Look, Meda, I don't want to go into detail right now."

"Sirius Orion Black, you will tell me what happened," Andy demanded, her hands on her hips.

"You shouldn't do that, you look like your mother when you do," Sirius muttered, and took a step back when she glared at him.

"Right now," Dora demanded, maintaining the same pose.

"I thought you were dead for eight years, I deserve an explanation," Andy pushed.

"Well, I thought you hated me, and that I disgusted you enough for you to disown me for right years," he countered.

She took the letter again. "You should know that in no circumstances, would I ever call you impure," she snapped. "Or suggest that given your recently discovered twisted and deprived nature, you'd be better off dead."

Sirius could feel everyone's eyes looking at him in a mixture of shock and horror, and he started to panic. His gaze moved towards the window, before it landed on the open door.

"I... I think I need..." he started, trailing off, before rushing from the room into the kitchen, Remus following.

"I'm really sorry, we were at their house and I saw a picture of your brother, and Dora said his name and I thought it was too much of a co-incidence that he looks like you. I mean, his name is the password to your hard-drive. Then there's Andromeda, who's maiden name is Black. So three star names, all with the surname Black... Dora offered to show me a family tree she was making and your name was right there, she got out that photo album and I already knew it was you before even needing to see your name on it... then suddenly Andy came back from the shops, and we were all on our way. You're not mad at me, are you?" Remus said quickly.

Sirius took a deep breath.

"No, I'm not mad at you," he whispered. "You didn't do anything to hurt me, it's a shock and all, but it'll be fine. You found me my cousin, and she doesn't hate me, you know how much bearable it makes my life, I've been carrying that around for years, that one sheet of paper has held so much power over me, and you've rid that from me. Thank you, Remus."

He felt Remus wrap his arms around him, and hold him tightly. "But I don't know if I can do this, it was really bad, Remus. I don't want to remember."

Lily followed into the kitchen.

"Sirius, are you okay?" She asked, putting her arms around him. "I didn't know if I should have said something, we never discussed what to do if you saw Andromeda again, only if we saw Bellatrix. I remember you saying that you used to be close to this cousin, so I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do."

"It's okay, Lily, she doesn't hate me," he whispered. "But what do I say?"

"You tell them what happened. I know you don't like to do it, but we agreed that we were going to talk about it all with James and Remus once New Year had passed. Maybe your audience is bigger than you anticipated, but everyone who needs to know is here. You'll only need to tell this once," Lily answered.

He nodded his head, and stepped away from the two pairs of arms that had been wrapped around him, his eyes meeting James' at the door.

"No-one is going to force you to talk, mate, so if you want some alone-time with just you and Andy, we'll all leave you to it, and you can tell us when you're ready?" James suggested, his eyes filled with concern.

Sirius thought for a moment. "I'll do it now," he said, and his gaze shifted to Remus. "Some of the stuff is a bit messed-up though?"

"As if that'll change how I feel about you," Remus replied, letting his lips touch Sirius' again, as James and Lily left with some of the drinks. He kissed Sirius softly, feeling the other man relax in his arms. "Whatever you've been through, I'm always going to stay here with you, always." His lips brushed Sirius' again, before they joined the others in the living room, his hand staying tightly in Sirius'.

Andy's gaze met their joined hands and she smiled, softly.

"I don't know where to start," Sirius said. "Maybe Dora shouldn't be hearing this?"

"James, do you still have a PlayStation in your room?" Andy asked, and he nodded.

"Go straight up," he told Dora. "The controls are in the drawer of the unit. It's all plugged up, you remember how to turn it on?"

Dora nodded, before rushing upstairs, and Lily closed the door behind her.

"Do you want to start, Meda, give me some time to prepare, and then everyone will understand what the family are like?" Sirius asked her.

"It was a few weeks after you left, actually," Andy began, moving closer to Sirius, as him and Remus sat down on the sofa next to her. She rested her head against his shoulder, and started her story.


Please review.

Hopefully those who were curious about Sirius' and Lily's pasts, are happy that Sirius is going to tell some of his. You will also get to hear Andy's, as I couldn't help but write it!