Disclaimor: I do not own Harry Potter
Gift of Black
Chapter Thirteen: All Truths Out
Sirius jumped out of bed and immediately landed, face first, on the floor. Completely disoriented, he pushed himself up and ran to the door. He made his way down the stairs as fast as he could and soon discovered that he was not the only the one awakened by the scream. Judging by the way the Chang children were patiently sitting outside Harry and Ron's room, and staring at it like this was no big deal, he doubted that there was an emergency. He spotted Isadora leaning against the wall across from the room, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Ginny and Deirdre were sitting on either side of her, looking equally sleepy, while Eamon leaned against the railing staring at the door with unbroken concentration.
Sirius made his way over to his daughter and she looked up at him.
"What's going on in there?" He asked her.
"Not sure. All I know is that I'm not in trouble, but somebody else is." She replied.
"What time is it?" Sirius asked. "It's too early for anybody to be in trouble... except maybe Fred and George."
"Nah." Isa yawned. "They've already been cleared... You knew my mother well, right?" She asked the last part in a whisper.
"Of course I did. How do you think you g-" Sirius cut himself off, remembering that the other children did not yet know of his relation to Isadora.
"Then don't you know about her... foresight?"
"You mean her deja vu?" He corrected.
"It's not deja vu! His daughter whispered back defensively.
"Well it's just as vague." Sirius mumbled.
He chuckled as he watched the girl's eyes go wide. The chuckle stopped, however, when a thought occurred to him.
"Shouldn't you lot scatter before she comes out?" Sirius asked the whole group.
The moment the words left his mouth, the occupants of the hallway seemed to snap awake and scramble down the stairs. Apparently it had been a good call, because the moment the last child's head disappeared down the stairs, the door to Harry and Ron's opened. Sorcha emerged from the room, holding Peader on her hip and her turned back into the room as snapped at the two teenagers.
"And this place better be straightened up before you come down for breakfast!"
She snapped the door shut and finally faced Sirius. Her hair was even wilder than usual, and reminded him of an angry veela. She gave him a disgruntled look.
"Your godson and his friend, nearly made my son lose a hand."
That was certainly not what he had expected to hear.
"How?" Sirius asked, quite curious to know how the two boys could have done something so dangerous this early in the morning.
"They left a furry book, with rabies, lying around the room! Anybody with half a brain should know that that's a death trap for a child!"
Sirius glanced at Peader, who was hugging his mother's neck and did seem to be coming down from a scare. Whether the scare was from the Moster Book of Monsters or the monster that was currently holding him, Sirius did not know; but Sorcha's story did seem likely.
"How did you know?" Sirius asked.
"Know what?" Sorcha asked, in an annoyed tone. She had a suspicion as to where this was going.
"How did know what was happening and get down here so fast?"
Sorcha glared at him before answering.
"I used my 'deja vu'." She answered in a way that let Sirius know not to push any further.
"In that case, I would like to apologize by giving Peader chocolate for breakfast and Harry a very stern talking to."
Sorcha stared at him, as if she were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not, for a moment before sighing.
"Fine." She agreed, as she handed her son to a shocked Sirius. "I've got to feed the twins and changed their nappies. Tell my other children to get ready for the day before eating breakfast... and don't forget that you need to talk to Blake and I this morning."
"Okay." Sirius said, as he watched her walk up the stairs.
He turned to look at the five year old in his arms. The child was staring at him with wide, hazel, eyes.
"You're sparkly." Peader finally said.
Sirius had forgotten that he had not cleaned off the glitter yet.
"Yes." He cleared his throat. "That was your sister's doing."
"Which one?"
"Nymphadora."
"She always makes messes." The boy informed him.
Sirius chuckled.
"Yes, I get that impression. She has a big personality."
Peader stared at him for a few seconds again, before asking another question.
"Do I really get chocolate for breakfast?"
Sirius laughed again and ruffled Peader's curly hair.
"Yes. You do." Sirius said as he made his way down to the kitchen.
The moment Sirius opened the kitchen door, the children he had sent down, and the Weasley twins, perked up. He walked over to the table and placed Peader on a chair. The moment he straightened up, Isadora launched her question.
"So who's in trouble?"
She certainly did not waste time.
"Harry and Ron." Sirius replied.
"What did they do this time?" Ginny asked.
"They left an attack book, disguised as a fluffy animal, out where Peader could find it.
"Idiots." Sirius was surprised to hear everybody, including the twins and the nine-year old, say.
"I suppose that it was a slightly mindless thing to do." Sirius replied.
Isadora raised an eyebrow at him, before walking over to check on her little brother.
"Molly and Andromeda should be down soon, to make breakfast." He informed them. "Your mother said that you all need to be ready for the day before you can eat, so I suggest that you hurry up -Fred, George, where does your father keep the muggle food? I promise Peader chocolate for breakfast."
"You want those chocolate balls that you put in milk?" George asked.
"Yeah, those, Muggles eat them for breakfast all the time, they can't be that bad." Sirius said.
"No problems there, sir!" Fred said with a mock salute.
The twins turned on the spot and Sirius was left alone with Peader. It was starting to occur to him, that he would be babysitting the Chang children a lot.
"It's messy." Peader commented.
Sirius finally looked around the kitchen and groaned. Nymphie's mess of decorations was still covering the kitchen. He had never cleaned it, and it should have occurred to him, that Remus could not have cleaned it and Tonks would not have cleaned it. There was parchment covering the table and scattered around the floor. Scattered across the length of the table, were scissors, quills, enchanted markers, paint brushes, ink bottles, water paints and jars of glitter. The worst of it though, was the multicolored footprints, from when Nymphie had decided that foot prints were necessary in her pictures. She had made him fill some cooking pots with paint and took turns stepping in each and walking on the parchment, occasionally missing, or simply forgetting that there was paint on her feet and walking all around the kitchen. He certainly did not want to clean it.
"That would be Nymphie's doing." Sirius said.
"She is messy." Peader reiterated,
"Do you want to clean it?" Sirius asked, jokingly.
Peader shook his head.
"Me neither... Maybe if we pretend not to see it, Andromeda will. Sound like a good idea?"
The five year old nodded this time.
"Good. We're in agreement then. We never saw anything!"
There was a loud crack as the twins reappeared and tossed the box of chocolate cereal to Sirius. It happened so fast that Sirius nearly missed it and had to lean back to catch the box.
"Thanks." He said to the red-heads.
"You're most welcome Sirius!" George said.
"Now what did you never see?" Fred asked. "Because if it's this mess you're talking about, Georgie and I have the perfect solution!"
Both twins waved their wands and everything, except the footprints, vanished. Sirius glanced around.
"You didn't just send it to the pantry, did you?" Sirius asked.
"Of course not!" Both twins replied in unison.
"We're not amateurs!" George informed him.
"Yeah!" Fred agreed. "We sent it to Harry and Ron's room!"
"They're already cleaning anyways, what's a bit more?" George added.
"They already got yelled at by Sorcha, and they'll get an earful from your mother too, cut them some slack and send it to my mother's closet."
"Fine." The twins replied.
"And don't forget to send the pots back here. Your mother will go berserk if they go missing."
After the twins left, Sirius poured the cereal for Peader and cast a cleaning charm on the, newly returned, pots before Molly came down. She gave a disapproving look to the cereal that Peader was eating, with great enthusiasm. Then she saw the bright footprints that covered the kitchen.
"I take that Nymphie was down here this morning." She said.
"What tipped you off?"
"Besides the footprints? The new works of art in the hallway looked like hers... and judging by how you're sparkling, you were her accomplice."
Sirius broke out into a barking laughter. It made Molly smile to see him so happy, he had become so sullen over the last few weeks, and though she did not know him well, she felt that he deserved better.
"Oh well." She waved her hand. "Sorcha and Blake need to talk to you. I can handle this mess and breakfast by myself. I suggest that you get washed up before talking to them, especially if it's what I think it's about."
"Thanks Molly," Sirius smiled, "But do you think that you can leave the footprints that aren't on the table? They brighten up this awful place."
"If you insist," Molly responded, "it is your home."
Sirius headed up to his bathroom and took a quick shower, before heading to the makeshift infirmary. He knocked on the door, and heard Sorcha and Blake's voices say that he could enter. He opened the door and saw Blake sitting up in bed with one of his infant daughters in his arms, he looked far healthier than he had in weeks and seemed anxious to be off bed rest. Sorcha was gently burping the other on her shoulder. Her hair, which had been brushed and pulled into a low ponytail, now looked far less frightening. Sirius stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"You look so much more human when your hair is brushed." He said with a mock bow.
"Bugger off, yeh fecking eejit!" Sorcha snapped immediately.
"Can't, sorry, but I've been told that we need to have a very important discussion." Sirius replied, he had forgotten how much fun it was to get a rise out of her.
"Yes, we do -however, it would still be in your best interests to not make my wife angry." Blake said. "She actually managed to knock off Dumbledore's hat a few months ago."
Sirius glanced at Sorcha, who was still glaring at him.
"You know, muggles have this thing called 'anger management'-"
Sirius suddenly a flash of red coming towards him and dived to the floor. He looked up and saw Sorcha still sitting with her baby, but her wand was out. She had tried to hex him while holding a baby! Was that even allowed?
"Anyways," Blake said, choosing to ignore the conflict and continue to the purpose of their meeting, "I've been told that our big secret has been revealed, so I suppose that I should offer my congratulations, but warn you as well, and also discuss how to approach the situation."
"Warn me?" Sirius asked, slightly worried, eyeing Sorcha and waiting for her to put away her wand.
"My children are my world, Sirius, even the one who does not share my blood. I've been there for her since before she was born and I would die for her -as I most certainly would have without your assistance. She's a wonderful girl, she's sweet and helpful, she's innocent and vibrant, but she never tells you when something is bothering her... and that's the problem." Blake was getting down to business. "She let's the her troubles eat away at her. Getting her to tell you what's wrong, is like wrestling a troll. She doesn't want to bother anyone, and she ends up trapping and hurting herself."
Sirius noticed that Sorcha had an expression that he recognized. She blamed herself for Isadora's problems. He also noticed her wand lowering, and decided that it was safe to stand up. Blake put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder before continuing.
"If you're going to be in her life, it needs to be on her terms and you need to make sure that she understands that, but also the responsibilities that you bear for the Order and that you are in hiding."
"I understand." Sirius replied.
"You also understand that this is not something that you can do halfheartedly? You must love her at least as much as you love Harry and give the same amount of dedication, otherwise we will cut you off from her before you can hurt her."
"Believe me, that will be no problem." Sirius assured the two parents.
"Good." Blake smiled. "Now for the awkward part."
"Awkward doesn't even begin to describe it." Sorcha muttered.
"Well how would you describe it?" Blake asked.
"Horribly awkward." She replied.
Blake chuckled and stroked his wife's hair affectionately.
"That's not much of a difference." Sirius pointed out.
"Shut up!" Sorcha snapped. "How would you like to explain to your younger children that the man, who's house you're staying in, is the father of their big sister?!"
"I'd be concerned about the fact that I had a child with a man." Sirius quipped.
"Oh shut yer stupid face, ya fecking eejit!" She said, angrily in a thicker accent than usual. "Yeh've still got teh tell Harry!"
"Oh... yeah... that... that will be awkward."
"And the Weasley children." Blake added.
"Right..." Sirius acknowledged. "So how are we going about this then?"
"The three of us will discuss it with all of our children." Sorcha said.
"But you'll have to talk to Harry about it in private." Blake added. "After that, we'll decide how to tell the Weasley kids, and we'll let Dumbledore decide which Order members need to know."
"Right, then. Sounds good... When are we doing this?" Sirius asked.
"We'll talk to the kids after lunch, but you should talk to Harry before that." Sorcha told him.
"Right... Is that all?" Sirius asked.
Blake and Sorcha exchanged a look.
"I think so." Sorcha said, sounding slightly unsure.
Blake nodded, and Sirius took that as his cue to leave.
Down in the kitchen, Harry and Ron had finally arrived after passing a safety inspection by Remus. They saw that the others kids had already started their breakfast and ran to grab seats at the far end of the table where Hermione was sitting. She gave them a disapproving glare, but they ignored her her and began to load their plates with food. They were disappointed to see that the sausage plate was nearly empty, but their disappointment was cut short when they each felt a short smack on the back head.
"Heard you nearly took off my brother's arm." Isadora said, as she walked around from behind them and placed a new plate of sausage on the table.
She sat down at the seat across from them and gave them a smirk that reminded Harry of Sirius. He paused for moment, with his fork hovering above the new sausages, and stared at the girl. Her hair was electric blue, today, and was plaited down the side of her head. She was wearing a white dress with a floral pattern. What about this girl could have reminded him of Sirius?
"Wasn't our fault!" Ron declared through a mouthful of eggs.
Hermione and Mrs. Weasley disagreed with that statement, and both began to lecture them.
"-Completely irresponsible-"
"-NEARLY TOOK THAT BOY'S ARM OFF-"
"-What if Mrs. Chang hadn't shown up-"
"-HAD A RESPONSIBILITY-"
"-You need to think-"
Sirius entered the kitchen a walked down the table, as if nothing unusual was happening. He grabbed a plate and ruffled Nymphie's hair as he walked passed her. Finally he took a seat at the head of the table between Harry and Isadora. He filled his plate and his plate and began eating until Mrs. Weasley and Hermione had finished.
"I take it the news of this morning's misadventure has traveled." He said.
Ron chose to remain quiet this time, and just grumbled into his food, instead.
"You heard too?" Harry asked.
"Why do you sound so surprised? This is my house." Sirius replied.
He swallowed his food before continuing.
"I was the first to know. And I must confess that I was the one who informed the other children, but I was sure that Sorcha would tell Molly and Andromeda soon enough, anyways."
"Traitor." Ron accused.
"In all fairness, I did try to defend you two."
"You said that they were careless." Isadora reminded him.
"How is that defending us?!" Harry asked.
Sirius looked a bit nervous. His daughter had just betrayed him to his godson! How could she!
"Well..."
"It was the nicest thing anybody could say in this situation." Hermione pointed out.
"Which reminds me," Sirius cut in, "I promised to give you a stern talking to."
"Oh..." Harry said, somewhat disappointed that he had let his godfather down this much.
"Try to be more careful, otherwise Sorcha might kill you." Sirius said casually, before digging back into his breakfast.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Isadora and Ginny all stared at him questioningly. Sirius looked back at them, bemusedly, while chewing.
"Was that too harsh?" He asked.
It was a good thing that Mrs. Weasley was now at the other end if the table, eating with the other children, and could not hear them. He was sure that Sirius would have been in for a real stern talking to of his own if she had.
"Was there anymore to that?" Harry asked.
Sirius thought for a moment.
"She might maim you." He added.
"He's right about that." Isadora said.
"And you could have a dead child on your hands if your careless enough. Believe me, you don't want that on your conscience." Sirius finished, in a slightly haunted tone in his voice.
The teens were silent upon hearing this. Ron and Hermione had been told about the the fate of Sorcha's family, by Harry, and knew that he spoke from both experience and guilt. Ginny thought that Sirius was referring to making Peter Pettigrew Secret Keeper, and was about to remind him that it was not his fault, but Hermione shook her head at her. They had not told Ginny, and knew that it should not be brought up. The most curious reaction, though, was Isadora's. Harry would have thought that she was either completely ignorant about her extended family or know all about it; but it seemed that neither was the case. She was looking at Sirius with a mixture of both curiosity and suspicion, you could tell that her mind was working. She must have known something of the demise of the Fei family, enough to suspect Sirius was involved, but not enough to be sure. Harry was afraid of what the girl's -or any of the children's- reactions would be if they learned the truth.
They finished their breakfast with small conversations about Hogwarts, and helped Mrs. Weasley clean up. After they had finished, Mrs. Weasley began filling them in on the day's agenda, Mr. Chang's 'Welcome Out of Bed Party'. It was not much, just a nice lunch with and a small cake, but they only had a few hours to make it seem a little more welcoming.
Sirius asked to speak with Harry, Ron and Hermione. To their surprise, Mrs. Weasley agreed to release them and they headed up the stairs, passing Nymphie's bright artwork that was now plastered to the walls -and even a few of the paintings. They entered Harry and Ron's, now clean, bedroom. Sirius cast an Imperturable Charm on the door and turned to face the teenagers, who were all sitting on Harry's bed. He took a seat across from them, on Ron's bed.
"So... What did you want to talk about?" Harry asked.
"Well..." Sirius began.
He was pretty sure that this was the first time he had ever felt anxiety. Sorcha was right, this was not just awkward, it was really awkward.
"Uh... Do you... Well I'm sure you do remember... the night you asked me... if... if Isadora was my daughter?"
"Yes." Harry replied, wondering where exactly this was going.
"Well... I said 'No.', but... it would appear... that I was... lying." Sirius confessed.
"Wait -what?!" Ron asked.
"What do you mean it would 'appear' that you were lying?" Harry asked, his voice rose slightly. "Either you were lying or you weren't."
"It's not that simple." Sirius said.
"How can it not be?!"
"Oh for goodness sake!" Hermione snapped. "Will you both calm down?!"
Sirius and the two boys looked at her, slightly shocked, but listened as she spoke.
"Obviously, Sirius means that, at the time, he thought that he was telling you the truth, but he now knows that Isadora is his child -which I don't know how he could have doubted- and the two of you as well! How could you not figure out something so obvious?!"
"That obvious?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow, and giving a small smile.
"Of course it is." Hermione replied.
"How?" Ron asked.
"Besides the fact that she's a Metamorphmagus -which is very rare, but runs in families, and Sirius is related to one- She's very close to the Tonks family, her birthday falls around the right time for Sirius to be her father, especially considering that we know they lived together while she was in hiding, not to mention that there are some things about her that simply remind you of Sirius -Which I'm sure is why you were staring at her this morning, Harry." Hermione explained to them, slightly exasperated by how little they paid attention.
"Why were you staring at my daughter?" Sirius immediately asked Harry.
"Not like that!" Harry defended. "It was like Hermione said! She was smirking and I was trying to figure out how she could be reminding me of you!"
Sirius raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"What!" Harry snapped. "You don't trust me? Congratulations! You have a daughter now, you can just forget about me!"
"Harry..." Hermione said sympathetically.
"Nobody is forgetting about you, Harry." Sirius reassured. "If anything, I'll have more of a relationship with you than her. She has parents already, and she doesn't want me to be her dad; and even if she did, I wouldn't forget you or throw you away. I think the time I spent living in a cave should be proof enough."
"He's got a point mate." Ron said. "That cave was disgusting, but he stayed there for you."
"I -I supposed I am being a bit ridiculous." Harry said.
"It's okay Harry." Sirius said. "You actually reacted better than I thought you would."
"So how did you end up having a kid with the Banshee?" Ron asked
"Ronald!" Hermione gasped.
By noontime the kitchen was packed full of Weasleys, Changs, Tonkses and the Order members who could make it. Kingsley was laughing in a corner with Remus, Tonks and Sirius. Molly was chasing Mundungus away, after catching him trying to talk Isadora and Eamon into procuring fairy wings for him. Arthur was talking to Ted, with great enthusiasm, about Muggles, while bouncing Callidora on his lap. The two sets of twins were both at the center of attention; the Weasley twins were entertaining the younger children, Harry, Ron and Hermione with their less harmful inventions, while the Chang twins were being passed around and cooed over by the adults. Dedalus had cast small orbs of sparkling light, that traveled around the kitchen, and was now trying to convince Hestia and Mad-Eye to give him a turn holding one of the twins. Hestia simply wanted to coo over the baby, but Mad-Eye, who was surprisingly gentle with the baby, said that he did not trust him to hold anything that could not catch itself. However, Adora was soon taken out of his arms by Emmaline Vance after he started talking about protective potions to give the Chang children.
Dumbledore, Minerva and Fillius entered the kitchen, and the younger Chang children immediately ran for Dumbledore. Some of them clung to his legs while Nymphie -predictably- reached for his beard. Dumbledore chuckled and patted their heads, before a toy, of his own invention, from his robes. As he began to explain what it was to the children, Minerva walked passed him to see what Mundungus had done this time, he was gone shortly after that. Fillius joined in with fawning over the babies, but was nearly run over by the Chang children, before he could climb on a chair, due to them chasing after the toy bird Dumbledore had given them. The Headmaster sat himself down at the table and took his turn holding Blaithnaid.
"Ah, Blaithnaid, it's nice to see you again. I'm sure you and your sister are keeping your mother up all night, but if Madame Pomfrey says it's all right, I'm sure that you can keep your father up tonight as well."
The occupants of the kitchen were all chuckling when the door opened to reveal Poppy, Sorcha and Blake walking into the kitchen. This time all of the Chang children, minus the twins, ran to hug their father. Blake was still a little weak and had to crouch on the ground to hug all of his children, but that did not take away from the happy scene, one bit.
"Daddy! Daddy! Did you see my pictures?!" Nymphie asked.
"What about mine?!" Peader asked.
"We made you a cake!" Deirdre said.
"Yes, I did, they were wonderful -Yours too Peader -I can't wait to try it-" Blake answered all of his children's questions as they came. "What's that Phoebus?" He asked as Phoebus held up one of the fake wands.
When the children had finally made enough space to let him stand, Blake walked further into the kitchen and began to greet the other adults. They gave him a warm welcome, most gave handshakes, but a few gave hugs.
"It's good to see you on your feet again." Kingsley said. "We've come up with a good cover story for you, and the birth of the twins gives you a few extra days, before your absence becomes suspicious."
"Oh Blake!" Dedalus declared with a hug. "It's wonderful see you're feeling better! We were so worried about you!"
"Er -Thanks Dedalus, it's good to see you too." He said, obviously uncomfortable with the hug he was receiving.
"But you're tough enough that we'd figured you make it." Emmaline said.
"Thank you, Emmaline."
"It's good to see you up and about." Hestia said, cheerfully, while shaking his hand.
"Thank you." Blake replied. "We don't know each other, do we?"
"No, of course not! I just wanted to hold the babies, so I came over -You have such beautiful children."
After that Blake went through the process of greeting everyone, and being introduced to Harry and Hermione. Dumbledore left, and they all sat down for lunch. Like every meal lately, their lunch was lively. Blake's children all wanted to sit by him, so a compromise had to be reached. Phoebus sat on his lap, Nymphie and Peader sat on either side of them and the three eldest sat across from him. Sorcha sat next to Nymphie to keep her behavior under control, Callidora was on her lap and the two bassinets were placed next to her at the end of the table, so that she could reach her youngest children if they began fussing.
Surprisingly, twenty-eight people filling their plates was not the chaotic part. All of the Chang kids wanted to talk to their father, at the same time. Crookshanks chased Dumbledore's toy into the cabinet, which shook loudly and probably broke some dishes. Tonks fell on Remus and sent his plate of food flying, it landed in the stew and splashed Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Kingsley, Andromeda, Ted and Arthur. Mad-Eye had used a spell to stop himself from getting hit. The babies began to fuss and Sorcha had to get up to calm them, with the enthusiastic help of Hestia, while Callidora was handed over to Andromeda. Just when all had seemed calm, Blake spoke up, with a question.
"I'm a little surprised that Mundungus isn't here. Is he out on a deal."
"No." Molly said stiffly. "He was here before you came in, and he was trying to make a deal with your children."
Blake groaned.
"What kind of deal?" Sorcha asked.
"He wanted fairy wings." Isadora said.
Sorcha's eye seemed to shrink in anger, and her pupils seemed to grow, giving the impression that her eyes were black. She turned to her husband.
"I don't care how useful he is; he comes near my children or fairies, again, I will hex him to oblivion." She said in a soft, deadly tone. "And I won't be sent to Azkaban, because you're all going to help me cover it up."
"Agreed." Said Blake.
"No complaints here." Mad-Eye agreed.
After dinner, most if the visiting adults began to clear out. The occupants of Grimmauld Place, cleaned the kitchen, but allowed the Chang family to sit it out, so that they could spend more time together. When the kitchen was clean, Sorcha pulled Molly, Arthur, Andromeda, Ted and Tonks aside, and started whispering to them. The teenagers looked at the group of adults with suspicion. Fred began to pull out the Extendable Ears, but stopped when he heard two throats being cleared. Remus and Sirius were watching and shook their heads. Remus gestured to Tonks and then Molly, Fred got the idea and put the ears away.
The small group of adults broke apart and Tonks called out to the kitchen.
"If your last name is not Chang, Tonks or Black, get out of the kitchen!"
"You heard her her you lot, come along." Molly said, while directing her children out of the kitchen. "You too, Hestia."
"Aw." Hestia whined a little. "Goodbye Blaithnaid. Goodbye Adora. I'll see you after tomorrow's meeting. You too!" She called to the other Chang children.
"Bye Mrs. Jones!" The kids called.
"Why is Sirius staying?" George asked.
"Never you mind!" Molly snapped, before shoving him out of the kitchen.
"Harry can tell them when they get upstairs." Sorcha said to Arthur.
She walked back to the table and took a seat at the head of table, next to her husband, who now had Callidora standing on his lap and playing with his face. He turned to look at his wife, and she looked back.
"What?" She asked.
"Are you really throwing a fifteen year old under the dragon?"
"He's already been under one. I'm sure he'll be fine." She said, brushing it off.
"That is not what I meant and you know it." Blake said.
"Fine! I'm sacrificing the teenager, so that I can avoid another mortifying conversation! Especially with those Weasley twins! Are you happy?"
"Yes." Blake replied, before turning to his attention to the rest of the table.
"Well, I'm sure you're all wondering why the others left the kitchen." He began.
"SECRET CACK?!" Nymphie guessed excitedly.
"Cake, not cack." Sorcha corrected. "... And no. Sorry, Nymphie."
Nymphie sat back down in her seat and put her head on the table in disappointment. Ted chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Anyways," Sorcha said, "You guys remember how I've always told you that Mommy was really stupid when she was younger?"
The children all nodded.
"Good! Blake, I am now sacrificing you!" She announced, patting him on the back.
"You're very lucky that I love you." Blake said, before turning back to his children.
"Just a reminder, how many of you know that Isadora has a different father?"
Eamon, Deirdre, Nymphie, Tonks and Sirius raised their hands. Andromeda immediately frowned and smack the two adults' hands down.
"Knock it off you two! He was talking to the kids! This is a serious matter!"
Tonks rolled her eyes and got another smack from her mother.
"She's not our sister?" Peader asked, his eyes were growing wide in fear. "But she's my favorite!"
"No. She is your sister." Blake reassured, his son. "She has different father, but you both have the same mother."
"How does she have a different dad?" The young boy asked.
"Magic." Sorcha and Tonks both replied quickly.
"Dark magic," Sorcha emphasized, "but luckily, Mammy is so good that she managed to turn that dark magic into something amazing and we got Isadora."
Sirius stared at Sorcha in disbelief, how could she tell her children something like that and keep a straight face. Blake rolled his eyes, before whispering to his wife.
"We agreed to tell them that it was a potion until they're old enough to know."
"Fine. I suppose that it makes more sense."
Blake cleared his throat and spoke louder for the rest of the table to hear.
"What your mother meant, is that it was a potion that she and-"
"Oh for God's sake!" Andromeda snapped at the two parents. "Don't lie to your children!" She turned to Peader. "Your mother did something that only married people are supposed to do, with this man." She pointed to Sirius, "She got pregnant and then he got sent Azkaban for something that he didn't do!"
The Chang kids all looked at Sirius in shock. He looked back at them, unsure what to do. Finally he said the only thing he could think of.
"I escaped, this isn't Azkaban."
They just kept staring at him.
"You don't look like Isa." Deirdre said.
"No, I don't, but she doesn't really look like anyone right now."
"She's like Tonksie!" Nymphie said.
"Sirius is my Mum's cousin." Tonks supplied.
"Is that why we're here?" Peader asked. "So Isa can live with you?"
Sirius looked at Isadora and Blake. This was their territory.
"No. We're here for protection." Sorcha confessed.
"Why?" Peader and Nymphie asked.
The three older kids watched their mother, while Phoebus sat on Andromeda's lap. blissfully unaware. Sorcha took a breath, she was nervous -and tired if the bags under her eyes were anything to judge by.
"I've told you that there was a war when I was young." She began. "In war, people die, and if you're stupid or trust the wrong person, more people die. Sirius and I were both stupid and we also put our trust in the wrong people. That's why my family is gone. Some of them are dead, and the others left, because they couldn't trust me anymore."
The mood at the table became somber.
"But that wasn't all." She continued. "The leader of the bad man, he went after me. Sirius hid me, and protected me... But then his friends -Harry's parents- got killed and everybody blamed him. He got sent to Azkaban and the people who did it got away. We thought that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone... but the one who betrayed Sirius's friends revived him." She took another breathe. "We're not visiting, we're not here so that Isadora can live with her father, Dad and Isadora did not get lost and he did not slip on the rocks... as far as I know. You-Know-Who knew that Sirius was Isadora's father and thought that if he got her, he could get Sirius to join him or at least blame the attack on him. They were attacking us, the morning we left. They would have killed the rest of us, but taken Isadora, to use against Sirius and the order... Sirius hid and protected me once before, this time, he's hiding all if us. But we can't go home again, until this new war is over."