Christmas morning came before Sirius realized it and he awoke to the twins hopping onto the food of Matty and his bed.
He jerked awake, sitting straight up, scrambling for his wand when he felt Matty pulling up the covers to cover herself. When he realized it was the girls he blinked with surprise and embarrassment that their children had just caught them naked and in bed together.
Sure, they'd been sleeping, but the girls had to know what they'd been doing the night before.
Merryn snorted, however, lightening the mood and worrying her father that much more.
"Relax, Daddy. We knew you two were having sex. We do know how we got here, you know."
Matty could laugh all she wanted about it, but Sirius was having a hard time finding the humor in his daughter saying any of those things to him.
Still, it was Christmas morning and Sirius was still a child at heart, so when Maëlle passed his and Matty's presents up to him he put his horror at the situation aside and started ripping at wrapping.
He didn't get too many presents. The girls got him something, as well as the Weasley twins, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Matty, Remus, and Arthur and Molly (which meant Arthur probably made her put him on her list).
The Weasleys gift was homemade sweets, which he couldn't argue with at all. Ron had given him sweets as well, and Fred and George had given him some free samples of some of their joke products, which he had to admit were top notch. Hermione had given him a book on motorbikes thorough the decades and a very unsubtle hint at a parenting book for wizards. The girl had spunk, if nothing else. Harry had gotten him some sweets, some Zonko's classic products to reminisce with, and a book of the most modern advances in spellwork, to cover the time since Sirius had been imprisoned.
Matty had salvaged some of their old love letters and made a scrapbook of them, with some pictures from their school days, which Sirius couldn't help but want to look over for hours. He moved on to Remus's gift, though, which was a large bottle of firewhiskey.
Sure, it wasn't very personal, but things were sometimes very tense between Sirius and Remus, and Sirius had given his friend exactly the same gift, so they knew each other well, at the very least.
"Oh, Daddy, it's perfect!" Maëlle squealed. "Thanks Daddy, Mum!" She leaned over the gifts and parcels to kiss both of her parents as thanks for the brooms he'd gotten them as well as the deluxe set of quills, inks, and a leather-bound parchment journal Matty had insisted would be perfect for their studious daughter.
"Yes, thanks Mum, Daddy!" Merryn said happily, standing to hold up the black party dress up for approval.
Sirius had picked it out himself, knowing it would look beautiful on her, with Matty's approval, but with the knowledge that she had a boy after her affections he was second-guessing his decision. Matty passed the pumps she'd picked out over to Merryn, who slipped them on her feet and then pulled the dress on over her pajamas, twirling experimentally.
She was practically a woman, and Sirius found that notion absolutely terrifying. He was right, though, she looked beautiful, just like her mother used to in similar types of dresses with similar shoes... Just like his cousin always had in black dresses. He swallowed back a lump in his throat.
The girls could act so young sometimes, especially around him, but there were moments like this when he realized that they weren't little girls anymore and he would never get those years back.
The twins had also gotten dresses that the Weasley twins had bought them both (which Sirius wasn't sure how he felt about, but then, they'd always seemed more friends than having any sort of romantic anything between them), which the girls then pulled on over their pajamas for their parents approval.
Merryn's was baby blue, which set off her gray Black eyes and her pale skin, and was a very classic, classy cut, which was nice. Sirius didn't like the idea of her showing skin to anyone.
Maëlle's was a pale lavender, also good with her coloring, and a similar cut, although the neckline on Merryn's was more square and Maëlle's was rounded.
Sirius had to admit, those twins had very good taste in clothes.
"Beautiful," Matty sighed. "You look like beautiful young women. Why don't you go put your gifts with your things, thank people for them - especially Fred and George, and you can change so we can all go down for breakfast."
Sirius sighed, watching them go off, far too excited, but they were young enough to be excited by little things.
"We'll have a lot of time with them alone today, Sirius," Matty whispered. "They're going to see Arthur in the hospital today and the girls decided to stay here with you."
"They should have gone," he whispered.
"Arthur's not their father," she pointed out. "They want all the time they can get with you, darling." She smiled. "That dress was the perfect choice, by the way. You've always had a knack for that."
He groaned, throwing his head back against the pillow.
"I know. It looked too good on her. She'll be getting so many kisses now."
Matty just laughed, kissed him, and climbed out of bed stretching, searching for something to wear. He didn't want to leave that room, didn't want to have to see his daughters all dressed up for Christmas like the young women they were, but he dressed anyway and followed Matty downstairs in her own black party dress, which he realized was remarkably similar to the one he'd gotten for their daughter.
Hmm.
She could say it was his sense of taste all she wanted, but Sirius had been trained well, it seemed, and he knew that if James could be there he'd be laughing about how whipped Sirius had become.
When the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione had taken off with their Order escort to visit Arthur in St. Mungo's, Sirius and his family settled in the sitting room for snacks and to talk about the girls' time at Hogwarts.
"And then he gave her detention," Merryn giggled. "I might get more detentions than Elle, but I swear, she gets twice as many from Snape."
"I do not," Maëlle objected, but Sirius had to agree with Merryn. Something about Maëlle seemed to drive Snape up the wall to the point of being more unreasonable with her than any other student, even Harry. "And anyway, if he wanted us to use the footnotes he should have said so. Nobody ever reads footnotes. He ought to know that. I wasn't the only one who ignored them."
"Yes, you were," Merryn pointed out. "That's why your cauldron was the only one that blew bubbles."
They all laughed, even Maëlle.
Sirius had to admit, while not much got Maëlle really riled up, Snape was capable of it, and when she was mad about something she could be just as much of a bitch as her mother, and twice as sassy. And Snivellus didn't take well to sass.
"I feel like my potion did that, when I was in school," Matty said thoughtfully. "Do you remember that?"
He frowned for a moment, trying to think. He did vaguely recall that someone did make bubbles, but he had been fairly certain that it had been Mary MacDonald.
But then, Sirius hadn't really been paying much attention in third year potions, and especially not to the girls. He would focus on nicking ingredients for pranks and on making the other Marauders laugh, and that was about it.
"I think so, love," he lied. "It's been a long time."
"That it has," she sighed, taking his hand in hers, which made the girls giggle a bit. "So, how's the defense group you're doing?"
"The D.A.?" Merryn asked. "Great. Harry's a really good teacher, and it's good to get to practice things, although I wish we could meet more often. It's tough with everybody's Quidditch schedules and stuff. It's like half our members are Quidditch players."
"Colin's not a Quidditch player," Maëlle teased, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
Sirius gripped Matty's hand a bit tighter and she smiled, knowingly.
"Tell us about this Colin," Matty said with a grin at the girls. "We don't know very much about him at all, but he seems to be someone you spend a fair amount of time with."
"He's Muggleborn," Merryn muttered, turning pinker by the second. "Gryffindor."
But they knew all that.
"He likes to take pictures," Maëlle said, stirring her tea.
Sirius choked on his own tongue and the girls turned to him, confused.
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked.
"He likes photography," Merryn said, befuddled by his reaction. "He's got a really nice camera and he likes to take pictures, especially at the Quidditch matches. He'd not seen moving pictures before Hogwarts, you know." She paused. "What did you think she said?"
"Nothing," he said, a bit too quickly.
Sure, it was probably nothing, but the idea of his daughter dating a boy who was skilled at photography was not the top of Sirius's list. In fact, it was much closer to the bottom than most things. Still, Matty's amusement told him he was alone in this estimation, so he tried to be a bit more open about the boy.
"He's got a younger brother, too," Maëlle said thoughtfully. "He's a year younger than us, named Dennis. He's a lot like Colin except..."
"Even more of a spaz," Merryn laughed.
"What do you mean?" Sirius laughed, picturing a thin, not-evil version of Peter chasing after his daughter and not understanding why she would have held still long enough to be kissed by the boy.
"Oh, they're nice enough," Merryn said quickly. "And not altogether unintelligent but... well, they're fanboys of Harry and I think Colin honestly would have even noticed that we existed if Harry hadn't been talking to us."
She seemed a bit bitter about this fact, and Sirius wanted to tear the boy limb from limb for not being enamored with his daughter from the moment she entered Hogwarts.
But on the other hand, then they might even be having sex already. That was how that one girl in Hufflepuff got pregnant in fifth year. She and her boyfriend had been together since first year and they started having sex young because his roommates egged him into it, even though none of them had even kissed a girl yet. They were living vicariously through him.
No, maybe it was for the best that he'd not noticed her for a while.
"Anyway," Maëlle sighed, "they're both in the D.A., and they're learning quicker than anyone expected, especially Dennis. He's very young, after all."
"So was Harry when he fought the basilisk," Merryn countered. "And Harry was Colin's age when he was in the Triwizard Tournament. I mean, when he won the Triwizard Tournament."
"And when I was Colin's age," Sirius said with a teasing smile, "I discovered that it was a bad idea to mix fish and jam. We all progress differently, and you have to admit that Harry's more than a bit of a prodigy. I'm sure Colin's very bright, but-"
"But he's not Harry," Matty chipped in. "That doesn't mean that we have any problems with him, though."
Matty ought to speak for herself, Sirius thought bitterly. He should have insisted that his girls settle for nothing less than a Potter. Since there was only one of those left in the world, that meant that at least one of his girls would be chaste until he died. The other, well, at least the other would have Harry, and you really couldn't do any better than Harry.
"But they'll be home soon," Matty continued. "So we should be ready to be social again, all right? Are you done with that tea?"
Sirius had a hard time with dinner that night, not because there was anything wrong with the food but because Harry seemed very out of sorts ever since they got back from the hospital, and between Harry being out of sorts and Merryn basically having a boyfriend the world was not going in any sort of direction Sirius felt comfortable with at all.
Matty was helping Molly with something in the room Molly was staying in and the girls were playing some chess before bed, so Sirius was sitting in the kitchen after dinner alone, except the being alone didn't last very long.
Remus walked in, sitting down across from Sirius and smiling weakly at him. Things had been tense between the old friends, all living in one house together, especially because Sirius knew that it must be difficult for Remus to walk around knowing that Sirius and Matty were having sex all over the house.
And Sirius would know, especially after listening to Matty and Remus having sex while sitting in the bottom of a wardrobe. But Remus didn't exactly know about that incident and Sirius wasn't about to tell him.
"So Matty tells me that Merryn's got a boyfriend," Remus said with an apologetic smile. "Colin Creevey?"
"Yes," Sirius growled bitterly, looking at his tea and wondering if he ought to fling it at Remus or not.
"You know, I taught Colin," Remus said thoughtfully. "He was always a very good boy, a bit distracted by his celebrity obsession with Harry, but he did his schoolwork well and he was very kind to everyone. Merryn could do a lot worse. Your daughter could have ended up with a troublemaker like her father or a monster like her godfather."
The bitterness in Remus's voice was something Sirius could relate to, so against his better judgment he got up, got some firewhiskey from the pantry, and poured them each a glass.
"To over-protective father syndrome," Sirius said, raising his glass toward Remus.
"To girls too pretty for their own good," Remus said with a nod and smile, clinking his glass against Sirius's.
They each took a drink.
"You know," Remus sighed, "there was a time when I thought I could be a father to those girls if Matty let me, but seeing them around you... I could never do that for them. They would never look at me like that."
While Sirius was very pleased with this confession he knew that Remus was feeling particularly low about himself for some reason that wasn't related to Matty or the girls, something that wasn't related to Sirius.
Actually, as it turned out, it was something related to Sirius, but in the more literal sense.
"Wait, Tonks did what?"
"She kissed me," Remus muttered, turning redder by the second. "And she kissed me in a hospital. That can't be a good thing, can it?"
Sirius took another sip of firewhiskey, thinking. He then put down the glass and shrugged.
"I don't know; did you enjoy the kiss?"
Remus groaned.
"I didn't know what to do!" he cried.
"Sure you did," Sirius said with a wink. "I've seen you kiss Matty, Mooney, you know what you're doing."
Remus turned bright red, which Sirius felt a bit proud about. He ought to be embarrassed for how he behaved with Matty, especially when it wasn't her fault.
"You know what I mean," Remus finally grumbled. "She's your little cousin, Sirius! She's nearly young enough to be my daughter. And she's beautiful and lively and young and whole and-"
"And you are not going to say that she's wrong for you just because you're a werewolf, that's insulting," Sirius spat. "C'mon, Remus, young as she is she's a grown woman and she has a right to make her own choices, even if I can't see why she makes the ones she makes."
Remus didn't say anything to that, which annoyed Sirius. He was even more of a kicked dog than Sirius had realized. He really thought that he was bad for Tonks somehow, which made Sirius feel a bit angry. It was like he was insulting the judgment of Sirius's baby cousin.
"Look," Sirius sighed, "I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but if I were you and Tonks was Matty I would ignore every thought about why I shouldn't and love her anyway. I mean, my cousin's not Matty, but I think there's plenty to love about her, and she wants you. Matty doesn't."
All right, he couldn't pass up that opportunity, no matter how friendly he and Remus were trying to be. Remus did have to protect what was his, after all. Remus wouldn't have done the same, but Sirius wasn't Remus and he didn't have to hold himself to such saintly standards.
And that was part of the reason Matty fell for Sirius, not Remus.
But they were friends, and he was too good of a friend to say something like that, especially because he knew that Remus would take it because he really didn't have anyone left.
Instead they drank the rest of their glasses of firewhiskey and talked about the three girls who were the center of both of their lives: Matty and the twins.
"I just can't believe how lucky you are, Sirius," Remus sighed. "Even with twelve years in Azkaban you still have the most beautiful woman I've ever known thoroughly in love with you and you have the most beautiful daughters and they adore you like you're Merlin himself or bloody Godric Gryffindor in spite of the fact that you weren't there for basically their whole lives. I don't know how you always pull off everything in your favor."
Sirius shrugged, thinking that it was a bit more complicated than that but not knowing how to voice such when so completely exhausted.
"I just hope that my luck continues on in this vein, then," Sirius sighed. "Now let's go to sleep before we start toasting my luck and we finish this whole fucking bottle."
A/N: My novella, Those We Trust, is now available on iTunes, so go buy your copy! It should be up in other places soon! Like me on Facebook for regular updates!
-C