Blind Man Shooting at the World

Sweet child in time, you'll see the line

Line that's drawn between the good and the bad

See the blind man shooting at the world

Bullets flying, mmm taking toll

Child in Time - Deep Purple

"Robert?" Remus questioned uneasily, with a perturbed look upon his face. "Please tell me you don't mean Robert Potter?"

Idly, Marvolo thought that Black's devastated expression could have hardly indicated anything other than that conclusion. Fortunately, though, only he, Remus, Severus, and Regulus were close enough to have heard Sirius' revelation or even understand that that is what was going on - Marvolo did not want to deal with Bella (who was already baying for blood) to realise quite yet that it was Samael's blood-brother who had formed this obsessive infatuation with him.

"Black!" Having noticed that Sirius hadn't answered Remus' question, Marvolo stepped forward and prodded him quite firmly in the shoulder with the tip of his wand. "Robert Potter?" he queried with a raised eyebrow.

Remus by this point was being held in Severus' arms and both were sporting queasy expressions, though Severus' did look decidedly more furious than ill, and Regulus had taken a seat beside his elder brother and was holding him supportively.

"I...This is my fault," Sirius gasped out, burying his face in his hands.

Marvolo's eyebrow rose further in incredulity. "Are you telling us that you forced your ward to author such licentious obscenity?"

"What? No!" Sirius eyebrows furrowed in lost bewilderment. "He told me in his third year that he wanted to befriend Samael and I suggested that he write to him so they could get to know one another," he explained desperately, "but I didn't know he was writing such filth! Or that he was writing to him anonymously!" his eyes were frantic as he turned to Severus and Remus, "but I should have known that he was still writing to Samael and what he was writing, don't you get it? I knew he was obsessed with Samael! Snape, I told you that last year! I told you I didn't know how Robert was going to react if Samael didn't want to be friends, and now I find out he's been harassing him anonymously?" Sirius tugged harshly on the roots of his hair as he buried his head in his hands once again.

Fury instantly began to cloud Marvolo's vision. "Are you blaming Samael for this?" he hissed indignantly, his magic beginning to whip around him menacingly.

"No!" Sirius denied vehemently, shaking his head for emphasis. "None of this is Samael's fault! It's my fault. If only I was a better role model to Robert growing up then maybe he wouldn't have done this! I just don't know what to do with him! He doesn't respond to my letters and he always goes to the Weasleys' for the holidays! He's turning more and more into James with each and every day and there's nothing I can do to stop it!"

Sirius shook off his brother's embrace and began pacing the area muttering to himself under his breath, which drew several startled looks from the remaining guests. Noticing this, Marvolo waved them towards the Manor and was satisfied when he saw Lucius ushering them indoors.

"Don't you remember how James acted around Lily, Mooney?" Sirius enquired frenziedly into Remus' startled eyes "how he refused to take 'no' for an answer, how he practically stalked her everywhere and cursed anyone who came near her," he nodded his head towards Severus and then released a maniacal laugh, "and we...Merlin! We thought it was romantic," he spat the word, "We thought it showed his dedication to her! He was harassing her and I thought it was love! I defended every action he took and even helped him! Merlin, what I fucking idiot I was - am!"

"Sirius," Regulus whispered quietly but his brother didn't hear him.

"And now his son is acting the same way! Stalking Samael, harassing him anonymously! You read the letter! He's going to harm Draco if he sees him with Samael. He actually believes Samael is in danger! He's deluded! And I. Didn't. Fucking. Realise! I didn't realise how truly fucked up Robert was!"

Sirius collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the emotional exertion of the past ten minutes. Marvolo eyed his brother-in-law with dispassionate eyes.

"Get up!" he instructed coldly, nudging the elder Black with his boot.

"Marvolo!" Regulus hissed warningly.

"I said," Marvolo ignored his husband and nudged Sirius once more. "Get up!"

Sirius resisted Marvolo for a few more seconds until another nudge - this time alarmingly close to his groin - persuaded him to slowly get to his feet. "Listen to me, and listen well, Sirius Orion Black," Marvolo instructed firmly, "Yes, you have made many mistakes in your life and have almost definitely had a negative influence on Robert Potter's life," Sirius whined pathetically. Marvolo ignored Regulus' outraged exclamation and continued. "However, if Robert Potter has not been affected by the obvious many positive changes you have made in your life then that is his responsibility. Yes, he is a child, however, he is old enough to think for himself and his actions are ultimately his responsibility."

Sirius stared wide-eyed at his brother-in-law, "But I should have realised that he was harassing Samael!" Sirius protested.

Marvolo held up a hand and released an annoyed sigh. "That is neither here nor there, Black. You say he hasn't been responding to your letters and that he spends his holidays with the Weasleys, yes?" Marvolo waited for Sirius' nod, "then you could not have known what it was he was planning. Perhaps, you should have denied him holidaying with the Weasley family and kept him at Grimmauld, perhaps that would have made him realise his mistakes or perhaps that may have caused him to act out and send a cursed letter to Samael instead of that filth, or perhaps his adolescent brooding and hurtful words may have pushed you over the edge and caused you to revert to your alcoholism." Sirius' eyes were watery as he stared shame-facedly at the ground. Seeing this, Marvolo softened his tone. "Or perhaps Regulus and I should have intervened."

"The point I am making is that there are many situations that may have occurred from your action or inaction. Perhaps, you are not suited for raising a teenager," he withheld his smirk at Sirius' sharply indrawn breath, "but it seems to me that Robert Potter was broken long before you took over his guardianship. The only thing you could have done, and have succeeded in doing, is show him the importance of introspection and making amends for your mistakes. If Robert has not listened then that is not your burden to bear."

"Marvolo is correct." Sirius whipped his head up to stare disbelievingly at Severus Snape. "You did warn me about your concerns about Potter's behaviour, and not only was it my responsibility to watch his behaviour at Hogwarts but it was also my responsibility to ensure you received the support you needed."

"What? No! Why would that be your job?" Sirius hurriedly denied.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and met Sirius' eyes. "As a teacher and senior member of staff, it is my responsibility to ensure that all students have a safe and healthy home-life. You - a guardian - told me that you had concerns over Robert Potter's emotional health and development and I did nothing to support you. So, I should indeed share some portion of the blame. "

Regulus once again wrapped his elder brother in a supportive embrace and beamed appreciatively at his friend and husband. "See, Sirius?" Regulus whispered, "You should not blame yourself for everything. You told me that you were struggling with Robert and I also didn't do anything to help."

"Reggie, no!" Sirius denied, "I just had you back in my life, I wasn't going to burden you with my responsibilities."

"What did you say earlier, Sirius? Family first?" Regulus smirked victoriously, knowing his brother couldn't deny his own words. "We're family, Siri, and that means you can turn to us for help and we'll be here for you. You're not alone anymore."

"Reggie…" Sirius whispered brokenly, and turned fully into Regulus' chest and cried for years of shame, regret, and loneliness. "I've missed you so much."

"Oh you big sap," Remus murmured with a watery affectionate grin and broke away from Severus' embrace to hug Sirius as well.

Severus and Marvolo regarded both their husbands' warily as Severus sidled next to his Lord. "I, for one, am not touching him."

Marvolo chuckled lowly at Severus' familiar disposition and amusedly told the man a thought that had struck him earlier. "You do realise, Severus, that since I consider you as a son then that means Sirius is technically your uncle?"

The potion-master shuddered violently. "Circe!" he exclaimed uneasily, "I think I am going to vomit."

"Just what do you think is happening out there?" Andras enquired with badly-concealed curiosity.

Andras, Ginny, Samael, and Draco were all staring out the veranda window and had been watching the five men interact outside ever since Marvolo had gestured for them to evacuate the garden.

"It looks to me that Sirius has received some bad news," Ginny answered. "Look, he's just fallen to the ground!"

"He's done what?" a new voice interrupted gleefully, and the four teenagers turned to see Bellatrix eagerly hurrying to stand beside them. "Oh! I haven't seen him do that since Grandfather Arcturus' pet kneazle died," she informed them with a wide grin on her face "I never knew why he was so upset; the cursed thing always used to bite his ankles." Bella turned around to find her sister. "Cissy, look! Sirius is in hysterics just like when he discovered that Balthazar died!"

"Bellatrix." Narcissa's voice was faintly disapproving as she cast a pointed look at the children. Lucius, for his part, was surreptitiously trying to strain his neck to see outside.

Bella pouted with a wink to the four children. "Oh look, he's back on his feet," she announced, and the teens all turned to look outside again.

"Come on Bella," Rodolphus bravely took his wife's arm and led her away from the window, "Leave them be," the witch resisted until Rodolphus whispered something in her ear.

Samael made out the words 'Oster' and 'fertility' and firmly decided he did not want to find out what his parents had planned for the evening. If Ginny's giggle and Andras' groan were any indications, then they too had also heard what his father had said to his mother.

"I have been meaning to ask, Andras," Samael caught the young Snape's attention before he could dwell too long on his parent's sexual life. "Will Granger be residing with you this summer like she did last year?"

Both Ginny and Andras frowned. "No," Andras replied, "Her parents asked her to return to the family home for Summer and she has acquiesced."

"I don't like it!" Ginny announced suddenly. "Her parents actually told her that she was an abomination!" the young girl's hazel eyes blared with righteous fury. "She's practically my sister - well she will be if Fred and George actually get their act together - and her parents don't treat her with the respect or love she deserves!"

Samael internally frowned at this confirmation of Granger's home-life.

Andras nodded absently and stroked Ginny's hand reassuringly. "My parents are happy to host her again," he informed the group.

"Yes, Severus must have loved having a live-in chaperone," Draco smirked when Andras blushed. Ginny just smirked widely.

"You're hardly one to talk!" Andras muttered.

"The difference is..." Draco replied in a holier-than-art-thou tone of voice that was only partially put-upon, "Samael and I are betrothed."

Samael rolled his eyes at Draco's antics. "Dragon," Samael whispered lowly into Draco's ear, delighted at the shiver Draco couldn't hide. "Play nice." Turning to Andras and Ginny, Samael said "Ignore Draco, I am sure that Granger will contact you if she changes her mind... or she will escape if she considers herself in peril."

"Samael!" Ginny said, aghast. Her pallor paling further in worry over her best female friend.

Samael merely raised an eyebrow at Andras and Draco. "You both know that muggles can be vicious towards magical children," he declared dispassionately, squeezing the head of his cane and pointedly ignoring Draco's soothing hand on the small of his back. "If her parents have been emotionally abusing her then they could very well escalate to physical violence."

"Andras," Ginny whispered, clutching his arm tightly. "We have to convince her to stay with us."

"I know, Gin," he replied, his voice equally serious. "She'll be safe, don't you worry."

Ginny could only hope Andras was correct. She could not bear it if any harm befell the witch her brothers were slowly falling in love with.

"...and now to conclude our final meeting of this school year, we must discuss the logistics for our new intake of students," Dumbledore paused and glanced over the top of his half-moon glasses at the assembled staff in front of him. "As most of you will be aware, the bill passed in the wizengamot earlier in the year allows students with a creature heritage-"

"Ahem."

The staff all turned to stare at Severus in varying degrees of shock - they had never seen the Potions Master look ill let alone cough in public no less. Was the man sick?

Albus eyed Severus for a moment before continuing. "We are going to have several creature students attend Hogwarts-"

"Ahem."

Severus cough had once again interrupted the Headmaster's rhetoric and the Potions Master was barely restraining a satisfied smirk when he saw the brief flash of irritation appear on the Headmaster's face. Filius, though, was openly chortling from atop a pile of cushions and Victoria was outright grinning at the Headmaster. They were all wondering if Albus had cottoned on to why Severus was interrupting him - Severus and Filius had each bet ten galleons against Victoria that Albus would realise.

"As I was saying," Albus once again attempted his speech. "Not only will we have creature students joining our intake of first years but also several creature students joining older year groups. Ones to look out for-"

"Ahem!"

Severus' cough was much louder this time, and Pomona turned in her seat to pat him heartily on the back.

"Do you need a moment outside, Severus?" Dumbledore asked pointedly, quite irate at the constant interruptions. "Or a glass of water, perhaps?" He brought his hands together in a sharp clap and a glass of water instantly appeared on a low table beside the Potions Master.

Severus glanced stoically at the Headmaster. "Thank you, Albus," he murmured, making no move to drink the water provided.

Albus internally glared at the insufferable Potions Master. "Right, the number of first-years this year is seventy-three," Albus paused as an expected outburst of disbelief rang out across the staff room, "Yes, this is quite exciting. The number is far higher than the twenty-seven we accepted this year just gone. However, thirty-seven of our new intake are students with creature heritage. The full breakfown is eleven vampires, nine veela or part-veela, seven werewolves, five part-goblins, three werewolves, a centaur, and a maledictus."

"Vampires!" Trelawney suddenly wailed, seemingly awoken from her dazed stupor at the sudden excitement happening around her.

"Werewolves!" this time it was Minerva's voice that cut across the room. "The Shrieking Shack has not been used for two decades!" she protested in a thick Scottish brogue. "I sincerely doubt the shack would accommodate one werewolf, let alone three."

Albus waved his hands to call for silence. "Yes, I understand all of your concerns," he declared, not quite realising only two of his staff had spoken out. "The shack will have just have to do, I am afraid, Minerva. We could recast a few of the charms but other than that, we do not have any other suitable location to house them."

"Pardon my interruption," Severus' silky voice rang out, "however, I must question why our werewolf students would require the use of the Shrieking Shack in the first place?"

"Why Severus!" Albus' surprise was evident, "I thought you would be the first to understand that it is for them to transform safely during the full moon. We cannot have them endanger our other students, or endanger themselves," he quickly added on seeing the glare from Filius.

"And I would have thought, Albus," Severus sneered viciously, severely irritated with Albus' mention to his own tumultuous past with his now-husband. "Considering you are the Headmaster of this school and Chief Warlock that you would have realised there is no need for our werewolf students to use such a disgusting property," Severus paused to gauge Albus' reaction before continuing "Did you, perhaps, miss the part of the bill that stated werewolf students are to be provided with the wolfsbane potion, which would render them in full control of their transformation?" He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"My boy, you must understand that even if they do use the wolfsbane…"

"Not 'if', Albus," Filius interrupted firmly, "They will take the wolfsbane potion. That is the law and we are here to make sure it is followed."

"Of course, Filius," Albus smiled pleasantly, "but you must understand that the students cannot remain inside the school during the full moon."

"Of course not," Severus readily agreed, "However, three transformed werewolves could not fit inside the Shrieking Shack."

"I will not have them inside the school!" Dumbledore insisted and Severus was mildly surprised at Albus' sudden concern for the safety of his students considering he hadn't really been overly concerned with that over the past few decades.

"No-one is saying that they will be inside the school," Severus returned easily, "If you had actually bothered to read the guidelines thoroughly rather than skim them, as I highly suspect you must have done, you would have seen Lord Slytherin's suggestion for the students to make use of the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs have already agreed to the students making use of their land during the full moon and have promised to keep a watchful eye to ensure they do not fall into any harm."

Dumbledore looked stunned for a moment before he seemed to gather himself together. "The Forbidden Forest is out-of-bounds to students, it is far too dangerous even if the centaurs will be protecting them. There is a colony of acromantula, let alone other creatures-"

"We have a colony of acromantula!" Minerva's voice was aghast, as she stared at Albus in horror. "And you have not relocated them? Away from a castle of children?"

"Aragog and his children wouldn't hurt a fly!" Hagrid piped up from the back of the room. "Isn't that right, Headmast'r?"

"Ah yes, and that is why Potter and Weasley had to be treated by Victoria following a meeting with Aragog?" Severus enquired lightly.

Minerva whirled to stare at Severus. "You knew!"

"Of course I did, Minerva, because Victoria asked me to brew an anti-venom draught to ensure your students were not adversely affected by their encounter. I thought seeing as you were the Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor that you would have been well apprised of the wellbeing of your students."

The Scottish wix stammered before glaring at Albus once again. "Well, Albus? I have just discovered that two of my lions faced down a colony of acromantula - a colony that you were aware of - and you did not see fit to inform me."

"I believe it would be best to discuss this at a later date, Minerva," the headmaster stated gently, attempting to calm the witch for the time-being, "Now, if we return to the topic at hand, I think we can all agree that the forest is hardly a suitable place for the werewolf students to roam, so I am afraid I must insist they spend the full moon inside the shack."

"You insist?" Filius repeated quietly before raising his voice, "You insist these children transform and spend the nights in a shack that is falling to pieces! A building that would hardly allow them enough space to sleep comfortably? Werewolves are pack beings, Albus. They huddle together to sleep! And there sure isn't enough room in the shack for them to do this. It is also in their nature to roam during the full moon and you are talking about imprisoning them? Are you trying to isolate them? Make them despise themselves?" Filius was all but snarling by the end, showing the Headmaster his pointed teeth.

"Now, now, Filius, I do believe you are overexaggerating and misinterpreting what I am saying. I would hardly wish to imprison them but you must agree that I have to keep the children in the castle safe from the creature students and I cannot do that if they are left free to roam the grounds at night. What if a student gets out of bed and is attacked?"

Filius stared at Albus with disgust and hatred. "So you're happy to prioritise normal children over ones with a different heritage?"

"Not at all!" Dumbledore angrily denied. "But our students deserve to be kept safe from creatures!"

"Oh for the love of-" Filius cut himself off and waved his arms in defeat. "They're magical beings, Albus, not creatures! You're willingly discriminating against students who aren't purely human and it's disgusting to me...and Severus and Victoria." He waved his arm towards the two Slytherin staff members who were both now openly glaring at the Headmaster but Filius hadn't finished yet. He jumped spryly from his tower of cushions and glared around the room. "If any of you hold similar beliefs to Albus then I would rather you did not talk to me unless it relates to work. If you cannot respect that our new students are magical beings and not creatures then you obviously do not respect me and I cannot listen to this tripe any longer."

And with that, the short professor stalked from the room, leaving many of his colleagues to consider him in a new light.

A/N: Thank you to all of your lovely reviews and messages! I really needed to hear your words of love and support at that moment. 3