"Boys, I know you're in here. Come out at once"
Orion wondered for a moment if he was going to have to repeat the order, when finally, the armchair in the corner of the drawing room was slowly pushed forward and his two young sons crawled out from behind the squashed space between it and the wall.
Orion stepped forward to stand over the two pyjama-clad boys. He unfastened his travelling cloak, a slight cloud of dust from the Floo fireplace floating down to the floor, and slung it over the arm of the sofa for the elf to deal with later.
"Now, would either of you care to explain to me what you are both doing out of bed at this hour?" He folded his arms expectantly.
Five-year-old Regulus looked suitably sorrowful for their crimes, staring woefully down at his slippers.
His elder brother, however, stared boldly up at his father, wide-eyed and unapologetic.
"We were waiting for you, Papa" said Sirius.
"You both ought to be asleep at this hour" Orion scolded. "This is no hour for children to be awake, especially for no good reason"
He turned to his younger son.
"Regulus?" The boy flinched at the sound of his name. "Have you nothing to say?"
A pair of grey eyes, wide as saucers and glistening wetly, peeked up at him before returning to stare at his slippers.
"Sorry, Papa" said Regulus.
Orion gave a silent, satisfied nod before returning his attention to his elder son.
"Sirius?"
"But we did have a good reason!" Sirius protested defiantly. Orion raised his eyebrows in surprise at the boy's nerve. "We had to wait for you to come home"
"And why, pray tell, is that?" Orion forced himself to stifle his peculiar urge to smile. It wouldn't do to let his air of authority slip.
"You haven't seen the work I did today"
Sirius stuck his hand into the pocket of his dressing gown and dug out a crumpled piece of parchment. He held it up to Orion.
Taken aback, Orion took the parchment from the boy and smoothed it out. He peered at the shaky pencil lines and wobbly letters laid out in what appeared to be some sort of diagram.
"It's us" said Sirius, clearly impatient with his father's lack of reaction.
Realisation dawned on Orion as he stared closer at the parchment. He realised that the clusters of untidy letters formed a collection of names, all connected by the wobbly lines. A family tree. Their family tree.
Orion cleared his throat and stiffened.
"Yes, well" he said, folding the parchment neatly and slipping it into his pocket. "You ought to have waited until tomorrow to show me. Instead of seeing fit to go creeping about the house unattended. You know full well you are not allowed downstairs unsupervised, particularly at this hour"
Sirius's bottom lip stuck out in a frustrated pout, his face furrowing into an all-too-familiar scowl.
Orion prayed the boy wouldn't launch himself into one of his infamous tantrums. The last thing he needed was for Walburga to awaken and realise this unsuitable state of affairs and ignite her famously loud temper. His head pounded enough already from the lateness of the hour at which he'd been obliged to remain at the Rosiers'. It never did to leave a party early, but Orion was far from a lover of late night functions.
To his relief, Sirius simply fell into a sulk, folding his arms across his chest and scowling down at the floor.
"Have you nothing else to say, Sirius?"
It was quite clear from Orion's tone what the father expected of his son, and Sirius was a bright and clever boy who surely knew what he was expected to say next. However, he was also a boy prone to ignoring what he clearly knew was the right thing to do.
"No" he said in a voice as bold as brass.
Orion's face fell into a deep, disappointed frown.
"Very well then" he said, and pointed to the doorway leading to the staircase. "Bed. Now. I will speak with your mother about this in the morning"
The eyes of both boys flickered with alarm at the mention of their mother. But whereas Regulus maintained his appropriately-worried demeanour, Sirius's defiant glare was firmly back in place a moment later.
"Fine" he said and grabbed his younger brother's hand.
The pair of them headed towards the staircase, Sirius marching, Regulus simply being pulled along.
Orion watched his boys leave and sighed hopelessly. They really ought to deal with this worrying rebellious streak which seemed to be taking hold in their eldest son soon, before the weeds of insolence were too firmly rooted within him to be killed off.
His hand found his way into his robes pocket, his fingers running over the scrap of parchment his son had broken so many rules to give him. He would have to ensure it was properly filed away before it was further damaged.