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Chapter 16

Family Matters

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this anymore?

AN: Ack! Stupid ff.net wouldn't let me log in, so that's why this is so late. Stupid *mumbles under breath* I should've known something like that would eventually happen.

Thanks to everybody that's reviewed!

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  "What about your family?" Harry asked.

  Sirius slightly shook his head. "It's still a little hard for me to wrap my head around, but I'll try to explain this as well as I can." He gave a small smile at both of them before continuing.

  "When I was eighteen, my father died. Actually, I should start with my mother's death. She had died when I was eleven, in fact just before I got my letter to Hogwarts. Your father, Harry, helped me to adjust to this loss, for which I will be forever thankful." Another smile, this time directed solely at his godson. "When my father died, though, I was left with no family. Lily and James were close enough to be considered my family, but I no longer had a blood relative to call on in times of trouble.

  "However, when I was going through my father's things, I found several letters addressed to him from a woman whose name I didn't recognize. At first I thought that these were love letters, as they were at *least* a couple of decades old, and were from a crush of my father's when he was younger. Thinking like this, I just put them in a box to go through later and in time forgot about them.

  "When Lily was pregnant with you, though," an impish grin at Harry broke his speech for a moment before he went on, "she was rather bored and started to sort through the things that I hadn't. It was terribly curious of her, and you, Harry, get that from her and definitely not your father. After reading them, she made me read them as well.

  "Imagine my surprise to find that they had been written by my father's sister! At that point I had thought that I was totally alone, and this made me excited."

  Sirius frowned and stopped for a moment, dropping his eyes to the bedding.

  "Sirius?" Harry's question brought his eyes up to the two seated across from him, a grimace across his face.

  "I did some research and found that the woman had died two years earlier, leaving nothing much in the way of records. She had been married, but no trace of her maiden name had been left. No family, no other brothers or sisters, nothing. After finding this out, I shut it away.

  "Now we can jump ahead seventeen years to when you two were missing. I, in a frantic state, was bugging the hell out of everyone, even Remus...."

  "Even Remus?" Harry interrupted with a huge smile on his lips. "You must have been really bad!"

  Sirius playfully swiped Harry's head with his hand. "Shut up, you!"

  Aeryn laughed, reminding the two men of her presence. "So what happened to pull you out of that state? I mean, you're pretty calm today."

  Sirius smiled again. "Albus finally sat me down and started to explain a couple of things. At first I didn't want to believe him, thinking that all those years ago he could have helped with the pain of losing my father. Then I was angry and scared and terrified all at the same time that I would lose you," a soulful glance at Harry wiped all of their faces of happiness.

  "What did Granddad tell you?" Aeryn finally asked when it looked like Sirius wouldn't say anything for a while.

  "That he's my relative...." Sirius sighed as Harry and Aeryn looked at each other. "He had wondered about me back when I was in school, since I looked a lot like his great-grandson. All this time he had really thought that I might have been a distant cousin, since I always used my father's nickname, Hunter, as his true name. Plus, add the fact that my father must have changed our last name at some point or another, and so it was just a huge mystery to Dumbledore."

  "How...?" Harry's green eyes were full of questions as Aeryn started to bounce up and down.

  "Your father's name wouldn't have happened to be Orion and your aunt's name Anastasia, would it?" Her eyes were starting to sparkle just like Dumbledore's did when he was amused.

  Sirius nodded as he smiled. "Yes. Dad's real first name was Orion, but since he's considered the hunter of the night sky, he must have thought that would be just enough for anybody to not find him. Plus, adding the fact that he moved to England just after he left his family is really big, too."

  Aeryn gave a sparkling laugh. "That is so cool!"

  Harry looked between both of them. "Did I miss something?"

  Aeryn shook her head. "It's nothing that you missed. You just didn't have all the information."

  Sirius nodded again.

  "You see," she began, "when Aedyn and I started school, Dad sent us off on a search to use the library to see if we could find any mention of his brother's name, which happened to be Orion." Aeryn tilted her head at Sirius quickly. "What we didn't realize until both of us had graduated was that he had changed his name, either first or last. By that time, more than thirty years had passed since Dad had last seen his brother. Their parents and Orion had this huge argument and he walked out. Dad was just starting Salem Academy and didn't find out about this until a week later when their older sister owled him with the news. It makes sense when you say he moved right after his argument with his parents. Dad would certainly have never thought about that at that age."

  "So you two are cousins?" Harry asked after a couple of seconds.

  Sirius and Aeryn looked at each other before nodding. "I think so," Aeryn finally said.

  "Yes," the older man agreed.

  Harry turned to Aeryn. "That explains a lot," he stated.

  "What?" Her brow was furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

  He laughed. "You act a lot like how Remus said that Sirius did when they were in school."

  Aeryn looked at Sirius. Both of them wore shocked expressions before they burst out laughing.

  "Must run in the family," Sirius spluttered between laughs. All three of them started laughing so loud they almost missed the knocking on the door.

  "I'll get it!" Aeryn jumped off the bed and threw the door open revealing Snape standing on the other side, wearing a fierce scowl.

  "Albus sent me to remind you that your presence is requested at dinner." The potions master's frown deepened when he saw the large dog sitting in front of Harry. His dark eyes shot back to Aeryn as she gave a friendly smile.

  "Sure. We're just on our way," she said in a happy tone of voice.

  Snape eyed her for another second before stalking away.

  As soon as Aeryn shut the door, Sirius reappeared. "You are brave, my new cousin."

  Aeryn's smile faltered slightly. "About what?" she asked in a curious voice.

  "For smiling at Snape," was the answer.

  Harry laughed at both of their expressions. "Sirius, she's been smiling at Snape ever since they met before Christmas!"

  "What!?" Sirius' voice sounded shocked.

  "It keeps him guessing," Aeryn simply said as she walked over to one of the doors on the far side of the room. "Let me brush my hair and I'll be ready to go." She smoothed one hand over it and began muttering under her breath.

  Harry laughed again as he shook his head. "I don't think that I will ever understand her."

  Sirius gave him a long look. "I gave up trying to understand a lot of things a long time ago, and women top the list," he said as he started to laugh again.

  An enormous smile spread across both their faces as Aeryn came back into the room a minute later, Circe planted firmly across her shoulders.

  "What?!" she asked.

  "Nothing..." Both men answered her in a sing-song voice as they scrambled to the door.

  Sirius became Padfoot once more and trotted in the direction he knew that his and Lupin's rooms were located, leaving the other two to find their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

  "What do you think of that?" Harry asked as they went down a flight of stairs.

  Aeryn's nose scrunched up. "It's weird. When we never heard anything about Orion, Aedyn and I pretty much thought he never had a family or children. But now," she shook her head in confusion. "I think it's pretty cool that I have a cousin." She gave a small laugh and really looked at Harry. "What about you?"

  Harry narrowed his eyes in thought. "I'm glad that Snuffles has some family," he eventually said.

  "That means you have family, too, Harry."

  He whipped his head around and stared at her. "What do you mean by that?"

  Aeryn frowned at him. "You didn't think that you were without family, did you?"

  Harry's eyes dulled before sharpening as Aeryn lightly hit him in the shoulder.

  "You idiot!" She stopped in the middle of the deserted hall a corridor down from their destination. "You thought that, didn't you? Snuffles is your family, I know all the Weasleys accept you as family, now I do as well! I'm also pretty sure that Granddad has considered you family from the first day you were born."

  He looked at her carefully in contemplation. He had never thought of it in that fashion before. His desire to be part of a family had blinded him to the fact that you didn't need to be related by blood in order to be part of a family. Hell, Snape could play the role of a detested uncle if he really thought about it.

  Snape.... That reminded him about the potion Aeryn wanted to test. That thought led to the one about his question of what she wanted to talk about.

  "What did you mean about teaching us about the shadow world?"

  Aeryn's face fell. "It will take a long time to explain, so it'll have to be after dinner," she said as they entered the corridor that held the Great Hall. "The reason I want to talk to you separately is because there are things in the shadow world that are... dangerous to a person's sanity."

  Harry gazed at her steadily as they stopped just before the doors to the Great Hall. "Well, then. We'll have to take our chances if it means that we can win this war. In the meantime, how about we start planning Monday's lesson?"

  She laughed. "You're just nervous about teaching, aren't you?"

  He nodded as he opened the door. "Absolutely terrified."

  "Well, the first thing to remember is that there are no stupid questions, only *very* odd ones."

  "Should I act naturally?"

  "By all means, do," Aeryn replied solemnly. "By all means."

******

  Draco's left eyebrow twitched nervously as students began filing into the Great Hall. Only he and Marty were seated at the teacher's table, a move that Dumbledore had insisted on as he planned to make an announcement as soon as everybody was gathered for dinner.

  "Where are they?" Marty finally asked.

  He shook his head. "Last I knew they were both headed for the room."

  "They wouldn't get into any trouble, would they?"

  Draco laughed. "Knowing what I've seen of them together, probably."

  Marty smiled. "Yes. I can see that."

  They were interrupted as Snape came through the door next to the teacher's table, a sharp noise sounding as the doorknob hit the stone of the wall. Draco had the feeling that it would not be wise of anybody to try to talk to him at the moment. He watched the potions master for a moment before Harry and Aeryn walking in the Great Hall caught his attention. Much of the students' chatter had halted abruptly at the sight of them.

  Both of them, though, were deeply involved in a conversation and totally ignored the strange looks directed their way. They walked to the far end of the table and took the last two seats, not even noticing that they were seated next to Snape, who glowered so fiercely that Draco was afraid that his face would become stuck that way. Hiding a chuckle, he glanced at Marty, who seemed to be having the same problem as he.

  "How long do you think it'll take those two to notice?" Marty whispered, leaning closer to Draco.

  He quickly looked back in the direction indicated before giving a slight smile. "I can't even begin to imagine."

  Marty gave a quiet laugh and turned her attention to Dumbledore, who had risen from his seat.

  "Attention, everyone!"

  The hall went quiet.

  "I am pleased to announce that Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter have been returned safely from their journey. Please don't ask where they have been, because I'm not entirely sure I want to know the whole story." Blue eyes twinkled merrily at his little joke, setting off the older students and most of the teachers. "Instead, I welcome you to listen to what they do have to say, as they will be your new Dueling instructors."

  Confusion had swept over the hall when they didn't see their classmates. Now it was multiplied by this mysterious news.

  "Albus?" Madam Hooch, who hadn't been at the staff meeting the night before, asked the question that seemed to be on almost everybody's mind, "where are they?"

  Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "Why, right in front of you!" He nodded in Harry's and Draco's direction, indicating for them to stand.

  Draco shot a look at Harry who gave a sheepish shrug and rose from his chair. As he did so as well, a gasp rose from the students.

  "Draky?!"

  His face fell as he recognized Pansy Parkinson's voice. Just what he didn't need. Next to him, Marty started giggling as he looked across the table to find Harry holding back laughter.

  "Harry?!" Ginny Weasley's shout echoed in the wake of the laughter from the teacher's table.

  Ron Weasley's face grew red as he clapped one hand over his sister's mouth. "I told you about this a couple of minutes ago!"

  Dumbledore gave a soft chuckle before he continued. "Now that the announcement is out of the way, eat up!"

  At the Gryffindor table, the seventh years were chattering excitedly about what had happened earlier in the day. Those that were around them were trying to ask as many questions as possible.

  "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ginny was asking Ron and Hermione.

  Ron gave her an odd look. "I would have if I could have found you after we talked to Harry, but you seemed to have disappeared!"

  Ginny blushed hard enough that her face matched her hair. Next to her, Colin seemed to wiggle slightly.

  Hermione arched an eyebrow at Ron, who threw back an exasperated look.

  "You should see their room!" Seamus was telling a couple of fifth years. "It's huge! But when we got there, Aeryn and Snape were arguing and fighting, and she didn't show any sign of backing down."

  Dean laughed. "Neither did Harry."

  "Well, that's Harry for ya," Seamus countered, leaving the others confused as to what exactly he was talking about.

  "What are you talking about, Seamus?" Neville was looking between Seamus and Dean.

  The other boy shook his head as he looked at Neville and Seamus. "I have absolutely no clue, so don't look at me," Dean answered.

  Seamus frowned at them before a smile appeared. "Nobody understands me," he tried to pout.

  Lavender reached across the table and tried to take a swipe at him. "And you never noticed this in the last seven years?"

  Parvati laughed at the look on the sandy haired boy's face as she turned back to Lavender. "That was excellent!"

  Lavender nodded. "I know! I've been taking lessons from Hermione."

  "What's that?" Ron gave them an intrigued look when they mentioned his friend's name.

  Both girls giggled before Parvati told him, "We're not telling."

  Ron sighed as they went back to talking to each other. He gave a quick glance in the direction of the teacher's table, wishing that Harry would still be sitting next to him. While it had been great to see his friend well and alive, he wished that Harry hadn't changed so much.

  "Ron?" Ginny's face wore a worried expression. "Did you owl Mom, yet?"

  He nodded. "Yeah. I sent Pig out when I couldn't find you. I figured that she would want to know right away."

  She gave him an odd look that told him she didn't quite believe him. Ron dismissed it, since he had only told her what was going on. Maybe she thought that there was something behind this. He would just have to wait and see what she came up with. Besides, he was pretty sure that their parents would be able to straighten out anything that he couldn't. It wasn't like she didn't know about the order, but this didn't have anything to do with it.

  Shaking off that thought, he dug into the strawberry shortcake that was being served.

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  Snape scowled as he sat in his seat at the teacher's table. He wasn't particularly pleased by having to sit next to Potter and Negre, but for once the girl didn't seem to be even trying to tease or prod or one of the many other things she had been pulling the last week. Instead, the two seemed to have continued on with their intense discussion over what they would be discussing in their upcoming Dueling Class.

  Dumbledore had talked to him about it, since he had been roped into teaching the Dueling Class back in Potter's second year with Lockhart. *That* fool had barely even enough sense to know which end of his wand he should hold. It was particularly fitting, though, that the idiot had ended up with getting a taste of his own medicine. For once he had been glad that the youngest Weasley boy had an old wand on its last legs.

  Personally, he wasn't very interested in knowing what exactly Potter could do with the class. In fact, he was looking forward to watching the boy... man... no, he couldn't call him that – it was too mature and he was certain the Potter would never be that – Potter messing up his first try at teaching. Another part of him would enjoy seeing Draco teaching. When the boy hadn't been trying to act like his father – such as in front of anybody who wasn't a Slytherin, well, Crabbe, Goyle, and himself – he was particularly interesting. The blond had a sharp wit and an astounding knowledge of certain subjects. He was always good at potions, and not just because Snape favored him. The boy had an instinct about the various properties of certain ingredients in each potion. It wasn't like Granger's book facts, which weren't quite the same.

  Which brought him back to the question of the dueling class. Dumbledore had said that for the first couple of classes, the entire school would be in the great hall after dinner. After the first week, it would be divided into years. That first week would be to demonstrate, or to help the students re-learn, the basics of dueling. However, the headmaster had told him that there were certain rules the four were going to throw out the window. In the time of war, being polite was a thing of the past.

  Still, he wouldn't mind seeing Potter talk to a snake again, even if he did feel jealous about that particular gift.