Chapter 35. Black Return
***Flashback***
Albus Dumbledore apparated for what was probably the eleventh time or so in the last hour; he was growing tired, yet he could stop, not yet, not until he'd found her…
The last few days had been so chaotic: first the attack on the Potters, which had killed Lily and James though, surprisingly, fifteen-month-old Harry had survived…then that fateful confrontation between Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black in the middle of muggle London, Albus actually still had trouble believing Sirius could be that evil…and yet the proof was right there: he'd betrayed the Potters, then he'd killed a friends of theirs when he'd been confronted in the middle of a crowded street, so many had died because of that…
And that hadn't even been the end of it, the attack on the other Blacks: Daniel, his wife Sonomi and their daughter Tomoyo…Daniel was dead while the other two were missing and presumed dead as well. And the Longbottoms…
So much tragedy, in such little time.
And yet Albus couldn't find it in himself to care much about any of them, not right then, right then he could only think about one thing, or more like one person: Alyssa, his darling daughter. He knew she'd been having a hard time the last few days, not only had she lost so many of her friends in less than a week, but because of what her husband had done, she was being carefully watched by the Ministry. And Albus still couldn't understand how his Alyssa could have married someone like Sirius Black, someone so evil, and yet not even Dumbledore had realized the truth about him in time…
Sirius Black was supposed to be James Potter's best friend, as good as his brother, and yet he'd betrayed the man, a betrayal that had cost two lives already, and could possibly end up costing more…Alyssa and her young baby included…
So fixed Albus was in finding his daughter, that he didn't seem to notice the fact that he could no longer recall the name of his own grandchild…
Focused on nothing but his own daughter, the most important person in his life, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry apparated yet again, this time to an empty alley some blocks away from one of the side entrances to Diagon Alley (the Leaky Cauldron was the main one, but not the only one). He was just about to begin searching again when he heard a breathless female voice yelling some yards away:
"Leave me alone!" she yelled.
He knew who the voice belonged to immediately: his daughter, his Alyssa. With that Albus instantly hurried in the direction he could hear her, she was still yelling:
"Why do you want me?!" her voice was beginning to get on the hysterical side. "I've done nothing wrong, get away!"
For a moment Albus feared that the Aurors might be after her; if they'd decided to finally stop just stalking her and arrest her as accessory to her husband's crime…and it obviously didn't help that she'd pretty much went missing a couple of days earlier. Albus had no idea where she'd gone or why, but we feared the Ministry's reaction to the whole thing…
As he rounded the corner his fears turned into terror, the young witch, his daughter, had just tripped and fallen onto the cement hard; but what was worse was that it wasn't aurors after hers, it was dementors…
The feminine scream echoed around the almost empty street as the coldness settled around, any happy thoughts beginning to disappear from the father-daughter pair.
"No!" she yelled. "Get off me! Let me go!" She took out her wand. "Expecto Patronum!"
The image of a silver unicorn burst from the wand, but vanished shortly after. The witch was too panicked to do a strong-enough patronus.
Albus wanted to help, but wasn't sure how, there were at least a dozen dementors between him and his daughter, and if he were to use his own patronus in that moment they would only end up moving closer to her…
"Someone, please, help me." She began crying.
Her cry, added to her form finally collapsing on the empty street was enough to make her father take drastic measures; he apparated from his spot at the beginning of the block to right beside her in an instant, his wand already raised to the approaching dementors.
"Leave her alone!" He demanded strongly. "Expecto Patronum!"
A Patronus of a young woman, so much like the one lying in that moment at his feet, appeared and fought the dementors.
"Fa…ther…" The yong witch barely whispered.
A dementor tried to blindside the wizard, approaching the fallen witch from where they would least expect it, but he was alert enough to stop the creature from getting too close.
"No!" he yelled, brandishing his wand in that direction. "Get off her!"
He continued battling the dementors, managing, ever so slowly, to push them back with his own patronus and a shield. Albus began moving, step by step, driving the dementors away with all his effort.
After what seemed like forever, when he apparently had the last dementor at wand point, he took a second to look behind him, to make sure his daughter was already recovering; she should be able to, he'd driven the dementors far away enough…only he hadn't, one dementor had managed to slip past him, and in that moment he was close to where the young witch lay, so painfully close. Before the aged wizard could so much as think of something to do, he was already upon the young woman, holding her limp body against it, her tear-stained face covered by its own hooded one…
"Ahh!" the cry of soul-ripping pain echoed in the night.
And it was the last sound that woman made.
"No…" Albus murmured, horrified. "No…"
His patronus vanished, but somehow the dementors didn't seem interested in him anymore, the terrible creatures left, even as the wizard hurried back to his daughter's side, dropping on his knees beside her. He tried to call her, but it was useless, she didn't respond, she didn't open her eyes, she wouldn't…she couldn't…
"No, this can't be true." Albus said as he kept trying to make her react, all the while knowing it was useless. "No! Aly no!"
She was gone, his Alyssa, his beloved daughter, the most important person in his life since his wife had died almost two decades before, was gone, forever…
***End of Flashback***
In the secret chamber, deep in the catacombs of Hogwarts castle, Long held the unconscious Naoko in his arms, she'd fainted when her mind had been unable to process the fact of just who the woman laying on the stone was, but mainly, the fact that she'd just woken.
Sirius had rushed to help the woman in question the moment she began trying to move, she had no strength to do so on his own. And while his mind had a hard time comprehending, his heart and soul had no doubt at all who the woman was: Natasha, his Naty, his wife…
Sirius ripped off the gossamer-like veil and then helped the woman get off the table, Harry and Hermione rushing to help as well, while Tomoyo stayed with her cousin, making sure she was alright. The rest of the teenagers could just watch, the same as Albus, who didn't seem to be doing much more than breathing in that moment.
Eventually the group unanimously decided to leave the chambers and made their way for the Sorcerers' Apartments, where Sirius immediately took his wife to his own bed, where he would be able to look after her, care for her, like his daughter and the others had looked after him during the first weeks after his return.
Albus followed the group, not paying much attention to where they were going, a part of him hadn't yet finished processing what he'd just seen, and he wouldn't for a while.
.-.
Naoko woke an hour or so later, it took her a few seconds, but soon she realized she was in her own bed. For a minute or so she had trouble recalling what day it was, what had happened, but the moment she did, she instantly jumped off her bed, not even caring to get some shoes on, or the fact that she was still wearing the same clothes as earlier, she dashed through the private sitting room she and her father shared before entering his bedroom, not even processing the fact that no one had told her the one she was looking for was there, she was just following her instincts.
Three steps after entering the bedroom, Naoko froze in place, she could see two figures laying on the big bed comfortably: her father, he was sitting against the headboard, pillows keeping him comfortable in that position, while in his arms he held a woman with long straight golden brown hair, a woman that, until that moment, Naoko had only seen in old pictures…
"M…Mum?" Naoko whispered, her voice barely above a whisper.
The clear blue eyes of the woman snapped open, somehow, regardless of how low Naoko's voice had been, she'd heard, she'd heard and, unlike so many others, she knew who Naoko was the moment their eyes met:
"Naoko…" She whispered, her eyes fixed straight on the girl's. "My sweet, beautiful child… you're alright, you're safe…I'm so glad."
The moment the woman opened her arms, Naoko cared about nothing else, she rushed to her mother and jumped straight into her arms. She didn't care if she was acting like a little girl, she didn't care if she was crying yet again, if anyone saw her like that…she had her mother. For the first time since she could remember she had her mother with her, nothing else could matter more for her.
.-.
The rest of the week allowed for the three Blacks to connect and reconnect in many ways, as well as for many mysteries to be revealed.
In first place, it finally became clear how it had been possible for the special spell Natasha and Lily had crafted together to still be protecting Naoko after so long. The same thing had explained how Natasha's soul had managed to continue existing while inside a dementor for a little over a decade and a half. It had been a virtuous circle, pretty much, the spell that protected Naoko had held because Natasha, who had placed it upon her, was still technically alive, and her soul had held on because of the tight connection the spell had created between her and her child. In any case, they were all extremely happy things had happened that way.
Once Albus and Minerva had been informed of everything, including what had happened with Sirius; and Naoko more or less let slip what her dad believed of the events of the year before his 'death', those things had been cleared out too. Albus had never intended for Sirius to be a 'prisoner in his own home', the old man had done his best to make sure Sirius remained there, for his own protection, he knew how important the dark-haired man was for Harry, and didn't want the boy to lose him; also, in a way Albus himself had still considered the man as family, as the only actual family he'd left, and didn't want to lose him as he already had everyone else. Learning that had certainly healed an emotional wound Sirius had been carrying for a long, long time.
Those days also allowed the group to take good care of Natasha, just like they had of Sirius. Though, her body hadn't been in as bad a state, as Albus explained to them, the former Lady Hiiragizawa: Eriol's mother, had done Albus a favor by placing his daughter's body in stasis after the dementor had sucked her soul, and yet he'd been informed her body was still functioning, the aged wizard had always prayed for a miracle that would give him his beloved child back…and eventually it had happened.
Shortly before the Easter Break ended, Sirius decided a visit to the Ministry was a must, he wanted to reinstate himself and his family in their rightful place.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" His wife asked as he arranged her long hair in an elegant twist and brushed invisible dust from her formal robes.
"It's high time the Blacks regained their place in society." Sirius told her as he shifted slightly, not at all comfortable in his own formal robes.
"I never thought you would want to do something like this." Natasha commented. "Back in the time, you used to hate anything formal, or 'noble'."
"I still do." Sirius admitted with a sigh. "However, that doesn't make this whole thing any less necessary." A slight smirk suddenly appeared on his face. "Besides, if we play our cards right, we might even be able to use this to distract Fudge and his lackeys for the time being, give the teens some more time to get their own plan ready…"
Natasha nodded, she had to admit that was a good reason for 'outing themselves'. It was a politically and socially strong move that would benefit them in short term, and most likely everyone else in the long run. Yes, a good move indeed. Though, something told her her husband had considered it more in terms of a country-wide prank!
.-.
The arrival of the Blacks to the Ministry of Magic was certainly a sight to behold. They had all arrived by Portkey, as Sirius had downright refused to use the floo as it might be compromised, what with Voldemort still at large. Along with Sirius, Natasha, and Naoko were Harry, Hermione, Long, Sonomi, Tomoyo and Eriol.
Prior to the arrival there, the group had made a stop at Gringotts, where they had gone through a mountain of paperwork so Harry could relinquish his position as 'Heir to the Black Family' and give it back to Sirius, who then proceeded to cancel the 'Last Will' that had been followed upon his 'death' and set one with his wife and daughter as beneficiaries, as well as naming Naoko as his heiress and future Lady Black. This, had an unexpected side-effect, when it was explained that the Black was a patriarchal line, Naoko could only 'inherit' if she had a husband the previous Head of House considered right, and if he was willing to allow him (as an outsider) to become Head of House…it ended up with an official betrothal between Naoko and Long being drawn.
While the two hadn't planned on formalizing things to that point quite so soon, neither was adverse to the idea either. The betrothal contract was arranged in a way that it could be canceled, without either party being punished for it; but if that were to happen, Naoko would have to find another husband her father approved of if she were to still be heiress.
For that particular event Sakura and Shaoran ended up being called as well. Since, even though in Britain Long would take the Black name, in Asia, Naoko would be joining the Kido Clan through marriage of an adoptive son of said Clan; there were there as representatives of the Eastern Council and proxies for the Kido Head of Clan to sign the betrothal contract. Usually the Kido Clan Head would have been called to make matters even more official, and while it was likely than on their next visit to Hong Kong, the couple would be asked to state their reasons for wanting that union, and to fill even more paperwork on the matter, there was no reason why they shouldn't be betrothed.
While also in Gringotts Sirius had reinstated Sonomi and Tomoyo as Blacks (since, legally, Sonomi wasn't yet married to Severus, and even with that, she was technically still a part of the Black family). At the same time Tomoyo was registered as the fiancé of the current Head of the Hiiragizawa Family, with which she relinquished any responsibilities and rights with House Black.
Also, Sirius had reinstated Andromeda Tonks to the Black family, bringing with her her husband and daughter (though they all retained the name Tonks), being the closest relations they would act as the secondary Black Line, those who would inherit if Naoko were to die, be found incapable of inheriting and if, in such circumstances, Sirius didn't have another heir.
Lastly, Sirius ejected Bellatrix from the Black family, reclaiming the dowry she'd been given upon her marriage to Lestrange, stating traitorous actions against her family; he'd also taken the chance to send a letter to Narcissa, warning her of the actions he would take unless she renounced her husband in the next month. Long had told them his mother wasn't a DE, though, at the same time, she'd never done anything to renounce or defy Lucius either.
Having chosen to have some lunch before making their way to the Ministry, the Blacks had given just enough time for all the documentation signed and arranged in Gringotts to have made its way to the Ministry and the right departments already. And, of course, the rumor mill was at an all time high almost instantly.