A/N: I don't own anything, and I'm not making any money, so please don't sue.

Chapter Three
Just Like Family

"Don't worry, Elladora, Narcissa and Bellatrix will be fine. Honestly, Lester won't mind." Sirius's mother's voice wafted in from the living room, where she was bent over a green fire with a blond woman's head in it.
"Thank you so much, Angela," Elladora, Sirius's aunt, replied, sounding rather stressed. "I don't know what I'd do without you, we just can't make it to the train... I feel so bad, what with Bella's first year and all..."
"Don't feel bad. We'll treat them like our own. They'll be fine."
Sirius snorted from the entrance hall, where he was prodding one of the portraits of himself to wake it up. Yes, his cousins would be fine. Blond Narcissa would be worshipped for her beauty, and raven-haired Bellatrix would be treated like the daughter his mother had never had. It wasn't them that he was worried about, it was himself.
It was a pity Andromeda wasn't going off to school; she was his favorite cousin and would certainly make the train ride fun. According to many relatives, they were quite the pair of mischief-makers. At least that's what they said to put it politely.
"No, just send them along with their trunks tomorrow. We'll take a Portkey; Lester has a connection in the office."
His father worked for the Ministry of Magic, as Senior Assistant to the Minister, and he had a lot of influence. It was practically impossible for him to not have connections. He could probably get away with murder, with the people he knew.
"No, REALLY, Elladora, it's no problem! Send them over about eight tonight; they can sleep over." She sounded rather exasperated.
"Mum," came a familiar voice, "can I sleep over too?"
Sirius went to the door, hearing Andromeda's voice. "Mum? Can she?"
Angela Black looked over to her son, glaring at him, mouthing, 'stop it, Sirius.' She turned back to the fire. "Um..."
"Wonderful." Elladora grinned. "I'll send the three of them over. You can send Andromeda back after you drop the others off... Thanks so much, Angela."
"No problem," she sighed. "I suppose I'll see you tonight, then."
"Goodbye." Elladora's head disappeared with a small pop, and Angela Black looked to her son.
"I can't believe you did that. I'm having Narcissa and Bella as a favor to Elladora, and Andromeda didn't need to come! She's a nightmare!"
Sirius just grinned.
She threw up her hands in frustration. "Go ready the guest room, then go to your room. Andromeda's sleeping in your bed, you'll have to sleep on the floor."
"And no magic!" She shouted at his retreating back. "Or making the house-elf do it for you!"
'Damn,' thought Sirius. She must've found out what he was doing with his new wand. And about the house-elf.
Even still, Andromeda was coming, and that was worth a punishment any day. Sirius was still smiling, even as he began to scrub the bathroom. By hand.

***

The doorbell rang as Sirius was just collapsing onto his bed in exhaustion, muscles aching from scrubbing the filthy bathrooms. He groaned and rolled over, pulling a pillow over his head.
Muffled voices came from downstairs, then muffled footsteps, and then his whole bed bounced as his brunette, curly-haired cousin wrenched the pillow off of his head and enveloped him in a hug. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"
Andromeda's green eyes were shining in happiness, her entire face split in a grin. The baby of the family, she didn't look like pretty Narcissa or elegant Bellatrix, the smattering of freckles and chubby babyface made sure of that. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, but some strands still managed to pull free and form a sort of golden halo around her face. All an illusion, though, as she was as big a troublemaker as she could be without being arrested.
Two years younger and six inches shorter, she was catching up quick. Soon, she'd be taller than her cousin... Except he'd be at school and wouldn't see her...
A smack with the pillow brought him out of his daydream. "Hello to you too."
"Hey, Andromeda." He sat up and winced at the pain in his muscles, but grinned as Andromeda bounced on the balls of her feet.
She stopped and sat down backwards on a chair opposite him. "So."
"Yep." Sirius grinned at her and put the pillow back on the bed.
"Bella and Cissa are here."
"Yep." Not a pleasant thought.
"So. What do you want to do to them first?"
Sirius grinned, although it was a bit painful. He was really going to miss her.
Andromeda seemed to sense this. "Hey, don't go all sentimental on me. Let's go wreak some havoc before you're off to prison."
"Right." He reached under his bed and pulled out a bag of tricks. "I thought we could start with some Dungbombs, and then..."
Andromeda interrupted him, opening her suitcase and beginning to pull things out. "Amateur. Didn't I teach you anything?"
At least they'd go out with a bang.

***

It was late; the stars were peeking out from behind a curtain of darkness, moonlight shining on Sirius and Andromeda sitting on Sirius's bedroom floor, still wide awake and talking.
"And then, Bella goes, 'what's that?' And I say, 'it's your new set of dress robes, don't you like them?'" Andromeda burst into giggles, rolling on the floor.
Sirius grinned weakly at her and forced a laugh. "That's funny..."
She promptly stopped laughing and sat up, watching him. "Sirius? Something wrong?"
He shook his head, eyes feeling unusually misty. "It's nothing..."
"That's not true, you're tearing up." She wrapped her arms around her knees. "You can tell me. We're cousins. We can tell each other anything."
He swallowed, hard, trying not to cry. Why was he getting so choked up?
Andromeda seemed to sense this, and quickly changed the subject back. "Oh, Cissa was so mad when she saw what I did to hers..."
Suddenly, he did feel like talking. "Andromeda?"
"Yup?" She stopped mid-sentence.
"We'll still see each other, right?"
"On holidays, sure, and during the summer..." She blinked. "Why?"
A lightbulb seemed to go on inside of her head. "OH! I get it now."
"What." He sure didn't.
"You're sad because we won't see each other that much." She snickered. "Is your cousin your best friend?"
Sirius forced another laugh. "Of course not, I'm not that sad..."
Was he, though? Andromeda was the only person he really liked, not that he could meet too many others. With his parents' pure-blood delusions and paranoid notions, he didn't meet too many new people, and family gatherings seemed to be the only place to hang out with other kids... And all of his other cousins were just like his parents: narcissistic, believing that being a Black made you royalty, and thinking that children should be seen, not heard...
Andromeda shoved something into his hands, bursting his daydream like a soap bubble. "Here, open this when you're on the train."
Sirius went to unwrap it, but she folded the edges back down. "I'm serious, Sirius. All puns intended. Don't open that until you're on the train."
Andromeda grinned and pulled up her covers around her head. "Let's get some sleep; it's getting late, and you've got your very first day of school tomorrow. Shall I tuck you in?"
Sirius protested half-heartedly as his cousin climbed out of his bed ('No, Sirius, there's NO WAY I'm sleeping on the floor! You heard your mum...') and arranged his covers around his head. "Andromeda..."
"Shhh... Get some sleep." She grinned, climbing back into bed.
They sat in darkness for a while, before Andromeda turned to him again.
"Sirius?"
"Hm?"
"You're my best friend, too."