Chapter 29

"Hey, Harry," Hermione hissed, poking him in the back.

"What?" he asked without turning around.

"Do you know where Isabelle is? Class is about to begin any minute now."

"Is that concern in your voice, cousin dear?"

"Of course it is, you stupid git. So, do you know where she is, or not?"

"Yup."

Hermione sat quietly for a minute, drumming her fingers on her desk. When Harry didn't say anything, she sharply jabbed him in the neck.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed. "What do you want?"

"To know where Isabelle is," she snapped.

Harry turned around. "She and Sirius aren't on speaking terms. So, he's teaching the first half of the seminar class by himself. During the break, she'll show up to teach the second half of class, and he's going to leave."

"That's so childish." She wrinkled her nose. "What do you think they're fighting over?"

"Easter holidays," he said simply. Hermione's eyes lit up, and she leaned forward.

"Do you know what happened?" she asked eagerly.

Before he could answer her, Sirius began class. Disappointed, Hermione sat back, giving Harry a look that clearly said that the conversation wasn't over. He rolled his eyes at her and turned around to pay attention.

"Good evening, everyone," Sirius said, pausing for the students to finish their various conversations. "Well, let's get going. Tonight, we – yes, Fred?"

"Uh, where's Professor Evans?" he asked. Harry studied Sirius carefully as he thought of a response.

"Preparing her O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. examinations. She'll be here at the break. Anyway, she's spent the entire year teaching all of you how to use wandless magic. And, the number one thing both of us have tried to drill into your heads is to never, ever use wandless magic unless it's a life or death situation.

But, if any of you encounter Death Eaters, and chances are pretty good that you will, the first thing that they will try to do is disarm you. Usually they attack in groups; it's very rare that you'll fight one on one. So, you could very well find yourself disarmed in the center of a circle of Death Eaters."

"Lovely," Padma muttered under her breath.

"What's the big deal?" Katie asked. "We just fight them wandless. Desperate times, right?"

"The big deal is that the next time you encounter a Death Eater, they'll be more likely to hit you with an Unforgivable Curse first thing. If they don't know that you can fight wandless, then they'll toy with you a bit. They like to do that cat and mouse game; it makes them feel superior," Harry answered from personal experience.

"And that extra time could make the difference between life and death," Isabelle said, walking into the room.

Every student's face lit up with a smile as the popular professor closed the door behind her and stood beside Sirius. Even though his face didn't change expression, Harry noticed that his mood changed immediately. He was glad to have Isabelle around.

"Sorry that I'm late," she apologized, looking only at Sirius.

"I thought--" he began.

"It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind," she said lightly. "Where were you?"

"About to get to the point of tonight's lesson," he said quietly. "But, you've done this before, so would you like to explain it to the class?"

"Nah. You're the Transfiguration expert. I'll stick to Dark Magic." She winked at him, and he couldn't help smiling back before continuing class.

"What you're going to learn tonight is to Transfigure an object – any object – into a fake wand. Now, physically creating the wand is the easy part. Just about anyone can do that. The difficulty is in making a realistic fake wand; one that shoots different colored light out of it, water, that sort of thing. Oh, and it must be able to perform the Priori Incantatem effect."

"That's impossible," Neville said, crossing his arms.

"Is it now?" Sirius picked up a quill off the desk, and Transfigured it into a wand identical to his own. He gave it to Neville. "There, try it out."

"Ok," he said slowly. "What was that one Professor Lupin used third year when he shot gum into Peeves' nose?"

"Waddiwasi," Ron replied, snickering at the memory.

Neville pointed the wand towards the door. "Waddiwasi."

An enormous wad of gum shot out of the tip of the fake wand, and hit the door with a loud splat. Amazed, the class stared wide-eyed at Sirius.

"Thanks for the demonstration, Neville," he said, taking the wand and Transfiguring it back into a quill. "These fake wands are identical to the wands that you'll buy at Ollivander's, except for one thing. The cores aren't real. So, the core might look like a real unicorn hair, but it won't have its power. It truly is a cheap imitation of the real thing. But, fake wands are a useful way to disguise wandless magic."

Harry looked at Sirius, completely amazed that he could teach class when all he was thinking about was Isabelle. The depth of his feelings for her also surprised Harry; he truly loved her. But, he honestly believed that she ran around with other men, which shattered his heart nearly beyond repair.

What Harry didn't understand is why he would think that. Anyone with a set of eyes saw that Isabelle practically worshipped the ground Sirius walked on. And he stomped on her affections cruelly and didn't have a problem rubbing her nose in it constantly.

So, he didn't blame his aunt for not telling him about the baby yet. She was justified in waiting for an apology from Sirius first. In fact, Harry would be quite upset if she just threw herself at him after everything that he's done.

A broken heart isn't an excuse for calling my Aunt Isabelle every name in the book, he thought, frowning.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and joined the rest of the class in attempting to Transfigure their quills into fake wands. Naturally, Hermione was the first student to perfect her fake wand, so she walked over to pump Harry for information. He rolled his eyes as she grinned at him wickedly.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well, what?" he replied innocently.

"Oh, come on Harry. Did they or not?" she huffed.

He looked at Isabelle, who was looking at Hermione through narrowed eyes. "What does it matter to you?"

"It matters. So, what do you know?"

That you're going to have a sibling in about eight months or so, he thought with a small smile. It suddenly occurred to him that his new cousin would be one of his other cousin's siblings. Which was incredibly weird, at the very least.

"Harry, you're being an insufferable prat." Hermione gave him an evil look.

"All I know is that if they were together over Easter holidays, they're certainly not now," he said neutrally.

"It was probably a stupid fight, too." She sighed, looking at Ron wistfully. "Sometimes, no matter how much you care about someone, it just doesn't seem to work out. So, what are we going to do about it?"

"About what?"

"Ok, do you really want to watch my dear father and Isabelle give each other those lovesick looks for the rest of our natural lives? We need to get them to talk about whatever they fought about."

"How? They won't stay in the same room, except to teach," Harry pointed out. Hermione gave him another wicked smile.

"I just so happen to have a plan," she said, remarkably sounding a lot like Isabelle.

"Do I want to know what this plan is?"

"It's really quite simple. You see, I have a birthday coming up. All I have to do is make a big deal about how this is my first birthday that the family's been together again, blah, blah. I know Isabelle; she'll melt. She always does. So will Papa; he's such a softie. They'll put on their happy faces and play nice all day. If we play up the big, happy family angle, maybe they'll kiss and make up."

"You know, this just might work," Harry said, mirroring her evil grin.

"Knew you'd agree. Wish me luck." She turned on her heel, and walked to the front of the classroom to talk to Isabelle.

"What's all that about?" Ginny whispered, nodding her head in Hermione's direction.

"She's making birthday plans," he answered honestly.

"Uh-huh. You're a bad liar, Harry Potter."

"I'm not lying," he protested. "I'm just not telling the whole truth. And, honestly I'd tell you if I thought that I could."

She rolled her eyes. "One of those mysterious family things, huh?"

"Sorry." He shrugged apologetically. Before he could say anything else, Hermione bounded up to them happily.

"They so bought it," she said, incredibly impressed with herself.

"Bought what?" Ginny asked innocently.

Harry gave her a dirty look. "Nothing, love. I told you that before."

"You're playing matchmaker, aren't you?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm?" the cousins answered in unison.

"So, what's the plan?" Ginny pressed.

"I give up." Harry threw up his hands. "We suspect that they got together over the holidays and broke up, so we're trying to get them back together."

"Oh, I knew that already," she scoffed.

"Knew what?" Hermione wanted to know.

"That they hooked up," Ginny said sassily. "And, maybe I would've shared that information with either of you before now if you ever included me in your little 'plans'."

She huffed off to talk to her brothers, leaving both Harry and Hermione starting at her, shocked.

"She sure told us," he whistled. "What a woman."

Hermione looked at him, and they both started laughing. "What is it with us and Weasleys? Why do we find them so irresistible?"

"We like the abuse."

"Isn't that the truth?"

"Ok folks, break's over," Isabelle shouted over the din. "Tonight's lesson is on an area of magic that few witches or wizards use, mostly because it's difficult to learn and has little practical value outside of a battle situation."

She walked to the back of the classroom, facing the door. All eyes focused on her as she held out her index finger, and pointed to the desk. Suddenly, the desk burst into flame. The class tried not to laugh as Sirius jumped off the desk and extinguished his robes.

"No, we're not going to learn how to catch your professor on fire. But, I will teach y'all how to incant spells mentally, without having to say a word. If y'all can master the skill, it'll make you a much quicker dueler."

"How?" Lee Jordan asked.

"Are you game, Sirius?" she asked in Russian, remembering in the nick of time that Hermione speaks Gaelic. He snorted.

"I'm not interested in embarrassing you in front of your family," he replied evenly.

Harry's eyes darted back and forth between them. His jaw nearly hit the floor when Isabelle put her hand on her hip and gave him a sexy smile. What was she trying to do?

"Since when do you back down from an opportunity to show off your skills?"

Her voice was pure silk. She gave him a sultry pout, hoping it would have its intended effect. If Sergei did attack her, she would be forced to duel someone whose mind she couldn't read, something she had never done before. So, she needed practice badly. And, who better to practice on than Sirius, the only other man whose thoughts she couldn't read?

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Isabelle's challenge. When he was a student at Hogwarts, he was by far the best dueler in the entire school. Which was a talent he honed during all of his years at the Ministry. Sure, he might have lost a bit of his edge over the years, but he still considered himself an excellent dueler.

"Since never." He flashed her a rakish grin, momentarily forgetting that the students were watching their every move. "Bring it on."

"Oh, I will, trust me." She turned to the class. "Professor Black has kindly agreed to help me in a little demonstration of the advantages to mental incantation of spells."

"I don't think this is a good idea, Aunt Isabelle," Harry said, worrying about the baby. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be alright. I have my reasons for doing this," she said so that only he could hear. She looked at him reassuringly.

"The usual rules?" Sirius asked.

"Sounds good to me."

The students looked at each other, completely speechless. None of them had seen an actual duel before. The whole room was charged with a nearly tangible energy, especially as both adults removed their outer robes to allow for more freedom of movement.

Now that Harry was beginning to utilize his Discerner skills, he wanted to punch every guy in the room. All of them, Sirius included, were thinking incredibly improper thoughts about his aunt. And, it wasn't as though she was wearing a revealing or otherwise inappropriate outfit, just a simple peach sleeveless sweater and a pair of bootcut khaki pants.

It was little consolation that all of the girls, except Hermione of course, were drooling over Sirius. Especially Aunt Isabelle, he thought, reminding himself to tease her about it later. Apparently she found the tight black t-shirt irresistible. As did Ginny, he realized with a frown.

Isabelle moved the still-smoldering teacher's desk to the far corner of the room. "Ok, I'd appreciate it if y'all moved yourselves and your desks against the walls, for safety reasons."

Excited, the students jumped up and complied quickly. Sirius and Isabelle walked around each other in a wide circle, then stopped and drew their wands. Simultaneously, they pitched them neatly on the teacher's desk, and quietly sized the other person up for a minute. All of a sudden, the room exploded with blinding light.

Before the bright ball hit Isabelle, she jumped up and did a back flip midair, landing gracefully. The students gasped as they threw hexes and curses at each other with breathtaking speed and accuracy. Harry could barely keep track of where they were, let alone what spells they were using.

"Have the other duels that you've seen looked like this?" Hermione whispered. He shook his head no emphatically.

"I've never seen anything like this," he replied.

"Tired old man, or are you thirsty for more?" Isabelle taunted Sirius in Russian.

"I'm still waiting for you to 'bring it on', dear," he fired back.

The students watched in amazement as the duel became even more intense. Although he teased her about her dueling abilities, Sirius was genuinely impressed at how well Isabelle fought. She was a worthy adversary, he decided.

After a few more minutes, Harry couldn't take it any longer. He couldn't let his aunt jeopardize her or the baby's health simply because she had too much pride to end the duel first. So, he diplomatically reminded them of the time, hoping they would take the hint and stop fighting, which they did.

"I hope that effectively illustrated my point," Isabelle said, trying to catch her breath. "For the remainder of the period, please practice mental incantation. Which means that I shouldn't hear any talking."

The class grumbled because they wanted to discuss the duel amongst themselves. But, they settled down and dutifully worked on the lesson for the remainder of the period. The only sounds came from Isabelle and Sirius, who were quietly engaged in conversation, much to Harry and Hermione's delight.

-----

Hermione quietly knocked on Isabelle's bedroom door, note in hand. Earlier that morning, Saskia woke her up with a message from Isabelle to come over to the house before breakfast. Curious, she threw on her robes quickly and raced over to the faculty grounds.

"Come in," Isabelle called, smiling when she saw the teenage girl. "Happy sixteenth birthday."

"Thanks," she replied somewhat shyly, hovering in the doorway. Isabelle patted the bed next to her.

"Come here. I wanted to talk to you before class."

Yawning, Sirius stumbled into the bathroom and heard Isabelle talking. Thinking that she had finally lost her mind, he peered into her bedroom and saw Hermione with her. He couldn't resist eavesdropping on them, so he crept to the door and listened intently.

"One day, when I was a little girl, I went over Mummy P's house after my dance classes. And, Lily wouldn't let me do something that morning, I can't quite remember what, so I was furious with her. Mummy P asked me what was the matter, and I told her. Then, I asked her why do we have families, anyway, since all mine seems to do is boss me around and make me mad. Do you know what she told me?"

Hermione shook her head no. She smiled nostalgically.

"She said that families do two very important things. They give us roots so that we don't blow away when the storms come, and wings so that when the time comes, we can fly away to find our place in this world." She wiped away a tear quickly. "I promised myself that I'd get through this without crying, so let's see if I can make it."

Isabelle took a calming breath. "Well, it seems that this family gave you wings early. We're all so proud of you and the woman that you're growing up into. Now, it's time we gave you roots. There's something that I want you to have."

Sirius watched in total shock as Isabelle reached up and fumbled with the clasp of her necklace. "I've never taken this off before, so let's hope that the clasp hasn't fused together over time."

"You're giving me your necklace?" Hermione sounded as surprised as Sirius felt. Isabelle nodded and held it in the palm of her hand.

"As you know, your father and I were very close when I was growing up. We're kindred spirits, he and I," she said with a sheepish grin, "so we kind of adopted each other. This necklace was his present to me on my sixteenth birthday."

"Wow," she said, nearly speechless.

"Although I had family, being an orphan when you're young is very alienating. You know how that feels, I'm sure. Even though Lily tried to understand where I was coming from, our parents were still alive when she was little. Sirius was the only person who knew how much I just wanted to belong somewhere, because he was more or less an orphan his whole life, too."

Isabelle pointed to the round, oval pendant. "This stone is blue lapis lazuli, the Black family gemstone. All of the old wizarding families have a certain gemstone that they use for certain occasions. Traditionally, only family members are allowed to wear their particular stone. So, this necklace basically states to the world that I'm a part of the Black family. That's why Sirius gave it to me – as a tangible reminder that I'll always have a place in his family."

"Um, why blue lapis? It's not exactly a precious stone," Hermione interrupted quietly.

"Because way back in the days of the Roman empire, your family lived in Egypt. When the Emperor Constantine decided to unify the empire through religion, most of the ruling families rejected Christianity. But, your family backed the Emperor. As a reward, Constantine gave most of Scotland to them as a reward. They moved to the British Isles as the lesion between the pagan, for lack of a better term, wizarding world, and the Christian Roman Empire.

Eventually Rome fell, but your family had been in Britain for so long that they decided to permanently settle here. They adopted some of the local customs, such as family gemstones. So that their Egyptian roots were never forgotten, your ancestors picked blue lapis as their stone."

"That's why my family's Roman Catholic," Hermione realized.

"Well, half of your family, anyway. But, that's another story for another day," she said with a small laugh. She pointed to the stone again. "This particular pendant is unique because of the starburst pattern in the middle of it, see?"

She nodded. "What does it stand for?"

"According to Abuela, the family obsession with stars began with your grandmother Juliana. She grew up during the Spanish Civil War, which was a very dark time for everyone, especially the wizarding community. So, she would sneak up to the roof of their house every night and wish on a star that the war would end."

"I thought my grandmother had polio and couldn't walk," Hermione frowned, confused.

"She contracted polio when she was seven years old, leaving her basically crippled. Abuela said that she could walk, just not very far. Even so, your grandmother Juliana would go outside every night and stare at the stars for hours on end. One night, Abuela's curiosity got the best of her, and she asked your grandmother why she went stargazing every night."

Sirius smiled, knowing what was next. He didn't know how many hundreds of times Abuela told him this story growing up.

"Your grandmother told her that the stars gave her comfort. She said that you could make a wish on a star, and then use the stars to chart the way to a place to make your dreams come true. But, if you ever got lost or lonely, the stars also show the way home. To your grandma Juliana, the stars showed exactly what Mummy P was talking about – roots and wings."

Isabelle smiled, and carefully put the necklace around Hermione's neck. "There. Now no matter where you go, you'll never forget where you came from."

"Thank you," she said in a choked voice.

In ten minutes, Isabelle reminded Sirius of every reason why he loved her so much. At that minute, it didn't seem to matter to him whether or not she had actually cheated on him. All that was important was that he needed her in his life. And, for the first time, he was willing to fight for her affections.

"Hermione," she said hesitantly, "things are going to be very different soon within our family. And, I wanted to tell you that no matter how things end up, I love you very much. I'd never hurt you intentionally, ok?"

"Ok," she answered slowly.

Isabelle grinned, hoping that everything would turn out well. "Onto other important topics. What do you want for dinner?"

As they discussed the dinner menu, Sirius puzzled over Isabelle's words and what they could possibly mean. If she was hinting that she was involved with another man, Sirius determined to make her forget that whomever it was existed. He vowed to win her back by any means necessary.

-----

Weary from a day with incredibly hyper teenagers, Sirius walked in the front door, hoping for at least a couple of minutes of peace and quiet. The seventh-year Transfiguration students, in a panic over the N.E.W.T. tests, gave him an enormous migraine headache. He flopped into a chair and put his feet up.

Isabelle's voice wafted into the living room from where she was singing along with the WWN as she cooked dinner. In his effort to get on her good side, he didn't say a single word in protest when she insisted on cooking dinner instead of leaving it to Dobby.

He certainly wasn't much of a cook, but he figured that he could help her somehow. So, he ignored his throbbing head and headed to the kitchen. She was so involved in the simmering pans and the music that she didn't notice Sirius standing in the doorway. He watched her dance around the room in time with the beat, pausing as the song changed to a ballad.

"Baby, tell me where'd you ever learn to fight without sayin' a word? Then waltz back into my life, like it's all gonna be alright. Don't you know how much it hurts?" she sang softly and emotionally. Her voice increased in volume dramatically.

"When we don't talk, when we don't touch. When it doesn't feel like we're even in love. It matters to me. When I don't know what to say, don't know what to do. Don't know if it really even matters to you. How can I make you see? It matters to me."

It matters to me, too, he thought sadly.

"Maybe I still don't understand the distance between a woman and a man. So tell me how far it is, and how you can love like this 'cause I'm not sure I can. When we don't talk, when we don't touch. When it doesn't feel like—oh!" She froze, staring at Sirius. "Hi."

"Hey. Um, do you need some help in here?" he asked hopefully.

She gave him an incredulous look. "Sure. Stir the sauce, will you?"

"Isabelle, I uh, that is, I was wondering if we could talk."

"Talk away," she said, checking on the rich, delicious smelling dessert in the oven. "That just smells like heaven in a pan, doesn't it?"

"It sure does," he admitted, looking at the oven wistfully. Isabelle smiled, knowing that he has a wicked sweet tooth.

"Far be it from me to criticize free help, but you're stirring the sauce wrong. Try stirring it like this." She put her hand over his to demonstrate. "See?"

"I see," he said, not taking his eyes off hers.

"Good. Now get to work," she joked in a mock serious voice.

"Isabelle--" he began, trying to work up his nerve to apologize to her for being a ridiculous idiot.

"Yes?" She looked up.

Sirius smiled, losing his train of thought. Somehow, she managed to get a liberal dusting of flour on the tip of her nose, making her look incredibly cute. He grabbed a napkin off the bar, and wiped it off.

"You had flour on your nose," he explained.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Say, where'd you learn to cook, anyway?" he wondered.

"Oh, the kitchen and I have a long love/hate relationship," she answered cheerfully. "Don't let that spaghetti sauce burn."

"I'm not, I promise. Seriously though, you cook like a gourmet chef. I know you didn't learn that from Lily."

Isabelle snorted. "Certainly not. Lil's the only person I know who could burn water. Actually, cooking's not much different from mixing potions. Except that when you're done cooking, you get to eat what you've made. And, I'll have you know that it takes a lot of practice to learn to cook, just like anything else. I remember Sev—sorry."

"For what? I asked a question, so don't be sorry for telling me the answer. Keep going," he insisted.

"You really want to hear my sordid tale of woe?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, I do." And, he really meant it.

"Well, like I was saying, when Sev and I first moved to America, neither of us really knew what we were doing. I could cook a few dishes, but they got really old quickly. So, I began making up 'experiments'. Some were good and some tasted like Lil made them." She paused and bit her lip thoughtfully. "Actually, I learned almost everything I know from Phillip."

"Phillip?"

"Oh, yeah," she said, smiling at the memory. "He's an amazing cook. I mostly steered clear from the kitchen when we were together, though. Then, when Sergei and I started having serious problems, I hid in the kitchen so that he wouldn't find me. Ditto for Lucius. Heaven forbid that their 'little woman' lifts a finger, so they never looked for me there."

Sirius looked at the floor shamefully, knowing that he was guilty of the exact same elitist attitude. "Is that how you met Dobby?"

"Yep. I don't know how many nights I spent in the kitchens, just laughing and joking with the house elves. Guess I picked up a trick or two along the way." She winked at him. "I'm no domestic goddess, but I know my way around a kitchen."

"I never knew any of that," he said quietly.

"You never asked."

"Yeah, I have a tendency of jumping to conclusions, don't I?"

"You do. But, sometimes I keep too many secrets," she admitted.

Sirius turned around and gazed intently into her eyes. Before he realized what he was doing, he pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her passionately.

"Isabelle--"

"Shhh," she whispered in between kisses. "Don't talk. You'll ruin this beautiful moment."

"But--"

"We can talk later. Much, much later…" her voice faded.

"How much later?"

"You're ruining the moment," she warned.

"Wouldn't want to do that."

At first, Isabelle felt incredibly guilty snogging him rotten in the middle of the kitchen, but she quickly got over it. After all, she needed to make all of the morning sickness, backaches and weird food cravings worth it. Or at least remind herself of how she got into that situation in the first place.

And he was quite good at jogging her memory. They became so involved with each other that neither one realized how much time had passed until they heard the front door close with a loud bang.

"Oh, shit!" Sirius hissed, instantly aware of their state of undress.

"Here," Isabelle whispered back, tossing him various articles of clothing that he threw on quickly. Somehow, they managed to be completely dressed by the time Harry and Hermione walked to the back of the house.

"Hi," Harry said, giving Hermione a look, hoping that she'd notice that Sirius' shirt was on inside out.

She did, and they both tried to keep a straight face while talking to Sirius and Isabelle. They escaped to the dining room the first chance that they could get, bursting into hysterical laughter as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Oh, we so busted them," Hermione said with a wicked grin. "I want to hear it."

"Fine, your plan worked," he admitted, matching her evil smile.

"Damn, I'm good."