Douglas and Millicent seemed to stop breathing. Things started to go a little purple for James, but then he realised that he wasn't breathing.

"So when you say us, do you mean you, me, Milli and James?" Douglas gasped after what seemed like hours of silence, "An attack on us?"

Harrietta looked at her brother grimly, "Mostly you and I" she replied, "As we're from an old pure-blooded family"

"So I'm not pure-blooded enough" said Millicent quite obviously offended, "I'll have you know that my family go back to the times of Merlin!"

James could see his aunt stifle a giggle, and his father roll his eyes, "I hardly think that them thinking you're not pure-blooded enough is a bad thing my dear; they are after all, thinking of killing us". James also grinned. His mother was constantly talking about how old her family were, and how terrible it was that they were recognised as an old pure-blooded wizarding family, purely because there had been 2 cases of sqwibs in their family.

"Yes" said Millicent, realising what exactly she'd said, "I suppose you're right"

"So what happened?" James asked, no one else seemed to know how to react to what Harrietta had said, but James was curious as to what else his friend had heard.

Harrietta looked at Sirius, to see whether he would answer, once she was quite sure he wasn't going to, she spoke instead. "To make a long horrible story short, they discovered that Sirius had overheard them, and started cursing and hexing him. They caught him, and tied him up, and then he escaped, and came here". James looked at Sirius as his aunt spoke, it was clear to him that what she had said was only a small part of what had happened. Sirius was sitting closer and closer to Andromeda, snuggling and looking for comfort.

"And you're quite sure that this is all true Harrietta?" Alistair asked, "The Black's have been known too…."

"It's the truth" interrupted Sirius looking up, and sitting up in his chair again. This Sirius was one that James had only seen on occasion, usually when faced with an angry Minerva McGonnagall. It was a serious faced Sirius. Though James could always tell the difference between a sincere Sirius serious face, and an insincere Sirius serious face, and there wasn't a doubt in James' fine, that Sirius was quite serious about what he was saying. All of a sudden a shiver ran up James' spine, also a quiet groan came from his mouth, as he remembered Sirius' pun about always being 'Serious' (Sirius).

"And not all Black's are the same" added Andromeda lightly patting Sirius on the shoulder.

Alistair looked suitably abashed, and looked away from both Harrietta and Andromeda, it appeared he was satisfied with the story.

Everyone at the dining table were silent, James noticed that Harrietta was looked quite closely at her brother. He was unsure whether she was using legilimency on Douglas, or whether she was simply staring at him. Either way, it was Douglas that broke the silence. "Then you must stay here Sirius"

Suddenly Sirius' face lit up. "Here," he said hurriedly, "With you ?"

"Yes" Douglas replied, "It seems we owe you a few favours"

"You don't have to take him Douglas" said Andromeda, "We'd gladly take him"

"But Andy you're so busy lately with little Nymphadora" said Harrietta, "Besides, you having Sirius would put all of you at risk, it seems we're already at risk, so why not add a little more" she replied quite cheerfully. Millicent looked shocked at the thought of them all being at risk, but said nothing.

"We'll even feed and cloth you Sirius" Harrietta said brightly, winking at him, "I've plenty of pink robes you can have"

James scoffed at the thought of Sirius in a pink robe; he then laughed out loud at the thought of Harrietta owning a pink robe.

"James has plenty of clothes" Douglas said warmly, "What you don't have, we can buy you"

"You don't have to do that" Andromeda said, "I'll pay for any expenses"

"Nonsense Andromeda" Harrietta said sharply, "It was through us Sirius got into this mess, and we'll pay for any expenses he may have, besides, as already mentioned you've already a lot on your plate"

"We'll unofficially adopt you Sirius" Millicent said with what James saw as false cheerfulness, "I always wanted another son" she then smiled what appeared to be a true smile. James smiled to himself, he knew what that smile meant. It meant that Millicent was going to fuss over Sirius as she fussed over James. James was comforted in the thought that Sirius would need it after what his family had put him through.

"This way we get to spend the rest of the holiday planning things for next year" said James with a large cheeky grin on his face, "For our business as such" he added quieter.

"A business?" asked Douglas with a raised eyebrow "I don't think I want to hear about this"

Harrietta laughed, "No I don't think I want to either"

"I think that we should discuss some other things" Alistair said dramatically. It appeared that all of the adults knew what he meant, and Millicent stood up from her chair.

"James why don't you show Sirius around the house, and find him some clothes, we'll order him some new clothes tomorrow, so it'll just be for today and tomorrow"

James' face dropped a bit, but he looked at his friend, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable, and suddenly James started to think what Sirius had been through. So he stood, and motioned for his friend to follow him out the door.

Once out the door, James turned back to his friend, "I'm going to do you a favour, and not mention this again, but I want to say something first"

"Go ahead Prongs" sighed Sirius, looking down at his feet just waiting for something major to be said.

"Thank you" said James quite simply. Sirius looked up at his friend and smiled grimly.

"That's alright"

"Now let's go and find you some clothes, and start planning" said James cheerfully.