What If Series: The Black Prince

by Miss Mysteria

Chapter Five

Auror's Tortured Into Insanity!

It has been three weeks since the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and sadly, this reported has more fatalities to report. Alice and Frank Longbottom (Lord of House Longbottom), are now permanent residents in the secure section of St. Mungo's due to the vicious actions from You-Know-Who's three lieutenants Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange and, shocking the Wizarding Community yet again, Bartemius Crouch Jr., the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch's son. This revelation comes from Head Auror, Alastor Moody and his second in command, Amelia Bones. The trial for the four Death Eaters who tortured Lord and Lady Longbottom into Insanity for information of the whereabouts of their Lord is scheduled for two weeks from this day (the 14th of November). The Daily Prophet has reached out to Bartemius Crouch Sr. for comment, and so far have been ignored.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Longbottom's family members and their son, Heir Neville Longbottom.

The rest of the front page of the newspaper was covered with a large photograph and Sirius recognised it straight away. It had been one Lily had taken of Frank and Alice after an Auror meeting when they had come back to Godric's Hollow for dinner. Alice and Lily had roomed together in Gryffindor, so had been best friends, not unlike he and James, since first year. Frank had been in the year above but thanks to Quidditch, the Marauders had known him since second year when James had joined the team and third year when Sirius had as a beater and Remus had taken over commentating the matches. They were sat at the Potter's small, rounded dining table, Frank's arm over the back of Alice's chair. Alice was laughing raucously at the camera, something Lily had said no doubt, and Frank was playfully rolling his eyes, but staring at his wife and smiling all the same. Then he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the side of her forehead and she looked over with a love-filled grin before playfully patting his cheek.

He hadn't known them well before the war. He had heard from James throughout their years at school that Lily's best friend among her dorm mates was Alice, and so James had focused on becoming friends with her to try and get Lily to see that he was in fact a nice guy and not a 'dirty toe-rag' and he had known Frank as one of the Chaser's on the Quidditch team and for a few years was even captain, but he hadn't been friends with him. Remus had been close with Alice, due to their shared love of books, but they hadn't become friends before seventh year when James and Lily finally started dating. He would be crushed. Sirius had tried to get in contact with Remus, but according to all channels of communication he went through, Remus was still away with the werewolf packs. Sirius had only really got to know Alice and Frank properly when they all joined up with the Order of the Phoenix. Late nights in the dark, studying spells with Frank that could be considered dark. Laughing hysterically with Alice when a prank followed through, clutching onto each other as James, Lily and Frank stared at them with disbelief as smelly gunk fell on top of them from the corner of a door. Going and getting absolutely plastered with Frank, who could not hold his fire whiskey and having to call Alice and Remus to come and carry them home. Smiling through happy tears when he heard the first cries of Neville Longbottom from the waiting room, stood with Remus, James, Peter, Lily and Mary MacDonald, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows (Lily and Alice's dorm mates at Hogwarts). Laughing madly when Lily went into labour only seconds after Neville had been born. Announcing that Alice was Harry's godmother and Sirius was his godfather, that Remus and Lily were Neville's. That the two boys were god-brothers.

Sirius had never met Augusta Longbottom. He had heard horror story's from Alice in the dark of the Weasley's kitchen, McGonagall's conservatory, Sirius' apartment. She was foreboding, overbearing, rude, thought Frank above all else. But, he had heard the softness in her voice, and the underlying compliments. She was fiercely protective, loved Neville with every last ounce of her and wanted only the very best for her grandson, cared for Alice deeply like a mother would. But, even so, he felt for the woman. After all, who else would take Neville in other than his grandmother? There were no other Longbottom's left, other than Algae, but the man was a drunk and a good-for-nothing. Augusta's husband had died a few years prior, Frank and Alice were now...incapacitated and she now had a one year old to care for. Much like Sirius. But what the woman didn't have was an Arcturus and Melania Black to lean on. To protect her. The woman was fierce, yes, but the bringing up of a child was enough to break even the strongest of people. He wanted ot help her, but knew that she was very much unlikely to accept help from a Black, now that Bellatrix had done something...so, so despicable. So, he went to the one person who could help. Arcturus.

Of course, the man had already been up and running about. More and more speeches, press releases, donations to charities and the Ministry. Quotes like "Bellatrix Lestrange is just that, a Lestrange. She no longer bears the Black name, and she will never again." and "Her actions, as well as the other three, have shook me to my very core. My Heir, Sirius Black, was friends and allies with both Lord and Lady Longbottom, having fought the Dark Lord by their sides and going through Hogwarts together and suffers from their loss greatly." It was manipulative, yes. Plain and simple. Sirius did suffer from their loss, but he was still stuck in the grief of losing James and Lily. So he would get through the emotions with their death's, before thinking of moving forward from Alice and Frank's...loss. It probably wasn't healthy, but it was too much loss to quickly and he had to be there for Harry...or, Lorcan.

Melania had actually shed tears when Sirius had brought the new Harry downstairs for breakfast that morning. A new baby Black, she had said. And that had got Sirius thinking, sooner or later, they would need to show Lorcan off to the public. The search for Harry Potter was still going on, but everyday less and less people went out and looked. Harry looked like Sirius, he did, practically a carbon copy, but he still had Lily's eyes. That would have been a problem, had it not been for Melania. Arcturus had suggested that Sirius say that he and Lily had had a relationship, but Sirius had turned that down flat. He was not about to tarnish his friend's memory with a fake side relationship. He hadn't know what else to do though, until his grandmother had asked him about his sexuality. It had been so sudden, Sirius had been gobsmacked. Silence had reigned over the office, with just Harry gurgling in his great-grandmother's arms and her smiling down at him (those two had grown scarily close so quickly) until she had continued with the idea that Sirius could announce Lorcan as his Heir when the time came to it, or the Potter Heir having been claimed at Gringott's, and then say that Lorcan was the Potter Heir because Lily had offered her eggs for Sirius and his relationship with Remus Lupin well before her pregnancy, and when she had fallen pregnant, they had finally used it and used a surrogate to birth Lorcan.

Sirius had to sit down. It wasn't a secret that he was pansexual. He hadn't tried to hide it, talking about it all over Hogwarts when he had come out to his friends and they had accepted him with open arms, and from then on James had made jokes that Sirius was after 'anything that had legs', which was true. But after a while, in their sixth year at Hogwarts, Sirius realised that the only person he was after was Remus. Remus who was straight. Or so he thought until they got drunk on fire whiskey on their last night in Gryffindor Tower in the common room and Sirius had 'accidentally' kissed him. He had pulled back amongst the whistles and shouts, embarrassed, but Remus had rolled his eyes and tugged him back. They had dated for a year, before the distance got too much for them, with Remus going into werewolf packs Merlin knew where, risking his life and Sirius fighting the Death Eaters in England and Europe with the Ministry and the Order. The thought of one of them not coming back got too much, and just before Harry's birthday, they had broke it off.

When his shocked eyes had met the casual ones of his grandparents at the revelation Melania had rolled her eyes and said, "It is hard to not know when Walburga would screech about it non-stop." Arcturus had nodded, and then finalised that as the plan they would do. Sirius had made them wait before announcing it, he would wait to let Remus know. They hadn't seen each other since they had broken up, and it would no doubt be awkward. But he knew that Remus would understand, he would have to. And when he had informed Remus, they would announce that Lorcan would become Heir Potter and on his fifteenth birthday, Lord Potter. They would gave to go to Gringott's and get a blood test, and no doubt that Lorcan was Lily Potter's son and Dorea Potter was his grandmother (magic didn't care about blood when it came to marriage, once you were married by magical binding, you became of that bloodline), he would not be contested for the title as there was no one else who was even that closely related. But, they would also have to wait until Harry...well, until Harry was pronounced deceased. They couldn't announce that Lorcan was the Heir to House Potter when people thought that Harry Potter was still alive. So, it may even take a few years, but in the end it would all be worth it. And Once Remus was in the know, Lorcan was sworn in as Heir Potter, Sirius would then move to ally himself and help Augusta Longbottom with Neville.

He would have to wait, but it would all be worth it, in the end.

A/N: Sorry this chapter's so short! It's more of a filler than anything else, setting up Sirius' and Remus' relationship, showing memories of Sirius and Frank and Alice and setting up what is going to happen in the future.

Loads of love,

MM xx