Chapter 8 Walburga Black

The last few weeks at Grimmauldplace Holly found herself opening up some more. Most of the time, she felt pretty normal, back to her old self nearly, even if not quite.
Ron teased her about having her head in the clouds whenever she sat too silently, whenever she felt that wall again that separated her from her friends.
Hermione often glared at him at those words, she thought it best to leave Holly to herself in those moments.
It seemed her best girl friend was one of the few,who understood Holly's feelings at least a bit, as best as anyone could.
Ginny did her best to take Holly's mind elsewhere, talking about Quidditch or anything that came to her mind and sometimes, it would work and take Holly out of that lonely place, she kept herself imprisoned in.
The twins did their usual pranks to cheer her up and she felt especially close to George these days. Quite often, when she wouldn't speak, he just sat next to her while the others around them talked about this and that.

Sometimes though, Holly couldn't stand being near her joyful friends. At those times, she would sneak out into the small garden behind the big house and enjoy some time thinking, at ease with just being for herself a while.

One day, when she had slipped out again and sat underneath the big willow in the back of the garden, Sirius followed her. First, she wasn't sure about him keeping her company, but she soon found, that he truly understood how she felt.

He'd been in Azkaban for twelve years, innocent. His best friend dead, everyone thinking it had been his fault, believing he had been a death eater, a traitor, blaming him for the biggest loss he had experienced.
He had spent so many years alone, he understood Holly's situation, even though he felt his had been easier somehow. At least he knew, that none of it had been his fault.
Not that he blamed Holly for Cedrics death, not in one bit, nor that Voldemort had come back from the dead, but he knew, she did so herself. Him not being able to stop her from it, hurt him most.

So, he did anything he could to help her out of that dark place, she'd landed in.
Most of the time, they didn't speak when they sat leaned to the trunk of the tree, he just held her in his arms, softly patting her back or shoulder, simply being there for her while she soundlessly cried at his shoulder.
Sometimes, he would tell her stories of his life, growing up in that dark house behind them, with a terrible mother on top of it. He'd make her smile at the pranks his brother and him had played on their parents, the houseelves or other relatives at family gatherings.
Other times, he would remember his time with James and Lily.
Those were her favourite stories. Whenever he told her one of those, she'd come from the darkness immediately and actively join the conversation, asking questions, laughing with him about all the stupid things the marauders did in their schooldays.

Holly enjoyed those moments with her godfather, leaning against his strong shoulder, relishing in the stories he would tell her.
Whenever he held her, she couldn't help but feel safe in those strong arms.

One of these days, he recounted one of his childhood memories, when she interrupted him:

"Even though she wasn't a good mother, I kind of feel sorry for your mum. It must have been very difficult to have you as a son!"

He was startled for a moment, then laughed loudly.

"Yeah, you are probably right, sweetie. Although, mother was quite a fierce woman, so she managed to keep the upper hand most of the time. Now that I think of it, would you like to meet her?"

Holly opened her eyes in surprise.

"What do you mean? I thought she was dead?"

"That she is, but I happen to have found an old painting of her in one of the upper salons we don't use at the moment. Would you like to see it?"

Without hesitation, Holly nodded, and Sirius grabbed her hand to pull her up with him.
Quickly, they headed up the stairs into a corridor Holly hadn't been to before. Sirius opened one of the doors on their left side and Holly found herself in a smaller version of the down-stairs living room.
It was one of the rooms, they hadn't yet had a chance to clean, but Holly saw anyway how beautiful a room it must have been back in the days of Sirius' childhood. Even now, with all the dust laying on the wooden floor and dark furniture and the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling it held some kind of beauty within.

All walls of this room were coated with picture frames, just small pieces of evergreen wallpaper could be spotted here and there in between. The frames had all different sizes, the smallest one Holly spotted only slightly bigger than the palm of her hand, the biggest up above the fire place as tall as her, if not taller.
All those portraits on the walls reminded her of the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
Even though some frames were empty, most pictures were inhabited by witches and wizards of all different ages. Many of them resembling Sirius a lot. Especially the light grey, sparkling eyes seemed to have been an inherited trait in this family.
Because that was what they were, Holly realized. Sirius' ancestors.

Her godfather still stood at her side, watching her taking it all in.

"Very well, Mrs. Potter, prepare yourself to meet my lovely family!", he joked, smiling at her expression.

They walked alongside the wall on their left and Sirius explained this and that about some of the portraits they passed.

"This was my uncle Alphard Black, one of my favourites to be true. That's uncle Cygnus, I believe you happen to know his grandson, Draco Malfoy?
Ah, and here we have grandfather, Arcturus Black. Next to him, of course, my namesake Sirius Black I, he was my great great grandfather.
This one is my dear grandmother Irma Crabbe…lovely woman. She would always slap the back of my head whenever I did something she considered inappropriate. Which included just about everything.
Next is my great grandmother Violetta Bulstrode and there on top the big one is Phineas Nigellus Black. You might know him, since he'd been headmaster at Hogwarts back in the 1920s. He's got a portrait up in Dumbledore's office as well…"

Sirius went on and on spilling more and more details about his family, Holly could never keep everything in her head. Especially, when she realized, Sirius to be related to several of her Hogwarts colleagues, and not the nice ones, in her opinion.

Malfoy, Crabbe, Bulstrode, Flint, Burke, Yaxley, she could not believe they all belonged to Sirius' family, even though she had known her godfather's family to be pureblooded, she had never wasted much of a thought about that.
Sirius sensed her mood and stopped talking, turning to face her.

"Holly, all those pureblood families had to marry one another in order to stay pure, do you understand? I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, it really wasn't, but they were so obsessed with their idea of purity…
You see, I'm not only related to the bad ones. I'm distantly related to the Longbottoms for instance, and the Weasleys too. Arthur is actually my second-cousin and Molly is my cousin through their marriage, as well as some distant relative through this one, Ignatius Prewett", he pointed at a painting at those last words.

"Also, Tonks is my cousin Andromeda's daughter and over there is even a picture of one Charlus Potter, a distant relative of both you and me.
I know it must sound terribly weird for you, but that's just the way it is. We are all related somehow, because some demented people thought they had do keep magical blood pure.
Today there are hardly any purebloods left, many old wizarding families have disappeared completely. I am the last of the Name of Black. If I don't happen to have sons someday, my name will die with me. You are the last Potter as well. If everyone had followed this madness of purity, there might not be any wizards and witches left at all. Thank Merlin some of our ancestors were not as conservative and married muggles or muggleborns.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Sirius had kept her at shoulder's length away from him, whilst speaking. Of course, he was right, she understood now. It just had been a shock to find out about all that.
Since she hadn't found her voice yet, she simply nodded, agreeing.

Sirius sighed and pulled her against his chest for a hug.

"Thanks for telling me about all of this", she finally whispered into the fabric of the grey shirt he wore that day.

"You're welcome, sweetie. Now, I thought you wanted to meet my mother?"

He released her and led her over to a big painting, just next to an old piano that stood by the wall. It showed an elderly witch, probably in her late 90's, which wasn't old for witches or wizards at all.
She was asleep at the moment, her face relaxed, even though her brow was still raised to a frown. Judged by her facial features, she must have been very pretty when she'd been young. Her hair was grey now, Holly wondered, if it had been of the same colour as Sirius' luscious brown curls.
At that moment, the woman opened her eyes, piercing right into Holly's with a fierceness Holly would not have expected from her.
Her eyes were indeed just like her son's.

"Holly, this is my mother, Walburga Black. Mother, this is Holly Elisabeth Potter, the girl who lived."

Walburga seemed to be startled for a moment, then she simply nodded shortly.

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Black", Holly heard her voice tremble a little.

This woman was so incredibly authoritative, even without speaking one single word. Her body language and facial expressions were everything she needed to show who was boss.

Mrs. Black stared at her son for several moments, the look in her eyes so unlike her Son's, even though earlier at first glance they'd appeared to be the same.
Sirius's eyes always were soft and warm, a nice contrast to their colour, while his mother's were hard and cold, radiating just that. Holly felt a shiver running down her spine whenever she dared to look into them.

Out of nowhere, Sirius shrugged his shoulders, took Holly's hand again in his and together they left the room with Mrs. Black alone in the darkness.

Down in the kitchen, they sat down at a small table.

"So, what do you think about my dear mother? Isn't she such a nice person?"

Back down in the light of the warm kitchen, Holly got rid of that uncomfortable feeling her godfather's mother had given her. She laughed:

"Yeah, never met anyone that lovely! You know I can't believe that woman was your mother, even though I know so many of your stories now. I guess, I finally understand why you did all those things to her. Has she always been like…"

Holly thought about a word that would describe his mother's behaviour, but for lack of one, she just said: "…this?", hoping he would get her meaning anyway.

Sirius bobbed his head around, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"Well, she had always been a cold-hearted bitch, but usually she'd scream at me, punish me, scold me or insult me. I don't know what happened to her that left her this way. It's as if she'd lost her voice...
Never in my life had she been this silent. Back then, I'd often wished she had for once been able to shut her mouth. Maybe it was my brother's death, she'd always loved him more than me after all."

Sirius shrugged, and Holly patted his folded hands that lay on the table.

Hey there again! :)
Thank you so much for reading my story, I really do hope you like it so far!
What do you think about my version of Sirius' mum?
Any ideas, why she's mute? And who do you think Holly will fall for?
Please leave a comment if you are reading, I would love to hear any opinion!
Stay tuned,
- A