I enjoy thinking about the events in Harry Potter in relation to real-world events, and as an African-Brit I'm genetically programmed to be overly-interested in the royal family. This chapter is set in Oct/Nov of Order of the Phoenix, and here's your warning for language.

Of Wales

Sirius flipped the page in the newspaper, and the headline blared up at him. CHARLES AND DI SEEING LAWYERS! His eyes flicked down to the article: The Prince of Wales and his estranged wife are both thought to be consulting with divorce lawyers, a source close to the palace-

Sirius almost spat out his wine.

"They're getting a divorce?!" he yelped, jumping in his seat so that Tonks, who'd been leaning against his shoulder, toppled over into his lap.

"Who?" she huffed, pushing herself up.

"Diana!" said Sirius, holding up the newspaper and jamming his finger at the headline. There was always usually a Daily Prophet knocking around Number 12 Grimmauld Place, although last week Hestia suggested that Sirius might want to start reading the Muggle newspapers, just for something to do. The various Order members who traipsed in and out of his house had started bringing along Guardians, Telegraphs and Daily Mails for the last few days. Hestia had turned out to be right- Muggle newspapers were a welcome break from the guff in the Daily Prophet, even if Sirius didn't have a clue who most of the people mentioned in the British press were. Princess Diana though- well, everybody had heard of her.

"It's just a crappy tabloid, I wouldn't take it as gospel," Tonks shrugged, "But they've been split up for ages, so it'll happen sooner or later. Didn't you know?"

"You've never been on the run, have you?" Sirius deadpanned.

"Not from Azkaban for two years,"

"Well when you are, you'll learn that the only reason to look at Muggle newspapers is for the date. And the weather," Sirius explained, then added after a pause, "And the Horoscopes, to see how badly the Muggles have it wrong,"

"Mum told me you never took Divination," Tonks reminded him. That irked Sirius slightly, although he couldn't have explained why.

"I didn't say we have it right either. Anyway, what's happening this this divorce thing?"

"It's pretty ugly, to be honest, they'd both been having affairs," Tonks elaborated, tapping the photo of the Prince and Princess and their two children.

"Arthur Weasley's clearly the father of the youngest one," Sirius joked, examining the photo more closely.

"Harry,"

He turned to her sharply. "What about him?"

"No, not our Harry. Prince Harry. That's his name, you moron,"

"Oh. Our Harry was a baby when they got married," Sirius remembered, "The only Summer I had with him. I didn't have a clue who any of these royal people were - had to get Lily to explain it to me, even though she didn't want to watch it,"

Lily had been funny like that, Sirius remembered. She was always telling him and James which actors and singers and famous people were cool, which were too posh or too annoying or too Northern, which ones were boring in interviews, which ones she fancied, which she could tell were gay even if they hadn't admitted it. Sometimes Sirius enjoyed listening to her tittle-tattle, and sometimes he enjoyed rolling his eyes with James about it.

"Why not? We had a party in our street, I ate too much cake and threw up," Tonks grinned.

"She thought they were all snobs," Sirius murmured, smiling as he thought of Lily.

"Like our family," Tonks pointed out. That jarred Sirius, and he glanced at her sharply. Tonks sometimes referred to the Blacks as "our" or "us", even though she was never really one of them. Andromeda's influence, Sirius supposed- Andy may have been the first to run, but she was always less disdainful about their family than he was. More hopeful, perhaps. Andromeda had loved her parents and sisters more than Sirius could ever love Mother, Father and Regulus. In prison, Sirius had sometimes thought about taunting her about that- see what Bella's done now, Andromeda. Bella, who you always told me was not so bad. Bella, who you used to cry about not seeing again and insisted that you'd meet again if she ever agreed. Bella, who you still loved. Fucked up a pair of Aurors so bad they'll never leave hospital. How d'you feel about that, Andy? You utter idiot.

Although in the months since Tonks had come back into his life, Sirius found he sort of liked her saying, "our family". She didn't truly understand what it was like to be a Black, but "our" suggested that she might. And that was something.

Sirius kissed her forehead fondly and said, "Exactly, it's just the Muggle version of purebloods and the scared bloody twenty-eight,"

"Yeah, everyone knows that," she scoffed.

"I liked you better when you thought I knew everything," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I have never once thought that you know everything,"

"You did. Back in those days with the wedding and everything, when you were little,"

"I think recent developments," Tonks pointed out, tapping the newspaper, "Have proved that times have changed,"

"Still happened," he teased her.

"Shut up,"

Sirius jabbed her in the ribs, smirked to himself and turned back to the newspaper. The Prince of Wales and his estranged wife are both thought to be consulting with divorce lawyers, a source close to the palace claims. Charles, 47, was recently seen outside Hatchett & Webb solicitors in Mayfair, while the Princess of Wales is believed to have been in contact with Durban-Ostley Family Law, based close to Kensington Palace. Diana, 34, who was most recently seen attending a gala event in Milan, recently denied claims about plans to divorce the Prince. A palace spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

"She's thirty-four and he's forty-seven?" Sirius frowned, "I didn't know that,"

Tonks' head whipped round to look at him. "Doesn't matter, does it?" she asked.

"Well, no wonder they're getting divorced,"

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

She sounded mildly insulted, which was odd. Sirius elaborated: "He's miles older. She's only a bit younger than me, and she was about nineteen when they got married. Maybe we should have known then that it was going to go up in smoke,"

"It's gone up in smoke because they both had affairs, not because he's older," said Tonks defensively.

"There's as much of an age gap between him and her and there is between you and me," Sirius pointed out, "Bit pervy when you look at it like that,"

Tonks folded her arms tightly and said nothing. Sirius wasn't sure what exactly he'd done to annoy her, which reminded him of Andy again. It had often been that way with her. Dumbledore had told Sirius that perhaps Andromeda could come over to visit him soon, although the headmaster had been cagey on the subject in recent weeks. Sirius knew he should have gone better than to get his hopes up- most of his life had been disappointments- but having Tonks around made him think of Andy all the more, especially as Tonks had those little mannerisms and idiosyncrasies which were like her mother's.

"If you're looking for an older bloke I believe there's a very rich one now on the market," Sirius continued, gesturing the newspaper.

"I don't need a rich bloke," said Tonks in the same defensive tone.

That was a very Andromeda comment too, and Sirius felt more irked that Andy wasn't here. "Sorry, forgot some of us are on Auror salaries," he drawled rather bitterly.

Tonks half-smirked and said in a dry tone, "It isn't as much as you think,"

"More than the zero knuts I've had coming in for fourteen years,"

"But you got Uncle Alphard's money and Mum didn't,"

Sirius laughed, although irritation outweighed amusement, "She still hasn't let that go? I'm a closer relative to him,"

"It was because you're a boy. Don't pretend it isn't,"

That was the most Andromeda thing Sirius had ever heard in his life.

"Though you just said you weren't bothered about money," he protested.

"I said I wasn't bothered about a rich bloke,"

"What about that Healer you were seeing over the Summer? Godric or Godfrey or something?" Sirius asked. She'd been so obvious about it; she'd come into Sirius' house wearing a man's jacket, smelling of men's deodorant and with bite marks on her neck. Mundungus had once suggested to Sirius that he should feel annoyed about that, but Sirius didn't feel particularly protective over Tonks. The truth was, he felt jealous. Sometimes those prison years seemed endless, but other times Sirius looked at them like a pause button and he was still only twenty-two, same age as Tonks. Why wasn't he out getting into scrapes and having relationships and enjoying himself, like she was?

"Geoffrey," Tonks corrected.

"I preferred Godric,"

"We split up," she told him.

"Yes, I worked out as much," Sirius shrugged, "How come?"

Tonks sighed. "He was working night shifts and I'm busy with the Order. Neither of us were massively into each other and it just wasn't really working out," she said, and yawned. Sirius almost laughed at her disinterest, then wondered if she was faking it and had actually been upset about breaking up with this bloke.

"So you're looking for someone else," he suggested experimentally.

"What's it to you if I am?"

She sounded defensive again, and Sirius wasn't sure if that confirmed that Tonks was interested in someone, or that she wasn't because she was still upset about this Geoffrey.

"Well, are you?" he prompted.

"I told you, I'm busy with Order stuff. I don't have time for much else,"

"I'm busy with Order stuff and I have more free time than anybody could possibly want," Sirius sighed.

Tonks ran her fingers down his sleeve and said softly, "I know,"

That was another Andromeda expression. She'd said it to Sirius when they were kids and he'd deluge her with how pathetic his father was, how Mother treated him like a criminal, how Regulus was an nitwit and a suck-up and a tittle-tattle. I know, Sirius, but just try with them, alright? I know, Sirius, but look at it from their point of view. I know, Sirius, but it's difficult for me to do anything now I'm away at school. Andy been the first of the two of them to go to school and the first to run away from home. Sirius had followed, but the freedom he'd waited so long for had been short-lived. On top of everything she, Tonks was a reminder of the life Andy had had- the life Sirius thought that he would have. The life that had Wormtail and Voldemort had stolen.

"You don't," he snarled darkly, "You don't have a clue what it's like,"

"Fine, I don't. I also don't hang out here for you to snap at me," she said waspishly.

Sirius folded his arms. "Alright- leave. I don't care,"

"What have I done to piss you off?" Tonks demanded. Sirius curled his lip to avoid answering. What was he supposed to tell her, anyway? That what she'd done to piss him off was belong to Andromeda, be too much like Andromeda, not to Andromeda, to be a reminder that Andromeda had had the life that Sirius hadn't, to be actually living the life that Sirius should be living now. He couldn't say any of that out loud.

"Well? Do you want me to stay or not?" Tonks challenged.

Sirius looked at her, then looked at the floor. Then he looked over at the lacy curtains. Mother had bought them in France when Sirius was small. They'd looked revolting when new, and were now peppered with moth-holes, stains and cobwebs. They were drawn over the window, blocking him from the outside world.

"Yes," Sirius mumbled, and tried to ignore the sting he felt in knowing that his loneliness outweighed his pride.


Thanks for reading. My laptop helpfully decided to delete a version of the next chapter- I'm rewriting it, but it might be a bit of a wait. Apologies for that, and in the meantime feel free to take a gander at any of my other stories. Thank you.