Well, my internet's more or less back to normal, and I've been sitting here, on a pile of beans, twiddling my thumbs and giving the loyal fans a chance to review.

Didn't really work out. Ah well, despair not, fair heart of mine! For the fic must go on--so here you all are (I think this was the last flashback):

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Staying Informed

Sirius Black had never really appreciated the joys of Christmas time. Even during those rare times when his parents, the Moste Noble and Anciente Blacks, let him remain at school over the hols, his stack of presents were usually depressingly scanty. Of course, his cousins did send him the occasional sweater emblazoned with "Blood Traitor" or perhaps a lovely jar of undiluted bubotuber pus to take with his evening tea.

Funny, Sirius thought, it's almost as if they feel disappointed in me. Imagine that.

His lack of presents aside, there really was no other point in the holiday to him. It was all about familial ties and blood and all that stupid rubbish that shouldn't tell you bloody anything about a person and yet was always used to define one. Sirius thought it was a very stupid concept, as all of his true family was at Hogwarts, far away from his London "home."

There was no friendliness towards Sirius in Grimmauld Place, not after Andromeda Tonks had been banished from the house for marrying a Muggle. This Christmas, his fourth year, he'd been welcomed inside by his father's gaunt scowl. The man would be handsome if he weren't filled with rot and sewage on the insides, Sirius thought. His mother didn't even come to greet him, being of the opinion that such a symbol of betrayal would fill her veins with madness. Sirius thought this was stupid. There was no more room for madness in that banshee.

His brother, Regulus, who'd just started at Hogwarts that year, didn't speak to him as they walked upstairs to their bedrooms. Sirius walked into his room only to find his cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa, sitting on his bed. They had their heads bent together and voices low and rushed. When they realized he'd come in, they both started and whipped around.

"So you're here," Bella said with a sneer, always one for a quick recovery. "Didn't think Auntie'd let you through the door."

"No, I expect she was too busy beheading the house-elves with Aunt Elladora," Sirius said harshly.

"Say another word about my mum and I'll help wipe your stain off the family tree," Bella murmured in a low, rich tone. She could have been commenting on an amusing Quidditch match.

Narcissa, who was more of a behind-one's-back person when it came to insults, simply said, "Your mother gave us this room for the hols. You're to share with Uncle Alphard." Her nose wrinkled at the mention of his eccentric uncle. Sirius, however, smirked. Uncle Alphard was really the only one besides Andromeda whom Sirius could stand.

He turned without another word to his cousins and found Uncle Alphard's room. "Why, Sirius, hello!" the man cried jubilantly, crouched over his desk. As Sirius came closer, he saw that his uncle was peering at a sort of funny cross between a frog and a monkey that grinned up at them with a wide mouth. Its most distinct feature, however, was the large pustule in the middle of its forehead, glowing a dull red.

"A Clabbert," Uncle Alphard said excitedly. "I bought it off a fellow from the States—somewhere South—Missimopi or some such place, you know those silly Americans with their funny names…I had a friend once who lived in that Phillydilly town, she had the most fascinating species of Doxies, they're native there, you know—"

"About the Clabbert, Uncle Alphard?" Sirius asked somewhat in exasperation. Alphard was an odd fellow by anyone's standards, obsessed with magical zoology and cursed, or it seemed that way, with the tendency to prattle on tangent after tangent.

"Yes, yes, the Clabbert, precisely! Do you see that red spot on its forehead?"

Sirius could not imagine how he could not.

"It's that spot," Alphard continued, "that is its most interesting feature. There are the horns, and the webbed paws, and the teeth as well, of course, they are quite attractive but very sharp, you mustn't touch—man who sold it to me had loads of bite marks, seemed quite glad to get rid of the marvel, silly bloke—"

"So why does it glow like that?" Sirius asked quickly.

"It glows to show danger or plotting afoot!" Alphard cried dramatically. "Very useful in most places, but I'm afraid it is completely befuddled in this place—the house is absolutely bursting with evil and foul play—just this morning when I arrived one of your aunts, ahem, accidently stabbed at me with the firepoker. Missed, of course, I do have impeccable reaction time, almost as quick as the imp, I wager—"

Sirius let his uncle's rambling create a nice white noise for him as he began unpacking his trunk and fitting his clothing into the damp, dark bureau.

After several minutes, Uncle Alphard leapt up and banged his hand on his forehead. "Great Merlin, I nearly forgot I left my good dress robes in the dining hall! Your mum will have my skin, dear boy!"

He glanced at the Clabbert. "Watch him for me, will you, Sirius? He's quite safe, did a nice Confundus charm on him this morning—should keep him confused enough to be placid—in fact, I haven't performed a Confundus charm that splendidly since I found that Erumpent on safari—err, right, the robes, best be off!"

With that, Alphard dashed out, leaving a rather amused Sirius to unpack while watching the Clabbert out of a corner of his eye. Moments later, he heard footsteps and voices. The Clabbert's pustule intensified in its luster and glowed a bright red.

"…glad you could come, Lucius, I was worried your mum would be rather reluctant to have you away at Christmas."

"Nonsense, Narcissa. My parents have the utmost respect for your family," came a drawling voice from outside the door.

Sirius bristled, but kept quiet. Lucius Malfoy, that loathsome git, here in his home! But then, he rationalized a moment later, this isn't my home at all. So he sat by the door, eager to do what he was very good at: eavesdropping. All the while, the Clabbert pulsed red.

"How have you been then, Lucius?" came Narcissa's voice again, tinted with flirtation. However, much to Sirius' disappointment, the pair of them appeared to move away from the door, and the next second Uncle Alphard strode in, chuckling about "young love." Sirius fought the urge to retch.

"So sorry I took so long, Sirius, but it seems your mum had sold the robes to a man on the street and I had to chase him all the way past the bakery to get it back. Mothers can be so absentminded," Alphard said good-naturedly.

Sirius, however, was determined to know more about Lucius and why he was here, and just why that pustule had grown even redder at his approach. And when it came to finding things out, Sirius was like a dog in his stubbornness and aversion to letting go.

That night at dinner, he found himself seated next to Narcissa, much to his luck. Lucius was seated, as a guest, on the right hand of his mother. "So, Cissy," he casually began. "You're seeing this Malfoy bloke."

She looked at him sharply. "Yes, though I don't see how it's any business of yours."

"Well, I do enjoy staying informed."

Narcissa blinked at him, confused now. She might have been stupid enough to believe him. "Oh…what were you going to ask?"

"Dunno. It's just we don't know much about him," Sirius said in a friendly tone. If he'd been talking to Bella, she'd have sniffed him out as soon as he'd sung his first civil note. But Cissy was too naïve to understand his game.

"I do!" she cried loudly, getting several strange looks. "I do," she said again more softly. "He's very accomplished, you know. He says he's met a man who's changed his whole outlook on life."

Sirius chortled. "What's the poofter doing with you, then?"

She glared. "Not like that, you prat. The man, he's a great leader, Lucius says. Got wonderful plans. Says he's going to change the way Muggles trod on us all over the place."

"Didn't our ancestors tie Muggles to trees and let them be devoured by Acromantula?" Sirius asked dryly.

Narcissa blinked. "What's your point?"

Sirius sighed. "Never mind, Cissy. So does this almighty leader have a name?"

She nodded. "I can't remember it. It's long, and French, and unnecessary. But Lucius says he's made his way through the ranks," she added proudly, "and soon he'll be his right-hand man, and all the powers and secrets and knowledge he has will go to Lucius." She then lost all intelligent thought and sat staring at her guest dreamily.

Sirius too glanced at Lucius, sitting further up the table. A haughty smile graced his pale, pointed face, and his arrogance radiated in the way he lifted his goblet, the lazy manner in which he laughed at a joke.

"Powers and secrets? Right-hand man?" Sirius murmured. "Is that so?"

But Cissy was long gone. Sirius watched Lucius lazily compliment the Muggle-hunting bill Mrs. Black's cousin had proposed to the Ministry.

What Sirius didn't know then was that Lucius Malfoy would indeed go on to inherit his Lord's last chance at ever returning to power.

For now, it was enough for Sirius to conclude that the man was a complete ass.