Chapter Three

Cedrella Weasley was happy with the life she'd built. She and Septimus were something resembling dirt poor, but they had enough to get by with their two little boys, here at the Burrow, and Septimus swore he didn't mind working the long hours at the Ministry. She'd offered to take a job as well to help make ends meet, but he wouldn't have it, insisting that even if they could save up the money to invest in a House Elf to mind the children, he'd rather they be a little tight than have their children raised that way, and really, she agreed. Cedrella had spent enough of her own childhood in the care of House Elves, and while her own parents, Arcturus and Lysandra Black, hadn't been terrible so far as parents went, they had been Purebloods and certainly hadn't stood up for her when her Uncle, Sirius Black, had moved to disown her.

Officially, the reason for her disownment had been for her marriage to Septimus Weasley, who, while Pureblood, was a less than desirable Pureblood because of his family's views on Muggle and Muggleborn rights. Of course, she'd been married for well over a year before she'd been disowned, and her parents had approved the match when it had happened, thinking little of it considering she was the middle child. Her older sister Callidora was the one they'd been concerned with marrying well, and her younger sister Charis had been betrothed to a well respected Pureblood by the time she'd announced her desire to wed Septimus. No, Cedrella's marriage had been the least of their concerns. The true reason for her disownment by her Uncle was something far more sinister, although she didn't like to think about it, and talking about it was pointless. There was no evidence to present, and frankly, even though she'd heard that Sirius Black was dead now, she didn't care enough to fight for her place in the Black family anymore. It wasn't worth the struggle she knew it would be to make a case for herself, even if there were days that she wished her children could know their grandparents and their aunts, not to mention their cousins.

A knock on the front door startled her from her thoughts. The boys were down for their afternoon naps. She wondered if perhaps it was her neighbor, Quana Lovegood, coming to call, and the thought made her smile a little. The woman was a bit odd, granted, but she was a good friend and a dab hand at Potions, and was always happy to brew various healing potions if one of Cedrella's boys fell ill.

She could feel all the color draining out of her face as she opened the door and saw who her visitors were. It was not Quana. "No," she croaked. "You're dead."

Her uncle raised an eyebrow. "Not as such. May we come in?"

Cedrella noticed a Witch about her own age with her Uncle. "Sirius, you're scaring the poor woman half to death," she said. "Easy, Cedrella. We mean you no harm."

"Him meaning no harm would be something of a personality transplant," she bit out, not moving.

"Ah," Sirius said with a nod. "That's fair. Look, I've spent the last two years being a guest of Grindelwald, and not in the pleasant way. I'm not… I'm not the man you remember. You clearly don't remember me fondly but I want to do what I can to make it up to you. I can prove I've changed, Cedrella."

"Oh really?" she laughed. "You? Change? That's not bloody likely."

"Your Aunt Hesper died not long after we were taken captive," he pressed, voice sounding oddly sincere. "This here is Hermione. She was also captive with us. After your Aunt died, well, we fell in love. I'm going to marry her once I get everything sorted out with coming back from the dead and all that. Despite that she is a Muggleborn."

Cedrella was taken aback by that. "You're Muggleborn, truly?"

"Afraid so," the young woman, Hermione said with a wry grin. "Your Uncle is right, though. He can still be a bit of an arrogant prat sometimes, but he's not…dark anymore. He's been through too much. He's had to do too much soul searching to believe any of the tripe he was raised to believe, anymore."

Green eyes narrowed as Cedrella looked intently at the pair of them, and after a moment she stepped aside and allowed them into her house, although she did pull out her wand and keep it in her hand. This man was clearly not a threat. Every instinct inside of her suggested he was just as the young Witch suggested - not dark in the least - and if that was true, then there was no bloody way that he was truly her Uncle Sirius. That of course begged the question who the bloody hell he was. He certainly looked like her uncle, as her recent panic attack could attest to, but no, her uncle was dead. She was fairly sure of that.

Cedrella Weasley was a Slytherin and woman. Nothing much got past her. She liked to think that if not for her tendency to be self-serving, she might have sorted to Ravenclaw given her intellect, but she had a general viciousness about her that didn't suit being sorted to the House of the Studious. Still, while it could be beneficial to call these two out on what was obviously some sort of con to plant themselves inside House Black, Cedrella felt it was fairly clear that they were testing their disguise out on her, and if she was perfectly honest, if not for her unique insight on her Uncle Sirius' truly evil nature, she may have even bought the story of how his captivity had changed him so radically. It was a good story, and the rest of the family would likely be taken in by it with the right push.

She could, feasibly, be that push. The question became one of if she should. "What do you want from me?" she asked, being careful not to tip her hand.

"I want to make things right with the people I've wronged," Sirius explained. "I've not gone back to Grimmauld Place, yet. I know I need to, but at the end of the day before I go deal with my son and reclaiming Headship of the family, I wanted to take certain steps which proved how sincere I am about making changes in how we, the Blacks, do things. I mean to marry Hermione. I mean to rescind your disownment, among other disownments currently in order. You were just the one I knew where to find off hand."

"I'm honestly surprised you knew where to find me," she admitted. Truthfully, she'd have been surprised if her real Uncle had known where the Burrow was, much less this stranger. That this man knew how to locate some disowned member of the Black family was odd indeed.

"I should never have disowned you," he said softly. "I knew that when it happened. Septimus is a good man."

She snorted. "He may die of shock if he hears you say that. You had some choice words to say to the contrary at our wedding."

"You'll have to forgive me if I've honestly forgotten," Sirius said. "A few years of being under the Cruciatus off and on wreaks havoc on the memory."

Oh, he was good, Cedrella had to admit. A very plausible excuse for any gaps in memory or knowledge. He'd be able to get into Grimmauld and look at records to catch up on a great deal, and anything he couldn't guess at would be excused by the experience of being tortured. "Of course," she said genially. "Have you already been to Gringotts and gotten back on the accounts?"

"Yes, I did that yesterday," he replied. "I didn't take over entirely - I want to speak with Arcturus first - but I did need some gold to cover general lodging expenses, and we wanted to get some clean clothes. You can't imagine how gross our robes were after two years of not changing. I've never been so thankful for a shower in my life."

Cedrella observed the pair of them both looking quite genuine in their feeling that a shower after long being denied one was a true blessing, which had her internally scratching her head. She'd been developing the theory that the pair of them were a couple of con artists, perhaps getting help from some other disowned member of the Black family, but typically con artists, however good at acting, had never truly known suffering that would involve being denied such basic luxuries. A soft Legilimency read on the Witch showed her covered with what had to be a year's worth of grime as she stood naked in a shower. The peek only lasted a second before Occlumency shields slammed into place.

"Honestly, Cedrella, that was uncalled for," Hermione said softly. "Your Uncle and I are both Occlumens, for the record. If you want to know something, ask. We're happy to be honest. You needn't snoop."

Cedrella very much doubted either of them were going to be honest in the least, but she wasn't about to tip her hand just yet. The reality of the matter was that her instincts suggested that these two had it in their heads to turn the Black family into a bunch of Muggle loving Purebloods, and as far as she was concerned, that was the biggest insult to her Uncle's memory that she could possibly imagine. In no way was she against this plan. If these two began to show signs that they had more sinister plans, then she'd show her hand and reveal to Uncle Arcturus that they were not who they said they were, however in absence of that, she saw no reason not to aid them for the time being.

If her real Uncle Sirius happened to roll over in his grave, so bloody be it.

Melok sat at the breakfast table with his wife, a rare morning when he wasn't expected at Gringotts until later in the day and had time to enjoy breaking his fast with Genia without a rush. He knew he should be enjoying the time with her, but his thoughts were still centered on Hermione and Sirius, and everything he needed to do to get the young Mage's training organized.

"What's on your mind, my love?" Genia asked. "I can hear you thinking."

He chuckled. "Work, as usual. There's a Witch I'll be taking under my wing effective immediately for some specialized training. All indications suggest I can trust this woman, and in fact my instincts tell me to do so, and yet I feel I should remain wary and on guard. She is something of an unusual individual, Genia. Unlike most other Witches and Wizards, she seems to hold no sense of distrust toward Goblins. I'd even go so far as to say that she appears to respect my people and our traditions, which frankly is boggling."

His wife laughed. "Darling, all of these things are things you once said of me. It is not wholly unique for a human to have consideration for a Goblin or their traditions. Perhaps she has known other Goblins and learned to respect your ways by that avenue, and respects you by extension of her respect for her previous associates."

Genia wasn't far off from the truth, considering that Hermione's previous association with Goblins, so far as he knew, was himself in another reality, but he wasn't going to tell his wife about that. She was well used to him being reserved in what he told her about his work and didn't begrudge him his secrets. That was the Goblin way and Genia respected that. Their marriage wouldn't be working if she couldn't respect his need for secrecy about such things. "Perhaps," he allowed. "It is a rare thing, though. Even you, my love, took time to get to know me, before you extended such trust. Hermione - this woman - she extends such trust freely as if she has foreknowledge that given time, I will extend the same trust in return. I simply don't know what to do with that sort of faith. A part of me wants to embrace it, because it is refreshing to be so freely accepted, and a part of me wants to damn well lash out at her for the sheer presumptuousness of it!"

She snorted. "Don't be petty, Melok. It doesn't suit you. What sort of example will you be for our children if you were to behave in that manner?"

Ah, children. Of course she was going to bring that up again.

They'd been talking about it off and on since they'd married three years ago. The great debate was not if to have children - they both did want children - but rather how to go about having them. There was the option of surrogacy, where they found a Wizard to impregnate Genia and step away, allowing them to raise a fully human child together without any Goblin genetics at all, even if they'd be raised with a Goblin father. There was also the option of having a genetically half-Goblin child, obviously using the spells to ensure that the child developed in a manner which allowed Genia to give birth safely. Without those spells in place, they both knew, the chances of her surviving childbirth were slim at best. "Are we really going to have this discussion again this morning?" he asked tersely.

"At some point we should make a decision and get on with it, Melok," she replied. "I'd like to have children eventually and if you keep blowing off the conversation, it'll never bloody happen."

"I know, I know," he acquiesced. "Just…it's a big commitment, love. I'm not just talking about the next seventeen years of being parents. I'm talking about deciding on the genetic future of our child, and that our decision now is going to impact their entire lives: not just the next seventeen years. I don't want to make that choice lightly. I promise that I will give it serious thought. Perhaps I'll even bring it up with my new friend Hermione. She's… insightful."

Genia smiled. "Well if she can talk you into a decision one way or another, I like her already. As I've told you before, darling, I'm content with either path. No matter what choice we make, I'll love a child of ours completely. I've even decided on a name for our first born."

"Oh, don't I get any say in the matter?" he asked, laughing a little.

"No, not after dragging your feet this long," she said matter of factly.

"So what is my first born to be called?" he asked.

"Filius, or Filia," she replied. "Boy or girl dependent, obviously. Since Goblins don't have surnames, that'll match to Flitwick."

"Filius Flitwick," he mused. "That's a good name for a son. Do I get to pick his second name, at least? I'll embrace that human tradition if it means I get some say in the naming of my child."

Genia offered a smug grin. "Sure, honey. You can pick our child's second name. As soon as you decide if he or she is going to be completely human or half-Goblin. Now go. You're going to be late for work."

"Well, this is going to be fun," Sirius said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Cedrella raised an eyebrow. "At least seeing you again will be welcome," she said. "I'm the outcast, remember?"

"I'm not sure what either of you are complaining about," Hermione snorted. "You've both got the advantage of being Blacks by birthright, if nothing else. I'm a bloody Mudblood intent on wedding the Head of their Ancient and most Noble House. I'm not likely to be given the warmest reception ever."

Sirius had to admit that on a scale of who was going to be getting the most shite, Hermione did have a point, as did Cedrella. He might not be looking forward to this whole thing, but in the grand scheme he had the least complaining to do, especially in context of who he was pretending to be. Presuming everyone bought the story, he should be welcomed with open arms, and the worst of it was going to be convincing them to not lose it over his planned changes to the overall family philosophy. Notably, of course, there was that marrying of the Muggleborn thing. "Don't call yourself that, love," he said softly, touching Hermione's hand. "Not ever. Bad enough I'm going to have to hear other people say it."

"Best get to it," Cedrella pushed. "The door won't knock on itself."

Sirius grumbled, and then raised his hand and rapped his knuckles on the front door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. The wards may have admitted him, honestly, and if not Hermione certainly could have busted through them, but good manners suggested that they just knock and wait for the current residents to open up. According to Melok, Arcturus was currently residing there, along with his sister Lycoris. Arcturus had raised Orion and Lucretia there, and when his wife had died young Lycoris had stepped in to help him with the children. As a consequence of that, she'd never gone on to have her own family, too busy caring for her brother's daughter and son. Now that Orion and Lucretia were both grown with spouses of their own, Arcturus and Lycoris remained at Grimmauld Place alone, seeming to be, from an outside view, an empty nested couple more than a brother and sister.

It didn't take long for the door to open, and years of staring at portraits allowed Sirius to easily recognize Arcturus Black, although if he was honest, the man was better looking in person than he had been in paint, although it was clear that grief was present in his bearing. No wonder, Sirius mused, if the man had spent the last two years having been thrust into Headship of the family after abruptly losing both his parents. He took a deep breath. "Hello, son," Sirius said, offering a gentle smile. He'd never been a proper father before, but knew he had a role to play, so he looked at Arcturus and imagined Harry, and tried his best to channel the emotion he thought he'd feel if he was being reunited with his Godson after all these years. He imagined how shocked Harry would be to see him, and how shocked Arcturus must be right now to see his supposedly dead father, and he imagined the emotions on both sides of the moment and felt tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks. "Evidently I'm a hard man to kill," he choked out.

The other man stared at him, first in shock, then in complete wonder, and then he lunged forward and pulled Sirius into a bruising hug, not even questioning his identity for a single moment. "Father!" he exclaimed. "How?"

"A bit of luck," he said when they pulled apart. "A lot of love from a good woman."

"Mother?" Arcturus asked, glancing at his companions, clearly identifying his cousin and frowning at the sight of Hermione. "Did Mother…"

"She didn't make it," Sirius said softly. "I'm sorry. She died not long after we were captured. You know Cedrella, of course. I reached out to her as soon as I got back because, well… I owed her an apology that was long overdue. This is Hermione Baker. We were in captivity together since the beginning and, well…"

"The love of a good woman," Arcturus said quietly, clearly understanding. "I see."

"I mean to marry her, son," Sirius said sternly. "I hope that you and your siblings can accept that - accept her. Hermione is really quite wonderful and I'd not have made it out without her."

Arcturus nodded. "Let's go inside, Father. Lycoris is going to go spare. We'll Floo Regulus at once. After that, we'll have to talk about how to go about telling everyone you're back."

Sirius nodded for the two women to follow, and with a deep breath, took his first steps inside Grimmauld Place, forcing himself to remember that this wasn't the same Grimmauld Place he'd grown up in. Orion and Walburga didn't live here, at present, and while they were already married, he wasn't born yet. There was still time to make changes to ensure his younger self didn't suffer through such a miserable childhood. He couldn't change his bloody parentage, but he could ensure that his childhood wasn't so damn wretched. He could make his future memories of Grimmauld Place ones of joy instead of pain.

"Arcturus?" a woman's voice called from down the hall. "Who was at the door?"

"Best come and see for yourself, Cor," the eldest of the Black siblings replied with a shaky voice. "You won't believe me unless you do."

Lycoris Black came into view a moment later, stopping short when she saw Sirius. He studied her expression carefully, and saw mixed feelings in her face. It was clear that one part of her, like Arcturus, was pleased to have her father returned to her, but not dissimilar to Cedrella's initial reaction, there was a part of her face that betrayed some fear. "Father?" she whispered.

"Yes, Lycoris," he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'm home."

"Mother?" she asked, just as her brother had.

"Didn't make it," Arcturus answered for him. "Father has expressed his intention to remarry, however. Cor, meet Miss Hermione Baker. You know Cedrella."

"It's nice to meet you both," Hermione said softly. "Your father has spoken of little else but getting home to you these last years. He loves you very much."

"Forgive me, Miss Baker," Lycoris said, "but my Father has never been particularly demonstrative in his affections before."

"I think you'll find that will no longer be the case," Sirius interjected. "What I've been through, you two… it changes a man. It's changed how I think, how I express myself, and what my priorities are. Of course, I still put the well being of this family above all, but I no longer believe that in order to do that I am required to uphold antiquated ideals that frankly, have done nothing but bring me pain."

"Antiquated ideals?" Arcturus asked, looking puzzled.

"He means," Cedrella said, looking amused. "That his betrothed is Muggleborn. House Black is in for something of a revolution, cousin, as your Father has evidently decided he no longer cares to uphold any attachment to Pureblood doctrine. Color me shocked."

"Bloody hell," Lycoris let out. "Are you serious?"

"That's my name!" he said cheekily.

"Really, Sirius?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes. "Is now the time for that?"

"My Father makes jokes now?" Arcturus almost choked out in question, astonished.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair. "Best get your brother over here before I get any further into my grand plans for the future. I don't care for repeating myself."

"Well at least some things haven't changed," Lycoris snorted. "I'll Floo him."

With that, she left and headed toward the kitchen where the main Floo was, and Arcturus waved for them to move into the sitting room. While they were waiting for Lycoris to return, her brother attempted to make conversation with his future step-mother, much to Sirius' amusement. He had to hand it to the Wizard, the bloke was taking all of this like a champ. He didn't know he'd be half as cool headed in his position.

"So, Miss Baker," Arcturus began, "do tell me about yourself."

"Please," Hermione said with a genial smile. "You are welcome to call me Hermione. We're to be family, after all. There isn't a great deal to tell. My parents were Muggle, and traveled a great deal, and when they learned I was a Witch they opted to home educate me rather than have me educated at Hogwarts. I self studied for the most part in the early years, but as I got older they arranged for tutors. I can only assume my education was well rounded, as after they were killed right after I came of age, I still managed to evade capture by Grindelwald's forces for a number of years before I was eventually taken to the same detainment location your Father was being held at. That's been the last two years of my life, until the two of us managed to escape."

"But the war with Grindelwald's been over for ages!" Arcturus countered.

"He may have been captured and detained, but his followers still exist in cells here and there," Sirius said with a sigh. "There's another Dark Lord on the rise as well and he's been recruiting what's left of Grindelwald's forces and consolidating. We think that's why our captors ultimately abandoned their posts - that this new bloke wanted our captors to work for him and they weren't willing, so he killed them. That left us unguarded and all we had to do was slowly break through the wards."

Just then, they heard another Wizard's voice. "I swear to Merlin, Cor, if you are pulling my leg right now, I'll hex you so badly you won't sit comfortably for a month. This is not something to joke about, sister."

"As if I couldn't take you in a duel," Lycoris scoffed. "They're in the sitting room, I believe. Go see for yourself, Reg. He seems determined to redefine what House Black stands for, but he is alive."

The two younger siblings marched into the room together, and Regulus Black came to a dead halt in front of Sirius, who stood to inspect the third of his assumed children. "Are you going to welcome me home or argue with your sister some more?"

"Well," Regulus said, staring at him stiffly. "I guess cockroaches can come back from the dead."

"Regulus!" Arcturus chastised. "Honestly, can you not pick a fight right from the off?"

Alright, Sirius thought with a grimace, he got it. Clearly there had been some issues between Father and second son, and Sirius thought he really should get to mending that relationship posthaste. This was the man who, in at least one reality, would eventually donate the genetic material to conceive Filius Flitwick, and if Sirius was perfectly honest, he liked the idea of Filius being his cousin, and liked the idea of Filius being not plagued with the stigma that came with being genetically half-Goblin. He wasn't going to bully the situation into happening, but he felt like if it was going to happen at all, it would stand it's best chance if there was a better relationship between himself and Regulus, considering it wouldn't take Regulus long to figure out that he and Hermione were friends with Melok. "It's alright, Arcturus. Let your brother speak his mind."

"We were better off with you gone," the youngest of the siblings shot out angrily.

Surprisingly, and Sirius would have to thank Melok later for advising them to go to the Witch first, Cedrella spoke up in his defense. "He's changed, Reg," she said. "He's really bloody changed."

"Oh really?" Regulus scoffed. "Like how?"

"Rescinded my disownment first thing when he got back," Cedrella shot out.

"He's betrothed to a Muggleborn, for Merlin's sake," Arcturus offered.

"He's got a bloody sense of humor!" Lycoris added.

Regulus paused, eying his siblings and cousin carefully for signs of lies before he returned his gaze to his Father. "Did they knock you on the head a good bit while they had you?"

"A bit," Sirius said. "Not to mention a few rounds of Cruciatus a day for the better part of two years. I'll admit that my long term memory is fairly shoddy these days. I remember you all. I remember big events. I remember important things. It's the little things that have just…"

Hermione put her hand on his arm in support.

"You're the one he means to marry, then?" Regulus asked, eyeing Hermione. "The Muggleborn?"

"Guilty as charged," she said.

"Prove it," he demanded.

"Prove what?" she asked, looking amused.

"That you're Muggleborn, and not just some Pureblood bitch pretending to be Muggleborn to make us believe our Father has had some great change of heart," Regulus issued.

Hermione snorted. "Not that I can think of a terribly good reason for Sirius to pretend to love a Muggleborn, as marrying me will likely cause all sorts of trouble politically speaking, but how shall I prove it, Regulus? Would you like me to tell you about the function of a rubber duck? Or how airplanes stay in the air without magic? Perhaps you'd like me to explain to you the concept of genetics, which while Muggles have explored quite thoroughly and is deeply relevant to the Wizarding community, we ignore despite the massive danger it implies in regard to inbreeding?"

Regulus looked shocked at her outburst, but intrigued by her comments all the same. "What's a rubber duck?"

She laughed. "It's a bath toy that children play with. Looks like a duck and floats on the water. Often it has a feature that will either make it squeak when the child squeezes it, or squirt water out of its beak when the child squeezes it. Genuinely, I was raised by Muggles."

"And you genuinely want to marry my Father?" he asked, incredulous. "Like you don't think he's a bastard?"

"Well he was a bit when I met him," she said. "Then your Mother died. That changed him a little. After that we survived two years of torture together. That changed us both a lot. I love him, and he loves me. You being a prat isn't going to change that."

"Well shite," Regulus said. "Who next then? You've done blown my bloody mind. Who is next on the list to tell you're back?"

"Uncle Arcturus should be next," Lycoris said thoughtfully. "If Cedrella is already in the loop and you are rescinding her disownment, then Uncle Arcturus should hear about that privately even before we call Uncle Cygnus or Aunt Belvina."

"Somewhere in there you'll also need to hunt down Uncle Phineas," Cedrella remarked. "You can't rescind my disownment and not rescind his, Uncle Sirius."

"Agreed, Cedrella," Sirius said. "Anyone know where he's at these days?"

"I do," Lycoris replied. "He lives just outside of Devonshire. He married a Muggle woman. Her name is Ruth. They've a son of their own, I believe - not sure if he's magical or not - and they're raising Marius."

"Right, Uncle Cygnus' Squib," Regulus said, nodding in remembrance. "I'd forgotten they dumped their Squib on Uncle Phineas."

"Well that's going to make for a complicated reunion," Sirius muttered.

"You're telling me," Hermione agreed.

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