Aaaaaaanndd... here's another chapter... I hope you enjoy it and all that...


"Open," a scowling boy hissed at a silver snake head on the door to his parents' bedroom. When the door unlocked, he pushed it and ran quickly towards the bed, jumping on it with the grace of a hippopotamus.

"Hey, Mum," he smiled cheekily at the woman laying on the bed. She put down the book she was reading and turned to look at him, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you be with Lucius for your Astronomy class?" Bella asked.

"Yes," Serpens answered sheepishly, shifting his position so he was sitting in front of her with his legs outstretched. He played with his feet as he spoke, "Uncle Lucius is a great teacher. He makes all the boring subjects sound exciting. Ancient Runes and Arithmancy actually make sense when he explains them. Hell, he even makes history exciting. But when it come to Astronomy, he just drones on and on boringly. It's as if I'm sitting with Professor Binns!"

Bella watched her son bemusedly, "Lucius is passionate when it comes to the things he loves. That's why he makes Runes, Arithmancy, and History interesting. You'll have even more fun when you start Politics and Alchemy with him. But I agree with you on the fact that he's a boring person when he's not interested in something. I'm surprised Cissy isn't the one teaching you Astronomy. Our parents made sure that all of us knew everything there is to know before we turned seven"

Serpens looked up at his mother, tilting his head as he thought. He assumed "all of us" meant the third sister, Andromeda, as well. He wouldn't ask about that though. Instead, another question left his lips, "why?"

"It's a Black family tradition to name our kids after stars or constellations, and, obviously, it's important to know the meaning of the name. For example, Bellatrix is a star in the constellation Orion, its meaning is a female warrior. On the other hand, Serpens is a constellation of a serpent, a snake. Your father picked it if you're wondering"

"Huh," Serpens nodded, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Come here," Bella pat the spot next to her on the bed. Serpens crawled gracelessly to her side, looking like an overgrown toddler. He plopped next to her and Bella chuckled as she pulled him in to her side. She wrapped an an arm around his back and reached out with her other one towards her wand. Serpens just relaxed and snuggled deeper into his mother's side. "Your father is going to be so very angry that you skipped class, and I won't accept this behavior in any of your other classes. Your grades must get better," he heard his mother speak sternly. Serpens nodded in agreement. He knew his parents were right, his past grades were pitying.

"Now," Bella said as she waved her wand in a circle, a grey mist emanating from it, "what were you supposed to study today?"

"Uh. The zodiacs. Uncle Lucius wanted to start with Leo, because it's my sign"

Bella nodded and waved her wand again. Suddenly, the mist started taking a formation and Serpens could finally see what it was doing, it was turning into a 3D image of the constellation.

"Woah! That's so cool! How did you do that?!"

Bella smiled at her son's excitement, "it's an old Black family spell, passed on from parent to child. I'll teach it to you later if you want"

"Of course I want to learn it!" Serpens exclaimed as he stared at the constellation in front of him. It looked almost like the Patronus charm but with stars.

"So, imagine this..."


Tom slammed his bedroom door open, anger radiating off of him in waves. He'd just found out from Lucius that his son had decided to ditch his Astronomy lesson. Tom walked into his bedroom to the sight of his lover sitting on the bed with the aforementioned son, cuddling and looking at a hologram of the stars. Bella looked up when the door slammed open, waving her wand quickly to make the image disappear.

"Go to your room," she told her son.

Serpens glanced at Tom nervously before doing as he was told. Tom waited until Serpens closed the door before exploding, "he ditched his class! And you just let him!"

Bellatrix sighed and got out of the bed, walking towards Tom. She stood behind him and massaged his shoulders, "calm down, Tom. He's taking Astronomy with Lucius, and you know how Lucius gets when he's not interested in the subject. I've an idea to help him, though. I want to teach him Astronomy"

Tom turned around to look at her, "you want to teach him Astronomy?"

"Why not? It's a Black tradition for parents to teach it to their kids. You know that I would've taught it to all of our kids if..." Bella had trouble finishing her sentence, so Tom just nodded and leaned down to kiss her head.

"But I'm still having a word with him about this. He shouldn't ditch his classes. Not to mention how impolite it is"

"I didn't tell you to not lecture him. By all means, do it. I'm just telling you to not be too harsh on him for it. He deserves a slap on the hand, not a bat to the head. He's trying his best, Tom"

Tom nodded. Bella was right. Serpens was trying his best, and one little setback shouldn't result in harsh punishment. And it's not like Serpens didn't learn anything today... Tom knew the charm Bella had been using when he entered. So, all was good.

"Now, how about you stop thinking about Serpens and start thinking about me?" Bella said, smiling seductively as she ran her hand down his chest. Tom groaned as her fingers reached his crotch. It's been too long...


"Tom? You called?"

Serpens walked nervously into his father's study. He was in trouble, he knew that much.

"Yes. Sit down," Tom ordered. Serpens sat in front of Tom, wringing his hands anxiously.

"I believe you know why you're here," Tom started. Serpens nodded.

"A verbal answer, Serpens. It's polite to give a verbal answer"

Serpens gulped, "yes. I know why I'm here"

"And why might that be?"

"I skipped my class with Uncle Lucius"

"Yes. You skipped a class with your Uncle, who has been kind enough to take the time from his busy schedule to come teach you. It was impolite and uncalled for, and don't get me started on the fact that you need these classes, since you're failing at school"

Serpens hung his head dejectedly, his father was right. But Lucius had been boring to death!

"However, I realize you're having trouble with Lucius in Astronomy, so I've decided that he won't be teaching you the subject anymore"

Serpens raised his head, surprised and confused, "who will teach me it?"

"Your mother"

Serpens grinned happily.

"I take it you've no problem with that?"

"Are you kidding me? Mum makes Astronomy so much fun. She told me all about Leo and Virgo today! It's so cool, Tom!"

Tom smiled with amusement, "I can imagine. Anyways, going back to our first issue, you will have to apologize to your uncle for disrespecting him by skipping class"

"Alright"


"I've been told that you're Slytherin's Seeker"

"I am"

"Then what do you think of going outside to fly for a bit?"

"Seriously?"

"I don't see why not. I was the Beater back when I attended Hogwarts"

Orion jumped out of bed, moving to walk side by side with his mother, "Draco is our Beater. He used to be Seeker before me, but then everyone agreed that Draco was a better Beater than Seeker"

Bellatrix nodded, "makes sense that you're a great Seeker. Your father was one of the greatest Seekers. If he had desired it, he could've been a professional Seeker for any team he wanted"

"Huh... I didn't know that"

At that point, mother and son had made it to the yard. Bella tossed a broom to her son, who caught it easily.

"Race?" Orion asked as he kicked off of the ground.

"Yes, first to complete a whole turn around the manor wins," Bella said just before speeding off.

"Hey! No fair!" Orion screamed as he dashed after her.

"Slytherins play dirty! Isn't that what the houses say?!" Bella laughed. Orion chuckled and sped up. The duo was halfway through with their race when another person jot up into the air. He rose with unrivaled speed and stopped only a few meters ahead of the mother and son, forcing them to stop their brooms forcefully.

"Woah! You weren't kidding when you said Father's great!" Orion breathed.

Bella didn't pay attention to the comment as she moved closer to Tom, "what's wrong?"

At that point, Orion realized that his father wasn't there to play with them. Orion frowned and approached his parents to hear them better.

"You must come to the dining room immediately. There is some urgent news we must discuss," Tom spoke grimly.

Bella and Orion glanced at each other, agreeing silently that their race could be rescheduled. The three then descended quickly, relocating to Tom's study, where Serpens was already waiting.

"Tom! What are we gonna do?! He's gonna come after me!" Serpens spoke anxiously.

"Who's going to come after you?" Bella furrowed her eyebrows.

Tom handed both her and Orion copies of the Daily Prophet. Bellatrix raised a questioning eyebrow before looking down at the article.

x

ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN

By Rita Skeeter

My dear readers, I'm afraid I have some very disconcerting news. Yesterday, during the dead of night, two dangerous wizards escaped from Azkaban. The escaped fugitives are none other than Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley.

My loyal readers would know that the convicts have been investigated recently for being involved in heinous acts. Albus Dumbledore was taken in for kidnap, negligence, breaking and entering, and ordering murder. Arthur Weasley's charges include breaking and entering and being involved in illegal activities.

An Auror on the team investigating the case gave one comment, "few is known at the moment, but from what we have, we can deduce that Dumbledore had to free Weasley. Weasley is not near powerful enough to be able to escape on his own, whereas Dumbledore is"

During such devastating times, I urge everyone to take extreme care. Both wizards are armed and Dumbledore is immensely powerful. I urge you to call the Auror department if you see either of the convicted wizards and, please, do not engage. Both wizards are dangerous.

x

"For some reason, I have not been informed of this before. However, Severus confirmed it a few moments ago, so did Lucius' sources in the Auror department. It's a great strategical move, implements fear and disconcert in the public, brings everyone's walls up, makes it that much more difficult for me to enact much of my plans. I knew he was up to something when he accepted his sentence," Tom informed the other three.

Each of them had different emotions playing on their faces; Serpens wore a look of anxiety mixed with fear, Orion looked bewildered, and Bellatrix seemed to be both panicking and on the verge of murdering someone.

"He won't hurt us. Not this time. I won't allow it. We're safe here in Slytherin Manor. He's not able to find us here," Tom told them, determination laced with every word.

Before any of them could respond, Tom was called through his mark. Pulling his sleeve upward, he touched his Master Dark Mark and heard Lucius' voice in his head, requesting an urgent Floo call. Tom sighed as he summoned Floo powder and started a call to Malfoy Manor. He put his head through to find an annoyed Lucius on the other side.

"Tom, Sirius Black is here. He's demanding to see Serpens, Orion and Bellatrix"


Who knew that would happen? Me, obviously *shrugs*. Anyways, quick question,

What do you want to see happen?

Welp, that's it for now. Reviews always welcome and appreciated. To everyone who already reviewed, Thank you so much, you guys rock and you honestly keep me going.