Severus sank slowly into one of the cozy sitting room chairs. It had been a very long day, and all he really wanted was to read his newest copy of My Job as a Potions Master, then go to bed and stay there for a very long time. Unfortunately for him, the house, despite the fact that nearly everyone was sleeping, was not quite as quiet as he'd like. "Sirius Charles Black, what are you doing in the kitchen at this hour of night?" he asked wearily.

Sirius came into the sitting room holding what had, at one point, been a large sandwich. "I was hungry, Severus. I'm sure that happens to you on occasion."

"Not at midnight when other people in the house are trying to relax and many of them are sleeping, dear brother. I, unlike you, eat when everyone else does. You know, the usual three meals of the day… they're called breakfast, lunch, and dinner?" Severus gave Sirius an annoyed look.

"I've heard of them. You're more sarcastic at this time of the night than at any other time. You always have been." Sirius sat down in the chair across from his slightly grumpy older brother. "Remember that one time when Dad invited all of us on that trip to the sea, the one time that my mother didn't come with?"

Severus nodded. "I do. It was lucky that Lily was related to most of us on that trip, since we ended up sleeping in that cramped cottage because of the rain."
"That was true. But she really never had any girl friends anyhow… she was always a marauder. That was after you guys came up with the Marauder code, so nothing bad could have happened, really." Sirius thought back to that day for a moment. "Getting back to my point about you being more nasty at midnight than any other time…do you remember what you said to James when he accidentally dumped the pitcher of water on your face?" Sirius grinned.

"He did not do that accidentally…he told me later, during the time when he and I shared a flat for a few months, that he did that completely on purpose, for the very same reason you are annoying me now. I believe I said 'Potter, in normal society, one pours ice water into a glass before offering it to another.' Then he started laughing, which woke everyone within several kilometers of him, as it always did."

"See, Severus, you are nastier at midnight. I think that you inherited that from your mother." Sirius said completely seriously, as if he had concluded this years before…which knowing Sirius, he probably had.

"Is there any point to this conversation, Sirius?" Severus sighed.

"Nope! I just wanted to talk with my favorite older brother. Besides, you were the one who called me in here from the kitchen." Sirius smiled serenely at Severus.

"Don't you ever act your age?" Severus finally gave up on reading his magazine. He rose from the chair.

"Do you ever not act your age?"

Sirius' question was met with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "That is a ridiculous question to ask a man you have known since birth and who also happens to be your brother."

"You certainly are up early, Severus." Sirius poured him a cup of coffee.

"As are you." Though Severus usually did not sleep much, he'd had a rough night, plagued by memories of the past.

"Gawain woke me when he left for work this morning." The way Sirius felt about the fact that Gawain had gone to work without saying so much as a word to his son after being missing for several days was quite obvious in his voice.

"You can't possibly be serious. The man was unconscious for a good deal of yesterday because of majorly depleted magic levels and then heads to his job, where having magic is quite necessary…without even speaking to anyone beside you?"

"He talked to me as well, Severus." Regulus joined the conversation. "I told him it would be rather unwise and that he should probably stay home and spend some quality time with his son."

"You told him that, too? Those are almost the exact words I used."

Regulus shook his head at Sirius. "Of course I told him that, Siri. When you spend as long as I did completely by yourself without any family, you have sympathy for people."

"Glad you learned something out of being alone. I worry about Gawain, though." Sirius' face showed a mixture of anger and concern.

"Because of Harry?" Severus nodded. He understood that all too well.

"He didn't ask any of us what went on in his absence, he didn't even look in on Harry before he left…nothing."
"Gawain has never been exceedingly emotional, Sirius." Severus was trying to not blame Gawain for anything, but at the same time, he did blame him for parts of their current situation. "I also agree with you, though, on the fact that Gawain doesn't really connect with Harry as well as he could. That could be caused by a number of factors, such as the fact that he was never even in the same room as Harry until a few months ago…"
"…or the fact that he had good parents and wasn't raised in a cupboard." Regulus added. "Harry and his friends told me everything last night."

"That's a good point, actually. Sirius and I connect better with Harry because we know what it's like to have been in Harry's shoes."

"He was better about emotional things before Lily died." Sirius mused.

Regulus smiled. "Lily always brought out the best in people, didn't she? I noticed last night when I was talking to Harry that he's a lot like her."

"His eyes, his temper, his heart…all hers." Sirius sighed. "The horrible thing is he's most like Severus in humor and temperament."

Severus scowled at Sirius. "Is that a bad thing, Sirius?"

"No…" Sirius watched Severus twirl his wand. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, you know."

"Of course you didn't." Severus smirked. He and Minerva would be heading back to Hogwarts the next day to discuss plans for the school year, so he didn't mind soaking up all of the 'family time' he could get. He looked at the clock. "That's odd… the children are usually down here eating by now. I wonder what's keeping them."

"They did stay up fairly late talking to me. Perhaps they've decided to have a bit of a lie-in."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Harry and Hermione are not the kind of people who sleep later than 7:30, Regulus. During the summer, once Harry was feeling better, the two of them would be in the library by six. "

"That's for certain… though the power boost Harry received yesterday might have thrown off something a bit. Still, it wouldn't be horrible for one of us to go and check on them, would it?"

"You can go. I'll make some breakfast for them. Regulus can help."

Regulus gave his older brother a scathing look. "Why do I ALWAYS have to help make breakfast? We have house elves for that, don't we?"

"Gawain's house elves only jobs are cleaning, organizing, and upkeep of the house and grounds. We live in a fairly muggle neighborhood so their magic would be detectable by because the French Ministry won't allow us to put up any wards to hide house elf magic," Severus sounded as if he'd rehearsed the speech several times…which he had. "Besides....you're the youngest adult, and that makes you eligible for foisting chores upon."

A/n: Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I've updated. (School has been really crazy.) Expect more updates soon! PLEASE REVIEW!