"Gracie."
Grace looked up from her seat in the drawing room, where she had been absorbed in a novel. Her heart leapt to her throat for an instant when she saw the dark-haired figure in the doorway. Her mind soon caught up with her instinct, however, and she remembered that Regulus was long dead. She frowned. "Sirius."
He moved warily into the room, looking as if he expected her to curse him at any moment. He made himself comfortable on the arm of the chair she was sitting in, and Grace looked up at him with a grimace. "Make yourself at home," she said dryly.
His lips twitched into a trademark pureblood smirk. "Don't mind if I do." He grinned at her, but she regarded him with disdain. He frowned. "I came to apologize," he said simply, and Grace raised an eyebrow.
"Apologize?"
He shrugged. "I should have taken care of you after Reg died. You and Mum, even though we didn't get along. It's what was expected of me."
She looked away. "Don't worry about it."
Sirius reached down and tugged her novel from her hands, setting it on the table beside them. "No, I owe you an apology. I let you down."
"I said, forget it." Grace's voice was cold. She didn't want to be reminded of her loss, the fifteen years she had spent in this creepy old house in seclusion. Sirius needed to let the past remain in the past.
"Do you really hate me that much?" Sirius' voice was slightly pleading. "You don't remember when we used to play together as kids?"
She blinked. "That was a long time ago, Sirius." And he had deserted them years ago- Grace couldn't help but think he had deserved his time in Azkaban for turning his back on his family.
He tilted his head to one side and considered her, his actions reminding her of a dog. "Was Reg good to you?"
"Of course he was," she huffed. "How dare you assume that he was anything but a perfect gentleman."
Sirius let out a low chuckle. "Reg got mixed up with some bad stuff in the end," he pointed out. "I just wanted to make sure he did what was expected of him at home."
Grace met his eyes, curiosity and sadness swirling in their grey depths. She bit her lip before answering. "Considering that Reg was raised to be content in your shadow, I think he did quite well. You were the one who was supposed to be the heir; he wasn't prepared for it. And joining the Dark Lord was exactly what was expected of him at home. Your father pushed him into it. Orion and that creep Malfoy were always encouraging him to get the Mark."
Sirius looked as if her confession took him by surprise. "What do you mean, 'my shadow'? And, love, just so you're aware, the only ones who call him the Dark Lord are those who followed him."
Grace's glare effectively silenced his laughter. "Reg looked up to you, Sirius," she said quietly. "He wanted nothing more than to earn your approval. It nearly killed him to lose his brother."
An emotion that looked remarkably like grief flitted across Sirius' features like a shadow before his jaw set. "He knew how to earn my respect," he said sternly. "Instead he chose to win our parents' approval."
"He wasn't brave like you, Sirius," Grace explained, getting frustrated with his stubborn refusal to see any good in his brother. "He didn't have the strength to walk away from the only world he knew. And why would he? He was suddenly the heir to the Black fortune, a newlywed. He had responsibilities here."
Sirius looked thoughtful. "He said something about that," he mused, narrow lines appearing on his forehead as he thought. "The last time I saw him- he made a comment about being a Black until he died."
She held his gaze. "He was. He stayed loyal to the family. And to me."
Grace thought she saw jealousy flicker in his eyes before he blinked it away. "Did you love him?" he asked.
Caught by surprise, Grace answered honestly. "Very much."
He nodded. "Good. At least someone loved him for who he was and not what he could do for the family." He stood, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "I'm going to go help Remus. If you need me, we'll be in the kitchen." He picked her book up from the side table and handed it to her before loping out of the room.
Grace stared after him, her mind working frantically as she digested the first real conversation she had had in fifteen years. The relationship between the Black brothers seemed to be more complicated than she had ever thought possible.
I know, I know, this is short, but this conversation was important to set up Sirius and Grace's interaction. More to come! :)