Their arrival had been eagerly awaited, and the boys rushed to meet them as soon as they stepped out of the fireplace. "You're home at last, Dad. Look at all the things we have done while you were away". He looked around and saw that while they had been away, the house and the Great Hall had been decorated with garlands and artificial snow. There were canvases on the walls and twinkling stars in the windows, through which the festively lit terrace and lawn could be seen. Ornaments, ribbons, bows, wreaths and candles were scattered around the rooms, and Jessie had contributed flower arrangements of holly, ivy and mistletoe, which now hung from the doorposts. The boys called out: "Daddy, come and see this". They dragged him into the Great Hall. A huge Christmas tree, topped with a silver star and reaching up to the first floor, stood beside the staircase. It was decorated with candles, tinsel, baubles, chocolate figures and coins, and candy sticks in abundance. A long table had been set in front of the tree, already festively laid and lavishly decorated. The fireplace was festooned with colourful garlands, and there were Christmas stockings hanging from the mantelpiece. Jessie walked over to it. "We didn't know when you'd be back. That's why we started decorating the place. With Dinky's help, of course. If you don't like it, you can always change it". Sirius gave her a big hug and kiss. "No, it's absolutely wonderful. Really. I really am overwhelmed. I'm so glad you took care of it".
They sat down together in the dining room, and, over the meal, they told Jessie and Jonathan what had happened. The champagne flowed and the wizards became more and more euphoric. They added even more excitement and detail to their already highly ornamented accounts of the events. The adults retired to the living room after dinner. "As far as I can tell, everyone escaped with their skins intact," Jonathan said late in the evening. "Our people and everyone else. The only one that got hit is Cygnus. What will happen to him now?". Sirius, who was sitting by Jessie's side on one of the sofas, took his arm from her shoulder. He leaned forward and stared into his glass, which he held in both hands. He thought about it for a long time before he finally looked up and shook his head in confusion. "I don't have a clue. I need to think about it some more. It's a difficult problem". Jonathan gave him a sympathetic nod and let the subject drop.
But no one thought about Cygnus or all the mysteries they were trying to solve the very next day. Sirius was awakened by the sound of loud voices coming from the lawn into his bedroom. He leapt out of his bed, grabbed his wand and rushed out onto the balcony. There had been a heavy snowfall during the night and now the others were running around the lawn and having a snowball fight. They had formed two groups and were fighting each other with loud shouts and laughter. Regulus, having spotted him, shouted, "Get dressed and come down, Brother. We're outnumbered. We need your support". Sirius hurried up and joined them minutes later. Lucius shouted, "Black, no magic". Without their wands to help, Gavin, Regulus, Lucius and Sirius were at a distinct disadvantage, while Andromeda, Sophie and Marius had apparently already fought a few snowball battles in the Muggle world. But even they weren't able to do much to stop Jessie and Jonathan, who were forming their snowballs at an incredible rate and hurling them at their opponents with pinpoint accuracy. Hooting with glee, the boys ran amidst the combatants. Eventually Lucius, having been hit several times, shouted, "Enough, I'm done. Surrender. I am cold and would like a warm drink right now". The others joined in as he trudged back into the house and asked Dinky to bring him a cup of hot chocolate. "So when did you get here?" Sirius asked his brother. "At breakfast. Like I said yesterday". They spent most of the day outside in the snow until nightfall. The boys stormed around the house all evening in a frenzy of excitement and refused to go to bed. Not until Sirius explained that only those children who slept through the night would find something in their stockings the next morning did they agree to go to sleep and the adults spent the rest of the evening in the living room.
When they finally parted to go to bed, Sirius said: "I'm going to the park for a while. I'll see you tomorrow." He walked out the door of the terrace, wrapping his cloak around himself and stomping over to the small grove where Mercury's tomb stood. He sat down on the bench that was next to it. He stayed there a long time, telling Mercuria his troubles. Weeks ago, he had sneaked out and bought an engagement ring from a Muggle shop. At first, he had not been sure if he should really give the ring away, and he had just wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. But the events of the last few days in particular had made him even more determined to put the ring on Jessie's finger. She would be a good companion for him. When she held him in her arms, he felt safe and protected. A feeling that was more important to him than the emotional chaos that unbridled passion could wreak. With Mercuria he had experienced both at the same time. But Jessie never allowed herself to let herself go completely, and when they were together, he always felt that she feared doing something wrong or not being good enough for him. He hoped that his proposal would give her the reassurance that she obviously needed to finally accept that his intentions were serious and to relax. Sirius dwelt on his thoughts and at last he came to a decision. He shared it with Mercuria, got up and walked back to the house. It seemed to him that Mercuria's statue was giving him an encouraging smile as he turned around for the last time. In the hall, he took the ringbox from his pocket and slipped it into Jessie's stocking. Then he went to lie down and slept.
Of all the presents, it was the broomsticks that caused the most excitement on Christmas morning, so after breakfast everyone went out onto the snow-covered lawn behind the house so that the boys could make their first attempts at flying a real broomstick. As expected, Regulus supervised Procyon, who after a short time took off and flew in ever-widening circles amid loud cries of excitement. Marius was at Phineas's side, and Gavin and Andromeda oversaw Teddy. Alphard stood in the middle of the lawn, looking lost and desperate. He clutched his broomstick tightly and gazed around helplessly. Sirius was about to go over to him when Asterion asked him, "Daddy, can you show me what to do?". Sirius hesitated for a moment. He wondered which of his sons he should help first. Then he saw that Lucius was walking with long strides towards Alphard, taking him by the hand and bending down to speak to him. He turned to Asterion, who was looking up at him in expectation. "My dear, you know I am not the best at flying broomsticks. But I will teach you everything I know". He showed Asterion what he needed to do and as expected, the boy quickly got to grips with his broomstick. Sirius noticed how much fun everyone was having. He heard happy laughing and jeering coming from all sides. His decision to give the boys the broomsticks had been a spot-on one. Jessie approached and slipped under his warm cloak. He held her tight. When she had found the ring, she had looked at it in disbelief. There had been tears in her eyes. Now she said: "I thought young wizards weren't supposed to use magic until they went to magic school". Sirius smiled. "This is only partially true. There is always magic in a wizard. Even at an early age. When he was younger, Alphard was ill quite often. Mercuria made him a mobile of glowing magical figures to hang over his cot, and he spent hours moving them by means of his thoughts and casting shadow plays on the walls. No, at Hogwarts young wizards learn how to channel their magical powers and, of course, more advanced wizardry. It is expected that parents will not teach their children what they will learn at school. And above all, children must not be given a wand". "But of course you have. For the sake of rule-breaking?". "No, to protect the boys. When Cygnus trapped them in the cellar, the only reason they escaped was because they had found the wand, and their magic was strong enough to open the cellar door when they tried to do it together. I am convinced that they would all be dead by now if they had not been able to do that. Afterwards, I decided that they should learn some useful spells. Things like opening a lock or using a wand like a flashlight. It also includes flying a broomstick. At a basic level, they should be able to get themselves out of difficult situations. And it is not just Cygnus and his troops that are out there. There are many other dangers that lurk in the Wizarding World". "Like the demons that sometimes come to haunt you in the night?". Sirius smiled subtly. "Yes, that includes Dementors. But fighting them requires highly advanced magic that even many adult wizards don't know how to use. When they're old enough, I'm going to teach the boys how to protect themselves". They kissed. Suddenly Jessie started to giggle. "Do you know what's funny? Lucius and Andromeda were kissing under the mistletoe". Sirius frowned. "What's so special about that? I've kissed all the girls who live here under the mistletoe as well". "Yes, you did. But you only gave them friendly kisses. They were kissing like lovers". Sirius blinked, surprised.
Andromeda and Lucius? Hard to believe at first. But then again, come to think of it, maybe not so impossible after all. Since their widowhood, they had both changed a great deal. Lucius had been quite downright in his desire for companionship. He had heard it himself. And Andromeda? Sirius had never given it much thought, but now that he did, he suspected that she had been very lonely after the death of her entire family in the Battle of Hogwarts. Probably, after being cast out of her Wizarding family when she got married, her little world had consisted only of Ted and Nymphadora. He had no idea if she'd had any friends in the muggle world. But there was no point in that now, was there? If Lucius had given her life a new purpose, he would be the last to blame her. "Andromeda and Lucius' late wife were related to each other, weren't they?", asked Jessie. "Yes, there were three sisters. The eldest being Bellatrix. Molly Weasley defeated her at the Battle of Hogwarts. And then there was Andromeda, and Narcissa was the youngest. If Lucius and Andromeda get on well, I'll be very happy for them", he said. Then he remembered that he had run into Andromeda in the corridor in the early hours of the morning. She had been wearing a dressing gown, and when she had greeted him before she had slipped into her room, she had blushed and given him a silly giggle. He'd briefly wondered where she'd come from, but then he'd stopped thinking about it.
Over the next few days, they continued to talk about their adventure in the cemetery. Lucius, in particular, was almost euphoric about what they'd experienced and kept coming back to it. Several times he turned to Sirius and said, "It was just like the old days, wasn't it? What do you think, Black?" and Sirius nodded his head absent-mindedly. More and more, he could feel their furtive glances examining him. But none of them dared ask the question about Cygnus' future. The only thing he had told them was that he had not seen his son since the day he had thrown him into the cell. Dinky brought his meals to the prisoner. Since the house-elf was the only inhabitant of the house who could apparate into the prison wing, there was no need to open the cell door. Initially, Cygnus had once or twice attempted to overpower the house-elf. But Dinky had resisted him, and he had finally given up.
What Sirius failed to tell them, however, was that he used to sneak into the cellblock and listen to his sons screams. Sounds that were all too familiar to him. He remembered vividly how they all, all of them, had screamed when they had been taken to Azkaban and thrown into their cells there. Angrily at first, convinced that someone would hear them and believe their protestations of innocence. After a while, miserable and desperate and full of despair. And in the end, they all fell silent. Some sooner, others later. When Sirius descended to the basement, he would be sitting on the floor, his legs drawn up and his arms crossed around his knees, and for hours he would listen to the sounds coming from inside the cell. It had taken Cygnus a long time to fall silent. When Sirius lay awake in bed at night, the images that had been buried deep within his memory would force themselves to surface and he would snuggle into Jessie's arm.
With the start of the new year and the threat of Cygnus and his people over for the time being, things quickly got back to normal. Sirius returned to working in the garage, Jessie re-opened her shop in the village. Marius was leaving the house every morning to travel to the hospital in London on the Floo Network, and Jessie was resuming her lessons for the boys. Andromeda had given up her house and moved into Black Manor. She explained to Sirius that she wanted to stay close to Teddy, but he suspected that she was at least as happy being in their company as she was having her grandson with her. Lucius still spent a lot of time in Yorkshire, although he commuted regularly to Malfoy Manor to oversee his business and to meet Draco and his wife. And Regulus and Gavin would spend the better part of the week in London, returning to the house on Friday afternoons.
In the weeks that followed, the situation became increasingly distressing to Sirius. He had no idea of how to bring about a satisfactory solution. Since it was out of the question to keep Cygnus locked up at Black Manor forever, he had to do something about his son. Although not a word was said about Cygnus, Sirius could sense the others' growing urgency for him to make a decision. But in the end, there were only two options, no matter how hard he tried to find a way out. They could get rid of Cygnus in secret, but Sirius would have none of it. He had not hesitated for a moment to fight to the death in the resistance against Voldemort and after his escape from Azkaban. But to murder a helpless man was fundamentally at odds with his sense of honour. Or he could hand his son over to the authorities. In that case, everything would come to light. The link between him and Cygnus. The abduction of the boys. Their suspicions about the group's goals. Their Animaghi. And perhaps most important, the feathers, for there would be no doubt that they would demand an explanation for the fight against the group in the cemetery. Sirius was convinced that the Ministry would immediately confiscate any artefacts belonging to Voldemort. And his inner voice told him not to let the pieces out of his hands. In addition, as a result of his own personal experience, he harboured a deep distrust of the Ministry.
On Sunday before Easter, they were sitting on the terrace, having lunch and chatting and laughing. Spring had come unusually early this year and it was already pleasantly warm in the midday sun. After the long, cold winter, everyone was glad to be out in the open again at last. Sirius was sipping from his glass of wine and looking up at the sky when he spotted a flock of swans flying towards the lake with the elegant flapping of their wings. Sirius flinched in alarm. Then he remembered that they had lowered the protective spells earlier in the year, allowing birds and other animals to re-enter the grounds. He thought for a second, then he abruptly got to his feet and walked inside.
Sirius descended the stairs to the basement. Standing in front of the cell, he hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and listened, but there was no sound to be heard from inside. Then he determinedly opened the door and took a step inside. It took his eyes several seconds to adjust to the dim cell light. Cygnus was squatting with his back against the wall. His legs were drawn up and his arms clasped his knees. Spotting Sirius, he looked up. His hair was dishevelled, and his tear-streaked face had a look of disbelief and despair. For a moment, Sirius stared at his son in a stunned silence. Then he turned and left the cell quickly, slamming the door and leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He broke out in a sweat, shivering and feeling how his shirt was getting wet and clinging uncomfortably to his skin. For a moment he thought he would pass out. Cygnus was the spitting image of his twenty-one-year-old self. Back then, he must have looked exactly like his son did now in his cell in Azkaban when it began to dawn on him what fate lay ahead of him. Once again, he felt the horror, the fear and the agony that had been his constant companions for those twelve years, in the face of the hopelessness of his situation. Did Cygnus still cling to the prospect that, against all odds, someone would come to his rescue, as he himself had done for a long time? Or had he already resigned and given up all hope? From his memory, the sight of Mercuria's abused corpse and the torture marks on Procyon's small body forced their way into his mind. And the terrible moment when he had feared that he had lost Regulus. He pictured images of countless dead Muggles. Innocent families who by no fault of their own had been butchered only because their house had stood in the wrong place. Slowly, his memories were clouded by a vision of a small boy who was being mistreated by an older man. The child looked a lot like Marius when Sirius had seen him together with Hallie for the first time. The boy was trying to make himself as small as he possibly could. He trembled and tears streamed down his terrified face. A man was towering above him, gesturing wildly at the child. Sirius had never met Marius Flint, but from what he had heard about him, he imagined him to have been a vicious, cruel man. A man who would torment his grandson at the slightest provocation. The boy nodded his head vigorously and looked at the man in despair. The man straightened up and Sirius had a glimpse of his face. A face he was all too familiar with. The face of his own father. Orion Black.
In an instant, Sirius knew exactly what he should do. He had saved Marius from his mother and given him a loving home. He had never done a thing for Cygnus. Regulus had once said, "Either you submit, or you rebel. There was nothing in between with our parents". Now he wondered... Had Cygnus ever had a chance to become anything other than the man he was? Deep down inside, Sirius felt indebted to his son. He threw open the cell door, grabbed Cygnus by the arm and dragged him up the steps, through the dining room and out across the terrace onto the lawn, watched by the bewildered eyes of the others. There he released him, waved his wand, and pressed the purse full of money and Cygnus' wand which he had summoned to Cygnus's chest. "This is for you, Cygnus. Now leave and never be seen in this country again. Today, I have fulfilled all my obligations to you as your father. Expect no further consideration from me should we ever meet again". Cygnus hesitated in disbelief at this. Then, pocketing the purse and wand, he muttered "Father" in a throaty voice and assumed his Animagus shape. As the swan lifted itself heavily into the air and soared towards the sea, an arm was wrapped around Sirius' shoulder from behind. "I am very proud of you, brother. We've already considered what to do with him. An intractable problem". Sirius glanced at Regulus. "I couldn't keep him locked away. Not with my own history of having spent twelve years in Azkaban myself". "I know that. Instead, you have given him a chance now. It may be the first time in his life that anyone has ever given him a second chance. I, for one, don't think he'll make the most of it. But you never know. We might not see him again. That would be the best-case scenario I suppose". Sirius nodded as he kept following the white bird with his eyes. He felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders as it disappeared from his sight. He linked arms with Regulus and together they loped back to the house at an easy grace.