Author's Note: This chapter is mostly about the Black family, but there is an interesting development at the end. It starts the next arc of the story. For those sensitive to sexual assault and abuse, this chapter vaguely discusses it. You can skip to the very end if you're worried it will trigger you. Thank you for anyone who is still reading. MNF

Chapter 9:

You Are My Mother Now

It was mid-morning the next day and Walburga was awaiting the arrival of Anwen. Walburga knew her daughter-in-law, after a fashion. She was Fee and Monty's daughter, and Fee was one of her dearest friends. She was at parties and had impeccable manners and always looked the part of the daughter of Noble and Most Ancient House, even if the Potter's were left off in the most recent listing of the Sacred 28 due to Monty's pro-Muggleborn ideas. Walburga had always envied the way Anwen carried herself and wished some of her effortless grace and manners would rub off on her boys, since they spent so much time with the girl and her brother. She vaguely remembered Sirius writing home that they were dating, and her burning the letter so that Orion never found it. Their engagement, wedding and even the birth of their children was lost to her.

On the night that Walburga was injured, her husband humiliated her and then with the help of her own father, the pair forced her into a mental prison of their making. The only way she could explain it was feeling like her Occlumency shields had been turned around, and she had no way of accessing the world. She was trapped in a bleak and barren wasteland, unable to touch her own magic or even the most basic of bodily functions. She felt food be placed in her mouth, but it had no flavour and she swallowed autonomically. Someone could be in the room, and there was pressure when they touched her, but she could not feel the other persons fingers or hand. Her body did the things it needed to for survival, but it was entirely by rote and the ingrained actions of human systems.

Walburga knew the night that Orion and Pollux had died, as the spell had stopped; she didn't let anyone know that she felt the cessation of the dark magic on her mind. She was so frightened it was a prank; the nasty sort that Orion and Pollux would have played. So, she waited. When news finally came that they'd found their bodies, and the two men were dead she 'woke up'.

Arcturus had been so kind to her, as he had always been. His son had been a disappointment to his father, not just as a wizard but as a human being. Orion was far more like his uncle, Pollux, who Arcturus despised from a young age. Being eleven years older, he'd only associated with his cousin on holidays, but it was enough. If there was ever a question about who had the Black madness in his generation, Pollux was who Arcturus looked to. That his granddaughter, Bellatrix, succumbed at an early age wasn't a surprise to anyone.

Arcturus became head of the family when he was in his early fifties – knowledgeable but still able to learn new things and bend to change. He found his equal in Melania Macmillan and was happy to start a family, although they too were quite young. The war with Grindelwald had affected Arcturus deeply, and it made him resistant to the lure of Voldemort. The deaths of both his brothers, Lycoris and Regulus hit him particularly hard as well, and he dedicated himself to the family.

Unfortunately, Arcturus and Melania were forced to share THE family house with as Pollux had gotten Irma Crabbe pregnant while they were students at Hogwarts. (He'd done the same with Melania but married her immediately and they finished their education through tutors.) His wretched cousin made Irma leave school, while he stayed and played. Pollux and Irma were only married when he left Hogwarts. They never had enough gold – Pollux liked women, whisky (fire that is) and wild nights. He gambled away his inheritance and his wife's dowry before the second child was born and they became the responsibility of the head of the family, by now it was Arcturus. Irma didn't particularly like her husband and spent most of her days with her mother and sisters, leaving her children with Melania. Arcturus' wife was gracious and assisted Walburga as she raised all five together. It was Pollux who burned people off the family tree tapestry, his own son, Alphard, being the first.

Pollux had the brilliant idea of marrying his daughter to Orion, thereby keeping the dowry that Arcturus had set up for Walburga for himself. When Walburga gave birth to a son, Arcturus secretly made Sirius Orion Black (SOB for short, which always hurt Walburga and irritated Sirius) his heir. The only ones who knew were Arcturus, Melania, and Walburga. Eventually his cousins, Cassiopeia and Dorea, figured it out, but Sirius was a teen by then and rarely home. The women kept his secret, and Dorea was able to report on the boy as he grew, as she was married to Monty Potter's brother. He was with James and Anwen, his now wife and the mother of Walburga's grandchildren.

"Hello, Mrs Black," Anwen said as she walked in. Walburga took in her daughter-in-law and noticed how nicely her robes fit her, even with a mid-calf length skirt underneath the open day robes she knew the younger generation preferred. She was in a lovely plum colour that made her eyes pop, although she wasn't sure showing that much leg was wise. In her day showing a bit of ankle was scandalous.

"Hello, Anwen. How are the children and my son?" the older woman asked, making Anwen smile.

"They are all well," the young woman replied. "Lily has all three little ones this morning as Sirius is working."

"I worry about him."

"So do I, but he's very good at what he does, and my brother usually has his back."

"What brings you here this morning?"

"Andromeda asked me to have a talk with you about something that happened to me a few years ago. She said it might help your healing," Anwen said, before taking a steadying breath. "It started when I was eleven and I attended my first Christmas Ball. I spent most of the night dancing with Sirius, my brother, and a few other family members. Alice had just started dating Frank Longbottom and he did the waltz with me. It was mortifying, he was so old! Of course, I though seventeen was ancient at eleven."

"I remember feeling the same way. At least I had many cousins and uncles I could dance with at my first ball," Walburga said.

"I danced with a few uncles too, Charlus being the best of them. Then, Evan Rosier asked to dance with me," Anwen said quietly. She looked up to the ceiling, trying to will the tears from her eyes and began bouncing her knee in anxiety. "He held me too close and the whole dance felt wrong. Thankfully Sirius stepped in and saved me, but I was unhappy and just wanted out of there. The rest of the night James and Sirius didn't let me out of their sight. Alice even went to the loo with me, so I wasn't alone.

"A few weeks later, a letter arrived asking my father to set a betrothal for me with Evan. Monty flatly refused. First, I was only eleven and Evan was sixteen and only a year and a half away from being finished at Hogwarts. Second, Dad promised he'd never set a betrothal for either of us, unless we requested it, as we were allowed to choose who we wanted to share our lives with. Evan continued to plague my father with requests for years, which Dad thoroughly refused. Eventually Sirius and I decided to become betrothed to stop Evan's pestering and to protect me. Someone had the horrible idea that if they could impregnate me, then the supposed Parker fortune would be theirs. By the way, there is no Parker fortune. The only thing the Parker family has of value is over seven hundred years of history.

"Shortly after the betrothal, a coordinated attack was made against Sirius and me. Sirius was drugged with a lust potion which made him attentive to another girl while treating me rather shabbily."

"My son did that!" Walburga interjected and Anwen nodded.

"He wasn't in his right mind, and I don't blame him. Bellatrix coordinated the whole thing, but I know Evan was behind the plan. While Sirius was incapacitated Evan, Bellatrix, Lucius were let into the school by Evan's sister, Rayne. They cursed Lily and me, and it was the first time Evan attempted to rape me."

"That boy did what? After you were betrothed?"

"Yes, and all of them were either expelled from Hogwarts, in the case of Rayne, or sent to Azkaban. I thought it was over and that Sirius and I would have time, but we didn't. We married a year earlier than we'd planned and in a much smaller ceremony than was befitting two Noble houses, but Sirius and I were fine with that. The attacks kept coming.

"In my seventh year, Tom Riddle – yes, we know his real name, as dad remembered him from his three years teaching at Hogwarts – was desperate to get Sirius and James to join his ranks. Neither ever would have. We were having a lovely day in Hogsmeade when it was attacked. There were so many Death Eaters and so few teachers. Our Gryffindor group had been doing extra work in Defence, and Dad had taught Jimmy, Sirius, Remus and me over the summers. You remember the bracelets I wore?" Anwen asked and Walburga nodded.

"I had removed them because there were dementors in Hogsmeade and I needed my Patronus to protect as many of us as I could."

"You can do a Patronus Charm?" Walburga asked and it was Anwen's turn to nod. "Mist or corporeal?"

"Corporeal."

"What form does it take?"

"It's a rather large Falcon."

"Gracious. Had it been a raven I would have said you were born to be a Black, but a Falcon is good too. They have been associated with the gods in many cultures around the world."

"They're also capable of protecting themselves. When the dementors cleared away, Voldemort was there. James and Sirius engaged him, which meant they weren't watching me. Evan had been let out of prison because of overcrowding and he cornered me and attempted to rape me again. This time I wasn't holding back. I blasted Evan off me and killed him. Perhaps if I had my bracelets on I wouldn't have…" a tear fell down Anwen's face.

"Anwen, sweetheart, I'm so sorry."

"I was too, but it was him or me, because I was certain he wanted to kill me when he was done. My parents and Sirius were supportive, but others attempted to make me feel badly about killing him. He wasn't ever going to stop coming after me, even with being married and married to a family as renowned as the Blacks."

"How did you recover so quickly?"

Anwen sighed before speaking. "I had my mother and my husband who both wouldn't let me wallow. I had so many other people who loved me and accepted that I was protecting myself. I was only months away from NEWT exams and then start of my internship to become a healer. I had to move forward with life because there were so many good things ahead of me. That said, I think if Evan had succeeded in his attempts, I would have had a far harder time."

"And you said Andromeda said to tell me about this?"

"She did. I'm certain it was so you had someone who understood your secret –"

"She didn't tell you?" Walburga interrupted Anwen with panic in her voice. Anwen reached for her hand.

"She didn't betray any confidences," the girl calmly stated. "However, I think that once you've had such an experience, you recognize it in others. While it was still safe to go to St Mungo's, I often worked in the trauma department with girls who the Death Eaters had attacked. My friend Eva, who is a Mind Healer, said I simply understood them better. Now, you don't have to tell me anything, just know that I'm here and I understand."

"My husband attacked me sexually while my father was in the room," Walburga whispered before she began to sob. Anwen moved to sit on the bed with her mother-in-law and took the frail woman into her arms.

"I can't imagine how awful that was," Anwen whispered and then just held the older woman. Anwen swayed gently from side to side, like she often did when trying to quiet her teething boy, and softly hummed an old Welsh tune she remembered from her childhood, although the words were lost in the mists of time.

As Walburga came back to herself, Anwen gave her the lace handkerchief she carried in the pocket of her robes. "I promise it's clean. I can't always say that if the children are with me." Walburga smile at that, and her shoulders shook in the beginnings of mirth. "Fee, Mum, used to say that a problem shared was a problem halved. We know the truth, and we can talk about it whenever you want, or we can never bring it up again. It's your truth, and you control what happens with it."

Walburga looked at the young woman, so young at just twenty and already the mother of two and was newly impressed with her. "I had always wanted a daughter, but the Fates did not bless me with one. Part of me died when I lost both my boys so young, Sirius to the Potters and Reggie to that madman. But I didn't lose my eldest and look what a fine man he's become. And he brought me you. You are the daughter I have been waiting for, the daughter of my heart." Anwen hugged her again.

"I have been missing my mum so much in the last year. She should have been here to meet all her grandchildren. I'm so glad you're back with us." The women hugged again. They spent the rest of the morning talking about who was still alive, who had passed and the gossip of the upper echelons of wizarding society. Both women considered it time well spent.

A&S A&S A&S A&S A&S

Later that night, when Anwen and Sirius laid in bed, their limbs tangled together after their pleasure, Anwen brought up something that Walburga said to her earlier.

"Sirius, your mum said something earlier that has me thinking. What if there is a third front of this war?" Sirius shifted to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"What if we created a third front? We aren't light, we aren't dark, we are those determined to live. Our generation is taking the biggest hit – think about it. We've lost friends on both sides, people we grew up with. It isn't Voldemort's contemporaries who are doing the fighting, it's their children. People our age, like under thirty, we are the ones who aren't going to make it out alive. Is it possible to make our own front? To band together to make sure we survive this war these old men started?"

"I don't know, Anwen, but I think we need to have a family meeting about it," he said quietly before kissing her again.