[A/N: And Happy Birthday, Aurora! Back to regular posting next week, but I hope you've enjoyed the extra content!]
Rory regretted the coffee immediately. At hearing Theo's words, she completely missed her mouth and dumped the coffee in her lap. Remus magicked it away before she was saturated and scalded. He took her hand and gently pulled it away from the mug so she didn't spill it again.
Her mishap filled what was sure to have been the world's most awkward silence. Everyone was watching her or watching Sirius.
Sirius looked as though he'd been petrified, he was so still.
"Can you repeat that? I think you just said you had another kid," Rory said.
Theodosia nodded. "I did say that."
Sirius rose to his feet, his chair sliding loudly across the floor as he did. Angry didn't quite seem to encapsulate the look on his face. He rose his hand and then lowered it and then stomped from the room.
Rory looked to Harry who'd been sitting beside him. He looked like he was going to get up and go after him, but Mr. Weasley beat him to it.
"I'll go and settle him down. Not to worry," he said, collected as always, and strode from the room.
Sirius was actually handling it better than she expected him to. He was usually much more confrontational than that.
"I suppose I owe you an apology too," Theodosia said.
Rory couldn't find her words. Perhaps she needed to leave the room as well.
"I think I speak for Aurora and Sirius when I say that an explanation would be better suited to the conversation," Remus said. Rory nodded in agreement.
"I hadn't meant for it to be a secret. In fact, I'd written to Lily about it. I think it's common knowledge now that I wasn't exactly thriving when it came to motherhood, so the prospect of having two children was nothing but terrifying for me," Theodosia said.
For the first time, Rory felt a bit of understanding for Theodosia. She probably didn't know what to do when she found out. She probably asked her friend for help. And then Lily was dead. And Theodosia was left with another child she wasn't sure she wanted, her daughter whom she was convinced was a harbinger of death, haunting visions she couldn't escape.
And with Sirius gone, she had a way to escape all of it. So she left.
It wasn't a great excuse. It certainly wasn't a good enough excuse for leaving Sirius in jail and ruining his life. But she could understand her being afraid and wanting to escape.
"I've made a lot of mistakes. That's obvious, I'm sure. But I won't make any more if I can help it," Theodosia said. She looked to Rory. "I knew when I went to Levi and asked him for help, I was taking a risk. But I knew you'd be safe with Remus; I knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. It made my skin crawl to think that you staying with Remus might be part of his 'plan' but… Well, look at you now. Safe. And safe from Levi at that. And he thought Atlas was utterly unimportant. I wanted to keep it that way."
Utterly unimportant. Rory remembered her life before Sirius came back. Before she started having predictions. Before Barty Crouch and Voldemort and the Order. She remembered being 13 years old and being just another face in the crowd at school.
Theodosia had seen the life Rory was going to have. She was protecting herself when she left her daughter, but she was also protecting her son who at least stood a chance of not getting caught up in all this.
"You told me last night that I'd made your life wildly more complicated by showing up. Would you wish any of this on your brother?" Theodosia asked.
No. Rory would not. She would want Atlas to stay wherever he was and not be involved in the shit show her life was currently devolving into.
Rory thought over her words carefully. "Your decision-making skills suck, but I get it."
Theodosia nodded. "I won't argue with you there."
"And you're not going to talk to the Ministry because as far as anyone knows you've nothing to do with him, and by coming clean about everything you'd be putting his life into a salad spinner."
"If you want to put it that way," Theodosia said.
"And you're hiding, here at Grimmauld, because you stole the talking board from Voldemort?" Rory asked.
Theodosia nodded.
"Why did he want the board in the first place?" Kingsley asked.
"Because of what she can do with it," Theodosia said. She looked back at Rory. "You had questions, it had answers, didn't it?"
Rory had noticed that, yes, the talking board had done a remarkable job at doing exactly what she asked it to, and showing her exactly what she needed.
"That's by design," Theodosia said. "Cygnus had the board made and when he died, my grandfather had his head turned into a planchette and then, as with all things, Cygnus had the board and the story passed down to Pollux. Pollux gave it to Alphard, who relinquished it when his darling sister Walburga disowned him for helping Sirius run away. So it ended up with Cygnus. Unfortunately for him, he had three daughters, and he gave it to—."
"Bellatrix Lestrange, who probably immediately gave it to Voldemort and said 'Did you know my family thinks there's a seer who's going to help destroy you,'" Tonks said.
"From what I can tell, yes," Theodosia said. "Bellatrix Lestrange is the one who told You-Know-Who about the Servants of Pythia, and about the board. It was made to be a tool for the 'Bright One.' That's why I took it. It's safer in her hands than anyone else's."
"Yes, but by giving her the board you've put a target on her," Remus said.
"There was always going to be a target on her. From the day he found out who she was, Remus," Theodosia said. "At least this way she can better see what's coming."
This seemed logical to Rory, but her dad didn't seem as content with the answer.
The kitchen door opened and Mr. Weasley returned, alone. He made eye contact with Remus and a subtle shake of his head. Rory guessed that Sirius had calmed down, but would likely not remain calm if he came back into the room.
"I have another question," Tonks said. "You said Cygnus Black and Rylan Goldfinch started this fun little cult." Leave it to Tonks to get things back on track. "Voldemort was hardly active when they died. So how did-?"
"A prophecy," Rory said. The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself, but even if Rory weren't a seer, it was obvious. A cult that believed a seer was going to be the downfall of a dark wizard? "What else could it be? If they were so into divination that had to be what led to it. My great-great grand racist spouted off a prophecy that said 'There's gonna be this crazy guy that who hates muggleborns, and even though that sounds dope, what if we ousted that guy and put a teenage girl who can see the future in charge because she's even better than that guy simply because she's related to us."
"Essentially," Theodosia said. "I don't have the exact verbiage of the prophecy, but pieces of it exist within the manifesto of the Servants of Pythia."
"'The Bright One will drive out the darkness and we will feel her light', 'Apollo will guide her or she will destroy him and she will rule the darkness', 'the oracle comes from Delphi,'" Tonks rambled.
"So you've heard some of it," Theodosia said.
"Unfortunately," Tonks groaned. "At least I have something else to work on when I go into the office later. Follow-up question, aside from select members of the Black and Goldfinch families, how was this network, this cult, created and sustained?"
"It almost wasn't. It wasn't until after my parents died that they gained any real traction," Theodosia said. "Rylan was certain that it was my father that was supposed to be their Apollo. Then of course he died so, couldn't be him. But Levi. I think he always knew it was him. And he was right, wasn't he? That's how he got all those people to see."
The skin on the back of Rory's neck prickled.
"I'll give you that your brother is obnoxiously charismatic, which is a valuable trait for a cult leader to possess, but even he'd be hard-pressed to convince people of this without proof," Moody said.
"You said he made you see," Rory said. "You said that last night. That he made you see. And he got all these other people to see… You aren't suggesting that he merely convinced people of all this stuff. You're saying that he actually made people see things?"
Theodosia seemed relieved that Rory understood her. She nodded.
"What you're saying is… Theo, it's not possible," Remus said.
"Lots of impossible things happening lately. Look at Aurora," Theodosia said. Again, she had a point.
Rory was putting the pieces together. Everything made sense and no sense at the same time. Her head was spinning. She still didn't know what to make of the woman sitting at the head of the table. She trusted her more than Levi, that was for certain. She was honest, even if Rory didn't like all the answers that she gave. Levi was a blank slate, probably because he wanted to appear blank to Rory. If he could make people see, then what if he could stop Rory from seeing just as well?
She thought about this brother she didn't know, Atlas, growing up away from all this. She was angry with Theodosia. She couldn't imagine how angry Sirius probably was. But, Rory also understood the fear Theodosia probably felt when she made all the decisions that led to their lives ending up this way, and she understood why she wouldn't want to come forward about anything now. Why drag another innocent person into all this?
Rory listened as the others bombarded her with questions. Rory had all of hers answered. She let her head rest on her dad's shoulder until everyone was finished.
She was the first to leave the room and she calmly made her way upstairs to Sirius' room. She tapped on the door gently.
"Sirius?" she asked.
"Come in," he said. She could tell he was trying to put some warmth into his voice despite being as furious as he was. She pushed the door open and found him inside standing at his chest of drawers. He was looking at a photo album.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Sirius looked over at her. Rory couldn't get a read on his feelings. She could hardly make sense of her own.
"Am I alright? Are you alright?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I didn't have to leave the room after she told us about Atlas, so I think I'm at least doing better than you."
He managed a chuckle. "Any other life-altering information she decided to share that I might've wanted to know about?"
Rory shook her head. "She said she didn't mean for it to be a secret. I guess she'd even told Harry's parents because she didn't really know what she was going to do. In the end, with you in prison and me with Dad, it just seemed easier for her to disappear, and leave Atlas with someone else so at least one person involved in all of this got a normal life. Which doesn't make it any better for any of us, but you know. Shouldn't write her off completely I guess. Not yet anyway."
Sirius sighed and looked back to his photo album. "You do remind me of her, the way she used to be at least."
"I'm quite reasonable when I want to be for starters, I assume," Rory replied.
"There's that," he said. He motioned her over. Rory walked over to him and he tapped on a picture. It was of James Potter and Theodosia. They were both in their Hogwarts uniforms, James sitting on a familiar stone bench in the courtyard. Theodosia was smacking him on the top of the head with a book, and he was laughing.
"Studious too then," Rory said.
"Something like that," Sirius said. "Mostly she was just very intent on being heard. Getting her point across. Got quite frustrated when no one listened to her. Hence the smacking. I believe we were getting ready for sixth-year exams here. I can't remember if we were on the outs or not at this point."
"Were you on and off that frequently?" Rory asked.
Sirius thought about this for a moment. "If I can point out one way you're different from Theo, it's that Harry kissed one girl one time and you ended things immediately. Theo was much more forgiving than you. I was a repeat offender as they say."
Sirius had vaguely mentioned this before, saying that if not for Rory he wasn't even sure he and Theo would've been together at all, and even then he wasn't sure it would have lasted.
"Well, you always want the next generation to be better than the one before it," Rory said. "It's too bad any children I have won't be able to improve upon perfection."
Sirius sighed and placed a hand on Rory's shoulder.
"I'm glad you're so much your own person. And I'm so grateful to Remus for seeing to that. But more than anything I'm thankful that you're enough like me that even in my absence I could still annoy him," Sirius said.
"Yes, I'm incredibly grateful for that," Remus said, appearing in the doorway. "Although I do lament that you never had the opportunity to experience what it's like to be annoyed by you day in and day out."
"Dad, if you want me to annoy him more I'm happy to do that for you," Rory said.
"What I need is for you to give me a moment with Sirius if you don't mind," he said.
Rory sighed. She'd expected this, but she wasn't really the one who should talk him down in this situation. Besides, she was sure her dad had plenty to Sirius that he didn't want her hearing.
"I'll see myself out so you can debrief him," Rory said.
She went to the door and Remus put a hand on her shoulder.
"Theo is in the room down the hall," he said. " You don't have to talk to her. But she's there if you want to."
Rory nodded, reading behind his words. "You should go talk to her." Rory thought she should, especially since she'd just encouraged Sirius to do the same.
"You'll get some rest before tonight," Rory said.
"Yes, I will. No need to worry about me," he said. "Get going."
"How are you?" Remus asked once Aurora was gone from the room.
Sirius let out a deep breath and shook his head. "You think you know someone… And then they let you sit in prison for 12 years and keep the fact that you have a second child from you."
"You took it better than everyone was expecting I think," Remus said. "I'm proud of your growth."
Sirius managed a chuckle. "Don't be too proud. You didn't see me nearly smash an empty vase before Arthur found me."
Remus shrugged. "Well, no one can blame you."
Sirius stared down at the photo album in front of him. He thought maybe he was trying to see the woman who was in his house now in the photographs from back then.
"Aurora said she understands why Theo did what she did," Sirius said. "I suppose I do too, at least for Theo's part. She did what she needed to do to keep herself safe. I guess it kept Aurora and… Atlas safe as well."
It felt strange uttering the name of this child he didn't even know was his until less than an hour ago.
"Theo doesn't want to come forward because as far as anyone knows, he's Levi's son. She doesn't want him getting dragged into all of this" Remus said.
"I don't blame her for that," Sirius said. "It's still hard to not…"
"To not have the choice," Remus said with a nod. "I get it."
Siris' feelings were all in knots. His time in Azkaban had not been his fault. The fact that he had not been the one to raise Aurora was not his fault. And he did love her, truly. But Aurora was Remus' daughter. The first conversation he'd ever had with her the night he'd nearly gotten his soul fed to dementors she'd made that perfectly clear to him. She wanted to know Sirius, wanted him to be a part of his life, but come hell or high water, Remus Lupin would always be her father.
Sirius would not have it any other way. Aurora had thrived in his care. But Sirius wondered what she would be like if he'd had the chance to stay with her. If he'd gotten to be the father he'd planned on being that whole time. But even the idea of taking Aurora away from Remus retroactively seemed blasphemous.
"Aurora's yours, not mine," Sirius said.
Remus scoffed. "Aurora belongs to Aurora and no one else. I won't tell her you suggested otherwise." Sirius chuckled. "I'm sure she wonders what her life would be like if you hadn't gone to Azkaban as well. It doesn't hurt my feelings to know she thinks about it. I'd be concerned if she didn't wonder 'what if.' I'd be concerned if you didn't wonder as well."
"But you—."
"We can't change things, Sirius," Remus said.
"And I wouldn't change things, not for her anyway," Sirius said. "Not for you."
"And neither would I. So don't dwell on it," Remus said. "One day this will all get sorted out, and you'll figure out what to do about Atlas. In the meantime—."
"You're going to tell me to talk to Theo aren't you?" Sirius scoffed.
"I would advise that, yes," Remus said.
"I talked to her last night. You'd think she'd mention another kid when we were having a private conversation" Sirius said.
"She probably assumed, rightly, that you might react better if she wasn't alone when she told you," Remus replied.
"I don't know what else to say to her," Sirius said. "I basically started living with her when we were 16 years old. And yes, I was far from perfect, and it literally took Aurora being born for me to stop being a shitty partner and settle down. But I can't… I can't fathom that she would do what she's done."
Remus nodded. "But that's why you should talk to her. Or you're never going to understand."
