Augusta certainly was not prepared for any of this to happen in her house tonight, but then again, ever since third-year Frank met first-years James Potter and Sirius Black, she was hardly ever prepared for things that happened in her house.
What was the biggest chaos was Ted Tonks, when he saw Arcturus Black step into the dining room behind Gellert about fifty minutes after Arcturus arrived, leaping to his feet with a roar and whipping his wand out to point it at his wife's first-cousin-twice-removed, quickly followed by his wife herself who silently pointed her wand at Arcturus with a murderous glare that reminded Arcturus of his cousin Pollux, her grandfather.
"You! You horrible, foul, evil –"
"Ted! Please, put your wand down, we can talk, everything can be explained." Sirius interrupted, putting his arm in front of his grandfather protectively – a move that nobody but Gellert and Arcturus noticed.
"Sirius, this bastard is the reason that Andy isn't part of her own family anymore, don't you remember that?!" Ted spat.
"Yes, Ted, I know. I know this better than you do. I also know more than you do. Please put down your wand and we can talk."
"Not until he apologizes!"
"I'm sorry." Arcturus surprised everyone by gently pushing Sirius out of the way and stepping towards Ted. "I really am. I let my emotions get the better of me, I let others influence me too much, and I can't say I've ever encountered a decent Muggle in my life, so I was too quick and too harsh to judge the background you came from, Ted."
Ted looked shocked. He really had never expected an apology from Lord Black himself for the way he had been treated, and for the way Andromeda had been treated. He slowly lowered his wand, still staring at Arcturus in disbelief.
Arcturus turned to Andromeda, who still had her wand raised and still looked furious. "Andromeda, dear…"
"How dare you?" Andromeda yelled. "How dare you come here and act like everything is fine when you let my father treat me like that? And you – " She turned to Sirius, pointing her wand at him next, and he gulped. " – just inviting him here like nothing ever happened, like he didn't let the same thing happen to you, like he hasn't hurt you just as much, like things are ever going to change –"
"Andy." Sirius cut her off in a soft voice. "Please let him explain. Please."
She clenched her jaw and looked at Arcturus. She walked towards him and put the tip of her wand against his chest, making a small burn hole in his robes. "Talk, you bastard."
Arcturus hastily explained how he had been abused as a child, how he had sworn he would never let something like that happen to the children around him, and how well his cousin and his cousin's son had hidden it from him, just as his own son had done, even when he became Lord Black. How he had been unwell and easily manipulated since he lost his brother, and how both Cygnus her father and Pollux her grandfather had persuaded him that Ted was a horrible influence, that Andromeda wouldn't listen to them, how she was bringing disgrace to the Black family name, and had even convinced them that she had denounced the Black family and it was only right to disown her in return.
"I didn't denounce the Black family." Andromeda countered angrily. "I would never denounce my family. I still love Cissy, even though she got in with the wrong people. Same with Bella. And I would never cut myself off from my connection to Sirius."
"I see now that I was very wrong, and very lied to. I have no excuse for any hurt that my behaviour caused, and I am deeply sorry for what has happened to you and to your family."
Andromeda continued to stare at him for several minutes in the silence that followed, but her gaze became less and less murderous, and more towards a sympathetic expression.
"Do you want to meet Nymphadora?" She asked hesitantly.
Arcturus nodded, and she finally turned away from him to her ten-year-old daughter, who was sitting at the dining room table doodling on paper with her fingers and hadn't been paying attention. "Nymphadora, sweetie… this is your cousin Sirius' grandfather, Arcturus Black."
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" The girl stomped her foot indignantly as her hair turned flame red. "I hate being called that! It's too old lady! I wanna be Dora!"
Arcturus threw his head back in laughter, something that not even Gellert or Sirius had heard in a long time. "She's a Metamorphmagus, just like her great-aunt Cassiopeia!"
Dora looked at Arcturus with curiosity. "So you're my cousin's grandpa? Are you my grandpa too?"
"No, that's not how –" Andromeda started.
"Do you want me to be?" Arcturus asked her, to the shock of the room.
Dora nodded. "I don't have a grandpa."
Arcturus looked at Ted in confusion.
"My parents died while I was in Hogwarts." He shrugged. "She never knew them."
"I can be your grandpa if you want, Dora." Arcturus said to her, and she squealed and ran into his arms. Her hair changed to match his as they hugged, and when she hopped back to her chair, her eyes were the deep gray of a Black family member.
"She started changing hair colours right after she was born." Ted states to Arcturus. "We could always tell what kind of mood she was in, because her hair would change depending on whether she was hungry or needed a change."
"Cassiopeia was the same way. Her hair changed colour with her moods constantly, and it was always fun at family gatherings when we were little because she would shift into the grown-ups to mock them." Arcturus shook his head with a grin. "Grandfather never found it funny, and neither did my parents or most of the other cousins, but Dorea and Cedrella and I loved it."
"Dorea? Like James' mother?" Alice asked.
Arcturus nodded. "She was my favourite cousin growing up. We grew apart and fought a lot about blood supremacy issues, and when she voiced her dislike for the Dark Lord we never spoke again."
Nobody knew what to say in the vaguely awkward silence that followed, so Alice broke it by saying, "Well, let's dig in for dinner I suppose!"
By the time dinner was finished and everyone was done chattering, it was quite late in the evening. The Lovegoods returned home with a promise to come back for New Year's celebrations, and the Tonks family followed suit, but not without Dora whining that she wanted to stay with her new grandpa.
"I'll see you soon, Dora. New Year's is only a week away." Arcturus said to the tearful girl.
"Promise?" She sniffed.
"Promise." He smiled and ruffled her hair.
That was good enough for her, as she turned and followed her parents to the door. They all waved goodbye as they left the wards and disapparated to their own house.
"I suppose we should go now too." Gellert yawned dramatically, stretching his arms above his head.
"Nonsense." Augusta waved her hand dismissively as she magically cleaned away the dishes. "You three have to stay until the morning for presents."
"Presents?" Sirius' eyes lit up and he grinned boyishly. "I get presents?"
"No, because you've been a bad dog." Frank teased.
Sirius fake-pouted. "I've been the best boy."
"Nope. All the presents are Harry's. You get coal." Alice smirked.
"Gellert!" Sirius whined. "They're taking away my presents!"
"That's because you've been bad." Gellert stated with a mock shrug.
Sirius looked offended, and Frank and Alice whooped with laughter. Gellert tried to ruffle his hair but Sirius batted his hand away with a grin.
Arcturus stood in silence, watching his grandson interact with his chosen family. His heart hurt to know how much pain the boy had gone through without his grandfather there to protect him, but he was so proud of how far he had gotten even without the guidance he should have had all along.
"Hey, Grandfather, are you staying the night too?"
"I should get home." Arcturus replied with a shake of his head. "I haven't been out this long in years and I'm sure Uriel is worried."
"Who is Uriel?" Alice asked.
"My house elf. He's been my only companion since Orion died."
"Oh, Arcturus, please stay." Augusta requested. "I don't want you alone on Christmas."
"I've been alone for years, Augusta. Christmas is no different."
"It should be." Frank agreed. "Please stay."
Arcturus looked at Sirius with a bit of anxiety in his eyes. "I don't know, I –"
"You can stay in the guest room that I use, with me and Harry. There's an extra bed." Sirius assured him.
"If you're worried about Uriel, you can call him here. We have house elves too." Frank offered. "Mum just enjoys doing dishes. They do the rest of the cleaning, and most of the cooking."
Arcturus was silent for a moment, and Sirius could see the panic in his eyes as he made his decision. "I suppose one night is okay." Arcturus stated finally.
Later that night, as they were all retiring to bed, Sirius sat on his bed, which was next to Harry's little toddler-sized bed, and thought for the first time in a long time about his father.
He never knew much about his father's childhood, or about his interests, or anything really, other than his love for blood purity and hatred for Muggles and Muggle-Born wizards or witches. He didn't even really like witches much, even if they were Pureblood; Orion was always very sexist, and believed women should really only be good for making and raising children. Sirius always assumed that was why he never hit his children himself.
His thoughts were interrupted by Arcturus knocking on the door softly. "Sirius, can I come in?"
"Sure, Grandfather."
Arcturus entered in his sleepwear, and Sirius was taken aback momentarily by the realization that he had never seen his grandfather in anything other than fancy robes.
"Grandfather…" He started, but he had so much to say that he didn't know where to begin.
"You must have so many questions, Sirius." Arcturus responded with a sigh. "I owe you as many answers as you have questions, and then some. I owe you a lot."
"I'm sorry," was all Sirius could manage to say at that moment.
"You don't owe me anything, least of all an apology." Arcturus shook his head. "I should be apologizing to you." He looked Sirius in the eyes as he continued. "If you'll let me be in your life, I will spend the rest of my years making it up to you and showing you that I'm not who you remember me to be, and that I'm not who I was before."
"I want you to be in my life." Sirius told him. "I want you to be in Harry's life. I still don't know what I'm doing with him. I wasn't prepared to be a father."
Arcturus chuckled, to Sirius' surprise. "Nobody is ever prepared to be a father, boy."
"What was my father like?" Sirius asked.
Arcturus chuckled again. "He was much like you."
"Really?"
"He was a very stubborn boy. He hated anybody telling him what to do, and he hated being just like everybody else."
Sirius listened to Arcturus tell him about his father, and about his own childhood, for nearly two hours before he fell asleep to the story of when Dorea met Charlus.
Arcturus finally realized that Sirius had fallen asleep a few minutes later, and he smiled to himself as he rolled over and drifted to sleep himself.
Sirius dreamed all night about Marlene, which didn't surprise him one bit.
His surprise came the next morning over breakfast.
Frank was reading the Daily Prophet as Sirius helped Harry eat his waffles. "There's been another Death Eater death."
"Oh no." Sirius said sarcastically. "How tragic."
Frank chuckled. "It's that vigilante woman again. They managed to get a picture this time, and identifier spells on the picture have named her."
"For real?" Sirius raised his eyebrows as Harry started reaching for his fork himself. "What's her name?"
"Maria Findgaine. Irish, I guess?"
Sirius dropped Harry's fork as he dashed towards Frank and his paper.
"Whoa, what is it?" Frank asked.
Sirius didn't say anything, just tore open the paper and stared at the picture.
She was masked, and disfigured, and had clearly been through trauma and torment, and to anybody else she would have been unrecognizable.
But to Sirius Orion Black, the face and body of Marlene Meredith McKinnon were etched into his memory forever, and he would know it anywhere.
A/N: yes, this fic has many twists. yes, there are more coming. be prepared.