Sirius' first encounter with his mother went about as he expected it to. He joined the family lunch table at Orion's request when he woke up again, because Kreacher bullied him into doing it. Walburga walked in about two minutes after Sirius sat down, and she immediately spat on his plate and started yelling at him.

"You could have been on our side! The Dark Lord would have won if not for you! You have betrayed your family, your heritage, and your blood! You have brought shame upon the House of Black! You are no longer my son! You are nothing but a blood traitor, a disgrace! And now your father must clean up after your mess. Shame on you!"

Sirius shrugged and picked up a fresh sandwich from the serving platter. Seemed to him Orion was perfectly content with the present state of affairs. Probably because he didn't like the idea of the Lord Black being subservient to anyone else, not even Lord Voldemort.

"Mum, please don't yell at him," Regulus begged.

If anything, Walburga's fury only grew. "Silence, Regulus! I cannot believe you've allowed him to corrupt you as well! How many of the pure have you slaughtered, Sirius? And your own uncle besides! My beloved brother! I rue the day I gave you birth. I wish you had died in my womb!"

"I wish that, too," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"I should have smothered you in your sleep the first time your rebellion showed."

"It's not too late."

"You mock me!? I'll teach you some respect, you ungrateful blood traitor!" She drew her wand and pointed it straight at his head. Sirius stared back at her, eyebrows raised, daring her to follow through. They both knew she wouldn't. Oh, she would hurt him, but not lethally. She wasn't a kin-slayer, not like him.

"Mum, no!"

"Walburga, this is tiresome," Orion said from the head of the table, not bothering to look up from the letter he was reading.

"Scaldis!"

Like an idiot, Regulus grabbed her wand just as she was incanting the scorching curse, dragging it away from Sirius and incidentally onto himself. He howled in pain as blisters erupted all over his right hand and exposed forearm.

"Foolish boy!" Walburga screamed mercilessly, and slashed her wand at Regulus again the moment he let go, casting several more nonverbal hexes.

A dark emotion awoke in Sirius as he watched. He might not care about much right now, but he sure as hell still didn't want to see Reggie hurt. Without even thinking about it, his wand was in his hand and pointed at his mother, and his mouth voiced his previously inarticulate anger and pain. "Crucio."

He had never heard Walburga screaming in pain, he realized detachedly. It sounded different from her rage. She writhed on the floor of the dining room in agony. Kreacher appeared and pulled his ears in distress, weeping fat tears but unable to intervene in a conflict between two masters of equal footing without orders.

Regulus was wide-eyed and crying too, leaning over the table to stare in horror at his flailing mother. He twisted to grab Sirius' shoulder with his uninjured hand. "Stop it! Please stop! Oh, Merlin, why are you doing this?"

"She hurt you."

"By accident! And you cast an Unforgivable! Stop it!"

Sirius didn't want to stop, not really. But he lifted his wand as Regulus continued to plead. He didn't want Reggie to be hurt.

Walburga's screams gave way to sobs. She didn't handle the curse as well as a Death Eater would, Sirius noted. Regulus hurried around to her side. "Mum!"

"You know, I've killed people I liked a lot more than I like you, Mother," Sirius said softly, watching her moan and pant. He'd had reasons, of course, for killing Dolph and Evan. He didn't have a reason to kill Walburga other than his own resentment. Or to protect Regulus, but Reggie would definitely be upset if he did that. As if to confirm the silent thought, Regulus stared balefully back up him, speechless in reproach and disbelief.

"She'll be fine, no lasting damage," Orion said. "Kreacher, take my wife to her chamber to recompose herself before she joins us for lunch. Regulus, come here so I can see to your arm."

Kreacher obeyed immediately. Regulus didn't. He stood up, glared between Sirius and his father, then spun on his heel and stormed out of the room.

Orion raised an eyebrow as they watched him go. "Not a bad thing to see some spine on that boy at last. He'll need it, with the changes we're making." He looked at Sirius. "While the Cruciatus does go some way to liven up meal times, I hope you're not planning to make a habit of that."

Sirius stowed his wand and picked up his sandwich again. He didn't answer.

"In the meantime, I'd like to go over the names you've shared with Moody and Dumbledore, and the associated crimes you know of."

"Why?"

"So I can determine who of those that desire to be our allies are actually deserving of my support."

"You could ask Moody."

"He's busy, and he'll lie to me. You're here with nothing but time while you recover."

"And I won't lie to you?"

"Are you planning on it? I'm asking so I can help people who deserve it, not to assist the worst offenders in escaping justice. That should be something where our interests align."

"Still don't see why I should just give you for free all the intelligence I spent a year gathering."

"And you don't have to," Orion agreed soothingly. "All you need to do is tell me who, in your opinion, counts as a dangerous Death Eater that we should not trust. What do you think of a Ms. Audrey Bertram, for instance? I'm not familiar with her, but she sent a letter, a little presumptuous with a last name like hers..."

"Audrey's one of mine. She never did anything wrong I didn't order her to," Sirius answered immediately. Merlin, it would be so easy for the blood supremacists to bribe somebody to pin all of his and Richard's muggle baiting operations on poor Audrey.

"Thank you, Sirius. I'll make sure Audrey receives the protection she needs. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Regulus didn't come back to lunch. In fact, Kreacher eventually reported he seemed to have fled the house, for the first time in his life. Walburga was both furious and filled with anxiety, and Sirius would have cursed her again if she'd stayed in the room long enough. As it was, both Walburga and even Orion felt this aberration in their younger, dutiful son's behavior in the present circumstances troubling enough to track him down personally. Sirius and Narcissa were left alone in the dining room. Sirius got up and was about to go back to the informal parlor to drink the remainder of the bottle of whiskey he'd left there last night in lieu of the icky collection of potions Kreacher had laid out for him, but Narcissa had other ideas. She grabbed his wrist, his stoppered potions phials, and his untouched plate of chocolate cake, and dragged him upstairs to the rooms she and Lyra were sharing.

"Cissy, what are you -"

"Shush."

She pushed Sirius into a soft rocking chair and set the cake on the end table next to him. She pointed her wand at the gramophone in the corner, which started playing a soft, soothing melody. She extracted the first potion from her pocket and held it out to him. "Drink it."

He took it reluctantly, knowing she was right and he probably should continue with whatever regimen Kreacher had been feeding him if he wanted his body at least to recover from the abuse he had heaped on it lending his vitality to a dementor. Fortunately, this one was the Pepperup. The taste of hot toothpaste wasn't good, but it didn't cause him to gag. The same could not be said for the thick, dark red one Narcissa handed him next. That one was like liquified black pudding, in a way he didn't want to think about. The last one was the color and taste of very burnt caramel and made his tongue itch every time he took it.

Narcissa then retrieved Lyra from the cradle and walked back over with her. She stared at Sirius a moment, considering. "Hold out your arms." Sirius opened his mouth. He wasn't sure what he had planned to say, but Narcissa forestalled him anyway. "Save it. I don't care what you are thinking or what you're feeling right now, Sirius. You are going to hold the baby, and I am going to feed you that cake."

"You're going to what, now?"

"Take her. Now." She leaned forwards, and suddenly his lap and hands were full of sleeping infant. He hastily adjusted his grip to hold her properly against his chest. Narcissa conjured a second chair close to his and took up his plate and fork. She offered him a bite. "Eat. It helps."

"I don't think cake is going to make everything miraculously better, Cissy."

"No, which is why you're also holding your goddaughter."

"You should really ask Regulus to be godfather."

"Regulus just ran away from you. That does not inspire confidence. There is no one in this world I would rather have as Lyra's protector than you, if I can get you back to what you can be. Thus, you are eating chocolate whether you like it or not." She waved the fork under his nose. He leaned backwards, and the fork followed him. Irritably, he adjusted Lyra again so he could support her with just his left hand, reached up, and made a grab for the fork. Narcissa sent a light stinging hex at his fingers. He scowled at her and shook the pain away. She raised her eyebrows. "I'll give it to you if you promise to eat, not just throw the silverware around the room."

He paused. "How did you know -"

"I guessed. You had the same look in your eye you did when you were ten and had the mumblemumps and threw the entire bowl of soup Kreacher brought you at the wall."

"Fine. I'll eat it," he grumbled. She held the plate for him and let him stab at the cake without comment. It really was very good pastry, he admitted silently. Of course, Walburga Black would never tolerate anything less than the finest quality foods in her house.

"Look at Lyra," Narcissa commanded when he was done. He did. The infant had remained asleep throughout the interchange, a small pink face swaddled in a lacy white blanket. She was comfortingly warm and heavy. Possibly too heavy, tiny as she was. He got fatigued quickly.

"I shouldn't be holding her. I might drop her."

"I'm right here. I won't let you drop her. Keep looking at her. She's alive because of you, Sirius. I'm alive because of you. Make no mistake of that. If you had not come to my aid after Lucius was arrested, I would not have had this baby. If you had not acted quickly on the day of her birth, then we both might have died. I will always be grateful to you for my own life and for my daughter's."

"Cissy-"

"Richard is alive because of you. Marlene and Ben McKinnon are alive because of you. Regulus will never have to go to war, because of you."

"And your father is dead because of me."

"My father is dead because he chose to fight on the wrong side of a war. If he hadn't died that night, it would have happened later."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. He might not have died in the midst of battle, but he would have died violently. If Lord Voldemort had remained in power, there would be no other way. You saw how he ruled. He would have only gotten worse unchecked by strategic necessity."

Sirius snorted. "Funny how you never said a word against him 'till now."

"Neither did you, in my presence, because neither of us are fools. Don't mistake me, Sirius. I am not the champion of the downtrodden you might like to be, but I can certainly recognize a terrible and dangerous leader. Doesn't matter whose ideologies he publicly championed when his only real motivation was his own self-aggrandizement. Voldemort was not someone who could be controlled, no matter what our fathers once thought. It is better for everyone that he is dead, pureblood, halfblood, and mudblood alike. No matter what it cost us, you did a good thing by ending him. Perhaps there was a better way, but no one else found it."

"Oh, how marvelous, Cissy, I hadn't thought about it that way. Now I feel much better," he said with an eyeroll.

"Look at the baby." He glowered at Narcissa instead. "Look at her, Sirius. Count her eyelashes."

"Count her eyelashes. Really?"

"Think of it as an Occlumency exercise if you must. You need to focus on something, and someone, that doesn't make you bitter, guilt-ridden, and angry. So count her eyelashes for now. Once she wakes up, you can play with her fingers and toes."

Albus Dumbledore flamed into Alastor's office in the late afternoon, clutching his own copy of the Daily Prophet. A wandless and nonverbal privacy spell sprung up as he took a chair.

"The interview with Orion Black?"

"That's the one."

"As I've already told Barty and the Minister, I doubt I read anything in it you didn't."

Albus shrugged. "I'd still prefer to talk with you before I meet with them."

"Alright. Sirius is alive. Lord Orion is full of shit. Anything else?"

"How would you gauge the risk to Sirius if we were to contradict any of this?" Albus asked, rustling the paper.

Alastor sighed and passed a hand over his eyes. "I don't know. Probably high. Lord Orion hasn't been coming to the Ministry personally at all, just telling his allies who to sell out for my department to detain. So far, I can't say he's doing a bad job in picking the worst offenders: almost everyone he's implicating was already on the Order's list, and the ones we didn't already know about had scads of incriminating material at their residences. Yolande Mulciber is still the only out-and-out Death Eater he's definitely backing. I'm sure there will be more when I get around to arraigning nobility, but I don't have evidence for most of those except for Sirius seeing them and listening to them plotting to kill Barty or muggles at meetings."

"Which in Sirius' absence is hearsay."

"Yep." He shrugged. "It's not high priority to go after them yet, not while they're inclined to follow the law for a change and I've got a million other things to do. Barty doesn't think they'll be rallying around Dolohov if he resurfaces, unlike the Death Eaters and sympathizers in the lower classes we've been chasing down the last three days. He says it's different from when You-Know-Who was telling them to behave back when we arrested Lord Flint in January, because they're in shock from Sunday and because Orion's perfectly able and willing to help us put them away if they don't do exactly what he says. Right now, none of the Sacred Families on either side would cross the Blacks because either they're afraid of them or they're counting on Orion's and Sirius' influence over the Ministry to bail them out when their names come up on court documents."

"My thoughts exactly. If we sabotage Orion's machinations too much, we could spark further violence, either against the Ministry or simply to silence Sirius, since everyone who knew his true position in the Death Eaters will recognize the power of his testimony. What of the Order's intelligence have you shared with Barty as of yet?"

"Only what we had about the people we arrested Sunday so we could process them more efficiently. I told him Sirius reported directly to you alone."

Albus smiled. "Thank you for your foresight."

"I'm pretty sure he knew I was lying."

"Yes, well, if he did, he also knows why. If he said nothing, that is tantamount to approval. I'll probably give him the names of everyone Sirius knew was Marked at least; we know they've all murdered. I'd be vexed if Orion manages to help any of them weasel out of a conviction." Albus drummed his fingers on Alastor's desk. "Have you heard directly from Sirius?"

"No."

"Nor me, alas. Assuming he remains out of contact... we need to reach out to Orion. He knows he has leverage over us as long as he has Sirius. We need to negotiate..."

"I agree. Do you want to invite Barty along or no?"

"I'll decide after I've spoken to him. Any news on Dolohov?"

Alastor shook his head. "He's very thoroughly gone to ground. Possibly left the country already. They're on the lookout for him on the continent, and Rufus is heading up the manhunt here. He can't hide forever."

Albus nodded acceptance of this. He tucked the newspaper back into his voluminous robes and swept out of the auror office.

Oddly enough, Richard chose a muggle establishment to meet with Severus during his lunch break the very next day, Lahore Kebab. The Richard Severus remembered from a year ago would not have been caught dead in such a place. Clearly, things had changed.

Severus arrived early, only to find Richard had arrived even earlier. He was sitting in a window booth, wearing a perfectly nondescript set of muggle trousers and jumper. Next to him was none other than Regulus Black, looking far less comfortable in his own muggle garb. They both had platters of rice and meat before them. Severus didn't actually have a problem with the younger brother, fortunately. He slid into the bench opposite and addressed Regulus first. "What are you doing here, Reg? Aren't you supposed to be at Hogwarts?"

"They pulled him out on Monday," Richard said.

"And... why is he here?"

"Regulus, go get us more tea and order Sev a kebab." He handed the younger wizard a change purse. Regulus pulled a face but obeyed him. "He's afraid to go home," Richard said softly. "He came over yesterday. And he's afraid if he's alone at my house, then either my mum or his parents will make him go home. He's not wrong. His parents took a lot of convincing to let him stay at all, only agreed when Mum and I said he'd never be out of our sight, we wouldn't let him go to Diagon or Hogsmeade or anyplace else he might be recognized, and we'd get him right back to Grimmauld if anything happened."

"Why is he afraid?" Severus asked in a low voice, utterly distracted from his mission by this new information. "He's the 'good kid' in that house, I thought."

Richard grimaced. "Grimmauld Place isn't a fun place to be at the moment."

"Because of Lord and Lady Black, or because of Sirius?"

"Both. Reg ran when lunch turned violent yesterday. Nevermind. We're not here to talk about the Blacks. How are you, Sev? Are you... okay? I'm can't say how sorry I am."

"I'm fine. Got a job. Got an apartment. Got friends who are willing to leave me out of the war."

Some tension that had been in Richard snapped. He smiled shakily. "Good. I'm glad for you. Really."

"But actually, we are here to talk about the Blacks. Lily Evans is still my best friend, and she's engaged to James Potter." Richard winced. Severus smiled tightly. "Which I am absolutely fine with because I am a gentleman and able to put childish rivalries behind me. And the Potters are all worried sick about fucking Sirius Black, so here I am, meeting you, after you admitted to stabbing me in the back, to see if you know what happened to him."

"Oh, is that it?" Richard shook his head ruefully. "Merlin, I missed you, Sev."

"So, what do you know? Clearly, he's not in a coma if he's getting into fights at home."

"Why do the Potters care?"

James answered that question neatly enough, butting into the booth next to Severus with Lily and Remus right behind him. Peter was still watching Grimmauld Place. "Sirius is my brother in every way but blood," he snarled.

"Sirius is my brother, in every way including blood," Regulus said, coming up behind the others, clutching two paper cups of steaming tea. He blushed when Severus, Richard, and Lily all rolled their eyes.

"James, now isn't the time to be angry," Remus said.

"Reg, sit down and don't cause trouble."

"Did you know they were coming?" the younger wizard hissed.

"No," Richard said calmly, "but if you're concerned about Sirius, it seems so are they, so we might as well talk civilly rather than beating our breasts like apes."

"Where do you sit on the Sirius Black issue, since we're on the topic, Richard?" Severus asked delicately, as he cast a silent Muffliato around the table. The others rearranged themselves with ill-grace, with Remus ending up next to Regulus.

Richard met his eyes briefly, then looked down at his plate. "I... I owe him my life many times over. He's... become my best friend." He grimaced. "Partly because the rest are dead..." Severus wondered savagely if some dead were because Sirius had killed them. "I'm sorry, Sev. He has my loyalty. I understand if you don't want to see me after today because of it."

"Is he well?" James asked. His anger was gone, drained out by his constant worry.

Richard shook his head. "No, he's very sick. Physically and mentally. He needs... something. But I don't know how to help him. I visited yesterday, after Reggie came to me, and it was... bad." He took a deep breath and explained what he knew of Sirius' present condition. Apparently, he was a bundle of rage and grief and guilt spouting frequent references to his own death. He'd gotten extremely drunk in the late afternoon when no one was watching him, then had another violent encounter with his mother that ended with him passed out and lying surrounded by broken, alcohol-drenched glass, far too close to a lit hearth for comfort. He hadn't caught fire by the time Richard had found him, fortunately, but he was delirious with what sounded like a combination heat stroke and inebriation. Richard had convinced Lady Black to order the house elf to at least move Sirius back to his bed if he collapsed somewhere else in the house again.

"Can you get him out of there?" James asked.

"No. Reg says Lord Black closed the house wards to Sirius for the moment as a safety precaution."

"He got past them before, when he was still underage," Remus pointed out.

"Sure, but I don't know how he did that, and nor does Reg. Do you?" Interestingly, James blushed, but he didn't answer the rhetorical question before Richard continued, "And anyway, I wouldn't bet on his repeating the feat in the near future."

"Oh. Can you get one of us in?"

Richard barked a very un-Richard-like bitter laugh. "As a supplicant to Lord Black, maybe. Otherwise, definitely no. No one gets in Grimmauld without recognition from the wards. I have a standing invitation, but that doesn't extend to plus-ones, not even other people coming through the floo at my house."

James sighed. "Could you at least carry messages to him? Dumbledore might be able to -"

"You do realize Lord Black could throw me and my mother to the red caps with a snap of his fingers at the moment?" Richard interrupted. Severus snorted.

The Order members all stiffened. "Oh? Proper little Death Eater, were you?" James asked distastefully. Severus elbowed him, right in the ribs.

Richard shook his head impatiently. "I was never even Marked. Unlike Sirius. But that wouldn't matter if I were to cross Lord Black right now. There's plenty of unsolved crimes that need either actual perpetrators or scapegoats attached to them."

"Richard, Dad wouldn't -" Regulus broke in nervously.

"Your father would throw me under the bus in a heartbeat if he thought he needed to, Reg. He'd do it to anyone, guilty or not, and everyone knows it."

"And you don't think Sirius would save you, Richard?" Severus asked curiously. "Lord Black's ability to save or condemn is conditional on his control of Sirius, isn't it? He might have spun the story of a unified Black cabal, but plenty of people on both sides know enough of the facts to realize that isn't exactly true. Even the article yesterday makes it clear that Sirius is the eyewitness who will eventually be called on to name off all the criminals."

Richard nodded. "Well, yes. Sirius would back me up, but only if he knew what was happening. I can't count on that. It's not like Orion would tell Sirius if he arranged for some rogue Death Eater to assassinate me or something, and it wouldn't be traced back to him." Regulus stared straight down at his tea, ears turning a brilliant red. Severus felt a twinge of sympathy for the young wizard. He'd be mortified too, if he had to sit silently by while Lily described his father's abysmal behavior to a group of relative strangers, no matter how true the words.

"No, we understand," Lily said firmly, the first time she'd joined the discussion. She glanced at James and then Remus significantly, then smiled at Richard. "We'd appreciate it if you could at least bring Sirius a letter or two. We don't think he's received any of the ones we've sent."

Richard nodded. "I can do that."

"And could you perhaps bring him a present?"

"What present?" Richard said warily.

"A pet rat."

All the Slytherins at the table raised their eyebrows. "A rat," Richard repeated.

"Yes," James said, nodding. "He had a pet rat when he was living at my house, really loved it. I think he should have it back, to keep him company. And so our family puffskein doesn't eat it."

"Puffskeins don't eat rats."

"No, but ours likes to chase his rat all over the place and pick it up, and I'm worried it might accidentally kill the poor thing one of these days. I also still have Sirius' old communications mirrors that he left at my house. If you could take one of those to him, that would be terrific. I bet the enchantments on them can get through those damn house wards, since they were a gift from his uncle to begin with."

"Fine. I'll take him a letter, the mirror, and his rat, if one of you would go fetch them and bring them here within the next hour. Now, would you be so kind as to go away so I can talk to my friend in peace?"

"We'll go," Remus said, getting up.

Lily looked across James at Severus. "Do you want..." Do you want to stay and talk to them alone, or do you want me to stay, or do you want me to make a fuss so you can get away?

"I'll see you later, Lily." She nodded and smiled tightly, then got up and dragged James off the bench to follow Remus out of the shop.

"By the way James Potter, you're an arse, and I sincerely hope you got around to apologizing to Severus sometime in the last year!" Richard called after them. Lily shoved James out the door before he could respond. Severus fought not to smile. The old Richard had never been so frank with his opinions. "Did they apologize?" Richard asked once the door closed behind the Gryffindors.

"Lily has for various things. The Terrible Trio did around the time Black was expelled, but not since."

Richard nodded thoughtfully. "What's with the rat?"

"I have no idea. I've never seen the supposed animal at the Potter place."

"Huh. Regulus, go see if Severus' kabob is ready."

"And order yourself a ras malai," Severus added. The two purebloods looked at him quizzically. He smirked. "It's a dessert made with cream and cardamom. I noticed it on their specials board today when I came in. Trust me, you'll like it." Reg looked slightly less glum as he headed back to the counter.

"Tell me about your job, Sev. What are you doing exactly? Do you like it?"

Author's note: Orion knows how to manipulate Sirius, and he's going to take advantage of Sirius' misery and distraction for as long as he can to further his own agenda. The simple tactics of having him make decisions when he's tired and playing on his emotions work all too well in the present situation. He's not asking for Sirius' opinion because he actually wants Sirius to exercise any independent authority, naturally, just figuring out whose of the wannabe minion reputations are salvageable and who he should cut off for political expediency. And poor Regulus with his scary relatives. I've written him to be pretty immature still, especially in contrast to Sirius and Richard, because up till now he's still been insulated at Hogwarts. I also tweaked the timeline - in canon, he joined the Death Eaters at age 16. In my story, he's sort of done that because he's been functioning as an un-Marked informant inside Hogwarts for over a year, but in my version of the Death Eaters, no one gets Marked until after they've actually killed on a mission for the Dark Lord. And sometimes not even then (e.g. werewolves because racism, Abraxas Malfoy because sparkling reputation). The Mark must be earned, but Voldie wasn't crazy enough (yet) to put it on vulnerable people in positions where they were likely to get caught, unless he had a good reason like blackmailing the Marked person's family. Thanks for the reviews, hope you're still enjoying the post-Voldie plot. Look for the next update on Saturday, hopefully in a more timely fashion than I managed today.