Hydrus wasn't Hydrus. He was Harry. Harry Potter. Sirius's first godchild. He had changed his diapers. The kid's first word had been 'mama', though James always liked to say a burping giggle he'd made had been him saying 'broom'. Sirius had been lucky enough to be there for his first steps. Just a month ago he'd given the kid advice on where to take Ginny Weasley out on their first date. For the boy's entire life, Sirius had been his favourite uncle, his second father, his 'cool' mentor that he could talk with about the things he didn't want to share with his parents.

That Harry… That Harry wasn't here. This Harry was his own son. A kid whose…

He tried to put the pieces together.

Hydrus's parents were killed. James and Lily. They got killed because Peter betrayed them. Sirius had gone to kill Peter, failed, and the traitor had killed a bunch of muggles in the escape. That led to him getting arrested and imprisoned so that he couldn't take care of his godchild. His… His only godchild? Had Dahlia been born yet?

Fuck. He should've asked more about the Potters. He shouldn't have wasted that stupid question on whether or not he was 'the guy' Hydrus had been talking about when he'd said someone saved him. He should've asked about the Potters.

Hydrus had grown up getting the shit kicked out of him by the son of Lily's awful sister. His son had never hesitated to call them muggles, so Petunia probably hadn't married Snape. Sirius's disdain for that woman was only tempered by the fact that she hadn't had the nerve to have a kid in this timeline. He'd hate to have to put them down in revenge for his son.

Hydrus… Harry…

He was a fucking idiot. He should've figured this out by now. He should've known. Hydrus never talked about Harry. He should've—

"Can you settle down?"

Sirius blinked and looked up. A red-headed, glasses-wearing young woman was standing in front of him, and it was only at the last second he realised Hydrus was unconscious behind her. The girl was wearing thread-bare trousers and a hideous pink top with a big flower on its front. Sirius wanted to go towards his boy, but he couldn't move.

"Sirius, it's me." He blinked. Fate? "Yes, Fate. You were about to kill your own child via magical exhaustion."

Magical exhaustion wasn't usually fatal, not unless there was something that forced a person to keep giving their magic even after they'd lost consciousness. Something like a man who could drain his family members' magic without their consent. Something like a mad Sirius who'd not been paying any attention to the fact that the room was now coated in a layer of black hoarfrost. Shit, had he seriously…

"I—" he began. Horror settled into his chest. "No, no I—"

"You went mad, it's okay, dear." Fate gave a harsh frown that made Sirius wince, but then she dropped the expression like a hatching dragon egg. "I wasn't frowning at you! I was trying to show that I was… Ugh, whatever."

She gave a much more purposeful frown, almost a perfect upside-down U, and Sirius snorted.

"I was mad that I'm breaking the rules," Fate said. "I'm not supposed to be here. You didn't call me, and neither did Hydrus. It's no fair if I do something like this."

"I'm glad you did," Sirius muttered. "I can't belie—"

"It's not your fault," Fate said, shaking her head. "Anyways, just settle down."

"Wait," Sirius said, worried she'd vanish. "If I worship you, can I call you like this? Just, freeze time and—"

"No." He blinked at how final that sounded, like a guillotine chopping down into the wood below. "Don't get me wrong, I like you, but I don't like you, like you. I only came here to stop you from accidentally killing Hydrus." The ginger teen suddenly puffed up. "Who I am very mad at! So don't tell him he's my favourite!"

"I won't," Sirius began, trying to put aside the fact that the goddess already made it very clear Hydrus was her favourite. "But—"

"No."

He'd been about to point out that a parent worshipping something would probably make it more likely that the kid would too. The goddess had mentioned that she wanted Hydrus to worship her, so Sirius had been planning to use that against her.

"Fine," he said. "But can I get you to just… Just stick around for a minute while I continue to get myself together? Otherwise, we'll risk Hyd—"

"Yes, yes," Fate said. A second too late to be natural, she waved her hand at him, and Sirius recognised it as something Hydrus would've done. "Go on."

"Thank you."

He tried to imagine it, tried to fill in the blanks. Why hadn't Remus been there for him? The werewolf was the most reliable man in the entire world, and clearly Hydrus trusted him more than he did Sirius himself, so why hadn't he helped? Then the thought of what Remus would be like without James around struck him, and he tried to bury away the anger that had come up. Merlin, what a nightmare that would be.

James was Remus's rock, just as Remus himself was Sirius's. The werewolf had been getting bullied before he met him, and James had been the one to tell everyone else to fuck off. It was what had made Sirius reach out to them, to James, in the first place. If James died, he couldn't imagine what Remus would be like. Their werewolf would probably go insane and—

"He wasn't that bad," Fate said. "He just hated himself. He thought he'd make Harry's life worse, somehow. I still don't understand it, but he didn't go… Go all awful like you were about to think up."

Sirius snorted. Honestly he was glad for the goddess reading his thoughts. All his life he'd had someone to guide him, so it made him feel more safe to have her around to make commentary on what he was thinking.

"Oh… Oh!" Fate said. "Wow that's… That's new."

"What?" he asked.

"Don't mind me." Again, just a second too late, she waved him off. "I thought out loud. Keep up your own thoughts!"

He snorted again and did just that.

What should he do next? He needed to help. He needed to—

"You know," Fate interrupted. "I just talked to Hydrus recently about how love works. About how parents don't always feel that sort of soul-binding passion for their children the moment they're born, and how it takes time to build that sort of bond for some."

Sirius growled deep in his throat. "What are you—"

"The moment you found out he was Harry," Fate said. "You loved him more than ever before. You wanted to be there for him more than ever before. You would die, kill, and live for him in any direction he demanded."

"I…" Sirius blinked. "Okay?"

"I just wish I could understand." Fate… Fate seemed melancholic. Nothing about her form said that, he just felt it. "Don't mind it, Hydrus is the only one who picks up on my uncontrolled emotions innately. He'll still never join us."

"Huh?"

Fate giggled. "He's a perfect candidate. He has the strength, and now the time, to become like us. But he won't. I already know."

Sirius remembered some vague mentioning in a powwow between him, Dumbledore, Hydrus, and Bella that Death had wanted to try and make him a god. He also remembered how—

"Yes, yes, like I said, he doesn't want to become a 'god'." Fate shook her head. "Did you know that when I stop time, the game stops too? The others all lock-up like Hydrus there?"

Sirius—

"When I say pause, everything pauses, even the other gods." Fate continued on, having stopped his thoughts before they even began. "So take this information as the last boon before I leave.

"I don't know what game my brother is playing, but I don't completely distrust him," she said. "He isn't as 'rotten' as Hydrus thinks he is. Don't repeat this, otherwise he'll know I'm onto him, but you shouldn't stress so much, Sirius." He stiffened. "Just help Hydrus home. Be there for him. And keep showing him how much you love him."

Then she was gone, and although he couldn't tell for sure with how still everything was, he somehow knew the world had unfrozen.

He stared at his son. Hydrus was unconscious, and after a long and agonising moment, the mirror to himself's chest heaved up in a breath. His son wasn't dead. After a second to flick out his limbs like he was trying them out for the first time, Sirius moved over to help his son up and apparate him back home.

Bellatrix was sleeping in their bed. The woman had a bundle of blankets snatched up tight in her arms like she was trying to strangle it, and Sirius had to admit it was at least a little bit cute. His cousin did love the adopted… man, he reminded himself, and Hydrus loved her back. He sat his son on the mattress, Kreacher silently provided another blanket, and he tucked it around his boy.

"I love you, Hydrus," he breathed. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Hydrus awoke with a start, lurching up as he drug Bella with him. He had to prop himself up with his good arm, but she still clung to him like a leech. That meant she was definitely awake.

"Bella," he said. "I need to get up."

"No you don't," she mumbled. Maybe she was only half awake. "Stay with me."

"Bella—"

She groaned and he let her pull him back down into the mattress. "No. Just stay here with me."

"I need to get back to work," he pleaded. "I found someone else who worships Death."

He knew Sirius had betrayed him and kept his memories, but he'd quickly prioritised the fact that he needed to get to the apostate. Sirius would still be there, still be guilty and knowing too much, later. For now he needed to get back on the hunt before the next victim heard word about his apprentice's demise and went underground.

"Too bad." Bellatrix only pulled him in tighter, her nails gripping him through the cloth of the robes he'd fallen asleep in. "You're mine."

"Yes, yes, I'm all yours," he tried to entreat. "But I need to—"

"You're not leaving this bed." His love's words left as little room to argue as there was to breathe how tight she held him. "You're mine. I love you. We're having our cuddle time."

Hydrus whined, but couldn't find the will to break away.

Hermione rubbed at her eyebrows as she stared down at the letters. The darned letters. She had five of them in front of her, all inviting her to some party or luncheon or get-to-together or anything else. Ever since she became 'Hermione Granger of House Slytherin', she'd been inundated with messages asking for her attention. Now she just needed to decide which of the invites to accept for this Hogsmeade weekend.

She and her friends were at breakfast in the Grand Hall. All around her the other fifth years were chatting about anything besides the OWLs which had been plaguing her nightmares as of late. Her morning meal had been quickly devoured to get it out of the way, and she was left alone to try and figure out her biggest problem outside of schoolwork.

Viktor was deep in the quidditch season so she'd be lucky to hear back from him before she had to make a decision. Harry had just laughed and mocked her when she tried asking him for advice. Ron had been as baffled as she was at everyone trying to get her attention, though at least he'd been sympathetic about it. A rare moment of empathy from the red head.

Hermione's eyes turned towards Slytherin, and she wondered if she really was about to do this. Malfoy was cutting up some bit of meat on his plate, but leaning over towards Pansy Parkinson as she whispered something in his ear. The others around him were all sitting there like model examples of decorum, eating their own breakfasts, and she found herself wanting not to go over there just so as not to stand out.

Then she thought back to Hydrus's grandfather. Hermione thought of the way the 'Senior Opposing Barrister' had looked at her with dismissing disdain, like she really was just mud on the underside of his boot. The indignation at that memory drove her to collect all five of the letters and make her way over to the pureblood snobs.

When she got there, Draco was turned almost all the way around to greet her. She was surprised to see him smiling in a polite way, not one of his usual and degrading smirks.

"Cousin," he said, almost paralysing her with the title. "What can we do for you?"

Cousin. Technically Hydrus was his cousin, not her. The teen had said that her being adopted by him meant that she was going to be family, but it hadn't occurred to her until now what all that entailed. Who all that meant she had to send Christmas cards to.

"I was wanting your advice," she said in a measured tone, careful not to say something stupid. "I've received a few invites for this Hogsmeade weekend, and don't know which one to accept."

Draco turned a sharp look on the blonde boy sitting next to him. "Move."

The other teen, Michael if Hermione remembered his name right, shifted down the row on the bench. She took the space he left behind and after a moment to settle herself laid out the letters she got.

"The first—"

Draco interrupted her by snatching one of the parchments up and immediately beginning to read it. He scoffed and tossed it away.

"Muggle Relations?" Draco said. A girl on the other side of the table, Daphne Greengrass, drew her wand and destroyed the letter. "Ignore it."

Hermione scowled. "That was an official—"

"You're better than official," Draco snapped back. Hermione pulled back a bit at the interruption. "I… I mean, the Ministry might someday put your people in a higher position than they are now, but in the meantime, ignore it."

Hermione buried away the weird feelings that brought up in her chest. They weren't her people. But they were. And even if they weren't, they still deserved respect. Daphne was demurely brushing away the ash from her combustion, Draco seemed like he knew it had been an unintended, backhanded insult, and if Hermione was being honest with herself it was rather offensive

She understood what Draco was saying, though. The department wasn't one to be taken seriously, especially not now that she was a 'scion of House Slytherin'. She had to be more selective than that, and it was the whole reason she'd come to her house's rival. The whole reason she'd let Hydrus adopt her was so that way she could change that disdain people like these held for her and her own people.

She needed to hear things like that.

"Anyways. This is the society you joined, right?" Draco lifted up another sheet of parchment, this one from the group who'd allowed her to join because of the ring she'd enchanted. "Is this your first meeting since becoming a member?"

"No." She shook her head. "They had a party for me and a couple others joining. Unless you meant the first since that."

"Ignore it." Draco set the paper down in front of Daphne who frowned. "What?"

"Why are you giving it to me?" she asked.

"You burned the last one?"

"I"m not your document eraser, Malfoy," Daphne said with a scoff. Hermione almost laughed at the interaction and the indignation on Draco's face. "I did that earlier for ambiance."

"Whatever." Draco had a tinge to his cheeks as he grabbed the paper and crumpled it up before stuffing it in his robe pocket. "Anyways. What's next?"

"This one's from 'Lord Archer Goyle'," Hermione said, pushing it towards him. "That's your friend's dad, right?"

No one knew what happened to Crabbe and Goyle after last year, but she assumed they were still the Malfoy boy's mates. He quickly scanned the letter.

"Hold on to this one," he said, setting it aside. "Lord Goyle is an idiot, but he does still matter. Wonder what he wants you for…"

That made Hermione nervous. She'd been forced to work with the man's son once on some Charms project, and it had been a complete disaster. If it weren't for the fact that Professor Potter had been so understanding, they would have both failed instead of just Goyle.

"But what does he want?" Hermione asked, trying not to sound too worried. "I haven't even talked to him before."

Draco opened his mouth but didn't say anything for a second. He was clearly trying to think. A few of the other Slytherins around them tried to offer up suggestions, ranging from the man wanting to set her up with his son to wanting to kill her for that same Charms incident she'd remembered before. Eventually the Malfoy heir held up his hand to stop them.

"Probably just wants to apologise because of that thing with his son last year," Draco said. "Now that you're more important than he is, he has to do that."

Hermione blinked. She was more important? She was just a student at Hogwarts, completely without achievement or title. Was the House of Slytherin really that important?

"Ignore this one too," Draco said as he tucked away the interesting business proposition from a wand maker. "I remember my father mentioning him. He's an idiot."

"But—"

"And then there's…" Draco paused as he read the last letter. "Never mind Goyle. You're going to this one."

Hermione blinked. "Really?"

The last letter was a plain, hand written invitation to 'hang out' from Giannis Slytherin. She'd met the boy quite a while back, on a date with Viktor, and he'd nearly broken her ribs with how he bowling-balled his way into her side. She dreaded the thought of meeting him again.

"Let me put it this way," Draco said. "If you don't meet with him, I'm going to write to Hydrus, and then you'll have to meet with him."

The blonde Slytherin shook his head and Hermione couldn't understand what his trepidation was about. What was the big deal with this Giannis kid?

"It'll be fine!" Hermione blinked as a blonde girl reached across the table to grab her wrists in a comforting squeeze. "Giannis is great, I love him!"

It was… Helen? She couldn't remember the girl's name.

"But…" Hermione began. "Why do I need to meet with him?"

As little as she wanted to meet with the Goyle lord, at least she could understand why it might be important to show up and 'bury the hatchet' with him. She'd rightfully pushed his son under the bus, and now that she wasn't naturally the enemy of purebloods, it made sense that she should make sure she wasn't punished for it outside of school.

"Because Hydrus loves him," Draco said. He sat the letter down in front of her and patted it a few times. "Don't ask me why, don't ask me to make it change, just the way it is. He treats the kid like it's his own."

Hermione suddenly thought of something. "And Hydrus warrants such treatment?"

All of the Slytherins, even some of the ones she thought were too far away to listen in, tensed up. For a long moment, no one said anything. It felt like she was in the middle of some weird mass paralysis until Draco finally spoke.

"It's like this," he said. "You have the Crabbes and Goyles of the world. Then you have the Zabinis and Tankles. Then you have the Malfoys and the Greengrasses." He took a breath. "And then you have Hydrus Black. If he says he loves that kid, then you better love him too."

Hermione still felt a bit put out.

"He basically broke my ribs the last time I saw him," she muttered. "He kept tackling me like he was some sort of—"

"Hermione." She blinked. Draco had never called her by her first name before. "Did Giannis seem like he liked you?"

She thought of Viktor calling the kid her 'fan'. "Yes?"

"Then use it to your advantage," Draco said. "Because believe me, Hydrus will treat you all the better for it."

Hydrus sighed but allowed Bella to fork in another bite of watermelon to his mouth. They were still in their bed, and he still hadn't been allowed to leave. His fiancee was sitting up while he was leaning against the headboard, and Kreacher held out a tray of fruit for them.

"I need to go, Bella," he chastised. "I'm not hungry."

"If that were true you wouldn't have accepted that last bite," she said, eyes scanning across the tray like she was searching for her next prey. "You're mine, Hydrus."

"I'm well aware," he pleaded. "I'm all yours, now and always, forever more, but I need to—"

Bella held out a square of succulently sweet kiwi, and he couldn't resist.

"See?" his love said as he snatched it up. "You're still hungry. You're no good on a hungry stomach."

"Bella…"

Giannis glared at the sphinx. The stupid thing was mad at him just cus he'd figured out all her riddles. It had given him seven of them to figure out, and each one he'd answered in turn.

They were standing outside on a rocky outcrop in the ocean around Greece. The air was cold but he was wrapped up in a blanket that he'd rune'd up to keep himself warm. Everything smelled like salt and fish, but that wasn't a bad thing. He loved fish. His favourite fish was swordfish. Swordfish were so cool.

"This isn't fair," the sphinx declared. "There's no way you should be able to answer each of mine riddles."

He pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Too bad! You promised!"

"No!" the sphinx screeched. "They are my children!"

"Why?" he groaned. "Just let me have one of your babies."

He didn't get why the momma cat was being so defensive. Baby sphinxes killed and ate their siblings in the nest. She had triplets. Who cared if he took one?

"They are mine!" the sphinx roared. "I will not be separated from them!"

"Then just follow me!" Giannis argued. "You can live in my backyard. I already have a lot of animals living there." That was what he really wanted. "Just don't go digging, or else Tina will get mad."

Tina was the Burrowing Mudwinder he'd found. Burrowing Mudwinders were a species of dragon that didn't like living anywhere near anything else, but eventually he'd convinced her to just keep digging down till she didn't mind anymore. The dragon hadn't been happy to allow things to live above her, but once she'd seen how deep she could go and how happy the place was, she didn't mind.

Everyone loved it at his house. From the gnomes to the wild elves to the birds to the kappa, no one minded living there. Animals could be safe there. Giannis made sure no one went hungry, no one didn't feel loved, no one got thrown down the stairs. But he wanted a sphinx. He wanted a kitty to spruce things up, bring some decorum to the wild nature of his home.

It was a bit of a waste to only let Tina live below the ground, but he just had to accept that. Giannis had met dozens of other things that burrowed into the earth, but nothing was as cool as Tina, not even as a collective. The fact that there was a dragon living underneath his home tickled him pink, and he wasn't about to give that up for anything less than it.

He definitely wasn't just scared to let something less protective and strong move in.

"I already told you no, human," the sphinx said. "I'm not some whore to be moved as you please."

"I don't care if you're a whore or not," Giannis called back, not sure what a whore was. "But I want a kitty! You're the best kitty I can think of, so I want you there!"

The sphinx got even angrier at him saying that for some reason. He could tell by the way fur rose up on her back.

"Die."

Giannis almost jumped when she leapt at him, but a bracelet on his wrist leapt out to meet her. It transformed from the plainest of his bits of jewellery into a snake that continued to grow into a python that was even bigger than his brother. The stone reptile coiled around the sphinx, strangling her until she was unconscious, and then he shouted at it to let her go and come back to him.

He didn't want to kill the overgrown kitty, he just wanted her to stop trying to stop him from saving one of her babies.

His bracelet came back to him and wrapped around his wrist once more as he made his way to the nest of mewling kittens. Two of the adolescent sphinxes were shouting and even trying to take swipes at him from the edge of their nest, but Giannis ignored them in favour of the third. The little girl was probably going to die if he left her here. She had cuts and scrapes all over her body, signs of her brothers' abuse and her impending death.

"Dobby." The house elf appeared. "Make sure the other two don't hurt me."

His friend snapped his fingers, and Giannis carefully approached the nest. He picked up the baby sphinx he'd wanted, and she whined in pain as he did so. She was starving. Giannis sniffled, thinking about how awful he knew that feeling of hunger was and suddenly overcome with emotion. He pulled the baby in tight, and nuzzled his cheek against hers.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "I'm gonna take care of you from now on."

The tiny sphinx was curled up in a ball in his arms, her claws digging into the flesh of his arm and belly. She was trembling in fear so he didn't mind her hurting him. A lot of creatures were scared when they first met people according to Hagrid, and this little baby definitely was.

"Dobby," Giannis said. The elf took them home before he could even ask. "Thank you."

Giannis gently sat down on his bed, and after a few minutes, he breathed a sigh of relief as the sphinx pulled her claws out of his skin. He needed some way to protect himself from accidentally-hurtful creatures like her. When she realised he wasn't going to stop her, she leapt away and onto the foot of his bed, turning around in circles and hissing at everything as she tried to get used to her new home.

"It's okay," Giannis said. "It's okay, kitty."

The sphinx continued to hiss and spit as she marched around his bed. What had the book called this? Dominant behaviour? It had said that once a sphinx killed its sibling or siblings in the nest, it would start marking everything like they were in charge rather than their parent. Their lives would either end or continue depending on how prideful the momma sphinx was.

Argus sat in the corner of the room, warily watching their new friend. The grim was always suspicious of everything he brought home or that wandered in, but eventually he'd learned to quit picking fights with them. It had been especially bad with Tina, though the dragon had seemed more amused than anything at the puppy barking and snarling at her toes.

"There you go," he said gently. "This is your home now."

Eventually his newest friend settled down. She laid down on the sheets, glaring at everything until her eyes slowly closed over. After a while she began to snore, so Giannis hopped off the bed and stepped out of the room to give her some space.

"Dobby," he said to the elf who'd followed him out and quietly closed the door behind them. "Where's Hydrus?"

"Master Hydrus is being with Lady Bella," Dobby loudly 'whispered'. "They is in they's room."

He ran over. As much as he wanted to be like Hagrid, whose skin wouldn't break just because a baby sphinx was scared, he was still just a human. Still had blood seeping through his clothes. He galloped up stairs to Bella and Hydrus's bedroom and pushed open the door.

"Hydrus!" he shouted, clambering up onto their bed and showing off his arm. "I need you to heal me!"

Bella gasped, but didn't say anything as Hydrus glared down at the small wounds. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't me," Giannis grumbled. "It was my new friend. She was scared."

That's why he didn't hold it against the baby sphinx. Sure she was mad too probably, but he knew where that came from. She didn't know what was going on and thought he was going to hurt her. The puncture wounds on his arm and stomach were just signs of how scared she was. People did bad things when they were scared, and thought someone was going to hurt him. Hurt them, he corrected.

"What did—" Hydrus cut himself off with a scoff. "Whatever. I'll just ask Dobby. Come here."

Hydrus took his arm and healed the wounds, casting a few more spells after as well. Giannis showed him his tummy and those marks got wiped away all the same. Another minute passed before his best friend gave the okay.

"Thank you!" he said, remembering the manners Mrs Weasley had taught him for once. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Just be careful, kiddo," Hydrus muttered as he stared at Giannis's arm. "I give you a lot of room, but if you get really hurt, I'll tell Dobby to quit letting you go wherever you want."

Giannis tensed up at that threat. Everything in his whole life would become a whole lot harder if he had to escape the house elf's notice before leaving. He swallowed and nodded.

"I know," he said. "I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, just like I know whatever the hell you've got cooped up in your bedroom didn't mean to hurt you." Hydrus shook his head and grabbed onto Bella, who smiled at the grabbing for some reason. How come he could grab people, but Giannis got in trouble for it? "Just be careful, Giannis. Your mom and I both love you, and we don't want you to hurt."

"I don't mind getting hurt," he mumbled. "I just wanted a kitty."

Hydrus tensed, then let go of Bella. His best friend suddenly leaned down from the bed, and Giannis leaned back. "A kitty?"

"Y-, yeah?" he said. "Her brothers were going to kill her. She's a sphinx."

That only seemed to make things worse. Hydrus's nostrils flared, Bella obviously noticed it, and she gripped onto Giannis's best friend even tighter. For a moment he worried they were going to tell him to get rid of her.

"Giannis," Hydrus said, slowly and measured. "I just want you to know that sphinxes don't do well growing up on their own. Don't get too attached until she's an adult. Without her mom there to give her what she needs, something might happen to her that we can't stop, and I don't want you losing your mind over it."

Oh. His best friend was just worried that he'd get upset over something like that.

"I know," he said. "But she'll be fine. I just know it."

"Dear, we worry about you," Bella said. She leaned over and caressed his cheek which made him smile. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will!" he said, pulling back with a huff. "I'm always careful."

"Okay, dear," Bella said with a sigh. "Do you want to stay?"

"No!" he turned away before she grabbed him up like a praying mantis yet again. "I'm gonna go play with the kitty!"

Hydrus snorted as Giannis slammed the door in his wake. His son had clearly gotten scared of his mum when she asked him to join them in imprisonment, and he didn't blame the boy for making a quick escape. He laid back down in the bed and sighed up at the ceiling.

Of course the kid went and found a sphinx. Hydrus still wasn't sure what all Fate deemed important enough to maintain between the timelines but he remembered that Giannis, or Leorex as he styled himself in the other life, had finally gone dark when his parents killed the sphinx he'd found and took in. Hopefully nothing would happen to the kitten in this one. A part of him wanted to tell the boy to get rid of it now, but that was just about the stupidest thing he could imagine doing. It was like a prophecy.

The harder you fought to stop it, the more likely it was that you'd end up causing the damned problem in the first place.

Or second place, as the case may be.

"Can I please go now?" Hydrus asked. "This is ridiculous."

"No." Bellatrix practically slammed up against him as she joined him in lying down. Her arms wrapped up around him like Devil's Snare. "Mine."

Hydrus sighed but didn't fight it. "Yours."

He tried not to feel too insecure about the fact that his Polyjuice had run out while he was sleeping, and Bella was gripping onto the man who'd killed everyone he ever loved. Every one besides the ones he himself had killed, anyways.

Tonks watched with amazement as the Black Sheep ducked under another curse and straightened up in time to launch one back that sent her former classmate flying. She was one of a dozen aurors sitting and leaning against a wall, all having been dropped already and too tired to join back in the fight. It had all started with her former 'colleague' showing up to bug their boss, but when Captain Bones ordered him to train with Tonks, everything changed. He'd taken her to the practice room and almost everyone who'd entered since was trying to take a shot at him. They were all getting absolutely trounced.

The Black Sheep was a monster. Her uncle moved across the training room like each footstep was his last, and they sent waves of back pedalling aurors in their wake. None of the rookies were strong enough to stand in his way, and it was becoming more and more obvious why he'd never gotten so much as a scar in his time on the force.

That guy who got cursed earlier sat down beside her, and Tonks spared a glance his way as he pressed his hand against the pustules on his neck. She waited for him to decurse the disgusting things. He didn't.

"What are you doing?" she snapped. "Decurse that."

"Can't," he mumbled as he continued to press against the boils. "Don't know how."

Tonks scoffed and drew her wand. She was exhausted from the fact that she'd been the first to train against the Black Sheep, but she could still manage a simple thing like that. As soon as the glistening pimples faded away, her coworker sighed in relief.

"Thanks," he said. "Something else, ain't he?"

Tonks snorted. "Of course he is. He's the Black Sheep"

She straightened her robes, making sure her Slytherin crest stood out. It was a pain in the arse to have to wear it, but it was still better than claiming to be a Black. The boy she'd decursed had a crest with an ugly tiger, its mouth around a sapphire, and he nodded at her words.

"Yeah…" He stood back up, shocking Tonks. "I'm going in again."

To her surprise the man returned to fighting, like he hadn't just been taken out of it all. She scoffed at the audacity, but a part of her had to admit she admired it. If it weren't for the fact that she'd blown her load in the first few minutes of the confrontation, she'd have joined him. It was tweaking her nose something fierce that she couldn't.

After another two minutes or so, new people stopped wandering up to Sirius in an attempt to put a stop to the devastation. The older aurors had all cleared out as soon as the mock battle began, none of them entered after, and that meant there was just a load of early-twenty-somethings sitting or laying around the Black Sheep in a makeshift audience. The rest of them, like the tiger boy, had kept going for a while longer, but it didn't take him long to clean them up too.

He swept his gaze over his carnage, and to Tonks's surprise, he looked disappointed.

"Don't stop here," her uncle said, voice loud despite how it seemed like he'd muttered. "Keep getting better."

He nodded at Tonks, then began stepping over his 'victims' as he made his exit. She stood to follow. A part of her wanted to stay here, maybe check on the now unconscious, kind-of-cute idiot who didn't know how to decurse himself, but she was much more interested in making sure this wasn't the last time her uncle trained with her. Despite the assurance he'd given to Hydrus that night a while back, this was the first time he actually followed through on sparring with her.

When she caught up to him, it was impossible not to grin. Despite the posturing earlier, he was groaning and rubbing at the small of his back.

"Not as tough as I thought," she chirped, earning a glare as he immediately stopped massaging himself. "You getting old?"

"I am old," Sirius muttered, turning back to the direction they were going. "That's why I came here, but your boss is being a pain."

"You might not be an auror anymore," Tonks said as they got to Captain Bones's office. "But she's still your boss too."

"You're not wrong," he scoffed and chuckled. "I'm glad you're finally loosening up around me, Tonks. I told your mum it'd happen eventually."

Before she could argue with him over that, Sirius rapped his knuckles against the door. Tonks locked up when he didn't even bother to wait before opening the door, but she filed in after him nonetheless. Captain Bones looked up at them over the rims of her reading glasses with a frown.

"Done already?" she asked. "I thought the others would've joined in."

"They did," Sirius said as he plopped into one of the chairs in front of her desk as Tonks closed the door, standing behind him. "I whooped them too. These newbies are a bunch of wimps." He leaned back in his chair to stare at Tonks, upside down. "That includes you, dear niece."

"Shut up," Tonks grumbled, glaring at him. "You haven't come through and trained me before, like you promised, so whose fault is that?"

He winced and straightened back up. "You should've come see me instead."

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything back. Something told her that the man could probably spin an argument around for hours if you let him.

"Sirius, just because you finished already doesn't mean I'm not still busy," Captain Bones said. "I already told you, we can take care of it tonight when I get home."

"I only have until my cousin falls asleep tonight before I might be gone for a while," he said. Tonks frowned at his sudden change in tone. "I want this sorted before then."

Tonks was dying to know what 'this' was, but she didn't want to draw any attention to the fact that she was in the room still. Technically she didn't have any reason to be here, she was just being nosy. It was a bad habit that she'd picked up from her mother.

"It doesn't take long to update a will, Sirius," Bones said with a sigh, looking back down at the papers on her desk.

"I don't need it updated," he said. "I need it written."

Tonks mouth fell open and her eyebrows probably grew an inch, both in height and in length. Her captain's expression mirrored hers, minus the hair changes.

"What?" Bones snapped. "What do you mean you need it written? You're required by law to have a will on file to even graduate from the academy."

Sirius shrugged. "Never did it. No one said anything."

"You—" Bones looked like she was going to have a stroke; she even took off her glasses to rub her forehead. "Sirius, are you telling me that for over a decade and a half you have been risking your life on a near daily basis in all manners of raids, arrests, and covert operations, all without a will?"

"Yeah?" He shrugged again. "I knew Remus and James would make sure all my shit got to the people who'd want it."

"You thought one…" Captain Bones put on a face that almost made Tonks laugh out loud. "Mildly important house lord, and a werewolf, would be able to fight the legal war that it would take to stop everything you owned from going back to the Blacks?"

"No!" he snapped. "I did know that my best friends would just steal it all and get it to where it needed to be anyways."

Now Tonks did laugh. "You're an idiot."

"Yes, he's well aware," Bones said with a sigh, shaking her head. "Tonks." She winced, it was time for her to get kicked out. "Go get Potter."

"Yes, ma'am."

She rushed out to get it done. If James made a big enough scene, which he almost definitely would, then she could probably stay behind again to keep watching the show. It was nice seeing her normally stern, border-line stoic captain get so flustered by her boyfriend.

The two made a cute couple.

Before long she'd grabbed the senior auror from his office, telling him that Captain Bones wanted to see him. He gave a muttered complaint about how she was probably going to yell at him for not having already made some arrest he was going to be doing tomorrow, but Tonks kept quiet. She just wanted to get back to watching her work-mom and real-life uncle act like teens again. Her mother really was a bad influence, she decided as they made their way back to the captain's office.

"By the way." James came to a stop just before the door, nearly making Tonks snap at him for delaying things further. "I already know the answer, but I wanna hear you say it before I use it against him: Did you know Hydrus has been bullying a eleven year-old girl on your behalf?"

Tonks blinked. "What?"

"Regina Lestrange." She froze up. "He's got all of Hogwarts, the ones that listen to him anyways, treating her like she doesn't exist."

"That little—" Tonks grit her teeth to stop herself from saying something that might offend the man on the other side of the door. "Jerk. No, I had no idea. I'll—"

James held up his hand. "Don't worry about it, I tattled on him to Dumbledore, and the 'old' man promised to set things straight."

Before she could tell James she was still going to yell at Hydrus, he'd rapped his knuckles on the door. Just like with the Black Sheep earlier, he didn't wait for permission before trying the doorknob. It didn't open.

"What the…"

Tonks rolled her eyes. "The Black Sheep is visiting."

"That explains it." The senior auror got a strange glint in his eye, and Tonks decided very quickly she didn't like it. "A hostage situation, huh?"

"N-, No!" she snapped. "Stop—!"

But it was too late. James had reared up on one leg, and the other shot out to kick the door down. It hit nothing as the door swung open just in time for his foot glide through and just barely graze up against the Black Sheep's sternum. Her uncle looked down at the foot, which was now pressing against him to prop up a wobbly-legged James, and then up at his best friend.

"A pleasure to meet you," he said, grabbing the ankle and stepping back to have enough room to shake the limb like he would a hand. "Sirius Black."

"James Potter," the other man said, immediately joining in on the sudden roleplay. "A firm footshake you got there. I like the cut of your jib, kid."

Both men laughed as Sirius released James. Tonks rolled her eyes and sidled into the room as they hugged, back to the corner she'd been watching from before. Captain Bones had her glasses back on and was completely ignoring the two of them as they took the seats in front of her.

"Potter," she said. "Your idiot doesn't have a will. Help him write one."

"Oh I see how it is," James said, suddenly sounding put out. "He's my idiot when he's annoying you, huh?"

"Exactly right." Bones still wasn't looking up from her work. "I know you pretend otherwise, but I'm sure you have enough legal experience to help him."

"Hey, wait," James said, seeming to lose his usual mischievous tone. "He asked you for help, didn't he? Are you just using me as a 'I-don't-want-to-deal-with-the-Blacks' employee?"

"I'd use the term 'servant' if we weren't in the workplace." Tonks bit back a smile as the captain turned over a page. "Now get out."

The two men both stood, gave ridiculously over the top salutes, came to a full parade stand-still, then did about faces before marching out in time with one another. Tonks watched them go, still trying to hold back her laughter.

"Did you need something?" Tonks jumped. She'd forgotten to make her own exit. "Or were you just here for the show?"

Her mouth worked up and down for a moment, but eventually she gave in to the truth. "Just here for the show. I'll get back to work."

The sigh that the captain gave to her back as she left was hopefully the only reprimand she'd get.

Hydrus sat down his glass of wine and tried to ignore the way Bella was still staring at him. He tried, and he failed.

"Bella," he said. "I really need you to quit staring."

"I can't help it," she purred, reaching up and running her fingers through his hair. "I love you."

They were still in bed. He was reading a book since every time he tried to get up she went mad, and as much as he loved her, it was rather boring doing nothing but cuddling after the first six or seven hours.

"I want the Polyjuice," he repeated for the thousandth time. This time he added, "It's upsetting me how taken you seem with the man you used to worship, the man wh—"

He didn't even get to finish as Bella shot up, looking aghast. "You… No, no, I just—" She pulled her hand to her mouth, but stopped before sticking the nail in her mouth to bite it.

His love was back to madness, and she took turns glaring at the thumb, then back to him, then back at the thumb, then back to him. After a while of that she rolled her eyes and put her hand down.

"Stay here, or else," she said, still completely in the embrace of the family's curse. "I'll be right back."

To his surprise, she went into the closet instead of leaving the room, and slammed the door in her wake. He cocked his head to the side. What the hell was she doing in there?

After a few minutes she exited, seemingly sane, but with her chin turned up like she was preparing for an argument. "Where is it?"

"Are you going to destroy it?" he asked, testing. "I know you don't like me looking like my father but—"

"No!" she said with a huff. "Just tell me where it is."

He eyed Bella suspiciously, but it was hard to say no to her these days. He nodded to the robes hanging on a rack by their door. "The trunk's in my robe pockets. Please be careful with it."

It would be a very Bella thing to do to 'accidentally' spill it all. He'd already set Snape to task, with the permission of Dumbledore himself, to brew another pot, but that would take a while. If he lost his remaining supply of the stuff he'd either have to hope some other idiot got caught making it, or that he had enough street contacts to find one smart enough to not get caught. Maybe a brothel owner or—

"Here." Bella handed him a vial with a short hair floating in it. "Drink."

He frowned but took it, beginning to shake it. "It takes time to steep."

Bella began to pace back and forth, finally biting her nail. He'd told her not to do that, but he was too suspicious to chastise her right now. What sort of hair was this?

The obvious answer was right in front of him, but he tried not to think of the woman having cut and kept his hair in some weird shrine hidden in their closet somewhere.

"Alright," he said. "Bottoms up."

He drank the relatively tame-tasting potion in one swallow. It didn't taste good by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to a lot of others it was fine. Even Skele-Gro was worse than this. He watched as his arm, the thing that he'd been longing for ever since he re-lost it, reappeared. The hand that formed there was familiar.

Eerily familiar.

He sat up in bed to look at his reflection in the mirror on Bella's makeup stand. A perfect replica of himself, his real self, stared back. His mouth fell open in time with his twin.

Fuck he was old.

"See?" Bella said, sitting down beside him and pressing her face against his as she joined him in looking at the mirror. "It's perfect. Now I can stare at you even more."

"How did you…" He thought of how much time he must've spent unconscious after the incident with the goblins, back before he'd reinforced his third bargain and it had temporarily lost its benefit. "Seriously?"

"You can't be mad," she said, pouting. "Look at how handsome you are. You can't be mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm—" Hydrus cut himself off and shook his head. "Never mind. Just… Just please tell me there's not a shrine."

Bella wrinkled her nose. "Of course not."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"You'd notice a shrine," she continued. "We look so good together."

Hydrus stared at their reflections as Bella settled down properly beside him. He thought they looked like a rich man who'd managed to seduce a younger woman into bedding him for spending money. Fuck he was old. How many years was he missing? How many soldiers did he see as his own children for there to be that many missing memories?

"I look like I could be your father," he said darkly. "Not literally, me and Cygnus look nothing alike, but—"

"You're perfect." Bella pulled him into a tight hug, and he had to admit it helped put him at ease. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Eight dead and dying rats on the wall," Sirius 'sung' quietly. "Eight dead and dying raaats."

He'd gotten the will business sorted with James, the man had promised to write and sign it all for him after he'd told him everything he wanted. His bike went to Bill, unless Hydrus wanted it. His condo in London went to Tonks, unless Hydrus wanted it. All the rest of the property he'd inherited from Arcturus was staying in the family, aside from, generically speaking, 'any square of land big enough for Amelia Bones to build a large enough statue to commemorate her love for her deceased boyfriend'. James had said he'd find out what properties the family had and make sure to pick out a good one for her.

Unless Hydrus wanted it.

Just about the only thing that didn't have that 'unless Hydrus wanted it' disclaimer was the engagement ring that would go back to Amelia. He'd had a jeweller, one Bella had introduced him to a while back, add a layer of gold to the sides of the band. The courage to ask her to marry him again hadn't had the decency to show up yet.

Some Gryffindor he was.

And still, deep down, he knew he wouldn't really care if Hydrus took that too. Sirius just knew his boy never would. And Amelia would appreciate that it was the only thing he hadn't given a… What had James called it? A beneficiary's right of first refusal? Something like that. She'd appreciate it was the only thing that didn't say 'Unless Hydrus wanted it.'

It felt strange, thinking about his will like this. Amelia had been right, he was told to have a will before graduation, but he'd blown it off. Another sign of his immature, rebellious nature. It was also a small part of the bulwark that had held fears of the danger he constantly found himself in. It had given him the knowledge that, even if he died, there would be chaos for it. His brothers, his fellow Marauders, would 'avenge' his absence from the world in their bids to steal back everything his awful family snatched up. The sort of mayhem it would cause had eased his thoughts regarding his potential early departure.

But now he had to make sure everything was in order. His son didn't need that sort of headache.

And that's why, with the business easily being taken care of by his best friend, he had time to spare in Cygnus's office. His uncle was glaring down at the parchment he was reading, trying and failing to keep his attention steady. Sirius took a breath. He'd given the man enough hope that he was finally done with his tune.

"Seven dead and dying rats on the wall!" He practically roared. "Seven dead and—"

"Would you shut up!" Sirius grinned as his uncle finally snapped. Literally. "You are a festering wound on my arse! You sing like a… Like a…"

Well, at least he had to give the man credit for trying. His uncle immediately began to crouch down in fear. His magic, a small pittance compared to his own, faded away as the madness left him and he quit flaring it. He'd never actually seen Cygnus go mad before, and it was rather interesting.

Sirius's own magic, and thus Hydrus's through being a copycat, was… Was the worst of them all. Bella's felt like a bunch of gross little bugs crawling all over you, trying to eat your cold, dead corpse. Sirius's parents' felt like the unlit corner of a butcher's hanging room for his father, and the feeling of an avalanche slowly suffocating you under its weight in his mother. Regulus's was a bit like him and Hydrus's, but it was more refined. It felt less like the blind nothingness of Death coming to take you, and more like the execution writ a prisoner would get on his last day on earth.

Sirius had no idea what Narcissa and Andromeda's were like. He had never taken their magic, never gotten the weirdly intimate understanding of their nature. He'd only nibbled on his uncle just now, taking the bits he was throwing away by flaring his magic in his insanity, but it had been enough to know what he already knew. The man really was a coward. His magic had felt like the feeling of abandonment in your final moments, being left to die alone.

"Uncle," he said. "Just make it happen."

He'd told the man to find, make, or fake the money to buy the company that had made Firebolts. Ever since Sirius saw how truly jubilant Hydrus had been on top of the broom, it hadn't been able to escape his memory. He'd even cast the Patronus charm off nothing more than the feeling he was now able to have at the thought. When he was actually living through it, it had been too terrifying to enjoy.

It was no wonder Hydrus had scoffed at Harry's own quidditch acumen; when he himself had been Harry he must've been suicidally talented.

"Lord Black," Cygnus said quietly, still almost cowering in fear over how he'd snapped at him. "Firebolts are being predicted to lead the industry for the next century. And not just by myself and other speculators. They know their worth, and they will—"

"Make it happen, Uncle." He clapped the man on the shoulder. "And don't tell Hydrus. It's a gift for him."

He'd missed his son's birthday, assuming he'd been born the same day as this timeline's Harry. But he was only a month or two late. He'd once given James a birthday present exactly after half a year late, just to be as 'forgetful' as possible.

"We. Can't. Afford it." The man said. "One of the few things on earth that costs more than a quidditch team, is the sort of company that quidditch teams pay out their arses to court. We already spend a thousand galleons a month on them because we own such a team." He shook his head. "It's privately owned, and we'd need to give them such a stupid amount of money that they'll know that it's enough to offset how much they, their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, could make all on their own. We're talking millions upon millions of galleons, and even that might just buy us the name. "

"Then—"

"Might I make a suggestion?" Sirius wrinkled his nose. He didn't mind being interrupted, but he hated when his uncle put on airs like this. Like he was some school teacher. "Instead of buying the best broom makers in the world, buy a competitor, and make them the best instead."

What was the point of being head of the richest family in the world if they still weren't rich enough to let him spoil his boy? "Fine. Buy Nimbus, then."

"Really?" Cygnus looked like Sirius just told him he could have a day off. "Even after what happened last month?"

Sirius furrowed his brows and the relief fell away from Cygnus as his uncle recognized the confusion. "What happened last month?"

"The owner got into a duel with the oldest son of Lord Flint," Cygnus said. "I say 'duel', it was more like a mudblood brawl. Word is he's already planning to sell. I don't think Lord Flint will mind if you wind up being the one to buy it." He shook his head. "He was going to buy it himself and scrap the whole workshop. Just go to some party he throws after we buy it and it'll be water under the bridge."

"You're being very helpful all of a sudden," Sirius said suspiciously. "What's changed your mind?"

Cygnus closed his eyes, and the Black Sheep suspected they were rolling behind the lids. "I didn't change my mind, you changed yours. I said we can't afford to buy out the Firebolt company, not that you can't buy a broom maker at all."

"Oh. Right." He looked away. "That compromise junk you told me about."

His uncle snorted. "I shall see it handled, Lord Black. Was there anything else you needed?"

'Other than an excuse to not just sit in front of Hydrus's door, waiting for your deranged daughter to fall asleep so he can escape?' he thought. "No. Thanks for taking care of it, Uncle."

Sirius ignored the look of surprise, then the self-satisfied smile, the man wore as he turned to leave. How rotten had Arcturus treated him for a small thank you like that to leave him so pleased? He should probably be a little nicer to the bastard in the future, as much as the thought disgusted him. No, he decided. He wouldn't be nicer to him. It wasn't like Orion and Arcturus had been the only ones who took literal shots at him in the name of 'training'.

Still, Cygnus had a weak wand. His curses and hexes and jinxes hadn't hurt quite as bad.

Sirius snorted. Plus, that was technically going to be his… Brother-in-law? Someday? Merlin, pseudo-incestual relationships via adoption and marriage were weird. Less weird than when Bella had actually been Hydrus's blood-relative, but still.

That gave him an idea. He should, perhaps with a warning to his uncle to not take it seriously if his sudden wellspring of concern for him kept up, demand a dowry from his cousin. Arcturus had demanded one of his other grandfather when Walburga married Orion, despite the two men being cousins. The poor bastard had given up everything he'd inherited from his father to make sure the marriage went through, thus achieving Arcturus's true goal of reconsolidating a lot of the family's holdings. Sirius wondered what all he could scam out of his cousin…

A part of him, that newest part that had been born when he discovered his son's identity, told him he shouldn't antagonise his future daughter-in-law. He shut that part down immediately. Hydrus would find it funny, in a year or too, and that meant it was still above board.

And even if the kid didn't like it, too bad.

Sirius still needed to have his own fun sometimes.

"Hey."

"Hey."

He blinked and stopped to turn and look at Remus. When had the werewolf gotten here?

"You alright?" his friend asked, giving a tight-lipped frown. "You were pacing."

"I'm great." And he was. "I learned my son's real name today. Or yesterday, I suppose. It put a lot of things into perspective for me."

"Really is one of your moods…" Remus muttered, almost too quiet for Sirius to hear.

"What?" he asked, now frowning too. "What do you mean 'one of my moods'?"

He'd thought he had been in a good mood.

"It's been a while," Remus said, turning around with surety Sirius would follow him. He almost didn't, just out of spite. "But back when we were younger you would get…" The werewolf reached around in the air like he was trying to find the words. "Whatever. You would get real, real mopey."

Sirius scoffed. "I'm not mopey."

"Not now you're not, though you have been lately." Remus sat down on one of the couches and used his wand to light the fireplace. "And, just like when you were a teen, you're bouncing back too hard. It's what got Marcus Nightingale's parrot killed."

Sirius definitely wasn't in a good mood now. "You know damn well none of us had anything to do with that. It—"

"It was payback for you going on that mad pranking spree," Remus said. "The rat took the fall so we wouldn't all get lumped in detention." His nose wrinkled into half a snarl. "Only decent thing he ever did."

"Where is the rat, by the way?" Sirius asked. "I know Hydrus has him locked up somewhere."

Remus glared at him. "You're not going to kill him, Sirius."

"He—"

"I know." The werewolf reached out and grabbed his shoulder, something that forced Sirius to lower his hackles. "I know everything about your son. And despite what you now know, however much that is, Hydrus still decided to spare his life."

Sirius pouted, and for once he didn't care if someone recognised it as such. "Whatever. What's the big deal if I'm happy for once?"

"The big deal is that you get stupid when you're this hyped up," Remus said, finally letting go of his shoulder but still facing him. "Add on the fact that you suddenly have James writing up your will, and he got nervous." The werewolf snorted. "Not that he would ever phrase it that way."

Sirius's pout faded as he chuckled. That chuckle turned into a full on cackle as he couldn't stop the madness from getting out; it'd been cooped up for too long and that was just too funny a thought.

"Remus," Sirius said. "Even if I don't have that shit-head Death on my side anymore, the last thing you need to worry about is me dying." He bared so many of his teeth in a smile that it actually hurt his face. "I'm not dying, and abandoning my boy, ever again."

He paused.

"Well, not until I'm too old to drink or get it up anymore." He scoffed at the thought and settled back down. "Kid'll understand at that point."

Hydrus stared hard at the ceiling. He couldn't believe this. It was insane. It was unfair. It was a sign of an archaic society with trudging, heel-dragging footprints in its wake. It was—

"I can still play with it, if you'd like," Bella said. "I can—"

"Don't bother," he grumbled. "Just let it go away on its own."

Honestly. 'Wait till marriage'. He had married people himself on dozens of occasions, he could marry himself to Bella right now. It was just a load of nonsense. It was insane. It was unfair. It was…

Arcturus Black leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His stomach was quite literally filled to near-bursting. Now it was time to rest. He had to digest all that he'd devoured, letting it become a part of himself, let it become the next step up the stairway to ascension.

When he'd first dined on the treacherous bastard's flesh, it had left him feeling like he had a jolt of electricity running through every inch of his body. Now it took two-servings of each limb to even give him a twinge of progress. The bestial part of his nature, the part his madness revelled in, told him he should go hunt down Dumbledore or the ingrate. Perhaps then he'd at least get a new flavour of strength to go along with the rest.

But wisdom ruled true. His madness was a hunting beast to be let loose at his pleasure, not something to pull him by the leash. That disgusting bit of fear he'd felt at the sight of Gregory Herschel was still too strong in his mind. Still too potent. He had to prepare himself further, in case of any other unexpected events.

He had been the General of the First Infantry for a reason, and unlike most who held such titles, he hadn't bought or tricked his way into it. Now that he'd stop letting the madness have its way with him to get it back into shape, he was going to carry out his plans for revenge and then domination with propriety and strategy.

The caveman still hadn't come winging about how he should make a move, so the interloper pretending to be the Black family's heir probably still had more magic than him. Every day he waited, he risked the shit figuring out a way to stop him from stealing away his power. But that was a risk that was mitigated by massaging his pride, and continuing to grow stronger. The time traveller might be strong, in the estimation of the two so-called gods, but the rate at which Arcturs was growing more powerful was incomprehensible.

He glanced out the window, and with a twitch of his fingers, the world turned to night. Nearly a mile away he could still see daylight pouring down, but that was fine. Just a few weeks ago it had only been half-a-mile away that the light broke through his darkness.

His strength, as it would continue to do, was growing.

Hydrus was almost tempted to stay. Bella was sleeping at last, and despite his earlier frustrations, it wasn't like he'd been mad at her. He was just mad at the world itself for not letting him take care of certain matters to satisfaction. Her hair split into silky tresses each time his fingers combed through it, her breaths came in half-audible shivers that made him happy for no particular reason, and it was hard to resist the impulse to just settle in with her and go to sleep.

'There's business to be done,' Dumbledore's voice spoke to him.

"I know," Hydrus more mouthed than said. "Sweet dreams, my love."

He placed a chaste kiss on the side of her head, then apparated to standing at the foot of the bed so he didn't have to try and untangle himself from the cocoon of blankets and limbs she'd wrapped him in. Kreacher silently changed him out of the pyjamas he'd woken up in that morning into proper robes for work like his. He stepped out of their bedroom with one last longing look to his love, then began making his way to the kitchen.

No sense working on an empty stomach.

When he got there, his spine froze over. Sirius was sitting on a barstool at the counter, reading some runes book for children. He glanced up as soon as Hydrus's silhouette appeared in the doorway..

"There you are," his father said. "I had Kreacher make you something earlier that you can reheat, so we wouldn't have to waste any more time."

"You lied to me," Hydrus said, voice hard. At least he was getting this confrontation out of the way early. "You told me—"

"I promise it wasn't a lie. At the time." Sirius stood up and sat his book down, not bothering to mark his page. "You just made me change my mind. I tend to do that."

"No, you don't," Hydrus snapped. "Just fuck o—"

"It's alright, kiddo," Sirius said, making him wince at how familiar and familial it sounded. "Just get some food down, then we'll get back to work. No more interruptions.

'That's it?' Hydrus thought, practically saying it with his glare.

"Go on." Sirius gestured to the fridge. "Unless you just wanna get down to it."

"Last time—"

"Won't happen again." His father bowed his head slightly. "I promise. I'm here for you, Hydrus."

He ground his jaw back and forth for a few seconds. "At least you're calling me Hydrus. Remus, Dumbledore, Dobby; they all tried calling me by my old name first."

A wave of his hand opened the fridge as he began grabbing all the various foodstuffs. Kreacher definitely understood the size of his immortal appetite.

"You say you're Hydrus, you're Hydrus," Sirius said. "Believe me, I would've much preferred to go by 'Sirius Potter'."

Hydrus didn't say anything else as he got to work reheating the veritable feast Kreacher had stowed away in the fridge for him. It wasn't slow to reheat thanks to magic, not at all like sneaking down to the Dursley's kitchen in the middle of the night to tuck in on a microwaved bit of steak and egg from that morning's breakfast. He'd gotten caught the first time he did it, and nearly gotten his ears boxed in by his uncle over it. Luckily he'd been clever enough to come up with the line:

'You know Dudley won't want leftovers tomorrow,' he'd said. 'And I don't want to see the food you paid for go to waste.'

That had been a stupidly short time in his life. Old enough to know how to say the right things, too young to have enough disdain for authority not to say it.

He stabbed his fork down when Sirius's hand reached for a chip off his plate, but the man had the reflexes to not get punctured.

"Little shit," his father grumbled. "Like a damned dragon."

Hydrus nearly stopped eating for a moment. Sirius had said that to him before, though not this Sirius. Back then it had been a drunken whine as Hydrus polished off the rest of the bottle the man had been found cradled around. He kept on feasting despite the momentary lapse down memory lane, not wanting to show any sort of weakness in front of Sirius.

"By the way, just so you don't find out later and get huffy," Sirius said. "I was the one who told Bella to keep you occupied all day. I had some shit to take care of and didn't want you leaving without me."

Hydrus stopped, fork just about to enter his mouth, feeling like he'd just gotten spritzed in the face by a clown's flower. "And she listened to you?"

"I basically told a dog to enjoy a bone," Sirius said with a chuckle. "She was very happy to help."

"Don't call your cousin a bitch," Hydrus muttered, having picked up on the 'subtle' insult. "This family's finally starting to get along."

"Come on," Sirius scoffed. "I'm the last person who'd treat 'dog' like an insult."

Hydrus snorted, and ignored the smile he saw just on top of his peripheral vision. He knew what his father was doing, trying to ingratiate himself to him through every means Remus could've possibly coached him through. He'd probably gone loony last night, shortly after going mad, and been in one of his moods ever since. Going back on the murder-trail would probably devour that joy.

"I mean it, Sirius. Don't come." Hydrus was slowly mopping up the last of his gravy as he delayed things just a touch. "I get it. You still love me. You're still my father." Still the one grave he hadn't been able to fill. "You don't need to prove it."

"It's not about that." Hydrus refused to meet his father's eyes as he stared at his now empty plate. "It's just about being there. About spending time with you. About showing that… That now I can be there."

Hydrus snorted. "You want to have father-son bonding time over religious genocide?"

"Actually sounds a lot cooler when you phrase it that way."

Hydrus finally allowed himself a full laugh, then sent a silent command to Kreacher to have the plates washed as he began popping his joints and knuckles. He was getting ready to apparate.

"Fine. Keep up."