Chapter 35: Pater Nostrum

Dana put down the six brooms they'd found back in the garage – all high quality, but also rather old and left to gather dust except for a Tinderblast in excellent condition. Good enough to fly, but not to do stunts with.

She, Almaric and Procyon had come up with the idea for the afternoon – Hyades, Nashira and Orion had joined them: they'd spent the last hour elaborating a weird version of "Keeper Loser" above the tree line with a quaffle-like ball conjured by Lamia, shooting at each other as fast as they could without letting the ball fall below the treetops and adding highly specific rules each time someone lost the ball.

It had been some good fun, except Dana couldn't help but feel the rules had gotten slightly out of hand from the moment she'd decreed the non-keepers could only fly backwards – unsurprisingly, the others had outbidden her without remorse from then on, and maybe Dana had gone slightly too far and this was the price of her hubris, but she wouldn't admit it out loud.

Besides, the conjured ball had been getting wobbly in the last five minutes of the game, only to vanish in Procyon's hands barely a minute after they'd called it quits. Lamia probably hadn't seen the point of making something more durable – and thus, more complex and energy-consuming.

All the others, now, sat at the music kiosk, and thus Dana went to join them and let herself fall into a chair by the older kids' side. Harfang nodded at her, but his gaze drifted to the triplets – something had happened while they'd been in Oulwike, and Dana wasn't yet at ease asking for details – with a frown and he didn't say anything.

Marianne was busy distributing glasses of lemonade, while Lamia amused herself shooting gusts of air towards a grumbling Elizabeth, who thought it unfair that her older sister was the only one allowed to keep her wand just because she was already seventeen.

Personally, Dana didn't mind Sirius' ruling on the matter. Back home – it hurt a bit, thinking that there was no home to go back to – her mother would confiscate her wand after the first day back, which was usually spent demonstrating what she'd learned at school, anyway. It might come out on occasions, when Mamma wanted to do something special with Dana that required wands, or more recently when Dad helped her train her dueling reflexes – but mostly, she wasn't allowed a wand at home. Besides, Dad said finding muggle alternatives and perfecting some wandless spells was good for creativity and efficiency.

Knowing her father – and thus, to a point, knowing Sirius – Dana doubted the other children had had unrestricted access to their wands back in their own worlds. Sure, their own fathers might have been different from hers, but still.

She doubted they were all that different.

Maybe Elizabeth had been grumbling about Lamia's freedom even before they'd been brought here.

Dana took Marianne's offered drink and licked her lips, a thoughtful look on her face.

"...I'd try and talk about friends to break the ice, but unfortunately I think we've all left those behind."

Marianne blinked at her as she sat back, her lemonade round finished.

"I... I mean, yes, but what ice are you talking about? It's not like we're... uneasy... around others?"

Dana threw a dubious glance around.

"You're joking, right? I'm not saying we're being awkward or anything, but we do have a bit of a problem getting to know everyone. It's normal, I suppose, there's the feeling that we can only rely on the ones we do know already, and maybe you guys are being mutually supportive, I wouldn't know, my sister is three months old and doesn't really speak or understand what's happening yet. The thing is, though, that we're not really getting to know anyone else in the meantime."

Well, Dana might be exaggerating. She and Nashira spent a lot of time together, as they both shared a bedroom and had no one else to rely on – again, Fania was a baby – and there had been a couple of activities they'd done with either Sirius or Melania that had opened up potential discussions and shared interests with others, but even so: they were far from close, as a whole, and striking up a conversation wasn't the easiest thing to do when you looked at a stranger and saw a brother or sister you'd never met and who shouldn't exist.

"Shame, really. I don't have any of my friends, my boyfriend isn't even born yet, but I'm pretty sure siblings are supposed to be built-in friends. Also, we're numerous enough that we should find at least one person who shares some of our interests..."

Marianne still looked perplexed, but Lamia wasn't needling her younger sister anymore, leaning over the table instead with raised eyebrows that made her look amusedly curious, just like Dad now – and never again, but let's ignore that – that he'd started smiling again.

"...Oh? What are your interests, then, Dana? If you want to share, let's hear it from you first."

Dana almost balked at being put on the spot this way... only to admit to herself that leading by example was a thing.

She didn't know Lamia well enough – or at all, really – to say if the older girl had just tried to trick her by sending the ball back, or if this was simply a genuine question, but hey! In the end, someone else's ulterior motives only mattered if you failed to make the situation yours.

"Me? Quidditch, of course, I played on the team at school. I wonder if they need a beater, actually... Also, uh, does cooking breakfast count? Card games, and if anyone is interested, I've got my exploding snap deck with me. I like travelling, too, but for now I've mostly been to Italy with my mother's family. What else...? I'll read a book here and there, but I wouldn't call that a hobby, not all the way. Oh, right, the Great Annual Diricawl Broom Race is a must, too!"

One of the triplets – brown hair, Antares, the one who hadn't taken a broom this afternoon – moved back his chair, balancing on the back legs to turn around and look at Dana.

"...The what, now?"

Before Dana could answer, a bit put out that the kid didn't know what she was talking about – and yeah, she knew the diricawl races weren't quite as popular as, say, quidditch or moon dancing, but it was a bit disheartening nonetheless – Lamia laughed:

"Diricawls are birds that apparate away when they're in danger, kind of. Some lunatic decided this was neat and managed to train one to apparate on demand without a survival rush, and from there she made up three different ways to race against a diricawl: broomstick, freerunning and blueshelling. I'm partial to parkour myself, but the broom race's great too."

Dana nodded enthusiastically:

"Most events for diricawl races happen around the southern end of Africa, Madagascar and, of course, Mauritius, but we've got three-in-one with the Great Annual Races hosted by the Averys in their domain in county Armagh. I got Mamma to bring me during the holidays between second and third year, it was absolutely incredible!"

Antares still looked baffled by the idea.

"...But how does that work? How can you race against something that just... puffs out of existence?"

"Well, diricawls don't actually disappear, they just change location using magic, and that means you can follow a trail or anticipate their reapparation, but part of the race is guesswork, which is why..."

With Antares absolutely entranced and Lamia interjecting with her own connoisseur comments, Dana didn't realize how the minutes ticked by. Before she knew it, they'd started talking about Lamia's muggle defense lessons with her Aunt Amanda – married to Regulus despite all odds in their old world – and by the time Sirius wandered up the stone driveway, Marianne had pitched in on the matter of tending to the ancient yew trees and their resident fairies by her home with her father – the one who wasn't Sirius.

"When you say ancient, you mean...?"

Marianne shrugged:

"The older four are past a thousand years old. Dad and I were working on planting a new one during the next holidays, but..."

Antares blinked at that and opened his mouth to say more, but Sirius veered off the driveway then and stopped just outside the kiosk, resting his forearms on the railing and his chin on the back of his hands:

"Everything alright in Diagon Alley?"

A moment of pause, and Marianne corrected the wizard:

"We went to Oulwike, actually. Lamia found a haberdashery with the phonebook, the owner is married to a wizard so they accept galleons. It went alright. Melania and her sister ordered a bunch of things, but we can start working on our project in a couple of days with what we already have."

"Grandmother's sister? Which one?"

"Penelope."

"Oh, right, make sense. She was a seamstress, I think... So, no problems, uh?"

Harfang scoffed behind his lemonade, getting Sirius' attention.

"I mean, Almaric caught a would-be thief outside the shop, and the triplets didn't think to tell anyone, not even when the thief followed them all the way to the park after we ate at a restaurant. I had to eavesdrop and remind them of the existence of patrollers."

Dana blinked and glanced over at the triplets.

"...Was that what that was about? I saw you usher the three of them away for about a quarter, but Great-grandmother told me not to worry about it..."

Harfang shrugged dispassionately.

"Melgranny asked me to go and see what was going on, I guess she trusted me enough to let me deal with what followed. I did tell her what happened on the way back, though."

Sirius didn't react right away, his lips pursed and his eyes on the triplets too.

Then he shook his head and grimaced.

"...Shouldn't be surprised, really, but there has to be something I can do about that. I mean, and that's true for you older kids too, I'm not asking anyone to only rely on adults or law enforcement, but there are plenty of times it is a valid option. I'll try to, I don't know... have a talk with them?"

He didn't seem to know what that talk would entail exactly, and Marianne thought it might be a few days before Sirius went and spoke about the situation with the triplets – enough time for him to figure out something. Maybe she could try and get to know the three of them, in the meantime.

Sirius' focus jumped back on her.

"And, Marianne? What we talked about this morning..."

Oh.

"I... I told everyone at lunch. Great-grandmother seemed relieved, and almost everyone took it well. I guess they didn't really like thinking they might disappear one day?"

By her side, Lamia huffed slightly:

"That, uh? Yeah, I'll admit, Marianne was right to tell you and, Da... I mean, Sirius, you had the right idea that we should tell everyone concerned, but still. I'd have appreciated a head-up."

Marianne gave her cousin a contrite look, which Lamia waved away: she might have been taken by surprise, when the younger witch had gone and told everyone that there was a precedent for their common appearance, especially after the seven of them had decided specifically not to do that, but ultimately, Lamia was a big girl who could concede to having made the wrong choice.

It was better, in the end, for her half-siblings not to have to dwell on the fact that they might blink out of existence without warning.

She did have a few concerns, though.

"...You might want to go and comfort Varsha, though. She didn't look that happy about the prospect of not disappearing into thin air at some point, and I think Shivansh is a bit worried about her too."

The whole "no-don't-worry-Dad-isn't-a-murderer" bit they'd gone through two days ago probably hadn't helped the girl much, either.

Sirius didn't seem to know what to make of that – how could he? – but didn't deny Lamia, only frowning as his eyes slid towards the two kids of Indian descent. Neither looked particularly ill-at-ease right now, but the older sister did look a bit tired...

"...Right. Sure, I'll do that."

Then he turned towards Harfang and asked:

"Did you call your great-grandmother 'Melgranny'?"

The darker-skinned boy didn't seem bothered by the question, as Marianne, Dana, Antares and Lamia all turned to stare at him.

"Sure. I've called her that since I was seven years old, I'm not going to change it now. Besides, 'Great-grandmother Melania' is a mouthful."

Dana whistled.

"I can't believe I never thought of that! Shame on me, Harfang, and all the more power to you! I'm subscribing to your ways from now on."

The teenager eyed his newly-met – how long since this all started? only five days, but it seemed so much longer than that – sister with circumspection, obviously startled by her endorsement of his nickname for their common great-grandmother.

"...You do that."

Lamia burst out laughing and attracted all the younger children towards their table, as they spotted Sirius behind the kiosk's railing.

"What's happening?"

Lamia tilted her head, acknowledging Elizabeth's question.

"Harfang has a perfect nickname for our great-gran, that's all. 'Melgranny' sounds just about perfect. I do have to ask, though, what did you pick for Arcturus?"

Harfang's disturbed expression grew deeper as it slid onto the oldest teen and what she was implying about their great-grandfather.

"I'm not crazy, I call him sir or Arcturus."

Both Lamia and Dana's smiles grew dangerously, but Alastor shook his head and wandered over, putting his hands on his older sister's shoulders, calmly placating:

"Besides the self-destructive need to tickle a sleeping viper, can you actually imagine any non-derogative nickname for the Black patriarch, Lamia?"

That seemed to mollify the older girl, which in turn led to Dana just shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah, we're not trying to make enemies within the family for no reason, got it. Say, Sirius, what do you call him, then?"

"Grandfather. The Black dinosaurs when in tandem with Grandfather Pollux. Old-and-Mighty if I'm feeling sarcastic. Pater Nostrum if we're talking about the House of Black and being facetious, Lord Black if it's more serious."

Dana stared at him for a long time before she threw her hands up in the air:

"I can't compete! This is all I aspire to, but you've already claimed that throne and I'm left with nothing! I guess I can only ask to learn from my betters, now..."

Even Sirius looked at her bemusedly as she shook her head.

Then Dana sighed, eyed the crowd of teenagers, pre-teens and Juliet – it was naptime for Fania – and decided this was as good a moment as any to break the news of what the children had agreed on on the matter of how they were going to treat Sirius himself.

"Speaking of which. We all had a talk, two days ago, and mostly we felt that while you are Sirius Black, you aren't our father, both because you're too young and because you share none of the things we've lived through with you. With them, I mean. Or her, for Adhara, but you get it."

"And so...?"

"Well. We've come to the conclusion that while we do accept your administrative, and, shall I say, familial hold over us, we will probably be more at ease treating you like an older brother, not quite the same as any of us but still closer in age and life experience than a father."

Sirius passed a hand through his hair, frowning, but didn't refute any of her words.

"So... I'd be...?"

"Not Dad or Father, just Sirius, but we'd still... We'll try to still consider you in charge."

They all had different personalities, and, to be honest, Dana suspected many of those were strong personalities. Calling the young man in front of them "Dad" wouldn't change their reactions to being told what to do all that much – or at all.

They could, however, agree to follow his rule as they would a father's.

Not that Dana had had a lot of time with hers – only the holidays since the end of third year, so not that much – but she did know how to answer to her mother, which she figured wasn't that different.

Probably.

Her mother was neither a Black nor an auror trainee or a member of the Order of the Phoenix, so.

That did change a few things, surely.

"...That's okay, I guess. I can't say I feel like a dad, myself, anyway. You might want to think about where that lands you with my parents and brother, though. Just in case."

Lamia waved that away before Dana could even open her mouth.

"Uncle Reg, like those uncles who are so much younger than their siblings they feel more like cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa. If they don't like it, sucks for them, but I don't care."

That still left Sirius as the only authority in the room, which was probably for the best in this case.

The wizard smiled amusedly and finally nodded.

"That's fine by me. Where's... Ah, Nashira! My friend Lily will drop by tomorrow afternoon to see how much of what you know can be applied to wand magic, and in the following days another friend, Remus Lupin, will hold lessons with you to ensure you aren't at a disadvantage when the school year starts. Is that alright with you?"

The girl nodded guardedly. Her hand jewelry was back in her and Dana's room, she'd have to put it on after lunch tomorrow, then.

"...I know Remus."

Nashira didn't say more than that, didn't elaborate: there was so much she hadn't told the others, only Sirius and Dana even had an inkling, and it was barely the general ideas, almost none of the details. Explaining that after her father's return to the original world their family came from, hundreds of witches and wizards with some Black blood in their veins – it could be only a drop, ten generations ago or even more than that, and that meant almost every magical person in the United Kingdom and Ireland – had landed there too...

It would bring too many questions.

Sirius, of course, noticed – Dana did too, frowning at her in silence – but didn't comment.

For now.

Perhaps he never would. It was difficult to anticipate her father's ways, even for Nashira, and this version of him wasn't yet the man she'd come to know.

Instead, the wizard pushed himself off the kiosk's railing, stretched a bit, and took a step back into the grass.

"Alright, then. I'm letting you all to do whatever you were doing for the next hour or so, except, let's see... Ah, Varsha and Shivansh! Time to get to know you two a bit more, I still haven't had much of a chance to talk to you. Anywhere you'd rather be for this?"

Shivansh got on his feet hesitantly, looking for his sister's approval.

Varsha didn't react right away, biting on her lower lip – then she closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath and got up as if nothing was wrong.

Sirius wasn't certain what the problem was – it could be so many things, he didn't even know where to begin – but she did come with him, closely followed by Shivansh, so that was something...

"...Could we..."

As she got to the kiosk's stairs, Varsha threw a look behind her, apparently trying to get some more time to think about what she wanted to say – then she shook her head and hopped down the last couple of steps.

"Just, stay here? Maybe on one of the lawn circles?"

Sirius squinted at the manor's lengths of wild grass with round spots of lawn traced with black stones here and there, and shrugged.

"Out here? No problem, if you don't mind sitting in the grass."

Varsha didn't say anything, only headed towards the nearest lawn circle, so Shivansh did instead:

"It's okay. She does that all the time at home, anyway. And at school too, I guess, but I haven't seen her do it yet so I can't tell."

Shivansh, after all, wasn't yet a student at Hogwarts.

The three of them ended up on the ground, Sirius with his legs crossed and back slanted, his eyes on the blue sky with only hints of wispy white clouds, Varsha on her stomach, poking at random blades of grass, and Shivansh eying them carefully, his arms around his knees.

Sirius sighed.

"So. I've heard... I know what Marianne told you during lunch, and Lamia seemed to think you hadn't taken it well, Varsha?"