Granger Yet
Interruption

"You don't need to snap," she said. "But there's something I think you should know about Regulus."

"What now?" Sirius asked, not really wanting to know what else he'd learn, but he felt like he wanted to wake up from some strange nightmare, hearing the most bizarre things about his younger brother. He ran fingers through his hair again, this time with one hand while swallowing, struggling with the idea of Regulus stepping out of line.

And yet—

There was a part of him that recognized Regulus stepping out of line as making sense, that he'd already seen this in the way Regulus interacted with their mother. As if on cue, he heard Walburga screaming at the top of her lungs from downstairs, indicating someone else had entered Grimmauld place through the front door. The screams interrupted whatever Molly wanted to tell him, but he found himself exasperated at the infernal racket coming from the picture. "Seriously! What now!"

He brushed past Molly, not wanting to be rude, yet knowing his behavior probably came across that way. A part of him said shutting up that horrid picture by closing the curtain was actually the polite thing to do, given the screaming was interrupting the conversation he certainly didn't want to hear right now. He also wondered, in the back of his mind, who in their right mind would have painted it in the first place when—

"I CAN YELL VERY LOUDLY TOO!"

And then silence.

Sirius rounded the staircase, expecting to find someone closed the portrait, shutting his mother away from the world, only to see the portrait staring at a small girl standing in the front foyer, grinning ear to ear, obviously amused, which in turn made Sirius think she was the one who'd just yelled at his mother's portrait, catching the old hag in the picture off guard."

"Um…" There was another child, one who looked to be closer to Harry in age, her hair blond and her eyes blue. One hand let go of the case she was carrying, the other lowering it to the ground as she stared at the portrait, brushing a lock of her long, straight blond hair back as she looked at the picture, obviously caught off guard.

Continuing down the stairs, Sirius noticed Arthur Weasley standing there, grinning ear to ear, but Tonks was grinning ear to ear. Another wizard dressed in African robes stood there, an eyebrow cocked as he discerned the situation. Sirius shook his head, a strange feeling running down his spine as he looked back at the child who'd literally yelled at his mother's portrait, thinking there was something familiar about her, with her black hair and gray eyes.

"Black hair and gray eyes," Sirius sucked in his breath, trying to let that sink in.

"And who, prey tell, are you?" his mother's portrait said, for once yell.

Sirius tensed, surprised to see the portrait not yell for once as the little girl unabashedly said, "I'm a Jules."

"You're a what?" the portrait asked, completely taken aback by the answer.

"I'm a Jules."

"And what, pray do tell, is a Jules?" his mother asked as Sirius attempted biting back his amusement, not wanting the portrait to know he was there, wondering how such a small thing could cause such a reaction.

"Jules is going to be a Time Lord!" the child said without hesitation, still grinning ear to ear.

Sirius blinked, finding himself even more confused while hearing Remus mutter behind him softly, "A Time Lord."

"Jules, don't be ridiculous," the older girl said as Arthur and Tonks looked on in amusement, the other wizard less so. "You can't be a Time Lord. And stop talking to the creepy painting."

"Creepy painting," Walburga said in a huff, disliking someone calling her creepy. "I'll have you know I'm the matriarch of this family."

"You're creepy," the girl said. "I don't know why we ever came to this horrible place. This is Hermione's fault."

Which was when it sunk in exactly who the children were. Sirius swallowed, not liking the feeling settling into the pit of his stomach, a sense of loss he couldn't quite place. He watched Jules—his brother's youngest tip her head, finally frowning. "I don't think the portrait is creepy." And then, "I CAN YELL VERY LOUDLY TOO!"

"Yes, well, yelling like that is very rude," the portrait said, letting out a sniff of disgust as Remus chuckled about Time Lords for some reason. "And I'd like to know where you came from."

"The front door!"

Sirius found himself amused and leaned back, biting down on his lip to hold back the joy from pouring out, particularly with the thoughts and feelings going on in his head that he couldn't make sense of beyond the fact there was this inkling sensation that Jules reminded him of Regulus when he was younger before Sirius started thinking of his younger brother as a monster—before Hogwarts. And that voice in the back of his head kept telling him the girls were his brothers despite another voice screaming he didn't want that, for his younger brother to be—his mind struggled in formulating words for what he didn't wish to, constantly pushing what it was away as he didn't want to think about it.

"That's not what I meant," the picture said. "Whose child are you? Where did you come from? Not just anybody can enter Grimmauld, you know."

"Grimmauld," the girl mused, then laughed. "I like that name. It's creepy fun."

Sirius rolled his eyes. " And now we have the reason why she 's not bothered by mother's creepy portrait. "

"Jules, please stop talking to the creepy painting," the other girl said. "I really want to go home."

"It's okay, Lizzy," the little girl said. "You've got me. And Mio's here." Jules pointed at Arthur. "He said so!"

"Yes, but who do you belong to," his mother continued, still trying to figure out who Jules was, but then Jules—her hair was black and her eyes gray, the traits most common within the Black family for family members to have. Sirius frowned, his body tensing.

"Hi!" Jules said, turning back to the creepy portrait of his mother. "Jules belongs to no one. Jules' daddy says so!"

Sirius sucked in a deep breath, then moved forward as Walburga in the portrait opened her mouth. "And who…"

"She's mine," Sirius said, snapping the portrait shut, before turning to look at Jules, trying to put on a pleasant smile, yet the way Lizzy looked at him, he couldn't help but feel she found him just as creepy as mother's portrait, which meant they were off to a wonderful start. "Please don't interact with mother's portrait."

"She's your mother," Lizzy's nose wrinkled, making Sirius swallow, finding the action an unpleasant reminder of Narcissa, making him realize that, like his cousins, the girls had come with the same varying hair colors.

"Hopefully, she's the only one with a matching personality, although Hermione being like Andy wouldn't be a bad thing."

"And who are you?" Lizzy asked, her nose still wrinkled in disgust, obviously judging him while Remus whispered something into his ear, having stepped over.

"She's not yours."

"She kind of is," Sirius said, out of the corner of his mouth, a lurch in his gut at what felt like a near admission out loud that, yes, his brother had kids, which made him feel highly uncomfortable. Yet, there was a part of him, a nagging feeling of what would happen if Jules managed to interact with the real Walburga."

"Are you going to answer my question?" Lizzy asked.

"I'm Sirius Black," he said, bowing like a gentleman. "And Grimmauld place, trash heap as it is, is my place."

"It's disgusting."

"Oh, I can't agree more!" Sirius said. "But that's what happens when a place sits unused for what? I honestly don't know how long, but the only reason I'm here, we're all here, is because the situation is dire. Understand?"

"I hate magic."

Sirius flinched, then straightened up, frowning, having not expected to hear such a thing from a member of the Black family, not unless, "Are you a squib?"

"What's a squib?"

"I guess you are, then?" Sirius said, feeling less than thrilled and thinking he might have noticed if Hermione had a sister otherwise.

"Actually, Elizabeth is a Witch," Arthur Weasley said. "She's homeschooled."

"What the bloody hell was Regulus thinking?"

"I am not homeschooled! I attend a normal school for normal people!"

"Oh, bloody Merlin!" Sirius said aloud, his eyes widening. "Actually, what was Regulus dealing with, with this one?"

"Oh, bloody Merlin," Jules parrotted back. She stomped her foot, frowned, and crossed her arms. "Oh, bloody Merlin!"

"Don't use bad words, Jules. Mom and dad don't like it!"

Jules was no longer frowning or crossing her arms but looking around, her eyes lighting on a duffel bag and stuffed rabbit—items that Sirius didn't know where they came from. He leaned towards Remus. "Hey, did I come across like that?"

"Well, you were frowning when you said it, but you didn't cross your arms or stomp your foot," Remus said. "She's—different."

"Different is," Sirius started to say, only to tense when Jules spoke next, hearing the panicked strain in her voice.

"Where's my daddy?"

"Oh, Jules," Arthur said, the smile leaving.

Jules pointed at the duffle bag and the rabbit. "Daddy's rabbit is here, so where's daddy?"

"That's not how it works, Jules."

"Mio wouldn't have left daddy's rabbit there!" Jules protested.

Sirius blinked, looking at the worn-out rabbit. "Wait. That's…"

And for the life of him, he couldn't imagine Regulus with a stuffed animal, ever . He 'd never been that kind of child, a proper child, always being instead the perfect little adult that the adults wanted, which always bothered him growing up.

Nor did he expect Jules to start sniffling, looking around for her dad, and he reacted, his instant instinct to reach out and comfort the distressed child he saw in front of him. Only, the moment he grabbed onto Jules' arm to draw her attention so he could tell her things would be okay—

She started screaming, dropping straight to the floor as he looked on in horror, with his mind saying there was something familiar about the way she acted that he couldn't place in his head, far more concerned that he'd somehow made the child's distress grow. "What the?"

"Are you stupid?" Lizzy said, hissing at him.

"What?" Sirius looked at her, pointing at Jules. "Normal children don't act that way."

"You think my little sister's normal?" Lizzy said. "Juliet is autistic! Even I know not to grab her when she's upset!"

"And how do you calm her?" Sirius asked, feeling guilty and worried for the little one crying on the floor. "Please."

"Well, our sister is the best bet," Lizzy said. "Since our mom's not, although the best bet would have been our dad."

Sirius stared. "Your dad?"

"Yes, our dad."

Sirius sighed, rolling his eyes as Jules continued to cry. "Oh. That's great." He said aloud as he thought to himself. " He 's going to kill me. "

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