A week before Sirius and Regulus were set to go back to Hogwarts, Sirius for his fourth year and Regulus for his third year, they went to Italy to stay with Capella and Lyanna for a week, seeing as their grandparents had to go back to the school early. This was the first time Sirius and Regulus were staying with Marius and Ilaria. As soon as their portkey landed them in the sitting room, Capella and Lyanna were on their feet and rushing over to greet them.
"Sirius! Regulus!" Lyanna exclaimed happily, giving them both hugs.
"It's about time you show up!" Capella said. "We've been waiting all morning!"
"Hey, our portkey wasn't scheduled to come until now," Regulus said, rolling his eyes like his namesake, a habit everyone had noticed him picking up in the past month.
"I know, but still!" Capella said with a sigh. "We waited FOREVER!"
"You're so dramatic, Sis," Lyanna said with a sigh.
"I am not dramatic!" Capella exclaimed.
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I am not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Er, can you two cut it out?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not! Now, shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
"No, you!"
"You!"
"That's enough!" Ilaria said sternly, standing in the doorway. "You are both being dramatic."
"But she started it!" Lyanna cried.
"I..." Capella began, but their mother held up a hand.
"Don't even start up again," she said disapprovingly. "Act like your age, not like little children." Both of them huffed in annoyance, but didn't say anything more.
"You got them to stop when we couldn't," Sirius said with amazement.
"That's because I know all too well what it's like to have siblings," Ilaria explained. "I am from a big family."
"How big?" Regulus asked curiously. "Big like the Black Family?"
"Well, here in Italy, all pure-blood families require two or more children to be born, so the next generation can continue the family," Ilaria explained. "My parents had six children."
"Mum, you should tell Sirius and Regulus what you've told us," Capella suggested.
Ilaria nodded. "Alright," she agreed. "Let's start with my parents. Vincenzo and Carmela Marino specialize in combat. In fact, the entire House of Marino specializes in combat in some way, some people more than others."
"It's just like the British pure-blood families where everyone specializes in something," Sirius pointed out.
"Exactly," Ilaria confirmed. "My older brother was probably the best with combat out of all of us in the younger generation. As I said before, there were six of us. From oldest to youngest, there is Leonardo, Bianca, me, Giuseppe, Chiara, and Francesco. Like I mentioned already, Leonardo is really into combat. Bianca studies zoology, but unicorns in particular."
"Unicorns?" Regulus asked with interest. "That's incredible!" Ilaria smiled.
"Yes, it is," she agreed. "As for me..."
"Mum, talk about our other aunts and uncles first, then talk about your story," Lyanna said. "Yours is the most interesting." Everyone laughed.
"Alright," Ilaria said with a smile. "Giuseppe is kind of the person who just does a little bit of everything. He's good with basically anything. Chiara is a jeweler."
"Yes, Aunt Chiara makes our jewelry," Capella explained, holding up her left hand where a ring with real diamonds was shown. She then held up her necklace that had every color imaginable. "She gave me this on my tenth birthday," she informed Sirius and Regulus.
Lyanna held up a hand, where a bracelet, similar to the necklace Capella had, was on her wrist. "Aunt Chiara gave this to me for my tenth birthday as well," she explained. "She also gives us jewelry on holidays. I have a bracelet that is orange and has pumpkins on it. Not real pumpkins, of course, but you get the point."
"That's so awesome!" Sirius exclaimed.
"And my youngest brother is Francesco, who's a traveler," Ilaria explained. "He often brings us interesting things from other countries. For example, he once brought us Chinese food straight from China. He also spoiled my daughters with ten different Japanese Kit Kats from Japan. He will also bring back paintings from countries like France, Spain, China, the United States, Germany, and Mexico. Of course, art in those countries is not as good as ours here in Italy, but that is just my opinion."
"That's so cool!" Regulus said excitedly. "I like art! I draw all the time."
"So does Lyanna, as I'm sure you've noticed," Ilaria said with a smile.
"Yes, we've noticed," Sirius replied with a grin. "She even told us herself."
Ilaria nodded. "Now let me share my story," she began. "You see, all of my siblings were born with magic. In fact, even I was born with magic. I wasn't always a Squib."
Sirius and Regulus looked shocked. "W-what?!" they exclaimed in unison.
"That's right," Ilaria said. "My siblings and I all attended Accademia Arcana Romana, the magical school here in Italy. That is most likely the school that Capella and Lyanna would have gone off to if they hadn't gone to Hogwarts. Anyway, I was in my third year at Accademia Arcana Romana. I was home for the night, because at Accademia Arcana Romana, you do not stay there at night like you do at Hogwarts."
"It's not a boarding school like Hogwarts is?" Sirius asked, wanting to confirm.
"Correct," Ilaria answered. "So one night, I was getting ready for bed. Chiara and I shared a room. All of a sudden, my mother came barging into our room, telling us to get to the fireplace and Floo over to our grandparents' home, because the wards to our home had been breached. Chiara clung onto my hand in fear. She was not used to this. Frankly, I was not used to it either, but I had to be brave for Chiara. We rushed towards the fireplace, but before we could get there, Chiara was hit in the back with a spell." Ilaria's usual warm eyes seemed to turn cold as she thought about what had happened. "Usually, I am an easy-going person," she continued. "But someone had dared to hurt my sister, and that could not, and would not be tolerated. I do not know who the men were. Our parents kept us in the dark about any potential wars or other dark activity in this country. All I knew is that I was beyond angry. Chiara was crying, clinging onto my hand as she tried to get back up after being knocked onto the floor. She was in so much pain." Ilaria wiped a tear from her cheek. Capella and Lyanna gave her hugs in support.
"You alright, Mum?" Lyanna asked softly.
"I'm alright," Ilaria replied. "Anyway, Chiara was in so much pain, and I was angry. My magic knew it too. I normally had control over my magic, but at that moment, my magic lashed out, hitting the men who were trying to hurt MY sister. The blast of magic was so powerful, that the men crumpled to the floor, and I passed out from exhaustion. I woke up in the hospital, where I was then told that I lost my magic due to my magical core being damaged."
"So that's how you became a Squib," Regulus said with interest. "Wow!"
"Was Chiara alright?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, she was fine," Ilaria said with a smile. "She and my other siblings were very worried about me. I could no longer go to school, and instead had to go to a Muggle school. After that day, my parents became very protective of me because I no longer had magic. They were worried that no one would accept me because a pure-blood witch is now a Squib."
"But someone did accept you," Sirius stated.
"Exactly," Ilaria said. "I met Marius when I was nineteen years old, and when it was perfect. We're both Squibs, and both from pure-blood families."
"Do you think we could meet your siblings sometime?" Regulus asked eagerly.
"Reg! Really?!" Sirius asked. "That's a weird question to ask!"
"Actually, I think that would work, especially if the Black Family comes over for a holiday sometime," Ilaria said.
"Really?" Regulus asked excitedly.
"Really," Ilaria confirmed.
"You'll love Aunt Chiara," Lyanna said with excitement.
"She's our favorite aunt," Capella said with a grin.
"Girls! We don't have favorites in this family, and you know that," Ilaria said sternly.
"But we have favorite family members," Regulus argued.
"Yes, some families do, but the Marino family does not work that way, and that's the way I raised my girls," Ilaria replied calmly.
Capella and Lyanna rolled their eyes, but did not argue.
"Question," Sirius finally said after a short pause. "Have you had a healer check to see if you can get your magic restored? Like, repair your magical core?"
"I have, but that was decades ago," Ilaria answered. "At the time, they said there was nothing to repair it."
Sirius got an idea. "Alright," he began slowly. "I will talk to Andromeda. She's a healer, and she probably knows some healers that specialize in magical cores. Just because someone told you decades ago that there wasn't a way to repair it doesn't mean that's still true."
"What about Marius?" Ilaria asked. "He never did have magic."
"Andromeda LOVES to research, and I think St. Mungo's can do some research on that," Sirius answered.
"Alright," Ilaria said with a smile. "I actually write with Andromeda every now and then. I'll ask her."
"For both yourself and Uncle Marius, right?" Regulus asked.
"Correct," Ilaria said. She secretly was really hoping that she could get her magic back. "Now, I made some biscuits this morning. If you'd like, the four of you can go have one."
"Wow! We have to try to split one?" Sirius joked.
"No, no, you can each have one," Ilaria said with a laugh.
"Oh, why didn't you just say that the first time?" Regulus asked teasingly. Everyone laughed.
When Sirius, Regulus, Capella, and Lyanna were sitting at the kitchen table eating their biscuits, Capella broke the silence. "Mum is an illustrator, and Dad's a writer," she explained. "They work hand-in-hand. It's really cool. Mum probably would have done something different with her career if she still had magic, but I think she enjoys what she does."
"That's really cool," Sirius said, finishing his biscuit. "I really hope the healers at St. Mungo's can help her and Uncle Marius."
"But in different ways," Regulus reminded him.
"Yes, exactly," Lyanna said. "I really hope so too."
"Me three!" Capella said with a grin. "So, what's our plan for this week?"
"I think the Spain people are going to be coming over this week," Regulus said. Lyanna snorted.
"You call them Spain people?" she asked, not at all impressed. "They're Spanish, not Spain." Regulus shrugged.
"Well, that should be fun," Capella remarked.
"Yeah, it will be," Sirius agreed. "It's going to be a fun week." The others agreed. They were all looking forward to seeing Emilia and Mauro again.