AN: I know I promised a masquerade ball chapter. And I am, and I will. But I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for the reviews, and I'm really really excited about chapters still to come. I might have to have the Wizengamot chapter preceding the masquerade ball so yeah... There might be another chapter before that one too. Don't kill me. LOL

JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me.

Chapter 30 To Friends, For Family

Well, bad times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others

~Sirius Black~

'You're doing it again Padfoot.' The admonishment from young Siri pulled his eyes from the young woman he had been staring at for the better part of five minutes in the Gryffindor common room.

Marlene McKinnon was not beautiful, yet. She was only 12. A year older than him. But she was one of the most ALIVE people he knew. Even at the age of twelve, she had a way of walking into a room and capturing everyone's attention and holding it. Or maybe it was just him. Because Marlene had at one time his undivided, unequivocal, fully devoted, attention. He was a love-sick puppy dog for a full year before she gave him the time of day. At least, romantically.

Then the auror academy, and then…the order. James, Lily, Marley, and Sirius, and Mary, and Remus, and…" He stopped himself from once again listing the dead and lost souls from his future. It wouldn't happen the same way. His eyes slid back to Marlene and he sighed softly, a dopey smile on his face. She had been just so perfect. Perfect for him, anyway.

Yes, Marlene had in fact snogged him senseless in a broom cupboard. Seventh year! And after that, no one else could ever compare. Not that he didn't have his flirtatious moments with others, but he'd buried those memories beneath such worse memories and hurts that he had forgotten. Until he saw her. A Snarky second year with long luscious golden hair, that changed color in the sun. He was mesmerized by the sight of her, the smell of her. She smelled like strawberries. She smelled like summer and he… He brought his raging hormones into submission.

There was only one diary entry he had written about her.

Marlene is still the most irritating and beautiful woman I know. She asked that I save myself before saving her. It was her choice how she died and I was not to fuck up her heroic fucking death, thank you very fucking much. Maybe she didn't say fucking so much. But her tone was clear. Don't try and save her. She was less forceful about her family though. I could tell. I also know, that if I do fuck up her heroic fucking death, she will never know. HA! But she also said not to try that cause somehow she would know. Ha! Not in a million years.

He remembered how hard her death had hit all of them. How hard her death had hit him. He was dating her at the time hell he was planning on asking her to marry him, once the war was over. He still believed that he held some blame. Voldemort would never have targeted her if he hadn't…

He stopped that train of thought in its tracks. Voldemort didn't kill Marlene because he loved her, he killed Marlene and her family because they opposed him. He couldn't blame himself for the future that he hoped to change. Down that road lay madness.

He had admonished his younger self from talking to her once, much to his shame, not because he didn't want young Siri getting involved with the girl. Nope, it was because every time he saw her, he was reminded and it was difficult schooling those feelings behind strong mind shields, trying to keep that kind of pain from his younger self.

He couldn't think that way about her now though. She was twelve! She wasn't HIS Marlene and he realized he was not HER Sirius, or maybe never would be. He sighed and looked back to his forgotten essay for Professor McGonagall on the stages of vanishing. 'Sorry.' he apologized to the landlord.

But now his younger self was curious about the girl his older self kept pretending not to stare at. The same girl his older self had insisted he avoid. He liked Marlene. She was funny and smart. But the way Padfoot acted around her was getting a little ridiculous. He knew he was hiding something. He hoped it wasn't James Potter bad, but… felt those barriers go up, like a steel wall between their minds when it came to the girl. So now, young Siri was staring openly at her in curiosity.

Marlene, sensing the first-year's stare turned an imperious glare on the boy, "OK Black. Why are you staring at me?" She finally growled.

"Well McKinnon," Siri smiled, "That's what I would like to know. You are quite interesting to stare at. Did you know that your hair changes color depending on the light?" He asked, "Sometimes it looks like gold, and sometimes it looks like silver. How can that be?"

Marlene lifted a brow and pulled a strand at her long hair to look at it. "Really? Natural highlights? Or maybe I'm part Veela? She batted her eyelashes at him.

Sirius nodded, "You know what Marley. I wouldn't doubt it. Hence why I can't take my eyes off of you." He smirked playfully.

She flipped her hair and glared again, "Well, stop it. Or I'll hex your blue eyes brown to match the fact that you are full of it." She grumped, but he could tell there was a part of her that was pleased by the compliment.

"Gray."

"Pardon?" She asked, looking back up from her book with no small amount of irritation.

"My eyes." He smiled leaning closer across the table "Are gray, not blue." Marlene blinked and leaned a little closer looking into his eyes and then humphed.

"Well, what do you know?" Giving him a close-up view of her own beautiful blue eyes, sparkling like muggle champaign just before being tossed into a ferocious ocean, "Gray like a giant goose-eggs." Their faces were inches apart, with only the table separating them. She winked and settled back with her book. Jinxes for the Jinxed.

He had missed her wandwork and suddenly his own quill started stabbing him in the hand. "Ow! Ow! Stop! Ow!" Marlene laughed as she got up and walked away with her head held high and looked at his predicament and smirked as he quickly waved his wand to cancel the curse, glaring up at the girl.

She dared to wink playfully, even flirtatiously, and simply headed off to her dorm dragging Lily up the stairs with her. He looked at his bleeding and punctured hand and growled, "That is your fault Padfoot. ALL YOUR FAULT!" Several heads turned to look at the boy. He scowled at the looks he had gathered and he could actually hear his other half laughing. LAUGHING!

"Fine! Laugh! But I could be permanently marked here!" he whined.

James who was still laughing but trying not to for his friend's sake shook his head, "You know what this means right?" James nodded, "It means a visit to… The evilest witch in the castle. She who forces toxic potions down your throat and makes them taste like rotting cheese just to see you gag. It means a visit to Poppy."

James dragged Sirius to the nurse's office, giving him a vivid step-by-step replay of how he had gotten hurt. "I know how I got hurt, James. So shut it."

But of course, James just continued. "You just should have seen your face mate. When the quill started stabbing you like that. It was… I wish I had a picture!"

Sirius was rather glad he did not! Of course, there was a way and a means, but Sirius wasn't about to let James or his younger self in on the method that he could obtain a picture from a memory as long as one had a Pensieve.

Sirius was a little worried, what if he got lead poisoning! He blinked. He could be tattooed for life! Which was great if you wanted a tattoo, but when it was not wanted, it would mark you. Make a person easier to Identify. He chuckled, Leave it to Miss McKinnon to be the first person to send him to the dreaded hospital wing. She would always take first place. In everything, it seemed.

In the end, Poppy got him straightened out quickly enough, scouring every inch of his body including the wounds declaring that you never knew what magical inks could do to the skin, and proceeded to tell him in horrific detail every single way magical ink should never be used. She did say there was a whole branch of magic that should be banned, tattoo magic. Or magic that branded the skin. It was a terrible trend lately.

The topic sent both boys into different trains of thought, James wanted to research magical tattoos for the Marauders, thinking that he'd look cool with some ink. And Sirius had just stumbled onto the fact that there were marked death eaters in the school. Unless Poppy was talking about wizarding culture rather than the dark mark.

"So there are a lot of students that get tattoos?" Sirius asked.

Poppy nodded, "Yes and some of them are quite dreadful, and depending on the kind of ink you use… Well, let's just say those won't even be magicked away. Not even by Dumbledore himself." She sighed. "That ought to do it, Mr. Black." A few more drops of Dittany sizzled into the cleaned wounds where the quill had stabbed him then the medi-witch was handing him a potion, "Now drink this."

"What's it for?" He whined.

Now Mr. Black. You will drink the potion or you will remain my guest for the night. Your choice." She crossed her arms stubbornly beneath her ample bosom and Sirius decided it just wasn't worth the pain and suffering to ask her again. He quickly took the potion and immediately gagged. "What are you trying to do? Poison me? That tastes…" He did an all-over body shiver, "Revolting!"

Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes, "You may get dressed and go." As she watched the young Black heir down a full glass of water trying to wash the taste of the potion from his mouth. In truth, it was just a vitamin supplement, and overall health potion meant to boost the immune system, which would prevent the patient from getting infections. It was no small matter that the quill in question was from a magical bird, or that the ink included any number of magical ingredients or enchantments. It all mattered when it came to magic.

Sirius and James left the medical wing James wanting to stop off at the library and research magical tattoos. He was sure that tattooing runes on the skin would have an effect. So they stopped off at the library and were perusing the books on the topic. The shelf seemed rather bare and James was sure there would be more about the topic in the restricted section. He glared at the witch guarding the magical secrets like a dragon guards her eggs. "Well guess I'll have to come back after curfew." He grinned and said, "Tonight."

Sirius sighed, knowing that trying to stop him would be doomed to failure. James wanting to research magical tattoos was just par for the course. If he had tried to repress James' thirst for knowledge, they would never have made the map or the mirrors, or to be honest, pursued their animagus forms.

So it was after curfew the two boys hidden beneath the invisibility cloak traveled dark and quiet castle passages. Their whispers echoing eerily off the castle walls. "Shhh. You'll wake the portraits." James hissed.

Sirius whispered back. "Your wand is poking me in my butt." Or at least he hoped it was Jame's wand.

The wand was removed quickly, "Sorry. Just keep moving." The boys finally reached the library,

Sirius slipped out from beneath the cloak and whispered, "Let's split up."

For several hours they looked through piles of dusty tomes and that's when Sirius found it. The Guide to Magical Cartography. His eyes widened and he quickly opened it and perused the table of contents. Meanwhile, he heard a half-shouted "YES!" coming further into the stacks.

James had located a whole section on magical tattoos and was looking through the ones that looked more practical than theoretical. "Say's here that some magical tattoos can tie your souls together. Dark magic though. That's disgusting." Sirius yelped and quickly snatched the book from Jame's hand. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Sirius muttered reading through the spell and its effects quickly. "I can't believe you found this!"

James watched his friend with a surprised look. "We can't do that kind of tattoo Siri. It's gross."

Sirius nodded, "I don't…" Looking up at James' expression and blinking, "No. Of course not!" He shuddered. "This… James, this is the tattoo that Poppy was talking about. The tattoo that can't be removed? The one's some of the students here have gotten."

James looked skeptical. "But why?"

Sirius wasn't about to explain how he knew any of this so sighed. "Something to do with Voldemort I bet."

James rolled his eyes. "Well there are all kinds of magical tattoos, and not all of them are dark magic, Even my dad has our house totem on his arm. And some other weird mark…" He clammed up suddenly, "Hey. I bet he can tell us a lot about magical tattoos. Maybe even knows someone who can do them!" James put the book in his backpack and then looked down at the book in Sirius's hand.

"What's that?" He asked. Sirius handed it to him. "Cartography?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Cause you're a brilliant boy and will find a brilliant use for this."

They heard a noise and both boys froze. "Shhh. Get under the cloak." James whispered, whipping over himself and pulling Sirius under as well. The boys slowly made their way out of the library and back to their dorm.

Arcturus was busy in the weeks leading up to the masquerade ball. The October Wizengamot was almost upon them, and he intended to make an impression. He had been roped into training Sirius as well as a whole group of Gryffindor's into becoming Animagus's. First years! It was preposterous. If McGonagall ever found out… Or his wife. He cringed. Dead would be a blessing. The afterlife didn't look too terribly inconvenient. He had his own bar it seemed. Several members of his family were plotting to kill him as well as his heir. He was plotting to take over the Wizengamot with his political enemies and he was about to meet with a whole gaggle of them. The invitation to Potter Manor for dinner had him worried because snakes never willingly went into the lion's den.

Dorea entered the room dressed in a flirtatious red robe that he felt was wholly inappropriate for the informal nature of the invitation and for the impression he was trying to give. Not that he would ever dare tell her that. "Darling. You look beautiful." He kissed her on the cheek and meant every word. She was a big woman, but her heart was bigger. She was irrepressible, bold, intelligent, and cunning. Far be it for him to object to her showing off her womanly charms. Besides, he loved his bits where they were.

"I just am so excited about tonight." She grinned, "I've been wanting to get to know Thea better for ages. And of course Charlus. He's quite the handsome devil." She teased. "What I still don't quite understand darling, is why? You have never wanted to visit your sister before." Dora shrugged, "I admit to being curious."

Arcturus rarely lied to his wife and he didn't now. "I'm trying to form a political alliance with Charlus." He sighed, "I really don't like it. But…" He sighed, "I find myself strangely… open to the idea." He gave his wife a helpless look. "I'm becoming aware of my own mortality darling… and think it's time I shook things up a bit."

Dorea put on her Lady of the House of Black face, which she rarely used on him, "Lord Black. Are you asking my permission to make a political alliance, or are you asking for my help?"

Arcturus took a cautious step back giving his wife a rare look of admiration, taking her from the tips of her ruby red slippers, sequined maroon robes that hugged her large hourglass figure like a glove, to the bare expanse of her bosom and finally scanning her beautiful face that was as familiar to him as his own. He bowed elegantly to her, as a proper lord would bow before his proper lady, "I am, as always, your humble servant."

Dorea laughed, "You're a scoundrel. And we are now fashionably late. Shall we, My Lord."

They stepped through the floo together…

In the end, his wife's political instincts far outstripped his own. When Charlus's invitation had said that he was planning a small get-together, dinner among friends… He hadn't realized he meant the entire progressive political wing of the party. Dorea fit right in, as every pureblood wife was dressed to the nines. Arcturus felt like a goldfish among sharks, even though he knew he was probably the biggest shark in the room. The Potter's were gracious hosts, and dinner was one of the best he'd ever had. Conversation flowed casually enough and after the shock of his initial discovery that the dinner was less intimate than he had hoped for, he realized that the company was anything but boring and Lord and Lady Potter had a way of smoothing away the rough patches.

Dorea Black was a force to be reckoned with. She simply lit up the room. Arcturus simply let her sweep all their petty concerns about Arcturus being there aside like so much poppycock, and Arcturus smiled and nodded his head agreeably.

There were four other couples in the room beside the Blacks and Potters, representing the Longbottoms, the Greengrass, the Weasley, and the Bones families. Charlus's most loyal base of support. Each family had allies of their own, that would vote the way they voted. Arcturus estimated that half the power of the Wizengamot was in the room. At least. With his own inclusion and Dumbledores, more than half. Which was what he needed If he had any hope at all of fulfilling that bloody to-do list, he needed the people in this room.

The conversation turned to politics the moment the dessert arrived. Unlike most political strategy meetings of its like, he had attended, it seemed the women were inclined to participate rather than adjourn to the garden or to their gossip rooms. Dorea kept giving him smirking stares that made him uncomfortable. Charlus as the unofficial leader began with the burning question that was on everyone's minds.

"So Lord Black. Everyone would like to know. What has changed? Why are you seeking us out for an alliance?" Everyone was now looking at him expectantly. This was where he made his pitch. The whole thing just seemed so impossible.

"I've been… concerned. Yes very concerned lately about the direction our community is heading. I've been enlightened I suppose is a good a verb as any." He shook his head, "I'm afraid that recent revelations have forced me to the realization that we are heading into a civil war. Undeclared of course, but we all are going to have to pick a side, and I'm much too Slytherin to choose the losing side of any conflict. And, I have determined that I have two choices. Go along with the madness that will cede our power to one man, an unworthy man at that, or join forces with you. I think we have more in common than we realize and working together we can fix this. Or at least wage a better war." Arcturus finished his statement and felt Dorea's hand take his own under the dinner table and squeezed a bit hard.

"Wonderfully said, husband." She smiled around the table. "I for one never liked your old friends. Your new ones are much better." She got a hearty Hear Hear from a somewhat tipsy Lord Weasley.

"Shall we drink to it?" Dorea picked up her goblet of wine, "An alliance. An alliance of friendship my Lord Black? Between our family and each of these families? To do what is right rather than what is easy?" She asked. Everyone picked up a glass and held it aloft.

"To friendship." She nodded to Thea, "For family."

"To friendship, For family." Everyone repeated and drank. It wasn't official, but it was powerful. Magic flared briefly in the center of the table and everyone stared at it for a moment in wonder.

"Charlus? Did you do that?" Thea asked.

The Potter Lord shook his head, "Oh no. That wasn't me my dear. That was magic." Everyone looked at each other for a moment.

Arcturus broke the silence, "It's not an unbreakable vow. But… I wouldn't want to be the one to break whatever promise was made to test a theory." He stated and several people giggled at the understatement. "So. Just to be clear, I'm a man of my word and I do want what you want. A better society to leave to my children." Everyone seemed to relax after that and the meeting focused on the upcoming Wizengamot.

Much later Dorea lay beside him in their bed staring up at the ceiling. "Arcturus?"

Arcturus had just been drifting off to sleep and drew himself back from that slumberous cliff, "Yes love?"

"What enlightened you?" She asked.

Arcturus frowned, "What do you mean?"

"During your speech. You said you had been enlightened. What enlightened you?" She asked.

"Sirius," Arcturus said.

"That's it?" She asked, rolling onto her side so she could see him. His head was buried in his pillow.

"Well no of course that isn't it. It's complicated. I'm tired. Aren't you tired?" He pried one eye open and she looked wide awake.

"No. I want to know Arcturus. You're being sneakier than normal." She smiled, "And I know when you are hiding something from me. You get this guilty look. And you can't look me in the eye. And you fidget." She nods, "You fidget and I know all your tells. It's why you won't play poker with me!" She poked him in the side. "Tell me."

Arcturus shook his head, "Can't. Unbreakable vow. You don't want me to die do you?"

This got Dorea upset. Maybe he shouldn't have told her that. She slowly climbed out of bed. Wearing a shocking black piece of see-throughness. "You did what?"

Arcturus felt his brain freeze and not just from the fact that his wife was likely to freeze to death in that outfit. "Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you that."

He was in for a long night.

...

In the spare room where he had been exiled, glaring up at the ceiling he had to wonder who he could blame for this. Sirius was going to have to tell his grandmother at least something of his secret because Arcturus couldn't. And if he ever wanted to get back in his bed, Sirius was going to have to tell her.

He took a pillow and tried to smother himself.