Snips and Scars In Which Family Trees are Discussed, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter 62, everybody! Now for the adult half of the conversation.

So as we learned in the latter books, the Malfoys definitely had second thoughts about backing Moldy-Voldy. And since Cissy has options with her cousin not being a wanted criminal…well she has options. In other news, Harry learns that he has a very extended family (and yes we all do come from the same family if you go back far enough). In other news, Percy's lecture most likely involves genetics. Also, we have a black lab Mom named Sirius Black, and he walks the same way dog-Sirius does—tail wagging all the time. :D

Slytherinsal, thanks for the review! Yes, double the house elf shenanigans. :D

Binte Muhammad, thanks for the review! Yes! Go Cissy!

Juxshoa, thanks for the review! Oh it's coming….

Missy96, thanks for the review! Yes, there's some family shenanigans coming….

Thanks for the review, guest (and congrats on being the 200th reviewer)! Yes there is—just been busy with decorating over updating, but there's more coming. :D

Gardengirl6, thanks for the review! Probably. D:

Harry was right, considering the discussion going on beneath the chandelier Snips was perched in was a more adult version of the one Harry and Draco were having.

"My husband, one night, before term ended…he clutched his arm like it was in pain, looked at me and said he's back," Narcissa said, hands folded in her lap as she stared at the tea on the table. "He left then, to attend to him…came back practically crawling from having the Cruciatus curse used on him. He was ranting about how Potter escaped and how—how angry he was…I asked him what he intended to do."

Sirius and Remus, sitting across from her and leaning on their elbows, both nodded.

"He says what do you mean and I told him—it wasn't just about us, anymore, or some glorious Pureblood cause—I've never told anyone this, but when—when he vanished the first time I was relieved—it meant that Draco wouldn't be dragged into all this. When Lucius pulled that stunt with that diary—Draco told me when he came home for the summer that he had been having second thoughts about it all and I was relieved then, although I couldn't show it—I had to tell him to take some time to reflect, that a Malfoy paid the debt he owed and that the sooner that was done the better. When he started showing more interest in magical creatures than blood purity I encouraged it, even if Lucius didn't care much for it.

"And now this—" She shook a clenched fist, head back like she was beseeching for strength—"I already know Draco doesn't have the spine for it, can't harden himself to do what—what he asks of him—I couldn't watch my son, my only son, be offered up to the likes of him for some ill-gotten hope of power.

"So I gave Lucius an ultimatum—us or him. His hesitation told me all I needed to know, and when Draco came home I had everything packed." She hesitated now, not looking at them. "I…know you have no desire to help me, but as the head of the House of Black it's your mercy I'm throwing us upon."

Sirius was quiet for a long time after that—Snips wondered if he was waiting to make sure she was finished.

"That's a really weird way of asking hey I left my husband can I hang out here?" he said finally.

"You have absolutely no decorum," Narcissa said, frowning—grimaced as she remembered she was supposed to be begging for help. "I'm sorry, it's been—"

"Yeah yeah I know," Sirius said, waving her off. "I had that month too, we're all snippy. No offense," he added, glancing up at Snips. "So my next big question is, are you guys going to behave yourselves? I mean I know Buckbeak and Dobby will, it's just you and your son that are the big question marks."

"And also will you be fine with living under the same roof as half-bloods and werewolves," Remus added.

Narcissa rubbed her forehead, like she was having to gather herself for this. "If I must," she said finally. "Something like the Three Broomsticks or the Leaky Cauldron isn't viable long-term and the wizarding housing market is…."

"A pain?" Sirius asked. "Why didn't you kick Lucius out of the house? Pretty sure you could hex him clean out."

"The other Death Eaters know where the house is, and I didn't want a nasty surprise with him showing up," she said. "Trust me when I said I've given this a lot of thought."

Sirius nodded, watching her for long enough that Snips was starting to wonder if he intended to turn into a dog and sniff her up and down. "All right then, but for the record there'd better be no blood supremacy nonsense—if you left it behind you left all of it behind. Also you have to be fine with living between the Weasleys and the Lovegoods outside a Muggle town."

"Which is another reason I came here," she said. "I can't imagine Lucius bringing himself to come here."

Sirius and Remus looked at each other, the former finally shrugging. "Eh…guess that's it on my objections. Probably a good thing Remus insisted on us having a guest room."

"Probably we're going to have to add a second one," Remus said. "I can't imagine Draco on the couch and I'm reasonably sure asking Harry to share a room will end in disaster."

"We could do bunk beds."

"Still think it'd end in disaster."

"I'm talking about us."

"That's what I mean."

Snips sighed and shook his head. Honestly, being away from the Dursleys was supposed to improve their summers.

Harry woke up the next morning with a dog sleeping by his bed, took a few minutes to remind himself of what had transpired last night. Ron would probably have a fit.

"What do you think?" Harry asked Snips as the latter blinked owlishly at him. "This can only end in disaster, right?"

Considering Snips stayed on his shoulder as he headed downstairs, that was probably agreement. Follow the smell of coffee—

Stop dead at the sight of Mrs. Malfoy staring out the window with a mug in her hand, looking troubled.

"Master Harry," Kreacher greeted. "What can Kreacher get you for breakfast?"

"Uh?" Harry noised, startled. "I—well I don't know, um…whatever you feel like, thanks Kreacher."

"Kreacher lives to serve," Kreacher said, bowing before heading back for the counter.

Mrs. Malfoy, meantime, had turned at the conversation and seemed to be taking a few beats to register him. "Mr. Potter."

"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry said, matching her tone and feeling uncomfortable. "So…you're living here now."

"Yes, my cousin decided to take pity on us," she said, returning her attention to outside.

Harry blinked. "You and Sirius are related?"

She nodded. "My surname before marrying Lucius was Black. It's why I came to the head of the house to beg sanctuary."

Harry really wished he hadn't been shooed out of the room last night; right now he felt lost and more than a bit baffled, was more than happy to take the out of Kreacher pulling a chair out for him.

"It is nice to have more of the Black family under one roof," Kreacher said, pouring Harry some milk (coffee was a work in progress). "A pity Bella can't be here, but…."

"Bella?" Harry asked when Kreacher trailed off with a grimace.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Mrs. Malfoy said. "My sister."

Harry couldn't help the dismayed expression as he linked that name to what Ron had told him before and what she was telling him now. "Sirius is related to her?"

"We are," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "All the pure-blood families are interconnected. Even the were—Mr. Lupin; he was…is a nephew by marriage."

"So technically Sirius and Remus are related," Harry said, feeling baffled by wizarding family trees. "So you're even related to the Weasleys and the Lovegoods?"

Mrs. Malfoy looked like she had swallowed a lemon and was struggling to keep it down—Harry was kept from commenting by a black dog trotting down the steps, tail wagging like it was helping to propel him forward, eventually turning into Sirius and clambering into the chair nearest the stairs.

"Hey," Sirius greeted blearily—accepted the cup Kreacher handed him. "Ta, Kreacher." Take a long drain—blinked at Mrs. Malfoy when he finished. "Ah, I didn't dream that part."

"I know you said last night you wanted no stock put in blood purity, but you could at least cover some of our lineage," Mrs. Malfoy said to him.

"Uhh?"

"You and Remus are related," Harry told him.

"We are?" Sirius asked blankly—looked over when Remus came down the stairs. "Hey did you know we were related?"

"I mean if you want to get technical we're related to James too," Remus said, sitting down and apparently taking the conversation in exhausted stride. "The Potters were primarily a pure-blooded family."

"So technically we're all related," Harry said, grinning, a pleasant buzzing feeling building in his stomach as he remembered some of what the Mirror of Erised had shown him—yes, Ron had thought it showed the future and Dumbledore had told him it showed what he wanted most, but one of the things it had shown was a big extended family. Apparently, that had a grain of truth in it.

"I mean if you want to get super technical we're all related if you go back far enough," Sirius said, gesturing vaguely. "Which starts getting weird when you think about it, organizing family reunions get to be a pain, don't get me started on group photos—"

"You'd have to take a picture of the entire planet," Remus agreed.

"They've actually done that," Harry said. "Muggles, I mean."

"Okay you know what The Quibbler might be on to something because if they can take pictures from space then Muggles definitely have something going on," Sirius decided.

"What house is this?" Draco mumbled, coming down the steps and blinking owlishly, Dobby behind him and apparently the reason he was upright. "Do I have time to check on Buckbeak?"

"After breakfast," his mother told him.

"Dobby can check on Buckbeak for you, sir," Dobby said, heading for the door.

"Kreacher also saved the family tree," Kreacher said, putting plates in front of everyone. "Kreacher would be happy to show it after breakfast." Pointed look at Sirius as he topped off his coffee. "Kreacher would also like to revisit it being on that wall there."

"No, no no," Sirius said, waving him off. "I have too many memories of mother standing in front of it to want it in here."

"At least let Kreacher bring the silver and dishes in here. At least for special occasions."

"Ehh…okay that one's a maybe."

Kreacher seemed satisfied with that and went about his business. Harry, meanwhile, had been waiting patiently after his moment of silence, waited until Draco almost had something in his mouth before springing it on him.

"So you and I and Ron are all technically related," Harry told him.

"Well there went my day," Draco muttered.

Buckbeak had been happily cantering around the yard when they finally went out, came over and returned their deep bows when Draco waved him over. After that, Mrs. Malfoy refreshed the disillusionment charm on him and Sirius and Remus transfigured a stable; Draco fed him and made sure he was comfy.

After that was the tour of Kreacher's shed, which—like most magical houses—was bigger on the inside and honestly resembled a small house over any shed Harry had ever seen. Kreacher was happy to give them the grand tour and tell them all about every bit and bob from the house and introduce them to most of the paintings—Walburga Black, Sirius' mother, was 'indisposed' due to her delicate constitution.

"Meaning she's still stark raving mad that I sold the house," Sirius said. "Oh wow I forgot about this one."

Kreacher had set up the Black family tree along one massive wall and happily recounted the Black family history as they looked it over, pausing whenever Sirius pointed out a burn mark and said who had been blotted off the tree by his mother ("This one was me, she burned it off right after I left, and this one is Andromeda Tonks—really ought to reinstate her, I have that ability now"). Harry found some Lupins and a family named the Peverells, who were then apparently related to the Potters.

"Now some families are just totally omitted," Sirius explained when Kreacher finished. "The Weasleys, for example, the Potters too because they didn't buy into blood purity and when you get obsessed about something you're either with us or against us, that sort of mentality. Cissy can tell you all about it."

"Don't start," Mrs. Malfoy warned.

"There's a lot of Death Eaters here," Harry observed, recognizing several names from the graveyard—noted Draco scowling at one of the branches.

"Well mom put a lot of stock in the dark arts, so she'd be most proud of that bunch," Sirius said. "Bet she's rolling in her grave knowing that Reggie decided to get out of all that and work for the light instead. That'd be two sons that didn't follow the family business of causing problems on purpose do not comment," he told the other two adults.

"No, no, he has a point," Remus said to Mrs. Malfoy. "That's too easy."

"I am better than that," she agreed.

Ron's expression when he came over and heard the explanation was worth every moment of anticipation, although he wasn't too surprised about being related to the Malfoys.

"It's one of those pureblood things, everyone's related to everyone," Ron said, waving that off. "Ask Percy about it if you ever need some sleep, he'll talk your ear off over how staying within the families actually weakened magic over the years and we needed to marry Muggles to help keep things working right…honestly it's usually about there I start falling asleep, he gets the same result with the thin-bottom cauldrons."

"Did those ever get resolved?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, I can't stay awake for the ending." Look at Buckbeak's paddock. "So the Malfoys are really staying here?"

"Just Draco and his mum—she left his dad," Harry said. Took note of Ron's expression. "Do wizards not have divorces?"

Which necessitated explaining what a divorce was, after which Ron looked pensive.

"Honestly the closest we have to that sort of separation is whatever Zabini's mum has going," Ron mused. "Except I'm pretty sure she just kills her husbands. Can't take half if you can't take it with you."

Harry agreed on that assessment, looked over when Sirius came up.

"Ah good Ron—I'm going to run to your house real quick to get the rest of your siblings and tell Molly what's going on, Remus is setting up over there by the treeline, one or both of you do me a favor and nip over to the Lovegoods and see if they want in on this."

"In on what?" Ron asked as Sirius bounded off in dog form.

Harry brightened at the reminder. "Sirus and Remus are going to teach us defense—come on, let's go get Luna."

"Why would we—oh right," Ron said, grimacing as he remembered the end of the term. "I guess so long as we don't have to do essays I'm fine with it. Still a little baffled that Malfoy's staying with you guys."

"Me too," Harry told him as they headed down the road. "I'm not sure if I care for Mrs. Malfoy, she feels like Draco before he started on his character development."

"Maybe she needs a Hippogriff," Ron mused.

Harry nodded, waited until they were well down the road before making his next comment. "Also technically we're related to the Lovegoods."

Ron pondered this for several yards. "Okay that one might take more processing."