Chapter 35
SIRIUS BLACK
It had been years since he had been back here at the station. And looking at the tracks, and the Express brought back old memories from his own time at school.
Years ago, he was just like them, though definitely far more handsome than the current lot that was coming out. He would be just like them, laughing and japing with James, Moony and....
And the mere thought of that rat made his mood sour as he looked down at the clothes that had been picked for him. Andy had forced him into these rather formal and ironed trousers and shirt.
It made him look so tepid and boring.
"Why couldn't I come and wear my normal clothes?" he asked Andy, who stood beside him, as they waited for their respective charge.
"You are a public figure now. I will not have you go out dressed like a vagabond," she chided him, giving him the eye from the side as he rolled his eyes.
And indeed, he was a public figure now, with reporters all queuing up to interview him. Others, he believed, were simply after his money, thinking him to be the next Lord Black.
A younger him would have thrived in such attention, but his years in Azkaban had sobered him up somewhat, and Andy had been rather instrumental in drilling into him the importance of proper behavior so that he could set a good example for Harry.
However, he planned to pass on quite a few of his teachings to his godson, who had just jumped out of the train with two students.
"He is here," he whispered. Andy raised a brow and followed her gaze to look at Harry, who was looking around the platform, searching for him.
"Here!" Sirius shouted as he waved his hand, making him look towards them. The smile that appeared on his face was infectious, and he began to trot towards them with his friends.
Having read so much about them, it took him but a glance to recognise them. The Redhead, he had seen before. A Weasley, and he planned to apologise to the boy for scaring him that night.
As for the girl, Harry had told him about her, and from that, she reminded him much of Lily, with her being all serious and studious.
"Sirius!" Harry jumped into his arms and gave him a big hug.
"You came!" and he scoffed.
"Of course I did," and it was a shame that they could not spend the entire Summers together, but he planned to have a rather constructive talk with his relative to make sure they understood that Harry was not as alone as they may think.
He was also looking to rent a place near them so that he could keep an eye on them lest they try to make life hard for him. His actions had already caused Harry much trouble, but now that he was free, he planned to make sure that he did right by him.
"Cann't I come with you today?" he asked, and there was desperation in that tone. Hagrid and Albus had told him the gist of how those horrid muggles had treated him, and that was going to change.
"I am afraid not. You will have to spend a month with those muggles, but not a day more. I will there to get you out on the first and to make up for it I have arranged a very special gift for you," and Harry nodded as he eyed his friends.
"Hi," he greeted them.
"You may already know me, but I am Sirius Black. Harry's godfather," and the red-haired kind smiled stiffly.
"Hi, I am Ron," and he shook the boy's hand.
"You must be, Molly's son. How is she?" he asked, much to the boy's surprise.
"You know my mother," and in their families, most of them were acquainted with one another.
"Of course I do, we are cousins of sorts," and then he turned towards the sole girl in the group.
"And you must be Hermione Granger," and the girl smiled and shook his hand.
"It is good to meet you," she added, as he nodded.
"Do tell your parents that I will be coming to meet them as well. I have arranged a rather special gift for you all. Ron, you and your entire family as well," he reminded the boy, and it was just the tickets to the most premium box for Quidditch Tournament finals.
"Sure, I will give them your message," and so the girl walked off, not before stopping and giving Andy a rather troubled look.
And she was not the only one, both Harry and Ron seemed to be eyeing her strangely, as Andy raised a brow at him.
"Oh," he gasped as he made to introduce.
"Harry, Ron. This is Andromeda Tonks, my cousin," and Ron frowned.
"Cousin. But why does she look like Draco's mum?" and if the boy's flushed face was anything to go by, he had not intended to say that.
"Because she is my sister," Andy answered, and the boy paled, and even Harry took a step back.
"I will explain later," he whispered to him.
"Why are we still here?" Harry asked as the red-haired boy began to walk away, joining up with his family.
"We are waiting for someone else... " Just then, he spotted him as well, standing there talking with a blonde girl.
He had caught a glimpse of him at Hogsmeade, yet now, as he saw him so close, he found himself stunned.
And his surprise must have shown as Andy leaned forward.
"He looks like him, doesn't he?" she asked as he nodded. The boy turned and saw him and Andy, and she was right. That face was just like his brother—Regulus.
"Yeah," he agreed as the boy began to walk towards him, dragging his luggage behind him. As he came upon them, Sirius moved to greet the boy.
"Hi, I am Sirius Bla..." The boy did not let him finish, swinging his leg at him and hitting him square in the chin.
"OUCH! OUCH!" he jumped with pain and rubbed his shin as the boy glared at him.
"That was for being an idiot," he said, turning to face his cousin and smiling innocently.
"Hi, Aunt Andy...."
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NARCISSA MALFOY
It had torn her to stand there on the platform and watch her second son walk by her, as she remained helpless to call for him, care for him. Their eyes had met briefly, and she had felt that he was waiting for her to say something, do something, yet the fear of Lucius's rage lingered in her mind to this day as she halted her hands, and simply turned away even if doing so broke her heart.
He did nothing, said nothing, and simply walked past her, leaving her there alone with Draco, who watched it all with pursed lips. She could not stand it anymore, and so she moved and she did she saw her standing there, her face so similar to her own yet few would ever mistake her for her sister.
It was Andy. And the years had absolutely changed her sister, who cast a glance at her. Her gaze filled with the same disapproval from years ago, and as she saw her standing there waiting for her son, she felt her head fall in shame as she began to rethink her choices.
"Mother," Draco called for her, surprised much like her at the similarities between herself and her sister, and looking at her eldest, she was reminded of the reason for her sacrifice, as she ruffled his hair and moved him along.
"Come, let us floo home," she said, and Draco followed after her. As they headed towards the floo booths, Draco turned around and asked her.
"Who was that woman? She looked so much like you and...." and he did not need to say the second name.
For a second, she thought about lying, yet she stopped as she picked up a handful of floo powder and chose to divulge the truth.
"She was my sister, Andy..."
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CASSIUS MALFOY
"You need to tell her," began Ted Tonks, and his lawyer cum guardian spoke to him separately, as he found himself hauled a bit forcefully to Andromeda Tonks' house.
It was a modest yet homely place, and the woman had gone to the extent of even remodeling her daughter's old room, just to accommodate, and so he found it a bit hard to deny her. But it had been clear to him from the start that he could not keep his second identity a secret from her. Not when her own husband was his lawyer.
"I will," he agreed with the tall blonde man, who nodded.
"Good," and he rubbed his hand through his hair, as they heard shouts from the kitchen as his aunt tried to wrangle back the control of her kitchen from her daughter and cousin.
Sirius did not live with them, but the man visited them every other day, thinking that he owed them some kind of debt. In the beginning, he thought he would take care of Cassius all by himself, until his aunt had made it clear that putting any child under his supervision was the worst decision they could make.
"But only about me being the Black family Lord, as for our discussion regarding the matter with my father and mother, that and our other dealings will remain a secret," and the man seemed a bit reluctant but nodded nonetheless.
"As you wish," and so Cassius reached into his pocket and took out a ring, showing it to the man whose eyes widened.
"This is..." he recognised it an instant, as Cassius nodded.
"The Black Family Ring," he clarified as he put it on his finger, and it was a simple ring, made out of goblin steel with a dark obsidian stone placed in its centre, with the black family sigil inscribed into it in gold, with the words "Toujours Pur" engraved around it.
"I had it withdrawn from the vault a few days ago, and I plan to disclose it today," and he nodded.
"You and Aunt Andy have done a lot for me, even though you barely knew me in many ways," and he had met her only twice or thrice before this, and the only form of communication between them had been through his friendship with his cousin, Nymphadora.
"Nonsense," the man cut in as he placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Distant or not, you are family, and it is all that matters. You are a bright boy, blessed with maturity beyond your years, yet you are still a child. What your father and your mother did to you was not right, but you have us to rely on. No matter what," and he had spoken just like a typical Hufflepuff.
"Thank you, but within a few weeks, Sirius will go and get Harry. And I think we can all agree that leaving him alone with Sirius is a bad idea," and the man chuckled at his words as Cassius continued.
"That is right,"
"So, in that regard I had a proposition," and the man frowned, caught by surprise.
"What?"
"Number 12, Grimmauld Place...."
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The dinner was a joyous affair because of the continuous banter between Sirius and Nymphadora.
"Honestly, I am still surprised they let you be an Auror at all," the older man teased as he pushed back his curly hair.
"The standards must have really fallen," and his cousin's hair turned scarlet, as she pointed her fork at him.
"Like you can say anything. I have seen your Auror Academy scores. You were the bottom of the barrel yourself. I doubt the department would have hired you if it was not for the war," and they continued on and on, often times turning to him or her parents.
"So, Cassius, what about you? Have you given a thought to your future?" he suddenly asked him, and he found all the eyes at the table focused on him.
"He could easily be an Auror," his cousin cut in, as she bit into her sausage.
"He is skilled to cast a corporeal Patronus as a Third Year, and can even match me in duels," and that seemed to surprise everyone at the table, as Sirius's eyes narrowed.
"Impossible," he began, as Cassius simply shrugged.
"You are free to test me," he said, as Tonks.
"Five Galleons on Cassius," Nymphadora was quick to add, as her mother cut in disapprovingly.
"Nymphadora," she threatened, but the girl avoided looking at her and continued to stare at Sirius, who was eyeing him.
"You are betting against me, a former Auror. You are on Tonks," he agreed to the bet.
"Of course, I am. I have seen your scores, and I have duelled against him. He could match me, spell for spell, by the end of his second year, and now it has been a year since then. He is going to wipe the floor with you," she bragged.
"Are you going to be the duellist?" asked his Aunt, as Cassius shrugged.
"Maybe. Truth, is I have not given it much thought yet," he did not lie.
"Well, it's a good career. Bella always wanted to be on... " Yet she stopped mid-sentence as the table drowned in silence.
"Yes, I heard about that," he broke the silence, and quickly followed up, knowing that he would not get an opportunity better than this.
"Speaking of that, there is something I must disclose to you all," and with that, he stood up and shared a glance with Ted, his lawyer, as he raised his hand.
"After my father took his name from me, I gained a second name. One that comes with a lot of privileges and responsibilities," and his cousin frowned at his words.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
And as he raised his hand for all to see, he just willed it, and the family Ring appeared on his fingers, and Sirius's and Aunt Andy's eyes widened as they recognised it in an instant.
"The Black Family Ring...."
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Back in the Headmaster's office, Albus Dumbledore found himself in all too familiar conundrum as his DADA professor sat infront him with a grim expression on his face.
"Must you do this, Remus?" he asked, and the thin man nodded gravely.
"I must. There is unrest within the packs, the likes of which I have not seen since the...."
"...war," he finished for the man, who gulped down.
"And if your fears are indeed true that Voldemort might yet be alive, then this could be something worth investigating," and his former student now wore much better clothes than he had when he had begun working here.
He had shared his suspicions about Tom with the man, yet he had not expected that it would all come to haunt him like this.
The students had been rather satisfied with his style of teaching, and he had hoped that he would continue for more than a year, breaking the so-called proverbial curse on the seat.
Yet, it had struck again. Tom's curse had struck again, and even he remained oblivious to the nature of the curse, which allowed him to cause such outcomes even as he barely clung to life.
"Then I am afraid you have left with a very familiar conundrum," he smiled, knowing that there was little he could do to stop a Gryffindor once they had made their mind.
"Now, I must once again begin my search for a Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor," and doing this every year was a hassle, and he was not proud of the choices he was forced to make for the last few years.
"Well, I might have an idea..."
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