Chapter 23

Chapter 23

SIRIUS BLACK

After a long time, Sirius was somehwhat excited about something. After his escape from Azkaban, life had been a rollercoaster. He had escaped Azkaban to have his revenge, yet he had failed to kill the little rat. However, he had gotten to meet Harry. And that had been enough for him. Given the state of the Ministry, he had not hoped for much, yet then Dumbledore had come calling, arranging for him to come back to Britain. To his own home.

"Take that, mother!" he joked as he leaned back into the sofa with a bottle of a muggle beverage he had gotten addicted to. Sirius turned the bottle to make out the name on the bottle.

"Mountain Dew, that's a weird name. I think he might have been drunk. Is there even dew on mountains?" he muttered as he simply put the glass bottle to his lips and took a huge gulp of the bubbly drink.

"Sheeesh! This stuff is good," Sirius had been avoiding alcohol because of his health. He still had to visit St.Mungos, though Dumbledore had said he might be bringing a healer here if the trial was interrupted for some reason.

Sirius looked around the house, his family's ancestral home. He didn't have many fond memories of this place, yet this place had once been his home. Home to him and his brother.

Regulus, he sighed as he remembered his younger brother. He used to follow him around when they were little. But then, the war had caused their relationship to deteriorate. Sirius still remembered how he had been approached by Regulus sometimes before Voldemort's fall. Yet he had ignored him, thinking that regulus simply wanted Sirius to give out the location of the Potters.

"That fucking idiot," he muttered as he wiped his eyes with his cuff, stopping midway as he spotted the painting on the wall.

It was their family tree. Even from the sofa, he could make out two scorch marks in the tapestry. Sirius got up from the sofa and walked up to the tapestry. He stood in front of it and found the name of his brother alongside one of the burn marks.

A burn mark that had been caused by his very mother. To the side, there was another one nestled between two names. Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. Between them had been Andromeda Black. Andromeda Tonks, if he still remembered correctly.

"Perhaps, I should contact her." He considered and was about to walk away when he suddenly stopped. He looked at the tapestry with narrowed eyes as he felt something wrong with it.

He stepped back to look at the whole tapestry. There were other names that had been removed as well across several branches. Though, each time the branch from the tree would simply stop at them, just like it had at Andromeda's name.

But there seemed to be something wrong there. Sirius took out his wand and used a normal explorative spell, and it seemed it was okay. But there was something wrong. Something wrong besides his name.

He thought about it for a second before remembering something.

"KREACHER!" he screamed for the house-elf and with a very delayed pop.

"What does the disgraceful master want from this old elf," muttered the aged elf.

"SHUT UP!" Sirius screamed, making him stop immediately. He then pointed his finger at the tapestry.

"Did someone mess with the tapestry?" and the elf looked away.

"There has been no one…." And Sirius was beginning to lose his patience with this. So, he picked out a handkerchief from his pocket and waved at the wide-eyed elf.

"DID SOMEONE MESS WITH IT IN ANY WAY OR ORDER YOU TO CHANGE IT IN ANY WAY!" Sirius screamed at the elf, and Kreacher stepped back as he replied.

"Yes, yes. Master Regulus. It was master Regulus who came to the house one day. He put some spell on it. He ordered Kreacher not to tell anyone, even Mistress." The old elf answered, making Sirius's suspicion right.

"Now get out of my sight!" Sirius screamed, and the aged elf vanished. Sirius once more turned to face the tapestry and brought up the wand once more.

"What were you trying to hide, dear brother!" he muttered and began to recall every counterspell he had ever learned. Sirius began to cycle through them, and then after quite some time, he would stop.

Stop for the tapestry would finally change, as the Regulus's name would glow up, and the area after it would begin to show clear movement. Movement as a branch grew out from Regulus's name and begin to move forward.

Sirius was so surprised that he missed the sound of the floo opening up. The branch would reach forward and entangle around a blank picture. A picture that, when the person had given a drop of blood to the tapestry, would be filled by Regulus's child.

"Sirius! Sirius!" he was broken out of his reverie as his name was called out by a very familiar voice. Sirius, with heavy breathing, turned and found Dumbledore standing there. Perhaps seeing the surprise on Sirius's face, Dumbledore frowned and spoke up.

"What happened, Sirius? Why do you seem so startled?" the headmaster questioned, and Sirius replied without thinking replied.

"Regulus has a child!" and in his startled state, he missed the widening of Dumbledore's eyes, followed by the look of extreme sadness on the man's face.

0000

HERMIONE GRANGER

"He is definitely staring at you," came the small whisper making Hermione frown as she gave her new study mate a pointed look. Susan just shrugged, though Hannah came to her friend's defense immediately.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Plus, Susan is right. He has been totally staring at you for the last couple of days now," and then she pointed her chin at the aforementioned stalker.

"Look, he hasn't even changed the book. It's the same book from yesterday," Hannah added, and Hermione just rolled her eyes as she began focusing on her own work once more.

"He just might be interested in that specific book, and you are just mista…." But Susan suddenly cut in.

"Yeah, he might be able to read it if it was upright. He is even holding it upside down," Susan added with a giggle, and Hermione turned her head slightly to look at the person sitting at the corner table.

This person was not dressed in regular Hogwarts clothing and was wearing a brownish military-style uniform. His face had that distinctive wound on his nose, probably from his career.

Viktor perhaps caught her looking his way and suddenly looked down, and turned the book straight before pretending to read it once more. Hence confirming Susan and Hannah's insinuations.

Hermione frowned as she turned to face both of them and finally questioned.

"But why? Why is he staring at me?" her question made both Susan and Hannah look at her as if she was an idiot. Hermione was perplexed by this.

"What?" she asked with a shake of her head, making Hannah sigh. Hannah and Susan then looked each other in the eye.

"She can not be this dumb, right?" Hannah spoke up, and Susan just shrugged as she finally looked at her.

"My dear, what was the most recent announcement?" Hermione frowned as she answered that question.

"It was about the Yul…." And she would stop mid-sentence as the implication would dawn on her. Hermione would shake her at this.

"This is impossible! He wants to ask m….!" she almost screamed as Susan muffled her voice as put a hand on her face.

"What are you doing, you idiot!" Susan said as Hermione squirmed as she struggled to escape from her grip.

"Merlin! She really is dense!" Hermione finally managed to get away from Susan's grip as she replied to Hannah.

"I will have you know that I am pretty smart, at least smarter than both of you," she huffed, and Susan just shook her head at this.

"That's why you were going to scream like this. Honestly, you should ask Edward to give you notes about this stuff as well," Susan said as wriggled her brows at her. Hermione rolled her eyes at this.

"Very funny. Perhaps I should tell him about your little crush on him and his girlfriend," Hermione retaliated and Susan flushed at that.

"There is no such thing. I am just a huge fan of his dueling prowess. It's all lies!" she replied as Hannah beside her laughed.

"Though about that, when are we going to get to meet him and his girlfriend? Has he contacted you about this?" Hannah questioned, and Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, it is tomorrow. Plus, you should also tell this to Daphne and Tracy so they can join if they want to," and her words immediately made Susan's eyes sparkle.

"Tommorow! Why didn't you tell me about it earlier. Jeez, you don't know how lucky you are the way he treats you!" Susan muttered and while many people may have found it offensive, Hermione tended to agree with Susan.

Having Edward watch out for her was a privilege. A privilege that she was beginning to realize was equivalent to the pureblood, bourgeois nonsense often spouted by Malfoy.

Hannah was about to say something though she suddenly stopped making Hermione frown though the reason would soon reveal itself as a very unfamiliar voice entered her ears.

"Hi, but can I talk to you for a moment He-mayoone?" Hermione turned and saw the boy from Drumstrang standing there. Hermione had not expected his voice to be like this, she had expected a much deeper voice given his appearance but it was quite normal.

She was broken out of her stance by a pinch by Susan, making her break out of her stance as she replied.

"Yes. Yes, though my name isn't He-mayoone. Its Hermione, Hermione Granger," she corrected the Quidditch star. She missed how Hannah and Susan rolled their eyes at this. Though, it seems the boy did not mind as he gave her a small smile as he tried to correct himself.

"Hermoney," he butchered it again. So, she spoke up again as she began to spell it out on a piece of parchment.

"Its Her-mione. Hermione." She said as she indicated with the spellings.

0000

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Albus was saddened as he watched Sirius weep by his brother's side. It seems that he had been to late. Even in rushing to the St. Mungos had been fruitless for it seemed that he had been too late once more.

Once more, Albus could only watch as another one of his pupils lost his life. However, the biggest tragedy was the latest discovery made by Sirius about the secret child of Regulus Black. A child that the man had kept secretive.

"What happened to him was very cruel! I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies!" came a voice from his side. It was a lawyer, Ted Tonks. The same man who was to represent Sirius in his trial tomorrow.

"Though, I still believe that you should have waited for the trial." The man complained, and perhaps he was right. Yet Albus couldn't find it in him to keep this down after what Sirius had told him.

"Are the preparations for tomorrow complete?" Dumbledore questioned the man, and he nodded.

'Yeah, I have prepared everything. By this time tomorrow, Sirius Black will be a free man," he said resolutely, and Dumbledore was somewhat elated to hear this news. Finally.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Dumbledore had arranged for a special ward for this as he did not want the news of this to get out. So, he frowned that someone was knocking on the door.

"Oh, it's probably Andromeda. She might have flooed in," and Dumbledore nodded, for he was the one who had given Ted the go-ahead to call for her.

Andromeda Tonks had been the first to turn away from the Black family, running away even before Sirius. She was a very strong witch, and she had run away from Hogwarts as she had run away with a muggle-born wizard named Ted Tonks. Dumbledore had faced quite some criticism for allowing such an incident to happen on his watch. But what could he do? Stand in the way of love?

Never. He thought as the unlocked the door. And for a moment, he was taken back by the incoming witch as he was reminded of a different Black witch. Andromeda had always resembled her elder sister Bellatrix and had similar black locks, yet the difference was quite visible, for she had no cruelty of Bellatrix on her face.

She walked in, and Ted immediately rushed towards her as he began to speak up.

"What happened? You mentioned something about Regulus?" Dumbledore heard her whisper as Ted began to explain.

0000

BOOM. Regulus is dead. Albus fails. But he has a child. Now, who is he? Let me clarify. It's not Edward cuz the age doesn't make sense. So, take a guess who is it?

As always, you can read ahead and support me on Patre 0n. Your support is highly appreciated, so if possible, have a look and toss me a sub.

www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest

Have a lovely day!