Chapter Text
Sirius
Sirius stared from the unconscious girl on the couch, whose brown hair was slightly darker than he remembered from her arrival, to the wall that held the Black family tapestry. He was utterly unable to process the events that had transpired.
One moment, he’d been in a conversation with his niece, Tonks, about the Order’s members cycling in and out of the Headquarters—a situation made worse by his godson’s absence. The next, a great, heaving earthquake had shaken the house.
It had caught them off guard, but nothing could have prepared them for the revelation now presented itself on the ancient wall.
Regulus Black’s name had changed to Regulus MacDonald, linked by a golden line to Mary Macdonald—a Muggleborn witch the Marauders had known at school—with three distinct branches connecting to three children. Cassiopeia Hermione MacDonald, Phineas Rigel MacDonald, and Ara Stella MacDonald.
All shared the date of birth, September 19, 1979. A mere two months before the death date recorded for both Regulus and Mary, November 1st, 1979.
Sirius rubbed his face, a knot of frustration tightening in his stomach. He didn’t know what to make of this new, impossible information.
Ginny and Molly were attending to Hermione. Sirius swallowed, looking again at the witch he had come to admire for her unwavering support of Harry, especially through the Triwizard Tournament. To think she was his niece.
He hadn’t even known she was adopted. That begged the question, what had happened for her to be raised by Muggles? And another more immediate question, where were Ara and Phineas?
Hermione’s name on the tapestry was her birth name, the only small blessing being that she went by her middle name. Did that mean the others were going by Stella and Rigel?
He raked his fingers through his hair as Tonks, his other niece, appeared by his side. “Blimey, three little tykes. Wasn't expecting your brother to have kids. He died when he was eighteen, didn't he, Siri? Who is the Lady? Was she a pureblood?” The bubblegum-haired witch was buzzing for answers. Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but a voice from behind them spoke first.
“Mary Macdonald was a Muggleborn witch. And she was in our year, a Gryffindor.” Sirius and Tonks turned to face Remus.
“A Gryffindor and a Slytherin? And wasn't your brother a Death Eater?” Tonks asked wryly. “I mean, it's not unheard of. I just wasn't expecting it. And the fact that Hermione is our niece.” Tonks looked at the unconscious Hermione. She noted how Molly had immediately begun to distance herself from the girl upon hearing the news, while Ginny refused to leave her friend’s side.
“Hermione told me last year she was adopted and had started looking into her parentage,” Ginny spoke up, a touch of nervousness in her voice. But with the truth out, she felt compelled to continue. “She was researching wizarding families in books from the Hogwarts library and shops in Hogsmeade and Flourish and Blotts. But the archives between 1978 and 1981 were either lost or inaccurate. A few classmates, both in the year above her and my year, hadn't been traced. I don't mean Muggleborns, obviously, but half-bloods and a few purebloods. Tracey Davis, Megan Jones, Terry Boot, and a few other half-bloods with two magical parents were unaccounted for. And then there was Pansy Parkinson’s younger brother, Derek, and a few other purebloods who weren’t in the census either. There were others not mentioned.”
“That’s simple, many families were in hiding at the time and just hadn't gone in and told the Ministry about the kids they had, even after the war ended,” Molly stated from the doorway, dusting off her skirt. The adults and Ginny turned to her. “Ginerva, you still have a lot of chores that need to be done.”
“Mum,” Ginny whined. “I am not leaving Hermione alone, especially after this huge thing about her life that has just been revealed.” Ginny made no move to leave her unconscious friend.
“Ginerva, now it’s no—”
“Do you think I've forgotten what you did to Mi last year? You actually believed that wicked woman about Hermione seducing Viktor and Harry, when you’ve known Hermione much longer and better than her.”
“Giner—” Molly started again, only to be cut off.
“Mum, I’m not going anywhere. You taught me not to abandon my friends in their time of need, and Hermione needs me right now.” Molly’s shoulders slumped, but her gaze remained stern. She bit back a retort, keenly aware of the piercing eyes of Sirius, Remus, and Tonks. She huffed.
“Alright, I will be in the kitchen making dinner.” Molly quickly retreated to the kitchen. Ginny sighed, gently combing Hermione's hair, which seemed to possess a new lustre since the truth about her parentage had been unveiled.
“Molly really believed Rita Skeeter about everything she wrote about Hermione?” Tonks exclaimed, causing the other three to grimace. Ginny nodded.
“Yes, and what's worse, Hermione got Bubotuber pus sent to her, which left a permanent scar on her hand.” Ginny sneered, holding her friend’s hand and tracing the scar. Sirius strode over and saw the mark.
He muttered in a low growl, “If I wasn't under house arrest, I would seriously hunt her down myself and—”
“Well, you can't, Sirius,” Remus began.
“She’s not an issue anymore, actually. Hermione held her captive in a jar for over a month. It wasn't until Professor Lupin and Tonks went to retrieve Hermione that she let the bug lady go.”
The three adults looked utterly gobsmacked by this new piece of information. “Wait.”
“What?” Tonks and Remus stared wide-eyed from Ginny to Hermione.
“Atta girl,” Sirius barked out, dissolving into laughter.
“I am so confused,” Tonks muttered. Remus closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“She was an Animagus, wasn't she?” Ginny nodded. “I heard the rumours back from Marls,” Remus said with a sad tone. Tonks frowned slightly, curious about 'Marls' but choosing not to ask, fixing her gaze on Sirius and Hermione.
“Do you think Marlene and the girls knew about Mary and my brother?”
“I doubt it. Mary disappeared the day of the Prewett's funeral in December of 1978. Since the triplets were born in September, it’s safe to assume she’d found out she was pregnant and went into hiding for obvious reasons.” Sirius scrunched up his nose in disgust, earning a laugh of dismay from Tonks and Remus.
“They also have a gold-like line connecting them, like your parents, Sirius, which could mean they were married,” Remus pointed at the images of Regulus and Mary.
“Shit, what a bloody mess this is,” Remus muttered. Tonks nodded in agreement.
“Do you think I should call Mum and Dad?” she asked, turning to Sirius. Sirius nodded.
“Yes, I think you should.” Tonks got up and left the room. Sirius turned to Ginny, “You were telling me about missing kids from the census. Can you tell me a list of the children who were not included that might match the names on the tapestry?” Ginny nodded.
“Hermione actually brought the paperwork with her things.” Ginny rose, moving to the table scattered with papers. She collected a list from a notebook Hermione had left out. She brought it to Sirius. “She was researching down here. I’d been covering her chores so she could comb through some books. She found some census-like books that looked similar to the Ministry-issued ones, but these books listed purebloods and witches and wizards descended from the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Squibs also appear there too. The latest one is from 1982 to the current year and updates automatically. This one,” Ginny pulled out a book plastered with ‘1961-1981’ on the cover, “is for these years, and Cassiopeia, Ara, and Phineas do come up. I remember because they had the same birthday as Hermione. Now I know why. We didn't know about the connection until now because they didn't have their middle names in the book.” Sirius took the book, swallowing hard.
He opened it and his eyes landed on Regulus’ name first. His shoulders sagged as he thought, ‘I failed you, little brother. You were good in the end. To think I hadn't known you at all.’ He inhaled sharply as Ginny continued to tend to Hermione. Remus frowned.
“Where is Ron? I would think he’d want to be with Hermione as they are friends.” Remus asked, turning to study the tapestry, focusing on Mary’s face on the Black family wall.
“Tsk, honestly, Ron is being a prat. When she told Harry and Ron about her parentage, Ron snarked about her desperately trying to fit in when she mentioned having a pureblood parent. Ron is unreasonable sometimes, especially with what happened with the broom.” Sirius winced at the reminder of the broom incident causing a rift between Hermione and the boys. “And then with what happened with Krum. He overheard me and Hermione talking about a kiss.” She gasped, clamping her mouth shut, as Sirius narrowed his eyes at the girl.
“I’m going to have a serious talk with that guy.”
“Oh, cut it out, Padfoot. You did worse at her age, and besides, it’s none of your business what she does,” Remus stated.
“You can’t repeat what I just said anyway. And besides, she and Viktor kissed once after the Yule Ball. Now, as for Hermione and Harry. I’m hoping once Harry gets here, I can help push them further along. Well, with that kiss at the end of the train ride—I mean, it was a cheek kiss, but still. A kiss in the right direction.” She snapped her mouth shut again, looking away.
“Wait. You don't mean. My niece and godson?” Sirius erupted into a wide, Cheshire smile. “Moony!” Remus snorted.
“I’ve been saying this since I first laid eyes on them.”
“You saw it too?” Ginny asked, smirking.
“Too hard to miss. Harry has the same look his father would give Lily all throughout school. James was oblivious to his feelings for Lily until third year when she slapped him for causing Snape to fall into the Great Lake.” Ginny snorted, making Sirius grin. Remus shook his head.
“He may be a git now, but you and James had no excuse for bullying him just because he was a Slytherin. And I’m ashamed I hadn't done anything to prevent him from getting hurt. I was a prefect fifth year and onward, after all. As much as it was fun, it was wrong,” Remus said sternly. “Now, as I was saying, Lily slapped him so hard that he said he saw the universe and Lily was at the center of it.” Sirius snorted at the memory.
“It was truly the end for Prongs. And Lily only fell a few years later. After 170 marriage proposals,” Sirius said fondly. Remus sagged his shoulders, glancing back towards the wall.
Sirius continued through the book, finally coming across the triplets' names. He inhaled sharply, snapping the book shut tight.
Ginny and Remus turned to face him. “Ginny, do you have a list of the people in Hermione’s year?” Sirius asked, hoping to table the conversation for later. Ginny nodded, picking up Hermione’s notebook with the student names.
Hermione had organized the table of contents, and the names Ara and Rigel both appeared, but with different last names. Ara had the last name Taylor, and Rigel had Lovegood. Sirius inhaled sharply at the names and swore. Remus strode over and took the book, seeing the names.
“Yes, I remember Rigel. He’s a Slytherin, correct?” Ginny nodded. Remus smiled fondly, remembering the quiet boy who helped his classmates in and out of class.
“He's tall with black hair and honey-brown eyes,” Ginny cooed.
“Someone has a crush on my nephew, I see,” Sirius teased. Ginny rolled her eyes.
“He’s a cool one. On the Quidditch team as a Chaser. Also is a top tier charms students. He normally hangs out with Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, and Theodore Nott. And he definitely likes blokes. I see him eye my brothers every once in a while,” she chortled, earning a grin from Sirius. “Also, he doesn't believe in that blood purity stuff.”
“Hmm. Seems like Ara had kept her actual name. What can you tell me about her?” Sirius asked.
“Ah, the Puff.” Sirius scrunched his nose, and Remus smacked his head. Wincing, Sirius turned to face Ginny, who wore a sad expression. “She was going out with Cedric when he…” The words died on her tongue, causing the older men to grimace. “She fainted as soon as Harry and Cedric popped back up.” Ginny pressed her lips together, gently caressing her friend’s hair. She sighed softly. “What's weird, now that I think about it, was that Hermione and Rigel had both rushed over to her when it happened.” The adults' eyes widened.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. It was strange. Hermione couldn't account for what happened; her legs just started to move. A few other people who noticed were just as confused since they hadn't really spoken much to one another.” Her eyes narrowed as she recalled several occurrences of the three of them going to one another if one was hurt, “But I do recall Hermione mentioning running into the pair of them shortly after the 2nd task. They seemed rather worried about her. The same when Rigel fell off the broom the year before. Now it somewhat makes sense.” Ginny mumbles.
Remus hummed thoughtfully while Sirius considered the possibility of a bond between triplets causing such a reaction.
“Ara was in the top five of her year,” Remus remarked.
“She still is, I think. Hermione and Malfoy are always in the top two with Hermione always at the top. From what I gather. With Ara and Phineas they too are in the top four.”
“Oh, Blacks are overachievers, Moony. Even baby Lucius is at the top.”
“Malfoy?” Ginny asked with disgust.
“Is a Black. His mother is my cousin, Narcissa.” Sirius said with amusement. Ginny wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, Mione is not going to like that one bit.” Remus snorted.
“I suppose not,” Sirius grinned, recalling Remus’s tale of Hermione breaking Draco’s nose.
“Ara definitely isn't either. Anyway, going back to Ara, she loves helping Hagrid and his creatures.” Ginny scrunched her nose, and Remus and Sirius grimaced, recalling the sorts of creatures Hagrid cared for. “Honestly, she's friends with everyone except a few Slytherins, especially Daphne Greengrass.” Ginny shrugged, “Not sure why Greengrass doesn't like her. For the others it's because they believe she was a muggleborn. Ara is kind, sweet, and helps everyone in need. She also kicks Draco's arse every so often. The way she exploded on Draco after he called Mi a Mudblood back in my first year…” She chuckled, recalling the blue-skinned blonde.
“Mione explained how he looked like a Smurf. Whatever that is.” Remus snorted, and the two purebloods turned to face him. He was trembling from the image of young Draco looking like a Smurf. “If anything, that’s when many people started to like her, from what I heard.”
“Ara earned the title of the Sun Goddess. As Fred and George put it,” Sirius sighed softly.
“Mary was a ray of sunshine. Everyone loved her, but a handful of Slytherins took an uncomfortable shine to her. Starting with the Averys—nasty twins if you ask me. Especially Bradley, the man.” He sneered, “No—more like a fucking child that one was. He and Mulciber used to make a sport of picking on Mary,” Sirius growled.
“In our sixth year, Mary was in the library with another girl named Sara McKinnon,” Remus said, swallowing hard, recalling his mate's little sister. He inhaled sharply, continuing the conversation. “Sara had gone back to her dorm because she forgot something and was caught off guard. Stunned and thrown into a storage closet. Fortunately, she wasn't out for long. She managed to run into Regulus and his friends first…” The words died on his tongue. He sighed in frustration, laughing hysterically.
“Oh, you've got to be bloody kidding me. Of course, I was so blinded about Regulus that I didn't realize it before.” Remus and Ginny looked at each other, then at Sirius. “Regulus went ballistic on Mulciber, don't you remember?” Remus’ eyes widened.
“I never saw Regulus so angry. You and James had a hard time trying to pry him off Mulciber.” Ginny's eyes grew wide.
“And what in Godric's sake did you think about that?”
“Honestly, just that he was angry about someone nearly getting assaulted.” Remus shook his head at Sirius’s response. “What. I mean he did become a death eater so one would assume they would be into that.” Remus sighed, turning his attention towards Ginny.
“We commented that Regulus took a shine to Mary, but Sirius thought nothing of it. He just told Mary to stay clear of Regulus.” Ginny scowled.
“Honestly, your brother attacked a student, and you just brushed it away.” Sirius’ face flushed with embarrassment.
“Yeah, when it came to Regulus, Sirius never saw reason to believe the good in him.”
“Oh, and you knew something was there.” Sirius spat out in annoyance.
“I just thought Regulus had a crush on Mary and Mary was oblivious to it. Pettigrew used to say it all the time,” Remus said the last part bitterly, remembering how perceptive Peter had been for the rat he turned out to be.
“There's something else you noticed.” Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius’ question.
“The last time I saw Mary, she was leaving the pub we were at after the funeral. She left with some bloke, and the next thing I know, she pulled out of working at St. Mungo's. And the bloke smelled familiar. Now that I think about it, it could have been Regulus.”
“Why didn't you say anything about it at the time?” Sirius snapped.
“I was called on Order business at the time, as you recall, and I didn't want to disappoint Albus for what he allowed me to do, going to Hogwarts and all.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course, the damn wolf pack." He muttered.
“And besides, the next time we saw each other was when…” Remus sank into a nearby chair.
“When what happened?” Ginny asked nervously.
“Marlene McKinnon—my mate—her whole family all but wiped out,” Remus said bitterly.
A crash was heard, followed by a loud, screeching voice tearing through the home. “BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF-BLOODS, AND MUGGLE-BORN ALIKE! DISTURBING MY HOME!” Sirius growled at the voice, shooting up and making his way toward the curtain. Remus followed close behind, helping a stunned Tonks off the floor, earning a few glances from the older couple.
“ENOUGH, YOU WASHED-UP OLD HAG.” He seized the curtain and threw it over the portrait of the screaming lady.
“Well, she is the same as ever, Siri.” Sirius turned to face the older lady, flashing her a wolfish smile.
“Andi, lovely to see you again.” He opened his arms, and Andromeda leaned into the hug. Pulling away, he greeted Ted.
“Maybe next time we meet, it won't be in fifteen years,” Andromeda teased.
“I solemnly swear.”
“So, I heard from my daughter that we have nieces and a nephew.”
“Seems like my baby brother wasn't as much of a bigot as I thought he was,” Sirius said, his voice tinged with sadness. “Hermione is here and passed out at the moment. I honestly don't know where the other two a—” A sharp pop and a few thuds interrupted him. “Shit.” Sirius quickly ushered them into the drawing room, just as a now-awakened Hermione–with striking grey eyes–, a boy with jet-black hair and grey eyes, a girl with two-toned black and blonde hair and heterochromia–one grey, one iris brown–appeared, the latter currently drenched in a spilled coffee drink, and a disgruntled Harry Potter laying by two-toned girl.
"Harry what in devils are you doing here?" Sirius asked in a shocked tone, while going over to where his godson is seated. He was feeling drained of color. Hermione had shot up to go to Harry ignoring the looks of the others.
“Alright I don't know why in Salazar's sake am I doing in this ghastly place?” the boy exclaimed.
Harry turned to face Sirius and then turned to Hermione. "I used the patronous charm to head off the dementors." He mumbled. "I used magic." Hermione sagged her shoulders. Sirius cursed. Andromeda had made her way to the black haired boy looking over him.
Hermione groaned softly as Harry asked, "Hermione why are you here with Sirius. With all these people..." He asked in a low voice, sounding hurt that she was here. Hermione inhaled sharply, she looked around the room and then back towards Harry.
It was Sirius who answered, "a lot has happened Harry and we will explain it, but just know you are safe here." It left Harry still unsettled as his green eyes pierced into Hermione's.
All while in the background the two-toned girl groaned as Kreacher had been attending to her muttering about how the children had returned.
Hermiome gulped as she held onto Harry, "All I did was prick my finger on the damn tapestry.”