Chapter 20 – Busy as a Bee

Using a discreet Disillusionment Charm, Lucius places himself at the entrance of the Hufflepuff changing rooms, watching Potter take up Holly on his Firebolt. Severus might have his head firmly up his own arse right now, but out of concern for both his friend and Holly, he is here to ensure Holly doesn’t get hurt during her flying stunt with Potter.

The boy might be a natural on the broom, but teaching someone else is a different kettle of fish. Even when Draco attempted to teach Holly in the summer, Lucius, Narcissa, and Severus had been ready to intervene should something have gone wrong. And though Lucius might have thrown his lot in with Potter and Dumbledore, leaving Holly’s safety to a bunch of Gryffindors still goes against the grain, no matter how much Holly loves and trusts Potter. Not to mention, a Firebolt is hardly a suitable broom for a first-timer like Holly.

He is tense the whole time he spies Holly sitting astride the Broom with Potter. The boy, at least, has the sense not to go too high or too fast with his additional passenger, and Lucius begins to relax a little as he continues to watch them, distant enough to reach into his pockets to bring out his Omnioculars. A marvellous invention, though he wishes it had the ability to project its contents rather than having to press the damn thing against his eyes each time he wants to view something.

Carefully, he uses the toggles to zoom in to see Holly’s face. Unconsciously, he begins to smile to mirror the one on her face. He’s happy to see she’s happy. Potter begins to pick up more speed and height than Lucius is comfortable with, and while still keeping the Omnioculars to his face with one hand, he flicks his other wrist to summon his wand to have it ready. Just in case.

He doesn’t relax the whole time they are in the air, and it’s only several minutes later that he’s able to let out a breath of relief, following their progress with the Omnioculars as they land at the Gryffindor side of the pitch before lowering them completely.

Taking the opportunity to look around, he realises the pitch is mostly empty; only the Quidditch team and Potter’s friends are here, watching the flying duo. Doing a second sweep around the pitch, he glimpses extremely familiar blonde hair. Raising his Omnioculars once more, he sees his son standing in the shadows of the Slytherin changing rooms at the opposite end of the pitch. Thanks to his zoomed-in device, he can see every inch of Draco’s scowl as clearly as if the boy was standing next to him. It’s not a pretty look. Lucius is thankful to see Draco is not alone, having been accompanied by the cooler heads of Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass. The boys seem to be holding Draco back quite firmly, with Daphne giving him a not-undeserved, contemptuous look.

His son is undoubtedly jealous that Holly is willing to hop on a broom with Potter, yet she had not even given Draco a chance. The previous night, at dinner, she had been coolly dismissive when admitting her lie about being afraid of heights, hurting Draco’s feelings in the process. Seeing her happy and giggling with Potter undoubtedly rubs undiluted Bubotuber pus in the wounds.

Lucius is beginning to realise that Draco’s training lacks hiding such feelings. He has not yet learned to rise above such things. He debates moving from his position to go stand by Draco and the others if only to help his son’s poor year mates to reign in Draco’s tendency to jump in and ruin everything, but he doesn’t want to risk missing Holly flying and needing his wand; just in case something happens in even the few minutes it will take him to get to the Slytherin area.

Instead, he lifts the Omnioculars back to his face and watches as he records the events.

ooOoo

Harry lets Holly carry his Firebolt, which he always stores in his room rather than the Broom shed near the Quidditch pitch. Besides being an expensive broom, it is also a precious gift from Sirius. The man might not have been a part of Harry’s life for the better part of twelve years, but he’s making an effort. He knows Sirius needs a lot of help and hopes they catch Pettigrew so that Sirius can have the freedom he deserves. Empathising with Sirius, Harry knows too well what it is to be locked up for his own good.

Regulus might have promised that Harry would never return to the Dursleys, but he knows better than to hope. Even Iris never promised to take Harry from the Dursleys, though he and his surrogate family wished for such a thing often enough. Harry never blamed Iris for not taking him from the Dursleys, though he appreciated her letter explaining all her actions.

The smile he sports is almost as wide as Holly’s. He’s glad her first time on a broom has been as enjoyable as his. She’s not a natural like him, but she enjoyed being in the air. Harry wouldn’t let her fly higher than six feet in the air by herself, and even then, he was unsure if that might have been too high. However, he stayed by her side the whole time, easily keeping up with her even with Fred’s broom while she used George’s.

She’s already looking forward to their next flight and Harry doesn’t mind staying later after Quidditch practices to fly with Holly some more.

He listens with an indulgent smile and lets her happy chatter wash over him. She’s been amazingly resilient with everything she’s been through recently. They both feel the keen loss of Oma. It couldn’t have been easy for her to witness Oma’s death and then go through weeks of uncertainty where Harry hadn’t contacted her, not until Hedwig forced him to. He’ll forever be treating Hedwig for making him send that letter to Holly. And be forever grateful to Regulus, who acted as a messenger between him and Holly during the weeks she’d spent at Malfoy Manor.

He already knows about her one nightmare where she thought Oma came to her at night. He’s surprised there have been no more, but he hopes her nights remain nightmare free. He knows better than most how horrible those kinds of terrors can be - his nights are still punctuated by seeing green lights and Cedric Diggory’s unseeing eyes.

Harry still has homework to catch up on, but he knows he’s got to see Lucius Malfoy. Harry doesn’t honestly know what to expect from the Malfoy patriarch. Eileen and Regulus have told Harry that the Malfoys always sought power above everything else; if they have a use for you, they always negotiate a deal where they will come out on top. Yet, Eileen and Regulus have also indicated that once a Malfoy accepts you as family, that connection will remain forever.

Regulus does not like Lucius on a personal level, having once called eldest Malfoy a snake with a silver tongue - quite capable of being charming and beguiling but equally deadly. Harry hasn’t seen Lucius’s charm, but he has witnessed the other man’s cruelty. Despite being magically free of him, Dobby still won’t talk about Lucius; Ginny’s recovery was hard-won through intense Mind Healing sessions during the summer months following the end of her horrific first year. Eying up his sister, he makes a silent vow to protect Holly, even against the likes of Lucius. He won’t let him do anything to harm her or any of the Weasleys - not anymore.

He truly hopes Lucius sees Holly as family or Harry will end him. Eileen had passed on plenty of books about dark spells that he would have no compunction studying to use on anyone who dared harm his sister. She’s all he has left.

Having stowed away his Firebolt, Harry, Holly, and the Weasleys exit the Common Room and then break off in different directions.

Harry and Holly walk toward Lucius’s office and the Weasleys to McGonagall’s. The Weasleys are going to discuss dropping DADA and begin some tutoring sessions with Harry, who has no doubt that Hermione is already drawing up lesson plans for them all. He also has no doubt that Hermione will not only stay in Lucius’s classroom but also attend any session Harry holds with the Weasleys. Not that Harry thinks Hermione needs tutoring. She and Ron had spent loads of time with him last year to help train for the Tournament.

“We’ll do some gymnastics tomorrow, won’t we?” Holly is asking after they part from the Weasleys.

“Of course,” Harry says agreeably.

She beams at him, not having let go of his hand since they left Gryffindor Common Room. In his other hand, he holds Holly’s bag that she insists on keeping close.

“I missed doing gymnastics with you, Harry,” she adds.

“Me, too,” he confesses. “Dean comes to the gym all the time. And I told you about those boys from Hufflepuff, right? And Colin’s brother Dennis comes quite a bit too. If we’re all there together, it’ll be like being back in the classes. We have some of the equipment shrink down for us.”

“But sometimes it’ll be just us, right?” she checks.

“Yeah. We’ll kick everyone else out when you want it to be just us,” Harry says firmly. If Holly feels more comfortable with just the two of them, then he’ll make sure it’s just the two of them. However, Harry hides a grin at Hogwarts’ other well-kept secret that he can’t wait to share with his sister. Harry doesn’t anticipate problems with that secret being shared with her.

ooOoo

Lucius needs the conversation with Harry Potter to go well. Yet, he knows that won’t happen if Draco is in the room with them. Just as he knows that neither he nor Potter will be frank with Holly in the room with them. So, he has the slightly dubious but necessary idea to send Holly with Draco to the Slytherin Common room.

Of course, persuading Holly will be difficult after Draco insulted Potter yet again last night. After Holly had stomped out in a huff last night, Lucius had taken the time to clearly explain enough of the reason Potter and Holly are close and how Draco will never achieve the same closeness if he continues to isolate her with his thoughtless comments about Potter or unthinkingly using insulting slurs. He has doubts any of those recommendations have sunk into his son’s brain yet; however, Lucius remains hopeful that the presence of the other Slytherins, especially those who met Holly during the summer, will help curb Draco’s tongue. He’s also trusting them to protect Holly from any… let’s say - unpleasantness from the hidden faction who support the Dark Lord.

A knock sounds on his door, and Lucius rises smoothly to his feet. It would be improper for him to have students in his private quarters, so, as Potter is neither his son nor godchild, the meeting will take place in his office.

He opens the door to see Draco, Blaise, Theo and Daphne standing on the other side. Draco’s still scowling but attempts to smooth his face a little upon seeing Lucius’s raised brow.

“Is Holly here yet?” he asks quietly, and Lucius shakes his head in denial.

The scowl comes back in full force as he demands, “She’s still with Potter?”

Lucius can see Daphne wants nothing more than to roll her eyes.

“Presumably,” he answers coldly, silently telling his son to check his tone. Lucius is sure he had never been this insolent towards his father. Abraxas knew enough spells, though he was fond of one, in particular, that would never leave marks on his son but would undoubtedly leave Lucius obedient if a little resentful of the treatment he’d received at the hands of his father. Lucius wouldn’t even dream of using those spells on his son, no matter the provocation - even if Draco has been pushing his teen rebellion to the limit, along with Lucius’s patience.

Draco subsides at the tone, and even his friends stand to attention. He keeps his gaze fixed on Draco, hard and uncompromising.

“I am trusting you to look after Holly while in the Slytherin Common rooms,” he states in precise tones. Softening his expression slightly, he looks at the others in turn, and they nod back to him in accord. He knows they understand what he means.

“Holly is not to be left alone under any circumstances,” he continues rigidly.

“Yes, sir,” they chorus as his gaze settles back on Draco.

Any further conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door. Lucius makes an effort to subtly ease the tension in his shoulders. Draco might be too resentful to understand why he needs to speak to Harry Potter, but the others seem to pick up on the importance of it. Lucius moves to answer the door again, silently willing his son to curb his tongue, not only in front of Potter now but also with Holly later in the Slytherin Common room.

ooOoo

Harry takes in Lucius’s neutral expression, a part of him feeling anxious at being left alone with a known Death Eater, reformed as he claimed to be.

Regulus had warned Harry in the summer that Lucius would want to speak to him directly. Lucius thinks Harry is powerful enough to defect from the Dark Lord for. Although privately, Harry disagrees; he feels the need to maintain some form of pretence to ensure Lucius will continue protecting his sister. Harry doesn’t feel he’s particularly powerful or special: anyone can do what he can, but Harry’s simply had more motivation to learn some things better than others. Hermione’s so much cleverer than he is, and Fred and George are geniuses in inventing joke products; Ron’s laziness and fear of being seen as a failure holds him back from trying too hard, but even his red-haired friend is brilliant in his own way. He’s just Harry, and that’s all he wants to be. Yet, for Holly’s sake, he’s willing to deal with the likes of Lucius. If Lucius believes Harry is powerful, he must trick him into continuing to think that.

First, he needs to understand precisely what Lucius’s expectations are before he can try and negotiate what he wants from the older wizard. As much as he despises Vernon Dursley, Harry has overheard enough about negotiating to know that the trick is to ask for the sky, let the other person think they have won some battles and fix on what is uncompromisable. There are shadier aspects that Harry won’t sink low enough to employ, though it does spark an idea of what Harry can ask Lucius for, apart from Holly’s protection.

Lucius leads Harry to his desk, motioning for Harry to take a seat. To Harry’s surprise, Lucius doesn’t take his usual seat behind the desk. Instead, he sits in the chair opposite Harry. As his equal. Harry nods in acknowledgement at the gesture and receives a faint smile in return.

“You are not here as my student today, Mr Potter,” Lucius opens the conversation without unnecessary preamble. “The matters we need to discuss have nothing to do with school.”

Harry nods his understanding. He already knew this. However, he is not naïve enough to think what they discuss and eventually agree upon won’t impact school matters somehow. He briefly wonders what Lucius was thinking when he agreed to replace the Umbridge woman, whoever she might be, as DADA teacher. As mad as Arthur Weasley had been about Lucius’s appointment at the school, even the Weasley patriarch had reluctantly admitted Umbridge should not be allowed anywhere near school children. For all of Lucius’s scheming and conniving, he seems to have missed a trick regarding the Weasleys.

Harry had yet to see what type of apology or reparations Lucius would offer the Weasleys, though Ginny in particular. Lucius seemed unaware that Dobby worked at the school and had been given permission by Dumbledore to never have to answer the blond’s calls.

Lucius continues, “I believe we must clear the air before we continue our conversation.”

Harry leans forward in curiosity. Would the other wizard really try to explain away putting Ginny through so much trauma?

ooOoo

At his last words, Potter leans forward, his attention caught. Lucius is aware he must tread carefully. Having read over Potter’s letters to Eileen and Holly since the beginning of his first year, Lucius has decided he needs to mitigate the damage Draco has done over the last few years, especially from the boys’ third year with the Hippogriff incident.

“I am aware that your relationship with Draco has not been the best. I confess,” he admits reluctantly, “I don’t know what started it.”

He pauses briefly to allow Potter to jump in with an explanation, but he does nothing of the sort. Curiously, the boy leans back in his chair instead, a fleeting flash of disappointment that Lucius doesn’t understand the source of.

Nevertheless, he continues, “Draco knows the importance of working together. I have advised him against antagonising you and would ask you to extend the same courtesy.”

Lucius expects the boy to jump up and deny ever starting arguments with or antagonising his son, placing all blame on Draco instead. He is surprised yet again when Potter’s lips twist in a facsimile of a smile and say with a shrug, “Fair enough. I’ll stay away from Malfoy as long as he stays away from me.”

Lucius is about to take up the reins of the conversation again when Potter adds, “If he hurts Holly, however, I won’t hold back.”

As unhappy as he is at the threat against his son, Lucius uses this as the perfect segue to the next part of their conversation.

“You’ll never have to worry about Holly being hurt. Severus is exceptionally protective of her, not too different to your own behaviour from what I have observed. I can assure you, Mr Potter, Holly shall come to no harm. Many wands are willing to protect her, including my own,” he says solemnly.

Lucius waits for Potter to acknowledge his words.

“I want to know what you expect from me.”

Lucius thinks rapidly. After many conversations with Regulus to probe the other wizard regarding Potter’s motivations and wants, he knows that, above all else, his main priority will always be his sister. And Lucius has no qualms about this particular motivation. It’s easy to grant - too easy, especially considering his own cause to protect his brother’s child. Under any other circumstances, Lucius would have held the protection of a loved one over Potter’s head. However, he knows that Potter doesn’t trust him anywhere near the same amount the boy trusts Regulus. So his offer to protect Holly doesn’t significantly impact the grand scheme of moving things along with Potter and getting the boy to work with him. And that’s what he needs to happen. To have the boy voluntarily spend time with Lucius and be seen doing it.

Lucius is already seen as a defector in the eyes of the Dark Lord, which automatically earned him and his family a death sentence. Regulus had already earned the same punishment fourteen years ago when he’d testified against so many Death Eaters. Severus was in the same boat after he came to Potter’s rescue. Suffice it to say, there was no chance of Lucius ever going back to the Dark Lord. And though he’d maintained a respectable image in the public eye since the end of the last war, he knows there would always be doubts about his loyalty.

He’s not naïve enough to believe that aligning himself with Potter and Dumbledore will erase everything. However, being seen with Potter, fighting alongside him, and becoming something akin to a mentor to him, will polish his image and propel his family forward.

Lucius has thrown himself with Potter, and given the power he witnessed in the graveyard, he genuinely believes Potter will win the war. It wouldn’t be easy by any means. It will be bloody and brutal, and there will be many deaths, but Lucius and his family will come out on top.

Malfoys always do.

“My family has always been known to follow power, Mr Potter,” Lucius answers carefully. “Over the last few years, you have shown you have that power. Anyone who doesn’t see that is willfully blind and an idiot. From what I understand, and from what, admittedly, little I have seen personally, you are a determined and resourceful young individual. I was here when that bludger broke your arm, and still, you outplayed Draco. You went toe to toe with a werewolf and drove away hundreds of Dementors, saving your friends and your professor.”

Not that Severus would admit that. In fact, the Potions Master blamed the Golden Trio for having knocked him out in the first place.

“You outflew a dragon and overcame many other beasts within the maze. And then you withstood the might of the Dark Lord. Why wouldn’t I want to be seen working with someone like you?”

“That’s what you want? To be seen working with me?” Potter questions sceptically.

“That’s just the beginning, Potter,” Lucius answers with a smirk. “We can have a mutually beneficial relationship.”

Potter stares at him silently, seemingly mulling things in his mind. Lucius lets the silence stretch. He can be patient.

“You must already have a plan on how you want us to be seen working together,” Potter eventually says.

“Of course,” Lucius nods. “You duelled well at the graveyard, Potter. But you need to know more than the Disarming Curse. You need to know much more than what you’ll learn at Hogwarts as a student. I can teach you that,” he offers, leaning forward. “I can teach you how to duel. How to fight. I can teach you how to win.”

Potter’s eyes gleam in anticipation.

“How?”

Lucius smirks, ready to truly begin hooking Potter in.

ooOoo

Severus is unaware of how close Holly is to his quarters as he sits on his sofa, drowning in a pool of self-made regret. Having failed at sneaking around his daughter’s room and perusing through her photo album, he has resorted to once again looking through the photos Tobias had passed on to Severus several weeks ago.

He has the photos displayed in chronological order, starting with the ones of her, a newborn, held by either Jasmine or her mother, Iris. There’s little to see of the person holding baby Holly; the main focus is the child herself. Skimming his eyes over the ones from her first and second birthdays to the one of her third birthday. She is sitting in the lap of someone young. Though his features aren’t visible, it could only be Potter. Her brother, Severus sneers. Her third and fourth birthday pictures show she is happiest there. It galls Severus to know that Potter has been keeping his child happy, whilst Severus himself has been oblivious of his daughter’s very existence these past nine years. It doesn’t occur to Severus to be pleased that someone had looked after his daughter. It makes him resentful that it was Potter who had been there for her. It could have been anyone else.

But no, he thinks with disgust, it had to be Potter.

He feels like his life has gone downhill since Potter had stepped foot in Hogwarts. His Vow to Dumbledore meant he was tied to protecting Potter for the rest of the boy’s life - a Vow he’d only agreed to out of grief for Lily, something the old man took full advantage of. Severus would like to believe that he would never have made that Vow had he been in his right mind. Not only is he stuck with Potter, but he is also stuck teaching Potions to snot-nosed brats until Potter graduates from Hogwarts. The next three years couldn’t pass quick enough, but that also puts him in the dilemma of whether he should stay until Holly finishes her years at Hogwarts.

He has the rest of the year to somehow tear their so-called relationship apart, to undermine it. Only one year will overlap: Potter’s final year and Holly’s first. Severus will help with the war effort as much as he can, but surely by the end of the Potter’s seventh year, Dumbledore will release Severus from the Vow.

He only hopes to get through this next year with Potter in his class. The boy wasn’t competent enough to earn the requisite Outstanding grade Severus demanded of anyone wanting to continue with Potions at NEWT level. Based on the last few years, Potter was at an Acceptable level. Even Longbottom performed better in his theory, even if the clumsy boy’s practicals left much to be desired.

 Throwing the photos away from himself, Severus gets up from the Sitting area to head to the kitchen. Ordinarily, he preferred it when he wasn’t disturbed by humanity and would often lock himself away in his dungeons. He should be looking at his suspension as a holiday. No students for two weeks, no need to attend meals or interact with other people. Two weeks where he can read Potions journals and experiment with Potions to his heart’s content with no interruptions.

Yet, for all the positives he’s trying to look at, he just can’t seem to concentrate on Potions.

Holly’s not been back to speak to him since she stormed out yesterday after catching him in her room. Lucius was right. Getting caught was an amateur move. He should have taken the photo album once he’d found it and hidden it in his own room to peruse at his leisure instead of sitting on her bed like a dolt, just begging to be caught. The look on her face had been devastating. He’s made his already tenuous relationship with his daughter even harder to repair.

Then, to make it even worse, he’d also pushed Lucius away. In the numerous arguments he’s had with the blond in the twenty-plus years he’s known him, he realises that Severus has never said those words to Lucius.

“Potter is no more a brother to Holly than you are to me.”

It was unforgivable. As unforgivable as calling Lily with that word. Lucius might be a power-hungry bastard; he might be the kind of person who would always have an ulterior motive before helping anyone else, but he’s never held anything he’s done for Severus above his head, never made him feel beholden.

He hopes Lucius forgives him. Severus isn’t sure he would be able to take being forsaken by Lucius as he had by Lily. Holly and the Malfoys are the only important people in his life right now. He needs both of them back with him and to apologise to Lucius and Holly, hoping they visit him soon.

ooOoo

“Not that I want to make you feel unwelcome, Andromeda,” Sirius interrupts the conversation between the two Black sisters upon entering the kitchen and coming to stand before them, “but isn’t Ted missing your presence? You know you’re welcome to bring him with you.”

Andromeda laughs as she answers, “Ted’s practice has been busy. He’s currently training a new wizard on some of his cases. He’s been working late nights, so I’m spending more time with the both of you. He hopes to complete the handover in another few weeks, and he should be able to join us here soon. And between the Ministry and the Order, I’ve barely seen Dora either. I believe she spent more time here than her own flat during summer, but that’s probably more due to Harry’s cooking than actual Order meetings.”

Sirius barks out a laugh. Harry might have only taken over the kitchen for a week, but his time there had definitely been memorable. Sirius believes that Molly might have been jealous of his godson’s food and, not wanting to lose the position of playing hostess, with Regulus’s permission, Molly had used the excuse of Harry’s decision to make pancakes, as beautiful and fluffy as they were, to take over the kitchen once more - to the dismay of everyone.

Yet, Molly had compromised and allowed Harry to bake scones, biscuits, and other goodies. Sirius was sure Harry purposefully only baked a limited number to watch everyone fight over the food: the little sneak always saved something especially for Luna and left everyone else to scrabble over the table between them.

Now that the children were back at school, the other Order members, who might have been regulars at Grimmauld Place, had gone back to their lives and, apart from Sirius and Regulus, only Narcissa had taken up residence. Andromeda and Dora are now regular guests, despite Andromeda’s complaint, and Sirius hopes to see Ted sometime soon.

With his mission to help Hagrid over, Sirius is now left twiddling his thumbs until Dumbledore gives him something new. He did receive a letter - that he made sure to keep hidden from Molly - from Fred and George, asking him for advice on some of their joke products. He and Molly already have a fractious relationship and, despite her good intentions, Sirius didn’t appreciate her trying to coddle Harry, and Molly didn’t appreciate Sirius, period, believing him to be a bad influence.

Sirius can’t blame her for being angry with him, not when she discovered that Sirius had been standing over her son with a huge knife - even if the said knife had been meant for the rat - nor was she particularly pleased when she found out he had broken Ron’s leg in his attempts to get to Pettigrew.

He could also understand her desire to scarper with Narcissa taking up residence. Narcissa’s husband had traumatised her only daughter to the point where she needed a Mind Healer - the professional services of whom they could only afford due to a lucky windfall.

Sirius didn’t mind Narcissa’s presence overall. His cousin was trying to forge a better life, a different life, even if neither her nor her husband’s motives were entirely altruistic.

 He listens as Narcissa and Andromeda go back to their conversation. Narcissa has spent the last few weeks learning something called Yoga from various muggle books she picked up more than a month ago. For the past few days, she’s been trying to persuade Andromeda to look for some suitable classes in their local area. Andromeda isn’t quite averse to the idea, though she is cautious about the new hobby. Despite her exposure to many muggle practices via Ted, there are some things she has never paid much attention to. Sirius has never heard of Yoga either, but he is intrigued by the idea.

“Seems like one would have to be quite flexible at Yoga. I’m not sure I could bend that way,” Andromeda says dubiously, looking at the pictures from Narcissa’s open book displayed before them.

Sirius peeks at it over their shoulders.

“I’m sure I could do that in my dog form,” Sirius boasts. He probably couldn’t, but it’s always fun winding up his cousins. He realises he misses their easy banter from their childhood. Before they grew up and the real world reared its ugly head, they had all been close. Even Bellatrix, who had been no more crazy than she is now, was used to laughter - protective and caring of her younger sisters and cousins. Sirius missed that Bellatrix. Trixie the Pixie, Sirius had teased her when they were younger.

Andromeda scoffs at Sirius’s claims, and they all fall into the same banter they had as children, while a voice from behind taunts them.

“Bickering like children again?”

“Nymphadora!” Sirius belts out with a huge smile because he knows it annoys the hell out of her.

As expected, the pink-haired Auror scowls at him and her mother for having the audacity to name her so atrociously.

“It’s a perfectly good name,” Andromeda says with the mien of someone having been through this before.

“It’s really not,” Sirius and Narcissa announce in tandem.

“Thank you,” Dora huffs in gratitude.

“You must have been overcome by the Black madness when you named Dora,” Sirius points out.

“Or been mad and delirious after child labour,” Narcissa adds, “and took it out on your child.”

“Well, I like the name,” Andromeda defends. “It’s from the Greek nature spirits. Nymphs are beautiful creatures, just like my daughter.”

Sirius snorts in laughter, “There’s another meaning to what a Nymph is.”

Andromeda sighs in exasperation.

 “Any tea on?” Dora asks, taking a seat.

Sirius listens with careful bemusement as Narcissa speaks about her new muggle fascination and her genuine affection for Holly. A large part of him was hurt that Harry never mentioned Holly to him, but Regulus not only seemed to know everything about her, but also spent the summer acting as a messenger between Harry and Holly. Suddenly, a lot of Regulus and Harry’s behaviour began to make sense.

Sirius is wary of anyone related to Snape. However, from the little information he has garnered so far, Holly might be Snape’s daughter, but she’s grown up with her maternal grandmother - who happened to live in the same neighbourhood as Harry - rather than Snape himself. Sirius doesn’t like that particular coincidence. But Harry, apparently, loves the girl like a sister. She’s only nine years old, but she’s still a Snape, and from the doting way Narcissa speaks of her, she is quite close to the Malfoys. Sirius isn’t so sure the girl is very trustworthy despite her young age; still, he knows he’s outnumbered. Andromeda and Dora have met the girl and seem fond of her. Regulus loves Snape more than he loves Sirius, so no surprise as to why he wouldn’t support Mini-Snape.

So, Sirius has to keep his mouth firmly shut and just wait for an opportunity to assess the sprog for himself. However, he is mystified about the girl’s influence on the Malfoy family. Sirius and Andromeda might have rebelled against their Pureblood upbringing, but the rest had eschewed anything that wasn’t Pureblood.

Lucius Malfoy has always been about the Pureblood agenda and connecting with the right type of people, while Narcissa has always been full of herself, showing off her beauty and lineage, holding herself up as the perfect specimen of Pureblood princess. Hearing her talk about a muggle activity like Yoga makes Sirius feel like he’s completely lost his mind after twelve years in Azkaban. The world’s surely turned upside down if the Malfoys are enthusiastic about all things Muggle.

He passes the mugs to each woman, places a platter of scones and biscuits for them to share, and sits down with his own cup, feeling domesticated. He’s unsure if he likes the feeling or not.

Sirius, perhaps in an effort to test Narcissa’s new dedication to Muggle practices, launches into his own newfound enthusiasm for physical exercise using some of the equipment Harry set up for them over the last month. He was surprised to hear that the Weasley children, or at least the ones attending school with Harry, were already familiar with much of the equipment. Even more so when he found out that the Gryffindor Quidditch team used it regularly at Hogwarts. Apparently, they have been influenced by Harry, not that the boy himself admitted it.

Having spent the last year with Regulus and Kreacher, Sirius has definitely put on much-needed weight after his incarceration and the subsequent year he’d spent on the run and hiding within the Forbidden Forest. Living as an animal within the forest and a nearby cave meant he was much less picky about his food, often hunting rabbits or other small game. He might have even absconded with some of Hagrid’s roosters on the odd occasion when he’d managed it, not that he’d confess such a thing to the friendly half-giant.

Kreacher’s skills aren’t the best in the kitchen, but he still felt like he was eating like a king compared to the thirteen years before that. Harry’s accidental introduction to muggle exercise had given Sirius a new focus. It occurs to Sirius then, even as he regales the ladies of his mastery of the Hula-Hoop that they got all that equipment because of Snape and Holly. He suddenly recalls that conversation when Regulus had abruptly asked Harry where to get a Skipping rope. At the time, he’d not given much thought to it, but he now realises the request had been for Snape’s daughter. Harry had twigged to that straight away. Whenever Harry and Regulus suddenly fell silent at Sirius’s entrance, they had been talking about Holly.

Letting Dora take over the conversation, he slants a look between Andromeda and her daughter; they had visited Malfoy Manor a handful of times during the last month. They would have met Holly. Had they known about Harry and Holly’s connection? Andromeda might not have, but looking speculatively at Dora, Sirius reckons the young Auror must have known, or at the very least, suspected. He pushes down the hurt when he realises Dora had deflected his queries about Holly when Sirius last asked about her.

Logically, he knows that twelve years have passed since he was unfairly incarcerated, but if he is honest, he expected some things to have remained the same. Though he had been aware of the passing of time and envisaged for everyone to grow older and age, he expected them to be untouched by time in a way that meant they would essentially be the same people they were before he’d been thrown in Azkaban. Andromeda had been his favourite cousin, who’d supported Sirius when he left home at sixteen, defied her family’s expectations and had run away to marry a Muggleborn, giving birth to a bundle of chaos who’d captured Sirius’s heart and would have taught everything prank related, corrupted her and Harry to the point of their mother’s exasperations.

Instead, having escaped prison, Sirius found that both children had grown up into a witch and wizard he’s proud of, without him. Sirius hadn’t been there for Dora’s letter to Hogwarts or the years throughout. Hadn’t been there for her graduation or her acceptance into Auror Academy. Sirius hadn’t been there for Harry, period. He’d seen Harry’s first steps, the sleepless nights from his first tooth, and had even given the boy his first broom. But he’d missed everything else.

Sirius knows that Harry doesn’t get on with his muggle relatives, not that he can blame the lad. Petunia was a shrew, and her walrus of a husband was even worse given the last time he’d met them before James and Lily’s wedding. In no world can he imagine they might have improved. Yet, during the year he’d been hiding in waiting to get a chance at Wormtail, any news he’d had of Harry came through Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks.

During that time, Harry had set up a correspondence with Regulus and ended up trusting him. Over his own godfather. It hurts, Sirius admits. Even though he can blame neither his godson nor his brother, it still hurts. And Harry is still so reticent with him. Their relationship has certainly improved, but is still too slow for Sirius’s liking, though he knows he still has more ground to make up, more trust to earn. He reminds himself to find his communication mirror. It could be in the attic where Regulus stored all his belongings. James had come up with the concept so they could keep in instant touch during summer, so he wasn’t left alone with his abusive family. And so James could ride into the rescue - the prat would have done if Sirius had ever said he needed help. He was loyal like that, Sirius thinks fondly. Though it hadn’t stopped them from using the mirrors to talk to each other during separate detentions.

They’d wanted to use the mirrors when the Potters had been forced into hiding, but Sirius hadn’t packed it with his stuff when he’d fled during the summer before his Seventh year, and they only had James’s half of the notes. Sirius had refused to step foot back in Grimmauld Place after he’d left, perhaps out of fear that he might not have been able to walk out again under his own volition. His mother hadn’t been averse to using Unforgivables to get her own way.

Shaking his head slightly, he tries to think about where the mirror could be and see if he could locate his notes to create new ones. They would also come in handy for the Order, though his priority is to send Harry the mirror James used and find his own.

He’s unaware of the witches exchanging glances as they see him lost in his own thoughts. As Andromeda is about to gently draw him into conversation they are all surprised when the bell rings in the kitchen, signalling someone’s entry from the front door. Sirius looks at the time. It’s not that late, nearly seven in the evening. Regulus never specified what time he would come home, so it could be him.

So sure are they all that the security of the Fidelius has not been compromised, not with Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper, that no one draws their wands. They do, however, wait patiently for the person to enter the kitchen, where all gatherings often occur.

Though the kitchen occupants are not surprised to hear Regulus’s voice, they do exchange puzzled looks when they hear another voice, unrecognised by each.

Straining to hear, they listen in silence, trying to make out the words.

“My mother’s portrait was hung near the hallway entrance, but I removed the wall completely. Not only did I get rid of the last remnant of that old hag, but I also got more space out of it,” Regulus’s voice came closer, slightly muffled by the closed door between.

“Who’s he brought?” Dora enquiries quietly.

“Is he giving a tour of the house?” Andromeda asks, bemused.

Narcissa and Sirius remain silent, but they all train their eyes on the door, subtly keeping the wands within reach.

Regulus laughs at something the voice says, “Oh, my mother would win hands down, Dudley. As bad as your mother is, mine was infinitely worse. However, I have no doubt they would have gotten on well if they were the same kind.”

“I’m glad they aren’t, in that case,” the other voice comes across more clearly. They can hear the trepidation in the male voice.

Young male, Sirius speculates.

The kitchen occupants exchange puzzled looks once more before training their eyes on the kitchen door yet again.

Regulus enters the kitchen first, slightly startled at everyone’s eyes on him as he opens the door.

“Evening, everyone,” he greets them dryly.

They murmur a greeting in response, more attention on the unknown person Regulus brought with him.

Regulus rolls his eyes at their behaviour before beckoning to the guest behind him.

“Come in, Dudley. Let me introduce you to my family,” Regulus encourages him.

A boy, a very young boy, around Harry’s age, enters the kitchen cautiously, looking at them all nervously.

“Didn’t know your tastes ran that young,” Sirius says in a mildly disapproving tone, as he takes in the young blond boy. He’s a little on the heavy side, Sirius thinks. Dudley seems to be all muscle, with broad shoulders and a thick waist but looks like someone who could easily be fat if he let himself go. Still, he seems vaguely familiar.

Regulus sighs in exasperation, shaking his head at his brother’s assumption, but Sirius continues, “And age aside, how did you manage to convince Dumbledore to bring your latest squeeze to a very secret Order meeting place.”

“That’s my brother, Sirius. You can ignore his words, Dudley,” Regulus tells the boy. “He thinks he’s funny, and sometimes the filter from his brain to his mouth doesn’t work.”

“Hello,” the boy squeaks. He looks like he wants to put his bulk behind Regulus. “You’re Harry’s godfather, aren’t you?”

Sirius straightens up and looks at him more critically. Trying to temper his tone, he asks, “Who are you?”

Regulus steps forward to make the formal introductions, “Everyone, this Dudley. He’s Harry’s cousin.”

As Sirius’s eyes sharpen to the nervous Dudley, Regulus continues, pointing to each witch in turn, “My cousins, Andromeda and Narcissa. And Andromeda’s daughter…”

As Dora gives Regulus a vaguely threatening look, Regulus laughs and adds, “My niece prefers not to use her given name but will answer to Dora or Tonks. I call her Nymmy, however.”

“How do,” Dudley greets with a nervous disposition.

“Why don’t you sit, Dudley?” Andromeda gestures, and he gladly follows the suggestion.

Meanwhile, Sirius wracks his memory of what Petunia’s husband was called. He was a horrible pig of man, intolerant and intolerable with absolutely no sense of humour.

“I’m so proud of you, brother,” Sirius announces with a wide grin. “Bringing a muggle to Mother’s house.”

“It’s my house,” Regulus corrects sharply, “and actually, it turns out that Dudley is a squib.”

“What?” Dora interrupts, giving Dudley a speculative look while Sirius tries to figure out whether it would piss off Walburga more or less to have a squib (dis)gracing her home rather than a muggle. Then, he shrugs and decides it doesn’t matter. His mother is dead, so Regulus can do whatever he wants to the house and bring whoever he wants to. However, he does hope his mother is suffering in hell.

“Harry never said his cousin was a squib,” Dora continues questioning.

“I’m not sure Harry knows,” Regulus answers with an unconcerned shrug. “I spoke to Dudley yesterday, and he mentioned the Dementors.”

Sirius nods in understanding, even as he suppresses a shudder at those demons.

Paling at the thought of the Dementors, Dudley explains, “I was with Harry when those Dementor things attacked. Harry realised what they were and told me to run. But I tripped and fell, and I could feel them getting closer, so … I – I curled up in a ball.”

“There are very few defences against a Dementor,” Andromeda says to Dudley assuringly. “A foetal position is as good as any defensive position.”

“When Harry cast that silver thing, I could see the light, even though my eyes were closed. It was an amazing feeling, like warmth and love. I opened my eyes just in time to see the black cloaks flee, but everything was already fuzzy, and I just felt really out of it. I’d never felt like that before, all drained and empty, like I’d never be happy again. Harry had to practically carry me home,” Dudley continues in a whisper. “I never got to tell Harry I could see them, and by the time I’d recovered…” He falters briefly, casting an uncertain look at Regulus, “-erm, well, you guys had already taken him away.”

There’s a sombre silence after Dudley’s recounting.

“So,” Dora queries, looking intently at the boy, “what brings you here?”

Sirius busies himself making Dudley and Regulus a cup of tea as well. Dudley takes his gratefully, carefully adding a spoonful of sugar and only enough milk to change the colour of the tea, and slants a look at Regulus to take over the conversation.

“Dudley’s graciously agreed to be our… Personal Trainer,” Regulus speaks the word carefully, checking with the young blond to see if he’d got the words right.

“What’s a Personal Trainer?” Narcissa asks, leaning forward in interest.

“It’s someone who trains other people for exercise,” Dudley explains, stirring his tea, though Sirius is sure it is out of nerves as the sugar must have long since dissolved.

“Go on,” Sirius prompts, his own interest piqued. Over the last few weeks Harry spent at Headquarters, his godson had helped train many people, with more patience than Sirius had, in using the equipment for muggle exercise.

Given that he is a full-time resident of Headquarters, Sirius spends more time in the gym than anyone else.

“I’m not a professional or anything,” Dudley adds nervously, “but I can teach you what I know.”

 The next question comes from Andromeda. “What about school?”

“Dudley is a part-time boarder at Smeltings,” Regulus informs them. “He’ll be travelling back home for the weekends. The muggle trains take an hour and a half from Smeltings to the station near his home. Alternately, it only takes forty minutes from his school to Angel station, the closest station to us.”

“What will you be teaching us then?” Sirius enquiries.

“I’ve been boxing for a few years. Regulus said Harry’s been teaching you all how to use the skipping rope, so you could practise the footwork for duelling,” Dudley replies. At their nod, he continues, “I’ll teach some boxing and some of the exercises I do to keep in shape and keep my reflexes sharp.”

“Do you know Yoga?” Narcissa asks hopefully, and Sirius hides his smile at Narcissa’s obsession.

“No, sorry,” Dudley answers, dashing the woman’s hopes.

“But Regulus told me you were interested in it,” Dudley resumes, digging through his pockets for something, “and I looked through the yellow pages for this area and found a few studios that offer Yoga classes. Here, I’ve listed the name of the studios, the class times and the prices.”

He slides a piece of paper towards Andromeda and Narcissa, written in what he suspects is the boy’s neatest handwriting.

“There’s also a studio not far from where I live in Surrey. It’s actually in the same building Harry and Holly started learning gymnastics. Since witches and wizards can use don’t have to take normal muggle transport, you could teleport-”

“Apparate,” Regulus corrects with a smile, and then before Dudley gets the other transport wrong, adds, “or Floo.”

“Yeah, those,” the boy adds with a slightly dazed look.

“Arabella has already kindly consented to allow us to use her home to Apparate to,” Regulus explains, “so we can walk from her home to the other studio if you feel that’s more suitable than studios local to us.”

“Us?” Dora queries. “We? Are you joining the women in Yoga?”

“I’ll give it a try,” Regulus shrugs. “But primarily, Dudley will be joining us here for a few hours every other Saturday afternoon to train us in some boxing and whatever other fitness plans he can come up with. I believe it will be beneficial.”

“You really believe so?” Andromeda questions.

Regulus exchanges a look with Sirius and Dora, raising his brows to include their opinion.

“I’ve never considered myself unfit,” Dora speaks slowly, “but I have noticed increased stamina in my spell casting since Harry started teaching us skipping and started using some of the equipment down there. The Academy has a mandatory Duelling course and various other courses aimed at investigation and whatnot, but nothing specific on keeping fit.”

Andromeda nods thoughtfully.

For the majority of British wizards and witches, the primary sport in the UK is Quidditch - which not everyone takes up. Hogwarts certainly didn’t offer anything other than Quidditch in his school days, and Sirius doubts that’s changed in the past decade or so since he’d graduated. Since Sirius has been recovering from his incarceration, he can’t really comment on whether the exercises have helped him with his spell casting and stamina; he just knows that they have helped him maintain his body better. The wizarding world, in general, has never put much stock in exercise. Sirius doesn’t know if it will ever be popular, but if Regulus believes learning from Dudley will help, then he’s more than willing to learn.

 “Can I see your set-up?” Dudleys asks.

“Of course,” Regulus nods. “We’ve got time before your parents expect you back. Finish your tea first.”

At his brother’s mothering, Sirius hides a smile. Ten minutes later, they follow Regulus to the newly dubbed Exercise room in the dungeons.

“You have a dungeon in the middle of London?” Dudleys exclaims. “Bizarre!”

Sirius finds himself amused at the boy’s astonishment.

“You have plenty of equipment here,” Dudley comments, looking around the room appreciatively.

The far wall has many mats laid down, spelled with additional Cushioning Charms. Against the wall, there are several dozen skipping ropes and resistance bands neatly hung up, provided by Lucius Malfoy during his original shopping trip, along with several weights such as dumbbells and kettlebells, a pull-up bar and a few other weight training equipment.

“Anything you think we’re missing?” Regulus asks.

“Well, if you want me to teach you boxing, you’ll need a punching bag, some gloves and focus mitts will be good. And maybe a speed ball, though that’s not really necessary. But it’s all going to add up. None of that stuff is cheap,” Dudley says hesitantly.

“Money’s not an issue,” Regulus assures him. “Where’s the best place to get it?”

“My dad took me to Decathlon for some of it. There’s a shop in Surrey that specialises in boxing and kickboxing equipment,” Dudley informs them. “I got some stuff from there as well.”

So another plan is made for the following day. Dudley’s school doesn’t start until the following Monday, so he wouldn’t be getting on the train to Smelthings until Sunday afternoon. That gives them a few days to organise the equipment.

“I would like to join,” Narcissa says as Regulus and Dudley make plans to travel to the various shops.

“Sure,” Dudley shrugs. “You could pick your own Yoga mat and stuff. Do you have suitable workout clothes?”

Narcissa freezes. “What type of clothes are deemed suitable?”

“I can show you tomorrow,” Dudley offers with a look of amusement.

“Excellent,” Narcissa smiles, unoffended at the boy’s amusement. “Andromeda?”

“I shall have to see if Sarah can cover my shift,” she says thoughtfully, “but I should be able to join.”

Being a private Healer with her own practice at least means Andromeda has flexibility in her hours.

“I’m on duty tomorrow,” Dora adds, looking apologetic.

“So it’s just us then?” Dudley checks, looking between Regulus, Narcissa and Sirius.

“Not me,” Sirius says, somewhat grumpily. “Escaped fugitive here.”

“I thought you could change into a dog,” Dudleys asks in confusion.

“I can,” Sirius confirms, “however, the Death Eaters on Voldemort’s side most likely know of my disguise, so I  can’t risk going out too much.”

“Oh,” Dudley grimaces. Then brightens up, “What about if you dyed your hair? Would your dog hair still be the same as your original hair, or would it be your dyed hair?”

They pause as they consider that idea, looking at each other in puzzlement.

“We could give it a try,” Regulus says consideringly.

Sirius tries not to get his hopes up. It would be nice to get out of the house more regularly, even if he is in dog form.