It takes two | Sirius Black

45.

Sirius struggles to bond with his kids over the weeks. Zion is old enough that growing up without a dad has already taken effect. He calls him Sirius, not Dad and it hurts; even though Sirius understands why he does that. Phoenix copies Zion, he calls him Sirius too even though he's far more hesitant to do it and little Marlie does whatever her brothers tell her to do. Sirius feels like he's fighting a losing battle, he wants to know his children more than anything. He wants to make up for the last twelve years, but he realises the damage is already done.  The fact is they don't need him anymore.

One day at breakfast, everyone's eating their pancakes, a variety of toppings sat in the middle of the table. Zion went for a classic sugar and lemon, Phoenix topped his with fruit and sugar and Marlie drowned hers in chocolate spread. Selene stared with confusion, she had never seen so many choices before, she was overwhelmed so Zion dumped a pancake on her plate. He squeezed lemon juice on it and sprinkled sugar, then handed her a fork.

"Trust me. This is the winning combination." He smiles and nods encouragingly.

Selene hesitates. 'Trust me' he had said but she found it impossible to trust anybody. She cut a tiny piece and tasted it, her eyes widened in surprise. It's strange that something so minor can create that lost trust for someone. Selene realised she had no reason not to trust Zion, because he was right- this was the winning combination. He hadn't given her any reason not trust him, so from that one pancake- she decided she now did.

Marlie sighs, "Dad! Can you please pass me the chocolate spread?!"

The table falls silent, everyone blinks at Marlie who stares back at them. She hasn't realised what she had just said, it just came out.

"Well? Pass it here then?" She mutters impatiently.

Sirius looks at the pancake on her plate, which is already drowned in chocolate spread, he knows he should tell her no but she had just called him Dad. He reaches across the table, handing the jar to her, she takes it with both hands and starts dumping even more chocolate on top of the chocolate. Kate walks past, takes the jar from her hands and glares at her.

"You'll make yourself throw up."

"Dad gave it me." She whines, cutting her pancake into pieces.

Kate blinks, "Hmm?"

"It's really not a big deal." Marlie sighs, "He is my Dad, is he not?"

Sirius smiles as tears threaten to fall down his face, he realises that Marlie calling him Dad was nowhere near a big a deal to her as it was to himself and her older brothers. It just happened. She didn't plan it, it just slipped out and she just carried on like she hadn't just given him every reason to keep going.

Phoenix sits on the grass, his drawing pad on his lap and his pencils by his side. He had written to Harry as he always did, he didn't always get a response because Harry's family were weird about the wizarding world. Unfortunately, this Summer had been one with little responses. He misses Harry terribly, so it's no surprise when his hand starts to create yet another drawing of Harry. It isn't until Remus sits besides him and comments that he even notices how accurate the picture is.

"You're very talented, Nix." Remus smiles, "It really looks like Harry. You did it from memory?"

Nix stares down at the drawing, he looks at Harry's lightning scar and green eyes and shrugs, "Yeah."

"I don't mean to intrude, so please forgive me but you do know you don't have to do everything Zion does?"

"I don't do everything that twat does."

Remus suppresses a sigh, "You're allowed to get to know him. Zion isn't ready yet but it doesn't mean you have to wait for him to be."

"It's not Zion." Nix says closing his drawing pad, "It's me. You remember my Boggart?"