The Godmother

45. accident

Sirius had a complicated relationship with his cousins.

Narcissa was in seventh year by the time he'd just entered Hogwarts. She barely spoke a word to him, barely acknowledged his existence. It was at family dinners and extravagant balls that she would only talk to Regulus- the 'normal' one.

By third year, it was established that Sirius was the black sheep on the family. He enjoyed going to holidays to his Uncle Alphard's mansion until he passed away in Sirius' fifth year, leaving Sirius with a large inheritance. But because Sirius was only 15, the mansion and money went to the oldest and closest living relative, Alphard's sister, Walburga, who then sold the mansion and put all the profits into her own bank account.

His cousins were never nice. And neither was his Aunt Druella and Uncle Cygnus. Secretly, he suspected it was because they gave birth to three girls, not boys, and therefore envied Regulus and hated Sirius for rejecting his status.

"She looked me in the eyes before running", Sirius hissed bitterly, throwing down a mouthful of fire whiskey. "The last time I saw her was at my trial, and now she is running around, sneaking around dark alleyways? She is up to something, Elizabeth", he mouthed.

"I don't doubt it", Elizabeth said, flicking the tap to the sink and letting hot water fill up the pot she'd used to cook dinner. She waved her wand and let the dish soap rise into the air and plop a drop into the sink, before the dish scrubber began circling the pot, cleaning it above the sink.

She walked back over to Sirius, who had an angry look on his face. Sour and bitter, almost as much as how the fire whiskey tasted. His skin was hot to the touch, eyes furious no matter where they looked, until he looked at her, and they softened slightly, and he realised just how angry he was. He let his head tilt over and fall onto her chest.

She wrapped her arm around his head, holding it softly while playing with his hair around her finger.

"I don't think you should be worrying about it, Sirius. With a husband like Lucious, who knows what he has her doing...", she sighed.

Sirius lifted his head up, looking at her tiredly.

"Unimaginable stuff", Sirius said.

It was dark outside when they heard it. It woke them up. The sound of something breaking through the wind, and then a smash through their bedroom window.

Elizabeth and Sirius both jumped up at the same time, to see their room glowing an almost white-like-blue, and a doe being the cause of the light.

Elizabeth's heart almost stopped beating as she looked at the doe. Lily. Was Lily really here?

"Elizabeth, Sirius, there has been an attack", Severus' voice echoed around the room, coming from the doe's moving mouth. She quickly let go of her hope, to realise that it was Severus' patronus. "Arthur Weasley has been attacked tonight while on duty of Voldemort's weapon. You must come to Hogwarts immediately, follow this portkey", Severus said. The doe glanced at Elizabeth before turning around and disappearing back out of the shattered window, leaving Elizabeth and Sirius in the dark again.

"Lumos Maxima", Sirius mumbled, his voice low from being asleep for so long.

Above them, the bedroom light turned on, Sirius dropped his wand on the bed and rolled out toward his rack of clothing, and Elizabeth to hers.

"I fucking knew it", Sirius hissed, "It was Narcissa. I knew that she was up to something", he growled as he threw on his leather jacket.

"Shush", Elizabeth hushed him, "We need to see if Arthur is safe before we start going about blaming people", she reminded him. She quickly threw on a shirt and jeans, and grabbed a plain grey jacket as a last thought before turning to touch the portkey.