❝If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.❞
The Chosen One is kidnapped from the Dursley household and it turns out to be the best damn thing that's happened to him.
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WALBURGA BLACK had not aged well, but Sirius recognised his mother right away. Her once dark hair had turned grey, years of disapproving left her with heavy frown lines, and her while she had once stood tall and proud, she currently stood hunched over. Sirius had never seen his mother as a frail woman, and it left him unable to speak for a moment once they were in front of each other.
Although they shared the same striking grey eyes, he couldn't remember the last time they carried warmth. Two cold stones watched him, leaving Sirius to shiver. She had crossed his mind a couple of times since he had been released, but he never expected her to show up at Maeve's flat of all places.
"So," she said finally, " I see that the rumours are true. You are free."
He waited for her to say something more, whether it was an insult or whatever, but instead, Walburga turned around and started to head down the steps to leave. Was that it? Had she only come to see if he was out of Azkaban to confirm it? But why? The last time they had spoken to each other Sirius severed his ties with his family, claiming he was going where he was welcomed; The Potters. And while Walburga had called after him, demanding that he come back, she never did chase after him.
She never made her way to the Potter home, begging him to come back, or at least try to work on their differences. He could only assume that his mother had come to hate him over the course of time. He had become a failure in the eyes of the family since his sorting into Gryffindor, and everything afterwards only strained their relationship further. Why would she bother coming out to see if he was free?
"Mother, wait," Sirius said, hurrying down the stairs to stop her before she reached the last step. "What are you doing here? How did you find where I was?"
Sirius surprised himself how easy it was to still call the woman his mother. Even after he took to insulting her, claiming that she had been a horrible mother, one that could never match up to the likes of Euphemia Potter. And yet, as soon as he saw her again, he couldn't help but call out to her as if he was still her son.
"Kreacher assisted me in finding your location."
"Damn, that thing is still alive," Sirius muttered under his breath. He hated that house-elf with a passion. A cruel creature that loved to taunt him all the time when he was young, directed under the ruling of his parents.
"I had to see for myself if the rumours were true," Walburga said, " somehow you managed to get out of Azkaban. I thought you'd be skinnier. More wasted away."
"Is that what you wanted to see?" Sirius asked her. " A ghost of my former self, withered away, and miserable. That's what you came hoping to see? Didn't you get enough of that when I lived under your roof?"
There was a small gasp that escaped from Walburga as she suddenly looked up, slightly straightening her back to meet Sirius' gaze. Her lips parted before her eyes narrowed into wrinkled slits.
