when i met you

70

"I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus... my great-great-grandfather, see? Least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had... and Araminta Meliflua... cousin of my mother's... tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal... and dear Aunt Elladora... she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays... of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her—he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him..."

"You and Tonks are related?" Harry came back over.

"Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin, said Sirius, examining the tapestry closely. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look —"

He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.

"Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so —"

Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly. Lexi didn't laugh, she looked sadly at the tree. A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy and a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco.

"You're related to the Malfoys!" Harry exclaimed

"The pure-blood families are all interrelated," said Sirius. "If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods our choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here—if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys."

"Are you and James related?" Lexi asked Sirius, speaking of her father, knowing he was a Pure-blood.

Sirius thought for a moment then nodded, "Yes, actually, your dad and I are related through his grandmother, Dorea Black (née Potter), she was my Great Aunt apparently."

Lexi smiled, "No wonder you two got along so great."

Sirius laughed.

"Lestrange..." Harry said aloud as he looked at the tapestry.

"They're in Azkaban," said Sirius shortly.

Harry looked at him curiously.

"Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch, Junior," said Sirius, in the same brusque voice. "Rodolphus's brother Rabastan was with them, too."

"You never said she was your —"

"Does it matter if she's my cousin?" snapped Sirius. "As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having a relative like her?"

"Sorry," said Harry quickly, "I didn't mean—I was just surprised, that's all—"

"It doesn't matter, don't apologise," Sirius mumbled. He turned away from the tapestry, his hands deep in his pockets. "I don't like being back here," he said, staring across the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."

Lexi put her hand delicately on Harry's shoulder, he looked up at her and got the message. Harry walked over to Ron, leaving Lexi and Sirius alone.

"It's ideal for headquarters, of course," Sirius said to Lexi, unbothered. "My father put every security measure known to wizard kind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call—as if they'd ever have wanted to—and now Dumbledore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere. Dumbledore's Secret-Keeper for the Order, you know—nobody can find Headquarters unless he tells them personally where it is." Sirius gave a short, bark-like laugh. "If my parents could see the use their house was being put to now... well, my mother's portrait should give you some idea."