She couldn't help the sense of unease as her hand slowly swept through Sirius's hair, his breathing the only sign he was currently asleep. His face was utterly peaceful as he nudged it closer towards her, digging into the side of her body, sat as she was on the bed beside him. A peacefulness that rightfully had no place on his face given his actions the previous day.
To the side of the bed, she found her younger sister, head slapped down onto her arms, the rest of her sat in what she hoped was a comfortable enough chair.
Her gaze for a moment moved towards the bedside desk that held whatever had been left over from their earlier meals.
The scenery was quite frankly rather nostalgic to her mind- The only difference being that once long ago, it had been Bellatrix in her own place, and herself in Cissy's.
The cause was the same though the worry was rather more pronounced back then in truth.
This wasn't the first time Sirius had used that cursed power of his.
He may have called it magic. May have called it the product of one of his seals. But as far as Andromeda was concerned that power, that thing it brought about was nothing more than dangerous.
There were a lot of qualities her young cousin possessed that wizards thrice his age wouldn't ever dare have, and under the effects of that power, those qualities were suddenly bereft of limits.
Where Sirius was... Reckless in truth, he became almost unhinged in his pursuits.
Cold where he should've been warm. Callous, more so, where he should've been kind.
Heartless even, where he should've been empathic.
But above all else...
He was dark in that state. So dark even the Black Family Manor felt warmer when compared to him.
It was that darkness that drew Bellatrix in like a moth to a flame.
It was that darkness that held her back from believing that her little cousin was completely innocent.
It was that darkness that held a leash on their family. That despite the success of everything Sirius tended to promise, it was that darkness that made them oblige him regardless. Because not doing so, would risk Sirius electing to use that cursed power to get what he wanted. And though their family was known for its... Dark fascinations, none of them sought that particular darkness to come to life.
Such darkness did not belong in his face. In her little troublemaker of a cousin's person.
The boy that had freed her own older sister from the latches of a doomed marriage. Who had opened up the biggest roadblock to her own life, with such ease it diminished the impossibility of a Black publically, and without shame, marrying a muggle-born.
But perhaps the most concerning part was that... She just didn't understand whyhe'd done it. Why he'd chosen to use it.
Even now, if not for her uncle practically owning the current minister of magic, she wouldn't have been able to avoid the sheer repercussions brought about by her little cousin's act. Her little cousin's threat to the country. If not the world itself. The threat of being able to attack everything that was on the wrong side of their family. A threat that Narcissa, despite her usual positive response to anything that put their family above the others, found worrying.
Hell, if it weren't for Dumbledore agreeing to let the three of them stay in the Prefect's Chamber if only to make sure Sirius was surrounded by those he would never harm, she would've had to deal with her utterly vexed schoolmates. Which, well, proved that even Dumbledore had noticed something had been completely wrong with what had occurred.
Though that might've had something to do with Sirius practically passing out a mere hour after that show- Though she'd made absolutely sure to be beside him even before he'd fallen asleep. Having known what was to come beforehand.
Under most circumstances, she wouldn't have batted an eyelash at Sirius telling everyone their lives were practically worthless.
Right now, however, until he woke up, her cousin was vulnerable.
Her gaze wandered over from her reckless cousin, her mind too drained to think of what the world would have waiting for them once those doors were opened again.
For all that she detested that power, Sirius must've had a reason for using it.
Must've had a reason to taint what should've been a very positive reputation.
Must've had a reason to point a wand at the very core of magical culture.
He always did.
The baby that never cried, but looked at and through the family that examined him as if he'd been waiting for them.
The child that had taken one look at their grandfather and deemed him a failure to their cause.
The child that had the heads of their family wrapped around his fingers, and not out of a parental instinct, but out of one bought about by sheer belief.
The child whose magic had splintered the wand that had chosen him on the contact of it.
The child that had broken through culture after culture on a whim. That had beat a dragon-controlling practical Dark Lord in the making.
That had successfully brought the great Albus Dumbledore down a few pegs.
The child that had threatened nearly every magical family in the country.
Yet... Despite all that, looking at him now, all she saw was a boy who, for some ominous reason, had chosen to hold the fate of their world on his shoulders.
The only issue was... She wasn't sure which fate he was holding it to-
Her sister's groan quickly took hold of her attention as she watched Narcissa raise her head up from her arms, her gaze turning into a frown almost instantly.
"He's still asleep?" She grumbled, wiping her eyes on the process.
"No, I do believe he's finally mastered the use of keeping his thoughts to himself." She deadpanned. "He's merely pretend-"
Cissy rolled her eyes and calmly interrupted her.
"Look, just because you're marrying a mudblood, doesn't mean you can become one of 'em."
She twitched in response at her. "Don't be so rude." She remarked, affronted. "He's to be your brother-in-law soon."
"Shocking how that little fact hasn't changed my opinion of him," Cissy remarked, a mock-gasp coming out. "'Sides, I've supported you all this time, you know." She grumbled. "Don't start expecting me to change all of a sudden just because everyone else's caught up."
She raised an eyebrow at her. "Supported me have you?" She chuckled.
Cissy nodded. "Kept your secret didn't I?"
"Hm. Pray tell, how did Sirius find out then?" She questioned, jokingly. "Was his Gryffindor sorting an excuse to tell him?"
Cissy gave her a deadpan look.
"Oh yes, even Merlin himself can't grasp the idea that the fucking seer in the family figured out the little secret all by himself."
She tutted at the blonde.
"Such uncouth words, dear sister. Have your recent goals of having inbred children finally unleashed the inner Bellatrix in you?"
Narcissa's face turned a tad pale at the words as she immediately stuttered out a denial and when the look on her own face didn't budge the girl promptly covered her face with both hands.
"At least I am trying to marry a pureblood..." The girl pouted, removing her hands from her face, with a frown.
"I do believe there comes a point where the bloods a little too-"
"Andyyyy-" The girl whined, extending her name with another pout. "Just drop it okay?" She huffed. "Not all of us get to marry for love you know?"
She opened her mouth to retort.
Cissy beat her to it with another groan.
"Yeah, I heard it myself, just... Just drop it okay?" She slumped into her seat. "Merlin knows I am gonna get enough trouble for thinking it from Bellatrix. I don't need the both of you on my case about it."
She couldn't help the chuckle that came out at that.
"Ah yes, Bellatrix's dream of hitching Sirius to the royal family would be in trouble if you elected to seduce him, wouldn't they?"
The girl scoffed at her in response.
"Yeah, right. Like that's even an option."
"The seducing or the royal family part?"
Cissy stared at her for a moment before a small grin grew on her face as she answered-
"Yes."
She rolled her eyes in response.
"Just because you want to marry him, doesn't mean you get to become a snarky little brat as well."
Cissy giggled at that one and idly said it might be the only benefit she'd get out of it.
"Gods, can you imagine him trying to be romantic?" Cissy followed on with it. "His idea of an anniversary gift would probably be to bankrupt another nation because one of them called me a foreigner or something!"
"That's implying there'd be any nations left once he's of marriage age." She remarked back. "Poor Reg might not even get the chance to go to Hogwarts at the rate Sirry's breaking up the status quo out of boredom."
Cissy snorted at that.
"Better them than us-" The girl shivered. "Remember that time he tried to convince us he was doing the whole speaking out loud thing on purpose?"
She nodded, the memory coming to the forefront of her mind.
"Went on a whole rant about it, and how we were stupid for believing it and everything!" Cissy continued. "Right before he accidentally said 'I lied to them with impunity!'" The girl started laughing again. "Merlin the look on his face when he realized he'd said that part out loud!"
She'd found herself chuckling as the rest of the memory came to mind.
"I distinctly remember him calling himself a 'dumbass' for it, right before our grandfather walked in and he went-" Both of them quickly quoted the last part out. "Speaking of dumbasses!" The two of them fell into a small stupor of laughter at the memory of their grandfather's face.
When the laughter settled down, it was Cissy that broke the silence that filled it with a shake of her head.
"I... kinda miss those days you know..." The blonde remarked, an involuntary snort coming out, one that resulted in her shaking her head again before she laid it down on her hands, on top of the table. Her gaze locked onto the sleeping form of the boy next to her. "It was so much simpler... The only thing we had to worry about was our feelings... Then that letter came and... And everyone started worrying about him going to school and..." She let out a sigh towards the end. "Who could've seen this coming?" The girl snorted again. "Who could've seen that side of him coming?" she repeated herself.
She blinked at the words, frowning as she stared at her sister's face. And just as she was about to ask her what she was talking about, it occurred to her that the blonde hadn't even been nine the last time Sirius had used that power of his.
"Cissy, you know that that was all caused by magic right?" She remarked carefully. "That it wasn't actually Sirius?"
Cissy blinked at her in bemusement, her brows furrowing in the process.
"Really?" The blonde questioned slightly confused. "Huh. I thought that was the most genuine he'd ever been." A beat passed. "I figured that power of his just let him be himself fully..."
She opened her mouth to respond in the negative at that before she processed the words properly as her gaze slowly lowered down toward the sleeping boy beside her.
"...I don't think so." She remarked warily, an uneasy snort coming out. "That'd imply everything else is him actually faking..."
"Well yeah." Cissy shrugged. "I mean, I can't imagine what it's like but considering he needs a paper to keep his thoughts to himself, I can't imagine it means he's really all there with us without it." The girl snorted. "It's like you and me when we try to keep our feelings in? But for him, I'd guess it's just a little harder to hold it in. So what we hear is what he considers 'safe'?" A beat passed as the blonde girl frowned. "Am... Am I just wrong then? 'Cos if I am then yesterday really just doesn't make any sense at all."
She couldn't help the snort at that.
"Narcissa, what explanation can possibly make yesterday make sense to you?"
She blinked at her for her question.
"I thought it was pretty obvious..." The blonde remarked, uncertainty filling her eyes as she stared at her. "It's 'cos of mudbloods ain't it?"
She frowned at the word.
"What about them? They were the only ones he didn't threaten remember?"
"Yeah." Cissy nodded, slowly. "That wasthe threat Andy." She raised her head up from her hands slowly. "They were getting too comfortable with him. So, I think he just did that to make sure they didn't forget who he really was."
She just stared at her sister, slightly confused at the words. Her mind trying to process them and yet failing to for whatever reason-
"Because he doesn't trust them." Narcissa finished. "I really thought you would've gotten that part given the conditions he gave to your future husband."
She blinked at that, the amusing memory of that encounter coming back up to her mind- Only this time it was... Less humorous... Yes, on the one hand, Sirius hadn't been entirely wrong but- She frowned again.
"You really didn't tell him, did you?" She couldn't help the question. "About Teddy?"
Narcissa shook her head, slightly offended at the question.
"...He was really prepared for that, wasn't he?" She questioned, worried.
Narcissa snorted at her, bemusement filling her eyes.
"Why do you sound surprised? He's a seer remember."
"That's what's worrying me right now." She admitted. "Because if he did what he did yesterday because he's a seer then... And you're saying he did it because of the muggle-borns..." Narcissa, to her surprise, started frowning as well.
"It is a little odd... He pulls them in with one hand... Teaching them stuff, pushing our uncle into helping their cause, and then... Pushes them away with the other..." A beat passed as Narcissa's gaze settled onto Sirius' form. "Does he think they're his enemies or allies?"
"...Is it the future?" She questioned, trailing her gaze towards the boy as well. "Does something happen with them in the future?"
"...Or is it their families..." Narcissa's words sent a jolt through her as she recalled the exact terms of the contract Sirius had given her Ted. "Muggles in general-"
Before she could react to those words, a third voice joined the two of them, filling her with a slight hint of shock as she watched Sirius' form fidget slightly before rising up.
The two sisters held their breaths, waiting for the pin to drop- Waiting for Sirius to explain exactly why he'd been pretending to be asleep-
He stared at both of them with utter bemusement in his eyes.
"What?" He questioned before he started stretching. "Did I miss something?"
She held in the urge to reply as she locked eyes with him, finding nothing but utter bafflement in the boy's eyes. Even if he had, clearly, been asleep this was a rather sensitive matter, and given the three of them were actually alone for once, made for a good opportunity to ask about it. The only question was how to do it carefully-
"Sirius, do you hate muggles or something?" Cissy questioned without a hint of worry on her face.
She personally felt the urge to facepalm at the lack of tact.
They really did belong together, a humored part of her mind thought.
"Hm?" Sirius turned toward the blonde. "I mean not yet but when they destroy the Statute of Secrecy in thirty years' time they're going to give me a massive headache."
"Oh, ok-" Whatever Narcissa had been about to say died down as she figuratively choked on her own words.
In her own case, Andromeda could do nothing but calmly, and respectfully ask-
"What the fuck did you just say?"
"Oh. Right. Let me introduce you to a concept called the Internet, The literal doom of the magical world's secrecy."
A beat passed as the boy swiveled his head between the two of them.
"Oh, and before you assume it- No, I am not responsible for it."
She had a very hard time believing that.