The Last Gryffindor (Sirius Black)

Sequel Ch IX

A wide range of emotions played across Sirius's face in a matter of seconds: disbelief, anger, pleading, despair, and finally, his head fell into his lightly trembling hands to obscure the rest. "That's... No... It can't be. Why wouldn't she tell me if it's true? She knew I would do anything — anything — she asked. Why?"

"Now that you mention it," Harry recalled, "a Beauxbaton's boy around our age came up to me asking about you once. The whole situation felt weird, off, and I didn't want to reveal anything I knew about your location, so I left without saying anything. Do you remember, Ron? It was during supper a few weeks after the first task." But when Harry looked around, Ron was nowhere to be seen. Probably had been gone for awhile. They just hadn't noticed with how preoccupied they'd been. "At the time, I thought he might have looked a little familiar, yet I couldn't put my finger on it... When he started asking about you, I only wanted to get away as fast as I could, and then I was just so stressed about the egg clue and the Yule Ball I didn't have time to think about him again."

Harry racked his brain for a better image of the boy he met only fleetingly. He wanted to say he would have recognised his resemblance to Sirius on the spot, except the honest answer couldn't be further from the truth. At the time, Harry had only met Sirius in person for a few hours in totality, and Sirius had been gaunt then from a decade in the wizard prison. He still remained a degree of gaunt, though recovering with each passing month back to a glimpse of his former self.

It hit Harry like a blow to his stomach that Caius looked more like Harry's godfather as a teen than Sirius himself did currently.

"It's true, then?" Sirius said, his voice slightly hollowed out from speaking through his hands. "I have a... a..."

"A son, yes," Hermione finished for him, far more gentle than earlier. "It certainly seems like a strong possibility."

Remus still appeared troubled, but when he caught Harry staring his expression cleared, almost as though it had never been that way at all. He stood. "I'll look into this myself. If there is any truth behind these claims, I'll find it."

Remus was already several steps out of their orbit before Sirius registered his words and leapt after him. "No! If anyone should investigate what may potentially be my child it should be me!" His hand splayed palm down over his sternum, chest heaving. "I'll find him. I have to. I should have been there. If that is really Lia's boy, then I've failed them both countless times, and I need to make it right."

"You cannot leave this house, old friend," Remus reminded him. "Those are Dumbledore's orders. Let me do this for you — for all of us. Trust me. This is the best way."

Remus's soothing tones did nothing to mollify Harry's godfather. "Easy for you to say! I've been trapped in this house for weeks, and you expect me to just — just sit around for further weeks waiting for you to sort this out in my stead?" They we're starting to garner attention now. "This has nothing to do with you, Remus. Stay out of it!"

"What's going on over here?" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, scurrying over. "We're supposed to be celebrating!" Misinterpreting the source of the scuffle, she began collecting the bottles of Ogden's Finest Firewhisky under her arm. "We'll have no more of this, will we. Only water and pumpkin juice for you two—"

Remus's voice cut over hers, his eyes flashing to reflect his mounting frustration. "I was Lia's friend, too, Sirius, and don't you dare pretend otherwise! I shared in her struggles for months while she went around lying to you and everyone else! Everything she did was for vengeance, yes, but also for love — love of her murdered family, love for her friends, and especially for you. She shared with me countless things she refused to tell anyone else, because she knew it would put them in danger, so if she didn't tell you about this there was probably a damn good reason! She would not thank me for getting you sent back to Azkaban while trying to uncover her secrets."

"Did you know?" Sirius asked lowly, fingers curling into fists.

"Goodness, boys, what is this about? Don't make me have Arthur and old Mad Eye separate you two?" Mrs Weasley scolded, almost equidistant between the two. "And in front of the children. What will they think?"

"I asked, did you know I might have a son?" Sirius demanded again through his teeth, and Mrs  Weasley gasped.

"What?" she choked.

"Lia never mentioned anything," Remus managed stiffly, "probably because she knew I would try to interfere were I aware she was in that sort of trouble. She may have told me more than most, but that was still only a fraction of what she kept to herself."

"Then what... exactly... are you hiding, old friend?" The last bit came out as a growl, a mockery of when Remus called him the same. "I watched you lie for years about being a wolf, so don't think you can to deceive me so easily. You aren't telling me everything."

Remus cast a furtive glance about the stilled room, all eyes on them and their unfolding dispute. His next words came out as almost a whisper, "Not here."

Curiosity burned through Harry's gut, but he knew if he said anything Mrs Weasley was liable to ferry all of them to a private room for the "adults" to sort this out. He couldn't have that, not when they were discussing his potential godbrother, and even if they hadn't been, this was more interesting than just about anything he'd been a part of that summer, including when he was attacked by those dementors in Little Winging. It was refreshing to be privy to drama that didn't revolve around him, for once.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, but agreed. "Fine. We'll discuss what you are keeping from me another time, in private. However, you can't stop me from looking for the boy."

Awkwardly, Hermione cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I don't mean to intrude. It's just, how do you plan to do that, exactly? You don't know where he lives, and Beauxbatons Palace is unplottable, so you'll never find him just by finding the school after the school year begins. You can't exactly just comb every nook and cranny of the country hoping you'll get lucky, either." She paused, then specified, "Either of you."

"Do you have a better idea?" Sirius asked in a way that heavily implied the question to be rhetorical.

"Say what you mean, Hermione," Remus said, slipping easily back into his past roll as a professor. "What do you suggest?"

She looked down to her hands, flexing her fingers in a nervous, almost subconscious way. When she again met the full extent of their scrutiny, she jutted out her chain, only confidence remaining. "I don't only write to Viktor, you know."