Save Yourself

Theocharis, who?

The official letters were sent early the next morning. Lily and James were eating breakfast like normal. Sirius had just joined them. He came over every morning to check on them and 'Baby Prongslet' since Remus was sent on a mission by Albus. Remus and Sirius had gotten married a week after Lily and James, so Remus' absence effected him quite a lot. When Sirius came he held three letters in his hand. "Hey, Prongs, Lil's, we all got some official looking letter from Gringotts. I wonder what they're about." Lily frowned. "It can't be about our wills or anything. We sorted that out months ago. Right, Sirius? You got your will sorted already, right?" Sirius chuckled and handed both Lily and James their letters. "Of course, Lils. There is no way I could ignore it when both you and Remus threatened to...well....you know." James laughed at his friend's discomfort as he set the letter down to finish feeding his son. Lily placed a plate of food in front of Sirius before sitting down to open her letter. "Dear Mrs. Potter, it is our obligation to inform you, as one of the last remaining blood relatives, that you are one of the next in line to take over custody of your half-brother....." Lily stopped reading or a moment before rereading the sentence about ten time. "Since when do you have a brother, Lils?" Sirius asked as he continued to eat his breakfast. "I have no idea. It doesn't say how we are related." James had opened his letter as they talked. A few moments later he dropped it as he went pale. This caught the attention of both Lily and Sirius. "What's up Prongs?" James looked at him and shakily took a deep breath. "The letter states that I am the one of the next in line to take custody of my half-brother and adopted cousin." Sirius and Lily blinked. "I didn't know goblins pulled pranks." Sirius said laughing nervously. "They don't Padfoot." Sirius gulped and looked at his letter. This was going to be a messed up day for sure. "Open yours and read it out Sirius." Lily commanded. Sirius cautiously picked up his letter. "Dear Mr. Black, it is our obligation to inform you, as one of the last remaining blood relatives, that you are one of the next in line to take over custody of your brother, Theocharis Deneb Celandine Potter-Black. Mr. Potter-Black's most recent guardian and blood adopted father, passed on August 20th of this year. Please report to Gringotts at noon today September 3rd to discuss custody with Mr. Potter-Black's blood adopted mother, Lady Walburga Black and his half-siblings James Potter and Lily Potter neé Evans." Sirius finished and looked up at two of his close friends. "That's exactly what mine says only it says that I am this Theocharis' half-sister. What about you, Darling?" "It says he's my half-brother." Lily nodded and looked over the letter again. "Oh look I found more parchment. This one looks kinda like a family tree." "Let me see, Love." Lily handed the rest to her husband. "This is an inheritance test and a lineage test to show your relationship to this Theocharis. Look, it shows this Admon Sallow as his blood adopted father and you as his half sister. Oh wait..." Lily frowned. "What is it James?" "Lils this lists you as a pure-blood witch. It shows the Sallow guy, a pure-blood wizard, as your biological father and your mother, Aster Evans neé Castle as a pure-blood squib." Lily snatched the paper out of James' hand. "That can't be. That would mean my mother cheated on my father. Let me see the rest." As James continued to explain the paperwork to Lily, Sirius went through his own. "Guys, this says he is my brother because my parents, as his godparents, blood adopted when he was born, but it also lists him as my cousin because he's the son of my great aunt Dorea. How's he related to you James?" James looked through his own paperwork. "Well he was adopted by my uncle Charlus and he is my aunt Dorea's son, but he's also....he's also my younger brother. It says that my father cheated on my mother with my aunt Dorea. It looks like that rumor about them getting smashed and sleeping together at my cousin, Huhgo's funeral wasn't just a rumor after all." Sirius grimaced. "Wait, that would mean he's like sixteen, right?" Lily asked. Sirius glanced at the paperwork again. "Yeah, Lils. He actually has the same birthday as Prongslet." Ignoring Sirius' comments Lily powered on. "So the 13 years before his death Fleamont never told you about your brother? Your uncle Charlus also somehow forgot to mention it? And for some reason Theocharis never showed up at Hogwarts? That doesn't seem right. This must be a trap or something." "Lily. I understand that the muggle world is quite different from this one, so I can understand how strange this all may seem, but this kind of thing happens more often then you think." Lily froze. "Yeah, Lils. Theocharis is an illegitimate child. In our world that means only a very select group of people are aware of the child. If the kid is lucky, it gets adopted by the spouse of one of it's parents and raised like their own, other times they are pawned off to a blood adopted godparent who raises them. If that's the case then the child never attends a school because that would bring shame to the families they are part of. It looks like Theocharis was lucky enough to be adopted by Charlus Potter, but maybe it was too much to raise the love child of his wife and brother, so he sent the boy away." James nodded. "If it this Admon Sallow guy had not died Sirius and I would have never known about him." Lily frowned. "But it says I'm his sister too. It says my mother cheated on my father to have me. Do you think this is right?" James sighed and gently took Lily's hand. "There is only one way to find out, Lils. We have to go to Gringotts." Lily shook her head. "We can't James. It's not safe." "Gringotts is one of the safest places in the wizarding world. We can even use glamours if it makes you feel better. Plus their is no way I'm letting my baby brother end up in the hands of someone like Walburga Black." Sirius nodded frantically off to the side. Laughing, Lily gave in and they prepared to make their way to Gringotts.