"Are you all right?" Sirius asked, looking up from the book he'd been flipping through as Amara reentered their bedroom from the bathroom, waving her wand to dry her hair.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"She was wrong, Amara, you know that," Sirius said gently, setting aside his book before taking Amara's hand into his own.
Amara said nothing as she shifted to sit beside him, leaning back against the headboard with a long sigh.
Neither spoke for several minutes until Amara admitted, "I'm grateful to Molly for everything she's done for Harry. I really am, but...he's not her responsibility anymore."
"I know," Sirius sighed, gently kissing her temple as he interlaced their fingers.
After another pause, Amara asked, "Is it terrible of me that I...well, when we were arguing there was something I almost said, but I only just managed to not because, well..."
"What did you almost say?" Sirius asked curiously, his brows furrowed.
"I don't know exactly," Amara admitted, "Just...it makes me angry that she's so protective of Harry when she has so many of her own children to look after. And she acts like we chose to be away from Harry, like it's our fault we didn't raise him ourselves. I mean...I tried to get custody of Harry. It's not like I didn't try, and I went to see him, I flew by that house at least once a month to see how he was doing. I did everything I-"
She suddenly broke off, sniffling as she quickly blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.
"I know," Sirius said softly. "Come here."
As she shifted to sit in his lap, Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close as she rest her head against his.
Beginning to soothingly play with her hair, he said, "Amara, you are an amazing godmother to Harry and to Althea. Circumstances just haven't been in our favour, but they both love you, they love us both."
"I know," Amara said with a small smile.
.
The following morning, Althea woke early, grabbing a small notebook from her nightstand before slipping out onto the landing. It was in this notebook she had been writing everything she wanted to tell Neville in her letters. She had just added a new letter when she heard footsteps behind her. Glancing back, she was surprised to see her father softly closing the door to her mother's room.
Raising her eyebrows, she asked, "Did you and Mum decide to switch rooms for the night?"
Remus' eyes widened as he looked at her, a faint blush crossing his cheeks before Althea snorted, letting out a laugh. Remus bashfully sat down beside her, seemingly debating with himself.
Finally, he said, "Althea, I was just...we were just...well..."
"Dad, you don't have to explain anything," Althea said, although she was smiling widely and still restraining laughter. "In fact, please don't, but you might want to change out of yesterday's clothes if you don't want anyone else thinking anything happened last night."
If Remus' cheeks could flush more than they already had, they certainly did, but he forced himself to say, "Althea, I don't want you to get your hopes up. This doesn't necessarily mean anything for the long-term."
"But you want it to, right?" Althea asked eagerly, watching his facial expression carefully.
Remus smiled slightly, glancing over at her with a fond expression before he admitted, "Yes, I do, a lot, actually."
"Okay," Althea said, fighting back her smile. "Just be sure to let me know when there's something to tell."
Desperate to change the subject, Remus, gesturing to the notebook in her hands, asked, "What's that?"
Althea's smile fell as she quickly closed it, explaining, "Nothing, just...well, it's..." She sighed, finally admitting, "I miss Neville a lot, so I've been writing him letters. I don't send them, but...I just write them so I can pretend, at least, that he'll read them and I can talk to him again. It's stupid, I know. It's only been a month since I saw him, but I just miss him."
"I understand," Remus said softly. "I wish it could be different, Althea. I really do."
"I know," Althea said with a small and forced, smile.
YOU ARE READING
The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One
FanfictionEvery family has its black sheep...even the Black family. Althea Black. When she was young, she never understood why her mother refused to speak of her father. As she grew older, it began to not matter who he was or had been. She had her mother and...
