Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter one hundred and sixteen

Minerva uttered the password, 'Pepper Imps', in this case, and the two ascended the stairs. The raven-haired boy was surprised to see that Dumbledore wasn't alone in his office, but there was another witch sitting there, clad in all pink. 

He instantly knew who she was, after all, Nephera and Monty had given them a play-by-play narration of what had happened in the Ministry in December, complete with many colorful adjectives about 'Umbitch' as Monty referred to her as. 

"Headmaster," greeted Sirius, "What's going on?" 

"Please take a seat, Mr. Black, for I have some news," 

Again, the Gryffindor took note of how the old wizard hadn't said 'good news' or 'bad news', leaving him even more confused than ever. Umbridge gave one of the most annoying coughs the boy had even heard, accompanied by McGonagall sighing audibly, "And this is-" 

"Dolores Umbridge," interrupted the Ministry witch, extending an arm as the boy raised his eyebrows since it was common knowledge that no one interrupted Minnie

"I know who you are," he replied, not bothering to shake her hand 

Umbridge scoffed, "Of course, I suspect that Ms. Winchester," she gave a cold, mocking laugh, "Has told you all about her Ministry visit during Christmas," 

Ignoring her completely, the Gryffindor turned into the only adult in the room he could stand, "Minnie, what's going on?" he asked, "And why's she here," 

The Headmaster took control of the situation, "Mr. Black, I'm afraid to inform you that your uncle Alphard passed away last night," 

Now the boy understood why no one had characterized the nature of the visit before, mainly because he too did not exactly know how to react. Alphard was the wild card of the Black family, not unlike Sirius himself, although the older wizard had never been branded as a blood-traitor.

He'd often heard Walburga and Orion complain about Alphard's gambling or drinking problems, and it always brought a smile to the young boy's face when he saw how annoyed his parents were. 

He'd probably had half a real conversation with Alphard in his entire life, but he still felt close to him, what with being the two disgraced Blacks and all. So, even though he had never truly met him, the young wizard still felt a pang of sadness at the news of his death, "Oh," was the only thing he said, "How did he uh, how did he die?" 

Umbridge gave another mocking laugh, the sound so piercing that Sirius truly fantasized about grabbing her by her obnoxiously pink cardigan and throwing her out the window, "He was hit by a car while he was in a muggle town, reports say that he was drunk while crossing the road," 

Knowing full well how innparopriate the moment was, Sirius still couldn't help but laugh slightly at what he had heard, for, based on the stories, it was all too characteristic of the wizard to die in such a way, "There's more," said McGonagall, "Apparently, your uncle left his entire fortune to, well, you," 

Now, the Gryffindor really couldn't contain the laugh bubbling up his throat. Just the image of his mother, finding out that part of the precious Black fortune had been given to her disgrace of a son was enough to send him into a fit. 

The three adults exchanged wary glances as they took in the sight of the boy quite literally doubling over in laughter, "I'm sorry," he wheezed, "There's nothing funny, it's just that-" his sentence was interrupted by another round of laughing, "Someone should probably check on Walburga, she's probably burst a vein by now," 

Minnie, who was trying really hard to contain her own smile when she heard that, shook her head, "We simply need you to sign these in order to move the funds into your own account in Gringotts," she said