Faultlines

What even is a Family?

What even is a Family?

It was 6 am on a saturday morning when Sirius Black woke with a start because he heard someone move in the living area. It couldn't be Buckbeak, who had his space outside. And none of his acquaintances from the small French town close to the house would just come here, let alone into the house.

Carefully he got up, his wand in hand, only to find Tony Stark rummaging through his cupboards, dressed in a meticulous suit.

"What are you doing here?", Tony asked him, throwing a hand full of Bertie Botts Beans into his open mouth.

Sirius was rather impressed he managed not to puke.

"Shouldn't that be my line?", he asked coldly, "Or have you finally come to kick me out?"

"Kick you out? After you have... DWELLED here for years, I would have to burn the place down anyway."

"Did you come up with that by yourself or did you read it in your father's biography?"

"Touché. As much fun as this is, it still doesn't answer my question: what are you doing here?"

"No idea what you are talking about.", Sirius feigned ignorance. Of course he knew exactly what the man was talking about.

"I know you are playing stupid. I can see the invitation on your counter over there. Your godson is getting married today. Move your ass, get dressed and come back down here. I brought the jet."

"I do not think I am welcome."

"You got an invitation. That's welcoming."

"Harry was pretty clear on this. I assume Ginny send the invitation. Or maybe Molly made him."

"I don't know who send it, but Harry is your family and, more importantly, you are his. So you have to be there."

"YOU are Harry's family. I was only supposed to be. The day Lily and James died, I should... I should have taken him and run. I was young, grieving and stupid. Now I have lost him forever. Harry Potter is gone and I have no place in Harry Stark's life."

"Oh, don't be so bloody dramatic."

"Dramatic?"

"Yes. Dramatic. Why was this name thing always so important to you? Why does it bother you so much that Harry got to grow up with a loving family?"

"You think that's what bothers me?"

"It's not? If so: you should get better at communicating."

"It bothers me that Lily and James didn't get to raise him. It bothers me that he was just taken from his family like it was nothing. It bothers me that your parents just took his parents' NAME and identity from him. It bothers me that I had to read about his disappearance and possible death in the paper and it very much bothers me that Remus spend weeks looking for him!", at the end Sirius was straight up shouting.

Tony just looked at him, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I don't think Dad considered someone might be looking for him, considering in what state he found him, no one really seemed to care."

"What do you mean?", Sirius asked, the anger turning to worry.

"My Dad never talked about it, but... No, I will have to start somewhere else. Did you know Lily was my father's daughter?"

Sirius felt the blood drain from his face.

"No, that's not... that can't be. She would have told us."

"It's pretty likely she never knew.", Tony shrugged and Sirius felt his knees go weak. Could it be? Could any of this be true?

"My Dad checked on her from time to time. My Mom and I didn't know. I was sneaking to the kitchen the night he told her. He had just found out about Lily and James dying weeks prior and that Harry was with his aunt. They agreed he should stay with his family, but Dad really needed to be sure he was okay. My Dad came back a couple of days later, with a scared little baby in his arms that refused to cry and was scared of people."

Sirius sat down at the kitchen table, burying his face in his hands, but Tony wasn't done.

"My Dad never told me what happened. He just said: 'This is Harry. He will be living with us now.' and he never mentioned the whole thing again. But Harry always knew about Lily and James, if you are afraid of that. They didn't make a secret out of it."

"Tony...", Sirius tried, but the younger man was on a roll.

"I remember the whole thing very clearly. My Dad said: 'What if he is not okay?' and my Mom answered: 'Then we make sure that he will be'. So I can't REALLY tell you what went on in that house, but you can go and draw your own conclusions. Like I did back then. When Harry refused to let go of my Dad, how he flinched when people touched him, how he didn't like the dark and slept in our parents' bed for weeks."

Sirius felt tears run down his cheeks now and he wasn't even ashamed of it. Tony looked pretty close to tears as well.

It had been his job. HIS job. And he had been young, stupid and hot-headed. He had left Harry's fate in the hands of others. He had failed. He had failed Harry. He had failed Lily. He had failed James. He had simply failed.

Sirius groaned.

"So THIS is my parents' terrible crime. This is the thing that bothers you. They took him in, they loved him, they protected him. And they kept him hidden from everyone who might have tried to harm him."

Sirius just sat there. Shaking. Face in hands and feeling like the worst human in history.

"And all Harry wants, is for Teddy to experience what he did: for someone to chose him. For someone to look at him and say 'You. You are mine now and forever and I'll never let you go'. And I know you are angry, so is Harry, but if you don't go today, you will damn well regret it for the rest of your life."

"Lily and James would... James would look at me and say nothing and Lily would kick my ass.", he told Tony quietly, "I never really understood how Remus could just... accept other people as Harry's parents. He was always the smartest of us all."

"What do you think then? What would Remus say to Harry and Ginny adopting Teddy?"

"He'd be happy for them.", Sirius admitted, "And thankful."

"So the question you now have to ask yourself is: where do you wanna be?"

"With my family."