47. HOLDING FAMILY
A LITTLE CLOSER TODAY
"I TOLD HARRY THAT he could come live with me after all of this is over," Sirius told Valencia and Carina as the mini-family stood in the forests of the Hogwarts ground. Carina turned away from the pretty moon and towards her father. "I know Emanuel adopted him, but I'm sure he'll have no problem transferring custody over to me."
"That's nice of you, Sirius," Valencia smiled, her hands on Carina's shoulders. "James and Lily would have wanted that."
"They would also have wanted for the three of us to be together," Sirius whispered and Carina looked up at her father, shock in her eyes. "What? Did you think I was going to invite Harry to live with me and not you? You're my daughter, darling!"
Valencia smiled, holding back tears as she watched her daughter interact with her father happily. Carina grinned, "I would like that, a lot, if Mama is okay with it."
"Of course, only if Mama is okay with it." Sirius agreed, glancing at Valencia and the two exchanged a smirk.
"I think we could make that work." Valencia nodded, squeezing her daughter's shoulders.
"I want to know you, Carina, I do not plan on missing out on anymore of your life." Sirius told the girl and Carina hugged her father tightly. His blue eyes widened, and Sirius glanced at Valencia before hesitantly hugging Carina back.
"Carina finally gets to know her dad." Thea whispered to her brothers as the four quads watched them from a far. They stood next to the frozen whomping willow tree, waiting for Emanuel and Remus to come out with Peter.
"Good for her." Teo whispered back with a slight smile.
"Teo, this means you could know your godfather." Tommy reminded the eldest brother.
"And we all get to know our uncle," Tobi grinned and turned to Thea. "We're going to need another chair at Christmas dinner."
"Guys!" Hermione shouted, getting the quads' attention. The Golden Four turned around, and Thea gasped when she saw Remus beginning to become affected by the full moon.
"Shit!" Emanuel exclaimed, walking towards Remus carefully with his hands up, as did Sirius.
"Ron, Hermione, come here," Valencia told the two softly as she helped them off the ground. The woman stood in front of the quads, Carina, and the three third years protectively.
"Remus, my old friend," Sirius spoke to the man. "Have you taken your potion tonight?"
"Kids, back away slowly." Emanuel instructed.
"Val, get Carina and the others out of here!" Sirius added before speaking to Remus again. "You know the man you truly are, Remus! This heart is where you truly live! Here! This flesh is only flesh!"
"Yeah, I don't think the spiritual talks about going to work this time." Emanuel suggested.
"No!" Teo shouted, noticing Peter grab Remus' wand and use it to transform. He pointed at Peter, "Expelliarmus!"
Peter have the group a smirk as he transformed, running off into the forest. Tommy lunged to go after him, but Valencia grabbed him, "Absolutely not, Tommy!"
"But he's getting away!" Tommy told her.
"I'd rather he get away than you die!" Valencia scolded him.
"There you are, Villarreal!" Snape yelled as he got out of the whomping willow. "When I tell the administration what you did—"
"Severus, really not the time!" Valencia cut him off and Snape turned around, seeing Remus in his full werewolf form. Snape stood in front of Valencia and the students, fear on his face before the werewolf swung his claws towards him— knocking the teacher out.
"Val, take the kids into the castle, please!" Emanuel begged before he and Sirius transformed into their Animagus forms.
Thea gasped as she watched her father turn into a very large orange bird. He was a Phoenix. His wings appeared to flames and he flew over to Remus, trying to guide him away from the others.
Fear filled Thea's chest as Remus fought against Sirius and Emanuel, and the werewolf was very easily winning. They headed deeper into the forest, and the Golden Four exchanged a look when they heard a bird's loud call— Almost in pain. Shortly after, the whines of a dog were heard as well.
"Papa!" The quads called out in fear.
"Tia Val, you're going to hate what I'm about to say," Teo told his aunt softly. "Go to the castle safely, please. Thea, Tommy, Tobi, and I will go get Sirius and Emanuel and we'll meet you in there."
"Ay dios, you're right, I do hate this," Valencia whispered before more cries from a bird and a dog were heard. "Fine, be careful, please. I'm trusting you to go because I know your father and uncle will protect you."
The quads ran into the forest, sticking close by each other and with their wands in their hands. They turned around when they heard another voice, "Guys, wait for me!"
"That's Harry, isn't it?" Thea winced.
"Yes." The boy answered. "I kind of ran, so Aunt Val is probably going to be really mad at me— But I'll make up for it. So what's the plan?"
"I have no idea." Tommy replied softly while the group speed-walked through the forest. "We need a way to get Sirius away from Hogwarts, because the dementors are still looking for him."
"And now that Pettigrew's gone, we have no proof of his innocence," Teo realized with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Ashton and Ember!"
"Buckbeak! The three of them are somewhere in the forest!" Thea saw where her brother was going with this, smiling, "Okay, save Sirius and Papa, find Ember and Ashton, get them to give us Buckbeak, and Sirius flies off into the moonlight!"
"What could go wrong?" Tommy questioned, exchanging a look with his siblings as they came across a dark lake. The de Oros and Harry's eyes widened when they came across an unconscious Sirius with Emanuel looking down at him.
"Papa! Are you okay?" Thea asked her father frantically, leaning down on the ground with her father.
"I'm fine, mi corazon," Emanuel promised while Thea noticed the small cuts all over her father's face and arms. "Sirius is much worse, we have to get out of here— What are you kids even doing out here? It's dangerous!"
"Sorry for being worried about you." Tobi replied while the quads and Harry saw the two large cuts on Sirius' chest. "What do we do?"
"Pray?" Emanuel whispered before cracking a smile. "I'm kidding, Remus is already on the other side of the forest. We just have to get Sirius up and then figure out what to do with him from there— Now that we can no longer prove his innocence."
"We have a plan for that," Teo informed as the lake began to turn to ice, and an eery feeling filled the quads' chests. "Oh no."
"Oh god," Thea winced and glanced up for a moment. "Dementors."
"Oh shit." Emanuel gasped and stood up, taking out his wand. "The spell— Hell, we all learned when we were younger— What was it?"
"Expecto patronus." Thea, Teo, Tobi, Tommy, and Harry all told the man in unison and Emanuel smiled.
"Uncle Moony taught us." Thea whispered before she stumbled back, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Teo—"
"Thea, hey," Teo was at his sister's side, knowing well what was happening and keeping her standing. "Do the spell with us please, you're the strongest."
Emanuel took a step back, allowing his children and Harry to do the spell. The five took out their wands and pointed them at the sky, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Expecto Patronus!"
The first Christmas dinner during Hogwarts. Family. Learning French. Acceptance.
Lying in bed with Eva. "You were my escape, Tommy." Forever. Always.
Home. Everyone alive and safe. Swords fights with James. "You're on, warrior!"
Credenceton house. Halloween. Paper airplanes and running around the house. Jasmine. Family dinner. Her mom.
Emanuel smiled at his children and nephew proudly, seeing large shields of white energy surrounding them. The dementors all began to fly away and the father held in a gasp when he saw two figures made of white magic.
A Stag and a Phoenix. Emanuel knew immediately— Harry and Thea made patronesses. A grin took over Emanuel's face once again.
"Thea, your eyes!" Teo called his sister and she glanced at him, confused.
"What? What's wrong?" Thea asked, trying to concentrate on her spell.
Tommy and Tobi glanced at their sister, wanting to see what their eldest brother was talking about. Thea's normally coffee-colored eyes were glowing gold.
~
"You know Credenceton— It's where Alex and I's house was, nearby there is a forest and Remus's house right in the middle of it. You can stay there and Remus will be there in a few days. It's secluded and nobody will be able to see you." Emanuel explained to Sirius as the two of them stood in the forest still, closer to the school. Buckbeak was standing talk next to Sirius and the quads, who were messing around with the large create.
It wasn't difficult to convince Ember and Ashton to give up Buckbeak to get Sirius out of Hogwarts. The Hart twins didn't care as long as Buckbeak wasn't being killed.
"Alright, sounds good," Sirius nodded, hugging Emanuel for a brief moment. "Thank you, Manny."
"Always, hermano." Emanuel whispered during the hug. "Be careful, I'll see you in a few days."
"It was very interesting to meet you, Mr. Sirius." Tommy spoke first and his brothers and sister laughed.
"I hope you get to Uncle Moony's house safely." Tobi added with a smile.
"Thank you, Tommy, Tobi," Sirius grinned and hugged the two boys before glancing at the four quads. "I think it's about time you guys call me Uncle Pads or Uncle Sirius."
"Got it," Thea nodded happily and hugged Sirius. "Please be careful."
"Of course," Sirius whispered, looking down at the girl. "You truly do look just like your mother."
"I'm learning to take that as the best compliment there is." Thea whispered back.
"Alright, my godson," Sirius hugged Teo tightly, giving him a smile. "I want you to come visit me, okay? We have a lot of getting to know each other to do, all of us."
"Okay," Teo whispered softly and hugged Sirius once again. "I'm glad I know you."
"I'm glad I get to re-know you, heir to my glory." Sirius joked in a whisper.
"Gracias a dios, we didn't miss you," Valencia sighed as she and Carina rushed into the forest with Harry (Who had already said his goodbyes to Sirius) "Harry went to go get us, said you were leaving—"
"And I had to say bye." Carina spoke softly, trying to smile and ran over. She hugged her father tightly, whispering into his chest, "Bye Dad."
Sirius tried not gasp at her words, just hugging his daughter back just as tight. He couldn't believe. His daughter. The girl he was holding right now was his. His and Valencia's.
"Bye, Carina," Sirius told her back and looked down at her, cupping her face. "No sad face, okay? I will see you in a few weeks when school ends and you're on break."
"I will? Mama?" Carina turned to her mother.
"Yeah, Mama?" Sirius questioned in a teasing voice and Valencia rolled her eyes, walking over.
She placed her hands on Carina's shoulders and shrugged, "Yeah, I guess we'll go see you."
Sirius cheered, high-fivinh Carina before hugging Valencia, who whispered, "Please take of yourself, be careful, don't get caught."
A smile rose to Sirius' face at her words. Those words were what they always told each other before every prank, eventually before every exam, and then before every battle of the way.
"Yeah, you too, Val." Sirius mumbled. "Take care of our daughter, okay?"
"I've been doing it for 13 years, I think I've got it down." Valencia smirked before Sirius hugged Carina once more, kissing her forehead.
"And he goes off into the moonlight," Thea whispered to her brothers as Sirius Black flew away on Buckbeak, far away from Hogwarts. "Mission accomplished."
"See? Nothing went wrong." Tobi smirked at Tommy as the four siblings walked towards the castle, wrapping their arms around each other.
"Surprise, surprise." Tommy sighed.
"So, why'd Thea's eyes light up?" Teo asked and the four siblings exchanged a look, smirks on their faces.
"He's asking the good questions." Tommy pointed at his older brother.
"It's a very valid point." Tobi agreed.
Thea laughed before shaking her head. She glanced at her brothers, a smile gracing her pink lips, "I guess we'll have to find out, won't we?"