After Sirius left Harry, he met Lewis further down the corridor.
"Sorry," Sirius said apologetically. "Talking with Harry took longer than I expected. I've kept you waiting."
"It's fine."
Lewis smiled and waved it off.
"A reunion between a godfather and his godson deserves as much time as it needs."
"I already told you—the payment isn't something I'm in a hurry to collect."
"But I don't like owing people favors."
Sirius scratched his head impatiently.
"If you're free, why don't you come with me now and collect your reward?"
Since it was the weekend and there were no classes, Lewis readily agreed.
The two of them left Hogwarts together.
Along the way, countless students recognized Sirius from the newspaper.
One after another, they stopped to stare in amazement.
"I haven't been the center of attention like this in years."
Sirius chuckled.
"The last ones who chased after me this enthusiastically were Dementors."
Lewis couldn't help appreciating his optimism.
Once they were outside Hogwarts' anti-Apparition wards, Sirius took Lewis by the arm.
With a crack, they Apparated away.
Their destination was the ancestral home of the Black family—
Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
At this point, it had not yet become the hidden headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Lewis could see the house in its entirety.
The ancient building looked nothing like the prestige of the family that owned it.
Its walls were filthy.
Its windows were dark and sinister.
They climbed the worn stone steps.
The black paint on the front door had peeled away long ago, leaving countless scratches across its surface.
The silver door knocker was shaped like a coiled serpent.
There was neither a keyhole nor a mailbox.
Sirius drew his newly purchased wand and tapped the door.
Immediately, loud metallic clanking echoed from within.
Chains rattled.
The old door slowly creaked open.
Crossing the threshold, they entered a hallway shrouded in darkness.
Lewis immediately caught the damp, moldy smell hanging in the air.
The place felt abandoned.
A sharp crack echoed.
Then the old gas lamps lining the walls burst into life one after another.
Their flickering flames cast wavering shadows throughout the long hallway.
Peeling wallpaper.
Threadbare carpets.
Above them hung a cobweb-covered chandelier.
Crooked portraits blackened with age lined the walls.
Even the chandelier and the nearby candle stand had been crafted into the shapes of enormous snakes.
Just as Lewis was surveying the decrepit mansion—
Crack!
A house-elf suddenly Apparated before them.
It was the Black family's house-elf—
Kreacher.
Aside from the filthy rag tied around his waist like a loincloth, he wore almost nothing.
He was ancient.
His loose skin hung from his body in folds.
His bald head was framed by huge bat-like ears sprouting long white hairs.
His bloodshot gray eyes looked permanently resentful.
His large fleshy nose resembled a pig's snout.
"Master..."
Kreacher's pale eyes widened.
But the moment they landed on Sirius...
They filled with undisguised hatred.
He immediately bent into an exaggerated bow until his pig-like nose nearly touched the floor.
Then, in a low but perfectly audible mutter, he said,
"Master is an ungrateful, worthless disgrace..."
"He broke Mistress's heart..."
"Oh... poor Mistress..."
"She disowned him..."
"And now he's returned..."
"They even say he's a murderer..."
Lewis struggled not to laugh.
He could practically see the veins bulging on Sirius's forehead.
"My mother never had a heart, Kreacher."
Sirius answered coldly.
"She was kept alive entirely by hatred."
"No matter what Master says..."
Kreacher muttered resentfully.
"Master wasn't worthy to polish Mistress's shoes..."
"Oh... poor Mistress..."
"How disappointed she would be to see him..."
"What a disgrace..."
As he muttered, he bowed once more.
"Stand up."
Sirius said impatiently.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I am guarding Mistress's house."
Kreacher answered.
He slowly straightened up and shot Lewis a venomous glare.
Apparently believing nobody could hear him, he continued muttering.
"The prodigal son brings back another brat..."
"Kreacher doesn't know who he is..."
"What is he doing here..."
"Kreacher doesn't know..."
"That's enough."
Sirius interrupted coldly.
"You've seen me."
"You can leave."
The little elf stared in disbelief.
But as he shuffled away, he wailed dramatically.
"Back from Azkaban and already ordering Kreacher around!"
"He even brought another brat!"
"Kreacher will protect Mistress's house!"
"Kreacher will never let Master and that little brat destroy it!"
His complaints continued all the way around the corner.
"Shut up, Kreacher!"
Sirius finally roared.
"If you keep screaming, I really will kill someone!"
In frustration, he grabbed the umbrella stand nearby and hurled it after the elf.
Before he could finish speaking—
A horrifying scream erupted.
It was deafening.
Goosebumps instantly rose across Lewis's skin.
"Oh no..."
Sirius's face changed.
"I forgot..."
Without the umbrella stand holding it down...
A pair of moth-eaten velvet curtains suddenly flew open.
Behind them wasn't a doorway.
For a split second, Lewis thought he was looking through a window at an elderly woman wearing a black hat, screaming as though she were being tortured.
Then he realized...
It was merely a life-sized portrait.
The most vivid—
And most unpleasant—
Portrait he'd ever seen.
"Filth!"
"Scum!"
"Half-breeds!"
"Monstrosities!"
"Get out of my house!"
"How dare you stand beneath my roof!"
The shrill voice echoed through the mansion.
At the same time...
Every portrait along the hallway woke up.
One after another...
They all began screaming as well.
The noise was unbearable.
"Shut up!"
"You horrible old witch!"
Sirius rushed forward and seized the curtains.
"You!"
Mrs. Black shrieked upon recognizing him.
"You disgrace!"
"You shame of the family!"
"The son I should never have borne!"
"I told you—"
Sirius roared while desperately pulling the curtains shut.
After considerable effort...
He finally managed to cover the portrait once again.
Lewis quietly raised his wand.
"Accio Umbrella Stand."
The umbrella stand flew neatly back into his hand.
Only then did he notice something unexpected.
The umbrella stand...
Had actually been carved from a troll's leg bone.
Without saying a word, Lewis placed it back against the curtains.
Mrs. Black's screaming instantly ceased.
The other portraits, however, were still yelling.
Lewis casually pointed his wand around the hallway.
One Stunning Spell after another shot out.
Soon...
Every portrait had fallen silent.
The hallway finally became peaceful.
"Nicely done."
Sirius brushed the long black hair from his face and smiled gratefully.
"Lewis."
He gestured toward the covered portrait.
"Now you've met my mother."
Lewis blinked.
"Your mother?"
"Yes."
Sirius's expression turned cold.
"My dear mother."
"She's the one who threw me out of the Black family."
"Maybe she thought she was protecting the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black..."
"I've tried countless times to remove her portrait."
"But she cast a Permanent Sticking Charm on the canvas."
"Even powerful curse-breakers haven't managed to remove it."
"Why hang the portrait here?"
Lewis asked.
Sirius sounded completely indifferent.
Yet Lewis's psychic senses told a different story.
The colder Sirius acted...
The deeper the wound inside him.
Just like the woman behind those curtains...
Lewis almost felt as though he could see through the fabric.
The portrait had been placed by the entrance...
As though she wanted to be the very first to see her son return home.
This family...
Really was terrible at expressing affection.
Sirius walked farther into the room.
An old, filthy tapestry covered the entire wall.
Lewis stepped closer.
The cloth had faded badly.
Moths had eaten holes through many sections.
Yet the golden embroidery still gleamed brightly.
It depicted an enormous family tree stretching all the way back to the Middle Ages.
Across the top were embroidered the words:
THE MOST ANCIENT AND NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK
TOUJOURS PUR
Always Pure.
"Your name isn't on it."
Lewis observed after examining the lowest branches.
"It used to be."
Sirius pointed toward a charred circular hole burned through the tapestry.
"After I ran away..."
"My loving mother burned me off the family tree."
"Kreacher enjoys whispering that story whenever he gets the chance."
"You ran away?"
"I was about sixteen."
Sirius answered.
"I'd had enough."
"Where did you go?"
Lewis asked.
Sirius fell silent.
After a long pause, he quietly replied,
"The Potters."
Lewis looked back toward the tapestry.
He himself had grown up in an ordinary family in his previous life.
In this life...
He'd been an orphan from the beginning.
Whether in his past or present life...
He couldn't understand this obsession with bloodlines.
Perhaps one day, centuries in the future, one of his descendants would proudly embroider his name onto a tapestry like this.
But Lewis always believed...
Creating your own glory was far more meaningful than inheriting someone else's.
His eyes swept across the names.
He recognized Narcissa Malfoy.
Andromeda Tonks.
Though in Andromeda's place...
There was only another burned hole.
"I hated all of them."
Sirius murmured.
"My parents."
"They worshipped pure blood."
"They believed the Blacks were born superior."
"My foolish little brother..."
"He was too weak."
"He believed everything they taught him."
"There."
Sirius pointed toward a name near the bottom.
Regulus Black.
Beside it...
A death date from about fifteen years ago.
"That's my brother."
"A fool."
"He was younger than me."
"I spent my whole childhood hearing how much better he was."
"Then that idiot..."
"...joined the Death Eaters."
Lewis, however, knew the truth.
Regulus Black had eventually sacrificed his own life to discover one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
"Were your parents Death Eaters?"
Lewis asked.
"No."
Sirius shook his head.
"But they absolutely supported Voldemort's ideals."
"They believed in pure-blood supremacy."
"They wanted Muggle-borns pushed aside."
"They believed pure-bloods should rule."
After a pause, he continued.
"Of course..."
"They weren't alone."
"Before Voldemort revealed what he truly was..."
"A great many people believed some of his ideas were reasonable."
Lewis became even more certain.
Sirius rejected his family's beliefs...
But he had never truly stopped loving them.
"I haven't looked at this tapestry in years."
He pointed upward.
"That's Phineas Nigellus..."
"My great-great-grandfather."
"The least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had."
Lewis silently added in his heart:
And during his era...
Hogwarts produced an unparalleled Dark Lord who nearly wiped out the Ashwinders and dark wizards by himself.
His thoughts drifted toward the enormous cavern hidden beneath Hogwarts.
"And over there..."
"Araminta Meliflua..."
"My mother's cousin."
"She once tried to legalize the hunting of Muggles."
"And Elladora..."
"The one who started the family tradition of chopping off house-elves' heads when they became too old to carry trays."
"Whenever someone halfway decent appeared in the family..."
"They'd simply disown them."
"I saw Tonks' mother's name."
Lewis pointed.
"Just like yours..."
"It was burned away."
"Oh."
Sirius smiled for the first time in a while.
"Andromeda was my favorite cousin."
"Come to think of it..."
"That makes Tonks my cousin too."
"That's convenient."
Lewis laughed.
"Tonks and her parents have always treated me very well."
"But don't expect me to start calling you Uncle Sirius."
"That really is quite a coincidence."
Sirius laughed.
"If Andromeda trusts you..."
"Then you're definitely a good kid."
"Maybe Dumbledore exaggerated after all."
He still remembered Dumbledore warning him after the trial to be careful around Lewis.
Yet after everything Lewis had done...
Combined with Andromeda's judgment...
Sirius found himself trusting the young wizard more and more.
"It's just a shame..."
"I didn't recognize Nymphadora back in the Shrieking Shack."
"The last time I saw her..."
"She was only nine years old."
"And now she's become such an outstanding Auror."
"Everyone there listened to her."
"That's because she's Gianna's most trusted subordinate."
Lewis smiled.
"You'll have plenty of chances to get reacquainted."
"You're right."
Sirius nodded.
"After finally coming home..."
"I suppose it's time to visit old friends again."
"But first..."
He looked toward Lewis with a grin.
"Let's finish our agreement."
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