The Other Side: Thick and Thin (Book 1)

It had been a relief to board the Hogwarts Express to return home for the Christmas holiday. Despite his new friendships and the passage of time, Sirius was still not entirely comfortable with Gryffindor house. And Gryffindor was not entirely comfortable with Sirius. Even though many people had witnessed the confrontation between Sirius and Potter in the common room and should have remembered exactly what had happened, the gossip was much more interesting than the facts. The speculation was not in Sirius's favor, because he had been in detention for the rest of the year and Potter hadn't.

Sirius had never thought that he would be so happy to go home for a couple of weeks, especially not when his family still seemed less than completely welcoming. He would find out what kind of reception he would receive soon enough, as soon as he managed to get off the train. He was currently standing in his compartment doorway watching the large crowd of first and second years who were stuffing up the corridor, some of them trying to drag heavy trunks.

Sirius didn't understand why they were bringing their trunks home for the short break. Surely they had enough clothing and supplies at their homes to last them for a couple of weeks? Sirius had more clothes and toys at home than he knew what to do with. Or surely they had bags like his where they could pack some of their things without bothering with their whole trunks? He had stuffed the few things he felt he couldn't live without in his leather book bag with the Undetectable Extension and Feather-Light Charms. Failing that, why they didn't just cast Moving Charms or Feather-Light Charms on their trunks instead of trying to drag them along like common Muggles would have? When Sirius had first started lessons with his grandfather, the patriarch had made sure that he had a good foundation in practical everyday spells before he'd been allowed to start trying his hand at the Charms and Transfigurations he'd been reading about.

Sirius inwardly sneered when it became clear that Mary was going to try and drag her trunk along like everyone else. Stupid Mudblood, he thought, but he kept his face carefully neutral and his thoughts to himself.

"Let me help you with that," he said instead, more out of impatience than altruism. "Locomotor trunk."

Mary's trunk hovered a few inches above the ground, and when the corridor finally cleared a few minutes later Sirius directed it in front of him as his friends trailed along behind him. The platform was still crowded with students and parents, though they had mostly moved to the end of the platform which contained the exit to King's Cross Station. There was a bottleneck, as only a few people could pass through at a time, and the platform was left full of those waiting in the queue to exit platform nine and three-quarters and those who were standing in groups catching up with other families until the crowd thinned out.

He spotted his father standing with his cousins and the Malfoys. They were standing near the far wall, apparently as far apart from the crowd as they could manage. His father was deep in conversation with the elder Malfoy, and his cousins were conversing with the younger. None of them noticed Sirius across the platform.

"Oh, there are my parents!"

Sirius felt a hand land harshly on one of his shoulders as Mary's other hand came up on his other side to point. Sirius turned his gaze to follow the direction of Mary's finger. There was a middle-aged couple who looked about a decade older than Sirius's parents standing in quiet bewilderment as witches and wizards buzzed around them.

Mary used the hand on his shoulder to give him a little shove, and he quickly stepped to the side, out of the way of the steps leading down from the Hogwarts Express onto the platform. His friends filed down next to him.

"Come on," said Mary excitedly, her hand patting Sirius's shoulder. "I'll introduce all of you!"

Sirius was less than pleased at the idea of meeting two Muggles, but he couldn't very well say that if he wanted to maintain the new friendships and the reputation he was building for himself. Besides, he had to admit that he was a bit curious, even if it was distasteful; he'd never met an actual Muggle before. He was also levitating Mary's trunk, and he supposed that he couldn't just abandon her beside the train without seeming unpardonably rude.

"Oh, sure. My parents are just over there." Emmeline indicated the direction with a tilt of her head instead of by pointing, which Sirius thought must be a reflection of her more refined pure-blood upbringing. "Let me just go and get them, and they can meet all of you, too!"

Peter said that he would do the same and darted off into the crowd to find his mother, and Sirius was left standing awkwardly with Mary.

"Er..." he paused, glancing again at his family. "It looks like my father is talking with Mr. Malfoy, so we'd better not bother them. I had better just say hello to your parents and then go join them."

Mary happily agreed, not seeming to find anything suspicious about it at all, and Sirius gave an internal sigh of relief as they started walking towards the Muggle couple, glad that at least he wouldn't have to convince his father to come meet a couple of Muggles.

Mr. MacDonald was a portly man of average height. He had hair of the same chestnut shade as Mary's, though his was streaked through with gray and thinned so much on the top that the crown of his head showed through. It repulsed Sirius and gave him the urge to run his hand through his own thick locks just to make sure they were still there. His wife was an attractive woman with an average build and the same oval face as Mary. Half of her brownish-blonde hair was arranged in a large mound on top of her head, while the other half was arranged in enormous curls that fell down around her shoulders. Sirius could only assume that this very large hairstyle must be common among Muggles, and he did his best not to stare at it.

They seemed ecstatic to see their daughter, and the family reunited with exclamations of delight and hugs all around. Sirius watched from several feet away, feeling quite awkward at the physical and very public display of affection. His family had certainly never behaved in any such way.

After a minute or so of chattering happily with her parents about Hogwarts, Mary seemed to remember that he was there. "Oh! Mum, Daddy, this is Sirius Black," she introduced him. "He's my housemate, remember?"

"Yes, dear, he's one of the friends you wrote about," said Mrs. MacDonald with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, dear. I understand that we should thank you for helping our Mary acclimate to the magical world."

Sirius noticed that she stumbled a bit over the word magical, but he ignored the slip and gave the couple an easy smile and returned their greeting. As he was doing so he quickly directed Mary's trunk in front of the family and set it to the ground, to the clear astonishment of her parents.

"There's your trunk, Mary. I had better go and join my own family now."

Sirius turned to excuse himself from her parents, but just then Emmeline and her family joined them and he found himself being introduced to her parents, too. Soon afterward Peter wandered over with his mother in tow, and they repeated the ritual again. Before he knew it, a few more minutes had passed before Sirius found another opportunity to excuse himself politely. He was on the verge of inserting himself into the adults' conversation to make his apologies when the group suddenly went quiet and directed their attention in his direction.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he knew why. The hand was carefully placed, firm yet comfortable and nothing like the rough treatment Mary had subjected him to earlier, and Sirius instantly recognized the touch.

"Son," greeted Orion from behind him, "were you planning to join me anytime soon?"

If they hadn't been in public, Sirius would have outwardly sighed in relief at the teasing undertone in his father's voice. Even though his grandfather had sanctioned his friendships with the other Gryffindors, Sirius had still been nervous about his father's reception.

"Mr. Black, it's lovely to see you again! Everyone, this is Orion Black," Mr. Vance said rather formally. "Mr. Black, this is Henry and Jane MacDonald. Henry was just telling us how he's a--" He broke off abruptly and looked to Mr. MacDonald. "What did you say it's called?"

"A judge," he replied.

"Right!" agreed Mr. Vance jovially.

Mrs. Vance explained, "From what Henry has told us, I think it's rather like when members of the Wizengamot hear trials."

"Archibald, Margaret," Orion returned the greeting, and Sirius had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from smirking at how his father addressed them by their given names without permission, as if he was greeting children. Then his father turned to face the Muggles. "I am obviously unaware of the workings of the Muggle judicial system, although my family holds several hereditary seats on the Wizengamot which my father currently fills."

Sirius appreciated his father's ability to seamlessly blend his disdain for all things Muggle and information about the Blacks' high position in society together into one seemingly innocuous comment. He felt the corner of his mouth turn up into a smirk that he couldn't repress this time.

"Father, this is Peter Pettigrew and his mother," he introduced the remaining members of their group, as much to cover up his own slip of expression as to be polite.

"Pettigrew?" echoed Orion. "My sister is very close with Enid Pettigrew, who was Enid Avery, but I don't recall ever having been introduced to you."

Mrs. Pettigrew's mouth tightened, making her rotund face even less attractive than previously. "I'm Catherine Pettigrew. I was married to Peter, God rest his soul. My son is named after his father."

"I see," replied the elder Black. Nothing in his tone was the least bit friendly, and Sirius knew that Mrs. Pettigrew's explanation, not to mention her Muggle turn of phrase, had revealed that she was a Mudblood. If there was anything the Blacks hated more than Muggles, it was Mudbloods.

Oblivious to the sudden tension amongst the magical members of their group, Mrs. MacDonald smiled brightly at Orion. "It's so lovely to meet Sirius's father! I can see where he gets his good looks!"

Orion laughed, though Sirius could tell that it was a bit strained, and the other adults joined him much more genuinely. Sirius barked out his own laugh, not at all embarrassed by the woman's comments about him. Emmeline, on the other hand, tried to bow her head to hide the rosy blush that covered her cheeks, and Mary quickly looked away from him and focused on some distant point behind Mrs. Pettigrew.

Once the laughter had died down, Orion checked his goblin-forged pocket watch. "We must be off," he announced, and strode away without further pleasantries.

Sirius offered the group a smile. "I'll see you next term, girls. Peter, I'll owl you."

Then he turned and trailed after his father, who was walking briskly toward the exit. He hadn't quite got out of hearing range yet when Mr. Vance turned to address the astonished and offended MacDonalds. He caught snippets of the explanation ("--old pure-bloods... noble... quite hereditary...") and couldn't contain the sneer that crept onto his face at the Muggles' ignorance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the first uncomfortable afternoon at Grimmauld Place, Sirius realized that being at home proved almost as uncomfortable as being at Hogwarts. There was an underlying current of disappointment surrounding Walburga whenever she was near her eldest son. Sirius couldn't have failed to notice it, though she did attempt to hide it. Arcturus had returned to Germany the week prior on Wizengamot business and had yet to return. Regulus didn't even attempt to hide the air of superiority that surrounded him whenever he interacted with his older brother.

The battle lines were drawn at dinner on his first evening back. Bolstered by the accepting reaction of his father, Sirius chattered happily about his first semester at school.

"Peter isn't really that bad," he was explaining. "He's a natural in Potions, so he takes the lead in that class in return for my help with his wand work in other classes."

"He's a nasty little Gryffindor," put in Regulus.

Sirius ignored him. "The girls are okay, too. Emmeline's from a pure-blood family at least, and Mary is sweet even if she's a Muggle."

Regulus raised his voice louder. "Well, I would certainly never get close enough to a Mudblood to find out how nice she is."

Before either of their parents could speak, Sirius turned to glare at Regulus across the table and told him, "Yes, you would, if you had to maintain appearances."

"I would not!" defended Regulus. "I'd never have to maintain appearances with a filthy little Muggle, because I'm not blood traitor like you!"

"Enough!" broke in Orion. He didn't raise his voice, but his tone was frigid and both of his sons immediately snapped their mouths shut. "If you feel that way about your brother, Regulus, then I'll arrange for you to stay home with Kreacher when we go to the league final next week."

Regulus's mouth dropped open in shock. "Father!"

"Silence!" Orion yelled this time, his face as white as a death mask except for the great red splotches on his cheeks. He visibly swallowed and then continued in a carefully controlled tone, "Being a Black transcends Hogwarts houses and petty disagreements. It is fortunate for you, Regulus, that your only punishment is missing a Quidditch game. I cannot protect you from your grandfather if he hears such filth coming out of your mouth."

His younger son stared at him, his pale face mottled in a strange mix of anger and terror. Neither of the Black children had ever been subjected to anything more than a sharp reprimand from Arcturus, but they had grown up on the horror stories about how he used to punish his own children. Regulus looked to his mother for help, but, rather uncharacteristically, Walburga looked down at her plate and studiously avoided everyone's gazes.

Sirius had to bite down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning, and for once he was glad for all the practice he got not reacting to Potter's behavior when professors might see.

The next morning, Sirius addressed the adults at the breakfast table. "Do you think I might see my cousins before Christmas Eve?"

Walburga spared him the briefest of glances and then turned back to her plate as if cutting her sausage demanded her full attention. Finally, after long seconds, she replied, "Certainly not. Druella is entertaining the Lestranges and won't want you underfoot."

"I imagine you'd spoil her formal teas and stuffy dinner parties!" Orion offered Sirius a grin from over the top of the Daily Prophet.

Sirius gave him a weak smile in return before turning his eyes downwards to his own plate. Despite his father's attempt to make him feel better, Sirius knew that he had been welcome at formal occasions before. He knew how to behave (when he had to, and usually when he'd been bribed to do it), and his female relatives had always enjoyed parading him around in front of their friends before. He supposed that his aunt and cousins were just as embarrassed by him as his mother, now that he'd been sorted into Gryffindor.

After that he spent most of his time in either the library or his room, only joining the rest of his family for meals. His mother was right: He didn't get to see his cousins over the next few days. Instead he managed to read through Curses and Counter-Curses and halfway through Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed, jotting down notes on things he found particularly interesting or helpful. He figured that he'd better take the opportunity to study things like this during break, since he'd already spent so much time on his schoolwork while at Hogwarts. Besides, he'd have done anything to avoid seeing anymore of his mother's disappointed looks.

Unfortunately, on the evening of Christmas Eve he could no longer avoid the rest of his family. Every year his mother's side of the family gathered at Grandfather Pollux and Grandmother Irma's house for dinner. Although Sirius desperately wished that he could stay home and wait for Grandfather Arcturus, who was supposed to arrive home from Germany that evening, his parents wouldn't hear of him staying behind. Thus, he avoided it as long as he could, but as the clock chimed six o'clock he finally had to reluctantly trudge to the entrance hall so they could leave.

"You're late!" cried Walburga when she finally caught sight of her son coming down the stairs. Her dark purple robes complemented her dark hair, and both made a striking contrast to her porcelain skin and made it appear even paler. "As if there won't already be enough attention on you as it is, you just had to make sure that we'd arrive last!"

Sirius winced and looked down to study the pattern of the marble floor. He hadn't thought of that when he'd dallied in his room.

His mother's approach made him look up, and he thought he detected worry in her black eyes. She reached out suddenly and grabbed his tie. "Here, maybe Father will notice if you wear this and won't be so hard on you."

As he watched his mother pin the repaired silver-colored snake into the black silk, Sirius felt warmth spread from his chest outward to his extremities. When Walburga finally smoothed the fabric back into place, he recognized the feeling as relief. He took his mother's hand before she could pull back, though he had no plan beyond that. They stared at each other in silence until Orion broke in with forced joviality.

"Well, we'd better go before Pollux has our places removed from the table out of spite!"

Walburga squeezed Sirius's hand, and he had a moment of peace, as if the past months had never happened, before his body was suddenly stuffed into a tube the size of his fist. After a few unbearable seconds, he landed hard and stumbled, pulling his mother off balance along with him.

She straightened and immediately brought her hands up to make sure that the smooth, delicate curls of her hair were still in place.

"I had forgotten why your father usually Apparates with you."

"Sorry, Mummy," he replied, immediately seizing the opportunity to affect a bashful, apologetic demeanor. He supposed that he was taking a bit of a gamble that her behavior over the past few minutes meant she had gotten over being bothered about him, but honestly he didn't have much to lose by laying it on a bit thick.

Her head snapped up at his form of address, and her eyes immediately softened at the expression on his face. Then suddenly it was like no time had passed and nothing had ever happened to cause discomfort or awkwardness between them.

"Oh, my darling," she said, reaching out unnecessarily to straighten his robes yet again, "there's nothing for which to apologize."

"YOU'RE LATE!" bellowed Pollux Black, unceremoniously interrupting the moment that Sirius had been waiting for since his sorting last September first.

"Dinner was supposed to begin three minutes ago!" chimed in Grandmother Irma.

After one last pat to her son's shoulder, Walburga turned to greet her parents. She moved aside only to reveal Regulus watching Sirius with a positively furious expression on his face. Sirius glared right back at him until Orion walked between them, shooting his own glare at his younger son as he went past. "Behave," Sirius heard his father hiss at his brother. He bit back the grin that threatened to spread across his face.

Regulus stalked past him a moment later to join their cousins on the other side of the room. All of the girls were watching him curiously. Even Bellatrix had managed to pry her attention away from her fiancé for long enough to watch him from under hooded lids and thick lashes. Sirius shifted his weight in indecision, trying to determine whether he would be welcome to join them.

Grandmother Irma spared him the decision. "Well, let's not dally!" she declared. "Dinner is waiting!"

Everybody moved all at once towards the double doors that led into the dining room, crowding each other as much as their restrained, formal manners would allow. Sirius stayed back on the edge of the group, too nervous to mingle with his family when their reception of him was as yet unknown. He was the last to enter the room, and he hung back in the doorway as he watched everyone else choose their seats. Even though Bellatrix and Aunt Druella and Grandmother Irma usually squabbled over his attention, this time they all filled in the seats around the table without looking at him. Embarrassed and hurt, he hung his head and dutifully trudged further up the table to sit in the only empty seat, which his mother had clearly saved for him next to her.

Everyone chatted amiably around him as the food was magically carved and served. Sirius was, as with every other year, pleased by the rich selection of perfectly prepared venison, roast beef, and duck at his grandparents' Christmas feast. However, this year his mood was far too dreary for him to really enjoy it.

"Druella, dear," Walburga spoke over the top of his head, and the slight tone of disapproval mixed with inquiry in her voice drew him back into the conversations around him, "I thought that you were going to invite the Malfoys to dine with us."

Sirius and Andy both turned to look at Aunt Druella, who was sitting two seats down from him on the other side of his cousin.

"Oh, I desperately wanted to invite them!" she exclaimed, either not noticing or choosing to ignore her sister-in-law's less-than-friendly tone. "Just think how lonely it must be in that manor during Christmas, with just Abraxas and darling Lucius all alone with the memories of their dead wife and mother! However, Narcissa was adamant that they not be invited, the silly girl."

At that she turned a cross look on her daughter, who had been drawn into the conversation on hearing Lucius's name.

"Mother!" Narcissa hissed, but it was too late. Everybody else was now listening in.

"Anyone would think that you aren't taking your relationship seriously!" her mother scolded her in a tone that Sirius knew meant she had already repeated herself on this subject many times over. "Don't you want to marry him?"

Narcissa's smooth cheeks blushed pink, and she opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by their grandfather.

"Is that the way of things, girl?" he boomed from the head of the table. "Is there something wrong with the boy?"

"No!" she cried. "Lucius is--is... lovely!"

Rodolphus snickered from his place beside Bellatrix, and everyone turned as one to look at him.

"I apologize," he said not at all convincingly, apparently unworried by the scrutiny of the Black family. "It's just that Malfoy would absolutely die of embarrassment if he knew anyone had said that about him."

Sirius's mother jumped on the chance for more gossip. She leaned around Sirius to get a better look at her future nephew. "Do you know him well, then?"

"Oh, sure," Rodolphus responded readily, heavily placing a thick arm on the back of Bellatrix's chair as he leaned around to see Walburga better. "Our fathers were in the same year at Hogwarts, and my younger brother is good friends with him. He's a good sort, very cunning. My father is impressed by him and keeps telling Mr. Malfoy that he should introduce him to our L--" He broke off suddenly and looked at his fiancée in surprise, and Sirius thought that she must have kicked him under the table.

"To a political ally," she finished his sentence. Rodolphus looked chagrined but nodded his agreement. Sirius sensed his mother go tense beside him, but he quickly pushed it aside when Bellatrix continued more smoothly, "Mr. Lestrange thinks that Lucius has the potential to be a very successful politician one day. I think that he will come as close to being good enough for my sister as anybody could."

"No one will ever be good enough for our Cissy," declared Uncle Cygnus with a tone of stark finality.

In a rare display of ill manners, Narcissa stabbed her fork into her duck rather more harshly than necessary. "No one ever gives Bella or Andy any trouble about who they want to see."

Uncle Alphard laughed merrily. "My dear, that is the curse of being the baby. I should know; my parents and my brother and sister think that they ought to run every aspect of my life for me."

"If you would just settle down with a nice girl..." Grandmother Irma mused aloud. "I don't know why you're so set against marrying!"

Sirius watched curiously as Uncle Alphard turned a bit red and Walburga pursed her lips in the way that meant she disapproved of something. But both of them kept their silence on the subject.

"Well," said Walburga instead, "at least we have one wedding to look forward to in the family. I'm glad that Rodolphus, at least, was able to join us tonight."

Bellatrix beamed at her aunt, her glamorous diamond earrings jingling around her neck as she nodded. "We thought that it would be fair to spend Christmas Eve with my family, since we have this dinner. We'll split the day tomorrow and then spend Boxing Day with Roddy's family, when they have a small celebration with their French cousins."

"It's always difficult for new couples to combine their families' celebrations," put in Grandmother Irma sagely. "Why, we used to have this dinner on Christmas Day, many years ago, but then--"

"Bellatrix, did Orion tell you that he saw his sister while he was abroad last week?" cut in Walburga. Sirius knew that she had wanted to interrupt before her mother could say that Grandfather Arcturus had unilaterally demanded that his son's family spend the whole of Christmas Day with him at Grimmauld Place.

Her husband started in surprise, causing his knife to cut through his venison more harshly than he intended and scrape against the china. A second later he had recovered, and he turned to his niece with a grin.

"Lucretia is very sorry that she can't make it back to England to help you ladies design a wedding gown. They can't even make it back to the country to celebrate Christmas with family, you know. However, she was delighted with the invitation, and she told me to tell you that she will send an owl soon with some continental fashion magazines for you to look over."

"Aunt Lucretia isn't coming home for Christmas?" cried Sirius. His aunt's husband was a Ministry ambassador to France, and they rarely ever had time to come back to England. However, they had never missed a Christmas before, so Sirius was too surprised to stop himself from speaking before he remembered that he didn't want to draw any attention to himself.

He sunk back into his seat, but it was too late. His grandfather's piercing gaze bore into him. "Well, if it isn't the dragon in the room! Or should I say the Gryffindor? What have you to say for yourself, boy?" He said Gryffindor as if he was talking about having a Muggle at his table.

Sirius stared mutely at his plate, unsure what he could possibly say.

His mother leaned forward, blocking her son partially from her father's gaze, whether intentionally or not.

"The situation isn't as bad as we had imagined," she informed the table.

"No, it isn't," echoed her husband.

"To be sure," she continued, "the Vances aren't exactly upstanding pure-bloods, but they are pure. That Pettigrew woman is the Mudblood whore Enid Avery's brother-in-law got himself disowned over, but it could be worse. There is only one Mudblood in his class, and even Slytherin gets one of those occasionally."

Sirius didn't think it would be a good idea to point out that there was at least one other Mudblood in his class besides Mary--Lily Evans, whom they had met on the train but he had never mentioned to his parents again because she wasn't his friend.

"Is Gryffindor very different from Slytherin?" asked Aunt Druella.

She seemed genuinely curious and not upset, and Sirius supposed that she must feel sorry for him because she knew what it was like not to be entirely accepted by the family. Then he thought of Mr. Rosier and his Greek wife and their son Evan, who had studiously ignored Sirius ever since their Sorting, and he couldn't help the scowl that spread across his face.

His family must have taken his expression as proof that he was just as displeased with his House as they were, because the tension around the table relaxed somewhat.

His courage bolstered, Sirius finally said, "Well, the Gryffindors are a bit uncouth at times--I think their parents must never have made them take etiquette lessons--and don't seem to know the most basic things about magic... but I've been able to get along with most of them the same way I would with Slytherins, by making sure they know I'm important to have around. Peter likes me because I'm more useful than Potter, and Vance started taking my side after I offered to help her with some of her assignments. I've been able to gain influence in the house even though Potter's family are all Gryffindors. Mary has a lot of strange Muggle habits, but she's okay to be around most of the time."

Bellatrix frowned. "It's regrettable that you have to be around the Mudblood at all. I'm sure we'd all prefer you not pick up on any vile Muggle habits."

At their cousin's words, Regulus shot a triumphant look at Sirius as if to say that he had been right all along.

Sirius shrugged and pointedly ignored his brother's look. "It's mostly just things like her using strange words, but I don't know what they mean so I won't start using them."

Bellatrix's frown stayed firmly on her face. "Well, I have given it some thought, and I think that it might be useful to have someone in with the Gryffindors, as long as you don't let them infect you with their poisonous ideas."

She said the last as if she wasn't entirely sure it was possible, and Sirius puffed up with indignation, even though he had no idea what she was talking about when she said it could be useful.

"I'm a Black," he reminded her, his voice and eyes equally as steely as hers, threatening her to contradict him.

The others took a moment to absorb this, and then Orion laughed humorlessly. "And that puts an end to it. Sirius is a Black, and associating with Gryffindors isn't enough to change that."

"Yes, yes, we've had Gryffindors join the family before, though we've never had one sorted there." Pollux flapped an impatient hand in his his son-in-law's general direction as he turned back to his grandson. "You've been fighting with the Potter boy, you say?"

Sirius related the story of his first term sharing a dorm with James Potter. Having saved the best for last, he concluded by explaining the source of Potter's ire. "He said that his mother wouldn't want him associating with me because I'm a Black and a Dark wizard. I told him that his mother is also a Black, but he said she doesn't consider herself one."

There were murmurs and outcries from all around the table. Even Rodolphus seemed offended on behalf of such an ancient pure-blood family. Grandfather Pollux, though, looked absolutely apoplectic.

"THAT BRAZEN LITTLE BITCH!" he yelled, slamming his fist on the table and rattling the plates and silverware nearest him. "HOW DARE SHE! SHE--I...!"

He seemed too overcome with anger to articulate his thoughts further, and Grandmother Irma leaned over to pat his arm comfortingly. "My dear," she reminded him, "you have barely spoken to your sister in years. No doubt she has given her loyalty to her husband's family, just like I have given mine to your family and Druella has given hers to Cygnus's family. We can't all be as lucky as Walburga and stay in the same family!"

Pollux opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. Probably for the first time in his life, thought Sirius.

Bellatrix bristled with anger. "Well, she chose to marry a Potter, even though they aren't one of the purest families. I might be a Lestrange after next summer, but I will still be the same person and believe the same things my family raised me to know are true. It'll be the same when Cissy marries Malfoy and when Andy finally gets around to finding a suitable man."

Cissy blushed violently, and Andy paled and looked down at her plate.

The rest of dinner was pure pandemonium, with all of the family at turns expressing their outrage at the treatment of the Black heir and making suggestions about how Pollux should deal with his wretched, ungrateful sister. Sirius, however, was in a fantastic mood, since everybody had united behind him and turned the disappointment with his sorting into fury towards anyone who dared treat him as anything less than a Black deserved. The rest of the family was too angry or too busy making suggestions to enjoy dessert, but Sirius returned home stuffed to the gills with pudding and sherry trifle.

The next morning, the atmosphere at Grimmauld Place was as if nothing had ever changed. True to what he had said in his letters, Arcturus, who had arrived home the previous night, treated Sirius exactly the same as he would have had his grandson been sorted into Slytherin, and Walburga's improved attitude from the previous evening was still holding strong. She was doting on her eldest son as she had before he'd left for Hogwarts, and Sirius was preening under the attention like he always had. Orion was as happy as ever, especially since he loved Christmas.

In fact, the only person in the whole house who seemed unhappy was Regulus. He was furious that nothing seemed to have changed since Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor, even though he had been sure that such a fall from grace would finally gain him some attention. Maybe his elder brother would even be disowned, and then he'd be the heir!

Regulus had tried to hex Sirius by setting up a jinx on his door that morning, but Sirius, the undisputed king of pranks in their household, had noticed it immediately.

"Kreacher!" Sirius had cried.

The elf popped into his room and genuflected at the handsome boy's feet. "Master Sirius, sir! Kreacher's Mistress is so happy you're home!"

"Yes, yes," snapped Sirius impatiently, having heard the same thing repeated at least twice every time he'd seen the elf since he'd been home. "Walk through my bedroom door, and then go tell Mother that you got caught in a trap on it. I order you not to tell anyone that I told you to do that!"

The elf had unwillingly edged himself through the door, then squealed in pain as he was covered in boils and itching powder. He had popped out of the room, sobbing for his Mistress, and Sirius had been listening at his door a few minutes later when his father had appeared on the landing and bellowed for Regulus to come downstairs immediately.

Sirius wasn't sure exactly how is brother had been punished, but now Regulus was sitting stiffly in a chair in the corner of the drawing room, glaring daggers at him. Sirius happily pretended that he did not exist and instead examined the massive piles of presents under the tree.

There were colorful packages of all shapes and sizes, most of them with Sirius or Regulus's name on them, and it took most of the morning to carefully open and examine each one. Arcturus and Walburga didn't agree about many things, but they were certainly of one mind about opening presents. They agreed that each gift should be opened separately (in a civilized manner, none of that tearing into the paper like common Muggles), so that each member of the family could appreciate and enjoy each other's good fortune.

Sirius waited impatiently as the adults opened their gifts, first Arcturus and then Orion followed by Walburga. Walburga in particular took far too long for Sirius's tastes, because she had received a magnificent fur coat from her husband and had spent absolutely ages admiring it and trying it on and receiving compliments on it and thanking Orion profusely.

Finally, it was his turn, and he eagerly catalogued his bounty of toys, books, clothes, pranking supplies (snuck into the pile by his father, no doubt), and new Gryffindor-themed sheets and scarves. Finally, just when he thought that he had opened everything and it was his nasty brother's turn, Orion Summoned another package the size of a large book.

"Your mother and I had these commissioned when we had your tiepin repaired," Orion informed him.

Sirius raised an eyebrow in inquiry, but of course the easiest way to find out what was inside was to open the present, which he did as soon as his father placed it in his hands. He carefully removed the gold-colored paper to reveal an ebony box with a simple border engraved around the lid. He opened it to find the inside divided into several compartments lined with red silk, and nestled in several of the compartments were gold and red pieces of jewelry. Sirius let out a breath of surprise and looked back up at his parents, who were uncharacteristically silent.

Walburga was looking at him with a soft expression, but her voice was hard when she rhetorically asked, "We can't let that Potter brat outdo a Black, can we?"

All of the jewelry was done in yellow gold, as opposed to the white gold or platinum of the Black jewelry, including Sirius's signet ring and Slytherin tiepin. The gemstones were either rubies or red diamonds--Sirius wasn't sure, and he wasn't about to ask, as it was rude to inquire about the value of gifts. He reached into the box and pulled out the largest piece of jewelry, a ring. It was a lifelike representation of a lion's head, with a glorious mane, roaring mouth, and glowing red eyes. The Gryffindor tiepin and cufflinks were done in a similar style, but they weren't as ornate as the ring and were clearly intended for everyday use.

Sirius couldn't help the tears that sprung to his eyes, and he gave his parents a shaky but genuine grin.

"I can't believe you're okay that he got sorted into Gryffindor!" cried Regulus, breaking into the perfect moment. Sirius spun around to tell his brother off, his fingers itching to call his wand into his hand and curse Regulus all the way to next Christmas, but his father's hand landed hard on his shoulder and stopped him short.

"REGULUS!" yelled Orion, his fingers digging hard into Sirius's flesh. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU?"

Regulus scowled. "I DON'T CARE! HE'S A BLOOD TRAITOR AND EVERYONE IS STILL TREATING HIM LIKE A PRINCE!"

His father's fingers were almost painful on his shoulder now, and Sirius felt Orion take a deep breath to reply. He was cut off, however, by the calm, quiet inquiry from the other side of the room.

"What did you call your brother?"

The three younger Blacks all froze together for a moment of terrified solidarity before they turned as one to face the patriarch. Arcturus had leaned forward in his armchair and was staring fixedly at his youngest grandson. From her place on the adjacent sofa, Walburga was pale as a ghost and watching her father-in-law with wide eyes. Sirius hadn't seen her so frightened since the time he had wandered away from her in Diagon Alley when he was five or six.

"I asked you a question, boy!" Arcturus snapped, his frigid voice louder now than the previous terrifying whisper.

Regulus gaped at him and looked around the room for help, but the rest of the family were silent as the grave. Finally, he stuttered, "I--I don't--Grandfather, ple--"

"WHAT WAS IT?" roared Arcturus, rising from the chair and seeming to tower over the entire room and everyone in it all at once. Sirius had seen his grandfather angry plenty of times, not the least of which was when he had accidentally infested the Wizengamot chambers and his grandfather's underwear with Bulbadox powder that past summer, but he had never seen Arcturus like this.

The youngest Black looked at the floor in front of him. "A blood traitor," he whispered in defeat and shut his eyes as if that would make it all go away.

"Get out!" his grandfather ordered. "I don't want to see you for the rest of the day!"

"Arcturus, what about Christm--?" began Walburga, but her father-in-law turned his glare on her and she cut herself off mid-word.

"Keep your peace, woman. The boy deserves neither gifts nor dinner."

Sirius expected his mother to argue, as she usually did on behalf of her children, but this time she stayed silent. Orion's fingers would surely leave bruises on his shoulder.

Regulus seemed frozen in place, and Arcturus brandished his wand. Sirius half expected his grandfather to curse his brother right there, as he himself had wanted to do only moments ago, but instead he Vanished the rest of the presents that were under the tree. Regulus started trembling with repressed tears when all of his Christmas gifts disappeared, and even Sirius startled in barely suppressed surprise that his brother's things had been taken away.

"Kreacher!" Arcturus called. When the elf popped into the room beside him, he ordered, "Take Regulus to his room. Do not let him leave until I say so, and do not bring him any food."

After Kreacher popped out of the room with a tearful Regulus in tow, the rest of the family adjourned to the dining room. Dinner was a stilted affair. Walburga in particular was as quiet as Sirius had ever seen her, even quieter than Sirius's first few days home, and Orion wasn't as raucous and jovial as he usually was on Christmas. He and his father had a tense conversation about politics while Sirius and Walburga listened with varying degrees of disinterest.

Afterwards, Arcturus rose from the table, his son following after. Sirius stayed seated with his mother, until his grandfather said, "Come, Sirius."

Sirius was momentarily surprised. He had never before been invited to join the men after dinner, or to join a serious conversation between them at all. However, Sirius Black was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he strode confidently out of the room without questioning the opportunity.

His grandfather's private sitting room was done in green velvet and a particularly dark ebony, and it managed to exude masculinity despite the delicate antique furniture. Sirius chose a seat on a gold-colored sofa across from his grandfather and beside the fireplace, where Kreacher had laid out a silver tea set and coffeepot.

Both of the adults prepared drinks for themselves, but Sirius declined. He was too anxious to be thirsty.

"What are you going to do?" Orion finally broke the oppressive silence.

Arcturus leaned back regally in his chair, charming his saucer to hover beside him. He turned a steady gaze on his son. "When you were a child, that would have earned you magical lashes in addition to the solitary confinement, at the least."

Orion nodded slowly. "Yes, Father."

He glanced at his young son uncomfortably, as if he wished Sirius weren't there to hear this. Sirius was sure that was the case. Although he had once been confined to his room for an entire afternoon, he wouldn't want anyone to hear about it. He imagined that he especially wouldn't want anyone to know if he had been whipped, although he never had.

"It was an effective punishment that left no lasting damage to you... or to me or my father before me. You have done much worse to others, yet you have spared your own son a well-deserved punishment."

Orion winced and stared down into the swirling liquid in his teacup. "I could kill another man, a child even, with little remorse, but... but it would hurt me to harm my own son, even a little."

"Orion," said Arcturus sharply, and when his son looked up the older man held his gaze with a peculiar, soft expression in his eyes. "It did hurt me to harm you, son. You've experienced holding your own children, and watching your sons grow to look more and more like you every day. You cannot seriously think that I never felt the same for you?"

Sirius fidgeted in his seat, uncomfortable to be witnessing this moment. His family had never been one for displaying affection, beyond his mother's occasionally affectionate touches and his father's protective, guiding hand on his shoulder. His grandfather in particular had never been one to display his affection, though Sirius knew that he loved his family. He remembered the hug Arcturus had given him before he left for Hogwarts, though, and he had to acknowledge that the older man rationed out love whenever one needed it the absolute most.

Arcturus's son looked at him for several seconds with his mouth agape, obviously as astonished as Sirius. Finally, he managed to say, "I know, Father."

Arcturus set his coffee cup on the floating saucer with a clink.

"It hurt me, but I did it for your own good. You needed to be corrected before you went down a dangerous path, and soft corrections weren't working."--Sirius was insanely curious about what his father could possibly have done that was so bad, but he daren't ask--"This jealousy and spite that Regulus has for Sirius is dangerous, and if you don't correct it, it will fester and cause even greater problems down the road."

"I don't understand him," sighed Orion. "We've always tried to treat them the same, but we can't change the fact that Sirius got to go to Hogwarts this year or that Regulus's birthday falls after the cutoff date for next year."

"You also can't change the fact that Sirius is the heir," Arcturus told him. "Regulus knows that he will always have everything he wants materially, that he will be taken care of and can pursue anything he wants to do in life, but the one thing he wants that he can't have is his brother's position."

Sirius huffed. "I won't take care of him if he keeps treating me like--"

"Hush, Sirius." Sirius closed his mouth with a pout and sulked back into the cushions, and Arcturus continued on as if he had never been interrupted. "I've seen this too many times: with my own brother, with my uncles, with my friends' families.... This is why we stopped with you, you know. Your mother wanted more children, and I believe it is the only time I was ever able to tell her no about anything. Her people often have large families, but then again they don't have much to pass on to the next generation except their blood."

"Walburga wanted a girl," Orion mused, obviously speaking as much to himself as to his father, "and I admit that I wanted another child, boy or girl, so I wasn't opposed to trying."

Then he let his head fall onto the backrest of his chair in an uncharacteristic display of weakness. "You think that lashing him will help, Father?"

Arcturus shrugged, though his son couldn't see it. "Nothing you do can make him love his brother or stop being jealous of what he can't have, but you absolutely must stop him from acting out this way. You've warned him and you've taken away material things, so what's left?" He stared at his son's upturned chin for a few moments, and then offered, "I can do it."

Orion's Adam's apple bobbed for a moment under perfectly shaven skin. "No, he's my son. I'll do it.... You never let Grandfather give me a lashing, even when I deserved for him to do it."

"Wonderful, it's settled then," said Arcturus, though they all knew that there was nothing wonderful about it. "Now we can enjoy the rest of the day until the threat of insurrection hangs back over our heads tomorrow."

Despite his conflicted feelings, Orion snorted in amusement. "Having a tough time at the Ministry?"

"That blasted Bones woman has been trying to get her insane law passed to allow Mudbloods to reveal magic to more than just their most immediate family members. The only way it could possibly pass is to have a vote called without me or the other hereditary Warlocks present, but no doubt they will try to do just that before the New Year."

Orion tilted his head back down, his expression wrinkled into one of pure disgust. "Well what can you expect from the daughter of a blood traitor and a Mudblood? Most Half-bloods are little better than Mudbloods when it comes to respecting our traditions and protecting our community."

Arcturus's expression was little better than his son's. "Indeed. I say that if Mudbloods are so eager to maintain contact with the Mundane world, then they are welcome to stay there instead of polluting our world. The full Wizengamot would never give that Half-blood bitch enough votes to pass her law, of course, but as long as Diggory is Minister they will try all sorts of shenanigans to call a vote without us hereditary members present."

Sirius felt that he should get to have his share of the conversation, so he asked, "Didn't you say at dinner that enough of the Muggle sympathizers lost their elected seats this time around that you'll be able to get a new Minister?"

Arcturus gave him a pleased look. "Yes, indeed. However, Diggory will be Minister until after the New Year, when the new Wizengamot convenes and votes on the position."

"Since he's so interested, maybe you should train Sirius to follow in your footsteps and skip me altogether. You know that I have no interest in being on the Wizengamot," declared Orion.

His father pinned him with an inscrutable look. "Well, he's handsomer and smarter than you, so it isn't a bad idea."

Sirius grinned, and his grandfather spared him an amused look, the skin around his eyes crinkling just enough for Sirius to note his good humor even though his mouth maintained a perfectly dour frown.

"I beg your pardon!" cried Sirius's father. "You know that my son gets his good looks from me!"

"Piffle!" exclaimed Arcturus, his tone as serious as if he was addressing a full Chamber at the Ministry, and Sirius couldn't contain himself anymore and broke into peals of delighted laughter. "He gets his good looks from me," declared his grandfather, speaking over Sirius's noise. "You tried to take after me, you really did," he told his son. "But your mother, as pretty as she was, had that brother with those eyebrows, and you thought it a good idea to choose that of all things to inherit from her...."

Orion raised one of said brows, which of course was as perfectly groomed now as Sirius remembered them ever being, and that sent his son into another round of guffaws as he imagined his father meticulously tweezing them in front of his magic mirror. The two older Blacks soon followed him, all relieved beyond measure to think about something other than the heavy conversation of earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day of the British and Irish Quidditch League Final dawned cold but clear, and everyone would have thought it an absolutely perfect day if Sirius hadn't been bouncing all about Grimmauld Place like an overexcited Puffskein. Everyone, that is, except Regulus, who had refused to come down for breakfast that morning.

"Let him go on a hunger strike if he pleases," Arcturus had commanded the boy's worried parents. "If you give into children every time they decide to starve themselves, they'll ride roughshod all over you." At Walburga's horrified look, he had added, "If he doesn't give this up by the time his brother leaves for Hogwarts, we can always Imperius him to eat."

That hadn't comforted Regulus's worried mother, but nonetheless they had all donned their Tutshill gear and headed to the stadium, leaving the inmate at Grimmauld Place to carry out his sentence under Kreacher's watchful eye. If the adults' Quidditch gear merely consisted of their usual high-quality robes done in the team's sky blue, Sirius didn't comment on their lack of team spirit. He was too pleased with his own official Tornados uniform, which his Grandfather Pollux, the team's owner, had acquired for him.

"Those are brilliant!" Peter had exclaimed the first time he had seen what his friend was wearing.

Sirius had looked at his friend's attire in disgust. "Well, I'm not sure you're actually allowed to wear a Puddlemere badge in the Tutshill owner's box."

"Only because you're so afraid that Puddlemere will stomp you!" retorted Peter.

He and Sirius carried on bickering good-naturedly the entire way to the box, even Sirius barely pausing to catch his breath after they Apparated from Peter's home to the stadium. Peter was too thrilled by the prospect of seeing his first live professional Quidditch game--the league final at that!--to even notice that Sirius's family and their other guests were eyeing him with evident distaste.

"That's the one whose father was disowned for marrying a Mudblood?" Bellatrix asked her aunt, and her sister Andromeda turned to get a good view of him.

Walburga pursed her lips. "Yes. It was quite shocking to poor Enid when her brother-in-law announced his engagement."

"Ah, well," responded Aunt Druella, "there are some in even the best families."

"The Pettigrews were never one of the best families to begin with," said Adolpha Lestrange, who was standing as far away from the railing as she could get, looking stiff and extremely displeased to be there at all. "Although that's no excuse for Pettigrew Senior marrying a Mudblood."

Bellatrix turned a critical eye on Peter, who was with her cousin on the other side of the box, both of them enthusiastically leaning as far over the railing as they could go. "If the son's appearance is any indication of the father's, then it's likely that a Mudblood was the only woman who would have him."

The women all erupted into giggles at her cruel remark.

Sirius and Peter were blissfully ignorant of the conversation, as they were too busy watching people fill the stadium below them and chattering excitedly about the upcoming game. Sirius's attention was drawn, though, by the sudden greetings all around the box that accompanied the entrance of the Malfoys, Abraxas and Lucius. Orion motioned once with his fingers, and Sirius sighed as he left the railing to answer his father's summons.

"You can stay here if you like, Peter," he told his friend, although he couldn't tell if the other boy actually heard him, since he had leaned out past the railing to get a better look at the referees who were hovering near the ground on their broomsticks. "I'll be back after I say hello to my parents' friends."

At that, he walked sedately over to the group of adults that had formed around their newest guests. Abraxas Malfoy was a tall man, perhaps as tall as Arcturus but not as tall as Orion, with long blond hair pulled back from his face and sharp, pale features. Lucius appeared to have only recently begun growing out of his gangly phase and was not yet as tall or broad as his father. His face had likewise not filled out and matured like his father's, but the resemblance between the two was still remarkable.

"Thank you for inviting us," Mr. Malfoy said after he had been introduced to Sirius and the others he didn't know. "We had not planned on purchasing an entire box for just the two of us, since we don't support either of the teams this year. You quite saved us another dull day at home."

"Who do you support?" inquired Aunt Druella.

It was Lucius who answered, though he never actually looked at Druella. He never lifted his gaze from Narcissa, who was standing a step behind her mother with a shy blush on her normally porcelain cheeks.

"Wimbourne, Madam."

It seemed that all of the men present already knew this, which wasn't surprising since the Lestranges and the Malfoys were quite close, and the Blacks made it a habit to follow Quidditch closely.

Pollux Black gestured imperiously in his daughter-in-law's direction. "Women," he said with an exasperated flourish, "they don't know the first thing about Quidditch."

"Your granddaughter seems to be an exception to the rule, sir," Lucius contradicted him, though in the politest of tones imaginable so that not even Pollux could have taken offense. "If she had tried out for the house team, I'm certain that she could have ousted me from my position at Seeker."

Narcissa blushed pinker than before, but she gave her beau a winning smile.

"Which granddaughter is that?" demanded Pollux. "I have a surplusage of granddaughters."

Sirius didn't know if he was really that obtuse or if he just found the interaction between the young couple amusing.

The corner of Abraxas's mouth turned up ever so slightly, and Sirius was sure that he would have missed it had he not had so much experience with his father and grandfather's expressions. "That would be the ever lovely Narcissa Black, about whom I have heard a never-ending stream of praise and various trivia facts nonstop since at least last summer."

Now it was Lucius's turn to flush, but Sirius had to give him credit for acting as if nothing had happened and he was perfectly fine, despite the red tinge on his cheeks. Everyone else laughed pleasantly, and soon enough the couple was able to escape to the dubious safety of a corner where the women could interrogate them without the men interfering.

The men soon separated into their own smaller groups, leaving Sirius alone with his Grandfather Arcturus, who avoided Pollux like the plague whenever possible, and Mr. Malfoy, who had been in a discussion with his grandfather about the Bones situation at the Ministry.

"I will never understand why some of our number cannot see the danger in allowing Mudbloods more access to their vile Muggle traditions," scowled Abraxas. "Why, Lucius has told me that the Mudblood girls are free with their affections even at Hogwarts! The Muggles have apparently had some sort of 'sexual revolution,' whatever that means...."

Arcturus actually grinned, though Sirius thought that it was more intimidating than open or humorous. "In my experience, it has always been the case that Mudblood girls are loose and immoral. When I was a boy we all knew that we weren't allowed to take liberties with pure-blood girls before we were married, and I even had to knock some sense into my son after he got attached to some little Mudblood tramp when he was about Lucius's age."

Abraxas grinned back, baring some of his teeth. "That is true enough. Although I don't recall quite so many liberties in my school days as my son has described to me. I had been quite worried that I would have to knock some sense into Lucius as well, but then he turned his attention to Narcissa and seems to have settled down on his own."

"Narcissa is a good sort of girl, and I know that Cygnus and Druella have raised her to be a respectable pure-blood lady." There was a slight warning in his tone, and Abraxas glanced over at his son and Narcissa for a moment before inclining his head to indicate that he had received whatever message Arcturus had given him. Sirius wasn't quite sure what had happened between the two older men, but it was quickly forgotten when his grandfather said, "Perhaps so many of our number fall prey to these insidious Mudblood attacks because they don't have anyone to knock the sense into them before it's too late?"

Both men chortled, though Sirius had no idea what was so funny about being attacked by Mudbloods.

Then his grandfather glanced around them for a moment, as if to ascertain whether anyone was close enough to hear what they were saying. He was pleased that his grandfather apparently trusted him enough to let him hear the conversation, although he didn't pretend to actually understand most of what they were talking about.

Finally, Arcturus said in a low voice, "My daughter-in-law informed me that you, Lestrange, and her brother-in-law have a political ally whom Rodolphus and Bellatrix are quite taken with."

Abraxas's face was suddenly hard and wary.

"Rastaban, William, and I were classmates. We share many acquaintances," he said slowly, and Sirius could tell that he was being careful about what he chose to say.

"I haven't brought this up to get information from you," Arcturus told him calmly. He placed a large hand on Sirius's shoulder, and his grandson glanced up in confusion at the icy mask of his face. "However, Bellatrix and Rodolphus implied that there might be some speculation about how to make Sirius useful, and I want to make it clear to you that my grandson is not old enough to be useful to anybody."

Sirius wanted to protest that he was plenty old enough to be useful, but his grandfather's heavy hand made the words evaporate off his tongue before he could say them. Arcturus and Malfoy stared at each other for several long seconds, then finally the younger man inclined his blond head in deference.

"None of us is in the habit of using children. Bellatrix's wishful thinking is just that."

Arcturus's stare penetrated Malfoy's polite mask for a few seconds longer, but finally he inclined his own head in acknowledgment.

The sound of a whistle broke them all out of the bubble they had formed, and immediately the inhabitants of the box were bustling around to claim their seats before the game began. Sirius jumped in surprise and spun around to see what his friend had been doing all this time, only to find that Peter had saved him a seat right in the center of the front row. He was far too excited to remember to excuse himself, and he all but ran across the box to join his friend, the conversation between his grandfather and Mr. Malfoy all but forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Rastaban is the more proper name of the star, although J.K. Rowling chose to switch it up and name the younger Lestrange "Rabastan" instead. I have decided that in my own little head canon Adolpha Lestrange dislikes her husband's name and therefore her argument carried the day when she wanted to name her firstborn after her (Rodolphus is, as you might be able to tell, a feminine form of her name). Then by the time the second son rolled around, Rastaban had convinced her that he really should have a son named after him, and the Rabastan version was much more palatable to his wife so she finally agreed.