A Family Affair

Sirius awoke rather late the next day, having spent the majority of the night tossing, turning, and trying not to dwell on events long past. Eventually, he dragged himself from his bed and jolted himself fully awake with the stinging spray of a long shower. He felt almost human again by the time he made his way downstairs.

Draco sat in Lupin's usual chair before the fire, red-rimmed eyes focused on the flames before him rather than studying the open textbook on his lap. Sirius decided to let the boy be for a moment; he continued into the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later carrying a tray bearing a teapot, sugar bowl, and cups. Sirius balanced the tray on a rather small table between Draco's chair and the one he plopped down in a moment later. The older man poured a cup of steaming liquid from the teapot and handed it to Draco. The boy, startled out of his reverie, looked down at the cup that had appeared in his hand and his eyebrows furrowed in a puzzled frown.

"Coffee," Sirius said. "Italian coffee. Espresso."

Draco glanced up, feeling quite insulted. "I know what coffee is!" he snapped.

"You were looking at it as if it were a new breed of skrewt," Sirius replied with a smirk, sipping his own cup of espresso.

Draco glared at the older man. "Forgive me if I'm not quite used to having coffee forced on me in the mornings."

Sirius laughed. "So don't drink it, if you don't want it. You just looked like you could use it."

"I could use a drink of something a great deal stronger," the boy muttered under his breath.

Eyes twinkling, Sirius reached beneath his chair and pulled out a bottle of Irish whiskey. He spun the cap off, poured a bit into his own cup, recapped the bottle, and tucked it out of sight again; all of this was accomplished so quickly that Draco would have thought he had imagined it had he been prone to imagining things. "What a good idea, Draco," Sirius said with a mischievous grin.

"You could have shared, you bastard. And you should call me Michael."

"You're too young," he replied between sips of his whiskey laced espresso. "Why 'Michael'? I thought the name was 'Ciaran'?"

"Mr. Jaffe seems to think that the name Michael will be less conspicuous in the United States - draw less attention to me. So says Remus, who apparently talked to Jaffe this morning."

Sirius nodded. "Where is Remus?"

"Hogwarts. He went to retrieve some of my clothing and personal effects. I hope he returns soon - I hate being dirty," the boy explained, wrinkling his nose.

As if Draco's words had been a stage cue, Remus strolled into the sitting room. He dropped Draco's schoolbag at the boy's feet. Draco sat down his now empty coffee cup, scooped up the bag, and almost ran for the shower. A moment after he left the room, Draco reappeared in the doorway. "Thanks, Remus," he said.

Remus laughed. "You're welcome, of course. Go on, now," he replied, waving the boy away. As soon as he and Sirius were alone, he turned to the other man. "I'm worried about him," he said.

"He seems to be doing all right," Sirius replied.

"That's just it. He doesn't seem upset at all about any of this. His entire life has just been flipped upside down - his father wants him dead, he's having to adopt a new persona and a new life - and he seems completely unfazed by it."

"He's still in shock, a bit, I think. And in denial."

Lupin sighed. "That's precisely what I'm worried about, you know."

"He's not so far in denial that he actually believes that none of this is happening. I think it's more that he is...refusing to think about it. Locking it up somewhere in his mind."

"And you think that's not cause for concern?"

"I imagine he let's all that knowledge and the emotions that go along with it come out when he's alone," Sirius paused for a moment. "He was sitting in here when I came down this morning. Just sitting, and staring, but I could tell he had been crying. He's not keeping it all inside, Moony. He's just trying to present a strong front."

The werewolf smiled gently at his friend. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were talking about someone other than Draco."

Sirius returned the smile with a lopsided grin. "Michael," he corrected. "And yes, Remus, I speak from experience."

"I know. James and Peter thought you had just decided she wasn't worth dwelling on, but I knew you better than that. I knew you were suffering, and covering it up as best you could. Damnable Gryffindor courage."

"Sometimes," Sirius replied, "it takes more courage to show your emotions than to hide them."

******

After his shower, Draco hurried back down to the sitting room, bounding down the stairs two at a time as he often had in the Manor when his parents weren't around to chastise him for doing so. Pushing still damp hair back from his eyes, Draco dropped down into his chair again. "So," he said to Lupin, "what do you have in your 'lesson plans' for today?"

Remus smiled. He was glad that the boy was eager to learn. "As I'm sure you've noticed by now, there are some very major differences between the Muggle world and the Wizarding world. For the most part, however, the two societies operate in largely the same manner. It isn't so much about what the Muggles have that we Wizards do not, but about what we have that they don't."

"Like Quidditch and horseless carriages?"

Remus nodded. "Instead of Quidditch the Muggles have games such as Cricket and Football..."

"Baseball and soccer," Sirius interrupted. "Yanks have baseball instead of Cricket and they call 'football' 'soccer' and football is an entirely different game."

Draco took a moment to absorb all of the information before he spoke. "I think it would be best if I pretend I've never had the time or interest to learn anything about any of that. It would be the truth, after all."

"Probably a wise idea," Sirius replied, smiling.

"All right, then. We've established that Muggles do not play Quidditch. They don't have horseless carriages, but then most wizards don't either. What else?" Draco steered the conversation back on topic.

"Well, there is the whole electricity thing," Sirius replied helpfully.

"I've read about it. It seems simple enough."

"I'm afraid most of the differences aren't so easy to explain unless you can experience them," Remus apologized.

"Which I can't do here, since it's a wizard house. Lovely."

"Well, if we can't bring the Muggle world to Rosewild, we'll just have to take you out into the Muggle world."

"Not 'we', Sirius," Remus admonished. "I'll have to take him. You can't very well go out into public, even in the Muggle world."

Sirius nodded sadly.

"I can't go out into public, either," Draco insisted. "Lucius will have people looking for me."

Lupin smiled. "Of course. We'll have to alter your appearance first. You need to learn the procedure, anyway, as you'll have to repeat the process regularly to keep your disguise intact."

Draco swallowed hard. He didn't like the sound of that.

Remus moved to retrieve a brown paper bag from the table before the sofa. Motioning to Sirius to follow, he wrapped his arm around Draco and led the way upstairs and to Draco's bedroom. Draco felt even more bewildered as Remus continued across the bedroom to the attached bathroom.

The three men fit quite comfortably into the large bathroom, where Draco gracefully sank down onto the edge of the bathtub. Remus pulled the contents of the bag out one by one and lined them up on the countertop beside the sink: a small cardboard box with a picture of a black-haired woman on the cover, a large plastic bottle, a small plastic bottle, and a little plastic box with two circular caps on top.

Sirius picked up the plastic box, and unscrewed one of the round caps. "Contact lenses? I remember when James tried to wear contacts." He chuckled. "I suppose they'll change his eye color?"

"James had hell with those things. He was always a bit squeamish where his eyes were concerned though. I'm sure Dra... erm... Michael will handle them just fine," Remus concluded, giving the boy a reassuring smile.

Sirius recapped the plastic case, and reached for the cardboard box. Remus gently retrieved the box from Sirius' hand and opened it. Frowning, Sirius reached out and snatched a sheet of paper from the box. After a moment of study, he unfolded the paper and laid it down on the countertop. Remus leaned over to study the paper as well.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Draco pushed up from the edge of the tub and moved to Sirius' side to get a look at the paper they were intently perusing. Draco recognized that the paper contained some sort of numbered instructions.

The three men read the instruction paper in complete silence, and then exchanged dubious glances.

"Right, then," Lupin said.

"You must be joking," Draco insisted.

Sirius simply went to work, following the simple directions. He pulled two bottles and a small tube from the box, carefully reading the labeling on each before placing them on the counter. Lupin hopped up to sit on the counter and watch Sirius work.

Muttering to himself in a way that reminded Draco of Severus Snape, Sirius poured the small bottle of dark coloured liquid into the larger bottle of milky white fluid, then gently shook the bottle to mix them together.

"Good God," Remus exclaimed. "Is it supposed to smell like the Potion's classroom?"

"That is not going anywhere near my hair, or any other part of my body," Draco insisted.

"Stop whining, and come here," Sirius commanded.

Draco crossed his arms across his chest in his best arrogant posture. "I think not," he replied. "There must be another way. One that doesn't reek."

Remus tried unsuccessfully to smother a laugh, which only made Draco more determined.

Sirius scowled at the boy, and Remus wondered which of the two stubborn men would win this battle of wills. He himself wouldn't have wanted to wager on the outcome.

"This is the only way Muggles have of changing their hair colour. And we've already discussed why you'll have to do this the Muggle way. If you want sanctuary, you'll have to get used to doing this. If you're not going to go along with it, we might as well turn you over to your Father right now," was Sirius' iron-edged response.

Draco's face went ghost-white. The fury drained from his face, replaced by fear and resignation. He looked like a frightened little boy as he moved to stand beside Sirius again.

Sirius sighed softly. "I didn't mean to be so harsh."

"I deserved it," Draco replied softly. "I was being childish."

"No," Sirius insisted, "you don't deserve any of this."

******

Draco submitted to the administration of the foul smelling concoction without complaining. He wouldn't have admitted it for all the gold in Gringott's, but, stench not withstanding, he actually enjoyed the process. Sirius and Remus conferred and bickered all throughout, with both men giving Draco instructions for future reference which he promptly filed away under 'W' for who gives a damn. The wonderful feel of fingertips massaging the horrid liquid into his scalp and working it through his hair made him wonderfully mellow and more than a little drowsy; he couldn't be bothered with whatever the two wizards were trying to drill into his overworked brain.

After the dye had been worked in, soaked in, and rinsed out, Remus tugged his wand out of his robe pocket. "Normally, you'd have to let it dry naturally, but..." He murmured a quick spell to dry the boy's hair.

The now ebony-haired boy ran his fingers through his newly dyed tresses, finger-combing them back from his face. He looked up to see Sirius gazing at him with narrowed eyes. "What?" Draco asked.

Sirius stepped forward, eyeing the boy critically. He tugged a lock of Draco's hair down to frame the boy's face. "Brush," he said, holding out his hand. Draco was a bit surprised when a hairbrush appeared in the man's hand, until he realized that Remus had tossed it to his friend.

Like an artist painting his canvas, Sirius meticulously arranged the boy's hair, brushing it down around Draco's angelic face. The boy's hair hung just to his chin, a black frame tickling the line of his jaw. Sirius the artist pursed his lips, considering, then pushed the hair on the left side of Draco's face back and tucked it behind the boy's ear.

Remus smiled to himself, remembering a time when Narcissa and Lily had teased Sirius that with his flair for hairstyles and clothing he must surely be gay. Sirius had countered the good-natured teasing by dragging Narcissa to the astronomy tower for an all-night snog session.

"He'll never be inconspicuous like that, Sirius. The girls will all kill one another trying to get at him."

Draco smirked. "At least that's one thing that shan't change," he quipped as he pushed past Sirius to peer in the mirror. His eyes went wide. "I look too damn much like you for my liking," Draco said, catching Sirius' eyes in the mirror.

Remus turned Draco to face him, took the boy's chin in his hand, turning it from side to side, studying the face before him. "No," he said when he released Draco's face from his firm grip. "You're a damn sight better looking than Sirius ever was."

With a confused look at Remus, Draco took a step backward, a faint blush tinting his cheeks.

Remus chuckled. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I don't fancy you. I meant that in a purely aesthetic sense."

The boy blushed even redder and bolted out the door.