A Family Affair

A week later, Sean invited the O'Brians to join him for New Year's Eve at the nightclub he owned. Draco, by law, was too young to enter the club without a guardian, and he had been longing to go since Sean first told him about it. Jill, however, seemed to think that even a reputable club such as Crossroads would be an inappropriate place to take her children, and it looked as if Sean's offer would be turned down. So Draco did the only logical thing - the thing that any other teenager would have done in his position.

He begged.

Seeing the boy's green eyes shining with hope as he eloquently pled his case for going to Sean's club, Danny found himself helpless to resist. In the end it was decided that he would escort Kaitlyn and Michael to Crossroads, and Jill would stay home with Adam and watch Dick Clark countdown to the New Year on TV.

Draco, Danny, and Kate arrived at the club roughly a half hour before opening time so that Sean could show them around.

"Danny, good to see you," Sean greeted him at the door. "Glad you guys could make it." He ushered the trio inside and locked the doors behind them.

Draco and Kaitlyn stood staring around in awe. Neither had been inside of a nightclub before, and both were looking forward to the evening ahead of them. Draco was especially interested in the band that was slated to perform; they were a local act called Vertigo, which Draco had never heard or even heard mention of, but he had never seen a live performance by Muggle musicians and was very much looking forward to the show.

"Nice place," Danny said sincerely, looking around the club with a designer's critical eye. "It's been awhile since I've been anywhere like this," he confided.

Sean grinned broadly. "Well enjoy it while you can. Drinks are on me tonight."

"Oh, no, I couldn't. I have to get these kids home safely," Danny protested. Anyone could tell by the look in his eyes that he would love to take advantage of the opportunity to recapture his bygone youth.

"Shit, Danny, these kids can take care of you tonight. Mike's an excellent driver - give him your keys and have a beer."

The logic was sound. Danny really couldn't argue, so he stopped trying to and accepted the beer.

"The property was my daddy's," Sean explained as he handed Danny a Michelob Dark. "Used to be a warehouse. When he died, I talked mom into investing the insurance settlement to renovate the building and start up the club. I thought it would be a good investment, but I never dreamed it would turn out like it has."

Crossroads, Draco knew, was the most popular nightclub in the area. People actually came from neighboring cities, driving as much as an hour to drink and dance. The business was highly successful, and Sean Jacobs reaped the rewards - and passed them on to his friends.

Sean showed them around the club with pride shining in his eyes. He had worked hard to make Crossroads into a thriving business. The crowds of people who packed the tables and the dance floor every weekend never failed to amaze and delight him.

Somehow, showing his new friends around his establishment gave him hope that the rapidly approaching New Year would be an especially good one. It certainly got off to a great start. Sean spent the night chatting with Danny, pausing often to order another round of drinks or talk to someone he knew. He also introduced Draco, Kate, and Danny to the staff, to the band, and to a good many of the club's patrons. Kaitlyn dragged Draco out onto the dance floor against his will and began trying to teach him moves she had learned from movies. He managed to escape, however, and found his own amusements. From the DJ, he learned a little about running the sound equipment for the club, and between sets he talked shop with the members of the band.

When the band's guitarist left for college two weeks later, the remainder of the group asked Sean to have his friend Michael contact them. Draco called Patrick Holloway, the band's drummer, who asked him if he would be interested in auditioning to take the absent guitarist's spot.

"Hell yeah" had been the boy's completely ineloquent reply. He had immediately wrinkled up his nose in disgust at the sound of the words; he had been spending too much time around Kaitlyn and Sean and was beginning to sound a backwoods yokel.

Draco showed up at his audition armed with his guitar, his amplifier, an acoustic guitar he borrowed from Jill, and a host of butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

At Draco's knock, Patrick flung the door open and ushered him inside. After pausing to take a drag off of his cigarette, Patrick held out his hand for Draco to shake. "Good to see you again, Michael," he said. "Come on in."

He led Draco into a large living room where the other two band members were playing a complicated looking video game. "Boys, this is Michael," Patrick told them. "The long-haired hippie there is Scott. He's our bassist. The 'pretty boy' is Jessie. He's rhythm guitar and our main vocalist. Cassie, my wife, is around here somewhere. She handles any female vocals," he continued.

"And looks good in leather," Scott added.

"Most of the songs we play are cover tunes," Patrick explained to him. He handed the boy a sheet of paper containing a list of song titles. "This tells you which ones we know. We also have some original songs. Basically, we just want to get a feel for how you sound, both solo and with the band. Any questions?"

"No, I don't think so," Draco replied. It was the truth. His mind was a complete blank, so he couldn't possibly have any questions. He wondered vaguely if he would even be able to remember how to play his instrument.

"Cool. Practice space is in the garage. Let's get your gear."

A few minutes later, Draco was settled into a battered chair in the garage. A beautiful young woman sauntered into the room a moment later, and Draco couldn't help but stare. He also couldn't help but wonder how a guy like Patrick had ended up married to such a sexy woman.

"This is Cassie," Patrick said.

"You must be Michael," Cassie said simply, finger-combing her strawberry blonde curls back into a ponytail and securing it with a colourful elastic band. "Don't let these bozos boss you around too much. This is your audition and your chance to show us whatcha got," she told him with a smile as she curled into a papasan chair.

"Just play something," Jessie said, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

Grinning wryly, Draco went for shock value. He launched into one of Vertigo's original songs, an angsty, up-tempo tune that had managed to lodge itself in Draco's head. As one by one the members of the band recognized the song, they nodded to themselves, smiled, or stared in shock. Cassie was grinning like a mad woman.

When the last notes of the song had died away, the band members all exchanged glances, communicating without words.

"That song's never been recorded," Scott said at last. "How many times have you seen us in concert?"

"Just the once," Draco admitted.

Patrick nodded. "Mozart," he said. "Or whoever the fuck it was that got his ass in a sling when he was a kid for supposedly stealing the sheet music to something he heard."

Everyone stared at him.

"You read too much, Pat," Scott informed him.

"At least I know how to read," Patrick shot back. He then suggested that the band try playing something with Michael, and after a brief discussion everyone agreed on a song and they began to play.

Much later, after hours of playing for the sheer joy of it, everyone welcomed Michael Talbot to the band.

**********

School, homework, teaching piano lessons, and rehearsing with the band took up a great deal of Draco's time. He began to spend less time with Savannah, but he made a point of talking to her every night on the telephone and they saw each other every day at school. Even with the shadow of Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy hanging over him, Draco was doing the one thing he had never before had a chance to do - living a quiet, normal life. He was fairly happy. Savannah, however, was less than thrilled that she was no longer the center of his universe.

Valentine's Day came, and Draco pacified his ladylove with long-stemmed roses, an overly expensive heart-shaped pendant that Kaitlyn insisted Savannah would love, and a romantic dinner at the classiest restaurant in the little city.

The following day, he celebrated his 17^th birthday with Sean and the O'Brians. He got his first taste of Muggle musical theatre, and was enraptured. Kaitlyn gave him the soundtrack as a gift, and he played it endlessly.

**************

A few days after Draco's birthday, Kaitlyn wandered into the garage where Draco often practised his music. She was completely shocked to find her foster brother putting on a one-man re-enactment of her favourite musical for a fascinated Adam. Mesmerized, she watched from just inside the doorway, afraid to make her presence known.

When he paused after a song to catch his breath, Kaitlyn applauded quietly. Draco looked up at her with a scowl from where he was sprawled on the cold concrete floor. He didn't like being spied on.

"That was really impressive, Mike. I'm not making fun of you. You should have auditioned for one of the plays they had at school," she said.

Draco snorted. "I've been forced to watch the paltry excuse for theater that the school offers. I'm not interested."

Kate laughed. "I can't say I blame you. Anyway, mom sent me to call you guys to dinner."

Rolling up into a kneeling position, Draco gestured to Adam. The little boy grinned and threw his arms around Draco's neck from behind. Draco grasped Adam's legs and rose smoothly to his feet, carrying the delighted child on his back as he made his way into the house.

************

On the first day of March, Draco awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, disturbed by dreams he could not quite remember. He tossed and turned for a long time, wondering if the dreams were some sort of portent related to his father and Voldemort. His sleep, when it finally came, was uneasy.

******************

On the first day of March, Severus Snape and Sirius Black put aside their old animosity to execute a critical plan. Both knew that one wrong step could cost one or both of them their lives.

Wrapped in an invisibility cloak, Snape apparated into a small, private wizarding hospital. Taking care to remain silent and completely covered, he hurried through the hallways, searching. Exactly ten minutes after Snape arrived in the hospital, Sirius apparated to the same location.

With his heart pounding in his chest, Sirius strode through the hospital. He followed the blueprint he had memorised, intent on his goal. At last, he rounded a corner, and found himself face to face with a smug-looking Lucius Malfoy.

"Petrificus totalis," Sirius cried, pointing his wand at Malfoy.

Lucius reacted with lightning reflexes, dodging the spell and firing off one of his own. Sirius blocked the spell, breaking out in a cold sweat. Just a few minutes, he thought to himself.

The two men flung spells furiously, managing to hit everything except one another. When he judged that enough time had passed, Sirius ducked into a nearby room and disapparated.

Appearing suddenly in the Shrieking Shack, Sirius allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. His entire body was trembling. With a speed borne of desperation and fear, Sirius raced down the old passageway that led to the Hogwarts grounds.

Sirius paused at the end of the passage and clamped his teeth around his wand. Transforming into his animagus form, Sirius dashed across the grounds to the Hogwarts castle. He had to see if Snape had made it back all right.

Up the front steps he ran. A quick look around, and he opened the massive doors and slipped inside. A mad dash down to the dungeons, and he was scratching feverishly on the door to Snape's private chambers.

The door opened and Sirius crept inside. As soon as the door shut behind him, Sirius transformed back to his human form. "Severus," he panted. "Did you...."

"She's right here," Severus said in a hushed voice as he threw off the invisibility cloak.

Sirius stared in awe at the small bundle cradled protectively in Snape's arms.

"Oh my god in heaven," Sirius breathed. Stepping forward, he reached one hand out hesitantly to tug back a corner of the tiny white blanket. It fell open to reveal one of the most beautiful things that Sirius had ever seen.

Glancing up at Snape, he saw that the other man was as enchanted by the newborn infant as he himself was. Carefully, he traced one tiny cheek with the tip of his finger. "She's beautiful," Sirius said softly.

"She's safe," Severus replied pragmatically. Feeling a weakness in his knees that he would only have admitted to under the influence of Veritaserum, Snape moved carefully to sit in his favourite armchair, the baby cradled to his chest.

"We did it. We got her out," Sirius noted without a trace of pride in his voice. "What do we do now?"

If Severus heard the question, he chose to ignore it. The baby girl had opened her eyes, and the dour old Potions master was lost in their depths. The infant grasped his finger with one perfect little hand, and in that brief, shining moment, the façade of cold indifference that Severus had worked so hard to perfect shattered irreparably.

After a long moment of silence in which both men studied the perfect little miracle snuggled in Severus' arms, Snape spoke quietly into the still room.

"'What do we do now?' you ask. We do what we always do, Black." He looked up with a wry, self-deprecating grin. "We make it up as we go along."

***************

And so Sirius Black and Severus Snape, after twenty years of animosity, came to an uneasy truce for the sake of one small girl - Alexis Gabriella Malfoy. By day, Sirius played with the baby, sang to her, and saw to her every want and need while Snape taught classes. At night, Severus took over caring for their tiny charge, curling up in his bed with her and telling her stories while Sirius stretched his limbs, roaming the grounds as a big black dog.

Often, their tempers would flare, but little Alexis seemed to sense their tension. Their frequent spats made her cry, and as a result, those feuds becme less and less common, until in time the two men would forget for weeks at a time that they hated one another.

*****************

Three weeks before graduation, Savannah told Draco that she needed to speak to him about 'something important'. Expecting her to break off their foundering relationship, Draco headed for her house, opting for once for a long walk through the woods rather than a quick drive.

Sitting in her bedroom, Savannah looked nervous. Her fidgeting made Draco uneasy.

"Michael...I think we have a problem," she told him.

Draco nodded, surprised to find that the idea of breaking up with Savannah didn't bother him overmuch.

"I think I'm pregnant," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Suddenly Draco felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. His mind couldn't wrap around the idea of fatherhood. He was uncertain how to react.

"You think?" he asked after a moment.

"I haven't been to a doctor yet, but...."

Draco scrubbed his face with shaking hands. "I...I need to think," he blurted out. Feeling dizzy and sick, Draco dashed out of the bedroom and out of the house before Savannah had a chance to stop him. Once outside, he sprang into a hard run, racing through the woods, trying to outrun his panic, his fear, his pain - his horrible mistake.

Michael Talbot didn't even truly exist. How the hell could he have a child? Draco had nothing to offer Savannah or the baby. Once he could have given her the world, but now he had nothing. He was nothing.

Out of breath from running, Draco stopped at last and looked around. Nothing looked familiar. He had managed to get lost. Sinking down onto the ground, he pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He rocked himself, his face devoid of emotion, as shock set in.

Some hours later, Draco pulled himself together. Checking the position of the sun the way Sean had taught him on one of their jaunts through the forest, Draco made some calculations in his head and set off in what he thought was the direction of Sean's house. From there he knew he could find his way home.

Eventually he did manage to locate the house. Sean was outside working on his new project car when Draco stumbled out of the woods looking dead on his feet.

"You okay, kid?" Sean asked.

Draco swallowed, his mouth dry. He nodded, not sure he could form words.

Sean led the boy inside, offering him water for once instead of whiskey. After Draco had cooled down and caught his breathe, Sean asked him what was bothering him. Draco told him everything about the situation with Savannah, right down to his own jumbled thoughts and emotions.

"Damn," Sean breathed. "That's a helluva thing to have thrown at you. Don't feel bad about walking away, kid. You need to have your thoughts straight before you two try to figure this thing out."

"I suppose," Draco said. "I feel bad about deserting her, though. She must be frightened."

"Don't bite my head off for saying this, Mike, but if I were you, I'd go with her to see the doctor."

Draco looked puzzled.

"I knew a girl kinda like her once. I don't trust Savannah Linyard as far as I can throw her. I wouldn't put it past her to invent a baby to keep you tied to her."

The thought had crossed Draco's mind, of course, but he had chalked it up to Slytherin paranoia. Surely Savannah wouldn't do something like that. Would she?

**************

After a lengthy debate with himself, Draco decided to take Sean's advice. He offered to go with Savannah to her doctor's appointment. She tried to put him off, but he gently insisted, telling her that he was concerned - which he was.

Draco and Savannah argued the point back and forth for several days before she broke down and admitted to him that she knew she wasn't pregnant. He found that he wasn't truly angry with her, but he pretended that he was and used her deception as a catalyst for the long-awaited breakup. One thing he had decided for certain - it would be better to be alone than to become a teenaged father.

Once again, Draco found himself confiding in Sean Jacobs. It turned out that Sean had experienced something similar in recent years, though he didn't have the fears of parenthood that Draco had. The boy found that he truly wanted to tell his friend everything, and it hurt him that he could not.

"I think I'm going to swear off sex," Draco told Sean as he took another sip from his lukewarm beer.

The older man laughed. "That usually lasts about two months. I know, I've sworn off sex about once a year for the last ten years."

Draco smirked and took another sip of his drink.

Sean settled back against the overstuffed cushions of his sofa and gazed at his young friend appraisingly. "You're really that scared of parenthood, huh?" he asked.

Staring down at the beer bottle he was absent-mindedly peeling the label from, Draco frowned. "I'm afraid I'll be too much like my father."

Sean's eyebrows knitted into a puzzled frown. "I thought your dad was some kind of superhero or something from the way Danny and Jill talked."

Sighing, Draco set his beer aside. He ran his hands through his dark hair and made a mental note that it was about time to dye the roots again. "They don't know the whole story," he said.

"I won't pry," Sean promised.

"I appreciate that," Draco returned solemnly.

"And for the record, kid, I think you'd be great at anything you set your mind to - even fatherhood."