The Black Family

After an hour of Sirius’s story the class filed out, talking excitedly, looking at Riyo and smiling brightly. Riyo was smiling brightly herself, her friends all in awe over the story from her father. Al was talking excitedly to a couple of his friends and talking about how he wanted to grow up to become an Member of the Order of the Phoenix. Riyo stopped when she heard this and grabbed him by the collar.

“You do not want to become an member of the order. Do you want to leave your kids and your family alone? Leave your kids to be without a Dad?” She said and started to cry, running past Carl up to the Gryffindor Common room. Carl growled at Al and took off after Riyo. Sirius walked out and saw Liz and Al looked extremely depressed.

“I knew I shouldn’t have given a speech here.” Sirius said joking. “I knew it’d depress you all. Your Riyo’s friends right?” He asked them. They looked up and nodded.

“Riyo went running up to the Gryffindor tower.” Al said looking at his feet. “She was really unhappy, crying and everything.” Sirius’s smile evaporated from his face as he heard this.

“Am I aloud up there?” He asked Tonks who was behind the kids. She nodded and he went up to the Dormitories.



Sirius walked through the portrait hole and looked around. It was dinnertime so most people were downstairs eating. All but his daughter sitting alone on the couch under the window, staring at a picture held in her tiny, pale hands.

“You look so much like your Mother.” Sirius said. Riyo jumped and quickly pushed the tears off her face.

“What was she like?” Riyo asked making room for him on the couch. She moved into him, still clutching the picture in her hand. It was a photo of her mother, the last picture taken. Sirius looked at it and cursed under his breath.

“Riyo I didn’t know.” He said, anger tainting his voice.

“I know, Voldemort killed her. She tried to take over from him and he killed her.” She said tears leaking out of her eyes. Her Dad wrapped his arms around and kissed the top of her head.

“It’ll be okay hunny. I’m back now, I love you.” He said kissing the top of her head again. She nodded and fell asleep clutching the picture of her mother smiling brightly with a gang of Death Eaters.

Sirius left the common room, letting her fall asleep on the couch, he knew if he tried to take her upstairs the stairs would just turn against him. He went down to Tonks’s office and knocked on the door.

“Shit! Um…” He heard from the other side and something fell. “One second!” He heard Tonks yell. A couple seconds later a panting Tonks opened the door, her purple hair very messy and her robes hanging off her body crookedly. Sirius looked in and saw Lupin smiling sheepishly from where he was sitting behind the desk, also breathing heavily. Sirius laughed, his laugh like it had always been coming out almost like barks. He sat on a chair facing Tonks desk and continued snickering.

“Heh…. You ever notice that Riyo is always depressed?” He asked Tonks who sat down on her desk near Lupin.

“Well…” Tonks started choosing her words very carefully “Both her parents were dead…that’s what we all thought. Her Father, to her, was perfect, he was a good man, someone who fought against You know how, and was a member of the Order. But her Mother…was a death eater who tried to stage a coupe and was killed by you know who.” Tonks paused to take a breath “Then theirs the fact she was nearly put into Slytherin. That would have killed her. But it would have also been perfect for her.” Tonks said bracing for the rage she thought would have come from Sirius if his child had been put into Slytherin, but it never came, he just sat there with his mop of hair in his hands looking down at the floor.

"I wish all of this had never happened." He finally said. Tonks and Lupin looked at him surprised.

"What do you mean Padfoot?" Lupin said dazed.

“ I wish Riyo didn't have to go through all of this, I wish I hadn't slept with her Mother. Every time I look at her I cant help but see her Mother. I do love her, but..." Sirius said his head still bowed down in his hands. Tonks went over to him and sat on the arm of the chair putting a hand around his back.

“ Don't feel bad Sirius, you didn't know, and Riyo's turned out perfect!" She said feeling her cousin's body shudder as he tried to repress the sobs that he was fighting against. "Sirius, she's turned out just like you would have wanted her too. She's fiercely loyal to the Order and Dumbledore. She loves you so much Sirius, she's nothing like her Mother." Sirius started to cry now, his tears flowing down his face and landing on the chair with a tiny splash.

“ But where will that get her? Tonks I don't want her to get in trouble like I used to, I want her to be herself, not like me." He said wiping his tears away.

“ She is herself Padfoot, she's just also like you, she's as normal as she can be, and is, normally really quite happy." Lupin said quietly, speaking from his heart and what he saw when he looked at his Niece. "She's a typical Human child, a healthy mix of her Mother and Father, we are just lucky she got her Mother's beauty and her Fathers mind." He added smiling. Sirius barked out a laugh and everyone smiled.

“ Everything will alright." Tonks said out loud, and the males both nodded in agreement. Lupin ran his hand through his graying hair and smiled. Sirius looked at him and noticed that his friend seemed to be worst for the wear then he normally was. His skin was whiter then Riyo's, and it looked like he had lost a lot of weight since he last saw him when Lupin came to visit him at the Headquarters.

"You doing alright Moony?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow. Lupin nodded and stretched out, putting his feet on a stool under Tonks's desk.

"I'm fine, it was the full moon on the weekend though." Lupin said with a yawn. Sirius nodded and got up.

"Well Buddy, we best leave the teacher here and go home." Sirius said, referring to Lupin and Tonks home, a fixed up shrieking shack. They had bought it and fixed it up when they got married two years ago, and had been living there ever since. It was two years ago Tonks had come here to teach, and before that they were living at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place with Harry and a couple other members of the Order. Lupin went over to the fire and started it with a poke of his wand, then took a pinch of Floo Powder and handed it to Sirius, Sirius gave Tonks and hug and snickered thinking of the fun he had interrupted and then grimaced. Tonks laughed and said,

"Well, it serves you right!" Good naturally. She hugged him back and watched as he put the Floo Powder in and after saying the house name disappeared. With a flick of her wand Tonks put out the fire, her eyes twinkling. Lupin laughed and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lightly on the lips.



The next Day Riyo woke up on the couch, Al sitting on the ground, his head near her tummy asleep. She smiled and looked down at him putting her hand on his head and playing with his hair. She was covered by a blanket from her bed and Liz had to have put it there since the stairs wouldn't let her Dad or Al go up to the girl's dorm. Al mumbled something in his sleep and she couldn't catch it so she snuggled down closer to his head.

"I Do." He said in his dream and rolled over slightly, coming closer to her. She couldn't figure out what he was saying so she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

“ Riyo! Al!" Liz yelled down the stairs waking them up. "Come on! We have practice today!" She said bounding down the stairs. "Remember? We have the morning off so I called a Practice!" She said exasperated. Riyo sat up rolling her eyes.

"I remembered, but I was sleeping." She said laughing. Al nodded dimly, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ya...I was too...Sleeping." He said dumbly, as he wasn't really awake yet. He sat up straighter and stretched, then wrapped his arms around Riyo and pulled her off the couch. "Gotcha!" He said laughing tickling her sides. She giggled and tried to move, but he had one arm wrapped around her and one hand tickling her. Liz rolled her eyes then jumped in, tickling Riyo as well.

“ That's...not... Fair!" Riyo managed to get out in-between fits of the giggles. The twins laughed and stopped after a couple of minutes and all three of them just laid where they were giggling until they heard the rest of the team come down into the common room. The other Gryffindors laughed when they saw the three lying on the ground, Riyo's face red from laughing and still giggling. Al's friend shot him a set up thumbs up and laughed, his deep robust laugh echoing through the common room. Al went red and got up, helping the two girls up as well.

"They double teamed me." She said to Al's friend and their fellow teams mate James. He laughed again and went over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Dun worry you're pretty little head their Riyo, I won't let them get ya." He said with a chuckle. She smiled up at him and patted his back. Riyo had been in the same orphanage as James, they had grown up together and he treated her like a little sister. He had been adopted by a Witch and a Wizard the same year she moved in with her Uncle, and he lived just a block away from her, so they still hung out during the summer.

"I heard your Da's back." He said through a thick Irish accent. She nodded and he gave her an one-armed hug smiling. "That's good, lets go out to the field though, the teams all awake." He said looking up as the rest of the team came down the stairs sleepily. Liz nodded and handed Riyo her Firebolt, her uncle's old broom. Riyo took the handle in her hands, running her hand over the smooth oak handle. It was older then her, but it was just as fast as all of the newer brooms on the market. Liz and Al both had Nimbus 3000's, and even they couldn't keep up with her. They all trooped out to the grounds, laughing and chatting together, all of the team leaving at the same time. Riyo looked up at the sky to check the weather conditions and was mildly surprised to see the message from the other night still burning, albeit not as brightly as it had the first night. She smiled as she thought about that night now, smiling as she thought about her Dad. When they reached the pitch they all stopped, looking at the other team lined up leaning on their brooms with smug looks on their faces. It was the Slytherin team dressed and pressed in there green robes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Asked Liz enraged. "I booked the pitch two weeks ago!" Liz said walking over to the Slytherin team captain with her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"We are just here to watch." Carl said impassively. Liz looked over at Riyo who's face was red and her own hands were clutched at her sides, stretching her hands into fists then letting them hang for a couple of seconds then balling into fists once more.

"Fine. Suite yourself. Lets have a practice match." Liz said as her team stepped into place beside her, Riyo on her left and Al on her right, the rest of the team behind the three. James was right behind Riyo and draped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. He knew about Riyo and Carl, and didn't think of Riyo any more so then a sister, but loved to torment Carl at any opportunity. Carl always gave as good as he got being the one who started the rivalry between them when they all arrived at Hogwarts those years ago. Carl gritted his teeth and glared over Riyo's should at James.

“ You're on. Want to go run and get Professor Tonks to Referee?" He drawled, snickering, his mouth turned up at the sides in a leer.

“ I'm sure we can handle ourselves." Riyo said angrily as one of her team members put down the box containing the balls in between the two teams. "Your seeker and I will stay down here and release the balls, then take up our positions. I'll throw the Quaffle up and your seeker can unleash the bludgers." Riyo said glaring at the Slytherin team. Riyo said glaring at the Slytherin's team. Carl nodded and said,

"I'll release the Snitch." He opened up the box and took out the little golden snitch, holding it in the palm of his hand. "The score board will keep our scores like it always does." He added before letting the snitch go. Riyo watched it as it slowly floated up and took off in a streak of gold. Everyone but Riyo and the other Seeker, Daemon took up their spots in the sky. Riyo watched as Al held his Bat, looking at Carl with a grimace and ran his palm over the hard wood. Liz took her place as the keeper, a spot once held by her Father, Oliver Wood. She also took after him by being the team captain, something Al turned down because he just didn't want the hassle and was happy as a plain old beater. Liz looked down at Riyo and smiled, giving her the thumbs up. When both teams were completely ready, Riyo told Daemon to release the bludgers as she threw up the quaffle. They both mounted there brooms as soon as the balls were up in the air and Riyo went to kick off but Daemon pushed her, making her fall over. Cursing she remounted her broom and kicked off. She felt instantly better as soon as she could feel the wind pushing through her hair and its warmth on her face. She did a couple circles, keeping Daemon in her sight as she also watched the game going on below. Carl was the keeper for Slytherin and she had to admit he was pretty good. She ducked as she saw a bludger heading for her head, doing a barrel roll to avoid it.

"Sorry Riyo!" James said intersecting it and sending it towards one of the ogre like chasers on the other team.

"No problem." She yelled back watching the bludgers path. The bludger connected with the front of the player's broom and sent him into a tailspin. He landed on the ground with a thud and didn't get back up. Carl yelled for a time out and both teams descended to the ground, James and Al both holding the bludgers with a freezing spell. Riyo landed beside the injured player and checked him over. He looked at her growling and tried to move away but his arm was broken. She rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, pointing her wand at the boy's arm. He growled louder but she finished her spell and roughly grabbed his arm. Carl held back one of his players, and the guy sat up looking at her then grabbing his arm himself.

"You fixed it." He said stupidly.

“ Way to state the obvious." Liz said rolling her eyes. Carl grinned at Riyo and gave her a hug, kissing her forehead. "Thanks." He said letting her go and mounting his broom along with the others. Riyo stood where she was, picking up the player's broom and handing it to him.

“ Thanks." He said looking at the ground. "But I didn't say it." He added quickly.

"I didn't hear it." She said with a laugh and a large smile. The player grunted in return and got back on his broom, kicking off to resume the game. She followed his example and circled the game from above once more. She watched as James took his bat with both hands and shot a bludger down the center making on of the Slytherin's chasers who had the quaffle drop it into Betty Spinet's waiting arms. She, in turn passed it down to Greg Bell’s waiting hands that scored the first goal for Gryffindor. Riyo cheered, clapping her hands wildly and quickly zooming down to avoid the second bludger heading her way. Al came zooming towards her this time, slamming the ball in Carl's direction and then pausing to say,

"Let's try to keep that head of yours attached hey? I don't want to take my own notes." He said to Riyo with a big grin.

"No worries!" Riyo yelled back then went back to her circles. She heard the scoreboard clink and turned to see Slytherin scoring. With a curse she went back to her lazy circles, looking over at Daemon. He was paying great attention to what was going on below and didn't notice the snitch hovering two feet above his head. A surge of joy filled Riyo and she tightened her circles so they would take her closer to him and when she was above him and the snitch dived down, reaching out for the tiny golden snitch. Riyo missed and nearly collided with the other seeker, veering hard left to avoid hitting him. He looked at her dumbly then saw the snitch out of the corner of his eye, heading the same way Riyo was heading. Riyo saw it as well and increased her speed, crouching low over her broom to gain speed. They headed down to the middle of the field, right into the heart of the game where a fierce battle was going on for control of the quaffle. Riyo dodged a Slytherin player and then had to change course to miss hitting a bludger, thankfully James came out of nowhere and hit the bludger, aiming for the Slytherin seeker he in turn, moved to avoid it just as Riyo reached out for the snitch. She heard the scoreboard chime as the Slytherin team scored there second point she caught the snitch, but as she reached out and grabbed it she fell off her broom, winding herself on the hard ground, but making sure the snitch was held tightly in her hand. The scoreboard chimed once more and when she could breathe once more Riyo raised her hand and cheered, her team diving down to the ground to meet her.

"Ha!" Liz yelled at Carl "You better get used to this feeling!" She screamed in triumphant glory. They might have well have won the Quidditch cup for the happiness they all felt. Sure it was only a practice, but it was still a win, Slytherin was always bragging about how they could beat Gryffindor, and they hadn't played each other yet this season. If this was a reflection of how the season was going to end up...things were looking very good. Both teams had already beaten both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and the next match would pit them against each other once again. Carl landed slowly and dismounted his broom, a look of both concern and disgust battling for domination on his face.

“You okay?” He asked in a mumble. Riyo nodded standing up and dusting herself off. She nodded and blew him a kiss as her teammates surrounded her and patted her on the back. Liz was positively beaming; she took competition a little too far sometimes when it came to any sports. They all walked into the castle smiling and patting each other on the back, happy to have rubbed the faces of their opponents in the dirt. Quidditch was most of their lives, and it represented everything. You didn’t settle things by fighting; you settled them by winning in Quidditch. It was like American Football or Baseball, and Canadian Hockey, it was after all, Quidditch. Most of Riyo’s teammates had parents who played Quidditch when they attended Hogwarts, Greg’s mother, Betty’s Mum, Liz and Al’s Father had been the keeper and Captain when they he attended. Her own Uncle Harry had played, being the youngest seeker in one hundred years, and now it was there turn. They all wanted to be the best, not for their parents, or for Gryffindor, but for themselves. If they gained a little popularity or a small amount of school wide fame…so be it. Riyo was dwelling on this as she walked up the steps to the school surrounded by her teammates. She had been the youngest player to be a seeker since her uncle, joining the team as a first year, and the first female seeker at that. It had happened purely by accident, she had never played Quidditch before coming to Hogwarts, but was a natural on a broomstick and one-day the old captain saw her playing around with her friends on there brooms, passing a golf ball back and forth. The golf ball was a classmates they had borrowed to play catch, and after noticing that Riyo never missed it the captain made a special request that she be able to play since there old seeker had graduated from Hogwarts the last year. Riyo was woken out of her reverie by the deep voice of Professor Malfoy.

“Miss Black. A word.” Was all he said standing in the doorway. The team all muttered, their mood slightly killed just by looking at the Head of the Slytherin house. Professor Tonks had been appointed Gryffindor Head of House. Riyo was actually a prefect, a duty she shared with Greg Bell, lately though she hadn’t needed to do anything. The fifth and seventh years were all behaving preparing for their tests that seemed to be getting closer at an alarming rate. Riyo nodded and waved as her teammates went inside.

“Practicing?” Malfoy asked with a raised eyebrow. Riyo nodded and smoothed out her robe from when she had been flying.

“We beat your team.” She said simply with a smile.

“I don’t doubt it.” He said with a smirk. “I’ve heard your dating Carl Deacon.” Malfoy said, his voice tight and his face emotionless. Riyo nodded,

“What of it?” She asked him. “You’re my teacher, what does it matter?” She said raising an eyebrow. Malfoy’s heart constricted and he shook his head.

“Nothing. I just wanted you to know he follows in the footsteps of his father. Take a look at your picture of your mother, you’ll find that someone in that picture looks a lot like your boyfriend.” He said smiling and turning around swaggering back into the castle. Riyo glared at his back and turned around as she heard the Slytherins walking up the path grumbling and talking quietly to each other. She didn’t want to talk to any of them, but Carl saw her and yelled out her name. She stood where she was, still facing the door waiting for them to get to her. Carl ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her, his brown hair falling in front of his eyes. He still held his broom in one hand and her broom was in between them, he dropped his broom and kissed her, but she kept holding her broom, kissing him hesitantly back.

“What’s wrong?” He asked as his friends circled them. She looked around at all the leering faces and gripped her broom tighter.

“Nothing…I’ll talk to you about it later.” She said quietly. Carl nodded and kissed her lightly.

“You can always talk to me,” Carl said and Riyo was instantly reminded of Al, although…when Al said it she could believe him…but hearing it from Carl didn’t seem right. She smiled up at him and said quietly,

“Walk me to my common room? I have something to show you.” She said batting her eyelashes. She could almost read his mind as a big grin spread from ear to ear.

“Of course baby.” He said picking up his broom and wrapping an arm around her, grinning at his friends as they cat called when they walked out of the circle. Riyo took him up the stairs but left him a flight below the Picture of the Fat Lady. Once she got up there she said the password,

“Corpus Electrom.” When the portrait swung boredly open she thanked the Fat lady and walked in, going to the couch and the table beside it picking up the picture of her Mum and returning down stairs. When she got down to where Carl was he was sitting on the steps with his head resting on his hand, nearly asleep. She sat down beside him and handed him the picture.

“Hey…theirs Mum and Dad.” He said surprised. “I have this picture at home…hey…you look like her.” He said pointing at Riyo's Mum.

“That’s My Mother.” She said quietly.

“Really?” Carl said shocked. “I thought your Mum would be some…well…Gryffindor.” He said looking at her to the picture repeatedly. “…That’s the woman The Dark Lord had killed because she tried to overthrow him…My Mum was there when he killed her.” He said still shocked. Tears started to leak from Riyo’s eyes as he finished and she took the picture back. “Riyo…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” He said wrapping an arm around her. She pulled away and looked at him, her eyes red and her skin tone pinker then normal.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to get changed then go down for some lunch.” She said standing up and leaving. Carl sat where he was, looking at her, a grin started for form on his face. He tried to back his laughter and ran down to the basement to Professor Malfoy’s, laughing madly as he ran. He arrived at Malfoy’s office breathless and burst in.

“Guess what I just found out!” He yelled panting.

“I’m supposing that you just learned of Miss. Black’s mother?” He said calmly, raising an eyebrow. Carl nodded and sat down on a chair facing Malfoy’s desk.

“Imagine what the others would say if they found out.” Carl said excitedly.

“They already know.” Malfoy said looking back down at his papers.

“What…How?” Carl asked his jaw handing open.

“Why do you think I was placed here instead of becoming the Dark Lord’s right hand man?” Malfoy asked Carl standing up, “I have been with him since I was fifteen! I am one of the last loyal servers of our Lord from his last rise to power.” He yelled. Carl looked down and mumbled sorry under his breath.

“What are we going to do?” Carl asked smiling evilly.

“We, are NOT going to do anything. I’m going to send you back upstairs and continue marking the papers I have in front of me.” Malfoy said. Carl sneered at Malfoy and walked out whistling, his hands in his pockets.