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In 12 Grimmuald Place, displayed in near empty room, is one of the most powerful family tree tapestries a wizarding family has ever made. The last member of the Black Family to gaze upon the tapestry was Walburga Black, the day her son went missing. She never returned to that room after that day.
Sirius Orion Black had been back in his childhood hell for some time now, but he had avoided the tapestry room. It wasn't until he saw his godson, Harry, stood in there that he entered.
"What is this?" Harry asked.
"A family tree. Tapestries like this were all the rage in the late 1700s and early 1800s. This one is said to be the most powerful one created," Sirius explained, looking over it. "Though mother dearest was fond of burning people of it," he added as he pointed to where he would be, only part of his name remained visible.
"Who's he?" Harry asked, drawing Sirius' attention to the image of his brother, Harry's finger hovered mere centimetres away from the fabric.
"My brother," he started, staring at the green of the pictures shirt. His eyes flicked up to their parents, pictures in perfect black and white, and back. "The magic of the tapestry must not have survived with so few of the Blacks left," he said after a while. "That's my brother, Regulus, stupid idiot got himself killed."
"And who was that?" Harry asked pointing to the large burnt hole beside Regulus.
"Someone the family didn't approve of apparently," he answered, unsure of it himself. A silence stretched between them as Sirius tried to figure out who Regulus could have married.
"Why are all these people in black and white?" Harry asked finally, realising that was all he was going to get.
"Your image fades to black and white after you die," he explained.
"But your brother is still in colour," Harry pointed out.
"Like I said, the magic imbued into the tapestry must be fading," Sirius said. He couldn't risk getting his hopes up. Despite his best efforts Sirius found himself looking back to Regulus. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before but below Regulus and the scorch mark, was another scorch mark.
"Harry, could you get Remus for me?" he asked as he stared at the two holes near his brother on the tapestry. Just visible behind the charged edge of the hole he had first noticed was the P of the person's original last name.
"Harry said you wanted me. Everything ok in here?" Remus asked from the door.
"Either Reg isn't dead, or the tapestry is broken. That and he married someone, had a kid too. At least in name," Sirius said. Remus walked over to where Sirius was staring at the tapestry. Remus spotted the nearly destroyed P under Regulus' spouse's burnt image. He also spotted what Sirius had failed to see. The barely legible name under their child's destroyed image.
"Do you think the name is being covered by sot?" Remus asked as he pointed it out.
"I don't know," Sirius admitted. Remus reached out to touch it. Sirius grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from it.
"I wouldn't touch it if I were you, just in case," he told Remus.
"We're married," Remus pointed out.
"No, technically we aren't," Sirius told him, pointing to where the start of a marriage line had started next to him but never finished. "Our wedding got crashed and it was never legalised."
"We should fix that," Remus said quietly.
"If you really want to marry me after all this, we really should," Sirius agreed, just as quietly.
"Of course I do, you and me till the end remember?" he told him.
Sirius smiled at him but turned his attention back to the mystery of the tapestry. He reached out with a shaking hand to wipe over the name. Loud laughter from the hallway caused him to jump back. The twins popped their heads in, and told them they were wanted downstairs.
The tapestry mystery would have to wait.
~~~
What Sirius Black and Remus Lupin do not realise at this moment in time is that there is another tapestry that would hold the answers. Sat in an abandoned Manor in the countryside, near several other abandoned homes, is a tapestry imbued with more magic than the Black family tree. It sits in a dusty office, with no holes or scorch marks. Not a single speck of dust has touched it due to the many protective charms over it.
The tapestry was last looked upon by James Fleamont Potter, who would regularly sneak out of his safe house to slowly clean out his parents' home. He had hoped to one day return it to the family home it had been when he was a kid. Though he would spend at least thirty minuets conversing with the portraits of his parents on the tapestry.
~~~
September third was the first chance that Sirius got to go into the tapestry room. This was not something he wanted to do with half the order breathing down his back. This was none of their business, this was barely even information that Sirius needed to know. If Regulus was truly alive, which Sirius had a hard time believing, then he would not want the order knowing.
Remus was with him, of course. He had a hand resting on Sirius' still arm as he reached out to wipe the sot off of the child's name. They stared at the tapestry, wiling it reveal it's secrets. The sot did not come away. There was no sot, it was just burnt up fabric.
"I'm sorry we got our hopes Pads," Remus whispered.
"I just want to know," Sirius whispered back.
"We'll figure it out somehow," he said, though he didn't sound hopeful.
"Maybe," he muttered.
~~~
It was during the Christmas holidays that Harry gave them the answer they had been missing.
"You told me that family tapestries where really popular, did my family have one?" he asked one morning. Sirius, dramatics being in his blood, nearly dropped the cup he had been holding and leant back against the side.
"Yes, if there was a tapestry more powerful than the Black family tapestry it was the Potter's. The portraits would come to life once the real person died, and Effie was always adding charms to make sure it stayed clean. I think it went all the way back to the fifteenth century," Sirius told him wistfully.
"What happened to it?" Harry asked.
"Well, I expect it's still on the wall of the manor. Though I don't know if the manor is still standing," Remus said.
"Who's Effie?" Harry asked, suddenly realising he had no idea who that person was.
"Your nan, Euphemia, best damn mother in the world if you ask me. Brilliant healer, and one hell of writer too. Took all of us in. I think she added all of us to the family tree you know," Sirius said. He and Remus both paused, Sirius with his cup halfway to his mouth and Remus with his toast mere millimetres from his plate.
"She added all of us to the tapestry," Remus repeated.
"Even," Sirius started but stopped.
"Merlin, Morgan, and God combined, how did we never think of that!" Remus said.
"We're idiots!" Sirius agreed, abandoning his mug on the side and standing up straight. Remus shoved the slice of toast into his mouth and shot out of the chair.
"What's going on?" Harry asked as they both practically ran out of the room.
"We'll explain later," Remus told him as he pulled on a coat and Sirius transformed into Padfoot.
"And where do you two think you're going?" Molly asked appearing in the hallway.
"Sirius needs a walk, and I want to visit James' parents. They were sweet people, it's Christmas time Molly," Remus said. He wasn't technically lying.
"Dumbledore would not approve of this," Molly said.
"Molly, with all due respect, trying to parent Sirius and I is not a one woman job. Effie and Monty barely managed it, even when James was helping," Remus said as he headed for the door.
"You two can not be serious!" Molly said.
"Oh no of course not!" Remus said, stopping and turning towards her. "Only one of us is Sirius, I'm Remus," he continued brightly before disappearing out the door.
"Those boys will be the death of me," Molly said with a sigh. "Come on Harry dear, there's still so much to do."
~~~
Sirius and Remus stared up at the Manor in awe. Other than a small section of the roof looking like it would cave in in a few months, it appeared to be in perfect condition, despite constant neglect for almost sixteen years. Marlene's old home was in utter disrepair and the old Pettigrew house had definitely seen better days. If they had walked past this, no clue of who had lived there and when they had been abandoned, they probably would have assumed the Manor was the most recently abandoned. That title, however, belonged to the Pettigrew home.
"I haven't been here since Effie and Monty got dragon pox," Remus admitted, though Sirius was still in his animagus form. "I know James used to sneak out to slowly clear this place up."
Remus approached the door, Sirius following close behind. It was locked, but before Remus could get his wand out, Sirius was rummaging in the surprisingly well kept bushes. His head reappeared with a key in his mouth.
"Thanks Sirius," Remus said taking the key and wiping the dog drool off on Sirius' fur.
As soon as the door closed behind them Sirius shifted back.
"Two things, I hate you, and I came back shortly after I escaped, but didn't stick around," Sirius said.
"Well what did you want me to do? Wipe it off on my trousers?" Remus asked.
"Fuck you," Sirius said.
"Not right now Pads, we have things to do," he said.
"Oh shut up, we're not teenagers anymore," he said.
"Doesn't really mean anything for us does it?" Remus pointed out as he headed towards the office.
"I think I'm going to go exploring first, see what Prongs hadn't got to yet," Sirius told him.
"Ok, well be careful yeah?" he said. Sirius hummed as he disappeared off to the stairs.
Unlike Walburga, Euphemia had liked to look at the tapestry. Fleamont too. Though due to the nature of their day jobs the room that held the tapestry had been turned into a writing office for Effie. At one point, shortly after Sirius had moved in, the office had hosted three desks and several bookshelves. Remus could remember the utter mess Euphemia kept her desk in, piles of papers scattered, notebooks everywhere, an empty pot of quills, quills scattered around the papers, and right in the centre, her trusty typewriter.
He took a deep breathe and pushed open the door. He had long since grieved their deaths, but seeing their home at the bare bones was not something he had ever wanted to see. The office looked so different from the last time he had been in there. James, despite having got his own place, had still had a desk in the office, and the bookshelves were crammed with books, notebooks, and trinkets. He had been in there to tell Euphemia that Sirius had finally proposed. Now he stood there and twisted the ring he had never been capable of getting rid off.
Effie's desk was the only one in there, and the top of it was entirely bare. The shelves were devoid of their familiar crowdedness, part of him was surprised that they actually had backs to them. The lively green carpet was caked in dust.
"Well are you just going to stand in the doorway, or are you going to come in and have a chat with us?" a painfully familiar voice called out. Remus let his eyes drift over to the tapestry wall and several generations of dead potters stared him down. He took a steadying breath and walked into the office.
"Moony! I thought you'd forgotten all about me!" James' portrait called out to him. The Potter's tapestry was unique, the portraits on the fabric came to life once the person died, and it was like they were still there with you. Though after a while they would choose to leave the tapestry.
"Could never forget about you Prongs," Remus said, though he didn't look at the tapestry yet.
"So, I've sort of lost count of how long I've been here, what with no visitors and all that. So what year is it?" James asked, not minding in the slightest that Remus wasn't looking at him.
"It's 1994, 1995 soon," Remus said, glancing at Euphemia. "Hi Effie, Monty," he greeted the smiling portraits.
"Good to see you Remus, my boy," Monty said.
"You should visit more often!" Effie scolded.
"Merlin it's been a while, what took you so long?" James asked.
"Nerves most likely," Henry Potter said, looking down at him. "My friends never did visit you know."
"Grandad, I mean this in the nicest way, but your friends were already dead by the time you joined the tapestry," James said.
"He's always like this, you know that," Mary, Henry's wife and James gran, said. Remus finally turned his eyes to James. He stared, wide eyed, at the unmoving image connected to James by a marriage line.
"I don't think I know enough deified people to express my shock right now," Remus admitted.
"Surprise, you were at the wedding too, second surprise!" James said.
"What about Lily?" Remus asked.
"Best wait for Sirius to get here before I start explaining everything," James said.
"How do you know he's here?" Remus asked.
"Logic," James said. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.
"We could hear you talking," Monty said cheerfully.
"Dad," James said, drawing it out the way he used to when they were younger. Right on time, Sirius sauntered into the room, holding one of Effie's published books.
"I left here last time we visited, knew it would be about somewhere," he explained. He didn't look right at the tapestry, and the few moving portraits stayed silent as he looked around the drastically different room.
"This feels wrong being this empty and clean," he said.
"It's not clean, the carpet is positively caked in dust, my curtains have faded drastically and I can see at least three cobwebs," Euphemia said. "Hello dear," she added when Sirius looked at her.
"Hi mum, sorry I haven't visited sooner," he said softly. He could feel his heart simultaneously healing and shattering, he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry or maybe both.
"Oh it's quite alright my dear boy, we're just happy you're here now," Fleamont said.
"I know it's hard but you might want to look at James," Remus said softly.
"Dude, I am reuniting with my parents here, give me a minute," Sirius said.
"Oh, dude zoned, that's got to be worse than friend zoned," James' uncle, Charlus, said. There was a chorus of chuckles and both Remus and Sirius could briefly pretend everything was fine again.
"No but Remus has a point, you really should look at James," Mary said. When they were younger she was always there for wisdom, along with Effie. It sometimes felt strange how close they had become to the Potters, but life was hardly straight forward. Sirius nodded, and reached out for Remus' hand. He took a deep breath and joined Remus in staring at the marriage line coming off of James.
"That's not Lily," Sirius said.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," James said with a smirk.
"He's not dead," Sirius said again.
"I did keep trying to tell you that," James responded.
"You little brotherfucker!" Sirius shouted.
"Actually, I did more than fuck Regulus, I married him, I took him dates, he took me dates, I did fuck him though. Well," James said. "Also, you were at the wedding, surprise!"
"You, motherfucking, brotherfucker," Sirius said again.
"So did he fuck your mother or your brother?" Charlus asked.
"Better question," Remus cut in, "how could we be at the wedding and not remember you two being married!"
"In my defence," James started, "it was Reg's idea."
"James Fleamont Potter," Sirius started.
"James Fleamont Black, actually," James corrected, though every moving portrait on the tapestry said it with him.
"James Fleamont Black, that is not an answer! And that is a really cool name!" Sirius said angrily.
"Honestly, I cant believe Regulus hasn't told you yet," James said, pointedly ignoring the way his two friends looked at each other, "him being a spy and everything was pretty dangerous to begin with. Getting married was even stupider, in his opinion anyway, must admit it was probably not the smartest of ideas. Then we found out that there was a spy in the order, and we couldn't risk Reg being found out. We set up a fidellious charm on our. Mary and Lily set up one on theirs too. In retrospect it's probably what killed us. We let everyone assume me and Lily were married. Suppose Harry being biologically hers helped the illusion," he finished.
"You know, now that you mention it, I don't actually remember you and Lily getting married," Sirius said.
"No, neither do I. I only remember that fake wedding you two had to piss of her sister," Remus said.
"We should really tell Harry," Sirius said.
"Please do, and if he doesn't know already please also tell him his dads are trans," James said.
"Course we will," Sirius agreed. "But James, about Regulus," he tried to start.
"Please don't, let me live in denial please," James said, and despite him being a portrait tears formed in his eyes.
"Ok mate," Sirius agreed.
"Let's just catch up instead, tell me all about my son!" James said.
"Oh Harry is a sweetheart," Remus started with a smile.
~~~
"You two have been out for hours! Do the dead and buried really have that much to talk to about?" Molly scolded the second they walked through the door.
"Well not sure about the dead and buried, but the dead, yes," Remus said.
"And what exactly does that mean?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"We visited the Potter Manor, the family tapestry there is still in perfect condition. Had some lovely chats you know," Sirius said.
"Oh, how's Lily then?" she asked.
"Well, get this, she's not on the tapestry. Do you remember their wedding?" Sirius said.
"Well no, but I doubt I was invited," Molly said.
"That's because they never actually got married. He married someone else. And because the idiot is dead but his husband isn't we can't actually tell you because they have a fidelous charm on their marriage," Sirius explained.
"If you don't mind Molly, we have to find a portrait and then Harry," Remus said as he took Sirius' hand and lead them upstairs. Molly stared after them in shock.
"Mother did always pick favourites," Sirius started, "but I doubt she would have left Regulus' portrait just lying around. He could be stubborn when he wanted to be."
"There's always the attic," Remus suggested.
"No, Mother favoured him too much," Sirius said as he lead them to a small room.
"This was the room Mother would give to my aunt and uncle when they came to stay," Sirius explained before he pushed the door open.
On the wall opposite the door were two portraits, both with black curtains over them. "One of them has to be Reg," Sirius said.
"And let me guess, the other is your father?" Remus asked.
"Most likely," he agreed.
"So, left or right?" Remus asked as he stepped forward.
"Right," Sirius said. Remus pulled back the right curtain, revealing a blank portrait with a name tag. He did not let Sirius read it and instead closed the curtain and opened the left one.
"Hello Remus, fancy seeing you here," Regulus greeted.
"Regulus," Remus greeted.
"Reggie," Sirius greeted as he moved to stand beside Remus.
"Sirius," Regulus said, "what do you two want with me?"
"Straight to the point then," Sirius muttered.
"I may have been alone, unable to move from this frame, since mother hung me here and covered me a magical curtain, but luckily for me portraits are incapable of loosing their minds, and I rather enjoy my alone time," Regulus said.
"We know," Sirius said.
"About?" Regulus asked.
"You and James, we went to the abandoned Potter manor. We know about you two and we know you're not dead," Sirius said.
"You have to be the one to tell Harry, we can't because we aren't secret keepers," Remus said.
"James is dead?" Regulus asked. They could hear his heart breaking in the way he asked.
"Your son isn't though," Remus said.
"We had a boy?" Regulus asked hopefully.
"Yeah, you did. His name, according to James, is Harry Regulus James Black, Lily told him you would have put up a fight about you being the middle name so he decided on both of you," Sirius said.
"I have to see him!" Regulus demanded.
"He doesn't even know you're his dad, or that his dads are trans, or that you and James were," Sirius said.
"Well, go tell him and bring him here. He is my son and I have to make sure he is ok," Regulus said.
"I know you said portraits are incapable of loosing their minds, but are you sure that's true? You aren't really acting like you," Sirius said.
"Just bring me my son," Regulus said.
"Can't we bring you to your son?" Remus asked.
"If you can get me off of this wall then you can move me to my son if you must," Regulus agreed.
"Remus, you go prepare Harry, I'll see what I can do with my brother," Sirius said.
"Of course," Remus said, and he left the brothers alone.
"You know," Sirius said casually, "if your husband wasn't already dead, I'd kill him."
"What for?" Regulus asked, choosing to ignore how casually Sirius mentioned James' death.
"Defiling you," he answered. Reg couldn't help the snort that escaped him.
"I assure you brother, James did not defile me, take my innocence, or any of that. Though I did do that to him," he told Sirius with a smirk.
"Come on then Reg, where are you?" he asked, changing the topic.
"I don't know," Regulus admitted.
"Well, we can figure that out once you talk to your son," Sirius said.
"Yes," he agreed. Sirius managed to pry the portrait off of the wall. He met Remus outside on the landing, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, in tow.
"Come on then, important family business," Sirius said leading them all into the tapestry room. Remus closed the door behind them all.
"Aren't you going to say we can't be here?" Hermione asked.
"No, this is family business," Sirius said.
"Sirius' definition of family is much closer to Harry's than yours," Remus explained.
"So has Remus already told you what this is about?" Sirius asked as he propped his brothers portrait up on the mantle.
"Well he said that my mum wasn't my mum, and that I had two dads who were both trans," Harry said.
"Yes that would be correct," Regulus chimed in, drawing attention to himself. "There is a list of things you should know. First, I am Regulus Arcturus Black, your papa Harry. Second me and James were married, Lily is a lesbian. Where the idea of her and James being married came from, I have no idea."
"She was, and the idea came from that fake wedding they had to annoy her sister. Plus your fiddelious charm," Sirius explained.
"Yes, well Harry, ask any questions you want," Regulus said.
"Could you just explain the whole thing please?" Harry asked.
"I met James in my first year on the train, he asked me what my name meant. He knew from Sirius I was trans and had been allowed to use my name for Hogwarts. That was the moment he started crushing on me. I started liking him the next year, when I played against him in quidditch. He made an awful seeker, but a brilliant chaser. We started dating in my fourth year, his fifth. I joined the death eaters as a spy just during my sixth year. James promised he would help me, and he did. We got married shortly after I graduated. Three months later we realised there was a spy in the order, and while we didn't know who it was we couldn't risk me being found out so we did a fidelouis charm on our marriage," Regulus said.
"What does that mean for the marriage?" Harry asked.
"It's still legally binding, still recognised by magic, and still real. But no one, excluding us as the secret keepers, could remember the wedding," Regulus said.
"Cutting in real quick," Remus said, "the fidelouis charm is the same spell that your dad and Lily used to hide the house. James couldn't be secret keeper because there's some weird magical rule that means you can be secret keeper to one thing. It's why Peter ended up secret keeper and everything happened how it did."
"Peter was the spy?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, didn't I catch you up on that?" Sirius asked.
"No, you were too busy being childish," Regulus told him.
"So if you had a fidelouis charm on you marriage, how come you're dead?" Harry asked, earning him a jab in the ribs from Ron.
"I'm not dead, I went missing doing something important to stop the Dark Lord," Regulus told him. "I do sincerely regret leaving before you were born Harry, James was right. Family is more important."
"Remus said something about Harry's name being different?" Ron asked more than said.
"Yes well, I wasn't actually there when you were born and as soon as I'm back I'll have to apologise to James for that too. But we can assume from the fact that James took my last name, your surname is Black and not potter," Regulus said to Harry.
"We saw the Potter family tapestry," Sirius said, "and on it your name is Harry Regulus James Black."
"You can use whatever name you think suits you, though," Regulus said. Harry was silent for a moment, and Regulus took that time to truly take in Harry's appearance.
"Thanks, papa," Harry said finally.
"Of course," Regulus said with a smile forming on his painted face.
"I have a question," Hermione said.
"Yes?" he said.
"Why are Harry and James burnt of this family tree, but not you?" she asked.
"Mother always favoured me, and refused to disown me unless utterly necessary. But I got Kreacher to burn Harry off as soon as he was born, for Harry's safety," he explained.
"Oh," she said, attention on the tapestry.
"Just don't touch it. There are curses imbued in the very fabric meaning no outsider of the family can touch it. Not even other purebloods if they aren't on it," Regulus said.
~~~
Several hundred miles away, in a cave filled with inferi, a hand shot out the water, and a figure clambered onto the small rock in the centre of the lake.