The next day, both Sirius and Molly tried to pretend as if last night's argument had never happened. They spoke lightly and politely to each other, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. It was a good thing that the severe cleaning of the house was distracting them all.

     Molly had gathered the children to Doxycide the curtains of the house, and dusting the dodgy halls. Although no matter where they went to clean, Kreacher would sneak up behind them, trying to save Walburga's heirlooms before they could throw them away.

     Jenna followed them into the hall in her cat form, watching them while sitting on an armchair nearby. She was taking another night duty at the Ministry, so she was getting all the rest that she could take.

     "What do you want?" George suddenly asked, raising a suspicious brow at Kreacher.

     Kreacher's huge eyes darted onto George. "Kreacher is cleaning," he said evasively.

    "A likely story," said Sirius, walking inside the hall.

    At the sight of Sirius, Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow that flattened his snoutlike nose on the floor.

     "Stand up straight," said Sirius impatiently. "Now, what are you up to?"

     "Kreacher is cleaning," the elf repeated. "Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black —"

     "— and it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy," said Sirius.

     "Master always liked his little joke," said Kreacher, bowing again, and continuing in an undertone, "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart —"

     "My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," Sirius snapped. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."

     Kreacher bowed again and said, "Whatever Master says," then muttered furiously, "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was —"

     "I asked you what you were up to," said Sirius coldly. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."

     "Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house," said the elf, then muttered very fast, "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it —"

     "I thought it might be that," said Sirius, casting a disdainful look at the opposite wall. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."

     It seemed that Kreacher did not dare disobey a direct order; nevertheless, the look he gave Sirius as he shuffled out past him was redolent of deepest loathing and he muttered all the way out of the room.

     "— comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too —"

     "Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" said Sirius irritably, and he slammed the door shut on the elf.

     "Sirius, he's not right in the head," said Hermione pleadingly, "I don't think he realizes we can hear him."

     Jenna wasn't very fond of Kreacher either, but she agreed with Hermione on this matter. She thought that maybe if Sirius was kinder to Kreacher, then the elf would come around. Jenna's family were very fond of their own house elf, Mickey, who was currently at Hogwarts.

     "He's been alone too long," said Sirius, "taking mad orders from my mother's portrait and talking to himself, but he was always a foul little —"

     "If you just set him free," said Hermione hopefully, "maybe —"

     "We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order," said Sirius curtly. "And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."

     Sirius walked across the room, where the tapestry Kreacher had been trying to protect hung the length of the wall. Harry followed, Crookshanks walking right behind them. But there, something caught Jenna's attention. And as it seemed, Harry had seen it too.

     It was the Black family tree.

     "You're not on here!" said Harry, after scanning the bottom of the tree.

     "I used to be there," said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home — Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."

    "You ran away from home?"

     "When I was about sixteen," said Sirius. "I'd had enough."

      "Where did you go?" asked Harry, staring at him.

     "Your dad's place," Sirius said quietly, a light smile forming on his lips.

     With that, Sirius glanced down at Crookshanks for a split moment, knowing that the memory had been revived in both their minds.

     Jenna could remember that rainy night very well; how she had opened the front door only to see Sirius standing there beneath the rain with his trunk on the ground beside him.

     "Your grandparents were really good
about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son," he said. "Yeah, I camped out at your dad's during the school holidays, and then when I was seventeen I got a place of my own, my Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold — he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why — anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. and Mrs. Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."

     "But... why did you...?"

     "Leave?" Sirius smiled bitterly and ran a hand through his long, unkempt hair. "Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them... that's him."

     Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name Regulus Black. He had died around fifteen years ago.

      "He was younger than me," said Sirius, "and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded."

     "But he died," said Harry.

      "Yeah," said Sirius. "Stupid idiot... he joined the Death Eaters."

     "You're kidding!"

      "Come on, Harry, haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family were?" said Sirius testily.

     "Were — were your parents Death Eaters as well?"

     "No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the Wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having purebloods in charge."

     "Lunch," said Molly's voice.

      Silence fell among them as they kept their gaze on the family tree. Crookshanks was still glancing at Harry and Sirius from the corner of the room.

     "I don't like being back here," Sirius finally said, staring across the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."

     Jenna felt bad for him. Throughout their time here, she had tried to keep him cheerful, but there wasn't much she could do. She had to return to Hogwarts in a few weeks, but neither her nor Sirius had the nerve to bring up that conversation just yet.

     "It's ideal for headquarters, of course," Sirius went on. He then gave a short, barklike laugh. "If my parents could see the use it was being put to now... well, my mother's portrait should give you some idea..."

     He scowled for a moment, then sighed.

     "I wouldn't mind if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful. I've asked Dumbledore whether I can escort you to your hearing — as Snuffles, obviously — so I can give you a bit of moral support, what d'you think?"

     Jenna's head shot up and her yellow eyes widened even more as she stared up at Sirius. He hadn't told her about this decision of his. Probably because he knew she was going to disagree. Although she had every reason to.

     Pettigrew had probably told Voldemort about Sirius's form of disguise, and Voldemort had spies all over the Ministry, such as the Malfoys. If Sirius went to the Ministry, they wouldn't hesitate to capture him and send him off to Azkaban again.

     As always, Jenna couldn't argue with him in her cat form. Although she doubted if she could've done so even if she were human at the moment. Because once she saw the look of delight on Harry's face, all was forgotten.

     "Don't worry," Sirius said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure they're going to clear you, there's definitely something in the International Statute of Secrecy about being allowed to use magic to save your own life."

     "But if they do expel me," said Harry, quietly, "can I come back here and live with you?"

     Sirius smiled sadly. "We'll see."

      "I'd feel a lot better about the hearing if I knew I didn't have to go back to the Dursleys," Harry pressed him.

     "They must be bad if you prefer this place," said Sirius jokingly. But deep inside his eyes, Jenna could see that Sirius had become hopeful to have Harry beside him.