Hello Fam :)

There is something in this chapter that we would be talking about much much later. :P

Happy Reading...

James was bored. Charles has been keeping Sirius in his study room for the better part of the day and then Sirius was sleeping. Something about the meditation was making him sleep excessively. When James doubted if meditation was supposed to work like that, Charles assured him that Sirius's body was getting accustomed to being relaxed. Whatever it is, James was bored and he could play Quidditch only so much without Sirius being there. Hence, he found Dorea one fine morning while she was in her study room working on something that James never understood.

"I am bored", declared James and glared at his mother when she made a scared face.

"What? Bored you would cause havoc. I am allowed to be scared", she said.

James huffed and sat down in a chair. "I thought this would be the best Christmas since I get to spend all my time with Sirius during holidays but your husband has kidnapped my brother and banned me from the study room."

Dorea chuckled before abandoning her work to sit beside James. "You already spend all your time with Sirius at school. Also, for the greater good, my husband is trying to prove something. Let him do it. Sirius would be back, I promise. Meanwhile, how about I give you some side-project?"

"Side-project?"

Dorea nodded before going to the bookshelf and grabbed a book. It was 'Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy'. "Read this and familiarize yourself with the names and families. After that, I will get you started with the duties of Lord Potter."

"But mom, I am not interested in politics."

Dorea chuckled. "Don't I know about that?", she said. "But think about this, James. I don't know if Sirius will be Lord Black sometime in the future as planned initially or not since he is yet to be disowned by Arcturus but even if he doesn't, he would be heir Potter and you would be Lord Potter after Charles. If you know politics and if you could play your cards right, you could always protect Sirius by being more powerful than an average James."

James pondered over it and then nodded before taking off with the book, completely missing the smirk on his mother's face.

XXX

Later that day during their evening tea, when the boys were off to wherever they were creating havoc, Charles asked, "How did you manage to get James off my back?"

Dorea smirked. "Guess who got roped into family politics?"

"What? James? Did he willingly started learning in one conversation when I couldn't manage to get him to do that all these years?"

Dorea chuckled. "You need to learn to deal with him, Charles. James would learn anything if it would help him to protect Sirius. I just used that."

"And he didn't notice?", said Charles, slightly in awe with his wife. "I understand why you were almost sorted into a Slytherin."

Dorea's smirk just got wider reminding Charles how she was a distinct Black.

XXX

James was surprised by the information he was getting just by reading the book. When the normal families were becoming too mainstream, he started reading about Hogwarts founders. Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw don't have any family left, after Helga's descendants are killed and Rowena's daughter is the ghost at Hogwarts. He knew his family was a descendant of Godric Gryffindor through marriage and Salazar Slytherin and he started looking at the names of his family before reading the names of the Black family. He knew most of them who are alive except one here or there. Even though Godric was a pureblood, there have been occasional marriages to muggles and muggleborns because Potters were known to go after their hearts but he thought Blacks have kept their blood pure over the years and extension Slytherin too. Hence, he was way much surprised when he saw the name Tom Marvolo Riddle under Salazar Slytherin. Even though Marvolo sounds like a pureblood name but then Riddle was something very common like a muggle name because Tom's father was again Tom Riddle, the senior, confirming the muggle marriage. Tom Riddle, Junior was very much alive. If Tom was still alive, he wondered if he knew he was a wizard, and if he does, James wondered whether he knew if he was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin.

James got distracted by a shriek and ran towards the sound, abandoning the book completely.

XXX

Sirius was meditating and sleeping, the only two things that has filled his entire Christmas vacation. Sure, he was eating and spending his time with the Potters, James included even though he would whine to disagree, but if he look back these two were the only things that he had been doing most of the time, if not all. He never realized he would sleep that much. If it went like that, he could give Moony a run for his money on the days when he catches up on his sleep after reading the book.

He was tapped gently on his arm to bring him back from his distraction by Charles. The first time the elder Potter did that, Sirius flinched and Charles abandoned everything to pull the boy into his arms.

"Hey, I would never hit you even if I think you did something wrong. I would never raise my wand against you, okay?"

Sirius breathed in to calm himself down before breaking the hug with a brilliant grin on his face. "I know, Mr. P. Sorry, I was just startled."

"It's okay, kid. Take a minute and let's clear your mind, yeah?"

It was almost a week back. He thought he didn't make any process since then because he still couldn't cast any nonverbal spell but Charles brushed it off, saying it would take time and that Sirius was brilliant. For a few days, he didn't even use the wand, just meditating and reading. Today was something different. It was also Christmas eve. He felt calmer than usual and as Charles was talking to a Ministry official, who appeared some time back to talk to Charles and gave a startled look at Sirius, Sirius closed his eyes and concentrated a simple Lumos. He was startled by the sound of shattering glass and a shriek and opened his eyes when he felt a pair of arms surrounding him.

A moment later, Dorea and James came running to the study room, looking confused probably by the shriek.

"Charles, is everything alright?", she asked, even though she subtly checked the surroundings, a wand in her hand.

James, on the other hand, was not subtle at all, when he pushed his dad aside and gave a once over to Sirius, making sure there weren't any injuries on him. "What happened? Are you okay?", he asked.

Sirius nodded dumbly but Charles was grinning.

"Sirius had cast Lumos without his wand, his first non-verbal spell."

In an instant, Dorea and James pulled him into a hug. He distinctly heard Charles asking the Ministry guy to leave and that he would finish the paperwork before dropping them in the office. Once the Potters calmed down, Sirius made a horrified face when he saw the destruction of bursting the glass lights. The elder Potters laughed when they followed his line of sight.

"Told you he was powerful without any family magic adding to his magic", said Charles to James, before muttering a Reparo at the mess.

Sirius felt his eyes stinging at the blind trust the Potters were showing in his abilities. He was used to James but having the same with the Potters would take some time to get accustomed to even if it shouldn't have been that surprising.

He held back his tears again when Dorea prepared his favorite dessert to celebrate his achievement but when the dinner was over Charles pulled Dorea and a reluctant James at his side, leaving Sirius alone on the couch before pulling a set of papers out of his pocket.

"Sirius, we the Potters would like to magically adopt you into the family and extend the protection of House Potter to you. If you would like the same, you have to sign it here under your name and prick your finger and put a drop of blood over here so that it will seal the agreement", explained Charles.

"Dad, Sirius would always want that. This whole speech is so stupid", interrupted James.

Charles threw a half-hearted glare at the kid. "James, shut up for a minute."

James rolled his eyes. "Also, you didn't have to drag me away from Sirius for that stupid and pointless speech."

"James, I said shut up", said Charles again and turned to Dorea when James tried to argue again. "Dora, make him listen to me."

Dorea just laughed at that. "Why do you think anyone could make him listen, Charles?", she teased before putting an arm around James. "James, this is Lord Potter officially adopting Sirius into the family. It's the tradition. How about you give a minute to Sirius and let him sign so that you both could officially be brothers, ministry sealed and all?"

James sighed and sagged back against the couch, his eyes never wandering from Sirius.

The distraction James caused was good enough for Sirius to bring his emotions somewhat under control. He gave a watery smile to Dorea before pulling out his wand and doing what Charles asked. Once even the Potters followed the same, Charles swished his wand and the paper disappeared, going a copy to both Ministry and Gringotts where it would be kept for the record.

"Doesn't make sense saying this since you were part of the family long back, but welcome to the family, Sirius", said Dorea.

James's patience was finally exhausted as he jumped up to pull Sirius into the hug. "Welcome to the family officially, little brother", muttered James into his ear.

Sirius felt his throat closing off and hence instead of replying to anyone, he just leaned more into James's arms. When there were another two pairs of arms surrounding the boys, he thought he finally understood what being part of a safe family meant.

So, yeah, the founders don't have descendants left. There is a slight hint about what's coming next in the plot. 

Also, Sirius is adopted into the family. :)