Sirius and Harry followed Phineas Nigellus and Suleiman as soon as breakfast was over. Sirius was shaking with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation. He had wondered if Harry would think less of him for being so obvious about his feelings but his son only smiled at him, seemingly in a similar state himself.
The main portrait gallery was in the west wing, away from the main living quarters and Sirius briefly wondered if that was done purposely.
"Phineas," Harry queried as they met up with the portraits again at the top of the stairs, "is there a reason your portrait here looks a bit different to the one that's in Grimmauld Place?"
"Of course there is," Phineas Nigellus grinned, "and I'm glad you noticed. You see there is a trick with magical portraits where, if two identical ones exist, a person can use them as a doorway to get from one to the other.I had to have one done for the headmaster's office since its tradition but I didn't want future headmasters to be able to infiltrate Black castle so I had a different one painted with my wife for the family home. We're the same subject so our consciousness is connected so I can see what is going on in the headmaster's room, which can be very handy, but Dumbledore has no way of affecting me here."
"Why was a copy of the one in the headmaster's office put in Grimmauld Place then?" Sirius queried.
"Arcturus did that," Phineas sighed, "albeit with my permission. You see he had come to regret allowing the marriage between Walburga and Orion so when she insisted on moving out of the castle and into Elladora's old place he managed to sneak a copy of my portrait in and claim it had always been there. The only problem was Walburga was always listening so I wasn't able to tell you everything I wanted to. For that I am sorry Sirius."
"Tell me stuff like what?" Sirius frowned.
"Like the fact that you could use my portrait to escape," Phineas Nigellus sighed.
"Oh, yeah, that would have been handy to know," Sirius muttered.
"I know," Phineas Nigellus agreed, "and there were several times I came close to saying something but I was always worried about what would happen to your father if you suddenly disappeared."
"Why would anything happen to my dad?" Sirius asked as they entered the long gallery.
"Your mother could have quite the temper on her and Phineas and I were worried that if we pushed her too far she would snap," said an elderly looking gentleman. "Hello Sirius, I'm your grandfather Arcturus, it's a pleasure to see you again."
Sirius gaped at the painting. "Um, hello sir. I would say the same but I honestly can't recall ever seeing you."
"I'm not surprised," Arcturus smiled, "you were barely a month old when your mother took you away claiming the castle was too crowded for her to be able to safely raise a child, at least that was the excuse she used, I realised later it was just her way of trying to exert her power. She had her own view on how the family should operate and she wasn't above using my heirs as leverage. Thankfully she had no power beyond that so long as I was alive and I thank all the deities that I outlived her."
"Why did she have an issue with how you ran the family?" Harry asked.
"You must be my great-grandson," Arcturus smiled. "It's nice to meet you young man. As for Walburga, she saw the main branch of the family as 'turning light' and wanted to try and stop it."
"But I thought the Black's have always been a dark family?" Sirius queried.
"Who told you that?" demanded the portrait of a man in very dated clothing, some frames down from where they were standing.
"Um, my mother sir. Walburga Black." Sirius said, feeling a little confused. The man who spoke to him was clearly a relative, Sirius could recognise some of his features in him, but the woman who stood next to him was something else. She was absolutely stunning, to the point where even he could recognise it and he'd never really looked at a woman in that way before. She had rich chestnut hair that fell in waves around her and bright blue eyes that reminded Sirius of the sea.
"That harpie," the woman hissed.
"That's rich coming from you," scoffed another female portrait even further down, also very beautiful, only this one had rich, black hair and bright green eyes that reminded Sirius somewhat of Harry.
"I am not a harpie Belladonna, I'm a quarter siren as you well know," the first woman huffed.
"Will you hags both quit bickering!" yelled another woman, this one with golden curls and violet eyes that Sirius found very curious, mainly because she looked nothing like any of his other relatives.
"Do not lumber me in with her Limette!" the first woman yelled. "Belladonna is the only hag in this family. Sirens do not feast on humans, we find that practice reprehensible."
"Is it really any different to eating any other animal?" Harry queried. "I mean it's not like humans are any better than any other creature."
"Don't let the wizarding world hear you talking like that," Phineas chuckled. "They'd have a fit."
Harry frowned. "Why?"
"Because wizards are the embodiment of all that is great and good," the one they called Limette crowed in a very dramatic, and obviously sarcastic manner. "Have you not seen the statue of Magical Brethren in the Ministry?"
"Do not get me started on that Merlin awful statue," huffed a woman with jaw length black hair and silver eyes. "I mean having a wizard standing in the centre, pointing his wand to the sky as the witch stares up at him adoringly and the other creatures are down at his feet. I don't know why they didn't just erect a giant penis and be done with it."
Sirius snickered, earning him a smile and a wink from the woman.
"Must you lower the tone," huffed a stern, matronly looking woman who came to stand next to Phineas Nigellus, "there is an actual child present."
"Come on Ursula," the short haired woman whined. "The only reason you don't like anything being said against that thing is because your mother was the one who commissioned it, although why she chose that design I don't know."
"She was having an affair with the designer," Ursula sighed. "I did try to get her to pick the one with all magical creatures sharing a meal but she wouldn't budge."
"It goes to show even women can be carried away by desire," grinned the man standing next to Belladonna.
"Yes," sighes Alexia, "you aren't the only one Eros, just the only one in this family."
"Your mum was Minister of Magic?" Harry asked Ursula.
"Yes," Ursula smiled, "and she was most disappointed that Phineas was named headmaster of Hogwarts and not me. Apparently I didn't have enough ambition although she should have realised that when I was sorted into Hufflepuff and not Slytherin."
"I'm surprised my mother didn't blow you off the tapestry for that," Sirius laughed.
"She probably would have if it hadn't meant risking erasing her own birth," Phineas Nigellus chuckled. "Ursula and I are behind all of the current generations of Blacks you see."
"Only because most of my children decided to travel abroad," Eros pointed out. "Smart move if you ask me, given how the British Wizarding World has turned out."
"Oh how I hate that phrase!" huffed Alexia. "It's just a further pushing of the patriarchal skew the magical world has taken."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Please don't get her started," huffed a severe looking woman.
"Hush Phoebe," Alexia scowled, "he needs to know these things." She looked squarely at Harry. "Most other countries Bring children into the wizarding world at the first sign of magic, allowing them to integrate into our society from the earliest stage. In Britain, for some reason, children are kept out of society until they are 11 and the problem with that is, by that age, a lot of their views have already been cemented and it is harder to change them."
"What sort of views?" Harry pushed.
"Like the fact that homosexuality is somehow wring for starters," Alexia huffed. "If you study history you will find numerous references to same sex couples, or even multiple partnerships, especially in ancient times, as well as many societies where women and men were on equal ground. With the rise of the Abrahimic religions, however, these ideas got lost and a more patriarchal society rose where women were little more than chattel and only unions between one man and one woman were recognised. With much of the magical world sticking to its pagan roots, this didn't affect us, but muggle society was vastly different and muggles coming into our world often rebelled against those ideas, forcing their beliefs on us and labelling those that didn't follow as evil."
"I'll admit I don't remember any same sex couples when I was at Hogwarts," Sirius said.
"No, but we do exist," Alexia smirked.
"We?" Harry exclaimed.
"Yes, we," Alexia smiles. "My wife, Amanda Walken didn't particularly want a portrait painted to have to spend her afterlife with this rowdy bunch but, to show we were equals in our union we took each other's names becoming Walken-Blacks."
"I believe that wasn't deemed enough of a slight to get you blown off dear Walburgas tapestry as opposed to me," Limette chuckled. "Poor Walburga could never understand why I would prefer to be female as opposed to the male that I was born as."
"You were born male?" Harry queried.
Limette nodded. "Eduardus was my birth name but I'm a metamorphmagus, someone that can change their appearance with a mere thought. I was strong enough to change my entire gender and chose to go by the name Limette instead."
"That's awesome," Harry grinned. "I don't know if I would actually want to become a woman but I have to admit I do like women's fashion more."
"Your son has excellent taste, Sirius," Limette giggled.
"Out of curiosity how am I actually related to you all?" Harry asked. "I've seen the tapestry, of course, but there are so many names it's a little difficult to place all of your faces."
"Well Belladonna and I are the eldest in this area," Eros said. "There are older portraits in galleries further down but most of their inhabitants claim to be too old to bother with the latest generations of the family most of the time. I would be your great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Harry, and you are related to me through the line of our second child, our eldest son, Cruicis."
"Our little star," Belladonna cooed.
"Yes," Eros smiled and then pointed to an empty frame next to him. "That is the frame for Crucis's portrait, along with his wife Henrietta and Husband Giles, but they generally prefer staying in one of the older galleries."
"We're too rowdy for them," Phoebe chuckled. "Crucis is my father and he honestly despairs at how he managed to have so many rambunctious children. I suppose that would make me your great-great-great-great-great-great Aunt, along with dear Alexia and Limette here. We did have another sister, Hesper, she was the quiet one, but she died when she was six."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Harry said.
"It happens, unfortunately, especially in our day," the siren sighed. "I'm Magenta by the way, your great-great-great-great-great grandmother, and this old grump next to me is Licorus."
"Less of the old thank you," Licorus huffed and Harry could understand. Despite his dates clothing the man looked to be younger than Sirius was and he had to wonder at what age these people were when they sat for their portraits.
"My parents Cyngus and Ella usually inhabit the library, Ravenclaws that they are" Phineas smiled. "I had two siblings, Arcturus and Missanopia. They both liked to explore the world, Arcturus as a hebologist, looking for new and interesting species, and Missanopia as a magizoologist. Their last adventure together was to Australia where Missanopia fell in love with a wizard called Jimbo Blishwick and decided to stay. Arcturus returned and had a specially commissioned frame set up in the greenhouses so that it was protected against the warm and wet conditions there. If you ever wish to speak to him I can guarantee that you will find him there."
"Yes and it's us that Walburga blamed for the deterioration of the family," Ursula chuckled.
"How so?" Sirius asked.
"Well it started with my choice of wife. My sister Elladora wanted me to marry her friend, Sophia Rowle, believing that the dark families were growing stronger," Phineas explained. "I was in love with Ursula here, however, so I wasn't interested. I also didn't disown Iola when she fell in love with a Muggleborn. It didn't help that Sophia was filling Elladora's head with a lot of strange notions like how you needed to cut the heads off of house elves who could no longer perform their duties to keep their magic in the house."
"I always wondered where mother got that idea from," Sirius mused. "Those elf heads that she used to hang about the house gave me nightmares."
"Indeed," Phineas nodded. "It was the same with the children here which is why I forbade her from doing it in the castle and why she ended up buying the townhouse in Grimmauld Place and living there."
"She became more annoyed when family members started marrying light families as well," Ursula said.
"There are light families connected to the Black's!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Quite a few," Ursula smiled. "Your grandmother, Melania, was a MacMillan and your Aunt Lucretia married a Prewett."
"My son Arcturus had three daughters who all married light or neutral families as well," Phineas added. "Callidora married a Longbottom and Charis married a Crouch. Cedrella was the only one who was blacklisted, not because she married a Weasley, but because he was the younger son and it wasn't even a love match from what we could tell since she'd been perfectly happy with the elder before she eloped with his brother."
"That was almost as big a scandal as Walburga's own birth," Limette smirked, causing a round oc snickers to erupt in the gallery.
"What was scandalous about my mother's birth?" Sirius queried.
"My grandson Pollux was only 13 when he got Irma Crabbe pregnant," Phineas sighed. "I swear that knowledge is what led me to an early grave."
"He was still at school!" Sirius yelled.
"Yes," Arcturus chuckled. "Melania gave birth to Lucretia the same year so we raised them together which is why we think she managed to get so close to your father unfortunately."
"That's the second time you've talked badly about my parents marriage," Sirius frowned. "Is there something I don't know. I mean my father was fairly abscent in my life, from what I can remember, but I always thought he was happy with my mother and agreed with her which is why he never said anything against her."
"That's not quite true son," said a man who appeared next to Arcturus and Melania and bore a remarkable resemblance to Sirius.
"Dad!" Sirius gasped.
"Hello son," Orion smiled, "I'm glad to see you doing so well." Sirius let out a choked sob at the greeting. "I'm sorry that I haven't spoken to you before now but I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me after everything that you went through in that house."
"It's been so long since I saw you," Sirius whispered.
"I no son," Orion smiled sadly, "but I was so proud of you for having the strength to get out of the house when you did. I would have said something to you sooner but I was worried that it would bring you back and I hated the thought of that viperous bitch getting her claws back into you."
Sirius was clearly shocked. "I always thought you backed mother up in her beliefs?"
Orion shook his head vehemently. "Only in the beginning. Your mother was a very strong woman and I was swept away by all of the attention she bestowed on me in my youth, always helping and supporting me through school. I learned very quickly after our marriage, however, that that was all a ploy to try and get into a position of power in the family. I had hoped that I would be able to dissuade her from some of her more extreme beliefs once we were away from the hubbub of the main castle but she only got worse away from father's watchful eye. I did what I could to mitigate some of her wrath but I'm afraid my duties took me away from home more often than I would have liked. I thought, at first, you and your dear brother were taking after her but when you started to rebel, especially after you started school, I realised you had just been doing the same as me and trying to survive her to the best of your abilities while at home. She was livid when you were sorted into Gryffindor and it took all that I had to stop her taking it out on Regulus when she got your letter."
Sirius shook his head in denial. "Mother loved Regulus, she would never have hurt him. She was her ideal son."
"Only in that he was better than you at hiding his thoughts," Orion sighed. "You were always too hot headed and could never pretend to be something you weren't, even if your life depended on it. When you came home at Christmas and summer I did what I could to keep her out of the house so you wouldn't antagonise. As much as I missed you when you chose to remain or visit your friends I was glad because I knew you were happy at least."
"You should have said," Sirius sobbed.
"Why?" Orion smiled. "It just would have only brought you home where you would have been miserable. Your brother and I loved you too much to do that to you." He suddenly smirked. "Not that you didn't rile her up even when you weren't there. I had to put the strongest protections I knew on all your things to stop her from burning everything, especially those raunchy posters."
Sirius blushed and looked away, embarrassed.
"She even threatened to use Fiendfyre on the place at one stage," Orion continued. "Thankfully I was able to stop her when I pointed out that she wouldn't be able to spare her precious elf heads and suggested that they wouldn't work on another property."
"I don't know whether to rejoice or despair at her," Arcturus sighed. "I'm just sorry that I agreed to the match and put you through that."
"I'm not," Orion stated resolutely. "As bad as everything was, marriage to Walburga gave me two wonderful sons and I can never regret that."
Sirius gulped. "You really mean that?"
"Of course," Orion smiled. "I would have faced far worse than a shrew of a wife for you boys. You've grown into a fine man Sirius, the lack of affect your stay in Azkaban has had in you is testament to that."
"I don't know about that," Harry chuckled.
"Don't be so hard on your father, young Harry," Orion said. "Most people struggle to last half as long as Sirius did."
"It helped that I'm an unregistered animagus," Sirius admitted, somewhat bashfully.
"That's still impressive, especially given how young you were when you were wrongly incarcerated," Orion beamed and Sirius practically began glowing under his father's praise.
Harry smiled. "I think you two need to have a long chat to catch up," he suggested.
"You don't have to go," Sirius said, slightly aghast. "You should get to know your grandfather as well."
"Don't worry, I get the feeling there will be plenty of time for that in the future," Harry smirked. "Plus I'm pretty sure that it's getting near to lunch time and I don't want Severus to have an excuse to spend less time with me."
"I wouldn't mind that," Sirius grouced.
"He's growing on you, admit it," Harry grinned, stretching up on his toes to give Sirius a kiss on the cheek. "Enjoy spending time with your family, I have a feeling you'll fit right in."
"Cheeky brat," Sirius grinned, messing up Harry's hair.
"Hey dad! Quit it!" Harry exclaimed, brushing his hands away.
Sirius paused at his words, allowing Harry to dart away down the corridor.
"Fine, enjoy your picnic, just don't do anything that I wouldn't do!"
"Given the state of you the other morning I don't think that's going to limit me much,"
Harry laughed and ran through the door before Sirius had a chance to respond. He couldn't stop grinning though and he realised that he was actually happy, deliriously so even. He had a family. Not just Tom and Severus, as much as he liked the idea of starting one with them, but he had a father of all things, as well as a ragtag group of crazy relatives that were sure to keep things interesting around here. It was a bit like when he first found out about the wizarding world, only so much better because his place here wasn't dependent on something he'd done, or was meant to do. It existed purely for him, and because of him and, as such, no one would be able to take it away from him. It was no real surprise that he was skipping down the steps to the kitchen to pick up the picnic basket he knew the house elves would have prepared for him. He only hoped that his afternoon with Severus went as well as his morning with his father did.