Chapter 16

"Sirius, come back here at once!," Mrs Black screeched. "Kreacher, get him!"

Kreacher, the house elf, ran behind Sirius but failed to catch him as Sirius flew up the stairs right into his room. He slammed the door shut and sat on the edge of his bed, panting, tired but delighted. There was a frantic banging of the door from Kreacher but Sirius ignored him. He picked up his paintbrush and paint box and proceeded towards his table. He was just about to start painting it in orange and gold when there was a soft knock on his door.

Sirius opened the door slowly, expecting it to be Kreacher. But it was Regulus. His three year old brother stood outside his room looking at him, suspiciously. Sighing, Sirius let him in.

"What is it, Reg?" Sirius asked. Although, Sirius was a year older to Regulus, it always seemed that Regulus was the older one. Regulus was quiet and brooding while Sirius was a livewire. Uncle Alphard, Sirius' favourite uncle, often referred to him as a ticking time bomb.

"What do you want, Reg?" he repeated.

Regulus leaned closer to his brother. "You did it," he said. Regulus found it hard to string words into a sentence, much to Sirius' amusement.

"What? What did I do?" Sirius asked, playing with a ball.

"You....Mama....wand," Regulus stammered. He was suddenly scared. "You take wand. I tell Mama."

Sirius laughed gaily at his brother. "Like you really will," Sirius muttered and caught hold of Regulus' hands.

Taken by surprise, Regulus could only stare at his brother while Sirius dragged him upstairs. He reached the attic and closed the door behind them. He opened a small window and beckoned to Regulus who approached him warily.

"You see how high we are, Reg," Sirius whispered. "One word to Mama and you will go flying down from this window. I mean it, Reg."

Regulus stared down the window at the garden, speechless. Sirius took one look at his brother's panicked face and burst out laughing.

"Look at you, scaredy rat," Sirius crowed. "I doubt Hogwarts will even send you a letter. They don't need cowards!"

Laughing without abandon, Sirius made his way back to his room while Regulus trudged back morosely to his, hoping to corner Sirius some day.

Chapter 15

"Do you know him, Dada?" Severus asked, clearly puzzled. He couldn't fathom the reason for the dazed look on his father's face.

"Yes," Tobias whispered, still stunned. "He's my Dada, Sev."

"Really?" Now it was Severus' turn to look surprised. "Why didn't you tell me about him earlier?"

"That's because we had a little misunderstanding," Mr Snape said, picking Severus up in his arms. "But I hope everything will be all right now."

Tobias was at a loss for words. Severus, however, clung on to his grandfather and looked beseechingly at his father as if to tell him to reconcile.

Mr Snape made the first move. Still clutching on to Severus, he approached Tobias and embraced him.

"I'm sorry, son," he said. "I shouldn't have cut you off from my life so completely. Can we start over again?"

Tobias held on to his father awkwardly while Severus pulled on to his collar.

"It wasn't you, Dad," he said. "Mom never liked Eileen and her family. She'd have never approved of our relationship. And Eileen was pregnant. I couldn't forsake her, Dad. Not at that time."

Mr Snape patted Tobias on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, my son," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that you stood for the right thing."

Severus, sensing that the awkwardness had finally disappeared, hugged both the men.

~*~

"Mama, look who's here," Severus yelled, racing into the house. He crashed headlong into Eileen, sending a tray of cookies flying.

"Sev, look what you've done!" Eileen exclaimed. "Now you have to clean it all up. I'm not going to do it."

Not paying any heed to her admonishings, Severus pulled at her hand and dragged her along.

"Walk a little faster, Mama," he chirped as Eileen tried to keep pace with her son.

Presently, they came to a stop at the backyard where the two men were talking.

"Mr Snape," she whispered. "But what...?"

Her question was cut short by Severus.

"Grandpa, Mama's here!" he exclaimed happily. "Mama, Grandpa wants us to go and stay with him in his big house. He also said that he'll send me to the same school where Lily and Petunia go and he also said that he'll help me to become a big lawyer like him!"

While Severus' eyes gleamed in excitement, Eileen was suddenly apprehensive. How should she tell him now? And when?