“See you’ve done it again, why do you do that? You hardly spend anytime with Daniel as it is” Sirius Black looked up from the latest Quidditch magazine he had just obtained and looked surprised when he noticed his wife glaring at him.

“What did I do?” he demanded closing the magazine and sipping his tea only wrinkling his nose slightly when he realised it was cold. Melissa Black sighed as she shook her head

“Daniel just came in, got himself a drink and asked you a question about potions and you didn’t even pay attention, its as if you were unaware he was even in the room” Sirius blinked and glanced round as if he expected his third eldest to still be in the room “He’s already gone” Melissa snapped. Getting to her feet and taking her empty breakfast dish to the sink “you just don’t spend enough time with the boy” she scolded. Sirius got to his feet, his chair scraping the floor, and he made his way over to her holding the other plates.

“I spend plenty of time with Dan” he stated putting them on the side and watching as his wife began washing up, even though she was a Pure blood like himself she often liked to do things the Muggle way and she had taught their children to be the same way, Sirius himself preferred the good old magical way. Melissa looked up as she turned the tap off

“If you did, you would know that he can’t stand to be called anything but Daniel and hasn’t since forever. He only put up with it when he was younger and now he doesn’t want to be called it” Sirius shrugged

“Regardless of that I’ve spent time with him” he defended “I’ve seen him everyday this holiday and we’ve spoken on all those occasions, if that’s not spending time with him then what is?” he asked absently picking up a tea towel and drying as she washed. Melissa glanced at him.

“Sirius asking your son if he slept well or asking him to pass you the salt at dinner hardly can be called spending good quality time together” she commented turning her attention back to her task and keeping her voice quiet in case any of their other children or even the boy in question himself were listening from outside, something they were known to do.

“Well…” Sirius began but Melissa interrupted

“Sirius, Daniel is gone the minute he turns 18, he’s already told me. He’s going to be living with either Rhys or Michael or both. He won’t be here anymore and then what? I mean can you look me in the eye and tell me something as simple as what his favourite colour is?” Sirius slowly shook his head and looked away trying hard to ignore the feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t on purpose after all, he was just busy with work and providing for his family.

“I don’t” he replied quietly “But just because I don’t know his favourite colour it doesn’t mean I don’t spend enough time with him, it just shows that when we do talk we talk about important stuff rather than trivial kinds” Melissa leaned across and wiped her hands on the dishcloth he was using before leaning against the counter, her arms crossed across her stomach.

“That’s fine but do you know anything about him? Do you know what makes Daniel tick? Who his favourite Quidditch team is? What he got in his grades last year? Who is considers his friends to be? If he has a girlfriend? Because he knows nothing about you and I’m beginning to think he wants to know nothing about you” Sirius placed the towel on the side

“It isn’t as serious as all that” he replied “But if you think I need to spend time with him then I will” Melissa sighed

“Don’t do it because its what I want, do it because you want to. Just spend the day with him. He’s rather interesting when you talk to because lord knows he’s intelligent enough to talk about anything.” She sighed as she saw the look on he husband’s face “Look before Aidan left for Germany you constantly spent time with him and Daniel noticed it. The girls are your pride and joys and that is clear to see even if you don’t say the words out loud and Sean and the others are your babies. Where does that leave Daniel? He’s not your heir, he’s not your only boy, he isn’t the youngest so what exactly do you see him as?”

“I see him as my son” Sirius answered shortly, trying hard not to wince as her words struck home. He didn’t need her pointing out just how little he had to do with his son “And just to prove you wrong I’ll cancel my plans with the others and spend time with Daniel” he kissed her on the head “Where is he?” he asked

“In his bedroom trying to tackle his potions homework, you know the one he asked you about” Sirius gave her a look and she smiled before leaning up and kissing him on the lips “Good luck” she said pushing him towards the door. Sirius rolled his eyes at her but left the room, making his way down the hallway and up the stairs before he found himself outside Daniel’s room. He took a deep breath and knocked, calling out as he did

“You in there Daniel?” he waited for a few seconds before he heard the response and entered the room, closing the door behind him “Up to anything important? He asked.

Daniel looked up at the sound of his voice, a slight frown on his face. Sirius smiled at him, his heart giving a slight tug as he was confronted with one of his children. Look wise Daniel Black was a stunning boy with soft wavy hair that was cut short and large bright blue eyes like his mother. His face could have easily led any modelling campaign since it seemed to have taken the best features from him and Melissa and moulded it into the face watching him.

“Nothing too important” Daniel remarked quietly his voice sounding soft and husky, it didn’t surprise Sirius in the least that girls often loved Daniel’s voice “Just some work.” He glanced up “If you’re looking for Lizzy or Elissa though Dad you’ve just missed them, they were in here about 20 minutes ago but they’ve gone off to Muggle London to buy some kind of eye shadow they both wanted so you might have to wait for them.” He gave him a slight smile before looking back at his work, his fringe falling into his eyes as he dipped his quill into his inkwell and wrote another sentence from the new text book in front of him.

At this stage Sirius normally would have left since Daniel had obviously just dismissed him if he chose to go but he continued standing there his eyes on Daniel as his son worked.

“I’m not looking for either of your sisters” he replied lazily “I know where they are because they came to get money. I’ve come to see you and to see if you still needed my help with your work” The quill stilled and Daniel looked up with a barely concealed look of surprise which he quickly hid. Sirius had seen the look though and he began to wonder whether he really had been ignoring his son as much as it would appear.

“You came to see me?” Daniel remarked with a level look as if he was trying to see inside his father’s head “Well I’m not up to anything exciting as you can see, just this potions work for my NEWT class next year” he pushed himself up from his position of lying on his front and sat up, stretching his long legs in front of him, his gaze still calculated and fixed on Sirius “What exactly have you been up to recently then Dad, I haven’t seen you for quite the while?” he brushed his hair away from his eyes and tried hard to ignore exactly how awkward this felt. He couldn’t remember the last time his father had gone into his room with no agenda.

“I’ve been busy with work and designing, nothing exciting really” Sirius said, an uncomfortable silence fell after his words