Sirius Black grinned happily at the ceiling wondering whether life could possibly get any better than it was at that moment. Not only was his business booming providing him with enough money that he should be able to live happily till the day he died but he was also happily married with a brand new daughter. One who was currently fast asleep in her mother’s arms, a certain mother who was leaning against him on their sofa looking very content with life,

A quick glance at his other children saw them happily occupied with drawing pictures and colouring them messily in.

“She’s bloody beautiful isn’t she” he stated quietly, pride reflected in his tone and face as he ran a finger down his daughter’s soft wavy dark brown hair “I thought Daniel was stunning but she’s going to be equally as lovely” Melissa smiled

“Don’t say stuff like that in front of the children” she chided “But she is lovely and so small” she leaned her head back against Sirius and closed her eyes still smiling “Do you know it’s 4 years since that day you looked after Aidan for the first time, I never dreamed we’d end up married with 3 more wonderful kids” Sirius felt a smile bloom over his face as his eyes glanced over his children with fatherly pride.

“Yeah I guess I owe Rys a hell of a lot she made me look after Aidan that day and well… I never looked back since, I don’t even want to think what would have happened if she hadn’t shouted at me” he said casting his mind back to how furious his adopted sister had been with him. Now she was too busy to have many guest round but Sirius and Melissa went round as often as they could. “I was such an idiot then” he said, Melissa nodded kissing him on the cheek softly.

“Well…” she began but stopped as she noticed their eldest son Aidan looking at them, an expression on his face that she had never seen before.

“What’s the matter Aidan sweetie are you stuck on you homework?” she asked handing Elissa over to Sirius. Aidan had just started school the previous September and he was already tying with Christopher and Dominic Lupin for the top position in the class something he held with hardly any effort. She held out one hand to him and patted her knee “come and sit on mama’s lap Sweetheart” she stated.

Aidan looked up at them but stayed where she was, something which was very rare because Aidan was normally very affectionate. The only time he wasn’t was when his friends were there and he didn’t want to seem like a child. Instead of going to her he merely turned back to his maths problems, his attitude making it clear he was ignoring her.

Melissa withdrew her hand looked shocked and turned to stare at Sirius, her eyes full of unspoken questions, Sirius shifted his daughter up and spoke sternly well aware that his 3 year old Daughter Elizabeth and his 2 year old son Daniel had stopped drawing and were looking at the scene with wide eyes.

“Aidan your mother asked you a question, it’s not nice to ignore her so why don’t you answer her?” he stated looking confused at Aidan. Aidan glanced at him also before biting his pen as he turned the page and began on the next set of questions making it clear that he was ignoring him as well. A frown was covering his face though conveying his displeasure.

Melissa blinked at him. She had never seen him act like this before, sure he had had little temper tantrums before and been a pain but he had never ignored them before. She felt almost hurt that he would decide to do it now, she had rather hoped he would skip that stage all together.

“Aidan” she called out softly in the voice she used when she was alone, it sounded peaceful and calming and full of love and had never failed with any of her children before. It worked now as Aidan’s pen stilled and he looked up at her a torn look on his face before his dark blue eyes narrowed and he spoke clearly

“Go away and leave me alone” he stated, Melissa looked as if she had been slapped

“Aidan sweetheart is something troubling you? You can tell me anything you want to, you know that don’t you?”

“Go talk to her” Aidan snapped flushing at his brother and sister’s shocked looked “I hate you both” he slammed his pen on the floor and stormed out of the room before anyone could move or say anything.

“Did he… Did he actually mean that?” Melissa asked her eyes filling with tears before she could control them. Sirius looked at her and sighed

“No” he said soothingly “He’s just worked up about something, he’s probably argued with Kester and Dom or something, and I’ll go have a word with him ok?” Melissa nodded allowing Sirius to pull her into a hug before accepting Elissa from him. Even though she loved her children equally Aidan was her eldest and for a long time she had thought he would be her only child.

Sirius got to his feet and left the room with a slight frown. He almost wished that Remus or James or even Peter was there to give him advice but unfortunately both James and Remus had chosen this week to take their families on holiday while Pete was visiting his older brother who lived in the Midlands somewhere. He stopped outside Aidan’s room and stared at the home made sign before knocking on it.

“Aidan we need to talk” he stated leaning his head against the smooth wood as he waiting for a response, one of his hands was wrapped round the door knob waiting

“Go away” came the shouted reply, the voice sounding sullen and completely different to Aidan’s usual cheerful voice.

“Can’t do that” he stated as he entered the room and closed the door behind him, “We need to talk” he watched Aidan as the young boy played with a toy that Sirius had brought him on a trip he had, had to attend. It still shocked him at how much Aidan was growing. The podgy baby fat he had remembered had given away and now Aidan was skinny, his hair was still black and he wore it short but the biggest change was his face which was beginning to morph more and more into a mixture between his and Melissa’s face. Aidan just didn’t need him as much as he used to, a fact that didn’t please Sirius remotely.

“Go away” Aidan stated again looking moody; he turned on his side so he wasn’t facing his father and squeezed his eyes shut so he couldn’t see him at all. The last people he wanted to see was his Dad and Mum instead he wished he was round Uncle Moony’s house so he could see Christopher and Dominic, instead they were away and he was stuck listening to his parents go on about how quick and clever Elizabeth was or how beautiful Daniel was and weren’t they lucky that he was clever as well, or how good Elissa was and how lucky they were. It sickened him. He wanted to scream at them that he was just as nice looking as Daniel and that Elizabeth had nothing on him when it came to intelligent and how he had been good for years before Elissa came alone. Now everything he did didn’t seem to matter.

He curled up further as the mattress dipped as his father shut down and he squeezed his eyes even further, suddenly his room didn’t seem so peaceful anymore.