Sirius
“Hello, your grace.” I bowed to the man who looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. He was leaning his full weight on a cane while holding a crying baby against his chest. For how disheveled he looked, he was rather stunning.
“Hello, your highness.” He sounded so bored. I tried to keep myself up straight as I faced him. He raised his eyebrow as he waited for me to respond.
“I don’t have a title, you can call me Sirius or Padfoot. I’m not picky so you can pick out a new name for me if you would like as well.” I looked around for his wife and realized she wasn’t going to be joining us.
“Well, Mr. Black, you can call me Remus or Mr. Lupin. I know what you’re thinking: where is your cousin? She is not here, died in childbirth.” He raised the baby up, and it grabbed at his hair as he kissed its nose.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, my grace. I’ve spent my share of time working many jobs. I can be a nanny, nurse, maid, or groundskeeper. Anything you need me to be, I can do. I will work for a room here, I promise.” I shuffled back and forth on my feet.
“James already told me about your living situation. I’m sure I have a room you can take, not like I have much of a staff anyways.” The baby in his arms started to cry, loud and painful. “Sorry, Teddy here is a very fussy baby.”
“Oh, my brother Regulus was the same way. May I?” I reached out to take the baby from the Duke. He looked hesitant but let me take his son. I turned the baby so he could see his father, and soon the cries became happy gurgles.
“Oh, he hates me.” Remus mumbled. I looked down at the baby in my arms who was very much watching his father with love and fascination. Maybe that was what I could do, help him raise his son.
“I don’t know, he looks very happy to see you.” I lifted the baby's hand and made him do a small wave as he squealed happily. “Yes, very happy indeed. You say hi Teddy? Yes, say hi to your father. Regarde-toi, vas-y ma petite étoile.”
“You speak French? Fascinating. I sometimes talk to him in Welsh. I wonder if he will ever be able to understand me.” Remus waved me in further into his castle and started to lead me down a hallway, his cane clicking against the stone and wooden floors as he slowly limped his way deeper into the winding maze of halls.
“The King and Queen decided it would be better for me and my brother to learn French and English over everything else. However, I’ve always wanted to learn more than just those two languages though. Perhaps, if he succeeds, I can learn Welsh next?” I asked.
He pulled open a large wooden door, and behind it was a rather large bedroom. In front of me was a huge sitting room, and a bookshelf covering the wall opposite a massive fireplace. I could see two large doors in the middle of the wall directly across from me. They were open and a massive king-sized bed was placed in the middle of the room.
“Whose room is this?” I looked around in awe. It was bigger than any room the royal family had given me. It actually had a bed that looked big enough to fit me, and the room itself smelled and looked clean.
“Yours? This is where you’ll be staying. Teddy has taken nicely to you, so I figured you’d like a room just down the hall from his and my own. In case you wanted to check on anyone.” He shrugged. I watched as he fell into one of the couches and let out a deep sigh, his head hitting the back of the couch. As he sat, almost instantly the man seemed to have fallen asleep.
“Come on Teddy, you want to explore my room with me? It’s massive, I know.” I tickled the baby’s chest and he let out a laugh as he pumped his fists, baby talk at its finest. I carried the boy past the large sitting room and into the bedroom, where, to my shock there was a playpen in the corner of the room.
“Oh look, your father has given you a place to play in here,” I quipped before setting the boy into the enclosure. He babbled as he sat and patted the air. I sat on the bed and looked around. There were two more doors which led to a massive closet, around the size of my old room, on one wall and a set of doors to an attached bathroom, where once I stepped in felt more like a bathhouse, with a large bathtub built into half of the floor.
“Your father must really be a great host. Come on, little one. Je pense que je veux voir le balcon ensuite.” I picked up the boy again and took the last set of doors, just left of my bed, where a balcony sat overlooking the estate’s gardens. I sucked in a breath as I looked down into thousands of flowers and greenery, a breathtaking view, I concluded.
“I take it you like my garden?” A tired voice rose from behind me. I jumped a bit and spun around to see the Duke again. He looked pleased and happier compared to when I first saw him, but he still had that tired cloak wrapped around him.
“It’s stunning. How long did this take to grow?” I sat down on a very comfortable rocking chair and the six-month-quickly started to doze off as I rocked slowly. I ran my hand over his head,coaxing him into the nap as I could see his father also really needed one.
“I started it when my father made me marry your cousin. She was twenty. I hated it because I was thirteen years older than her, and because of my affliction.” He hummed. I nodded, all the energy from the time I left my old home, to where I was sitting had left me. The pain of the crucio curse was back and I was busy biting my lip to cover the fact that I was in pain.
“You’ve seemed to let it overgrow recently. I’ll help out with Teddy more so you can get a chance to work on it when you want.” I felt sleep tugging at me, and I winced in pain as my body relaxed into the rocking chair.
I could hear the silence of the castle around me, no audible staff, no towns nearby, just a calm silence in a far too large castle. I let sleep finally take me as I couldn’t fight it any longer.