Englishman in the Encanto

When he thought that he’d been pining for Sirius Black for fifteen years, ever since those few spring weeks, Bruno wasn’t aware that he could love Sirius Black more than he thought he did but it turned out he could.

After they saw the cracks deepen in Casita’s walls, he brought Sirius to his room adjacent to the kitchen, and was suddenly aware of the mess of his living space, especially when he saw Sirius looking around and seeing the plate with his name carved in the wooden table. He wasn't sure if Sirius could grasp the significance of that plate.

Sirius, however, let his eyes linger on the table and to the space in the wall from which Bruno could watch his family. He then turned to him with a smile, “So, my boyfriend is an artist, yeah?”

Bruno’s cheeks burned, not really sure if he was more flattered by Sirius calling him an artist or his boyfriend.

Sirius drew the chair away from the table and in front of Bruno's red armchair, sat on it expectantly, and offered his hands for Bruno to hold onto as he fell in his armchair, appreciating greatly the way Sirius didn’t say anything about his living conditions.

Relishing in the other man’s understanding, Bruno was mesmerised by Sirius’s grey eyes as the man listened to him start talking tentatively about his family history, while holding onto his hands. Sirius never took his eyes away from Bruno’s the whole time the man unburdened himself for the first time in years (maybe ever) and told him about his childhood and early adulthood. There was no judgement when Bruno’s voice trembled at speaking of his nieces and nephews, and of Mirabel’s failed gift ceremony.

He didn’t know why Sirius’s presence made him feel so liberated, but now he could freely weep for his own decision, as if he was only now aware of the pain he had felt at leaving his family and watching them through the cracks in the walls as they went about their lives without him, not talking about him, spewing poison about him in those rare instances they did mention his name.

“Oh, love.”

When Bruno bowed his head in a feeble attempt to hide his tears, Sirius slid from the chair and knelt in front of him, staying just there as Bruno’s shoulders shook. He sort of looked like a dog trying to cheer up its owner.

Having someone listening to him, letting him speak his mind without holding their breath was overwhelming for Bruno.

He was suddenly aware how long it had been since anyone had asked him to speak his mind, let alone allowed him to speak without worrying about being misinterpreted, or being reprimanded for being weird or inappropriate (inappropriate according to his mother’s standards, of course).

Bruno tightened his grip on Sirius’s hands. Sirius stayed there, merely kissing his knuckles in comfort.

They talked long into the night about everything, about Bruno’s life and Sirius’s life and the cracks having formed years ago.

At one point they’d gone back to Sirius’s room and laid on the bed.

Bruno had gladly allowed the other man to gather him in his arms and lazily play with his hair, as he contentedly leaned his head on Sirius’s chest, the beating of his heart so very comforting.

It was so different, so heartwarming to have someone on his side, just on his side. He didn't want to, but sometimes it felt as if he and his sisters were all on their own, but Pepa and Julieta had Félix and Agustín and he, Bruno, never had anyone outside of his family. It was strange, but he could feel that he and Sirius had what Julieta and Agustín had, what Pepa and Félix had. He’d felt that understanding, that connection from the first moment, fifteen years ago: he truly couldn’t care less that Sirius was actually sixteen years his junior, and Sirius didn’t seem to mind either and didn’t seem in need of a comforter himself. He probably did, and much more than him, Bruno mused, and he was ready to be that person for him, but from what he’d seen of Sirius so far, he was a nurturer, a protector and a caregiver, someone who would probably scoff at someone trying to look after him. He seemed to ease his own pain by caring for others.

“Love, you do know you can’t keep hiding like this, don’t you?” Bruno tensed immediately and Sirius stopped playing with his hair to look at him, “I get that it’s difficult but isn’t it more difficult to stay hidden like this, hearing them go on about their life? I can see that you miss them like crazy.”

“I do,” Bruno said, “But what am I supposed to do? Come out of the walls and say ‘hey! I left ten years ago but I was just behind the wall’?”

“Well, yeah,” Sirius replied, “I mean, Dolores knows you’re here already.”

Bruno sighed at that, he’d apologised profusely to his niece for putting her in that position and, though she’d told him that she didn’t mind on the one time they spoke through the walls, he still felt guilty about it. Her ‘Te quiero, Tío’ was one thing that kept him going through all these years behind the walls.

“And Antonio can speak to animals,” Sirius added, “You have rats. Did you know that they are very chatty creatures?”

“How do you know?”

“I am an Animagus,” Sirius reminded him, “I communicate with animals just fine, though it’s much easier with dogs. How long do you think you can stay back here?”

“I know I can’t stay here forever,” Bruno said softly.

He knew, but he never could get himself to leave.

He’d hidden out of instinct and a need to avoid anyone seeing his prediction of Mirabel’s future but he was already stuck there when he realised he’d be back there for years and years. What would happen if he died in the walls, without the family knowing? Would they even find his body?

“And they do miss you. I have been here only a few days, and I can see that.”

Bruno wasn’t so sure. He knew his nieces and nephews barely remembered him – or didn’t know him at all in Antonio’s case.

And he knew his brothers-in-law liked him enough – he wasn’t that sure about Félix’s feelings towards him, what with what happened at Pepa’s wedding and everything, but Agustín was a kind and gentle soul who would forgive anyone.

He knew his mother and sisters loved him but he knew also that Pepa and Mamá were angry at him, rightfully so in a way. They had been for years, long before he’d even left.

Julieta – Bruno had heard her talking about him to Sirius and he’d felt such a horrid person to make her go through that. He’d wanted to burst into the kitchen and hug her so bad but he hadn’t. He once again thanked God for Sirius, who’d been there for Julieta, comforting her.

He wanted to be with his family so bad, his pathetic carving on his table was proof enough that he certainly couldn’t deny it, but after so many years hidden from them –

“What if you’re wrong?”

“What?” Sirius asked, blinking.

“What if you’re wrong and they don’t want me back?”

Sirius smiled softly, pained himself at his pain, “Why don’t you look, Seer?” he teased but his smile faltered when Bruno clearly didn’t like the joke, “And what if I’m right? Julieta clearly would like to know if you’re alive at the very least.”

Bruno sighed, looking away from Sirius, “I know,” he whispered, “And I know I am not being fair to Dolores either. But Mirabel… if I go home, then I’ll have to say why I left and she’ll be miserable, she’ll become like me. They’ll blame me and shun her and it’ll be a whole thing —”

Sirius shut him up with a deep kiss and Bruno’s rambling was cut off as he drowned in the comfort of his Englishman wrapping his arms around him.

“My, my, you’re a worrier, aren’t you? We’ll figure it out. The cracks have been here for years, right? We’ll find a solution, you’ll see,” Sirius reassured him, “And if I am wrong, I’ll still be here for you. Worst comes to worst, we can leave.”

“Leave the Encanto?”

“If you want,” Sirius nodded at Bruno, “We’ll go wherever you want. I’ll look after you!”

Bruno smiled hesitantly, because despite him not wanting to leave the Encanto and his family, having an alternative to the worst case scenario was comforting after ten years wallowing in self-pity, guilt and fear. He certainly did not want to leave the Encanto but imagining a life roaming the world with Sirius sounded amazing anyway.

Sirius could read him like a book and he kissed Bruno again, smiling, “It won’t come to that, you’ll see. They’ll welcome you home and if we travel it’ll be for pleasure.”

They spent the few hours of night left before the house would wake for the morning together. They agreed it wouldn’t do for Bruno to just pop out in the morning, the situation was delicate, especially considering Mirabel’s position.

*

They’d fallen asleep, Sirius spooning Bruno protectively, really not caring that the other man was sixteen years his senior. He knew brash, loud and defiant, and Bruno, with his meek kindness and handsome awkwardness, was so endearing to Sirius down to the last of his dark curls. Man, he looked good for a fifty-year-old who’d spent the last decade in a tiny room behind the wall of his family home’s kitchen.

Luckily he’d remembered to lock the door because a quick, excited knock on the door snapped Sirius out of his light sleep.

He very much doubted that he’d ever sleep soundly after Azkaban but having Bruno with him certainly eased his troubled mind a lot. The Seer had obviously been just as tired as Sirius, probably worse, because he barely snorted in his sleep in protest when Sirius rose to see who was there.

“It’s Dolores,” a whisper called from behind the door.

Sirius cracked the door just enough to peer outside and be met with the sight of the curly-haired girl looking at him excitedly, wide eyes blinking rapidly.

“He’s here, right?” she squeaked, “You convinced him!”

“Ssshhh!” Sirius hissed, pressing a finger on his lips to hush the excited girl.

He looked left and right, though Dolores smiled, “No one’s here, they’re getting ready for breakfast, so I offered to come get you!”

Sirius paused, “Oh,” he said, “You heard us.”

Dolores nodded impatiently and Sirius suddenly noticed that her eyes were a little shiny. Oh. She was so excited – oh. She wanted Bruno to come home.

“You want to see him?”

Dolores nodded again and Sirius motioned for her to come inside.

She glanced left and right just to be safe and quickly entered the room, waiting and leaning against the closed door as Sirius leaned over the bed, lightly pushing Bruno’s dark curls out of his face, waking him up gently.

Bruno groaned as he woke up and sat on the edge of the bed, his burgundy shirt crumpled by sleep and his hair even more of a mess than usual, but Bruno couldn’t have predicted it if he tried. His eyebrows shot up as he stopped mid-yawn and any sleep there might have been was gone when he glanced up and saw Sirius step aside to reveal the young woman standing in front of the closed door, positively vibrating.

“Dolores?”

Dolores’s mouth immediately widened in a bright smile and she threw her arms around him.

“Tío Bruno!”

Bruno stood frozen in his niece’s arms for a long moment, completely stunned. Then Sirius saw his face crumple and he hugged Dolores back, his arms and shoulders trembling at the first show of affection from his family in over ten years.

“Ay, Lolita, ay, mi conejita,” he sighed, inhaling her sweet scent and kissing her cheek. He’d gotten whiffs of her perfume like he’d done all of his relatives many times but hugging her now that she was a grown woman made all the time he’d been hidden away all the more real, as if observing the family from behind the walls had been a horrible dream he’d been trapped in for ten years, “Ay, mija, you’re so grown up, now…”

“You are coming back, right, Tío? Everyone would be so happy!”

Bruno smiled sadly in her hair, “Would they?” he asked, “I am not so sure.”

“Well, I would!” Dolores insisted, “And so would Tía Julieta! And Luisa!”

Bruno sighed, and tightened his grip on her, kissing her hair.

Dolores let him go, pushing him back enough to get a good look at him, a bright smile on her lips, “Really, Tío! You know you can believe me, I hear everything! We all missed you like crazy! Mami too! And Abuela! And I know you missed us!”

Bruno snorted softly, cupping her face with his hand, “Ay, that I did, nena, all of you, every single day.”

A loud crash caught their attention and they both turned to look at Sirius, a broken glass by his feet.

Sirius swore loudly, though Bruno and Dolores could tell as much only thanks to his tone because he certainly didn’t use Spanish. He looked at them like a deer caught in the headlights as the two blinked at him, then grabbed his wand and pointed it at the broken glass, which repaired itself, leaving the two Madrigals gaping at him.

“Merlin's beard!” Sirius hissed, going back to the indoor voice, should anyone be passing in front of his room, “I didn’t connect the dots till now!” he told Bruno, who glanced at Dolores when Sirius pointed at her then looked back at Sirius, “She’s the little princess, isn't she? From last time?”

Dolores blinked and gave a squeak as usual then questioned Bruno with her eyes. Her uncle looked at her and back at Sirius again, “Dolores?” Bruno asked, “Sí, you met her last time. And Isabela – and Luisa. They were very little then, though.”

“Isab —” Sirius gave a startled bark-like laugh as he turned to Dolores, “Oh! She’s the little flower girl! I remember now! I can’t believe I didn’t recognise you, honey! Of course you’re the little princess! And Luisa – she was just a toddler, wasn’t she? Well, the girl has certainly grown up!”

Dolores paused, tilted her head, then beamed at Sirius, “Oh, so it was you! I was right! I tried asking since you looked familiar but I wasn’t sure and you didn’t say anything! You didn’t remember?”

“Yeah, sorry, my happy memories are all over the place right now, it can take me a while…”

“Your happy memories —?” Dolores trailed off as she looked between him and Bruno. She stayed silent for a moment, then held her breath, “Oh. Oh! Ooohhh!” she turned to Bruno and linked their arms in excitement, “That’s amazing, Tío!”

“Lolita —” Bruno started, but Dolores suddenly stopped smiling and looked at the ceiling, holding up a hand to hush the two men.

“I have to go,” she said, “Mirabel is questioning ‘me’,” she made quotation marks with her fingers, “About last night.”

“But you’re here – right, Camilo,” Bruno said, hitting his forehead with his palm, “Right, yes, go on, conejita.”

She kissed his cheek and a second later she was opening the door, leaving Sirius and Bruno wondering if she was gifted super speed as well as super hearing.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything for now. You might want to be cautious though, the Guzmans should come to dinner tonight. I’ll try to send Tía Julieta your way, if I can.”

Bruno and Sirius nodded, though Sirius had to go with her to avoid suspicion.

Sirius’s hands somehow found Bruno’s, who smiled at him, “Go with her,” he said, “You could do with breakfast.”

“You could too,” Sirius replied.

Bruno squeezed his hand, “I’ll be fine, cariño,” he reassured Sirius, “You’ve been much more starved than me. Dolores is right, we have to be cautious.”

Sirius kissed his knuckles, making Bruno flush and smile awkwardly while Dolores pretended, very badly, not to look and, more importantly, not to beam.

Breakfast went by quickly and mostly easily, though Sirius disliked the way Madam Madrigal talked about Antonio’s gift, being thankful one moment and immediately wondering what kind of use they would have for it. The boy was five! And since when having magical abilities had to be of use to Muggles? It was a truly strange way of doing things.

However, he truly was shocked when the Madam spoke of Isabela’s engagement to Mariano Guzman.

The conversation caught his attention from his conversation with Julieta when he saw that Dolores had become immediately subdued.

Sirius was confused by her sudden change in demeanour. She was a quiet girl but where she had eaten serenely and shared knowing smiles with Sirius all throughout breakfast in anticipation to her uncle’s return, the moment the subject of Isabela’s engagement was brought up she stopped smiling and looked down.

Sirius was looking at Dolores when she met his eyes and he offered her a smile, which she answered with a grimace that was very telling. Her eyes were shining and not in a good way.

“Dolores, do we have a date?” the Madam asked, sliding behind Isabela and putting her hands on her shoulders.

“Tonight,” Dolores answered her grandmother’s question.

Sirius tensed immediately when he noticed the girls’ behaviour. The fake smile of Isabela as she sat straight was obvious, especially in contrast with the way Julieta and Pepa smiled at their husbands as if they’d hung up the moon.

“He wants five babies.”

Her expression obviously panicked, several pink flowers sprouted in Isabela’s hair in her shock at the revelation from her cousin. Dolores didn’t smirk, if anything she went back to her breakfast with a blank expression on her face.

So Isabela clearly didn’t want to get married – to this Mariano bloke, at least – and Dolores was upset at the idea of Isabela’s marriage… Did she fancy the man?

“Wonderful! Such a fine young man with our perfect Isabela will make a new generation of magical blessings!”

Sirius watched the Madam speak of her granddaughter as if she was a prized mare and this Mariano the best stallion while she plucked the only white flower in Isabela’s hair, completely oblivious to her granddaughter’s plight.

Sirius loathed arranged marriage. To think that Dolores, the little princess that she was, could be fancying the man the little flower girl was being forced to married —

The glass he’d been holding exploded in his grip.

Everyone jumped, even Sirius, who looked at his now empty hand dripping pineapple juice and blood.

“Sirius!” Julieta immediately jumped in action, using her napkin to dab at his hand so she could check for glass shards.

“Sirius, are you alright?” asked Agustín.

“Huh – yeah, sorry,” Sirius said, his eyes back to Isabela, who stared at him very surprised, “I must have been gripping the glass with too much force. Sorry about the glass.”

“Forget the glass,” said the Madam surprisingly, “Julieta is happy to help you. Aren’t you, mija?”

Sirius glanced at Julieta, who smiled earnestly, “Of course,” she said, “It’s no trouble at all.”

Though he didn’t like the way the Madam offered her family’s help as if it was her own like one would lend a quill instead of a person, he confirmed in his mind that Julieta did have his man’s eyes even if they didn’t share the colour. She was Bruno’s sister after all.

The Madam dismissed the rest of the family, Pepa went inside the house with Antonio and Mirabel had vanished quickly after her sister Luisa. She was in a frenzy and Sirius was disappointed he didn’t have the chance to just take her to Bruno. Oh, well, it was only morning, so there was the whole day ahead. Even Bruno, who’d been patching the walls for years unbeknownst to his own family, didn’t know the origin of the cracks. Maybe Mirabel could find a clue.

When he was alone with the Madam and Julieta, Sirius decided to proceed with a part of the plan he’d hatched with Bruno.

“Madam, I was hoping to have a word with you.”

The Madam was surprised, “Oh?”

“It’s a delicate subject.”

“More delicate than your story?”

“Well, it’s a part of that story I have to be really careful in divulging,” Sirius explained, “It might take a while to tell you everything about it,” she looked conflicted between suspicion and curiosity, and Sirius knew he had to be honest, “I greatly appreciate all of your hospitality. I wouldn’t hide anything dangerous from you. I will explain why I withheld this information.”

She held his gaze for a while, clearly looking for any sign of lying on his part, then the tension in her shoulders let out. She wasn’t a bad woman, Sirius knew, but she sure was difficult when it came to trusting people, which Sirius understood, “I am very busy today with Isabela’s engagement. Is it urgent?”

Sirius didn’t think Isabela’s engagement was that much of a priority, even more so since she didn’t want to get married, “It can wait till it’s convenient for you.”

“Very well,” the Madam said and promised to find a moment of the following day to speak to Sirius.

She then left him and Julieta sitting at the breakfast table.

When he was sure the Madam was out of earshot, Sirius smiled at Julieta as she finished cleaning his hand carefully.

“There are some shards,” Julieta told him, “It doesn’t look serious but it’s best to be careful. Let’s go inside, so I can take them off. Healing the wound with the shards inside won’t do.”

“Yeah,” Sirius replied vaguely as they both stood to head inside.

Dolores was lingering, and she perked up and beamed at him behind her aunt’s back.

“Yeah!” he exclaimed, making Julieta jump at his sudden enthusiasm, “Yeah! Let’s go to my room, it’ll be easier!”

In the blink of an eye, Julieta found herself dragged in front of the door of the guest room Sirius was staying in.

“Sirius, what —?” Julieta started.

He beamed at her, “Sorry about this but you’ll be glad, I know!” Julieta opened her mouth to answer but Sirius held up his bleeding hand to stop her, then he opened the door just enough to peer inside, “You decent? Good, then wait for it —”

Julieta blinked as Sirius roughly opened the door and shoved her inside with enough force to have her reel and turn to look at him in protest.

*

“Sirius, what’s going on?” she asked.

It was a testament of how much of a kind woman she was that she was still not upset at him but just surprised at his rough treatment.

Under her shocked gaze, Sirius locked the door, then beamed at her.

She blinked again, truly dumbfounded.

“Julieta.”

Julieta froze, going immediately rigid in recognition of the voice.

She was still looking straight in Sirius’s grey eyes and the man was looking back at her. Her eyes widened at the voice and his grin widened too, then he nodded his head to the side.

She turned slowly, hoping against hope that it wasn’t a dream, that she’d heard right.

She inhaled sharply as the items she had in her hands fell to the floor.

It was a hallucination. It must have been.

Because her brother was there in front of her.

Her hands went to cover her mouth in shock.

He was almost the same as she remembered. The burgundy shirt and trousers under the green ruana embroidered with hourglasses that matched the green eyes he shared with Pepa and the dark curls he shared with her: the same clothes he had on the night of Mirabel’s ceremony.

He looked thin, though: he was always thin but he looked thinner than she remembered. And scruffier. He looked extremely pale and his dark hair had just enough grey in it to barely notice if you truly looked for it.

He was waiting for her to say something but when she just kept staring at him with her hands covering her mouth he faltered and the sad hope he’d had in his eyes vanished as he looked down, grabbing his left arm with his right hand.

He opened his mouth to say something and then —

“Oof!” he gasped as she tackled him.

Julieta roughly hugged him tight, holding onto him with the strength of an experienced cook to make sure he was real and not a figment of her imagination.

“Bruno!” she whispered in his hair, “Dios mio, Bruno!”

Sobbing, she tightened her grip to the point of making him gasp in pain and he was snapped out of it when he caught Sirius’s eyes from behind Julieta’s back. Sirius grinned at him, the ‘I told you so’ clear on his face.

“Bruno!” Julieta wailed, “Bruno! Bruno! Bruno! Ay, mi Bruno!”

As she kept calling his name in his hair, Bruno hugged Julieta back with as much force as he could, his face crumpling even worse than it had when he’d hugged Dolores earlier.

“Perdoname,” he cried, his voice broken and his eyes shut so as to keep this moment as long as possible, “Ay, Juli, perdoname, por favor, perdoname por todo.”

Julieta squeezed him one last time, then she pushed him back, still holding his hands, and gave him an appraising look, “None of that,” she said firmly, though her smile was so big it bordered on insane. It didn’t happen often but at that moment she looked so much like Pepa, “Are you here to stay? Tell me you’re here to stay!”

Bruno hesitated and glanced quickly at Sirius. Before Julieta could turn to look at Sirius as well, he squeezed her hands, “If… if you want me home, sí.”

Julieta’s face was a mask of hurt at his words.

“Of course we want you home, idiota!” she said, and Sirius watched her take her brother’s face in her hands and pepper it with kisses for a while, until she was finally satisfied and hugged him again, “Why would you think anything different?”

Bruno hesitated, then opened his mouth to answer but decided against it and looked down.

Julieta’s smile faltered.

She knew there were issues between her brother and the family. She knew she hadn’t been there for him but for him to think they didn’t care about him? He wasn’t talking but his downcast eyes told her enough. Had they – had she failed him so much?

A cough interrupted them.

They both looked up to find Sirius looking at them.

“Sirius!” Julieta exclaimed, “I’m so sorry! I left you with a bleeding hand!”

Julieta rushed to inspect his hand, Bruno immediately on her heels, looking over her shoulders.

“What’s this about a bleeding hand?” Bruno asked Sirius.

“It’s nothing serious, I broke a glass,” Sirius said calmly.

“What –? Where’s the wound?”

Julieta turned Sirius’s hand up and down, inspecting it all. The wound was nowhere to be found.

“It’s alright, Julieta,” Sirius said, “I took care of it.”

She looked up at him, confused.

With his free hand, Sirius produced a stick from his sleeve and waved it easily, retrieving the items she’d accidentally thrown on the ground. They floated to the bed, landing very gracefully on the linens.

“Sirius is a wizard, Juli,” Bruno explained.

“Que?” Julieta paused, still not letting go of Sirius’s hand. She looked from him to her brother and back, “Wait – you two know each other?”

Bruno and Sirius shared a look, “We do,” Bruno confirmed.

Then Sirius held up his hands, “Though I promise I was telling the truth, I didn’t know where I was going when I came here.”

Julieta kept looking from him to her brother, “Did you – did you bring my brother home?” she asked, latching onto Bruno’s arm tightly, “Do I have to thank you for having my brother back?”

Sirius opened his mouth to deny it but Bruno covered Julieta’s hand with his own, “Sí,” he replied before Sirius could deny, “He convinced me to get out of hiding.”

Julieta paused, her demeanour definitely suspicious, “What do you mean, ‘hiding’?”

Bruno felt like he’d lost his nerve then, and hesitated. Sirius took his free hand and when the Seer glanced up at him he nodded at Bruno. Bruno looked at Julieta, who was now staring at him expectantly, “I – I never left.”

Her eyes widened, “Que?”

Bruno flinched, knowing that she was hoping she’d heard wrong, “I may have been – in the walls of Casita – since I left.”

Julieta didn’t react at first. She just stood there, staring at her brother.

At one point her eyes grew wide as his revelation sank in. She moved her hand behind her as if looking for something and Bruno seized her, helping her recede onto the edge of the bed, where she sat heavily, still in shock.

“I don’t understand,” she said as he sat next to her, seizing his hands, “Since – ten years? And you were just – in the walls? How?”

“W-well, I had to disappear but I really couldn’t leave you all.”

“Why?”

“It was the only way to be close to you without – without —” his voice broke when he saw her eyes widen in her realisation and he looked away, “Perdoname, Juli.”

“Ay, Bruno!” Julieta sighed, throwing her arms around him, “What made you think you had to go through a decade alone in the walls? We missed you a lot.”

“Please, don’t, Juli,” Bruno said, “I mean, maybe you did but the others… it was better this way…”

“You mean Pepa?” Julieta paused, “But you know how Pepa is, she says things…”

“I know,” Bruno started but couldn’t go on.

Julieta took a moment to look at him, and then it hit her, “Dios mio, you heard it all, didn’t you? You heard it all –”

“Yeah – I mean, it’s not like it was anything I hadn’t heard before…”

She leaned so her forehead touched his, “Oh, Bruno… If I’d known – I hoped that you were somewhere you could be happy!”

“I couldn’t be happy without my family, Juli,” Bruno whispered.

“Even if you lived in the walls?”

“I could never be happy without seeing you…”

“But in the walls —!” Julieta exclaimed, cupping his face with her hands, “How did you survive? You don’t look well, I can’t believe you had everything you needed… How did you get food and water?”
“There’s a space behind the kitchen, I diverted the pipes and I – huh – kinda nicked food from the kitchen at night.”

“You – is that why there was always less food than I remembered leaving? That was you? We thought it was Camilo!”
“I tried taking as little as I could,” Bruno said, “You noticed, huh?”

“Bruno, even a crumb is missing in my kitchen, I'm gonna notice,” she said firmly, “So you lived on our leftovers for ten years?” Julieta cried, cupping his face with her hands, “Oh, corazon, that’s not healthy! You can’t have taken enough if I barely noticed! No wonder you’re so thin!”

Bruno opened his mouth to answer but he noticed Sirius out of the corner of his eyes.

Sirius was looking at them with an unreadable expression. He seemed so out of it that he hadn’t noticed them looking at him when he suddenly moved to look out of the window, a blank expression on his face, an aura of complete melancholy. It was unsettling.

Bruno held up his hand to shush Julieta, then he rose to his feet and approached him, “Sirius?”

Sirius didn’t react until Bruno took his hand. He jolted as if woken from a horrid nightmare and he turned to Bruno with an empty look in his eyes.

“Que es, mi vida?” Bruno cupped Sirius’s cheek with his hand, then smiled softly, “Estás bien?”

Bruno’s smile seemed to snap Sirius out of whatever it was and he shuddered, leaning into the touch of his Seer, his lips curving upwards softly, “Yeah, love,” he said quietly, “I’m just –” he sighed, “I’m fine.”

“What do you need?”

“I’m fine, Bruno,” Sirius said, “I promise. It’s just – memories…” he paused, looking over Bruno’s shoulder.

The Seer followed his eyes and jumped, as if he’d forgotten he’d been talking to his sister just a moment earlier. Julieta was looking at them with curiosity.

“You can’t have just met,” she said simply.

Bruno shook his head.

“Er – Julieta – do you remember around the time Camilo and Mirabel were little, you asked me if I was seeing anyone?”

“Yeah?” Julieta said slowly, “And you wouldn’t say…” she paused and suddenly her eyes grew wide when she noticed their linked hands, “No way!”

Bruno nodded, confirming her sudden realisation.

Julieta looked at Sirius, “So last night when we were talking,” she said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around it, “You were actually talking about my brother?”

“Yeah but I didn’t know he was your brother,” Sirius explained, “See, around fifteen years ago, I was on a mission with my friend James and we got stranded here by mistake. I think it’s the wards around this place now that I know about the magic but it was like our magic was hostage for a while, as if to check who we were,” Sirius turned to Bruno and they shared a smile, “That’s when we met.”

“It’s actually thanks to Dolores and Isabela,” Bruno said, “Remember that they wanted to go camping and insisted on exploring? Mamá didn’t want to send them but with the little ones needing a lot of attention she relented when I offered to take them? Turns out Dolores had heard them and they would have gone anyway on their own because they felt left out because of the babies.”

“So you have met Dolores and Isabela before as well?” Julieta asked Sirius, stunned, “Why didn’t you say?”

“And Luisa! I honestly didn’t remember them at all, they were so small at the time,” Sirius replied, “Even after I saw Bruno, I just connected the dots this morning. I really wasn't trying to hide anything.”
Julieta stayed quiet, digesting the information slowly.

“Juli?” Bruno called when she didn’t speak for a long while.

Julieta looked down, pondering everything very seriously, “And what’s this about you being a wizard?” she asked Sirius, “What is a wizard exactly?”

Sirius paused before passing a hand in his hair, “None of you have a clue about magic, do you?” he pondered, “This is truly unusual… Yes, I am a wizard. That’s the one thing I couldn’t tell you right away. I had to be sure. There are laws against Muggles knowing about magic.”

“Muggles?”

“Non-magical people,” Sirius said, “Given the circumstances, I decided I could tell you.”

“Oh,” Julieta’s eyebrows shot up, “This is what you wanted to tell Mamá this morning!”

Sirius nodded.

“What happened to your memories?” Julieta asked after a moment of silence, “You keep saying your memories are – I’ve seen you struggle even in your sleep — but you remember —? I don’t understand.”
Bruno turned to Sirius, “That I don’t understand either, cariño,” he said, “You mentioned the prison. It mustn’t have been easy, I know, but I can see that you truly struggle with happy memories or you would have recognised Dolores and Isabela right away like you did me. What kind of prison was it?”

Sirius didn’t answer right away, looking away from the brother and sister staring at him with such innocent curiosity, “You are all so delightfully innocent. I’d rather keep you from the horrors of Azkaban if I can.”

“Azkaban?” Bruno asked, “Is that the name of the prison?” Sirius nodded, and it was obvious that the mere thought of it terrified him to no end, “And you can’t tell me anything? There is nothing that I can know about it to make you feel better, corazon?”

Sirius smiled softly at him, “That’s sweet, but you make me feel better just by being here with me,” he said and Bruno reciprocated the gentle flush on his cheeks, answering with a smile of his own, then Sirius grinned at Julieta, “And actually hot chocolate helps a lot.”

Her smile was a surprised reflex but she then pulled a string of dark curls behind her brother’s ear, “Ah, you haven’t had any yet today, we’ll have to remedy that, if it makes you feel better.”

Bruno hesitated, looking from Sirius to Julieta, “Juli?”

“Hm?”

“Is – is this okay to you?” he asked tentatively, pointing between Sirius and himself, “Us?”

Julieta paused, realising that she hadn’t said anything about her brother’s revelation. Clearly from his face, he was very worried and she could see why. He’d been far from home for ten years – well, not as far as she thought – and when he came back he also revealed to be in love with another man. This could turn out to be a tough nut to crack when it came to their mother, and probably when it came to their sister Pepa as well, but Julieta knew how much she’d failed him, so if she could ease his mind about this at least, she would be happy to do so.

She took his hands in hers, “Well, I don’t see why it should be a problem for me. I knew fifteen years ago that whoever had you so taken was what Papá was to Mamá, what Agustín is to me, what Félix is to Pepa. I only wished that same happiness for you. I just never considered anyone different than a woman. He told me how he felt about you last night and neither of us knew he was talking about you. Do you feel for him like he does for you?”

“I was broken without him.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek, “Then I can only be happy for you.”

Bruno let out a sigh of relief and Sirius encircled his shoulders with his arm.

The understanding between them was obvious and it made Julieta smile. She only had three people she understood as well as herself and those were Agustín, Pepa and Bruno, even if she’d failed to try to do so with her brother for years. Seeing that he too had found someone who completed him only filled her with happiness.

“I feel like I have passed some sort of test?”

Bruno and Julieta blinked at Sirius’s words, “Oh, come on,” she said with a gentle smile, “You must have been brought home many times…”

Sirius snorted, “You'd be surprised. Thirteen years ago I ended up in prison and that didn’t do much for me relationship-wise. Not that I was interested in being brought home by other people anyway. This is sort of a first time for me…” he grinned at Bruno.

Bruno’s lips curled upwards as Sirius pulled a stray dark curl behind his ear.

Julieta’s eyes widened, “Ay, Dios mio! Am I the first you tell? What am I saying? Of course I am if you were in the walls all this time!”

“Well, Dolores figured it out,” Bruno said, “But yeah, you’re the first to know officially.”

Julieta blinked, “Dolores?”

“Yeah – huh - she knew I was in the walls.”

“Oh, of course, she hears everything,” Julieta sighed, an amused smile playing on her lips, “Ay, Lolita, that girl’s in a world of trouble…”

“No one should be mad at her,” Bruno said quietly, “She tried to say something but everyone would either shush her or think she was making it up.”

Julieta gasped as if she’d been slapped. Now that she thought about it, Bruno was right. Dolores had always been close to Bruno so when after he disappeared she tried saying she heard him, Abuela and Pepa kept shushing her, originating the rule that ‘we don’t talk about Bruno’ that Julieta hated but decided to abide by anyway.

She remembered when eleven-year-old Dolores had come to her in tears, asking her if she believed her that Tío Bruno was still there. Julieta hadn’t had the heart to rebuff her but she hadn’t wanted to raise her hope, so she’d merely hugged her niece, without giving her answer. When she’d released her, she’d smiled at Dolores but the girl had just stared at her with a blank expression on her face and left the kitchen.

“Ay, Lolita…” she sighed again. She took some time to process all that had happened in the past minutes.

“Julieta, you might want to know that Mirabel is on a mission.”

“Que?” Julieta asked.

“I saw her early this morning. She was coming down the roof in her nightgown at three in the morning,” Sirius explained, “She’s very concerned about the magic and wants to help. I tried to tell her to be careful but I doubt she would have listened to me anyway, so I told her I would help her. She knows that I have… abilities.”

Julieta paused, then cupped her own cheek with her hand, sighing deeply, “Is this about last night?”

“Yeah,” Sirius and Bruno shared a look.

“Juli,” Bruno started slowly, “It’s not only about last night. Last night might have been the tipping point but I’ve seen her struggle from the walls many times.”

Julieta went back to sitting on the bed, “I know,” she said quietly, “I wish she would understand that she’s just as special as anyone else.”

Bruno glanced at Sirius, who took the only chair in the room, while he sat on the bed next to his sister, “Julieta, how can she? I’ve been behind the walls for ten years and I’ve never seen her being singled out for something positive. Honestly, you’re the only one who tries to give her positive attention but – er, sorry for saying this – you usually just tell her she’s just as special as anyone else without actually acknowledging her feelings. It’s like you just want to make it go away quickly. You kind of did it last night too. I know, you used to do this with me. I’m sure she loves you for telling her she’s loved constantly but sometimes it’s better to just let someone have a good cry without only telling them how they should feel. I’m sorry, Juli, but it’s a little dismissive even if it is not intentional.”

Julieta gasped, a hand going to cover her mouth, “Dios mio!” she cried, “I’m a horrid mother!”

Bruno jumped, immediately realising that she might have taken offence at his words, “Oh, Juli! No! That isn’t what I meant at all! You are a wonderful mother!”

“No, you’re right! I keep telling her that she can talk to me but even last night, when she was trying to talk to me I just shut her up, didn’t I? Instead of listening, I did what Mamá does and swept my daughter’s feelings under the rug —”

“Wait – Julieta, I wasn’t saying anything of the sort—”

“Would you like the opinion of an outsider?”

The two siblings turned to look at Sirius, who was staring at them with a pensive look on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.

Julieta sniffled.

Bruno still held her hands, Sirius shifted on the chair, “You actually have a wonderful thing going on here,” Sirius began, when they both nodded slowly, “I said that there are laws that forbid wizards to tell Muggles – non-magical people – about magic. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was established in 1692 and I won’t bore you with the historical details but it was established mostly because of what Muggles have done to wizards throughout history. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Salem's witch trials, of witches burnt at the stake or, well, the Spanish Inquisition. Perhaps you’ve heard of that. I would have to check but I haven’t heard of a wizarding school in Colombia. That’s probably because the wizarding population is very small here, it has happened in other countries where the repression of wizards was harsher and more effective. Of course, the debate over fraternising with Muggles never stopped, so there are exceptions, for example, if a witch or wizard marries a Muggle they can tell the spouse about wizardry, given the possibility of a wizarding child being born. There are many people against fraternising with Muggles and – well, the war I was in was much about this, but let’s leave it for now.”

Bruno and Julieta followed Sirius with their eyes when he looked away and rose from the chair, pacing the room deep in thought.

“So, yeah, what you have here is truly amazing. A society where wizards and Muggles can coexist? Some would call it a utopia, because even if there are many, me included, who don’t mind and even enjoy interacting with Muggles, very few consider lifting the Statute of Secrecy altogether. It’s a very delicate subject. However.”

Sirius paused and looked up at them.

“Can I be brutally honest?”

Bruno and Julieta shared a look.

“Borderline insulting?”

Bruno snorted, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, mi vida.”

Sirius grinned at him, “Something about your situation here would be, quite frankly, disturbing if not for the fact that good intentions are obviously behind all of this.”

“How – how so?” Julieta asked shyly, still trying to wrap her mind around everything.

“You have a society run by a single family of magical people that bears the burden of everything. The single magical family is led by a Muggle woman who doesn’t even know that much about the magic she witnessed and still forces her magical relatives to serve a community of spoiled people to exhaustion. Your sister Pepa’s power is manipulating the weather through her emotions, right? Yet I haven’t heard anyone asking her why she was upset. People just remind her that she has a cloud as if she doesn’t know already. And what of it anyway? Rain has never killed anyone – I should know, it rains a lot in England. That sweet girl Dolores… hearing everything must be so exhausting. I have a very heightened sense of hearing and smell, so I know how overwhelming it can be, and I can't hear a pin drop, to quote Mirabel. Camilo? Such a cheerful kid but does anyone ask him what he thinks? All I’ve heard is people demanding that he turned into this bloke or that woman. Hell, I’ve seen him babysit newborns – the boy’s fifteen, he should be worrying about his schoolwork and his friends! Why the hell is he babysitting newborns? Antonio? The little one acquired his ability yesterday and this morning he’s already asked to use it for ‘something useful’. At five years old! Your daughter Luisa – I haven’t seen her take a five minute break if not for meals. Even at the party yesterday that poor girl was going around offering food to people with no less than five children climbing on her like monkeys. What about you two? Julieta, I’ve seen you work yourself into exhaustion into the kitchen to heal every single injury every day since I’ve been here, serious or stupid. I mean, yeah, I get broken bones but black eyes? Nobody’s ever died from a black eye! And Bruno! Why is your name a taboo, love? Is it really that no one understands that you only see the future and not control it? And what is your mother’s problem with that sweet girl Mirabel? Between her and Isabela, I’m surprised the girl doesn’t have more self-esteem problems!”

“Mamá has always been very hard on Mirabel,” Julieta sighed, her entire form shaking as she realised that all that Sirius was saying was correct to a fault.

“Isabela too, you know,” Bruno told his sister, “She’s rarely as nice to her as she is to anyone else,” he paused at Sirius’s disapproving scoff, “Don’t be too harsh on Isabela, though, Sirius,” he said, “She has a lot of expectations put on her as the first grandchild.”

“By your mother?” Sirius almost growled, after taking a moment to consider Bruno’s words. At the two siblings’ stunned look, he shook away his sudden wave of rage, “Sorry, I just hate my mother. The only thing she did right was dying years ago,” Julieta shared a look with her brother, seeing that he was just as baffled at the concept of hating one’s mother as she was, “At least the Madam means well, I can see that she does. But, for someone like me, who fought a war for equality between wizards and Muggles, against the ideal of wizard supremacy over Muggles… seeing Muggles treat wizards like slaves is, quite frankly, very insulting. After all the people who died –”

They waited for him to go on but his eyes said that he was once again lost in his own mind. Bruno again rose and went to squeeze his hands comfortingly and when Sirius snapped out of it he gave a strangled sob. Bruno was going to say something, when Julieta tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a tight smile. He hesitated and let go of Sirius, who gave a soft pained whine at the loss of contact before a strangled sound of surprise when Julieta hugged him tightly.

“Thank you for opening my eyes,” Julieta said softly, “Thank you for being kind to my Mirabel,” Julieta kissed his cheek and Sirius blinked, his expression much to similar to Bruno’s, as if he wasn’t used to people being kind to him, and Julieta’s heart broke thinking that that was probably the case, “Thank you for loving my brother, thank you for convincing him to come home.”

Sirius’s eyes had been squeezed shut as if he was trying to experience as much as he could of the warmth of the hug.

Bruno grinned at him, pushing himself on his toes so he could kiss Sirius’s forehead over Julieta’s form.

Julieta thought that the way Sirius looked at her brother was downright adorable.