The Fall of Casita
Bruno took Mirabel out of Antonio’s room, whereas Sirius waited for a moment with the little boy to clean up the floor from the shards of emerald and from the sand.
He waved his wand to gather the sand into the bucket Bruno had brought it in, then collected all the shards when he noticed that Antonio seemed subdued.
“What’s wrong, Antonio?” Sirius asked, “Did the vision scare you? You don’t have to be frightened.”
Antonio shook his head quickly, “No, the vision was really cool!” he seemed to want to add something, but his cheeks burned, and he looked down, tightening his grip on the jaguar plush toy Bruno had given back to him with a nervous smile before leaving with Mirabel. Sirius stopped what he was doing and focused on Antonio, who glanced briefly at him and looked down again. Sirius waited and sure enough, Antonio found the words, “Tío doesn’t like me.”
That Sirius didn’t expect. His head shot up and he stopped gathering the shards of emerald.
“What?”
“Tío Bruno doesn’t like me,” Antonio insisted, “He didn’t want to talk to me.”
Sirius pondered the observation for a moment and considered that, to Antonio, it could look like Bruno didn’t want to have anything to do with him.
Of course, he knew different. Both because of what he knew about Bruno, what the man himself had told him, and because he found interacting with people awkward too sometimes.
When things happened to you, it was easy to forget how to behave normally.
Sirius himself had decided to just attack Peter and got Ron hurt in the process instead of just explaining things to Harry and his friends. In hindsight, it wasn’t surprising that Harry had thought he’d been trying to kill him.
In fact, it was only after he’d seen Harry's eagerness at his invitation to come live with him that it registered for Sirius how wrong he’d been in breaking out of Azkaban to commit the crime he’d been accused of instead of trying to capture Peter to clear his name and take care of Harry. To him, Harry was happy without him, and he could live with that, if he managed to avenge James and Lily. If he did that and got cleared in the process, well, that would have been a bonus.
But Harry had shown much more sense at thirteen than Sirius did at thirty-four. And when he’d gained some hope and offered Harry a home, he’d understood that he'd broken out of Azkaban for the wrong reason.
To be fair, he hadn't been in any right state of mind for over a decade, and it took him a while to focus. He really had to make it up to that boy.
He couldn't believe that Harry's good sense had not only allowed him not to become a murderer but to offer his godson a home and to reunite with Bruno and get to know the amazing Madrigals. Because they were amazing but not for the reason they thought of.
“Antonio,” Sirius started gently, “He does want to talk to you, he loves you.”
Antonio shook his head, “I know when grown-ups lie to make you feel better. Papi always does it when he says Mami is fine when she’s sad,” he told Sirius, “That’s what you’re doing.”
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, “I promise I’m not,” he said, “That’s not something I do. But Bruno told me he loves you. He loves you all very much and why wouldn’t he love you? You’re a very smart little tyke!” Antonio giggled when Sirius pinched his cheek with his knuckles. Sirius laughed with him but then he sobered, “See, Antonio, people who have spent a lot of time alone like your uncle sometimes don’t know how to show how they feel like other people but that doesn’t mean they don’t feel at all. Do you remember when you needed Mirabel to go to your door? Like that. You just have to be patient.”
Holding onto his plush jaguar, Antonio studied him carefully, “You are like Tío, right?”
Sirius eyed the five-year-old and smiled, “A very smart little tyke indeed,” he said and ruffled his hair, making Antonio beam at him.
“So, you spent a lot of time alone?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t nice.”
“How come?”
“Well… why don’t I tell you another time?”
Antonio considered that then nodded, “Okay.”
Thanking the free spirit of children, Sirius offered Antonio a hand and they headed out of the room.
They found Bruno hiding in the shadows near Isabela's door. He’d clearly seen Mirabel going inside, and from the muffled girls’ voices Mirabel was trying to reason with her sister. It wasn't going well.
Antonio was indeed a very smart boy, Sirius thought, because he immediately took Sirius’s advice into consideration and told Bruno proudly that he and Sirius had cleaned the room of all the sand and shards, before promising not to tell anyone that he'd been a part of this. Bruno was taken aback by the boy’s sudden enthusiasm but managed to smile at him and praise him. Antonio accompanied them to the nursery, where Sirius asked him to go distract his parents if he could and Antonio was happy to comply, asking Bruno if he could pet the rats later. Bruno nodded shyly.
They watched him run away with his jaguar friend.
Sirius slapped Bruno upside the head.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Don’t be so rigid!” Sirius reprimanded him, “You want to have a relationship with the boy, right?”
Bruno blinks, “Sí,” he said, “Of course, but what if he doesn’t like –”
“He thought you didn’t like him!” Sirius interrupted him, “I had to tell him that you do!” at Bruno’s crestfallen expression, Sirius softened, “Don’t be so anxious, he’s a sweet boy, I don’t see why you shouldn’t get along with him like with Mirabel.”
“W-well,” Bruno hesitated, “I know Mirabel, you know. I mean, I haven’t interacted with the family for ten years, but I knew her from before. Not as much as I should have, I guess. I really did want to spend time with all my nieces and my nephew but after Isabela and Dolores got their visions – Pepa was so angry at me all the time – and I really wanted all of them to be happy even if it meant not being around them… it was easier for everyone...”
He stopped rambling when Sirius shut him up with a kiss, “Hey, love, it’s alright, no one knows more than I do how difficult it can be to interact with people after a lot of time with no human contact. Sorry if I was too direct…”
Bruno tightened his grip on the other man, “No, I like it that you are direct. I’ve always liked it. You take what I say for what it is without thinking of some vision that I might have had. That’s so important to me. The reaction to my visions is always…”
Sirius let him go enough to take a good look at him, “I hate that you had to feel that way, especially when it was such an amazing display of power,” Bruno smiled softly at him but then he grew concerned and looked away, “What?”
“I…” what little confidence Bruno might have had was suddenly gone.
“What?”
“Huh – nothing…”
“Bruno,” Sirius said firmly, cupping his cheek so Bruno would look up at him, “What is it? Are you hurt anywhere? Or is it a consequence of the vision?”
“No, nothing like that…” Bruno's cheeks reddened, he clearly wasn’t used to having people fuss over him, “It’s stupid…”
Sirius considered him for a moment, “You can tell me.”
“I know,” Bruno said, “Pero…” he took a deep sigh, his cheeks red and his eyes finally finding Sirius’s eyes with deep embarrassment, “The man in the vision – I – I – huh – heard you say something – Moony?”
“Oh,” Sirius said, “You heard that?”
Bruno flinched and Sirius wondered why he seemed so scared and anxious, “Do you know him?” Bruno asked, “Who is he?”
“Moony?” Sirius asked, “Yeah, I know him.”
Bruno flinched as if he’d gotten burnt, “He – he looks handsome.”
Sirius didn’t answer immediately. He went through his own memories to understand what was happening compared to other experiences he’d had, and he was quite sure he hadn’t been in this situation before… a flash of James ranting to him, Remus and Peter in their dormitory came to his mind’s eye and his eyebrows shot up.
“Wait,” his eyes widened in realisation, Bruno looked sideways up at him, “Are you – are you jealous?”
“Jealous?” Bruno’s head snapped up, “No! No! I –” he paused, “W-well – I guess I am – S-sí, I think I am,” Sirius blinked, “Sorry!”
Sirius burst out laughing, but he immediately stifled his laughter when Bruno looked put out and settled on a soft grin, “Why are you apologising?” he asked, pecking Bruno’s lips so naturally that it brought a surprised smile on the other man’s face, “I don’t mind it if you’re jealous.”
“You – you don’t?”
“In fact, I am quite flattered,” Sirius declared easily, “No one has ever been jealous of me.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“No, it’s true!” Sirius smiled, “I haven’t had as many relationships as you think. The man in the vision, that’s my friend Remus. We called him Moony in school,” Bruno’s concern immediately melted away and Sirius felt a little guilty as if he’d been lying to him, “In all fairness… Remus and I, we sort of saw each other before I met you. There were no feelings involved, I just – Remus has a – huh – condition that makes it difficult to connect with people. He got it when he was a child around Antonio’s age, and it has no cure. People shun him because of it.”
Bruno frowned, “Because of a condition he has no control over? That’s stupid.”
Sirius shrugged, “You know better than anyone else that people can be stupid and narrow-minded,” Bruno’s shoulders sagged. He looked away and nodded, he did know, “That goes for wizards too, you know. A lot. Anyway, I never cared much for relationships and dating and all that, though I was quite popular in school, so Remus and I came to an agreement, and he came to me for shagging occasionally, no feelings involved at all.”
“Oh.”
Sirius grinned at Bruno’s embarrassed expression, his cheeks flushed and his eyes avoiding Sirius. It was amazing to Sirius how Bruno could be so innocent and pure and so wise and knowledgeable about life at the same time, “We stopped when I met you.”
That last statement did give Bruno confidence enough to look up and return Sirius’s smile.
“Alright,” Bruno said softly. He reached out and pressed his lips against Sirius’s, making him grin in surprise, then he let out an awkward laugh, “Is it weird that I am older than you and I feel like a teenager at a first crush?”
“To be fair, I don’t have much experience relationship-wise either. I went on a couple of dates when I was in school, but James was always the more relationship-oriented out of the four of us.”
Bruno tilted his head in confusion, “The four of you? I met your friend James, and you told me about your friend Remus… you didn’t mention anyone else – oh,” he paused when Sirius’s face darkened. In that moment, Bruno did see why people might have thought Sirius was a murderer. He wouldn’t want to meet this version of Sirius in a dark alley at all, “Is – is this someone who died?”
Sirius gave a horrid, mirthless laugh that made Bruno jump, “I wish,” he said with steel in his voice that Bruno had never heard. Sirius noticed his unease and the tension in his shoulders eased, “I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean –”
Bruno shook his head hastily, “No. Está bien, corazon, I can see that it is a difficult subject. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“I know, and you have a right to ask.”
“We agreed earlier,” Bruno told Sirius firmly, “We do have time. If something is difficult to talk about for you I can wait to hear about it when you feel comfortable telling me. Besides, there’s other things going on, sí?”
Sirius didn’t answer for a long moment, then he finally took a deep breath and nodded.
Bruno didn’t know what came over him, but he reached out and patted Sirius on the head, “There’s a good boy.”
Sirius let out a shocked bark-like laugh, “Oi!” he protested but then he returned Bruno’s grin, “That’s just mean and uncalled for.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Cheeky, huh?” Sirius shook his head good-naturedly, “Oh, you’ll get along with Remus so well,” he sighed and opened the door of his room, giving Bruno a long bow, “After you, love.”
They got out of Sirius’s room but didn’t manage a step because they were surprised by an overwhelming amount of tropical plants bursting all over the place out of nowhere. Jacarandas, Palma de Cera, strangling figs, hanging vines, tabebuia, sundews…
“Isabela!”
Sirius blinked and shared an awestruck look with Bruno at the display of power from the eldest Madrigal grandchild.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing but Isabela was jumping and running on the roof of the house – as demonstrated by the fact that she swept past them on a vine followed by her sister Mirabel without noticing them at all – and creating all sorts of plants.
“I saw this,” Bruno said, as they watched the two sisters jump around and finally hug, exactly like in Bruno’s vision earlier, “Isabela’s power! I saw this years ago…”
“Are you surprised?” Sirius asked, “Why are you surprised? You’re a Seer.”
“What is going on!?”
O-oh. The moment Sirius saw the Madam join the girls in the courtyard, Bruno had vanished from his side and was now hiding behind a potted plant. He blinked at not finding the Seer by his side and hiding now.
“Wha-what are you doing?” Sirius asked him in a hiss, “Why are you hiding?”
“I don’t think this is the right moment for my mother to see me.”
Sirius could see no fault in that logic. The Madam and the rest of the family were going to be shocked enough when Bruno returned to them after ten years, it was probably for the best that they didn’t cause more of a scene than the one that was obviously going to go on right at that moment.
They saw Isabela and Mirabel shoot up from where they were sitting on the ground in a beautiful heap of colourful flowers. The flowers, courtesy of Isabela, immediately wilted away and vanished much like her good mood.
“Abuela!” Mirabel exclaimed, “It’s okay! Everything – we’re going to save the Miracle! The Magic –"
“What are you talking about? Look at our home! Look at your sister!”
Sirius felt the ice of suspicion drop in his stomach, which contrasted well with Mirabel’s optimistic smile. He felt Bruno search for his hand and squeezed his fingers right away.
“No, please, Isabela wasn’t happy –"
“Of course she isn’t happy, you ruined her proposal!”
Sirius watched as Isabela immediately rushed away from her grandmother’s wrath, a hopelessly ashamed look on her face. Why was she ashamed – oh, Merlin’s beard. Bruno’s words from earlier came to mind.
“No, see, she needed me to ruin her proposal! And then we did all this! and the candle burned brighter! And the cracks stopped! That’s why I’m in the vision! I’m saving the Miracle!”
“You have to stop, Mirabel!”
The girl stopped her rambling immediately, as if she’d been slapped.
“The cracks started with you!”
The burning rage had suddenly replaced the ice of suspicion from before. Sirius could see where this was going, and he didn’t like it.
“Bruno left because of you!”
The woman was seriously accusing a fifteen-year-old girl of causing her uncle to up and leave? With the rumbling and creaking of the house, another person would have missed the sharp intake of breath on Sirius’s left. Sirius barely noticed Dolores tilt her head up towards them as he turned to Bruno.
“Love –”
“That’s – that’s not true –”
Purely on instinct, Sirius pulled Bruno in his arms. Bruno needed comfort and Sirius needed to concentrate on something before he lost his cool. Which was not cool at all right now but going steady from irritation to burning hot rage.
“Luisa’s losing her powers – Isabela is out of control – because of you!”
“She – she can’t say that –”
“I don’t know why you weren’t given a gift, but it’s not an excuse for you to hurt this family!”
Sirius was glad he was busy holding Bruno, and the man was gripping his shirt tightly as he pressed his forehead further in Sirius’s chest. Stroking Bruno’s hair kept him from jumping in the courtyard and giving a piece of his mind to the Madam.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A Muggle woman who knew nothing about magic was deciding what was happening to dwindling familial magic and taking it out on her granddaughter.
Sirius had learnt enough from Azkaban and his stunts in Gryffindor Tower and in the Shrieking Shack to know that giving in to his temper was not the ideal way to settle this. He wanted nothing more than to give in to his rage, but this was a Madrigal family business, and he had to keep his wits about him if only out of respect for the welcome and the care the Madrigals had given him and, of course, for his feelings for Bruno. He’d rather not antagonise his family even if he wasn’t loving them at this moment, especially the Madam.
Still with his arms full of Bruno and his hand stroking the dark curls, Sirius dared to glance down to see that Julieta and Agustín were looking up at him. They looked lost as if they didn’t know whether to run to comfort Bruno and be done with it or run to their daughter, who was still facing her Abuela.
Sirius met Julieta’s eyes and they stared at each other for a moment, when something seemed to snap in the woman’s lost face and a determination worthy of Sirius’s rage overwhelmed her. She tightened her hands in fists and turned to go defend her daughter but she had barely moved when Mirabel spoke again.
“I will never be good enough for you,” she said in a broken voice, “Will I? No matter how hard I try. No matter how hard any of us tries.”
Sirius was so stunned by the growing strength in Mirabel’s voice that he let go of Bruno and Bruno didn’t mind because he immediately turned to look over the railing and down in the courtyard, forgetting that only a few people knew about him at this moment. He didn’t lessen his grip on Sirius’s hand, though, and Sirius joined him in leaning on the railing.
“Luisa will never be strong enough!” Mirabel continued, “Isabela won’t be perfect enough!” in her rant, Mirabel glanced briefly towards Sirius and Bruno on the upper floor, “Bruno left our family because you only saw the worst in him!”
“Bruno didn’t care about this family!”
Sirius noticed Bruno’s knuckles had gone very white at his mother’s words.
“He loves this family!” Mirabel shouted against her grandmother, “I love this family! We all love this family! You’re the one who doesn’t care! You’re the one breaking our home!”
“DON’T YOU EVER -!”
“The Miracle is dying because of you!”
The stillness that followed felt even worse with the shouting match that had just taken place but it didn’t last long.
Bruno’s vision was coming to pass and suddenly the cracks started snaking their way all over the house and even in the streets of the town, causing a chaos that only an earthquake could compare to.
Maybe because he had been in a war, but Sirius didn’t feel as frantic as the Madrigals. He glanced around him to assess the situation and looked at Bruno, who was too shocked to do anything.
“Love,” Sirius called, and Bruno looked at him because he didn’t know what else to do, “Do you trust me?”
Bruno stared for a moment, then nodded.
Crack!
“No! No! No!” they heard Pepa shout from just far enough from Casita to be safe.
“Pepa!” Bruno cried confused by finding himself outside when a moment earlier he’d been inside. He glanced at Sirius and in an instant, he knew what had just happened, “Please!”
Sirius kissed his forehead, “I’ve got this,” he said firmly and turned on his heels.
Crack!
The cracks snaked their way all the way up the wall and to the windowsill where the candle was, “The candle!” shouted Félix as the candle fell down the windowsill.
Sirius appeared behind Dolores, and she turned to him right away, truly scared.
“The house is coming down! Out!” Sirius shouted and she made to speak.
Crack!
Dolores was out of the house.
Crack!
Mirabel ran towards the candle, “Casita, get me up there!”
A part of the railing snapped out of place and fell down creating a makeshift ladder for Mirabel.
Isabela and Camilo ran to the candle too, Isabela calling for her vines and Camilo shifting into a small child and then a tall man to avoid the debris.
Their powers failed. They shouted as they were falling but their fall slowed down and they fell delicately, completely safe and unharmed. They stared at each other but then Sirius took their wrists, “Come on!” he shouted.
“Señor –"
Crack!
They were outside the house next to Dolores.
Crack!
Antonio stared in horror as his door also lost its glow and all his animals ran away. The door came down and almost hit him if it wasn’t for his father, who grabbed him just in time.
“Careful, Antonio! We have to get out of here!”
Sirius grabbed them.
Crack!
Félix, Antonio still in his arms, looked around in shock at finding himself outside.
Crack!
“Mirabel!” shouted Julieta at her youngest, who was still climbing up the wall, almost at the windowsill, “Mirabel!”
The floor was fighting her desire to run to her daughter by rippling waves towards the exit.
“Mirabel!” shouted Agustín, “We have to get out!”
Sirius grabbed Luisa.
Crack!
Luisa had joined her family outside.
Crack!
Sirius grabbed the Madam and Agustín.
Crack!
He reached for Pepa and Julieta, who looked at him pleadingly but did take his hand, wailing.
Crack!
Sirius glanced at them all, making a quick headcount for all of them.
“Mirabel!” Julieta wailed, “Sirius, please, Mirabel!”
Crack!
The deafening silence was a complete contrast with the roaring rumble of the house falling down and the screams of the Madrigals, the loudest of which was Julieta.
“Mirabel!” the woman screamed, “Mirabel!”
Her anguish couldn’t be placated by her husband’s arms wrapping around her and pulling her to him, especially since he was just as anguished.
They had to wait for a bit for the dust to settle and the sound of debris rolling around to decrease but finally it happened.
A pulsing buzzing sound came to their ears as their vision cleared and they took in the complete destruction of their family home.
The whole family ran to what had been the courtyard and gasped.
Mirabel was on her knees, holding something in her hands. Sirius was hugging her, his left arm protecting her head from the debris, though it wasn’t necessary. His right arm was straight up in the air, holding a stick from the tip of which came a light that pulsed like a fluid. The light was alimenting what seemed like a dome much like Bruno’s during his vision earlier.
“Mirabel!” shouted Julieta as she ran to them.
He heard them approach and slowly opened his eyes, then turned to Mirabel, “You alright, treasure?”
Mirabel seemed in some kind of trance. Understandable considering the circumstances. She didn’t move, staring at what was left of the candle in her hands.
“Mirabel!” shouted Julieta, her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, then cupping her face, “Mirabel, are you hurt?”
The girl slowly shook her head.
Sirius gave a whipping movement of his arm and gritted his teeth, but the dome of light vanished with a buzzing sound.
Mirabel rose to her feet, still dazed. Julieta grabbed her in a tight hug, "Oh, Mirabel!"
“Is everyone alright?” Sirius asked, standing up, “Is anyone hurt?”
“I feel kind of queasy,” said Dolores, “And Camilo looks rather pale too. Luisa vomited.”
“That’s normal,” Sirius said, “Side-along Apparition usually makes you sick the first time.”
“What was that?” Félix asked, regaining his wits about him, “How did you do that?”
"It's a long story," Sirius said, "Before we get into that - does anyone here mind if I speak English for a moment?"
Félix blinked, "Er - no, why?"
"Because I do not know enough swear words in Spanish."
Sirius lowered his arm in a quick movement, there was a nasty snapping sound, and he let out the longest list of swear words he'd ever shouted in his entire life.