Englishman in the Encanto

After many calculations, Sirius and Remus explained that to help them they would have to bring outside help, as there was only so much he and Remus could do to ward such a big space.

Apparently, it was important to sync both the preparation of the wards and the rebuilding of Casita, as Sirius and Remus deemed the place where the house stood an important place to use.

“The more different blood we use the more defence you’ll have,” Remus explained, “You only have one magical family here, or rather, one family that used to wield magic, then Sirius and me. It’s not enough. So, we have to make the wards based on you and Sirius.”

It took a while to explain everything in terms the Madrigals could understand.

“Vale,” said Abuela when finally, they all agreed that they understood enough, “Then – then, please, bring whomever you need.”

“Yes!” Mirabel cheered and everyone nodded, “I really want to meet others like you!”

Sirius, though, was looking at Bruno, “I need your permission to allow Remus to go and ask people to come. It’s like when Remus got here.”

Bruno blinked.

“His permission?” Remus asked.

“Yes,” Sirius nodded, giving Remus a pointed look.

Remus frowned, cocking his head to the side.

“Oh!” Dolores piped up, “Is this like it was when Casita fell? When you said you needed Tío Bruno’s permission to call Remus here?”

“Well, well, princess, you’re very quick on the uptake.”

“Can I please understand?” asked Abuela softly.

“It’s for magic stuff,” said Dolores, “When Sirius was wounded after Casita fell, he said he needed Tío Bruno’s permission to call Remus here, remember? He couldn’t otherwise.”

“I could,” Sirius corrected, “But I’d rather live.”

Bruno’s entire being turned to Sirius staring at him with wide green eyes, “Que!?”

“Oh, Unbreakable Vow?” Remus said, sipping on his tea.

Sirius nodded.

“Unbreakable what?” asked Félix.

“It’s a vow with a very specific wording,” Remus said, “If you break it, you die.”

They gaped at him, “What does this have to do with my son?” asked Abuela.

“Well, he was the one James and I met, when we were here last, and the girls, of course,” Sirius added with a nod to Isabela, Luisa and Dolores, “So we worded the vow to make it so we could never intervene or bring someone not in the know here without Bruno’s specific permission. In other words, your son has been the last line of protection for this place for the last fifteen years.”

Abuela reached out to touch Bruno’s arm, “Mijo –”

Bruno looked gobsmacked as the others all turned to look at him as if seeing him in a bright new light.

The calculations for how many people and what kind of people they had to bring into this took a couple of days and finally Remus left with a list of instructions of the kind of people they needed. He said that he would talk to their old headmaster, apparently a wise, powerful old wizard, who would certainly be able to help decide who could be trustworthy enough.

Kreacher brought him back to England and came back the following morning with news from Remus. Sirius’s friend was coming back “the Muggle way” with a few friends that Remus claimed were rather easy to recruit. He mentioned some names in his letter.

“We – weezlee?” Mirabel tried to read, when Sirius showed them Remus’s letter.

“Weasley,” Sirius corrected her, then looked over the letter again.

“Didn’t Remus mention this name before?” asked Isabela, “Some twins Camilo shouldn’t meet?”

Sirius didn’t answer, still looking at the letter.

“Sirius, what is it?” asked Bruno, seeing him frown deeply.

Sirius snapped out of it and glanced up at Bruno, smiling briefly, before frowning again, “Nothing in particular,” he said with a sigh, “The Weasleys are a good choice, they’re an old pureblood family. Very capable wizards and very friendly to Muggles. Their youngest son Ronald is my Harry’s best friend, and a fine boy –”

“Pero?”

Sirius closed his eyes, “The matriarch, Molly Weasley,” he said, “She doesn’t like me much.”

“Is it because of prison?”

Sirius shook his head, “No, Remus will explain that to them before they arrive if Ron hasn’t done so already,” he sighed, “Molly Weasley — she’s my cousin by marriage but we’ve met only briefly during the war. She didn’t take well the time I visited her house. I – huh – was one of the few survivors in the battle that took her twin brothers Gideon and Fabian. And James and I had the unfortunate job of telling her that.”

Julieta and Pepa, who usually hovered around Bruno these days, reached out frantically for their brother, who, staring wide-eyed in terror at Sirius, squeezed the hands they were using to squeeze his shoulders until his knuckles were white.

“Arthur Weasley is my cousin twice removed, but he’s a bit older than me and he didn’t participate in the war, so I’m not very familiar with him, we’ve just met at a few events, wedding, funerals, that sort of thing. He’s a good man, though, as far as I know, I’m not surprised Remus thought of him. And I know enough about Molly Weasley to say that she’s a kind woman, Harry told me she welcomed him in her home last year and she’s always been kind to him, but you’ll probably have to charm her yourselves.”

*

The townspeople had warmed up to Sirius pretty quickly after getting to know him and having the Madrigals vouch for him. Some were sceptical at first, especially when it became clear to everyone how much Sirius was fond of Bruno and looked up to him but since the Madrigals were just as ferocious in their defence of Bruno as Sirius, they couldn’t really fault him for that.

The man had ended up here by accident and had agreed to use his abilities to help them and he’d saved the whole Madrigal family from the falling Casita. No one could argue on his intentions, especially if the Madrigals and Doña Alma trusted him.

Moreover, knowing he was working with his friend to create a protective barrier for them (they all decided to explain it in a simpler way to the townspeople), some of the townspeople like Señora Guzman, Mariano, Padre Cristian and even Osvaldo made it their mission to ensure that Sirius and the Madrigals never lacked anything.

Mariano brought homemade cocadas sent by his mother and Osvaldo in particular was a frequent visitor of the rectory when the Madrigals and the townspeople weren’t working on sorting through the rubble that used to be Casita, and he was always asking if there was something he could bring by.

He probably got an earful from his fiery mother because he even apologised to Bruno and brought him a bottle of aguardiente. He did ask if Sirius would like some, but Bruno thought it best not to add fuel to the fire. In those days Sirius was mostly locked up in the ’research room’ with his father’s portrait and his shouting matches where the soundtrack of the Madrigals’ days now that Remus wasn’t available to help him in his calculations and they were busy with their work.

The children had finally managed to introduce themselves to Orion Black’s portrait and were disappointed to find that Sirius had been exactly right: Orion was a handsome man who’d died of heart failure at around the triplet’s age. Sirius resembled him quite a lot, but even with his rebellious personality, he was much kinder, funnier and much more lovable than the cold, spiteful man full of hate that was his father.

Señoras Pezmuerto and Villanueva kept to themselves with sullen looks on their faces, but the Madrigals wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and counted their blessings that they kept silent a least.

Soon, the Madrigals stood in the town’s square at night, when the group from England was supposed to arrive. They’d chosen a large space where the newcomers could land because Remus confirmed they would come by broomstick and the rest of the town had thrown a huge festival to welcome their first official visitors from abroad in fifty years, with colourful decorations and food stands and even a stage, though the Madrigals weren’t sure who was going to perform. Sure, Camilo was always up for an improv challenge, but no one had asked him, so maybe Señorita Santana, who had a lovely voice and often asked Mirabel to duet together with voice and accordion?
When she’d heard what they’d been working on, Abuela was shocked not to have been involved in the planning of the festival and had to fight against her instinct to take charge of everything. Mariano and the Guzmans were behind the whole project, and it turned out they were even quite good at it. They insisted that this was a time for the Madrigals to focus on their family and leave everything else to them and the rest of the people from town.
That night, despite his natural confidence, Sirius found himself overwhelmed by the large number of people bombarding him with questions about his brand of magic and about the British people coming to stay.

Overwhelmed himself after his years in isolation, Bruno had been by his side, smiling fondly as Sirius showed off a few spells for the children, but even then they both retreated to a more secluded part of the town square after the crowd stopped consisting of children and started being formed by adults who just wanted a show.

They walked away from the crowd and Pepa had to intervene and send the people scattering about, when they wouldn’t leave them be.

She joined them a short while later, while Bruno was coaching Sirius through some breathing exercises to calm his temper that he very much needed himself.

“You two alright?” she asked, “Do you need some water?”

Sirius was very much enjoying Bruno’s arms around him and was a bit upset at Pepa interrupting this rare moment he could share with the man, especially when Bruno flinched and let go of him.

Bruno did turn to stand in front of him protectively, leaning against Sirius’s taller frame, and didn’t let go of Sirius’s hand as he let out a nervous chuckle at his sister’s interruption.

“Ay, Pepa!” he exclaimed loudly, “We didn’t see you there! We’re fine! We’re just fine, thank you! We were just – huh –”

“About to make out?”

Sirius wasn’t sure if Bruno was blushing out of shock or embarrassment but he himself gaped at Pepa’s blunt words.

“Make – P-Pepa! Que!? You –” Bruno swallowed deeply as he took in his sister’s amused smirk, “H-how long –?”

“The first day we were at the rectory. After we spoke, I went out with Félix, Julieta and Agustín and we saw you. It’s not like you were hiding.”

Bruno hesitated, looking up in search of Sirius’s silvery eyes and then straight in his sister’s emerald ones.

Much like with Julieta, they understood one another quickly if they looked but he’d been gone so long that he was afraid of what he might see there. Pepa looked guilty and sad, and her eyes were shiny when she reached out and pulled him into a tight hug that said it all.

“Pepi –”

Bruno was still in shock when she pulled away and gave him a once over with a smile, “I have to ask. Did you always know that you were into men? You never said.”

Bruno looked sideways, tightening his grip on Sirius’s hand, “It’s not exactly like that – you were never interested in what I had to say on the matter,” he said softly, not daring to look up to see the shocked hurt on her face, “And I didn’t bring it up either, because I was never interested in anyone, not like you and Julieta. Men, women – Sirius is the only one for me. I never wanted anyone else.”

Sirius challenged Pepa with his eyes, “Not that it matters, but are you alright with it?”

Pepa sighed and put her hands on her hips. They’d started this dance from the very first day everyone had spoken freely. They’d bicker but it was never mean even if it sounded like it sometimes.

“I admit that I had to think about it, but I am alright with it as long as you treat my brother right.”

“Ha!” Sirius snorted, pulling Bruno so strongly in his arms that Bruno’s face was squished in Sirius’s shoulder, “I know how to treat him right.”

“Ay, Sirius! Be nice!” Bruno laughed as he playfully punched his arm, protesting his hostility to his sister.

Sirius caught his elbow and pulled him closer to kiss him and leave him breathless.

“Eww!” Pepa moaned, “I am alright with it, but I don’t need to see that!”

“Well, tough!” Bruno snapped at his sister, despite her playful smile, taking even Sirius by surprise, “You and Julieta never had any regard for me when I asked you to stop. So, I’ll tell you what you told me then. ‘I have every right to kiss my boyfriend if I want to!’”

“I was joking,” Pepa said.

Bruno faltered when he saw her looking hurt, “Pepa, I don’t know what came over me. I’m so –”

“Don’t,” she said, holding up her hands, “Don’t apologise, you’re right. It was a joke but a bad one. I just wanted to say that I’m alright with you two and I’ve said that.”

“Pepa –”

He found himself engulfed in his sister’s arms again.

“Bruno, I made a bad joke, you got upset. I held a grudge against you over a joke for years, let’s not start that again.”

No matter that touching and hugging Sirius came so natural to Bruno, affection from his family still baffled him, but he relaxed at Pepa’s words and hugged her back, “It’s different,” he said, “I won’t hold a grudge against you for years for this.”

“I deserved that, but I’m happy that we can joke about it for real, now,” she squeezed him for a moment, before holding him at arm's length to give him a bright smile, “Now, go back to making out. God knows you need the practice.”

Sirius grinned when she pushed him back in his arms, “He’s actually a very fast learner,” he said, pulling Bruno’s face so he could stare at him, then he leaned to make their foreheads meet, “Best snogger ever.”

“Ay, cariño –” Bruno grinned back and kissed him deeply.

“I’ll leave you to it,” said Pepa unnecessarily, since Sirius was holding her brother so tight that Bruno seemed to disappear into the taller man.

They had already forgotten about her.

She smiled, as she thought of that phase, that giddy honeymoon phase where she couldn’t get her hands off of Félix. They’d had it so bad that little had changed for her and her husband in over twenty years of marriage and three children together.

If Bruno and Sirius had pined for each other for fifteen years and only now reunited and gotten rid of the obstacles between them, they were bound to have it pretty bad.

When she looked up to pay attention to her surroundings, Camilo and Mirabel were looking past her, right in the direction where she’d left her brother kissing Sirius.

Pepa froze, at a loss for words.

As much as she was alright with her brother’s chosen partner, she didn’t know how to explain that to the children. It never occurred to her that she would have to be the one to explain something like this.

She wasn’t really sure how to handle the situation, and was relieved when the rest of the family, bar Abuela and Antonio, joined them.

Bruno and Sirius emerged from their corner, hair dishevelled, and clothes crumpled. They both sported bright smiles and had she and Félix been in their position her husband would have sported a lot of lipstick traces on his face. They blinked at the gathered Madrigals.

Mirabel hid her mouth with her hand and Camilo cleared his throat, “Dude,” no one got if he was addressing Bruno or Sirius, “If you guys are trying to hide, can I advise you not to put your tongue down his throat in the middle of the village square?”

“Oh.”

“Que?!”

“Camilo!” Félix reprimanded, slapping his son upside the head, “That was so rude and disrespectful!”

Sirius let out a loud bark-like laugh.

Bruno was so in shock at having this thrown in his face with the whole family present that he just stood there, with his index finger held up and opening and closing his mouth like a fish, cheeks reddened. He looked about to have an aneurysm.

“And how do you know?” Pepa frowned suspiciously at her son, her hands on her hips.

“Hey, I notice things! And they’re not very good at hiding!” Camilo said, crossing his arms defensively, “They’re so disgustingly sweet to each other they’re gonna give me cavities! And they hold hands when they sleep! How can I not know?”

Bruno’s cheeks reddened even more but Sirius held back a laugh, looking away in mirth. His eyes landed on Mirabel, Isabela and Luisa, who didn’t look particularly shocked, “You know too?”

Isabela grinned cheekily, “Dolores blabbed,” she said, “It was too juicy a secret to keep, I can’t really blame her.”

“Hm!” Dolores said, her eyes wide, as usual.

“Yeah, we all know, Dolores had to explain when Toñito told us the rats told him you were ‘mates’,” Mirabel said matter-of-factly, making quotation marks with her hands, “And like Camilo said, you weren’t that good at hiding it.”
Bruno and Sirius exchanged a look.

“Well…” Bruno started, then coughed in his hand.

“That would imply that we were trying to hide,” Sirius said, shrugging before throwing his arm around Bruno’s shoulders and pulling him closer, squeezing him comfortingly, “We’re not ashamed. Are we, love?”

Bruno flinched, “W-well, maybe we were trying to hide just a little but not because we’re ashamed, no,” he said, passing a hand on his face, though he seemed to be gaining confidence on the matter, “We – I just wanted it to be only us for a while. I-I mean, we did meet fifteen years ago but it is very new for us, you know, actually being together.”

Mirabel nodded sagely, “I don’t know much about romance, but I think I get that,” she nodded again solemnly, her arms crossed, then she perked up and regaled them with one of her brightest smiles, “Still, since all of us know, you might do well in telling Abuela! It doesn’t seem fair she’s the only one she doesn’t know that we have another Tío! Right, guys?”

“Right!” said Luisa immediately.

“Of course!” Isabela beamed.

“Hm!” added Dolores.

“Ooohhh!” Mirabel cried, “Camilo, is that Señora Alvarez with the cocadas?”

“What! Those are the best cocadas in the Encanto!” Camilo cried after her, “Let’s go, guys, I want one!”

“Or twelve!” Dolores grinned after her brother, “Hm!”

“Hey, I’m a growing boy!”

They barrelled away.

Sirius and Bruno blinked, Pepa and Julieta grinned mischievously and Félix and Agustín laughed heartily.

Mirabel appeared out of nowhere a moment later, squeezing Sirius tightly, “Now we have to meet Harry!” she piped excitedly, leaning over to kiss Bruno’s cheek, “We have to meet our primo!”

Bruno held up his finger and Sirius opened his mouth to answer but she was already sprinting away again.

“Huh,” Bruno commented.

Sirius watched the cloud of dust left by the herd of Madrigal children, “What just happened?”

“Ay, don’t you get it?”

They both turned to see Julieta giggling behind her hand and Pepa beaming. If she still had her gift, there would be a large rainbow over her head. She put her hands on her hips, “You’ve just gotten the official approval of the in-laws,” she told Sirius, her smile widening and a twinge threatening, borderline insane, “Hermanito.”

Bruno exploded in laughter. Julieta caught Sirius and pulled him enough to kiss his cheek, “Careful,” she said, “You’re a Madrigal now.”

“And you have such pretty hair, hermanito!” somehow, Pepa dislodged Julieta to mimic her hug and kiss of their new brother, apparently, and still sported that crazed smile, while she stroked his hair, “Oh, I’m gonna have a lot of fun with you!”

“You think that scares me?” Sirius retorted, completely unfazed, “I had three older cousins. I’ve already seen hell and I am strong in my masculinity.”

“Aren’t you guys going a bit fast?” Bruno said nervously, “I mean, I’m happy you’re all alright with Sirius, but like Mirabel said, Mamá doesn’t know yet. She might not –”

Julieta turned to him to find him nervously picking at his arm, “Ay, Bruno, why? Are you going to give up on Sirius to please Mamá?”

“Que!?” Bruno immediately stopped picking at his arm and looked up at his sister, “No!” he said with a confidence he rarely showed.

“Then there’s no problem, is there, corazon?” she said, “Pepa and I will speak on your behalf if needed, just like you two did for me and Agustín. You were my champions then; we’ll be your champions now.”

Pepa grinned when she saw her brother look a little more confident, “And I don’t know how it works in case of two men, or even how your magic works,” she said, “But I will find a way to make it rain at your wedding.”

“W-wedding!?”

Pepa and Julieta laughed out loud at the terrified expressions on Sirius and Bruno’s faces and their husbands joined them. A moment later, Bruno and Sirius were laughing too.

“Ha!” Félix grinned, putting his hands on his hips, “I still don’t think it hit you completely, though, Sirius.”

“Mh?”

“You’ve just gotten yourself six nieces and nephews.”

Sirius grinned back, “Is that so?” he asked, “Well, then, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Bruno beamed at him just as mischievously as Félix, “Que?” he asked, “I mean, why bother with having children when nieces and nephews are so much better?”

“I know, right? Free range on spoiling them and someone else does the parenting,” Sirius gave him a toothy smile, “That’s how I always saw it too!”

“Aww!”

Pepa fake-gagged when Bruno actually cooed at Sirius, “You guys are sickening.”

“Really, Pepi, you’re one to talk,” Julieta deadpanned.

Pepa threw her hands in the air.

“To be fair, Juli, you and Agustín are pretty sickening too.”

Agustín took his chance to put his arm over his wife’s shoulders and pulling her closer to kiss her forehead, “Gracias for that, cuñado,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at Julieta, “I strive for the most sickening of them all award!”
“You wish you could win that, bro!” Félix said with a booming laugh, “But you’re not married to Pepi, so you’re out of the race!”

“What, so it’s only you two in this race?” asked Bruno.

“Well, you can try to join it, bro, but it’s a long way to the top and you don’t have a passionate, sensual red-head!”

“You talk about my sister that way again in front of me and I’ll actually be sick.”

They all shared a laugh.

“So?” Agustín asked Sirius, elbowing him, “Ready to be an uncle?”

Sirius paused, then smiled, “Ready?” Sirius said, still smiling when they all stopped laughing, “There’s two others from this side.”

Bruno raised his eyebrows in mirth, “Oh, so we went from not seeing each other for fifteen years to eight niblings? Alright,” he smiled at Sirius, “One’s Harry, I assume, but the other?”

“Well, she –”

“WHOA!”

They all turned to see the crowd part for what appeared to be a silver-blue ghostly wolf dancing prettily around them all and gliding around the Madrigals until it stopped in front of Sirius and sat on its hind paws like a dog waiting for a command.

Antonio, who ran to them followed by Abuela and the other Madrigal children, stared at it with fascinated, wide eyes. It seemed that even if it was a magical ghost animal, it was an animal and Antonio loved it.

None of the Madrigals could really blame him, though, because it was pretty cool.

The wolf spoke in Remus’s voice, “Entered the Coffee Region. Should be there soon, following Hedwig, send red sparks when she arrives.”

Sirius grinned at the wolf, “Oh, they made great time! Thank you!”

The wolf gave an echoey howl, pranced around the children and Antonio in particular, making him laugh, then vanished in a puff of silvery smoke.

Antonio looked crestfallen and his mother picked him up immediately, “Oh, papito, don’t cry,” she cooed.

“It died!” the boy cried, “It was pretty!”

“Oh,” Sirius said as they all gathered around Pepa holding Antonio, “Antonio, it’s alright, it was just a spell.”

His words calmed Antonio a bit and he wiped his tears, looking up at Sirius with wide eyes, “It’s magic?” he asked, “You can make it come back?”

“Sorry, poppet, not me,” Sirius said, “But Remus can. It was his Patronus. You can ask him when he arrives. He won’t mind.”

“What kind of spell is that?” Mirabel asked.

Now that they were more used to his kind of magic, most of the Madrigals would be very vocal about their curiosity.

Sirius was happy about this development as it always gave him a chance to bond with whomever was asking the question. It left him out of his depth sometimes, though, because, as a pureblood he didn’t know enough of the Muggle world to explain in terms they would understand.

Remus was much better than him at translating their magic in terms the Madrigals could understand. He knew that friendship with Muggle-raised wizards or Muggleborns didn’t give him enough material and from what he understood from Remus, the Encanto was even a bit behind with times, though not even as much as the wizarding world apparently. That wasn’t surprising as they’d been locked away from the world for fifty years.
“It’s actually a very difficult piece of magic. It’s called the Patronus Charm,” Sirius explained, “It’s used to ward off creatures called Dementors.”

They waited for him to continue but for a moment Sirius looked lost, and completely terrified. They’d seen quite a lot of emotion from him, but this was raw fear, complete terror and they all shared looks wondering what kind of creatures these were and why Sirius was so terrified. He wasn’t a man easily scared, that had been clear to them all from the first time they’d met him.

Bruno took his sleeve and shook it lightly to snap him out of it, “Sirius?”

“Hm?”

As usual, it worked and Sirius looked back at them, blinking at seeing them all staring at him, “Right,” he cleared his throat, “Sorry. What was I saying?”

“You were talking about the – er – Pa – is it Patronus Charm?” Abuela said gently.

Antonio scurried from Pepa’s arms to Bruno’s arms. Like many times since her brother’s return, she looked shocked at first and even a little jealous, but she always beamed when she saw how her youngest child was bonding with Bruno.

It had been heartwarming for them all to see how easily Antonio had warmed up to his eccentric uncle and the two had bonded quickly, in a way that Antonio would often ask him to tell him stories or read to him and they ended up snuggling on the couch. Sometimes, Sirius turned into his dog form only to let Antonio play with him.

“It was a pretty wolf!” Antonio told Sirius, “Can you make one too?”

“Oh, well, no, sorry, I could actually never –”

Sirius suddenly paused, glanced at family Madrigal gathered together around him, then at Bruno, looking pensive, then raised his wand.

He tried twice, only making silver smoke come out of his wand, till finally, at the third try, “Expecto Patronum!” he called and gave two large waves of his hand.

There was a burst of pretty silvery-blue light and a ghostly big, bear-like dog much like his Animagus form shot out from his wand and galloped around them, happily barking twice in the same echoey way as the wolf.
“Ooohhh!”

“Cool!”

Mirabel, Isabela, Luisa and Dolores cooed when the dog rolled happily on the ground while Camilo cried with enthusiasm.

The Patronus wagged its tail at Bruno, challenged Antonio to play, making him giggle, and then galloped away.

They all just stood there, watching in silence as the dog Patronus happily pranced away, barking in a loud echoey voice.

“That was truly beautiful, Sirius,” said Abuela, breaking the silence.

“It was!” Mirabel beamed, “That was so pretty! Right, Toñito?”

“Yeah!” Antonio beamed back at her, tightening his grip on Bruno’s neck.

Sirius was staring in the distance towards the place where the Patronus had disappeared.

“Huh.”

“Sirius?”

He snapped out of it when Julieta put her hand on his arm. He blinked at finding them all looking at him.

Antonio jumped down from Bruno’s arms at the call of some of the other children.

“Dude, it was so cool!” said Camilo, grinning, while Antonio ran away to play, “What exactly is a Dementor, though?”

“Hm?” Sirius’s eyes were still fixed on where the ghostly dog had disappeared.

“I know!” said Luisa, “Antonio and I were looking at pictures in one of Señor Remus’s books the other day, and there was this picture of a cloaked — something. He told us all about it. It was quite horrible, really, he said they’re creatures that suck people’s happiness from them and they never take their hoods off —”

“Luisa,” Bruno called, his voice uncharacteristically grave, “Stop talking.”

Luisa looked up, closing her mouth suddenly when she saw that Sirius was still looking away, but he looked terrified again. He was as pale as death, and his expression of raw fear was something none of them was used to, not even Abuela.

“Sorry,” she said softly.

“It’s alright, Luisita.”

“No one knows what’s under the hood. Those who do, they can’t tell. It’s called the Dementor’s Kiss, when they suck out people’s souls.”

Camilo recoiled in horror at Sirius’s words, “Suck out –!? They kill –”

“Kill?” Sirius snorted, but it was an odd, mirthless laugh, a mix of fear and hopelessness, “Oh, no, if they suck out your soul, your body is still alive. It still works but it’s an empty shell.”

Julieta’s hands were on her mouth and Pepa looked as nauseated by the idea as the rest of the family.

“How awful,” said Abuela softly, “What a horrid thought!”

Félix swallowed deeply, “These – these creatures, these Dementors – can they come here?”

“Oh, no,” said Sirius, still in a funk, “It’s the reason I flew south. They don’t do well in hot climates. They usually don’t leave the North Sea anyway. They have plenty in terms of food.”

“What do you mean? What kind of –?”

“They are the guards of Azkaban.”

Julieta’s eyes snapped up to look at her brother. His eyes wide with terror, Bruno’s hand shot to grasp Sirius’s, squeezing his fingers tightly. It was the first time he did so in front of their mother.

Julieta didn’t know if anyone else had heard that word. She and Bruno knew, and she couldn’t blame her brother’s freezing fear as he grasped Sirius’s hand, she understood the significance of Sirius’s words, but probably no one else could.

“What’s Azkaban?” asked Isabela.

“Sirius, how long do you think it’s going to take Remus to get here with the others?”

Everyone blinked at Julieta’s out-of-character outburst, and she couldn’t help the nervous laughter that made her look so much like Bruno.

There was a moment of silence and then Bruno shook Sirius’s arm, snapping him out of his funk. The Englishman shook his head and brightened at seeing Bruno looking at him. He gave him a smile, then glanced at Julieta when Bruno nodded towards her.

“Sorry –” he said, “What were you saying?”

“How long is it going to take Remus and the others to get here?”

“Oh, not long now.”

And he was right. Soon enough, a flap of wings interrupted them and Hedwig the snowy owl landed gently when Sirius held out his arm for her, “That’s the pretty bird!” Antonio cried, reaching out from Bruno’s arms to touch the owl, “Hedwig!”

“Hello, beautiful,” Sirius told the owl, and the bird preened when he stroked his feathers with his fingers, going on to bite them softly, “It means they’re really close.”

He threw his arm up in the air and sent red fireworks from his wand, sending all the children in giggles and delighted cries.

They all stood there for a while, following Sirius’s gaze up in the sky, until Sirius frowned, then smiled.

“There they are!”

He sent sparks up in the sky again.

Through the multi-coloured light, the Madrigals focused their eyes until they spotted what looked like a small swarm of bees coming closer and closer to them.

“SIRIUS!!”

Four of the ‘bees’ were approaching them fast but one of them sped up its pace.

“What the –?” Sirius blinked, not really registering the voice calling for him for a moment. Then his face brightened in the broadest of smiles, “No way!”

“Sirius, what’s happening?”

Sirius turned to Bruno, positively radiant, “Hey, love, you know when we were speaking of meeting the in-laws?” he asked, nodding towards the sky.

Approaching them at high speed, black cloak billowing around him, goggles and a bright, toothy smile, a skinny boy balanced himself perched on the broomstick he was riding, as if ready to pounce. The Madrigals and the townspeople all let out a shout and threw themselves out of the way. The boy pounced and he and his broomstick skidded to a halt and straight into Sirius, as the two fell hard into the ground and lay there.

“Sirius!” Bruno cried, worrying as he jumped past the rolling broomstick to help him.

But Sirius was laughing, a happy, liberating laugh that they’d rarely heard from him, as he held onto the boy tightly. He ruffled his hair, gripping him hard.

“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe you’re here!”

Bruno stopped in his tracks.

The boy let go of Sirius and sat on his heels, grinning, while Sirius sat up.

“A chance to leave the Dursleys early and visit another country? It sounded brilliant!”

“They didn’t give you a hard time, did they?”

“They caved very easily when I told them I would write to you that they didn’t approve. They’re terrified that you could come to the house and turn them all into bats if I ask you to.”

“You just say the word and I’ll do it!”

“Here we are, Padfoot,” Remus sighed as he landed and dismounted his broomstick, evidently happy to be on the ground, “The others are just behind us. We had to use the stealth formation since we don't know the territory.”

“You made good time, then, Moony,” Sirius grinned, giving him a pat on the shoulder, “And you brought me my boy!” he reached out to grab the boy in another one-armed hug that made the boy grin, “What a wonderful surprise!”

“Actually, I’m not the only surprise!” the boy told him.

Sirius turned to him, “What do you mean?”

“Well, we needed a skilled Potioneer, didn’t we?” Remus said, “We found an excellent solution!”

Sirius frowned, “An excellent solution for a Potioneer?” he said slowly, “I hope you’re not talking about him.”

Bruno blinked in confusion at the venom in Sirius’s voice.

The boy shook his head, “Dumbledore did suggest him,” he said.

“I hope you told him where to shove that proposition!”

“I advised against it,” Remus said calmly, “Fred and George Weasley would be too happy to share their supplies of Dungbombs with you and we want this to work, not to stink up the place in manure.”

Bruno glanced behind him, to see that Mirabel had led the rest of the family to join him. They were all just as dumbfounded as him.

“Hn,” Sirius crossed his arms disdainfully, “Dungbombs would have been the least of your problems if you’d brought him.”

Unfazed by Sirius’s ferocious expression, Remus nodded, “Yes, but even you can’t deny his skills,” he said and went on before Sirius could speak again, “And yes, he’s one of the reasons I don’t have a job at Hogwarts anymore. That’s why I told Dumbledore I wasn’t inclined to work with him right now, even if he was willing, which he wouldn’t have been. That, and I don’t take kindly to people trying to feed my friends and me to Dementors.”

Sirius’s face softened in an amused snort at that.

Here was that word again, Bruno thought, Dementors. He still had chills from what Sirius had told them about the creatures. And Sirius had to live with them for years? Someone had tried to send Sirius and Remus to those things?
He cocked his head to the side, as the boy finally noticed him.

“Oh! You must be Sirius’s friends! Hello!”

An unruly mass of jet-black hair, a thin, pale face, bright green eyes to rival Pepa’s and Bruno’s and round glasses, he dusted himself off and offered them all a smile and a wave.

Sirius grinned broadly again and reached out to put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “This is Bruno Madrigal and the Madrigal family. Bruno, this is —”

“Harry!”

Forgetting his anxiety and shyness for a moment, Bruno reached out and gave the boy a big hug.

Behind him, Mirabel put her hands on her mouth in awe and looked so much like her mother in that moment, as the others stared in various states of excitement.

“You have to be Harry!” Bruno grinned, “You look so much like James, you just have to be Harry!” the boy’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, “Thank you for coming!” Bruno snapped out of it and let go of him as if he’d gotten burnt, “Sorry! Sorry! Too forward? Was that inappropriate? Sorry, if I made it awkward,” he apologised, grasping his right arm with his left, then cleared his throat with a nervous chuckle as he offered Harry his hand, “I – I-I was excited to finally meet you, Sirius told me so much about you –”

Harry was in a daze as Bruno rambled but then regaled him with a broad smile as he took his hand, “You’ve met my dad!?”

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, “One day, I’ll tell you the story of how your dad and I botched a Portkey and ended up here when we were supposed to be in Spain.”

Harry turned to look at him, “You botched a — isn’t that extremely dangerous? Remus and Mr Weasley decided to take the plane because they weren’t sure what would happen with an international Portkey.”

“Yeah, it could’ve gone badly, very badly,” Sirius sent a loving smile to Bruno, “We were lucky.”

Bruno couldn’t help but smile back even if he didn’t understand their conversation. Harry beamed when Sirius pulled him close into a one-armed hug, then told Bruno, “I know who you are, Remus told me everything, but I didn’t realise that you’d met my dad.”

Sirius and Bruno shared a look, immediately getting what Harry was implying.

“And – and you’re alright with it?” Sirius asked Harry, “Your mom once told me in the Muggle World, people like us are frowned upon. And I understand if it’s a little out of the blue for you, we did just meet last time.”

“I have to admit, I had to wrap my mind around it for a bit,” Harry said honestly, “But I did have a ten-hour flight to think about it and I know what the Dursleys say about it, so I know not to trust their judgement on that. Logic dictates that if the Dursleys say black, it’s usually white. And then we saw your Patronus and Remus said you could never do one before. I know what it takes to do that, so if that’s how you feel now – I don’t mind as long as you’re happy!”

Sirius was extremely relieved to hear that and hugged Harry again, though Bruno didn’t understand what the Patronus had to do with anything. Sirius had said he could never do it before but how did he feature in that? Was Harry saying that Bruno had given Sirius confidence? Now, that was ironic, when Bruno didn’t have confidence in himself at all.

“This stupid broom is so bloody slow!”

They all turned their attention to the new arrivals.

It was another boy around Harry’s age, tall and lanky, his pale long face sprayed with freckles under a shock of wind-blown bright red hair much brighter than even Pepa’s. With him was a slightly younger girl, a pretty girl who shared the shocking red hair, the pale skin and the freckles.

The boy dismounted from an evidently old broomstick and dusted himself off, glaring disapprovingly at his offending ride, “This thing definitely has to go!” he looked up at the group standing in front of him, “Hello, Sirius!” he grinned at the older man.

“Hello, Ron!” Sirius smiled at him, hugging him too, “I’m glad to see you’re doing fine, I was worried about you. Everyone, this is Harry’s friend Ron.”

Ron waved at them all, “Name’s Ronald Weasley, but call me Ron,” he turned back to Sirius, “My leg’s as good as new, by the way. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a jiffy. Thank you for the owl, you really didn’t have to.”

“Oh, you liked him?”

“He’s a menace and annoys my brother Percy,” Ron said brightly, “So he fits right at home! And we had Crookshanks approve of him, so he’s been vetted!”

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, then smiled at the younger girl, who was looking at him with an expression both awestruck and shy, “Nice to meet you, young lady, you must be Ron’s sister, I’m Sirius Black, Harry’s godfather. Please, don’t be scared, I promise I am not a murderer.”

She blushed profusely but smiled back as she shook his hand, “Nice to meet you too, Mr Black,” she said, “I’m Ginny Weasley, Ginevra. Ron and Harry told us all about you, so I’m not scared.”

Remus sent up fireworks again in a specific pattern.

Soon after another five people joined them, all of them red-haired.

Two identical twins and two other young men, who all smiled and waved politely, introducing themselves as Fred, George, Charlie and Bill Weasley.

There was an older man around Agustín’s age. If it weren’t for his clothes, the pale skin, the freckles, the balding red hair and the blue eyes behind the horn-rimmed square glasses, he could have been his brother. He jumped down from his broomstick rather excitedly and smiled broadly at the townspeople and the Madrigals, “Muggles!” he declared, then shook Sirius’s hand happily, “Arthur Weasley at your service! Sorry for believing all that tripe about you! Ron and Harry explained everything! Thank you, thank you! If you hadn’t broken out of prison, my son and Harry would still have such a man in their dormitory! Of course, when Dumbledore and Remus explained you needed help here, it was a no brainer!” while Arthur Weasley drowned him in words, Sirius tried twice to interject but failed, “Thank you for this opportunity! I’ve always wanted to use one of those Muggle airflans! We’re here and ready to help! Oh, and I’ve seen that motorbike of yours, nice work! Had a Ford Anglia myself but it’s gone now! We should really discuss the spell work –”

“Dad?” Bill interrupted the waterfall of words tentatively, “You do remember you’re still the Director of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, right?”

“And it’s aeroplanes,” Ron added helpfully, though he did look at Harry for confirmation.

His father didn’t hear him or his brother and went on to shake Agustín and Félix’s hands, since they were the closest, and started to bombard them with questions they didn’t have the answers to.

Remus sent out another jet of fireworks and a rumbling sound made them look around, because it was as ominous as Pepa’s greatest storms.

This time another five people arrived.

“Hello, everyone!”

A big-bellied, jolly-looking blond man around Arthur Weasley’s age hopped down from his broomstick and proceeded to knock over the broomstick of the young woman who landed near him. Mid-jump from her broomstick, the young woman tripped on the falling broom and promptly fell herself with a yelp, rolling down till she stopped at Isabela’s feet.

For a moment, she lay there, groaning in pain, then she saw Isabela offering her a hand and took it enthusiastically and stood.

She was a pretty girl, with a heart-shaped face but the short, spiky bright platinum blonde hair didn't really suit her.

“Wotcher!” she beamed at Isabela, “Love the hair! Oh! And the dress!”

As she dusted herself off, everyone gaped at the man who landed last.

He didn’t have a broomstick because it was impossible that he could ride one.

If the Madrigals or any of the townspeople had thought that Luisa was tall, she couldn’t hold a candle to him.

He was twice as tall as Luisa and three times as large, with wild, long tangles of bushy black hair and beard that hid most of his face. He had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.
Like the others, he took off a pair of goggles, revealing a pair of black eyes, and got off his ride, a giant two-wheeled vehicle that he turned the engine off. That was the origin of the rumbling sound.

“Hagrid!” Sirius grinned at him, “Long time no see!”

The big man, Hagrid, apparently, ignored his extended hand and pulled him in a hug so powerful that Bruno stepped forward, worried Sirius’s head would just unscrew from his neck. In all fairness, they all expected to hear Sirius’s bones crack, but Hagrid released him and pulled a yellow handkerchief (it was actually more of a tablecloth than a handkerchief) from his pocket and blew his nose loudly, starting another, much louder, waterfall of words that put Arthur Weasley’s excitement to shame.

Remus and Sirius were regularly using the spell to make them all understand each other, but Bruno wasn’t sure why it didn’t seem to work on Hagrid. He did get that Hagrid was moved to see Sirius again, and was probably apologising for something? Sirius ended up patting his arm, Harry doing the same on Hagrid’s other side.

Still, what with the yellow handkerchief and everything, Bruno and the Madrigals weren’t as terrified of Hagrid as they’d been the first moment they’d laid eyes on him.

He made sure to speak slowly when he introduced himself and slapped Bruno on his back so hard that he almost lost his footing, “Nice ter meet ye!” he exclaimed enthusiastically, “Ye remind me of me dad, yer so tiny!”

However, they were so busy gaping at him that they almost didn’t notice the two women who stepped off the apparatus.

Though both kind-looking in a Julieta-like way, they were each other’s complete opposite. One was short and stout, with red hair as bright as all the six younger red-haired people handling their brooms. Arthur Weasley introduced her as his wife Molly.

“Hello,” she said kindly, “Thank you for inviting us. It was supposed to be only Arthur and I coming, but I hope you won’t mind we brought our children too. Bill and Charlie are out of school already, so they are two additional wands, and even if Fred, George, Ron and Ginny can’t use magic since they’re still students, they are no strangers to hard work. Are you, dears?”

“Sure!” said one of the twins, “A holiday in Colombia is by far the coolest punishment Mum has ever concocted!”

“We’ll atone for our sins working hard here for you!” the other said.

Mrs Weasley frowned at them, “Don’t you start, Fred and George Weasley, you’re already on thin ice!” she reprimanded with her finger pointed menacingly at them.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Bruno saw Camilo fidget in interest and met Pepa’s eyes. They both knew why Remus had dreaded this meeting. His fears were confirmed when the twins saw Camilo. The three of them froze for a moment and stared at each other, as if sizing themselves up… then shared a wide, toothy grin.

Bruno felt a shiver roll down his spine.

The woman who’d hopped off Hagrid’s giant apparatus with Mrs Weasley was quite beautiful, tall with stunningly pale skin, light brown hair and dark eyes.

Sirius gaped when he saw her and glanced back at the woman with the heart-shaped face that was talking animatedly to Isabela of all people, and realisation dawned on him.

“Oh, shit.”

The older woman’s lips pressed into a thin line.

She walked up to him. She was tall but not taller than Sirius and yet he yelped loudly when she hit him hard with her purse.

“Ow! What was that for!?”

“‘What was that for’, he says!” she shrieked and hit him again, “You utter prat, Sirius Black – It’s been over thirteen years and ‘oh, shit’ is all that you can say to me!? It’s all I can do not to give you a smack!”

“Ow! And what do you call what you’re doing with your purse, you violent woman!? Stop hitting me!”

She obliged but hooked her index fingers in the corners of his mouth and pulled, “Don’t answer back, you nitwit! Do you understand how I felt when I read that you got arrested on the papers!? And now Albus Dumbledore comes to my house himself to tell me that you got yourself framed by Peter Pettigrew!? Peter Pettigrew!? Honestly, Sirius! Why the bloody hell didn’t you come to me, you daft prick?!”

“Andy.”

Sirius had stopped trying to defend himself and now stood taller than her, his hands on her shoulders, his grave face an odd sight with his mouth still pulled thin by her fingers in its corners.

“Sorry.”

The woman let go of his mouth and let her arms drop down to the sides of her body, choosing to just stare up at him, her face as grave as Sirius’s.

Finally, she pinched the bridge of her nose, put her hands on her hips and sighed deeply, then she reached out and pinched his cheek playfully, “Bugger, thirty-four, twelve years in Azkaban and you're still cute. Stop making me worry, will you?”

Sirius grinned cheekily, “I can try but you’ve always been a worrywart.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him, “Do you want me to hit you again?”

“I thought I was cute.”

“Hush, a menace is what you are. Now, this beau of yours I’ve heard so much about.”

Sirius looked sideways at Remus, who innocently raised his eyebrows at him.

The people who had just arrived unloaded their luggage, which appeared out of nowhere.

“Right here!”

Standing next to Remus, Bruno felt a hand slap between his shoulder blades strong enough to propel him forward, and he didn’t know how he felt at suddenly being in front of the woman who’d just hit Sirius.

He flinched when she turned her eyes on him.

He shouldn’t have worried.

Despite her haughty look, which was so similar to Sirius for some reason that Bruno glanced at him, she gave him a once over and smiled kindly at him, while speaking to Sirius, “Oh, he’s handsome! Hello, love, I’m Andromeda.”

“I’m – I’m Bruno Madrigal. Nice to meet you.”

Andromeda stood there while Bruno fumbled, not really sure what to make of the situation, though he finally managed to hold his hand out for her to shake. She waved his hand away, smiling kindly, “Come on, there’s no need for formality! We’re family! Come here!”

She proceeded to give him a warm but rather brisk hug that kind of reminded him of some of Sirius’s hugs.

Bruno blinked when she let go, beaming with a pretty smile at his confusion.

“Oh, he’s adorable!” Andromeda told Sirius.

There was something going on there if Sirius’s amused smile was anything to go by. Suddenly Bruno wanted his gift, and he wanted to have a vision to understand what was going on between his boyfriend and this woman. They obviously knew each other so he didn’t know what he could see in the future, but still –

“Buenas tardes y bienvenidos, all of you.”

Abuela flanked her son, and Bruno didn’t know if she wanted to support him or protect him or make sure he didn’t make a bad impression on the new arrivals. She’d changed too quickly for his taste as a man who worried about the unknown.

Andromeda blinked in surprise at her, “This is Madam Madrigal,” Sirius told her.

“Ay, yes, Doña Alma Madrigal,” Bruno added nervously, clearing his throat, “My mother.”

“Oh!”

Andromeda seemed to have caught on what was happening there even quicker than Bruno or Abuela. Sirius was still amused.

“Andromeda Tonks,” Andromeda introduced herself to the older woman, offering her hand for Abuela to shake, “Nice to meet you. I have to thank you for looking after Sirius. I hope he wasn’t too much trouble; he can be a handful.”

“You would think you’re talking about an unruly child.”

“Shut up, that’s exactly what you are.”

Abuela shook her hand with great dignity as she tried to match Andromeda’s natural grace, “We owe him a great deal. We had bad experiences with outsiders, but he proved to us that not all people outside our Encanto are bad.”

Andromeda beamed at her, grasping her hands in hers, “He is a good man, but he sometimes forgets to keep his head on straight long enough to show it. I apologise for his temper, though, I’m sure he gave you a hard time.”

Abuela responded with a dignified silence and Sirius’s cheeks burned when Bruno looked away, coughing.

“Not at all,” the old woman blatantly lied, clearing her throat, “Please, come meet the rest of the family. My daughters, Pepa and Julieta.”

Julieta and Pepa stepped forward, offering their hands.

Andromeda greeted them just as politely as she’d greeted Abuela and proceeded to do so with the rest of the Madrigal family, “Please,” she said once she’d smiled at each of the children and had shaken the hands of the adults of the family, “Meet my husband Ted,” she gestured to the big-bellied jolly looking man who raised his hand in greeting, “And my daughter. Nymphadora, come introduce yourself, darling.”

The young woman with the heart-shaped face showed something of her in her face, in her nose and mouth. She’d been led closer to the group by Isabela, and now narrowed her eyes at her mother, before smiling at the others, “You can all call me Tonks.”

“Your name is Nymphadora,” Andromeda corrected, her kind face suddenly rigid.

“Only because I didn’t have a say in the matter.”

“Your name is Nymphadora?” asked Abuela politely, offering her hand, “That’s – unusual?”

“It sounds si – er – unique!” Bruno caught himself just in time, when Pepa elbowed him.

“That’s right, thank you, it’s unique,” said Andromeda defensively, having apparently missed Bruno’s slip.

“No, it’s stupid,” said Nymphadora.

“Girls, please, we’ve only just arrived,” sighed Ted, then addressed the others, “Dora, you can call her Dora.”

“Or just Tonks,” Nymphadora, Tonks, insisted, before apparently suddenly forgetting her irritation and grinning widely at Sirius, “So, Uncle Sirius, long time no see!”

The Madrigals blinked as Sirius grinned back, revealing a rather obvious resemblance, “I’ll say! Last time I saw you, you had a bob haircut!”

“You mean, like this?”

Surrounded by twelve pair of wide Madrigal’s eyes, she shook her head and suddenly her short spiky platinum blond hair turned bright pink in a bob haircut, like Sirius described.

Sirius laughed and was ready to welcome her when she hugged him. Andromeda was smiling too but raised her eyebrows when she saw the Madrigals’ surprise and elbowed Sirius the moment he was free of her daughter.
“You git!” she reprimanded, “You didn’t say a word about me, did you!?”

“Ow!”

Ignoring him, Andromeda turned her attention back to the Madrigals, “Just to give you some context this one forgot – I’m his cousin.”

Oooohhh! That made more sense, Bruno thought.

*

With the introductions out of the way, Abuela welcomed them all, thanking them for coming to their aid.

They couldn’t hold off the party any longer and the British wizards got swallowed by the Colombian crowd of the Encanto as the new arrivals all mingled with their hosts.

In a few minutes, the Madrigal children took charge of showing around the younger wizards, with Isabela, Luisa and Dolores hitting it off with Tonks and the two older Weasley boys, the handsome Bill and Charlie, one with a horn for an earring and the other several burns on his arms, who immediately charmed the Colombian girls with exotic tales of their jobs in Egypt and Romania.

Mariano was seen hanging around them the whole night, frequently approaching them with offers of food or drinks too.

It was like someone had broken a dam once Luisa asked Charlie what he did for a living, and they could all see his resemblance to his father in his excitement and passion over his work as a dragon tamer. Luisa hung off each and every word he spoke, which wasn’t surprising considering her passion for myths and legends. Knowing dragons and other magical creatures that she’d read about in books were actually real was a huge deal for Luisa.

On her part, Isabela found Tonks very nice and loved her style. Tonks followed her around the various stands, trying to keep up on what food this or that was, and they made for an odd pair as they walked together, what with Isabela’s natural grace and Tonks flopping around as if she lacked complete control of her limbs.

Julieta, Pepa, Félix and Agustín chatted amiably with Arthur and Molly Weasley and Ted and Andromeda Tonks, while Bruno hung out with Sirius, Remus and Hagrid.

Julieta and Pepa immediately showed the Weasleys and the Tonkses where they would stay so they could leave their luggage and Mrs Weasley started getting quite a few items from her bag, including a whole chicken already roasted and a few boxes of her homemade fudge.

Even if he understood his boyfriend’s anxiety at the prospect of meeting new people (he had reason to be even if one dismissed the fact that he’d been shunned and rejected by his own community his whole life), Sirius had spent the last few days trying to convince Bruno that the people coming to stay would like him just fine. He hadn’t been that much successful, especially after Pepa and Julieta, with the best intentions, tried to introduce him to some of their friends, only to end up with an awkward night that wasn’t actually Bruno’s fault but the people he’d been introduced to: apologies might have been easy to say for some of the townspeople, but old habits died hard and Julieta and Pepa’s friends were frigidly polite, looking embarrassed, guilty, and even a bit scared.

Bruno’s anxiety at the prospect of meeting new people and especially Sirius’s friends (despite many assurances from both Sirius and Remus that everyone would like him) was slowly but steadily quelled as he learned that even if he looked ferocious, Hagrid was actually very kind (though he did tend to bring up Bruno’s short stature quite a lot, even without meaning any harm).

Later in the evening, he somehow found himself refereeing a drinking match between Sirius, Remus and Hagrid versus Félix, Agustín and Osvaldo, which was won by the British wizards because of Hagrid’s incredible endurance to alcohol.

While Remus turned up to be a sleepy drunk and Hagrid hoisted Félix and Agustín on his shoulders for some reason, Sirius ended up in Bruno’s lap, listing all the qualities he loved in him, flattering him immensely but also leaving him feeling relieved that Sirius was so evidently drunk, because Abuela and some other town’s councilmen were just there, and he truly was a terrible liar.

With Antonio secured on his brother’s shoulders, Mirabel and Camilo found themselves in charge of Harry and the four youngest Weasleys.

It suited them just fine as Mirabel had been curious to meet Harry from the start and Ron and Ginny were very nice too.

At one point, once Antonio ended up on Ron’s shoulders when the taller boy offered to take him, Camilo soon disappeared with Fred and George. No one knew where they went but Mirabel had her suspicions once a few random fireworks brightened the square’s night sky. She was even more suspicious when Ginny identified them as Dr Filibuster’s Fireworks.

Later, Antonio left them too, in favour of the three little children Mirabel had introduced him to in the last few days: Alejandra, Cecilia and Juancho were a bit disappointed by the loss of the Miracle and the gifts, but they were still very welcoming to Antonio, and they became fast friends.

Mirabel and Harry hit it off easily, but he and Ron were obviously a set, and she was very curious about Ginny too, so she took her time to ask her a lot of questions too. She asked the three of them about their journey from England, and how they had travelled. Mirabel knew in advance that Ron and Ginny were like Sirius, coming from a full-wizard family and didn’t know much about the non-magical world, so it didn’t surprise her that Harry ended up explaining that they’d taken the airplane from London to Bogotá and then flown by broom.

Mirabel didn’t know what an airplane was: Harry explained it to her easily since he was used to explain Muggle things. Apparently, he and their friend Hermione explained things about the Muggle world to Ron every day.

“So how was the trip on the airplane?” she asked, once she had an idea of what he was talking about and they’d taken a serving of lechona each from Señor Pacheco’s stand.

Ron’s eyes turned haunted, much like Abuela’s when she recounted stories from her childhood, “I have seen things.”

Harry nodded in agreement with a sigh, “Hagrid kept knitting for his new tea set, Mr Weasley kept asking how the plane worked to the stewardess while she was serving dinner, and Mrs Weasley kept shouting at Fred and George to behave, even if they were just watching a movie.”

“To be fair,” Ron said, “I get how she was uncomfortable on that Muggle contraption. Ten hours locked on that thing, I tell you… Muggles think of the oddest things, really! No offence.”

Mirabel blinked, “None taken.”

“At one point, Fred and George managed to put a bit of Sleeping Drought in their drinks, so they were out like a light –” said Ginny, “But then Mrs Tonks and Tonks started fighting over her name again. And Mr Tonks put on a movie,” she looked very proud of herself, having apparently recently learned what a movie was from Harry, “But he didn’t put on his earmuffs and everyone in the plane could hear him watching a Thomas the Tank Engine show.”
“It’s headphones, Ginny,” Harry corrected politely, “And Thomas the Tank Engine is a children’s show, so yeah, that was embarrassing too.”

“We counted on Professor Lupin to be the dignified one,” said Ron, “But it turns out that he’s a real gossip machine and kept telling Mrs Tonks and Hagrid all about Sirius and your uncle Bruno.”

Mirabel gasped, “Atento!” she cried and looked left and right to check no one had heard, “They’re not hiding, and almost everyone in the family knows, but Tío Bruno still has to tell Abuela, and the town doesn’t know about him and Sirius either.”

“Oh, I see!” Ginny nodded fervently.

“What?” asked Ron, “Is it a secret? Harry said it’s frowned upon in the Muggle world, is it like this here too?”

“Well, not exactly –” Mirabel wasn’t sure how to explain it.

“Muggles are so odd sometimes,” Ron shrugged, “It’s not like that in the wizarding world, you know? There are many like that. Charlie’s like that, for one, and our uncle Bilius was too.”

“Really?” Mirabel and Harry asked together.

“Sure,” Ginny confirmed, “So, we have to be careful not to say anything in front of your grandmother?”

Mirabel nodded, “You’ll keep the secret, right?”

“Of course, we will!” Ron said, “We’re great at keeping secrets, right, Harry?”

They shared a conspiratory grin that implied a lot of adventures Mirabel wanted all the details of.

*

Luckily they’d taken the following day to rest, knowing that the arrival of the British wizards would end up in a late night for everyone.

Moreover, if one thought that all of the Madrigals’ problems were related to stress and anxiety over being overworked, it was ironic that the fall of Casita was followed by instantly starting to work on its restoration.

With the help of a few more spell and charms, courtesy of Sirius, Remus, Mr and Mrs Weasley and Mr and Mrs Tonks, the rectory was changed in order to host them all.

Each of the married couples finally had a room to themselves, Abuela too, then the girls’ room was expanded to host Ginny and Tonks with Mirabel, Isabela, Dolores and Luisa, whereas the boys’ room was going to host Camilo and Antonio with Fred, George, Ron and Harry.

Beds were put in the research room for Bruno, Sirius, Remus, Bill, Charlie and Hagrid.

The British wizards had asked Bruno if he minded if they took a bit of initiative. He hadn’t minded and they’d modified the room taking inspiration from their old school days. Since they were all stuck into a common room for the next few weeks, Bruno appreciated their idea of a four-poster bed for each of them because this way they could have a little privacy even in a shared room. Moreover, Bruno thanked God for magic, because Hagrid would have taken half a room by himself hadn’t the others expanded it to be as large as his old room in Casita.

Sharing the room with the others was not a problem for Sirius and Bruno that night (or what was left of it): Sirius had been drunk enough that Bruno had to walk him back to the rectory, but he managed to get only to Padre Cristian’s living room, so he settled on the couch with a book and Sirius’s head in his lap.

Sirius hadn’t taken long to recuperate after a short nap. Once Julieta and Pepa had dragged Agustín and Félix to bed too, the triplets worked together and concocted a remedy with a recipe provided by Abuela of all people and fed it to their respective significant other.

Sirius and Bruno stayed in the living room for the night. They were both insomniacs and stayed awake long after everyone had fallen asleep and woke up earlier than anyone else, nodding on and off in each other’s arms till dawn.

Hagrid was in fact one of the first up, only bested by Mirabel and Harry, who, it turned out, were both early birds and apparently both used to start the day for their families, which left them a little out of their depth when it came to planning breakfast for twenty-seven people.

The rest of the group was woken by Hagrid’s loud howl when he found Buckbeak the Hippogriff in the church’s yard.

Since he knew Sirius had run away with the animal, having been the one to free the animal so his godfather could escape, Harry had asked Mirabel to show Hagrid were the Buckbeak was. Hagrid was his trainer and was delighted to be reunited with his beloved Hippogriff. It was a sweet gesture on Harry’s part, but his young age made him forget that most of the adults had indulged with the alcohol a little too much.

Most of them calmed down once they’d been informed of what was going on, but Bruno’s anxiety only quelled after a long few minutes of Sirius trying to comfort him.

Bruno’s breathing had only just started slowing down in the comfort of Sirius’s arms, when someone appeared on the doorframe. It was Abuela.

“Buenos dias, boys, I’ve been looking for you,” she greeted with an amused smile to Sirius and then a worried glance at Bruno’s hand holding his heart.

“It’s – it’s alright, Mamá,” Bruno said when he saw her looking, “I was just startled.”

That eased Abuela’s worries. She smiled softly, with much more ease than Bruno had ever seen. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders since the fall of Casita. Bruno thought it had.

“I don’t like seeing you so jumpy, mijo.”

“When wasn’t I jumpy? Cause I don’t remember.”

Abuela didn’t know how to respond to that, so she turned to Sirius, “You don’t look so good either,” she said, “Are you alright?”

“I’ll live.”

“We’re settling in the yard for meals, it’s the easiest option,” she said, “I wanted you to know that, when you come down for breakfast.”

“Ah,” Bruno answered lamely, “Alright. Gracias, Mamá, we’re coming down.”

“Vale, mijo,” she said, “Mind not to skip any meals, you need to eat, both of you.”

Sirius nodded in agreement and Abuela gave them a long, long, pensive look before leaving and giving them space.

“I should probably talk to her soon.”

Bruno relaxed, free of the tension he always felt around his mother (especially now that he was biding his time to come clean to her about himself and Sirius).

He threw himself in Sirius’s arms and sighed, willing his racing heartbeat into slowing down, while they took their time, keeping an ear for when the chaos for the bathroom’s turns would subside. From what they heard, Bill hadn’t taken finding his wand replaced with a fake one (courtesy of Fred and George), so he was seeking retribution on his younger brothers by taking an especially long time in the bathroom, now that everyone was done but them.

They were lucky to be allowed to use the rectory, with its catechism classrooms and spaces for weddings and funerals, it was the largest space in the Encanto, closely followed by the Madrigals’ Casita, which was no more.

It had been complicated in Casita, with twelve Madrigals and one bathroom. Now they had Sirius and Remus, and Harry, Hagrid, the three Tonkses and the eight Weasleys. And Kreacher. Even with the changes done to the bathroom for the time being to make it more spacious and easier to use for twenty-seven people, Padre Cristian had all but fled to his sister’s house.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” said Sirius, kissing Bruno’s cheek, “I’m not even sure she doesn’t know already.”

Bruno tensed again, “No one told her, right? They all promised to wait for us to tell her!”

“Yeah, but she’s a smart woman.”

Bruno got Sirius’s point. His shoulders slumped and he sighed, “Sí, she certainly is.”

Sirius’s lips curled up in a smile, “And I can’t help that I love you.”

The words mollified Bruno, who pecked his boyfriend’s lips, “Fine, let’s go for breakfast.”

He stepped toward the door, but Sirius didn’t budge, pulling on his hand until Bruno was pulled back in his arms so the younger man could kiss him again, “Alright, now we can go for breakfast.”

Bruno chuckled at that, “Your cousin is right, you are a menace, Sirius Black.”

“Love, don’t you forget it.”

*

The Madrigals were a large family, and they’d always thought themselves pretty chaotic, even with Abuela strictly insisting on always behaving, lest the community see anything less than absolute perfection.

Problem was, Isabela had been the only one able to comply, closely followed by Dolores and Julieta.

Well, they hadn’t met the Weasley family yet.

If Abuela hoped to have a calm and dignified breakfast like the one after Antonio’s party, which had been mildly disrupted only by Mirabel trying hard to talk to Luisa, well, Abuela had her work cut out for her.

With the sweetest intentions possible, once she and her husband had entered the kitchen, Mrs Weasley had forcefully pushed Julieta and Pepa into chairs and taken over, putting her six children in line to set the table.

“Oh, please, no, Señora, you’re our guests –” Julieta tried.

“Absolutely not, dear! And call me Molly!” the English witch declared firmly, “You’ve all been through something traumatic, that’s why we’re here, to help! Merlin’s my witness if we’re not doing our best to lighten your load!”

“Harry and I already set the cutlery and glasses for everyone, Mamá,” Mirabel said entering the room, “Do we have enough plates for everyone? Should we look for chairs for everyone?”

Mrs Weasley swooned at that, “Oh, how sweet you are, dear, what a wonderfully helpful young lady!” she cooed, not knowing what that word meant to Mirabel, “A house full of beautiful, polite young women, how wonderful!”

While a flustered Mirabel stammered her thanks for the unexpected compliment, Julieta sighed, “Well, it must be great to have a house full of strong boys too,” she said.

“Oh, of course,” Mrs Weasley said, “All my boys are amazing, each of them. In fact, I’m a bit upset my thirdborn, Percy, isn’t here. He’s our latest graduate from Hogwarts and he’s just started a good job at the Ministry of Magic, so he couldn’t take time off.”

“It’s all well and good, Mum,” called one of the twins from the spot near the sink where he and his brother were washing some pots, “They’ve already lost their home, they don’t need to be bored to death by Percy’s report on the thickness of cauldrons.”

“Fred Weasley!” Mrs Weasley snapped at him.

“He’s not Fred, I am!” his twin wailed dramatically, “Honestly, how can you not tell?”

“Sorry, dear,” the woman sighed, deflating immediately.

“Ha! You fell for it! I’m George!”

“Arthur!”

“Behave, boys, we’re guests here,” Mr Weasley was sitting on a chair in the corner.

George pursed his lips, “Fine, don’t get your knickers in a twist…”

“You’ll scrub those pots and you’ll be quick about it if you know what’s good for you, Fred and George Weasley!”

Mrs Weasley’s temper was as quick as Sirius’s, Pepa and Julieta agreed, exchanging a look, so that was going to be fun.

“Well, they’re not wrong about Percy, Mum,” said Charlie, entering with Bill, who glowered at the twins, still not over their bathroom debacle.

“Don’t be snarky about your brother when he’s not here, Charlie dear,” Mrs Weasley reprimanded gently.

Bill shrugged, but he and Charlie quickly approached Luisa when she tried to pull on a large table, “Oh, let us do that!” Bill said, though his brother reached Luisa first.

“Oh! Oh, I-I can – I can do it, I can’t trouble you –”

“Of course you can!” Charlie smiled at her, he and Bill shared a grin and raised their wands.

The table floated up in the air.

“Where do you need this?” Bill asked her.

“Er – in – in the yard, I think,” Luisa cleared her throat, obviously fascinated by the display, “I mean, Abuela said that we’re having breakfast there.”

She rushed after the two oldest Weasley brothers, and the floating table. It was honestly flabbergasting how she towered over them while she followed after them.

Julieta smiled at her middle child’s fascination with this new magic and how chivalrous Bill and Charlie were with her and Isabela and Dolores.

It wasn’t surprising that Luisa would feel so flattered when she’d always been taken for granted, especially when compared to Isabela.

“Our oldest three are already started in their life, even if Percy is so only recently,” Mrs Weasley said, “I couldn’t be prouder. And there’s still Fred and George and Ron and Ginny in the house with Arthur and me, so Ginny and I are still overwhelmed by the number of boys.”

“As if you and Ginny don’t keep us on our toes, Molly dear,” said Mr Weasley.

“I’ve only ever added to the number of girls in the house, myself,” Julieta took the conversation from where they’d left it, “We have Pepa and Félix to thank for adding Camilo and Antonio to the mix.”

Pepa laughed, “Bruno was certainly delighted to have a sobrino when Camilo was born, wasn’t he?”

“I can believe that,” said Mr Tonks entering the kitchen, “It’s only the wife and me and Dora, but boy, do they keep me in line.”

“Oh, good morning, Ted,” said Pepa, raising her cup of coffee at him in greeting, “Where’s Andromeda?”

The adults had quickly decided to call each other by their given names, since being several families all together would make everything unnecessarily confusing.

Ted smiled and nodded in greeting, “She’s coming,” he answered, “Andromeda is great, but she’s a right snotty princess in the morning and takes a long time to get ready.”

“Excuse me?”

“Good morning, oh queen of my heart!”

Andromeda glowered at him, “Nice save,” she said, but proceeded to kiss his cheek and kissed her daughter’s cheek too once Tonks entered the room instantly tripping over the broom and falling over her feet.

The children had all queued in the yard and were waiting for instructions by the adults with various stages of sleepiness.

Abuela, Félix and Agustín started managing that once Bruno, Remus and Sirius also joined the rest of the adults.

Once she saw her cousin, Andromeda immediately reached out and kissed his cheek like she’d done her husband and daughter, proceeding with a quick squeeze to Bruno too, leaving him startled by the warm welcome. She didn’t think anything of it and turned back to talk to Julieta, Pepa, Abuela and Mrs Weasley.

“I hope she didn’t put you out,” Ted leaned over to speak quietly to Bruno, “It’s a tradition in my family and she’s taken to it quite fervently.”

“Oh, huh,” Bruno stammered, “It – it’s alright, I don’t mind, really. It’s very kind of her to include me.”

“What do you mean?” Ted asked with a smile, “You’re Sirius’s, you’re our family too. And she kisses everyone she considers family.”

“Right,” said Mrs Weasley calling everyone to attention, “I think if we all work together, we can be quick about it.”

“Of course,” interjected Abuela, “You’ll find us Madrigals very used to working together.”

It was a battle of wills.

On one side, Mrs Weasley, the strong-willed matriarch of the Weasley family, who kept her husband and children in line with an iron fist. A woman who’d never left her country before but always opened her arms to welcome those who needed it warmly in her house, with open arms. A woman who’d rarely left her status as the centre of the family, the one keeping everything in order in her chaotic family. Certainly, a woman not to be trifled with.

On the other side, Alma Madrigal, the dignified leader of the community in the Encanto, who’d had the strength of rolling up her sleeves and raise her triplets alone, while setting up an entire town and leading a whole community and managing rather well when her five-year-old children had gained magical powers. A woman who’d never relinquished control of her family and community, something that had brought to the present situation, but old habits die hard.

“I can handle the cooking,” said Mrs Weasley, “You whole town was very kind to welcome us so warmly yesterday, the least I can do is make breakfast.”

“But you came all the way from England to help us,” said Abuela, “I can’t allow our guests to work more than is necessary.”

“Molly, dear,” Arthur started, smelling danger.

“Mamá, maybe we should –” Julieta rose from her chair.

“Kreacher is managing the kitchen just fine!”

They all turned to find the small House Elf glaring at them with his arms crossed.

“A House Elf?” asked Mrs Weasley.

“Kreacher!” Andromeda cried, “Merlin’s beard! I didn’t know you were here!” she glared at her cousin, who shrugged with a lame ‘oops’.

“Miss Andromeda has changed a lot, though Kreacher shouldn’t be surprised. Miss Andromeda has grown up,” Kreacher said nodding his head at her.

Julieta blinked at her, “Oh, of course,” she said, “You and Sirius are cousins, you and Kreacher must have met.”

“Kreacher was there when both Miss Andromeda and Master Sirius were born, Kreacher knows them inside and out,” the House Elf said firmly, “And Kreacher will do his duty as the House Elf of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, taking care of his masters and their guests and friends. Kreacher is a good House Elf.”

Andromeda gaped at him, then turned to gape at Sirius, who shrugged again, “Don’t look at me,” he held up his hands, “Bruno put the moves on him –”

“Hey!”

“– and now he’s nice.”

“Kreacher was always nice, it’s not Kreacher’s fault that Master Sirius never learned his manners.”

“And where would I have learnt them? From dear old Mum?”

“Sirius!” Bruno chided while Kreacher glared at Sirius.

“Sorry, Kreacher.”

That had been a recent dynamic, since the moment Sirius had spoken to Bruno about Kreacher and his own family in one of their night chats.

It had become clear from the start that Kreacher had an unwavering respect and borderline adoration for the family Sirius hated, especially for his mother, about whom no one had heard him say a single nice word, though he was particularly tight-lipped about the subject. So, it stood to reason that that made for a thick barrier when it came to Sirius and Kreacher’s communicating.

Bruno had spent the whole night listening to Sirius’s reasoning for his dislike of his family. He couldn’t believe that such spiteful, heartless, close-minded people existed, he couldn’t even compare them to how the townspeople had treated him, because for all their faults, Bruno didn’t see the worst of the townspeople actually suggesting beheading their servants once they got too old, let alone keeping servants in the way Sirius described.

So much he couldn’t fathom that such cruel and narrow-minded people existed, that he’d actually sought out Remus the following day to ask him about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Sirius whole-heartedly, especially since his boyfriend’s words did explain why he felt so strongly that the Madrigals had been taken advantage of and why he’d taken Mirabel’s mistreatment to heart, but it was too horrible to think about. No matter the mistakes his mother and the townspeople had made, they didn’t reach this level of cruelty.

Bruno asked Remus if this was common in the wizarding world, or if Sirius was maybe biased over the subject. Remus had said that of course he hadn’t lived with the Black family, he only had Sirius’s word on that subject, but he did know the state Sirius was in every time he came back to school after the holidays, and hadn’t Bruno heard about the children’s introduction to Orion Black’s portrait?

Remus told Bruno of the fiery belief some old wizarding families had in keeping the blood pure and looking down on anyone who was of Muggle descent, or something he described as a ‘half-breed’, creatures like vampires, goblins or even werewolves. Bruno got the impression that was something that touched Remus personally, perhaps he had a loved one that was like these creatures?

Bruno was shocked and furious when Remus told him about a type of person in the wizarding world called Squib. Apparently, a family like Sirius’s would have probably thrown a child who turned out to be a Squib (a child without magical powers born in a wizarding family) into the streets the moment they had confirmation that the child didn’t have magic. This made Bruno’s skin crawl in particular, because had his mother been anything remotely close to these people, she and the family could have done the same to Mirabel for not getting a gift.

Remus smiled at how appalled Bruno was about the whole idea. In fact, he looked very relieved and even moved when Bruno said that the whole thing sounded stupid to him, that one couldn’t help who their parents were, that they couldn’t help if they had or got magic, that one couldn’t help if they got attacked and infected. Remus said that even if he had guessed how Bruno would see it, and he hugged him, saying that he was glad he was in Sirius’s life, because Sirius needed someone so purehearted by his side.

Still, in all of this, Bruno could see Kreacher’s perspective too. Kreacher seemed to answer to kindness and for all her faults, Sirius’s mother evidently was kind to Kreacher, though it wasn’t probably because she held any affection for the Black family servant. From Kreacher himself, Bruno had heard a word here and there about Sirius’s father, who was polite but cold to Kreacher, and about Sirius’s younger brother Regulus, who seemed to have been truly kind and loving to the House Elf. He probably was the person Kreacher had loved and respected the most, but he was gone, and the rest of the family was gone, and Kreacher had been all alone for years. Bruno knew what that felt like, even if it had been his choice to leave, and he knew what it felt like to give it your all for someone and be scorned, and he felt for the House Elf.

He told Sirius so, explaining what he saw. He wasn’t sure Sirius was all that receptive to it, at least for the time being, but he did listen, and he was trying to be nicer to Kreacher, for Bruno’s sake if anything, unless the House Elf went on a tangent about how great the House of Black was. And Kreacher was trying too, he really was, and it turned out he liked the Madrigals quite a lot too, flourishing now that he was serving again.

It probably helped that the Madrigal children, and Antonio especially, had bonded quite a bit with Kreacher. Sirius was still in shock from the time Camilo had entered the room and held out a high five for the House Elf with a playful, “Kreacher! Up top!” and Kreacher hadn’t bit his head off.

In any case, the battle between Abuela and Mrs Weasley was soon settled when the children announced they’d gotten some of the leftovers from the party the night before and gotten the table ready.

Once they’d all sat done and started eating, Abuela got worried when Ron found one of Bruno’s rats staring at him pleading for a piece of cheese.

“Bruno!” she cried, frenzied, going back to the terrified leader of the community, as if she’d completely forgotten the past few days, “What! How many times have I told you to keep those vermin away from food?”

“Mamá, they’re not vermin –”

“Away from the table, Bruno!” Abuela cried, completely missing that no one at the table seemed too worried about the rat on the table.

Not only had the rat already scurried back into Bruno’s ruana, but Sirius was glowering at her (this event wasn’t a first since the Madrigals had reunited with Bruno and Sirius tended to always get upset when someone shouted at Bruno, no matter the intentions), Julieta and Pepa looked frustrated (much because their mother had nagged Bruno about his rats for years) and the rest of the Madrigals didn’t mind them as much, especially after having taken the time to talk to Bruno and understand how he felt about his only friends for years (Antonio had been adamant about it).

“I’m so sorry, Ronald,” Abuela pleaded with a much-perplexed Ron, “I hope you’ll forgive my son, he –”

But Ron wasn’t scared at all. He turned to Bruno with a huge smile, “You have rats!?” he cried but in excitement, “Plural!? Can I see them?!”

Abuela blinked, and so did the Madrigals, whereas Sirius was expecting that. Hagrid actually let out a loud belly-laugh.

“You – er – you’re not scared?” asked Bruno.

It was Ron’s turn to blink in surprise, “Scared? Why would I be scared of a rat?” he asked, then grinned at the rat in Bruno’s hand, “Especially this beauty! Oh, it’s a girl! What’s your name, girl?”

“Oh, she’s – she’s Luz.”

“Hi, Luz!" Ron petted the rat, who instantly flattened itself on Bruno's hand, "Aren’t you a pretty one? Wow, she’s so well groomed. Do you groom her, or does she do it herself?”

Bruno was slowly perking up, having never had someone actually ask about his rats: Antonio was the only one, but he was five, and Sirius would listen to him prattle about his rats, and they liked him just fine, but they hadn’t bonded too much yet.

Mirabel caught Harry’s eyes and they both snickered in their coffee. Antonio had mentioned Bruno’s fondness for his rats while he, Mirabel and Camilo showed Harry, Ron and Ginny around, and Ron had shown interest in seeing them. Apparently, he’d tried very hard to pretend he hadn’t been too shaken by the loss of his pet rat but even with the new owl Sirius had gifted him, he’d missed the bond with his rat.

“Are you sure you’re not scared?” Abuela asked Ron once again, before turning to his parents, flabbergasted that they didn’t mind that he handled rats.

“Of course he’s not,” said Mr Weasley smiling, “Rats are actually very common familiars in the wizarding world. An animal companion? They’ve always been a popular pet, since they’re small and intelligent.”

Abuela didn’t seem to know what to do with that, “Que?”

“It’s true,” said Mrs Weasley with a kind smile and a nod, “Ron actually did have a pet rat till a few months ago, didn’t you, dear?”

“Yes,” Ron said, suddenly looking as if he’d swallowed a lemon, an expression he shared with Sirius, Remus and Harry, “Though it turned out to be a bloke posing as a rat.”

At the reminder, the Weasley family turned rather stony too. Sirius’s knuckles turned white, he was gripping his cup of tea so hard. Remus glowered in his coffee.

George Weasley broke the silence, “Who knew both Ron and Percy had a full-grown man sleep in their bed?”

“George!” surprisingly Mr Weasley was the first to chastise his son.

It had been very clear from the start that Mrs Weasley was the disciplinarian of the family.

“Que!?” the Madrigals jumped at George’s words.

“It’s no laughing matter!” Mr Weasley snapped, “Either or both of your brothers could have been harmed! We could have all been harmed by a dangerous criminal! Is that something to laugh about?”

Fred and George both looked stunned by their father’s words and their faces turned contrite with the implication of what could have happened and what George had actually said.

“I – I wasn’t actually joking about it, Dad, I’m sorry,” the boy said softly.

Their brothers and sister too looked sour, and their mother was surprisingly quiet, just latching on her husband’s hand with shiny eyes, and softly calling his name.

Abuela glanced around, sharing the same bewilderment as the rest of her family. Even the Tonks family looked sombre.

“Please, accept our apologies,” said Mrs Weasley, suddenly as level-headed as her husband usually was, though her eyes were wet and her voice shook, “It’s just something that we learnt recently, and it was a shock.”

That, of course, didn’t clarify things, but none of the Madrigals dared to ask any questions.

“The man who framed me,” Sirius’s voice broke the silence, and their attention focused on him. His face was pale and furious, he was barely holding on to avoid a scene, “I’ve told you about him. He’s like me, but he turns into a rat instead. After the rat bastard made sure I would be blamed for what he did, he turned into a rat and fled into the sewers, then found himself a wizarding family –” he voice shook in frustration and anger and he gestured towards Arthur and Molly Weasley.

Bruno immediately got where this was going. Sirius had told him all the details, one evening they’d stayed up with Remus and the subject had come up. Bruno knew how much pain the subject brought Sirius, and it seemed it affected the Weasleys quite a bit too. He reached out to touch Sirius’s arm.

“It’s alright, cariño,” he said softly, “We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”

Remus nodded, “It’s really not a conversation for the breakfast table,” he said politely, though his jaw was firmly set, “We want to start the day on a positive note, don’t we?”

“Of course,” Abuela caught the hint right away, “Please, let’s carry on. Sorry, mijo,” she added patting her son’s arm quickly.

“I will say one last thing on the matter, if you don’t mind,” Mr Weasley said, before turning to Sirius, “I can’t thank you enough for showing the boys who he really was. Who knows how long he could have put my family in danger?”

Sirius was startled and visibly moved by the other man’s words, “You don’t have to thank me,” he said, his voice thick with emotion, “I have to thank you: if you hadn’t won that lottery, I wouldn’t have seen you picture in the paper I got from Fudge when he inspected Azkaban. Not to mention, welcoming Harry into your home and looking out for him. And coming all the way here only on my word. It means a lot.”

“Nonsense,” interjected Mrs Weasley, “It’s always a pleasure to have Harry stay over and it’s not exactly only your word. Harry and Ron told us everything that happened and gave us proof of it. And we won’t shy away from helping if we can.”

With definitely less tension in the air, Ron turned to Bruno once again, a broad grin on his face, “So, rats?”

On that lighter note, they all settled to eat, the wizards passing dishes around by having the plates float over the table.

One thing was clear, Mirabel thought looking around the table, at Sirius chatting with Andromeda and Remus, at Ron and Bruno discussing rats animatedly with Antonio, who’d claimed his uncle’s lap, at Tonks animatedly telling Isabela, Luisa and Dolores about her Auror training, at Fred and George regaling Camilo with their jokes, at Abuela joining the conversation between Julieta, Pepa, Mrs Weasley, Mrs Tonks and all their respective husbands. They all had a long way to go and there was a lot to learn from their own mistakes and from this whole chaotic bunch that had crossed the ocean to come and help them, but they would be alright.