And the Minister is...
-November 22, 1991-
Sirius stared at him, his onyx eyes wide open as excitement tore through him. He fought to keep his face neutral, not wanting to do anything that could ruin this opportunity. Voldemort stood in front of him holding a pouting HarryLittle One in his arms, the toddler’s body hitched on his waist as he hid his face in the crook of Voldemort’s arms.
“Did you hear me, Black, or are you deaf?” Voldemort asked, his face contorting into a sneer.
“Er, yes, My Lord… I mean, no! I mean,” Sirius fumbled. “We would be honored to watch him while you attend your meeting.”
Sirius could see how amused the Dark Lord was at his stutters, but Sirius reminded himself that any wrong move and Voldemort may never let him or Remus see the child again. “Good.” Voldemort said with a curt nod. He then lightly tugged Little One out of his hiding spot and pressed a tender kiss to his forehead. Sirius bit his lip as an ugly feeling of jealousy arose in his chest and he looked away. “Papa has to go now, you have fun. Give Uncle Padfoot some trouble, you hear me?”
Sirius frowned only to freeze when he heard a nearly inaudible giggle, and Sirius whipped his head around in time to see the toddler beaming. Little One didn’t say anything, but he nuzzled the Dark Lord’s neck before he was put on the ground. Sirius tried not to let his bitterness show when Little One clung to the Dark Lord’s robe rather than walk over to where he stood.
“Nagini will be monitoring you,” the Dark Lord said suddenly, breaking Sirius from his thoughts. “If you do anything untoward, I will find out about it. Nagini is under strict orders to bite first. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” Sirius said in a forced tone.
The Dark Lord eyed him for another minute before he gave a curt nod, a fleeting glance towards Little One, and then walked away in a dignified fashion. Sirius wanted to snort, but a part of him was convinced the man would hear him. Sirius breathed in deeply before he let it out, bending down on one knee so that he could look at his godson.
(And he was his godson. Dark Lord’s be damned, Sirius was Little One’s godfather and there was nothing he could do about it!)
“Hello Little One,” Sirius says softly, watching for any sign of excitement on the Inferius’ face. “Do you remember me?”
Little One nods shyly, and his emerald eyes flicker back and forth around the room, almost as if they were searching for something. Sirius bit back a sigh when he realized what the toddler was looking for. Who the toddler was looking for.
“I’m sure Nagini will be here soon, Little One,” Sirius said, struggling to hide his disappointment when he realized just how uncomfortable Little One seemed to be in his presence. “In the meantime, do you want to help me find Uncle Moony?”
Little One nodded, and Sirius allowed himself a small victorious smile. Sirius stood, offering his hand down towards Little One. Little One debated for a few seconds before he accepted, and Sirius relished the warm weight in his hand. Sirius happily led the Inferius through the castle halls in a search for his partner.
“I’m really glad we get to hang out together,” Sirius said as they walked. “I really missed you.”
The toddler was silent, but Sirius wasn’t expecting a response. From what he had learned about him, Little One was silent most of the time, save for a few special occasions. Sirius could only hope that one day Little One will be comfortable enough around him to speak. Little One trailed silently behind him, the only noise coming from the pair were their footsteps echoing off the walls.
Just as Sirius turned the corner, a green blob struck out at him from in front. Sirius reared back, instinctually moving to protect Little One, only to freeze as the blob gave a warning hiss. With his heart in his throat, Sirius looked down to see the Dark Lord’s giant snake hissing at him.
Sirius didn’t know what the snake was saying, but Little One did. Sirius struggled to maintain his air of indifference as his godson began to speak to the snake. It was so strange to see James’ son speaking parseltongue, there was something so fundamentally wrong with that picture. It put him on edge. Sirius stood there watching the conversation unfold, unsure of how he was supposed to respond to it.
Finally, the snake stopped hissing and turned to face him. Sirius stiffened when the snake grew closer, only to breathe out a sigh of relief when the snake gestured for him to continue walking. With the added chaperone, Sirius and Little One---who was still hissing at the snake---set off once more to find Remus.
They found him sitting in the first-floor library sitting in a plush armchair reading a book. Sirius grinned at the sight of his lover and he silently crept up to where the werewolf sat. Just as he was about to scare him, however, Remus turned to level him with a deadpan stare.
“Hello, Sirius.” Remus said. Sirius pouted at the man and let out a soft huff.
“You always ruin my fun, Moony.” Sirius whined. Remus only chuckled softly. “We’re currently on babysitting duty, though. So get off your furry butt and come with me.”
“Babysitting duty?” Remus asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion, only for his gaze to travel past him and land on Little One. Remus let out a stilted gasp and shot up from his position on the chair. “He’s letting us…?”
“Well, we have a chaperone,” Sirius muttered, subtly gesturing to the giant snake that was currently wrapping his godson up in her coils. Remus’ only gave a slight twitch at the sight. “But other than that, yeah, he is.”
“Finally.” Remus said softly. He placed the book he was reading on the sand next to him and got up. “Hello, Little One! It’s so good to see you again!”
Little One looked up briefly at the sound of his name, but other than that, he did not respond. Remus looked slightly put out at the dismissal, but Sirius slipped his hand into Remus’ and squeezed it comfortingly.
“It’s going to take time, Remi,” Sirius said softly. “But we can do this.”
Remus nodded. “Shall we, then?”
“Little One, do you want to head to the gardens?” Sirius asked, remembering how much the toddler loved plants. Little One perked up slightly at the mention of gardens so Sirius took it as a yes. “Alright then! Let’s go!”
The trio (plus a snake), walked through the castle until they reached the gardens. Sirius blinked rapidly when he stepped outside to adjust to the brightness, and when his eyes adjusted, he whistled at the beautiful sight before him.
The Dark Lord’s gardens were massive and gorgeous. Flower plots decorated the area as far as the eye could see, and each one was bursting full of vibrant colors and designs, making each plot a masterful piece of artwork.
While Sirius had been distracted, Little One had plopped down on the ground by one of the flower plots and began to absently play with Nagini’s scales. Remus was sitting next to the toddler, but every time he attempted to get closer, Nagini would hiss at him.
Sirius sighed. “Little One!” he called, gaining the attention of said toddler. “Do you want to play a game?”
Little One tilted his head and Sirius continued.
“If you go and pick a bunch of flowers, then we can have a contest to see who can make the prettiest flower crown. What do you think? Do you want to play?” Sirius asked. He wasn’t sure if this would work, but Sirius was at a loss of what to do. He wanted to connect with his godson, he just wasn’t sure how to do it.
Little One seemed to like the idea, however, as he put two hands in front of him to push himself off the ground before he ran off towards the flowers. Making sure to keep an eye on the toddler in case he fell, Sirius sank to the ground, ignoring the morning dew that was currently soaking the bottom of his trousers.
“I wonder why he decided to let us watch him today,” Remus mused from beside him. Sirius hummed in thought, his eyes not leaving Little One’s tiny form as he collected handfuls of flowers. “I mean, why now? We haven’t really done anything.”
“Who knows what that man is thinking,” Sirius muttered softly. “I could serve him for a lifetime, and I’d never know what went on in his head.”
“That’s true.” Remus said softly. They sat there, and Sirius relished the domesticity of the scene. He was sitting outside, his partner next to him surrounded by flowers as their godson gathered flowers. It was incredible. If it weren’t for the giant snake slithering behind Little One, Sirius could imagine that they were back home together, as a family.
Sirius smiled when Little One came tottling over to them, weighed down by bushels of flowers that nearly covered him. “Hey, Little One! I see you got us an incredible selection of flowers!” Sirius said happily. Little One smiled nervously at him, and though it wasn’t as carefree as Sirius would have hoped, it was a sign that they were getting closer. Regardless, Sirius would take the win. “Okay, now, I’ve never done this before, so you’ll have to go easy on me, yeah?”
Little One nodded at him, and Sirius let out a chuckle. Beside him, Remus took a couple of daisies and began stringing them together. “You’d better get started!” he exclaimed. “Or I’ll beat you both!”
Little One let out a startled gasp and quickly reached for a couple of the flowers and began to braid them together. Sirius watched them for a moment, trying to figure out how to do it. He may have bitten off more than he could chew, starting a flower crown contest, especially since he didn’t know how to make one, but he desperately wanted to connect with his godson and this was the only way he could think of.
Sirius decided to make one as basic as possible. Taking a daisy, Sirius carefully put a hole through the stem and slipped a dandelion through the hole. Probably not the most reliable method, but it seemed to work just fine.
For a little while, anyway.
It wasn’t until he was trying to connect his end flower to his starting flower that he realized the problem. How was he supposed to connect the two and make it into a crown if there was no hole to connect them together? Sirius stared at the stems for a second before he decided he’d have to tie it together. As carefully as he could, Sirius tied the last stem around the head of the first flower.
Sirius held up the first flower crown he’d ever made with a victorious smile, only to have the entire thing break apart and fall to the ground.
Remus let out a shuddering chuckle at the sight of Sirius staring forlornly at his fallen flower crown. “Better luck next time, Siri!” he said. “Little One and I are almost finished with our crowns, isn’t that right Little One?”
Little One grinned and held up his intricate braided flower crown full of different flowers. Sirius stared at the thing in amazement. How did the four year old manage to make something so beautiful? Sirius reached forward to touch the crown only to flinch back when Nagini hissed at him, her head coming to stand protectively between the two.
Sirius sighed and returned to his place beside Remus, his mood dampened. For a moment he’d almost forgotten about the chaperone and allowed himself to believe that he was just spending time with his family. With the stark reminded of reality literally hissing at him in the face, Sirius fought to maintain his earlier happiness.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius caught a shadow flash past him. Sirius turned his head just in time to see Snape watching them from a window. The second their eyes met, Snape turned around and left. Sirius turned around to face his broken flower crown resting on the ground by his feet.
How accurate it was, he thought glumly, for his chain to fall apart just like everything else in his life was. He couldn’t get close to his godson because a possessive Dark Lord stood in his way, and the person that was training them to survive had been avoiding them for the past two days.
Ever since the impromptu apology in the training room, the dour potions master had refused to meet with them. Sirius, strangely enough, wanted to make amends for what he’d done. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew that he was going to be seeing a lot of Snape now, and he had enough problems in his life without adding petty childhood grudges.
With a sigh, Sirius lifted a new daisy from the pile and began to remake his flower crown.
It was going to be a lot harder than Sirius thought, getting close to the people he wanted to.
Voldemort arrived in the meeting hall just in time to see the final ballots being counted. Voldemort knew he would be expected to announce the identity of the Minister, so he strode over to the counting station.
“M-My Lord!” one of the workers said, his eyes widening at the sight of Voldemort. “Welcome! W-We just finished the counting!”
“And who won?” Voldemort asked, raising an eyebrow.
The worker wrote down the name of the new minister on a sheet of paper and handed it to him. Voldemort, taking a second to ensure his occlumency shields were strong, looked at the name. He forced himself to remain neutral, not allowing any emotion to show on his face nor in his magic.
Voldemort nodded at the worker before he turned around, his hand clenched around the piece of paper. Plans began to formulate in his head as he walked towards the front of the building where a podium was set up for him. Voldemort could hear the murmurs of the crowd from here, and when Voldemort stepped through the glass doors, he was assaulted by the noise of hundreds of people crammed into the square, eagerly awaiting the news.
As Voldemort took his place, his eyes sought out Lucius. The man was standing next to Dumbledore, as they were both the candidates. His face was neutral, the iconic Malfoy aloofness masking the man’s anticipations. When Lucius met his gaze, Voldemort pointedly looked at Dumbledore.
Voldemort then turned to face the crowd, and he allowed a smile to grace his face as he greeted them. “Hello, fellow wizards and witches. Thank you all for coming to the naming of our newest Minister.” Voldemort said cordially. “I must say, it’s been an interesting race, and the results even more so.”
It was silent in the crowd now, every person eager to hear the name.
“With the naming of our Minister, we enter a new moment in history,” Voldemort continued. “Let us come together and celebrate our new Minister…”
Voldemort paused for effect, watching as the people leaned forward expectantly. Voldemort allowed a victorious smile to flash on his face.
“Lucius Malfoy.”