Pumpkin Prompt 16 - Harvests
@wolfstarmicrofic October 16, word count 552
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Slowly, as they moved closer and closer to the city, the farms busy bringing in their harvests faded away, and the slums of London surrounded them.
“We’ll go to my brother’s, he, er, actually has contacts everywhere,” Sirius said as he drove them deeper into the city.
“Oh, what does he do?” Remus asked. Sirius didn’t talk much about his family in general. His family had their thumbs in a lot of pies and pretty much ran the entirety of London, legit and criminal. An empire that had spanned over two hundred years. He and Regulus were the last Blacks left. There was a reason Sirius went into law enforcement.
“Er, he owns a few different businesses,” Sirius said vaguely.
“Like what?” Remus pushed, seemingly interested in learning anything about Sirius’s family.
“You’ve heard of Black Star Hotels?” The Hotels were by far the most legit of the family's enterprises and probably the most well-known.
“Wait, you're that Sirius Black?” Remus’s eyes bulged as he stared at Sirius. Sirius gave him a funny look.
“How many Sirius Blacks have you heard of?” Sirius rolled his eyes, and they travelled on.
The houses got progressively nicer, as did the people wandering the street. He pulled up outside Grimmauld Place, and two footmen ran out to help them down, collect their belongings and take Emrys around to the stables. Sirius looked up at his old family home. It had only been after his parents had died and Regulus had reached out to him that he’d been back since he’d run away at sixteen. He had a lot of bad memories of this place.
“Sirius? What are you doing here?” Regulus asked, gliding down the stairs like a debutant.
“I need to use your eyes,” Sirius answered, ushering Remus inside and closing the door. Regulus quirked a brow at Remus’s presence and smirked when Sirius unconsciously moved in front of him.
“You’ll stay for dinner,” Regulus said; it wasn’t a question. “And will you require one bed or two?” The smirk returned as he eyed up Remus.
“One,” Sirius said through gritted teeth. Regulus had always been observant to an annoying degree.
“Excellent,” he reached over to the wall and pulled the hidden cord. “Kreacher,” he drawled. “Take my brother’s and his guest’s things up to his room, they’ll be staying with us.” Sirius glared at the manservant. He’d been with the family longer than Sirius had been alive, and they’d never been fond of each other. In fact, Kreacher had been the one behind many of Sirius’s beatings at the hands of his mother when he reported his misdemeanours to her.
“Is it wise to let him know where Remus will be sleeping?” Sirius asked, worried that the crotchety old man might let their secret slip. Regulus waved his concerns away.
“Kreacher knows what's best for him. He’s seen what happens to a person when they betray the family.” Sirius took Regulus’s word for it. He knew that if his secret were broadcast that Regulus would move heaven and earth to get them out of the country and somewhere where they would be safe. Sirius wondered if they still owned the château in Nice.
They followed Regulus into one of the informal sitting rooms and started their tale, making sure to leave nothing out.
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