the_debt_of_time

"Tilly, will you go and make sure Mia is sleeping well? If James wakes up, let her
have a lie in. She's probably very exhausted." Dorea smiled knowingly as her grey eyes finally
fell on him.
The house-elf nodded before whispering, "Tilly sees the bond. Stronger."
"Yes, Tilly, it would be, wouldn't it?" Dorea chuckled as the house-elf vanished.
Sirius sat up, needing to speak first so that he felt like he had some sort of control
of the situation, which was as far from true as possible. "I'd ask if you wanted me to go
pack my bags, but seeing that everything I now own was bought by you―"
"Oh, are you leaving, dear?" Dorea asked as she sipped her tea. She gestured to the
extra cup on the tray in front of her, where the pot sat next to a bowl of biscuits.
"I assumed as much," Sirius said nervously, eyeing the tea and treats between them
as though there was a very real chance they might have been poisoned.
"Do you have a new place to live?"
"No." Sirius frowned. How could he have been so stupid? Why could he not control
himself? He had done so well in the past. Then again, Mia lived with three other girls for
the majority of the year, and he roomed with her brother and ex-boyfriend. Now she was
literally a few feet from his bedroom door.
"And you expect me to send you out onto the streets? My own blood?" Dorea
suddenly dropped her smile, looking offended.
He swallowed, unable to tell if her expressions were real or not.
"Sirius, love." She smiled when she said the term of endearment usually reserved
for James or Mia, and Sirius looked away, unable to take it. "I understand that you've had
a skewed view of our family with the way your parents raised you, but the House of Black
is indeed Most Noble and Ancient. I will not have its true heir—and, in my belief, the one
person who might be able the cleanse it—living as a street urchin."
With wide eyes, Sirius looked up at the woman. He had always heard Dorea speak
poorly of Walburga and the rest of their family, save for Andromeda whom he knew had
visited once or twice with Dorea since she was blasted from the family tapestry. He had
assumed the Potter matriarch hated her House, but apparently, she was just as prideful as
any other Black, with the exception that she disliked the members and not the House and
history themselves.
She thought that he could fix that?