Chapter 2 (edited)

He had been in this world for 9 months, and must he say it had been a hectic 9 months, only because he had discovered that there was magic, but it wasn't as cool as the elemental type of magic he would have hoped for if he had known he could get a second life.

This life was full of what you'd call wizards and witches, which he found fascinating.

He was unimpressed with being given a second chance at life. He had been laying in a pool of his own blood, accepting death, a death he had assisted in causing, and now he is being forced to live another.

He was tempted to suffocate himself against the mattress or even the blankets in the early stages of his new life.

He'd tried it once with the blanket idea, but his new 'mother' had walked in on him struggling to breathe, and the woman had nearly died of a heart attack. He had to sleep in her room for about 4 months after that... and no longer was he allowed to sleep with a blanket.

He despised being so close to her—to both of them! He had never dealt well with physical contact; it had only given rise to the memories he had spent years attempting to bury.

When she touched him without reason, he would always make a big deal out of it. When they tried to call him, he wouldn't even look at them, because he had yet to come to face with the fact he had a new name, a new identity, a new family- a new life.

Apparently, in this world, he was now Leonis—which didn't sit well with him because everything was happening too quickly. He was Samuel Greg, a twenty-year-old man. He refused to respond to them when they called him by his new name.

In this world, he was now known as Leonis Sirius Black, born on June 30, 1979.

Having a new life did not sit well with him; he chose death over life for a reason, that reason being that he couldn't deal with it. He had been taking therapy lessons to help with his issues, and those issues were to stop him flinching at human contact, despite the fact that he was forced to endure it whenever the woman picked him up and she would notice each time- each time she would grow more worried than the last.

He felt sorry for her—for both of them. They could have a normal child, a child who would smile at their stupid faces and tickles, a child who would respond to the name they may have spent time choosing, instead he spent days sleeping or staring off into the distance, a habit he had yet to get rid of in his past life.

He remembered how his mother and father had brought someone to the house, it was something different, a change in scenery if you must. It was his first time seeing people other than his mother and father.

'Healer.' That was what they called her he was sure, and he was sure that it must have been this magical world's way of saying 'doctor', it seemed like a much more mundane way.

He wasn't all too sure what was said as she did a few checks before they all left him alone. After that visit the touching lessened.

Although he knew not a thing that was said in the office because they were all speaking French, the only languages he knew were English and German, only because his previous 'mother' had been German and would only speak German to him, while his 'father' would speak to him in English.

He hasn't spoken German in a long while only because when he had been 13 his mother had died, no one knew what happened to her, but he knew- it was his father, yet no one else suspected the 'mourning' husband.

Both his parents had been as abusive to each other as they had been with him.

He was glad he would be able to learn a new language, since they spoke French with him as well as English, so he was gradually getting the language.

He preferred sleeping to anything else because it was a time when he was completely alone, and no one else could enter that space of his- the thoughts and dreams. He preferred being alone because it made him feel the safest.

He saw himself as more of a burden than a blessing to them. With how distant he was, the lack of laughs must have worried them the most, given that he had yet to do so since his birth.

The world around him wasn't all too bad, it was obvious there was so much to do and see. The world had yet to cease to amaze him, it was just last month he had realised they had pictures… that moved. It was amazing, he remembered it as though it was just yesterday, his father had been telling one of his strange stories, of him and his friends when they were at school.

While he would stare idly at a wall wondering why he was alive, Sirius would tell him stories, and would often mention how he was hoping for him to be a Gryffindor. He had yet to understand what a 'Gryffindor' was.

After his stories, the man had shoved some pictures of his friends in front of Leonis's view giving him a break from staring at the wall. To his surprise, they started moving which startled him.

Sirius had smiled wholeheartedly as he saw his reaction to seeing the pictures and was pleased that he knew was fascinated by the pictures, he felt as though he was finally getting through his son.

He knew they lived in France, which was definitely a change from his previous life, although his mother never really took him outside of the house let alone the garden, it wasn't really her fault seeing as he always made a fuss every time, she would touch him.

Over time she slowly but surely understood his boundaries, barely touching him unless needed, he noticed how she was finally understanding and was grateful.

He never understood why, but he felt so disgusted at the slightest touch, he felt as though he was sinking into the surface of the earth and would never return back to the surface. The earth slowly suffocated him as he would struggle to breathe – he hated it.

He reminded him how he had used to feel when he had been living with his previous parents. They had never cared about him, they barely even let him leave the house for school, then most times he couldn't go because people would get suspicious of the bruising. He had always frozen when people asked him about the bruises or how he had broken another body part- it felt like he couldn't breathe all over again.

Over the time he had spent in this world, he knew he was born in England.

It would never take much to bore him. It wasn't long he started thinking about the names, such as his own that was given in this life, Sirius's and Adrasteia's names… they were unique?

He wouldn't have thought they would have such names, being from England, but they were.

He must say his new 'parents' were definitely different to the ones of his past life. Not once had they hurt him, nor shouted at him, they were always so careful and gentle with their words. Always sending kind smiles his way, their voices always sounded so warm, much different to the voice he was used to. He had always felt a shiver down his spine when his parents had talked to him but not anymore.

Once this life had started, he felt so vulnerable with how small he was. Being alive in his first week he couldn't help but think how he couldn't talk, meaning he couldn't plead for the pain to stop when they would hit him- but they didn't… sometimes he would forget every parent was different, just as his therapist had said.

Everyone is different, some worse than others, some better than the rest.

These new parents of his acted like children, mostly Sirius. Besides he wasn't too surprised they acted like children. They did look quite young, and if he could recall from listening to their conversations, he remembered his mother saying something about her being 19 which he could assume Sirius was too.

It was strange that he was being raised by people younger than himself.

Although he wasn't complaining, they lived in a large house, he could just tell they were rich. He could also tell Adrasteia seemed used to this lifestyle but sometimes she acted like she was used to much more than this, maybe she used to live in a larger house with her parents?

He didn't even know if his parents were even together or if they were just co-parenting, with all the fighting they did it was hard to tell. Sometimes he was able to tell they were just joking… well he could tell Sirius was joking, he could never tell if Adrasteia was honestly serious about killing Sirius.

Leonis just assumed it was co-parenting since Sirius didn't live with them which he hadn't noticed at first but eventually noticed and found confusing at first. He doesn't come all that often, but he could tell he makes a huge effort to see him as often as he could.

He enjoyed the peace and quiet when he left and savoured it, don't get him wrong he didn't hate him or anything, he's just really loud sometimes… actually all the time, the number of times he heard Adrasteia give out to him for being loud, usually, he wished he could cheer for her, but he can't exactly pronounce words yet.

They were a perfect match for parenting a child, one was loud and goofy while the other was well kept and responsible. He already knew who he'd rather take care of his punishments if he did something bad.

The period of time of being a baby, he had gotten used to it. He had grown used to being small, being weak and vulnerable. He had gotten used to the loud sounds Sirius would make when losing a game, or when he had forgotten something. He grew used to the yearning looks of Adrasteia wanting so desperately to hold her child without making him uncomfortable.

He hated his new life, but he wanted his new parents to be able to enjoy having a child. He was told having a child could only bring happiness, yet he was nothing compared to an actual baby, one they could love to the fullest. Maybe acting was the best way.

With the growing trust he had grown for them with each passing day, he would willingly let them carry him, he knew he was safe, yet he would still feel uncomfortable in their arms, especially when his mother had held him tightly with tears on her face… he endured it- for her.

He took the role of a baby, accordingly, allowing himself to try and enjoy this new life- enjoy this family… the family he had never had.

He would savour this, he didn't mind acting childish, seeing as it was easier said than done. He will try.

He had been 7 months since he had said his first word, his first work being 'Stop' when Sirius was making the stupid faces once again to have him laugh, which never worked. It seemed like the whole world stopped for both Sirius and Adrasteia once he spoke the word, it was their happiest moment and he couldn't understand why, he never understood what was so special about babies.

It was quite nice being a baby, he didn't have to do all that much.

He was sitting in the living room silently pretending to be interested in the toy car his mum gave to him to play with, he boredly rolled the vehicle back and forth on the cream colour carpet. He rolled his eyes as he did it, the only thing he found interesting about it was its colour, a dark red, maybe maroon?

Releasing the car, he then proceeded to stare at his chubby hands; he wondered when babies lose their baby fat.

His mum was seated on the royal blue couch on his right-side entrance in the book she was reading.

Finally getting fed up with playing with the dumb toy, he pushed it aside as he rolled over onto his knees and started crawling to where his mum was.

She was nice, she never shouted at him, which was nice, she only ever shouted at Sirius which was the only entertainment he seems to get. From observing her he knew she was really posh; he just hoped she won't become those types of mums when he was old enough to 'understand' her.

He continued crawling, then stopped at the base of the couch and gurgled catching her attention, she took notice immediately and smiled softly. He found himself smiling at the sight of her, reaching his arms up towards her hesitantly.

"Up" he said in his quiet voice.

"Leonis, how's my good little boy? Are you hungry now?" Now that she mentioned it, he was, and right on cue, his stomach growled.

"Yeah" he responded sheepishly at her mention, he then let himself in her embrace. Sinking into her warmth. After a while, it didn't take long before touching either Sirius or Adrasteia didn't disgust him.

He rested his head tiredly against her should, being a baby wasn't all that bad.

She rubbed circles around his back, he always loves when she does that, it's really relaxing.

"Guess what", she said lightly, he also likes when she does that, she talks to him a lot, so he never really gets too bored. Her voice was really soothing.

"Your father is coming again today; you must have missed him huh?" she said as she walked into the kitchen, she gets Leonis's bottle.

"He's been a bit busy with his friends, a muggle-born and a blood traitor. Personally, I have met them before but only briefly, I already promised him I would be nice."

"Muggle? Blood?" he sounded out the few words he heard her say hoping she would elaborate. She gave a small chuckle, "It's nothing you have to worry yourself about."

A muggle-born? Blood-traitor? What the heck is she going on about? Now that he thought about it, he remembered when he was younger, he would hear the word pureblood. Now, what heck are they all supposed to mean?

"It's a shame they are so caught in with the war, I'm just glad you're not part of the prophecy", she said once again. Prophecy? Wait a second there's a war going on?

He was tired of getting lost in her words; it wasn't always like that, but it would be nice to know some of the definitions of the terms she used; Sirius wasn't that bad; he just didn't talk as sophisticatedly as she did, but he could tell he must have come from a wealthy family before he was 'disowned.' He had wondered if grandparents were aware of his existence.

She sat down and cradled him in her arms, a bottle of milk in his mouth, ah his favourite day, lunchtime—his new favourite type of therapy. If he could see him, he would be proud of himself for no longer running from touch or screaming himself awake from night terrors.

He always assumed that baby milk would be bad, but it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be, possibly because his tastebuds aren't as developed.

He fell into a milk coma after the milk; he couldn't keep my eyes open; they wanted to close. He could hear Adrasteia chuckling at his obstinacy.

"You're just as stubborn as Sirius and I combined, go to sleep little one," she said softly, and he did, letting sleep take him- he was safe.

She laid him down in his cot.

The silent house soon became loud as Sirius had entered through the fireplace.

"I'm home!!!" Sirius decided to project out.

"Sirius what have I told you about doing that?" Adra asked walking into the living room, folding her arms in annoyance.

"And keep it down he's still taking his nap, the number of times you've woke him up with your shouting", she said once again.

"Yeah, I actually forgot you told me to stop" He chuckled nervously.

"Where's my little man?" Sirius asked, "Is he sleeping? I swear all he ever does is sleep".

"Sirius are you serious? What could you possibly want our 9-month-old child to do? Of course, he's going to sleep babies can't handle staying awake for so long"

"Ahh of course", he said, hoping she would stop giving out to him.

"I'll go check to see if he's awake", He said it again, but he knew that if his son wasn't awake, he was going to wake him up.

Adrasteia didn't respond; she simply went to the kitchen to make herself some tea.

Sirius pushed into the room a few minutes later, clutching onto an irritated Leonis.

"Look at that! he's awake", He said he held the child outwards as if he were a show animal, so he was facing her. By the frown on Leonis's face, Adrasteia knew Sirius had woken him up, and she shook her head lightly while sipping her tea.

Sirius sat across from her, making faces at Leonis in an attempt to elicit a laugh from him, but failing as usual. Leonis sat there, perplexed as to why Sirius thought it was a good idea to wake him from his slumber; he had been having a pleasant dream too.

Sirius inquired hesitantly, "Adra?" "What?" she asked, looking up from her tea.

"I'm scared for Lily and James" Sirius found himself confessing, Adra knew it was hard for Sirius to show such feelings as that. She decided to comfort him.

"They'll be fine didn't you say you guys were going to change the secret keeper to the um who? Patrick? You're all good friends He's going to do a good job at keeping their locating a secret as good as you would have done if you decided to stay the secret keeper".

She was honestly glad that Sirius had trusted her with all this, over the time they have been expecting Leonis, they have gotten closer and have gotten to know each other more.

"Yeah, and his name is Peter… you know they have about 4 more months until their son is born. I can't wait until all this is over, I'm sure the boys will be the best of friends" Sirius said bringing his spirits high.

But he was just seated there wondering what a secret keeper was.

What is this war they're on about, do they just fight with their wands? he found himself giggling which Sirius took as him finally laughing at the 'funny' faces he was making, but now he was laughing at the thought of people fighting with sticks.

Both Sirius and Adrasteia smiled in delight having witnessed their son laugh, it was a rare sight, so they were going to cherish this moment.

Sirius raised him up and stared into his eyes, and tilted his head, "He's got the Malfoy eyes" he said.

Huh? Adra had green eyes. Malfoy? he knew Black was Sirius's last name, so his guess was Malfoy is his mum's surname so maybe he gets his eyes from one of her parents then.

Adra smiled, "Hmm it appears so, his eyes have developed more over the past months, they used to be more similar to your grey eyes, but now they look quite similar to my father's grey eyes.

"Grey eyes?" he sounded out, seeing how it would roll out. Sirius started laughing.

"Yes Leonis, you have lovely grey eyes, you inherited them from your grandfather," his mum said with a soft smile. He hadn't known what colour his eyes were, it actually never occurred in his mind to find out what they were, but it being grey sounded great. Sirius's eyes were grey too but a deeper shade, his should be darker than his if what mum said was right or maybe lighter.

"I'm going to take a nap, you'll take care of Leo, won't you?" Adra asked as she got up from the table, my eyes followed her as she left gracefully. It was quiet when she left, he was wondering what Sirius was thinking as he stared at her retreating back too, he was beginning to think maybe he liked her or something.

He found himself hitting Sirius's face with his hand in an attempt to get his attention, "huh?" He then looked at his son, puzzled, only to be met by Leonis, who gave him a knowing look, "what? I wasn't looking at her or anything..." He was embarrassed.

"Now what should we do?" He asked getting up from his seat adjusting me on his hip.

Leonis just looked at his face, and he watched him smile and he knew straight away what he had in mind.

The man had a different smile for everything, each one being similar to the other.

"I don't think we've seen enough of my motorcycle yet Leo", He said. Motorcycle? He supposed he didn't mind seeing it again he never lets him ride it though he was pretty sure it was because Adrasteia was against it or something.

He started walking out to the front of the house.

"There's my baby, you know Leo, I actually bought it after I was disowned, it was really expensive since it's a flying one and all, not many people have it".

Why is he so casual about the fact he was disowned… he is not even surprised anymore.

As he stared at the light blue vehicle, he wondered if he'd take him flying one day.