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Snape and Sirius engaged in a prolonged staring contest, the tension crackling between them like barely contained lightning. Finally, Sirius broke first, his voice dripping with triumphant malice.
"Ha! At least I can still move around! I can pace, I can gesture—what can you do, Snivellus? Stand there like the pathetic wall decoration you've become?"
Snape's lips curved into a cold smile. "Clearly your years in Azkaban addled what little brain you possessed, Black. Did you forget I'm a portrait? I can simply... leave."
Sirius's expression shifted to alarm. "Wait, you can't just—"
BANG!
Snape threw himself against the picture frame with theatrical force, fully expecting to step through into another portrait or disappear entirely. Instead, he bounced off the barrier like a bird hitting a window.
Sirius collapsed with hysterical laughter, rolling around the confined space. "Go on then! If you're so bloody clever, walk away! Show me how it's done!"
Snape pounded against the frame, his usual composure cracking. "You Black family brat! I didn't teach you portrait containment spells so you could use them against me!"
Sirius preened with smug satisfaction. "Brilliant, isn't she? My daughter really does take after the right side of the family! As long as there are camera feeds, escaping this box should be child's play." He paused, remembering something. "Thank Merlin I actually read Tony's instruction manual, or I'd be truly trapped in here with your lovely personality."
He concentrated, attempting to transfer his consciousness through the camera network. "Snivellus, enjoy your detention alo—"
Nothing happened.
Sirius remained exactly where he was, staring directly into Snape's increasingly smug expression.
Snape straightened his robes with deliberate calm. "Did you honestly believe your daughter was so easily manipulated? The girl who reduced Dolores Umbridge to a gibbering wreck?"
Without another word, Snape turned his back on Sirius and retreated to the potions laboratory visible in the background of his portrait. At least Gemini had chosen a frame with proper facilities—he could brew in peace while the Black family mongrel contemplated his situation.
Outside the study, Harry pressed his ear against the door and heard... nothing. Absolute silence.
"Is this really appropriate?" he asked nervously.
Gemini adjusted her sleeves with serene satisfaction. "Why wouldn't it be? They adore arguing, don't they? Even death couldn't stop their eternal rivalry. Now they can bicker to their hearts' content without disturbing anyone else."
Harry looked between Gemini's peaceful expression and the ominously quiet door. Good luck, Sirius, he thought grimly. You're going to need it.
"Everything's settled here," Gemini announced brightly. "You can return home now. Come back next week—we'll resolve Banner's situation and bring him back with you."
Her smile was so sweetly terrifying that Harry's prepared arguments died in his throat.
"Right, yes, I'll head back immediately," he stammered. "Take care of yourself, eat properly, and contact me if anything—anything at all—goes wrong!"
Gemini practically shoved him into the Floo connection to MACUSA, where he could access the international network home.
After Harry's departure, Gemini instructed Coby to avoid the study entirely for the next week, then returned to her interrupted Christmas morning with renewed enthusiasm.
Several days had passed since Gemini's field assignment involving Thor. The lack of follow-up reports suggested the situation had resolved peacefully—no thunder storms, no dimensional rifts, no reports of godly tantrums in the news. Still, Gemini couldn't shake the feeling that this was merely the calm before a much larger storm.
Ever since Harry's return to Britain, her morning mail had included increasingly desperate—though diplomatically worded—pleas for mercy. If she didn't know Harry so well, she might have missed the carefully coded requests for Sirius's release entirely.
On the day before their scheduled meeting about Banner, Gemini finally decided to check on her prisoners.
The study door opened to reveal Sirius in the middle of what appeared to be an elaborate tantrum. He'd mastered the holographic projection controls enough to transform into his Animagus form—a massive black dog currently barking furiously at Snape's portrait.
Gemini stood in the doorway, thoroughly unimpressed. "You two seem to be getting along splendidly. Perhaps you need more time to work through your differences?"
The dog immediately began shifting back to human form, though his inexperience with the technology resulted in a disturbing dog-headed, human-bodied hybrid. When he opened his mouth to speak, only barks emerged. He shook his head frantically until the projection stabilized.
"I believe I've learned my lesson," Sirius said carefully, eyeing Gemini with newfound wariness. "Perhaps we could... discuss this situation?"
Snape didn't even look up from his cauldron, radiating an aura of profound resignation. His entire posture screamed this is my life now.
Gemini tapped the containment box with her wand. Snape immediately felt the portrait restrictions lift and abandoned his brewing to step out of the frame entirely, vanishing to whatever other portraits he could access.
Sirius watched this escape with naked envy, his gaze lingering hopefully on the camera controls.
Gemini sighed and had Coby reinstall the projection system in the main parlor. She personally carried Sirius's housing unit—with its aggressively Gryffindor color scheme—and positioned it on the sunlit side table.
Sirius materialized in the familiar space, looking around with genuine curiosity. "You've done remarkable work with Grimmauld Place. I barely recognize it."
"We're not at Grimmauld Place," Gemini replied, settling into her chair with elegant poise.
"Ah, you moved out entirely. Excellent choice—the old place was always rather grim." He paused, studying the Slytherin-themed décor with poorly concealed distaste. "Your... aesthetic choices are quite distinctive."
Gemini sipped her tea, allowing the silence to stretch uncomfortably.
Sirius cleared his throat. "So... which House were you Sorted into? Gryffindor, I hope? And your mother—what happened to her? Did my dear mother give you any trouble before she died?"
The questions tumbled out in a nervous rush. He had no idea how to connect with this daughter he'd never known existed.
Gemini answered with clinical precision. "Slytherin. My mother died in childbirth. I spent six years in a Muggle orphanage before the Black family located me. Grandmother Walburga was actually quite generous—she sent gifts through Kreacher every year."
Sirius looked as if she'd announced her intention to join Voldemort's inner circle. "Slytherin?! That's impossible! You must have been coerced, threatened, or—"
"Why exactly is it impossible?" Gemini's voice carried a dangerous edge. "My grandmother, uncle, and various aunts were all Slytherin. Even Harry accepted my Sorting without complaint. What's your objection, precisely?"
Sirius deflated like a punctured balloon, opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. Finally, he attempted to change subjects. "You must be starting sixth year soon? Any... romantic interests? Interesting developments at school?"
Gemini regarded him with cool amusement. "I withdrew from Hogwarts. We're currently in America, not Britain."
"WHAT?!" Sirius exploded, his projection flickering with emotional instability. "Who hurt you? What happened? Why didn't Harry prevent this?"
Gemini's smile turned predatory. "I publicly executed an Acromantula using the Killing Curse. The curriculum had become rather... limiting. Harry serves as my guardian in name only—once I reach majority, no one will have authority over my choices."
Sirius stared at her in growing horror. Something in her expression—the cold satisfaction, the casual mention of forbidden magic—reminded him viscerally of his cousin Bellatrix. The same calculating cruelty, the same beautiful, terrible smile.
For the first time since his resurrection, Sirius Black wondered if some family legacies were better left buried.
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