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prologue halloween 1981
𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 girl in his arms, looking down at her, memorizing her every feature — her blue-grey eyes and her dark brown hair that was reminiscent of his own.
The Order of the Phoenix had been made aware of a possible plan of Lord Voldemort's and Sirius was fully expecting to be attacked, so he took precautions.
"What do you mean I have to take her?" Remus Lupin asked on the night of Halloween 1981.
Sirius had sent him a Patronus, telling him to urgently come to his house. When he had arrived, Sirius immediately pulled him inside, before taking a quick look outside his front door and closing it, facing the man he loved.
"Moony, they'll be after me," Sirius answered, balancing his daughter on his hip as she played with a loose thread on his jacket. "You know what my family is like, they'll want me. Especially after Regulus..." He cleared his throat and shook his head. "She can live without a father, but if something were to happen to her..."
"Sirius, what are they planning?" Remus asked, getting increasingly concerned. "Are you telling me that Voldemort wants you on his side?"
"My family has a dark history," Sirius replied before looking down at the small child. "Our family. And if they found out that Rory is my daughter... they'd use her. I can't let that happen, you know I can't."
Remus shook his head. "But she'd never be safe with me," Remus argued. "Not when I become a monster every month. What if you went into hiding, like James and Lily? Or give her to Andromeda?"
"James and Lily have enough on their plate without another child," Sirius said. "And I don't have enough time to write to Andy. It has to be you. Moony, please..."
Remus looked at the man in front of him before his eyes shifted to the little girl in his arms. Her blue-grey eyes found his green ones and she giggled causing a small smile to grace his scarred face.
"Okay," he agreed, letting out a breath. "Okay, I'll take her."
Relief flooded Sirius' face when those words left Remus' mouth. "Thank you. Then you need to go. Right now."
"But—"
"There've been rumours that he's going to attack," Sirius interrupted, giving Remus the child who immediately started to get fussy without her father's touch. "I will not have Rory be hurt or taken." His thumb traced along Rory's pale skin and her small hand grabbed onto his finger. "Even if it means I miss seeing her grow up."
"Woah, hold on," Remus frowned and shifted his hold on the little girl. "You're not dying. This is all just a precaution, right?"
"It's a war, Moony," Sirius said sadly. "We have to be prepared for anything." He walked over to the door and hesitated for a brief moment. "Take care of my girl for me."
He pressed a tender kiss to Rory's forehead before ushering the two out of the house. Remus looked back at him and let out a sigh.
"She'll be okay, Sirius," he promised. Sirius nodded and closed the door behind him. Remus stared back at the door for a moment before walking away from Godric's Hollow, narrowly missing the horrible events that would occur that night, just a few doors down the road.
Sirius watched them disappear from his window, feeling his heart break. He closed the blinds and locked himself in the house, fully expecting an attack at any moment. But it never came. Instead, the unthinkable happened.
Fearing the worst, Sirius went to his old friend, Peter Pettigrew's house, and found him missing. No sign of a struggle. Sirius quickly sped to the Potter residence and the memory of what he saw would remain in his mind forever, haunting him.
James Potter, at the tender age of twenty-one, lay dead in the corridor, wandless.
"James," Sirius cried, shaking his head.
He raced upstairs towards baby Harry's nursery and crumpled to the floor at the sight of the redhead that James had pursued for so long. Lily Potter stared lifelessly into the room, in the direction of the crib. Sirius followed her gaze as the cry of a child rang out from within and picked young Harry up.
As he did so, he heard the loud noise of someone entering the wreckage of the house. Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, clunked his way up to the nursery. "Mr. Black," he greeted upon seeing the wizard.
"Hagrid."
"I'm here for little Harry," Hagrid said, motioning to the child in Sirius' arms.
"Let me take him," Sirius pleaded. "I'm his godfather. It should be me. He can come live with Rory and me."
Hagrid shook his head. "Can't do that, sir," he replied. "Got strict orders from Dumbledore himself. He's goin' to 'is aunt an' uncle's."
"But, Hagrid, please, you know it's what James and Lily wanted."
Hagrid shook his head again. "I'm sorry. Dumbledore's orders."
Sirius sighed in defeat. "Very well. Take my bike. I won't be needing it anymore."
Sirius reluctantly handed Harry to Hagrid before quickly leaving in search of his best friend. He found Peter to confront him, but Peter was quick on his feet. "James and Lily, Sirius?" he shouted, gaining the attention of muggle passersby. "They trusted you!"
"It was you!"
"You betrayed them to You-Know-Who!" Peter exclaimed. "How could you?"
Before anybody knew it, there was an explosion and as the smoke cleared, Peter was gone, leaving behind only a single finger. The muggles who witnessed the event all said the same thing: Sirius had killed Peter and twelve others.
Sirius was promptly arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and put in Azkaban for life without a trial. For twelve years, he sat in his cell, trying his best to remain sane. Until one day when Cornelius Fudge brought an issue of The Daily Prophet and Sirius saw a picture of a rat without a finger on the shoulder of a schoolboy with his large family.
He promptly escaped Azkaban with his eyes set on the one place the rat would be: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
