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ღ prologue ( halloween night )
TWO YEAR OLD Juliet Black bounced up and down eagerly from her place on the counter. Her mother placed two kisses on either side of her face, soft cheeks left with mauve lipstick marks. Sirius Black swept into the kitchen, cheeks pink from the October cold as he entered their little London apartment. "Where's my little ladybug?" he called, immediately taking her into his arms.
"Dada!" she squealed, chubby fists tangling themselves in his dark locks, which framed his pale, smiling face. Cordelia Valentine smiled, greeting her boyfriend affectionately with a soft kiss.
Jules had been their happy little accident, a little while after they'd graduated from Hogwarts, and it amazed the couple every day how much their lives had been bettered. In a world of dark uncertainty, especially concerning the Potters, she was a bright, happy, blessing.
"Is my little sweetpea ready to go get some sweets?" Sirius asked, Jules nodding eagerly.
"Sweets! Sweets!" she screeched, thumping her legs against Sirius' hip as he wiped her mother's lipstick off her cheeks. Halloween was very much a muggle holiday, but Sirius thought it was something fun for the father and daughter to do. She was a ghost this year, draped in a little white sheet.
Cordelia saw the two out, standing in the doorway, watching as they descended the steps, and heading down the street. The woman had her hair piled into a bun at the nape of her neck, and it seemed oddly heavy today. She felt as if something bad was going to happen, and was unable to shake that feeling, though Sirius had paid no heed to her warning.
As Sirius held Jules on his hip and walked down the street, she happily sucked on a cherry lolly. Sirius' robes, he was ironically a wizard, were sticky from the toddlers messiness, and he shook his head at the thought of having to clean the girl off when they got home. Bath time was fun for her, and torture for the parents, because she never wanted to get out of the tub.
Her bag was full in an hour, and she was halfway through a bag of candy corn, all of Cordelia's warnings about too much sugar ignored. Sirius loved spoiling his little girl, for she was the center of his world. "Do you want to go home and take bath sweetpea?" He cooed, his thumb brushing her soft cheek.
She squealed, nodding and kicking her legs in excitement. "Let's make one last stop. Do you want to go see if uncle Wormtail is at his apartment? Or do you want to see uncle Moony?"
"Moony!" she squealed excitedly. "Uncle Moony promise me candy!"
Sirius chuckled, ducking into an alleyway and disapparating once he knew no one was watching him. Jules and Remus always had a special bond. He was her godfather, her godmother the recently deceased Marlene Mckinnon. They had been inconsolable when she had passed a few months back. They ended up outside Remus Lupin's country cottage, the moonless sky reassuring Sirius that he would still be there.
