Susan let the cup fall from numb fingers, grey eyes wide in disbelief as the image of Sirius Black flashed on the screen of the television of the storefront. Her eyes were glued to the screen, a reporter's voice calling him a dangerous, escaped criminal who was likely armed and to be considered extremely dangerous. How had this happened? How could someone escape from Azkaban prison?

A hand tapped her on her shoulder, making her flinch back and turn. Her friend, Hermione, had looked concerned when she'd spilled her drink while they were walking down the busy shopping street. "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." her friend joked.

"S-something like that," Susan managed shakily, wringing her hands together to stop their shaking. "T-that man on the news, Sirius Black, he's a wizard." She said quietly, glancing around to make sure none of the non-magical people around hadn't heard her.

"What?" Hermione asked.

The redhead shuddered, her heart pounding in her chest. "H-he was, is, one of Y-you Know Who's top lieutenants. He betrayed the Potters a-and killed their friend, but they caught him, locked him up for life. Now, he's out."

"Susan, it's going to be alright. If it's so serious that the muggles are being warned, then they'll catch him no problem." Hermione assured her friend, giving her a reassuring hug.

The bracelet on her arm grew warm, a warning that her aunt was calling her home. Amelia had insisted that Susan wear the bracelet should anything happen that required Susan's immediate escape or if something serious happened. "Thank you for today, Hermione, but I really need to go. I'll owl you, when I can. I'm sorry." Susan apologized, returning the bushy-haired girl's hug.

Ducking into a lavatory, Susan looked around and, seeing nobody, she put her hand on the bracelet. Feeling the tug of magic, she let it flow into the bracelet, the runes glowing briefly as the enchantments activated, the portkey whisking her away in a rush of displaced air.

Susan stumbled, her foot catching on the rug of the reception hall. It had looked as though a battle had taken place, spellfire marks burned into walls and slash marks along other areas of upholstery and everything in general a great mess. "Auntie!" Susan shouted, running into the house, where two loud voices were raised against one another. "You stupid, foolish idiot! Thirteen years! You let this charade go on for thirteen years! I warned you!"

"What was I supposed to do, Amy? He betrayed them! He let them die! I wasn't going to sit by and let him get away!" the other voice, somewhat hoarse but indignant in his anger. "Don't think I didn't regret what happened?"

"That's supposed to make everything right again? Damn you and your stupid, Gryffindor pride, Black!" her aunt shouted and Susan's blood went cold. There was only one Black she knew of. Only one Black that mattered.

She acted. Bursting into the room, she fired a series of stinging hexes at his hands, forcing the man back. Amelia, thoroughly surprised, whirled on her as she entered. "You stay away from my aunt, you bastard!" Susan snarled, her wand glowing with the words of a spell already on her lips.

Black laughed, even while he was on the floor. "Are you going to kill me, Cassie?" he seemed to laugh, his arms spread as if daring her to take the shot.

"What did you call me? My name is Susan, you damn Death Eater!" she snarled, raising her wand to hex him again when her aunt finally stunned the man.

Her face was ashen. "Susan, I need to tell you something." her aunt said quietly, so out of character from her usual forceful personality that it drew Susan's attention from the prone form of the criminal in front of her to give her full attention. Her aunt was acting strangely, of that there was no question, but what had Black said? What had he called her? "Thirteen years ago, when You-Know-Who was defeated, there was a child."

"Harry Potter? Yes auntie, I know the stories." Susan rolled her eyes despite herself, regretting it when her aunt gave her a harsh glare that told her to keep quiet.

"Not that story, it is about the child of a man betrayed. Betrayed by someone he thought was his brother. Sirius Black's child." Amelia said quietly. "When my brother, Edgar, died. I told you that I took you in. The truth . . . well, the truth of the matter is that Susan Bones died with her parents that night. Murdered, by Antonin Dolohov."

Susan felt numb, her aunt had basically told her that she wasn't supposed to be alive. Was she mistaken? "I don't understand." Susan said carefully. "I'm Susan Bones, I'm alive."

"Yes, and no." Amelia conceded. "You must understand, Susan, that I never meant for this to happen. I would have wanted you to go about your life unburdened by your father's shame."

Bristling with rage, Susan glared at her aunt. "Shame?! My father was a great man, you told me so yourself. He was brave, he was an auror, on the neutral side of the Wizengamot. My mother was a healer, the most talented at Saint Mungo's. There was no shame in what he did!" Susan shouted, tears welling up as she shouted at her aunt. "Liar! What did Black do to you?!"

"Enough!" Amelia shouted. "Listen~"

"No! You listen! There was nothing shameful about my father! He was a good, honorable man!"

"Except he wasn't your father!" Amelia shouted, immediately closing her mouth in shock and looking down at Susan in horror as her eyes widened and she fled the room in tears, uncaring that Black was still passed out on the floor.

Susan slammed the door to her room shut, throwing herself onto her bed and casting a locking charm on the door, for all the good that would do. Tears that betrayed her fear, her anger, her confusion, rolled down her cheeks and stained the sheets beneath her. Her hands bunched in the sheets as she felt the burning in her chest lash out, and flinched as she heard wood crack as the wall groaned from the magic she was radiating.

Taking deep breaths, she clenched her teeth and forced herself to relax. Anger would get her nowhere, but her aunt, those words cut like knives. "Not my father," she muttered. "Who am I then?"

She knew, of course, but she refused to believe it, couldn't believe it. There was no way that slimy Death Eater was her father, even if he was, there was not a snowball's chance in hell that she would accept him. Why had her aunt listened to him? Was Amelia even her aunt? Nothing made sense anymore, she thought angrily. Why did that man have to break out of prison and make her aunt say these things?

She heard a soft knock on the door. "Go away!" Susan snarled, the venom in her tone surprising even her. "Leave me alone." she said, quieter.

"Susan Cassandra Bones, you unlock this door and stop acting like a child!" her aunt snapped back, hearing the argument with another voice, probably Black again. What was he still doing here? Amelia should just drag him back to Azkaban screaming. It's what the traitor deserved, after all, recalling Hermione's whispered theories of Harry Potter's home life. It sickened her, to think that he was being mistreated by his relatives, his family.

"Come right in then, it's not like I can stop you." Susan groused, waiting for the inevitable click as her aunt overrode the spells she cast on her door.

Her aunt, with something between anger and frustration in her eyes, swept into the room. The anger had died somewhat, replaced with a tinge of regret. "Susan, I . . . shouldn't have said what I said, but you need to know the truth and you need to know it now." Amelia sighed.

Black followed in, walking with a nervous, almost fearful mixed with apprehension and awkwardness. "Cassie, I'm sorry." Black murmured, afraid to approach.

"Stop calling me that, I'm Susan!" Susan replied hotly, glaring at the man while Amelia looked somewhat amused at the man's expression. "Why is he still here, he's a Death Eater, just stun him and drag him back to Azkaban already."

Amelia looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking her head. "Unfortunately, he'd need to actually be guilty about something apart from breaking out of Azkaban to be tossed back in there." she said.

"What do you mean? He was tried guilty for everything! He's a Death Eater!" Susan argued, ignoring the wounded expression on the man's face as she accused him. "He can't be trusted."

"Except he isn't a Death Eater, and he wasn't tried!" Amelia countered. "Will you please keep quiet long enough for me to tell my story?" Amelia smirked at Susan's embarrassed expression. "I suppose I should start from the beginning."

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling and anybody she's sold the rights to do. I just want to play in the sandbox that is the world of Harry Potter . . . Please don't sue me, I'm poor.

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking around for the past few years and I've decided to try my hand at the, admittedly, heavily written section that is the Harry Potter fandom. I just felt that it was time that I gave a little back to the fandom.

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