Chapter One:

A Rude Awakening

Tuesday, July 27th, 1993,

USA, New York, Manhattan, Freyja Morrigan's apartment,

Remus J. Lupin,

Remus couldn't sleep. He'd been tossing and turning for hours now. He'd gone to check on Kali and Pan twice, he'd made tea, burnt his tongue on the first sip and poured the rest of it down the drain. He was restless, and he couldn't figure out why. The full moon wasn't for another week, and he hadn't gotten this jittery before a full since he was a teenager. Even then the nervousness had only crept up on him a couple of days before, not an entire week. It felt different from his usual moon jitters, unrelated even, but that meant that some deep-seated instinct was warning him that something else was wrong, and he couldn't figure out what.

He'd called Kali's step-grandfather in Hawaii, but everyone was fine there; he'd checked in with her maternal grandparents in Israel; her great-grandmother in Norway; her great-aunt in Argentina; he'd even rung his own father in Wales, but other than some complaints over the early wake up there was nothing amiss to report. All was well. So why did Remus feel like he was about to jump out of his own skin?

He thought for a second whether it might have something to do with Kali's father, whether the nervousness was not Remus's own, but was being transmitted to him through the primal bond, that was more animal than human, and which connected him to a man he hadn't seen in twelve years. He wanted to dismiss that idea. The link had been quiet for over a decade, and even if it was choosing this moment to wake up again, there was an entire ocean separating them. It wasn't possible.

Remus shook off the dread that formed in the pit of his stomach when a small voice inside his head asked a question he'd rather have ignored: but what if it was possible? Because if it was, and if it was the cause of this restlessness, then it meant something bad was coming, something that would sweep into Remus's and Kali's lives and send everything into shambles.

He went to go check on Kali again, but stopped himself. The last thing he wanted was to wake her and infect her with his worrying. He headed to his bedroom instead, and got back into bed, hoping his mind would slow down long enough to let him get some sleep.

He woke up to the sound of loud banging. His sleep deprived mind struggled to free itself from the pleasant fog of slumber, but a loud crash and Kali shouting his name had him vaulting out of bed, grabbing his wand from the nightstand, and sprinting into the living room before his brain had the chance to process the information.

Eight men stood in the large, open living room, their wands pointed at Remus, Kali, and Pan – who'd taken on the shape of a large dog for the occasion. His brain registered the threat and instinct demanded that he react, but thankfully common sense won out, and he took in a more detailed view of the men in front of him. The remains of the front door sat in a pile of splinters at Kali's feet and blood trickled down from her cheek where one of the pieces had hit her. That alone had him gripping his wand tighter. But one other detail overrode his impulse to attack: the intruders were wearing Auror robes.

"Where is Sirius Black?" one of the men demanded.

Remus flinched upon hearing his name and struggled to lower his wand and appear non-threatening. On the one hand, Aurors were the good guys, on the other they'd broken into his home and hurt his god-daughter.

"In a prison cell in Azkaban," Remus answered, finally managing to point his wand away from the intruders, although his grip didn't lessen.

"He escaped earlier today," said the man. "We suspect you may be harbouring him."

Remus's mind whirred as he felt his reality slip away from him. It couldn't be.

"That isn't possible," he said quietly. "No one can escape from Azkaban, not even him."

"Well he managed it somehow," the man snapped, and Kali slipped her hand into Remus's as Pan growled too softly for the Aurors to hear. "Now where is he?"

"Not here," said Remus, struggling to keep the growl out of his own voice, and squeezing Kali's hand reassuringly.

"We know you're hiding him," said another of the men.

"You don't, though," said Remus. "You only suspect it, but you have no proof."

"She's all the proof we need," said the second man, jabbing his wand in Kali's direction. Pan's growl was definitely audible now, but the men ignored it. "She's the closest family he has left. If he's going anywhere, he's coming here."

"To the first place he knew you'd look?" said Remus. "Sirius Black is a lot of things, but he's not without intelligence. He won't come here."

"He has nowhere else to go," sneered one of the men.

"Even so, I can't imagine Azkaban left him in the best of shape, and you think he could somehow manage to make the trip all the way from there to here without being spotted. If so your investigative work needs improving."

"He escaped didn't he? Who knows what he's capable of?"

"He's not here," Remus said slowly, forcing the words out passed the pit of anger in his stomach.

The first man took a menacing step toward them. "If you don't tell us where he is, right now, then you'll be charged with obstruction of justice, and you and the kid will be under arrest, and you'll enjoy a nice stay in that psychopath's old cell at Azkaban while we hunt the murderous bastard down, then he'll join you there."

Remus held back a roar of outrage as fury thundered through him. It was enough to pique his darker side's interest, and he felt the wolf emerging from the depths of his body. A small part of him tried to stop it, knowing that if he let go of his control this could only end in blood. But he couldn't let them go after Kali. He couldn't. The raging battle within him ground to a halt, however, when a soft voice penetrated the clamour in his head.

"Do not threaten us," said Kali forcefully, drawing all the Aurors attention to her. "You have no right."

"Your father murdered thirteen people, girlie, and now he's on the loose," one of them spat, "we have every right."

Kali took a step toward them and stared each of them down in turn. It didn't matter that she was only thirteen, or that everyone else in the room was at least half a head taller than her, that she was wandless and wearing flowery pyjamas, she stood with confidence and control, and a glare that could melt steel. It was enough to make the Aurors stand straighter, grip their wands tighter, and take a hesitant step away from her.

"You are on American soil, any action you wish to see through must first be approved by the Magical Congress of the United States of America, unless you're willing to cause an international incident," she said calmly. "Until you get the proper approval, you may leave and not come back. You may also expect that we will be suing the Auror Division of your Ministry of Magic for damages, injuries, and plain rudeness. Now leave."

The Aurors stared at her, their mouths hanging open in shock and disbelief. Remus doubted they'd ever been spoken to like that before, let alone by a child. Some of them snapped themselves out of their stupor and cast nervous glances to their leader, awaiting orders, but he was at as much of a loss as they were.

"Get out," Kali said when they still hadn't reacted after a couple of minutes, her voice low and calm. Her tone, not one to be argued with, and they didn't.

The leader muttered something incomprehensible about being back soon, and they left, shuffling awkwardly through the broken door, and leaving Remus, Kali, and Pan alone.

With a flick of his wand, Remus fixed the door and stood staring at it for awhile. The restlessness that had been plaguing him had been coming from Sirius after all. He'd found a way out; he'd escaped from an inescapable prison, and in doing so he'd put Kali at risk. Remus closed his fist against a new onslaught of anger. After what Sirius Black had done to them, how dare he barge into their lives again. Remus hoped that murderous bastard would get caught before he could cause anymore damage, before he could ruin Kali's life like he'd ruined his own.

Kali…

He turned to find that she hadn't moved. Her gaze was far off as she ran her fingers through Pan's fur. They were having a conversation, a telepathic one that only they could be a part of. Remus had learned to read the signs, to recognize when Kali was not withdrawing into long, drawn out silences, but was in fact in the middle of a mental sparring match with her familiar. Remus went to make tea, knowing full well none of them would be going back to bed tonight, and he kept an eye on Kali as she finished up her conversation with Pan, and they joined him in the kitchen.

"What do you think we should do?" she asked as she sat at the counter and thanked Remus for the steaming mug he handed her.

"About what, sweetheart?" he asked, but a gut-wrenching feeling told him he already knew.

"About Dad," she said, confirming his suspicions.

Ever since Sirius had gotten himself locked up when Kali was barely a year and a half old, Remus had been trying to convince her to stop calling that madman 'Dad', he was undeserving of the title, and Kali didn't need the weight of being related to such a man on her shoulders. But she was stubborn, and still blindly loyal to a man she could barely remember.

"Nothing," he said, staring into his tea cup.

"We can't just leave him," she said.

Remus shook his head, but he couldn't look up at her. "There's nothing we can do for him."

"Not if we don't try, there isn't.".

Remus bit his tongue to keep the anger in. There were very few things that he and Kali argued about, but Sirius Black was one of them. The mere thought of him was too painful for Remus, and the fact that every time he was brought up, Kali insisted he was innocent of the crimes he'd committed, had caused more than one shouting match.

"He killed people, Kali."

"You don't know that."

"I do."

"Were you there?"

"There were witnesses."

"Muggle witnesses," she said. "Eyewitness accounts aren't reliable at the best of times. What someone sees and what they remember is not the same thing. Memory accuracy is influenced by various factors including stress and panic and world view. When Muggles witness magic, their minds distort what they see, because they don't understand it. You cannot condemn a man based solely on what other people thought they saw."

It was a capricious and spiteful force of nature that had allowed for Asherah Morrigan's intelligence and Sirius Black's articulacy to exist together in a single human being, making her nearly impossible to argue with.

"He was the only person who knew where Lily and James were hiding, he was the only one who could have sold them out."

"How sure are you that he was the only one who knew?"

"Kali -"

"Making Dad the Secret Keeper wouldn't have made sense. He was the obvious choice. Too obvious. And if Lily and James were half as smart as you say they were, they would have picked someone else."

"Who? If not Sirius then who?"

"The person who set Dad off in such a rage that he dropped everything and went to confront him out in the open for all to see. The person no one would suspect."

Remus had to take a minute to plan out his next move. This argument always went down the same way, it was predictable because everything had been said a thousand times before. But this was new. Kali had never before given him a concrete answer to the question of who else could have betrayed Lily and James. Now, though, she did, and she said it with the same stubborn confidence she said everything else with.

"You think it was Peter?" Remus asked, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"I think it's awfully convenient that he disappeared that day."

"He didn't disappear, Kali, he died. Sirius killed him as well as twelve other people."

"You can't just assume he's dead because the Aurors found one of his fingers. It isn't conclusive. All things considered, the fact that they found one finger and immediately closed the investigation, declared him dead, and concluded that the only possible explanation as to why they only found a single finger was that he was killed so hard that the rest of him was obliterated speaks volumes about why it is common knowledge that the British Ministry of Magic is useless."

Remus scoffed. "He laughed! He killed all those people, and he laughed. He was still laughing when the Aurors took him away."

"His life had just fallen to pieces. What else was he supposed to do to not shatter?"

"I don't understand how you can trust him, you don't even know him."

"I don't need to trust him. I trust you, and I trust that even back when you were at school you were smart enough to love the right people," she said, her eyes blazing.

Remus shook his head quickly; he did not want to get into his feelings, past or present, for Sirius Black. "I've made mistakes, trusting him was one of them."

"Mum trusted him, too," she said hotly, and Remus drank down a mouthful of scalding hot tea to avoid saying anything rash that he would later regret.

He owed a lot to Asherah Morrigan. She was there for him when his entire world fell apart, she'd kicked his arse back to health and happiness with all the bedside manner of an angry bear, she'd welcomed him with open arms into her family, and she'd given him a reason to get up in the morning. Now that reason was sitting on the other side of the kitchen island, glaring at him with vivid grey eyes that were so much brighter than her father's, but filled with the same temper and bullheadedness that had gotten Sirius into so much trouble during his time at school and after.

"What would you have me do?" he asked weakly. He'd never been able to talk Sirius out of any of his mad schemes either.

Finally, a hint of uncertainty broke through her brashness. She wanted to help, but she had no idea how. "We could go to the U.K. with Gran. She could get in touch with some of her contacts there."

"And then what?" He might not be able to talk her out of this, but he could make her realize how futile it was to try to save a man who could not be saved. "Everyone knows he's guilty. Not even your Gran can convince them to help him."

She looked down at her full mug of tea, lips pressed together in a pout so heartbreaking that he wanted to take it all back.

"He at least deserves a trial," she said, so softly he barely heard. "You might hate him, but you can't deny that."

He couldn't argue with her, not if he didn't want to see that hurt, reproachful look in her eyes that was worse than all her shouting and snapping ever could be.

"Go get dressed, I'll call Freyja."

She didn't say anything more, didn't nod or smile at him for giving in, but she did do as she was told, Pan trailing after her, and Remus poured himself something stronger than tea.

Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban. The words played in his head like a cruel, taunting litany.

No one had ever escaped from Azkaban before, and for good reason: it was an impossible feat. The prison sat atop a small, rocky island in the middle of the North Sea, it was warded with more charms and curses than any other place in Europe, and guarded by the most dreaded creatures on the planet. It was a fortress, yet that man had somehow gotten out, and Remus dreaded to think what he might do with his newfound freedom.

He used the office phone to call Freyja; it was a far faster and more efficient method of communication than sending an owl. It rang through three times before she picked up, sounding snappish and ill-tempered.

"You'd better have a damn fine reason for calling me at this hour."

"Sirius escaped from Azkaban," he said. "Aurors came by the apartment a few minutes ago, they thought we might be hiding him."

"Remus?" she said uncertainly, but who else would it be? "Is Kali alright?"

"She's a little shaken."

A short pause as though she was wondering whether or not to ask. "And you?"

"I'll live," he said shortly. "She wants to help him."

"He is her father."

"Barely." He couldn't stop the growl that crept into his voice. "After what he did to us, he doesn't deserve our help."

Freyja sighed through the receiver. "Give me ten minutes and I'll Floo over, we can discuss it then." She hung up without waiting for his agreement, and Remus downed the rest of his whiskey in one.

Kali was rummaging around in the fridge, and she must still have been upset with him because she didn't acknowledge him as he walked through the living area to his room. He almost stopped, but he didn't know what to say, her temper was such a delicate thing, he stood more chance of making things worse than he did of making them better. So he ducked his head and said nothing as he shuffled away.

Kali had been a very easy child to raise. She was respectful, kind, self-sufficient, and very mature. Yes, she'd gotten into her fair share of trouble, but she was so disarmingly charming that, most of the time, she'd gotten away with it. However, there were certain difficulties in living with a child that was smarter than average: she questioned everything; she was incapable of holding her tongue, and every argument felt like a court case against the best attorney in town. It had only gotten worse when Kali had found Pan, and he'd chosen her, and their minds had melded together, because suddenly she'd had two recipients into which she could pour her knowledge and power. She'd gotten smarter, more independent, more streetwise, and Remus hadn't had a hope of keeping up. It had been easier back when it had been three against two, when Asherah and her boyfriend, Nahele, had still been in the picture, at least then Remus had known he'd had backup. Now he was alone. He'd never imagined himself as a single parent, hell, with his condition he hadn't planned on being a parent, full stop. But he wouldn't have given up Kali for the world, even if she did insist on loving a murderer.

Remus had barely finished getting dressed when he heard the roar of flames, followed by the sharp slap of stiletto heels on the marble floor. The apartment's Floo connection could only be used by a handful of people as neither Freyja nor Remus appreciated unexpected visitors, but even if that had not been the case, he would have recognized that purposeful march anywhere.

Freyja stood next to the fireplace, talking lowly with Kali. She was a formidable-looking woman: statuesque and handsome, exuding poise, dignity, and strength in droves. She was sixty-eight, but ageless, capable of passing for someone twenty years younger due to a combination of magical longevity, great genes, and healthy living. She held her head high and stood with the same confidence Kali had inherited, her dark eyes were insistent, and perceptive, and capable of piercing your very soul. She was intimidating, to say the least.

She didn't smile at him as he approached, she didn't move to hug him or even shake his hand, a curt nod was all he got from her and he expected nothing more. Freyja's love had always been cool and distant, but it was still far more pleasant than her indifference which was glacial and unforgiving.

"I'll schedule for the jet to take us to London in a few days," she said without preamble. "We'll be able to do more for him there than we can here."

"Kali, could you go to your room for a bit, please?" he asked, earning him a glare. Only very rarely had Kali been asked to leave the room to let the adults talk. Asherah's philosophy had been that a child could not be expected to act like an adult if they were not treated like one. So Kali had been included in every conversation, in every debate, and in every argument. But this was one exchange that Remus felt Kali was better off not being a part of.

She didn't argue which was a surprise, but if she already had Freyja on her side, then her presence wasn't absolutely necessary and she knew it. Remus made sure that Pan left with her, before focussing back on Freyja.

"We can't go to London," he said.

"Why is that?" she asked, sitting down on the leather couch, and indicating that he take the armchair across from her.

"Because it will get her hopes up," he said as he sat.

"If we do nothing she'll never forgive us," she argued. "She's a bright girl. We'll explain beforehand that the chances of a favourable result are slim, but even so we will do everything within our power to ensure that he at least gets a fair trial."

Remus scoffed. There was that talk of a trial again.

The reason Sirius hadn't gotten one in the first place was because the evidence against him was so plenty and so irrefutable it would have been a waste of everyone's time. Even Albus Dumbledore, who was well-known for giving people second chance, had believed that Sirius was guilty beyond any and all doubt. The British Ministry wasn't about to hold a trial now, nearly twelve years after the crime was committed, and certainly not following the accused convict's Houdini act out of Azkaban. Unless someone found compelling evidence, there would be no trial, and all the people who could have proved his innocence were long dead: James, Lily, Peter…

"Kali thinks it was Peter who betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort." He wasn't sure why he said it. Perhaps he needed someone to tell him how mad that sounded, or maybe he wanted the exact opposite.

Freyja didn't respond straight away, she mulled the possibility over in her head thoughtfully first.

"He does make for a far more probable suspect," she said dispassionately. "I must say, I never quite believed that Sirius had it in him to betray James. Or you for that matter. He struck me as far too loyal."

"But he did betray us. He sold James out to Voldemort, and he left me…" His voice caught, and he had to swallow hard to keep it steady. "He killed Peter and all those Muggles. He deserves to be in Azkaban."

Freyja regarded him, and only years of practice allowed him to not squirm under her appraisal. "Is it really so unthinkable that Peter was the spy?"

"Peter's dead," he snapped. She raised one thin eyebrow at him, but didn't jinx him or curse him for his disrespectful tone which was an indication of how much she liked him.

"Never count someone as dead unless you have the body right in front of you," she said evenly.

"This isn't a TV show, people don't die and come back for dramatic effect," he said, fighting to keep his voice calm. "No one could have survived that explosion."

"Don't you find it convenient that just enough of Peter was left behind to identify him?" she mused. "Odd, really, how the explosion was so violent that it tore every cell in his body apart, but left that one finger completely intact."

"Why do you want Peter to be guilty so badly?"

"Why would you rather it be Sirius?" she asked back, and he forced his jaw shut and looked away.

Sirius was guilty. He had to be. No matter what Freyja and Kali thought, no matter what Asherah and Nahele had thought, their convictions and persuasiveness could not change the facts. Remus had loved a killer. Sirius had fooled them all, but he'd fooled Remus the most; he'd pretended to love him and he'd made Remus love him back. Their relationship hadn't been perfect, but that was what had made it feel so real. It hadn't been real, though, just another lie, one of Sirius's sick fabrications to get them all to trust him, to love him… Remus had fallen for it. He'd been blind to the signs, and that made him just as much to blame for the deaths of Lily, James, and Peter as Sirius was.

Freyja stood up and smoothed out the creases in her pencil skirt. "I will get my affairs in order, and Kali and I will leave for London in four days. You are welcome to join us if you wish."

"How long will you be gone?" he asked, rubbing his face. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, if he got the flat to himself for a couple of weeks, he could finish his paper on how Lethifolds interact with Dementors and what the best countermeasures were against both creatures.

Freyja had other plans, though. "However long it takes."

Remus's head snapped up to look at her. "Kali has to be back at school in September." He wouldn't put it past Freyja to forget about something as trivial as her granddaughter's education.

"I'm sure Hogwarts' curriculum can keep her occupied for a year," she said, heading toward her bedroom.

Remus leapt to his feet and vaulted over the couch into her path. "You're taking her away from me?"

She wasn't the least bit bothered by his sudden show of athleticism. "Like I said, you're welcome to join us. In fact, I believe Hogwarts is looking for a new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. If you're interested."

She sidestepped around him, leaving him rooted to the spot.

Freyja may not be deliberately cruel to those whose company she enjoyed, but it had never stopped her from getting her way. Every. Single. Time. Just once he'd like to outmanoeuvre her, just to see how she'd react. But he couldn't risk it this time, not with Kali so involved.

He sighed and went to break the news to Kali and Pan, knowing he was in for one hell of a year