hello! i decided to delve into the world of HP since this brainchild of mine would just. NOT. LEAVE. ME. E.

so here you have it, the Sirius-had-a-daughter fic nobody asked for but i wrote anyways!

hope you enjoy!

Tessa Black stared at the woman in front of her in blatant suspicion.

Years of living in an overcrowded orphanage on the outskirts of London have taught her to be wary of adults, regardless how harmless they seemed or promised to be. Her suspicious nature may have been the reason why she was one of the longest occupants of the orphanage, most potential parents being put off by her lack of trust in them and others. But that same lack of trust was how Tessa could confidently sneak out of the orphanage and roam one of the worst boroughs around London and still come back in one piece every time, so she reasoned that the pros and cons balanced each other out.

But, back to the matter at hand, she made no move to get closer to the woman standing in front of Miss Trayte. She wasn't buying the woman's meant-to-be-reassuring "I'm not here to hurt you, child." in the slightest – in her experience, anyone who felt the need to reassure her that they weren't going to hurt her was fully aware that they could hurt her, and she wasn't about to take that chance.

As such, she backed away from the strange woman, walking backwards into her room all the while keeping her back to the window and never taking her eyes off the unexpected visitor. There was something simply not right about her and years of navigating the streets of outer London and the precarious throngs of the orphanage's popularity ladder had taught her to trust her first impressions.

But then, some people just didn't share her concerns.

"Theresa, for god's sake, behave." Ms Trayte, the orphanage warden and the only adult who wasn't openly malicious towards the children chastised her, blowing out an exasperated sigh and glaring at her over the newcomer's shoulder. Tessa could admit to having a soft spot in her heart for the woman, and as such she shot her a cheeky grin and a wink, but did not straighten from her slight crouch nor make any inclination to move towards the weird woman.

(there was a flicker of something in the newcomer's eyes when she saw Tessa's grin - was it grief? surprise? regret? - as if it triggered by an unpleasant memory)

"Ms Trayte, I think it would be best if Miss Black and I had a chance to talk alone." the (strangeweirdthreat-!) lady suggested, turning to the warden, and Tessa mutely shook her head, widening her eyes and trying to wordlessly convey 'no! don't leave me alone with her!' when Ms Trayte's eyes met hers. There was a flicker of movement from the mysterious woman, just the slightest twitch of her sleeve, and then Ms Trayte's eyes glazed over and her worried frown smoothed out and she nodded.

"Of course." she acquiesced, her voice sounding flat. (alien). "I shall make sure you're not interrupted."

And then she walked out and shut the door behind her, leaving Tessa alone with the strange woman. The alarm bells that had been going off in her head since the knock on her door reached a tense crescendo.

"What did you do to her?" she demanded, fear levelling off into a steady calm that she did not feel, but it made her words come out strong and her voice stay level. This was nothing like how it was with the bullies in the orphanage or the drunkards on the streets, she realised, growing worried. Bullies she could deal with; this was completely out of her comfort zone.

(the fact that this strange, mysterious woman who wore robes and a pointed hat and seemed to be able to sway the most headstrong woman she had ever met with nary a glance was completely outside of what Tessa had to deal with before was something she chose not to dwell on.)

(the fact of the matter was had no fucking clue how to deal with her).

"I did nothing. Have a seat, Miss Black." the woman replied stoically, gesturing at Tessa's own bed.

The teen's eyes narrowed as she felt her irritation rising. "I think you'll find that you're in my space and thus in no place to be ordering me. I'll do what I please, Ms...?" she trailed off, aware that she was being plain rude, but hereyes were cataloguing the woman's reaction to her defiance. (another twitch, another near wince? as if Tessa's actions reminded her of something, maybe somebody...)

"McGonagall. Professor McGonagall, actually, Miss Black." came the frosty response.

"'Professor'?" Tessa parroted, an unimpressed eyebrow hiking up. "Well, where do you profess at, Professor?" she sniped sarcastically, getting a twisted feeling of amusement from trying to provoke a reaction.

(it might've been her imagination but it seemed as if Professor McGonagall ground her teeth together like some of the orphanage's wardens tended to when they were just about to snap. Tessa counted it as a personal victory.)

"Hogwarts." McGonagall stated simply, back to the annoyingly level drone, producing an envelope from thin air. "Which brings me onto the reason for my presence here; this is for you." she held out the envelope, clearly expecting Tessa to take it, but the girl eyed her suspiciously, making no move towards her.

"I've lived in this place for a decade, Professor." she stated simply, the title spoken almost as an insult. "And in all my years here, I have never received a single letter, postcard, nor bill. The only people I know outside of this orphanage are a barman and a librarian, neither of whom have any reason for writing me letters. So excuse me for being a bit sceptical."

(it took every ounce of McGonagall's considerable willpower to keep her face blank and her arm outstretched. such bitterness in someone so young...)

"It is a letter of acceptance to my school, Miss Black. It would do you well to familiarise yourself with its contents." she advised, only countless years of dealing with insolence helping her keep her voice even.

But the girl remained firmly in place, her eyes trained steadily on the older woman's. Then, a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, and before McGonagall's very eyes, the envelope slid out of her hand and floated gently over to the teen whose gaze never left her own. Like a challenge, McGonagall realised, a challenge meant to unsettle her.

(a voice in her head whispered that the girl's father had always liked challenges, that same grey-eyed gaze always bore into McGonagall's whenever something went wrong at school, whenever there was a prank but they had no proof-!)

McGonagall watched as the girl (the last of the Black line, her old student's daughter, the murderer's daughter-!) shook the envelope, pressed it to her ear, then flattened it against the desk with her palm before - after apparently deeming it 'safe' - she finally moved to open it. Tessa tore the envelope delicately, with a hint of the aristocracy she didn't even know she belonged to and pulled out the letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Tessa raised her eyes from the letter to meet the expectant gaze of McGonagall.

Then, she burst out laughing.

(McGonagall watched the girl laugh, the most uninhibited behaviour she'd shown since they met, watched that familiar bark of laughter and thrown back head and briefly wondered how a child who'd never met her father could be so much like him-!)

When Tessa calmed down, she flipped onto the next page, the corner of her lips permanently twisted upwards as if she were in on some inside joke. The only difference being that this time, she insisted on reading out loud.

McGonagall readied herself for another bout of mocking laughter when the girl was done, but it did not come. Instead, there was a contemplative, calculating look in the girl's steel-grey eyes as she mouthed a certain word over and over.

Magic.

"You're telling me that this," she began, sweeping an arm around the room: as if on cue, all the papers that were scattered on a small table rose and sorted themselves into a small pile in the corner of the room "is magic."

(McGonagall resolutely did not think what this meant. The girl's father murdered thirteen people with one spell it's no surprise that-!)

She cleared her throat. "Yes. We call it 'Accidental Magic' - all witches and wizards before the age of eleven experience it before they attend school and learn to control it." McGonagall paused, eyes flickering to the pile in the corner.

She expected gloating, or a self-satisfied smirk, or hooded eyes which told her that the girl figured out she was special because what she had shown was very much intentional.

Instead, what McGonagall got was a frown and a curled lip as the girl seemed to mull something over.

Finally, she set the letter down.

"I don't believe you."

McGonagall blinked, then frowned. "What, exactly, do you find hard to come to grips with?"

And suddenly, grey eyes rose to meet hers and McGonagall was momentarily thrown by the intelligence in them. "I find it hard to believe that there's an entire school of Wizards somewhere in England and that it somehow isn't common knowledge. If what you say is true and there are young children parading around displaying their powers for all to see. It begs to question how the existence of wizards isn't more commonly known."

McGonagall took a moment to piece together an answer. "There are enchantments. The school is in Scotland and there are ancient charms on it which make it invisible to muggles - that is, to non-magical people. As for children with magical potential, they normally come from families where at least one parent is a wizard. For those who are completely muggleborn, or those in unusual circumstances, a representative from the school comes to explain everything on the child's eleventh birthday. Which is why I am here today."

The girl's eyes glittered, amused, clearly not missing the fact that McGonagall had evaded her main question. Minerva closed her eyes and counted to ten before she resigned herself to answering. "If muggles see something they shouldn't, their memory is... wiped, and a completely innocuous suggestion is planted in the place of the event they thought they witnessed. There is a department within the Ministry of Magic that deals exclusively with those situations."

Tessa's eyes were wide when McGonagall glanced at her, but they quickly narrowed, turning cold, suspicious.

"That's what you did to Ms Trayte." She declared, not an ounce of hesitation in her words. "You used that and you convinced her to leave me here, alone with you."

McGonagall didn't splutter, but it was a close call. "You should not-!"

But Tessa didn't let her finish, the weight of her gaze seeming to pin McGonagall in place. "I have known Ms Trayte for a decade, professor. She is the only adult here to ever give a rat's ass about the children, and is therefore the only one of the wards whom I actively respect. She would not leave me here with a stranger out of her own volition, she knows better than that." Then, the girl paused and grinned again, and for the first time McGonagall realised how fake that expression was. "So, let's try again; did you, or did you not, plant a suggestion in Ms Trayte to leave me alone with you?"

Minerva blinked, resisted a wince, and resigned herself to surrendering for the second time since meeting the girl. She'd come across this particular brand of questioning before, the very same grey eyes, the very same indignation and the very same gaze which promised all sorts of hell should it be denied. And she'd learnt long ago that the easiest thing to do was-

("Professor McGonagall, where's Remus?"

"Mr Lupin is visiting his father, Mr Black, and I'm sure he'd appreciate if you left him to it."

"Ah, that is good to know, professor. It's just… I was under the impression that Moony's old man died two years ago. It's peculiar he still visits him. If I were so inclined, I'd say that it seems more like he disappears every full moon… I was wondering if you knew where to."

Minerva closed her eyes-)

-to give in.

McGonagall took a deep breath.

"Ms Trayte is under the impression that I'm going to take you away to a boarding school for the Gifted and Talented children up in Strathclyde. She knows it's an honour and it would be impolite of her to resist your leaving."

The look in the girl's eyes was viciously victorious, and one McGonagall was achingly familiar with.

(-and when she opened them, it was with the words, "Mr Lupin is in the hospital wing. You may see him if Madame Pomfrey permits it."
With his grey eyes glinting victoriously while a smirk pulled at the corner of his lips, Sirius Black curtseyed, murmuring a snarky "Thank you, professor.")

"Thank you, professor." Tessa murmured, her eyes glittering and a smirk on her face. Then, she glanced back at the letter still clutched in her hand. "Though I must say, I did not think I could acquire all these things in London." She confessed.

McGonagall schooled her features back into their practiced professionalism as she replied. "You won't, at least not in the muggle shops. There is a pub, the Leaky Cauldron, that is a gateway between the muggle world and our world – the owner, Tom, will show it to you the first time you come through."

There was an amused glint in the girl's eyes. "You seem awfully certain that I will come through. What if I choose to reject this part of me? I'm still not convinced this isn't some elaborate practical joke."

Minerva nodded, deciding it was a fair question. "If you choose not to accept your magical heritage, that will be your choice, but the Ministry will require you to swear that you keep the secret of our existence and never use magic again." She admitted, frowning at the silence that befell them as Tessa studied the letter in her hand, still trying to decide.

Finally, she took a deep breath and frowned up at McGonagall. "I do not feel comfortable entering a world, a society which I know next to nothing about. Will there be any places for me to… fill in the blanks?" she asked, and McGonagall did a slight double-take. She had been certain the girl was going to refuse.

"There are books you could purchase up in Diagon Alley which will quickly bring you up to speed on our history if that is what you need, or you can pursue our rather extensive library at Hogwarts once the term starts."

Tessa took another deep breath, held it for a few seconds and slowly let it out in a quiet whoosh. She dropped the letter onto her desk and faced McGonagall with a steely resolve glimmering in her eyes. "Alright. I'm going to do this." She declared, and Minerva allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Then, she wasted no time in giving the girl instructions on how to get to the Leaky Cauldron, which shops she should visit, how to withdraw money from Gringott's (she handed over the key to the Blacks' vault) and how to get to Platform 9 ¾ on the first of September. The girl listened attentively, nodding every once in a while, asking questions when she needed clarifications and evidently committing everything to memory in a way that assured Minerva that the girl had the potential to become an excellent student.

When McGonagall was finally finished, Tessa nodded. "Alright. Thanks, professor. Is there anything else you feel like I should know?"

This was the part that Minerva dreaded the most.

"There are three people you should know of. First: there was a wizard, He Who Must Not Be Named, who waged war on our world for over a decade before you were born. He and his followers killed too many to count when he was in power and his accomplices were not fully known until after he fell. Then, there is a boy your age, Harry Potter, who is credited with vanquishing him when he was a toddler." Tessa could not quite stifle her snort – what sort of drugs were wizards on if they thought a baby was capable of vanquishing a mass-murderer? Some of her thoughts must have showed on her face as McGonagall's expression became stern. "Whether you 'believe' it or not is irrelevant – fact of the matter is that when You-Know-Who went to kill Harry Potter, he was never seen nor heard from again, his reign of terror ended and Harry survived." Tessa held up her hands in the universal surrender gesture and nodded at McGonagall to continue. "The third… was a student of mine. Sirius Black." Minerva barrelled on even when the girl froze at the name. "He was a brilliant boy, we were glad to have him and his friends on our side of the war, until… until after He Who Must Not Be Named was defeated and Black killed his friend and thirteen muggles in one go. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban – a wizard prison – only what most didn't know was that he was leaving behind…" McGonagall paused, cleared her throat, and forced herself to meet the girl's enraptured but guarded gaze. "what they didn't know was that he was leaving behind his one year old daughter."

Tessa backpedalled, jumping away from McGonagall and landing on her bed, where she scrambled upright and stared at Minerva with pleading, disbelieving eyes. "Professor, please tell me-!"

Minerva shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Miss Black. But the fact remains that Sirius Black was, and to this day remains your father."

and there we have it! the first chapter! the next one should be out in less than a week ~

as always, tell me what you thought!