Discoveries

Sirius Black had only once made this face before. It was when James Potter, his best friend, had decided to put a frog in his underwear during their first year at Hogwarts. As such, his expression was one of shock, surprise, and more than a little confusion.

"I have a what?" he asked the wrinkly old man in front of him.

"A daughter. Now Sirius, we're not exactly sure how this could have happened, but-" He looked up from the papers he had been looking through on his desk. Sirius Black had left the building. Unlike the usual wise and compassionate Albus Dumbledore people were used to seeing, the headmaster of Hogwarts was slamming his head against the desk. Some might say he was getting senile. Some would say that he had always been off his rocker. But the opinion we have gathered from psychiatric wards across the country is that Albus Dumbledore had made a mistake.

"What happened to you?" asked Remus Lupin, best surviving friend of Sirius Black.

"Dumbledore," replied Sirius, slurring heavily. He had been drinking for an hour at least before Remus found him. Apparently, finding out that you have a thirteen-year-old daughter is a bit much, although it can cause quite an addiction to alcohol.

"Sirius, is having a daughter really that bad?"

Sirius Black squinted at his friend.

"Dumbledore told me before I went looking for," Remus explained with a shrug. "Now what's so terrible about having a daughter?"

Sirius' mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he managed to come up with an answer. "This means I'm a parent."

"And?"

"Remus, you can be utterly clueless at times."

"Then explain it to me, O wise one."

"And you're not that good with sarcasm either."

"Sirius-"

"Be serious? Fine then." He sighed. "If I'm a parent, then I'll have to be a role model. And that means I won't be able to have fun anymore."

Remus' mouth hung open in the air. "That's it? You don't even care about how your daughter is going to feel about this whole thing? Sirius, we're not even sure who her mother is! And you're drowning your sorrows, because you'll have to act like an adult for once? That's pathetic." He stood up, putting on his cloak. "I'm sorry for the poor girl. You're a terrible father." With those last words, the werewolf strode out of the Three Broomsticks and into the falling snow outside.

And rather like Albus Dumbledore, Sirius was left to slam his head against the bar in front of him, causing many people to give him strange looks before returning to their alcohol-induced cheer.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl was sitting up in bed to allow an owl to come in from the cold. Untying the string on its leg, she opened the envelope she found there. Her eyes widened the further she read in the letter. And in the words of today's youth, she expressed her opinion: "Holy shit."