A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. So this story is a future fic that accompanies my chaptered story, Sweet Child of Mine: The Story of Annie Black. It takes place a year after the Battle of Hogwarts. Sirius and Lydia are married and Annie plays professional quidditch. This is a story that I've had written for a while and I'm putting this up to hold you guys over as I work on the next chapter of Sweet Child of Mine. I haven't been able to write much over the past few months with all of my schoolwork piling up, but since I've graduated I have more time to write. I hope you like what the future has in store for Annie! Happy reading! XO
Like Father, Like Daughter
Annie was called forward and the bars slid apart. She was escorted down a short corridor, handcuffs around her wrist and a policeman's tight grip on her bicep. She was led to a desk where a phone sat.
"You've got one phone call," the policeman instructed gruffly as he handed her the phone and leaned up against the desk. "Make it count."
Annie nodded and started to dial the only number she knew. As the phone dialed out, she muttered under her breath, "Come on. Pick up. Please pick up." Suddenly she heard a click and a phone being shuffled around on the other end.
"Hello?" the voice yawned out.
"Dean? It's Annie," she said, holding the phone in both of her bound hands.
"Annie?" Dean yawned again. "Why are you calling my flat at three in the morning?"
"Listen, Dean, I don't have much time," Annie said desperately into the receiver. "I've been arrested. Is there any way you can get in touch with my dad?"
"Arrested? What did you do?" Dean asked, suddenly wide awake hearing Annie's proclamation.
"Please, can I fill you in on that bit later?" Annie begged. "Just find someone to bail me out. Dad, Lydia, James, Remus. Hell, I'll even face Aunt Lily's fury if it means I'll get out of here."
"Do you want me to come get you?" Dean asked, already reaching for his shoes. "Which station are you at anyway?"
"I'm at the station in Cokeworth?" Annie questioned the police officer who nodded his confirmation. "Yeah, Cokeworth. And no, don't come get me. Just get my dad."
"Alright, I'm on my way out now. I'll try your dad and Lydia first. If I can't get them, I'll get one of the others," Dean assured her.
"Thanks, Dean. I'm in such shit," she said, tears brimming in her eyes.
"You'll be alright, Annie. Just sit tight and I'll get help over to you as soon as I can."
"Okay. Thanks again."
"No problem."
Annie heard his phone click and placed hers back on its hook. The police officer grabbed Annie's arm again and led her back to the holding cell. Once the bars shut behind her, she sat back down on the bench. She placed her head in her hands and waited desperately for someone, anyone, to bail her out.
XXX
A loud knock on the front door drove Sirius out of his sleep. He sat up and turned to his wife who was also awake and rubbing at her eyes.
"Who the hell could that be?" Lydia asked, falling back against the pillows.
"Dunno," Sirius said, climbing out of bed and grabbing his wand from the bedside table. "It could be Annie knocking because she forgot her key."
"Did she forget she's a witch?" Lydia mumbled into the pillow. "She can use magic to get in."
"Well, if she's anything like I was at her age, she probably forgot that fact," Sirius mused as the knocking persisted. "I'll go get the door."
"Mmkay," Lydia managed as she fell back to sleep.
Sirius walked down the hallway and down the stairs. He was pretty surprised that Annie wasn't shouting or singing as she knocked on the door in a desperate attempt to get inside. When he reached the first floor, Sirius opened the front door and almost received a knock to the face by Dean Thomas.
"Annie's not here, Dean," Sirius said, yawning and leaning in the doorway. "It's also three in the morning. What could you possibly need from her at this hour?"
"I know Annie's not here that's why I'm here. She called me earlier," Dean said catching Sirius's attention. "Annie called me to get her some help. She got arrested by some muggle policemen tonight."
Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Of course she has. I was wondering why I didn't hear any shouting or singing when you were knocking. That's what she usually does when she's locked out," he added with a smile when he saw Dean's confused expression. "Did she tell you why she was arrested?"
"No. She said she didn't have much time to explain," Dean answered, placing his hands in his pockets.
"Alright. Which station is she at? Did she at least tell you that much?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, she's at a station in Cokeworth. Do you need any help bailing her out? I could come with you," Dean offered.
"No, it's alright, Dean. I can take it from here," Sirius said smiling and extending his hand. Dean took it and gave him a firm handshake. "Thanks for letting me know. Annie owes you big time."
"No problem, Sirius. Just have her write me when she can."
"I will. And if you hear from her again, tell her I'm on my way."
"Will do." Dean gave a final nod and walked down the Black's front porch. Sirius watched him Disapparate before closing the front door and going back upstairs.
"Was it Annie at the door?" Lydia asked when Sirius came back in the room. "How bad is she?"
"It wasn't Annie," Sirius answered as he pulled on a pair of jeans. "It was Dean Thomas. He stopped by because Annie called him to pass along the message that she's been arrested."
"What?" Lydia exclaimed, sitting up in bed. "What did she do?"
"I'm about to find out," he answered, taking his walled from the dresser and bending down to lace up his boots.
"I'll go with you," Lydia said, kicking the blankets off her legs.
"No, you stay here and wait to see if Dean comes by with news on Annie," he said as they walked out of the bedroom They made their way to the front door and Lydia pulled it open. Sirius gave her a kiss on the cheek before darting out and Apparating to Cokeworth.
It didn't take long for him to find the police station, an enormous brick building in the center of town. He walked up the front steps and through the double doors. Once inside he walked past a few benches where he noticed a few people had been handcuffed to the arms as they awaited their bookings. He walked right up to the police officer sitting behind a windowed counter and cleared his throat.
"I'm here to bail out my daughter, Annie Black," he said when the guard noticed his presence. The guard placed his newspaper aside and started typing out Annie's name on his computer.
"Black, Black, Black," he muttered, squinting at the screen. "Here she is. Drunk in public, first offense. We brought her in to sober up a bit," the guard informed Sirius who sighed. "Since it's her first offense we're letting her go with just a warning. But if this happens again, she will be charged and put on record."
"If only I could say she was getting off that easy at home," Sirius said, signing a form that was passed to him and paying the bail.
The guard chuckled. "She'll be out in just a minute if you want to wait over there."
"Thank you."
Sirius walked over to the double doors that he guard indicated and leaned against the wall. A few minutes later he heard shuffling and the doors opened wide to reveal Annie and a police officer. They stopped when they reached Sirius and the officer removed the handcuffs from Annie's wrists.
"Hey, dad," she said, looking up at him with shame written all over her face.
"Hey, kiddo. Had a rough night?" Sirius joked, reaching over and ruffling her hair. The policeman and the guard laughed and led them over to the counter once more.
"Here are your possessions, Ms. Black," the guard said, taking out a box labeled with her name. "One necklace," Annie scooped up her quaffle necklace and placed it back around her neck, "one wallet, three bottle caps, a pair of shoes, and a stick," the guard finished placing Annie's wand down which Sirius grabbed before she had a chance to take it. "Ms. Black, as we informed your father before we are letting you go with a warning tonight since this is your first offense. But the next time this happens, you will be charged and placed on record," the guard warned sternly.
"I understand," Annie said dejectedly. "Thank you."
"You seem like a good kid. Don't let us see you in here again," the guard said with a smile.
Sirius thanked the guards and led Annie out of the station. Once outside, Annie tightened her jacket around her shoulders as a cool breeze blew through the town.
"So am I gonna get my wand back any time soon?" she asked, looking up at Sirius. For the first time in her life she saw disappointment written all over her father's face. Annie took this as a sign that this was not one of her best moments.
"We'll talk about it when we get home," he said, turning down an alleyway. He grabbed her by the hand, checking to make sure that there was no one in sight and Disapperated back to their house.
Once inside, Sirius steered her toward the kitchen where Lydia was waiting with a pot of tea on the stove. Sirius pulled out a chair and Annie sat down, folding her hands together on top of the table.
"Start talking, kiddo," he said, accepting a cup of tea from Lydia and giving Annie a glass of water.
"Do I have to?" Annie asked, looking down at her hands to avoid the gaze of her parents. "I'm really tired."
"Damn right you have to talk," Sirius answered firmly as he sat down across from her. "It can't wait until tomorrow. We all have work in the morning."
Annie sighed as she sat back in her chair and ran a hand through her messy hair. "Alright," she conceded. "Well, you know how I went out with Ellen from the team tonight, right?" she paused and Sirius and Lydia nodded for her to go on. "She and I went out to a muggle club that she knew of and she eventually hooked up with some guy. She left with the bloke, abandoning me at the club, so I decided to leave and go back to her place to Floo home." Annie looked to Sirius and Lydia to see if they were following the story. She picked up her glass and gulped down half of the water.
"What happened after you left the club, Annie?" Lydia prompted before taking a sip of her tea.
"I was walking down the street, well I guess I was stumbling down the street because I was drunk," Annie paused to laugh at herself but stopped when she realized no one was laughing with her. "Anyway, I tripped and fell on the pavement. I sat down on the curb to take off my shoes which is why I was barefoot. That's when two policemen picked me up off the ground and handcuffed me," Annie finished.
"So you tripped and they just arrested you?" Sirius asked, clarifying Annie's anecdote.
"They asked me a few questions before they arrested me," Annie explained further.
"Like what?"
"You know, like had I been drinking, how much did I have to drink, was I with someone, where was I going. Questions like that," Annie explained, scratching the back of her neck.
"What else happened?" Sirius pried. He knew she was hiding something and Lydia seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Nothing else happened," Annie said, looking away from them and drinking more of her water.
"Annie," Sirius warned, knowing she was lying.
"Okay," she conceded again, throwing her hands in the air, "okay. I may have puked on the officer's shoes a little," Annie confessed, looking extremely embarrassed.
"Jackpot!" Sirius exclaimed, startling his wife as he slammed a fist on the table. "I knew they wouldn't pick you up for just sitting on a curb barefoot. I knew you had to have done something stupider than that. You really puked on a police officer?"
Annie nodded sheepishly. "It wasn't my finest hour," she admitted, looking down at her hands.
"No, it definitely was not, kiddo," Sirius agreed.
"Annie, what happened tonight was very irresponsible of you," Lydia chastised. "If you needed help getting home, you could have sent us a Patronus message."
"Well, I was a bit too drunk to think straight," Annie admitted. "I didn't want to Apparate in case I splinched because then I would be in even more trouble."
The room was quiet for a moment as Sirius weighed the actions of his daughter in his mind. She was of legal age to drink so that wasn't a problem. It was the fact that she had been arrested by the muggle policemen is what disappointed him the most. He was just a little bit older than she was when he was arrested and sentenced to Azkaban. He did not want her to follow in his footsteps.
"Annie, you really scared the shit out of me tonight," he finally said. She looked up and saw the concern in his eyes. "You can't go doing stupid things like this anymore. You'll ruin your whole future."
Annie hung her head and started twiddling her thumbs. "I know," was the only thing she could say.
"Good. I'm glad you know that," Sirius got up from the table and walked around to place his empty mug in the sink. "Alright," he said, giving her a kiss on the top of her head, "why don't you go upstairs and go to bed? You still have work tomorrow."
"But I'll be so hungover tomorrow," she complained.
"Not our fault," Lydia said, shrugging. "You made a commitment to Remus and Tonks to watch Teddy."
"Damn," she swore, running a hand through her hair and standing up. "Can I have my wand back?" She looked to Sirius who shook his head.
"Not tonight," he said. "You'll get it back in the morning."
"Fair enough," Annie sighed. As she started to walk away, she stopped in the doorway and turned back around. "Hey, dad?"
"Yeah, kiddo?"" Sirius answered.
"Thanks for bailing me out tonight," she said gratefully.
"You're welcome," he answered, offering a slight smile. "Don't make me do it again."
Annie laughed. "You got it."