Disclaimer: I own nothing you can recognize. The song is an old Celtic song not owned by anyone.
Claimer: I do own my original characters, the changes in the main plot, and my own plot.
WARNING: AU! James is still alive, Sirius isn't in a Azkaban, Alice and Frank aren't insane. Peter is still on the loose and Lily still died.
Summary: Remus had an women who he loved with all his heart and she destroyed it an single act of selfishness. Her name was Esmeralda Argall, an friend from his Hogwarts years, whom Lily had hated and tried to keep them apart but couldn't. One day in the August of 1981 she took off with their seven month old baby girl. Remus lost it and swore he would never love another women again or have children. Then nine years later an child welfare worker from the ministry of magic shows up at his apartment and tells him that the caretaker of his daughter was just murdered and he is the last eligible person who can take his daughter, Ambrosia. Going from living my yourself to a parents is hard enough but becoming the parent of an little girl who just lost the single closest person she had to an mother is an whole different story.
"Little Eyes and Little Ears"
Chapter 1 "The Choice"
Remus had sat in the same place for twenty minutes. He couldn't believe the words that came out of the child welfare worker had told him. He had so many questions.
Where is Esmeralda? Why was Ambrosia with Eleanor ? What happened to Esmeralda's parents? And who would want to murder Eleanor?, thought Remus.
"Are you willing to take in your daughter?" asked the child welfare worker.
The child welfare worker was tall lean lady. She had sharp nose and large dark brown eyes. Her dark brown hair was put back in the perfect bun. She had on an perfectly ironed black lady suit which made her fair skin look very pale.
"Yes," said Remus not believing his own words.
What in Merlin am I doing? I don't know how to raise a little girl! What if she hates me? What about the whole full moon thing? Did she inherit it? I'm officially losing my mind! thought Remus.
"It will take several days to get her here. They were in a very remote location in Wales that took us forever to find and we are still trying to locate her," said the lady.
"How can anyone not be able to locate an nine year old girl be?" asked Remus.
"Your former partner's sister raised her on pureblood values even though the child is not pureblood. She can somewhat control her accidental magic and knows several forms of banned magic," said the lady.
"Great," said Remus sarcastically.
"Are you going to be staying here?" asked the lady in a critical tone.
"I'm going to ask my friends if I can stay at one of their places until I can find a place that isn't like this. I'm not going to raise a kid in this," said Remus.
"Once you find the place I have to go there and say that it is acceptable home for her," said the lady.
"If you leave your name I'll contact you when I figure it out," said Remus.
"You only have a week. I'm Apolline Warburton, put your case number on the envelope, Your case number is MR23," said the lady.
Pop!
Apolline disappeared.
Pop!
Remus disappeared.
Remus appeared at the doorstep the front door an wizarding complex near the Leaky Cauldron. He walked up to the front desk and rang the bell.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin, nice to see you again. I'll tell Remus you're here," said an large lady sitting down in her chair behind the desk.
"Sirius Black has an visitor. Tell him that Mr. Lupin is here," said the lady to an African Grey Parrot.
Once the bird came back Remus apperated up to Sirius's flat.
"What did you get into now?" asked Sirius opening his door.
Remus narrowed his eyes and glared at Sirius.
"I'm just joking mate! Come in," said Sirius.
"You might want to sit down," said Remus.
Sirius raised an eyebrow but sat down on a living chair and Remus on the couch next to it.
"Now let's talk about the reasons behind these feelings?" asked Sirius folding his hands in his lap.
"Sirius! This isn't the time to be joking," snarled Remus.
"Alright, alright, no need to snarl," said Sirius holding his hands up.
"I might need a therapist after this month is over," said Remus.
"What happened?" asked Sirius "all of it."
"An child welfare worker from the ministry showed up at my apartment this morning," said Remus.
"Why would-," said Sirius.
"Let me finish," said Remus glaring.
"Go ahead," said Sirius.
"She told me that Esmeralda's sister Eleanor was murdered and was raising my daughter," said Remus talking a deep breath.
"I'm the last person who can take Ambrosia," said Remus.
"I'm sorry mate, but where is Esmeralda or her parents?" asked Sirius.
"No idea," said Remus.
"What did you decide?" asked Sirius.
"I decided to take her. I don't want my daughter being put in orphanage," said Remus.
"Moony, you might have bitten off more then you can chew," said Sirius.
"I know. I need to find somewhere to stay because my apartment is no place for a kid, specially a nine year old girl," said Remus.
"Maybe James will know what to do," said Sirius.
"I hope so," said Remus.
"Let's head over to James," said Sirius.
Pop! Pop!
Remus and Sirius where in the middle of the Potter's living room. James almost hexed them but realized who they were.
"Why can't you do apperate on my porch?" asked their black haired friend.
"Sorry, James," said Remus.
"Oh come on mate. It's so much funner to nearly scare you to death," said Sirius.
"Funner isn't an word. More fun is the proper way to say it," said Remus.
"Shut up," said Sirius.
"If you came to see Harry he is at the Weasleys today," said James.
"We came to talk to you," said Sirius.
"What did you two get into now?" asked James.
"I didn't get into anything. Moony over here did," said Sirius trying not to laugh.
"This can't be good," said James.
"I had an child welfare worker from the ministry at my apartment earlier. Esmeralda's sister Eleanor was murdered and happened to be raising my daughter," said Remus.
"And where is Esmeralda?" asked James.
"I don't know," said Remus "but I'm the last person who can take her."
"What did you decide?" asked James.
"Of course I did. I'm not going to let me daughter be put into some orphanage," said Remus.
"Good," said James.
"Besides the fact I have no idea what in Merlin's name what to do and my apartment is no place for an child," said Remus.
"You can stay here for long as you need. Harry can learn how to treat girls," said James.
"I feel like I'm forcing this on you," said Remus.
"I'm doing it because I know how much Lily adored Ambrosia. She hated Esmeralda but loved your daughter since we had Harry and we weren't going to try for a little girl until after the war," said James frowning.
"I have no idea what she is like. I do know she is giving the poor welfare workers a handful," said Remus.
"Please tell," said Sirius.
"She can control her accidental magic and apparently Esmeralda taught her two types of banned magic and they can't find her," said Remus "I'm guessing she keeps moving her hiding places."
"Most likely Celtic and elemental magic. I'm guessing since she did come from one of the few pureblood Scottish families who had perfected them before they were banned," said James.
"That makes me think I'm way over my head with her," said Remus.
"Alice might be able to tame her a bit. But if it comes to push and shove Molly and Andromeda could probably handle her," said Sirius.
"I'm wondering if she is the female addition to Marauders," said Remus.
"I'm betting so, if she is such a trouble to the welfare workers to the point the admit she is giving them a hard time, trust me when I say they are trained to handle even the most difficult of children and only admit they have an hard time with an kid when the almost need to call in Aurors to grab the kid," said James.
"I hope she doesn't do that to me," said Remus.
"I doubt it," said Sirius "mostly likely she'll mellow out."
"I hope," said Remus.
"This will be fun to explain to Harry," laughed James.
Sirius and Remus nodded laughing too. Sirius had to leave the room to use the bathroom before he could even think about going home. Remus was wondering several things he could do and if he should do them. James was trying not to let his mind think about Lily.
"James, could I ask you do something for me?" asked Remus.
"That's what am for," said James.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they do resort to calling Aurors in. I need you to make sure that either yourself, Sirius, Frank or Alice go there. The case number is MR23," said Remus.
"Alright," said James.
"Prongs, I don't even know were to begin with an little girl," said Remus.
"That makes two of us. I'd think Molly or Arthur would be the best people to talk to since their daughter is near the same age as Ambrosia," said James.
"The child welfare worker has to approve the house but that won't be difficult," said Remus.
"Fine with me," said James.
Apolline Warburton came as quickly as she could. She wanted to get rid of 'the kid' as soon as she possibly could. So she barely even looked around the house and she approved it. Then she went back to try to get Ambrosia.
"That lady gets on my nervous. She has no right to call my daughter 'the kid'," said Remus in a dangerous tone.
"If she does that when she calls the Aurors I'll put her in her place," said Sirius.
"You will not do anything to jeopardize Ambrosia being given to me," warned Remus.
"I'll be polite," said Sirius.
"Don't send him alone when you are called," said Remus.
"Actually we were already called. Frank, Alice and I are going. You two get to baby-sit Neville," said James.
"He's easy to baby-sit, I've done it before," said Remus.
It was an hour later when the Longbottoms arrived. Alice and Frank looked rather drained and Neville looked bored.
"You two have seen better days," said Sirius.
"We had our yearly training earlier today," said Frank.
"Mine was at seven this morning, Frank's was at noon," said Alice.
"They are trying to kill us," said Frank shaking his head.
"I don't disagree with that," said James.
"Oh yeah, make sure Neville practices his writing and reads two chapter in the book he brought," said Alice.
"Alright," said Remus.
Alice, Frank and James left. Neville sat down and started reading the book. Sirius and Remus couldn't believe they didn't have to force him to read like they did with Harry.
Somewhere in Wales Alice, Frank and James arrived at the doorstep of a white and blue farmhouse. There weren't any houses that could be seen near by. Just a lot of fields and an stream not to far from the house that could be heard.
"Who knew she lived on a farm," said James.
"She use to act like it but Hogwarts changed her. She use to be that quiet farm girl that no one knew but something changed her. I guess it was bullying," said Alice.
"I don't see why they are making her leave. Remus could just move here," said Frank.
"They'll could come back in several days. We need to process everything. Wills, health records, bank records, and schooling," said Apolline.
"Stop calling her 'the kid'. She has an name and it's Ambrosia," said James.
"No wonder she won't come out," said Alice glaring at Apolline.
Apolline gave Alice and cold stare then made sure her hair was still in it's perfect pun. Alice rolled her eyes at Frank who shrugged.
"Let me try to talk to her. An real women's touch," said Alice.
"Your right. She obviously is scared," said Frank.
"We think she is in the room behind this door but there is an dog that growls at us when we try to go in," said an man.
"We're taking over now," said James "this is now our case."
"You have no right," said Apolline.
"I could have your arrested and take your job if you'd like. If you've terrorized Ambrosia you'll better lucky if you have an job," said James.
Apolline then left without another word as did the two other child welfare workers.
Alice opened the door not letting the dog scare her. She petted it's head and it licked her hand.
"For Merlin's sake. It was just an puppy," said Alice.
Frank laughed.
The Chocolate Labrador Retriever puppy jumped out into the living room. It was pretty big already since it looked to be able six months old. It barked at James and Frank.
"Friendly," said James petting it's head.
Alice tripped on something and feel. She couldn't see anything and her wand had flown out of hand.
"Are you okay?" asked Frank.
"Yes. Can you shed a little light in here so I can find my wand?" asked Alice.
Frank lent into the small doorway a bit so the light from his wand went into the room farther.
Alice found her wand then got back up. She let up her own wand. Frank then lent back out of the room.
"What was that I tripped over?" asked Alice to herself.
Alice looked to see an form on the floor. He put more light on it and realized it was an teenage girl. She had long curly dark brown hair. Alice rolled her over to have big bright blue eyes staring at her unblinking. She knew the girl was dead.
"Frank, come here," said Alice.
"Why?" asked Frank.
"To confirm I'm not going crazy," said Alice.
Alice was able to tell the girl had been tortured then killed by the Killing Curse. She looked to be fourteen maybe fifteen. It broke her heart to see a child like that.
"Dear Merlin, that's what you tripped over," said Frank.
"Yes," said Alice.
"She has two marks where she had been hit by Cruciatus Curse and the final mark where she was hit by the Killing Curse," said Frank.
"I'd say she's been dead for three hours give and take," said Frank.
"If that poor child is in here she's probably traumatized," said Alice.
"Where is the person who did this?" asked Frank.
"Right here," said Alice walking a little bit forward.
"Dead?" asked Frank.
"I'd say. He looked like he has been electrocuted," said Alice.
"James, what is her name again?" asked Alice.
"Ambrosia," said James.
"Ambrosia, we're friends we want to help you. It's okay now, you don't have to be afraid," said Alice wondering farther back.
"He's the man the store owner drew a picture of, he was the main murderer in Eleanor's murder," said Frank "be careful his partner might be in here let."
"James get in here," said Frank.
"Ambrosia we'll make sure no one hurts you," said Alice.
An ear splitting scream got James and Frank to fallow Alice. Alice forced her way farther back in the room, she couldn't believe how long this room was. She found an wooden ladder and climbed up it, she knew that Ambrosia had to be up there and needs help immediately.
"Stop screaming," snarled an female voice.
"Get away from me! You bitch!" yelled an young girl's voice.
"How dare you," said the female voice.
"Ouch, you little brat! Your bite me!" yelled the women.
"I know I did, why do you think I did it genius," said the girl.
"I should kill you right now," said the women.
"Oh really. I could electrocute you like I did to your buddy down there," said the girl.
"For a nine year old you're a pain in my arse," said the women.
"I enjoy it. You'll rot in hell for what you did," said the girl.
"Avada-," said the women.
"Petrificus Totalus!" said Alice.
The women fell to the floor. The girl looked over toward Alice.
"Are you okay?" asked Alice.
"Define okay," said the girl.
"Your Ambrosia aren't you," said Alice.
"No am Thing Two," said the girl sarcastically.
"Definitely, your father's daughter," said Alice.
"And you-are?" asked Ambrosia.
"Alice Longbottom," said Alice.
"Is-Avalon dead?' asked Ambrosia.
"Who's Avalon?" asked Alice.
"Brown hair, bright blue eyes, ghostly white skin, fourteen year old. She's my cousin," said Ambrosia "and tell me the truth."
"I'm afraid so," said Alice.
"So is the man," said Alice.
"I didn't mean to kill me. I just wanted him away from Avalon. I was just so angry, he killed my auntie and hurt Avalon. Even Pumpkin wanted to take a bite out of him," said Ambrosia fearfully.
"Who is Pumpkin?" asked Alice.
"My dog, the Chocolate Labrador," said Ambrosia.
"And sweetie, you didn't mean it. It was accidental magic," said Alice.
"But I went to hurt him," said Ambrosia.
"You didn't kill him on purpose, you only meant to stun him," said Alice.
"Dear Merlin, that was Esmeralda," said Alice seeing the women.
Alice knew those eyes and that hair from a mile away. Those electric blue eyes, the same ones she looked into when she convinced Esmeralda not to kill herself their sixth year. That long stringy straight light blond hair she curled up for an dance their seventh year.
"Don't say her name. She's doesn't desire one," said Ambrosia coldly.
"She's your mum, you shouldn't talk about her like that," said Alice stunned.
Is Ambrosia thirteen or nine. She might just me pissed and scared but Merlin does she have an mouth, thought Alice.
"She abandoned me! She left me on the streets in the dead of night in the middle of the winter. Luckily one store in that village was open otherwise I would have died," said Ambrosia.
"Frank come get her. I'm not touching that thing," said Alice.
"I'm coming," said Frank.
Crash!
James laughed.
"That's not funny James," said Frank.
Alice was able to figure out Frank had fallen of the ladder. She tried not to chuckle herself but didn't know why she hadn't done the same.
"Having fun on the ladder dear," said Alice.
"Oh shut up Alice," said Frank finally reaching the top.
"You know I love to tease you," said Alice.
"Luckily, I'm not clumsy as you otherwise poor Neville would be screwed," said Frank in a playful tone.
Alice rolled her eyes but didn't deny the fact.
"This will be an interesting report. Who wants to tell Remus?" asked Frank seeing Esmeralda.
"I vote James," said Alice.
"Agreed," said Frank.
"James, get Ambrosia here to the Aurors office. Frank will grab the thing up here. I'll ask for Healers to collect the bodies," said Alice.
"Okay," said James.
Ambrosia climbed down the stairs. She didn't say anything to James. She just wanted to leave the house and never come back.
"What about Pumpkin?" said Ambrosia "my dog."
"I'll have a friend of mine come a get it," said James.
"She's not an it," said Ambrosia narrowing her eyes.
"Okay then she," said James.
"Have you ever done a side-by-side apparition?" asked James.
"Once when my auntie had to get somewhere that didn't have an fireplace," said Ambrosia.
"Then take my arm," said James.
Ambrosia consciously took James arm. She knew that James was harmless. This wasn't the first time she had seen this situation. She had seen this same thing happen last week in a dream.
Please review! Finally my first story! If I missed an mistakes let me know, I'm sure I didn't but after seven times reading it over you start just skimming.