Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing except for my own characters

Chapter 1

It was hunger that woke him at eight o'clock in the morning. During his summer holidays, the only thing that could wake Cane Black in his free days was hunger. Last night he'd come home too late and too tired of the whole day, spent working at the construction site to do anything else but taking his clothes off and collapsing in bed. Now, he was so hungry that he could eat everyone's breakfast, plus Morgaine. He stretched himself, got out of the bed and putting the fist clothes he saw on his overburdened chair, he went downstairs to check what was left from yesterday dinner.

Remus was already in the kitchen. That did not surprise Cane, who had long ago used to his guardian's strange sleeping habits – really, who in their right mind would wake up voluntarily before eight o'clock in Saturday afternoon, if he was not hungry? Only Remus.

"Good morning," Cane said. In fact, the sounds that came out of his mouth, were more like ' Gutmou', but he knew that Remus would understand.

"Hi, Cane. Why are you up so early?" Remus was trying to speak casually, but there was a strange change in his voice and Cane did not miss it.

"Hey, whasgoon?"

"Nothing." But Remus avoided the boy's eyes.

Cane merely cocked his head to one side, and Remus sighed. "Sirius escaped Azkaban last night."

Cane, who was never much of a morning person, suddenly found himself completely awake and capable of articulate speech. "But how - ? Are you sure?"

Remus looked at Cane for the first time and pointed at the newspaper on the sofa next to him. Cane took it. It was the Daily Prophet.

In the first few seconds, he thought he was looking at one of the patients in the hospitals that Muggles called psycho-something. Then he realized that the man staring madly at him was none other than his own father, incredibly changed and practically unrecognizable, with his long tangled hair and this horrible maniacal grin on his sallow face. Cane's eyes quickly scanned the article. Finally, he threw the newspaper angrily away and looked at Remus. There were incredulousness and hopelessness struggling on his face. "Dear Merlin, that bastard did it again! He managed to do the thing that was never expected to happen. How does he do that? How does he achieve it?"

Remus wisely withheld his comments.

"I can't believe it!" Cane continued agitatedly. "I thought I wouldn't have to hear his name ever again. I am not lucky. Dear Merlin, couldn't he just rot in Azkaban, as he was supposed to?"

Remus looked away. It always saddened him to hear Cane talking this way, mostly because he knew that the boy meant every word he said. Cane was way too young to hold such a deep hatred within him, and towards his own father, of all people, but it was a fact. In the months and years, following Sirius' betrayal, Cane had learned how to hate.

There was a knock at the front door that made them both jump. Cane cursed himself for leaving his wand on his bedside table. Remus' wand was already in his hand. Old reflexes were coming back really fast.

"Who is out there?" Remus asked.

"Remus, it's me."

Remus relaxed and nodded at Cane, who went to answer the door. Of course, he could have just done it with his wand, but in his household, a general opinion was held that there was no need of magic for the most casual things.

Cane unlocked the door, opened it and found himself face to face with an old man who wore half-moon glasses and long white beard. His eyes were blue and thoughtful. Although Cane had never met him – at least he could not remember their meetings, - he knew who he was. "Headmaster Dumbledore?"

The old man smiled, although his face remained quite serious. "Mr Black, I believe?"

Cane flinched. Suddenly, the thought of being addressed by his last name did not sound appealing, not in the least. "Cane. Just Cane."

"Yes, of course. Cane." The blue eyes did not leave the teenager's face, wise, appraising. Cane barely refrained from flinching again, for he felt certain what the old man was thinking right now. Angry with himself for letting this get to him, he held his chin up and slightly changed his face, so now he resembled his father more than ever – not the repulsive man from the picture, but the young, gorgeous Sirius Black from Hogwarts. His eyes and hair stayed the same, but his complexion became fairer – he was quite olive-skinned by nature, something that he had taken from his half-Italian mother. Sirius had always been quite pale in comparison.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Very impressive, Cane," he said.

"Thank you."

Dumbledore now turned his attention to Remus. "Hello, Remus."

"Headmaster."

"How have you been?"

Remus shrugged, invited Dumbledore to have a seat and offered him a cup of tea.

"I've heard that your young charge was a Metamorphmagus, Remus, but I must admit that I never gave much credit to those rumors. After all, Metamorphmagus abilities usually manifest themselves immediately after birth and there was no such thing with Cane."

Remus looked at Cane, who gave no indications of intending to resume his usual form. "I suppose it must have something to do with his birth," he said, "it was too long and hard. They barely managed to save him. I suppose that this shock was enough to stop his abilities for a while."

Can't they stop discussing my abilities and go to the real problem, Cane wondered sullenly. He knew for sure why the Headmaster had come and it had nothing to do with Cane Black's morphing and everything to do with Sirius Black's glorious escape. The way Dumbledore kept looking at him made that perfectly clear.

"I suppose you've already seen it," the Headmaster finally said. Remus nodded. His face suddenly looked older and more concerned.

"But how could such a thing happen, Dumbledore?"

"I don't know. The matter is, it never happened before."

"What follows now?"

Dumbledore looked around. "I'd recommend casting your strongest protective wards over this house," he said, "just in case."

Cane blanched. Suddenly, he remembered that the house they were currently living in had belonged to Remus' parents at the time of Sirius' imprisonment, so he would have no problem finding it, if he wanted to. If he was sane enough to escape Azkaban – Azkaban, - he would surely be sane enough to find the way up to this place. "But he won't, will he?" he suddenly spoke aloud. "I mean, no one would harm a little girl like Morgaine and a damaged boy like Julian, not even Sirius. Right?"

Again, he felt the piercing blue eyes landing on him, their expression unreadable. "I do believe, Cane, that Morgaine Lupin and your brother are safe for now. It seems that Sirius have another goal now. While he was at Azkaban, he was heard to repeat ceaselessly 'He's at Hogwarts. He's at Hogwarts.' I am certain that he might have meant only one person – Harry Potter."

Harry Potter. Of course. That made perfect sense. After all, Harry was the person who was responsible for Voldemort's fall. It made sense that Sirius would be after him. Cane felt weak with relief. It might sound cruel, but he'd rather have Sirius targeting Harry Potter than Julian or Morgaine. Harry Potter would be protected, and protected well – both Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic would see to that – and, after all, Harry Potter has seeing eyes to use, unlike Julian. He also had a voice to shout incantations with, unlike Morgaine. The possibility of being attacked himself did not bother Cane one bit – he was quite good with hexes and he had long ago learned how to use his fists and knees as damaging weapons. Being bullied as a traitor's son would do that to a person.

Harry Potter, as it seemed, would also have Remus to protect him. Cane silently listened to Dumbledore and Remus discussing Remus' leaving for Hogwarts as a Defense against the Dark Arts teacher and his own leaving for France a bit earlier than the expected end of August, when he and his brother were supposed to start making preparations for their school year at Beauxbatons – Cane's sixth, and Julian's first. He did not like the fact that his own life and future were being discussed in front of Dumbledore – he still felt those blue eyes digging holes in his skull each time the Headmaster looked at him and he very much preferred keeping his thoughts for himself, - but he never debated Remus' decisions in front of strangers, so he kept his mouth shut.

However, that did not stop him from bursting out the moment the front door was shut after the old man. "Merlin, did you see that?" he yelled. "Did you? How he was looking at me? As if he was trying to decide whether he can turn his back at me without fearing that I would stab or curse him while he isn't watching."

Remus slowly shook his head. "You'd better learn to control your temper, Cane," he said. "Because you will receive much more looks like this, that is for sure."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A day later…

As it turned out soon, Remus was right. At the International Floo Centre, from where Cane, the ten-year old Morgaine, and Julian, who was almost twelve, should be able to travel to France, Cane got stopped by the guard wizards, who opened his trunk and started checking each item in there with Supersensoring Anti-Dark Charms. Cane barely restrained his anger, while he was looking at them unpacking all books, all photos, everything he had packed only a few hours later. When he saw that that they were trying their charms over the picture of an attractive red-haired girl, he could not keep himself any longer. "You didn't check the others' luggage like that."

"Their last name wasn't Black."

Ready to explode, he fortunately looked at Remus, who firmly shook his head. So, Cane stood calm and watched the guards rummaging through his things with a stony expression on his face. When they finally got out of the Fireplace in Paris Floo Centre, he noticed a small group of people who were expecting them, but he also noticed the strange glances they were receiving from the personnel, who had seen them Flooing from London to Paris and back for years. Obviously, the news about Sirius' escape has reached France. He waved at his friends and started waiting for his luggage, already feeling that this year would be horrible.

Even so, he had no idea about the surprise that would await him at Beauxbatons.

6