A New Pet

It was one of those windy and rainy nights. There was no lightening or thunder in the sky, but the wind was strong enough to lead the rain into a waltz through your open windows. It was nights like these that couples loved to cuddle up under the blanket with each other, kids loved to bring out the flashlights and let their imaginations run wild, and teens loved to break into haunted houses to prove that they were brave. Seventeen year old Anica Black was different though. On this night, she was jogging. She had a lot going on in her mind, and it didn't bother her that she was getting drenched in the rain, it was midnight and nobody would be able to see her running. It was the perfect time to go out for a little run. The weather always seemed to match her mood just when she needed it the most. So far it seemed as if the rain became her best friend. Allowing her thoughts to take over her mind, she noticed that the lights were beginning to dim out on her. The rain was starting to pick up and she got a sudden chill as a gust of wind began to fly leaves all around her.

Sirius Black had been wandering about, not really feeling like returning to Grimmauld Place just yet. It's been a week since the war had ended and Harry Potter killed Voldemort, and he felt so alone now. Usually his place had been so loud and filled with people, but now it was like everyone was too tired and too shocked to leave their own homes. All the Weasleys stayed at the Burrow, even Charlie whom had been living with him since Bill and Fleur's wedding just before the year began, stayed with his family now. Harry had stayed with him for the first two days, but returned to be with his girlfriend and her family. Remus and Tonks had Teddy to stay with, and he was left alone. Deciding that it was safe now, he decided to sneak into muggle London.

The weather was horrible and he knew that he should be returning home already, but then he saw her. His heart raced. It's been nearly sixteen years since he's seen her, but he would recognize her anywhere. Her eyes. Her eyes were the same as he remembered. Of course she had only been a year old, just one month younger than Harry, when he last saw her – right before he was taken to Azkaban and he left her on the doorstep of a muggle orphanage, knowing what would happen to her if any of Voldemort's followers had found out about her. What the hell is she doing out here this late at night?

Feeling like she was being watched, Anica stopped jogging. She's already ran about five miles and if she was being followed, she didn't want to waste any more of her energy running away from home. Home… she scoffed; if that's what you can call it. Wearing just long pink colored sweatpants that clung to her legs giving her extra weight and a simple plain black hoodie that reached to her knees, the rain pushed the hood out of her face so that was the only visible place on her body. Noticing that she was at an abandoned playground, she sat down right on the grass, throwing herself on her back and allowing the rain to attack her face. This felt so good right now.

What the hell is she doing? He thought. Why the hell is she laying on the grass in the middle of the night during a storm? Making sure that he was in his dog mode, Sirius walked over to get a better look at her. She grew up more than he would have liked for her to, but she was just as beautiful as he imagined she would be, if not more. He never thought the day would come when he would get to see her again. It's not like he hasn't thought about it, he just didn't think he would ever get the chance to. When he escaped from Azkaban to protect Harry and prove his innocence, he's thought of claiming her so many times, but of course he pushed those thoughts away from his mind. He couldn't do that to her. He couldn't take her away from the only possible family she knew and pull her into his world. Not when she could be killed so easily.

So now, he just stood a couple feet away from her; admiring the beautiful young woman that she's become. She had his powder complexion with his raven curls. It was sticking out from her hoodie, allowing him to see the rings cling to her face as well as her clothing as it reached just past her thighs in a thick braid. Her flame filled eyes were wide open, accepting the rock feeling raindrops to fall into them. She wore a tiny pink hoop in her left nose nostril with the tiny pink diamond in the right corner of her upper lip and the two tiny pink hoops in the bottom left corner of her mouth. Instead of just the one simple pink diamond he put in her ears, she now had two black diamonds in her left ear's cartridge, with three pink hoops in her right ear's cartridge, three large pink hoops in her left ear's earlobe and two black diamonds in her right earlobe. She opened her mouth to sigh and he caught a glimpse of a pink ball in her tongue as well.

"What the hell?" feeling eyes on her, Anica sat up and found herself staring into the piercing yellow eyes of a large black dog. It looked as if it had wolf blood in him. "Hey, boy," she smiled, relieved that the person who was following her was, instead not a person, just a dog. "What are you doing out in the rain, huh?"

Seeing her hold out her hand for him, Sirius grinned to himself and let out an excited bark as he ran into her lap and started to kiss her face all over. He's never imagined this day possible.

Laughing, she rubbed her hands through his fur and felt ice. "Damn," she hissed, pulling her hand away from him then jumping to her feet. "You're bloody cold. Where's your owners, boy? Do they know that you're out here in this storm?"

A sense of pride surged through his body as he jumped up against her body. Here she was freezing her own arse off and she was worried about him. She turned out alright.

Leaning back down, she searched his neck for a collar, "They didn't even make sure to claim you, huh, boy?" smiling, she ruffled his fur, "Well that's alright then. You can come home with me. I doubt that Margo and Edward would approve but fuck them, eh."

He liked the idea that she was taking him home, but it worried him. Doesn't she know not to invite strange pets into your home? And what does she mean Margo and Edward? Are they her roommates – but no, she's too young to have roommates. She's supposed to be living at home with her parents still yet. Well the parents who took her in.

"Can you run?" her question tore him out of his thoughts as the rain started to come down feeling like hail. Running up the street to answer her question, he looked back at her with a wag of his tail and a bark. Laughing, she ran up to him, "Well alright then. Let's run it back home so we can get you nice and warm."

Running by his daughter's side, he had never felt so free before. This was a freedom that he hadn't even felt with Harry; he loved Harry, but a godson's love could never compare to a daughter's love. No one knew about her of course. Only Remus Lupin, and James and Lily Potter had ever known she existed. Her mother died while giving birth to her, and he never trusted Peter Pettigrew that much. He and James would always laugh that Harry and Anica would be the best of friends, seeing as how close they were in that one year that they've been together. They always joked that they would grow up and marry, while Lily would only roll her eyes. Remus was her godfather.

Looking up at her every now and then, he would see the freedom in her own eyes as she ran. He was amazed with his daughter's abilities. They've been running for fifteen minutes straight and not once did she run out of breath. She only slowed down when she noticed he wasn't next to her, but once he would reach her side, she would laugh then pick up her speed once more. She was worried about him. There was a pain in his heart as he thought about it. The daughter that he never thought he'd have a never chance of being with again was worried for him.

"Well this is it," she announced leading him into a very tiny upstairs room. There was a single tiny bed shoved against the wall with only a single black comforter on it and two pillows. It had no sheets and no pillowcases. The floorboards were cold and bare and she had no curtains over the window. There was a dresser with a lamp on it, and a cracked mirror hanging above it. "It's not much," she told him with a shrug of her shoulders, "But it's all we have for now."

The pain came back to him. This was all she had? Even Harry had more than this and he grew up in a damned cupboard. When he placed her for the orphanage to find, he thought she would be treated like the princess she was. Not a damned fucking servant. He didn't realize that he was growling until she told him to hush up before the beast and the bitch woke up. Walking over to the corner of the room, he watched as she pulled up a towel after smelling it to make sure it was still clean and walked over to him.

It took eleven minutes until he was completely dry and once he was, she called him up onto her bed, covering him with the comforter, to his astonishment, and then left the room to shower. Once her door was shut, Sirius changed back into his human self. His own powder skin looked ghostly compared to moon's shine from the window. His own slick black curls reached just past his shoulders and his dark cold eyes were filled with hatred towards the people who imprisoned his daughter. He felt like walking right into their room and killing them, but he knew he couldn't do such a thing. Not yet anyways. Then he saw it. Hearing a tap at the window, he looked up and saw an owl. Cocking an eyebrow, he looked over at the door to make sure she wasn't coming in anytime soon. Why is there an owl coming to her room late at night? Does she know about his world? But how?

Letting the owl in, he saw that it was a smoky black color with eyes the color of turquoise. She stared at him for a bit, before landing on the dresser, then an idea struck him. She hadn't brought a letter. If he were to write a letter and send it out right now, Anica wouldn't notice her owl was missing. She would think she was still delivering her letter to whoever she was writing to.

Moony,

I found her. I was walking around muggle London and came across her jogging. She saw me in the storm and brought me home thinking I'm a stray. Don't write back. This is her owl and she doesn't know I'm sending out this letter. I'll contact you once the chance arises again. If anyone notices that I'm gone, please assure them I'm alright. I have to do this. This is my only chance to know her. Give my love to Tonks and Teddy.

- Padfoot

Hearing the shower water turn off, Sirius quickly tied the letter to the owl's leg then whispered, "Please take this to Remus Lupin."

Wrapped in only a towel, Anica saw that the dog was still lying on her bed. Looking at the window to make sure it was still shut; she felt a chill, almost as if the window had been open. Walking to her dresser she noticed that the dog covered his eyes with a paw and turned away from her while she slipped on the red and white striped knickers underneath the towel. Laughing at the dog's modesty, she threw the towel across the room into the corner, and slipped on a plain black spaghetti strap.

"I'm dressed now," she laughed when she saw the dog turn to face her again as if understanding what she said. Grabbing a hairbrush off the dresser, she started to brush her damp hair. "Do you have a name, boy?"

He saw she had tattoos as well, Across her lower stomach, from hip to hip, she had the word Forgotten, and going down from her left breast to her pierced belly button were separated praying hands holding a broken rosary with tear shaped beads, and the cross as the 'T,' in Forgotten. Her left thigh had a monarch butterfly the size of a baseball, flying up her black shorts, with a giant crow the size of a football flying up the back of her leg after it. Only the tips of the crows wings were black, making it look more like a shadow than anything. There was a trail following the butterfly, wrapping around the crows neck, and reaching her ankle. The trail was made up of words; Even in the darkest of times, remember there is always a light. Starting from her right hip, all the way down to her knee, he noticed a bunch of random quotes pieced together to make a story.

Making sure not to bark, he quietly whimpered. "No huh? I can't believe your family would abandon you just like that, then again what family doesn't abandon anyone nowadays, eh boy?" sighing, she continued to stare at him. "How about," he chuckled when he saw that she pouted her lip to bite on the bottom one as she thought of a name for him. "Hmm… umm… how do you like Demon? You kinda look like one that's why," smiling as she was proud of her new name for him, she nodded her head, "Yep, I'm gonna call you Demon."

He had to admit it was a good name. The year that he escaped from Azkaban, Harry had always been so freaked out every time he saw him because his form is the same of the Grim, the large black dog that comes to you as a death omen. Once Anica finished brushing her hair, she turned off the room's lamp and climbed into the bed pulling him under the covers with her. He wished that she would wear more clothing than she was, but he knew that most females preferred to wear as less clothes as possible when it was time to sleep. Resting his damp nose against her ear as his face laid across her neck, his heart calmed down as she snuggled in closely to him. And for the first time since he deserted his daughter on the front steps of an orphanage, Sirius Black slept peacefully with no haunting nightmares.

Somewhere in the wizarding part of London, Remus Lupin stood in front of a warm and blazing fire holding a letter in his hand while a small smile crept over his face. "I wish you the best old mate," he whispered.

"Wish who the best?" asked the yawning voice of his wife as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Resting her cheek against the warm back of her husband, she chuckled when she saw he was wearing his blasted purple boxers.

"Padfoot," he smiled, turning around to wrap his arms around her. He still had no idea how he got so lucky with such a magnificent wife. One minute they're fighting alongside in the Order and arguing because he preferred to call her Nymphadora, which she considered to be a curse, then the next they're married and have a beautiful son together. "Is Teddy finally sleeping?"

"Yes," Tonks chuckled, bringing her lips to his in a gentle kiss. "He took one look at my bubblegum hair and instantly made his blue."

"He always likes his hair blue," Remus chuckled as well. "You know that we can't get him to keep it an ordinary color if you're going to keep yours pink."

Smirking, Tonks looked at the letter at in Remus's hands. "So what do you wish Sirius good luck with?"

"His daughter," the look on his wife's face was priceless. Her eyebrows rose so high up while her jaw hit the floor.

"What?"

Nodding his head, Remus handed Tonks the letter, "Only James, Lily, and I knew about her. Her mother died during childbirth and Padfoot was scared of what would happen if anyone knew he was a single father. You know how those years were. She's exactly one month younger than Harry, actually. And after Voldemort killed James and Lily, Padfoot dropped her off on the steps of an orphanage in muggle London. I'm her godfather, you know."

"M-My cousin has a daughter!" she was still shocked with hearing just that alone.

Chuckling, Remus nodded his head once more. "He just wrote to me that he found her. I don't think he wants anyone knowing about her just yet though, Tonks."

"I won't say anything," she nodded her own head now. "But seriously? Sirius? He has a daughter?"

Please review. I finished typing out 7 chapters already, but this story is going to be much longer than that. Let me know if you think it's worth continuing though(: