Edited with the help of my lovely Beta: LaMisteriosa.
Chapter 2
Sadira woke early next morning and decided to visit her Dad. She Apparated to Grimmauld Place and knocked. Molly answered with a look of shock followed by pleasure as she ushered her niece in.
"Morning Molly, how's everyone today?" she asked cheerfully.
"We weren't expecting you back so soon, dear. We thought you and Sirius had an argument last night." She silently hoped Sadira had gotten to utter almost as much insults as Molly would have wished to.
"No, nothing like that. Speaking of which, where is Dad?" she asked.
"Say that again, please?" a soft voice said from the direction of the staircase.
"Dad." She repeated, smiling at the man to whom the voice belonged.
"Never did I think I'd hear anyone call me that." he said, taking her face in his hand.
"I thought we might continue catching up." She smiled at him.
"Can you talk while you clean? There's still lots to be done." Suggested Molly.
"Come on Molly, she just got here. It's her day off." Sirius protested.
"We have to make the place liveable if we're to use it as headquarters." Molly countered, handing him a spray of Doxycide and a bucket.
"I don't mind," she assured him.
"Consider this a bonding exercise," Molly added ushering them towards one of the living rooms. To be completely honest, Sadira hated cleaning with a vengeance but playing to Molly's good side would definitely spare them both of her formidable aunt's wrath. She suspected Molly was still quite mad at Sirius and thought it best not to aggravate the situation further.
They talked for hours; cleaning up the library, dusting, de-pesting, tidying and in Sirius' case, purging the house of anything alluding to the Black family. Sadira was fascinated with what could be called her ancestral abode. He spoke little of his family and childhood, only of his time at Hogwarts with Remus who had been his good friend, and his best friend, the famous James Potter, father of the Boy Who Lived.
She wasn't surprised to notice that of all the things she could have possibly inherited from her father, it was his rebellious streak that really resonated within her. After all, his pranks and schemes sounded like the sort of stunts she used to teach Fred and George, not to mention her own rebellious past with her mother.
She also avoided talk of her childhood except for the time she spent at the Weasleys'. She told him how she had been ostracised by the Slytherins in her first year for having no father and associating with her Gryffindor cousins Bill and Charlie. However, after the Gryffindor Quidditch team made a very public threat against anyone who picked on her, on Charlie's command, she was left to her own devices. She told him she had got the top marks at school, usually with little or no hard work and he proudly informed her that he had been the same.
Soon the room was clean and both father and daughter felt they had begun to truly bond. His easy going nature and dry wit complemented her own caustic cleverness and dark sense of humor. By dinner time, they were inseparable.
Remus looked on the reunited pair happily as they descended the stairs together in mutual laughter. Their mirth was short lived as Tonks and Moody exited the formal dining room.
"What's going on?" Sadira asked her friend as she pulled her aside.
"Just going over some night-watch posts for the you-know-what," Tonks replied. "How's things going with Sirius?"
"Fine. Why wouldn't they be?" she asked as they made their way to the basement with Remus and Sirius leading the way a few steps ahead.
"No reason," answered Tonks. "Just making sure you're ok is all. What have you been up to all day, then?"
"Me and Dad have been cleaning up the old place for 'Captain Molly'." she joked.
"Dad?" Tonks asked wide-eyed. "Sounds like you are getting well."
"Yes, well, it's worth it. There's no point in ignoring each other so we may as well coexist amicably," she replied. She stood behind Sirius' seated figure at the table and placed her hands on his shoulders kindly. He smiled and grabbed one of her hands at the warm gesture of affection.
"Still seducing men twice your age, Prewett?" drawled a soft deep turned to see a dark figure looming in the doorway. She felt her heart trip over itself.
"Severus." Sadira stared at the dark professor as he stood aggravatingly confident in the door frame. "If you must know -"
"Spare me the excuses. It is none of my concern who you throw yourself at." He replied coldly as he moved down the hall.
"How dare you? You condescending prick." she uttered menacingly, poised at the foot of the staircase. Something had definitely caught his attention for the tall man turned around and glanced apathetically in her direction. She continued her assault. "Sirius Black is my father."
He stared at her in shock. He looked her up and down as she glared back at him. The other residents appeared at the top of the stairs, interested by the commotion, as Sirius came up behind Sadira.
"Are you alright pet?" he asked, staring daggers at Snape.
"Fine Dad; I think I need to have a word with the Professor in private." She said levelly, gesturing to the parlour. He conceded and strode into the room followed by an extremely cross Sadira.
Raised voices were heard for some time. The twins tried to listen in with the Extendable Ears but all they heard was a few snatches; "jealous obsession," "trust," and "reputation," when suddenly the door was wrenched open and Sadira shouted back into the room.
"...and don't try and shift the blame this time, Severus. You caused the situation. You gave up on me a long time before I left."
She stormed out the door and straight up to her room and slammed the door. The children hid as Snape left the parlour with a slightly flushed and incredibly furious face.
Molly, who had heard the fracas from the basement dining room, entered the hall to find Sirius already climbing up the stairs.
"What was all that about?" she asked.
"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out," he replied stonily and continued his ascent.
There was a soft knock on the bedroom door. Sadira opened it slowly and walked to the other side of the room, staring out the window. She appeared shaken and close to tears. Immediately his instinctive rivalry with Snape and wishes to protect his daughter overruled his conscience telling him to be careful.
"What's Snape done now?" he asked, not bothering to conceal his hatred of the man
"Nothing," she replied shortly. "I just wasn't expecting to see him again, especially not here."
'What does that even mean?' he questioned silently, no closer to the truth than he was before he entered the room. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I heard what you said," he confessed, deciding to tread with honesty as opposed to hatred. "What did you mean when you said he gave up on you? Did he give you a hard time in school?" he asked. She laughed a cold mirthless laugh.
"Oh no. He was very supportive all through school. Better than any of the other teachers. But some time after I left, things ...weren't going so well." She tailed off.
"Why, what do you mean after school? Did you keep in touch?
"You could say that." She looked at him with a conflicted look on her face.
"What?"
'Don't make me say it,' she hoped. 'Please don't make me say it.'
"What?" he repeated.
"It's nothing."
"Get on with it," he snapped at her. He hadn't meant to be short with her but he was concerned and her evasiveness was trying his patience.
"I SHAGGED HIM! WAS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?" she yelled, not realising he had left her door ajar.
Her right hand massaged her temples as she slowly realized this was neither the time nor the place to be having this conversation right now. Sirius' face became ashen. He fell to sit on the bed in sheer shock. Sadira inhaled deeply and sighed, sitting next to him. Might as well finish what she'd started.
"Look, it was a long time ago. We were in a relationship for over a year but it ended badly. I suppose both of us are still harbouring a bit of bad feeling." She explained.
"THE DIRTY OLD SOD, I'LL KILL HIM!" Sirius stormed, getting to his feet.
"No you won't," she ordered, still sat poised on the bed. "I dealt with him myself and it's nothing to do with you. Like I said, it was over ages ago," she soothed.
"Just tell me this, did he ever do anything inappropriate while you were still his student?" he asked through clenched jaw. She looked shifty and didn't answer.
"I WILL kill him" he raged.
"No! Just leave it. I don't want anyone dragging up my past." She objected.
"Fine," he softened, staring at the pained gaze of his daughter. The matter of old wounds was something he was all too familiar with. "I always hated him anyway." She wasn't sure if he was trying to cheer her up or cheer himself up.
Having nothing further to say, Sirius vanished through the door frame without a single word. She fell back on the bed and sighed away some of her tension.
"That could have gone stupendously worse," she muttered to herself.
"Did we hear correctly dear cousin?" asked Fred, poking his head round the door. She closed her eyes and held her breath.
'I spoke too soon,' she thought.
"Yeah, did you just say you screwed your Head of House?" finished George.
"Wind yer necks in you two, it's none of yer business." She snapped, reverting to her old accent under the strain.
"Merlin's pants! I don't know whether I'm impressed or sickened." George added.
"Yeah! Seducing a teacher is impressive; especially for a goody Head Girl, but Snape? He's repulsive!" added Fred.
"He is not repulsive!" she stormed.
"Aw, still not over him?" taunted Fred as she slammed the door.
The Twins wasted no time in informing people of Sadira's secret. Hermione was shocked, Ron and Ginny were appalled and Molly was outraged. Sirius asked them not to discuss it to spare Sadira's feelings, but he was fuming also. When he told Dumbledore about it as further proof that Snape couldn't be trusted, the elder wizard said that he still trusted him and would 'speak with Severus on the other matter separately'.
When Sadira came down for breakfast next day after having closeted herself in her new room, she was met with looks ranging from disgust to disbelief through to bizarre curiosity. She seated herself as far as she could from the other diners and ate in silence, head held high but meeting no-one's eyes. She poured herself a cup of black coffee and downed it in between bites of a half slice of toast before rising from the table and heading out.
"Wait, don't go yet, have a proper breakfast first." Molly insisted gently.
"Thanks Auntie Moll but I have to get to work." she replied flatly, grabbing her trenchcoat and bolting out the door.
