Once again, I don't own Harry Potter.

Reviews would be lovely and I hope you're enjoying this so far. This one is a little longer than before, but it seemed silly to try and split in into separate chapters when it all happened at the same time.

Thank you for my one review at the time of writing! : ) I thought about sending her to an orphanage, but I couldn't see Dumbledore doing that. The daughter of a now infamous dark wizard and mass-muggle murderer? Nope, she'd have to be somewhere where he can drop in and keep an eye on her...

Chapter Three

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall sat on one side of the coffee table, in a smaller drawing room nearer the back of the house. On the other side sat Marius and Caroline Black, the latter already rocking the little girl in her arms. As yet, none of them had said a word. Marius Black stared at Dumbledore, his jaw tight.

Caroline glanced nervously at her fuming husband and quickly back across the table where the two strangers sat. She had never had much experience with social services before, but this was not what she had imaged.

"Does she have a name?" She asked, looking more at the woman than the man.

McGonagall looked at the baby sadly, "Annie Black. It was short for Annabelle. Marlene named her for her sister." Caroline frowned; the poor woman looked as if she was holding back a flood of tears. Surely that wasn't normal? Marius had said that they were just delivering the child. They were just the social workers.

"Oh, Annie is a pretty name, isn't it sweetheart?" She gazed down at the child. She had Marius' eyes and holding her seemed oddly... right, even if it had come a little late in life. Perhaps the maternal instinct never really goes away.

Marius snorted, which wasn't like him at all, she thought. "He called her Annie?"

The man – he had introduced himself as Dumbledore – nodded. "Your nephew broke with a number of family traditions." Was it her, or did he look uncomfortable?

"But not the biggest of them."

The woman visibly flinched at that. Dumbledore answered though, calmly enough. "No, not in the end, he didn't."

Caroline sucked in her lips, there was definitely something she hadn't been told and she suspected it was something important. However, she had no desire to start and argument with her husband in front of these strangers, however strange they were. And she certainly didn't want them to think she was rude. She frowned at looked at all of them again.

"Mrs. Black, I'm afraid that the story of this poor little girl is rather a long one and I'm afraid there is a lot your husband hasn't told you- "

"Now see here, Dumbledore, I don't care what you have to say, but you are not about to terrorise my wife!" He jabbed his finger at him across the table.

Caroline turned to Marius, "I thought you didn't know this man?"

Marius put his head in his hands for a moment before looking back up at his wife. "My dear, I am terribly, terribly sorry, but I have been keeping something from you for a very long time. If it were not for these people and that child, I never would have told you this." Caroline held the baby tighter against her chest. Something horrible was about to happen. "Perhaps, dear, you had better had the child back to Professor McGonagall for a moment, as all of this might come as quite a shock."

Wordlessly, she handed to child back to the woman – McGonagall, was she a professor now? – and stared at her husband. Her lips were pursed and inwardly, he began to squirm. His wife rarely gave him that look and it was always bad news for him when she did. Dumbledore leant back in his chair as if he were about to watch some sort of delightful show, and McGonagall glared at him disapprovingly.

"My dear, the lady and gentleman here are not like... us. Professor Dumbledore is a wizard and Professor McGonagall is a witch."

"Marius, I really don't think that the private practices of these people, be they Wiccans, or New Age Pagans, or..." she glanced at them nervously as if she dreaded to give offence, "are really any of our-"

"Please, dear, I need to finish the story." Caroline closed her lips in a thin line and nodded at him to continue. "They are really a witch and a wizard and they can do real magic." He looked at her face – which looked furious – and sighed wearily.

He gestured to Dumbledore who pulled out his wand and smiled kindly at her. "I'm afraid this will all come as something of a shock, so perhaps a spot of tea is in order." And with that he waved his wand and a full tea set – Wentworth – appeared before them. The tea pot began to pour Earl Grey tea into each cup. A slice of lemon floated in behind them. Each silver teaspoon jumped to attention and began to stir the tea, three times exactly. "Do you take sugar in your tea, Mrs. Black?"

Caroline clutched her heart, open mouthed, and shook her head. She turned back to her husband. Her face was rather pale, and a little green. "Is this a joke?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear."

"Can you do that?" She still hoped that this would all be an elaborate joke, although if it was a joke, she was going to have to divorce her husband for becoming so unutterably strange and twisted overnight.

He shook his head. It seemed as if there was no quick end to this conversation now, and perhaps there was some truth to this unbelievably insane story. The Wentworth tea set was certainly real, and she ought to know, she had purchased enough of them in her lifetime.

"No, I was born into a wizarding family – an ancient and noble wizarding family – but I am what they call a Squib. I am unable to do magic. My family were not able to accept this," she reached across the table and placed her hand over his and he gave her a small smile, the type that always reminded her exactly why she loved him, "although very few people would have done, back then. It's very much the same now, I believe. They decided it would be kinder to send me away, to be raised and live as a muggle. From the age of 17 I have had no contact with the wizarding world, or very little, at least." He sighed. "However, I have heard enough and understood enough to know that there has been a terrible, terrible war in the wizarding world for the last few years. As a Squib, I feared I would be in danger. I could never let anything happen to you, my dear, and so I wrote to Dumbledore, the only wizard I thought would answer, and asked that defensive spells be placed around the house. He did as I asked, and it was very decent of him to do so." He nodded at Dumbledore, who nodded back in return.

"And I thought that would be the end of our acquaintance. He had never heard of me before then. Had I not contacted him then, he would not be here now. That child is the daughter of my nephew, Sirius Black. He was a pureblood wizard." He saw his wife's confused face. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Professor Dumbledore, perhaps you should continue. I read your letter, of course, but I'm sure you will be able to explain it better. I have no desire to tell my wife myself what my relatives have done."

Dumbledore nodded and McGonagall looked away for a moment, "It means that he and all his family were wizards. The Black family has a great disdain for muggles – non-magical people – and were very proud of their heritage. The Black family have, for generations, hated wizards who mixed and married muggles, and witches and wizards who came from muggle families. Sirius Black was no different from the rest of his family. During this wizarding war Sirius fought for the Order. He fought for the rights of muggleborns and muggles. He married another member of the Order – Marlene McKinnon, another pureblood witch from a very prominent Irish wizarding family. Together they had a child. Sirius, however, was not loyal to the Order. He must have turned to the ranks of Lord Voldemort-" McGonagall jerked awkwardly at the same.

"I'm sorry, Minerva, but you should have no fear of the name. Fear of the name only increases the fear of the man, but I digress. Sirius Black joined the ranks of Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard. It would seem, then, that he betrayed the Order. He arranged the murder of the entire McKinnon family. To him, they were the worst of blood traitors. He was on duty with the Order all that day, a duty he volunteered for, whilst his wife was visiting her family. Black had insisted on a play date between Annie and the child of his best friend, James Potter. She was with him and his wife as Marlene and her family were tortured and murdered. He was so grief-stricken that we believed that it was all a coincidence, but, alas, in light of recent events, we now know that Black was an actor of the highest class."

"Only a few months later these very same friends, the Potters, were betrayed by Sirius and murdered by Lord Voldemort. Their son, Harry, managed to survive and will be cared for by his relatives. However, Harry's survival, as miraculous as it was, led to the downfall of Voldemort. Something happened, and we may never know what, that caused him to lose his powers. Sirius Black, unable to accept that he had lost, went on the run and murdered 13 muggles and another wizard. He has been captured and will spend the rest of his life in prison. You are the only family his daughter has left, at least, the only family that was not in league with Lord Voldemort. That is why me must ask you to raise her, and keep her away from other, ah, undesirable influences."

Caroline looked as though she was struggling to breathe. Marius stood up and walked to the window. After all these years, all the horrible truths had finally come out. Caroline would never look at him the same way again. "How... how could this all happen? How could this happen and none of us know? How could anyone ever do such a thing to their friends, their family? How could they hate people like that?" She whispered, her voice strained. If this was all true...

Dumbledore shook his head. "The human heart has great capacity for love, but just as much for hate. Of course, love is far more powerful, but greed and rage and envy can all be very effective as well... The wizarding world is not so different from the muggle one. After all, there is plenty of hate in your own world..."

"But the deaths... How could we never notice? How long has this been going on for?"

"Thousands of muggles vanish each year. The wizarding deaths were merely added to that total."

Caroline covered her mouth with her hand. "That poor little girl..." And with those words, Marius knew there was no way she would let the child out of her sight again. And that was why he loved his wife...

"Do you have a plan then, Dumbledore?" Marius sat back down and saw that McGonagall was smiling at both of them.

"Well, I planned that you would pass the child off as your own. I know that you are both rather, er, advanced in your years... forgive me... but certain advances in the field of muggle medicine would mean that it was rather surprising, but not unbelievable. That way, she could grow up without having to know, or have anyone else know, who her father was. He is absolutely notorious. Very few knew he had a child, if she vanished, she would just be forgotten. It will be assumed she died alongside her mother, and the rest of the McKinnons. It would be much better for her that way, I'm sure you'll agree. She will be in the same year as Harry, when she goes to school. She will be in the same classes of a number of children, whose parents were lost to Lord Voldemort, his followers and Sirius Black. How could we ask an innocent child to endure that shame?"

"Will she be a witch?" Asked Caroline.

"Yes, and probably a powerful one if her antics thus far are anything to go by."

"Annie Black, my little witch..." cooed Caroline.

"We can't call her Annie." Said Marius firmly. Dumbledore nodded, as if this was all going to plan.

"No, you can't." He said.

"No one, at least no true wizard, would believe that a Black called their daughter Annie. If we want to pass her off as a true Black, she'll have to have a better name than that."

Caroline looked up sharply, "I like the name Annabelle."

"It is a lovely name," he sighed, wishing he didn't have to reveal all of his family's madness. "But the Black family has a tradition of naming its children after stars and constellations."

McGonagall leant forwards, "Believe me, Marius got off lightly, I've taught children called Regulus and Andromeda..."

Caroline smiled, "Well, we aren't calling her that."

Marius shook his head, "Maia. The Maia star is part of the Taurus constellation and sounds vaguely normal. We can call her Maia Violetta Black, for my mother. That sounds like a suitably Black name. Will that do, do you think?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I think it sounds wonderful."

...