Padfoot's Puppy
Chapter Seven
'Disguise'
It was close to midnight by the time Sirius finally came out of this room. Remus was still sitting on the chesterfield, and Amber was sound asleep. Slowly, Sirius sat back down on the chair, and just stared at the girl.
"It's true, isn't it?" Remus finally asked. Slowly, Sirius nodded, his eyes not leaving Amber. He was studying her, memorizing her. Her black hair was shiny and fine, not like his, and her eyes, well, now at least he knew why they were so familiar.
"Yes, it has to be. That's the crest I gave to Amber, in our Seventh year." Sirius said his voice flat. That year had been the best of his life. Lily and James had finally started dating, and Sirius didn't have to listen to James go on and on about how unfair she was being, and that was the year that Amber Winslow finally went on a date with him.
Amber had been in his year, but was in Ravenclaw. She had known Lily, and while the two hadn't really been friends, they had hung out a few times. One of her closest friends had been Narcissa though.
Sirius had liked Amber ever since he had first met her in their third year. He and James had just pulled a prank on Lily, and Amber had torn a strip off of him. With a faint smile, Sirius remembered that day.
"Why must you jerks insist on being so goddamn mean? Lily hasn't done anything to you and still you guys are such pricks!" Amber had yelled as she helped a very wet Lily to her feet. Sirius and James had just laugh, and angrily, Amber had slapped Sirius.
"Shut-up and listen up!" She yelled. Both Sirius and James had stopped yelling and stared at her in surprise. Lily was the only one who had ever told them to shut-up.
"I should go to Dumbledore himself about this; you jerks are just being cruel! Sure, pick on Snape all you want, he's just as big of jerk as you two are, but Lily the only sane and nice person left in all of Gryffindor! Gryffindor used to have a good name until you two creeps showed up!"
"Maybe it's just a coincidence, I mean, Black is a fairly common last name." Remus said. Sirius shook his head, and carefully, picked up the crest and showed the back to Remus. In the dark, Remus could just barely make out an inscription.
To Amber, so that you'll always remember me,
"Oh." Was all that Remus said. He looked at Amber, who was still sleeping peacefully. It was such a difference from when she was awake. She wasn't loud or rude, but there was always an angry look on her face when she was awake.
"How could Amber never tell me though?" Sirius asked. At first, Remus was silent; he didn't know what to say. Finally though, he thought of something.
"Judging by the fact that Amber didn't have a baby while you were still with her, I'm guessing that she was born while you were in Azkaban, there was no way that she could tell you!" He said. The answer seemed to satisfy Sirius, and for a while, neither one of them said anything.
"She has your hair colour, that's about it." Remus said finally. Sirius nodded. Amber had had long, fine brown hair and icy blue eyes, just like her daughters.
"Lucky her." Remus said with a smile. Sirius laughed softly and nodded. It was true, his hair was the worst, and he had never really been that fond of his eye colour.
"So, are you going to tell her?" Remus asked. Sirius didn't answer. He hadn't thought about that. How was he supposed to tell her? He didn't think that just coming out with a, "Hi, I've just kidnapped you and you're going to have to stay with me for probably the rest of your life, oh, and I'm also your long lost father" wouldn't sit that well with the kid.
"I don't know, should I?" Sirius asked. If anyone would know, Remus would. He always knew what to do in strange, awkward situations like this.
"I don't know, I mean, it would probably make her pretty angry to find out, and besides, what if she ever gets back to the Malfoys and they find out? They could use her against you!" Remus said. Sirius nodded, he hadn't thought about that. Narcissa might have been Amber's friend at Hogwarts, but being married to Lucius had no doubt made her change. And Lucius had never liked Amber or Sirius, he'd be overjoyed to use their child against Sirius.
"So we'll just keep it a secret and act like we know absolutely nothing about her mother?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded and sighed. Yesterday, he'd been just an escaped convict, today; he was suddenly the father of a thirteen-year-old girl. It was making his head hurt.
"Are we going to tell anyone?" Remus asked. Sirius didn't answer. He hadn't thought about that either. Obviously Tonks and Moody already knew about the girl, but they didn't know that she was Sirius' daughter. And in only a few days, they would all be going to, ugh, number twelve, Grimmauld Place, where there would be a constant train of witches and wizards going through. And to think of what Molly Weasley would say when she found out! Sirius cringed at the thought.
"I don't know, I mean, if we tell everyone, someone is bound to let it slip, and Snape might tell one of his Death Eater friends about her." Sirius said, the dislike clear in his voice. Remus smiled.
"Sirius, Snape is on our side now! But you do have a point. Okay, we won't tell anyone that's she's, well, you know, but what are we going to tell them? We won't be able to hide her in a room forever!" He said. Sirius thought for a moment. Remus was right, they couldn't hide her forever. But then he thought of something, and a grin spread across his face.
"No, we can't hide her forever, but we can disguise her!" He said. Remus stared at him, clearly confused.
"Disguise her? What are you-oh no, no, we cannot do that!" He said, catching onto what Sirius was thinking. Sirius stood up and started walking back and forth in front of the fireplace.
"Yes we can, and no one will suspect anything either! Oh this is a perfect plan!" He said. Remus shook his head, and glanced at Amber quickly, to make sure she hadn't woken up. She was still sound asleep.
"We cannot do that, what are you thinking? That's a great way to get her to hate us!" Remus cried. Sirius grinned at him.
"For a while, but trust me, it's a whole lot of fun after you get used to it! And this way, you won't be any threat to her when you go all furry on us!" He said. Remus sighed, but he didn't say anything.
"Oh come on Remus, unless you have any better ideas?" Sirius said. Remus was silent, but finally he sighed loudly.
"Oh fine, we'll do it, but you are the one who has to explain all of this to her!" He said. Sirius grinned brightly.
"Deal!" He said.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, six reviews for one chapter, yay! And I will defiantly check out that story, thanks. And I agree, Amber is so ignorant, but she may…not saying anything for sure…may, figure out something…just maybe… And also, I hate this chapter's name…but I couldn't think of anything else… just thought you should know…
