Chapter Nine
A/N: Thank you to TheDoctor'sAmazingCompanion and Sakura Lisel for reviewing.
Unable to stand the tension any longer, Remus broke the eye contact he had held with his friend, as the man's head was clearly still reeling from the shock revelation his fellow Marauder had made. Over the minute that had passed since the words had left the shaggy haired man's mouth, Sirius must have blinked his eyes at least a hundred times, trying to force himself to accept the shock truth that had been told to him.
The silence had become deafening by this point, and so the prisoner chose to speak, if only to try and break the tension between them. His voice was no more than a whisper, hardly louder than the silence had been, but it was a far greater alternative for the both of them. "Baby?"
"Yes." Remus responded to him, after another lengthy pause. "Issy didn't know it, not until you'd been put into prison, but she was well into the pregnancy by that point. She was heartbroken that she couldn't see you and tell you, that you'd never meet your child, and by the time the baby was born... I think she was too heartbroken to carry on any longer, and so she died."
The deafening silence threatened to take over the cell once again, and once again, the lighter haired man was not willing to be the one to break it, so it fell to Sirius to begin their interaction again himself. He could see the tears in his friends eyes vaguely through the water in his own, but still he continued, needing to know the answers to the dozens of questions buzzing around in his head before the time came for his friend to be taken away once again. "The baby, was it a boy or a girl?"
"A girl." Remus told the prisoner, and the man could not prevent the smile that came to his face at the mention of the child, who had begun to meet so much to him over the time since she had been born. "She is absolutely tiny, because she was so early, but still so beautiful. She has these amazing eyes, exactly like Issy's, but rimmed with gold like yours, and her hair is brown, like both of you. She really is perfect."
Moony had not noticed that his eyes had become unfocused, as he had been so carried away in his mind, but when he settled his eyes on Sirius once again, he saw that the prisoner wore a watery smile on his face, one filled with guilt and regret, and he nodded his head vaguely as he came to terms with the news that he now had not only a child, but a daughter of his own. After a further beat of quiet, he asked the most important question. "What did you call her?"
"Charlotte. Charlotte Isabella." Remus informed his friend, and a smile further lit up his face at the smile that had spread across his friend's. "Issy named her Charlotte, because she said that you'd talked about it once, for a laugh, the night before... before Hallowe'en. And it was me that called her Isabella. I thought it was only right to name her after her mother."
"Of course it was." Sirius agreed, though his voice was beginning to break at the mention of the playful conversation he had had, the last time he had seen his precious wife. He knew that it was most likely the last middle name Issy would have chosen for their daughter, given that she was a very modest soul and always had been, but for him, it was utterly perfect. 'Just like she is, no doubt. If she's a part of Issy, then she has to be perfect, even if she is a part of me as well.'
Though there was no clock to tell him this, Remus could sense that his limited time that he had been given with his friend was coming to a close. He was saddened by this, of course, as Sirius was the only other one of the Marauders that truly still remained, now that Peter had betrayed them and James was... gone.
"You will look after her for me, won't you?" Sirius suddenly asked, and the visitor could hear in his voice that he was not truly questioning his intentions, rather confirming them for himself. The prisoner was well aware that Moony would care for his child the same way he would have cared for one of his own, and that he would never allow the girl to grow without knowing who her true parents were, though she may never know either of them in person.
"Padfoot, you know that I will." Remus told his friend, a small smile illuminating his features at the promise he made, one that intensified when it was mirrored by the man in the cell.
"I know." Sirius confirmed, with a further nod of his head. He chuckled quietly for a moment, before his smile disappeared once more, his expression becoming serious again. "There is no one that I would sooner trust with my daughter's life than you, Moony. Truly, no one."
A blanket of quiet fell between them once again, but this time, the silence was peaceful. However, the time ended quickly, as an unknown guard, different to the one that had allowed Remus into the prison, came to collect the man and take him away again. Their time was up.
"Remus, you have to tell Charlotte." Sirius told his friend, his words tumbling from his lips as he rushed to fit in everything that needed to be said before his friend was taken away from him. "When she is old enough to understand, tell her about me. Tell her that I love her and that I wish I could see her. Please don't let her grow up not knowing who I am!"
Further words followed, howls coming from the corridors he had vacated, but Remus could no longer hear them as clear words, only shouts that merged and became one with the cries of all the prisoners that had forfeited their minds to Azkaban.
Even as he sat in the boat that was to return him to the Ministry of Magic, even as he tucked little Charlotte into her cradle that night, all that filled the man's mind when he closed his eyes was the plea of his friend to take care of his child, and the promise that he had made. The promise that would determine the remainder of his life.
A/N: Please review!
