A/N:: Crazy long time, I know...I'd explain myself but I imagine you just want me to shut up so you can get on with the chapter. :P Recap is below in bold.

We the undersigned agree to the terms set by the joint last will and testament of Harvey Lane Nakofsky and Janine Ellen Nakofsky. We hereby accept and assume guardianship over all offspring produced by Harvey Lane Nakofsky and Janine Ellen Nakofsky in the event of their deaths. We submit to the conditions of the will in question that all inheritance bestowed upon us with the intention of providing for the offsprings of Harvey Lane Nakofsky and Janine Ellen Nakofsky. We also understand that the responsibility of guardianship extends until the birthdays that mark the offsprings' entrance into overage wizardry and/or witchcraft.

Furthermore, all sensible offspring (Nora Nakofsky) acknowledge and accept the halfbreed condition of one member of the guardianship, Remus John Lupin. All other offspring (Jacqueline Nakofsky) who are not of age to comprehend the above circumstances will be informed when the appropriate age is reached. The appropriate age agreed upon by the undersigned is seven years old.

We agree to the above terms and conditions and have also read and agreed upon with the terms, conditions and policies set by the Ministry of Magic of the United Kingdom before witnesses of the ministry and high wizengamot court.

signed:

Remus John Lupin 24.10.96

Kierra Jane Nakofsky 24.10.96

Kierra let out a small cry as she pushed Remus away from herself and immediately sat up in bed. She looked wildly around the room, looking at anything but Remus.

"Kierra, what"--

Remus was also sitting up now, and had leaned forward to touch her hand, but Kierra immediately retracted her hand out of his reach.

"I'm sorry..." she breathed, at last looking him in the eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"For what? What's wrong?" asked Remus, though his voice had little conviction in it, and more of a tone of dread, as though he had an idea of what was coming.

"Greyback." Kierra said.

Remus gaped at her. Not what he had been expecting at all...

"You...what you did. Greyback did it to me...you reminded me of him..." she said quietly.

"So..." Dominique started when they had both finished. She and Kingsley looked on to each other; Dominique wondered what time it was, remembering that she had to get to work early in the morning to tune the class piano.

"So..." Kingsley echoed her. He was staring at her, with his dark, almost black eyes. She was suddenly conscious of how close they were sitting next to each other, and thought to move; she didn't, however, and stayed glued to her seat. Tonks's face was swimming in her head, smiling knowingly at her, saying Kingsley's name with an annoying, gushing emphasis as she tended to do. Suddenly though, her face vanished from Dominique's thoughts when both she and Kingsley leaned forward and kissed.

"My name is Vincent Comte, and I'm actually running for position of"—

"…governor in the French ministry of magic, I know…" Kierra said, smiling sheepishly.

The man named Pierre chuckled and nudged the third man in the arm. "Bet you a galleon she won't know who we are though…"

Vincent smiled and turned to Kierra. "This is Pierre Durand and Serge Bardot…they are my campaign managers and closest advisors."

Kierra shook hands with each of them. "Pleased to meet you."

Kierra smiled as well as she put down Nora's letter. "No serious complaints…I think you're right. Well, that's a relief, isn't it? I'm not sure how much longer I could've taken Nora as an angsty teenager."

"Yes, those few days were rather trying, weren't they?" Remus said as he pulled Jackie out of her highchair and took her to the sink to wash her hands.

"I wonder what caused the mood change…" Kierra said. "I mean…remember? She was all moody and whatnot for a while…I mean, I was seriously beginning to wonder if she was spending all those hours in her room slashing her wrists or something…but then all of a sudden she goes out shopping and comes back as her old, normal self. It was such a sudden change. Definitely welcomed," Kierra added with a relieved look on her face, "but still sudden."

Remus nodded in agreement. "I thought so too. Maybe spending some time out there—you know, away from us and out in France, interacting with French people—might've done the trick."

"I'm going back home." Kierra finally said. She reached forward and took Jackie (who began to cry) from Remus.

"You can leave her with me…" Remus said. "I know you're busy…"

"No." Kierra said, ignoring Jackie's cries of protest at being taken away from Remus. "She's my niece. I can take care of her."

She turned around to leave, but was suddenly overcome by an urge to turn back around and apologize. But she just couldn't bring herself to. She knew everything she said was true, and she knew Remus needed to hear it. So she kept walking…

"When Walter attacked you, calling you arrogant, I was so angry I wanted to hit him, thinking he had no right to say such things to you!" Remus called after her. She did not stop walking. "But I'm starting to think Walter was right…"

"Nora!" Kierra breathed.

The girl shifted slightly in her posture, revealing her face to Kierra. It was Nora—her fifteen year old niece, Nora. Suddenly overcome by fury at Jean-Benoit, her favorite silly-but-loveable student, Kierra raised her wand, ready to throw him across the woods, when she saw Nora excitedly grab a hold of his arm. Before Kierra could even vocalize the spell she was going to use, they had disapparated together.

Chapter Ten: Sirius's Song

Remus shook his head with disapproval as Jackie chucked a block at him.

"No." he said sternly, or at least in a voice he had hoped sounded stern. Kierra had always criticized him for being too lax with children, so he was now trying to exert authority on his baby daughter. Only he was finding it difficult—not only because the little girl in front of him was ridiculously cute—but also because every now and then there were moments where Remus still had a hard time grasping the idea of Jackie being his daughter. Now was one of them.

Remus placed the block atop the castle they had built together on the living room floor, reminding Jackie that blocks were for building, not for throwing. Jackie in turn, giggled, and swung her arm into the castle, demolishing it.

Gasping in mock surprise, to which Jackie laughed at with satisfaction, Remus scooped Jackie in his arms and stood up. "Alright, come on trouble maker. Let's get you ready for lunch. Kierra will be home—"

With a popping sound, Kierra had apparated into the apartment.

"Soon." Remus finished, forcing a smile at Kierra. He was still quite annoyed with her over recent incidents. "You're back early."

"I saw Nora." She said, dropping her briefcase on the ground, not bothering to give Jackie a kiss as she routinely did when she got home.

Remus had fit Jackie into her high chair at the kitchen table, but had looked up at Kierra's random statement. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I was leaving work, and I was walking near the woods…and I saw him with her!"

"Who?" Remus asked. "You saw Nora with whom?"

"Jean-Benoit!" Kierra exclaimed. "They were there in the woods together! And she held onto him and did a side apparition…and they just disappeared before I could even react!"

Remus frowned at Kierra. "Are you sure you saw all of this? Nora's all the way in Beauxbatons, she's in school—"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Kierra burst. "You think I'm imagining it? I saw them, Remus! They were there together, and I don't get it! I had seen Jean-Benoit not ten minutes before that…and she wasn't with him then! Was he hiding her somewhere? Was she hiding by her own free will or was he making her hide? And why would she hide? And what the hell was she doing there with him in the first place?"

"Kierra, I don't know—"

"And where the hell did they go?"

"Well, maybe—"

"She's supposed to be at school! I need to go there and—"

"You shouldn't be going anywhere, Kierra!" Remus cut in, raising his voice a bit to be heard over her.

"But—"

"You can't." Remus said, gesturing at Jackie. "You need to watch Jackie."

Kierra's face sank in dismay. "But—"

"I have a meeting with Jean-Benoit in a bit, remember?" Remus reminded her. "I'll ask him."

"In a bit?" Kierra squealed. "Remus, are you out of your mind? Imagine all the things he could do to Nora! This is insane. Time is of the essence, and we have to do something now! We should go there—"

Remus smiled slightly, putting a hand on Kierra's shoulder. "Kierra…be reasonable. We can't do anything right now. Do you want to trace all over France looking for them? It would probably take hours to even begin tracking them down, by which time Jean-Benoit would have already showed up for our meeting. I know you're worried…but we have to be reasonable. Let's just wait until I see him, and I'll straighten things out with him."

Kierra stood in silence for a few moments, as if trying to think of an argument with which to counter Remus. She sighed after a moment. "Fine. We'll wait."

Remus smiled slightly and sat Kierra down at the table. "I already made us lunch. Go ahead and eat something," he said, bringing out a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of iced tea.

"I'm not hungry." Kierra said, picking up a sandwich and biting into it.

Remus smiled slightly as he sat down to feed Jackie her lunch of creamed spinach. "Do you think they're in a relationship?"

Kierra stopped chewing to gape at Remus.

"What? It's plausible, isn't it? Remus said, taking a sip of iced tea. "She's at the dating age now…"

"But how on earth would they have met?" Kierra asked, wracking her brains to remember if she had ever introduced Nora to Jean-Benoit in the few times she tagged along with Kierra to work before leaving for Beauxbatons.

Remus shrugged. "I have no idea. But you said she did a side-disapparation with him…did she look like she was doing it willingly?"

"Well, she looked like she was smiling…and I did hear her laugh…" Kierra muttered, "Oh, God. You're probably right. They're dating. Jean-Benoit is sneaking around with Nora…That little son of a—"

Remus slapped his hands over Jackie's ears as Kierra finished her sentence. Thinking Remus was playing some sort of game, Jackie giggled, spitting out half of her creamed spinach.

"Well, I could be wrong…" he said with a sigh. "I certainly hope so. Jean-Benoit isn't the most mature of men…"

"If you're wrong," Kierra started, but then deciding she didn't want to even begin going down that path, she sighed. "I don't think it looks very good any way we spin it. Nora's cutting school is bad enough."

Remus nodded, smiling sadly at Kierra. He knew full well of the numerous times Kierra had skived off class at Hogwarts (she had even tried to tempt him into skipping when they were a couple, in order to "do more important things like snogging", as Kierra used to put it). He wasn't about to remind her of those days, also knowing full well that Kierra didn't enjoy being called a hypocrite, even when it was in good humor. But he didn't blame her at all. He was, in fact, impressed with her current attitude towards Nora. A few months ago, before Nora was in their custody, Remus could have imagined Kierra encouraging this sort of behavior in her niece, not becoming anxious over it. She had changed so much…

"Hey."

Remus looked up. There had been a few moments of silence where they simply worked through their lunch. But now Kierra was looking at him rather earnestly.

"I'm—er—sorry—about—how I've been." She said with a sigh. "I know we haven't been seeing eye to eye on things lately, and…well, I've been rather selfish, not considering your feelings, not…conferring with you on things. I'm sorry about that. I should've talked to you before I decided to jump on board with Vincent. I've always valued your judgment, and I don't know what got into me…I don't know why I suddenly just decided to disregard it."

Perhaps she hadn't changed that much after all. Remus couldn't help but smile at the all too familiar look on Kierra's face. She did indeed look sorry. Lines creased over her forehead, and her lips sunk into a sad frown. And her eyes—Kierra had mastered the puppy eyes well enough that it seemed to be second nature to her. She had used them all the time on him when they were younger, whenever she wanted him to do things he didn't want to do…

Remus slid his hand across the table to envelope hers. "I'm sorry, I was a bit harsh with you—"

"No, you weren't." Kierra said, shaking her head. "That day when I blew up in front of Walter…I was completely out of line. And you being concerned with me and Vincent…I understand—"

Remus was shaking his head this time. "I trust you. I trust your judgment too, you know. And I know you're not some foolish little child. You're a smart woman, Kierra. And…when we do get married on that date in the vague future, I will be promising to take you for better or for worse, unconditionally. I should be doing that now as well. You are who you are, and I've never wished you to be different. I'm sorry I was so harsh on you…calling you things like arrogant. You're not."

Kierra shrugged a little, and as they sat in silence (with the exception of Jackie poking her fingers into her bowl saying "goopy" repeatedly), they each knew the fight was over; the tension was gone.

Except for the awkward moment of what to say next…

Kierra drummed her fingers against her lap. "So…" she finally started, smiling a bit shyly at Remus at the mere thought of the subject she was going to return to. "The wedding…are we still getting married?"

Remus's eyes widened slightly as he looked nervously at Kierra. "Er…I thought we were…"

"Well, we haven't done any real wedding planning in a long time!" Kierra said with a giggle. "I picked out a dress and we have a rough guest list…but we haven't even set a date yet—"

"…Just some time in the summer's all we agreed on." Remus said with a nod. "You're right. We haven't talked about it at all. Well I mean, it has been a bit busy these past couple months…and…well—"

"…We've been getting pissed at each other every other day, and that's all a bit distracting to the wedding planning process." Kierra finished with a grin.

"Yes, quite." Remus said as he sat back in his chair. "Well…alright. Er…when do you think would be a good time to have it?"

"July might be nice. We can try for the first weekend. I mean, it'll be easier for everyone to get away from work in the summer, especially our friends in England...and all of our underage guests will be out of school by then too…" Kierra said.

Remus cocked an eyebrow at her. "Our friends from England?" he asked. "They'll come here?"

Kierra smiled slightly. "Well…wouldn't you like to invite them? I mean, Dominique, Kingsley, Tonks—"

"No, I meant…they'll be coming here because we'll be having the wedding here?" asked Remus uncertainly. He had always imagined them getting married in England…

Kierra frowned. "Oh—I assumed we'd have it here…I mean, we live here and all."

"Right."

"You imagined us marrying in England, didn't you?" Kierra asked with a small smile.

Remus shrugged. "Well…I mean, we're both English…I thought it would be nice to do it in the place we consider home."

Kierra stared down at her empty plate. This was home, wasn't it? They had been there for years. Well, she had been there for years…It suddenly occurred to Kierra that while she was quite comfortable with being French, perhaps Remus wasn't. Did he not see himself as a permanent resident in this country? She supposed he hadn't been here that long, not long enough to call this place his home. And he had come here on a mission from the Order, not to move here for his own interests. Kierra was suddenly very conscious of the differences in their mindsets, and before she could stop herself, she had let out a heavy sigh.

"We can't go through this again." She murmured as she sank back in her chair.

Remus cocked an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean? Go through what again?"

Kierra shrugged. "This. This was why we broke up in the first place…don't you remember? We always had disagreements about major issues! Before it was you wanting a million little babies and me wanting none, and now—"

"Kierra"—Remus raised his hands up defensively to silence her—"I really don't think the issue of where we should get married is that big a deal. You know, we could compromise or something," he said, smiling wryly, "perhaps meet each other halfway and just have it in Belgium?"

Kierra smiled, but her face still looked troubled. "No, I don't mean the wedding…I mean our different mindsets! I'm used to it here…I like it here. I don't think I want to move back to England…I have no one there. But you…you're an Englishman…you've always been one, your life is there. You want to move there, don't you?"

"Oh…you were thinking about where we'd live after we married…" Remus said quietly, nodding in understanding.

"Yes. Remus, please…I know this is a major thing…but I'm sure it's something we can work out—"

"Kierra," Remus interjected with a frown, "we're not seventeen anymore…I'm sure we won't just break up because of a difference. Don't worry! Anyway, we don't really have a choice as to where we can live after we marry. We both have contracts here. My work for the Order isn't done here. We'll keep living here when we marry…and maybe we can revisit the subject in a few years, when our contracts with the school have expired. Does that work for you?" he asked, smiling slightly.

Slowly, Kierra nodded. "That works for me. But—"

"And we can wed in France." Remus interjected, still smiling. "Whatever you want. As long as we both show up and get to marry each other, I'm fine doing the wedding anywhere."

Kierra could feel her cheeks flush as a smile spread across her face. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"No…really, are you sure? You don't mind having it here?" Kierra asked again uncertainly, though she was still smiling.

"It's fine. Really." He replied.

Kierra was grinning from ear to ear now as she summoned her briefcase from the living room. "Let's go over the guest list….oh, and the menu! And we should go make an appointment at the bakery to taste cake samples. Oh, and I promise that we can have chocolate…" Kierra said, sounding practically giddy as she pulled out a quill and some parchment to begin making outlines for the wedding planning.

"With chocolate frosting?" Remus asked, cocking an eyebrow at Kierra.

"Absolutely. Chocolate everything." Kierra replied. "I mean, aside from the fact that it's delicious, it'll drive Dominique insane…you know how much she hates tackiness."

"Quite," Remus agreed happily as he turned his attention back to Jackie and her lunch. "and that's such an excellent fringe benefit…"

Dominique stared blankly at the shiny piano keys in front of her. Her head felt heavy from her general lack of sleep during the week—being a teacher was much more time consuming than she had bargained for. Aside from teaching music classes most of the day, she spent all of her free hours either doing lesson plans or tidying up the classroom. And when she got home from work she spent even more time with lesson plans. And to top it off, since she was a full-time faculty member, she was expected to attend weekly department meetings with the other Fine Arts teachers, and monthly school meetings with all the other teachers. She had to participate in extracurricular activities with the students; she ended up having to take charge of coordinating the music program—organizing recitals, helping with music for school plays, and putting together a choir with some of her older students.

Dominique pulled herself up from her piano bench with a great sigh, thinking bitterly of the job she could have had at Hogwarts. She would have taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and that would have been all. A few staff meetings over the year, a few patrol assignments, but that would have been all. There wouldn't have been that much dedication involved with working at Hogwarts. And there they were at least like her. They weren't muggles.

Not that she had anything against muggles. She got along fine with them. But having to hide her magic, having to live as a muggle the majority of the day was so inconvenient. But then, she was used to it. She had lived amongst them for so long, after the first war, only to return to the magical world when Sirius had escaped from Azkaban, and only making occasional appearances at that.

But this was all her choice. She didn't have to live amongst muggles. She could have easily found a job elsewhere in the magical community, especially now that she was living in Britain again, whose magical community was larger than that of any other country in the world. But she didn't have the energy to look. She didn't have the energy to stage a fully-fledged return to the community she had run away from. Not when the reason she had left was because of Sirius. Not when the reason she had made occasional returns was because of Sirius. He was gone for good now, so she had no one to return to.

Not quite sure of what else to do, Dominique fell back into her seat in front of the piano and began staring at it again, occasionally striking a few chords, as if to awaken the senses she had lost when she lost Sirius as the music flowed through her. Nothing though. She thought briefly of Kingsley, but immediately pushed the images of her short moment of intimacy with him aside, shuddering.

She struck another chord, and it stung her. Then another, and it seemed to alleviate the pain from the sting. Dominique glanced down at her fingers, suddenly conscious of the fact that she was physically sitting in front of her piano and playing.

"I like that…" she murmured, processing all the notes she had just played in that brief moment.

And almost instinctively, Dominique reached for the magazine rack beside her piano, where she kept all her music and blank scores. She pulled out a blank sheet and a quill, and immediately began to scribble the notes she had just played onto the score. When she had finished, she placed her handwritten music in front of her and played the chords again.

"…then it should quicken…" Dominique muttered as she dropped her hands onto the keys and began experimenting with a few combinations of sounds.

She continued to alternate between playing, muttering musical instructions to herself and scribbling notes onto the paper in front of her. Almost half an hour later, she had several lines of music written out. Dominique pulled back slightly from her piano, as if to resurface from her musical reverie while she stared at the music in front of her. She had never written music before. Small, one-line exercises for her classes every now and then, but she had never tried writing an entire piece.

It wasn't quite done yet; it didn't feel done. It was nowhere near done, in fact. She had just finished the beginning. Dominique smiled ruefully at the unfinished piece as she dipped her quill in her bottle of ink and leaned forward to title her work.

"Oh, Professeur! Je ne pense pas si…"

Smiling slightly, Remus shook his head at Jean-Benoit. "You can continue to research by your own methodological inclinations if you wish, but I think sooner than later you'll come to the conclusion that my proposed alterations would have benefited you greatly."

Remus watched as Jean-Benoit shifted slightly in his seat, frowning as he glanced over the corrections Remus had made to his research paper. "But ze alterations you 'ave suggested are beeg ones. It vill take me a long time to feenish zen."

Chuckling, Remus reclined in his chair. "An excellent finished product never comes without long hours and hard work. If you want full marks on your paper, I'd suggest making those changes. If you want your paper to look good in front of the faculty when you present it at the end of the term, those changes are absolutely necessary."

With a disgruntled sigh, Jean-Benoit shoved his paper into his bag and stood up. "Thanks, Professeur Lupin. I'll work on ze changes. I'll see you—"

"Just a moment, Jean-Benoit." Remus interrupted, reaching his hand out to Jean-Benoit, "Sit back down, please. I need to talk to you about something else."

"Oh?"

Jean-Benoit fell back into his seat, cocking an eyebrow at Remus.

He cleared his throat a little, attempting to buy himself some time as he tried to figure out the best way to aproach the matter. "I happen to know that you were with Nora Nakofsky a few hours ago." he stated bluntly. "Why were you with her and where did you take her?"

"Sorry?"

Jean-Benoit had straightened up in his seat, eyes widened slightly.

"Kierra saw you two earlier," Remus said, leaning forward in his swivel chair. "She saw the two of you in the woods. She saw you two disapparate. Now, fill me in, Jean-Benoit."

Jean-Benoit threw his head back and laughed a little. "Professuer, really...zis is...I do not know vat you ah talking -"

"Before you finish that claim of not knowing anything," Remus interjected, "it may interest you to know that Nora is under Kierra and my guardianship. It would therefore do well for you to tell me the truth."

"But sir - "

"You are not leaving this office until I receive a satisfactory answer." Remus pressed. "I think it highly unlikely that Kierra was seeing things in the woods today. You were with Nora and we want to know why - "

Remus's office door burst open. Kierra stormed in.

"Oh, Lord." he muttered, getting up quickly.

"What the bloody hell did you think you were doing with her, huh?!" Kierra snarled, looking a somewhat wild-eyed at Jean-Benoit. "She's a daughter to me now! You tell me what you were doing with Nora!"

Remus had hurried around his desk to Kierra's side, holding her back by the shoulder as she rattled off in French at a terrified-looking Jean-Benoit.

"Kierra, calm down, please!" he exclaimed, stepping between Kierra and Jean-Benoit and extending his arms out to either of them. Certain now that the risk of Kierra pouncing or using unforgivable curses was gone, Remus turned to Jean-Benoit again. "Explain yourself."

Eyeing Remus and then Kierra, who was glowering, Jean-Benoit sighed with resignation. "Alright. Fine. I am dating Nora. And we were together today in ze woods. But I promise -" his eyes widened suddenly with anxiousness - "she eez at Beauxbatons right now. Zat eez where I took her, so she eez perfectly safe!"

"What were you doing with her here in the first place? And when and where did you two even meet?" demanded Kierra.

Jean-Benoit was knotting his fingers in his lap, staring determinedly at the floor. "I met her a few months ago, when she first moved 'ere. She was out shopping, and she had gotten lost so I helped her find her way to ze clothing shop. And we...how do you say...clicked. Yes, we clicked that day. When she told me who she was related to, I became hesitant to carry on, but she inseested zat eet would be fine if we just heed our relationsheep from you...for ze time being." he added quickly. "Ze meeting we had today was her idea. But--"

"So you're blaming her for all this? For all your recklessness?!" Kierra interjected, leaning over Remus's outstretched arm to get closer to Jean-Benoit.

"No!" Jean-Benoit replied quickly, standing up, "Of course not! Nora eez a wonderful girl--"

"You're damn right she's a wonderful girl," snapped Kierra, "and I'm not about to let her ruin her life with a guy like--"

"Right," Remus interjected quickly, stepping in front of Kierra and forcing a small smile at Jean-Benoit, "thank you for coming clean with us. We're just concerned with Nora's well-being."

"Of course." Jean-Benoit replied, nodding his head vigorously in agreement while he eyed Kierra.

"Alright," said Remus, reaching for the door and holding it open for Jean-Benoit, "you're free to leave now."

"Thank you, monsieur."

And without further ado (except for the protests of Kierra), Jean-Benoit hurried out of the office.

"Remus!" Kierra exclaimed as the door slammed behind Jean-Benoit, "Why the hell did you just let him go like that? For God's sake, he's dating Nora! He said so himself! And you just let him walk out of here without--"

"Without what?" Remus interjected, cocking an eyebrow at Kierra. "A proper flogging? A good hex?"

Kierra shrugged. "Or something to that measure..."

Remus rolled his eyes and put an arm around Kierra. "Jean-Benoit isn't ours to reprimand. It's Nora we need to talk with."

"Yeah, ok." Kierra muttered. "But Jean-Benoit is a better target. Much easier to yell at and whatnot..."

Remus laughed. "You do know that if you terrorized him any further, he could have been frightened into breaking up with Nora. She in turn would rage against us for causing it. I think it's best that we didn't harrass Jean-Benoit any more than we did. We got some answers out of him and that's all we really need for the time being."

"I suppose." Kierra replied with a shrug. "We can write to Nora and demand for details later..."

"Yes...well, unless...should we let Nora come to us with the news?" Remus asked, glancing down at Kierra questioningly. "We might be pushing Nora away even more if we press her for explanations. Maybe she'll open up to us on her own."

"Yeah, maybe..."

"Then again, she's been seeing him for a couple of months now and she's been hiding it all this time." Remus said. "Do you think that one day, shortly after she moved here, when she had gone shopping and had come back in a good mood that she had met him? I mean, Jean-Benoit had said that he met her while she was shopping. Plus she had returned that day like a new person. All her bitterness towards me seemed to have melted away. Do you remember?"

Kierra nodded, frowning. "Yeah, I remember. She was in such a good mood."

"What's wrong?" Remus asked, detecting the dejected tone in her voice.

Kierra shrugged. "She's been hiding this all along."

"I know. But...you know, she's a teenager. They hide things. We hid plenty of things from our parents when we were her age." Remus replied.

"I know," said Kierra, now pulling herself away from Remus's loose embrace, "but she's my niece. She's my only niece, and I was always her favourite aunt. She always told me things. We confided in each other. I mean, we were friends before anything else, you know?"

Remus smiled ruefully. "You're her guardian now. You're a parent figure and she's starting to see you as one."

"Oh great."

"Not that your old friendship with her is gone forever," said Remus, "I'm sure if we give it some time, she'll come around and your relationship with her will slowly go back to how it was before. She'll be your friend again."

Kierra sighed. "I certainly hope so. I hate that she feels like she has to keep this stuff from me. I guess all I can do now is hope that I can salvage my relationship with Jackie..."

At the mention of Jackie, Remus's eyes widened suddenly. "Kierra! Did you leave Jackie at home by herself? Please tell me you didn't!"

Kierra grinned. "You're such a worry wart."

"Kierra!"

"Relax. Pierre flooed over to drop some papers off so I left him with her."

Remus sighed. "Kierra, Pierre hates children."

"That's not true!"

"Kierra..."

"Well, alright it is." Kierra said, rolling her eyes. "But that doesn't stop him from being good with them. He hates it, but he's got a certain charm with the children. Jackie especially. She was trying to climb up his leg when I left them. I've never seen her enjoying herself so much!"

Shaking his head, Remus grabbed his briefcase. "We should go home before Pierre's charms with the children wear off."

Dominique jumped, dropping the spoon she was holding into the cauldron of soup she had been heating over the stove. She glanced at the door suspiciously as the person behind it knocked on it again. She had been humming and hadn't quite heard it the first time. Abandoning her sunken spoon, Dominique hastily wiped her hands on her apron as she made her way to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Tonks!"

Dominique grabbed the doorknob, turned it halfway, and paused. "Er...who's my favorite composer right now?" she asked after some hesitation, grinning despite herself. It was a ridiculous process, this whole questioning procedure that the ministry of magic had requested people to do before allowing company to enter.

"D, do you really think I can really keep track of all the bloody composers you're into? You change your mind every week!" came Tonks's exasperated voice from the other side of the door.

Still grinning, Dominique opened the door to find Tonks leaning against the doorway with a bundle of parchments tucked under one arm.

"Wotcher, D."

"Come on in." Dominique replied, opening the door wider and gesturing for Tonks to enter. "How's it going?"

Been better," Tonks said with a sigh as she stepped into Dominique's flat, "my job is going to be the death of me."

"Keeping you busy then?" Dominique said, smiling slightly.

"You have no idea. I can't remember the last time I got more than four or five hours of sleep at night." Tonks said as she and Dominique took a seat on the sofa. "Seriously, I actually miss my bed. And I loathe my alarm clock. I physically hate it. I only regret the fact that it's an inanimate object and that performing the cruciatus curse on it won't actually hurt it. But you know, otherwise I'm perfectly fine, you?" Tonks finished, grinning.

Dominique laughed. "Oh, you know, busy with work and stuff, but I suppose I don't have much to complain about. It's not a particularly high-stress job."

Tonks cocked an eyebrow at her. "Teaching children all day isn't high-stress? And they're muggle too, aren't they? So you can't use any magic around them, right?"

Dominique smiled. "Nope, no magic. But it's not that bad!" she added when Tonks shuddered.

"Right. Being surrounded by children all day and not being allowed to do any magic. I admire your strength, D."

Dominique rolled her eyes. "So...what brings you into my neck of the woods?" she asked, glancing at the bundle of parchment that Tonks had brought along with her.

Tonks picked up the bundle and dropped it in her lap. "Papers for Dumbledore. Order of the Phoenix stuff."

"Oh?" Dominique asked, taking the bundle.

Tonks shrugged. "I have no idea what it's about, to be honest. Some reports and such from Kingsley."

"Oh..."

"He tried getting in touch with Dumbledore, but he's gone off somewhere and none of us can reach him," explained Tonks, "but I remembered you telling me the other day that you were going to have dinner with him tonight, so I told Kingsley I could drop it off with you after I got off from work. You don't mind, do you?" Tonks asked, wrinkling her eyebrows slightly as she looked at Dominique.

"No, of course not. I am having dinner with him tonight, so it's no trouble. I'll see that he gets these." Dominique replied, letting her glance fall to the bundle now sitting in her lap.

"Excellent, thanks D." Tonks said, "As soon as I get home, I'll send word to Kingsley and let him know you're taking care of it."

Dominique nodded, and they lapsed into silence. Tonks had taken to glancing around to see the wall decorations displayed around the room, while Dominique quietly drummed her fingers against the bundle of parchments.

"Er...so...how...how is Kingsley then?" Dominique finally asked when she saw Tonks making a face at a muggle painting she had hanging near her piano.

Tonks shifted her glance back to Dominique. "Oh, well...you know, he's alright."

"Ah. That's...good."

"He seems a bit gloomy these days."

"Oh?"

"D, he told me about what happened between the two of you..."

"Oh."

"So..." Tonks leaned forward expectantly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Dominique shrugged. "We kissed."

"I know."

"I don't know how I feel about it. I'm...confused."

"I know."

Dominique glanced up at Tonks. "He hates me, doesn't he?"

Tonks smiled slightly. "Course he doesn't. He likes you, D. He's been broodingly depressed lately, but he likes you."

Dropping her face into her hands, Dominique sighed. "I'm a horrible person, aren't I? He kissed me--oh hell, I kissed him back--I ran off and haven't spoken to him since...I'm awful."

"No you're not," Tonks said, patting her on the shoulder. "I think you've got some comunication issues you need to work out, but you're not a bad person. And you know, I think it's understandable...I mean, this is all because...well, because of Sirius, isn't it?"

Dominique lifed her head out of her hands, but kept her gaze down as she nodded. She felt herself burning with shame at the mention of Sirius's name. They were supposed to be together, until death parted them. Well, it had parted them...yet she couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt, of shame. After all, they had been meant for each other, hadn't they? They were supposed to be soulmates, perfect for each other in every way. How could she even begin to move away from that, even if it was all gone now?

"D, tell me honestly...do you like Kingsley?" Tonks asked. "There's nothing wrong with you if you do."

Dominique shrugged, now forcing herself to meet Tonks' gaze. "I do. I do like him. He's...well, you know him." she said with a small laugh. "He's a great person. But...I don't know. Tonks, it's just too weird...and wrong. It feels so wrong. I feel like I shouldn't move on. Hell, I don't want to move on...but I feel like I slowly am, like it's out of my control. And...well..."

"Yeah?"

"It's scaring me." Dominique said with a sigh, rolling her eyes at her choice of words. She expected Tonks to start glancing around awkwardly at any moment now, stalling as she figured out what to say to a statement as lame as that.

"I can understand." Tonks replied. "Sirius was part of your life for so long, half of your heart wants to cling to that old life. But the other half wants to let go of it because it's not there anymore. It wants to move forward. The internal conflict is getting to you."

Dominique cocked an eyebrow at her, slightly taken aback at her words. "That's exactly it." she said. "That's exactly how I feel--"

"Then give yourself time," Tonks cut in, "we lost Sirius only a few months ago, after all. It's still kind of...well, you need to take some time to figure things out, to figure out what you're ready for..."

"Yes, I suppose..."

"But you should at least talk to Kingsley," Tonks continued, "If you're not sure what you want right now, or if you're ready to move on or whatever…it's fine…but you should talk to Kingsley…he'll understand. And he deserves to know…he's a good guy."

Dominique smiled. "Yes, he is."

Tonks smiled as she stood up to take her leave. "I should get going. I need to run to the deli before it closes to pick up some dinner."

Dominique stood up. "I was just finishing up the dinner I've been preparing for Dumbledore and me. Wait here, I'll pack up some of it for you..."

"Oh, no!" Tonks protested, "That's alright, D--"

But Dominique had already hurried into the kitchen. "I made plenty, don't worry!" she called out to Tonks.

Tonks laughed. "Thanks D! I'd probably die from malnutrition if it weren't for you...and Mrs. Weasley."

Slowly making her way to the piano that Dominique kept in her living room, Tonk took a seat at the bench. Gently running her fingers over the keys, she sighed quietly and smiled. She loved the piano, but had never been able to gain mastery over the instrument. Clumsy fingers and whatnot. She glanced up at the sheets of music in front of her. The title of the piece was in what Tonks thought to be Italian. In the upper righthand corner in tiny print was the name "W.A. Mozart." Mozart. She didn't recognize it. Probably a muggle composer, Tonks thought to herself as she sifted through the sheets of music, wondering if she'd be able to find a title or composer name with which she was already familiar. But just as she pulled away a sheet of music with the title Andalucia, her attention was drawn to a thinner sheet of paper that had just come into view. Tonks reached for it, and suddenly realized that it was a handwritten score. The notes were strewn messily across the sheet in slightly smudged up ink. She cocked an eyebrow at it as she pulled the sheet out of the stack of music to get a better look at it. At the top of the page, in careful and elegant script, Tonks read the title of the piece, Sirius's Song.

A/N, part II: now, since I obviously stink at updating this story and I feel bad about it, I'm offering to create a mailing list (like I've done for "Wanton Confessions") to keep you guys posted (I'll just send an email out when I post a new chapter for this fic). If you want to be added, just leave your email address in a review. )