Gwyn Swann and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Twenty-one: Aurora and Sirius's Past

The day was bittersweet for Gwyn as she rose from her dormitory and began to dress in her robes. They had freed an innocent man from a dark fate, but the true murderer had escaped and three innocent lives had been taken because of it. And Buckbeak had been killed. Gwyn felt horrible for Hagrid, felt as though it were somehow her fault that he hadn't survived, but she knew that there was nothing that they could've done differently and saved everyone from their fates.

It was still early when Gwyn headed to Professor Vector's classroom to retake her Arthimancy exam. She was pretty sure that she could've waited another day, but she honestly just wanted to get it over with. The more time she waited, she was sure that something else was going to happen.

Sirius had gone to the Ministry and requested custody of Harry, which they were all too willing to agree to, since he had been imprisoned for no reason for twelve years. Gwyn was thrilled for her best friend, glad that he was now going to a home where he would be safe and loved and wanted.

Madeline had wrote her a letter, practically in all capitalisation, scolding her for being so reckless and going out after hours and being in the company of a murderer. But after about a page and a half of yelling, she finally calmed down and told her that she was proud of her and she was glad that Sirius was actually innocent.

Until he was able to secure a place of his own, Sirius was staying on the grounds at Dumbledore's request. Harry and Sirius were going to look for a house as soon as school was out, but until then, he could easily been seen in the castle with Lupin.

Unfortunately, Professor Lupin had fulfilled the requirement of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers and only lasted one year. After Sirius had been declared innocent, Snape, in his outrage, revealed to his students about Lupin being a werewolf and Lupin had resigned.

Gwyn had been very upset to hear this particular piece of information, along with most of the school, but she knew it would do no good. She was all too aware of how most of wizarding society treated werewolves. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair, but that was what it was. But if there was one thing that she was glad of, it was that he had taught her to open her eyes and to look into her heart to see what it was that she had wanted.

Hermione knew the truth about her greatest fear and when Gwyn had told her, she only smiled knowingly. "I already knew," she told her softly. "I've seen the way you two look at each other. You should tell him how you feel, Gwyn."

"How can I tell him that?" Gwyn asked, her shoulders sagging. "I don't want to ruin my friendship with him."

"You never know what's going to happen until you take a risk," Hermione said reasonably.

"Take a leap of faith," Gwyn whispered. "Maybe . . . but what if I'm wrong? What if I lose him as my friend and everything turns out . . ." She couldn't complete her sentence.

Her best friend just looked at her, giving her a knowing smile. "Well, all I know for sure is that if you do absolutely nothing, then one day, you're going to wake up and wonder what could've happened if you had just taken a chance," she said firmly. "So maybe instead, you can have something more."

Gwyn sighed, pulling her thoughts away from her thoughts on Harry as she knocked on Sirius's doors. "It's open!" Sirius called and she pushed the door open and walked into the chambers, finding him pouring over some flyers for houses that were for sale. "Hey, Gwyn. Finished your Arthimancy exam?"

"Yeah, I'm lucky that Professor Vector was willing to let me take it over, seeing as I was passed out in the hospital wing at the time," Gwyn said as he waved her in. She took a seat across from him.

"Remus mentioned that," Sirius mused and she gave him a curious look.

"Did he mention why I was passed out?"

"What do you think?" Sirius gave her a lopsided, cocky grin and she groaned, putting her face into her hands.

"You and Professor Lupin gossip more than old women," she complained, giving him a look as she folded her arms on the table. Sirius gave a bark-like laugh and she couldn't help but smile. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find a house, which isn't a problem with the compensation the Ministry gave me for shoving me in Azkaban all those years," Sirius said, shaking his head. "The problem is finding one that is nowhere near any of my relatives. Problem is, I've got them almost everywhere. Too many Blacks out there."

"I'd offer to help, but I have no idea where any of relatives live, so I don't think I'd be of any help," Gwyn said.

"Yeah, well, I also think that you came over here to listen to my problems," Sirius pointed out as he looked over at her. "What's going on?"

Gwyn sighed, looking down at her hands. "I wanted to ask you about my mother," she confessed. "What she was like when she was my age, what she did after school before she met my dad, about your guys' relationship . . ." she trailed off, wonder if she should ask him this, but Sirius didn't look angry, just quiet for a long moment.

Finally, he stood up and walked over to the closet, retrieving a small photograph of Aurora and a younger Sirius standing outside Hogwarts. They couldn't have been any more than sixteen.

"I met Aurora on our very first day at Hogwarts," Sirius said softly. "She and Lily had become best friends instantly, much like me and James. Aurora was . . . bright and compassionate and . . . and had none of the darkness that her family had. We were two of a kind, both rebelling against our parents and both being the forgotten child, while our brothers were praised and doted upon. But for the longest time, we ignored each other, taunted each other, and picked on each other. Lily used to tease Aurora that the two of us were going to end up married one day . . . and your mother would just laugh at her, but even at the age of eleven, I wanted it to be true. But it wasn't until our fifth year that I finally got the courage to ask her out."

"At the Christmas ball," Gwyn said, remembering that particular entry, the one that the man before he had written in just to annoy her mother.

Sirius blinked and stared at her in amazement. "How'd you know about that?" he demanded.

"Mum's diary," she admitted. He chuckled.

"I forgot about that. She used to get so mad at me when I would write in that," he laughed. She blinked. "What, did you think that that was the only entry that I wrote in?" Gwyn shook her head in disbelief; if Harry or Ron wrote in her diary, she would punch them in the nose.

"You're lucky she didn't kill you."

"Yeah, she probably would've, if I wasn't so adorable," Sirius said, grinning. His smile slowly faded. "The moment that she stepped down from her dormitory in that blue gown, I fell in love with her. She was so beautiful in it; I thought I was looking at an angel. That night was one of the happiest of my life, but unfortunately, our happiness wasn't to last."

Gwyn waited, but Sirius didn't continue, just stared at the photograph that he had of her mother. After a long moment, Gwyn finally cleared her throat. "What happened?"

Sirius jumped, as though he had forgotten that she was there, and looked down, his expression grim. "Well . . . we graduated and joined up with the Order of the Phoenix, a resistance against Voldemort, but things just happen, Gwyn. We drifted apart and finally decided that things would be better off if we just stayed friends."

Something about the way that he said that made Gwyn think that he wasn't telling her everything and she frowned. "What do you mean? What kind of things?" she wanted to know.

"Another time, little owl," Sirius said with a grim smile at her. "That's a story for when you're much, much older."

Heaving a sigh, Gwyn realised that he wasn't going to tell her anything else and folded her arms across her chest, still questioning her parentage.

"Okay, but . . . let me just ask you one thing," Gwyn said and Sirius nodded, curious. "You're not my father, right? I mean, William really is my biological father, isn't he?" That caused Sirius to laugh and Gwyn actually grinned, despite the seriousness of the situation.

It took several moments for Sirius to stop laughing and when he did, there were tears of mirth in his eyes. "No, no, I'm not your dad, Gwyn," he assured her. "Though I can see where you might have come to that conclusion. No, William is most definitely your father, though I'm not sure if that might ease your mind or not, from what Remus told me about him."

"Yeah," Gwyn sighed as she looked away. "Did . . . did you and Mum . . . did you ever get married?"

"We came close to it," Sirius said softly. "But like I said, things happened and . . ." He took a deep breath. "And besides, if we hadn't broken things off, Aurora never would've met your dad and you never would've been born." Gwyn considered this and nodded.

"But you still love her."

"I've never stopped. She's the only girl that I'd ever really been serious with," he admitted. "And I'll never stop loving her. But she's gone now, Gwyn. And dwelling on the past . . . sometimes, it only makes certain that you have no future."

Nodding slowly, Gwyn slowly stood up and made to exit the room when Sirius stopped her. "Gwyn?"

She turned. "Yeah?"

"You have so much of your mother in you," he said firmly. "And the ones that we love never truly leave us. You can always find them." He raised his hand and placed it over his heart. "In here."

Gwyn nodded slowly. "Thanks, Sirius."

"And thank you," Sirius added. "If it weren't for you, then I might not be a free man."

"Pettigrew still got away," Gwyn said, glancing towards the window. Somewhere out there, the man who had betrayed Lily and James Potter was at large. "And I've got the feeling that his escape only draws closer the dark days that are soon to come."

"Peter will pay for his crimes," Sirius said, the promise evident in his eyes. "He'll be brought to justice."

"But there's nowhere for him to hide, now," Gwyn pointed out. "He can't go to a wizarding family, not now that the whole wizarding world knows that he's an Animagus. He has no other choice but to go to Voldemort."

Sirius had no reply to this, because he knew that she was absolutely right.

--

As Gwyn rounded the corner, heading towards Gryffindor Tower to pack up the last of her things before they left on the train the next day, Gwyn smiled as she saw Tristan heading towards the library.

"Tristan!" she called, running to catch up with him. He grinned as he saw her. "Long time, no see."

"Well, from what I hear, you've been pretty busy," he pointed out. "Pretty wild couple of days, huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Gwyn said, smiling up at him. "I'm starting to think we're never going to have a quiet year around here."

"Well, who cares about normal? The quiet life is too dull anyway," Tristan pointed out. Gwyn grinned as she fell into step next to the Slytherin as they walked through the castle. "Besides, I'd rather be here then at that orphanage. Dull as rocks there."

"Well, London's not that far away from Rosemary Grove," Gwyn said, looking up at him. "You could always come and visit me there. Madeline won't mind; she says that she leaves me alone too much anyway during the summer."

Tristan grinned. "Thanks, I might take you up on that." They exited the castle and stepped onto the grounds. "Gonna be a long summer. I almost annoyed that we're not at one of those year-round schools. I'd rather stay here."

"I know what you mean," Gwyn agreed as they walked towards the lake. "This place is home."

"Yeah, well, personally, I think sometimes home is a person," Tristan said thoughtfully. "And your home is, I'm thinking, not the castle, but a certain dark haired wizard that you hang around with." Gwyn gawked at him, blushing scarlet.

"Shut up!" she hissed, casting a quick glance around to see if anyone had heard him, but there was no one close. "Jeez!"

"I'm just saying . . ."

"Jerk," she grumbled, giving him a playful shove, still red. "What makes you say something like that?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious," Tristan pointed out. "I mean, the way that you look at him . . ."

"Maybe, to everybody but him," Gwyn said quietly.

"So make it obvious to him," Tristan suggested. Gwyn glanced at him sharply, then looked away, her eyes moving up to Gryffindor Tower.

Maybe.