CHAPTER FIFTY

'Underneath the echo,

Buried in the shadows,

There you were…'

When the Darkness Comes-Colbie Caillat

That weekend, Remus, James, Lily and Peter all visited Wendy to find out that she would be returning to Hogwarts Monday. The Prophet had only published that another anonymous witch had been a victim of Greyback's new method so no one at school knew the explanation behind Wendy's absence.

"Where's Sirius?" Wendy asked.

"His Aunt Andromeda is making him watch his cousin while she runs errands. He's coming after he gets her some food," James said, sitting in the chair on her right.

Lily sat at the foot of the cot, her arm braced on a spot so she could lean towards Wendy.

"I have notes from all your classes for you. I know it's not required of you to make up work but I figured you didn't want to be behind. They're in your trunk at school," Lily said warmly.

The doors swung up to reveal a little girl running into the room, screaming at the top of her lungs gleefully. Sirius rushed in behind her.

"I swear that if you don't shut it and stop running I'm going to hex you!" he snapped chasing her.

Wendy, Peter and Remus cringed at the high pitched squeal while Lily and James grinned amusedly.

The little girl's hair ear length flashed from purple to pink to violet to pink.

Finally, she tripped over the hem of her floor length yellow dress and landed on the floor.

Sirius groaned in frustration and stormed over to the child. He picked her up and she cried on his shoulder.

"Oh, relax, Nymphadora. You're fine," he grumbled.

"Is this your cousin?" asked Wendy.

Sirius nodded agitatedly.

"Yes, this is my accident prone, little cousin Dora. Say hello to my friends."

His tone had lightened slightly. It was now tender and slightly loving. The little girl removed her head from the crook of Sirius's shoulder, sniffing. Her eyes scanned the five people in front of her.

"Who's that?" she asked, pointing at James.

"That's James."

"Who's he?" she asked, aiming her index finger at Peter.

"Peter."

"Her?"

"That's Lily."

Tonks smiled at Lily.

"I like your hair, Lily. One day when I can use my metamorphamagi stuff good I wanna make my hair your color," she smiled.

Lily touched a lock of her ginger hair and laughed softly.

"Honored," she replied.

Nymphadora resumed her task of pointing at each individual. It was hard not to laugh at her serious expression when he mouth was rimmed with chocolate.

"Who's the boy with all the scars on his face?" whispered Nymphadora, loudly.

Remus half-smiled, amused with the child.

"That's Remus."

She nodded and pointed to Wendy.

"Who's she?"

"That's Wendy."

Dora eyed Wendy making her grin just slightly.

"You're pretty," stated Nymphadora.

Wendy opened her mouth to thank the child but was interrupted.

"Sirius gave me chocolate for lunch! He let me pick anything I wanted and I chose chocolate! I told him my mum would be mad but he didn't care! He just did it anyway!" Dora explained.

The door behind them swung open again to reveal a tall, slim woman gliding in. She had dark hair cut neat and short beneath her ears and smoky eyes. She looked like a Black.

"Oh, hello, Aunt Andromeda," Sirius said innocently as he faced her.

His Aunt smiled warmly.

Then her smile faded as she inspected her daughter's face. The outburst of a mom angry at her nephew for feeding her child candy for lunch was awaited, but missing in action.

Instead, she laughed and pulled Nymphadora from Remus's arms.

"Did Sirius give you candy for lunch, Nymphadora?" she grinned observing the large and messy chocolate rim around her daughter's lips.

Sirius stared at the ceiling, whistling coyly.

"How did you know?" gasped Dora.

Andromeda grinned and scooped Nymphadora into her arms, ruffling her hair that was now a shade of violet.

"Hello, I'm Sirius's Aunt Andromeda," she said offering a kind smile.

Peter, James, Wendy, Remus and Lily all offered a quiet greeting. Andromeda turned back to Sirius.

"Well, thank you, Sirius. Please come and see me sometime soon," she said with a kind smile.

"Sure," he replied.

Andromeda gave them all a nod of recognition before turning and exiting with Nymphadora on her hip babbling incessantly about Sirius's "wicked" friends.

"She was precious!" Lily said with a soft laugh.

"Yeah, that was adorable," added James, grinning.

Sirius scoffed and took a seat at the end of Wendy's cot, arms folded. He's shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"She's a monster. I hope she grows out of being an annoying little prat."

There was a silence in which all of them exchanged surprised glances at Sirius's angry candor at a toddler he was related to. Sirius snickered and ran his hands through his hair.

"Let's bury her," Remus shrugged with a straight.

For the first time in what seemed like years, they all found themselves laughing. Genuinely.

Remus then had hope that things would once more, straighten themselves out.

As long as Remus and Wendy had each other, they could get through this…unless Remus changed his mind.

*ANOTHER SHORT ONE, I KNOW. HOWEVER, THE NEXT ONE IS REASONABLE LONGER!*