Chapter 1:

Dawn crept over the woods of England's countryside like a faint candle in a dark room. It cast small shadows on the trees in an otherwise hazy backdrop of darkness. If it weren't for the whip of the wind and the flash of feathers, not a soul would have been able to detect the haste of a hippogriff soaring through the air, much less the man riding it. Said rider dug his heel into the right flank of the beast, silently urging it to change direction and land amongst the trees. The creature obeyed and settled down with a slight thud as both hooves and talons touched back onto the ground. Buckbeak the hippogriff gave a crow of indifference before his rider disembarked.

The man was none other than Sirius Black, escaped prisoner and convicted murderer of many. However, there was less than a handful of people left in the world who knew the truth about the crimes he was accused of. The very notion of killing muggles repulsed him greatly as he had spent much of his youth fighting his family in favor of non-magic folk. The idea of murdering them was so ridiculous that Sirius probably would have laughed if he hadn't lost so much on that fateful night.

The night of the Potter family's murder would forever haunt his memory, never quite leaving him alone no matter how much his mind begged for reprieve. Despite the fact that he was innocent of being involved in their death, Sirius cursed himself for ever trusting their school friend Peter Pettigrew. The war had turned what was once black and white loyalty into a violent sea of gray. There was too much going on to notice Peter slipping away from the path of the light and succumbing to the dark temptations of Voldemort in his rise to power.

Or perhaps the mangey rat was always on the dark side, Sirius thought bitterly as he tugged Buckbeak along deeper into the forest. His filthy prison robes hung loosely over his starving frame and only dramatized his poor weight. It was during times like these that he was actually grateful for not having a home because it meant he wouldn't have to look in the mirror at the filthy decrepit form that was himself. Nevertheless, he urged the hippogriff further along. The beast gave another grunt of annoyance.

"Relax Buckbeak, we're nearly there." Sirius mumbled quietly to his fellow runaway. At least, he certainly hoped they were. The events of the last fews day were beginning to catch up with him. His body hadn't been under that much strain since he busted himself out of Azkaban prison and swam like his live had depended on it. And it had.

Nevertheless, fighting off one's werewolf best mate in order to protect the lives of children only to end up in a pit of vengeful dementors didn't exactly leave one feeling refreshed. Sirius was unfortunately reminded that he was no longer a strapping young man of twenty one.

Finally coming to the clearing as discussed, he was rewarded with the sight of a familiar face. Remus Lupin stood somberly beside a large oak tree, looking even more exhausted than Sirius felt and twice as cautious. It was certainly fair. Remus was a professor at Hogwarts and would no doubt have hundreds of students to attend to now that the year was coming to an end. There was also the fact that he was a werewolf that had just endured yet another horrific full moon only days ago. The fresh scars and bags beneath his eyes were the classic tell tale signs that Sirius had grown up learning to recognize.

"You're late." Lupin said dryly.

"I'm a bloody fugitive. What do you expect?" This earned a ghost of a smirk from the professor before it disappeared back into concern. Waiting for his friend to rest on a nearby rock, Remus proceeded.

"I expect you to be careful. The dementors are still searching these areas daily." he replied. "You'll need to make yourself scarce and quick. Now, I've brought you a wand and some essentials. It should be enough to last you a couple days while you build up some distance."

Sirius didn't answer, instead allowing his nose to detect something much more desirable. Sensing what had gotten his old friend distracted, Remus opened one of the bags he had brought with him on this excursion. He untied it and revealed several buns, bacon and sausages from Hogwarts' breakfast feast. With the speed of lightning, Sirius tore through the bag and proceeded to devour the morsels before him like the starving man he was.

His stomach churned in delight, thrilled to be fed for the first time in what felt like days. And it very well could have been, but Sirius chose not to dwell too deeply on that thought. As he finished the food in near minutes, his eyes drifted back over the Remus whose eyes bore an emotion beyond the usual seriousness and calm. Sirius recognized it almost immediately. Pity.

"If you're just going to stand there feeling sorry for me, you may as well pack up and leave now." The dog animagus ground out harshly, partly ashamed that he had done anything to warrant such a look. Remus blinked and refocused his gaze to a nearby oak tree.

"It's not pity. I suppose it's guilt." He said solemnly. Sirius raised an eyebrow as he finished the last bread roll, prompting the other man to continue. "I blamed you for everything. I thought you to be a spy, a murderer, all this time."

"If it makes you feel better, so didn't the rest of the world." Remus didn't look like it did.

"But I was your friend." The werewolf snapped and for a moment, Sirius thought the man might truly come undone. "And I hated you. I should've known better, should've tried to get you a trial, should've done something. Merlin if James were still here-" Both tensed in pain at the name of their best friend. Their dead best friend. Sirius's brother in all but blood.

"You were right to hate me. Bloody hell, I still hate myself for it." He laughed humorlessly. He paused for a moment, forcing himself to meet Remus in the eyes. "But Prongs...He wouldn't want us to be like this."

Uncomfortable with remaining still any longer, Sirius forced himself to pace between the tree he had been leaning against and Buckbeak, who continued to relax on the ground of the forest. It seemed that the hippogriff was unimpressed with the conversation taking place. The former convict ran a hand through the beast's feathers, finding greater ease in company that couldn't speak back to him. The simple action reminded him of the person who had given him Buckbeak.

"He's so much like him." He smiled, lost in the memory of seeing his godson only days ago. "You look at him from behind and it's like James never left for a moment. Then he turns around and looks at you and suddenly all you see is-"

"Lily." Remus supplied immediately, suddenly gaining the same far away look as his former friend. Sirius looked up and was surprised to see complete understanding on the werewolf's face.

It appeared that despite twelve years apart, they still shared some perspective and even more so, the same trauma. After all, both of them had lost family that night. Both of them had been betrayed and broken. But still, would it even result in friendship once more? Sirius didn't know and he definitely didn't dare to ask. With everything currently going on, the last thing he wanted was more disappointment. It was kind enough of Remus to meet him out here in the first place, even if it was just to drop off food and supplies.

"Do they-" He paused, and Remus tilted his head slightly, watching his friend ponder over his words. "Are there graves?"

"Yes." The werewolf said quietly, "In Godric's Hollow. I visit them once a year."

"And ... Is there one for her still there too?"

He couldn't say her name. Not aloud at least. It had been years, ages since Sirius even spoke about her let alone uttered her name to another living soul. The very notion made his heart ache. And despite over a decade of being apart, Remus could still pick up on what he was desperately trying to say.

"Marlene's is still there as well." He said gently, his eyes noting how her very name caused Sirius's shoulders to slump. "Same row. The whole family is there as well."

The murder of the McKinnon family had occurred mere months ahead of James and Lily's. It was a shock, a hard hit to everyone's morale. Lily had sent Remus a tear spotted letter, heartbroken that she couldn't attend her friend's own funeral. The pair had graduated from Hogwarts in the same year and became very close upon joining the Order. James had sent one out as well, telling him of how Sirius had shown up at their house a broken man and begging Remus to look out for him. It had been some of the last correspondence between Remus and his friends.

Now that he had time to acknowledge it, the Daily Profit never once credited the grief that Sirius must have undergone during the months leading up to James and Lily's deaths, to have lost the woman he loved so fiercely. Even worse, to have lost a child along with her. Yet none of that managed to make to be taken into account before he was sent to Azkaban. Sirius swallowed, seeming to follow Remus's thought pattern.

"Bellatrix told me about it." He said quietly, almost too hushed for his friend to hear if not for his heightened senses from the full moon. "She told me how she...how they saved her for last. Made her watch. Tortured her for information.

"But she wouldn't give in. My Marls." Sirius chuckled, feeling his eyes threaten to go misty as he recalled his cruel cousin's words. "So they took her baby away from her instead. Our little girl. And...And then they killed my Marlene and our little Ariana."

He'd never said it all out loud before. He had thought of it, dreamt of it and envisioned it for so many years in Azkaban, but he had never spoken the words. Seeing the pain etched on Remus's features somehow made it final, real. And for the millionth time in his life, Sirius wondered if he really would have survived without the knowledge that Harry was still in danger. It had after all been the one lifeline to maintain his sanity, perhaps in more ways than one.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, but found that no words could come to mind. How could one respond after hearing such a thing? He remembered the funeral vividly. Because the entire family had been murdered in the peak of the war, only a handful of people could attend. It was also the last time he saw Sirius. Suspicions had already arisen around that time and the two former friends had distanced themselves from each other. Without the ever dependable James present to keep the crew whole, the pack of Marauders became fragmented. Wormtail had not even been able to make it due to safety concerns, which unfortunately passed off as normal at the time.

Instead, Remus was left with a silent grief-stricken Sirius who wouldn't take his eyes off his beloved wife's casket nor the heart-shatteringly tiny one beside it. The ministry and the order had spent all of a month looking for baby Ariana Black with no luck and no leads. Everyone had moved to the most likely cause, her tragic death. Everyone, but Sirius.

"She's still out there somewhere." He had said in the quietest of voices, something so unlike his character that it sent shivers down Remus's spine. No amount of consoling or explaining would shake his belief either. It was the first moment that Remus believed Sirius was starting to lose his mind, too blind to think that it might have been the man's last desperate cling to hope. It only made it too easy to believe his friend had gone mad just a few months later.

Taking another breath, Remus made to give Sirius a sincere apology and a proper condolence. However, it seemed that fate had a different idea.

Instead, a loud crack filled the air, following by the spontaneous appearance of a small elven creature.

Both wizards whipped out their wands as Buckbeak screeched in uproar. But the small elf did not look the least bit concerned of the many threatening strangers amongst him. He calmly turned his golf ball sized eyes in the direction of Sirius in curiosity.

"Ariana. You said Ariana's name, sir." It squeaked out. "You must be Mister Sirius Black."

Sirius raised his wand in defiance and prepared himself to obliterate the small elf before its owners appeared to send him back to Azkaban, but he would never get the chance to. Because the next words out of the elf made his wand fall to the ground.

"Your daughter, sir. Ariana Black. She lives!"