A/N: Welcome to my latest work - it will hopefully be around 25 chapters in total. I've got to be honest with you, I've been struggling with just sitting down and writing lately, so I have no idea if I will be able to stick to the update schedule I've got planned, but we will see. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions! Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter one and be on the lookout for chapter two in a few days.

"Hermione, come down here!"

Her Mum's shout was loud enough to be heard on all three stories of their cramped townhouse . Hermione knew that meant that she couldn't pretend not to be able to hear her. She would have to pack up the toys that she was playing with — a set of plastic ponies that her dad had gotten her and a book about a little princess — and head downstairs from her room as quickly as she could.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go join her Mum, just that she knew what it meant. They were going out again.

But it was her birthday and they'd promised — promised — to spend it with her, something that she was quick to mention to her Mum.

"I don't want to go to Theo's," she said, not bothering to hide any of the disappointment that she felt. "I want to be with you and Dad."

Her mother gave her a sickly sweet smile. "We will be back soon, Honey," she said, crouching down onto Hermione's level. "But the quicker you let us leave, the quicker we can come home and have some of that yummy cake."

It would be a convincing argument, Hermione supposed, if it wasn't one that had been made over and over and over again, only to be broken again and again.

She wasn't entirely certain what her parents did, but she knew that they were very important for their boss, some guy called Tom Riddle. She hated him. If it wasn't for Tom Riddle, her parents would be free to spend their time doting on her. They wouldn't break all of the promises that they made to her.

Once she was ready, her Dad took her hand and the small family walked their way to the townhouse next door, where the Notts lived. Theo's mum opened the door. She was really pretty, with big blue eyes and brown hair that was always piled up on top of her head. As always, she had a lit cigarette in her hand when she opened the door.

"Theo!" she called up her own set of stairs. "Hermione's here!"

"Thanks for watching her," Hermione's mum said, with another one of those smooth smiles.

"No problem, Bellatrix," Theo's mum answered, blowing a stream of smoke up over her head. "Alfie's already left, so you can meet him there."

Hermione tried not to frown too much when her Mum leaned in and whispered to Theo's mum, trying not to be overheard. "Look, if we aren't back by seven, Hermione's got a little cake next door," she said. "Run over and help yourself to it."

She tugged on the sleeve of her father's leather jacket, trying to get his attention. Her Dad was tall and Hermione always had to crane her head up to look at him, but she loved it when he picked her up and put her on his shoulders. "Daddy, won't you be home to sing to me happy birthday?" she asked, feeling that tight lumpy feeling in her throat, like she'd swallowed a rock.

Her dad kneeled down so they were face to face. He tugged on one of her curls and watched it bounce. "I'm going to do everything I can to get back in time," he swore, hand to heart. "But you know that Daddy is very busy. If I can't make it back, Cora and Theo will have to sing to you."

Before she could reflect on how much it hurt to know that her Dad was always too busy for her, Theo popped his head around the corner. Hermione shoved past her dad's shoulder and readily wrapped her friend in a tight hug that he returned.

Theo was probably her best friend in the whole wide world. Theo didn't have any brothers and sisters, just like her. He was smart like her and he had a whole bookshelf full of books that he liked to share with her. They made forts together and sometimes in the summer they got to go to the lake and splash around. Best of all, he lived right next door, so they could see each other practically any time that they wanted to.

And, Theo's dad worked for Tom Riddle just like her parents did, which meant that she often went over to Theo's house to keep each other company.

Hermione liked spending time with Theo and his mum, she just wished that today of all days, on her birthday, she might get to actually watch a movie with her mum and dad.

She heard her mother laughing at how tightly she held onto her friend. "Watch out, Rodolphus," she said with a giggle. "Or else Theo might just steal your little girl away from you."

Hermione turned to face her mum, confusion on her face. "What?" she asked, thinking that no one could ever take her away from her dad. Except maybe Tom Riddle.

Her mum shrugged her shoulders. "Just look at you, so close already. It only makes sense that romance might come along one day," she said, a knowing look on her face. "Cora, we might share grandchildren someday."

Theo's mum snorted. "I am sure that Alfie would love that," she said, after taking a long drag on her cigarette. "If the two of them got married. We are practically family anyway."

"Yuck!" Theo said in an exaggerated way, shoving Hermione aside. "I don't want to marry Hermione. She's just a silly girl."

Immediately, tears sprang to Hermione's eyes. Why shouldn't Theo want to marry her? She didn't think she was particularly silly. And, they already did everything together anyway, she didn't want to imagine a world where that changed. They already played princess and knight, who always got to live together happily ever after, so why couldn't they do that in real life?

She'd been hurt one too many times on her birthday — it was her birthday of all days — and she couldn't stand to be insulted one more time, by Theo or her parents. This time, she shoved past her best friend and stomped up the stairs towards the playroom in the attic that they usually played in, not bothering to stop when her parents called after her to say goodbye.

Locking the door, Hermione wiped the tears off her cheeks, wondering why no one wanted to be with her. Well, she didn't need anyone either! She pulled herself into the window seat and opened the book her dad had given her and started to read.

Theo knocked on the door after her parents left. "Hermione, I'm sorry," he said. "Won't you open the door?"

But Hermione didn't want to look at him, not when he knew how much she grossed him out. "Go away, Theo!" she demanded, knowing that he would be just fine on his own in his room or watching tv with his mum in the living room.

She must have fallen asleep, because when she looked out the window again, the sun was disappearing over the roofline of the houses on the opposite side of the street. Hermione stood and stretched, wanting to emerge from her attic hideaway so that she could get some of that birthday cake, but she didn't want to have to see Theo in the process.

Standing in the fading light, Hermione was surprised to hear quite a commotion down the stairs. She wondered if that was what had woken her up. She couldn't be entirely sure what was going on, but she thought she heard someone running up the stairs as quick as they could. Then, thunderous footsteps followed up afterwards, like they were chasing.

"No! You can't do this!" Theo's mum shouted. "I'm her guardian. They left her with me and I'm not going to let you take her away."

Hermione felt a bolt of fear in her stomach. It sounded like they were talking about her. But if Theo's mum was claiming to be her guardian, what had happened to her parents?

"Ma'am, you need to move aside," a deep male voice responded. "We need to take her with us. You aren't an official guardian and she has other family."

"I won't let you," Cora answered, boldly. "I won't let you take her."

Hermione heard her back make contact with the flimsy door to that attic.

"Ma'am, you need to step aside," the man answered.

It seemed like he waited a brief moment, but then he was shoving Theo's mum aside. She made a horrible screech when she hit an adjacent wall. The man instructed Hermione to move back from the door, which she did.

Hermione wrapped her arms around her knees, scared out of her wits. She didn't want to be taken away. She just wanted her Mum and Dad to come and get her.

But, with a shoulder to the door, the flimsy lock popped open, letting the light from the hallway flood in. The tall man — a policeman, she realized — stepped into the attic and blocked out the light. "Hermione Lestrange?" he asked. "You need to come with us down to the station. Everything is going to be okay."

It was far too late for a child to still be awake when Sirius finally got back to the station and found Hermione Lestrange sitting in an office, her legs dangling from the chair, body enveloped in an overly large police jacket. Christ, didn't they have a blanket or something they could give her?

He stormed directly into Dumbledore's office, annoyed that he hadn't been called as soon as Bellatrix and Rodolphus were arrested. He should have been the one to go get Hermione, not Jugson, or whoever they'd found. At least he had met the girl before, seeing as they were cousins. She might not know him well, but he hoped that she would at least recognize him. It might have made the whole thing a bit less intimidating.

"Why wasn't I called?" he demanded of his superior officer.

"There wasn't any time. Things were moving too quickly," Dumbledore said in that calm voice of his. Unfortunately for him, it did anything but calm Sirius down. "Besides, you are here now."

"Yeah, but how long has she been waiting here?" He questioned.

"It's been a few hours," Dumbledore conceded, a frown on his face. "We've been having trouble with next of kin."

"Trouble how?" Sirius asked. His family might be terrible, but there were dozens of them. Surely there was someone who could take Hermione in.

"Well, as you might imagine, Rabastan was also picked up today in the raid, so he is unavailable," Dumbledore answered, leaning back into his swivel chair.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I can't believe that option was ever considered," he groused. "Rabastan is barely nineteen. I doubt he can take care of himself, let alone a child."

"Narcissa Malfoy has refused to take Hermione in. She made it very clear that she doesn't approve of what her sister does and she wants nothing to do with that kind of lifestyle, even if that means leaving her niece without a home," he continued.

This had Sirius scoffing. "Jeez, does she know what her husband does?" he asked, thinking that Narcissa's moral high ground was really quite suspect. "Lucius is just as bad as Bellatrix or Rodolphus, even if he hides it well."

"Yes, well…" Dumbledore trailed off. "We've been able to track down Andromeda Tonks, but she lives all the way on the other side of the country now. It will take some time to arrange transport for the girl."

That suggestion had Sirius irrationally angry. Dumbledore always seemed to see people as pieces on a chess board for him to move around at will, not caring what his pawns might think about where they ended up. Hermione was just a girl who'd had her whole world upturned in one afternoon. He couldn't believe that Dumbledore thought sending her hours away from the only place she'd ever known would be a good choice.

"Hell no, Albus," he growled. "She's only six! It's her bloody birthday today. I'm not going to let you completely uproot her life more than it already has been."

"I don't see what other options we have," Dumbledore shrugged. "Unless you want her to go into care here."

Sirius shook his head. "I am not letting my baby cousin end up in care," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If Narcissa isn't willing to step up, I will take Hermione in."

"You?" Dumbledore asked quizzically.

"Yeah, me," Sirius repeated. "Or did you forget that I was already certified as a caretaker when I took Harry in a few years ago? It will be good for her. She will have a friend her own age. And I'm family — real family. The sort that will look out for you."

"Don't you think that you are taking on far too much?" he asked, clearly skeptical of the arrangement that Sirius had cooked up. "You're barely twenty-five yourself and you are already looking after one child."

Sirius scoffed. "If I had a wife you wouldn't bat an eyelash at the suggestion," he answered. "I will be fine, promise. I've got Remus to help me and we've done more than alright with Harry."

"But Harry is your best friend's child—"

The younger man cut him off before he could continue. "Yeah, and Hermione is my cousin. She will be in good hands," he insisted. He wasn't going to take no for an answer on this one. "Now, if you don't have any other objections, I am going to go talk with her."

He waited a brief second for Dumbledore to make up his mind if he was going to say something or not. When the older man didn't make a move, Sirius stood and walked to the office that Hermione was being held in. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door.

His heart broke a little when he saw the confused little girl swinging her legs back and forth.

"Hermione?" he asked, grabbing her attention. "Do you know who I am?"

Sirius pulled up a chair and sat in it backwards, hoping that the additional barrier of the back of the chair would make her feel a bit safer in this unusual, unknown environment.

She narrowed her eyes at him, taking in the angles of his face as she tried to place him. "You're Sirius Black," she said, cautiously. "Mum said you are the family that we don't talk to."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that assessment. He could say the same of her mother.

And wow, did she ever look like Bellatrix with that shrewd look on her face. Bella had always been too smart for her own good, and too stubborn to use her smarts to better herself. Instead, she'd gotten mixed up with Rodolphus and then Tom Riddle. It was a shame, really, but maybe Hermione would do differently with his guidance.

"Yes, I'm your cousin," he said, giving her a smile, hoping that she would warm up to him. "Listen, has anyone told you what's going on?"

She nibbled away at her lower lip, concerned. Then she shook her head.

"Christ," he swore under his breath, even more annoyed at Dumbledore than he already was. Someone should have explained it. "Your mum and dad…well, they've been doing some bad things and they've been arrested. They are going to go to jail."

Hermione swallowed and he could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes, but she kept a brave face.

"We are trying to find a place for you to go. Your Aunt Andromeda has offered to take you in, but she lives very, very far away," he said, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck. "Or, if you wanted, you could come and live with me."

"I want to live with Mum and Dad," she said, sullen.

"If that was an option, I would let you do it in a heartbeat," he lied. He didn't want to return this innocent little girl to people like Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, not if he could help it. "But it isn't. Maybe you'd prefer to live with your aunt rather than me, but…I've got my godson who lives with me, too. He's about your age. It could be….it could be fun."

Hermione didn't look like she believed him for one second, but if she had to decide between the two options, Sirius seemed like an alright choice. "Okay, I'll go with you," she said cautiously, unsure. "If it's okay with Mum and Dad."

Sirius was sure that they wouldn't be okay with him raising their daughter, but they didn't get much of a choice. He chose not to say anything to that. "You will really like it. And if you ever change your mind I am sure that Andromeda would love to have you," he said. "Do you want to go to my house now? I bet they didn't even feed you dinner here."

Her stomach gave a little grumble, confirming that it was true.

Sirius laughed. "C'mon kiddo, we'll get a pizza on the way home," he promised. "And maybe a pint of ice cream. It's your birthday, right?"

She nodded furiously, taking his offered hand to guide her down the labyrinth of hallways in the police station. "Yes!" She said proudly. "We had a cake and were going to eat it when Mum and Dad got home, but we never got a chance to have it."

"Hmm, maybe we should get a cake then, instead," he said, thinking that it wouldn't be too difficult to stop at a grocery store on the way back. "And then, Harry, Remus and I can sing to you. Would you like that?"

It seemed like that idea was a huge hit. Hermione was already beginning to be distracted from the harsh reality that she wasn't going to be seeing her parents again for a long time. For a while at least, she was content to ask him who Harry and Remus were, listening to his quick description of each of them.

Feeling his heart swell at the sight of a smile on Hermione's face, he promised that he would do whatever it took to give her a normal childhood.