Note: I'm really, really sorry this chapter took so long! I had a bunch of ideas for the chapters after it, but this one was hard to get right. Ok, only Crescent and Moira are my characters. The rest are another's creation. Takes place two days after the last chapter. Lupin is still in the Shrieking Shack.

Chances

Part 8

Crescent found herself alone unexpectedly.

The young girl had not planned it, but it had been one of those days when nothing went right. Draco Malfoy had been teasing her all day and had taunted her with a bottle of Skele-Gro. Crescent had ignored him, as always, but he had persisted with the verbal attacks throughout the entire Potions class. Most of the Slytherins had been saying the same things to her ever since.

Crescent never showed how some of the remarks upset her. It was not her fault that she was so tiny. She looked like a little kid instead of her true age, eleven. And she could not help it if she couldn't afford to wear the nice clothes that the other girls did.

Most of Crescent's clothes were worn and faded, but she never minded. She was happy with her home and living with Uncle Remus. The only thing she would change about that would be for her father to be there with them.

But that was not likely to happen. Sirius was a wanted man, after all. It did not matter that Crescent believed him innocent. Hardly anyone else did, except for her uncle. And now Crescent was troubled over the conversation she'd had with Professor Snape. She understood him a little better now.

He'd truly loved Uncle Remus. It must have been devastating for him to lose the one he loved to another. Even if that other person had been her father. Crescent felt guilty for feeling sorry for the Potions Master, but she couldn't help it. It explained part of Snape's hatred towards her father, and, initially, towards her. Crescent figured that she must have been like a slap in the face to her teacher, a constant reminder of who he had lost the one that he loved to.

Crescent was also confused about herself now. If her mother had lived, she wouldn't have known who her father was. Snape had told Crescent that her mother had not told anyone that it was Sirius's child that she was pregnant with. The small child was not sure of how she felt about that. She had a right to know her father, but did not know him, because of whatever had truly happened years ago.

Crescent sighed and gazed out of the window, not knowing that she was being watched by someone. The young girl had gotten lost on the moving staircases, and had found herself up here. The stairs refused to move back, so Crescent was stuck until they moved again.

Sirius Black walked over to his daughter, wearing his Invisibility Cloak. He'd used the secret entrance to gain access to the school, and, ultimately, his only child. He stood there for a few moments, watching Crescent as she gazed out of the window, longing written on her face.

Crescent felt someone watching her, and turned slowly. She saw no one, however, but knew two people who had an Invisibility Cloak. Her father, and Harry Potter. Crescent had found out about Harry's cloak on another sleepless night, when she'd literally walked into him.

"Who's there?" she asked quietly, maintaining her calm.

Sirius made certain that none could see him, before he removed his cloak.

Crescent turned slightly pale. Why was her father here? Didn't he care at all about the fact that if the Dementors caught him, they would kill him?

"Crescent, I want you to stay away from Severus Snape," Sirius said sternly.

The young girl gaped slightly. "He's my teacher," she pointed out. "I can't stay away from him. The headmaster told him to keep an eye on me while Uncle Remus is away."

Sirius frowned. "Severus is not to be trusted, Crescent."

"Some people would say the same about you, father, but I don't," Crescent said quietly. "And Professor Snape will not hurt me."

Sirius sighed. "You are young and naïve. You do not know the true Severus Snape, as I do. I don't want you near him outside of class, like you were two nights ago."

Crescent was stricken. "You followed me? All he did was tell me to sit there and stay with him because I wasn't supposed to be out on my own. And he saved me from the Dementors when I returned to school after you kidnapped me."

It was Sirius's turn to go pale. "What do you mean, Crescent?"

"The Dementors surrounded me. If he hadn't come along, I don't know what would have happened," she told her father. "The Dementors single me out, because I have your blood. And they disturb Harry as well."

Sirius placed his hands on the shoulders of his only daughter. "Stay away from Severus, Crescent. He was part of a group of Slytherins that were You-Know-Who's closest followers."

Crescent didn't like disobeying her father, but she was not going to go out of her way to avoid her teacher.

"I cannot," she whispered. "I know that he will not hurt me. He has had the opportunity to do so many times, and has not, save for once."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "When did he hurt you?"

Crescent lowered her gaze. "The first day of school," she confessed. "He was really angry and forced me to say my last name. I was told not to say 'Black' by Professor Dumbledore, so I said 'Lupin'. But Professor Snape knew who I was and dragged me out of class."

"He'll pay for that," Sirius said in a low, angry voice.

"It's just because of what went on between you and Uncle Remus and him that he did that," Crescent burst out, before covering her mouth with her hand.

Sirius questioned, "What are you saying, Crescent?"

Crescent took a deep breath. "He told me… He told me about how he and Uncle Remus used to be in love, before Uncle Remus broke up with him to be with you."

"I see," Sirius murmured.

"And because of the incident with the Whomping Willow," Crescent added. "Uncle Remus told me about the trick you played on Professor Snape, which might have cost him his life." Her voice was slightly reproachful, for the young daughter of Sirius Black valued all life.

Sirius was angry with Severus now. The fool had no right to be telling things to Crescent, especially when he was no saint himself. And he wanted the Potions Master to stay away from his daughter. He honestly did not trust Severus. And he was painfully aware that Crescent did.

Sirius sighed yet again. "Crescent, people do things when they are young that they sometimes shouldn't do. I am no saint, but neither is Severus Snape. As my daughter, it is your responsibility to obey me."

Crescent was hurt at that statement. "You mean I should just agree with you because you are my father? I don't always agree with Uncle Remus, and he said that I should not be afraid to say what I think. And I think that what you are telling me to do is wrong. You just want to make him hurt more, because you were jealous of him being with Uncle Remus before you began dating him."

Sirius flinched. It was better that Remus had raised Crescent rather than Severus, but she had an uncanny way of cutting through to the heart of a matter. And of piecing things together. Severus and Remus must have both opened up to this special, empathic child.

His child, Sirius thought. He was in awe of the miracle. Sirius would never have believed it possible for him to have a child, considering his preference. Moira had had the best love that he could give a girl. But it had not been a love that would have lasted for a lifetime.

Sirius wanted a chance to make things right. Not just with Remus, but with Crescent, as well. He only hoped that everything would work out between himself and Remus. Crescent had been well protected by Remus for eleven years, but Sirius wanted the chance that he had never thought he would have.

The chance to be a father.

To be continued