A/N: This chapter contains references to the story Before They Were Legends by Leia Solo

Athena sat nervously in the waiting room outside the office of Professor Dumbledore. She looked down at the gray kitten on her lap. "You're so cute." She didn't know what was in store for her. It had seemed to her she'd been sitting out there forever by the time a teacher looking woman came up stairs with a girl who appeared to be about her age.

"I take it you are Athena Black?" The woman said.

"Yes, ma'am." Athena rose in respect.

"I am Professor McGonagall and this is Hermione Granger."

"Pleased to meet you both." Athena said politely.

"Oh! What a cute cat! Does it have a name?" The kitten purred as Hermione stepped forward to pet it.

Athena was suddenly embarrassed. She still hadn't named the kitten. Think she told herself. "Artemis." She said shyly.

"Oh like the Greek Goddess. How cool. Especially since your name is Athena." The girl seemed nice and Hermione already liked her.

"Hermione will be helping you get caught up with your studies." Professor McGonagall said. Finally the door to Dumbledore's chamber opened and Hagrid came out. Athena was soothed by the sight of someone semi-familiar.

"You can all come in now." He said and the three entered Dumbledore's office.

"Athena? I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster here at Hogwarts. Please all of you have a seat. Sirius, this is your daughter."

Athena and Sirius studied each other for a long while. 'You're beautiful." Sirius said after a time.

"Th-Thank you." Athena said.

"Now naturally we all have a few questions, especially for you Sirius." Dumbledore said. "Who, pray tell could be this child's mother?"

Sirius sat there as memories flooded back to that night. "Lyria." He croaked out. "Lyria has to be the mother."

"Lyria Strider?" Dumbledore asked. "The Auror?"

Sirius nodded. "The night they arrested me I was on my way to meet her. We hadn't spoken in months because we'd had a huge fight. Out of the blue she contacted me and said she had to tell me something. At that time she was the only women I was with."

Dumbledore nodded and pulled out two scraps of parchment and proceeded to scrawl two notes. He snapped his fingers and two owls appeared. He tied a note to each owl and they flew out the window. After that he turned back to the group. "As you can see, we have quite a situation on our hands. Miss Black here is four years behind on her studies. You, Miss Granger, will be appointed as her tutor. I do not want to stick a fifteen year old with a bunch of eleven year olds so you will be in regular fifth year classes."

Hermione looked confused. "How can anyone make up four years of work?" She asked. "Isn't it all cumulative?"

"In a way yes. But older wizards have a higher aptitude for learning than younger ones. This is why we don't accept students until the age of eleven in the first place. Athena will catch on rather quickly, I believe, especially considering who her parents are." He directed his gaze at Athena. "My dear you haven't said much."

"I...I don't know what to say sir. I'm a little bewildered right now."

"Understandable." Dumbledore said.

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Lyria Strider was interrupted by the sound of a tapping at her window. She looked up and saw an owl there. Mumbling to herself about annoyances and the lack of quietude she went over to the window and opened it. She discovered the owl was bearing a note containing the Hogwarts seal. "Hogwarts? How strange." She said. She sat down and was about to read but the owl was hooting uncontrollably. "Oh, here." She said, giving it a bowl of water. It was silenced. She finally got to read the letter and was shocked by its content. "Oh my gosh." Lyria scrawled a response saying she was on her way and then hopped on her broom. Her daughter was alive and at this moment was at Hogwarts. It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time she was able to view the familiar turrets of the School. As she arrived she was unhappy to find Severus Snape waiting for her.

"Don't worry, I'm no happier about this than you are." Snape said. "Follow me." Lyria did so without comment. She knew the second she allowed her tongue to speak even a word to Severus it would end in a huge argument. Snape led her to Dumbledore's office and knocked on the door. Hagrid opened it and Lyria walked in. Her eyes immediately fell on Sirius Black and she emitted a small gasp.

"Miss Strider. Please have a seat." Dumbledore said. "Lyria, this is Athena...whom we believe to be your daughter." Lyria stared at Athena, and Athena stared back. "Well, for once the illustrious Auror is speechless." Dumbledore commented.

"I just..." Lyria started. "I need to sit down."

"Lyria, we'd like to know why your daughter was undiscovered. Sirius has an excuse for not knowing of her existence but I would think that you would have some knowledge that you had a child somewhere."

"Honestly? I wish I knew as well." She said. "But maybe you should talk to the Ministry about that. They are the ones who took her."

"What? Miss Strider this is a huge accusation. You're saying that the Ministry took your child, a witch, away from you and hid her. Now why would they do that?"

"Because her father is a murderer." Lyria said, not permitting herself to look in Sirius' direction.

"No, Miss Strider. He was acquitted." Dumbledore stated.

"Fine, they took her away because they thought her father was the dreaded Sirius Black, murderer and ASSHOLE extraordinaire."

"Lyria please." Sirius spoke up. "I didn't mean to..."

"Just shut up! I don't want or need your excuses." Lyria spat.

Dumbledore rose. "If you will both kindly close your mouths we can continue with this meeting. This is not about past relationships or who did what, this is about your daughter and in spite of what it is you feel for each other she belongs to both of you. Do either of you deny this?" Both shook their heads no. "And there is no way that anyone else could have fathered this baby?"

"No." Lyria said firmly. "Sirius is without a doubt her father."

"Well then, that is cleared up. If everyone would please leave now I think Athena and her parents need some time alone." Dumbledore said, rising. The rest of the group hustled out and an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.