Prayer
By: LaurelRose
Chapter One: I Pray the Lord My Soul to Keep
A/N: I only own Shenna and Heather. Everyone else belongs to JKR. If anyone would like to be a beta reader for me, I would muchly appreciate it! Sorry for the long delay, I had to take my end-of courses, APs and IBs. I just graduated "with all the rights and privileges allowed," to quote the principal!
On a side note, Shenna is in the same year as Harry. So you know where we are timeline-wise.
After apperating to Hogsmeade, Remus quickly made his way through the village, trying to avoid painful memories that were in every part of the town.
"Hey! Let's go to Honeydukes'! I bet they have some new sugar quills!" Peter's voice appeared out of the depths of Remus's memory.
"Peter, do you always have to think of food?" Sirius.
"Sirius, I need something to get me through Transfiguration."
"Hmn. Valid point."
The news that Sirius had betrayed the Potters, although said news was 7 years old, still shocked Remus. Sirius the loyal, Sirius the brave, Sirius the defender was also Sirius the betrayer? Nevertheless, Dumbledore himself had given testimony that Sirius was James and Lily's Secret Keeper, and the Secret Keeper was the only one who could have given them up to Voldemort. Still, late at night, in the time between living and dreaming, Remus would wonder, what went wrong?
Remus shook himself out of his reverie. Thinking about the past would not help him in this new complication. With quick strides, he found himself leaving Hogsmeade and heading towards Hogwarts. Out on the grounds, he found Hagrid preparing for the Halloween feast.
"Hullo Remus! What brings you here?" Hagrid's face broke into a grin when he saw the former Gryffindor.
"Business, Hagrid," Remus stated brusquely. "I need to speak to the headmaster."
Hagrid observed the focused look Remus had on his face. He looked like he was not faring too well. Obviously, Remus had something very important to do; otherwise, he would have not risked apperating or Flooing this far. "C'mon, Remus. I'll take yeh up to his office. He oughta be there now."
Remus nodded. "Thank you, Hagrid."
"Just let me grab these pumpkins…ah! There we go." Hagrid led Remus up to the castle, Remus taking two steps to every one of Hagrid's. Remus almost felt like a first-year again, going through the gates of Hogwarts. But he was an adult now, with all the responsibilities of an adult and none of the carefree attitude he once had. The years since Voldemort's demise and the loss of his childhood friends, in addition to his lycanthropy, had honed Remus into a serious man, looking far older than his actual age.
"Sugar Quill," Hagrid whispered, correctly giving the password to Professor Dumbledore's office. He no longer had the pumpkins in his arms, choosing to drop them in the Great Hall on the way.
Dumbledore always had an affection for all sweets, Remus thought.
"Wait here," the groundskeeper said. "Dumbledore is dealin' with another student. I have ter get back to the pumpkins. Will I see yeh tonight?"
"No, my time here is very limited. I'm sorry," Remus said sadly. He sat down to wait for the Headmaster, and Hagrid slipped out the door.
A few minutes later, Dumbledore walked through his office door, after eating a good breakfast. "Hello, Remus," he said fondly. "What brings you here?"
"Have you read today's Daily Prophet?" Remus began to pull something from a pocket inside his robes.
"No, not yet," said the Headmaster. "Why?"
"Just read." Remus handed Dumbledore the article by Rita Skeeter, and the headmaster sat quietly and read it. When he had finished, he looked up at Remus. "You cannot legally do anything."
"But I have to help her! What do you expect me to do? Sit around and watch her suffer? She is my godchild!"
Dumbledore started suddenly. "What do you mean, Remus?"
"The reason Sirius is Harry's godfather is because Harry almost instantly attached himself to Sirius when James and Lily brought him home," Remus said fervently. "Shenna was the same way with me. But I couldn't legally be her godfather, so James took the job officially. Even though I can't take care of her, I'm responsible for her. What happened to that home the Ministry placed her in?"
"I don't know." Dumbledore looked pensive. "However, she should not be on the streets. You need to find her and bring her here. Then we will decide where she needs to go."
Remus looked at the Headmaster, nodded sharply, and then quickly left. He had a lot of work to do if he wanted to find Shenna. Luckily, he knew exactly where to start. The photographer for this article had caught a building in the background of the picture. A building that was a bookshop. A bookshop that was right next to the Leaky Cauldron.
She was asleep. Curled up on a small pile of garbage in an alley near the Leaky Caldron, she slept with her only blanket, a yellow sort of thing. The blanket was dirty, but relatively unharmed. She knew that the blanket was probably the most important thing that she owned, so the blanket got preferential treatment. She was in the middle of a good dream (one she never got to the end of, that had something to do with a day in the park and a big black dog) when she heard a voice next to her ear.
"Hello, precious."
Her blood went cold. She recognized that voice. He was the man that came and took away her home and sent her to live with that terrible family. She looked at him with wide terrified eyes.
"Are you afraid, precious? Don't you like me? I want to be your friend."
"Go away."
"I have a house you could live in. I have a son just your age. He could be your friend." Lucius Malfoy looked at the girl, desperately wanting her to believe him, but she did not. Something was wrong with him. She knew he was evil, and she wanted to get away from him. She tried to stand up, but his strong grip on her arm limited her movements away from him.
"Come home with me."
"No."
"I'll force you."
"You can't. I'll scream!"
"Yes, I can. Imp--"
Remus was looking in the alleys, looking for a trace of his godchild. He heard murmured voices from an alley, and almost walked by, when he looked and saw that one of the people had a white-blond ponytail. Malfoy, Remus thought. Whatever it is, I know he's up to trouble. However, Remus got the surprise of his life when he looked at whom Malfoy was molesting. An eight-year-old female version of Sirius Black. Remus flicked his wrist and cast the first, somewhat useful, spell that came to his mind.
"Stupefy!"
Malfoy dropped to the ground like a stone.