Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me.
A/N: Yay for reviews - and thankyou for all the reviews while I was away!
This chapter is a Sirius interlude, but fear not - there is more in the complex sagas of Remus and Severus coming in the next couple of days… and I promise you that the lawsuit will take place in the next ten or so days! Yay!
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Sirius held the violin in his hand when he told them. It gave him comfort, somehow. That familiar object, that magic that was undeniably his… it was an extension of himself, and it affirmed him, who he was, the choices he made.
"I have to go back," he told Lily and James. "They need me. Harry needs me."
James smiled, a little wistfully. "I knew you would go back, Padfoot."
"It is not yet your time to die," Lily said. She radiated a little of that serenity that Regina possessed in cauldrons-full - Sirius supposed it was a remnant of the time she spent with the Arachniae.
"But I won't pretend I won't miss you." Sirius could see the tears that were hiding just below the surface in James's eyes. He knew only too well that it took a lot to make James Potter cry, and that he was able to do it brought tears to his own eyes as well.
Love not wisely but too well, he almost heard someone whisper in his ear. Regina.
"I'll miss you too," Sirius told them, smiling through the tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks. "I've missed you for fifteen years, and it never stopped hurting. But… I will be back. It might be some years, but… I'll be back. And we will never have to be apart again. I promise."
James choked and Sirius embraced his best friend. "You're the best friend a man could ever have, Prongs," he said, clapping his best friend on the back, "and I'll take care of your boy. I promise. Soon as I can, I'll get him out of that hell house he lives in and take him with me. Even if we have to live in Grimmauld Place."
"Before you leave, Sirius," Lily said quietly, "there is something you should know."
Sirius looked at her curiously. "What?"
"Regina."
"What about her? Is she safe?" Sirius asked suddenly, eyes bright. "Is she out of that horrible place yet?"
"No," Lily replied. "This goes right back. Before Arethusa pushed her through. Before we died."
"In her year at the temple?"
"Sirius," James said seriously, "you slept with the girl."
Even now, the bluntness of James Potter could make Sirius turn bright red. "Yeah," he mumbled. "I did. A couple of times."
"Well," Lily said carefully, "that bore fruit."
Sirius was nonplussed. "What?"
"She gave birth," Lily told him gently, "in the same year that we had Harry."
"I had - a child?" Sirius asked. He was completely blown away.
"We didn't know," James said. "Not until we died and could see everything. It was after Lily had left the temple."
"I didn't even know she was pregnant," Lily added.
"What happened to the child?" Sirius asked.
"We don't know," James answered. "We don't even know if it was a boy or a girl. When Arethusa took Regina from the temple, the child went with her. Only one of them could tell you were it is now."
"Why didn't Regina tell me?" Sirius whispered hoarsely, more to himself. "We had a child - and she never told me!"
Lily laid one of her hands over his comfortingly. "You know Regina," she told him gently. "She always had her reasons, even if they weren't immediately obvious."
Sirius looked up. Tears were now spilling unashamedly down his cheeks. "I'll find the child," he said, voice cracking. "I'll find it if it takes the rest of my life."
"Are you ready to go home?" Lily asked him softly.
Slowly, Sirius nodded. "Yes," he answered.
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