A/N: Finally! A new chapter. Thanks as usual to my beta, HPFanFicLuvr, and to all my reviewers:
I-Love-Moony: I will write more. I just don't know how soon.
LythTaeraneth: Yes, she does. And that's on purpose. And the street kids do have a purpose in the story; it wasn't just something I threw in for fun. Well, it was at the beginning, but that's beside the point.
Sirius was angry. No, scratch that. He was furious. Didn't they realize that he was on a mission? He had to get to Anastasia. He had started out disrespecting the wolf-child. She had been so dependent on him, and far too trusting. She had been in need of constant reassurance. Sometimes he had even despised her for her low self-confidence. He had no patience with people like that. But she had been true, and loyal, and she certainly was patient. A definite Hufflepuff.
He had known how much she hated the city, but he had thought it was best to go through anyway. Now she was stuck there. And it was the full moon soon. She'd be stuck in the city at the full moon. And all because Severus bloody Snape.
And he was angry with himself. Why hadn't he stuck around in the Leaky Cauldron like he had planned to? His stupid and selfish desire to feel the pulse of London had screwed things up.
He paced up and down the office, scowling at everybody. Snape scowled back. Sirius didn't see why he should cowl like that; it wasn't him in the sticky situation. Honestly! "Lupin is worried about you, Black". "I was told to find you and bring you back". If only it had been anyone else than Snape. Then he could have explained that he needed to take care of the wolf-child. But of course, Severus Snape never listened.
Headmistress McGonagall folded her hands.
"Sirius, pacing won't help you," she said crisply. "Why did you want to bring the girl here?"
Sirius stopped. Hadn't he explained enough? He'd told them that it was an instinct, shouldn't that be adequate?
He didn't bother replying.
"You know," he said instead. "If I knew where the cub was, I'd go right out of here and find her. But I won't. Because I can't find her among all those scents. Btu I do hope she has enough sense to come here anyway."
He stormed out the door.
He needed to do something to get all his anger out. The child was important. He knew that much. Just as Albus Dumbledore had known all those years ago that the group they called the Marauders would be important.
Maybe it was falling through the veil that gave him that insight. Dumbledore had always had that peculiar insight, but fro someone like Sirius… maybe he had needed it.
Behind the veil… he shuddered. Sometimes he thought it was worse than Azkaban, but no. Azkaban was worse. But all those ghostlike creatures, not human, nothing else. They had told him that he was in the Suburbs of the Dead. It hadn't been his time, so he had to wait. He hated waiting. And he hated the Suburbs. Everything looked as though it would fall to pieces any moment, and there was no colour whatsoever anywhere. There was some sort of hopelessness in the air. There was only one place to go from there. The Land of the Dead. There had been times when they were more cheerful, when they'd sing songs or tell tales, waiting. But somehow, they songs and tales always seemed to be about death. They knew it would come, maybe sooner or later. He used to wish for it. At least it would be better than not knowing what it was he'd face. Death, it seemed, was final.
But then, miraculously, Harry had appeared, in a golden shimmer.
"Sirius," he said excitedly. "I found out how you can come back." He pressed his hands into Sirius' and suddenly Sirius found himself with a body.
He searched for words, but the only thing that came out was "How?"
"You know the locked room in the Department of Mysteries? Well, I found out what's behind it. It's Life. It killed Voldemort."
Sirius was by now stumped. How could Life kill Voldemort? He told Harry this.
"No, Sirius, it's real Life in there, which means accepting death, too. All those spells Voldemort had placed on himself to make him immortal had taken Life from him, so it killed him."
Sirius wasn't sure he understood completely, but refrained from saying so.
A knock on the door broke him out of his musings.
"Are you still angry," asked Hermione, the Transfiguration professor. She had taken over McGonagall's place when the latter became Headmistress.
"I'm annoyed," he replied, but smiled at her. "Though not with you, Mrs. Lupin," he teased.
"That's Professor Lupin," she corrected, with only a slight blush. "Or Professor Granger, to keep me and Remus apart. After all, two Professor Lupins can be slightly confusing at times."
"We all thought you'd end up with Ron" Sirius said. "And then you went and married ol' Moony. I couldn't believe it when you asked Harry to be you Best Man." He laughed a little. "You always were full of surprises, you three. Well, make that six. Luna, Ginny and Neville were part of your group too, weren't they?"
She smiled and nodded.
He almost forgot he had a missing charge out there, sitting musing with her. Almost. But he still wondered what she was doing.
Anastasia locked the door firmly behind her, and made sure she would not be able to come out, even if the did have claws and extra-sharp teeth. It would be her first moon in the city, and she did not look forward to it at all. She removed the stool she had been standing on. The wolf wouldn't reach the lock, she was sure of that.
She had followed Jack to the abandoned warehouse they called home, and had me the gang. There was Bullet, a big, muscular boy who acted like a bodyguard to everyone. He was known in the entire area, and kept intruders and other troublemakers firmly away from any of the gang members. Then there was Lizard, who was the vice president of the gang. She had taught Anastasia how to pick pockets.
Then there was Lightfingers, the very skilled pickpocket. The one Anastasia got on best with, save Jack, was Little T, who was only two years older than she was. There were many others in the "outer" rings of the gang, but Jack had told her he preferred if she kept to the people he had introduced her to.
"I want yer ter be wiv blokes I know I can trust. These lads are 'andpicked by meself ter lead the gang along me. Yer can't trust the chuffin' uvver street kids."
The people Anastasia had been introduced to came and went as they wanted, but Jack kept strict tabs on everyone else. The moon rose slowly and Anastasia felt her limbs being either stretched or shrunken to change her into the wolf.
It was just as she had predicted. Terrible. The scents overpowered her, and she was lonely without Padfoot. She had to get out, but she couldn't the door was of steel, and locked. So she did the only thing she could. She howled and scratched herself. She needed to bite someone. She thirsted for blood. All those scents, they were so near, human scents, and yet she couldn't get to any of them. And the stench and pollution. She didn't know what to do with her poor nose, it was so horrible. She never wanted to spend another moon in the city again.
The next morning when she grabbed the footstool and opened the door, a very nervous Jack was waiting outside.
"Wot 'appened, eh? I 'eard yor 'owls, but yer 'ad locked the bleedin' door from the inside, then, eh! Oi! Yer 'ave a look terrible"
Anastasia just shrugged her shoulders.
Jack gathered her up in a tight embrace, something which surprised them both. It was in that moment they sealed their sibling bond.
"Why don't yer let Lizard potch yer up?"
Lizard expressed the same concern, and told Anastasia to let her look at the rest of her body. She patched her up quickly without a word, but after everything was done she began the inquisition. She didn't become any wiser though, because Anastasia was pretty good at telling only what she wanted to tell.
During the planning meeting, Anastasia climbed up on Jack's lap. He put his arms around her.
"I used ter be Jack's favourite girl, before yer came along," Lizard told her with a little smile.
Anastasia made a move to get up, but Lizard and Jack stopped her.
"No, right, it's right. Yer stay there, do wot guvnor! I don't mind."
Anastasia looked searchingly at Lizard, to see if she meant it.
"Cross me 'eart," the latter smiled.
Anastasia gave a small smile in return and snuggled up in Jack's lap.