April went to the fridge and leaned against it. Everything looked so boring and hopeless. She got out some milk and put it on the kitchen counter. She got out a glass and poured herself some milk. She put the milk back and then picked up the glass. She returned to her bedroom and got back in the bed. Where was Sirius? He should be here, unless he'd gone to talk to the ministry. April made a mental note to go to the ministry and then to visit Lily and James but promptly forgot it. She wanted her daughter here. She hadn't gone missing. She was somewhere, she was just hiding. April was trying to deny everything. She set the glass on the bedside table and put her face in her hands. She couldn't think of anything but how much of an idiot she had been. She could have stopped it, she was powerful enough, she was strong and skilled enough but apparently not quick enough, she'd let Rhia down.
"This must have been how Lily and James felt." April muttered to herself. Lily had tried to explain the feeling she got when she saw Harry's scar but April had never been able to understand until now.
"Mummy." Came a small voice. April looked up and saw Orion standing next to the bed. Orion grinned. "Orion sweep with mummy?" Orion said. April leant over and picked up Orion and set him on her legs. Orion slid down April's legs and landed on her stomach.
"Good morning Orion." April said glumly, she tried to be happy, for Orion's sake but she couldn't be happy.
"Where Rhia?" Orion asked. "Rhia here." Orion said pointing at the bed. April guessed he was trying to say that Rhia was usually asleep in April's bed. Rhia often climbed into the bed and wedged herself between April and Sirius. April felt tears again.
"R-Rhia's gone out with Daddy." April said slowly, "So that mummy can spend some time with Orion." Orion looked at her vaguely confused. He hadn't understood all of that. "Mummy, spend time with you." April said flicking Orion's nose gently. Orion laughed and caught April's finger. April managed a very weak smile. She picked up her glass of milk and started drinking some. Wait a minute, why was she drinking milk? She never drank milk! April slowly put the drink down. Orion watched her and then shifted slightly. He pressed his index finger against April's forehead.
"What are you doing?" April asked, lowering Orion's hand. Orion smiled and pressed his other index finger against April's forehead. "Orion!" April said. Orion grinned and poked April in the stomach. "Stop it Orion." April said poking a finger gently against Orion's side. Orion laughed and tried to bat his mum's hands away but April kept poking him gently until he was laughing so much he fell off April and crawled under the duvet. April was actually laughing with Orion and was about to search for him when she head a click. Her laughed and temporary happiness evaporated and she reached for her wand. The door opened slightly and April held her wand tightly.
"Stay where you are." April said dangerously.
"April it's me." Lily said as she came into the room. April narrowed her eyes.
"How do I know it's you?" April asked.
"Would anyone else know about your love for ginger biscuits and chocolate ice cream?" Lily asked with a soft smile as she produced a white plastic carrier bag. April lowered her wand.
"What are you doing here?" April asked as she put her wand back onto the bedside table and stuck her arm under the duvet. She managed to find Orion's leg and pulled him out from under the duvet, he was laughing hysterically. Lily walked around the bed and sat on the bed next to April.
"Sirius told us about Rhia. James ahs gone to the ministry and the kids are at Jenny's. Jenny is going to come in a little bit. Once Remus wakes up." Lily said. She was looking at April, who was trying to flatten Orion's hair. She was deliberately not looking at Lily.
"Thanks, but what are you doing here?" April asked.
"I wanted to be here for my best friend and sister." Lily said, "Is that a crime?" Lily asked April.
"No, I suppose not." April muttered. Lily sighed and got out the contents of her plastic bag. A small tub of chocolate ice cream and a packet of Ginger biscuits. April eyed them gratefully and received a poke from Orion.
"Orion!" April snapped. Orion started then gave April an innocent smile. "Lily, I'm really grateful that you've come but this isn't like at school where I broke up with boyfriends or what ever." April said, looking towards Lily. Lily looked at her slightly annoyed.
"April, I understand you've lost your daughter. I've lost my son so many times I'm starting to lose count. I'm trying to help you, just to ease any pain that you're feeling, particularly after Sirius ra-" Lily frowned and changed what she was going to say, "ranted about how he felt useless." Lily ended feebly. April's gaze snapped straight to Lily.
"What did Sirius do?" April asked, "Where is he?"
"He-I-He's here isn't he?" Lily asked.
"Lily, you can't lie to me." April said. Lily could feel April searching her mind.
"Alright, alright." Lily said looking away. "He took off during the night." Lily said weakly.
"What!" April asked, "First Rhia and now Sirius? What did I do?"
"Nothing." Lily said, she looked at April and put her arm around her and let April rest her head on Lily's shoulder. "He's gone to look for Rhia." April sat up carefully.
"What? Why?" April asked. She looked close to tears...again, "I need him here." She said, "I need him, why's he left me?"
"He hasn't left you but he's gone to go and find his daughter." Lily said awkwardly. April looked at Lily. Lily promptly closed her eyes.
"What else are you hiding from me Lily?" April asked.
"There was a note from the people who took Rhia." Lily said, "Harry in exchange for Rhia. Dumbledore's looking at the letter to see if he can identify the handwriting" Lily said extremely quickly.
"You're kidding." April asked seriously. "Harry for Rhia?" Lily cringed and nodded and got a ginger biscuit out.
"I know, it's unfair." She said, opening up the tub of ice cream and dipping the biscuit into the ice cream. Lily had started off hating this 'comfort food' as April had once put it but after thirteen years of eating it every time April got annoyed, she'd learned to use it as comfort food as well. It was weird and unusual but it seemed to work for April and Lily. Lily ate the bit of biscuit with ice cream on.
"What's James said?" April asked.
"He just went to work." Lily said glumly. "I went to see Dumbledore and he's trying to think of a solution. I suppose we could go and try and find Sirius but the chances of finding one man in the whole of the UK is highly unlikely." Lily said. "When Jenny comes we're going to go and try and see if we can do anything. April, here." Lily handed a ginger biscuit to April, who was looking at her hands. Orion had long since crawled off her and was looking through some of the draws in the room. April took the biscuit and ate it.
"I'm not going to ask what happened." Lily said gently.
"Why would anyone want to take Rhia though? Just to get to Harry? I don't understand it Lily." April said.
"You're human." Lily said.
"No, I'm an Auror! I'm supposed to understand but I don't!" April said closing her eyes. "I'm supposed to know what to do and don't." April cried, "I don't even understand how I managed to sleep, I'm so worried."
"And it's only natural." Lily said, she was trying not to cry herself. "And you went to sleep because you're tired. April, you have a baby growing inside you, you're going to be more tired then usual. It's a good job you did get some sleep. Sirius looked knackered when I saw him last night." Lily said. She hugged April tightly. "It's ok. I'll stay with you while Sirius isn't here." Lily said. April nodded and hugged Lily tightly, Lily seemed to be like a source of comfort that was consistent, she knew what to say, she knew what to do, everything one would expect from a sister like figure. Lily let go of April, a few tears down her cheek.
"Now, how about a biscuit?" She asked. April smiled slightly and nodded.
"Thanks." April said.
Jenny stood outside April's bedroom door as Lily came out holding Orion.
"How is she?" Jenny asked.
"Asleep." Lily said.
"How could she sleep with all this happening?" Jenny asked. Lily got out her wand and waved it slightly.
"A simple drowsiness spell. It's not as effective as a sleeping potion, but it's really effective when it's used on pregnant women." Lily said. Jenny nodded and went to the door and peeked into the room. April was fast asleep in the bed, though Jenny couldn't actually see April's face her blonde head wasn't moving.
"Alright, but what are we going to do?" Jenny said. Lily shrugged.
"You're the smart one." Lily said. Jenny gave Lily a slightly annoyed look.
"I'm the smart one?" Jenny asked. "Name one smart decision I've ever made in my life." Lily sighed.
"You married Remus, you fought against your overpowering narrow minded father you-"
"And compare them to the bad choices" Jenny said. Lily thought for a moment.
"You ran away, you told us you were dead, you came back with a werewolf baby, you-" Jenny put a hand over Lily's mouth
"Ok, Lily, I didn't need you to say it out loud." Jenny said. "I don't need to be reminded of my stupid past."
"We all have something to be ashamed of." Lily said.
"Name one thing you were ashamed of?" Jenny asked. Lily stayed silent. "I rest my case, now you decide, what are we going to do?" Lily looked at Orion.
"What do you think?" She asked Orion. Jenny was convinced that Lily's brain had finally blown a circuit.
"Play." Orion said. Lily nodded.
"And that's what we'll do." Lily said, looking at Jenny.
"Are you ok?" Jenny asked. Lily shook her head.
"Brain's gone." Lily said, "All this business over the past few weeks is just overloading my brain. Thankfully I was given a week of last minute holiday. I applied, explained the circumstances and the Hospital gave me the week off." Lily said. Jenny sighed. "I'll look after April for a while." Lily shook her head.
"April wants me near her twenty four seven." Lily said.
"Ok, you sort out Orion and I look over April?" Jenny asked. Lily nodded.
"I can cope with that." Lily said. "Oh, there's some ginger biscuits and ice cream in there if you want any." Lily said as she walked down the stairs.
"You two and your strange food." Jenny said.
"Oh, you know you love it to." Lily said. Jenny shook her head in amusement and went into April's bedroom while Lily went into the living room to look after Orion.
Padfoot sniffed the floor, he couldn't smell anything that was strikingly familiar. In other words, he couldn't smell Rhia. He was at Cadover bridge. A small stream ran past him under a bridge, the stream was blocked off slightly by several people's attempts to dam it with rocks from the bottom of the stream. Padfoot could see kids swimming in the stream now and could see young teenagers trying to dam up the bridge, it was never going to work though. Padfoot went down to the water. He'd been walking all around the area all day. He'd looked in the china clay mine, just over the hill and several miles near by. But he still had to go into the open moor. There were several broken down stone age buildings around there. He vaguely remembered a wizarding building nearby, but where nearby? He just couldn't remember where exactly.
He had to get Rhia. Not only was she his daughter, his eldest daughter. But also, it would finally show April that he could be responsible for the children. He needed to be given the chance to show that he could do something right. Sirius tried to keep his mind focused as he walked down to the stream. He put his mouth near the water and starting lapping up some water.
"Look, Mummy, it's a big black doggy!" said a young girl loudly. Padfoot looked up and at the girl. She has the same dark blonde hair as Rhia, she looked slightly older and had lighter eyes then Rhia but other then that...
"Stay away from the dog, Katie, it might bite you." Said a worried mother. Padfoot looked away and lapped up a little bit more water before walking away over a small stone bridge over a small stream from the Clay mines and then into the open moor. Padfoot decided to jog slightly and went down the footpath at a slight jog. His ears were alert and he sniffed the air non stop, trying to get a whiff of his daughter. The slightest scent. Padfoot sniffed the air again. He could smell people coming his way. He jumped off the path and crouched low in a clump of grass so that he was hidden. He waited as two people, a man and a woman came towards him on the path. The man didn't look that great, he had smart brown hair and he was wearing a baggy shirt and what looked like some rather strange looking suit trousers. Padfoot moved his head towards them and tried to hear more carefully.
"-I don't agree with it. There must be better ways of getting what you want. And someone else to look after the child!" Said the woman. The man stopped the woman.
"You're not backing out now?" He asked, "We've been asked to do this."
"You've been asked to do this. You dragged me into it." The woman asked. "Who is asking us to do this. You don't tell me anything. I don't even know if the child is good or not, and quite frankly she reminds me of a girl I used to know at school" The man looked at her with a sympathetic look.
"Just look after her for a while, until we get what we want, I know they won't refuse the offer." The man said, pulling the woman into a hug. Padfoot raised his head slightly, a child? Could that be Rhia. He tried to get a smell off them but they were downwind to him, he'd have to get nearer. He slowly inched out of his hiding space and began to walk around the couple.
"I don't think they'll exchange-" The woman started to say but the man silenced her.
"No, they will accept it, trust me." The man said. The woman looked at him with a slight look of contempt. Padfoot managed to get slightly downwind when the woman's eyes widened and she took a step back. The man turned around and got out a thin stick of wood.
"Louise, get behind me." He said. He held his wand out and pointed it at Padfoot. Padfoot stared at him and growled slightly. They were wizards, no doubt about it. The child they were referring to, Rhia possibly? Padfoot didn't know. He inched forwards.
"Jack, do something." The woman said as she held onto the back of the man's shirt.
"Expelliarmus." The man named Jack said. Padfoot jumped out of the way and skip to a stop on the dry earth. He turned to the couple and started running towards them barking as he did so. Jack threw various spells at Padfoot, but he managed to dodge them all. He jumped at Jack but the man ducked and Padfoot crashed into the woman, Louise. Louise screamed slightly and got out her own wand.
"Stupefy" She shouted. The spell just missed Padfoot. Padfoot glanced at the man, he was getting up. He jumped off Louise and turned into Sirius. Sirius roughly pulled Louise to her feet and grabbed her wand. He tucked it into the waistband of his jeans and got out his own wand. He pointed the end at Louise's throat. The man stood up and jumped in surprise when he saw Sirius standing there with Louise a bit stuck.
"Who do you work for?" Sirius asked
"Where did you come from?" Jack asked.
"I'm asking the questions here." Sirius said. He pressed the wand against Louise's throat a bit harder, he knew himself that he wouldn't seriously hurt her but if he needed to, he would. "Answer my question!" Sirius shouted at the man. Louise winced slightly as Sirius unintentionally pressed the wand harder against her skin. The man frowned.
"I work for my master." He said.
"And that is?" Sirius asked. Jack frowned.
"Tell him Jack!" Louise screamed at him. Jack scowled.
"I can't." He said before disapparating with a crack.
"Dammit!" Sirius said throwing Louise to the floor. "Dammit!" He said. He started kicking the dirt. Louise put a hand to her throat and watched Sirius kicking the dirt and letting out shouts until he kicked a particularly large rock. He let out a stream of Muggle swear words and hopped on one foot for a moment. She waited until he'd calmed down a bit and sat on a mound of grass before she stood up. Sirius watched her keenly as she stood up. His wand ready in his hand.
"You wouldn't have hurt me would you?" Louise asked. Sirius scowled.
"Maybe." He muttered. Louise gave him a knowing smile and offered her hand to him.
"Louise Lovegood." She said. "That was my brother, he wanted me to get involved with some group of his. They need a baby sitter for some kid they've got but I've got my own daughter to look after." Sirius looked at her suspiciously. "I swear I won't hurt you." Sirius took her hand and Louise pulled Sirius to his feet.
"Sirius Black." He muttered. Louise let out a slight gasp. "What?"
"Aren't the Blacks Evil?" She asked.
"Not all of us are. I'm one of the exceptions." Sirius muttered. He got out Louise's wand and handed it over to her. "Here, I suppose you won't hurt me." Louise took her wand back and tucked it behind her ear. Sirius raised an eyebrow at that.
"It's a convenient place to keep my wand. I have to hide it usually but seeing as you're a wizard-" Louise looked at Sirius curiously. "You're an animagus?" Sirius nodded. Louise shook her head with a smile. "Fascinating, my husband would be fascinated by that. He loves to enquire into the weird, there aren't many animagus's around. You wouldn't be interested in giving him an inter-"
"No." Sirius said firmly. "I will not give an interview. What does this kid look like? The one you have to look after?" Sirius asked. Louise twisted her mouth slightly and thought for a moment.
"Hmm..." Louise said, "I only got a glimpse of her really. Blonde hair, about three, maybe four, I don't know." She looked at Sirius and then squinted slightly as she looked into his eyes. Sirius tensed and took a step back uncertainly. "She had your eyes." Louise said. Sirius put a hand to his face before he hurriedly looked for a wallet that he carried around with him to hold the Muggle money that him and April had to keep just in case. He rummaged through it and pulled out a wizarding photo of Rhia. He gave it to Louise.
"Is this her?" Sirius asked. Louise looked at the photo and nodded.
"Yes, exactly her. Apparently the people there are trying to trade her for Harry Potter. I really don't think that...wait a minute, are you the girl's older brother?" She asked.
"No dad." Sirius said.
"Really? You look more like an older brother then a dad. Wow, you must be young." Louise said. He was smiling slightly, pleased that someone thought he was so young. "Anyway, your daughter, she's being kept in some building a little way off. She's not being guarded heavily, she is just a toddler but-"
"Has she been hurt? She's still alive isn't she?" Sirius asked anxiously.
"Yes she is alive but-"
"But what? What's happened to her?" Sirius asked.
"If you'll just let me finish." Louise said patiently. "But she is hurt quite badly. I don't know exactly how bad her condition is but from what my brother has told me they've used an unforgiv-"
"What!" Sirius asked. "You have to take me to her now! If she's so badly injured. Oh shit." Sirius said. An unforgivable curse? What if they're used Avada Kedavra, wait, no. Louise had said she was alive which meant that they hadn't used that curse. Which left the imperius and Cruciatus curse. Sirius didn't even want to think about it. Who would use one of those curses on a three year old?
"Sit down." Louise said. "You'll hurt yourself"
"I've already hurt myself." Sirius said, "I kicked a damn rock!" Louise made Sirius sit down on the mound of grass again. Sirius put his head in his hands.
"I'm a bad father, I can't believe I let Rhia get hurt. I'm a bad father." Louise sighed and sat down next to Sirius.
"I'm sure you're not a bad father." Louise said, "I'm sure they took your daughter without you knowing, you couldn't have stopped them. And if it helps I'll accept the position and try and get your daughter out." Louise said.
"No, I have to do this on my own." Sirius said, "I've got to get Rhia out on my own or April will never trust me again. You don't understand, since I dropped Rhia when she was like, six months old April hasn't trusted me with anything to do with the kids." Sirius said. Louise nodded and let him talk. "I really want to help but since school, she's really changed since school. She used to be all carefree and everything, she used to help me get into trouble. And now...all she wants to do is work and raise the children, it seems like she wants to do that on her own." Sirius sighed as he put his chin in the palm of his right hand. "Then Rhia was kidnapped, once she was asleep, I almost had to force her to sleep, she's so upset and worried about her, but once I got her to sleep I saw this as an opportunity to prove myself. You know, to show her she could trust me."
"What does April do?" Louise asked.
"She's an auror." Sirius asked.
"Wait, is this April Marsden, Becky Marsden's baby sister?" Louise asked.
"Little, not baby." Sirius corrected. "Do you know her?"
"I vaguely know Beck Marsden." Louise said. "But carry on if you want to."
"Oh yeah, so I have to do this to prove to April that I can look after the children myself." Sirius said.
"And you think trying to save Rhia and leaving April will help?" Louise asked. Sirius looked at Louise. He noticed that her eyes stuck out slightly and she seemed to look slightly surprised about something.
"Um...yeah, but it's not like April will miss me much, she's always throwing me out of the house anyway." Sirius muttered. Louise frowned.
"Well do you want my help?" Louise asked. "I think it's wrong to bargain a child. It is using the wrong morals and principles. If they just asked then maybe but not take a child." Louise said. Sirius looked at her slightly confused.
"They want my best friend's son." Sirius said slowly.
"Oh yes, Harry Potter, I forgot about him." Louise said. "Well, lets get your daughter out, the sooner she's out the sooner April will be happy with you and the sooner I can get to my own daughter and start experimenting with this idea I was playing with before my brother came."
"You are completely mad, you know that?" Sirius said.
"My husband said that." Louise said. "But then he should know, he believes in the crumple horned snorkack." She said rolling her eyes. Sirius nodded his head slowly, what the hell was a crumple horned whatsit? He felt anxious and nervous but at least Rhia was alive. That was enough consolation for Sirius to get him through the moment. Try not to think about her being hurt. Next step was to get Rhia out of there alive.
April couldn't sleep that night. She missed Sirius, she missed Rhia. She was worried sick about both of them, and when she said worried sick, she'd been sick all evening. The stress, anxiety and the damned baby. Lily and James were looking after Orion for April but the house was too quiet. It was scary. Why was April so scared? She was an auror, she was never scared, why was she so scared now?
April got up and picked up her wand and closed her eyes. She was finding it more difficult to apparate now. That was a bad sign for her because it really struck April that she was pregnant. April appeared in Lily and James' bedroom. Lily was cuddled up against James. Lily looked up tiredly, James peering over his bare chest. Lily clutched the duvet close to her and sat up slightly. April felt slightly wrong about waking Lily up. She'd been nothing but kind to her all day. She was probably more tired then April was.
"April?" Lily asked tiredly. "What are you doing here?" James rolled over and put his arms around Lily's waist tightly. She put a hand on his back and shook her head slightly.
"I got a bit scared." April said with a slight frown. Lily scowled and reached onto the floor and picked up a shirt. James didn't seem to want her to move at all and was pulled along with Lily as Lily leant over. It was all rather amusing and April would have laughed if she hadn't felt so depressed.
"James." Lily said quietly. James let out a moan and held Lily tighter. Lily pulled the shirt on and pushed James. "James, get up." She said.
"Why?" He muttered.
"Get out of bed." Lily said. James sat up tiredly and looked at Lily.
"What?" James asked. His hair was more then messy, his head appeared to lose all shape. He looked at Lily slightly confused. Lily beckoned April to come over.
"April's sleeping with me tonight, you're on the sofa." Lily said. She leaned over to James and pressed a kiss on his lips. James grumbled and got out from under the covers. April was half expecting him to be naked but he was wearing some boxers. He picked up a shirt on the way out.
"Sirius was right, you are lesbians." He muttered as he left the room. Lily smirked slightly and moved over for April.
"You really didn't have to." April muttered.
"Get in." Lily said. "Before I get James back and you sleep on the sofa." April got under the duvet and Lily pulled her into a hug.
"I'm really scared Lily. What if Rhia isn't alive? And Sirius has gone after her and-" April started to say. Lily put a hand over April's mouth.
"Don't think about it. It'll only make it worse." Lily muttered as she settled back into the bed again.
"But if I don't think about it and Rhia really is hurt." April said, she looked at Lily. She was half asleep already. Lily sighed and put her arms around April.
"Whatever has happened, Sirius will find her. I can promise you that, he can look after himself and Rhia. April you have to trust him this time. He'll find her. James has done everything he can at the ministry and I have the people at St. Mungos on alert and they'll owl me as soon as Rhia or Sirius come in."
"What about if they're found somewhere else?"
"Remus is keeping an eye and ear out on the Muggle side of things and Jenny is doing all she can" Lily muttered with a yawn. April nodded. She could feel sleep coming on. "You're safe here." Lily said. April rolled over and Lily let her put her head on Lily's shoulder as April fell into a rather uneasy sleep.
A/N:-HEYA!!! Howz u all doing today? I'm in a really wierd mood.....as per usual, I'm already getting sick of this story line, i have to keep making up Villains and I want to get to when all the kids are older and when April has her baby!! and I want to write a moment between Remus and Jenny but no..I have to tie up this storyline and I keep making it more difficult for myself....grrr. Anywayz, nothing much has happened except me writing frantically to try and keep up with this story. God, I hate it! Not really but it's taking up a lot of time, at least i'm about 2 chapters ahead now. Oh, has anyone watched the girl next door? Isn't Matthew FIT!! and his friends are just plain funny!! one leg of a tripod...haha. Anyway, I'll leave you to do what you want now. Loving you all.
Oh by the way, the picture of Emma Potter is up on my website. I can't remember the direct link but if you go to then click on Photos then my pictures then you should find it there. It'll be the only one that''s not like a baner or an icon. Hopefully you'll like it. I personally think it's alright but i could have done better. Anyway, again....toodles