DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


1 November 1981

It's over. The war is over. As I write this, my heart breaks. James, my beloved, lively, sweet James, and Lily, my precious loving flower blossom, are dead.

Sirius has betrayed us. All of us.

I can't believe I didn't see it earlier. How he was becoming so distant and cold to everyone; I was stupid and assumed he was simply disturbed by this war – who hasn't been? He took the Potters to the Dark Lord's altar and sacrificed his best friends.

Strangely though, Harry is still alive.

Don't ask me how, I have no idea! But my precious bundle of hope threw off a bloody AK, probably one of the most potent in the world. It backfired on the Dark Lord himself. From what I can discern from everyone's ramblings and rumours, Lily died protecting Harry. It certainly makes sense. She would have died for me, of all people, so of course she would defend her own child from all harm. A true Gryffindor, my Lily flower. And she's gone. Oh Merlin. My heart is breaking again. I didn't think I had a heart left to break.

James is gone. My funny, lively James. I just can't believe it.

And Sirius, the man I thought I loved, the first man I've trusted since Dad and Aidan died, killed him. His own best friend.

Thank the Goddess I took his son away. I love my baby darling, but right now, I would have killed him, just to prevent that traitor's blood to live through an innocent child.

He is his father's son.

And I pray to God he doesn't end up as lying, deceitful, and utterly Slytherin as either of his parent.s

Oh God, I'm alone again. I told James and Lily to use Sirius. Dammit, this is my fault.

Just like Dad.

Just like Aidan.

Just like Caoihmin.

Just like Sinead.

Just like everyone else.

It's my fault. My fault. MY FAULT.

Black Heart –

The time is right. Have a nice holiday in the Caribbean. I'm told the water is warm this time of year. Perfect for your canine companions, no?

That old man you love to taunt

Ciara groaned and banged her head on the table. Nearly 2 weeks had passed since Sirius had arrived and had finally begun to feel a bit more at peace with the house's frightening stigma in her mind. Remus and Sirius had gone to the nearby town with Sirius under the guise of Polyjuice Potion, plus a few glamours to help. Now she just wished she had never read the damn thing.

With another groan, she banged her forehead on the table a bit more forcefully. She had only just gotten here and now she was being sent out again.

'What, may I ask, are you doing?' Ainaguar said as she entered the kitchen, carrying 2 shoe boxes.

'Restraining my desire to rip that disgustingly evil old man to shreds,' she growled without lifting her head.

Aina leaned over and plucked the letter from Ciara's hand to scan it quickly. Her eyes lit up in anticipation and she grinned. 'So we're headed to the Caribbean! What's the problem in that?'

Ciara rolled her head to its side to glare at her friend. 'We just got here,' she hissed, 'and suddenly, nooooo, we have to leave. It's rather obnoxious, tu crois?'

Ainaguar only grinned. 'I hope we get a place right on the beach. We can go swimming every day!'

Ciara rolled her eyes and sighed. 'You're hopeless, you water-logged whelp.'

Aina winked and placed the boxes on the table before Ciara. 'Either way, Mum said we had to go through these boxes and put them in some semblance of order.' She sat next to her friend and opened each of the boxes, dumping a great pile of photographs on the table. 'Plus, this exile'll be good for all of us. You know, get out of the atmosphere of increasing terror.'

Ciara looked at her incredulously. 'Did you, like, get a brain transplant or something? That was actually...intelligent.'

With a fwack to the back of her head, Ciara turned to the photographs. 'How did we get so many of these?'

Aina didn't respond; she only began to sort each photo.

Ciara shrugged and picked up a random picture. At the first glance, she burst out in laughter. Ainaguar looked over at the amusement and began to chuckle, then escalated into full throated laughter. Both were giggling so much, they didn't hear Remus and Sirius's return.

'What's so funny?' Remus said as he leaned over to look at the photo. When he saw it, he only rolled his eyes.

Curiosity got the better of Sirius and he looked over Ciara's head to see a photograph of two snowmen, obviously charmed to look like bodybuilders, with the heads of Remus and Matt above them, both trying to look serious and intimidating. Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at their expressions.

'We took that when we went skiing in...when was that? '88?' Ciara asked, looking at Remus for confirmation.

'Yeah,' Remus replied, 'Breckenridge. That's when we got snowed in that time.'

'Oh, yeah!' Aina exclaimed, 'And you,' she pointed at Ciara, 'tried to move that damn table and kept slipping on your socks! God, I thought you would die of asphyxiation from laughing so hard...'

Ciara blew Aina a raspberry and turned to Sirius, who resembled Remus, the originator of the Polyjuice, but with extra glamours to ensure they weren't completely identical. 'Did you get that letter off to Harry, then?' she asked.

Sirius grinned like an idiot. 'That I did. Even bought his friend, Ron, a new owl. Merlin, Ci, you should see the kid! He could pass as Prongs' twin!' Sirius sat next to Ciara with a sigh. 'That boy's the son I never had,' he said, looking to the ceiling with a grin. He missed the frantic glances Remus and Ainaguar gave a stone-faced Ciara.

An awkward silence descended until Ciara picked up another photograph. 'Hey, look at this!' she exclaimed. 'It's from Carlos and Mai's wedding.'

Aina looked over and grinned. 'Isn't that just darling!' she said in a falsely sweet voice. Sirius and Remus bent over to see the picture of a tall, brooding man who looked fiercely angry at the festivities.

'Aw, it's sweet little Reid,' Remus said with contempt. 'Why is there a picture of him in here?'

Aina glared over her shoulder at her mate. 'Just because you can't stand him doesn't make him any less one of the Pack, and you know that.'

Remus growled faintly and scowled. 'Says you,' he snipped.

Ciara rolled her eyes. 'Stop it, you two,' she said, putting the picture on top of one of the piles.

The photo underneath caught Sirius's attention, and he picked it up. It was a Muggle photo of Ciara sitting on a bench in a garden, surrounded by lush bushes. She wore a gown of light buttery yellow silk that clung in all the necessary areas with a robe of yellow gauze over it. She was looking off to the side, smiling sadly at something beyond the frame, her chocolate curls piled atop her head in the style of the Greek goddesses. At her throat glittered a bejewelled necklace Sirius faintly remembered as having belonged to her grandmother. She was calm and composed, the epitome of noble finesse.

It was indescribably beautiful.

Ciara looked at the picture he held and smiled. 'I don't see what you like in that picture,' she said nonchalantly. 'Those bridesmaids gowns were terrible.'

'And YELLOW!' Aina said, not bothering to hide her disgust of the colour.

Sirius just shook his head, not depending on his voice to work.

'Hey look at this one!' Aina exclaimed. Ciara and Remus turned their attention to Aina's find as Sirius slipped the photo of Ciara into his pocket.

Two hours flew by as the three friends told of their various exploits over the past decade. Tales of skiing and university banquets and Remus' seemingly endless line of photography projects from University had everyone feeling much more at ease. It was as if Sirius had been with them for every adventure as his eyes lit up in laughter.

As the piles grew, the stories slowed down. Mel had come in bustling with dinner preparations, waving away Ciara and Aina's attempts to help, saying they should 'finish what they had started'.

A strange face caught Sirius' attention and he pulled out a photograph, which Aina quickly began to try to snatch away from him. With a laugh, he asked why he couldn't see it. Ainaguar blushed and tried to grab it again.

Remus greyed when he caught sight of the picture, and looked sharply to Ciara, who was trying to get a glimpse.

Sirius pulled away from Ainaguar and looked at the picture. It was a very recent picture, obviously Christmas from the large twinkling pine in the background. Ciara was smiling, seated at a chair. Behind her with his hands on her shoulders was a boy, no more than 13, who looked-

Just like me. Ice filled Sirius's chest as he recognised the boy's features for his own. The same eyes, the same nose, the same hair, but his ears... and his chin...they looked like Ciara's brother Aidan. And that grin was eerily reminiscent of any of the Bryants, the same cocky half-smile that hinted at the family's infamous mischievous cynicism.

'Who is this?' Sirius asked coldly. He looked sharply at Ciara, who refused to look up from the table, then to Aina, who glared stonily, and Remus, who had turned red.

'It's just another wolf,' Remus said. 'Just some kid we found.'

'He's no one, Sirius,' Mel said from the other side of the kitchen. 'Don't worry about him.'

'What's his name?' Sirius demanded harshly. How stupid do they think I am?

'Anthony,' Ciara said from the table. Aina moved to hit her, but she grabbed her wrist before she could strike.

'Ciara...' Remus growled in warning.

'Stay out of this, Jack,' Ciara snapped, shoving herself to her feet. 'This isn't your business anymore! It's mine and Sirius'.'

'Who is he, Ciara?' Sirius said, his voice as frozen as if Dementors had walked into the room.

Ciara tilted her head in defiance. 'Anthony, our son.'

Sirius felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. He paled and collapsed into a chair. He was a father. He had a son. A son he'd never even known about...because she had never told him. Anger quickly filled him and he glared at Ciara, who flinched.

'Why the hell did you never tell me?' he snarled.

Ciara said nothing before she left the room stiffly. Ainaguar glared harshly at Sirus and hissed, 'You better get ready, Black. Seregwen's coming and she knows what you just said to her.'

Sirius's retort was cut off by the cellar door slamming open. The tiny vampire stalked into the room, making Mel and Remus back away quickly. Ainaguar only nodded an acknowledgement to her master. Sirius couldn't help but swallow nervously as Seregwen stared back at him, her familiar face a mask of vampiric power.

'What did you say?' Her voice was the softest of whispers, yet it echoed in his head, carrying the promise of death and darker things.

'W-what?' Sirius stammered.

'September 23, 1979,' she whispered. The kitchen melted before Sirius's eyes, replaced by the hazy outlines of barstools. He sat at the bar with a pint in a hand that was both his and yet not. James was seated at his side, telling him to stop drinking so much and to stop harassing the barmaid. Ciara entered, barely visible through the layers of smoke. He tried to turn away, to avoid that fatal confrontation, but he could not. He could only look on as he told Ciara, his voice dripping with contempt, that he could never stay with a "vampire's whore." He could only watch as he ripped out her heart and left it bleeding on the barroom floor. Without a word, Ciara turned towards the door. As he watched her walk out of his life for the last time, a voice whispered inside his head, 'She bears your child...'

Sirius's vision snapped back to the kitchen. He slid to the floor and buried his head in his hands, whispering over and over, 'I didn't know...' Seregwen stepped forward, and Sirius rolled his eyes up to meet hers. The vampire's eyes glowed with a cold fire, pupils drowned in a blaze of silver. In a flash too fast for human eyes to follow, she pulled him to his feet and pressed her fangs against his neck.

'I can feel your pulse,' she said in a low, almost growling voice. 'It beats as fast as a bird's. How I would love to sink my teeth into you, to taste your blood, to drain every last drop of life from you veins...' She pressed her fangs harder against his neck until the flesh around them turned white. 'I could kill you...' she growled. She pulled back and let him go. 'But I won't, because you belong to her. But if you value your life, remember that she belongs to me.'

With a muted pop! she Disapparated away.

As if nothing had happened, Ainaguar, Remus, and Mel returned to their previous activities, ignoring Sirius, who was taking deep breaths to calm his erratic heartbeat.

'I would probably go clear things up with Ciara,' Remus muttered to his friend before sitting next to his mate to finish sorting the pictures.

Sirius dumbly lurched to his feet and left the kitchen.

'Well, that was interesting,' Matt said from the door to the cellar, a few drops of blood escaping from his newest bite. 'What'd I miss?'

Ainaguar growled without looking up, and Matt raised his hands in surrender.

'Jesus...forget I asked.'

Sirius hesitantly knocked on the door to Ciara's bathroom, hoping she wouldn't hear it and he could walk away.

'It's open,' he heard her call out. Her voice seemed wearier than he had ever heard it. Reminding himself that he was a Gryffindor, he gathered his courage and entered.

When he saw what was inside, he choked. Ciara had drawn a bath and now lay submerged in a mountain of bubbles. The only lights came from the numerous candles surrounding the rim, casting the room in a dark glow. Ciara's head was thrown back onto a pillow with her hair piled on top of her head, allowing her to stretch out in the water.

When she heard nothing, she opened her eyes and turned to see who was there. She caught Sirius' gaze and blushed furiously but didn't look away; she refused to allow him to embarrass her about her own body. 'I thought you were Sere,' she said steadily.

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. His mouth had dried and his throat had closed, betraying him to making only stuttering noises.

Ciara resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his reaction – I can't help it if I'm gorgeous, she thought with an internal grin. 'Look, I was going to apologise for not telling you about Anthony,' she muttered. Her pride was taking a serious blow for this... 'I should have told you that night, anyways.'

Sirius swallowed nervously and stammered, 'I sh-sh-shouldn't have told you o-o-off like that...' He ran a hand through his hair nervously.

Ciara shook her head as she rolled her eyes. 'It was nearly 15 years ago, Sirius. I've slept, eaten, and had migraines since then.' She looked over to gauge his reaction. He was stupefied. 'It was an eternity ago, Sirius,' she said softly, sitting up slightly. She may not have noticed when the bubbles stopped covering her breasts, but Sirius did. She was, in a word, perfect.

'I-I-I should go,' Sirius said quickly, turning to leave before anything else could happen.

'Wait!' Ciara said, blushing at her own daring. 'Sirius, I'm sorry I never told you about Anthony. I...There was no excuse.' She hung her head as what she had held back from him hit her. 'I knew you were pissed that night and I left anyways. I should have stayed with you.'

Sirius held the doorknob in a death grip as heat rushed all over him. He knew he was in trouble when she stood up, the residue of the bubbles slipping off her body.

'Please, Sirius...' she pleaded. 'I need you to forgive me for that...' She reached a hand out to him.

Sirius leaned his forehead on the door and tried to control his breathing. She hadn't aged a day since he had last seen her, not anywhere on her. Her skin was just as youthful as a 20-year-olds. He felt something in him stir as he heard water sloshing. A second later, a heated wet hand stroked his cheek. He started to look, but quickly stopped. He wasn't all that sure about his ability to control himself.

'Don't worry about yourself,' she murmured in his ear, making him shudder in anticipation. The hand caressed his face, turning it to face her. Her face was grim but there was a light in her eyes that he had sorely missed.

'I was serious when I said that I'd never forgotten you,' she whispered before stretching up to kiss him gently.

With a growl, he pulled her as close as he could, his hands absorbing the warmth and love she offered so freely.

In the kitchen, Ainaguar and the newly-appeared Seregwen looked at each other as warmth flooded their bond with Ciara. They both rolled their eyes and the same thoughts ran through their heads.

About time someone around here got laid...