Author's Note: These characters and their world belong to J.K.R.

Searching

in three movements

"Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives, there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." -- Joseph Addison

Intermezzo, con moto

Remus flushed, then stuttered, "I…I was… intimate with your mother, yes."

Anna bit her lip, then placing her hand neatly on the table, continued. "May I ask you in which month you were intimate?"

He hadn't been with many women in his life, as Lycanthropy proved to be an obstacle physically as well as mentally in his few female relationships. In fact, that's why he left Daphne so suddenly after their first and only encounter. The full moon was less than a week away, and how was he supposed to explain Lycanthropy to a muggle woman? Sometimes it was easier just to walk away from it all, even the love, rather than face a woman's disgust.

But although his affair with Daphne had lasted only one night, it had been filled with several rounds of the most passionate and vivacious lovemaking that he had ever experienced.

Suddenly, Lupin felt excessively heated. Nervously, he creased the edges of the napkin, refolding it neatly in his lap. "We were seeing one another in July of '81."

Anna's face drained of color, her knuckles turning white as she clutched her cup and saucer, her voice a mere exhale. "I was born in late March of '82."

Lupin flinched involuntarily and then, with complete clarity and control, broached the more intimate details of his youthful affair. "Ms. Pruitt - "

"Anna," she corrected.

"Anna." Remus said her name softly. "I may be indeed be your father; however," he paused and wrinkled his brow. "This is very difficult for me to talk about with a young woman…"

"I understand," she replied and tried to smile.

"Your mother and I only spent one night together. And although, we were…" His eyes focused on the tea pot, "intimate several times in the course of that evening, your mother did take a contraception potion. So it would be highly unlikely…"

"A what?"

He looked at Anna, her cheeks red, and realized his mistake. "A medicine to prevent conception. She took it the next morning."

"A liquid contraceptive. Did you see her take it?" she asked honestly.

"No, but the bottle was empty when I returned." He had left her in the bathroom with it. Why wouldn't she have taken it?

"Was my mother involved with any other men that you can remember during this time?"

Lupin patiently set down his cup. "Anna, I don't mind answering your questions, but if Daphne is alive and well and vacationing in Spain, why won't she tell you who your real father is or at least the men that she had affairs with at the time?"

Anna's eyes widened, and there was a long pause of silence. Eventually, with grave sincerity, she began. "My mother is still very afraid of the man that is my father. She will barely speak of him to me."

"Then this cannot be me. I promise you. She was never afraid of me," Remus answered sternly. He and Daphne had always treated one another kindly, even when he informed her about Spain.

"I have only a little information regarding this. Here's what I do know; my father's best friend warned her about his involvement with a very powerful and very deadly crime syndicate in the city just after he left the continent. A week later, the best friend was sent to prison for killing seven people. A crime, Mum believes, my father had some hand in committing as well as framing his friend."

Remus blanched as Anna laid another photo on the table. It was a picture of Sirius, Daphne, and himself.

"I found this photograph, as well." Then looking him directly in the eye as she pointed to the photograph, "This man is Sirius Black. Five years ago, he escaped from the prison where he was serving time for all seven murders. He attended Hogwarts with you in the late seventies, and I believe that he was your best friend. He's the man who gave my mother the warning."

"Sirius Black was my best friend," Lupin responded immediately, "but I didn't frame him for the murders, nor did I commit them. Someone else did. A man we both trusted with a very dangerous secret betrayed us and our friends."

"I don't care!" Anna blurted out. "I don't care what you did in the past. Bad or good, all I want to know is if you're the man that I've been looking for these eighteen years. Remus Lupin, I want to know if you're my father."

Her grey eyes stormed with hurt and frustration. And although he barely knew the girl, he felt a stabbing sympathy deep within his chest. Perhaps, he was her father. The realization was finally breaking through his pleasant façade and battering his head and heart. Reaching across the table, voice firm, "If there is some test that can determine this, I will take it today, Anna."

(insert line here)

An hour later, they sat together in a muggle hospital room waiting for the nurse to return with the paternal test results. Anna wrapped her arms around herself to stop the nervous shaking, tried to hide tear-swollen eyes beneath her curtain of hair.

Closing his own eyes and saying a silent prayer, Remus crossed the small room and knelt at her side. He pushed aside her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "Anna, I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your fault; its Mum's." She wiped her eyes with the handkerchief he provided.

Then taking her hand, he grasped it firmly. "I have no children and no wife. My parents are dead. If you are my daughter, you'll be my only living family."

"You never married? This is Mum's fourth," she huffed bitterly.

"No. Never married." Remus gave her a lop-sided grin. "Never met a woman who wanted to take care of an old, crotchety professor."

Anna laughed and, looking upon him tenderly, replied, "I would take care of you, Remus."

His long fingers cupped her chin. "I know you would. I'd like that."

Suddenly, the door opened and the nurse appeared. "Mr. Lupin? Ms. Pruitt? I have your results."