Updated: Friday 29th April 2005
Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
Chapter Seventy-Two: A Spanner in the Works"Damn it, Moony! It's got to be up here somewhere!" Sirius Black growled at his friend as they upturned another crate in the attic. The fugitive had been on the run for a second time for going on three weeks and had been hiding out at his London home ("Sometimes the most obvious places are the places no one thinks to look.") on Dumbledore's suggestion, catching up with his childhood friend. He had hoped to explain things to Estella and spend some time with the child – for surely Estella visited during the holidays – but much to his dismay the despondent looking werewolf had confided in him upon arrival, Severus' latest terms.
"Nonsense!" Sirius had shook his head indignantly at the news. "there is always something you can do!"
It just so happened that just as Selina had been bestowed with an emergency port key that had been linked directly to the bedroom of the flat Sirius had once shared with James, Sirius too had a port key that was capable of taking him directly to Selina's room at Snape Manor. Which led to why the attic now looked like a tornado had torn through it and the two men were searching for a simple Muggle Spanner.
Talk about throwing a spanner into the works.
"Found it!" Sirius held the tarnished piece of metal up victoriously, a wide smile on his face. "Let's go bring my baby girl home!"
Remus fidgeted nervously, shifting his weight from one foot the other as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Sirius? This will be the first place they'll look for her." He said.
"So we take her someplace else… I've got it covered, Moony. Relax." Sirius replied confidently, making his way through the debris towards his friend.
"If… if I am not here when they come looking I will be implicated in her kidnapping." Remus continued.
"It's not kidnapping when it's your own child!" Sirius growled defensively, but realising the trouble it would cause for Remus nonetheless. "Tell you what," he said finally, running a hand through is hair compulsively. "You come with me to pick her up, you… you can help me explain things to her. Then I'll take her someplace safe." He sighed. "I'd love for you to come with, Remus, but I understand if you can't. I don't want you to become a fugitive… Merlin forbid end up in Azkaban."
Remus nodded hesitantly. Every part of his heart was telling him to go – Estella would need his help to feel comfortable around her father – but in his mind he knew that without access to wolfsbane or a secure place to spend the full moon he would be a liability. It would probably be easier for Sirius to bond with his child if he wasn't around to be the security blanket too. "Don't think it's because I don't want to, Padfoot." He said finally. "But it's probably best if one of us could be seen in public."
Sirius laughed. "Tell you what, we'll blackmail Snivellus into making your potion for the rest of your life. Tell him if he ever wants to see Estella back at Hogwarts he'd better swear a Wizard's Oath to make it as long as he is able."
"Would you ever consider keeping Estella away from Hogwarts?" Remus asked, worriedly.
"Of course not!" Sirius smirked. "But he don't know that."
"And with Estella starting third year next fall there's nothing to stop me from meeting with her in Hogsmeade… with my trusty canine friend." Remus grinned wolfishly. "Alright then, let's go!"
The two men huddled close together and touched the Muggle tool.
Estella's eyes went wide as saucers. Squeezing her eyes shut, she opened them again cautiously, only to be surprised when the figures before her appeared real and there.
"W – w – what…" She gasped, eying her father suspiciously and fumbling for her wand.
Remus made the subconscious move to stand in front of Sirius, moving towards her slowly in a effort to placate her. "Shhhh, Estella. It's alright." He said softly. "We don't have much time now though for questions, just come with us for now and I swear to you on your Mother's grave that everything will be alright, ok?"
Estella looked from her Godfather to her father, shifting her wand between the two men as she went. "How do I know you are who you look like?"
"Good girl." Remus beamed. "Now let's see… I helped you find the charm to make the Slytherin banners to flash pro-Gryffindor slogans to everyone but the Slytherins on your Uncle's birthday."
"You did that?" Sirius turned to Estella smirking with fatherly pride. "Damn Prongs and I never thought of anything like that!" Seeing the wary look on his daughter's face, he verified his identity. "When you came to give me my wand you weren't too impressed when I thought you weren't real. How'd you manage to fire-call a warded office anyhow?"
Now it was Remus' turn to gawk at the unpredictable child before him. "You did that?" He asked, shocked.
"The Marauder's Map?" Estella said quietly. "What are you doing here? The alarms in the wards must surely have gone off by now!"
Sure enough, two sets of highly sensitive ears heard the distant sounds of someone stealthily, but rapidly, ascending the stairs. Exchanging a look, the two men turned and charmed the bedroom door locked.
"That should hold him for a few minutes, I hope." Remus said. "We're not going to make you come, Estella, but know this is your only chance to hear us out."
"We have a lot to tell you." Sirius said, well, seriously. "But I will respect your wishes if you staying here is what you want."
"Then why do you look like you just swallowed a lemon?" Estella bit back, her nervous penchant for sarcasm rearing its head.
Sirius grinned. "Because if your mother was here she'd want me dragging you out of here kicking and screaming if that's what it took." He frowned as he took in the room. "I know you must feel close to her, being in this room as it is. But she was glad to see the back of this place."
Before Estella could respond, however, a loud resounding crack split into the room, revealing an irate looking house elf. It was Lena, the old, extremely dim house elf who had helped Severus look after Estella since she was in infant.
Remus and Sirius both swore as the elf stood in front of Estella.
"Lena is being instructed by Master Snape to prevent Mistress Black from leaving with the intruders." Lena stood in front of Estella, arms stretched out wide.
Both men made a move for the elf, but Estella held them off with a glare.
"Lena, do you think you could do me a favour and fetch my things from my room? You're very good at packing and shrinking things… I'd like very much to move them in here." Estella asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"Lena is instructed to prevent Mistress Black from leaving." Lena reiterated.
"But Lena, these kind men have come at my bidding to help me move." Estella said, carefully wording her words to misdirect the elf. They were all dimly aware of her Uncle outside the door firing spells at the temporary wards. They didn't have much time, and if Estella wanted the answers she sought, she had to do something and quick. "Tell you what, Lena. My Uncle seems to be having trouble entering the room. Why don't you go let him in? He can help you prevent me from leaving."
The dim house elf was hooked. Smiling eagerly, she bobbed her head up and down frantically. "Oh yes Mistress Black, Lena will go let Master Snape in."
The elf then crossed the room and opened the door for the irate potion's master just in time for him to see his niece grab the portkey her Uncle and Godfather were holding; the three of them disappearing with a flash.
Though the portkey could be activated from anywhere, it's return journey was to a fixed location. Picking themselves up from the dusty floor, where they had all landed in a ungracious heap, Sirius was the one who spoke first.
"Merlin I had no idea this place was still standing!" He said, taking in the abandoned and somewhat decaying shell of what used to be his and James' bachelor pad… the complex had long since been condemned.
Estella was on her guard, backing away from the two men warily – the darker haired one in particular – as she began to regret ever agreeing to touch the innocent looking Muggle tool.
"You… you… kidnap me from my home with a portkey that's destination was in possible ruin?" She accused. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
Sirius looked at her with an exasperated look on his face, flinching when she used the words 'kidnap' and 'home'. "I… I didn't kidnap you." He said hoarsely. "You came willingly. If you want to go back there, I'm not keeping you against your will." He grimaced, ever hopeful that she wouldn't take him up on that offer… for he wasn't entirely sure he'd want to let her go now that he had her.
"I guess we didn't think this far ahead, right Sirius?" Remus added helpfully. "Our main concern was to get to you. You know I would never knowingly put you in danger, don't you?"
Shooting Sirius a distrustful look, Estella shrugged. "Never knowingly…" She agreed, stressing the operative words, still looking at Sirius as though he was about to explode. "I'm trusting your instincts on this one, Remus."
"Sirius would never hurt you, Estella." Remus implored, catching on. "Even if he was the criminal I had been led to believe that he was. I know I misled you in the past, Estella…" He added, referring to the Marauders he had alluded to her as being fictional. "But nothing I told you was, to the best of my knowledge at the time, a lie."
"You're trying to tell me now that he's not the man who did all those horrible things?" Estella shook her head. "But you told me otherwise, Remus! I trusted you then, are you saying now it was a lie? What am I supposed to believe?"
"He didn't know it was a lie." Sirius tried to explain.
"How do we know this story isn't the lie?" Estella looked at her Godfather nervously, trying to read just how much he believed this impossible dream.
"The man who did do these crimes was recently found alive." Sirius said, trying to keep the venom out of his voice. "Unfortunately he slipped through our fingers before the Ministry could interrogate the truth from him. I'm on the run for his crimes until he can be found."
"Oh, and I'm just supposed to take your word for that?" Estella raised a brow at him, running a hand through her hair irritably. "I don't understand. Couldn't they have just interrogated this 'truth' from you when you were arrested?"
"I was arrested and sentenced without trial, Estella." Sirius said sadly. "We were in different times then."
"But that's not very fair!" Estella shook her head. "The Ministry wouldn't do that!"
"Life is not fair." Sirius rubbed his forehead, searching for a way to make his daughter believe him. "Please believe me. If… if… my own flesh and blood can't believe me, what hope do I have? I may as well turn myself in."
"Why would you want to turn yourself in if you were innocent?" Estella asked suspiciously.
"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Estella." Sirius said sincerely. "If you believe me to be guilty, then I will honour my sentence to appease you."
"Sirius, no!" Remus cried out in alarm, whirling around to face his friend. "This wasn't part of our plan, damn it! You're innocent! You didn't deserve to spend that time in Azkaban, and you sure as hell don't deserve the Kiss! Estella, you have to believe us!"
"What life would I have to live if my own daughter believed me to be a monster?" Sirius looked at his friend sadly before making eye contact with his child. "I only want your happiness. I thought when you gave me my wand back that there would be a chance you'd believe me, but if you insist on believing that I would be capable of…"
"What about Harry?" Remus threw in desperately. If Estella didn't acknowledge her acceptance of his story soon, Sirius was going to go and do something rash, he just knew it. Didn't he realise how serious his pledge was? How irreversible? How much it would effect Estella if she let her father condemn himself only to discover concrete proof of his innocence after the fact?
"Harry…" Sirius' mind drifted off. "Harry has his Muggle family. I'm but a stranger to him. Useless to him while I remain on the run."
"Sirius, come on! You can't be serious!" Remus pleaded. "Think about what you're offering to do! If you take responsibility for this he will win! Do you really want that? I'm sorry I fell for the lie, Sirius! I'm sorry I let it be fed to Estella all those years! I can't even begin to know why Severus kept what he knew to himself, but we can't let it dictate how things are to go now! Estella will see the truth if you just give her time, won't you cub?"
Looking from her father to her godfather and back again, she realised that Remus must really believe in her father's innocence. There's no way he would look so panic stricken if he still had doubts… and he most definitely would not have subjected her to her father's presence if the man was capable in anyway of endangering her.
"I believe you." She said finally, letting out a breath she had been holding. "But what's this about my Uncle?"
End Chapter: A Spanner in the Works
A/N: Puts $5 in the swear jar for using the word 'veil'. It's a dirty, dirty, evil, horrible little four-letter-word in the Potter-verse :P Worth a fair few points in Scrabble tho, even if the people I play with look at me funny and start backing away when I break into cold sweats and start tearing my hair out in memory :P 'Use the mirror! Use the mirror! He's upstairs! Don't listen to that #$!#$& elf!'