Complicated

By Neurotica

Two

The Leaky Cauldron was full at lunchtime a few days later, with witches and their small children out for a day's shopping in Diagon Alley and Ministry officials sick of eating cafeteria food. Sirius Flooed into the pub and made his way through the crowd, looking for a place to sit. The only unoccupied spot he could find was a stool at the bar. He sat and nodded hello to Tom the barkeep, who said he'd be right over, and looked around the pub. Sirius had been well trained by Mad-Eye Moody to have a certain sense of paranoia. While Sirius' paranoia was nowhere near Mad-Eye's level, he always made certain to gauge his surroundings and get a good sense of what he was dealing with.

Right after he ordered his lunch, he felt a tug on his robes. He turned and looked around, and then down, and spotted a small girl, no older than four, smiling up at him. "Hello," he said to her, noting how much the girl resembled… Stop! He thought firmly. "Can I help you with something?" he asked the girl.

"My mummy wanted me to give this to you," she said in a very sweet tone, holding out a folded piece of parchment. Sirius took it and before he could ask the girl anything else, she ran off between the crowds of diners to a corner table. He tried to see who was sitting there, but he or she (she, Sirius assumed, since the girl said "my mummy") was sitting back in the shadows. The girl climbed into a chair and leaned over to whisper something into the shadows.

The Head Auror raised an eyebrow and unfolded the parchment. Though it was only seven words long, he had to read the note written in elegant script five times before he could fully comprehend it.

'What do you think of our daughter?'

Sirius snapped his head back to where he'd seen the girl run off to, confusion written all over his face. He didn't have a daughter; it was completely impossible! Well, not completely impossible, but he would have known if he had a daughter, or any kid for that matter. He thought about who the girl looked like, and wondered if someone neglected to tell him something. If this dark-skinned little girl was his daughter, she had to have been born after he'd gone to Azkaban. She was adorable, this girl was, with her tight braids, bright smile, and silver gray eyes –

Sirius blinked. The only people he'd ever met with eyes like that were members of the Black family – it was one of the traits that had been passed through the generations without fail. He thought vaguely that this could have been a prank set up by Remus, but if it was, Sirius' best friend would be a dead man very soon – Sirius wasn't finding this the least bit humorous.

He folded the note and stood, deciding to get to the bottom of this matter – maybe the girl's eyes were a coincidence, and she'd delivered the note to the wrong person. Slowly, he walked past the other patrons of the bar, his hand instinctively sneaking into his robes for his wand. The little girl seemed to be shaking in excitement as he approached. "Excuse me," he said to the person in the shadows. "I think you've made a mistake…"

The woman in the shadows sat forward and Sirius felt his knees go weak and all the color drain from his face. He reached out blindly and pulled out a chair to sit before he collapsed onto the floor. Sitting across from him was the one and only woman to ever have managed to convince Sirius Black to settle down. Their relationship had been rough to say the very least – only for the last two years before he'd gone to Azkaban had they stopped arguing long enough to realize they couldn't live without each other.

"Aletha?" he whispered weakly.

She smiled. "Surprise," she said with tears in her eyes.

"But… you can't… Remus said… Aletha?"

Aletha laughed. "Yes, it's me, Sirius."

"Remus said you were in America for Healer training…"

"I was."

"But you're here."

"I am."

"I… Oh God, I'm confused."

"Not hard to do, that." Aletha grinned. "Look, maybe we should go somewhere and talk. Meghan and I have a room here–"

"Meghan?" he said quietly.

Aletha looked over to the girl beside her. Sirius tore his eyes away from Aletha and looked at the girl again. She waved happily, and he tried to smile back at her, but his face muscles had forgotten how to work. "Oh," he managed to squeak out. "Yeah, let's go talk. I'd rather the entire pub didn't see me faint."

Aletha smiled at him, then picked up the little girl – Meghan – and led him through the parlor and up the stairs. Sirius' mind was completely blank as he walked up the stairs. He wasn't even clear on how he made it to Aletha's room without passing out. Once they were inside the room Aletha had rented, Aletha sent Meghan into another room to play.

"You look like you need to sit," Aletha said quietly. Sirius nodded numbly, but didn't move. Aletha took his hand and led him to a sofa where they sat together.

He turned to face her. "What's going on?" he asked faintly.

She smiled. "That wasn't exactly the welcome I'd expected from you," she said, taking his hand.

He realized their lips were only centimeters apart, though he had no recollection on when that had happened. What the hell do I care? he thought before crushing his lips to hers.

They kissed fiercely for long minutes, and Sirius never wanted it to end. But the need for air very rudely interrupted, and they had to break apart. Breathing heavily, Sirius opened his eyes to look into her brown ones, tracing a finger down her cheek.

"I thought you'd left," he breathed.

She nodded. "I did, and I hadn't planned on coming back, but, well, news travels slow to America."

"So you heard about what happened with Peter and everything?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice catching. "Oh God, Sirius… I had no idea. If I did… I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said numbly. "I'm just… shocked to see you. I never thought I'd see you again."

"Well, you probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for that dream I had the other night."

"Dream?"

"You're going to think I'm mental."

"I've always thought you were mental."

Aletha slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Sirius grinned. "Sorry. Please go on."

"About a month ago, I started having these dreams," she began. "At first, I didn't think anything of them – I figured I'd just had too much chocolate before I went to bed. But the dreams kept coming, and more often. I dreamed of you and Harry and Meghan and Remus and of a friend I haven't seen since before I went to Hogwarts. We were a family, but we had another word for it. And there were two other children, one who looked like my friend, and one I've never seen before. Well, the dreams started getting more detailed. They started showing me things that I'd never thought would happen, like you being released from Azkaban. And you and Remus raising Harry. Then, last week I had a dream that you'd defeated Voldemort by blowing up his cauldron with a Reductor curse–"

"Wait, you dreamed that?" Sirius asked, looking confused.

She nodded. "I told you they were odd dreams. Anyway, I got curious, and I went to the library and started looking things up that happened in London over the past year. I found all these newspaper clippings about you, and Harry, and Peter. So I knew the dreams had to be true. I packed Meghan up, told my landlord I'd be back in a few weeks, and got the first flight out here."

"Oh," Sirius said quietly. "You're right, I do think you're mental… Ow," he added at Aletha's slap. "Can I ask you a question now?"

"Sure," she said, a knowing smile on her face.

"What's all this our daughter business?"

"I didn't know I was pregnant before I left for America. I found out about two weeks after I got there, and nine months later, Meghan came."

"Meghan," Sirius said, liking how the name rolled of his tongue.

"Meghan Lily Black," Aletha said softly.

"So she's about five, then?"

"In June," she confirmed.

"You're saying I'm a father?"

"Well, there's not really a chance of it being anybody else," she said with a grin.

Sirius turned to look at the room Meghan had gone off to, his brain still trying to comprehend all this information. He'd been a father for nearly four years, and he'd had no idea whatsoever. "How?" was the first thing that fell from his mouth.

"How are you a father? Sirius, somehow I don't think you need a lecture on the birds and bees." She grinned, trying hard not to laugh.

He shook his head slowly. "How did I never know? Does anyone back here know?"

"Nobody," she said. "I thought about writing to Remus to tell him, but I never knew what to say to him."

"Oh."

"You're saying that a lot."

"Sorry," he said. "I don't know what else to say. This is all so… sudden…"

"Do you want to meet her?"

"What?" he said, stunned. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean, she doesn't even know me. What if she doesn't like me?"

"You're kidding right? Sirius, I've told her everything there is to know about you, even before I knew you were innocent. She wants to meet you."

Before Sirius could object, Aletha was calling Meghan back into the room. He stared at her with wide-eyes, trying to memorize every detail of her. "Hello, Meghan," he said hoarsely, holding out a shaking hand to her.

"Hi," she said, taking his hand. He marveled at how small and soft her hands were, and wondered if she played piano like her mum. As he stared into the gray eyes that were so much like his, he wanted to know everything there was to know about this gorgeous little girl. He wanted her to like him more than anything in the world. He wanted Aletha to still be in love with him. He wanted them to be the family he and Aletha always wanted. But most of all, he wanted this dream to last forever.

Remus yawned widely as he watched Harry play with some Muggle toy cars on the coffee table in front of him. He hadn't slept well the night before following an odd dream he'd had. He wasn't sure what part of the dream was odder: the fact that he'd been marrying Danger, the woman he'd just met a few days ago, or the fact that they were married in the Hogwarts Great Hall, and Dumbledore was giving the bride away to Remus. As the newlyweds had their first dance, Remus had looked into Danger's warm brown eyes and found he knew everything there was to know about her. Like her full name being Gertrude Granger.

When he woke, just after they'd shared the most amazing kiss Remus had ever experienced, dream or not, Remus wondered how much of the information he'd made up – he didn't know anything about the woman except that she hated the Dursleys, had a sister, and adored Harry. His mind must have must have only made it seem like they were perfect for each other.

You've already gone through this, Moony, he thought. She's a Muggle. A beautiful Muggle, but a Muggle nonetheless, and there's too much about you that you'd have to explain. You're a wizard and a werewolf, and she'd never want to get her sister involved with you, so get over it.

It was depressing really, to think he'd finally met another woman he wouldn't mind getting to know better, but he'd never get a chance with her. Correction, he couldn't let himself have a chance with her.

"Remus, can I have a Chocolate Frog?" Harry asked, breaking Remus from his thoughts.

The wizard blushed a little and cleared his throat. "Um, sure, Harry." He stood and led the six-year-old to the kitchen and dug around in the cabinet, looking for his secret stash of sweets. He raised an eyebrow when he only found two Chocolate Frogs and half a box of Bertie Bott's Beans. "Looks like Sirius has been in here," he said, passing out the frogs to Harry.

The pair when to sit at the table when the phone rang. Remus turned and crossed the kitchen again to answer it. "Hello?"

"Um, hello, may I speak with Remus?" said the nervous voice on the other end.

Remus' stomach flipped over a bit. "This is he," he said, wondering why his heart was racing like it was.

"Oh, hi, this is Danger. We met at the playground a few days ago…?"

"Right, hello, how are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you."

In the background, Remus could hear a whisper that sounded like "Do it!"

"Shh!" Danger said to the other voice. "Sorry," she said to Remus. "Um, Neenie and I were thinking about going to the fair in London this weekend, and we wanted to see if Harry'd like to go. I mean, you're invited, too, of course, if you'd like to go," she said in a rush.

Remus felt himself smile widely, regardless of his earlier thoughts. "Yes, I think Harry would love that," he said. And I wouldn't mind, either, he added in his mind.

"Great," Danger said. Remus would almost hear her smile. "Well, we'll meet you and Harry at the fairgrounds on Saturday, say, around noon?"

"I'm looking forward to it," Remus said honestly.

"Okay. Until Saturday, then?"

"Until Saturday."

"Okay, well, bye, then."

"Goodbye."

Remus hung up the phone, unable to get the large smile off his face.

"What happened, Remus?" Harry asked. Remus turned to him and found the boy's face covered in chocolate.

Remus grinned. "How would you like to go to the fair with Danger and Neenie on Saturday?"

"Really?" Harry said excitedly.

"Yup! We can–"

"Remus!" called a deep voice from the living room. Remus raised and eyebrow and walked to the fireplace. Kingsley Shacklebolt's head was hanging in the middle of the orange flames. "Tell me Sirius is there, please," the second-in-command of the Auror squads said calmly.

"Why would he be here?" Remus asked slowly.

Kingsley's head only nodded. "Remus, I'm going to kill your best friend," he said lightly.

"You wouldn't be the first to threaten that, but may I ask why before you do it?"

"He left for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron three hours ago, and no one's heard from him since. I've sent two Aurors out there to look for him. Tom says Sirius was there, but took off before he even got his Butterbeer," Kingsley explained.

Remus opened his mouth to reply, but he heard a pop in the kitchen, followed by a happy squeal, and a barking laugh. "He's here now," Remus said flatly. "I'll let him know you're looking for him, shall I?"

Kingsley rolled his eyes, smiled, and disappeared from the fireplace.

Remus stood and made his way to the kitchen, wondering what could make Sirius skive off work.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the scene of his kitchen. Sirius had Harry in his arms and was standing beside Aletha Freeman, who had a small girl in her arms. For a split second, Remus thought they looked like the perfect family. But then curiosity set in. Aletha had left five years ago, and if memory served him correctly, she hadn't had a child then. "Er, hello," Remus said in confusion.

"Moony!" Sirius said happily. "Smashing to see you, old boy!"

Remus raised an eyebrow. Obviously, Sirius was drunk. He turned to Aletha and smiled. "Hello, Aletha. Long time no see."

"Hi, Remus," she said, trying not to laugh at Sirius.

"And who's this?" Remus asked, smiling at the little girl.

Sirius' smile, if possible, widened. "Remus, I'd like to introduce you to Meghan, my daughter."

Remus blinked and made his way to the kitchen table before his legs gave out.