(PoA) CHAPTER TWO: Sirius Black

"Serena, please. If you'd just stop to consider—"

"Absolutely not," Serena interrupted Molly firmly. "She's coming with me, and that's final."

"But she's safer here!" insisted Arthur. "If he is after her, how do you intend to protect her from him?"

The cat was out of the bag, obviously. Serena had burst into the Burrow, screaming for her daughter as she waved her advance copy of a Muggle newspaper in their faces. Apparently Sirius being on the loose was enough to warrant warning the Muggles as well as the witches and wizards, Ellie had mused when she saw it.

"I've purchased a new house and hired an armed guard," said Serena stiffly. "No one in your world knows where I live; I have no reason to believe he'll find her there."

"Ms. Prince," said Fred, joining his parents in the fray. "With all due respect here—Sirius Black is known to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world, especially now that he's found a way to escape Azkaban. Surely he could find a way—"

"Enough," interrupted Serena. "I've entertained all of this for far too long already. I even let myself slip and tell my daughter the truth about the identity of her father—a mistake I'll never forgive myself for."

"You'd rather I not know?" demanded Ellie. "You'd rather I not even realize that my father is now a free man?"

"Of course, I'd rather that! I know you, Eleanor—I know you'll go looking for him."

And there it was—the real reason Serena wanted to take Ellie away. She didn't want to protect Ellie from Sirius; she wanted to protect Ellie from herself.

"If I go with you," Ellie finally said, swallowing. "Will you promise I can still go to Hogwarts in September? Even if they haven't caught him by then?"

"Ellie," said Fred urgently. But she ignored him.

Serena crossed her arms, considering. She didn't like the thought of Ellie going to Hogwarts with Sirius on the loose; that much was clear. But she seemed more concerned with getting Ellie home with her now.

"Fine," she finally said. "You'll go to Hogwarts in September. Now, pack your things, Ellie—and be quick about it."


"You're making a mistake," Fred said in her bedroom a few minutes later as she packed. They had both ushered out a wide-eyed and confused Ginny Weasley, not wanting to share the truth about Sirius being her father with anyone new. "You both are. She can't protect you, El. It isn't safe."

"I don't exactly have a choice," she pointed out. "At least this way, I can still go back to Hogwarts."

Fred cursed at that. She hadn't heard him curse much before, and it was strange to behold. His appearance was changing, too, more rapidly than she liked. He was taller and broader now, with a strength and size that nearly rivaled Oliver's. It was undeniably handsome—and undeniably not hers to admire. "Just promise me you won't go chasing after him," he said. "If you see that dog again, run. Okay?"

She crossed her arms, looking him directly in the eyes for the first time that day. "Come on, Fred. I know you're worried about me, but be realistic."

But his gaze was firm. "I am being realistic, El. I'm being realistic about how badly I need you to stay alive."


Ellie had hoped that going to live with her mother might bring them closer together, but it seemed to have just the opposite effect. From the moment she stepped into the shockingly ornate McMansion that her mother drove her to, it became apparent that Serena had no plans to bond with her daughter that summer.

"There's food in the fridge, and a cook who handles dinner every night," Serena told her briskly. "I've got to run out for a meeting, but Shane will be here to make sure you're safe."

Ellie glanced glumly at Shane, the tall, ripped bodyguard standing outside the front door with his arms crossed. "Great."

"Just stay inside for now," Serena said. "In a few days, we'll discuss which parts of town you can spend time in—with Shane escorting you, of course."

"Great," Ellie said again. "Mum, how could you afford a place like this? What exactly is it you… do… these days?"

Growing up, Ellie and Serena had barely had two pennies to rub together. The money Serena had made at the political headquarters she worked at went almost entirely to the feeding and care of Ellie; there certainly hadn't been enough left for McMansions.

"I told you," said Serena shortly, "I'm in Muggle politics."

And with that, she was gone again.


Ellie grew more and more restless over the next few days. She'd written a letter to Harry as soon as she arrived at her mother's house, filling him in on everything except her having seen Sirius in person in a sort of code language in case for some reason the letter was intercepted, but she hadn't heard back yet.

She wasn't sure why she didn't tell him the part about seeing Sirius's dog form. Maybe it was the way Fred had reacted—so terrified for her that all reason seemed to go out the window. Or maybe it was a desire to protect her father from too many people knowing about his Animagus form… though Harry would probably be smart enough to put two and two together if he ever saw the dog himself.

She tried to stay true to her word to her mother and not leave the house until she was given permission, but she couldn't stop thinking about Sirius. Had he followed her here? Was he waiting for her to come outside?

By the third night, she'd had enough of waiting. She slipped out the back door, changed into her dog form, and scanned the area for any sign of the great, black dog.

She didn't have to search for long; she found him almost immediately, seated just beyond the tree line, watching her.

She thought of Fred's parting words to her—of his pleas for her not to approach the dog. She knew Fred was only worried about her, but she couldn't do it—she couldn't run.

Her father wasn't evil. She hadn't fully made sense of how or why, but she knew it in her gut; she always had.

So she trotted cautiously over to him, and this time, he didn't run.

He didn't try to hurt her, either.

She stared at him for several seconds, still in her dog form, before finally changing back.

"I know who you are," she said softly as she stooped to her knees. "And I know you were framed."

The dog watched her, unmoving—barely even breathing.

"I haven't made sense of all of it yet," she told him. "There's a lot I'd like for you to explain. But I know you aren't evil, Sirius. I've known it for a long time now."

For several more seconds, the dog stared at her. Then, finally, it changed.

There was no denying it—Sirius looked terrifying. A mass of filthy, matted hair hung nearly to his elbows; his waxy skin was thin and stretched tightly over the bones of his face; despite being easily six feet tall, he didn't seem to weigh much more than Ellie.

But he still had her eyes—those misty, gray ones that had once looked back at her from the Mirror of Erised. And somewhere beneath all the wear and tear Azkaban had done to his appearance was the warm, handsome man who had, if only for a year and a half, raised her.

"Wow," she finally whispered. "I'd better give you a haircut."


She took her leave of him at that, promising to return the following night with some grooming supplies to attempt to make him look more normal. She wanted to stay and talk to him—to ask him a million different questions—but her fear got the better of her.

Her fear, and that voice of Fred's in her head that begged her to run from him.

The next night, she returned to the spot she'd met him in, this time carrying a basket of goodies in her teeth. When she reached him, they both changed back, and she gestured for him to take a seat on a nearby boulder.

He did as she bade him, but before she could reach him with the scissors, he lifted a hand to stop her. She waited, breath held.

"Ellie," he said. His voice was rough and weary, like he hadn't used it in a long time. "Why aren't you afraid of me?"

His words instantly broke her heart, and she had to fight back tears as she came up with the words to say back to him. "I've thought of you a million times over the years. Wondered what it was you did. They gave me a fake name for you—even for me. Wouldn't tell me anything about you."

His grey eyes clouded over with sadness at that, but he didn't interrupt.

"Mum didn't want me to go to Hogwarts," she continued. "She had taken me away from magic—from all of it. But I insisted, and once I got there, I started finding answers about you for myself. There was the Sorting Hat, who told me that my name—and the one they told me was yours—was a lie. Then there was Voldemort, who said—"

He stiffened at that, grey eyes growing darker. "Voldemort?"

She nodded. "He'd clung on since what happened with Harry—found a way into the body of one of our professors at Hogwarts. Harry and I fought him at the end of our first year."

He seemed to be struggling to keep up. "Harry," he repeated, voice hoarse. "Harry… Potter?"

This time, it was Ellie who stiffened. She was willing to trust her father if it meant risking her own safety, but Harry's? What if Sirius really was a servant of Voldemort's, and was after Harry?

"He's my godson," Sirius explained when he saw her expression. "The son of my best friend. If not for me, he would still have a father."

His words rang in her head as she took a step back from him, heart starting to pound. Had he just admitted that he was the reason Harry's parents were dead?

"It's not what you think," Sirius told her sadly. "There are explanations for all of it, and I swear to give them to you."

She waited, breath held.

"But first, I'd very much like to hear more about you."


I don't know about you guys, but I just love getting to see Ellie finally get to know her dad after so much doubt and confusion! Which is why I wrote a whole other chapter full of father-daughter bonding, cleverly entitled "Father-Daughter Bonding," which you'll all get to read very soon! Don't forget to review!