Chapter 11

Ariana clung onto Buckbeak like her life depended on it, gripping his feathers so tight she was afraid she might finally convince him to kill her and be done with it. The beast sprinted through the sky at a breakneck pace without the slightest concern for the girl upon him. She cursed in her head as he made another dive behind the clouds and thought back to the person responsible for her predicament. Why on earth Sirius had thought it would be a good idea to let a muggle spot him, she hadn't the foggiest idea.

The marauder however believed it would be a perfectly simple plan. Just allow a muggle to glimpse him and then disappear before a crowd could be drawn. She had tried to tell him not to, but her quiet concerns were brushed off like the summer breeze. Sirius hadn't accounted for a whole band of muggle aurors, or whatever they were called, to show up and try to arrest him on the spot.

That was frightening enough, but then one of the muggles pulled out what appeared to be a a thick metal wand and Ariana's fear exploded. Literally. The walls of a nearby building came tumbling down like a tower of dominoes. After a moment of realization, Ariana quickly threw her hands up to form a shield charm around herself, Sirius and the muggle aurors. It was weak, but it was certainly enough to protect them. Not to mention, the debris falling down created enough of a distraction for the two runaways and their hippogriff to disappear into the skies.

That brought her back to where she currently was, nearly strangling the beast for fear of falling thousands of feet below. Sirius did not look the least bit concerned however and commanded Buckbeak's reigns like he had done so all his life. Rain began to pour down on them, but the group soared on. It became very clear that the escaped prisoner wanted to put a hefty amount of distance between themselves and the town lest someone with more magical ability try to track them down.

It was mid-afternoon when they finally touched back down onto land for rest. Ariana slid off Buckbeak and wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm amidst the rain. Noticing the girl's chill, Sirius lifted his wand to dry her off, but she pursed her lips and stalked back into the tent before he had a chance. The man blinked and bit back a little bit of irritation flickering in the back of his mind. Being ignored was probably Sirius's greatest weakness. He had too much personality and too little patience for it. This sent the older Black immediately after the younger one to see exactly what had caused the sudden change in mood.

He found her drying herself off with a towel in the common area and stopped her before she could retreat to her side of the tent for the remainder of the day.

"Why the cold shoulder all of the sudden, love?" He asked, careful to keep his features neutral. He had learned very quickly that Ariana was sensitive to any sign of anger. The girl didn't answer, seeming to be keen on ignoring him. The wizard sat down on one of the chairs and stared back at her expectantly. "You can't ignore me forever you know. You may as well tell me."

"Foolish." she mumbled, avoiding his eyes. She considered herself rather daring to even say the word aloud, knowing that it would result in at least an hour's beating from Lucius even if she was correct. Or it used to, she reminded herself. Sirius on the other hand was still a mystery to her.

"Come again?"

"It was foolish." She said, the tiniest bit louder as her body tensed. "Showing yourself to those muggles today. You could've been caught."

It was true. There was no doubt about that, but Ariana knew the consequences for voicing such insulting thoughts. She bit her lip tightly as she braced herself for impact.

Only it never came.

"You're right." Sirius replied. The girl froze and stared back in surprise. "I could've been caught, but I wasn't. It served its purpose anyway. The whole point was to be sighted by some muggles far away from Hogwarts so that Harry and the rest of the students could be lifted from their restrictions. It's only fair, since the dementors were only guarding Hogwarts because of me."

She stared at the man with yet another perplexed expression. Sirius Black was a walking bewilderment. There were some occasions where he seemed to be wise beyond his years. Then, there were other times where he was diving head first into danger without the slightest of hesitations, not to mention the fact that his values were nearly the opposite of those she had been surrounded with all her life.

"Why-" she cut herself off out of habit, but the look on the man's face urged her to continue. "Why would you risk so much for Potter though?"

"Harry," Sirius corrected her, his eyes casting her a warning look. "Is my godson. I don't expect you to know many kind things about him, given that you were forced to grow up in Malfoy Manor. But please trust me when I say that he's a good kid.

"Not to mention, he's family. And you risk everything for the people that you care about in this world."

The statement stopped the girl in her tracks. Sirius had yet again spoken such simple, but powerful words and contraindicated everything she had even known with the Malfoys. In the Manor, it was all about watching out for yourself. Even at the bottom of the food chain, Ariana knew to watch her back, mind her mouth and above all else not give Lucius additional reasons to beat her. She couldn't rely on Draco to protect her, not even Dobby. The only person in this world she could ever reliably count on was herself.

So the idea of this man risking everything he had and then some for some boy to feel more comfortable at school? It seemed ridiculous on the surface, though Ariana couldn't shake the feeling of admiration she held for him either. Sirius was both brave and reckless, loyal and impulsive. His very being seemed to exude the idea of act first and think later. Yet out of this rash exterior, Sirius seemed to feel things differently than the other adults she had met. It was as foreign to her as it was curious.

After watching the girl contemplate things in her own mind, Sirius elected to go hunt for their dinner. It would save him the questions that he didn't want or know how to answer.

Transforming back into Padfoot made everything simpler. He didn't have to ponder over what lies the Malfoys had likely told her about Harry Potter. He could forget her every wince and hesitation and the guilt it brought upon him. Most of all, he could pretend she hadn't asked him about her mother yesterday.

No, Sirius could phase all of that out with one transformation into his dog form and focus on the simple aspect of hunting.

The shaggy dog sped through the forrest, allowing his nose to guide him towards the closest pray. It didn't take long for the canine to accomplish his task and the human within the beast almost wished it had lasted longer. Instead, he found himself dragging a pheasant back to the campsite not an hour later. As he released the dead bird from his jaw and dropped it beside the tent, the dog sniffed once. The scent of the girl was still fresh and he let out a sigh of relief. Although it had been several days since her last escape, he was still comforted that she hadn't attempted it again.

The dog transformed back into the man and sat down to rest. It appeared that Ariana had put together a small fire pit in his absence that mirrored the ones he had constructed at their previous camp sites. The older Black felt a small smile tugging at his lips. While the girl certainly didn't speak much, she certainly was observant.

Aiming his wand at the center of the pit, a small fire erupted and the wizard began to work on dressing down the pheasant.

He caught Ariana poking her head out of the tent curiously a little while later. At his nod of approval, she emerged and sat herself down a couple feet from him. It was still a healthy distance, but Sirius supposed he should be grateful that she had come out at all. For what seemed like the hundredth time since their reunion, he reminded himself that it would take time for her to warm up to him after all that she had been through.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence for a while as Sirius began cooking the bird over the fire. Ariana wrapped her arms around her knees and watched him with a mild curiosity. No words were spoken, but neither Black seemed quite as uncomfortable as the first day they had traveled together and for that, Sirius was grateful. Just as he had finished cooking however, he made to grab his wand to put out the fire when it seemed to extinguish on its own.

The wizard blinked in surprise, before directing his attention at his small companion who currently still had her hand outstretched.

"Just how in the name of Merlin do you know how to do that?" He asked.

Ariana shrugged haphazardly and accepted the plate he conjured up. Sirius bit his tongue at the lack of answer. Sensing his annoyance, the girl offered up an answer.

"I had a private tutor growing up." She replied as she nibbled on the pheasant. "To ensure that my magic didn't get out of control."

Sirius pondered this for a moment. He supposed it made sense, given that young witch or wizard who didn't get to express their magic could have disastrous consequences. Lucius Malfoy may have been conniving and cruel, but he definitely wasn't stupid.

"What was your tutor's name?"

"They never told me." Sirius huffed at this answer. Bloody Malfoy. Ariana paused before continuing. "He was very smart, but I don't think he liked me."

"Then he was a fool." This earned the wizard the tiniest of smiles, which he considered a success. "Now you've exhibited several bouts of magic in the small time that we've known each other. Why hasn't that activated the trace? Not that I'm upset the ministry hasn't been barging in every five minutes, but I'm certainly curious."

"I don't know." Ariana answered honestly, "I've been performing magic since I was little. Lucius set me up with the tutor when I was five."

"Hmm," Sirius hummed, leaning back against his hands as he stared up at the sky in thought. "I suppose the trace only works when one is enlisted into school, likely around their eleventh birthday. Since you were presumed dead back in 1981, that would mean the ministry never had the chance to mark you with the trace."

"I was presumed dead?"

Sirius internally cursed himself. Of course Malfoy wouldn't have told her that part. Not that he particularly wanted to explain it either. That would be divulging on a topic that would no doubt lead to Marlene and James and Lily, names he could barely think without hurting much less discuss.

"Please Sirius, I want answers." The girl urged, eyeing him with a look of half desperation half frustration. The dog animagus whipped his head back to face her, gray eyes full of the same emotions but twice the intensity.

"And you're not the only one." He snapped and tried his best to ignore her wince at his change in volume. "Your entire life at Malfoy Manor is a mystery to me! You haven't said one word about how he...about how you've been hurt. Merlin Ariana, you won't even let me look at what he's done to you."

His voice broke on the last bit, his anger finally giving way into anguish. How could he have allowed her to be hurt? And by the likely of Malfoy no less. The very notion felt like a dagger to his heart. How could he live with himself for being such a failure to his own child? And she wouldn't even let him fix it. She couldn't stand for him to so much as look at her injuries that he knew existed from even wince and limp she tried to hide. The inability to do anything was enough to drive the man mad.

Surely Marlene would be cursing his name if she were here, disgusted with his negligence. He certainly was.

"He gets angry sometimes." The sound of her voice pulled the man from his internal struggle. Ariana didn't meet his eyes, instead choosing to keep her gaze on the smoking ashes on the fire pit. "Before you broke in, I think he was talking about you. He was upset that you had escaped. He...he caught me spying and he got angry."

Sirius didn't know what to say. He felt like all the words has escaped his throat. He took a deep breath in, trying to align his thoughts.

"Did he.." The wizard swallowed and forced himself not to vomit at the thought of what he was asking. "Ever take advantage?"

The girl's gray eyes flashed in recognition and she quickly shook her her head, shivering at the thought. The dog animagus wanted to be relieved at that, but couldn't seem to pull himself from the dread of the predicament.

"What's her name?" Ariana asked, steering the topic away from herself. He knew without a second thought that she was referring to her mother. He closed his eyes and took another long breath.

"Her name was Marlene." Was. He hated the past tense. It was a painful reminder that his beautiful kind-hearted wife was no longer by his side.

"Marlene." his daughter repeated, testing her mother's name on her lips. As she returned her gaze to meet his, her gray eyes softened in understanding as they looked into his devastated ones. "That's a very pretty name."

Unable to establish a response, Sirius nodded mutely. They lingered in the silence for a long time. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. The only sound between them was Buckbeak munching on his dinner, oblivious to the sorrow and uncertainty between father and daughter.

"You still have injuries." Sirius mentioned quietly. "From that night. You still wince every now and then when we ride on Buckbeak."

The girl didn't say anything, but slowly began to nod.

"Will you let me heal them?" He received no answer at all, but the look on Ariana's face seemed to tell him all he needed to know. The older Black pursed his lips, but refrained from arguing. Instead, he eyes the browning bruise that peaked out from her oversized shirt on her left shoulder. He knew there were likely more and grimaced at the idea of not being able to help.

"I don't like being touched." She replied after a while, tugging her shirt to conceal the bruise once again. It was an understatement of the century of course, but she did know how else to explain. The thought of telling him that she was reminded of Lucius Malfoy every time a hand was laid on her wasn't an appealing one. Besides, her pain seemed to truly bother Sirius and she didn't want to be any more of a problem than she already had been.

"What if I got you a bruise salve then?" He offered. "You could put it on yourself."

Ariana seemed to ponder this for a moment or two, before nodding. This man certainly was persistent if nothing else. Her approval seemed to put him a bit more at ease.

"Why do you care so much?" She hadn't meant to voice her thoughts, but the question spilled from her lips anyway, much like the question about her mother. Sirius gave her an odd look. She couldn't decide if he appeared insulted or confused. Perhaps both.

"I'm your father." He replied, as if that made all the sense in the world. It didn't really. After all, Ariana barely knew what a father was and if it bared any resemblance to Lucius Malfoy, she wanted no part of it.

But Sirius Black was different in every sense of the word. He was spontaneous and strange. He seemed to like it when she spoke her mind rather than holding her tongue like she had been trained. He was constantly concerned about her wellbeing whereas Lucius was often the cause of her injuries. This man was unpredictable and confusing.

She didn't understand why being his daughter made him care for her so. But perhaps, in time she would.