There was an odd feeling in the air the next day during breakfast, her parents seemed fine except for the fact that they wouldn't speak to each other. Her brother had greeted her a good morning but then refused to offer anything else to talk about, which was weird for him. Jade ate her food and excused herself to the study where she read the book Rodrick had given her for Christmas but her mind kept floating off to think about last night. She knew her behavior wasn't… ideal, but she was irritated beyond belief and no one thought to think about where she was coming from. Apparently, Rodrick had filled Maeve in about everyone and Jade found that annoying, instead of Maeve asking Jade about herself she had already assumed she knew her. There was much her family didn't know about her, Jade got the feeling that if it didn't affect their family's image, it didn't matter to them. A knock on the door brought her attention away from her thoughts and she peered over the top of her book. It was her mother.
"Hello, dear." Her mother smiled but she waited at the door,
"Hi." Jade looked back at her book and then a thought came to the front of her mind and she looked back at her mother, "Mum?"
"Yes?"
"What do you know about Sirius Black?" She hesitated before saying the name and her mother's smile faltered and she looked down the hall before coming into the room and shutting the door.
"Has something else happened?" She asked quietly as she made her way over to her daughter.
"No." Jade moved her feet so her mother could sit down next to her. "It's just… you seem to feel differently about him than everyone else."
"Well, Sirius Black is a known criminal-"
"Yes, I know that bit. What did he do? Why is he after Harry?" Her mother waited for a second, staring out the large window where the sun shined through.
"You mustn't tell your father I've told you. He believes what everyone else does."
"I promise." Jade agreed.
"People believed that Sirius Black was a follower of Lord… Voldemort." Jade was taken aback.
"You speak his name?" She asked and her mother quickly held up her hands and shushed her quietly.
"Most people believe he was a follower of him. But I don't think that's true at all. Sirius Black and I were very close friends in school. I have found myself questioning how well I know him over the years but I always reassure myself that I still know him better than most, besides his other closest friends, he didn't talk much to anyone."
"Who else was he friends with?" Jade asked,
"He was inseparable from Remus Lupin and James Potter-"
"Harry's father?" Jade gasped and her mother nodded.
"There was also Peter Pettigrew… he followed them around so often that they inevitably let him into their little circle. You'd have thought James and Sirius were brothers! They were rarely without each other."
"So, you knew Harry's father?"
"And his mother. I don't consider myself to be as close with them but I was let in on a secret or two." Her mother looked off again with a small smile, recalling a memory. "How is Professor Lupin doing?" Her mother asked.
"Oh, he's wonderful!" Jade smiled, "He's teaching us so much! His class is always fun."
"I don't doubt that. Anyway, James and Sirius remained close even after school, Sirius became the best man at James and Lily's wedding and then he became Harry's godfather once he was born."
"Sirius Black is Harry's godfather?" Jade gasped again and her mother gave her a look. "I'm sorry!"
"Does Harry know?" She asked and Jade thought back to the conversation they had previously in Potions class.
"No, I don't think he has any idea who Sirius Black is." Her mother didn't seem to like that answer.
"Well, the Dark Lord was after Harry's parents and Dumbledore had the idea to use the Fidelius Charm to keep them safe."
"What's that?"
"It's a very… complex spell. "Basically, it's a concealment of a secret inside a single living soul. The secret is hidden inside this chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, which makes it impossible to find unless the Secret Keeper themself chooses to tell it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, he could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them.
"So Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper?" Jade asked.
"No." Her mother said. "I don't know how they came to the decision but they used Peter Pettigrew instead. From this moment on, I don't know what happened but what I do know, is that a week after they cast the charm, James and Lily were dead."
"Peter Pettigrew gave them up?"
"I'm not sure, love. Sirius wrote to me two days later, he was absolutely ripped apart by it. Next thing I know…" Her mother paused and looked over her daughter.
"What?"
"Sirius… seemed to have snapped. Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad cornered him on a busy street, Peter Pettigrew was there too. The next thing that happened, there was a large explosion. A giant crater in the middle of the street, wizards and muggles dead. Peter Pettigrew obliterated… nothing left of him but his finger and some bloodied robes. They say Sirius was standing there… laughing… until others came and took him away to Azkaban." Jade had learned so much just now and was taking a few moments for it to soak in.
"But, why would Black do that?"
"No one knows. But it doesn't seem like something he would do. Not in the slightest."
"You said people thought he was with You-Know-Who. Maybe he knew it was the end and he took out as many people as he could."
"No." Her mother said quickly, dismissing the idea. "No, there has to be a reason."
"You said you and Black were close?" Jade changed the subject. "How close? How did you become friends?" This brought a smile to her mother's face.
"Well, Sirius and I had always known of each other but in our third year is where we grew as friends. After that, we dated through our fourth and fifth year but it didn't work out, we decided just being friends was better for us." Jade's eyes widened. Her mother had dated Sirius Black, Jade believed she knew them better than she was letting on.
"How did you meet father then?"
"Oh, your father and I were close since the moment we arrived at Hogwarts. I sat with him on the train. He had a crush on me for the longest time and when Sirius and I started dating, your father kept his distance for a while… but ultimately came back around, told me how he felt, and we've been together ever since." Jade knew her father didn't like Sirius Black but she just thought it was because of what he had done but now she knew there was another layer to it, and why her father had been so adamant on Black being a bad person.
"Why did the two of you break up? May I ask?" Jade's mother had never told her much about her past. Just little things like, oh I used to love quidditch games, or Transfiguration was my favorite class, never anything deeper like this.
"Sirius was always off with his friends, I told him I wanted to spend more time with him but he only made some effort to fit me into his schedule. I was unhappy towards the end of our relationship and your father had come to me, told me he had loved me for a long time and that he would want nothing more than to give me all I wanted in life… it was just what a young girl wanted to hear but that wasn't why I chose him. The time I spent with your father versus the time I spent with Sirius… there was a significant difference in the way they made me feel. Sirius and I were better as friends and your father and I were just…" Her mother trailed off but Jade didn't push for the end of the story. She smiled at her mother. Her mother then rose from her seat. "Excuse me, Jade. I've got to go speak with-"
"Please, go," Jade told her and her mother kissed her forehead before leaving the study.
