Hi, I'm back, still determined to keep this story going...

This is the 2nd part to 'Questions', though technically chapt 6.

I hope you like it.

rockstar-101: Thanks for your encouragement. To answer your q's, Harry and Draco are both nine and Kali is 15, making her six years older (she was born in '74, they were born in '80 - I believe).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except my imagination.

Chapter 6: …& Answers

Remus let the words sink in; aware that he was now closer to the answers he had been seeking for the past few months. He struggled with the conflicting emotions he had entertained for days. After a moment, he asked the first question that popped into his head.

"How long have you known?"

"Soon after James and Lily had their son, Dahlia came to me, confused and frightened, and confided the truth."

"Why? Was she in danger?" he asked in a rush.

"Dahlia's mother was a vital part of the Death Eaters, though she wasn't one herself."

"But she helped them?"

"She was their Healer."

Remus stared at Dumbledore incredulously.

"And Dahlia?"

"She found out that her daughter was being exposed to dangerous wizards and became afraid of what might happen to her if she left her in her mother's care any longer."

"Was Sirius one of them?" he asked after a short silence.

"I honestly don't know," he frowned. "Dahlia never mentioned him except to tell me he was the girl's father, then she compelled me to keep her secret."

"Compelled?"

With a curse," he explained.

Remus was aware of the many charms and curses that could be used, and wondered briefly which she had chosen.

"So he doesn't know about her," he said more to himself than to the man sitting in front of him. A puzzling thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Why did she come back to Britain after the war?"

Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment, then a look of comprehension came across his face.

"You've been talking to Cyrus McShane," he said. To Remus, it sounded like an accusation.

"He seems to know a lot about them, and no one else was giving me answers," he said defensively.

"Cyrus is an old fool who enjoys spreading gossip and rumours," Dumbledore responded with a wry smile, "but restraint is something that eludes him."

Remus felt his cheeks redden, but the need to know far outweighed his embarrassment.

"So what is the whole truth?" he asked, still more impatiently.

Dumbledore leaned back, placing his hands on his lap, his fingers pressed against each other in a familiar gesture; a gesture that signaled to Remus that the explanation he sought was coming.

"I feel I need to start at the beginning," he said, "or at some point that may be considered a beginning."

Remus smiled at the logic, despite the warring emotions within him. He nodded as if to go on.

"Celestia, as you may or may not know, was born in a wizard village in the deepest jungles of Belize. It is much like Hogsmeade, as only wizards –purebloods – inhabit it, but there are differences. For one, this village has a history of dark and ancient magic, though the people do not distinguish between what we consider light and dark. For another, foreigners and their ways are unwelcome. The village is cloaked and unplottable, and has, as far as I know, never been seen by outsiders.

Celestia, for reasons only known to her, left home as a young woman, knowing she would never be allowed back. She traveled the world, creating a reputation for herself as a gifted Healer and eventually settled in London. She was beautiful, powerful and mysterious, which garnered her a lot of attention, but being naïve about the ways of the world, she quickly fell in with unsavoury characters and soon after arriving on these shores, she found herself pregnant and alone. In a few short years she went from being admired to being shunned by society.

This is when Voldemort befriended her. He saw her potential as an ally; perhaps he was taken with her beauty, though surely he was attracted to the power she possessed.

He helped her and in return he gained her loyalty."

"But she wasn't a Death Eater?" Remus interrupted.

"Does she bear the Dark Mark? I don't believe she does, but she is forever connected to Voldemort in a rather, uh, unique way."

Remus gave the headmaster a quizzical look and then a frightening thought occurred to him.

"Is he,… is she…?" He stuttered, unable to put the thought into words.

"No," Dumbledore responded quickly, "he is not Dahlia's father."

Remus breathed a sigh of relief but looked at the headmaster questioningly once more.

"I'm afraid that part of the story is for another time," Dumbledore responded firmly, effectively closing the subject of Dahlia's paternity. He continued.

"When Dahlia started at Hogwarts, she was very much a Slytherin – pure-blood and proud of it. But as time went on, I believe she began to question what she'd been taught, and then in the summer before her fifth year, she got to know a boy, who, like her, found his family's prejudices disdainful."

Remus scoffed at this.

"Make no mistake, Remus," Dumbledore responded, "Sirius did question what he'd been taught at the time."

"But in the end he decided they were right," he said bitterly.

"It seems so," the old wizard answered in a sad tone.

This sat in silence, each man immersed in thought. The fire crackled softly, its long flames beginning to die away.

"I suspected, you know, back then, when we were in school," Remus said, feeling the need to confess.

"Dahlia told me Sirius confronted her but she lied to him. She made him believe her."

Remus hadn't known about this, and wondered how much Sirius had really kept from his friends back then.

His thoughts turned towards his student.

"Does Kali know who her father is?"

"I believe she does, though I can't be sure. You see, Celestia has never allowed me much contact."

"Why not?" he asked, though he thought he knew the answer.

"Well," he answered patiently, "there is the obvious." His eyes sparkled with mischief. "But," he continued, "there are also things not many people know about."

He paused, as if searching once more for the right words. Remus was hanging on every word, the need to know more eating away at him.

"I mentioned Celestia's magical prowess and how it surely attracted Voldemort. What I failed to mention, omitted, in fact, is the kind of power she possesses. I did not do this as a means of keeping things from you, it's just," he sighed audibly, "it is not something I can put into words. You see, Celestia and, to a lesser degree, Dahlia, both possessed an inherent magic, not learned, but ingrained. Celestia possesses it still; her daughter, though still pureblood, was not as naturally gifted."

Remus tried to understand what Dumbledore was telling him. Still confused, he asked, "What about Kali?"

"Ah, Kali," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "She is," he paused, "like nothing – no one – I've ever seen."

When Remus looked at Dumbledore in confusion once more, he asked, "Have you never seen it?"

He thought back to the last four months and suddenly realized something significant.

"She is one of the few students who rarely uses magic. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her use it."

"She's learned to hide it well, but you see, she is, in fact, much more powerful than her mother or grandmother ever were. No doubt, it's the combination of her ancestry – the del Fuegos and the Blacks – two of the oldest pureblood families I've ever encountered."

"What are you saying?" Remus asked rudely, showing his frustration once more.

"I am saying, Remus, that Kali possesses powers the likes of which none of us has ever seen and, more importantly, would never understand. The magic she possesses is such a part of her, an extension of her, that she has no need for a wand or words. She is not the most powerful witch I've known, but she is powerful in a way that would be perceived as dangerous if known."

Remus still struggled to understand. What Dumbledore was telling him now was difficult to wrap his head around. After a moment, he spoke.

"So that's why Dahlia ran away? To prevent Death Eaters from finding out?"

"She was afraid they would try to use her somehow. She was afraid of Celestia."

He knew there were more answers to be had and knew instinctively he would not be getting them tonight. Instead, he turned to another burning question.

"Did you help her get into Beauxbatons?" Remus considered the source, but still had to ask.

"Yes. I promised Dahlia nine years ago that I would protect her daughter and I have tried my best to keep that promise." Dumbledore sounded weary as he said this.

Something in Dumbledore's countenance compelled Remus to ask the question that plagued him.

"Do you think she has a chance?"

Dumbledore looked at him intently, as if searching for the right answer.

"You have taught her, spoken to her, no doubt seen her talents; perhaps you are better suited to answer that question."

It was not the response he had expected. Everything he'd just been told was pushed to the back of his mind as shock turned slowly to a jumble of emotions, which had been simmering like a potion in a cauldron, and finally boiled up to the surface.

"I knew Sirius for a decade," he said, his voice filled with anger, "I spoke to him almost every day for seven years, lived with him, and confided in him as he confided in me. Yet never in a million years would I have thought him capable of doing what he did. Even when he almost had me kill Severus, I was blinded by friendship."

His voice had risen steadily, though he managed to keep his hostility reigned.

"I considered him a brother, just as I considered my two other mates. I would no more have believed Peter capable of such deceit, or James. But I was wrong, and my friends lost their lives because of it -- because of HIM!"

Remus hung his head, feeling every emotion drain out of him, and sobbed into his hands.

"I am no judge of character," he said, fighting tears.

In that moment he realized why he had felt compelled to confront Dumbledore.

It wasn't that he needed to know for certain that Kali was a Black. He knew the moment he looked into her eyes, the first time he met her, she was Sirius' daughter.

He lifted his head, tearing his hands away from his face. The gaze that met him was comforting, soothing.

"I need you to tell me," he said desperately. Despite the resentment, bitterness and even hatred he had carried for Dumbledore all these years, there was still a large part of him that loved the man like a father and looked up to him, respected him, like he had no one else.

Dumbledore stood and closed the distance between them. He placed a hand upon Remus' shoulder and bent down agilely in front of him.

"My dear boy," he said, using the old and familiar phrase, "I cannot tell you what you want to hear. I cannot promise you that this girl, who you have obviously started to care for, will be different. I can only remind you that she is not Sirius, no matter how much she resembles him. She is not a bad person. She is a young woman who has been isolated most of her life, compelled to lie about who she is, shamed into silence. She lost the only parent she knew too early in life and never knew the other except as a murderer."

Remus looked up at his old headmaster and mentor for the first time.

"I can see you are struggling with who you were and who you've become; that this girl has awakened that in you.

I can only say that this is a good thing, Remus.

You have cut yourself off from others for too long. You've not allowed yourself to feel anything close to friendship for anyone in a very long time.

I don't think James, Lily or Peter would have wanted that for you. In fact, I am sure, if they were in your place, that they would have embraced this young woman, despite her father's actions, because he was once a part of their lives, and what he did, no matter how deplorable, doesn't erase all the good memories, because they were genuine. They were real."

The tears he had been fighting back escaped, and before he was aware of it, they were streaming freely down his cheeks. He knew Dumbledore was right. He couldn't dismiss those seven years, because they had been the best years of his life, and Sirius was part of the reason why. The anger he felt towards the man in Azkabahn, though genuine and deep-rooted, was for the man he had chosen to be, not the boy he had been. That boy, the one who didn't run when he learned Remus' secret, the one who worked tirelessly for years to become an animagus just so Remus wouldn't have to be alone during the full moon; that boy – Sirius, Padfoot – that was the one he longed to remember.

Remus left Hogwarts later that night and went back to his rented room at the Inn, feeling as if a weight had been taken from his shoulders.

There was a sense of hope within him for the first time since holding baby Harry in his arms nine years ago. Back then, seeing the tiny life that his friends had created made him feel that there was something worth fighting for, even as the war raged around them and those they knew were dying, and though Kali was far form being an innocent child, she was still not fully formed. She still had a chance.

For the first time in many years, even though he would still be alone, Remus looked forward to Christmas Day.

I tried to fill insome blanks concerning the mother - grandmother dynamic, though there will be more to come...

Coming Soon: a lonely Christmas (or maybe not!), a new start and secrets revealed (oh my!)

Reviews, constructive criticism and suggestions welcome!