CHAPTER 8

This big black dog came charging for them and didn't show any signs of slowing down as he got closer to them.

"Ron, Harry duck" Riley yelled as pulled out her wand. The dog jumped over the two boys, past Riley and kept on running. "Incarcerous" she yelled, pointing her wand at the dog, which fell to the ground with a thud, bound by ropes.

"What are you doing Riley?" Harry asked, breathlessly.

"This isn't an ordinary dog" She said and then right before their eyes, he turned into a man, wearing black and white striped robes, his shoulder length hair all gross and matted and his eyes, sunken and shallow.

"Well it's good to see my daughter can perform some simple spells" Sirius said from the ground.

"How about we try some not so simple spells then, Dad has taught me a few" Riley said, never taking her eyes or wand off him.

"Your dad?" Sirius asked "And who might that be?" he added.

"Remus Lupin" Riley replied, with a lot of pride in her voice.

"Ah well that's nice of good ole moony to tell you you're his daughter" Sirius said as he struggled against the ropes.

"I've known all about you actually and Remus is more my dad then you have ever been, at least he's been around" She yelled.
"You don't understand Riley, it's not what you think it is, none of it is" Sirius said, pleading with her.

"Maybe we should get some help" Ron said.

"You guys can, I want to have this out with him," Riley replied.

"Well least you have my stupidity and guts" Sirius said.

"Why'd you do it?" Riley asked "my mum, Harry's parents" she added.

"I didn't do it, it was that rat" Sirius said.

"What rat?" Harry asked, stepping closer to Sirius and Riley.

"Peter Pettigrew, he can turn into a rat" Sirius began saying but stopped, when someone else appeared behind them.

"Riley, step away please" Remus said.

"Dad, what are you doing down here?" Riley asked.

"Step away from him Riley" Remus repeated but Riley didn't move an inch. "Riley Maddox Lupin, do it now" he said, his voice raising.

"Alright fine" Riley said, finally giving in and walking away.

"Well Sirius, you were caught by a 13 year old witch" Remus said, taunting Sirius.

"Well she is my daughter after all" Sirius replied and with a flick of Remus' wand, the ropes tore and he was free.

"Dad what are you doing?" Riley yelled, as she and Harry ran forward.

"I saw Peter on the map Riley, it's all true" Remus said as he reached out his hand to Sirius and helped him up off the ground and pulled him into a hug, Sirius didn't hesitate, instead he returned the hug just as fiercely. Riley took a few steps back, her wand still pointing directly as Sirius.

"I, what…" was all she could muster to say.

"Sirius is innocent, however there are a few things that he will need to explain" Remus said as he let go of Sirius and turned to face her.

"Well you will forgive me Sirius" Riley said, punctuating the word Sirius "If I don't lower my wand" she went on.

"Well my dear daughter, do as you wish" Sirius replied.

"I think we should go get Dumbledore" Ron said, startling Sirius, Remus and Riley, they had almost forgotten that they were there.

"You guys may go up but if Sirius takes one step, I shall hex him back to last week" Riley told them.

"She's a feisty one" Sirius said turning to Remus.

"She takes after you in that aspect" Remus replied.

"I am nothing like him and why are you so calm dad, how can you just believe him?" Riley yelled.

"Just calm down Riley, let's start from the beginning" Remus said and Sirius sighed, he didn't think he'd be having to explain this to them and he wanted to get it all right.

"When Lily and James went into hiding, they made me their secret keeper but I thought there was a spy" Sirius said, looking to Remus "Sorry mate" he added.

"Water under the bridge" Remus replied.

"Well I decided that maybe we should make Peter the secret keeper, I mean who would ever believe someone would make him the keeper of the Potter's lives" Sirius went on. "But the night I went to check on Peter, he was gone. No sign of a struggle, nothing and then when I reached your place Harry, where Julie and Riley were as well, and the house, the bodies, it was awful" Sirius said, his voice shaking at the thought of that night and Riley had a pang of sympathy for him. "There you were, the both of you, just lying there, not even crying so I picked you both up and took you outside" Sirius went on "I gave you both to Hagrid and he took you both to Dumbledore and I went after Peter, never to see either of you again" Sirius finished.

"You should've gone with Hagrid, stayed with Riley, none of this would have happened" Remus told him.

"If I hadn't tried, what friend would I have been?" Sirius asked.

"You would have been able to raise the both of us" Harry yelled. "Instead Riley was in an orphanage and I had to go to my aunt and uncles" he went on.

"I haven't stopped thinking about either of you, all three of you" Sirius said.

"How do we know this is all real?" Ron asked.

"Riley has seen Peter and so have I, well on the map I've seen him, but that was who stunned her that night" Remus told them.

"He stunned you?" Sirius asked.

"Why did you leave?" Riley asked, shocking them all. "Was revenge was better than making sure your daughter and your godson was alright?" she went on.

"But you guys have grown up alright, I mean Moony here took care of you Riley" Sirius said.

"I know and I am forever grateful to him" Riley said smiling at Remus "he had to fight for four years to get me and he has had to put up with threat after threat and I wouldn't want to leave him, but we all could've been a family" Riley went on.

"We can argue about all of this, but later because I think Dementors are coming" Harry said, as he looked at their breaths and saw the them coming over the trees.

"They are after Sirius" Remus said "We need to go" he added.
"We can't go to the castle, we have no proof of anything" Ron said.

"Sirius you need to leave now, they will kiss you as soon as they get here, now go" Remus yelled but Sirius turned to look at Riley.

"I will let them take my soul if you don't believe me" Sirius said to Riley.

"You need to go" was all Riley could say, and with that Sirius took off, in his dog form and disappeared from site. The Dementors swarmed around them sucking the happiness and trying to suck their souls away from them.

"Expecto Patronum" Riley, Remus and Harry called, but nothing came, they couldn't do it.

"You need to think of something happy, try again" Remus called, Ron had already passed out, but the Dementors were getting closer to them.

"Expecto Patronum" They called again and this time, three patronus's came charging out, knocking the Dementors away.

"Riley, Harry are you guys alright?" Remus asked.

"We're fine, go check on Ron" Riley said, as she lay on the ground next to Harry.

"We better go alert Dumbledore" Harry asked but they didn't need to go far, Dumbledore was heading towards them, with the Minister for Magic, along with some ministry officials.

"What happened here?" Minister Fudge asked as he got closer.

"I think the questions can be answered when they have been seen to by Madam Pomfrey" Dumbledore told him. He conjured a stretcher for Ron, while Remus helped Riley and Harry up. They got to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey came running out.

"What have these two been up to now?" She asked, seeing Riley and Harry.

"It was Dementors, they attacked the children and Remus" Dumbledore told them.

"And what were they doing down there?" Fudge asked.

"Let them rest Minister, you can ask them questions later" Madam Pomfrey said and she ushered the Minister, Dumbledore and ministry officials out of the wing.

"Now just eat this all up the three of you, then you can answer their questions" She told them, handing them all some chocolate.

"Riley" Remus asked when Madam Pomfrey left the room.

"Mmm?" she mumbled.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked.

"Just dandy" Riley replied, she didn't want to talk to about it just now.

"Talk later?" Remus said.

"That would be lovely" Riley replied, as Madam Pomfrey came back in, followed by Dumbledore and the Minister.

"So who cares to explain what happened?" Fudge asked.

"Harry, Ron and I went to see Hagrid for a little bit, we had some free time and we hadn't seen him in ages. We got side tracked by some noises, and then Remus turned up" Riley said "then the Dementors turned up and that's that" she said, finishing.

"I guess the Dementors will need to be taken back to Azkaban, they have just attacked three students and a teacher" Dumbledore said.

"Yes, very well" Minister Fudge said and he left the room. Dumbledore stood there, smiling at them with that knowing smile of his.

"Yes Sir there is much more to it" Remus said from his bed.

"Rest now, the lot of you. We'll discuss it later" Dumbledore said, then closed the doors.