Finding Answers

Chapter Seven – Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own the franchise that is Harry Potter.

Sirius was positive that he had forgotten how to breathe.

As Tonks led Cassie and Robyn into the house, Sirius suddenly felt insecure about the entire situation. His thoughts that he had confessed to Remus the night before quickly flooded back. He tried to tell himself that had that been the case, Cassie wouldn't have wanted to meet him in the park, and Sirius forced himself to focus on the sight in front of him. He had no idea what to say or do. What was the appropriate way to react to the love of your life after 15 years of separation?

Cassie seemed to be struggling, too. For a few moments, they stared at each other down the hallway. The pair of them seemed to be trying to decide whether they were real or not. Sirius took a step closer to her, and he a feeling that had Robyn not been standing directly behind her mother, Cassie would have back away.

Tonks, who had been awkwardly standing behind the mother-daughter duo, tapped on Robyn's shoulder and beckoned for her to follow. "We'll wait for you two in the kitchen, yeah?" she said. Robyn looked between her mother and Tonks, and after getting a short nod from Cassie, followed the pink-haired witch past Sirius and down to the kitchen. Sirius wanted to reach out and hug the teenager and never let her go, but decided that maybe he should make sure they didn't think he was a mass murderer first.

Tonks' exit prompted Cassie to finally speak up. "Friend of yours?" she asked.

"Cousin, actually," Sirius replied. "That was Nymphadora. Remember watching her for Aunt Andromeda?"

Of course Cassie would remember. After Sirius had ran away from home and before he had been graciously welcomed into James's parents' home, his Aunt Andromeda had been a safe haven for him. After he and Cassie had finished Hogwarts and gotten married, they had watched Tonks when she was younger.

Cassie nodded. "She's grown up," she said.

Sirius chuckled slightly. "Wait until you see Harry." He paused for a moment in and took in a deep breath. "It's been a while, Cassie."

And with that, the levee was broken. The tears that Sirius had seen Cassie fight off when he had approached her as Padfoot had returned, and at the same time, took a step toward each other, meeting in the middle of the hallway. Cassie flung her arms around his neck and Sirius held on tight, trying to keep composure and his own tears at bay.

"I was such a fool," he said muffled into her hair. "I should never have left that night."

Cassie shook her head against his chest, sniffling. "I should have tried to find you sooner. When you escaped, we moved back to London. I should have made contact with somebody. Rose, Andromeda, Remus..." She looked at him wide-eyed. "Remus! Does he know? Have you seen him recently? Is he okay?"

Sirius couldn't help but smile at the concern of her big brother. "Remus is fine, Cassie. Probably upstairs, still asleep. The two of us had a misunderstanding at first, but he saw the truth for himself." At her confused look, he added, "We have a lot of catching up to do."

Cassie scoffed. "Understatement of the century, don't you think?" She gave a small smile and wiped her eyes again. "Have you been here since you escaped?"

"Maybe we should continue this conversation elsewhere," Sirius suggested. "This may take a while."

Cassie nodded, completely forgetting they were still standing in the middle of the hallway. Sirius took her hand and led her to the living room that he, Harry, and the Weasleys had cleared and cleaned last summer. It was still a mess, and needed a good dusting, but for the time being it would suffice for the conversation he and Cassie needed to have. Pointing his wand to the fireplace in front of the moth-eaten couch, it sprang to life as the two sat down.

"Have you been stuck here for almost three years?" Cassie asked again.

Sirius shook his head. "Ever since Harry witnessed Voldemort's return an fd Dumbledore gathered the Order back into formation." Not wanting to talk about the past few months being trapped inside, he changed the topic. "And Robyn? How is she?"

"She's brilliant," Cassie said. "She's more like you than anything." Sirius couldn't help but smile. "Definitely a Marauder through and through. Would have definitely been sorted into Gryffindor had we been in the country for her to attend Hogwarts."

"Where did you go?"

"I discovered a small Wizarding Community in Greece a few months after –" she swallowed the lump in her throat, "after it happened. Stayed there until it was reported that you had broken out. Then I moved back to London. I figured it would be too inconspicuous to return to the Wizarding World, and settled into the Muggle world."

Cassie explain about how they managed to adapt to muggle life when they arrived to London. She had found a job as a receptionist for a small publishing firm and put Robyn into a secondary school. While she did learn magic, it wasn't often that she could practice. Yet when Robyn started to draw too much attention (for either hexing students or other reasons) Cassie would transfer her to another school.

She turned the conversation back to Sirius, asking why he had broken out of Azkaban in the first place. Sirius launched into how he had seen Peter Pettigrew as Wormtail in a picture of the Weasleys as they had traveled to Egypt in-between Harry and Ron's second and third years. How he had snuck past the dementors as Padfoot, and sought to find Harry. Of course, everybody still thought he was a mass murdering traitor, and he explained how Remus hadn't believed him until they had cornered Peter one night in the Shrieking Shack and forced the actual traitor to confess.

When Sirius escaped on Buckbeak the Hippogriff (which Cassie said she would have to hug and thank Harry and Hermione for one day when she met them), he had escaped momentarily to a tropical place until Harry had sent him an owl claiming to have visions of Lord Voldemort's return. Sirius had then returned, hiding in the cave that he and Cassie would occasionally hike to during their time at Hogwarts and the place where Sirius had asked her to a ball so many years ago. It was there that he managed to keep somewhat of an eye on Harry during the Triwizard Tournament.

"They made him compete in that?!" Cassie interrupted at that time. "James and Lily would have been furious!"

"They wouldn't have been the only ones," Sirius said. "I wasn't too happy myself. Especially since it was Barty Crouch who made the executive decision."

At the mention of the prosecutor who had been responsible for Sirius's imprisonment, Cassie scowled as Sirius continued on with his story. "Voldemort gained his body back at the end of Harry's fourth year a few months back. Fudge still refuses to believe Harry – or Dumbledore for that matter. When Dumbledore said that he was getting the Order back together, I felt like it was the only useful thing I could do." Sirius sighed and shrugged. "Little did I know at the time that Dumbledore would try to make as many rules as my dear old mother had tried when I still lived here."

Cassie was still scowling at the mention of Dumbledore setting rules for Sirius. "This past Christmas, Harry witnessed an attack on Arthur Weasley, and spent the holidays here. He had discovered a box of all our old things from school, and Remus and I told him about everything. You, me, Remus, Liz, Rose and that git of a Potions Master at Hogwarts. It prompted me to start looking for you two again. And I wish I had done it sooner." He reached out and took her hands into his. "I've missed so many years of your life, and of Robyn's. I should have listened to you that night James and Lily died. Instead, I let my Gryffindor stupidity and my wanting of revenge take over. I don't expect you to forgive me, but please…I can't lose you two again."

He gripped her hands tightly, afraid that she would pull away at any moment, gather Robyn and once again be out of his life again. He held his breath for what felt like the millionth time that day, just hoping, wishing, pleading with any god that was listening to his silent prayers.

And then she gripped his hand back, and Sirius let out a sigh of relief.

"There were moments over the past fourteen years that I have hated you," she admitted. "There were days that I wish I could have obliviated ever knowing you from my memories. But then there were days that I knew one day I would see you again. I forgave you a long time, Sirius. James and Lily were family, and you wouldn't have been satisfied if you hadn't gone after Peter. I would have done the same thing if I had been Remus. We all wanted to do the exact same thing for Liz, if we had only known who was responsible." She moved a little closer to him, never letting go of his hands. "I can't say that things will be like they used to. It's going to take a lot of time, but as long as you're willing…we're not going anywhere."

It was better than he expected, really. Nodding, he pulled Cassie to him, hugging her tightly. "Merlin, I've missed you so much," he said.

She held on as tight. "I've missed you," she replied. Wiping her eyes, she stood up. "Ready to go meet your daughter again?"

Sirius looked at her apprehensively. "How does she feel about all this?" he asked. "What if she resents me for everything?"

"Oh honestly, Sirius do you think I raised our daughter to think you were a cold-blooded killer?" Cassie asked with an amused tone. "She understands. She was nervous, you know. When you sent Tonks out to us. She was afraid of the same thing."

Sirius looked at her surprised. "Guess you weren't lying when you said she was more like me than anything."

"Just give her time," Cassie encouraged, holding out her hand. Sirius took it and stood up. As they approached the door, she turned around to him. "I never stopped, you know."

He pulled away from her slightly. "Stopped what?"

Cassie smiled. "Loving you."

That was all it took. Sirius pulled Cassie to her, and kissed her passionately, trying to put in 14 years of longing, remorse, and love into the kiss. They stayed embraced for he didn't know how long, and he didn't care. When they did break apart, both were breathing heavily, their cheeks flushed and eyes glassy. Sirius cracked a grin, feeling like he was in Hogwarts again for the first time in years.

Lacing his fingers between Cassie's, he led the way to the basement. He stopped outside the door, and look back at Cassie, who gave him an encouraging smile and a small squeeze and he opened the door.

Tonks and Robyn were sitting at the kitchen table, both laughing at whatever story Tonks had just finished telling. At the arrival of the two adults, they both stood up, and approached the two.

Stopping in front of Sirius and Cassie, Tonks hugged Robyn tight. "It's so nice to see you again," she said. "And so grown up. I'm sure we'll see each other soon." Robyn nodded and Tonks gave Cassie a quick hug as well before announcing she had Ministry business to attend to and would be back later. As the kitchen door shut, Robyn and Sirius continued to stare at each other, not sure on what to do.

Finally, Sirius spoke up. "Well, Remus had been right when you were born," he said. "You do favor your mother. If I didn't know better, I would think you were a younger version of your mother."

Robyn gave a small smile, and stepped a little closer. "Mum says I'm more like you, though. Perfect Gryffindor material, according to her."

Sirius couldn't help but grin and glanced at Cassie. "Told you she would have been a Gryffindor."

Cassie shook her head. "Hasn't that poor House been through enough?"

"Hey!" Both Robyn and Sirius objected. Realizing they had spoken at the same time, they both started to laugh, and Cassie eventually joined in. Not wanting to be apart from his family, he knew he had to leave them temporarily, just to get Remus. Sirius didn't believe he didn't get him sooner, but at the same time, he wanted to be selfish and have them to himself.

"There's somebody who I know will want to see you," Sirius said. "Just wait here, alright?"

The two women nodded, and Cassie left Sirius's side and went to Robyn. Sirius opened the kitchen door and bounded back up the stairs, not stopping until he was outside Remus's bedroom. Suddenly feeling impatient, he rapped onto the door.

Remus flung it open, glaring at his best friend. "You know, a nice, calm knock would have sufficed," he said.

"Not for this moment." Sirius couldn't help but grin. "You need to come downstairs, Moony."

It didn't take Remus long to put two and two together. He followed Sirius back down the stairs and into the kitchen, stopping dead at the sight of his sister.

"Cassie," he breathed.

She looked at her brother, taking in his appearance, and the weariness on his expression. Sirius knew she was most likely thinking about the hell that her brother had gone through over the past few years. Even though she was the youngest sibling, sometimes she acted like the oldest. Like with Sirius, her eyes welled up with tears and she flung her arms around Remus's neck. Sirius remembered Remus telling him about the last time the siblings had seen each other and the row they had had.

None of that seemed to matter at the moment, however. Both were clinging to each other, both trying to apologize for various reasons before it turned into Cassie lightly scolding her brother. As the siblings talked, Sirius moved over to Robyn, who was watching her mother and uncle reunite.

"This has to be the most I've ever seen Mum cry," Robyn admitted. "She never shows this much emotion."

"Your mum was like that in Hogwarts," Sirius replied. "Remus too. It's odd, but it also shows the strength they have as well."

Robyn nodded and watched Cassie and Remus continue to talk. Cassie was still lecturing Remus for the condition he was in. "She's also pretty good at that, too."

"What, lecturing?" Sirius asked, somewhat amused.

His daughter nodded. "Like the other day, she lectured me for hexing this bully at school…which I probably shouldn't have risked using magic. But it was worth seeing the git having to hop from class to class because it seemed like his trousers were superglued together." She shrugged. "It seemed justified to me."

Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "We'll make a Marauder out of you yet," he chortled.

Finally, things were starting to look up.

I AM A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING I AM SO SORRY. Being an adult is hard, guys. My work is preparing for the Super Bowl and running us dead with overtime hours. I know that doesn't make up for the previous months, but like I said in the previous update, having a job is not really kind to writing time. It actually took me getting a snow day to actually have time to write this chapter. It's my goal for 2016 to finish up this story and start another one!

So Sirius and Remus have been reunited with Cassie and Robyn. It may feel a little awkward, but hey if it had been 14 years since you saw the love of your life and your kid, I daresay it would be awkward. I don't want them to jump right into being lovey-dovey toward each other, especially Robyn. Expect her to be a little apprehensive and channeling Harry's angsty teenager self before she truly accepts Sirius into her life.

Thank you to those who have favorited, reviewed, and followed this story! I will look to those for motivation to get the next chapter out as soon as I can! (All I really need is more snow days!)