Chapter 6
Harley hadn't spoken the entire trip, not the train ride from Hogwarts, nor the trip to the dock, not even the boat ride over. Fred didn't push the matter though, he just looked on in quiet concern. The water seemed to get rougher as they neared the Island. If this weren't enough to frighten Fred, the sky itself had grown dark, though it was no later than noon. The boat neared a misty little port, then stopped. Fred got out first, then offered his hand to Harley, who refused it, but instead pulled her cloak more tightly around her. Again, Fred said nothing, following Harley up the dock. As they reached the gates, the mist cleared to reveal an enormous castle, reaching so high and far across that at this distance they could see nothing else, and to turn back brought only fog.
Harley silently approached the gates and knocked. Each knock resounded, rattling in Fred's chest. A few moments passed, then a slit in the large black gate opened to reveal a face. "State your name and business!"
"Harlequinn Edwards, I am the daughter of William Green. I received a letter from him and Warden Reinhold asking me to come."
"Right, than ooz 'e?"
Fred thought back to all the times his mother had taught him about manners and wished some of it had taken. "Frederick Weasley, I'm Miss Edwards' escort."
"Oh yeah? Just a minute, lemme check."
After a few minutes of hushed voices, the guard returned and opened the gate. He stood no taller than 5'3" with a squinted face and dingy clothes. Surely, he was only a guard, not an Auror.
"The Warden says ee's expectin' ya, as for you Mr. Weasley, 'e says 'e knows your father and it's fine for ya to join 'er." The two of them stepped inside the gates, flinching as fifty feet of black iron slammed behind them. There was no turning back now. "Walk straight up this path until you reach the door. Someone'll be waitin' for ya there."
"Thank you," muttered Harley in almost a whisper.
They walked up a cobblestone path to set up big oak doors where a well dressed gentleman waited. "Miss Edwards, I presume?"
"Aye..."
"And that must mean that this is Mr. Weasley. I know your father. Good man. You look just like him."
"Thank you, Sir. I'll tell him you said so."
"I'm Warden Reginald Reinhold, Keeper of this...fine establishment. Now, if you'll follow me."
The pair followed the Warden up a countless number of stairs, and through an endless stream of corridors until they were both so confused that neither would be able to find their way out unassisted. The Warden pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket, on it were some runes. "Lets see, William Green. Ah yes, just down this hall." They took a sharp turn to see a door marked W. L. Green. At this, Harley grabbed Fred's hand and squeezed tightly. They walked slowly toward the door, passing an open cell full of Auror's. Harley leaned to the other side of the hall.
"Don't mind that," said the Warden, "that was Sirius Black's cell. They're just trying to figure out how he did it."
"You mean you still don't know," asked Fred.
"No idea, but I'd appreciate it if you kept that between us. Well, here we are. I'll go in first, Miss Edwards, to see if he's awake."
Harley nodded in agreement and the Warden disappeared through the door as she turned to Fred. "I don't know if I can do this."
"What do you mean?"
"I've spent seventeen years telling my self that my father was some one-night-stand that never knew about me, and now here I am standing outside the cell of a Death Eater waiting to meet the man who's been dying to meet me all these years. I just don't think I can handle it. This changes everything I am."
"This changes nothing. You are and will always be Harlequinn Edwards, the smartest, kindest, prettiest person I know. Who or what your father is doesn't change that."
Harley didn't say anything, she just hugged him. Fred always knew just when to be lovingly serious.
She let go though as the door opened. "He's ready Miss Edwards."
"Do you want me to come it with you?" asked Fred.
"No, I'll be fine. I think I need to do this alone."
"Okay."
Fred stepped back and watched in fear as his girlfriend walked into the cell of a Death Eater.
- - -
The room was dark, with the exception of a small ray of sunlight sneaking through the barred window. There was nothing there but a tattered cot and one wooden chair, probably put their especially for her visit. In front of her stood a tall, lanky man who reminded Harley a great deal of Professor Lupin. He stepped forward into the light, "Harlequinn."
"Mr. Green."
"Please, call me Billy." They stared at each other for a few awkward moments. "You have my eyes. Lynn never told me that."
"Seems she neglected to tell us both a lot of things."
"And my hair. I wish she would have sent me a picture."
"I wish she would have given me a straight answer every time I asked who my Dad was...is."
"You have to understand, your mother was only protecting you."
"I don't need her protection, and I don't need you to try and cover up the fact that she lied for seventeen years."
"Well, like I said, that's a matter for you and Lynn to deal with."
"She can deal with it, I've said my piece." Harley was very angry, just looking at him made her blood boil. She looked just like him, broad shoulders and all. The soon-coming full moon revealed his gold eyes, and even his graying hair was still dotted with reddish brown. Everything she liked about herself was now attributed to him.
"Please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chair.
"Thank you, Mr. Green."
"As I said, please call me Billy." She'd heard him the first time, she was just doing it for spite. "So your mother tells me you're at Hogwarts, year Seven, if I remember correctly? How's that going..."
"Well, since you ask, I'm a beater for the Hufflepuff house team, a Prefect, and I'm studying for my N.E.W.T's to become an Auror."
"An Auror, eh? I'd have to say I never expected my daughter to become one of those."
"Well, I guess this time the apple ran as far from the tree as she could get."
"I just meant, that you've turned out much better than I could have hoped."
This brought another one of those awkward silences. Harley sat with her ankles crossed, hands folded in her lap, wishing she would have asked Fred to come in. She now wanted Mr. Green to see the kind of Wizard she'd found, spent time with, wanted to marry. Not that she and Fred were going to get married, mind you, but he wouldn't be a bad choice.
"So, what'd you do?"
"You don't want to know."
"Actually, I do. I want to know exactly what I'm dealing with here."
"Lets just say I'm known as the Sirius Black of Australia," and he left it at that.
Harley didn't seek anymore information about his dirty deeds. "So why exactly did you want to see me, I'd think a Death Eater would cringe at the thought of a Hufflepuff for a child. Don't you have some little legitimate Slytherins running around that you could be more proud of?"
"No, as a matter of fact, I was never married and you're the only child I ever had a hand in making. I'm quite proud that you're not a Slytherin. I was a Slytherin and look where it got me. I'm ashamed of the bad that I've done and I wish I could take it back, but I can't. All I can do now is take what's coming to me and leave you knowing that I love you."
"You love me? What do you know of love? What do you know of me for that matter? You can't expect five minutes of conversation to make up for seventeen years of nonexistence. No, you don't love me. You love the idea that you've done something right for once in your life. You love the fact that your evil wasn't spread through heredity and that maybe you'll be remembered for something other than murder. Well, I can tell you one thing for sure, Mr. Green, you won't be remembered for bringing me into this world. After today, you are nothing to me but some anonymous Death Eater who died for his crimes. No, the only man that's ever loved me is standing outside that door waiting to escort me home."
"So you have a fellow," he asked, desperate to change the topic.
"Yes, and he's exactly the opposite of everything you stand for. He's sweet, and kind, and brave, and loyal, everything a girl could want in a Wizard."
"Sound great. Who is he?"
"Not that it matters, but his name is Fred Weasley, a beater for Gryffindor."
"Ah, a Weasley, so he's a pure-blood, then."
"That's not why I'm with him. In case you've forgotten, Mr. Green, your own daughter is a half-blood. I wouldn't care if he were Muggle-born. None of that bloodline shite matters to me."
"That's what makes you better than me. I've spent my whole life believing that less than pure-blood was less than human. When I found out that your mother was a muggle, I wanted to kill myself."
"Why did you think she was a Witch in the first place?"
"Because she claimed to be one," Harley looked at him in confusion, "for one night at least. Me and some of my friends had gone to this party one Halloween, it was supposed to be strictly Wizards, but your mother and her friends got in, somehow. I saw her from across the room, she was dressed in an emerald cloak and hat and look like every other Witch I'd seen there that night, and little did I know it was only a costume. We spent the night together and then made plans to see each other later that week. When she showed up in her muggle clothes I was appalled and when she asked why I was still in costume, I knew she was a muggle. I asked her why she claimed to be a Witch if she wasn't, and she got confused. I don't think she understood until I started ranting about muggles and pure-bloods and being a shame to my race. I never expected to hear from her again, so you can imagine my surprise when she showed up at my door saying she was pregnant. At first I shrugged her off, we'd only been together one night, how could she be sure it was mine, but when she came back a second time talking about strange occurrences during her pregnancy, I knew it was the magic I'd given you coming through. I gave her some money, told her how to exchange it for muggle currency, and then told her to write me with more information. I even set up an account for you at Gringott's. Reinhold has the key, it's vault number 492. I didn't like the idea of a half-breed child, but I was going to have one either way, so I thought I should provide for you. By the time you were born, I was here and your mother didn't want you to have a criminal for a father."
It was a lot for Harley to take in. She wasn't sure what she expected from him, but it certainly wasn't this. He cared about her, he even wanted to help her, and after everything she'd said to him. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at him; he was crying, too. There was a knock at the door, two Aurors waited with shackles. Harley's heart began to race, she didn't know that it was today. She'd just gotten to meet him, just learned that he cared about her, and here they were to take him to his death!? She stood like a statue as they entered the room and started to lock him up.
"Wait! Not yet," she cried as he looked at her. "I don't wont our only hug to be one sided."
She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the ground.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for that," he said with a crack in his voice. "Now I can die in peace."
"I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean all of those things I said, I don't want you to die."
"It can't be helped. I have to pay for my sins, but at least now you know the truth, and that makes this so much easier."
She was forced to let go when the Aurors pulled him away. She followed them into the hallway where she fell into Fred's arms crying, not noticing the exchange of looks between her father and him. Fred understood though, it was his job to care for her now, William's look said everything. Fred gave a nod of understanding as the Aurors dragged him down the hall. He put up no fight, he was ready to go.
Warden Reinhold let the silence linger for a moment as Fred tried to comfort Harley. When she regained some degree of composure, he spoke. "Um...Miss Edwards...if you don't mind, there are a few things in my office that I think you should have."
"Yes, m-my father mentioned that."
The walked back through the corridors and down the stairs, until they reached the front entrance again, and there, just inside the entrance, was a small door she hadn't noticed before. They went inside to find a cluttered office with a desk, a few filing cabinets, and, on one wall, a large safe. The Warden walked over to the safe and put in the combination. He rummaged for a little, then handed something to Fred, "Hold this a second would you, my lad?"
Fred looked at the box in his hands. It was a small, gray, metal box, and the black lettering on top read S. R. Black. Sirius Black's belongings, Fred was holding Sirius Black's belongings! Fred wanted to show Harley, but that thought brought him back to his original purpose. Reinhold looked around a bit more then produced another box, took Black's from Fred, and handed the new one to Harley.
"This is everything your father had on him when he was captured. As his only child and soul living heir, it all belongs to you now, also enclosed is the will he made when he was informed of sentencing." Harley took the box. "You don't have to open it now, it is yours; open it when you're ready."
Harley thanked the Warden, then she and Fred made their way back to the dock. She spent most of the trip home in Fred's arms. If she ever needed to be held, it was now. Every once and a while, her eyes would fall to the box in her lap and she would wonder what its contents would teach her about her father. It didn't matter now, she had her happy memory of him, and it was enough to last a lifetime.