A/N: Thanks to the two people who reviewed. I'm debating internally whether or not I should continue. I don't think I've ever had such a lacklustre response to one of my fics. Please do review (even just a little) if you are reading, I'd really appreciate it.
Summary: Lost and sick in the middle of nowhere, Sirius falls into the hands of a woman whose secrets will tie inextricably into the fate of his godson. What will happen when he finds himself attracted to this strange witch?
The Complexities of the Heart
By katemary77
Chapter Three
Footfalls
echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden
- T.S Elliot, Burnt NortonSirius frowned and nodded at James, gesturing that he would enter the building first. Padding silently through the darkened doorway, Sirius held his wand before him and breathed an inaudible sigh of relief on hearing James, Lily and Fabian follow directly behind him.
Dumbledore had grouped the order into teams of four and sent each band to a different part of the old, decrepit castle Voldemort currently inhabited; three groups from the front and two from the back. It was situated in Ireland, on the slopes of a high mountain, shrouded in shadows and dark magic. Their orders were to silently enter the castle by any means necessary and when the signal was given, attack.
Having scaled a steep wall at the rear of the castle, (with the help of a very clever Sticking Charm), Sirius, James, Lily and Fabian Prewett had entered the stronghold through a window and were now creeping down a dark corridor. As they moved further into the castle, Sirius became aware of voices filtering into the hall from a nearby room. He signalled to the others, indicating what their first target would be.
Minutes later a shrill whistle sounded and, knowing this was Dumbledore's signal, Sirius burst into the room followed closely by James, Lily and Fabian, curses blasting already from the tips of their wands. There were seven Death Eaters in the small stone room and while the Order had the element of surprise, Sirius knew that they could easily be outnumbered.
"Stupefy!" he shouted, sending a blonde man flying into the person behind him. "Expelliarmus!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw a bright purple light speeding towards him, and quickly erected a shield to block the spell.
"Petrificus Totalus." Four of the Death Eaters were down, and Lily, James and Fabian quickly took care of the rest while Sirius raced into the corridor. The sounds of fighting echoed along the passageway and, once he was joined by the others, Sirius led them down to the entrance hall.
It was pandemonium. Curses were flying everywhere, with the Death Eaters holding up a strong defence. Coming from behind, however, Sirius and his team could easily pick off and stun Death Eaters from their own ranks.
The battle was chaotic and Sirius threw himself in, knocking back opponents on his left and right. The Order kept up their attack, each waiting for a double blow of the same whistle – the same whistle which began the fray – that would signify the Order's retreat.
A tall, masked Death Eater appeared suddenly before Sirius, shooting a vicious looking curse his way.
"Protego!" Sirius cried, and a red-tinted shield was erected about his body, protecting him from the vivid blue curse. In the bright light of the spell, Sirius thought he saw a figure, cloaked in black with a small child, running from the battle. But then the curse crashed against his protective barrier and the light, along with the image, was gone.
Seconds later, Dumbledore blew the shrill whistle twice and without a second thought, Sirius Disapparated away.
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"Well then," Anna said, her fingers moving slowly against her temple. "I suppose I should fill you in on… everything…" Sirius nodded.
"How about we take this outside?"
Anna smiled up at him and nodded, rising from the couch with her blanket. The pair left the house and went out into Anna's garden, where the sun was slowly setting. Sitting down on the grass, Anna tucked the blanket carefully around her body.
"I don't want to leave this place," she sighed.
"Why do you have to?"
She looked up at him.
"There's no easy way to tell you this, Sirius… I don't even know where to start."
"The beginning?" he suggested with a wry smirk. Anna grinned.
"That seems like a good idea." She pushed her fingers into the grass for a moment, brow furrowed. "You might remember, about twenty five years ago when You-Know-Who was first rising, a young girl was abducted. Her name was Jennifer Fair. Ring any bells?"
Sirius thought for a moment. "Her name does sound familiar."
"It should. She was in the papers for months. Jennifer was taken from Hogwarts, I think the only person to have ever been kidnapped from the castle. She was… she was my mother."
Suddenly, Sirius remembered seeing a picture in the Daily Prophet of a laughing girl, with smiling blue eyes and wild, dark hair.
"I remember. Why did Voldemort take her?"
"There was a prophecy," Anna told him and Sirius growled. He had had quite enough of those things. "It was made a very long time ago, centuries ago. It wasn't very well known. It spoke of a child that would be born with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, as the seventh month dies…"
"Harry," Sirius breathed.
Anna nodded.
"But what does that have to do with you?"
She sighed again. "I'm getting to that. The prophecy also said that the only way this child could be thwarted was if a girl, born of evil and empathy, chose by heart the Dark and stood against him." She paused shortly. "That would be me."
Sirius started, and made to speak but Anna held up a hand to silence him.
"My mother was an Empath, a powerful one at that. Without even thinking that the prophecy might not have been legitimate, Voldemort searched for my mother, took her, cast a Conception Charm and nine months later I was born."
"You're Voldemort's daughter?" Sirius asked incredulously, unable to keep the disgust from his voice.
Anna shrugged, her mouth curved in a frown and Sirius saw hurt flash in her eyes.
"He likes to think that I am. But what you have to understand is that Voldemort never lay with my mother, only cast the charm."
"So you're sort of like… the immaculate conception."
Anna laughed lightly. "You could say that. Although I'm not the first to be conceived by magic."
Sirius nodded, knowing that the Conception Charm was very popular in Pureblooded families to ensure the firstborn would be a male. Indeed, it was very likely Sirius' parents had used it to conceive him.
"So what happened then?"
"My mother was kept alive," she answered slowly, "only to take care of me. Voldemort tried very hard to turn me, but my mother's magic had instilled compassion in my blood, so it proved near impossible to convert me by force. They kept us in a castle in the mountains and after seven years a new Death Eater joined Voldemort's ranks. He was young and was given the job of guarding my mother and I. By that stage we were so broken, we didn't even think of escape. But he was young, didn't know what he was getting himself into, didn't understand it." Anna's eyes dropped to the ground. "He fell in love with my mother. Voldemort never knew."
She shuddered and Sirius leant over, pulling the blanket she held closer around her body.
"He found out that Voldemort was planning on killing my mother," she continued, "And he panicked. He went to Dumbledore, confessed everything. Albus believed him and organised a raid on the castle, and that night they came."
The scenes of that night so many years ago were flashing in Sirius' mind, still so vivid despite the time that had passed.
Anna's voice became hard and detached. "We were almost out when my mother was killed. We had been running through the entrance hall when a stray curse hit her. It must have come from the fighting, I never looked. I never had time to look. We just kept running."
Anna's face was cold and impassive, but Sirius could see the tears behind her eyes, the slight trembling of her jaw. "We got to Hogwarts, and it became my home. Three years later, Voldemort disappeared. I started Hogwarts; Severus became Potions Master – "
Sirius had to do a double take to make sure he had heard right.
"Wait, Severus? Severus Snape?"
Anna nodded, a sudden stern look crossing her face.
"Look, I've heard all about the enmity between you and Severus and while I know he is just as much at fault as you are, you really do have to try to come to some understanding."
Sirius snorted.
"With Snape? You'd sooner see Voldemort handing out strawberry cupcakes at a Muggle kindergarten."
She huffed.
"I don't understand your animosity towards him. He's a good man!"
"He was a Death Eater, Anna! He tortured, killed people! I don't understand how everyone can so easily forgive and forget!"
Sirius had the distinct impression he had gone too far. Her eyes hardened, and Sirius noted she was clenching her fists in her lap.
"Severus Snape is the one man I would trust above all others with my life, Sirius. He risked everything he had to protect the daughter of the woman he loved, still loves, when it went against everything he was taught, everything he believed in. I understand that Severus can act like right prick sometimes and he does nothing to improve his image, but behind closed doors he is just a sad, lonely man who believes he can never be redeemed for the crimes he's committed." She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "He may have been a Death Eater, but he made his choice and he chose the good. Doesn't that count for anything, Sirius? Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?" Her words were laced with heavy significance as she finished.
Sirius nodded sombrely.
"I suppose you're right. It's just hard to overcome thirty five years of prejudices, you know? And Snape certainly doesn't make it easier for anyone," he added with a wry grin.
Anna smiled.
"He doesn't. But remember, Sirius, a lot of people overcame prejudices for you. The Black family certainly isn't known for its noble causes. Why can't you do the same for him?"
He sighed.
"Well, I can only try, can't I?"
Her smiled widened, and she reached out to squeeze his hand.
"So when did you come out here?" Sirius asked.
"Four years ago," she sighed, her face tilted towards the sky that was rapidly becoming dark, the last of the sun's rays filtering through the trees. "Voldemort reappeared at Hogwarts and Albus decided it would be safer for me in hiding. I had to leave everything, my job, my friends, my life…" Anna picked at the grass, her face shadowed by her hair. "But I've made a home for myself out here and now I have to leave."
Sirius' hand came up to rest at the base of Anna's neck in a comforting gesture.
"It'll be alright," he told her. "At least you won't be alone anymore."
She gave a tiny nod, before rising to her feet.
"I guess I better start packing then."
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"All set?"
Anna nodded glumly and motioned to the trunk at her feet, and the box rested beside it.
"Everything I need."
Sirius smiled and waved her over to sit next to him on the couch. Anna obliged and he wrapped a strong arm about her.
"Remus should be here soon. Have you ever met Remus?"
She shook her head.
Sirius harrumphed.
"Great man, Remus. Bookworm like you." He smiled. "You two should get along well."
They sat in silence for a moment, while Sirius checked his watch. Only five minutes until ten o 'clock, he mused somewhat morosely. It wasn't that Sirius didn't want to see his best friend, only it meant it was time to return to London, time to return to the house that's memories had haunted him for 13 years in a rotting prison cell. Sirius hated Grimmauld Place and it was with a fierce dread that he thought about his impending return to its dark walls.
Anna nudged him softly.
"Hey, if I can leave this place, you can go back there." She smiled. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Sirius smiled at Anna.
"Thanks." After a minute his brow furrowed. "Hey, how did you know that I was thinking – ?"
There was a sudden pop, and a man with a tired, handsome face and weary blue eyes appeared in the room.
"Remus!" Sirius bounded from the couch and engulfed his friend in a warm hug. "Good to see you, mate."
The other man smiled. "You too, Padfoot. This must be Anna."
Both friends turned to the couch, where Anna had gone starkly pale, her eyes closed and clenched tight.
Sirius moved forward and brought a hand to her shoulder.
"Ann? Anna, are you alright?" He cast a worried glance at Remus.
Slowly, she nodded and opened her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, just a sudden headache." She touched her temple with long fingers and sighed. "Must be from that bump I had earlier."
Sirius growled.
Sensing the tension in the room, Remus jovially shook Anna's hand.
"Wonderful to meet you, Miss Fair, all packed and ready to go?"
She nodded and smiled at him.
"Ready indeed."
Taking her trunk whilst Sirius lifted the box into his arms, Anna placed a finger onto the tissue Remus held before him.
"Four… three… two… one…"
And they were gone.
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Anna landed with a jolt on the deserted and darkened street and gazed up at the imposing house before them.
"Yours, Sirius?" she asked weakly.
He nodded.
"Unfortunately."
"Dumbledore will have to cast the Fidelius Charm on it," Remus commented as he led them up the cobbled path and to the door of the terrace-house. "And we'll have to do all sorts of wards, anti-apparation fields… the whole deal. And of course," he added with a smirk, "we'll have to clean it." Reaching the door, Remus made to twist the nob.
"Moony, stop!" Sirius hollered, shoving his friend out of the way. "You sod!" he scolded. "Trying to get yourself killed now?"
Remus and Anna surveyed Sirius worriedly.
"Er… what's wrong with the door?"
Sirius sighed haughtily.
"It will only open for a Black. I don't even want to think about what it would have done to you, Remus!"
"Well, er, thanks then, mate," the other man said sheepishly.
"Damn right," Sirius returned. "Getting lax in your old age, eh?" He turned to the door, running a slender finger down its length and whispering, "Castitudo ab adoleo."
It opened, creaking creepily as it swung into the black shadows.
"What was that?" Anna asked as she gazed hesitantly into the black doorway. "Purity of blood?"
Sirius nodded.
"They thought Tojours pur would be too obvious." He grimaced. "That's my family for you."
Anna laid a comforting hand on his shoulder as she entered the house.
"Not to worry, Sirius, mines not much better."
"That's for sure."
As they entered the dark lobby, Anna became aware of a presence and she fluidly slipped her wand from her pocket.
"There's someone in here," she informed the others at a whisper, before igniting her wand.
The soft beams fell upon a creature that stood at the end of the hall, its hands clenching in the material it wore slung about its hips and its eyes glinting madly.
Sirius made a noise of disbelief.
"Kreacher?"
"Is it Mistress' son?" the house-elf seemed to mutter under its breath, quite audibly. "The ungrateful swine that broke my dear Mistress' heart? How she hated him, what a disappointment he was."
Anna raised an eyebrow and looked to Sirius.
"Family house-elf, I assume?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, we'll be alright as long as he doesn't – "
There was an ear-splitting scream as the house-elf tore open the tattered curtains that covered the portrait of a most ugly woman, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her hands clutching and scratching at her face.
" – wake up my mum." Sirius finished needlessly.
"WHO DARES BESMIRCH THE HOUSE OF MY FORE FATHERS? FILTH! MUTANTS! HALF BREEDS!"
They all turned in wonderment to the painting, and the woman's eyes widened as the saw Sirius. "YOU! SHAME OF MY FLESH!" she screeched, pointing a rotting finger at her son. "BLOOD TRAITOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL SWINE? BEGONE! AND YOU!" she cried, turning to Remus. "MONSTER! TAINTED BLOOD! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!"
The crazed woman then looked to Anna, who was by now feeling very, very uncomfortable and made to abuse and offend her as well, when Anna raced forward and – with much effort – closed the curtains, drowning out the screeches and wails of the portrait behind.
Turning, she let out a long breath.
"Wow."
"You still think your family's worse than mine?" Sirius asked her with a grin.
She smirked.
"Just a little."
A/N: Review please!