Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to follow and/or favourites this story since my last update. Special thanks to echomoon, LunarCatNinja, windsongspringheart, foxchick1, Fox, FireShifter, Victoria Saint Claire and HellCat4Life for their lovely reviews.

Fox: Thank you, I hope you like where I take this story.

Chapter Two: Hazel

Hazel Evans had been in Denmark following on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix when she got the news about Lily and James Potter's murder. The joy she might have felt at the end of the war was overwhelmed by the grief over losing her twin sister and one of her truest friends in one fell swoop. She wasn't even angry at hearing the news through the Danish press, yet.

Hazel burst out of Sirius Black's fireplace, landing indelicately on the discoloured carpet. "Padfoot?" she called. "Sirius? You in here?"

No reply. A single spell told Hazel that the flat was empty.

Hazel entered the kitchen and finding an old envelope on the table and a well chewed muggle pen, she scribbled a note asking him to contact her when he saw it. Then she returned to the floo to check in with Moony.

"Moony!" she yelled. "Moony? Are you here?"

"Spitfire?" The werewolf's head appeared around the kitchen door. "You heard then?"

Hazel felt cold; she wasn't used to seeing her friend looking so grave. "Please Remus, please, tell me it's not true. Tell me they're not…"

Remus bowed his head. "I wish I could."

Hazel felt cold. Lily, her twin sister and James, Prongs, her friend, her brother in law… She swallowed. "A-and Sarah…?"

"Sarah's fine Spitfire," Remus told her. "She's with your sister and her husband."

"What?" Hazel demanded; Sarah had already been displaying signs of accidental magic the last time Hazel had seen her before Lily and James had gone into hiding. "Moony, why is she…? Tuney will hate her, just because she's a witch."

"There was no one else Haze," he returned. "You were out of the country, I'm a werewolf…"

"And Padfoot?" Hazel pressed. "He's her godfather, Moony- he should have been the one to take her if I was unavailable…"

"Azkaban,"

"W-what?" Hazel stared at her friend.

"He was James and Lily's secret keeper, Spitfire," Remus told her. "He led Voldemort to them…"

"No," Hazel shook her head, she screwed her eyes shut and slammed her hands over her ears. "No he wouldn't…"

"He also killed Wormtail and twelve muggles… with a single curse." Remus continued. "He had us all fooled Spitfire…"

"NO!" Hazel roared, and the next thing she knew she had her wand trained on Remus' face. "No, I don't believe it, won't believe it!"

"Hazel…" Remus said softly.

Hazel dropped her wand and crumpled against her best friend. "He can't have…" she choked out between sobs. "Wouldn't have…"

Remus held her as she sobbed, stroking her hair until she cried herself out.

Sarah, it seemed, had become invisible.

Two days had passed since little Sarah had lost her parents and the Goblin King was already impatient to see where she had been placed. He had just set a runner off and the baby- who was teething- had been given a soothing salve and had settled down to sleep in the nursery. Jareth had repaired to his study to look at a report from one of the outlying towns. Having finished he pulled a crystal from the air and bid it show him Sarah.

Nothing happened.

With a frown Jareth smashed the crystal and tried again. Still nothing. After the third attempt, and the third stubbornly blank crystal, Jareth began to suspect something was blocking her from magical sight. He knew that she was alive through the bond which had led Jareth to her on the day she was born; but alive did not necessarily mean safe.

Jareth looked up at the portrait that he had had commissioned of his beloved many years ago hanging on the opposite wall.

"Where are you?" he asked her. "Are you safe?"

After Hazel had cried herself out she and Remus drowned their sorrows in a large bottle of firewhiskey. Early the next afternoon- once the hangover cleared- Hazel was struck by the realization that she didn't believe that Sirius had done what Remus said he had been accused of. She wouldn't believe it either, until she had proof. She showered and dressed and flooed to the Ministry of Magic, hurrying to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Esme Figg; a former Hufflepuff, a year behind Hazel at school; sat at the reception desk. She offered Hazel a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Hazel nodded, trying not to feel the stab of resentment that offers of sympathy always brought up in her. "Would it be possible to see the transcript for Sirius Black's trial?"

Trial transcripts were available for public perusal, though it was common knowledge that most people just believed what the Daily Prophet reported. Hazel was not most people.

"Of course," Esme nodded. "If you'd care to take a seat, it'll take a few moments."

Hazel nodded her thanks and sat on one of the lumpy armchairs in the department's reception area. Esme returned, frowning.

"I'm sorry Miss Evans but the transcript you requested isn't available."

Hazel blinked. "Has someone already taken it?"

"I mean that there is no evidence of that trial, but in light of… recent events, there are a lot of trials going on at the moment…"

"I was told that Sirius had already been convicted," Hazel told her, puzzled. "Shouldn't the script already be here?"

Esme maintained her polite smile. "As I said, the department is rather busy at the moment, it might take a few days to clear the backlog. I will send you an owl as soon as the log clears." The smile slipped and the real Esme- with whom Hazel had had a friendly rivalry on the Quidditch pitch- appeared. "I'm sorry Hazel, but there's nothing else I can do."

Hazel nodded, not satisfied. "Alright. I'll look out for it."

With that, she turned on her heel, and left the office. The one other thing on her to do list that day was to visit her surviving sister and check in on their niece. Sarah was her priority, despite lingering feelings towards the man who the world seemed to think had betrayed Lily and Prongs.

Out of Harry and Rose Evans' three daughters Hazel had been the messy one; the sort whose bedroom was always untidy. She had been a tomboy who trailed muddy footprints through the house on entering. When she arrived on Privet Drive, Hazel was horrified. Petunia had always been a neat freak, even when they were little; even so, Hazel had not expected to turn up on the set of The Stepford Wives. Tuney had, it seemed, gone out of her way to surround herself with what she saw as normal, none magical.

How in Merlin's name was a little witch supposed to survive here, in a place where one could almost imagine mess being considered a criminal offence?

It didn't take long for the former Gryffindor seeker to find number four. She strode up to the door and rang the bell. A few minutes later the door was opened by her sister, who looked somewhat flustered and was trying to hold a struggling, rotund toddler on her hip.

'You'll hurt yourself if you're not careful Tuney,' Hazel thought, glancing at her fat little nephew- Dudley if she recalled correctly (poor thing). "Hi Tuney,"

"Hazel," her sister returned, looking slightly frightened as she glanced around the street in what she apparently thought was a covert manner. "What brings you here? I thought you were abroad."

"I was," Hazel nodded. "But I heard the news about Lily and James- look, could I come in?"

A look of fear and anger flashed over Petunia's face. "Why would you want to come in?"

Hazel frowned. "We're sisters Tuney, and I heard that Sarah was here, I'd like to see her."

"She's asleep," said Petunia, quickly.

"Why should that make any difference Petunia?" Hazel asked, brow furrowing in suspicion. "All I want is to see our niece, as I've already seen my nephew, it's only fair that you…"

Hazel broke off at the sound of a sudden scream from inside the house. A child's scream. Sarah.

The red haired witch barged past her older sister and stopped dead, staring at the scene playing out before her. Her brother in law- a veritable walrus of a man- was looming over her niece, in his hand a leather belt. The screaming toddler was huddled against a wall, clearly terrified of her uncle.

Hazel saw red. She clicked her wrist, dislodging her wand from its holster and caught it deftly in her left hand. "Accio belt!"

The horrid leather strap flew out of Vernon Dursley's sausage like fingers and Hazel caught it in her free hand. Had the situation not been so serious, Hazel might have found the look of terrified bafflement on her brother in law's face as he realized that he no longer had the belt in his hand and that he had a witch in his home.

"How dare you?" she snarled, squaring up to the huge muggle. "How dare you attack a defenceless child? What has she ever done to you? To deserve such a punishment?"

"You wouldn't understand, freak!" Vernon spat in reply.

"Oh wouldn't I?" Hazel's mismatched eyes narrowed dangerously. "I know you Vermin- and don't try to convince me that I got your name wrong- before you showed up in her life, Tuney didn't hate Lily and I, or magic as a whole. What reason do you have to hate my world? Would you hate your own son if he turned out to be a wizard?"

"Now see here…!" Vernon seethed, but Hazel was in no mood to be drenched in the muggle's spittle. She flicked her wand and silenced him

"That is quite enough from you thank you," she spat and rounded on her one remaining sibling. Petunia, she noticed with no small amount of satisfaction, was pale and trembling. "You were letting this happen?"

Petunia's brilliant defence sounded something very like "Mimble wimble,"

"Merlin's pants Petunia, she's little more than a baby!" Hazel growled. "Even if she wasn't likely the most famous person in the entire wizarding world, she's a child! She's family! Does that mean so little to you that you would let your pet walrus harm her just because she's a witch!?"

Fighting to reign in her whiplash temper, Hazel turned and crouched before Sarah, scrutinising her for damage. A lightning bolt scar stood out starkly against her pale skin and her dark hair looked in serious need of washing. Sarah was pale and drawn and there were dark bags under her beautiful green eyes.

"Hello sweetheart," Hazel said gently.

"Mama?" Sarah asked.

The innocent question brought tears to Hazel's eyes. Sarah didn't remember her. She'd half expected that, she been tiny when Hazel had last seen her.

"Mama?" Sarah asked again, probably wondering why she hadn't responded.

"Yes darling," she nodded, more than happy to raise her twin's daughter as her own. "I'm so sorry that I didn't come sooner Sarah sweetheart. But I'm here now, and I'm taking you home."

Hazel opened her arms and Sarah approached her timidly, as if afraid that she would be hurt if she did. The moment that her new daughter was within arms' reach, Hazel pulled her close. Sarah remained stiff for a moment then, seeming to realize that she was safe, she snuggled into her embrace.

Hazel kissed Sarah's hair and lifted her up. She turned to face her sister sadly. "You know, when I got here I just wanted to see if she was ok, if she was all I would have asked was that you let me see her from time to time, but now…" She shook her head. "I can't let her stay here, not now."

So saying she flicked her wand in Vernon's direction, lifting the silencing charm she'd placed on him and crossed the threshold of her sister's home.

The Goblin King had been trying to scry for little Sarah once more. He had decided that if he couldn't see her this time then he would send out some of the goblins who had lived in her parents' home to find her. The crystal showed a red haired woman carrying the child out of a house. The woman looked very like Sarah's late mother.

The twin, Heather, Holly, or something similar: Jareth didn't know much about the twin- she had not been a prominent feature in Sarah's life. He wanted to believe that Sarah was safe in her aunt's care, but to be on the safe side he would send the goblins to keep watch over her.

Three days had passed since she had taken Sarah from Petunia's home and the owl had finally arrived from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in shock. Hazel stared at it in shock.

There had been no trial.

Sirius had been thrown into Azkaban for mass murder without being given a trial. Hazel Evans did not pretend to be an expert on magical law, but everyone knew that every witch or wizard in Britain accused of a crime worthy of Azkaban was legally entitled to trial by veritaserum. So why had Sirius been denied this right?

Hazel would have to take this up with the most influential wizard she knew. Albus Dumbledore.

~v~

Next time: Hazel discovers why Sirius didn't get a trial