There was a sharp knock on my bedroom door that interrupted my dream and I sat up out of my bed with groggy eyes. I rubbed them as I pushed the covers off my body and pulled my wand off the nightstand next to the bed. The fist banged on my bedroom door again and I opened it, surprised to see my eleven year old daughter looking up at me with worried eyes.

"What's the matter, Carrigan?" I asked brushing my hair out of my face.

"Mum," she said in her soft young voice. "Gabriel's on the front porch—I wanted to check with you before I let him in. He made it sound urgent."

I frowned greatly and stepped past Carrigan, heading for the stairs down to the first floor. If Gabriel Quintin was standing on my front porch at this time of night it meant that something very serious had happened at the Ministry, or it wasn't Gabriel at all, but an imposter trying to get to me or my daughter.

I jumped the last few steps, and grabbed the handle of the front door. I saw Carrigan grab hold of the step's banister, jump up, kicking her feet against the wall, and then land in the foyer next to me. I looked at her with raised eyebrows and she gave me an innocent smile.

"Dare I ask where you learned to jump the stairs like that?" I said looking to the door and holding my wand tightly.

"I taught her," said the voice on the other side of the door. Gabriel's voice was calm and deep—it was the gentlest male voice I had ever heard and could make any woman lose control of her will and body. I had never understood how he charmed women so easily, nor did he understand how I never gave into him the way he wished…

"What is my tattoo of?"

"Alis volat propris," Gabriel said to me. I smiled and bit my bottom lip. His Latin was very good and he spoke it so beautifully.

I opened the door and allowed the tall man into the foyer. Carrigan beamed and jumped into his arms before he could say a word.

"Gabriel!" she said wrapping her body around his and kissing his cheek. He spun her around and held her small body against his; smiling at her like she was his own child.

"How is my girl?" he asked brushing the loose strands of brown hair behind her ear. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and looked him in the eye as he set her back on the ground.

"You should have seen my jump," she said. "I did it just like you told me."

Gabriel pinched her nose playfully.

"Good," he said. I crossed my arms and kicked the door shut. He looked at me and frowned a little. "But perhaps you shouldn't do that, might break the banister…"

Carrigan frowned a little but nodded.

"No matter about breaking your neck," I muttered. Gabriel gave me a cross look and I glared right back at him.

"What are you going to teach me this time? How to conjure things?" Carrigan begged the last question, ignoring the silent argument that Gabriel and I were having. Carrigan had been begging me to show her how to conjure things for years now, but I had always told her to wait until she was in school. It was too difficult to learn until she was older and had studied magic for a little while. Gabriel glanced at me again and I gave him a firm look.

Please, no, I said to him with Legilimency.

"I'm not going to teach you anything just yet," he said rustling up her hair. "I've come to talk to your Mother. And aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

"Good thing I wasn't," Carrigan said crossing her arms over her chest. "How else would you have gotten in?"

"Woken your Mother of course," he said smiling. "Go on, I'll come up and tell you a story in a bit?"

"I'm a little old for stories," she said holding out a balled fist to him. He smiled lightly and pressed his own balled fist against hers. She turned with a bounce in her step and went to the stairs; she paused holding onto the banister. "Good night, Mum."

"Sweet dreams," I said with a smile to her. I blew her a kiss and she opened her hand and pretended to catch the kiss in her hand.

"Night Carri," Gabriel said.

"Night Gabe," she beamed back and dashed up the stairs. Gabriel's dark eyes turned to me the second she was gone and looked me over.

"Forgive me for calling so late," he said as his eyes lingered on my bare legs. I was only in my pajamas which consisted of a tank top and shorts.

"What do you want Gabriel?" I asked touching his chin and tipping it up so his eyes were looking me in the face. He gave me a half cocked smile and I felt my knees give a little. If I didn't know Gabriel so well, or for so long, I probably would have given in to that half smile. His sex appeal was undeniable…how I had managed it for so long was a miracle.

Gabriel and I had a complex relationship; it was riddled with ambivalence, tension, passion and lustful desires. We were more then just attracted to each other. Gabriel and I shared an everlasting magical bond of a Guardian, a magical impartial teacher, and student, a person of great magical strength and power. A horrible twist of fate had made us fall in love with each other, but that broke the laws of Guardianship and because of it there were numerous consequences: we loved each other, but could never bring ourselves to be together; Gabriel's next student was removed from his path—we suspected that his daughter Jennifer was meant to be his next student, but she died when she was about two in a house fire. The punishment for loving your student was endless for a Guardian and I feared many times that somehow Carrigan would become Gabriel's student which could end in her death. When a Guardian and student form an unnatural relationship a Guardian is seen as unfit, therefore resulting in a reconstruction of their destiny. Our unnatural relationship altered our dependency on each other, as his student, I would always need Gabriel, and as my Guardian he would never be rid of me. Essentially, he was sentenced to be my Guardian for the rest of our lives because we had formed an unnatural relationship, one of love.

But, both of us seemed to accept and be okay with our bond. It complicated things for a long time, making aspects of our life together intolerable—but now it just was. We grew to accept that there was no changing our destiny…we just had to be. Despite that, Gabriel insisted that I drove him crazy and made him want to be a better man—that's what made him love me to begin with, but I had my doubts. Gabriel was a gorgeous man. He dressed well, treated a girl right, made her feel beautiful and wanted, and protected anyone he cared about at all cost. He was loyal to me, and was the only person I could completely trust other then Albus Dumbledore. Any woman would be crazy not to want to be with him…so why wasn't I?

Because I was afraid, I suppose; afraid I'd get hurt again; or afraid I didn't have anything to give Gabriel; or just afraid of injuring my pride. The last man I had given my heart to ripped it out and destroyed it. I still hadn't healed from the wound, and I was still cold and bitter about it. I wasn't sure if I had a heart to give to any man anymore…only Carrigan had me and she was all I needed now. I had lived without a romantic, passionate relationship for twelve years now…what was the rest of my life?

Gabriel's touch brought me back to reality. His thumb was stroking the inside of my wrist, running smoothly over the small wing tattoo that decorated my skin. He was looking down at the tattoo on the inside of my wrist, and the horrible scar that covered my arm above it.

"Your wings are so small to carry you," he whispered looking at my other wrist where I had another wing tattoo, opposite the right one. He leaned down, kissing my ear softly.

"It's not the size of my wings that matters. It's the fact that I made them myself and they are mine. They are all I need to support myself," I said placing my hands on his chest. I sighed slightly as we shared a brief intimate moment.

His fingers left my skin and left a lingering spell over me. Gabriel always left a deep emotional feeling over me when he pulled his body away from mine and let air fill the void he was creating.

"How about love?" he whispered.

"Is that what you came here to ask me about?" I asked looking up at him with a sharp stare. He matched my stare with stunning purple eyes today. Gabriel's eyes were always changing color, they were indescribable, except when something catastrophic happened to him. When his ex, Anita, and their daughter, Jennifer, died, his eyes turned blue and remained that way for months only changing twice that I recalled for me. Since, Carrigan had been born his eyes changed constantly reminded me of a time when Gabriel was full of life and adventure. His velvety purple eyes stared me down and if I were any other woman he would have pressed me against the wall, distracting me with a passionate kiss. I could see it in his eyes that that's what he wanted to do, but was fighting the desire because it was me that he'd be kissing. As badly as he wanted to, he knew that I would push him away and it would start a fight.

Gabriel and I always loved each other, and we knew how the other felt; I asked Gabriel to be my friend and Godfather to my child, but I could never commit my broken heart to him the way he wished me to. I had loved Gabriel since I was fifteen, but I had always been with Sirius. When Sirius left me and betrayed me, I was too proud to go to Gabriel. It would have proven Sirius right and I couldn't do that.

"No," he said softly. "I wanted to speak to you about something very urgent."

"Please," I said leaning against the wall. "Urge away."

He smiled a little.

"Urge? I have a lot of urges running through me right now, Cadence," he said touching my hip. I stared up at him, my body screaming to give into him, my heart begging to be healed, and my head telling me not to give in.

"What do you have to tell me?" I asked pushing his hand away. He intertwined his fingers with mine and kissed them delicately, then pulled away and walked into the living room. He pulled off his long black cloak and threw it on the back of the couch before sitting down. I hated the way he teased me by trying to seduce me and then dismissing me, showing no interesting what-so-ever.

"You should sit down," he said motioning to the spot on the couch next to him. Now I was just getting annoyed. He had come to my house at two in the morning—the information obviously had to do with work and the cases we were working on. Why couldn't he just say it?

He seemed to notice my annoyance.

"Fudge came into the office today before I was leaving," he said. "Caught me in our cubical…asked me to speak with you."

"About?"

"Cadence," Gabriel rubbed his face and sighed.

"Just say it, please."

"It's not easy for me to say it," he whispered. He glanced up the stairs knowing that Carrigan was the type of girl to sit at the top and listen to our conversation. He stood up and came to me, holding my upper arms as he spoke the next few words very quietly. "Sirius escaped from Azkaban about three hours ago."

"What?" I exclaimed. I reached out with my mind to penetrate his and see if he was playing a cruel joke on me. He knew what I was doing and shook his head a little.

"It's not something I would joke about love," he said.

"How did he escape? No one can escape Azkaban!"

"They're not sure," Gabriel said. "As usual the Ministry is failing to keep up with their responsibilities. The Dementors are as reliable now as they were fifteen years ago."

I put my hand to my mouth and bit on my fingers; slowly I began to pace the room, thinking about Sirius Black and everything I knew about him. I stopped and looked at Gabriel.

"Have they guessed where he'll go?"

"They think after the boy," said Gabriel crossing his arms. I nodded my head in agreement. It seemed like a reasonable theory. "Fudge was on his way to speak with the Muggle Prime Minister after he spoke with me. He wanted me to come here and check on you."

"Why?"

"Cadence," Gabriel said touching my arms again. "He'll probably come to you at some point."

I pulled out of Gabriel's arms and moved to the fireplace. Flames sprang to life in the grate and I stared into them with dark frustrated eyes. I felt Gabriel behind me; he was touching my shoulders with those wonderful firm hands.

"I think I should stay here the next few nights, until he's caught."

I turned and looked up at Gabriel with raised eyebrows.

"Are you crazy?" I whispered. "I don't need you to stay here and babysit me. And they're not going to catch him, Gabriel. If he escaped from the place so easily I'm quite sure they won't catch him."

"Fudge, Scrimgeour, Moody and Dumbledore all wanted me to come out here and watch out for you," he said very seriously, as if knowing those four men wanting me safe would make me accept Gabriel's offer to stay the night.

Since my return to England a month ago, I had reacquired my position as an Auror at the Ministry of Magic. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge thought that it'd be best if I was partnered with Gabriel because I had been out of the country for so long. The Minister was probably also unsure if he could trust me completely. When I left England the Ministry thought I may be responsible for my best friends James and Lily Potters' death. That created doubt, but the fact of the matter was I was still Voldemort's daughter, even if he was died. I'd live in his shadow for the rest of my life, I had accepted that—but I wished a better life for Carrigan, one where she was afraid of stigma…but that was going to be hard for her when her Father was a Death Eater.

"You're my partner, not my care taker," I said pulling away from Gabriel again. I went to the chair and gripped the back of it tightly out of frustration. Since I was twenty I had developed better control of my physical powers that were connected to my emotions—I had to; I had a baby when I was twenty one and that effected my emotions a great deal.

"I'd like to have a living partner," he said with annoyance that matched mine. "I'm not really in the mood for you to get popped off by your ex because he's a crazy son-of-a-bitch running around like a half cocked pistol."

"Could you keep your voice down please?"

"No," he said coming to me again. "I can't because he's out there Cadence! He's out there looking for you and Carrigan, or Harry Potter! He the most notorious mass murder of the time and you're acting like it's not big deal that he's broken out of prison!"

"Stop yelling at me like I don't know what's going on, Gabriel! It's not that simple okay? I can't just immediately go into panic mode because you told me my ex is on the loose! I'm a big girl! I'm more then capable of taking care of myself and my daughter, especially against Sirius Black. If he stumbles over here he's going to wish he didn't."

Gabriel seemed to accept the answer and smiled a little.

"I've been on the receiving end of your anger before," he whispered. "I feel sorry for the poor bastard."

"Just remember that if anything happens here at the house Carrigan will come to your place by fire," I said softly. "That's why I need you to not stay with me. If something happens here at the house she needs somewhere to go."

Gabriel nodded his head as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Alright," he said. "You win this time."

I smiled as I moved to him, standing close to him and putting my hands on my hips.

"I win all the time, Gabriel," I said with a smirk.

He nodded his head and ran his hands over my finger tips and onto my hips. His fingers tickled my senses as he wrapped his arms around me, tracing the waistband of my shorts.

"I do recall a few times that I beat you in a fight," he whispered in my ear in a husky tone.

"You probably cheated," I said going to walk past him. He grabbed my arm and swung me around into his chest.

"Is that so bad?"

I slipped out of his grasp with a small smile.

"Yes," I whispered then moved out of the room to lock the front door. I mounted the steps and looked back at him. "You can take the couch if you want."

"Ouch," he said rubbing his chest and looking around the living room. "That's a low blow, Cadence…making me sleep down here on the couch with all your boxes from the move."

Carrigan and I had just moved back to England a month ago, and I had immediately started working at the Ministry again. I hadn't had much time to unpack things and I couldn't very well expect Carrigan too when she was only eleven. I stopped and looked at Gabriel from the stairs.

"You can't sleep in my room," I said with a teasing smile.

Gabriel smiled.

"You sure?"

"Positive," I said back.

"Only fools are positive," he said still grinning. "And you are a fool for not taking me to bed Cadence Coleman."

"I'm crying on the inside," I said turning to go upstairs. "Good night, Gabriel."

"Good night," he called back.

I checked on Carrigan before I went to my room, she was in bed with her eyes closed. I could tell she wasn't asleep because she was lying on her stomach—she never slept on her stomach, even as a baby. She had probably been listening to Gabriel's and my conversation, which was fine. I would have eased dropped if I were her. Once I was in my room I sat at my desk. I couldn't sleep because my body was hotwired now that I knew Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban. Fear was pumping through my system—fear for my daughter. Sirius Black was her Father, and he didn't know she existed.