AN

Thanks for the long wait, I have been literally writing everyday and so this is a longer chapter than previous ones.

Let me know what you think, feedback always keeps me going.

Love you all

It didn't take long to find the book store Snape was referring to. It sat quietly in between Spinner's end and a park whose sign was so old you couldn't make out the name. A ding went off through the store as I walked in. The store was dark with a musty smell and there were more books than in the little library at home. A boy started walking through the isle towards me, dodging all the piles of books littered on the floor.

"Are you looking for anything specific?" the boy asked looking me up and down. I didn't understand the art of flirting but I'm pretty sure he wasn't looking at me nicely.

I shake my head nervously. I had never spoken to a muggle before and it was almost intoxicating and exciting. I look at him closely, observing him secretly. He had a ripped black and red plaid shirt on with ripped black jeans sagging underneath. His dirty blonde hair was spiked and his bright blue eyes had eyeliner underneath. I spotted markings on his arms underneath his shirt, it was an owl perched on a tree with a black moon shining behind it. He bites his lip piercing nervously. I don't even know why people would get a piece of metal in their lip or well anywhere other than your ear.

"My name's Gavin" he says holding out his hand.

"Rose" I replied cautiously taking his hand.

"Well Rose we have everything you wouldn't want here," he says waving towards the mess store.

"I want to buy a book so wouldn't I at least want something in here?"

He laughs. "This place is a dump, I don't know if you will find something worth your time."

I pick up the first book on a shelf. I dust it off so I could read the title.

"The Man without a Country by Edward E. Hale, is it good?" I ask looking up at the boy. He snatches it from me.

"I don't read the books, I just sell them." He walks off to the counter with the book in hand.

I carefully follow him, trying not to knock any piles over.

"That will be three pounds," he says putting the book in a plastic bag.

I hand over some coins hoping I got the amount right; the last thing I wanted was to look like a fool and embarrass myself. He takes it and places smaller coins in my hand.

I leave the store with my muggle purchase, happy for the first time in a long time. I could only hope that the feeling stayed.

I didn't go back for a few weeks, I was hoping to go back to Hogwarts instead but the exams were cancelled due to the attacks so Professor Dumbledore saw no reason for me to go back for two days. Snape did come home one day angrier than usual because it turns out Harry and Ron had gone into the Chamber of Secrets to save Ginny. When I heard this through his ranting I quickly sent a letter to Fred and George hoping they are both ok; I have no idea if they will even reply because of the last time we saw each other.

Warm June went by, on came hot July, leading into August where I finally received a response from the Weasley's.

Rose,

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner, it's been a little busy at home with Ginny almost dying and all. I hope you are well? I heard that Malfoy suspended you for no good reason (good job on fixing Crabbe's face, no wonder Malfoy junior is such a bloody git. I hope you're having fun at St Georgia's (it went round that you were still living there) you should have told us, when mum found out she almost exploded never seen her so red. She went over to get you. You can stay here any time if you want prob not best at the moment as … well George is still getting over the whole Ginny incident.

It was nice to hear from you, and I'm sorry if we don't reply sooner. Dad won a lot of money so we're going to Egypt. We are planning to be at the Leaky Cauldron on the 25th.

Fred Weasley

I folded the letter, placing it back into the envelope, and under my bed away from prying eyes. Fred wasn't a good liar so I could tell that he was keeping something from me about George. I feel like I have screwed up big time but then I feel like I can't do anything about Lucian and his insistent rules about what I can and can't do. I lie back on my bed and look up at my ceiling. I had purchased some posters on one of my trips to the book store. I had found them stashed in a dusty corner. I hadn't listened to the muggle musicians that look down on me, I don't know if I want to. I only had three because that was the only amount that I could smuggle in without Snape knowing, and he never came into my room for him to spot them either. One was a woman called 'Whitney Houston', and other was of a weird looking group of guys who called themselves 'Queen', and the last one was of a group called 'Abba'. I have no idea where these muggles got the names from but they must have drunk a lot of fire whiskey beforehand. Later that day I received a letter signed with the Hogwarts seal, it was my letter for the oncoming school year. Opening it up I skimmed through the list of school equipment I needed. I held onto one specific book that I needed to buy. I slam the door open, not caring how much noise I made, and stormed down the stairs to find my beloved father.

I found him in the library reading in his favourite arm chair.

"What's this?" I snarl at him, holding up the letter.

"I believe it is a letter," he said coolly not looking up at me.

"You…You changed my electives," I shout trying to keep the tears in. I so didn't want to cry right now. "You can't do that!"

"I am your head of house and I am your guardian," he says looking me in the eye with a sneer on his lips. "I did not approve so I placed you accordingly with a better suit."

"Well you shouldn't have done that and sometimes I wish you weren't my dad," I say throwing the letter at his feet and running out of the house. Well shit I should have said guardian or escort or even keeper but I had to say the 'D' word. Shit, shit, shit.

I ran down the street and past the book store. I just kept on running and the street seemed to go on forever. I wasn't wearing any shoes so my feet started to hurt on the loose bits of stone. I finally came to a park with an old rickety swing that looked like it had been through a war. I had put on black jeans with a ripped black t-shirt that morning and I could feel the heat starting to get to me. I sit on the swing trying to clear my head. Looking around I noticed that the park was pretty empty except for this one homeless man who looked like he hasn't eaten in a while. I could see him from the corner of my eye slowly walking up the path towards me. He kept on looking behind as if someone was following him or it could be to see if anyone was around. I didn't want to be afraid anymore, I was sick of everyone pushing me around. He comes closer making it obvious it's me he's headed for so I slowly slide my wand from out of my sleeve. I hold it against my thigh; I really don't want him to see if I have a wand before I am in actual danger. He had a manic look in his eyes as he stopped just in front of me; those crazed eyes behind his unruly hair flicker down to where my wand was hiding.

"I used to hide my wand in my sleeve so bullies wouldn't see it coming when I whipped it out," he says as if we talked every day. "I could always get the better of them that way. Not that it happened very often anyway.

"Then you will know that I am not afraid to use it," I say barely over a whisper.

"I've been watching you for a few weeks now," the man calmly replies as he sits down on the grass 5 feet away from me. "You like going into that book store on the corner."

"You're not helping your case to stop me from blasting you," I say on high alert now having placed my wand right at him for precaution.

"Do you live with Snive-Severus Snape?"

"You don't get to ask the questions when I'm the one holding the wand," I start to point it at his heart. "Who are you? And why are you asking these questions?"

"I … I," he looks as if he doesn't know how to tell me. "I knew your father. Amias … Amias Grey. He was a friend of mine… your mother too but for not as long."

"My Father is dead." I ask not letting my wand waver from him. "How do you know him?"

"We went to school together, and we fought together in the war. You can trust me."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth?" his words were clouding my better judgement. "For all I know you could be some mass murdering sociopath who's pretending to know some dead girls parents."

"I know this is a lot to take in," he says calmly. "My name is Sirius Black." He holds out his hand for me to take it which I do. His hands are rough and dirty from obvious struggle.

"Rose Grey but I guess you already knew that seeing as you have extensive knowledge on my family. And yes I do live with Severus Snape." I sit back down on the swing, tucking my wand back up my sleeve.

Sirius sits next to me on the other swing. He looks as if he hasn't eaten or showered in months.

"Why have you been watching me? It's just it seems a little creepy if you ask me, whether you knew my parents or not and why now? I was in an orphanage for 10 years."

"Hey, hey slow down," he says quickly before I went on another rant. "I needed to tell Snape something but I have a feeling he won't listen. I saw you come out of the house and I knew it was you."

"You could just talk to him, I'm sure he will understand well if he's in a good mood," I say. "He can be a bit over controlling sometimes."

I finally realise that I had been gone for a while; I wouldn't be surprised if I arrived home to find Aurors on the doorstep.

"I have to go," I say standing up awkwardly. "He is probably really worried about me; I didn't exactly leave on good terms. Can we meet again? Same time next week?"

"Yea I would really like that Rose," he says grinning. "But you can't tell anyone that we met, ok?"

This confused me, why would he want me to keep him a secret? "Ok" I reply worryingly.

I leave him there by the rusty swing and head down the street home. I walk in quietly closing the door; I didn't want to bring attention to myself. I tiptoe past the living room where Snape was sitting reading the Daily Prophet in his usual seat.

"Have a nice walk?" he asks not looking up.

I groan having been caught; I really didn't want hi lecturing me about where I should go, to be careful, and not talk to anyone etc. etc.

"I'll be in my room," I quickly jumble out and then I ran up the stairs to my room collapsing on my bed.

Later that evening at dinner, which was lasagne by the way, it was really awkward. Snape still had the Daily Prophet and he would not stop reading it. He finally stopped reading it and we then continued to eat in complete silence.

"Can I read that?" I ask through a mouthful of food. He slides it over not saying anything, he was probably angry about our argument but I wasn't going to bring it up if he wasn't.

Looking at the front cover I see familiar face making my heart beat louder and louder as if it was about to jump out of my chest any minute. Sirius Black was right there staring at me from the pages of the Daily Prophet. It read 'BLACK STILL AT LARGE' followed by a blurb under his picture.

'Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today. "We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm." Fudge has been criticised by some members of the International Confederation of Wizards for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis. "Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it - who'd believe him if he did?" While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.'

I couldn't believe he didn't tell me, like how could he not tell me that he has been in Azkaban having killed thirteen people. It would explain why he looks the way he looks, I wouldn't want to even set my eyes on Azkaban let alone be stuck in there for who knows how long.

"Why did he do it?" I say looking at Snape with anger in my voice.

He looks at me long and hard. "People do cruel things in this world, whether they have reason to or not."

"No one will just kill thirteen people without reason."

"He wanted to kill his friend!" Snape shouted, standing up so abruptly that his chair fell backwards. "He betrayed his best friends to Voldemort, then hunted down his other friend and killed him along with thirteen muggles. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yea that was well put," I say sarcastically as I throw the newspaper on the table. "The dramatic side was right on the spot."

"You will be spending the rest of the holidays at the Leaky Cauldron as from the end of the week," he says seething with the fire burning in his eyes before he stormed out of the room. These holidays were going great so far and I just couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts, not that it would change much but at least I will be free of him soon.

A week past with not so much as an apology going either way, we were both just too stubborn and I definitely wasn't taking the first plunge. I snuck out of the house for my visit with Sirius Black; I triple checked that I had my wand before I left the house. As I arrived at the park he was already there on the swing. I sit next to him, tense and a tiny bit scared of him.

"When were you going to tell me?" I blurt out. I don't say what I'm talking about because I know he already knows what I talking about. "Did you think I wouldn't find out or maybe that I wouldn't ask?"

He looks at me with his grey eyes, glinting in the autumn sun. He looked weary and happy at the same time.

"How do you tell someone you just met that you were charged with slaughtering thirteen people," he replies. "I didn't want you to know. Not yet anyway."

"Why did you do it?" I say almost a whisper. I was scared of what answer I would get. "He was your friend."

"He is not my friend," he shouts jumping from the swing. He kneels before me holding my shoulders tight. "He betrayed my friends, James and Lily, him not me. Promise me you won't listen to what the daily prophet tells you. It is full of lies and deceit."

"Ok I won't."

A look of relief flooded his eyes. "You have your father's look in your eyes."

"How do you know so much about me? I have never met you before."

"Your parents were killed a week before James and Lily. I managed to find you in their house; they had hidden you well from Fenrir. I looked after you in my house but when the Potters died I just had to hunt down Peter which resulted in me being imprisoned. They must have searched the house and found you, taking you to an orphanage."

"So I ended up being in an orphanage for like 10 years because you wanted to get your revenge," I shout. Now I was the pissed off one. "You couldn't have thought of anyone else but yourself!"

"I didn't think you would take that well but what kind of like would you have had living with me?"

"Better than the one I have at the moment."

"You can't mean that?" Sirius says with a touch of sadness on his voice. "You have a loving father,"

"Pft that's unlikely," I reply rolling my eyes. "He's a controlling, demanding, person who happens to have adopted me."

"If Snape can open his home to a kid like you then anything is possible," Sirius pushed me lightly on the shoulder. "And by what your describing it sounds like he really cares about you."

"He's sending me to the Leaky Cauldron this Friday so I'm not going to see you for a while," I say hugging him.

"I'll write to you," he whispers in my ear. "I'm not leaving you this time."