Chapter 18

I waited for Grace at the train station. She was coming home for the summer, and now I had no reason not to tell her about Sirius.

I stood awkwardly on the platform, shifting my weight from foot to foot. There was a small crowd gathered nearby, and others disappeared through the wall onto Platform 9 ¾. I wanted to go too, but was terrified of walking into a solid wall. What if it didn't work unless I had someone magical with me?

Thankfully, I didn't have to stand there long. Grace appeared from the wall, dragging her trunk and cat carrier behind her. She was grinning from ear to ear and practically ran when she saw me. 'Mum!' She yelled as she raced towards me.

I grinned, opening my arms wide. She let go of her trunk and hugged me tightly. It had been so long since the Easter holidays, and to think, so much had changed since then!

'Oh, Grace! It's so good to see you! I can't even explain how much I've missed you!'

'I missed you, too, Mum. I have so much to tell you!'

'Same here, sweetie. Same here.' I smiled and shook my head slowly, still unsure of how exactly I was going to tell her. 'Well, shall we head home? We're having your favourite for dinner.'

Grace's smile grew wider and she grabbed her trunk and dragged it behind her as she followed me out to the car. She spent the whole ride chatting, telling me everything that had happened since the Easter holidays. 'Mum, have you talked to Professor Lupin?' She asked, her voice no longer cheery.

'Yes, he stopped by a few days ago. Yes, I know all about him. At the moment, I don't think there is much in the magical world I don't know.' Which I knew was a lie. But, it still made me feel better to think it.

'He left school; he's not my professor any longer. Is he still going to come by and see us? He said he would, but I'm not sure I believe him.'

'He had better. I don't know what I'd do if he left forever. Who would I ask questions?'

Grace looked back out the window and grew very quiet. 'Mum, he doesn't scare me. I know he should, but he doesn't. He still just seems like Professor Lupin.'

'I know, sweetie. I've been thinking the same thing. He's worried we will be though.'

It took another half hour to get home with the traffic. Grace took her trunk back to her room to begin unpacking while I started on dinner.

Preparing dinner helped keep my mind off the impending chat with Grace. I wanted to tell her as soon as possible, because I could only imagine her anger if I put it off too long. And, it's always better to get something like this over with quickly, rather than prolonging it, almost like taking off a Band-Aid.

We ate and I settled in on the couch while Grace retreated to her room to finish what would now be the annual unpacking. I turned on the telly, but my mind wasn't in it.

Oh well. Rather than prolong the inevitable, I stood, turned off the sitcom, and headed down the hallway. Her door was open and I had to laugh at the sight. She was sitting in the middle of a pile of clothes, books and who knows what else.

I stood in the doorway of Grace's bedroom, trying to think of the words I needed to say before I actually said them. All I needed to do was tell her about Sirius. That's it. Nothing too serious. Ha.

'What does your homework look like for the summer?" I asked, chickening out of what I needed to say.

She looked up from the pile on the floor, gesturing at the pile on her bed. 'I've got an essay for Potions, History of Magic and another for Transfiguration, a dozen chapters to read for Herbology and Charms, and a few planets to see for Astronomy. Nothing too difficult.'

'Well that's good,' I said with a smile. Slowly, I walked into the room and sat on her bed, after brushing aside a few stray sweaters. 'Grace, I have something in need to talk with you about.'

She looked up from her clothes before simply tossing the small pile back into the trunk. "What is it, Mum?"

'Grace, I don't know quitehow to say this to you. It's about your father.'

'My… father?' She asked warily, her eyes growing wide. 'What about him?'

Since she was able to talk, Grace had asked me questions about her father. I never knew how to answer them, or how much information I should give her. It was a difficult topic to broach, especially considering he was in prison for murdering his best friends. 'Do you remember all the questions you've asked me about him?'

'Not all of them,' she said softly. 'Why?'

'Do you remember when you asked me whether or not he was a wizard?' I waited until she nodded before I continued. 'Well, I know now, and I knew then… sort of.' I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to hurry before she commented and I lost all confidence. 'Your father is a wizard. We were together for just over a year before I found out I was pregnant with you. Butsomething happened… and he modified my memory so that I wouldn't remember the magical world. He wanted to keep me safe and thought that was the only way to do it."

She stared at me and I couldn't say I blamed her. 'My father is a wizard?' I smiled sadly at her, nodding. 'Who is he? Where is he? Does he know about me?'

'I need you to listen. This is going to be difficult to believe, but I need you to you do that?'

'Yes,' she whispered, her eyes wide.

'Your father was in wizard prison for a number of years for something he didn't do…'

'He was in Azkaban? Why? Is he still there?'

I took another deep breath and tried to censor the information, at least for the time being. 'Just listen. The important thing is that your father is innocent. He didn't do what everyone says he did. He isn't there anymore, hasn't been for a few months now. He escaped… the only person to do so actually…'

'Sirius Black? Sirius Black is my father? He killed Harry's parents! He slashed the Fat Lady…"

I shook my head quickly back and forth. 'He didn't. Grace, you need to listen.' Reaching out, I took her hands in mine, holding tightly. 'He didn't kill James and Lily; he's innocent. The plan was for him to be Secret Keeper, but they changed at the last minute. They didn't tell anyone, not me, not Remus, not even Professor Dumbledore. He's innocent, Grace.'

'How come you didn't tell me this before?' She bit her lip and my heart broke as her eyes watered.

'I didn't remember everything until quite recently, and after that, I wasn't sure how you'd react. I needed to be certain, to be 100% sure that he was innocent before I told you.'

She paused for a moment, as if processing everything I had just told her. Pulling her hands from mine, she ran one through her hair, very much in the way Sirius used to do.'Why'd he modify your memory? Why not just let you go?'

"He knew that the Ministry would come after me since I knew about magic. He thought it would keep me safe. If we had a child, it might not have mattered as much, but we didn't know about you yet. I didn't find out I was pregnant until a week after he went to Azkaban.' I reached out to take her hand, but she pulled back, a glare crossing her face. I blinked in surprise, and when I looked back it was gone, replaced by a frown and tears sliding down her cheeks.

'He didn't know about me? He didn't know you had a daughter?'

'No,' I said softly. 'I didn't find out I was pregnant until a week after. I wouldn't have known where to go or where to write even if I had wanted to get in touch with him.

'I thought that by keeping you a secret, he wouldn't bother us. He would never come near you, even if he managed to get out. I wanted nothing to do with him. I thought he did it; I thought he killed my best friends… his best friends.'

I saw the question forming on her lips before she even said it. 'Does he know about me now? Have you seen him?'

'He came to see me in November, to check out how I was doing. He saw your pictures up on the wall and after I was sure I believed him, I told him. And he was here a few days ago, to tell me Remus believed him… that Harry knew.'

She smiled for a moment, her lips turning up, but the smile was gone before I could smile back. 'Does he want me? Does he want a daughter?' Her voice wavered and a stray tear slid down her cheek.

'Of course he wants you. We talked about having kids when we were together, but didn't get that far.' The look of fear that had been permanently etched on her face throughout the entire conversation was gone. In its place was a look of relief, and a large grin. 'Aren't you concerned he's a convicted murderer on the run from the Ministry?'

She paused for a moment, the grin fading slightly. 'You said he was innocent right?'

"Yes but…'

'Does Professor Dumbledore know he's innocent? And Professor Lupin?'

"Yes. When Remus came by to tell me about his… problem, he told me he knew that he knew Sirius was innocent. He persuaded me into telling you now, versus later.'

'Then I believe you. Does anyone else know?'

I shrugged. 'As far as I know, it's just us, Remus and Professor Dumbledore. I think Remus said something about Harry knowing, but I'm not sure.'

'Does Harry know about me?'

Slowly, I shook my head. 'Not unless Sirius has told him.'

'Do I get to meet him? Or has he gone away for a while? I know he escaped from the school, but…' she trailed off with a shrug.

I was shocked by how well my daughter was taking this. I expected her to fuss, or scream at me like a normal preteen, but nothing. 'If you want to, but it has to be in secret. No one outside a few people knows he's innocent. The Ministry doesn't even know. Well, they don't believe he's innocent. Professor Dumbledore has tried to plead the case, but they won't listen.'

'How does Professor Lupin know?'

'He was best friends with Sirius when we were younger. We got together a lot before all this happened.'

She nodded. 'When do I get to meet him? Sometime soon?'

'As soon as we can arrange a safe place. Sooner rather than later. He's actually quite excited and very happy you followed in his footsteps by being in Gryffindor.'

'I wish I could tell Kaitlyn about this. She'd be excited. I know, I know,' she said after seeing the look on my face. 'I can't tell her. At least I can talk to Harry. Do Ron and Hermione know too?'

'Ron? Hermione?' I had no idea who these people were.

'They're Harry's best friends. Ron used to help Hermione tutor me in Transfiguration. I don't think he was fond of the tutoring part, just wanted to be with Hermione.'

'I think they know, but I'm not sure. I'd ask Harry first.'

Grace launched in a long gossip session about Ron and Hermione and how they should just go out already. I was quite happy that she was taking this better than we thought.

AN: Not quite as long as the last one, and I'm not sure how much I like it, but there it is. Thank you to: Miffy, Allen Pitt, Jocasta Silver, amrawo, Hi, HpGinny77, and LadyStrider17 for reviewing the previous chapter.

And- Hi~ Yes, I do take suggestions! I may or may not use them, but I'll take them! I have this thing pretty much all planned out, but there is always room for changes :)