Chapter 1

I do not own any of J.K Rowling's characters.

A.N: Hi y'all - I'm slowly updating this story as I have more ideas that I want to include. Hopefully, you enjoy it more and let me know what you think!

"Meghana, stand up straight," my mother hissed in my ear.

"I am," I said irritably. I couldn't think of anything worse than being here right now.

"Listen to your mother. You need to make a good impression," my father said with a sense of urgency in his voice "This has to go to plan. The Blacks are the only pure blood family I have faith in." His hazel eyes lingered on my face for a beat.

The door creaked open and a house elf appeared bowing low to us, "Please enter, you are most welcome in my master's house." it said in a raspy voice.

My father swept past the house elf as though it hadn't said a thing at all, leaving my mother and I to follow him into the hallway.

Old-fashioned gas lamps were lit all along the walls, casting a flickering light over the handsome wallpaper and threadbare carpet. Overhead a magnificent chandelier glimmered and portraits hung all along the walls. I suppressed a shudder as I glanced around. This house gave off an impression, rather like my parent's house, that dark wizards, unashamedly proud of their pure blood heritage, lived here.

"Maximilianus, my old friend, it's been too long!" a joyful voice said and I looked up to see who I could only assume was Orion Black. His black hair was swept back and dark eyes darted from my father to me as he stepped from the doorway of the drawing room and embraced my father who I noticed did not return the gesture.

"Orion, good to see you," he said rather curtly, sounding as though it was, in fact, not good to see him. "My daughter Meghana," he tilted his head at me. "And you remember my wife, Carmelina?" He continued; standing aside to let my mother have her hand taken by Orion who kissed it.

"Max!" purred a voice from behind Orion as he moved aside and his wife Walburga came into view. My father took her hand and pressed his lips to it, letting them linger a little too long.

"Lovely to see you again," he said as he stood up straight with an odd look on his face that I'd never seen on him before.

I looked disdainfully around the drawing room until my eyes landed on two boys, who looked similar in age to myself. One of the boys was busy inspecting his hand with a look of utmost disinterest in the situation, the other one caught my eye and smiled a small smile at me which I returned.

"My sons Sirius and Regulus," Orion said, waving a hand behind him in the general direction of the boys.

My father looked over at the boys, smiled wryly and raised an eyebrow.

Orion paused for a beat before clapping his hands together "Let's have a drink, Max." He put an arm around my father's shoulders and started to lead him out of the room. He turned back just before he stepped through the door

"Sirius - why don't you show Meghana around the house?"

My eyes flicked over to the boys and noticed the boy who was deeply interested in his hand, did not look up at his father's voice.

"Let me Father," said the other boy, eagerly standing up at once.

"No!" said Orion sharply "I said Sirius-now!"

Sirius finally looked up at his father with a bored expression. Orion gave him a pointed look before walking off with my dad talking in a low voice.

Sirius slouched over to me. His good looks and the casual energy around him were not lost on me, but I did detect an air of arrogance about him that I immediately disliked.

I narrowed my eyes at him as he passed me, beckoning his head for me to follow him. The fact that he didn't even have the decency to introduce himself made me dislike him even more. I sighed and gave one longing look at my mother, who had turned her back on me, talking awkwardly with Walburga and decided I had no choice but to follow Sirius to be shown a house I had no interest in.

As we ascended the stairs I noticed a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall, all of which appeared to have once belonged to house-elves. They had the same snout-like nose, so I assumed they were once all related.

"So," Sirius said without looking at me as we arrived on a landing "You starting Hogwarts next week too?"

"Yes," I said, eyeing the back of his head.

"What House do you think you'll be sorted into?" Sirius asked, suddenly stopping in front of a closed door and turning to me.

"Does it matter?" I asked, frowning. I really didn't want to think about being sorted right now.

Sirius looked at me with interest.

"Well, I think it does. My whole family has been in Slytherin," he said slowly, still looking at me curiously.

"And I suppose you'll be following in their footsteps," I said, narrowing my eyes at him again. I thought that I may have sounded harsher than I meant but, at this point, I didn't care. All I heard as soon as I received my Hogwarts letter was how proud I would make my parents being sorted into Slytherin, just like they were and their parents before them and so on. I secretly hoped that I would get sorted elsewhere but had convinced myself that it would be a lot less trouble if I did become the newest Slytherin addition to the family.

Sirius merely shrugged and continued to look at me for a beat. Then he suddenly opened the door and pushed it open wide, "This is a room," he said with a slight grin on his face.

I couldn't help but grin despite myself "Extraordinary!" I said with mock amazement.

I awoke with a start, my body sitting bolt upright in a cold sweat rubbing my face with my hands as the last of the memory faded and reality set in. I sighed as I leaned back on my pillows, closing my eyes again as I willed my heart to calm down. The familiarity of being in that house hung around me as though I had been there yesterday.

I opened my eyes and looked towards the window. It was still dark outside but the faint noise of muggle traffic rumbling outside my house in Eaton Park, made me assume it was early morning. This house was one of the many properties my family owned and was the one I chose for my residence after my parents were sent to Azkaban. The few childhood memories I had of this place weren't all that bad as we hadn't spent much time here. It was also conveniently close to the Ministry of Magic, where, when I wasn't teaching at Hogwarts, I spent most of my time.

I slowly rose out of bed, dressed before making my way down to the first floor dining room, spotting that breakfast had already been laid out on the long dining table. I smiled as I sat down, Meepy, my House Elf, never failed to amaze me with her ability to just know what time I would be up.

"Morning Miss," came her squeaky voice as she trotted into the dining room carrying a teapot and the newspaper. Although I was now an adult (not to mention, married) she still called me "Miss". I found it endearing, and sort of an homage to not only how long she had been in my family but particularly of how long she had been by my side.

As she poured me a cup of tea I took the newspaper and looked at the face on the front page blinking back up at me. I gasped as the shock hit me like a lightning bolt.

"Escape from Azkaban!" The main title read and underneath was a picture of a man I had never exactly forgotten the look of but had not seen for a long time.

Sirius Black.

Escaped? From Azkaban? I had never heard of anyone doing that before.

How?

I'd be lying to myself if I said that I didn't think about him every day, but these thoughts weren't necessarily good.

So why did I feel a slight pang of excitement?

Had he escaped to find me?

Ugh, grow up Meghana, I scolded myself. Sirius Black is just a huge mistake you made years ago.

"Everything ok, Miss?" Meepy's squeaky voice brought me back to the present.

"Yeah, just got a bit of a shock" I laughed nervously.

"From Master Sirius' escape?" she asked.

I looked down at her frowning slightly, it was strange hearing his name out loud. She immediately bowed her head, her ears flopping forward. "Sorry Miss, Meepy didn't mean to speak out of line."

"No, you didn't, don't apologise," I mumbled placing the newspaper down, sighing silently hating myself for getting worked up about this.

"I'm sure you are safe Miss," Meepy said softly as though comforting someone ill obviously sensing my scattered thoughts. But being in danger hadn't even crossed my mind. "They say he's been talking in his sleep about Harry Potter. "He's at Hogwarts, He's at Hogwarts" Miss, they say Master Sirius repeats in his sleep!" She went on eyeing me cautiously.

"What?" I said sharply, looking down at her again. "How do you know that?"

"Meepy hears from another house elf who heard it from the Minister for Magic, Miss!" she squeaked her eyes growing wider "They says that Master Sirius wants to finish the job the Dark Lord couldn't complete!"

I frowned again digesting this information as I picked up my teacup and sipped it thoughtfully. That logical part of my brain that still held onto the hope that everyone had got it wrong about him was making its way to the front of my mind.

Sirius hated the dark arts and he adored Harry. But what other reasons were there for his escape?

I shook my head as I placed the teacup back on the table in front of me. I looked at the picture of Sirius in the newspaper still blinking up at me through his matted dark hair.

"I don't know Meepy," I said quietly. "Do you really think Sirius was working for Voldemort?"

She squealed involuntarily at the mention of Voldemort's name even though she had seen him as many times as I had in the past, thanks to my parents' insistence that Death Eater meetings were to be held at our home.

"Meepy cannot be sure Miss." She said not quite meeting my eye and she turned quickly scurrying away leaving me deep in my own thoughts.

Much later that day, I sat at the long staff table at the start of term feast watching patiently as the new students were sorted into their houses. It wasn't long before the memories of my own sorting came flooding into my head.

I remembered standing in the crowd of first years nervously looking up at the staff table and the sorting hat which stood on a tall wooden stool.

"Welcome!" said Albus Dumbledore, loudly pulling me out of my own head. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast …"

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

He paused before continuing on with a warning about the Dementors and I looked over at him as he paused again looking very seriously around the hall. I noticed that nobody moved or made a sound.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

There was some scattered, applause. I turned to look down the table at Remus Lupin who looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers.

I had not seen Remus in a long time and he looked a world older than his actual age. My eyes moved to Severus who was also glaring down the staff table at Remus, looking beyond angry. I frowned slightly as I wondered if Severus was still hanging on to his old schoolboy resentment. I turned my gaze again to Remus whose attention was on Dumbledore and I made a mental note to catch up with Remus after the feast.

My mind wandered off again as Dumbledore announced Rubeus Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher and before I knew what I was even thinking about the golden plates and goblets before us all filled suddenly with food and drink.

After the feast had ended and the students had all made their way to their dormitories, I stood up and made my way along the table to greet Remus.

"Megs," he smiled at me warmly as I approached. The moniker I hadn't heard anyone use in years made my chest tighten slightly. "You haven't aged a bit." He chuckled.

"Oh, stop it!" I said, rolling my eyes at the fact he was referring to the unfalsifiable theory that members of the Megera bloodline appear young because an ancestor of ours stole part of the philosopher's stone from Nicholas Flamel and drank so much elixir that it altered our DNA and, was passed down through the bloodline.

I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. Of all of Sirius' friends, Remus was my favourite and I was genuinely happy that he was here.

"How have you been? What have you been doing?" he asked, peering into my face as we broke apart.

I launched into my usual, overused speech reserved for whenever anyone asked what I did, about working at the Ministry and my place in the Wizengamot. He sat and listened to me, a look of admiration shining in his eyes which I felt I did not deserve.

"But never mind me, how have you been?" I said, smiling at him. His news was not as elaborate as mine and I felt my heart breaking for him as he spoke about being out of work a lot and hardly making ends meet. I knew he didn't want my pity so I stayed silent and we spent another half an hour catching up until the subject turned to Sirius Black. I knew it would eventually. It was the elephant between us both.

The last time I saw Remus, we had both agreed, although it broke our hearts, that we had both been fooled by Sirius and that there was no other explanation. I had believed it back then because I was young and anger clouded my better judgement. But, as time went on, something changed. Sirius was my everything, at one point, and I truly thought I knew him inside out.

Did I really think him capable of the things they accused him of?

"They say he is the only one to ever escape Azkaban," I said quietly, studying Remus' face for a hint of anything that would give away that he knew something I didn't.

"I don't know how he managed it to be honest," Remus said not quite meeting my eye but looking genuinely bemused.

I sighed "Has he tried to contact you?" and asked reluctantly not wanting to know either answer.

Did I want Remus to tell me he had contacted him? Or would I be disappointed if he hadn't?

"No," Remus said, turning to me "Has he you?"

I shook my head and looked down at my hands, my eyes lingering for a beat on the diamond engagement and wedding rings I could never bring myself to take off.

"I don't know what I would do if he did," I said more to myself than Remus. I looked up, noticing he was also looking sadly at the rings on my left hand before I said quietly "Well, it's getting late."

He nodded and added "It is great to see you again, Meg,"

I smiled at him "You too Remus."