"I can tell that you have more questions." said Sirius, opening the bag of food and peering inside. "Please, feel free to ask me anything you want."

"I guess my first question is about Harry's brother." said Lilleth. "Neither of us knew anything about our family until Harry came to Hogwarts. That's when we learned that Lily and James didn't die in a car crash, and we learned about magic and everything, but even then, no one told us that he has a brother."

"Well, his name is Edward." said Sirius pleasantly as he bit into a chicken wing. "He's two years older than Harry. Rather a lot like James, as I remember. He was about three when James and Lily were killed. When Hagrid came, saying that his instructions were to take you to a safe place, I assumed that you would all stay together. I never dreamed Dumbledore would split up Harry and his brother, and I have no idea where Edward went, if not with you."

"Oh."

"Any other questions?"

"I understand that you didn't kill James and Lily, but did you kill Peter and those muggles?" asked Lilleth. "After what Peter did, did you kill him? I wouldn't be cross if you did, I'd understand."

"No, I didn't." said Sirius firmly. "I wanted to. After I let Hagrid take the three of you, I went to find him. But he started shouting that I was the one who killed them, that I betrayed them to Voldemort, then set off the explosion in the street and turned into a rat."

"Turned into a... rat?"

"I suppose I should have mentioned that James, Peter and I all became animagi to help Remus with his condition." said Sirius with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Lilleth's head reeled. "Condition?" she asked in confusion. "I think I have more questions now than before."

"Of course, I forgot that you wouldn't know." Sirius sighed. "Merlin, there's a lot to catch up on. Twelve years truly is a while."

"Longer than you'd think." said Lilleth quietly.

"Remus is a werewolf." said Sirius, looking her directly in the eye. He awaited her reaction with bated breath, and pinched one of his fingers nervously.

"I had tea with him, a couple of weeks ago." said Lilleth with a small smile. "I think that even if he's a werewolf sometimes, it doesn't mean he's one all the time."

"I'm very glad you think so." said Sirius in relief. "Many view him as a monster, but he's far from it. He told us about it in our second year. But we'd seen him meticulously fold his socks every day, so we weren't exactly terrified."

"So you all became animagi to help him?" asked Lilleth. "How does that help?"

"Werewolves are only dangerous around other humans." he explained. "Not animals as much. So we thought we'd give him some company to make the full moon less lonely for him. We started in second year and finally managed to turn into animals in the middle of our fifth year."

"So you're a dog." said Lilleth. "Peter is a rat. What was James?"

"A stag." said Sirius. "Before they were all destroyed, Edward and Harry both had sets of stuffed toys: a stag, a wolf, a dog and a rat. And we got you a set as well, although I don't know where they ended up."

"So Peter turned into a rat to escape?" asked Lilleth. "Where did he go?"

"Here." said Sirius.

He fished around inside his robes and pulled out a crinkled piece of paper, and he handed it over to her. She examined it closely.

"This is the Weasleys." she said. "On their holiday in Egypt, this summer. What does this have to do with -"

She stopped as her breath caught in her mouth. The rat on Ron's shoulders. Scabbers.

"Ron's rat." she whispered. "That's Peter, isn't it?"

"Yes." said Sirius.

She looked up at him. For the first time, his pleasant expression had gone, and was replaced with one murderous enough to reach into the photo and kill the little rat where it sat on Ron's shoulder.

"The Minister for Magic visited my cell in the summer." he said, not taking his eyes off the photo. "He brought me his newspaper. I saw Peter on the front and recognised him immediately. Then it said that the boy who owned him would be returning to Hogwarts, where Harry would be. And I know that I had to find him and protect him, and you, if you were here too. So I starved myself until I was thin enough to slip out of the bars in my dog form, and then I made my way up here. Then I met you."

"After breaking into Gryffindor Tower on Halloween." said Lilleth pointedly.

"I needed a time when no one else would be in the tower." said Sirius. "I wanted to get to Peter without anyone else spotting me. But then the Fat Lady wouldn't let me in, so I got angry and I lashed out."

"Then you met me."

"Well I didn't know it was you at first." he said. "Honestly, I was just hoping for some food from a pitying first year. Then you said your name and I thought I'd take a shot. Lilleth isn't exactly common, after all."

"Well, I suppose you were right." she said.

"I don't suppose you would mind telling me something about yourself?" he asked. "I had hoped that I would have had twelve years with you by now, but I suppose I've had all of half an hour. I would love to know more about my daughter."

"Like what?" asked Lilleth.

"What do you enjoy doing in your free time?" Sirius prompted.

"Dancing." said Lilleth immediately. "I dance wherever I can. The library near where I grew up had all sorts of books on it, even though I could never have lessons."

"That sounds fun." said Sirius with a smile. "When did you start that?"

"I think I've always danced." she said thoughtfully. "Ever since I could walk. But I only started looking into it and looking at the books when I was five or six."

"Do you like other types of books, or just dancing ones?"

"I love all kinds of reading." said Lilleth. "It's a way of escaping. Like dance."

"Escaping what?"

She smiled.

"Everything."