III
Next few days are a pain.
For Remus at least.
He's trying to keep the peace between Sirius's and the child's constant bickering.
She seems to get a kick out of it which annoys Sirius even more and makes him retaliate even more.
Every meal, every interraction turns into a match of mockery.
And since she still refuses to tell them her name or anything other than 'future dark lady' Sirius comes up with more riddiculous nicknames for her.
That's not why they're here! They're here to gain her trust, get information about Voldemort and his plans and try to get her to join the light side.
"What the-?!" the girl screams as suddenly a big, black dog jumps onto her bed.
Sirius turns back to his human form, laughing. "Wakey, wakey, evil queen!" he grins sarcastically at her. "Breakfast's ready."
She scoffs and pushes him off the bed. "They should have put you down a long time ago. Youre riddiculous."
"And you have no sense of humor" the man shrugs, unbothered "Only using dog jokes against me. It's getting old."
"So are you yet you act like a child. Missing your teenage years, your prime of life?" another eye roll as she walks down the stairs.
"Can we have a civil breakfast for once?" Remus sighs as he sees them walk into the kitchen.
"Ask miss serious adult here" Sirius shrugs with a grin.
The child in question rolls her eyes "Keep his mouth shut and we can"
The animagus puts his hand over his chest dramatically "You'd miss my hilarious jokes too much"
She just stares at him through the mask with unimpressed look.
Sirius laughs. "Oh no, just not the glare! Anything but it! Im so scared!"
"You should be" she scoffs.
"Breakfast!" Remus interrupts them, placing the bowls of cereal in front of them.
The meal goes almost peacefully and Remus dares to hope... when suddenly she speaks up again.
"I think I know why you're so hostile towards me. Besides the obvious" she says to Sirius with a shrug "It's because I remind you of someone" Oh no. "Your daughter who has been killed by death eaters. Such a shame" she says mockingly, hitting right where it hurts, cruelly.
Sirius's daughter - Natalie - dissappeared from his house at night when she was just one year old and only a note with a dark mark was left.
For a moment there's just silence.
And then Sirius's expression contorts into a mix of anger and pain, and he lunges forward as if to strike her. Remus quickly steps in. "Sirius, no," he says firmly, his hand on Sirius's shoulder. Sirius froze, looking at her with rage in his eyes. Remus shoots her a disapproving glare. "That was low," he muttered under his breath.
Voldemort's daughter is not bothered. "Awww, did I hurt your feelings?" she continues the mocking, just to taunt him "Do you miss your daughter? Do you feel angry that Voldemort gets to have one while you dont?"
Remus's grip on Sirius's shoulder tightens, holding him back as the man trembled with anger. "Enough," Remus growls at her, trying to regain control of the situation.
He couldn't believe she would stoop so low as to bring up Sirius's daughter. He turns to face her, his eyes narrowing. "This isn't about us and our feelings," he says sternly. She's young, but she knows exactly where to hit. "Sirius, please," Remus adds, trying to calm his friend.
Sirius takes a deep breath and storms out of the room.
Remus clenches his fists. "Are you proud of yourself?" he forced himself to ask calmly. She was raised and manipulated by Voldemort. It's not her fault... but damn it.
The girl shrugs "Yeah, pretty much. Not much else to do around here except annoying you two. And he's very easy to rile up."
Remus leaves the room.