IV
The next few days are tense in the base.
Voldemort's daughter spends them mostly in the library. It's probably for the better since Sirius was still not alright after what she said.
That is, until Remus has to go out on a mission one day and she is left alone with Sirius.
And he promised the other man that he would try to connect with her. They need to earn her trust and get her to like them before they can try and demand answers - that's what the Order concluded at the last meeting.
Sirius had a daughter before, maybe he will know what to do and have more luck with her.
"What do you want?" She scoffs as soon as he walks into the library, not even glancing from the book she's reading.
Sirius pauses for a moment, taking in the girl's defiant posture before speaking. "I want to talk to you," he says simply, his tone surprisingly gentle despite his earlier frustration. Remus had faith in me, but I don't know if I can do this. "I know you don't believe me now, but there's more to life than power and fear." He sits down on a chair opposite her, leaning forward with his hands clasped together.
"My daughter... she was just a baby when Voldemort took her from me." His voice caught slightly, but he presses on. "If she were here now, I'd give anything for her to have a chance at a normal life, away from all this darkness."
He hesitates, then asks, "Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to play with other children, to learn about the world without fear?"
"No," she scoffs and shrugs. "I don't care about any of that," because she never even experienced those things. "All I care about is getting more powerful and learning new things."
Sirius sighs heavily, struggling to hide his disappointment. "Power isn't everything," he says earnestly, leaning forward in his chair. Maybe she doesn't understand because she's never known anything else.
"There's joy in simple things, like making someone laugh or reading a good book," he gestures towards the one she was holding. "Your father...he's twisted those desires into something dark, but power isn't the same as happiness." He hesitates, choosing his words carefully. "There are other ways to learn new things, other kinds of power." How do I make her see the reason? How do I reach her?
But she just rolls her eyes. "This is another one of the attempts to make me join the good side," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "But I can tell you right now it's not going to work. So save your breath."
Sirius pauses, studying her expression for a moment. And then it dawned on him - maybe they had been focusing too much on the war and not enough on reaching out to her as a child. With a slight nod, he decides to change tactics.
"You're right, we shouldn't always talk about such heavy things," he says with a small smile. "You know.. I used to have a magical map that showed where everyone was when I was at Hogwarts. It helped me and my friends get into lots of fun adventures." He leans back in his chair, trying to relax the tension in the room. Perhaps if I can connect with her on a personal level, I can find a crack in that armor of hers. His eyes sparkled as he spoke of happier times, hoping to draw her in.
That actually makes her put the book down. "Really?" she mutters, tilting her head to the side slowly. "Very useful thing."
The map in wrong hands could do a lot of damage, so it probably wasn't the best thing to tell Voldemort's kid about, but it's too late now.
Sirius chuckles lightly, noticing her interest. "It certainly got us into trouble as often as it got us out of it!" he admits, relishing the opportunity to speak about something less grim. At least she's engaging now.
"We used to sneak around the castle late at night, looking for hidden passages and avoiding the teachers," he continues, recalling memories from long ago.
"Hm," another mutter. "And I suppose you won't give it to me or teach me how to make one?" she tilts her head to the side. "I mean, it would be really stupid of you if you did," she shrugs.
Voldemort's child having access to anyone's location at all times? Not happening. If she learned how the one they made works, she could probably make other ones, but not just showing Hogwarts but other locations too.
Sirius shakes his head with a chuckle. "No, I don't think that would be wise," he stops for a moment. "But I can teach you how to make other things, though. Like how to make a Patronus." That might actually be beneficial for us. If she is even able to make a Patronus that means she's not dark entirely. And maybe through those lessons he would be able to gain her trust. And with Voldemort's daughter, they would need every advantage they could get.
nevermind it was just a burst of motivation at 2 am and i dont really feel like continuing writing this so lol