𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝕿𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝕯𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖗

Chapter Two

Carina was beyond bored. She hadn't really interacted with her father much after that morning, and once again she was locking herself in her room. One day, she found her father and god brother in the tapestry room. Harry nearly bumped into her upon leaving, as she'd only just arrived.

"Oh, sorry." Harry mumbled awkwardly, catching Sirius' attention who tore his gaze from his name that held a blackened mark on the tapestry, to the doorway.

"It's alright." Carina muttered.

Giving an awkward smile, Harry left the two Blacks alone. Carina turned away, but a voice halted her.

"Carina, wait."

The said girl slowly turned on the spot to look back into the room.

Sirius studied his daughter for a moment before saying, "Come here."

Carina reluctantly nodded before proceeding to go stand beside the older Black. Sirius turned once more towards the family tree. Carina copied his action. Sirius' grey eyes trailed along the tapestry, reading each and every name before his orbs halted over a particular one, and he recalled a matter he needed to discuss.

"Carina, you remember that letter I sent to you? The one about that Malfoy boy?"

Carina stiffened, unsure of how to respond, as a fire of anger lit up within her because of the question being asked by her father.

"No." She lied straight through her teeth.

Sirius released a sigh. "Well, I'll tell you again, I want you to stay away from him."

Carina clenched her jaw, her hands slowly forming into fists, the fingernails digging into the palm of her hands, while she tried her hardest to not snap at Sirius. Carina took a breath.

Relax, calm down.

She nodded, not wanting to push the matter further but Sirius had already noticed her actions, and this caused a certain frustration to rise in him.

"I mean it, Carina. He's a Malfoy, and I shouldn't hear that you're spending time with him." Sirius eyed his daughter, who was visibly fuming.

"Promise me, Carina."

That did it.

"I don't think," She began saying in a dangerously low voice, "you have any right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with."

Sirius' face hardened, "I do actually, I'm your father."

Carina turned to look Sirius in the eye, a fire visible in them. "You weren't there for me all those years ago, and now you come back trying to control how I live!"

His eyes darkened, "Well, I was framed for something I didn't do!"

"Even if you had raised me, would you still treat me like this? I'm pretty sure Mum wouldn't be like this!"

Sirius flinched and his expression tinged with sorrow, and before he knew what he was saying, he blurted, "Well, Marlene would still be alive if you hadn't been born!"

Carina inhaled sharply, tears pooling in her eyes. She felt as if a knife had pierced through her heart, each word that had just slipped from Sirius' mouth stabbing through one by one.

"If you hadn't happened, my Marlene would still be with me!" Sirius yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at Carina, who held such a devastated expression on her face.

That did it. Carina now knew how much space she owned in her father's heart, which unfortunately, was none.

Without another word, Carina turned on her heels and ran out the room, leaving Sirius breathing heavily on the spot, before the realisation hit him hard of what he'd just done, of what he'd just destroyed.