Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Forty Six

Sirius lifted his head up from his pillow and glanced over to see that Nixie was still sound asleep beside him. He grinned before reaching over and pushing her hair out of her face that had fallen into her face while she slept. As soon as he touched her face, she made a growling noise at him in her sleep and turned away from him. 

"Mermaids and their sleep." He chuckled lightly before pushing himself out of the bed and getting dressed. He slipped his trousers back on before pulling his shirt on over his head, then left downstairs, leaving her to sleep.

As he made his way downstairs, he saw Remus sitting in the living room, his hand covering over his face as he sat in an armchair.

"Having a nap, Moony?" He called out to the man.

"Trying to manage this never-ending migraine that haunts me." Remus replied.

"Sounds painful." Sirius replied leaning on the railing. Remus removed his hand from his face to look over at his best friend.

"Where's Nixie? I wanted to apologize to her for earlier. I really didn't mean to upset her like that, I wasn't thinking when I said all that-"

"Well, she's asleep and she's no longer upset. Don't worry, I made sure of that."

"What did you...Oh Sirius!" Remus grimaced and looked away while Sirius wore a happy grin.

"What?"

Remus shook his head but groaned at the pain. 

"Why don't you take something for it, mate? Rather than sit here and whine about it."

"What if I want to sit here and whine about it?" Remus countered. 

"Then you're doing a great job so far." Sirius replied before walking down the stairs and sitting across from him in another chair.  "Any news on Margaret's whereabouts?"

"Nothing." Remus sighed. "Not a single trace. I'm sure they are hiding her away until we make contact with them first, but you know what they want and we're obviously not going to oblige."

"Have you thought about what's going to happen if it comes down to the worst possible scenario?" Sirius asked.

'What do you mean?" Remus questioned eyeing the man.

"You know what I mean, Moony. There is a possible chance that they won't let Margaret lived. They hate muggles as it is, they're trying to get Eleanor to crack and reveal what she does, but luckily they haven't been able to get to her. So, they know how to cause enough pain without even touching her. That's her mother and regardless if they don't share the closest relationship, the girl loves her mother."

"Of course, she does, I never doubted that."

"So what do you think they're going to do to Margaret, Remus?"

Remus looked up and stared at Sirius before standing up. "No, they won't do that-"

"Oh they won't?" Sirius said leaning back in the chair. "Crowley had no problem killing Henry, and she was best friends with Nixie at one point. She was friends with you too. Bellatrix is as unstable as her hair is curly, which should say plenty. She has no problem with inflicting pain or killing, none of Voldemort's followers do. You think they're going to have any ounce of mercy on Margaret?"

"Shut up, Sirius!" Remus said sternly. "It's not going to happen. Margaret will be shaken, but not dead."

"I'm just trying to prepare for the worse right now, Remus.  It's times like this where we have to be prepared beyond anything. You remember the first war, we have to learn from our mistakes-"

"The mistake I've already made is going to cost my daughter her happiness if I don't get her mother back safely."

"Was she aware of Eleanor's knitting?" Sirius asked. " What it's capable of doing? Or preventing?"

"I don't think so." Remus said. " She was pretty clueless to most magic, she didn't understand the concept behind most things according to Ellie and I was able to witness that first hand. Which is why I didn't want to tell her about any of this to begin with. You should have seen her reaction when I had to tell her what happened last school year. She was ready to hide Eleanor away in a cave-"

"Eh, Eleanor might like it, it wasn't too bad. You'd like it too. Nixie grew tired of living in it because of all the chocolate we ate from Hogsmeade. But since chocolate is a vital staple of the Lupin breed, she might be okay."

Remus tried to hide his amusement but failed. "Eleanor isn't the biggest fan of chocolate."

"Really? Are you sure she's yours?"

"I'm pretty sure, Sirius."

It was quiet for a few minutes before Sirius spoke again. 

"What's it like?" Sirius asked him curiously.

"What's what like?" Remus peered up at him.

"Fatherhood."

"Thinking about starting your own family with Nixie finally?"

"Well, we always planned on it, just the timing was never right, and then I had to go on holiday while Nixie picked up an unhealthy swimming addiction."

"So you two are considering it now-"

"Not now." Sirius said shaking his head. "After all this madness is over, yeah. But I would never bring a child into this world in the state it's in."

"Wise decision." Remus said. "But I think you'll enjoy it when the time comes. It's something that I can't really describe, but it gives you a whole new sense of importance knowing you're responsible for another life. And it's so rewarding at the same time when you see your child happy...kills you on the inside when you see that they are sad... but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I thought at first that Eleanor and I were going to have our problems because of how much time had passed, but it's like I've been around her, her entire life."

"You lucked out, Moony, she's a nice kid. She reminds of your mother."

"Yeah, she reminds me of her too. But I'm sure your child will remind you of someone...the past has a way of coming back and giving us pleasant little reminders."