The Hidden One

15. coming home

"Time to be surprised. Step away from my goddaughter," A voice growled. Sirius and Rose jumped up and saw Remus standing there with his wand pointing at Sirius.

"Moony, don't do this," Sirius said, raising his arms as he slowly stepped in front of Rose.

"Don't tell me what to do! You murdered James and Lily, let Marlene get tortured and now you've kidnapped my goddaughter! I've been going crazy for days!" Moony yelled. Sirius stepped back in fear and Rose grabbed onto his raised arm. Neither one had ever seen Moony so angry.

"Moony, please listen!" Rose pleaded.

"Be quiet, Madelyn!" Moony responded, not looking away from Sirius.

"My name is Briar Rose and you know it!" Lyn responded, trying to step in front of her father, who just pushed her back. Remus looked at her for the first time and saw how she clung to Sirius' arm. He slowly lowered his wand, his chest still heaving.

"You have 5 minutes before I send a patronus to Dumbledore," Remus told Sirius, who let out a breath of relief.

"Lyn or Rose, whatever you want to be called, come here," He ordered, trying to calm down as he could see the fear is her eyes.

"I like Rose much better. And I'm going to stay right here next to my dad," Rose responded. Sirius felt as if his heart could burst. Meanwhile, Remus felt his heart start to break.

"That's... fine," Remus said to Rose before turning to Sirius. "Start talking."

"I wasn't the secret keeper. We knew that Voldemort would go after me first so we decided to make Peter the secret keeper. I visited Peter that night and saw his death eater robes. By the time I got to Godrics Hollow it was too late. They were both dead. I took Rose to our house and saw Marlene... almost dead. I just lost it and decided to go after Pettigrew myself," Sirius explained, trying to keep the explanation short.

"And what about the muggles?" Remus asked.

"I found Pettigrew. He started yelling and before I could do anything he cut off his own finger, blew up the street and then transformed into a rat and escaped into the sewer. I didn't even have my wand out," Sirius admitted. Rose let out a sniff so Sirius pulled her closer, giving her a kiss on the forehead as he did so. Remus watched the exchange and saw that Sirius was completely sane. For a while, Remus had had to convince himself of his friends' guilt. Now, Remus saw that Sirius had been wrongfully imprisoned.

"What proof do you have?" Remus asked, knowing of Sirius' innocence but wanting to double check.

"My word. If I had my wand I could show you my last spell. Oh, and Pettigrew is living as a pet rat named Scabbers," Sirius told his friend.

"Scabbers! That's Ron Weasley's rat, right?" Remus asked, looking to Rose who just nodded. The room was silent.

"Are my five minutes up?" Sirius questioned. Rose gripped his thin hand and held her breath.

"I think that you deserve more than five minutes," Remus chuckled. Sirius stood up and the two embraced. Rose watched and wished she had a camera. Remus noticed her looking and opened his arms towards her. She quickly ran over and joined in the hug.

"I didn't think I would ever be able to do this," Sirius admitted after a few minutes. The three people stepped away from each other but Rose kept her arm wrapped around her father's arm, a habit she had quickly picked up on.

"I didn't either," Remus responded, his gaze flickering between his best friend and his goddaughter. Rose looked happier than he had ever seen her. He knew that she had always wished for her parents, despite the lies he had been forced to tell her. He knew that he would never get his goddaughter back completely but he wasn't upset about it.