**George’s POV**
As soon as Maddie disapparates I curse myself.
“She didn’t want Alithea?” Hermione asks quietly.
“Not at first,” I answer, “but… I shouldn’t have said that. She loves Alithea more than anything.”
“But she left.”
I turn around and see the man in the bed near dad looking at us.
“She’ll come back,” I reply. He shakes his head.
“A real mother never would have left,” he says, “she’s too young for all this.”
“Well, I agree with that,” mum mutters. I ignore them both.
“I’m going home,” I say, taking Alithea. I disapparate and appear back in the dining room at Number Twelve.
“You’re back early,” Sirius says, looking up from the paper, “Maddison not with you?”
“No,” I reply, sitting down. I quickly explain what happened. Sirius listens with a grim expression.
“She’s not ready to settle down,” he says, “she’s restless.”
“So, it’s okay for her to leave?” I ask angrily. Sirius puts down the paper with a sigh.
“No, it’s not alright,” he says, “but the fact is, you both made a bad mistake and now you have to live with it. It’s not so bad for you because you can go to school. She’s shut up in the house most of the time. Apart from me, she’s barely had anyone to talk to for months now.”
He leans forward on the table.
“I know my daughter,” he says, “and I know that being shut away from people and nature is the worst kind of torture for her. She’s got a wild streak in her that she got from me. She wants to roam the world! It’s in her blood. I’m not saying it’s okay for her to leave, mind, but-”
“Why does she, then?” I interrupt, “why does she always leave?”
“She’s got the Black pride,” Sirius says with a small smile, “she’s easily offended. When you said that she didn’t want Alithea she would have taken that to heart because I know she still hates herself for not always loving her.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
Sirius runs his fingers through his hair and sighs.
“The short of it is that she’s in a world of pain because of this baby and it makes it even harder for her because she loves her so much.”
“But she left.”
“Yes, she left,” Sirius agrees, “but she’ll come back when she’s needed.”
“SHE’S NEEDED NOW!” I yell. Alithea wakes up and starts to cry. Sirius walks over and takes her from me. He starts rocking her, just like Maddie does.
“Right now,” he whispers, “you need to be a father and that means letting her have a break.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I say, tears running down my face.
“And she does?”
“She’s a girl! Isn’t it inbuilt?”
Sirius laughs and I realise how much he sounds like Maddie.
“Oh, by the way,” he says suddenly, “did you remember her birthday?”
I feel myself turn pale.
“You know, two people did,” Sirius says, “Remus and I. No one else.”
I groan and bury my face in my hands.
“I knew there was something!” I say, “after dad… I just wasn’t thinking!”
“No, well, you, like everyone else, were completely focused on Alithea and Arthur,” he says casually, “part of being a parent is being able to balance things. You need to pay her attention, not just Alithea.”
“When do you think she’ll come back?” I ask.
“I don’t think she’ll be back until we really need her,” Sirius says, a slight frown creasing his forehead, “she seems to have a knack of making entrances.”
“Where do you think she’s gone?”
“I’d be surprised if she was still in Britain.”