I knew I had to say goodbye to Sirius soon, but my mind was still too messed up that I couldn't get myself to stop talking to him and tell him to go.
"Just out of curiosity," Sirius started, his head still visible through the fire, "why did you think that I was your father?"
"For many reasons," I said earnestly, shrugging. "Your conversation with Remus about how I looked like you, how Kreacher bowed to me and called me his Master's daughter, and how protective you were of me."
"Well, if you had eavesdropped carefully on our conversation," he said with a grin, "then you would've heard Remus say that your eyes belonged to a Black, and then you would've heard us talk about Regulus."
"Oh..." I pursed my lips together guiltily. "I didn't stay long enough to hear that part of the conversation."
Sirius smiled. "But nevertheless, you do seem to be more like me than him."
"How so?"
"For one, you're a Gryffindor. And also from what I heard, you're quite the troublemaker at school," he said, giving me a knowing look.
"What? But I haven't even done anything this year!" I said, but then added quietly, "Yet."
"Anyway," said Sirius, chuckling, "Remus even sometimes calls you Little Padfoot, when you're not around."
I laughed. "I like the sound of that."
"And about the Kreacher part..." Sirius went on, "he said Master's daughter. Not Sirius. Why didn't you suspect Regulus?"
"For the same reason that you still couldn't be sure, even after all the evidence." I shrugged. "He is supposed to dead, technically."
"I still don't understand how, though..."
"Neither do I." I sighed in frustration.
By that, I once again thought back on how Regulus Black had managed escape the Inferi and leave the cave. Did that mean that Kreacher was lying to Harry, Ron, and Hermione on his orders?
Also, why would he steal the locket, only to abandon that Horcrux in Kreacher's hands and run away, starting a completely new life?
And if he once had feelings for a Muggle, then why would he join the Death Eaters in the first place, when all they did was kill and torture Muggles and Muggleborns?
"Lexi?" I shook my head as Sirius called me, coming back to reality.
"Er... anyway," I started, clearing my throat. "Now that we're on the topic, why were you acting so protective of me? You're not the same with Harry."
"True." He chuckled. "You know, the first time that I saw you, when I said you looked familiar, do you know who you reminded me of?"
"Er... Regulus?"
Sirius shook his head. "Your mother."
I raised a brow at him, not knowing what I was supposed to say and how that answered my question.
Having read through my expression, Sirius went on, saying, "I always looked at Lisa as a younger sister. And I guess I automatically started to feel the same protectiveness I felt for her toward you."
He then muttered mostly to himself, "Now I understand why James felt so over-protective —" but then he stopped himself, shaking his head.
Just then, from the corner of my eyes, I spotted Crookshanks sitting not too far away from me, staring at the fire with high amusement.
"Well, that kinda explains why you wouldn't just leave Fred and I be," I said jokingly, rolling my eyes.
"Ah, yes, speaking of those stuff," said Sirius with a grin, "tell me, Lexi. What did they exactly teach you in the Muggle world?"
"Wh-what?"
"Well, I was just wondering that seeing as you thought I was your father... do you really know how these things work?"
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, looking away awkwardly. "I — I don't know what you're talking about."
"Let me enlighten you then," he said amusingly. "I escaped Azkaban at the beginning of summer 1993, right?"
"Yeah."
"And you like were born in summer 1993, right?"
There was a small pause before my eyes widened in realization. "Oh..."
"Exactly," he grinned at me. "I really don't know how they haven't taught you that babies aren't born a few weeks after being made."
"Can we please change the subject now? I don't wanna think about it," I said with a shudder. "I guess when I was trying to make sense out of things, I only thought about the timing of your escape. Not... other stuff."
"Clearly," said Sirius in a mocking manner.
After finally saying goodbye to Sirius and his head disappearing from the fire, I left the common room and started walking upstairs.
But before I could fully go into the girls' dormitory, I could've sworn his head reappeared through the flames once again.
Shaking my head of the thought and thinking that I was just being paranoid, I went straight too bed, knowing I was too drowsy to be able to think straight.
I wanted to write to Fred right away, telling him all that I had figured out. But I held myself back, knowing that if my letter landed in the wrong hands, all my father's work on trying to hide my identity would go to waste.
But one thing I knew for sure was that I was going straight to Dumbledore tomorrow, telling him all that I had found out, leaving out the parts relating to Regulus stealing the real Horcrux.
There were many things I had to get accustomed to; from being a half-blood witch since the very start, to my father being a wizard all along.
But there was one thing that stood above all, which I had to get used to the most.
I was and always had been, Lexi Black.