The Dog and the Swan.

Chapter Fifteen

Remus grinned as he swung Ebony up from the floor and onto her feet. They'd just spent the last hour together roaming around Diagon Alley looking for the perfect Halloween costume for her and well, Remus might have spoilt her a little bit. She'd been through a lot in her three years but she was still happy and still offered love to everyone she met.

"Uncle Mooney." She frowned, stopping dead before they reached the fireplace. "I don't want to go inside."

"Why?" he asked, looking down as she stared up at him with her big silver eyes.

"They're not happy." She whispered, gripping his hand and trying to go back into his kitchen. "Can we go to Aunt Lily's? I want to see the baby one last time."

"Let me see if they're in." he smiled.

He put the bag on the kitchen side as she skipped over to ask his mother if she could have one last biscuit. Remus knew his mother would give in; it was hard to say no to Ebony. Taking a handful of floo powder, he tossed it into the fire.

"The Potters, Godric's Hollow." Leaning forwards Remus locked his jaw as his face felt like it was being ripped from his skull until he was staring into the familiar kitchen. "Anyone in?!" he shouted.

As he strained to hear a response all he could make out was James' heavy snores. They'd probably gotten Harry to sleep and then promptly fell asleep with him. Pulling back quickly, before he could be blamed for the baby waking up, Remus sat back on his haunches.

"Are they in?" Ebony asked chocolate visible on the top of her lip.

"Nope." He lied with a dramatic sigh. "What shall we do, if you don't want to go home?"

"Why don't you want to go home?" Hope asked, stooping down and pulling Ebony into a hug. "I thought you loved Uncle Sirius and Aunty Haze?"

"They're angry at something." She whispered, pushing his mother's hair behind her ear. "They try not to say it in front of me but on Saturday's Aunty Hazel cries."

"Oh no." Hope frowned. "Remus, you go and see if they're alright and we will read a story until you get back."

"Sure." He sighed, standing up and leaving the house.

When he didn't have to floo, he didn't. Within seconds, he was walking into the tall town house that Hazel and Sirius shared and less than a minute later he knew exactly why Ebony didn't want to come back.

"It's you!" Hazel screamed as something smashed. "You're doing something to stop it!"

"For merlin's sake Haze; I'm not doing anything!" he roared back, "you need to calm down; you're the one stopping it from happening!"

"ME?!" the scream got louder, "I want this so badly it hurts, I'm not stopping anything."

Remus was frozen in horror when Hazel ran down the stairs, her hair a mess and her makeup streaming down her cheeks. When they saw each other Hazel let out a snotty sob and pushed past him, disappearing out of the house entirely. Remus hadn't moved an inch when Sirius appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Eb?" he asked and Remus shook his head.

"With Mum."

"Can you take her for the night?" he asked, and Remus noticed he was physically shaking.

"Course I will; are you all right? Honestly?" he asked reaching out and gripping his best friend's shoulder.

"She wants a baby so badly." Sirius admitted, "Every week she takes a test and then cries the entire day when it doesn't happen... she's blaming me for it all... I don't want a baby, but I'm not actually doing anything to stop it."