Lucy Jones 3: Blackbird

prologue

A black cat changes cells and sees a dog who turns back into a man. She had seen it many times before. The cat is a she. She switches back to her human form when she is in the same cell as the man. The man stands with his back towards her: 'What do you want?'

'Nothing.' She says, staring at his back: 'You didn't do it. Is that what's keeping you sane? Knowing that you're not responsible.'

He turns around: 'How do you know that.'

'Don't pretend like you don't know who I am.'

He looks at her. She has dark brown hair that once was sleek and fell around her face the way it's supposed to. Not anymore, not here: 'Why do you think I want to talk to you?'

'Maybe we've both been played.' She sits down against a wall.

'Oh yeah, someone tricked you into his life. You married you-know-who against your will and never found a way to escape.'

'Done?'

'What?'

'I didn't get tricked that way. I was stupid. He made promises that I believed, as naive as I was. He went too far. He promised me that he wouldn't do it, that he wouldn't kill that boy. I'm glad he didn't succeed completely.'

That man doesn't understand: 'What are you saying?'

'It's good that he is gone, and I hope Voldemort will never return. He took away the only thing that mattered to me. My daughter.'

The cat and the dog didn't talk until two weeks later when he finds a moment and sees she is alone again: 'How old is she.'

'Thirteen, she will be in her third year of Hogwarts when she goes back.' He doesn't answer: 'Same age as Harry. I know.'

'Is that why you wanted to protect him. It reminded you of your own child.'

'Maybe, I think it made me realize how much there was destroyed and therefore lost.' There is a pause: 'There are rumours that he'll return. I want to stop that.'

He looks around: 'The rat he is at Hogwarts, pretending to be a boy's pet.'

'I think it's time to plot an escape. Are you in?'

He looks at her, considering if he can trust her. He isn't sure, but is there another way: 'My name is Sirius.'

'I know.'

'Yes, but maybe you should use it. If we're going to do this, we have to introduce ourselves first.'

She grins: 'Ok, I'm Julie.'