After the task, a lot more attention was on Rubi now, as people kept asking her to recount what happened at the bottom of the lake. She told them how Dumbledore had put all the hostages into a bewitched sleep in Professor McGonagall's office, first assuring them that they would be quite safe, and would awake when they were back above the water.

Rubi, taking well after her father and uncle, basked in the attention, even altering the story for dramatic effect every now and then.

Although, Rubi was a bit surprised that she was the one to be put at the bottom of the lake, after all, Ron and Hermione seemed to be more important in Harry's life. However the girl didn't know that, sure Hermione and Ron were the best friends, but Rubi being Harry's cousin stands as a reminder that he has other family out there. Family that are not the Durlseys. Family that could give him a happier life.

Family he wouldn't trade for the world.

As they entered March the weather became drier, but cruel winds skinned their hands and faces every time they went out onto the grounds. There were delays in the post because the owls kept being blown off course.

The brown owl that Harry had sent to Sirius with the dates of the Hogsmeade weekend turned up at breakfast on Friday morning with half its feathers sticking up the wrong way.

Rubi, who was seated further down the table with her friends, abruptly stood up and made her way to the trio as she realized it was a letter from her father. Harry had no sooner torn off Sirius' reply than did the owl take flight, clearly afraid it was going to be sent outside again. Sirius' letter was almost as short as the previous one.

Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.

"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" said Ron incredulously.

"It looks like it, doesn't it?" said Hermione.

"I can't believe him," said Harry tensely, "if he's caught..."

"Made it so far, though, hasn't he?" said Ron. "And it's not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore."

"Ron's got a point there, but I hope he remains careful." Rubi added, biting down into her bottom lip in mild concern.

***

Rubi left double potions, their last class of the week, glowering. Rita Skeeter had written an article on her, Hermione and Harry, putting the three into a love triangle.

The thought made her gag.

Hermione was a good friend and Harry was her cousin, for crying out loud!

To make it worse, Snape had begun to read the article out in class and then mocked them all, threw insults at them, separated them to different desks and attempted to provoke Harry and Rubi to land them in trouble. However, as Harry caught up to her, Hermione and Ron, the girl's mind quickly switched to the exchange Harry had witnessed between Karkaroff and Snape as he had stayed behind on the pretense of cleaning up his mess.

The following day, the quarter of best friends, had set out quite early to shop around Hogsmeade. Fred and George stocked up on their prank equipment, Rubi needed to buy more sugary treats for her sweet tooth and after for lunch, the four were at Madam Rosmerta's

Rubi was laughing at George, who was attempting to catch food in his mouth that Lee was throwing at him, but was miserably failing. Rubi chuckled harder, leaning more into Fred's side, the ginger grinning from ear to ear.

Suddenly, it hit her. Rubi froze, her grey orbs widening as she pulled out her timewatch.

"Oh shit!" She exclaimed, catching the attention of all the boys.

"What's wrong?" George asked, watching Rubi stand up as she adjusted her purse.

"I needed to be somewhere and I'm late!" The girl answered, throwing a look at Fred who nodded, encouraging her to go as Rubi had filled him in beforehand and she dashed off.

"Where is she going?" Lee wondered, eyes flitting to Fred in confusion who merely shrugged.

"Had a thing with Hermione and the others." Fred answered, turning his attention back to his plate.

Meanwhile, Rubi was sprinting through the village, dodging people, muttering an 'excuse me' or 'pardon me' every once in a while. She finally rounded onto the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.

The cottages were fewer here, and their gardens larger; she continued toward the foot of the mountain in whose shadow Hogsmeade lay. Then she turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were already there and with them was a very large, shaggy black dog, its front paws on the topmost bar, carrying some newspapers in its mouth.

Rubi skidded to a stop, bending over.

"I-I'm here." She panted out, "L-lost- track of... time."

The black dog made a sound that almost sounded like a laugh.

Rubi pouted, "Rude." Before she paused, "Also, good to see you too, dad."

Padfoot wagged his tail once, then turned and began to trot away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to meet the rocky foot of the mountain. Harry, Ron, Rubi and Hermione climbed over the stile and followed. Padfoot led them to the very foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was easy for him, with his four paws, but Harry, Ron, Rubi and Hermione were soon out of breath.

"Don't be surprised if my soul leaves my body midway through the climb." Rubi said, breathing heavily. The black dog paused and turned around with a stern expression, letting out a rather loud bark almost as if he was scolding the metamorphmagus, before resuming the journey. Sirius didn't appreciate his daughter talking about dying, he'd seen too many horrors in the past already.

They followed Padfoot higher, up onto the mountain itself. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding, and stony path.

Then, at last, Padfoot slipped out of sight, and when they reached the place where he had vanished, they saw a narrow fissure in the rock. They squeezed into it and found themselves in a cool, dimly lit cave.

Tethered at the end of it, one end of his rope around a large rock, was Buckbeak the hippogriff. Half gray horse, half giant eagle, Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes flashed at the sight of them.

All four of them bowed low to him, and after regarding them imperiously for a moment, Buckbeak bent his scaly front knees and allowed Hermione to rush forward and stroke his feathery neck.

Harry and Rubi, however, were looking at the black dog, which had just turned into his true form.

Sirius was wearing ragged gray robes; the same ones he had been wearing when he had left Azkaban. His black hair was longer than it had been when he had appeared in the fire, and it was untidy and matted once more. He looked very thin.

"Chicken!" he said hoarsely after removing the old Daily Prophets from his mouth and throwing them down onto the cave floor. Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken legs and bread. "Thanks," said Sirius, opening it, grabbing a drumstick, and tearing off a large chunk with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself." He grinned up at Harry, but Harry returned the grin only reluctantly.

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" he said.

Rubi merely stared at her father, her heart aching for how he has to live.

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather, I've been around Hogwarts for months anyways." said Sirius, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way, but the four teenagers shared an alarmed look. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray. After all, who could not love me?" He added at the end with a smirk, making Rubi let out a watery chuckle.

At that, Sirius turned his gaze from Harry to Rubi, his grin melting into a fond smile. He opened up his arms.

"Rubi."

The girl didn't think twice before rushing into her father's arms, the force almost making Sirius stagger a step back.

"I missed you too." He breathed out, tightening his hold on his daughter who merely gripped him more.

Rubi pulled away, her eyes glossing over.

"I'm so sorry-"

"Whatever for?" Sirius interrupted with a stern voice.

"You shouldn't have to live like this-"

"And it's not your fault." The Black patriarch cut his daughter off, "You understand?" He asked, cupping her face.

Rubi wanted to argue but thought better and nodded.

Reassured, Sirius released her and returned his attention back to his godson.

"I want to be on the spot, Harry. Your last letter... well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried." He nodded at the yellowing Daily Prophets on the cave floor, and Ron picked them up and unfolded them.

Harry, however, continued to stare at Sirius. "What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"

Rubi nodded frantically along.

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus," said Sirius, shrugging, and continuing to devour the chicken leg. "Besides, what's life without a little risk?"

Rubi frowned at that, she had heard that phrase many times before, but she couldn't pinpoint where.

Ron nudged Harry and passed him the Daily Prophets, with Rubi peering over her cousin's shoulder. There were two: One about Barty Crouch's health and continued absence and the other regarding Bertha Jorkins, the Ministry worker who had been missing for far too long.

"They're making it sound like he's dying," said Harry slowly. "But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here..."

Harry had seen Barty Crouch's name on the Marauder's Map when he was late out one night, trying to solve the clue from the egg for the second task.

"My brother's Crouch's personal assistant," Ron informed Sirius. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."

"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," said Harry slowly, still reading the story. "The night my name came out of the goblet..."

Sirius' mind flew back to the few hours after that, when his wife had turned up at his best friend's house absolutely furious. He had seen her after so long but never got the chance to explain himself to her.

Sirius jerked when Ron nudged him, returning to the present.

"Hermione's obsessed with house-elves," Ron muttered to Sirius, casting Hermione a dark look.

Sirius, however, looked interested. "Crouch sacked his house-elf?"

"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," said Harry, and he launched into the story of the Dark Mark's appearance, and Winky being found with Harry's wand clutched in her hand, and Mr. Crouch's fury.

When Harry had finished, Sirius was on his feet again and had started pacing up and down the cave.

"Let me get this straight," he said after a while, brandishing a fresh chicken leg. "You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?"

"Right," said Harry, Ron, and Hermione together, with Rubi silently soaking the conversation in. "But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"

"No," said Harry. "I think he said he'd been too busy."

Sirius paced all around the cave in silence. Then he said, "Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?

"Erm..." Harry thought hard. "No," he said finally. "I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars."

"Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole Harry's wand in the Top Box?" Rubi spoke up

"It's possible," said Sirius.

"Winky didn't steal that wand!" Hermione insisted.

"The elf wasn't the only one in that box," said Sirius, his brow furrowed as he continued to pace. "Who else was sitting behind you?"

"Loads of people," said Harry. "Some Bulgarian ministers... Cornelius Fudge... the Malfoys ..."

"The Malfoys!" said Ron suddenly, just as Rubi made a disgruntled noise at their name. "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"

"Ugh the blondies."

"Anyone else?" said Sirius, stifling the smile wanting to crawl onto his lips at Rubi's remark.

"No one," said Harry.

"Yes, there was, there was Ludo Bagman," Hermione reminded him.

"Oh yeah..."

"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps," said Sirius, still pacing. "What's he like?"

"He's okay," said Harry. "He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament."

"Does he, now?" said Sirius, frowning more deeply. "I wonder why he'd do that?"

"Says he's taken a liking to me," said Harry.

"Hmm," said Sirius, looking thoughtful.

"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione told Sirius. "Remember?" she said to Harry and Ron.

"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he?" said Ron. "The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."

"How d'you know?" Hermione shot back. "How d'you know where he Disapparated to?"

"Come off it," said Ron incredulously. "Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"

"It's more likely he did it than Winky," said Hermione stubbornly.

Rubi began to tune them out, frowning deeply. They still didn't know who had conjured the Dark Mark that day, but from what her father mentioned, things were only getting worse out there, and there's someone who has it in for Harry as he was deceivingly entered into the Triwizard Tournament.

"D'you know Crouch, then?" said Harry.

Harry's question brought Rubi back, watching as Sirius' face darkened. He suddenly looked as menacing as all the posters Rubi had seen of him the year prior.

"Oh I know Crouch all right," he said quietly. "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban- without a trial."

"What?" said Ron and Hermione together.

"He did not!" Rubi exclaimed horrified.

"You're kidding!" said Harry.

"No, I'm not," said Sirius, taking another great bite of chicken. "Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?"

Harry, Ron, Rubi and Hermione shook their heads.

"He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic," said Sirius. "He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical- and power-hungry. Oh never a Voldemort supporter," he said, reading the look on Harry's face. "No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side... well, you wouldn't understand... you're too young..."

"That's what my dad said at the World Cup," said Ron, with a trace of irritation in his voice. "Try us, why don't you?"

A grin flashed across Sirius's thin face. "All right, I'll try you..." He walked once up the cave, back again, and then said, "Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing... the Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere... panic ... confusion... that's how it used to be.

Rubi suddenly went rigid, her vision beginning to dissolve as the cave seemed to move further and further away until the scene before her washed away into nothingness, leaving the girl in pitch darkness. Then everything slowly came back. However, Rubi wasn't in the cave anymore. She was in an unfamiliar setting, but what caught her attention was the shouting.

"Don't make me choose!" A voice rang throughout. Rubi's eyes fell onto the figure in the middle of the room, her blonde waves falling into her face, her chocolate eyes looking menacing, in her arms a child with locks of black hair.

Rubi realized with a horrifying start that the woman she was looking at was her mother, with a baby Rubina in her arms. Fiona Black was glaring at another being in the room.

"Fi, he's the traitor-" A man with sandy brown hair began saying, his forest green eyes holding nothing but concern, however when Fiona cut him off, the scarred man fell completely silent.

"He's my husband, Rem!"

"Exactly, so you stay away from my family!" A new voice growled out, making Rubi turn slightly to her right. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. The man appeared very young, his cheekbones and jawline well defined, his black hair falling into his grey orbs, the same eyes Rubi had.

This was her father.

"He's my brother, Sirius!" Fiona shouted, rounding onto Sirius, who appeared slightly taken aback before he shook his head, expression hardening.

"He's the rat, Fona-"

"Stop it, both of you!" A new voice commanded, all eyes falling onto the new man who walked in. He ran a hand frustratedly through his jet black hair, hazel orbs flitting between the other two men in anger, his jaw clenched. He pushed his glasses up his nose before speaking.

"Stop this madness!" James Potter barked out, "We're supposed to trust each other, not accuse one another of being the traitor!"

Sirius and Remus both opened their mouths to argue but James cut them both off as he raised his hand, begging silence.

"Fia," He instead said, his gaze softening as it fell onto his twin, who was crying while cradling her daughter to her chest, the little baby bawling loudly having been startled awake with all the shouting.

"Shh." Fiona whispered, rocking the girl back and forth. "Everything's okay. Everything will be okay... I hope." She breathed out the last part with a small sob.

"Come on." James wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders, leading her out of the room.

Both Sirius and Remus made a move to follow them out, concern flooding their faces as they watched Fiona but James threw a deadly glare over his shoulder that made both men halt.

"Sort out your differences before it's too late." advised the young Potter, before pulling his sister and niece closer to himself as they walked out of the room.

Sirius and Remus threw a dirty glare at one another before stalking out of the room as well.

The scene began to dissolve again, Rubi feeling as if she was falling. Everything went dark before her vision took a few moments to come back, a faint voice reaching her ears as everything began to become clear.

"Rubi?"

The young Black blinked a couple of times as everything came back into focus. She practically jumped.

"Hermione!"

The young Granger's face was inches away from Rubi's. Hermione pulled back sheepishly.

"Sorry. You were acting strange, just had to make sure you were alright."

"Oh." Colour flooded Rubi's face. "Sorry, I just got lost within my head."

Behind Hermione, Harry and Ron nodded at her in relief. Sirius however, looked very pale, his eyes harboring a secret no one else could decipher.

He slowly started, "What were you thinking about?" Sirius asked, observing his daughter with a hawk-like expression.

Rubi shrugged, attempting to conceal the shock she had from witnessing an event from the past, "I was just wondering how things were for us."

Sirius' brows furrowed, "Meaning?"

Rubi heaved a heavy breath, "I mean, did we- you and the other adults, did you all trust each other when the war was happening?"

At that, Harry, Ron and Hermione whipped their heads to the Azkaban escapee, who let out a sad sigh.

"We did until Remus and I thought the other was a traitor, how wrong we were." Sirius finished saying, shaking his head in disappointment.

Rubi nodded with a sad smile but in her mind, she was startled after her father confirmed her fear. How did she see something that had truly happened in the past? It was too vivid to be a daydream.

Then dread began to pool her stomach as Rubi's mind flashed back to the day of the Quidditch World Cup, remembering how she had seen something peculiar that night as well.

But that could have been a daydream, after all, I could have been dazed with all the chaos that transpired after the Dark Mark having been cast into the sky.

"Yeah, you should've seen Snape's face when Karkaroff turned up in Potions yesterday!" said Harry quickly, making Rubi snap back to reality. "Karkaroff wanted to talk to Snape, he says Snape's been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked really worried. He showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was."

"He showed Snape something on his arm?" said Sirius, looking frankly bewildered. He ran his fingers distractedly through his filthy hair, then shrugged again. "Well, I've no idea what that's about... but if Karkaroff's genuinely worried, and he's going to Snape for answers..." Sirius stared at the cave wall, then made a grimace of frustration. Rubi frowned slightly, wondering if her father was speaking the entire truth.

"There's still the fact that Dumbledore trusts Snape, and I know Dumbledore trusts where a lot of other people wouldn't, but I just can't see him letting Snape teach at Hogwarts if he'd ever worked for Voldemort."

"Why are Moody and Crouch so keen to get into Snape's office then?" said Ron stubbornly.

"Well," said Sirius slowly, "I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every single teacher's office when he got to Hogwarts. He takes his Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously, Moody. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after the things he's seen, it's not surprising. I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. Crouch, though... he's a different matter... is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort to drag himself up to Snape's office? And if he's not... what's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn up in the Top Box? What's he been doing while he should have been judging the tournament?" Sirius lapsed into silence, still staring at the cave wall. Buckbeak was ferreting around on the rocky floor.

Finally, Sirius looked up at Ron. "You say your brother's Crouch's personal assistant? Any chance you could ask him if he's seen Crouch lately?"

"I can try," said Ron doubtfully. "Better not make it sound like I reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves Crouch."

"More like he's in love with him." Rubi chimed, earning grins from Harry and Hermione while Ron made a disgusted face.

"And you might try and find out whether they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it," said Sirius, gesturing to the second copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Bagman told me they hadn't," said Harry.

"Yes, he's quoted in the article in there," said Sirius, nodding at the paper. "Blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all- quite the reverse. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability at the Ministry of Magic... maybe that's why Bagman didn't bother to look for her for so long..."

Sirius heaved an enormous sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes. "What's the time?"

Rubi pulled out her timewatch "It's half past three," she said.

"You'd better get back to school," Sirius said, getting to his feet, although his gaze was focused upon the object in Rubi's hand, an indecipherable emotion on his face. He shook his head rather vigorously before speaking once again, "Now listen..." He looked particularly hard at Harry. "I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."

"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon and a couple of grindylows," Harry said, but Sirius scowled at him.

"I don't care... I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"

Rubi snorted, "Snuffles? What kind of a name is that?"

Sirius' face cracked into a fond smile, "Your mother came up with it." He answered, making Rubi's eye go round at that.

"Huh?"

Sirius waved a hand, "Nevermind, I'll explain another day."

He handed Harry the empty napkin and flask and went to pat Buckbeak good-bye. "I'll walk to the edge of the village with you," said Sirius, "see if I can scrounge another paper."

Rubi followed the other three out of the cave but Sirius pulled her back.

"Were you being honest before?" He inquired, his gaze suddenly feeling very piercing to Rubi.

"Of course I was." She replied, watching as her father let out a heavy sigh before he nodded.

"Just be careful, alright? It's already bad enough that Harry's in the tournament." Sirius expressed running a hand through his matted hair, wearing an expression of concern.

"I'll be careful." Rubi reassured, squeezing her dad's hand before he transformed into the great black dog as they left the cave.

They walked back down the mountainside with him, across the boulder-strewn ground, and back to the stile. Here he allowed each of them to pat him on the head, Rubi getting onto her knees to hug Padfoot instead, before turning and setting off at a run around the outskirts of the village. Harry, Ron, Rubi and Hermione made their way back into Hogsmeade and up toward Hogwarts.

As Rubi went to bed that night, her mind was full of many thoughts buzzing around her head before falling into an uneasy sleep.

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Hi lol.

I wasn't going to release a chapter for this story so soon but it happens to be Rubi's birthday today so I thought sure why not haha. :)

I hope you all are well and see you in the next one! <33