Disclaimer- I am NOT JK Rowling, I make no money writing fanfics with her beautiful characters.

Marci sighed as she looked over her school robes from last year in her mirror, and the length in the sleeves where she'd grown. She had hope this summer would not bring too many more changes to her height and length and that her school clothes would fit another year, but it was no use. She knew her father better than to think he would ever allow her in out in something that was ill-fit to her. There were many things could be said about her father, but Remus Lupin never let his daughter do without.

"Come on out, then." He called from the hall. "Let's see the damage."

"They fit!" She called out the door, her voice as firm as she could possibly be. It was hard to fool him, he always knew when she was lying.

"Marcelline." He grunted back. She shook her head, her dirty blonde hair brushing against her shoulders. Slowly, she opened the door to her bedroom to where her father was standing. He did not seem bothered at all by the obvious need for new outer robes. Thankfully, her skirts, shirts, and ties would all still work and did not need replacing.

"Looks like you've grown at least two inches." He commented, tugging the tail of the robes. "Not too bad."

"Could they be transfigured?" She ask, standing as still as possible as he circled her, measuring. "We could take material from the whole thing, thin it out. Extend the tail and sleeves." She looked hopefully at her father, who looked back with glimmering green eyes that mirrored her own.

"No, ma'am. Then they'd be too thin and wouldn't keep you warm. The castle has too many drafts. You'll need new ones." Remus smiled at the girl, who in turned rolled her eyes. At fourteen years old, she was a tall thin young lady- Who as much as Remus could tell from their limited contact had her mother's smile and nose, and everything else- Including stubborn pride, from him.

"I really don't need new robes, Daddy. Promise." She tried to reason with him, following him down the hall of their small cottage. It had been Remus' mother's childhood home. There were three bedrooms in the small place- More than enough room for the two of them. Remus did not stop as he walked down the hall in search of the list of supplies he'd made for this coming year of Hogwarts. The list was laying on the kitchen counter, and he jotted 'robes' down on the bottom.

"That is for me to decide, Marci." He said firmly, looking over the list, comparing it to her Hogwarts letter for the year. Marci jumped when she heard a knock at their door, but Remus seemed to be expecting something, as he usually did. He had a way of hearing guests walking up the path so the knocking never surprised him. She stood in place until he glanced up from his thinking (and she suspected, his careful calculating of how much it would all cost) and cleared his throat.

"Door, Marci." He said.

"Oh." She blinked, mind still on the argument. "Right." She turned on her heels, her bare feet slapping at the old stone floor as she walked. She had been expecting one of their neighbors to have come by. They were always coming over with 'an overflow of vegetables from the garden, and they simply had too many', or 'my daughter just went off to Uni and doesn't need these clothes anymore' and things of the like, so she was not expecting the Headmaster of Hogwarts to be on the other side of the threshold when she opened the old oak door.

"Headmaster?" She blurted. Dumbledore gave a small bow and smiled gently.

"Good morning, Miss Lupin." He greeted. "Is your father off today?"

"Yes, sir. Come in, sir." She said, leading the older wizard into the kitchen. Remus straighten up the same as any of the students might when Dumbledore walked into the room, but he returned the surprised, yet friendly smile.

"Headmaster!" He greeted, reaching for a handshake. Marcelline, out of habit and years of repeated training, moved over to the stove and readied a pot of tea for the two older wizards while they made conversation at the table. Marci was always told to make tea for guests, because it was simply proper to do so. She tuned out the conversation they were having about some law or other and a woman in the Ministry called Umbridge. Marcelline sat down quietly at the opposite end of the table from her father and his guest, working on a bit of astronomy homework she'd started the night before. She had almost finished her homework for the summer, but astronomy was always her favorite, and in the spirit of 'saving the best for last' she had not quite finished yet. It was, after all, only July twentieth. She had plenty of summer left. She did not bother to pay attention until the sound of a teacup hitting the table, spilling, and then rolling onto the floor where it shattered on impact drew her attention away.

Her father was pale, more than she'd ever seen him before- which was something considering she often played nurse to him after the full moon. His eyes looked off to the far side of the room, as if he was suddenly very interested in the wall, but his breathes were sharp and quick. "I understand how that can be, hearing such news." Dumbledore said quietly, as he removed his own wand from his robes and with one wordless flick of his wrist, cleaned up the broken cup and spilled tea.

"I-" Remus sputtered. "We have to fortify the house." He stood immediately. "How long since this happened?" He yelled back as he walked out the door, Dumbledore following him. Marcelline sat quietly- both scared and confused. To her knowledge, her father only had one enemy- and Fenrir Greyback was supposed to be in chains in Azkaban. She didn't know why he would feel the need to immediately take action to defend their home- But then, she didn't know what could be so bad that Dumbledore would come and deliver the news himself. She cursed herself for doing her homework instead of eavesdropping.

Remus spent the greater part of the afternoon around their property, putting up several wards, layer upon layer. Marcelline had stayed her distance, not wanting to get in trouble or add to her father's worry. She knew when things were serious and to keep her silence- She'd had years of practice. Dumbledore had stayed, helping put up wards and protective spells- Which Marci had to admit made her feel even safer. She did not know of a living wizard more powerful than Dumbledore. It wasn't until that night at supper- Which Marci had cooked, just trying to be helpful- that she felt it was safe to start asking questions.

"So- What happened?" She said, mixing her rice and carrots together on her plate and melting butter over the pile. Remus pushed his pork around with his fork, and Marci fought back the urge to mock-scold him for playing with his food, as she would have had it been a normal day. He sat quietly, then sighed heavily.

"I know you've been though the boxes in the attic." He said quietly. "So you tell me what you know about when you were a baby, and I'll fill in the rest." He suggested. Marcelline had stiffened at the suggestion she had snooped, even if it was true, but relaxed when she realized she wasn't in trouble.

"You were never in a relationship with my mother, and that is why I don't have one." She said slowly. Remus gave a small nod for her to continue. "Harry Potter's parents, James and Lily, they were my Godparents? And there was two more- A short, kind of chubby man- and another one... Someone else. With dark hair, long. Usually wore the same leather jacket in all the pictures. Always beside you." Again, Remus nodded.

"Peter, the 'chubby' one, was killed the same night as James and Lily. Except not by Voldemort." He watched his daughter cringe at the mention of the so called 'forbidden' name of the dark wizard, but continued on. "And Sirius, the other one. He is who was supposed to keep the location of Lily and James a secret, to keep Harry safe. He betrayed them, us, Peter. He killed poor Peter." His voice was a bit broken. Marci felt uneasy. Her father always seemed to strong to her- going through so much, constantly working and getting her any and everything she needed. He never complained about the pain or exhaustion. He always had time for her, always had a smile. She was troubled by this depression coming through.

"Oh." She said quietly. She waited for him to speak, knowing this was all very important. Remus took several deep breaths before he continued.

"I never really knew when to tell you all of this, but fourteen is pretty mature, especially in your case." He looked up at his daughter and away from his plate. She could see he was fighting himself not to cry. "Sirius- at the time, was my boyfriend." Marcelline's eyes widened slightly, but she adjusted her face before he noticed and continued listening. "It's a much more long and complicated story, but short version is I'm technically bisexual, even though Sirius was the only man I've ever dated." Marci had guess on that, as her father had dated a few women over the years, but never any men.

"Alright." She said quietly.

"Alright?" He ask, a little surprise in his voice. "Really?"

"You raised me to be non-judgmental, so why would I turn on you?" she questioned. Remus smiled at the young girl.

"I love you Marci." He said with a small sniff.

"Love you too, Dad. But really-" She rolled her hands over each other to get him back into the story.

"Right. Guess you want to know it all then, huh?" He ask.

"Just the part about where I came from, because the math isn't working just now." She joked, and got a small laugh from her father as he cleared his throat again.

"The war was hard on everyone- and We were so young, just seventeen when we joined the fight. A couple years in, them other side was starting to get a good foothold on the magical world. Things were horrible- People were turning against each other, life long friends, families- you name it. And we were no different. Sirius was- well I'm not really sure what happened that caused it- But he decided I was on Fenrir's side, and we knew he was with the Death Eaters. They were promised first rate citizenship in exchange for their loyalty, the werewolves. Sirius broke up with me. Threw me out."

"And thats when-"

"I met the women who had you, yes." He said. "Her name was Leslie and last I heard she was living in Canada. She was older than me- about twenty-three, didn't want a child with the chance of being infected lycanthropy, didn't want to 'get rid' of you either- And before you get all soul-searching and hurt- I wanted you from the second she told me she was pregnant. I always wanted a child. I wouldn't trade you on your worst day for anything on the planet." Marci relaxed a bit when he said this.

"Thank you, Daddy." She said in a small, mousy voice.

"Not something you need to thank me for," He replied. Marcelline adjusted in her seat.

"So you made up, then?" She ask. Remus nodded.

"For a bit." He said. "He adored you. So much." Remus said quietly. "Spoiled you every chance he had." Marci blinked at her father, unsure of what to do with this information. "But then, when it came down to it- He turned on us all. Never saw it coming." A tear finally escaped Remus' swimming eyes and ran down his cheek. "James and Lily died, Peter died, several by-standing muggles died. He went insane. I-" He stopped talking and took several more deep breaths. "He escaped Azkaban yesterday."

"Oh fucking hell!" Marcelline said.

"Language, young lady." Remus reminded her. "But yes. It's very, very bad news."

"That's why you went right then to protect the house?" She ask. Remus nodded.

"Yes, Dumbledore wanted to warn us." He confirmed.

"I didn't think anyone could escape Azkaban!" She said, her nerves causing her voice to rise.

"Well, I will say Sirius was a very skilled wizard. I'm not entirely sure how it was done, but knowing him the way I did,he had a knack for escape routes. We knew several secret passages in school- James and he used them for pranks. Well- Peter and I did too, but mostly those two." He seemed to be fond of whatever memory was playing in his mind's eye. He shook his head as he noticed his frightful daughter still waiting for answers.

"There is no way I'll let anything happen to you, Marci." He said in a definitive voice. "Not ever."

"I know." She nodded. "Promise. So is that what the Headmaster was here for?" She ask. Remus nodded.

"Partially." He said. "He had some concerns about how to keep you and Harry Potter both safe. See, Sirius is Harry's Godfather, and they have reason to believe he'd go after him as well."

"But isn't Hogwarts safe?" Marcelline ask. Remus raised an eyebrow to his child.

"Hogwarts? Were you mot paying attention when your defense professor was harboring a disembodied dark wizard on his head? Or a giant snake was traveling the plumbing?! You're lucky I didn't pull you out and send you to Beauxbatons' Academy, young lady." His voice had humor to it, but Marci knew he was serious.

"Fair enough." She said. "So did he have any thoughts as to what would keep us safe?" There was still a hint about her that suggested she was a bit afraid.

"He did." Remus confirmed with a nod. "He had two very solid ideas, really. First, he and the Ministry have decided to post Dementors around the grounds. And don't look at me like that, you know how to handle them." He reminded her.

"I do, but think of the others. Dad- Think about the first years!" She reminded him. Remus tilted his head, squinting his face.

"Better terrified and safe than dead." He said after a moment of thought.

"So what was the other plan?" She ask, finishing up the last bit of food on her plate.

Remus smiled at his inquisitive daughter, "He offered me a job teaching Defense this year." He said.

Woo! So, yes, I started a new story, but I actually have had this one rattling around in my head longer than Pink and Blue, one of my other, older stories- and I had to start it for fear I might forget it. I really love the plot, and I have several chapters hashed out and ready to be edited and go- But this will be updated by popularity, as in- the more attention it has the faster I update it. I have other stories to work on, so this is how I plan to prioritize. For those of you who read the whole author's note- Bless you.

Thank you all for reading! Be sure to review!