Chapter Four:  Dark's Child

     Harry and Ginny joined Remus, Ron and Hermione in the parlor. All four were dressed in black travelling cloaks and each clutched a small overnight bag.

     "You'll send Hedwig if anything should happen?" Remus asked nervously, looking around the small, smoky room. It had been nearly three months since the last appearance of Lord Voldemort, and none of them were taking this calm lightly. Harry nodded.

     "Yes and you'll send Pig to me if I'm needed." he said. Ron nodded toward the small, irritating bird that perched on his shoulder.

      "All right then, we'd best be off." Ginny said, breaking the tense silence. She kissed Harry quickly and before he could embrace her, she Disapparated. The remaining three followed suit, and the parlor was empty. Sighing, Harry trudged upstairs to shower, rubbing his scar which had been burning fiercely since last night, when Sterling had returned to the porch.

      "Finish the story, Sirius." Sterling demanded. The threesome sat indoors, around a brightly flickering fire. The warm spell they had enjoyed the night before had vanished, and cold, windy, rainy weather had taken it's place. The large grandfather clock in the corner sighed sleepily as it chimed the hour; nine o'clock. Sirius sighed and sat back in his armchair, cradeling a mug of warm butterbeer in one hand.

      "Sterling, this is not something to rush. It's very difficult for me to talk about, and even more difficult for you to listen to, I know." he added quickly, seeing the indignant look in his son's black eyes. "Let's see, where did I leave off? Yes, all right then. After Voldemort kidnapped your mother, I walked about for several days in a zombie-like state. The Ministry was going insane trying to find her, for not only was she one of the best Aurors, she also knew many, many secrets that Voldemort would have loved to get his hands on. However, Lily, James and I knew that there was no way in hell those crackpots that worked for the Ministry would ever find her, and as it was, they were too overwhelmed." Sirius grinned quickly, but his smile faded when he saw the look on Sterling's chiseled face.

   "James, being the resourceful whip he was, configured an incredibly dangerous, but brilliant plan. We would go to the Death Eaters, and claim to have changed to the Dark Side. We had a whole story made up as to why we were switching, a lot of it leaning heavily on the fact that we thought Dumbledore was really trying to keep all the power for himself. Little did we know at that time, he was." Harry frowned, remembering Dumbledore's betrayal and how he had truely been on the Voldemort's side. Because of Dumbledore, so many people were dead...

    "Anyway, the Death Eaters accepted us into their folds. We were surprised at how quickly we were able to penetrate into the inner core of Voldemort's circle, but soon we both found ourselves invited to one of his great feasts, which he held monthly at his secret palace. At this feasts he would tell his followers his plans and thoughts for the upcoming months. The morning of the feast, James and I, along with several hundred other Death Eaters, used Portkeys to transport us to the castle. It was a huge, impressive structure, and in truth it reminded me a lot of Hogwarts. To this day, I still do not know where the castle is located, not many of the Death Eaters did.

     "We spent the day mingling with the other Death Eaters and catching bits of gossip. It was being whispered that Voldemort meant to take a wife, the daughter of two of his greatest supporters, the Dragonclaws. Amazingly enough, no one knew that Celeste and I were lovers. At one point, I saw this girl that looked so much like Celeste that I began talking with her, and thats when I met Leigh Dragonclaw, Celeste's sister."

     "Her sister? I 'ave an aunt?" Sterling asked. Sirius shook his head.

     "Did have an aunt. She is dead now, murdered by Voldemort. But I will get to that in due time, son.  Leigh told us how her mother had promised Celeste to Voldemort, and had tried to convince Celeste to come to the Dark Side and when that failed, she tried to convince Leigh. Leigh pretended to be a Death Eater, but in truth she was working as a secret Auror for the Ministry. At first, I was angry that Celeste had never told me about her sister, but Leigh defended her sister and said that Celeste couldn't tell, for fear of Leigh's betrayal being discovered.

     "Although we knew it was an incredible gamble, we told Leigh of our plan, and she agreed to help us. She told us the room where Celeste was being kept. 'Tonight after Voldemort presents her to his Death Eaters, she will remain at the feast for an hour, then be returned to her chambers. She is under the Imperius, but learning to fight it, so Voldemort is keeping her out of sight. Once she is back into her chamber, then it is your chance. I will keep the guards...occupied.' she said. I saw much of Celeste's fiery spirit in her. I thanked her and she nodded, then disappeared. That was the last I saw of her.

      "Leigh proved her word good. That night, Voldemort brought Celeste out to present her to the Death Eaters as his fiancee. She was wearing a silver robe, and her hair was loose. She smiled and nodded when people spoke to her, but I noticed when she saw me, a recognizition flickered in her eye. She was careful not to show that she was overpowering the Curse. In an hour, Voldemort himself led her away, then returned to the hall. Following the directions Leigh had given us, we found her chamber easily, and it was unguarded. James muttered the incantation to unlock the door and we slipped inside. Celeste was sitting on her bed, dressed in an emerald travelling cloak.

     "'I've come to take you home, Celeste." I said, and James said the counter-curse. Immediately, Celeste rushed to me, and I picked her up. She had become so light, it was like carrying a feather. James covered all of us with the Invisibilty Cloak, and we were able to escape. We moved far from Diagon Alley and performed the Fidelius Charm, using Leigh as our Secret-Keeper. Then, exactly a month after we had saved her, Celeste told us she was pregnant. However, she had been with Voldemort for six weeks." Sirius stopped speaking and his words fell like lead. Harry turned to see Sterling turn deathly pale.

     "I...am....Voldemort's son?" he whispered.

    to be contined