Sirius sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at Abigail. He knew what had to be done. The problem was how to make her see it was for the best.
“Abby, come on sweetheart, wake up.” Sirius leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Brushing her hair back off her face, he wished he didn’t have to do this. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her.
As he stroked her cheek, she leaned into his touch in her sleep. Sighing, Sirius again called her name.
“Sirius?” she asked, her voice sleepy and soft. “Why are you up so early? You’re not leaving again so soon, are you? You just got back last night.” Abby’s voice was stronger now; it also held the hint of fear.
“Yes, but that’s not why I want you to wake up. We need to talk about something. I should have told you this last night, but I… got distracted.” Sirius had to smile as he thought of just what had distracted him.
“Sirius, you’re scaring me. Please, tell me no one else has been killed. Oh, no, please tell me Lily and James are all right.” Abby’s voice held a note of desperation along with the fear he had heard before.
“Lily and James are fine. Harry, too. It is something else I need to talk to you about.” Sirius stood up and walked over to the window. As he looked out, he heard Abby getting out of bed. She walked up behind him and put her arms around him, laying her head on his back.
Carefully, so as not to hurt her more than he was already going to, he broke out of her embrace. As expected, he saw the brief flash of pain in her eyes.
“Abby, I want you to go to America. I want you to leave immediately. Before you say anything, please hear me out.” Sirius took her hand in his and led her back to sit on the bed.
“It’s getting to dangerous for you to be here. Lily and James are in hiding but it may not be enough to keep them safe. There is a plan in the works and I am part of it. I won’t lie to you, I will be in danger. I don’t want you here, where you could be targeted.”
“No one but James and Lily know we are married. We made sure everyone else who either knew we were seeing each other or even suspected we were seeing each other thought we broke up. We made sure of that. I don’t want to leave you. Please, anything but that.” Abby’s eyes filled with tears. She knew deep down that she would be leaving today for America no matter what argument she used.
“Abby, I need to do this to keep James and Lily safe. I need to know you are safe so I can concentrate on keeping my best friend alive. Please, do this for me. If not for me, then do this for Harry. He shouldn’t have to grow up without his parents.” Sirius felt horrible about using Harry against her. He knew that little baby held Abby’s heart in his hands. Sirius was desperate, though; he had to keep Abby safe.
Though she thought it was low of him to use Harry, she took a deep breath and said the words that would forever change her life.
“Okay, I’ll go.”
***
Five hours later, Abby found herself on an airplane alone on her way to America. By magic, she created a passport and once they were at the airport, it was a simple matter of getting a one-way ticket to America. If she wasn’t travelling so far, she could have Apparated. But, this combined with the fact she didn’t know where it would have been safe to Apparate to, made the decision of taking an airplane the only logical choice.
Sitting back in her seat, she stared out the window of the plane as she thought back to the scene at the airport gate.
“Promise me you will write back to me once I send you my address. Please, give it to Lily, too. I know it will be strange for you to use the Muggle post, but I doubt you can find an owl to fly across the pond.” Abby tried her best to smile at her feeble joke.
“Abs, I’ll write you,” Sirius said as he held her around the shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. “I can’t promise to write everyday. I may not even get your letters right away. I don’t know how often I will be able to check that Muggle box you and Lily got me for mail. I will do my best, though.” Sirius smiled down at her.
Hearing her plane announced over the loudspeaker, Abby leaned up to kiss Sirius goodbye. She hated the feeling that this would be the last time she kissed him. Deciding not to dwell on that, though, she put everything she couldn’t say into that one kiss.
“I love you,” she murmured against his lips.
“I love you, too.”
Turning away, Abby walked through the gate. She only let herself take one quick glimpse back at her husband before she hurried to board her plane.
“Miss, would you like anything to drink?” the stewardess asked her, breaking into her memory.
“No, thank you. I don’t want anything.” she replied. At least nothing you can give me, she thought. She then gave in to the tears that had been threatening since she walked away from Sirius, from her husband, from her life.
The Unknown Heir by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: This story has the AU warning because of one small point. Other than that, it is true to canon.
I wish to thank my beta for this chapter, Nikki (fg_weasley). Thanks Nikki for keeping Sirius in line, he is a stubborn one.
I own nothing you recognize in this story. It belongs to J. K. Rowling. I just get the honour of playing in her world.
Chapter Endnotes: Because of the accidental deletion, all the reviews for this prologue were lost. I would love to hear again what you think.