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Never in all his life, never, perhaps, in either of his lives, had Canis Black ever felt so useless as he did on one particular Halloween night and its aftermath.
His father woke him up in the middle of the night and drove him to Hagrid’s on his motorbike.
“Daddy,” Canis said, “Daddy, what’s happening? Where are you going?”
“No time,” his father said, “I’ll tell you when I get back. You just look after Hagrid for me, and make sure he doesn’t scratch my motorbike. I’ll be back soon, Kiddo. Okay?”
“Okay.” Canis said.
His father was not back soon.
Canis’s father, he was told, had done a very bad thing. “ What bad thing?” Canis demanded loudly and emphatically. None of the grown-ups were eager to answer. Apparently the bad thing was not suitable for children.
Eventually Canis pieced together that Voldomort had killed Uncle James and Aunt Lilly, and somehow, everyone thought it was his father’s fault. Also, he killed Uncle Peter. So now his father was going to go to prison forever.
“Daddy didn’t do it,” Canis said to any adult who would stand still long enough to hear him, “He didn’t. It wasn’t him.”
Canis was sure of it. As sure as he was of anything in his life, in either of them. Canis’s father wasn’t a traitor. He wasn’t built for it. He could lie with the best of them, but he couldn’t deceive. He couldn’t pretend to be friends with someone if he wasn’t. Canis didn’t believe his father had gotten Uncle James and Aunt Lilly killed for a moment.
Uncle Peter, on the other hand, well, Canis didn’t know Uncle Peter as well, but if he had been the one to actually betray them, Canis didn’t doubt his father killed him in the least.
But, of course, no one believed a three year old child who was sure his daddy was a good person despite the evidence.
“I know this is very hard for you to understand,” Albus Dumbledore said very kindly and patronizingly, patting Canis on the head. He smiled warmly and his eyes twinkled with understanding and his shoulders slumped tiredly as though life was a heavier burden for him than it was for anyone else in the world. Canis loathed him.