Harry was struggling with cleaning out Sirius's things. He had been gone for two months. It had been two long months since that awful evening at the Ministry of Magic. Ron and Hermione had been flitting in and out of the room, wanting to help him but wanting to give the boy space. Their companionship meant a lot to Harry but he had never felt so alone. Sirius had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father and the fact that he had lost him after knowing him for just over a year was heart wrenching.

He pushed it all to the back of his mind as he pulled things out of Sirius' old school trunk that had somehow made its way back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It resembled his own of course; notes from classes and old clothes littered the bottom, a typical school cauldron, and a strange smelling box labeled 'potions' that Harry really did not want to open. Harry saw old Gryffindor Quidditch robes and pulled them out slowly with a small smirk on his face. The back had the name Black emblazoned in gold and Harry could imagine his godfather whacking a Bludger as his father caught the snitch winning Gryffindor the House Cup. As he held them up a small black box fell to the floor with a clunk followed by an envelope fluttering after it.

Hermione stuck her head in the doorway, "Harry, what was that?"

Harry knelt down and picked up the box, it was the size of a grapefruit and felt very light. "Not sure..."

"What's that?" Ron came bounding into the room and picked up the letter. "To Sirius, looks like a girl's writing."

"I wouldn't be surprised, Remus told me he had quite the following while he was at Hogwarts." Harry took the letter from his friend and turned it over, pulling out a sheet of parchment and several pictures. It was a picture of Sirius and a tall blonde girl twirling in and out of the frame. On the back in elegant scrawl was written "Sirius and I on the night James and Lily were married, 12 December 1978." The next was a close up of Sirius and the same girl laughing and kissing. She kept admiring her left ring finger which had what looked like a large engagement ring on it. "31 December 1978, the night Sirius proposed!!!!" The last had the beautiful young girl holding a small baby with black hair and green eyes while sitting in a rocking chair. Lily was sitting on the ottoman at her feet and James was dangling a bear over the child's head. "The night I met baby Harry Potter, 10 September 1980."

Harry's eyes lingered over the forms of his parents as they laughed and talked to the girl and the camera shook slightly as he assumed that the photographer was also laughing. He couldn't believe that this person who seemed so important to his parents he had never seen before.

"Blimey, mate, who's the girl? She fu-"
"Ron! I hardly think that how you are talking is at all-"
"Please Hermione, she's gorgeous. They sure don't make them like that anymore. At Hogwarts at least."

"RON!"

Ron just shrugged and Harry ignored them both. She was gorgeous. He watched the girl and Sirius spin around and around. She was wearing a long pink dress with an empire waist line. Her curly blonde hair reached mid-back and spun with them. The close up of her and Sirius showed the girl's eyes shining brightly, they were blue, the color of a crisp autumn sky. She had a sprinkling of freckles across her pale skin, her face framed by blonde bangs. Who was she?

Harry was so entranced with the pictures that he didn't notice Hermione gingerly pick up the letter that he had laid on the bed. "Do you mind, Harry?" The raven headed boy shook his head and Hermione unfolded the parchment and cleared her throat."

My dearest Padfoot,

I want nothing more than to be near you as your birthday draws closer. I've thought about all the past birthdays you've had and how much fun we had. Remember the time in your seventh year when we escaped to Hogsmeade and were nearly expelled? Good thing I was a member of the Slug Club. Still not sure how you got out of trouble...

The thought of having to push back our wedding even further is like a knife in my heart, but I know that what I am doing is for the good of the cause. I know that you and the others are doing your bit to and I'm sure you're so busy that you've probably forgotten about me (although I sincerely hope not). The nights are here and long and cold without you but I look up every night and know that we're still under the same sky no matter how far apart we really are.

Give L and Prongs and the baby my love. I never knew that a baby could make me feel such a way. I feel like H is my own and I never thought I could love a child so much until I saw him. I can't wait until the day that we're together and able to start our own little family...

I send you all of my love and want you to know that when I fall asleep at night, you are the last person on my mind.

Forever yours, Ellie

Hermione refolded the letter and sighed. "That was the most beautiful thing..."

Harry took the letter and read and re-read it. The loopy writing across the page was smudged in some places where it looked like tears had fallen many years ago. He was still trying to figure out the mystery of who this woman is when Ron interrupted his thoughts. "I don't get it, I've never heard of an Ellie. I've never seen her either, because Merlin knows I wouldn't forget that a-"
"Ron!" Hermione glared at him yet again. "Her name is obviously not Ellie. See how she calls Sirius Padfoot and James Prongs? And here," she points to a part on the letter, "she gives Harry's mum and Harry initials, not real names. Ellie was probably just her code name. I mean, it was a war after all."

"Okay then we're back to the start. Who is she and what's her name?" Ron retorted.

"I think it's time to go talk to Remus, do y'know if he's still here?" Harry asked the other two.

The trio stood up and made their way down the stairs to look for their old professor. They passed several of the other Weasleys who were also cleaning until they made found Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin in the library looking through a dusty book.

"Harry, Molly was just about to go look for you, it's almost time for lunch," Arthur said as he heard the trio come in.

"Er, I guess that would be okay. First, Remus. Could you take a look at this?" Harry moved over to a writing desk and spread the pictures out.

"Sure thing." Remus picked up the close up of Sirius and "Ellie" and breathed in sharply. "Oh, Lo..."

They all looked up at him quickly as he slumped down in the desk chair. "I was wondering when you would find out about her."
"Who's her? I still don't know who her is. I have a couple of pictures and a letter and a box, but none of it tells me who she is."
"Harry, this is a picture of Lo Beck, your godmother."