"Dimitri?" my mother asked in her usual soft English accent. It was an accent that I often envied and tried to mimic to no avail. My speech patterns were far too much like my neighbors and playmates in Kentucky. It was leisurely with a more subtle draw than most.

"Yes, I'm here, mama."

She smiled down at me, "I'd like you to give these to that young lady sitting there in the front row after the funeral. Her name is Sallie and she'll probably need something sweet to cheer her up and perhaps a new friend."

She winked at me and handed me a neatly wrapped box of assorted sweets.

Sallie Cartwright was the daughter of two of my parents' friends in England. When we were seven, her father had passed away along the same time that my father transferred back to the London office of The Ministry of Magic where he worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sport. There was an office in each state in the U.S. My dad happened to be the head project director in Kentucky of all places. I loved it, though. We lived in one of the prettiest towns that I had ever been too. Going from the lush and sunny countryside to the mainly stone and wet city of London was a big change for me though I would grow to love it over the years.

Sallie's house was along the outskirts of the city. I watched her get up from her seat after the ceremony and walk somberly to her room followed by a tall boy with messy black hair and glasses. I remembered the sweets in my lap and got up to follow them. When I entered the room, Sallie was crying softly. I felt a lump in my own throat as I tried to imagine never seeing my own father ever again.

"My mother said to bring this up to you," I stated softly handing her the sweets.

The boy took the box from me as she wiped her eyes then told me that I talked funny. Of course, I thought her accent was funny, too. Even her accent was different than my own mother's. It was a bit heavier and not as proper though she was a child after all.

After introducing ourselves (the boy's name was James Potter), another boy with untidy black hair approached us. I'm sure that I blushed. I thought he was cute until he opened his mouth to speak to me.

"You a friend?" he asked bluntly in a condescending manner.

"My parents were," I assured him calmly with a civil smile. My mother taught me that when someone is rude to you, a lady never uses rudeness as a counter attack.

I assumed it worked because the new boy's expression softened immediately as he caught my accent, "American? Are you serious?"

"No. Her name is Dimitri," James answered him with a grin. Sallie managed a giggle then smiled at me. I didn't really get the joke until the boy told me that his name was Sirius.

James and Sallie left after Sallie thanked me for the candy. Naturally, I didn't want to just stand around in Sallie's room after just meeting her so I asked Sirius where Mrs. Cartwright had refreshments. On our way, a slightly shorter version of Sirius with lighter hair bumped in to us. He was chasing after my younger sister, Blanche, with an annoyed scowl.

"Regulus! Apologize to the young lady at once and for Merlin's sake, give the other one some room to breathe. You've scared her off!" came a jovial male voice from the end of the hallway.

Regulus tugged on his bangs a bit sheepishly but still managed to roll his eyes in discontent before muttering an apology. I giggled a little and stepped to the side to let him through since he had been shifting his weight on his feet impatiently. As he jogged off down the hallway, he gave me a rather perplexed look from over his shoulder before yelling back at the man with a smile, "She stole my shoe! You'd chase her, too, Potter!"

Charlus Potter approached us with a wide grin, "Help yourself, you two. There's still plenty of sweet stuff."

From that day forward, I spent many play dates at the Blacks' house as well as Sallie's. Sallie and James were by far the easiest for me to get along with. However, it was Sallie and Sirius that became the closest while Regulus honestly confused me. One minute, he was fighting for my honor, having a grand time, and the next minute, he was treating me like I didn't exist. The latter became more prevalent when Regulus was sorted in to Slytherin with Blanche during my second year.

Being in different houses hadn't stopped Sallie, James, or Sirius from still being my closest friends. They had all been sorted in to Gryffindor while I was placed in Hufflepuff. My parents had wanted Slytherin or even Ravenclaw and took every opportunity to remind me of it. If Slytherin won the house cup, my father would ignore the fact while my mother would dote praise upon Blanche and make little jokes like, "Oh if only I could be praising both of my daughters on their house's victory right now." It didn't matter that I worked my bum off to get outstanding grades or had the 2nd highest beater accuracy out of all 8 beaters on the quidditch teams at school. The worst part? I would have rather had criticism of some kind. I would rather my mom and dad flat out tell me that something I did wasn't good enough the way Sallie's mother did with her potions. My parents simply ignored me, though. I was a stranger in my own home since I didn't match what they had planned for me.

I loved being in Hufflepuff, though. Two of my newest best friends were sorted in to Hufflepuff the same night I was. Alice Nelson and Frank Longbottom were those two friends. Alice was so coy and angelic while Frank was one of the most charming boys that I had ever met with a great beater's swing. I still clung to my old friends in Gryffindor as well as new ones, though. Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were three friends I had met through Sallie, James, and Sirius. I absolutely adored Lily and found Peter to be rather hilarious at times while I wasn't quite sure what to make of Remus. I felt like Remus and I tolerated the other at best. We didn't fight with one another or anything. We just never opened up to one another up until our sixth year.

The summer of sixth year is actually where I start.

I had just finished an owl to Alice and Frank (who were officially dating as of that June) when I heard the glass break. My mother usually had a glass of wine with dinner... and then another after dinner. I could tell that she had gotten generous with her servings tonight, though. Something wasn't right. I went out to the stair case and just listened to them.

"So you just want to end it? just like that?" She asked him.

"I think we should discuss it further when you've cleared your head a bit, Adelaide."

"I'm thinking clear enough. You want a divorce."

"I just think that it would be best for us."

"What about the girls?"

"I think the girls have seen this coming."

I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from concentrating on the lump forming in my throat. I had wondered about them. I had imagined the possibility of divorce. Not only did my parents ignore me, they ignored each other.

"Why?" My mother asked.

"We aren't the same people that we used to be. I know that is sounds naive but it's true. Everyone changes but when you love your spouse, you love the person that they've become and I honestly don't think that either of us feel that way. We've only seemed to resent the people that we've become. We've turned in to our own parents, Adelaide."

"I thought it was just for show? That we'd play by their rules but home would be ours... where we could be... ohhh. How did it get this way?" I heard a thud that sounded like my mom sinking to the floor before the familiar sound of her crying escaped the kitchen.

"I wanted it to be that way."

"It's my fault."

"Adelaide, please. We can discuss it properly in the morning."

"It won't change. It's my fault. I've turned in to the type of women I despised... that you despised. That's why you don't love me any more. That's why D-"

"That's enough Adelaide. It's just as much my fault."

"I shouldn't have pressured you so much, though. You just wanted to tell her how proud of her you were and I told you no because someone else told me no. What kind of a horrible mother and wife does that make me?"

I was already back in my room fighting off the hot tears as I shoved random articles of clothing in a duffle bag. I wasn't about to listen to my parents admit their mistakes like they could possibly change anything down that they had gotten to the breaking point. How dare they bring me in to it? How many secret conversations like this did they fight over? How many times did they lie to me? Negotiating whether or not it was acceptable to pay fucking attention to me? I didn't know what my emotions were doing.

It wasn't until I was at the bottom of the fire escape to our apartment, that I realized what I was doing and began to get scared. All I knew was that magic was out of the question so my first solution was the Knight Bus which I had never used. It was dark and the alley was creepy. I began to regret my decision when the bus appeared inches away from me with a piercing screech.

"Where to?"

"Umm. I..." I finally stuttered out Sallie's address and the blemish faced young man ripped off a ticket for me."

"You look terrible. Care for a hot drink?" he asked.

"My parents are ending their marriage and it turns out they don't think I'm such a big failure after all. What do you have for that?" I asked trying to remain calm but my voice decieved me and cracked up around the end leading to me sobbing in to my sweater sleeve.

The young man gingerly gave me a pat on the back, "There there, have this."

It was tea with hints of cocoa. There was a bit of honey mixed in for sweetness and it relaxed my throat as I sipped on it.

"Thank you."

"S'alright. We're here, by the way."

I reached in to my pocket and handed him whatever random coins I had not knowing the correct fair.

"You've given me too much."

"Keep it," I insisted with a smile that only made me want to cry more for some reason. I then stepped off of the bus and it seemed to vanish.

Thankfully, Sallie was the one to open the door when I arrived. Her toothbrush was still hanging from her mouth as she opened the door. After all, it wasn't uncommon for Lily or I to just come over unannounced so Sallie was generally quite vulnerable when she opened the door. She once answered the door in her bathrobe. She gasped as the sight of me then immediately scooped me in to her arms and whisked me up to her room. Once I had calmed down she brewed me my second cup of tea that night (an English fashion meant to cure everything from simple thirst, the common cold, and even a bad break-up) and teased me about how impressed she was that I went out in to the scary darkness to ride the creepy Knight Bus all by myself.

"So let me get this straight. Your mum and dad don't love each other anymore because they've turned in to those haughty taughty social climbing witches and wizards that they hate?"

"That's what I got from it."

"And they feel remorse for how they've raised you and your sister to think that way as well?"

I nodded with a sniff.

"Why don't they just see a marriage counselor and go back to being true to their original morals?"

"I think that's what my mother was asking? And I don't know if my father was against it. He just didn't want to discuss it while she was intoxicated. Still, how can I trust them, Sal? What if they've had conversations just like this one before... then got up the next morning like it never happened? What if that's what they do this time? Ignore it and go back to ignoring me?"

Sallie frowned and hugged me while stroking my hair, "I don't know. Chin up, though. They've got the whole school year to figure it out and you should just worry about school, and quidditch, and what makes you happy."

I nodded and looked around her room. It was much more neat and organized than mine.

"Speaking of parents and secrets..." Sallie said somberly glancing down at her lap, "Dad was a werewolf."

I sipped my tea too quickly in shock causing a bad chain reaction. It burned my mouth so I then choked on the hot tea burning my throat. Sallie was going to kill me one day.

"You can't just spring something on your best friend nonchalantly like that."

She smiled a rather sad smile, "I know. I've practiced. I've practiced so many times that it just feels natural with you because I know how you are. One day, I hope that I can say it so comfortably to a complete stranger."

I smiled, "Me, too. Anyways, you certainly need to elaborate the subject. Is that how your father died? Brewing that potion that he devoted himself to?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Something went wrong. One of the ingredients was off..." Sallie's voice trailed off quietly and I knew that she had left me because she had a distant look in her eyes. She then bolted up and hurried over to her desk where she yanked one of the drawers out, pulled out a warn piece of parchment with scribbled notes on it (most likely a mixture of her father's handwriting and her own) and began jotting things down like a mad woman.

I smirked and pulled out a piece of parchment and an ink pen from my own bag to write a letter. The first person I thought of was Sirius. He'd know what to say.

As expected, I was woken by Sirius' owl gently nudging my forehead. He wanted to be pet. I obliged as I untied Sirius' response from the owl's leg. Sallie was already awake and re-organizing her trunk.

"He's been here for about 20 minutes so I fed him some of mom's chicken scraps," she giggled a little as I gave her an offended gasp before covering the bird's ears and shaking my head.

"Well, what does Cassanova have to say so bright and early?" She cooed folding her hands under her chin and blinking rapidly at me like a girl in love.

I rolled my eyes with a grin as I sat up Indian style and opened the letter.

That's a lot to handle in one sitting. Though, I'm not surprised. I've actually always felt sorry for your parents. You may not have noticed it and my parents may not have either but they constantly looked as if they were having some sort of internal battle going on... like they were disconnected from everyone else. Have you tried talking to them? Don't call me a hypocrite for asking that question. Unlike my parents, I still have hope in yours. It's different. Period. I live with my parents so I've experienced the force of the pressure they tend to put on people around them first hand and more concentrated.

More importantly, I wish I could talk to you about the matter in person. My arms are open if you need them and my shoulders are like sponges. Ha ha ha! I'll see you in a week. Tell Sallie that I look forward to playing a mean game of Connect the Dots with all of her freckles when I see her (and you have to add a wink)... and "Hi," I suppose.

Yours truly (if you've considered my proposition),

Sirius Black

I laughed lightly to myself and sighed before crawling back into the comfy sheets of Sallie's bed.

Sallie grinned widely, "What? What did it say?" She reached over to grab the letter and skimmed through it.

She huffed a bit, "How immature." I assumed she was referring to his comment about her freckles.

"What proposition? Did he ask you out? You aren't considering it, are you? You are," she squinted her eyes at me suspiciously.

"You're just as idiotic so of course you are."

"I'm offended," I replied from under her sheets.

"Good. Now, get up and get dressed. We're going to Diagon Alley for a bit before you leave me for Alice."

"Only because you're spending the next week with Lily and I can't possibly go back home right now."

She smiled, "Why not stay with Sirius? He would like to comfort you in person after all. What a gentleman," she suggested with an obvious dripping tone of sarcasm.

I raised a hand out of my blanket and sheet sanctuary to wave a rather nasty finger at her with a giggle.