"Girl! Get up and cook breakfast!" Carina sighed and set the heavy book down, hiding it in a corner so if her uncle by chance looked in, he wouldn't see it.
"I'm coming, Aunt Petunia," she said, trying not to sound annoyed or angry. It wouldn't help her to get hit this early in the morning.
Petunia sneered at her, "It's your birthday, freak," she hissed, "Don't expect anything from us, you little brat."
This had become tradition since Carina had started kindergarten and discovered that she had a birthday. She had come home and asked innocently why they never did anything for her birthday, which had caused the first beating she'd received from Vernon. So for the past five years since her sixth birthday, they reminded her that it was her birthday and she would never get anything for it in her life. Pleasant bunch of people, really, Carina thought sarcastically.
"Girl!" Vernon shouted, "Get the post!"
Carina rolled her eyes, but went to get the post anyway. To her immense surprise, there was a letter for her in the pile. Using the brains she hid well, she hid the letter and handed the rest of the post to Vernon.
Hours later, in the cupboard, eleven year old Carina Black discovered just why it was that she was a 'freak' and could control things that no one else could. Such as her hair and eyes and height – she would be a midget due to malnutrition from her lack of food were it not for the fact that she'd forced herself to grow a bit.
A small smirk grew on her face and she forced her red hair blonde and her gray-green eyes bright blue, plus grew a few inches and shifted her face shape to look older. No one would expect a blonde haired, blue eyed fourteen year old girl in… where did the letter say? …ah, Diagon Alley. No one would notice her. It would be absolutely perfect.
Carina was frowning. She didn't want a wand that shared a core with the wizard who had killed her parents. On top of that, she couldn't find any information anywhere about the man named James Potter that was mentioned in her parents letter to her in the trust vault.
Her parents had said that people thought he was the secret keeper (which meant that he was the only person who could tell where they were … it was illegal to tell someone that didn't have permission from the people being protected where they were) and that if they were dead, the true secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew, had given away the secret. It said to make sure that if it was at all possible, this James man (who was also her godfather) was proven innocent.
A smirk made it's way onto Carina's face. She knew who to talk to. The letter had described him in two ways: her mother thought the man was a good friend, and her father appeared to either hate the man or enjoy bickering with him. Keith Lestrange. Books she had skimmed indicated that he was the one good member of the Lestrange family and that he was quite popular in his time at Hogwarts as a Ravenclaw. Who knew you'd find so much personal information in books. I get the feeling that's going to be a problem for me, Carina mused.
"Lestrange Manor!" Carina shouted into the newly discovered Floo system. There was only one Lestrange not dead or in Azkaban, so it would be safe enough.
"Mr. Keith Lestrange?" Carina inquired of the man standing in front of her five minutes later.
"Yeah?" the man asked gruffly, before looking at her, "Rina?"
"Huh? My name is Carina Black." The man nodded, "I know that."
"What do you know about James Potter?" Carina was only subtle when it fit her needs, and as it was, now wasn't one of those times.
"I think he's innocent but I'm likely the only one to think so," Keith said quietly, "Even his friend, Remus Lupin, thinks he's guilty –or, he doesn't want to but thinks that the proof is foolproof. The idiot should be able to see it…"
"I know," a tired voice called out as a man walked into the room, "You think he's innocent but as much as I want to agree, I'm not putting myself up for another disappointment."
"Well," Carina said, clearing her throat, "I know that he didn't betray my parents."
Both men stared at her in shock.
Carina beamed amusedly, "He couldn't have if he'd wanted to – Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper, and thus, James Potter couldn't have if he'd tried. I don't know anything else about the situation, but that's what I learned in a letter in my vault."
"They also think he killed Peter and twelve muggles," Remus explained, and Keith took over, "I disagree with that, too. Pettigrew was an animagus and could easily have set James up. Very easily," he said, glaring lightly at Remus who returned it.
"Not that I'm not enjoying your banter," Carina said, smirking, "But I'd like to know whether or not m godfather is innocent. Honestly, did you people not even ensure that he got a trial?"
"I tried," Keith said, and Remus nodded his agreement, "They told us it was private but we found out later they never gave him one."
"That's ridiculous!" Carina protested, "Why would they do something like that? That has to be illegal! Oh, heads are going to roll when I'm done with those bastards…"
Keith and Remus both looked like they'd seen a ghost.
"What?" she snapped.
"You sounded exactly like your mother," Remus said in shock, looking amused.
"You do," Keith agreed, "It's kind of scary."
Carina rolled her eyes. If they wouldn't help her, she'd do it on her own.