Disclaimer: All characters accept Kate, Abby, and Riana are the property of J.K. Rowling. She created this wonderful tale in which I only get to play; I take no credit for her work.

Chapter 1: Homecoming

It's good to be back in the United States. Katherine Reyna Black thought as she stepped off the Muggle airplane in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She had fled from England the morning before at the urging of friends. The Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater supporters were stepping up attacks on anyone who opposed them. She and her friends were in Dumbledore's Order and many were now going into hiding. I hope everyone else is alright.

She made her way to the bus station and caught the bus to Grand Haven, a smaller city on Lake Michigan. Abby, a friend of Katherine's from her youth, had just moved there from New England and offered to share her new condo overlooking the waterfront.

Katherine's parents had died when she was 5 years old. Her aunt and uncle took care of her for one year but then had left her in an all Wizarding orphanage because they couldn't stand children. That is where she met Abby; the two shared a room and soon became fast friends. But when they were 10, they were required to take an American placement test to see what school would be best suited for each of them. Katherine had done extremely well, and was told that she could go anywhere she wanted with those marks. Abby's average score meant that she would likely be placed in the school Salem, Massachusetts, which most of the orphans attended. Katherine began doing research on which school she wished to attend and decided to write to the best school in the world, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England, and ask if she could be admitted. Her acceptance letter arrived the next week via owl and she moved there soon after. Abby and Katherine wrote to each other every week at first but in their second year apart, they sort of lost touch. Over the next 9 years, occasional Christmas cards were exchanged but Abby had been shocked when an owl arrived last week with a letter from her friend requesting a place to stay.

When Katherine arrived at Abby's condo, she climbed the stairs, knocked on the door, and called out for her old friend. "Abby it's Kate, I'm here."

Abby answered the door and quickly helped Kate carry her trunk inside. The two then embraced and Abby said, "You have to tell me what you've been up to these past 9 years. I want all of the details! And why did you urgently contact me about a place to stay? Not that I mind you staying with me, that is. You aren't in any sort of trouble are you?"

"Well... this is sort of a long story, so maybe we should discuss this over dinner. I'm starved."

"Sure, I'll cook; you sit at the table and spill your guts."

Over the next 3 hours, Kate told Abby everything from the moment she had been sorted into Gryffindor house to the last moments she spent in England with her boyfriend, Sirius Black. It was pure coincidence that she was dating a Black as her father's last name had also been Black. Kate was supposed to have left England 1 month earlier but had hidden after her "departure" and no one but Sirius had known she was still there. With the days growing ever darker as the war waged on, Sirius finally persuaded her to go to the States, after one last night together that is.

When Kate finished her tale, Abby's mouth curled into a mischievous grin and she asked, "So, how was the sex?"

Kate rolled her eyes at Abby, but grinned back. "He's amazing. That's why I almost missed my plane yesterday morning; I didn't want to leave the bed... But speaking of bed, I'm dead tired from all of this travel, so if you don't mind, I think I'll turn in for the night."

"Alright, see you in the morning, sleep well."

"Good night."

The next morning, an owl arrived carrying the local paper. The top story was not about anything happening in Michigan or even the United States, but it told of Voldemort's apparent demise at the hands of one-year-old Harry Potter. Kate was shocked. Lily and James, two of her good friends, were murdered and worse yet, Sirius was the one who had betrayed them. She didn't want to believe the paper or the Ministry of Magic but the evidence was overwhelming against Sirius. It hurt that he had been lying to her all this time.

Kate got up from the breakfast table and went to her room. For two days, Abby tried to get her friend to eat or at least talk. "You can't keep all of this inside Kate, it'll drive you crazy."

But Kate didn't answer. She stayed in her room and stared blankly at the wall, a million things running through her head. Finally, she began to come back to reality after the initial shock. She got a Muggle job in town and used that to keep her mind off what had happened back in England.

At the end of her second month with Abby, Kate discovered that she was nearly 3 months pregnant. The child had to be Sirius' as he was the only one she had been with. And, judging from how far along she was, they apparently had conceived on their last night together.

Kate didn't mind the thought that she would soon be a single mother but dreaded the questions her child would eventually ask her about his or her father. She only told the two people she most trusted about the baby; Abby and Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore responded to Kate's letter by telling her to keep the baby's father a secret, stay in the States, and raise the baby there.

Seven months later, on August 1st, Kate gave birth to a little girl whom she named Riana Lily Black.