A/N: I'm not sure if this fanfic is categorized as a self-insert but the character is swept from one world to the next and in this instance, it's inside a book.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. The brilliant J.K. Rowling owns the books and world. I'm writing this fanfiction purely for fun and am not making a profit from it. Only the OCs are mine.

Warning: Self-insert?, OOCs, OCs, slight Mary-sue, some alternate universe, darkness and violence. This is a slow burn type of story with romance. Also, the suspense will build slowly in this plot.

Please leave no flames.

The Story of Scarlet

The Untold Tale of the Black Family

"Scarlet," someone called to me. "What is the due date for our blog?"

I shrugged my shoulders, uncaring about the due date. I already completed my entries for "Dracula" I had to read for my Victoria Literature class.

"Don't you know you won't get an answer from her?" another young girl whispered by me. "She doesn't talk to anyone." The girl's eyes darted to me and her face turned red when she caught me looking at her.

I rolled my eyes before directing my attention on the computer screen. Hitting the "x" on the corner of the computer screen, I closed my blog's window. I stretched my arms above my head. Inhaling a deep breath, I pushed back my chair.

"Scarlet?" I glanced at the clock above the markerboard. "Scarlet Young?"

"Class has ended, Professor Evans." I pointed to the clock. The long hand was a minute after the big twelve. The professor looked down at her wristwatch. A sigh escaped her lips. "Please read the last couple of chapters of Dracula and post an entry in your blog. I expect you to respond to at least three of other people's blogs," she announced to the class.

It was the same homework assignment the professor gave in each class besides analyzing each chapter in depth and then quizzing us on it. Fortunately, I enjoyed reading Victorian literature and I aced every one of her tests. Victorian literature, however, was the only English class I was taking this semester. I had Chemistry, Calculus, Accounting II and an art class.

And when I wasn't attending class, I worked in the administration office for work study.

A good-looking blond guy walked up next to me as I put on my school bag. He stepped aside, letting me pass him until we exited our classroom.

"So how did it go?"

I raised my eyebrows at him while not pausing from our stroll to the school cafeteria. "How did what go?"

"Come on, we both know you were working on your entry in class."

"It sucks."

He scratched his head. "You can always change it later. Besides, your crappy work always turns out better than mine."

I gave Anton a little one of my smiles because he was correct. But then, I felt bad for him because he put a lot of effort and thought in his entries whereas I wrote whatever came to mind and I still received better marks than him.

"If it will make you feel better, I'll be the first one to comment on your entry."

He returned my smile. "You're always the first one."

I shrugged my shoulders at him, my smile turning goofy. "Well, I'm your biggest fan."

"You're my only fan," he retorted.

It was rare for some other person to leave a comment on his page.

"Anton, you just have to write what interests the people."

"Like how you do?"

I exhaled, my face deflating. "You make it sound like I'm doing a bad thing."

"No." He shook his head. "I just kind of envy how you know how to grab the readers' interest."

"And I envy how popular you are with the people in class." It was rather funny how Anton and I were different. Where he lacked writing his blog entries, he made up for it in person. He had more friends then he could count on his fingers. I, on the other hand, didn't do well with conversing with others. He was the only person I called 'friend.'

"By the way, I got you something."

"Aww, you shouldn't have."

We stopped by an empty table. We put our bags on it and I sat down on the chair. Anton unzipped his bag and pulled out a book, but not just any book.

He placed it flat out on the table while my eyes widened to huge proportions on my face. He laughed. "What happened? Cat caught your tongue?"

I opened my mouth but words failed me.

He laughed again. "It's just a new book J.K. Rowling wrote."

"And you managed to get it!" I spluttered out at last. Anton knew how big of a Harry Potter fan I was; however, I was unable to find time to go to a bookstore to grab the latest book. I was going to settle with ordering it online.

"How long did you stand online to get this?" I questioned him seriously, while putting my hands on the book.

"Not that long."

"Really?" I unzipped my bag and quickly put the book in it while nervously glancing around me. I didn't want others to know how big of a Harry Potter fan I was. If they knew, I couldn't live it down.

"Four hours," he finally replied.

I put my hands over my face. I exhaled, "Oh my gosh!"

The things Anton did for me. I didn't deserve his friendship.

"It's nothing, really."

My hands dropped back to my bag and I stared directly into his dark brown eyes, noting how they sparkled from the ceiling lights. "You're saying standing on line for four hours is nothing?"

He was quiet for a moment before lifting his hands in the air in a surrendering motion. "Okay, when you put it that way, you make it seem big."

"That's because it is a big deal." Simply, he went out of his way for me.

He sat down. "I know how much a big fan you are and you'll definitely want the book."

"Your gesture means so much to me." I gave him one of my sincerest smiles.

"So, she does have a good side," a new voice entered our conversation. My head whipped to the side and I saw my worst nemesis taking a seat next to Anton.

"Valorie," he said. His tone was undefinable. Valorie was a beautiful brunette girl. She had one of those hour-glass figures that looked good in anything she wore. She also had the long shiny dark hair that fell to her hips and gorgeous green eyes. Guys had to be blind not to fall for her.

"Oh come on! Don't give me that look." Then she turned her pretty face to me. She gave me one of her skeptical looks before shaking her and a slow smile spread on her beautifully pink lips. "What do we have here?"

I couldn't stop her and before I knew it, she had an object high in the air. Her green eyes squinted on the dark blue cover. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Her eyes darted to me and I gulped nervously at her. There was a reason I considered her my enemy. She had a knack for making me feel inferior than her. "Isn't this a children's book? What is a nerd doing reading a children's book?"

I tried to grab the book from her but she pulled it away. She tilted her head to the side, examining me. "You're really a geek. No wonder no one gives you the time of day."

"Valorie," Anton bit out.

She turned her head to him, giving him one of her innocent expressions. "Well, except for you. You're just a really nice guy."

He took the book from her with ease and handed it over to me. "Valorie, we need to talk." He got up from his seat with her skipping merrily to his side.

Anton took his bag and walked off with her hanging onto his arm. Her head craned over her shoulder, a sly smile on her lips while she lifted a single sculpted eyebrow at me.

Feeling blood rushing to my face, I zipped up my bag and put the strap over my shoulder. I clutched the Harry Potter book to my heart. My eyes burned as I dashed my way out of the cafeteria until I reached outside the school campus ground.

I found a bench under a tree and a took a moment to sit down and catch my breath. Placing the book on my lap, I removed my knapsack and put it at my side. My gaze turned to the front cover. Harry Potter was holding his wand. It was times like this where I wish I could muster some courage to feel like the hero of the book. In the muggle world, he was mistreated and misunderstood and yet in a world of magic, he made a place for himself.

I wanted a world where I could be someone, more than just a person with good grades. I wanted friends.

I wanted a place where I felt like I belong.

I shook my head. "What am I thinking? Places like other worlds don't exist. They're just a figment of the imagination."

There was a rustle of leaves, followed by a caw sound. I jerked my head to the sounds, squinting my eyes to protect them from the sunrays. A black feather drifted down in front of me. It landed on my book. Blinking, I picked up the feather, holding it between my thumb and forefinger.

"What the heck? Since when do we have crows on school grounds?"

I glanced up, my eyes straining to see beyond the foliage in search for a black bird. I saw nothing. Blinking again, I turned my attention to the feather. "Might as well use you as a bookmark."

My lips crept up on the corner of my face. I flipped the book open to page one. "Dudley Demented," I read out loud. I clasped the black feather at the end of the page as I began to read.

And something strange and unexpected happened.

Each word I read glimmered to a point they started to grow on the page and then I found myself falling straight forward into the book, meeting black and white. Closing my eyes in the head long rush of a dizzying spiral, I opened them only when I felt my heart rate steadied and the world stilled around me.

I should have kept my eyes closed. Instead of being on the school campus, two men filled my line of vision. One had shaggy black hair swept around his face. He wore dark clothing. The other person had long gray hair surrounding his wrinkly face. Small spectacles glimmered in the firelight. He wore a pale blue robe. The first word that ran in my mind was wizard but I must have fallen hard on the ground to give me a dream.

"Are you sure the spell worked, Dumbledore?" the ebony haired man asked.

"I'm a hundred percent sure, Sirius. She's the one," the old man responded.

I blinked at the both of them, taking note of a wand in the elder's hand. And then I said, "What the heck?" before fainting.

OoO

"It's not suppose to be like this," I chanted to myself. "It's not suppose to be like this." I was rocking back forth, my hands covered my ears while my eyes were shut.

From the last time I checked, two grown men were talking seriously about something but I was caught in the moment of trying to understand I was witnessing the impossible; two fictional characters from a famous book by J.K. Rowling were real.

Precariously, I opened my eyes to see both men sitting in cushioned woodened chairs a few feet away from me. The man with the black shaggy hair eyed me warily. Feeling embarrassed for being caught, I closed my eyes and began chanting louder.

Then hard hands pressed on my shoulders, stopping my rocking motion. A tentative masculine voice called a name familiar to me. "Scarlet?"

However, it was a name he shouldn't know. A name that didn't exist in Harry Potter's world.

"Scarlet?"

And then another thought occurred to me. "How?"

"How what?" the voice asked back. I tilted my head back to look at him. His gray eyes focused on me.

"Did I voice my thought out loud?"

He gave me a small smile, softening the hard edges on his face. He was a runaway convict that spent twelve years in Azkaban. The rough environment had hardened his skin, sharpened the features of his face and despite him being free for how long, I could still see his skeletal frame under his skin. Was he eating the proper food?

"You did," he answered in the lightest tone he could muster. He was trying his best not to freak me out more than I already been.

I put both hands to my forehead and rubbed it tenderly. A few times I closed my eyes while inhaling deep breaths. I had to calm down to think properly. Perhaps there was a reasonable explanation like I was dreaming.

After a brief moment of silence, I raised my head to look up at the dark-haired man. I licked my cracked lips and realized that my throat felt dry, as if I had been breathing cold air for a long time.

I talked to him again, ignoring the dryness in my throat. "You wouldn't mind telling me how I came to be here?"

His forehead crinkled from his raised eyebrows. "Can't you remember anything?"

"Remember what exactly?"

There was a look on his face I couldn't describe. "You really don't remember anything?"

Slightly, I shook my head. "Look," I exhaled a breath. "A lot has happened to me. I just woke up seeing you and the other old man in front my face and then everything went black."

The man turned from me, his eyes landing on the other person in question. "Dumbledore?" Again, that name I first heard only proved I was in a different environment. "I thought you said that her memories will return."

"The spell should have worked," the elderly wizard assured him. "Maybe she needs time."

The man with ebony hair raised his head to the ceiling. His hands splayed at his sides. "We don't have that."

"Then, we should explain everything to her."

"And have her faint on us again."

"Excuse me," I interrupted them. I didn't like how they were talking about me like I wasn't in the room with them.

Then both of their serious expressions crashed on me and I had second thoughts on disrupting whatever conservation they had. But I had to figure what was going on. "Can you please fill me in on what's happening?" I put my hands in the air. "This time I promise not to faint."

"You see?" Dumbledore added in. "She's willing to listen, Sirius."

The other man gave him an exasperated expression before diverting his attention to me. "You're Scarlet and I'm Sirius Black and..."

"... And?"

"I'm your father," he blurted out.

I blinked and before I could stop myself, peals of laughter escaped me. I hunched over, covering my denial. It was as though I landed in Twilight Zone.

"That can't be," I said after a while. Wiping the wetness from my eyes, I shook my head at him. "I'm Scarlet, Scarlet Young and I'm a college student."

"Exactly," Sirius said. "You're Scarlet Young, but your original name is Scarlet Black."

"No," I said with a little laughter bubbling out of me. "I'm from a different world. My mother, although single, works as a nurse in Roosevelt Hospital. I attend Robinson University and I'm in my second year of college."

"Exactly."

My laughter faded, my face became grim. "You are aware of me being from another world?"

"Of course, that was the way your mother and I planned it."

Now things were beginning to sound strange. "My mom doesn't know this is happening," I said in disbelief.

"In fact, she does. We've been preparing for this day for a long time."

"And why am I finding this out now?"

Sirius stooped down but as he moved closer to me, I shifted away from him on the bed. "You've always known about us, about this world." He stopped talking, his gray eyes staring intently at me. "You know."

"How?" It was the first question I asked.

"Think."

I lowered my head, my fingers brushing through my dark locks. My mind wandered to earlier events. I was in school. I finished my English class and Anton was chatting with me. We stopped at the cafeteria and he presented the fifth book of Harry Potter.

My eyes widened as I looked at him. "The book."

"Yes, the books in your world tells the story of this world. It's a way to fill you in on what's happening in this world."

"But that can't be," I said in complete denial. "J.K. Rowling wrote the books."

"She is the writer and much more than that."

He wasn't doubting my words but he wasn't seeing the bigger picture. "Don't you see? You're not real."

A full smile blossomed his face and for a second I could clearly see a younger version of him. "Just because we are written in a book doesn't mean we're not real. You're here after all."

My hands pressed against the sides of head. "And that's the thing. I'm not suppose to be here."

"But you are here. This is the world you were born in."

Okay, the dementors must have done a number on sucking his soul. "I was born in Los Angeles, California. The hospital my mom works in was where I was born."

The dark-haired man wouldn't stop smiling. "We set it up to be that way so we can protect you from this world."

"Protect me from what?"

"Protect you from Voldemort and his followers," the elderly wizard supplied.

My eyes shifted to the wizard. Shock was evident on my face. "What in the world does the dark lord want with me?"

"Perhaps everything, or maybe nothing." Dumbledore got all whimsical and when he acted like that, there was no way I could understand him.

As if Sirius read my mind, he said, "How is that explaining anything?"

"She mentioned the dark lord when I said his name."

The younger wizard looked back at me. "So you do remember the full details about this world.

I realized my mistake. I let out a long breath before moving my head side-to-side. "I know as much as the books reveal to me."

"And there will be more to come," Dumbledore put in. "For this reason, we summoned you into this world."

I wasn't following along the elderly wizard's words. He seemed to read the lost expression on my face. He paced a little closer to me. His hands folded neatly behind his back. As in the illustrations in the books, Dumbledore wore long wizardly robes. "You're aware of Harry Potter?"

Who wouldn't? The books were all about his adventures in the magical world.

"He's The Boy Who Lived," I answered.

His thin lips spread across his face. "Since his first year in Hogwarts he's claimed to encounter the dark wizard, He Who Shall Not Be Named. In the Daily Prophet and other articles, there are opinions being addressed that the dark wizard isn't real."

"But he is real," I interrupted. I was going to further include that I read in the four other books, but I held myself back.

"We know," Sirius said.

My eyes turned to Sirius. "He's my godson, making him family too."

Seriously, was Sirius expecting me to believe that he and Harry were family?

"Look, just think about it. Does your mother have immediate family? I'm talking about parents, grandparents that she mentioned in the past."

I frowned at him. Mom never conversed to me about family. How many Thanksgivings, Christmases, and birthdays did we have together, with just the two of us? Even being in college, I traveled for hours on the public trains and buses home for the holidays to be with her.

My mom was just like me. We didn't have many friends besides the people we socialize with, for her, work and, for me, school. I learned long ago that we preferred to be by ourselves. I didn't realize there was a possibility of a darker secret.

"Your mother discovered some alternate worlds and when Voldemort started targeting certain wizards and witches, your mother and I did a spell to summon you to the other world. When the time was right, we would bring you back."

"If all of this is true, then summon her here."

"We can't bring her back like that. Summoning requires a lot of magical energy, the right ingredients and time," Dumbledore answered.

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked at both males skeptically. "When can you summon her?"

Sirius diverted his attention to Dumbledore. A questionable expression flashed on his face. "Maybe in a month or two."

"That's a long time," I commented, not sure that I wanted to stay in this world, as much as I love Harry Potter, for the time duration.

"It is, which brings me to my next question. Since you'll be long here with us, how do you feel about attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

Well, that was a question that rendered me speechless.

OoO

I couldn't give a definite answer to the elderly wizard. He just offered me to attend a famous school for witches and wizards. While reading the Harry Potter books, I always imagined that specially gifted people attended such an enlightened school. Harry Potter was picked because he was a famous boy who survived a tragic incident. Hermione Granger was quite an intelligent and clever witch, although she was muggle born. And Ronald Weasley, well, he was from a pureblood family.

But me?

The whole Sirius Black being my father, a lot of it was fabrication. Until my mom appeared into this world and told me otherwise, I wouldn't believe anything coming from them.

Yet, what about the feeling of never belonging from my original world?

My head shook with jerky movements. Again, I kept mulling over waking up; discovering that Harry Potter wasn't real.

Dumbledore and Sirius had left me in a bedroom, claiming it was going to be my room while staying with them. At least Sirius recognized that I wouldn't be staying for long. Why would I?

That didn't mean I was going to attend Hogwarts either.

In fact, I was at a standstill.

What would some other person do?

I got up from the bed. The partially carpeted floor creaked under my weight and I flinched. I didn't want one of them to come barging into the room because they thought I would do something stupid.

The crackling from the fireplace filled the silence. My eyes shifted to the ways the flames danced and a scene where Harry first saw Sirius through the flames in his third year at Hogwarts flickered in my mind.

"Harry Potter," I said his name.

I walked to the fire, not caring about the noise underneath my moving feet. My hands reached out to the flames. The heat intensified under my fingers. Just a touch. A quick, simple touch.

"I need to know if I'm real, if this is all real," I reassured myself. A slight burn wouldn't affect me. My middle finger touched the flames and I yelped. Quickly, I brought my hand to my chest, cradling my burnt finger.

"Not wise," I chastised myself. "But at least I know I'm real and this is all also very real too."