((Hello, everybody! Just wanted to mention, this story is in one of my AU's where Remus wasn't in Gryffindor but Slytherin [dont hate me], and he befriended Severus along with the rest of the Marauders. That is not to say Severus was completely accepted, of course; James and Sirius just picked on him less when Remus was around. Also, have some stats on Belinda; Belinda Faust: 15, technically emo (used to cut, listens to dark music and screamo, wears all black, dyed her hair black w/red streaks), lives in New York with her parents Jaison and Basilisa Faust. Anyway, on with the story! Hope you like it!))
"Mom, I'm home!" I yelled as I entered my house.
"I'm in the living room!" Mom answered. I set my bag down and went to find her. She was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. I sat down next to her and started telling her about my day.
"The most interesting part was I ran into someone on the way home," I said, concluding my uneventful day.
"Oh? Who was it?" She asked.
"I'm not sure, but it felt like I knew her," I said. She looked up from her magazine worriedly.
"What was she wearing?" I thought that was a weird question, but i told her anyway.
"Black robes," I said. "Oh, and she had a big hood covering her face. I tried to find her, but she seemed to disappear into the crowd." Even though there was no crowd, I thought. Mom stood up and told me to go pack my clothes, and to meet her in the basement in half an hour. I nodded warily and went to my room.
I grabbed my suitcase and stuffed my band shirts, skinny jeans, and my undergarments into it. I still had room left, so I went to my closet and took my dresses out, packed them and then shut my suitcase. My purse was still on my bed, so I picked it up and stuffed my phone charger, hairbrush, and some other things into that bag, then went downstairs.
"Jaison, it's time," I heard my mom say while I was on the stairs. I heard her hang up the phone shortly after, and she went to the basement. I followed her down, and saw her standing in front of an unlit fireplace.
"Mom, what's going on?" I asked as she turned towards me with a fist full of...dust? Ashes? I couldn't tell.
"I'll tell you once-"
"Basilisa! I'm home!" Came my dad's voice. He came running downstairs to us. "Have you told her yet?" He asked mom. She shook her head and threw the dust into the fireplace, making the fireplace roar with green flame.
Wait. Green flame?! "Belinda, come here," she called.
"Tell me what's going on, first," I said backing to the wall.
"I'm sorry Lindy, but there isn't time," dad said reaching for me. He grabbed my arm as mom grabbed his shoulder and the door to the basement opened.
Soon after I felt like I was being pulled through a garden hose, stretched into taffy, call it what you will, it was uncomfortable. We landed on what felt like concrete, at least to my face. I tried to stand up, but as soon as my legs were under my body, they gave out and I started throwing up.
"That'll happen at first," mom said behind me. I soon felt her hand rubbing circles on my back in comfort. Once I regained some control of my stomach I glared at them both.
"What, the hell did you just do?" I (somewhat) demanded, panting.
"We'll explain everything once we're inside," dad said.
He nodded at mom and she said "My name is Basilisa Faust, and I am the Secret Keeper of Number 12 Grimmauld Place." Behind me came this rumbling and as I turned toward it, a building grew from in-between two others. I stood up and watched in amazement as mom and dad dragged me to the newly grown fence. They held the gate open and I realized they wanted me to walk through. I watched their faces as they watched everywhere around us, and dad held a stick quite menacingly.
"Come, dear," mom said holding her arms out to me. I ran into her arms and we ran into the place before us. The door shut behind dad and mom led us down the dark hallway, which at any other time in my life would be awesome, into a long room with a table big enough to fill said room from this entrance (at the foot) to the other door (at the head). There were three people sitting at the head of the table, and they all looked up when we walked in.
One had dark, shaggy hair, sat slumped in his chair, and looked at us with familiarity. The man sitting opposite him had shorter hair, straightening his posture at the sound of the door, and scars running diagonally along his face. Meanwhile, the man sitting between the two had blond hair, and what looked to be an eyepatch, but instead of a patch there was another eye which flicked around the room all on its own. All three men wore robes of differing colors (black, tan/brown, and grey). The man with the shaggy hair moved down his side of the table towards us rather quickly, as did the man with scars but in a more apprehensive way.
"Basilisa! What are you doing here?" asked the shaggy man. Mom threw her arms around him and embraced him like a family member.
"We couldn't stay any longer," dad said shaking hands with the scarred man. "After all, not many people in New York wear black robes, do they?"
"Did she find you? Are you all all right?" asked the scarred man.
"Yes, we're fine, Remus," said mom letting go of the shaggy man. "Luckily, she didn't have the chance to find us."
"Or so you hope. I know how my cousin works," shaggy man said. "Mad-Eye, would you go tell Molly and Arthur what's happened?" He asked 'Mad-Eye,' apparently. He left through the door behind him, and I got fed up not knowing anything.
"How's about telling me what's happened? Or what the hell this is? Who are you people? Who are you, really?" I asked pointing at Remus and the shaggy man, then mom and dad.
"Belinda, my name is Sirius Black," the shaggy guy said, "and this is Remus Lupin," he said pointing at his friend (who tensed when his name was spoken).
"Remus is your uncle, Belinda, and Sirius is one of our oldest friends," dad said. "As to who we really are...We are members of the Order of the Phoenix." I looked at him and gestured for him to keep going. "Belinda, you're a witch, just like your mother, and I'm a wizard."
"What."
I looked towards my mother and she pulled out a stick, held in point up in the air, and red sparks shot out of the point dissipating in the air. "The green flame, that was Floo Powder. That's how we all get around, along with apparating," she told me.
"What."
"I think you overwhelmed her," Remus said looking concerned. I started swaying, and I think someone caught me before I blacked out. All I know is I woke up in a dark room, on a very comfortable bed. I sat up and looked around the room to see...nothing. With no lights on, I couldn't see anything.
"Lumos."
A light came on and shot to the ceiling, revealing a man dressed in all black sitting in a chair at the end of the bed. He looked either very angry for some unknown reason, or he was just not wanting to be there.
"Who are you, sir?" I asked. My New York accent sounded odd and out of place amongst all these Brits. He didn't answer, just watched me. "Sir?" Knock, knock, knock.
"Severus? Are you still there?" Remus asked quietly through the door. He opened the door after not getting a response. "Ah, Belinda. Are you alright? You gave your poor mother quite a scare."
"I'm fine, Mr. Lupin," I said.
"Call me Uncle Remus, or even just Remus if you prefer. And this man," he said pointing to Severus (?), "is Severus Snape, one of my most trusted friends. He'll be your potions master at Hogwarts, which reminds me. Your letter came this morning." He handed me an envelope with a rubber seal holding it closed and on the front in green lettering was written "Belinda Faust Second Door in the Upstairs Hallway Number 12 Grimmauld Place". I looked up at Remus curiously. "Listen, come downstairs, and we'll explain everything. Severus, would you like to join us?"
"Is the dog still here?" He finally said.
"Considering it is his house, yes," Remus replied.
"Then, no my friend," he said standing. "I doubt the dog wants me here, to be honest. Good day, Ms. Faust. I shall see you again soon." And he disappeared. I stood up slowly and walked to the door to go downstairs.
Remus and I walked into the dining hall to see a room full of gingers. The table had (1, 2,…) 6 gingers sitting around it with a couple more people I didn't recognize sitting next to mom and dad. Remus put his hand on my shoulder and led us to a couple empty chairs next to the ginger infestation. Everyone stared at me for a few seconds before going back to what they were talking about. I tuned them all out and tried to come to terms with what I had been told.
I'm a witch. And pretty much my entire life has been a lie-OOH, FOOD! I came back to my mind just in time to see a plate full of delicious-looking treats land in front of my face.
"Eat, dear," mom said. I took a bite out of something that looked like a danish but tasted like pumpkin. I thought it was really good!
"It's called a pumpkin pasty," one of the gingers told me. "I'm Fred, by the way."
"No, I'm Fred!" Said the identical ginger next to him. They started bickering to themselves and I kept eating. Remus introduced the others as we ate; Arthur and Molly, father and mother to Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and several other children who weren't here. The girl sitting next to Ron was Hermione (such a weird name!) and the boy sitting next to them was Harry Potter. Apparently he's a big name here, since Sirius called him "my godson, the Boy Who Lived!" with a proud grin. Harry just seemed to be tired, in my opinion. He had a very weary look on his, actually fairly handsome face. After everyone finished eating, Harry and Sirius went off to another room so I took the chance to find out just what is happening.
I stood up and went over to Ron and (Herman? Hermoingle? Hermanonucleosis?) to attempt to be social. "Hi, I'm Belinda," I said waving feebly. Ron and Hermione (I think) smiled at me. "Um, can you guys tell me what is going on?"
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"Well," I started nervously, "I just found out I'm a witch. What does that mean?"
"It means you can do magic, once you get a wand and some training," Hermione said.
"Which should be fairly soon. Mum said she was gonna take us all to Diagon Alley in a few days," Ron chimed in. I just stood where I was, confused as fuck. "Diagon Alley is where we buy the supplies we need for our year. We're in fifth year, so we just need new books and maybe some robes."
"How do we know what we need?" I asked.
"Check your letter," Hermione said. Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about it!
"Ron, Hermione, Harry wanted to talk to you both upstairs," Sirius said coming back into the room. They left in a hurry and I felt abandoned, so I decided to go back to where I was sleeping earlier to find my letter. I went upstairs and passed an open door. Now, normally I don't eavesdrop, but when I heard Ron, Harry, and Hermione talking about me…
"She's just new, Harry. Give her a break!" Ron said.
"Sirius said her and her family were on the run. Now why would they be running?" Harry asked.
"Perhaps she and you are in the same position?" Hermione queried. That was when I decided to stop listening. I didn't want to be famous like Harry, for reasons no one has explained to me yet. Right now, I want to be me, even though I don't know who I am anymore. Once I got to the room I was in, I took a better look around. The walls were dark green, along with the four-poster bed in the middle of the room. The window on the right is medium sized, and has beautiful black curtains pulled back to let in some light.
I went to the bed and grabbed my letter. Trying to be careful, I peeled off the rubber seal and pulled out the letter. There were several pieces of paper folded together, one of which was my list of school supplies. Another one was addressed to mom and dad, and seemed blank except for the introduction. The third paper was for me and read;
'Dear Ms. Faust,
We are pleased to inform you of your acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please see enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress'
This was still incredibly weird, but I had about a month to process everything before the term started. Until then, though, I'm going to try to catch up with the wizarding world. First things first, why the hell didn't anyone tell me. But considering its night, I'll ask in the morning.