I do not own Harry Potter.


Emily stood in front of a dirty, worn house, a suitcase in one hand and her wand in the other. She knew that, if posed with a threat, the most she would do was scream and drop the piece of wood. Yet she somehow drew confidence from it's smooth handle.

The girl tore her eyes from the house that hadn't been there just moments ago and set her suitcase gently on the ground to free her hand. She reached into her pocket and looked at the paper as though it were some more foreign object than a crumpled up piece of parchment with an address written on it. She shrugged a little, and when the paper suddenly burst into flames she yelped and dropped the ashes, scattering them with the wind.

She calmed herself, grabbed her suitcase and walked slowly up the walkway and to the front door of 12 Grimmald place. She decided to pocket the wand and did so slowly as though this took too much effort. She realized she was breathing faster than normal and her palms were sweaty.

she thought. said her more reasonable side. screamed her irrational side.

Somehow this thought broke through the others, and she threw her hand forward, causing her to knocked on the door suddenly and a bit louder than she had intended. For a split second she thought maybe she had the wrong house or that he wasn't home. Or maybe he left as soon as he found out I was coming. But she could only think about this for a second before the door was opened and Emily was starring into her own eyes.

"Omigosh."

he thought with an inward gulp. "Hello, you must be Emily." was what he heard himself say.

"Yes, hello." she smiled weakly, obviously nervous.

"Come in, come in. Here, let me take your bags." he said, reaching for her suitcase. She let him take it and stepped into the entryway. She looked around curiously at the hallway. It had spiderwebs growing in every corner and pictures of scowling ancestors all over the walls. Behind her, her father winced in shame at the house he was forced to stay in and wished he had been able to clean it up some before she had arrived, after all, he had only been told she was coming the day before.

"Is this your house?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, well, through inheritance, not desire." he mumbled as he led her to her room. As they turned out of the entryway towards the stairway, Emily brushed against a cloth draped over the wall. A loose corner caused the black shade to fall to the floor revealing an aged woman looking livid in a large picture frame. Before Emily could ask who it was of the picture shrieked.

" DIRTIER OF MY BLOOD! SHAME ON THE FAMILY-" the picture stopped short when she saw Emily. It's eyes widened as it took a huge breath of air and started yelling. " BETRAYAL TO THE FLESH! SCUM! WORM OF THE EARTH! I DISOWN THEE FILTHY MUDBL-"

"Silencio!" yelled Sirius, silencing the witch instantly with his wand. He looked to Emily who looked more shaken and pale then when she had arrived.

"Wh- who is-s th-that?" she asked, stumbling over her words. She was still getting used to the idea of pictures being able to talk, not to mention one had never yelled or insulted her before.

"Your grandmother, unfortunately." he said glumly, hanging the drape back up and continuing towards the stairs.

"My grandmother?" Emily asked curiously. For some reason she had only thought of the father and mother that she had never had, the thought of a whole new family put her in awe. So many people that she could have passed on the street, never knowing that they were her second cousin or uncle.

"Don't get too excited." Sirius warned. "They definitely won't be when they find out about you." he thought to himself.

"What do you mean?" his daughter asked, following him up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"They aren't the nicest blighters I ever met." he admitted, opening a door and tossing her suitcase onto the four poster bed. "In fact, they're why we had to give you up in the first place."

Sirius paused, knowing he shouldn't have said that. It brought on an awkward silence as he got lost in thought, and Emily stared at his back, stone faced, waiting for anymore information.

"What?" she asked, trying to nudge it along faster. "What do you mean?"

Sirius broke out of his trance and turned quickly to her, a smile lit across his face. "Let's not talk about this right now, you just got here after all. Would you like something to drink?" he offered, trying to change the subject.

"Oh um, sure." Emily said, trying to return the smile.

"This way then." he said, and began to lead her down to the kitchen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several days later, Sirius was giving Emily lessons in Defense against the Dark Arts, now one of Emily's favorite subjects.

"Expelliarmus!" She yelled, sending her father's wand shooting from his hand to her's.

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. She smiled and tossed him his wand again. "Alright, since you've been doing so well, I'm going to teach you a spell that's a bit harder.

"I don't know..." she asked uncertainly.

"It's worth a try." he shrugged. "What I want you to do is think of a happy thought and say 'Expecto Patronum', got that?"

Emily nodded and began to search for a thought. She thought about that morning when they had had an eating contest with a woman named Tonks. Sirius had won but he had pieces of pancake and fruit in his hair, clothes, and between his teeth. Emily smiled and whispered, "Expecto Patronum." the very tip of her wand glowed a light grey but it extinguished in a second.

"Think of something else." Sirius prompted. "Something that brought you true joy."

Emily thought of her seventh birthday when she got her first bike but the thought of her parents brought on a tinge of sadness. She pushed that emotion from her mind. Happy, happy, happy. She thought. What about...

"Empecto Patronum." she said it a bit louder this time, thinking of finding a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk. It was the last little bit that made her able to buy her parents their anniversary gift. A small wisp of white mist escaped from the tip of her wand and then vanished.

"Better, better. Think of something else and concentrate, don't forget that, relive the moment."

Emily thought hard. Happy? now she wasn't sure she could find a truly happy thought. Everything in her early life brought back the feeling of loss but everything recently hadn't caused her real joy.

She thought hard. She quickly ran through everything she could remember from the time she awoke at the Weasley's home until now, in her father's house, clutching a 10 inch long willow stick with powdered dragon scale in its core.

Then it hit her. It had happened that morning. She woke up in her room earlier than usual. She found herself staring into a sunbeam and had quickly closed her eyes. She sat up on her knees and tried pulling at the latches on the window. She loved the outside and she hadn't been out much lately, she missed the wind, the rain, the sun. She hadn't seen a beam of sunlight in this room yet and for some reason she was fascinated by this wandering rogue so brave as to enter 12 Grimmald Place.

Emily managed to unlock the latches with a spell the twins had taught her, 'Alohamora'. When she pulled back the curtains all the way and pushed back the glass, she was hit with a blinding yellow wall that quickly encompassed her in its warmth. She looked out and could see a nearby field that she hadn't known was there. She gazed in awe at this beautiful site, lush green grass flowing on for as far as she could see, covered with flowers of every hue, mixing and blending to make unimaginable colors that made her eyes glaze slightly in wonder of their loveliness. There were a few animals that she could see also, a few rabbits and a cat bounding around in the sunshine enjoying themselves.

Emily watched theses and the flowers that seemed to ebb and flow in the warm breeze, feeling her eyes droop. She wasn't sure if that was joy. She wasn't quite sure she had felt anything while gazing at that scene. It was more of a contentment that she hadn't felt in a long time as she forgot her troubles and basked in the glory of nature.

Emily kept her eyes closed, feeling the warm sun kissing her cheeks and the wind whispering in her ears.

"Expecto Patronum." she said, her voice quiet but sure.

The white mist was back, flowing from the tip of her wand and growing, swirling in front of her in an undetermined shape. Emily watched it as it stopped growing and now shrunk and moved as it formed something. Sirius hadn't told her what this spell did. Was it going to form into a monster? Was it going to be a person? Was it going to be a weapon? Was it just going to swirl there and confuse her?

These thoughts stopped thought as the mist began to form something recognizable.

A few more seconds and Emily was staring at a large owl. Emily's eyes were wide.

"Uh-um, er." she stuttered, still not sure what she should call her father.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you. It's your Patronus." Sirius explained.

"My what?"

"Your Patronus. Everyone has one, it represents something they love usually. Patronus' are good to have around when fighting dementors, they're the only thing a defector can't stand."

"Oh." she said, watching the patroness, not thinking to ask what a defector was. She had heard the term several times but had never figured out exactly what they were. It stared at her wide eyed and then swivelled its head around to look at Sirius.

"I guess there'd be no use in getting you an owl then." he laughed. "These things can also be used to send messages to people. The message cannot be altered or stopped by walls or magic, and since everyone has a different Patroness you can't duplicate it." he smiled, proud of her progress.

"What is your Patroness?"

"A tigress." he stated, his voice suddenly ringing with an odd crispness.

"Oh? How are you so sure it's a girl?" she probed.

There was a pause. "I like the tigress more than the male tiger, they don't interest me as much." he said a little stiffly as if he were lying.

"Oh." she said, defeated. What more could she ask?

"Well I think that's enough for today, you can get some rest, I'm going to go check on dinner." he announced, walking towards the door.

"Alright." she consented. He opened the door and she thought that she saw him pause for a moment as though he thought of turning back around, and then he left, shutting the door again behind him. It happened so fast though that she was sure it was her imagination, and she lay down on her bed to think.


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