Chapter

Severus was the first one to act, jumping on his feet and reaching into his pocket, only to find nothing there. Lily looked at us in surprise "Black? What are you doing here?" she cried

"I was just about to ask Snape," Sirius said, eying him suspiciously. I gripped onto Sirius' hand to make sure he didn't do something stupid. "Severus, what a pleasant surprise," I said, but he wasn't listening to me. He was glaring at Sirius who was glaring back at him. "Who are you?" a blonde haired girl said sharply. I turned to the girl "Ariana Dumbledore," I said, emphasising my last name like I always did. Her face soured up "You're related to that principal of the freak school aren't you?" she spat.

I looked at her surprised "Freak school?" I asked, "I go to Hogwarts."
"Exactly," she spat. Lily stood between us

"Petunia go back and find mum," Lily said, eying me suspiciously. I looked from Lily to Petunia and back. They didn't look the same, but you could see some similar features – and suddenly it came to me "Your sister's a muggle," I said, shortly. She frowned
"Go Petunia – now!" Lily cried, but Petunia didn't move. I rolled my eyes

"I'm not going to hurt your sister Evans," I said, sharply, "If anything, you're the one who likes to bully other's remember? My bracelet?" She immediately turned red
"I did-didn't mean to do that!" she cried, "James gave it to me!"

"Yeah, since when have you seen James do anything good?" I asked

"Hey!" Sirius cried. I squeezed his hand

"No offense," I said, quickly and he relaxed. Lily noticed our hands entwined together and looked at the two of us "What are you two doing together? Is Sirius bullying you still?" Lily asked.

"No," Sirius said, not at all ashamed – which got a little on my nerves, "Turns out she's my long lost family friend." Lily's lips pursed

"What? Like 'Bella Black' family friend?" she asked. I smiled
"I'm not going to harm your muggle sister – would you like me to do the Unbreakable Promise?" I asked her, sarcastically. She looked like she did want me to "Stop calling me that!" her sister cried

"What? Muggle?" I asked and she glared at me

"You know your sister looks nothing like you," Sirius said and Petunia glared at him too

"Who are you two freaks?" Petunia cried

"Ariana and this is Sirius Black," I said, "We're in the same year as your sister." I looked down at her shiny black shoes. One of them had the paint peeled off it "What happened there?" I asked, it was so visible. "Bloody freak magic," she snapped. She kept on calling us freaks, but she made no move to turn and go home. I put my hand out and tried to concentrate the magic in my blood into that section. The paint began crawling back to the same spot and the shoe looked good as new "H-how did you do that?" she cried.

"Even after we get our wands, our kind can do 'useless' tricks like that without a wand – and it's completely undetectable," I said, winking. By the look of confusion, I'd used too many words to get through to her. "What are you two doing together?" I asked Lily and Severus who were standing close to each other. "We're neighbours," Lily said. I turned to Severus

"Glad to see you're okay," I admitted. He nodded

"Yeah – thanks for before," he said in a small voice

"Don't you think you owe me some gratitude from saving your butt too? Get down and kiss my – ow, ow – OUCH!" Sirius cried as I squeezed his hand painfully.

"I haven't forgiven you for that yet," I growled and he had the decency to keep quiet as he rubbed his sore hand. "Get out of here Black," Severus snapped.

"What's the rush?" I asked, turning to Petunia who was looking at our exchange hungrily, "We're lost."
"Well if you catch the bus over there, you'll get to King's Cross station," Lily said. I looked over at Sirius who was testing the playground equipment to see how it worked "Oh yeah, with Sirius on there we won't stick out at all," I said, sarcastically, "And I don't think you know this Lily, but in wizarding customs you usually invite guests over."
"No! I don't want Sirius anywhere near us!" Severus cried

"Afraid of me Sevi-Sevi-Severus?" Sirius sung
"Sirius, you really aren't helping," I said, softly. He shrugged
"If anything Evans you shouldn't go anywhere near Snape. He's a pure blood loving snake," Sirius said, "He might even kill your sister!" I turned to the girl who was paling

"He doesn't mean that," I said to her.

"Lily!" a man said, from a house looking over the park, "It's time for dinner!"

"Dinner!" Sirius cried, eagerly.

"Get out of here Sirius," Lily cried.

"She's right Sirius, tell me where the nearest main road is?" I asked Lily. She pointed in some direction and I was about to go when a red headed man came up, grinning at all of us "What's this girls, made some friends?" he asked, beaming. Lily paled

"Er – ah, no," Lily said, not knowing what to say

"There Lily's freak friends from that school," her sister cried. The man frowned

"Now Petunia, what have I said about calling people freaks?" the man asked.
"Morning Mr Evans," Sirius said, so politely even I was alarmed, "We've lost our way trying to get back to London and I'm quite hungry…"
"Oh well we're just about to have dinner!" Mr Evans cried, "Why don't you come in and grab a bite to eat." Lily groaned and Sirius cheered up

"Thank you sir!" Sirius cried. I sighed as he bounded along with Lily's father.

"You'd better go Sev, before your father yells at you," Lily said frowning

"B-but Sirius could do something to you!" Severus cried, worried.
"Don't worry, I'll put a leash on him," I said, "So relax. You can trust me." He analysed me for a moment, before nodding "Yeah, okay – I'll see you tomorrow Lily," Severus said. Lily smiled

"Yeah, I'll see you then," she said as Severus ran off across the oval. I watched him go

"He's a nice guy," I said, as I walked to Lily's house with her, "You should take care of him better by keeping the Marauders away."
"Listen, I already feel guilty enough as it is with the werewolf incident okay? But look at you, you brought Sirius Black into my house – and I still don't really understand how you two know each other so well," Lily cried.

"I wasn't talking about the werewolf incident," I said, "I'm talking about every other time." Lily sighed

"I know – but he hates it when I get involved," she said

"Because he doesn't want to hurt you," I said as we made it to her home. She nibbled her lip as I walked into her house and saw Sirius was already setting the tables. He could invite himself into just about everybody's family, I thought to myself. "Hey Addie, check this out – they call it an 'ovum'," Sirius said, grabbing my hand and taking me to the kitchen "Oven," Mrs Evans said, blushing.

"Please don't show him the television," I told her and she giggled.

"It cooks things," Sirius said, pressing his face against the glass, "How does it get warm without magic?"

"Sirius, sit down and eat," I said, "We have to get back soon." Sirius sighed as I peeled him away from the oven and made him sit on a chair "Addie look – the numbers on the wall move!" he squealed like a child, pointing at a clock. He expected me to be ecstatic, but when he saw me un-amazed he pouted "How come you know so much about the muggle world?" he cried
"I spent a while in it," I said, shrugging. The Midnight Dagger was purely muggle run. I also knew about things like muggle weapons that I never want Sirius to ever see. Roast chicken was brought out and Sirius devoured it before jittering to Mr Evans about the Quidditch game he'd just seen. Mr Evans was kind enough to pretend like he was very interest even though I could see he had absolutely no idea what Quidditch was or how it was played. Lily was trying to help him understand and Petunia was also listening in though she was hiding it. "You know," I told her as she played with her food, "Magic isn't that great." She jumped up

"Of course it isn't," she snapped, "It's disgusting!" I smiled
"So I'm guessing if I told you I could give you magic you wouldn't be interested?" I asked, playing with her. Her eyes lit up and I immediately felt bad "How? Is it possible? Wait Lily told me it's not possible… How?" she cried.
"What are you two talking about?" Lily asked, eying me suspiciously

"Just muggle school – it's very fascinating," I said, smiling innocently. Lily turned back to her father "Lily doesn't know about this type of magic," I said. Petunia looked hungry

"Is it Dark?" she asked, looking torn between fright and curiosity

"No – ancient," I said, quietly.

"I can show you my room," Petunia said out loud and grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs to the surprise of her parents.

Once upstairs she shut the door and turned to me "What is it?" she asked

"I thought you didn't like magic?" I asked, innocently. She sighed

"Why did Lily have to get chosen? She gets chosen for everything!" she cried, "I wanted to go – to Hogwarts. I wanted to go so badly." I felt sorry for her, so she was the black sheep of the family.

"Magic isn't so great," I admitted, "There's a war going on right now and people are dying – and Hogwarts is not a nice place at the moment."

"Even with all that, I want to be able to brew magical potions – and have the power to fix this and cast spells!" she cried, pointing to herself. She had a plain face and immediately I felt an understanding. So she was somebody like me? "You don't need to change," I said, quickly, "You're perfectly fine as you are – like me." I said, pointing to my own face.

"But you have magic," she whined. I bit my lip – she was nothing but a muggle, surely it wouldn't hurt to show her a little magic? I mean who would she tell? "You have to swear you'll never tell a single soul what I'm about to do," I said. She nodded looking at me with the same excitement Sirius usually had on his face when I told him we were going out. I took my necklace and put it around her neck "What's a place in the world you've always wanted to go?" I asked

"Paris," she said, immediately. What was with women and Paris?
"Okay, Paris it is," I said, thinking of the Eiffel Tower and pressing on France. A gust of wind caught us and when the girl opened her eyes she screamed and jumped back. "This is – amazing!" she cried, looking around herself. I smiled "Come on, I need to get you home before Evans freaks out," I said and quickly pressed England and we went back to her room "What was that?" she cried, looking at the necklace hungrily "Teleportation," I said, "Your sister can't even do that."
"Really?" she asked, excitedly

"Really. Do you have a pen and paper anywhere?" I asked. She quickly got it out and I scribbled my address on it "This is the House of Black," I said, "Use Lily's owl to send me letters till I get back to Hogwarts, then you can send me letters there. If magic is what you want you can use me to do it for you. Once the novelty wears off you'll realise being a witch isn't all that good."
"And if it doesn't wear off?" she asked, eagerly. I smiled

"I guess we'll just have to be friends forever," I said, shrugging. She suddenly smiled

"Thanks," she said, "And please don't tell my sister."
"Don't worry – your sister and I – aren't exactly friends," I admitted. She didn't seem to mind at all, but to be honest, I didn't care. Petunia Evans was another me. One I wanted to take care of and nurture. The door opened and Lily came in with Sirius "What's going on here?" Lily asked. I picked up a jewellery box and handed it to Sirius "It sings without magic!" I cried and suddenly Sirius was enwrapped in the dancing ballerina and was prodding it with his fingers to get it to talk. I had to get it off him to make sure he wouldn't damage it. "We'd better be going," I admitted

"Mr Evans said he'd drive us home," Sirius said, "In a muggle car."
"Having a muggle drive to the House of Black is the worst idea in the entire world," I answered, "If he can get us to Kings Cross station on the other hand I would be eternally grateful. I dragged Sirius away from Petunia's room and to Mr Evans who was waiting at the door. "Bye – um, what was your name?" Petunia asked. I smiled

"Ariana," I said

"Oh, bye Ariana – I'll write to you soon," she said. I smiled and nodded before leaving the house with Lily's jaw opened in surprise.

Mr Evans put up with Sirius' constant cries of excitement as we made it back to King's Cross station. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive you home?" he asked, "It's getting quite dark."
"No, we can take care of ourselves. Thank you for everything," I said, looking around nervously. It would be the end of not only myself but Sirius too if we were caught with a muggle. Sirius himself also seemed to be nervous. "Thank you – bye!" he said and we waved him off before quickly walking back to the House of Black. "You don't think anybody saw right?" he muttered to me

"No," I said, shortly. When we were a good distance away from the station, Sirius relaxed and laughed "I can't wait to tell James Snape and Evans live on the same street," he cried. I grabbed him arm tightly and spun him around to face me "Sirius, don't forget for a moment that I haven't forgotten that you bullied me all of first year – or for letting Remus loose on Severus," I growled, "Even after all that, I've forgiven you because you were Marcel's friend, but if you tell Potter that Severus lives near Lily Evans then you'll push me over the edge, do you understand?" I asked. He paled

"But I have to tell James…he and Lily…" he began

"I won't be able to stand being near you," I said. He frowned and nodded

"Okay, I won't tell him," he said, his head was bowed. I grabbed him hand
"Good, now come on. Let's get you home," I said, finally glad to be able to get to the Grimmauld Place.

…

"You ready yet?" Sirius' voice called from the door he was already opening. I quickly shoved my robes over my head "Would you knock?" I growled. He grinned and lay on my bed
"I don't care about you being naked," Sirius said. Nobody had caught us when we'd gone out last time. Bella came in a few moments later – also not knocking. "You take too long," she mumbled. She shoved Sirius off my bed and sat down in his place. Sirius immediately came whining up to me. I ran my fingers through his hair "Bella, was that really necessary? The bed's big enough for two people," I said. She shrugged and studied her nails as her two sister's came in. "I hate her," Sirius breathed in my ear. "I know dear," I mumbled back and gave him a hug before letting him sit on the stool by my vanity table. There was a bruise on his cheek from where Aunt Walberga had thrown a plate at him for 'insulting the name of Salazor Slytherin'. I personally didn't like it when he did that either – but having your mother hurt you was hard and I could see Sirius was breaking, so I was particularly careful with him now and he was especially starved of affection lately seeing as I had spent the last week taking Yelena to fashion week and hadn't spent a lot of time with him. I hadn't been there for him when his mother had hit him either and the guilt was gnawing at me. I brushed my hair and straightened my robes before grabbing a bag "Where's Regulus?" I asked.

"Right here!" Regulus cried appearing in my room in clean and stylish robes. We were going to Diagon Ally to pick up the school supplies for next week when Hogwarts started again. Though I didn't want to go back, I knew it would be good for Sirius to finally get out of here. "You look nice," I said and he grinned, "Come on then – maybe I'll bump into a few new students," he said, grinning

"You already know all the important Slytherin's," Bella said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah – right," Regulus said, his mood dampening

"I heard there are a few pure bloods sending their children to Hogwarts though - even though they don't live in England," I said, "You'll get to meet them maybe." He brightened again and I pulled them all down to where Aunt Walberga was waiting. Sirius avoided her and looked away. Aunt Wal had crossed the line and I doubted Sirius would ever think of her the same way. A group of black, sleek cars with tinted windows waited for us outside the home and we sat into them to get to Diagon Ally. I sat rigidly next to Aunt Walberga and Sirius quickly took his seat next to me before Regulus could, but Reg didn't mind. I had loved Aunt Walberga before, but to think she hurt Sirius began giving me second doubts about her. Was the Black Family really as homely as I had wanted them to be?

We made it to Diagon Ally and I looked around at the students quickly going about their business – afraid a Death Eater might hex them. Aunt Walberga pried me away from Sirius to go get new robes and I was her shadow for most of the day, following her every move and making sure not to disappoint her. When she finally went over to Bella's mother, Sirius rushed over to me "How was shopping?" I asked, holding onto his hand

"New posters are out of the Team A league," Sirius said, excitedly. I smiled
"Well we'd better go have a look then," I said and he eagerly took me over to the Quidditch shop and I let him take his time. Regulus joined him and they eagerly went through each poster. "Adeline?" Aunt Walberga looked at me from outside the shop. I quickly went over to her

"I was escorting Regulus and Sirius to the Quidditch store," I said, quickly. Aunt Walberga looked over at her sons and nodded "Boys that age are always crazy over that game," she said, "But we still need to go over to the shoe maker, your shoes are appalling," she said. I nodded and followed her away.

We met the Malfoy's and they all sat down at a restaurant to sit and eat, which made the shop owner very uncomfortable. I sat on the couch reading the paper with Sirius leaning over my shoulder. "There – Incognito," he said, pointing to the word sleuth. Immediately the letters rearranged themselves again and again, making it difficult to find the words in the sleuth, but Sirius was actually good at these things. I watched him play and eventually he got bored and put his chin on my shoulder and settled with just looking out at the people walking by. "Just one more week," he mumbled more to himself.

"I should have taken better care of you," I said, guiltily look at the bruise on his cheek, "I'll take better care of you next year, okay?" I told him. He wrapped his arms around me

"Okay," he said, eagerly, "I love you Adeline."

"I love you too," I said, running my fingers through his hair and I could feel him calm down. There was something about Sirius' warmth that calmed me down as well and I could feel myself relax, just as I saw familiar blue eyes watch me from the corner of the street in front of us. "Sirius sweetheart," I said, "I need to go to the bathroom."
"I can walk you," he said.

"No, you finish the word sleuth," I said, "I'll be back soon."

I walked over to the corner and saw Uncle waiting in a dark alleyway. I made my way to him "Did you sort everything out?" I asked him.

"No, but things are stable again," he said, "Which means we need you to get trained again."
"Starting when?" I asked

"Now," he said. I frowned

"I can't – the Black's are waiting for me," I said. He frowned

"This is what I meant by developing relationships Ariana," he said, "They slow you down and make you lose focus."
"Just give me a week. Hogwarts will start again and I'll give training 100%," I said. He sighed
"The situation is tough Ariana, you could stumble on an Ancient tomorrow and they might want to kill you," he said, "You aren't taking this seriously enough."
"I am," I cried, then sighed, "I want to start revenge – soon and I know I'm not ready."
"On the auror's?" he asked, surprised. I nodded slowly

"I've been giving it thought on the holidays. Ericson is the same bastard he's always been. It's time to put a stop to it – and it'll help with my training so you can't complain," I said, "I just need to get stronger." He sighed

"A week," he said, "I will see you in a week." He turned and looked over at the restaurant I had come from "Who's the boy?" he asked

"Sirius? An old friend," I admitted

"Don't get too close. Love ends in disaster for us," he said. I smiled

"He's more like a – son," I admitted

"Keep it that way. I'll see you in a week then," he said. I nodded and Uncle walked away before disappearing into nothingness. A week, then I'd be thrown into the thick of it once more. I turned and went back to Sirius who eagerly lapped up the attention I gave him.

The last week I spent mainly in my room with Sirius always barely metres away from me. It was like I was a force field for him that got rid of all the hate and misery that this house held for him and I made sure to keep him away from his parents, but on the final day, Sirius was truly happy as we got ready to go back to Hogwarts and with his happiness came my dread of returning. The holiday was over, my work now began

Hey everyone, I'm SOOO sorry this took so long! The holidays for me are over, so I had to spend some time having to re-adjust to life and so I'm barely at home to proof-read my chapters. I really hope you enjoy this chapter and I really want to thank everyone for the love they're all giving me. I want to thank fflight, my patronus is a mockingjay and Naflower05 for your reviews. Really, you guys make my day and to the person who inboxed me, you literally made my day. You're SOO sweet, but you guys also make me feel so guilty for not updating. I'll keep on trying to deliver and thank you so much for your love. I'll keep on working hard :)

A. Seshat