HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME

49: Black roots

A black root stuck to her skin—that was what it was like for Luna. She had roots that were as black as they ever could be. She followed everyone downstairs to the kitchen and the long wooden table that was set up for quite a large amount of people. A fireplace sat on the right side of the room and an open brick oven sat on the other side of the room—where they could cook their food and easily pull it off the grill inside of it before serving it, well at least the House Elves did.

Going to the end of the right side of the table, Luna sat down and watched patiently as everyone took their seats—though upstairs they could hear grumbling that let them know that the older Weasleys were not allowed to come down, Fred and George apparently had wanted to come down and find out what had been the cause of mayhem (they were the only ones that weren't present when the portrait exploded with revealing Luna's blood line).

She also saw that Nymphadora was sitting as close as possible to her, wanting to know how she could have a cousin that she hadn't known about. She knew about Draco but how could she not know about her? She also knew about Sirius and his brother, Regulus, but she had never known about Luna.

They heard footsteps upstairs and then the door opening and quickly shutting loudly, enough that everyone flinched except for Luna. She sat still and quiet—her hands folded in front of her respectfully as she gazed forward. It was hot and stuffy down here, different assortment of foods were on the kitchen countertops along with cutting boards and knives.

She turned her head when the footsteps appeared closer and saw her second cousin, Sirius Black, rushing forward and stopping. He was breathing deeply and his black curly shoulder length hair fell forward in disarray. He was extremely handsome, with strong cheekbones and pale skin—dark eyes that were playful in their youth and a figure that was muscular and strong again.

A large amount of tattoos were on his arms and chest along with his back (she knew of this only because her mum had told her about Sirius getting the tattoos and how much his family hated him even more for ruining his skin). A good amount of facial hair was sculpted around his jaw line.

He wore a dark jacket over a forest green shirt that had four buttons at the top open and dark washed jeans, along with his signature leather boots. "Can someone tell me why Mummy Dearest is causing a storm upstairs and ranting that her baby sister survived and ending up having a child?"

Luna turned so that she faced him completely before she stood up and made her way to him. "Hello, Sirius, I am your cousin, Luna. You're actually my second cousin; my mum is Aunt Narcissa's twin."

Sirius stared down at her for a moment, as though he could not believe that she would so bluntly tell him this. "I need a drink," he managed to say after a moment and went to get something—probably alcohol.

Sitting down in her original spot, Luna turned to the group of adults that were surrounding her along with her Harry. He was absorbing what she said and reached his hand out so that he could take her hand in his. "So that's why you said that you always keep an eye out on Malfoy, and why his mum seemed as though she had seen a ghost in Hogsmeade."

Luna nodded her head as Sirius brought over some bottles of whisky and rum and many different arrays of alcohol before he sat down at one of the vacant chairs. She looked down at her hands, "Mum never told Daddy that he married a Black. I know that she has a different surname, which is quite obvious since she was rejected by her family but she was still born a Black and I will always have that blood in me."

Nymphadora waved her hand, "eh, it's not that bad, Luna. I mean my mum is related to those psychos too. You probably already know that my mum was cast aside due to the fact that she married a Muggle. So we are the products of estrangement but that doesn't mean anything because we have each other, eh?"

Luna smiled at her, "thank you, I am certain you do not seem to like being given the name Nymphadora, so what should I call you?"

Nymphadora smiled warmer at her, "you can call me, Tonks. Or you can call me Dora, if you feel like it."

"I like Dora. I let people call me Lune if they want to. It is nice having other names, isn't it? You don't feel as though you have to be stuck with one name—especially if you do not like that one name," Luna responded and Dora nodded her head—agreeing with her.

"Do you know how your mother ended up being adopted?" a black man asked her, who sat near the end of the table, Luna faintly remembered him being Kingsley Shacklebolt—he worked in the Ministry.

"Oh, my mum was undesirable, you see. My mum had cried when she had been born and they noticed that Aunt Narcissa did not cry when she was born. She stayed still and was just there, they liked that she caused no problems even when she was born. My mum had been wailing and Grandmother had decided that she should get rid of her.

"Originally she consulted with Aunt Walburga on how she should get rid of my mum. Aunt Walburga thought that my mum should be drowned in the bathtub. I am certain that this is not the first account that our family has done this—but not actually have any babies survive, so in the end my mum was sent off to a Wizarding orphanage and she was adopted a few months later."

Luna knew that her family was known for having those that hated people that were weak, even at birth it seemed as though they would toss aside a newborn if they were with more than one baby, and the one that cried the most would end up being killed or like with Pandora—end up being sent to live at an orphanage.

She knew about Phinease Nigellus and how he was the headmaster at Hogwarts, he was also in Slytherin though not a lot of people liked him due to him being in Slytherin and favoring the House of Salazar Slytherin. She knew about Araminta Meliflua and how she worked in the Ministry and had wanted them to pass a bill that would allow for Muggle-Hunting. Then there was Aunt Elladora, who happened to behead House Elves when they grew too old.

She did know most of all how much her mum wished that Uncle Alphard had adopted her, but her own mum had done an excellent job of telling the other relatives that hadn't seen the birth that Pandora had been a stillborn. Only Aunt Walburga knew the truth and even then she thought that Pandora was still dead.

"She was very happy when she found out that Uncle Alphard gave you the rest of his gold and the house. I know that Aunt Narcissa would have pushed it aside…though Aunt Bellatrix seems as though she would fix it up and continue on with the traditional Black ways."

At the mention of Bellatrix Lestrange almost everyone flinched at the memory of the actually insane woman with a mane of hair that was tangled and would probably fall out if one brushed her hair too hard—that or the brush would break (not like Aunt Bellatrix seemed like she would allow anyone near her to begin with).

"Yeah, I was actually surprised too that he gave me the money, and you're probably right…that bitch would be delighted to have her dear auntie's house," Sirius muttered as he remembered growing up with Bellatrix and how she always stole her parents' wands and tortured little creatures with them before she killed them.

"Sirius, language," Molly Weasley hissed at him, having seemed to think that saying just one vulgar word would make Sirius stop talking like a sailor. The man looked at her as though she was helpless and that there was nothing that she could do that would make him stop cussing.

"Really, Molly, that's what you're concerned about right now? My language, not that if my cousins find out about Luna that they would make sure to find her?" Sirius questioned her, making everyone flicker their eyes in the direction of Luna this time. She had gotten up from her seat and she was walking around the room—taking in everything that was around her.

"Aunt Narcissa knows about me, I am certain that if she wanted me then she would have found a way to kill Daddy so that she could have me. She is my godmother after all, though I know that Mum only gave her the privilege because we have no other family members," Luna informed them as she stopped near the open oven and glanced inside it—finding that there was not anything that was on it.

"I even met her shortly before my mum passed away. We met at a Muggle coffee shop with Draco. He was so excited to see me and he had wanted to hug me but he didn't. He knew that he had to act a certain way in public and outright hugging his estranged cousin was not the right thing to do. Mum liked Aunt Narcissa—it was almost as though Aunt Narcissa felt as though she could confess the problems that she was having with Uncle Lucius to my mum," Luna added on as she slowly turned around and looked at them—the other members of the Order were soaking in the information that they were given while Molly and Arthur thought for a moment.

"She could have gone to my mum, we could have known each other," Dora commented and Luna smiled softly at the woman before she made her way over to the table and sat down. She reached her hand out and touched the woman's hand, "my mum has her own reasons for why she named Aunt Narcissa as my godmother but I am certain that we would have been nice sisters if I was without both of my parents."

Dora smiled again and nodded her head, "yeah, I think we would have."

Sirius picked up his glass and took a long sip before he sat it down. He let his eyes wander over Luna before he smiled, "I'm happy to have another cousin, one that like Tonks said—isn't insane."

Harry was staring softly at Luna and squeezed her hand, which made her turn to look at her Harry. "That's what I love about her, that she's different but strong and wise. She's not like other girls."

"Yes, well, I should start cooking dinner. Harry, Luna, you can stay down if you want but you are free to leave. Sirius, Tonks, don't crowd around Luna when she's here. If she wants to tell you things about her mum then that's her choice," Molly finally spoke, as though she had decided that she was going to try and open up more with Luna and not judge her harshly anymore.

Luna knew that it was only because she was related to the Blacks, but it didn't bother her at all.

"I would like to go upstairs, and look around," Luna decided as she stood up and smoothed down her clothes before she headed towards where the door was. Harry stood up and followed after her—the fifteen and fourteen year old both deciding that they didn't want to stick around down here anymore.

When they reached upstairs they were greeted with an old House Elf that was wearing the traditional bed sheet. He had sour features and he reminded Luna of the Ogres from Lord of the Rings.

"Mistress says you should die. If Mistress asks me to kill you then I will be pleased to do so," the House Elf exclaimed as he had an almost gleeful look on his face at the thought of him showing his undying loyalty to Walburga Black.

"You must be Kreacher, Mum knew about you. Aunt Narcissa spoke about her when she met with my mum. You are very loyal to Aunt Walburga, I am certain that if you try to kill me you will be killed though," Luna quietly responded to the House Elf with her dreamy voice—vacant of any emotions.

Kreacher grumbled but had an almost happy look on his face at the knowledge that Narcissa had spoken about him. He had never been spoke about, he was always pushed aside and only Mistress had told him that he was worthy of her home. If she didn't think so he would have imagined that she would have banished him or kill him—but Mistress knew that he would do anything for her.

Kreacher loved Mistress.

Kreacher wandered off, muttering under his breath about plans to kill her if Mistress told him to. Luna watched him as he turned the corner, "he is very unpleasant, I know that this must be common in Pureblood families as old as mine."

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She leant her head against his arm and they began to walk towards the different rooms—including the parlor room only for them to hear the sound of thundering footsteps going down the creaky wooden stairs.

Luna barely had time to see a blur of red wavy hair before she felt arms wrap around her and hug her. "Oh Luna, it's so great to see you! Fred and George are being pains in the arses—they're asking what it is that caused that wicked woman to start screaming. I know that you would want to be the one to tell them."

Ginny untangled her arms around her and took a step back, "I also heard about you and Harry, I'm glad for you too. I knew that you would be together."

Luna commented before Harry did, "thank you, Ginny, that is very thoughtful of you. Harry and I aren't dating, in a sense. We don't have any labels—we agreed that with You-Know-Who now back that we shouldn't say that we are boyfriend and girlfriend. We know that when he defeats him, that we can have labels."

Ginny furled her eyebrows at her, but they were greeted with the voice of Hermione heading down the stairs, "that is very clever and smart. I agree wholeheartedly with your decision."

"Thank you, Hermione. I heard that Ambrose, Dollie, and Eldora came over from America to see London. Did you have fun meeting them?" Luna probed as she craned her head to the side—finding that Hermione's face was a beet red as she nodded her head, "I did have fun, Ambrose is very intelligent—I feel like he would have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Dollie and Eldora would probably be sorted into Slytherin—which I find would not be too bad for them, because I know that they wouldn't let any of the Slytherins try to make them be bad."

Luna smiled warmer at the girl, knowing that hearing that Luna had been related to the Blacks let her know that if Luna was a little bit different—to be in Slytherin she would have proved that she would have been unique and that she could be a better Slytherin than her other family members.

"They took a picture together, it's enchanted of course but they also have a Muggle one. His mum wanted them to have one of each type," Ginny piped up, having Hermione blush even more at the little information that she gave Luna.

"I'm not rushing to be in a relationship, but I'm not opposed to being in one with him if things go well between us," Hermione admitted as she brought her hand up and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm happy for you, I know that Neville is enchanted by Ginny, he always sends her seeds and flowers from Hogwarts," Luna commented, making Ginny blush this time but she didn't deny it.

The only one that didn't have a love life, or a possible blossoming one, was Ron Weasley and for once Luna did not feel sad that he was missing out on one. He needed to grow and mature before he could be in one.