I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J. K. Rowling as well as Warner brothers (For the movie rights).

Daughter of Darkness

Chapter Twenty

"Harry?" Izzy asked as she got closer to her two best friends.

"Izzy! What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"I was getting my books. Finally found the one for Arithmancy, which was hard to find in the first place," Izzy chuckled. "What are you doing here?" She asked right as Ron walked in.

"There you are mate. Mum's been looking for you," Ron said. "Oh, hey Izzy!" He greeted. Izzy gave a wave.

"When did you all get here?" She asked in confusion. They had all tentatively agreed to meet sometime soon and hang out after getting last minute school supplies.

"Oh. Few days ago," Ron said nonchalantly, looking at his book list. Izzy's mind ground to a complete halt.

"A few days? You three have been here for a few days?" She asked tightly, though none of her friends noticed.

"Yeah. Well, Harry was here first, then me, and then Hermione was here two days ago. He blew up his aunt," Ron said, as if blowing up your aunt was normal. Izzy gave Harry a look.

"It's not like I meant to. She made me angry, I lost control, she inflated like a hot air balloon," he said lamely.

Izzy ruthlessly shoved aside the feelings of what she perceived was her friends forgetting about her and decided that no, they didn't forget about her, and she was just being paranoid. Instead, she focused on her friends, trying to ignore the traitorous voice in her head that whispered that Hermione had become distant recently.

"That was irresponsible of you, Harry. Didn't you get my letter?" she asked softly. Harry nodded.

"Yeah. I got your letter. Thanks for telling me," He said. Izzy nodded and turned to head into the back of the bookstore.

"I still need my book on ancient runes, 'A beginners guide to Futhark and beyond.' Have you got all your books?" She asked, looking to Harry.

"Yeah. Fudge got them all for me, real weird about it though. Still, kept me from having to cram myself in here when all the other students arrive," Harry joked.

"That's true," Izzy snorted. "Sometimes fame does have its perks. Think you can convince the minister to do a cartwheel?" she joked. She then turned to Hermione and Ron. "And the both of you?"

"Yes, Mum," Ron groaned. Hermione nodded but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Alright then. How's about some ice cream?" Izzy added, her face lighting up. Ron, Harry, and Hermione got sheepish looks on their faces.

"Well we already had some an hour ago and I've been eating a lot since I got here. We'll join you though," Harry offered. Izzy felt her heart sink at the admission but shook her head with a smile that was only slightly forced.

"Nah, forget about it. S'no fun if I'd just be eating by myself!" She said with a laugh before turning away, acting like she was looking for the Runes book. Ironically, when she turned away, she caught sight of said book.

Picking it up, she looked it over before putting it in her stack of books under her arm. She brought out her list of books and looked them over before seeing that she had everything she needed in terms of books. She paid for her items and joined her friends in the front before they exited. The four friends walked around Diagon Alley, Izzy doing a little shopping for once since Minerva had given her a few galleons to spend on herself.

"What's there?" Izzy asked as she looked at an alley leading away from Diagon. Ron turned and looked at where Izzy was pointing to see the sign Knockturn alley.

"Mum says we shouldn't go there. That's where a bunch of dark witches and wizards go when they need things that are usually restricted or illegal," Ron explained. Izzy got a mischievous grin on her face before taking a step towards the alley, an innocent expression on her face the entire time.

"Come on Ron, don't tell me you're scared," She said.

"It's really not a good place. I wound up there accidentally last year," Harry said. "It's dirty, the people were really weird. I don't want to go in there again."

"Come on. Live a little! Besides, what's the worst that can happen?" Izzy asked.

"We get kidnapped and have our insides turned into potion ingredients?" Hermione asked, eyeing the swaying sign warily. Izzy sighed and her shoulders slumped.

"Well I'm not scared. We faced down a basilisk together, took down a possessed teacher," Izzy said stubbornly. She walked towards the alley entrance, only to be stopped when she looked in and saw a lone figure standing in the middle. Suddenly the figure moved towards her and she backed up, but not before she got a good look at the woman who approached.

She was barefoot with a barely visible set of runes carved into her feet with several more twisting up and around her ankles to form a band of runic symbols. Several lines with runes went up her legs below the knee before continuing into the shorts she wore to disappear from view. The shirt she wore only covered her ample chest, but it was the runes around her stomach, obviously branded into her skin that caught Izzy's eye. She made a note to look into this, the runes, not the scarring. That scared the hell out of her. Her wrists were surrounded by similar runes that spiraled around one arm up to the elbow while the other was clasped in a thick silver bracelet. The hand connected to the wrist with the bracelet was adorned in several silver rings, each meticulously had little runes stamped into them, some of them the same as the ones on the bracelet. Around her neck was another series of runes that looked rather painful, and even further up were runes that wrapped around milky gray eyes. Atop her head sat a head of curly black hair that reached to her shoulders.

"Are you going to stare all day?" the woman asked, not at all sounding offended by Izzy's unwavering gaze.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I-" Izzy stammered, trying to apologize, knowing how rude it was for people to stare at you.

"It's alright, little one. I know the runes can be quite…eye catching," The woman said with a smirk.

"Runes…On your body? Why would you do that?" Izzy asked, her eyes wide

"Runes are powerful. They can do a lot. I put runes on my body to make up for the magic I lacked," she said.

"So the runes give you power, essentially?" Izzy asked.

"Very good, little one!" the woman praised with a bright smile. "The only drawback is that they're a bitch to put on. I had to brand them into my skin. Tattoos are fine and all, but I thought the brands looked cooler. Plus, tattoos tend to fade after a while and going to a magical tattoo artist to get this done probably would've seen me accused of being a black witch," the woman said with a smirk.

Izzy frowned and looked at all the brands.

"Yes, they hurt. A lot," the woman said before smirking. She took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, and suddenly the runes vanished.

"Where did all the runes go?" Izzy asked in surprise.

"Ah…that's a secret. You'll have to learn that for yourself," the woman teased. Izzy huffed before looking at the ground.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're rather amazing and clever, to be strong. I don't think I'd have the strength," Izzy said in a low voice. Unseen to her, the woman shifted to look at her and gave Izzy a knowing smile. The woman ignored the comment and reached down to her belt where a small pouch was hanging. She reached her whole hand in all the way up to her elbow.

'Where are those blasted things?' Izzy heard her mutter before her face lit up.

"Aha!" she cheered before pulling her arm out and handed Izzy a dusty leather book and a single galleon. Strangely, all the pages were blank, and there were runes inscribed onto the coin.

I find, that sometimes writing things down helps you remember the important things in life, like this meeting. Who knows, it could be important one day," the woman said before turning back and disappearing back down Knockturn Alley.

"Well that was interesting," Izzy said, looking down at the weird blank journal and inscribed coin. The four friends left the alley and went to the leaky cauldron for some well-deserved lunch.

Andi stared at the results on the parchment of the magical test she had just performed. While she didn't have Bellatrix's hair, she had her own, and the charm was supposed to identify family. And identify it did.

"Watcha got there, Mum?" Tonks asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Andi said, flicking her wand and causing the parchment to roll up.

"It's not nothing. If it's something bothering you, maybe I can help?" her daughter suggested.

And against her better judgement, Andi agreed, but didn't tell her the whole truth.

"I need you to do me a very large favor, and I want to stress that you cannot tell anyone about this, and you do not have to do it if you don't want to," Andi said.

"Of course, just tell me," Tonks said worriedly.

"I need you to go to Azkaban and talk to Bellatrix for me since I can't do it myself," Andi said.

Tonks stared at her mom like she was crazy.

"I can't believe we're finally headed back to Hogwarts!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I know. Merlin, as much as I love not being in school, I miss it something awful after a month or two," Izzy agreed. She then looked to where Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, was sitting on the cart beside Umbra. The reason for the arrangement was for Ron and his rat, Scabbers. For some reason the half-kneazle didn't like Scabbers, even though Umbra had no problem with it other than the occasional hiss.

"What about you, Harry, are you excited?" Izzy asked.

"I am. It's been nice to be away from my relatives, even better to be away from them longer," Harry said. Izzy had been surprised to hear that Harry had blown up his aunt with accidental magic and hadn't gotten in even an ounce of trouble. Now here they were, rushing to the train.

Unfortunately, thanks to but with no blame to the Weasley's, they were late, and all the other compartments had at least two people with them. They finally found one with one person in it, asleep.

"It's alright guys…I can find somewhere to sit by myself," Izzy said nervously, testing her friends. She hated herself for doing it, but her instincts demanded she see where she stood with her friends after her perception at being forgotten when her friends had all gone to Fortescue's without her. She still didn't know it had been a spur of the moment decision, not anything malicious.

"No. We sit together," Harry said firmly. Izzy gave a bright smile as her hair turned a bright orange in relief and happiness.

"Well then it'll be a squeeze," Izzy muttered as she set her trunk on the ground at everyone's feet, Umbra slithering up her arm to nestle around her warm neck.

"It's alright. I can sit on my trunk against the window," Ron volunteered. "Just hope whoever this is doesn't fart," Ron muttered as he set his trunk down and tried to get comfortable.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said at once, studiously ignoring the fart comment.

"How is it you always know everything?" Ron asked from the floor.

"It's on his suitcase, Ronald," Hermione sighed in exasperation.

Harry looked at the man for a moment before sighing. "You think he's asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" Izzy replied.

"I gotta tell you something,"

"How long have you known?" Tonks demanded as soon as she was through the fireplace, a scowl on her face.

"I've suspected for about a month before I did the test. I used one of my hairs…she's my niece, and since I know Cissy didn't have another child, it could only have been Bella's. But she was so heartbroken after Lyra was taken that she never had another child and went insane from grief. I don't know if it's unconscious or it's her base form, but she looks exactly like Bella did at her age," Andi whispered.

"We have to tell her. She deserves to know," Tonks said.

"No. Not yet. How do you think she'd feel to know that her mother is stuck in Azkaban convicted of murder and torturing two Aurors into insanity and that her father is anyone's guess?" Andi said, a bit of scathing sarcasm on her tongue.

"You know how much it would mean to her!" Tonks said incredulously, not believing what she was hearing from her mother.

"No, Nymphadora, and that's my final word on the matter!" Andi shouted. "She can't know," she added softly, it would hurt her too much.

Tonks just nodded numbly at her mother's words, which had been laced with a slight accidental compulsion charm since Andromeda was technically head of the family.

"No shit," Izzy said in surprise as Harry finished telling them what he overheard between Mr and Mrs. Weasley.

"So, the ministry thinks that Sirius Black is after you, to kill you?" Ron asked in disbelief. Harry hummed an affirmative.

"Apparently," He muttered. Izzy snorted as she slid her thumb under Umbra's chin and stroked the scales.

"Sorry Harry. When I sent that article to you, I just wanted warn you that the man who…well, the bad guy, had escaped. If I've worried you, I'm very sorry," she said. Hermione looked aghast at Izzy's words and rushed to warn off Harry.

"You're not going to go looking for him are you?" She asked.

"Hermione," Harry sighed. "I know you're worried and all, but why would I go looking for a killer?"

"Because. Trouble just seems to find you no matter where you are," Hermione said, folding her arms over her chest and pouting. "They'll find him eventually though, right?" she asked after a few moments of silence in which she worried her bottom lip.

"Yeah. They'll find him. All of wizarding Britain is looking for him. He won't escape justice for long," Izzy said.

"Right, and nobody ever broke out of Azkaban," Ron said scathingly before looking at Harry. "Sorry mate," he said.

"It's fine," Harry said as a gentle knocking sounded against the door.

"Anything from the trolly, dears?" came as Harry opened the door.

"Oh yes, I'm starving," Ron said as he pulled out a few sickles and several knuts.

"Suppose we should wake him up?" Hermione asked, looking to their asleep soon to be professor.

"Don't bother," the trolley woman said gently. "If he's hungry when he wakes up, I'll be up front with the conductor. For now, let him sleep. Poor dear looks like he could use it," the woman said as she handed over Ron's snacks. Izzy got herself a few things using one of the twenty galleons she had. A few pumpkin pasties and a bottle of pumpkin juice to wash it down was all she needed. The trolley woman left while Izzy shut the door gently before sitting down and digging in.

"I can't wait for the first Hogsmeade weekend we get. I'm getting all of this and more, first chance I get," Ron moaned as he dug into his snacks. "Wha' bout you 'arry?" he mumbled.

"honestly, Ronald," Hermione scolded.

"I won't be going. My relatives didn't sign the permission forms," Harry said morosely.

"What, why not?" Ron asked, nearly choking on his food.

"Just…reasons, alright," Harry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ron suddenly turned to Izzy with a hopeful expression.

"You can convince Professor McGonagall to sign his permission slip!" Izzy shook her head, causing Ron to scowl.

"I can't. Not only would it be unprofessional of her, it would also be a gross overstep of her power as deputy headmistress. She has to respect Harry's guardian's wishes," Izzy explained. "We'll figure out something though, don't you worry," She said, shifting into Harry for a brief moment before the strain on her abilities became too much. That got Hermione's attention, but Ron was still upset for Harry.

"You've got full body transformations!" Hermione exclaimed. Izzy gave a proud smile and nodded.

"Not full body," Izzy clarified. "Just faces, and I even can't hold them for very long…or barely at all…but I just need to keep practicing," Izzy explained.

"That's awesome, Izzy. Congratulations," Harry said with a smile. Izzy's hair turned pink at the praise of her friends but she smiled and quickly changed it back to blue while laughing.

The laughter was quickly cut off as the train suddenly lurched and came to a stop.

"What the hell?" Izzy muttered as she looked to the window, the rain sliding down in thick droplets.

"What's happening?" Ron asked, looking out the window, his breath fogging it up.

"Ouch Ron! That was my foot!" Hermione whispered harshly.

Izzy let out a nervous breath as the lights went out. It wasn't the dark that scared her, but the feeling she was getting. A slowly increasing sense of dread as a thin sheet of ice began to mysteriously form on the window, and then the door to the compartment frosted as well.

"There's something in the hallway," Hermione hissed in fear. As soon as she spoke, a shadowy figure in billowy robes reached a hand out as it made its way closer to their compartment. The door opened with a wave of the creatures hand, and as Izzy looked at the terrifying demon before her, all color drained from her features, leaving her looking like a ghost with pale white hair and white eyes.

Nothing mattered, and behind her eyes, scenes from the accident with the Braxton's played on repeat. How she felt after the accident, how much self-hatred she held in her.

Suddenly the feeling was gone, and the creature was replaced by a bright light, forcing the demon back. When she looked to her right, she saw Harry collapse to the seat.

"Harry!" She shouted, knocking over Ron as she jumped up inspected him.

Why would he collapse?

Did the demon attack him and nobody saw it?

"He's alright. The Dementor just had an impact on him. He'll wake up in a minute," a voice came. Izzy looked to see their new professor on his feet, bags under his eyes, shoddy clothes, and a cloak over his shoulders.

"Nothings wrong with him?" Izzy asked, needing to make sure her friend was alright.

"No. He'll be fine," Professor Lupin said. As he finished, Harry groaned and rubbed at his head before sitting up.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. What was that thing?" He asked.

"A dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban. They must've stopped the train to see if Sirius Black was aboard. Here," Lupin said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate. "Eat this. It'll make you feel better. I'll go speak with the conductor," he said. "Eat," he said one last time before the compartment door closed.

"What happened?" Harry croaked as he nibbled on the chocolate.

"Well…" Izzy started but rubbed the back of her neck, remembering the feeling of dread and despair the dementor had brought with it. Izzy shuttered before continuing. "The dementor came in and just-"

"It felt like it ate all the happiness in the world," Hermione said softly.

"Like I'd never be happy again," Ron added.

"Did any of you hear any screaming? A woman?" Harry asked. All three of his friends shook their head.

"No, mate. You seemed to have the worst reaction. You went rigid and then suddenly fainted," Ron explained. "I thought you were having a fit or something…you just…fell over and started twitching," Ron finished.

Professor Lupin came back into the compartment at that moment. "We'll be arriving in a few minutes. You should finish up the chocolate, Harry, there are more dementors already at the school." He opened his cloak and pulled out a few more chocolate bars. "I bought these off the trolley. Here, the rest of you can have them," he said, handing the chocolate to the other three friends.

The four plus their new professor didn't say a word as they finished their journey to Hogwarts, munching on their chocolate as they watched the rain whip by the window.

When they finally did arrive, there was a noticeable bite in the air, and a feeling of slow despair shivered its way down Izzy's spine. She was brought out of her feelings when she heard Hagrid shouting for the first years to gather. Many of them scampered around as they tried to bring up their robes and protect themselves as best they could from the freezing rain. Izzy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all copied the little first years as they ran for the carriages. Once inside, Izzy let out a sigh of relief as she cast a drying charm on herself, drying up the freezing cold water that left her chilled to the bone. Her three other friends copied her as the carriage lurched and began pulling them to Hogwarts.

When they pulled through the gates of Hogwarts, the four made their way up the ancient stones steps where they filed in with the other third years, many of them talking amongst themselves and reuniting with last year's friends

When they were finally let into the great hall before the first years arrived, Izzy looked up fondly at the candles and the ceiling.

"You know," Izzy said with a smirk, elbowing Hermione lightly "It's not real, the ceiling-" Izzy said but couldn't contain her laughter. "It's bewitched, to look like the night sky!" she choked out, Ron and Harry laughing beside her. Hermione harrumphed at the teasing before Izzy threw and arm over her shoulder. "Oh, you know I love you Hermione. You're our little bookworm. Where would we be without you!"

Hermione blushed at the compliments before sitting down at the table.

Eventually the little firsties made their way in and were sorted, Headmaster Dumbledore made the usual announcements as well as introduced the two new teachers, one of which being Hagrid in charge of Care of Magical creatures, before the feast eventually got underway.

That was unfortunately when they had their first problem of the year, with Malfoy, unsurprisingly.

"Potter!" he hissed. Harry dutifully ignored him and continued eating his meal, which greatly irritated the blonde. Izzy, sitting opposite Harry, rolled her eyes, flashing grey in irritation before they shifted back to default brown.

"Potter!" he hissed again. "Is it true you fainted? Actually fainted?" he asked, eliciting several snickers from the Slytherin table. Harry ignored him again and continued eating, but Izzy was annoyed, and wanted her pound of flesh for calling Hermione a mudblood so many times last year.

"Honestly Harry, how is he even a Slytherin?" Izzy asked just a tad too loudly, and to her immense satisfaction, several of the Slytherins began to subtly listen in. Harry smirked, unseen by Draco, and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean seriously, the boy is a lion disguised as a snake."

"I thought he was always more of a 'Puff," Ron said, beginning to catch on to what Izzy was doing. From over Harry's shoulder, Izzy could see Draco slowly turning red in the face.

"No, hear me out. He's always getting in Harry's face, never planning anything out. First and second year, I remember him walking right up to our table and insulting you. No forethought, no cunning, just outright walking into the lion's maw and mouthing off!" Izzy scoffed. "The boys a Gryffindor!"

"Shut your mouth you filthy little-" he tried.

"Honestly," Izzy said, waving her hand around and not looking at him. "I think the hat just made him a Slytherin because he didn't want to have to sit on his head any longer than necessary."

"You know, the hat tried to convince me to be a Slytherin," Harry admitted. That admission took Izzy and several people around him by surprise, even the Slytherins who were usually good at listening without being seen were blatantly now looking at her friend. "But it was Draco and his 'wrong sort' speech that made me decide I didn't want to be anywhere near him or people he associated with," Harry said.

And the whole plan wrapped up nicely. Izzy had originally been wanting to simply embarrass the blonde idiot, but now, she and Harry had effectively turned half of his house against him. She looked over Harry's shoulder and saw several Slytherins berating Malfoy in hushed whispers while many more openly glared at him.

Maybe she should've been in Slytherin?

Nah! She had way more fun being a lion!

As they continued to eat and laugh, Izzy didn't notice a pair of ice blue eyes staring curiously at her.

After the feast, the four friends went to bed after talking for a few hours in the common room before going to bed.

Red=angry

Gray=nervous/anxious/irritated

Orange=happy/excited

Blue=sad/overwhelmed

Purple=worried/concerned/frustrated

Green=jealous/suspicious

Brown=content/relaxed

Yellow=afraid/shocked

Pink=amusement

Silver=determination

Light blue=embarrassment