Thank you all so much for your support of this story. Enjoy this next chapter :D
It was time for the Quidditch World Cup and so early in the morning, Sirius, Harry and Hazel headed off.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Hazel asked Remus again.
Remus shook his head. "No, as Sirius would say, it's my time of the month." He kissed the top of her head. "But you three have a wonderful time. Keep these two in line for me Harry." He motioned to Sirius and Hazel.
Hazel gasped. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Harry and Remus laughed at the outraged looks on both Sirius and Hazel's faces.
Sirius clapped his hands together. "Right, well, lets get this show on the road. We'll see you in three days." He then reached out and kissed Remus's cheek.
Both Harry and Hazel exchanged a silent look but didn't say anything. Over the last couple of weeks this had been happening more often. Little things, they'd hold hands or curl up on the couch together and both siblings had noticed that Remus was not sleeping in his room.
"Ok kids, grab on." Sirius held out his arms.
Hazel took hold of his left and Harry his right. In a split second they went from the kitchen in Grimmauld Place to the wooded area just beyond the campsite.
The trio headed for their plot and found a sign with Black-Potter written on a wooden plaque. First thing they did was errect the tent and then got a campfire going.
It was great watching people walk by the tent a few people said hello to Harry, mostly people who were his classmates but mostly people left the trio alone.
After lunch Sirius pulled out a football. "So who's up for trying this?" He asked with a grin.
After Harry had told Sirius about life at the Dursleys, Sirius had told Harry to write a list of all the things he'd wanted to do during those years, all the things he'd missed out on and they'd spend the summer checking items off the list.
Playing football was one of them.
So they spent the afternoon badly kicking the ball around and trying to kick it into a makeshift goal. It turned out that out of the three of them Hazel was quite good.
"And she steals the ball again." Hazel got the ball away from Harry and shot it into the goal. "And she scores." She grinned.
Harry rolled his eyes.
Hazel grinned at him. "Just admit it. I'm the best."
Harry shook his head. "You are a complete dork." He poked her in the side causing Hazel to squeak and jump back.
"Don't do that." Hazel gave him a shove and a disapproving look.
"Oh watch out Harry that's the look your mum used to give your dad when she was about to pull an Evans." Sirius grinned.
Hazel frowned. "What does pulling an Evans mean?"
Sirius chuckled. "Pulling an Evans was when your mum would get really mad and retaliate in some way." A flash of saddness crossed Sirius's face and then he shook his head. "Right, come on, let's get a fire going and start cooking." He clapped his hands together.
Bright Eyes
The next day the Sirius, Harry and Hazel ate breakfast together before heading off to meet up with the Weasley family and Hermione who had arrived that morning.
When they got around to the campsite it was to see Mr Weasley and co struggling to pitch their tent.
"Having trouble?" Sirius called.
Mr Weasley jumped and looked up. "Oh, yes, a little."
Sirius smiled. "Let me lend a hand, James and I used to camp quite a bit the summer before our final year at Hogwarts."
Mr Weasley nodded. "Er… Thank you. Hello Harry, having a good summer?" He asked the teen.
Harry nodded. "Best summer of my life."
"Wonderful." Mr Weasley nodded. "And this must be Hazel." He gave Hazel a warm smile.
"Hi." Hazel gave him a small wave. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too." Mr Weasley gave her a small smile.
The group set to work and within an hour they'd managed to set up both tents. Hazel actually started interacting more with the twins who were very intregued by the odd Potter girl.
"So can you really predict the future?" Fred asked her.
Hazel shrugged. "I mean sometimes things just come to me. Like feelings and stuff but it's never anything concrete or even clear."
"So you couldn't say… predict the outcome of the match?" George gave her a sly smirk.
"I mean… Isn't it obvious? Ireland are clearly going to win but Krum will catch the snitch." Hazel shrugged kicking at the ground with her foot.
"How do you know that?" Fred asked.
"Well I mean I don't really know, know. But I read some books and stuff and when you think about it Ireland have the better team as a whole but Bulgaria have the better seeker so it just kind of makes sense that that would be the outcome you know?" Hazel flexed her shoulders. "But I wouldn't take my word for it guys. I'm not saying it's a for sure thing here." She shook her head.
Fred grinned. "It's okay mini Potter. So how are you feeling about joining us all at Hogwarts?"
Hazel thought about being honest and telling the twins that the very mention of the school made her sick to her stomach but she decided against it. She didn't want to come across like a complete coward. "Feeling good, can't wait." Hazel faked a smile. She'd managed to perfect this from when Harry, Sirius or Remus mentioned Hogwarts.
So far Hazel had managed to complete the work the Professors had set her, practising and practising the spells and staying up probably later than she should to complete her assigned reading. In a week's time she would be heading up to Hogwarts to present that she could indeed perform the spells and brew the potions and such for the Professors like a mini entrance exam. If that all worked out she'd be entering Hogwarts as a third year. Hazel was confident she would pass the exams because as Harry had said, she had mastered non verbal, wandless magic at a young age.
"I bet you'll be another chief mischief maker." George nudged her.
Hazel shrugged. "I'm not sure what I'll be." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I know who I am when I'm alone but I've never really discovered who I am around other people."
"Don't let there be a difference. Just be you and screw the people who tell you to change." Fred told her.
Hazel smiled. "Thanks."
"Have you had to pick your extra classes yet Hazel?" Ginny asked walking over to sit with the trio. "I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies and Divination."
"I'm taking Divination and Ancient Runes if I get to go into third year. Harry tried to talk me out of Divination but I thought it would probably be a good one for me to try out for myself." Hazel answered with a nod.
Ginny nodded. "Ron tried to talk me out of Divination too. So did Hermione but I want to try it for myself."
Hazel smiled. "Fair."
"Are you excited for the match?" Ginny asked her, brushing her fiery hair behind her ear. "I can't wait. One day I want to play Quidditch professionally for the Holyhead Harpies, they're the absolute best."
"Cool." Hazel ran her hands through her hair. "I am excited for the match. I've never seen a Quidditch match before but Harry, Sirius and Remus have told me a lot about it. I tried flying and loved it. Harry thinks I'd make a good Chaser, maybe I'll try out for the Gryffindor team but I don't know. Harry says that they have really good Chasers at the moment and I think I'll probably just spend most of my time getting used to Hogwarts this year." Hazel swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as she said Hogwarts and coughed into her fist.
"Yeah. I'd love to try out for Chaser but at the moment they have three really solid players." Ginny agreed. "So you think Ireland will win and Krum will get the snitch?"
Hazel shrugged. "I mean, it seems likely."
Ginny nodded. "I think so too. Like when you think about it."
Hazel chewed on her lower lip and played with her hair. It was then that she'd noticed Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sirius had vanished. "Where did Harry and Sirius go?"
"Oh they went to get water with Ron and Hermione, I think they tried to invite you along but you were kind of in a deep discussion with Fred and George at that point."
"Oh."
"Do you think my dad will ever get the fire lit?" Ginny giggled motioning to where Mr Weasley was attempting to light a fire with matches but every time he lit one he'd get excited and drop the match. "I feel like we should help him but I don't want to spoil his fun." She admitted.
Hazel took pity on Mr Weasley and got up walking over to the man. "Here Mr Weasley, let me help." She took the matches and when no one was looking lit the fire with her magic. "There we go." She stepped back.
"Ah wonderful, thank you Hazel." Mr Weasley smiled at her.
"No problem." Hazel returned to her seat next to Ginny. "I thought I should probably help or we'll never get to eat."
Ginny giggled. "Yeah you're probably right and trust me you do not want to see this lot hungry." She motioned around at her brothers. "It must have been hard for you last year, being in hiding and on the run." Her brows furrowed together and her lips pursed as she thought about what it must have been like to live like that.
Hazel shrugged. "I mean it wasn't too bad. Kreacher would bring us food when I couldn't get it from Hogsmede. Mostly people didn't recognise me and if it got too cold we'd just go home for a little while. But we liked to stay close to Hogwarts incase an opening to Pettigrew came up." She ran a hand through her hair. "It wasn't great but it was worth it in the end."
"I think mum and dad feel really guilty about the whole thing. I mean my brother Percy found Scabbers in the garden and they let him keep him because they couldn't really afford a pet for him." Ginny told her quietly.
"They shouldn't. How were they to know. And if you think about it if they hadn't then that picture would never have been taken and Sirius would never have found out Pettigrew was alive and he would have never come to find me or Harry and we wouldn't be together now." Hazel shrugged. "So it kinda worked out really. Like Sirius says you can't change the past you can only make the future better." She gave Ginny a small smile.
Ginny nodded. "That's pretty cool."
Hazel glanced around the tent. "Yeah."
The flap of the tent opened and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sirius walked in carrying the water.
"Bout time how long does it take to get water?" Fred exclaimed.
"Met a few people." Ron set the bucket down.
Sirius walked over to Hazel and Ginny. "How you doing kid?"
"Ok." Hazel nodded. "You?"
"Yeah not too bad." Sirius sat down. "Wish people would stop staring. At least in the muggle world no one knows who I am."
Hazel shook her head. "Nuh uh remember the lady in the supermarket the other day?" She giggled and seeing Ginny's confused expression Hazel explained. "We went to get some candy for movie night and we were trying to decide between sweet or caramel popcorn when this woman rounds the corner, drops this jar of jam on the floor and screams blue murder. She goes running back around the corner yelling that there was a murderer in the supermarket it was soooo funny. And then the security guard came over and tackled Sirius to the ground."
"Guess the news of my innocence hadn't reached everyone." Sirius huffed and stretched.
Mr Weasley was keeping up a running commentary about the Ministry officials who were walking by the tent. They were just about to start cooking eggs, bacon and sausages when three more young men joined them, clearly more Weasleys by their red hair.
"Just apparated Dad." The youngest of the three said striding into the tent. "Ah excellent lunch." He sat down and then spotted Sirius, Harry and Hazel. "Oh you're…"
Sirius just nodded his head.
"Ah yes, these are my three eldest boys." Mr Weasley cleared his throat. "Percy has just graduated from Hogwarts, he's working as an assistant to Barty Crouch. Do you know Mr Crouch at all Sirius?" Mr Weasley asked him.
Sirius scoffed. "I do." He crossed his arms over his chest a dark look crossing his face. "Crouch is the one that convinced everyone to send me to Azkaban without a trial."
An awkward silence fell over the tent.
Percy flushed red and mumbled something that sounded very much to Hazel like; "I'm sure Mr Crouch had his reasons." But as she rather liked Mr Weasley and she didn't want to poke the bear that was Sirius Black, she decided not to question Percy. Although she did fix him with the darkest look she could muster.
They were about halfway through their bacon, eggs and sausages when Mr Weasley jumped to his feet, waving someone over to the tent. "The man of the hour, Ludo."
Ludo Bagman bounded into the tent wearing long Quidditch robes with horizontal strips of bright yellow and black with a large image of a wasp on the front of his chest. He had a large belly, his nose squashed but he had a round face with big blue eyes and short blonde hair. "Ahoy there." He greeted them. "Arthur, what a day eh? What a day! And we couldn't have asked for better conditions. Cloudless night coming and all the arrangements going smoothly. Not much for me to do."
Behind him Hazel noticed a group of very tired Ministry wizards running and pointing at what appeared to be a magical fire which was sending sparks twenty feet into the air.
Percy rushed forward hand extended.
"Ah yes this is my son Percy, he's just started at the Ministry." Mr Weasley cleared his throat. "And that's Fred, no that's George, that's Fred and Billy, Charlie, Ron and my youngest Ginny. And these are Ron's friends Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, Harry's sister Hazel and I'm sure you know Sirius Black." Mr Weasley motioned around the tent at everyone.
Ludo beamed at Sirius. "Ah yes, Sirius old man, how are you?"
Sirius nodded his head. "Fine, thanks Ludo." He replied politely.
"Everyone this is Ludo Bagman." Mr Weasley introduced the man with a smile. "You all know who he is, he's the reason we've got such good tickets."
Ludo Bagman waved his hand like it was nothing. "Fancy a flutter on the match Arthur?" He asked jingling a bag of coins in his pocket.
"Oh go on then. A galleon on Ireland to win." Arthur suggested.
"A galleon?" Bagman looked a little crestfallen. "All right then. Any other takers? Sirius?" He asked.
Sirius shook his head.
"Anyone else?" Bagman asked.
"They're a bit young to be gambling. Molly wouldn't like…"
Fred and George jumped up. "We'll bet thirty seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts that Ireland wins but Viktor Krum will get the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."
Percy's eyes widened in horror as his brother mentioned the fake wand. "You don't want to be showing Mr Bagman rubbish like that." He hissed at them.
But Bagman seemed to rather like the fake wand, his face shone with excitement when he took it from Fred and laughed with glee when it squaked and turned into a rubber chicken.
"Excellent!" Bagman cried. "I've not seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"
If Hazel wasn't completely freaking out that the twins were betting all their money on her prediction then she probably would have laughed at the look of disapproval on Percy's face.
"Boys." Mr Weasley said under his breath. "I don't want you betting… That's all your savings… Your mother…"
"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" Bagman rattled his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance. I'll give you excellent odds on that one." Bagman pulled out a notebook and a quill. "We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand." He jotted something down before tearing it out of the notebook and handed it to George, taking the money from Fred.
Bagman cheerfully turned back to Mr Weasley. "Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch."
Hazel noticed Sirius physically tense at the name and she placed her hand on top of his.
Sirius glanced at her and gave her a small smile. "I'm ok." He whispered to her.
"Anyone can speak Troll." Fred rolled his eyes. "All you have to do is point and grunt."
"You must be great at it." Hazel smirked at Percy.
George snorted into his tea and choked, causing Fred to have to thump him on the back.
Percy threw Hazel an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire angrily to bring the kettle back to the boil.
"Any news on Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Mr Weasley asked Bagman who had settled himself on the grass.
Bagman shook his head. "Not a dicky bird. But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha, memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."
Sirius frowned. "Really?"
"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Mr Weasley suggested as Percy handed Bagman his tea.
Bagman sighed. "Barty Crouch keeps saying that." He looked slightly dejected about it. "But we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh, talk of the devil! Barty!"
Hazel's eyes widened as a wizard appear in front of their fireside. She glanced at Sirius who tensed as soon as he saw the man. Hazel looked back up at the man. He was a stiff, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie with perfectly polished shoes. He had short grey hair with an almost unnaturally straight parting and it looked like he trimmed his narrow toothbrush mustache with a slide rule.
"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty." Ludo called brightly to the man patting the ground beside him.
"No thank you, Ludo." Crouch replied with bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the top box."
"Oh is that what they're after?" Bagman exclaimed with a look of realisation. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."
Sirius cleared his throat. "Crouch."
Crouch seemed to see Sirius for the first time. "Black. Yes… I er… Heard about your…"
"Innocence." Sirius cut him off, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing Crouch with a cold stare. "Yeah."
"I'm sure you can imagine my… regret…"
Sirius scoffed. "Yes I'm sure." He stood up. "Excuse me." He turned and marched off.
Harry and Hazel shared a worried glance.
Hazel sighed. "I'll go." She got up and followed after Sirius. "Wait up I have little legs." She called after Sirius.
Sirius turned and smiled at Hazel. He slung his arm around her shoulders. "You didn't have to come after me kid, I'm ok." He promised her.
"Well I didn't really want to hang around that guy either, he gave me the creeps." Hazel shook her head. "Besides I don't really fit in with them, they're Harry's friends and I'm just you know the wierd little sister no one knew about." She shrugged.
"Is that why you've been worrying about Hogwarts? Are you scared about making friends?" Sirius asked her.
Hazel shook her head. "No. I mean… I've never had friends before. So it won't be too terrible if I don't have friends you know because I'm used to it."
"Hey." Sirius stopped walking and turned to face her. "You're going to make friends." He promised her.
"It's just you had Dad and Remus and Harry has Ron and Hermione. What if I don't find that?" Hazel asked.
Sirius gave her a small smile. "Of course you will."
Hazel nodded. "Thanks." She hugged him.
"Hey it's ok. I want you to talk to me about this stuff." Sirius told her hugging her back. "We're a team."
Hazel grinned. "Sirius can I ask you something?"
Sirius nodded. "Sure you can."
"Er… So I know that you're not but I was wondering… Could I try maybe calling you Dad?" Hazel asked.
Sirius stared at her in shock. "You wanna?"
Hazel shrugged. "I mean if you don't mind. I just… I know my dad is James but I never knew him and I don't know I just kinda feel weird calling you Sirius because it doesn't feel right."
Sirius nodded. "We can try it if you want." He gave her a small smile. "I'd like that."
"Ok… Dad." Hazel smiled.
Sirius hugged her tightly. He felt completely conflicted about this. Was it ok? Was he taking away from James? He loved hearing her call him dad but he wasn't her dad. He needed to talk to Remus about this.
They sat there for a little while longer before Sirius sighed. "Come on kid, we should get back to the others."
Hazel nodded. "Sure."
"Hazel." Ginny waved to her and ran up to them as they approached the tent. "Do you wanna come with me to look around at the salesmen?" She motioned to where everyone was heading to a group of men carrying around trays.
Hazel grinned. "Sure."
The two girls hurried off to the salesmen. Hazel purchased a pair of omnioculars, a programme and an Ireland scarf with some of her pocket money. Ginny bought a pair of omnioculars, an Ireland rosette, a programme and a tiny model of a Firebolt.
Purchases made the girls headed back to the tent. About fifteen minutes later a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere on the other side of the forest and green and red laterns lit up, lighting a path to the Quidditch pitch.
"It's time!" Mr Weasley exclaimed looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!"
Next chapter will be the match hope you enjoyed this chapter please review :)