8. Family portret

(December 23rd, 1995)

White hills were slowly passing outside the train windows. The scenery was simply marvellous. Everything was covered with snow and shimmering in a cold sunlight, as if the ground was sprinkled with jewels.

Harry has never felt so happy before. For the first time in his life he was to spend Christmas in a real home, with a man who was so close to him, with his godfather. It was something he had been always dreaming about, sitting in his dirty cupboard in the Dursleys' house.

This year, however, everything was to change. Harry turned from the window, his green eyes shining with glee. Ron and Hermione were just about to finish a chess game, Ginny was writing something in a small notebook and the twins were whispering in the corridor. Harry smiled, lent his head on the window and sank into the dreams.

Suddenly he felt somebody pulling his sleeve. He opened his eyes.

'Harry, wake up ! Time to get out.'

Hermione was standing near by, ready to go, carrying Crookshanks over her shoulder. Harry swiftly looked out of the window. The platform 9 and 3/4 were full of the people but Harry immediately recognised the red hair heads of the Weasley parents. He seized Hedwige's cage and followed Hermione.

'Harry, I'm so glad to see you !' Molly Weasley gave him a hearty hug 'Are you all right ?'

'Yeah, sure !' assured Harry.

'Let's go then!' commanded Arthur Weasley enthusiastically.

It took theme a few minutes to get out from the crowded platform. When they finally crossed the enchanted barrier they run just into Hermione's parents. Arthur couldn't deny himself a short chat with the real Muggles and only an ominous look of his wife forced him to say 'Good-bye'. He grabbed Ginny's trunk and moved towards the exit.

Turning back to wave once more to Hermione, Harry noticed that Mrs Weasley was looking around watchfully and followed him very closely. Also Arthur, though trying to look airy, every now and than put his hand into the pocket and clasped it on the wand handle. Just near the glass-door he stopped and looked at his wife inquiringly. Molly was staring at the parking, evidently trying to find someone.

'Where is Bill ?!' she snorted angrily 'He were to wait for us here !'

'Oh, Billy has already come back?' Ginny asked joyfully 'He always used to arrive right before the Christmas.'

A question hidden in those words remained unanswered. The Weasley focused all their attention on observing the people passing by. Harry sighed heavily. He knew perfectly well that he was the main object of their anxiety. For several months at Hogwart he managed to forget that the world outside the school could be nowadays very dangerous.

Suddenly a blue Ford stopped just in front of the entrance to the station.

'Finally !' called Mrs Weasley with relief.

The car door opened and from the inside Bill Weasley jumped out, smiling broadly. He still wore a long pony-tail and a fang-shaped earring.

'Hello !' he called cheerfully 'A limousine is waiting.'

Molly snorted with fury.

'Where have you been?!' she hissed 'You were to wait...'

'Mum, calm down' said Billy hastily 'I just went to bring the car.'

And he quickly started to throw whole luggage into the boot, escaping further reproaches. When everything had been successfully packed and Harry, Rom, Ginny, Fred and George crammed at the back seat of the car, Mrs Weasley looked at them with anxiety.

'So, see you at the Burrow' she said in such a tone as if they were to fight a herd of the very hungry dragons on their way home.

Ginny lent out of the window.

'Mum, you're not going with us?' she asked with amazement.

Mrs Weasley smiled.

'No, dear. There is no more seats left inside. Anyway, I have to prepare supper.'

Ron and Harry exchanged looks. They asked themselves the same question: so why Billy come to the station? Meanwhile, Arthur sat in the front seat. The engine barked and the Ford moved slowly forwards. Soon they were pushing themselves through the crowded streets of London. Now, when his wife didn't see him, Arthur could really enjoy driving a Muggle car.

'Bill, will you stay for long?' asked Ginny.

Bill hesitated and looked at his father inquiringly.

'Tell them' said Arthur, staring with admiration at the red cabriolet passing by.

Bill turned back and looked at them very proudly.

'I joined the Aurors !' he said solemnly.

The impression was really thunderous. Ginny clapped her hands, Ron moaned delightfully 'Wow...!'. To the contrary, George and Fred couldn't say a word and this was the best proof oh how much they were surprised.

'So far it's just a training' explained Bill 'I've started only two weeks ago. This work for Gringotts was quite good but I left it at once when I heard Aurors were looking for the new adepts.'

For the rest of the journey they questioned him about the Aurors schooling and soon a well-known shape of the Weasley house loomed from the darkness. Windows were twinkling with a warm, yellow light and Harry felt a sweet calm in his heart.

A superb supper was already waiting in the dinning-room and soon Harry and all the Weasleys were sitting at the long table, chatting cheerfully and praising Mrs Weasley's kitchen.

Molly put a third piece of an apple-pie on Harry's plate and looked at him warmly.

'That's a pity you will not stay with us for the holidays' she sighed 'I know you want to see Sirius but...maybe would be better...'

'Molly,' Arthur cut in 'Sirius is his godfather, the closest family except those Muggles. Anyway...' he cast Molly a swift glance 'He will be under a very good care.'

Mrs Weasley nodded though she still looked unhappy. Arthur checked his watch.

'Well, Harry, it's time to go. I arranged with Remus Lupin that we would send you at nine.'

They gathered around the fireplace. Arthur reached for a flowerpot, full of the grey powder.

'You will go without your luggage, Harry' said Mr Weasley 'Bill will Apparate at Remus and bring it all. Well, off you go' he opened the flowerpot.

Harry took a pinch of powder and threw it into the fire. Flames rose higher, cold and green. Harry told 'good-bye' to everybody, stepped into to the fire and said clearly the name of the street. In a split second he was sucked in by a hissing whirl and after several seconds of spinning threw out on a stone floor.

'Hello, Harry' said a warm, familiar voice 'Nice to see you again.'

Harry opened his eyes. He was in a small, cosy room, feeling heat of the fire on his back. And beside, lent on an armchair, stood Remus Lupin smiling heartily.

'Professor Lupin !' called Harry gleefully, leaping to his feet.

'Please, call me Remus' said the wizard softly 'Now, when I'm not a teacher anymore, we can just be friends.'

He waved his wand and the room brightened. Harry looked around. They were in a small study. There were rows of the high shelves along the wall, all crammed with a variety of books, and in front of the fireplace stood a low table, sofa and two armchairs. The furniture was old and shabby but kept perfectly clean. On the shelf of the hearth there were a picture of a witch and wizard, holding their hands and smiling to Harry.

'My parents' explained Remus watching the photograph 'Both dead for years...' he added softly and a deep sadness filled his amber eyes.

Harry felt a lump in his throat. How well he knows what Remus must feel. He also was left with only few pictures of his murdered parents.

Steps sounded in the corridor and someone stood at the door. Harry moved his eyes from the photo.

'Sirius !'

The wizard smiled.

'Hi, Harry. How was your journey? Bill has just brought your things' he pointed something in the hall 'Come, we take them to your room.'

They climbed the wooden, creaking stairs up to the first floor. Sirius turned into a small corridor and opened the door on the left side.

'Here is your room' he informed, turning the light on 'It's not a palace but I think you'll like it.'

'It's great !' exclaimed Harry.

Sirius smiled and looked at him attentively.

'Listen, Harry, if you are not tired...' he hesitated 'I have a surprise for you.'

They went down. In the study they could hear a murmur of a quite conversation. Harry thought that Bill must have decided to stay a bit longer. Sirius, however, didn't enter the room but stopped in the corridor and smiled mysteriously.

'Harry' he said softly 'I'd like to...introduce you someone. You will be surprised...I've never told you, but...I have a sister.'

Indeed, Harry was so astonished that for a moment he couldn't say a word. And then suddenly he realised that it had never come to his mind to ask an obvious, as it could seem, question: whether Sirius Black had any family ? And now the answer was waiting in the study, talking to Lupin.

'I think you'll like her' muttered Sirius, letting him inside.

Harry entered the room and stood motionless, totally bewildered. In the armchair near the fire was sitting Vega Starlight.

* * *
(December 24th, 1995)

'Why didn't you tell me that professor Starlight is your sister?' asked Harry during the breakfast.

They were alone. In the morning Remus received an urgent message from the Ministry of Magic and set off immediately. Vega, on the other hand, closed herself in the study and told not to disturb her.

Sirius smiled apologetically.

'Forgive me, Harry, but it didn't depend on me. Vega insisted on not telling you, at least at the beginning. She considered that if she was to teach in Hogwart, it would be better if you know her first as a teacher and not as a sister of your godfather. Maybe she was right...' he sighed, spreading jam over a toast.

Harry nodded silently, wondering how to ask the next question.

'And if you want to know, why I haven't told you before that I had a sister,' proceeded Sirius with a smile 'Well...First of all, in fact there was never opportunity...so many more important things happened. And secondly...after my escape from Azkaban I succeeded to dodge the Ministry guards for all year...anyway, you now this story pretty well. But then I had to disappear from England and we, mean me and Dumbledore, decided that I would go to Vega. She was abroad that time and only Dumbledore knew, where she actually dwelled. So I hid myself at her, that summer before the Triwizard Tournament.'

'So that was where you sent me those small birds from?!' exclaimed Harry.

Sirius nodded.

'Yeah. And when I came back to England I preferred not to tell anybody, even you, where I had been. Just in case, you know... if I had to escape again. I hope you don't have grudge?'

'No, surly not !' assured Harry heartily.

Everything made clear. There was only one more question.

'Listen...' began Harry dubiously 'I hope you don't mind if I ask...er...did professor Starlight also believe that you were the one who betrayed my parents? That was why she uses different surname?'

Sirius shook his hand impetuously and strange sparks glittered in his dark eyes.

'No, Harry' he said distinctly 'Vega has never believed that I sold Lily and James to Voldemort. She even...' he hesitated for a moment and proceeded in a low voice 'a year after my imprisonment she tried to break into Azkaban. Don't make it public,' he added hastily, looking sternly at Harry 'Vega had serious problems afterwards. If not Dumbledore and Moody, she would land in the jail, too. Anyway, she wanted to know what really had happened that night when your parents had been killed. Though all evidences were against me, Vega felt that this time the simplest explanation was not the correct one. And she was right...'

He sighed, looking thoughtfully at the white fields outside the window. For a brief moment his dark eyes took again this mournful, gaunt look as if reflecting all despair of Azkaban. Sirius shuddered and stared at Harry.

'And if it comes to her surname,' he said, smiling slightly 'she didn't change it. In fact, Vega is my cousin. Our mothers were twins, but we were always together, first leaving in the great house of our grandparents, then at school. She is as a real sister for me.'

Harry smiled.

'Now I understand what you meant telling you know her from Hogwart.'

'That was what I could have told you.' said Sirius 'Vega, one year younger than me, was also one of the Marauders. Maybe not a full-time one,' he laughed 'but she usually preferred our company than this of her classmates. I remember our escapades during the full-moon,' he sighed dreamily 'Werewolf, dog, stag and a goshawk... It's not easy to transform yourself into a bird,' he informed Harry proudly 'but Vega was always very talented.'

Harry was just about to ask: 'So it's because of you that she doesn't like Snape?' but in the last moment he remembered the grave tones in Sirius's voice when he asked him not to touch this subject. So he didn't say anything and drank a gulp of tea. Suddenly the door creaked in the corridor and as if she had felt they had been talking about her, Vega Starlight entered the kitchen. She was pale and looked very tired. She smiled to them slightly, took a jug of coffee and a pack of biscuits and disappeared in the study.

'She has plenty of work,' explained Sirius when the door closed behind Vega 'We had hardly managed to convince her to spend the Christmas here. Remus had to use all his charm. But, of course, she brought a trunk full of books and papers. She says,' he whispered 'that the DADS still needs further improvement. And she doesn't like to leave it without her control.'

'She doesn't trust Snape?' asked Harry before he could stop himself.

Sirius laughed curtly, harshly, with an expression of the utmost dislike on his face.

'And would you trust him?' he asked dryly looking at Harry 'You know him for several years...'

The boy hesitated for a moment and slowly shook his head.

'You see?' snorted Sirius with venomous satisfaction 'And Vega knows much more about him. And believe me, these are not nice memories...'

A silence fell. The flames were crackling in the fireplace, an old clock was steadily counting seconds. Suddenly Sirius hit his forehead.

'I've completely forgotten ! Harry,' he exclaimed, his eyes gleaming 'I have something for you. I couldn't wait to show you. Wait !'

And he run out of the kitchen smiling mysteriously. No more than a minute passed when was back, carrying a large, brown volume. He put it on the table triumphantly.

'Harry,' he said solemnly 'this is an album of the Potters' family.'

Harry was looking with disbelief once at Sirius, once at the book. Slowly, his hand slightly trembling, he reached for the album and opened it. From the large picture on the first page Lily and James were waving at him, both wearing the traditional Hogwart robes.

'The end of the seventh year' explained Sirius sitting near Harry.

He was also watching the photograph with a deep grief and melancholy. He could still remember those happy days. They were so young, full of live, hopes and plans for the future. They believed that everything was still before them. Sirius sighed heavily.

Harry turned the page. His mother was smiling brightly, showing a kicking baby in a white crawler. Harry felt his heart beating madly and he quickly lent his face on the shoulder for Sirius wouldn't see his tears.

In the next pages were again his parents, alone or with small Harry. In on of the pictures Harry recognised himself, riding on the back of laughing Sirius.

'Your first birthday...' said Black in a subdued voice.

Harry was turning pages. From the next photograph a middle-aged woman smiled to him. He didn't know her.

'Who is she?' he asked, looking at Sirius inquiringly.

'Your grandmother, Eleonore, James's mother' explained Black 'A wonderful woman. Always cheerful and warm. She had died a year before you were born.'

'And here?'

Harry showed a tall, handsome man with short, black hair and elegant moustache. Dark eyes were staring proudly and a bit scoffingly. When he saw Harry he nodded indifferently and returned to reading.

'Your grandfather' muttered Sirius, watching the picture unenthusiastically 'Perseus Potter.'

'He doesn't look too friendly.' whispered Harry.

'He was very strict and demanding' said Sirius 'and he usually didn't show his feelings. But he loved James very much. His death was a real shock. Your grandfather shrank into himself, didn't want to talk to anybody. After a year he suddenly sold the house and left to Latin America. And there were no more news o him.'

'But it doesn't mean he is dead !' exclaimed Harry, jumping from his chair which hit the floor with a loud crash 'Maybe he just lives abroad... I must find him!' he called, ready to set off right now.

Sirius shook his head sadly.

'I don't think so, Harry ' he said softly 'I didn't tell you everything. Several months after your grandfather's disappearance Remus went to America to find him. Following his tracks, he got to a small village in the Amazonian jungle. Its inhabitants told him incredible stories about a powerful shaman who appeared one day in their village. He made miracles, cured the seriously ills, caused rains. Remus had no doubt that they were talking about the wizard. One day the shaman disappeared, leaving only a small box. Inside Remus found a letter and a broken wand of Perseus Potter.'

'What was in that letter?' asked Harry dully.

Sirius sighed and look at him sympathetically.

'A farewell.'

For several minutes they were sitting in silence. Finally Harry sighed and stared at the picture again.

'Where did you get this album from?' he asked.

'Vega gave it to me' said Sirius 'She found it in the ruins of your house, a few days after your parents death, and kept it for you for all those years.'

Harry closed the album. Only now he noticed that a leather cover was set with tiny, silver chips forming a title :'The Potters'. He stroked it with affection as the most precious treasure.

A soft 'pop' sounded and Remus Lupin Apparated in the kitchen. His amber eyes were shining. 'And, how was it?' asked Sirius with curiosity.

Remus smiled broadly.

'Just perfect !' he said beaming 'From the beginning of January I start working in the Department of Teleprtation.'

'That's great !' exclaimed Harry and Sirius together.

Remus took of his cloak and hung it on the back of the chair. He took the kettle from the fire and sat at the table.

'Guess who I met in the Ministry' he said, pouring out a tea 'This Magnus Devilson from Norwegian Department. He was going to Hogwart. Had a parcel for Hagrid.'

Harry and Sirius exchanged astonished glances. Harry didn't know why, but a very mention of Magnus made him always a bit uneasy. Sirius seemed to change his anxiety.

'I don't like Devilson in Hogwart' he growled 'There is something strange in him... I don't know...' he rubbed his chin 'Let's better tell Vega.'