Chapter 1 - Discovery

"MUM!" Remus called in the morning.

"What is it honey?" his mother came running.

"James' invisibility cloak is gone! I borrowed it from him a week ago and now it's gone!"

"Did you search your wardrobe?"

"Yes."

"Under your bed?"

"Yes."

"Under your desk?"

"Yes."

"The living room?"

"Yes."

"The kitchen?"

"Yes."

"Er… where else?" his mother thought. "Oh, the backyard?"

"Yes!"

"Tala's room?"

"She locks the door all the time, and I've never been there for the last three years."

"The laundry?"

Remus didn't reply to that one. He ran straight to the laundry room and searched everywhere. His mother followed him and helped with his search.

"It's not here either. Mum, what am I going to tell him? It was a present from his father!" Remus said and sat on the ground. His mother knelt before him and held his face in her hands.

"You will go to school like nothing has happened. I will search the house once more and when I find it, I'll send it to you by an owl." His mother said with a smile.

"Mum, you know I can't lie to James."

"You're not going to lie to him honey." His mother hugged him. "I never said that you'll lie to him. Tell him that you forgot it at home and I am going to send it later."

Remus gave it a thought and then nodded. "Thanks mum." He looked into her eyes. "I love you." He hugged her again.

"I love you too Remi. And I wish that your sister felt the same."

"I'm sure she loves you. She's just… weird."

"Don't say that about your sister." She pulled away from the hug and sat next to him.

"All these years I never thought about it, but now…" Remus sighed. "Mum, why can't we exchange sickles and galleons for Muggle money? I am the only one who gets new school uniform in this house. I can't stand to see my sister going to school in her old uniform. Not that I ever saw her go to school. However, I know that she doesn't like her clothes, she's angry with me all the time and almost never speaks to me. It seems that she thinks that you are favoring me on her."

His mother looked at the ground with tears forming in her eyes. "Your father was killed because he tried to exchange money Remus." She said.

"What? I thought that Death Eaters killed him."

"They did. You know that Death Eaters don't like us. I mean Muggles. And every time your father wanted to exchange money we received a warning letter telling us to stop. One day he was on his way to Gringotts to withdraw some golden sickles. Once he was out of the bank a Death Eater approached him and warned him in person that he would die if he exchanged the sickles for Muggle money. Your dad didn't listen to him and came back home before he went out again. He took Tala with him."

"I remember that day." Remus said in a calm voice. "I cried because he took her out and left me home."

His mother smiled. "And I had to take you to the mall with me." She wiped her tears. "He went to a jewelry shop to sell the sickles as gold. Once he came out of the shop Death Eaters attacked him. Tala said that they were wearing black cloaks and they were hooded. No one saw what happened though. The jeweler said that he saw some strange looking men who approached the shop before your father went out, but he didn't remember anything after that. Since that day I never exchanged money. I was scared that Death Eaters would hurt you and Tala. I don't know why I never told you this, but I was scared. I don't want to lose any of you. I never told Tala about you or your father being wizards. I don't want to mix her in this because I don't know what would she do. I know that's she's already scared of you being a werewolf. She sleeps in my room every full moon night, even when you're at school."

Remus looked at ground. He never wanted to scare his sister.

"She has never seen you transform, but she's heard your howls and growls during those nights and she cried to sleep." She looked at Remus' eyes. "Promise that you won't tell her that you're a wizard, Remus. Please. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"It's okay mum." Remus said and hugged his mother. "I understand now. I promise not to tell her unless you want me to. And I promise that nothing will happen to any of us. I will fight against the Death Eaters and they'll pay for what they did to our family."

"Just don't get hurt." His mother said and kissed his forehead. "Now go and get dressed. I don't want you to be late for the train."

"Alright."

Remus went back to his room finished packing his trunk. He got dressed and put his wand in his pocket. He pulled his trunk after him as he went to the living room.

Tala looked at Remus as she put her head out of her room door. She put her bag on and rushed downstairs.

"I'm going to school." She called and went out.

Mr. Lupin sighed at her daughter's behavior and took her purse. "Are you ready Remus?"

"Yes mum."

"Alright, let's go."

They went out and took a taxi to King's Cross Station. Tala watched them from behind, the invisibility cloak wrapped around her. She checked her pockets to see if she had enough money for a taxi and then she took one and told the driver to follow the other taxi.

Remus and his mother got out of the taxi and entered the station. Tala paid the driver and followed. She hid in a corner and pulled the invisibility cloak on her and then followed her mother and brother. She saw them reach Platform 9 and then they stopped between it and Platform 10. They looked around and then Remus pulled his trunk after him and ran through the barrier that was between the two platforms. Tala gasped in shock. How could this be? That was a wall for God's sake! He couldn't possibly be crossing through a wall?!

Tala decided to follow no matter how odd it was. She knew that no one can see her, but every one can feel her, as she bumped into a couple of passengers on her way to the platforms. She saw her mother leave and she headed straight at the barrier. She didn't know what was she supposed to do, so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"This better work. Open Sesame!" she muttered and ran to the wall. Somehow, it felt like she was passing through a jelly.

Tala almost hit the ground as she reached Platform 9 3/4. She saw different people wearing cloaks and they were escorting their children to the large train. She saw Remus pulling his trunk after him and suddenly he screamed when he saw someone. Tala looked carefully and recognized the boy to be Sirius Black. She growled and followed them. They got up in the train and entered a compartment. Tala knew that this train was going to take her to the mysterious school that Remus went to. She walked to another wagon and found an empty compartment. She pulled the cloak off her and put it in her bag. She hoped that Remus or his friends wouldn't come to this compartment. She would get into deep trouble if they caught her. Suddenly, the door opened and a little boy entered.

"Hello, can I thit here?" he said.

Tala looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, why not?"

"Thank you." The boy said. "I'm a firtht year. Which year are you?"

Whoops! How would she know?! She didn't even know which year her brother was so at least she would make a guess!

"Er… I'm sixteen, so what year does that make me?" She put a fake smile on her face to look like she was testing him.

The boy thought for a moment. "Thixth year! Wow! Which houthe are you in? I want to be in Gryffindor. They thay that it'th the betht!"

OK, that was a house name. Well, maybe. Tala thought. "I'm in Gryffindor." She said slowly.

At that moment the door opened again and this time a girl entered. She seemed to be at Tala's age. "You're a first year, aren't you?" she asked the boy.

"Yeth."

"You better go to the third wagon, all first years are there."

"Alright." The boy said. "Thee you at thcool."

"Okay." Tala said and faked another smile.

The boy left and the girl came in and sat down. "Hi, I'm Emily Brown. I'm a sixth year and a Gryffindor. I never saw you before. Are you new?" she said with a smile.

"I'm… I'm Tala."

"Nice to meet you Tala. You have a nice name."

"Thanks." Tala smiled. For the first time in her life someone was being nice with her.

"So, which house are you from? You're not from my house that's for sure."

Oh boy. Here comes trouble. Tala looked at Emily without knowing what to say. Tricking a first year was easy thing, but this girl was a sixth year, and that meant she knew all the students. Even if she didn't know their names, she would at least know how they looked.

"Well, I… I was…"

"Don't tell me you don't know which house you belong to!" Emily said. "You're not a first year, that one I can tell."

"I… Oh God!" Tala put her face in her hands and started to cry. She felt confused and didn't know what to do. If she told Emily the truth, she might go and tell Remus or someone in charge.

"Hey, don't cry." Emily said calmly and sat next to Tala, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. "I won't tell anyone if you're ashamed of your house."

"It's… not… that." Tala said between sobs. "I'm… here… to check on… my brother."

"Oh." It was Emily's turn to be confused.

Tala wiped her tears and looked at Emily. "I don't know why I did this, but I wanted to know where he studies. I wanted to know why was he the only one to get new school uniform and new books each year. Why did our mother take him to school on the first day of September while I had to go by my own. Therefore, I followed them today to the train station and then I saw him disappear through the wall. It was strange. I followed him and I came to this compartment."

"Didn't he see you?"

"No, I had a strange cloak on. It made me become invisible."

"An invisibility cloak? Wow! That's something rare! Can I see it?" Emily said excitedly.

"Sure." Tala took out the cloak from her bag and showed it.

"It doesn't look like a magical item." Emily said and Tala stared at her.

"Magical item? Magic doesn't exist!"

"It does." Emily tried the cloak and kept her head out. She looked down at herself and couldn't see her body. "This is great!" she gave the cloak back to Tala and sat back next to her. "As far as I can see, you're a Muggle. How come you don't have magical abilities while your brother has?"

"What's a Muggle?" Tala asked.

"A Muggle is a non-wizard human. You are not a witch, so that makes you a Muggle."

"So my brother is a wizard?"

"If he attends Hogwarts, then he is."

"Hogwarts?"

"It's the name of our school. By the way, I'll call my boyfriend; maybe he can help you by keeping an eye on your brother. He's so good at this kind of things. His name is Sirius Black." Emily got up.

"NO!" Tala shouted and Emily turned to stare at her in a shock. "Please… don't call him."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"He's one of my brother's friends."

"He is? Who's your brother?"

"Remus Lupin. Do you know him?"

"Of course I know him! He's in the seventh year and he's also in my house." Emily sat down again. "You're Remus' sister? He never told us that he had a sister."

"Didn't expect him to do so." Tala muttered.

"You seem to be having problems with him."

"Well, our mother favors him and I don't like it."

"I see. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know." Tala sighed.

"Listen, I won't tell anyone that you're here, and I'll try to figure out a way to help you. But there's one problem."

"What is it?"

"How long and where are you going to stay?"

Both of the girls were silent for a while. Tala stared out of the window while Emily held her head in her hands thinking of a possible way to help Tala out of this mess.

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Remus was sitting in his compartment reading a book while Sirius was playing wizard chess with James and Peter was watching them.

"Check mate!" James said.

"Bloody hell! You did it again." Sirius said.

"Of course!" James said with pride.

Remus shut his book and looked at them. "I think it's time for us to wear our robes."

Sirius looked at his watch. "Yeah, we're almost there. I'll go and see how Emily is doing." He got up and pulled his school robes on. Remus did the same.

"And I'll check on the prefects."

"I hope that you'll take lots of points from Slytherins this year Moony." James said.

"Yeah! I can't wait to see Malfoys face when you do so." Sirius said.

"I won't take points from Slytherins without a reason." Remus said as he opened the door.

"Being a Slytherin is enough to take points." Sirius said. "I wish I was a Head Boy! They would end up with no points at the end of the year."

"That would've been great!" James laughed.

"Alright, enough dreaming. I'll be back after a while." Remus went out.

"See you in a minute." Sirius said and walked out of the compartment.

He headed straight to the next wagon where he knew he would find Emily.

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"We're almost there." Emily said. "You better put that cloak on."

"Alright." Tala took out the cloak and put it on her.

"It's really odd to speak to an invisible person you know." Emily laughed.

"It's odd enough to be invisible anyway."

At that moment the door opened and Sirius came in. "There you are!" he looked around. "Why are you sitting here alone?" he sat next to her.

"I… I was reading and I didn't want anyone to disturb." Emily looked at Tala's direction, hoping that Sirius wouldn't see or feel her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were alone? I would've kept you company." He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"I needed some time alone." Emily smiled.

"Oh, okay. Well, I hope that you don't want to be alone at this moment." He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her. As soon as their lips met Emily pulled away.

"Sirius, not here. Please." She said and blushed. She turned to look at Tala's direction again.

"Why not? We're alone anyway. No one would see."

"It's not that. Anyone would enter the compartment, a prefect or a first year. I don't want them to think something else."

"Sometimes I really wonder how you girls think." Sirius said. "Alright, if that's what you want."

"Thanks." Emily said.

Sirius smiled. "Why don't we go and join the others? They're in the other wagon."

"Okay." Emily got up and turned to look at Tala. Thankfully she was sitting next to the window and Sirius wouldn't think that there was someone actually there.

"Why do you keep looking at the window?" Sirius asked.

"I… I just want to see if we're there already."

"You'll know when we get there, don't worry."

"I will be sitting in a separate carriage." Emily said.

"Of course, each carriage can take only four, and I'm going with James and the others."

"I'll take the last carriage, I want to see how Hagrid takes the first years to the lake. I never had the chance to see him do that before. It's always good to see the first years from a side." Emily was trying to tell that to Tala, so they would meet after getting out of the train.

"Yeah, they freak out when they see him." Sirius grinned.

"Alright, let's go now."

They both went out of the compartment and headed to the one where James and Peter were sitting.

Tala let out a sigh. She was about to be caught by Sirius if she didn't have the cloak.

As the train stopped Tala got out and looked around. She did her best to avoid the other students who were running around trying to get into a carriage.

When she saw the black carriages her mouth dropped open. They didn't have anything to pull them. How were they going to move? And they didn't look like cars for sure. Tala shrugged and looked for the last carriage in the row. When she found it, she walked to it and noticed that it was the only carriage that had a horse on the front. The horse turned to look at her with its enormous eyes. Tala waited for a couple of minutes and when she saw Emily approaching she walked to her side.

"Emily." She whispered.

Emily jumped. "Tala is that you?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Don't worry about it. Come, get in the carriage."

They climbed in and another two girls came in. The carriage started to move as soon as they sat down.

"Hi Emi." One of the girls said. She had green eyes and red curly hair that cascaded on her shoulders.

"Hi Lily, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Tired of the trip in fact. I can't wait to go to my room and sleep."

"It was a long one. I'm tired too." Emily said.

"Have you seen James?" Lily asked.

"Yes, he was with Sirius and Peter. I didn't see Remus though."

"Well, he seems to be starting his duties as a Head Boy." Lily smiled.

"Yeah."

As the carriage reached the school grounds, the girls got out and headed to the Entrance Hall. Emily was holding Tala's hand all the time so she wouldn't get lost, and then she pulled Tala to a side.

"We will go now to the Great Hall for the welcoming feast. I will have to sit next to Sirius, and I don't think it would be a good idea if you joined us there. So I think you should wait outside until we come out."

"How are you going to find me?" Tala asked.

"You'll stay at the place I show you, and when we're out I come and get you, okay?"

"Okay."

"And try to stay calm and don't make a sound. If Filch saw you, we're dead."

"Okay." Tala didn't know who was this Filch, but by the look on Emily's face, she knew that she didn't want to meet him.

"Let's go now." Emily held Tala's invisible hand and they headed to the direction of the Great Hall.

As soon as they were there, Emily headed to the left and pulled Tala with her. She took her to a corner and stopped.

"You'll wait here until I come back, okay?" Emily said.

"Alright."

"Don't forget what I said. We don't want you to be caught by Filch." Emily went back to the Great Hall and entered.

Tala looked around her. This place was huge! It seemed like a castle. No, it was a castle! All the students were wearing black robes and each of them had a small embroidered shield on their chests. She noticed that Remus had a golden badge on his chest, in addition to the shield. So, that must be the Head Boy thing badge, she thought.

As he entered, Remus closed the doors behind him, and Tala was left alone, waiting for Emily to come back.