Disclaimer: Familiar characters are not mine.

Chapter 8

I walked into my room with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Remus told me to go through all my things and pick out what I wanted to keep. I had laughed at him and told him I wanted everything. He shrugged and said I could do whatever I wanted.

As they followed me, the first place I went to was my bureau and opened the top drawer, where I kept everything Sirius had given me. Taking the animagus books and notes out I handed them to Harry.

"Here you go, Green Eyes. Your information."

With a horrified look he took the books from me. There were nine books, each at least 500 pages, "You expect me to read all this?"

"I did."

"But-"

"If you want to learn, then you read them. I'm not going to help you, if you don't try."

"Fine." He grumbled.

"You're helping him become an animagus?" Hermione asked helping me pick out the clothes I wanted from the closet, surprisingly only 5 shirts and my 15 pairs of jeans, the rest was already in my bureau. I nodded.

"What else do you want to take?" Ron asked sitting on my bed.

"My furniture. All my things are actually stuffed in my cupboards, bureau and chests. I hate clutter." I said then thought about it, "Oh! Ron I have something for your father." I ran out of the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione stare after me slightly confused. I came back into the room and slapped my cell phone into Ron's hand.

"What's this?"

"A cellular phone."

"What?"

"Cell phone."

"It's like a telephone, but no base or cord." Hermione explained.

Ron still looked a little confused and Harry laughed. Hermione and I walked through the house making sure there's nothing left of mine in the house.

"I know it's stupid but I'm taking my T.V. and movies." I said to her.

"Why?"

"Because I worked so hard for them, I saved my money for 5 years for that T.V."

"Then it's not stupid. You can take whatever you want. Don't worry. When you move out you might live in a muggle house anyway."

"Who say's I'm moving out? That house is mine, now. Well half mine."

"Really?"

"Sirius split everything between me and Harry."

"You guys own a house together? That's so cute!"

"Shut up 'Mione."

"Ok. Anything else you need?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna write my sisters notes. Where did Remus go?" I asked sitting at the kitchen table to write the notes.

"He said he had some legal business he had to deal with. I think it was about the adoption."

"Oh."

Adora,

Good to see that you are allowed to go to Hogwarts, more than I got. Jake said that I'm not allowed to talk to you but we are never the ones to follow Jake's orders now are we?

I'll see you at school, we are going to have so much fun!!

Love ya

Sissy.

It took me much more time to think of what to say to my younger sister. Adora was easy, I was going to see her in a few days. Baby lizzy I wouldn't see for a year, if Jake had it his way. Finally I settled.

Lizzy,

Hey kiddo. I'm sorry I have to leave you but now I have to go be with my daddy's family. He died, you see, and they need me right now. Next year though you will be going to Hogwarts and I'll see you then, ok?

I didn't leave because of you or your daddy I promise. I love you my cuddle monkey!

Love,

Big Sissy.

I laughed at the letter. Lizzy always worried I was going to leave because of her and Jake. I felt bad about lying to her about why I left but Jake would kill me with his bare hands if I told her what was actually going on.

"Ok," I said to Hermione, "let's go put these in the girls rooms."

"Do you want to leave a note for Jake and your mother?"

"What mother?" I asked Hermione as we walked up the stairs and left the notes on the girls pillows.

"I guess that's a no," she said with a laugh. We walked into my room to see Harry sprawled out on my bed and Ron messing with my laptop. I chuckled.

"Having fun Ron?"

"This thing is weird. Are you taking it with you?"

"Of course," I said taking it and packing it in one of my cupboards. Ron sat on the bed with Harry and they watched as me and Hermione packed my clothes in a trunk.

"You have no other clothes you want to take?"

"I have a lot at the HQ. I can always buy more. Speaking of which, I wonder if Remus will let me stop by the bank."

"Why?" Harry asked staring at the ceiling.

"Because I don't want my money where Jake can get at it. I should just have it changed over at Gringotts."

"That would make sense." Ron said absentmindedly.

"What's with you two?" Hermione asked voicing your very thought.

"Will you teach Hermione and I too?" Ron blurted out.

"Teach what?"

"To become animagi."

"If you want to learn."

"Brilliant! Hermione, do you want to learn."

"Only if we register."

"What?! Where the fun in that?"

"I don't want to do anything illegal that could get Twink taken from Remus. I really don't think he could handle that."

"He's stronger than you think," I said.

"You don't know what he was like before you got there, Twink." Harry said.

Ron made a grunt of agreement, "And you, Harry, didn't see him before you came."

"You two are his reason for living, without being cliché. He was so withdrawn, all he did was read and what Dumbledore asked him to, for the Order. We were so worried but then Harry came and he got better, then you came, twinkle and he's almost himself again."

I sat down next to Ron and he put a comforting arm around my shoulders, "I haven't looked at it from his point of view much. I feel kinda bad for shoving myself on him."

"Oh, Twink, it's the best thing for him. It will help him move on. Without you and Harry it seemed that there was nothing for him to live for." Ron said.

"Hell Ron, when did you get so smart?"

"Hermione must be rubbing off on me." He pulled me into a tight hug, "He needs you as much as you need him." He whispered in my ear.

"Who?"

"Well both of your guys," Ron whispered with a chuckle.

"Hey guys, are you ready?" Remus asked from the door.

"Yup." I said then walked over and hugged him.

"What was that for?" He asked

"Hi."

"Hey. Did you even pack?"

"Yes. Those three cupboards, the two trunks, the bed and the bureau."

Remus nodded and shrunk the said items. Handing them to me he turned to the door, "We have some more business to attend to. We will have to take the underground."

"Why not take my car?" I asked following him, "Can you drive?"

"Of course. You have a car?"

"Yeah, My grandma gave it to me, the more pleasant one anyway."

He chuckled and I handed the keys to him, "Come on guys, we are taking Moon Child's car."

We all piled into my red Jeep. I loved that thing. Remus drove in silence for about 15 minuets before I figured out where he was taking us.

"Remus?" I asked, curious.

"I went to get the adoption papers legalized and they said if I was sending you to a private school you had to withdrawn from the school here," he looked at me hopefully.

"Thank god! I hate that place!"

He chuckled, "Will you like Hogwarts?"

"Hell yes. At least better than this place," I said as he pulled up in front of my school. We all pile out of the jeep, because me and Remus had to go in, Harry wanted to come with us, Ron wanted to see a muggle high school, and Hermione didn't want to be the only one in the car.

As we walked into the front office the secretary chuckled at me, "Hello Miss. Black. Did you miss us here in the front office already?"

"You kidding? I missed my homies the first day of vacation!" I exclaimed walking over and giving her a high five.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you this summer?" the principal asks walking out of his office.

"I just missed seeing your cheerful face, Georgie!!"

The secretary looked at the confused faces of my companions, "During the school year she practically lives in here."

"I just love you guys so much." I said plopping in 'my' chair behind the secretary desk.

Remus chuckled, "just like her father. He's be so proud, Moon Child."

I smiled and motioned to the chair next to me for Harry. "Mrs. Fields, this is my good friend, Harry."

"Boyfriend." Harry corrected.

"Yeah, that." I said and she laughed.

"You came here in the middle of out vacation from you to introduce us to your new beau?"

Remus handed her my withdrawal papers, "We came to take her out of school."

"Oh no! who's going to start the fires, if you're not here?" The principal asked in mock horror from his office.

"Just those four. And the second was not my fault that Dr. Brabant didn't tell me it was flammable."

"You didn't have to take a lighter to your beaker either." Mrs. Fields said typing something into the computer. Her name wasn't really Mrs. Fields but I had taken to calling her that the 4th time she had given me cookies while I was waiting to see the principal.

"I like fire." I said to which Harry and Ron let out the laughter they had been holding in.

"I'm sorry Mr.-"

"Remus."

"Mr. Remus.--"

"No just Remus. Remus Lupin."

"Strange name, anyway only a parent or guardian can take her out."

Nodding he handed her the adoption papers. "I am her guardian."

"Oh, Miss. Black, you just changed your name, now you have to do it again."

"I'm not changing it. My father died two months ago, this is his best friend who kindly adopted me."

"Oh, dear. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." I murmured looking at Harry, the double meaning not lost on either of us.

"My condolences to your mother. She seemed very happy with him." At this Remus scoffed.

"Dude, Jake wasn't my father! Ewww! No way, I'd be happy if that git died!"

"Tact, Miss. Black." The principal said coming back out of his office, "You lack tact."

"And you can almost rhyme!"

"My poetry skills were never raved upon."

"You just wish you had my mad skills."

"How did you find out?" He asked his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"The grapevine."

"Have to stop telling them."

"Never trustworthy, that lot."

He chuckled, "We will miss you here, Miss. Black. No one else has the wit to battle us in the front office."

"You know Jamsey can."

"Janie? No, that girl might have the grades but not the wit."

"She thinks she does."

"She thinks she's good at a lot of things. Not much common sense…."

"After all she hangs out with me. Not so much anymore."

"Really? What happened to our dynamic duo?"

"Once someone tells you that if they were you they'd shoot themselves in the head, you kinda stop liking them."

"That's probably an interesting story."

"Quite."

"Daughter? We need to be getting on our way." Remus said.

"Does he not know your name?" Mrs. Fields asked me.

"That's his nickname for me, Daughter of the Moon."

"Oh."

I hugged Mrs. Fields and the principal, after all they were like family, "Say bye to Petey for me."

"Will do, Miss. Black. It's going to be very peaceful here with out you."

"I hope your not too disappointed," I said as we walked out of the office. Harry grabbed my hand and I smiled at him. "Remus? Are we going back to Grimmauld place?"

"Unless you have someplace else to go."

"My bank. I don't want my money where Jake can get it."

"I already took care of it, Daughter. I'm going to drop you, Ron, Hermione and Harry off at number 12, then drive your car back to Jake's house."

I nodded knowing that Jake was going to sell my beloved car. 'I don't really need a car anyway. Never did actually' you thought. Remus patted my hand comfortingly, as if being able to read my mind.

----------

Later that afternoon I was lounging in my room with Harry, who I was making read the first book that Sirius sent me. He had wanted to read his father's notes but I wouldn't let him jump ahead. He grumbled but once he knew I wasn't budging he shut up and started reading.

"Twink?" Harry asked.

"Read," I said not looking up from the music I was transcribing.

"Twink, look at me."

I looked at him with an eyebrow raised, "Yes?"

"Can I just see the notes?"

"No. It will give you something to work for."

"Twink." He whined in a very childish way.

"How old are you?" I asked annoyed at him.

"16." he grumbled looking once again at the book.

"There you go, be a good boy." I said softly.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked slightly angry.

"Touchy."

"What did that mean?" He insisted.

"Nothing. Read, or you will never see your father's notes."

"You can't keep them from me." He said angrily.

"Of course I can, they are mine."

"They should be mine, they were my dad's."

"And my dad's and he gave them to me. So shut up and read."

"I bet you don't even want me to become an animagus. You want to keep it all to yourself."

"Oh, come off it Harry. It's not all about you, you know." I said angrily and stormed out of the room. I went down into the kitchen looking for something to eat. Rummaging through the cupboards I was shocked to find there is nothing in the house with chocolate, my favorite thing to eat when I was upset. I let out an angry groan, "Is there no chocolate in this house!?" I exclaimed angrily.

Suddenly a chocolate bar was shoved in front or my face. I looked back to see Remus looking at me with an amused look on his face. "Here you go, Daughter."

"I should have known. You want chocolate, find Remus." I sat at the table and began happily eating my chocolate."

"So your friend told you to shoot yourself in the head?"

"Eh, she was angry and told me that if she talked as much as me she'd shoot herself. I had such a hard time holding my tongue, I was so going to say 'well what a coincidence, if I slept with as many guys as you, I shoot myself'."

Remus chuckled, "You are so much like your dad."

"I hope that's a good thing," I said leaning back so my chair was on two legs.

"In some ways. Daughter, you need to learn to control your temper." I knew immediately he was talking about my fight with Harry. Damn his werewolf hearing.

"But he--"

"I know, Daughter," he cut me off, "And I'm going to talk to him as well. The thing is, you know each other so well that you know exactly what buttons to push to get a rise out of each other. You both tend to do it when the conversation isn't going the way you want it to. James and Sirius did the same thing. You need to let it roll off your back."

"But he said--"

"I know what he said just like I know he didn't mean it. You know he didn't mean it as well."

"Then he shouldn't have said it."

"You provoked him!" Remus said with a laugh. Sometimes I wished I had someone who took my side, even if I was wrong. Most of the friends I had made in this world were Harry's first, so I knew where they were going to side, but I had hoped that maybe Remus would take my side.

"So?"

"So you have no room for complaint."

"Could you just take my side, for once?" I pleaded.

"Side? Daughter, I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just telling you how it is."

"All my fault."

"I didn't say anything of the sort," he said then added quietly, "What's really wrong, Daughter?"

"Nothing. Well maybe something, but you wouldn't understand."

"Try me," he said softly looking into my eyes.

"I have no friends. Sirius was my only friend." I sat there quietly, thinking. Remus remained quiet knowing that when I was ready that I would elaborate. "Like Ron and Hermione, they are Harry's friends. Their really only nice to me because they are nice people."

"Where did you come to that conclusion? They are your friends because they chose to be. You have me, did you think about that?"

"Because Sirius was your best friend."

"Yes and because I care about you. You also have Harry. Damn Daughter, if you can't see how much he cares about you then you are blind."

"I miss Sirius. I just want to hug him. His hugs made me feel like everything was all right."

"That's because he was your dad."

When Remus said that I was hit with a memory, slap damn.

Sirius and I were sitting in the library, he had just given me a new book on animagi for Christmas and I had set right away to reading it.

"Hey Moon beam?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you mad?"

"About what?" I asked absentmindedly still reading.

"Look at me. You are acting like Remus, reading while having a conversation." Sirius said with a laugh.

I looked up, "Whatcha need, dad?"

He smiled, like he always did when I called him dad, "Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?"

"That's an annoying habit, the whole answering a question with a question bit."

"Move on, man."

He barked his laugh, "I show up after you are through needing a dad."

I crawled across the couch and laid my head on his shoulder, to which he wrapped and arm around my shoulders. "A girl always needs her daddy."

"Then I'll always be here."

I looked at Remus as a sob escaped my throat. He looked back at me horrified that he had made me cry. Standing up quickly I knocked my chair backwards.

"Sorry." I murmured and rushed up the stairs with tears in my eyes only to run into Snape. Great the one person I never wanted to see again, I happen to run into on the verge of an emotional break down. I looked up and his normal scowl softened into an uncharacteristic and unreadable expression.

"Crescent." He whispered my name softly before I heard Remus come up the stairs.

"Severus," he said sharply, "I have to ask you to not provoke her."

The scowl was immediately put back in place, "Since you're her guardian, I must respect your wishes." He then strode down the hall and into another room I had never been in. I made a mental note to explore it later, seeing as this was your and Harry's house. But as Snape's robes disappeared and I headed back to my room one thought filtered through my brain, 'what the hell was that?'

---------------

Please review, oh and if you haven't guessed what is going on with Snape, give it a try. I've had one person get really close, but they didn't explain enough. Someone could get closer.