Ch.13

2 weeks later...

"I still don't understand why I have to leave a week before the school terms starts," I said to Remus as we walked through the train station.

"Isn't the reason obvious?" he asked me.

"I sort of know why. I don't know if I'm right or not," I answered as we reached the wall bordering platform 9 and platform 10.

"So you can get acquainted with the new D.A.D.A. professor and the other student teachers," he said while we passed through the border together.

"That's what I thought," I said, reaching the other side and seeing a smaller, yet familiar scarlet train. "And is there a reason why you are accompanying me to Hogwarts?"

"There are two reasons."

"And they are...?"

"The first is that Voldemort has found out that you have returned to the country."

"What!" I said.

"We think we might have a spy in the Order telling Voldemort what we are doing."

"You don't think it's-"

"We know it's not him. It's someone we would never expect," he said as he put my trunk in the train.

"Ok. What's the second reason why you are coming with me?"

"I didn't get to spend enough time with you with the time that you were at Grimmauld. You seemed to be a little distracted."

"Sorry," I said to him. I felt guilty about this now. I spent most of my time with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys.

"It's ok. I knew that you wanted to spend as much time possible with a specific type of Weasley. Someone with the letter B in their name," Remus said to me as he entered the train. I felt myself beginning to blush when he said that. I quickly followed and found Remus in the last compartment of the train.

"That is not true!" I told him as I sat in the seat across from him.

"Please Spear. I am one of the very few people who know when you are lying. This is one of those times."

"You know what? I'm not even going to start arguing with you. It always ends up with you winning anyways." I said, crossing my arms and pouting.

"Exactly. Plus, you wouldn't want me to point out that you're still wearing the necklace he gave you."

My hand instantly went to necklace. I put it underneath my shirt and smiled. He smiled back and turned to look out the window.

I thought about how peaceful the past two weeks were, especially with the fact that S.C. didn't talk for all that time. I smiled at this thought.

I heard the compartment door open and looked to my left. The trolley lady had just entered and I quickly got up so I could buy some food. But instead of actual food in her cart, she had candy in it instead.

"Candy?" I asked.

"Sorry dear, we ran out of food when we hit the seventh compartment. We didn't expect this many people on the train this year," she simply said.

I just sighed out loud and looked at the cart. I bought what I would usually get if Remus gave me money to buy candy for the both of us. Seven boxes of chocolate frogs for him and 3 boxes of every flavor beans for me. I also bought a pitcher of pumpkin juice for us to share.

"I thought you didn't like every flavor beans anymore," he said to me as I handed him his chocolate frogs.

"Yeah, well, you can't let one bean that tasted like manure get you down now can you?" I said to him as I popped a red bean to my mouth. I was happy that it was a licorice flavor instead of a blood flavor. "Can I have the cards after your done?"

"Of course. Oh, did you get the card collection your father used to have?"

"Um… yes. He sent it to me two Christmases ago. Hey, who else in on the train besides us?" I said. I wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible

"Other student teachers and teachers themselves," he said to me as he bit the head off the frog. I just nodded in response.

After finishing the rest of our "lunch" we talked for a while about how I was doing and what I had been doing in America. After that, it was silent again. I pulled up my legs towards my chest and put my arms around them as I looked out the window. I thought back to when I first traveled on the larger version of this train and how I meet my friends and my ex-boyfriend for the first time.

"Uncle Moony, I don't want to go! I want to go back to America with you! Please don't make me go to Hogwarts by myself!" I pleaded with Remus as much as any other 10 year old could. We were walking through the busy train station to get to platform 9 ¾.

"You won't by yourself Spear. You will have other children who you will make friends with. Besides your… your father would have been happy that you have finally gotten to Hogwarts," he told me. I remained silent as we walked through the wall. That was when I caught my first glimpse of the large scarlet train.

"Wow!" I said out loud. Remus smiled when I said this. We continued to walkthrough the station. What I saw made me sad. Every single kid that I saw had a mother and a father with him or her. One redheaded child had numerous family members with him.

Somehow, Remus could always sense when I was really sad because the next second, he gave my hand reassuring squeeze and said, "Remember, you will always have me." I smiled when he said this but I still couldn't help but be sad.

We finally reached the train and Remus put my trunk in the last compartment. When he came out again, he reached into his pocket and gave me some money to spend on train. He also gave me some information that he repeatedly told me on our way here.

"Ok. Remember what I told you, if someone asks for your surname, it's Lupin unless Dumbledore tells you other wise."

"I still don't understand why I can't keep my last name. I finally got used to it and now it has to be taken away from me like everything else in my life," I said.

"The reason why you can't use your last name this year is because I do not want anyone to treat you differently because you are a Black. I don't want them to think of you as someone who is horrid just because of their last name."

"Can I use next year then?"

"Well see."

"Ok," I said sadly.

Remus then knelt down to my see me eye to eye.

"I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me you will not get into to trouble, pull pranks, or set anyone on fire. And please, PLEASE do not put any animals, specifically Nifflers, into any teacher's office. I do not want another 2nd grade incident."

I laughed when he said this. I remembered when I accidentally (well not accidentally but that's what I told Remus) set the teachers desk on fire and Remus had to come down to the school instead of Sirius and had to erase that memory from the teachers mind.

"Uncle Moony," I said in between laughs. "You out of all people should know that I can't keep my promise for the first two. Especially when you showed the majority of pranks that I know of! But I will keep my promise for the last two… at least, I will try!" I said smiling.

"I had to try," he said, smiling back. Remus then pulled me into a tight hug. "Remember that I love you as much as any real uncle would."

"And I love you as much as any real niece would," I replied back while kissing him on the cheek. We finally let go of each other when we heard the train whistle.

"Promise me that you won't disapparate until the train leaves," I said to Remus quickly.

"I promise," he said. I gave him another kiss on the cheek and quickly got in the train. I walked into the last compartment and saw that it was still empty with the exception of my trunk. I opened the window and stuck my head out of it. I saw Remus standing next to the redheaded family that I saw earlier, minus two of their children. I heard the trains whistle again and felt the train begging to move.

"Bye Uncle Moony! I'll see you at Christmas!" I yelled out the window as I waved goodbye. Remus saw me and smiled. He waved goodbye as the train left the station.

When I finally couldn't see the station anymore, I put my head back inside and closed the window. I looked around and closed the door to my compartment as I thought to myself, 'Well, here goes another year in another school.'

'Hey, look on the bright side!' S.C. said. 'This time you actually get to use magic in school!'

'Yeah, I guess that is a good idea. Hey, do you know where I can find a Niffler?'

'Didn't Remus just tell you not to put it in the teachers office?'

'Who said I was going to put it in the teacher's office,' I thought as I sat down.

'Well… I think you can get it from the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. They should have enough not to notice.'

'Perfect!' I thought happily. I was just about to consider where I was going to put it when my compartment door opened. It was a boy around my age with flaming red hair entered my compartment.

"Sorry, I thought this was empty," he said.

"It's ok. Are you looking for some where to sit?" I asked.

"Sort of."

"Well, if you like, you can sit across from me."

"Thanks," he said as he sat down and looked out the window. I was about to do the same thing when something inside me said to try to continue to talk with this boy.

"Excuse me, what is your name?" I asked.

"Charlie Weasley," he said as he continued to look out the window. He didn't respond to me so I just looked at the ground for a while. "What's your name?" he finally said.

"My name is Spear Bla-" I was about to say that my name was Spear Black when Remus' words came back to me. "It's Spear Lupin," I said as quickly as I could. I looked at the floor again.

I thought Charlie was going to stay quite again but to my surprise he actually wanted to talk.

"Hey, are you American?"

"No," I said in response.

"Yes you are! You have an American accent!"

"But that doesn't mean that I'm an American or that I was born there."

"So where were you born?"

"I was born here in England."

"So did your family take you to America when you were younger?"

"My family never left England," I said. Charlie gave me a confused look. "My mother died over here when I was still a baby. They never were able to find my father or anyone else who was related to me. So for some odd reason, they sent me to an American orphanage."

"Oh! Um… I'm sorry," Charlie said.

"It's ok," I told him. "I was only a few months old when she died so I don't remember her at all."

"Um… If you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"

"I don't really know. They never told me when I asked."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"It's ok!" I said smiling. "If it counts for anything, I got adopted by another person. He was a great father."

"Was? What happened to him?"

I remained silent.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No. No you didn't. It's just that… well… I want to tell you but… I can't. I'm not supposed to tell anyone about what happened to him unless I consider that person a very close friend," I told him.

"Oh," he said. He remained silent again. "Can I be that very close friend?"

"Are you serious?" I asked him while laughing.

"Yes I'm serious! I would like to be your friend."

"I would like that that as well," I said. I then stuck out my hand. "So it's a deal? We're friends?"

"It's a deal!" he said as he shook my hand. I was happy that he was now my friend. Even though I didn't know him so well, I felt like I could trust him.

We continued to talk about many different things like which qudditch team was our favorite ("I like the American team. Their beaters are wonderful!" I said. "Well I'm a supporter of the England team. Simple as that," Charlie said.), favorite food ("I like Every Flavor Beans, you never know what you're going to get!" said Charlie. "Hey, I like those to!" I responded happily."), and his family ("I have so many brothers that I wish that the next kid that my mum has is a girl," Charlie said.).

We changed into our robes about half an hour before we reached the castle. I was fixing Charlie's tie when our compartment door opened again. A girl with shoulder length, pink bubble gum hair came in.

"Excuse me, have you seen a cat with pink fur and brown streaks? He has a collar on him that has the name Twinkle on it."

"Nope, sorry. We haven't seen any cat at all," Charlie told her as he sat down.

"Oh man! My dad is going to kill me! The first pet that he ever gives me and I had to lose him! How was I supposed to keep an eye on him when I was changing into my robes! I lost him like 15 minutes ago and I've searched almost all the compartments on this train and still haven't found him!" the bubble gum headed girl said this in all in one breath. I thought that she was about to cry at any second when another thought came into my mind.

"Hey, if you want, we could help you find him," I said.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" she said as she threw her arms around my neck and brought me into a bone crushing hug. From behind her, I saw Charlie mouthing to me why. I responded back by mouthing, she was going to cry.

"Ok," she said after she finally let go of me. "You can come with me to look in the other train car," she said pointing at me. "And you can search the rest of this car. Well meet back here in 10 minutes." With that she dragged me out of my compartment to go on our search for her missing cat.

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" I asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys that when I burst in didn't I? My name is Nymphadora Tonks. But if you ever call me by my first name, I will kill you. So what's your name?" she asked me happily.

"Um… my name is Spear Lupin. The boy that I was with earlier is Charlie Weasley."

"Does he have an older brother by the name of Bill Weasley?"

"I think so, why do you ask?"

"Because Bill is helping me look for Twinkle as well," she said as she looked inside one of the compartments. "He also told me that if I find his younger brother that I should smack for him. I still don't know the reason why but he just told me to do it."

"Um… ok…" I said. We continued to look for Twinkle in silence. When the 10 minutes passed, we headed back towards my compartment. At least, we were going back to my compartment until we heard a cat screech behind us.

We turned around and saw a red headed boy chasing after a red cat with yellow streaks.

"Twinkle!" Tonks yelled, bending down so she could get her cat. Twinkle, being a cat and all, decided to jump on to Tonks head instead and then decided to jump into my arms. He changed his streaks into a silver color and then hissed at the redheaded boy. I recognized him as the boy with the large family that I saw in the station.

"Tonks, you didn't tell me that he could change color! The only way that I knew it was your cat was because of his collar which broke off by the way," he said as he held up the collar for Tonks to see.

"Did I forget to mention that piece of information? Sorry about that," she said as she took the cat away from me. Twinkle then turned to the pink with brown streaks that Tonks had told me it was.

"Who's this person?" he said as he looked at me.

"My name is Spear Lupin, and I'm guessing you're Bill Weasley."

"Am I that famous?" he said while giving me a smug grin. I just gave him a look of disgust and looked back at Tonks.

"Well, there's your cat. It was nice meeting you and I hope that we're in the same house together," I told her.

"Same here," she said. "I guess I'll see you around."

"Bye! And goodbye to you to Mr. Conceited!" I said to Bill as I left the train car to go back to my compartment.

When I entered it and saw Charlie sitting down in it already.

"Wait till I tell you what happened," I said smiling.

I was taken out of my thoughts when the compartment door opened.

'Whoa, déjà vu,' I thought.

There was a woman around my age standing in the doorway. Her shoulder length brown hair bobbed side to side as she scanned the floor with her stormy gray eyes. Her skin was only a little bit lighter then mine.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" Remus asked as the woman's 5'8" body bent to look under his seat.

"Have you seen a Chihuahua around here?" she said with a Portuguese accent. "His name is Orion and he keeps getting out of his cage. I would lock him in there but I get sad when he starts to cry."

"Sorry, we haven't seen him." I said. "But if we do, we will be sure to tell you miss...?"

"Raquel Rivera."

"Raquel Rivera… Raquel Rivera? THE Raquel Rivera? The same Raquel River who's is one of the best female beaters on the Portuguese team?"

"Maybe," she said smiling.

"The same Raquel Rivera who knocked Krum off his broom stick when he made your team lose a spot in the world cup?"

"Yes," she sighed sadly.

"It is an honor to meet! My friend Charlie and I love you! You're one of our favorite players!"

"Thank you!" She said smiling. She then pointed to Remus and I "Um, what are your names?"

"Oh! I'm sorry for being rude! This is my uncle Remus Lupin and I am Spear Black."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said. Just then, a dog ran into the room and sniffed at Remus' feet. It then started to yap at him.

"I'm guessing this little thing is your dog," he said as he picked it up by the scruff of his neck. It continued to yap at him.

"Orion! Why are you acting like that? You aren't like that!" she said as she picked up her dog.

"I'm used to it by now. Dogs don't really like me," Remus said as he smiled at Orion. He continued to yap.

"Does he run on batteries or something? Because he's not shutting up," I said. Raquel then pulled her wand out of her pocket at pointed it at her dog. Orion whimpered and stayed quite.

"Sorry about that," she said as she left the compartment. She then returned back quickly. "Do you know the school that we are going to?"

"I should know it. I went there for seven years," I said.

"You think I could stay with you when the train gets to the station? I don't want to get lost or anything like that."

"Sure, it's not a problem. I'll meet you outside when we get there."

"Thank you!" she said as she left our compartment. I looked at Remus and asked him what he thought about the dog.

"I never liked those types of dogs anyways. They always got on my nerves," Remus said with a dark look on his face. I laughed at this.

We finally reached the station around seven in the evening. We both got out of the train and saw that Raquel was already waiting for me.

"Ok, I know I shouldn't be saying this but I will," he said seriously. I wondered what he was going to tell me. "No setting people on fire and no putting any type of animal in any room, no matter how much you don't like that person."

"I should have known you were going to say that!" I said smiling. "I have to find you someone Uncle Moony so you can have kid and stop giving me this lecture each and every time I go to Hogwarts."

"Hey, I have to try," he said, returning a smile to me. I gave him a quick hug and kiss and said I love you. I then joined Raquel as we headed towards the "horseless" carriages.