A/N: I'm sorry about the length of the last chapter. Most chapters will probably be much shorter. I will try to update every few days. Or at least once a week. I have all advanced classes in school, so it's hard to find the time to just write. Which is what I like most. So I try.

Chapter Two: The Morning After

Jaguar smiled around her room as she woke up the next morning, in a very good mood. She was going to buy her things for Hogwarts today! It cemented things in her mind. This time next month, she would be a Hogwarts student.

"Hey Jaguar," Lily grinned, from the bed next to her. She was fully dressed and showered, and writing in some sort of book.

"Good morning!" Jaguar said enthusiastically. "What'cha writin'?"

Lily blushed faintly. "Oh nothing," she said, before tucking the book away into the bag Nivea, her aunt (how strange it was to think that…), had given her the day before.

"Where is Sirius?" asked Jaguar, turning her attention to the fact that Sirius was no longer on his cot on the floor, where he had slept that night.

"You can't hear him?" Lily asked incredulously.

And when Jaguar listened, she heard Sirius singing, from inside of Jaguar's bathroom. He was really a good singer, but did his best to sound lousy at it. He was doing a great job. His singing was nearly unrecognizable, as it sounded very much like cats in heat. She giggled. "Orite," she said. "I'll go to another bathroom."

Lily nodded and raised a brush to her hair as Jaguar rushed out of the room.

As soon as her cousin had gone, Lily lowered her hand, setting the brush down on the bed, before standing next to the window. She slid it open, leaning outward. The fresh summer air tasted and smelled wonderful. She had never felt so free. The air in the house she shared with her father and sister had always seemed dreary and oppressive. And to imagine that now she was in this beautiful mansion, with family she had never known she had… She could have felt a grudge against them for not rescuing her sooner, but that wasn't in her nature. She was just grateful now. She kept thinking that she was about to wake up from this dream.

The green grass extended before her, as she looked off into the distance. All of this land belonged to Monica Brazil. And Lily had seen all the expensive things this family owned. Nivea's house was even more spectacular. She had come to the conclusion that magical people were extremely rich.

That was not exactly true. Nivea was estranged from the Cortez family, and Monica Brazil no longer kept in close contact with them. She had married into the Brazil name, and received nothing from them other than prestige added to her already prestigious name. The Brazils had been one of the most secretive families. No one really knew how they got all their money, but they had it, and as a result, had also a lot of power. Although now their line was mixing with the blood of other families. The Cortez family was originally from Spain, a very long time ago. They had migrated over time to England, although they still had relatives in France and Italy. They were very well known.

All the members in their extended family married into a clan with money, and most members had jobs that brought in more money. But the vast majority of their money and possessions came from their long history. All of the priceless treasures the old purebloods had were accumulated over thousands of years.

Lily knew none of this, but she could still feel a sense of mystery. As though she was part of something bigger than herself. Something powerful. She loved the feeling, although she really didn't recognize it.

Turning away from the window reluctantly, she surveyed Jaguar's room. It was the largest bedroom Lily had ever been in. The size of ten of her own. Why Sirius Black had decided to sleep on the floor last night was a mystery, because there was certainly room for many more beds in here. The room was filled with treasures. There was a thing like looked like an extremely large diamond on a stand next to the door. A large map covered one wall. It looked like it was moving, although Lily didn't fixate much on that. The room was very ornate. Neat, organized. It seemed nothing at all like Jaguar. The room didn't look lived in at all.

"It really isn't," said someone behind Lily. The girl jumped and spun around; surprised that Nivea had heard her. She hadn't noticed that she was speaking aloud.

Nivea smiled. "Don't worry. You weren't." She walked into Jaguar's room and looked around. "It's such a beautiful house. Lovely room. My sister certainly keeps things clean." She raised one eyebrow as she skimmed her finger across a shelf and looked at it. "But honestly, can you imagine living here? It's like a museum!" She laughed to herself.

Nivea was a very strange woman. She looked like a model or a movie star. Sometimes Lily found her eyes drawn to her aunt, and was unable to turn away. Nivea emanated a sort of energy. Fierce, but soft at the same time. She was the most interesting person Lily had ever met. But it wasn't even truly her physical appearance that drew people to her. It was her whole carriage. Her attitude. The way she seemed to look at the world. And there was a sorrow inside her. Sometimes she seemed like she just wanted to scream at everyone around her. Other times she became so overcome with emotions that she burst into tears and hugged everyone she saw. Most of the time she seemed stoic. Although with her family, she allowed her true self to show through.

Lily answered, "I know. I mean, I always thought my father's house was big. But this..!"

Nivea tilted her head to one side, much the way Jaguar sometimes did. "Your father… Lily, may I ask you something?"

The girl looked at her aunt desperately. She wanted to say no. Don't talk about him! Don't ever mention him to me again! "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Were you happy with your father?"

Remembering the way Nivea had seemed to read her mind a minute ago, Lily tried to choose her words carefully. She couldn't think of any way to express what she wanted to blurt out. She settled on, "No."

Nivea nodded sadly. "Lily, I want you to know that I'll always be here for you. Always. I promise you, you will never go back to that place. Unless of course, you ever want to."

"Oh no," said Lily hurriedly. "I won't!"

"'K," said Nivea. "Remember, you can talk to me about anything."

Lily nodded rapidly. She wondered briefly just how much Nivea knew about her. If her aunt asked anymore questions, she thought she might be physically ill. Her stomach had been turning butterflies enough already.

Nivea might have asked something else, but she seemed to sense something. Her whole body tensed for a moment.

"Are you aright?" Lily asked tentatively.

The woman looked startled. She nodded briefly. "Yes. I'm fine. But let's get out of here." She reached into her pocket and withdrew a pair of sunglasses, which she then lowered across her eyes, smiling reassuringly.

Lily followed Nivea outside of the house. It seemed very much like a maze to her. She imagined getting trapped forever in a place like that. It didn't sound very pleasant. Lily wondered how much time it must take to clean a place like that. Then she remembered that the occupants possessed magic.

Outside the house, Nivea danced across the lawn all the way to her very muggle looking car. Although she had explained that it had various modifications. She had refrained from saying what exactly those modifications were. It as a really nice car though. Bright red. Nivea seemed to like attention. Although she claimed to hate it. Watching Nivea dance, Lily was struck by how young the woman was. She looked to be around 22 years old, and since Lily was too shy to ask, wondered about that. She must be the youngest sister, then. Because there was no way Iris had been younger than 12 when she had given birth to Lily. And she must have had her child around the same time that Monica Brazil had given birth to Jaguar. So she couldn't be that young either. Unless witches had children that young. Very confused, Lily decided not to think about that anymore. She was saved having to think of something new to ponder by Sirius Black racing out the front door of the mansion.

"James and Remus are on their way!" he announced. My sister and her friends will be here any minute.

Katrine had followed him outside. "Can me and Danika come?" she asked Nivea, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight.

"No," Nivea said. "Enough people are coming already. And you have no reason to go. I'll take you and Danika some other time."

Scowling, Katrine walked away in the direction of Sirius' house. She passed Sirius' mother, Susan Black, and growled some greeting toward her.

"Well!" Susan exclaimed, laughing. "Hello to you, too!" She smiled as she saw Nivea. "Niv!"

The two woman embraced. "I haven't seen you in forever," said Nivea, smiling back.

Although Nivea was younger than her sister, she had always been more mature, and as a result had ended up friends with many of Monica's friends. Susan had been in Monica's year at Hogwarts, and was Mon's best friend. She was close to Nivea as well. And since the younger woman was gone much of the year, they didn't see each other much.

"How's the hubby?" asked Nivea as the two moved apart. Lily, done watching this, walked over to where Sirius stood, examining Nivea's car.

"He's alright. Ministry business, you know," said Susan. "He hardly comes home anymore. I suppose the Minister simply has too much to do. But hey—I heard you were running in the next election!"

"Did you now?" asked Nivea mysteriously. "Who told you?"

"Oh man," Sirius was saying. "Would you look at this!"

Lily smiled. "I think all muggles have a car." She was having trouble getting used to that word. And to the fact that she was among people who never had a use for a car. They could probably teleport wherever they wanted to go. She didn't ask Sirius to show her magic. She thought that she would learn it all eventually. She was going to a school especially for that.

"Wow!" Sirius exclaimed. "Do you have one?"

Lily nodded. Then at a loss for anything else to say, said, "Will I be behind in Hogwarts?"

"Behind what?" Sirius asked absently. "Oh!" He laughed. "No. I don't even know how to hold a wand, let alone cast a spell."

Jaguar joined them at that moment, singing to herself as she approached. "Oh yes, I know I said I'd never leave. But now you're dead, and I can't stay, Lord take my life, this shade of grey…"

Having never heard that song before, Lily asked, "What song is that?"

"So I have nothing left to say. I live my life in shades of grey," Jaguar finished. "Oh! You've never heard it, have you? Niv is weird." She wrinkled her nose. "It's Shades of Grey, by Nivea Cortez."

Mouth slightly open, Lily looked at Nivea, who had never even mentioned the fact that she was a singer. Susan Black had looked over at the kids when Jaguar has started singing.

"I haven't heard that song in such a long time," she said wistfully. "Niv, you have such a beautiful voice."

"I know. Are you coming along with us?"

"Eh," said Susan. "Why the hell not?" The two women laughed. "I've really got nothing else to do today. And—oh no!" She whirled around to glare at Nivea. "You invited Genevieve!"

"I thought you liked her!" Nivea hissed back.

"I do! But you and her tend to ruin things with your arguing."

"Well it's not my fault! She's a horrible bitch! Besides, I didn't invite her," Nivea waved at the woman who was approaching them. Apparently, Genevieve Lupin had emerged from the fireplace at Sirius' house. The two young boys she was with ran ahead of her toward Jaguar and Sirius. Nivea groaned loudly. "Oh God. Let's hope she just came to drop those two off."

"Do we really have that kind of luck?" Susan asked, waving at Genevieve. "Hullo! Will you be joining us today?"

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly!" Genevieve answered, nearing them. Nivea smiled at this. "Nivea hates me far too much for me to join you!" her French accent was evident. She forced and exaggerated it, since she rarely went to France or even spoke French. She had pronounced Nivea's name as Neevea. How repulsive.

"Oh no," said Nivea, who was never one to bite her tongue. "Don't start that shit with me again!"

Genevieve recoiled slightly, nearly losing her balance in her obscenely high heeled shoes. "What are you talking about, Neevea?"

"You're so jealous of me your skin is nearly green!" At that comment, Susan wanted to move away. But she remained where she was so that she could stop her friends if they decided to hit each other. "All because my family has money. Um, newsflash! Not my fault! And I 'stole' your boyfriend! Ah, but you can't steal a person who doesn't want to be stolen!"

Genevieve, who was not normally a very pretty woman, now contorted her face severely. She looked a bit like a goblin. "You horrible bitch! How dare you accuse me of these things! I am not jealous of someone like you!" She spit each word into Nivea's face.

"Vile woman! You want to challenge me? Do you know who I am? I am telling," Nivea exclaimed, "It will be a mistake!" She glared at the other woman, who was a bit taller than her, with a look of extreme hatred. Lesser looks had caused criminals to confess to their sins. Genevieve's legs faltered.

She backed away. "I have better things to do than argue with something as pathetic as you!" She could hardly force the words out of her mouth as she stumbled. Whirling around, she called out, "Remus! I will see you later. I cannot stay. Something has come up!"

Remus looked at her. "…Okay then," he said, before turning back to Jaguar, who was waving her arms wildly as she talked about how she was going to be the seeker for the Quidditch team at Hogwarts.

Genevieve glared at him for a moment before stalking away. Suddenly her heel broke. "Careful, Geny!" Nivea called, choking back tears of laughter. Maybe it was her who had broken the heel. Who knows?

Soon enough, Ari Black arrived with several of her friends, who seemed to treat her as royalty.

And the group piled into Nivea's car. It seemed strange that so many people could fit into what from the outside looked like such a small car. But, glancing at her sister, Lily realized that they were the only ones who thought it was unusual. The other kids were excited about just being in a car. Nivea started the engine, and began the drive toward Diagon Alley.

A/N: This chapter was much shorter, I think. This will probably be the average length of each chapter. The next chapter will probably be up around WEdnesday. But that depends on how much time I have. Could be sooner. But it will defintely be up by this weekend. Reviews arealways appreciated. So far I'm focusing more on character developement than on plot or setting. I hope you don't mind. The plot of the story will begin soon. But all this information is needed.