Azalea opened the front door to see the older Salvatore stood, his expression furious.

"Well someone get the girl an Oscar," he said darkly, he leaned as close to the barrier as he could get. However, the redhead's fury only built, her fists clenched as her shoulder pushed back.

"You of all people do not get to take that tone with me," she growled, she had to resist hexing him, most of the magical community didn't know where she was, if the American wizarding paper caught that she was living here, it could cause a lot of problems. "Trying to kill your brother's oldest friend. If I were you, I would head back to the house and hope that Stefan and Lexi don't stake your betraying arse. Go or I will make you." She said. He gauged her expression, deciding how serious she was, after all she had only known Lexi for a day. Yet, it wasn't till this moment that Damon had felt the power coming off her in waves. The very energy being sent at him, negated some of his cocky bravado. In retrospect he had let the flash of emotions he felt about Lexi wash over him, and hey out of sight out of mind. A part of him was happy the redhead saw through his plan.

"I mean it Damon, go or I will make you." She glared at him, after he had not answered her. With a whoosh he was gone, and Azalea locked her door returning to the other two vampires.

When Lexi saw the redhead come closer, she grinned at her.

"You are such a badass!" Lexi said giving her a high five. "Can I please explain to Stefan how much of a badass you are." She said pouting and putting her hands together in a prayer formation. She laughed. Stefan looked between the two.

"You know what as a part of his birthday present you can let him in on the secret." Azalea smirked, looking at the two. "But I am not going to be here for it, for the weird looks, so I am going to go to bed. And let you guys catch up. "Both of you feel free to stay as long as you like, there is the spare room upstairs and the sofa etc. Make yourselves at home." She hugged Stefan. "Happy Birthday," then she hugged Lexi, before waving up the stairs.

The next morning when the witch woke up she could smell the alluring smell of various foods, wrapping her dressing gown she made her way downstairs. She walked into the kitchen to see Stefan pouring a batter into a pan. He looked up to see her, his eyes doing a familiar flick.

"No," she said sternly. "No, you know me. None of the eye flicks or awed expressions." She said putting her hands on her hips. He chuckled a little, then nodded to Lexi. Who apparently understood the gesture and took over the American pancakes; Stefan blurred to the redhead and pulled her into a huge hug.

"I am so sorry that you have been through so much," he murmured in her ear. She could feel her eyes burning but kept it in control. This was the first time anyone had reacted to her like this, and it made her feel warm inside. When they pulled away, he kissed the top of her head, she swotted him away and made eye contact with Lexi.

"That looks great, thank you both."

"Well," Lexi said placing the pancake on the plate. "You did save my butt yesterday so we figured we'd at least cook you breakfast."

She laughed but, when the blonde gestured for her to sit, she obeyed and began to eat.

Lexi had to leave the next day, promising she would see them both again soon. She disappeared as the sun went down. Over the next few days Azalea completely ignored the older Salvatore brother, and tried to focus on her other friends. She comforted Bonnie about the appearance of Emily, assuring her that her family member would not put her in harm's way. The main gossip around the school was at the idea of the new history teacher. The school had announced the week before that from Wednesday, history classes would be back up and running.

Most of the class were murmuring curiously as the bell rang. Bonnie rushed in, and new teacher walked behind her, he looked mid-thirties and had browny-blonde hair depending on how the light hit it and warm brown eyes.

"Good morning everyone." He walked to the board. "Alrighty," he wrote his name on the board.

"Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful I know. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family immigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however was born and raised in Boston. Now, the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce it Alla – Rick, but it's A – Lar - ick, okay? So you can call me Ric. I'm your new history teacher."

He smiled at the class glancing at each face, when he reached Azalea, his eyes widened. He turned back to the board and began to rub out his name.

"Ok, let's begin, so a little bit of catch up..."

He asked them all to do a summary of the independent learning that they had been doing in the absence of a teacher so that he could see if there were major gaps in those topics. He asked for it to be finished by the next Friday, so they had plenty of time. Then he asked them all for their favourite periods in history. The group smirked when Stefan said the civil war, overall, the class were happy with Alaric's calm, fun, non-dick like style. It didn't feel like long for anyone until the bell sounded. Soon the scraping of chairs was drowning it out as people left their seats. Alaric turned to Azalea in this moment.

"Azalea, can I have a word with you please," he said. She nodded curiously, covering her emotions. She had seen his expression when he had seen her face. She wondered if he was a wizard or squib, and that he knew who she was. She was glad that she hadn't had to ask him if she could speak after class. Her friends noticed too, she smiled and waved them off.

"Save me a seat," she said, giving Stefan in particular a nod, letting him know she was fine. It could be something innocent like an interest in England, or he may have heard that it was her who had given CPR to Tanner. There was a lot of unsupernatural reasons as to why the history teacher was calling on her. Yet… the look he had given her. The classroom was empty bar the two, she leaned against one of the desks, he against his own.

"Can I help you Mr Salzman?" she said playing innocent for now, she hadn't seen the oh so familiar forehead eye flick. He looked at her for a moment then rubber his neck.

"Er, there is no easy way to say this, but… er," he laughed nervously. "You're my niece," he said.

"Excuse me," she said, taking a step away from the new teacher.

"It's true," he held his hands up. "I wasn't as stubborn and judgemental as Petunia I accepted Lily, and the world she belonged in. I was so involved that I was confounded by my sister to forget her and believe that I was someone else entirely, someone who had relatives in England but we did not speak due to our parents which is true, I suppose as she made me believe that I was my aunts son. I only know all of this because when I saw you the charm broke."

"I'm going to need you to prove it," she said, her eyebrow raised. Could she trust him? Or was this some guy trying to get close to Azalea Potter?

"Ok, er, I will be in your parents wedding photos and some of the pictures on the day you were born, she confounded me the next day."

"Tell me who her childhood friend was, they haven't got that in the Harry Potter books yet," she said frowning as she mentioned the bloody things. He smiled.

"You look like Lily when you frown like that. Severus, Severus Snape. He went to Hogwarts too, Slytherin he was your potion master at school. He always creeped me out personally. When he called Lily that vile name I was glad she ended the friendship." Alaric frowned.

"He wasn't so bad in the end." Azalea muttered softly.

"It was so obvious that he wanted more. He loved her."

Azalea pulled a face.

"That's still weird. All right, where is the real platform to Hogwarts?"

"It's still in Kings Cross, but it leaves at 9 and is platform 3 and ¼." He said.

"Oh my God, I remember you, you were in his memories with Petunia and mum, you were holding your mother's hand you could have only of been 7 or 8,"

"I was 7, my birthday's in February,"

"Wow, I need a minute," Azalea said sitting on one of the desks. She took in her newly found uncle's appearance.

Alaric waited patiently as his niece took in the information that she had another blood relative, and one who didn't hate her. She stared at the floor for a full minute before she looked back at him, her eyes flickered to his hand.

"That wrecks of wiccan magic," she said nodding to the ring on his finger.

"My wife Isobel gave it to me," he said, looking at it. He twisted the ring with his other hand.

"You got a place yet?" she asked nervously biting her lips. "Cause I got space," she mumbled.

"You sure you would be comfortable." He said looking at her critically, but Azalea would see the happiness in his eyes. The chance to get to know her.

"Sure, let's see if I finally found a blood relative who cares for me," she half teased.

"Petunia had no right to treat you the way she did," he said frowning.

"Well because of it if I trust them they get hugged all the time," she said smiling nervously.

"Lily was like that I don't think that's Petunia's influence," Alaric said smiling fondly.

They both jumped as the as the bell rang again.

"Go enjoy your lunch," he said. "I will met you after school. If you are free of course," he said.

"Er, yeah. We can take some stuff over tonight if you want? Pick a bedroom."

"Sounds good, I will see you later."

Azalea raced over to meet the others outside of the cafeteria.

"What was that all about?" Caroline asked her eyes lit up, the redhead wanted to roll her eyes, she was such a gossip.

"You in trouble or something?" Bonnie asked, concerned.

"No," she said defiantly, but then smiled nervously. "Turns out, he is my mum's brother."

"What?!"

"Yeah," she laughed a little at everyone's reaction, grabbing a tray as they joined the queue for food. "He and my aunt didn't get on so she just never told us about him." She lied. "He recognised me in class. And… obviously proof will be needed, but yeah. I reckon he's telling the truth."

"Wow, that's amazing," Elena said, trying to mask her surprise.

"Hopefully it works out well for you guys." Stefan smiled.

"Thanks Stefan," she smiled.

"Your life is like a sitcom," Caroline said, the others laughed.

"Caroline, you really have no idea," she said shaking her head slightly in amusement.

As the final bell rang, she waited near the history classroom. She didn't have to wait long as Alaric made his way out. He smiled at her.

"Ok, let's go," he said gesturing for her to move towards the door.

The two shared the car ride, he asked about her life, and she asked a lot about her mother. Checking no one was around Azalea used charms to make his items smaller or very light. It wasn't long before everything was in the car and they were on their way back to her house.

"So er, how much do you know about the magical community here in Mystic Falls?" she asked him as she opened her door and walked inside. He smirked, and walked through the door, in a way that demonstrated he could without an issue.

"My wife, studied this area for its paranormal activity. I am aware of the vampires here."

"Ok, just checking." She said raising an eyebrow at his deliberate movement.

"Sorry, just an easy way to let you know," he said sheepishly.

"I've done it too," she chuckled slightly, the two made their way into the house.

"Tea? Or do you want dinner? Both?"

"Lea, I can make things too, I am not Petunia," he said, walking towards the kitchen behind her.

"Right then, why don't you say what you want, and then we can cut up stuff together." She said flicking the switch on to boil the water. He smirked, as he thought.

"How about something I didn't even realise I missed, Shepards Pie,"

Azalea moaning an approval of his choice.

"I don't have any lamb though… cottage… hmm no beef. I could make a veggie one? A lot healthier anyway… I read something about helping the environment or something. So I'm cutting stuff out of my diet. You don't have –"

"Sounds, like we are going to try a lot of new stuff. Yeah, I'm down for veggie Shepard's pie." He said warmly. He wanted to let the teen know that he wasn't going to be anything like his sister had been. He could tell how nervous she was to have him in her house. Worried about making sure he was happy here.

"Great," she grinned, opening a draw in the fridge and grabbing a white, and red onion in one hand, garlic and a carrot in another. As she placed them down, Alaric jumped a bright silvery blue lynx appeared in the kitchen between them.

She nearly dropped one of the onions.

"I'm sorry Azalea can you come and help me with something. It will only take a couple of hours. My fireplace at the ministry is open for you."

The lynx disappeared, leaving the newly acquainted family members looking between where it had been and each other.

"Do you mind? It sounds important," she said.

"No, no go ahead, I'll go the bar meet people," he smiled. "We'll cook another time. I will put all of this away. You go."

She smiled gratefully before rushing upstairs to get some professional looking robes, and tying her hair back. She came back downstairs and walked to the fireplace, taking the floo powder from the hidden spot.

"Minister of Magics office," she said clearly as the emerald flames engulfed her.

Azalea stumbled out of the fireplace, and brushed off the soot. She sighed loudly, searching for her Uncle. Perhaps he wasn't back yet from the Grill. She waved her wand removing the rest of the soot from her clothes and body. The redhead then boiled the kettle and grabbed a meal from the fridge, placing it in the microwave. She was glad that Kingsley had asked for her help. The werewolf support act was close to her heart, there had been some resistance about the idea of having free wolfsbane and 2 days off after the full moon. Having 'Azalea Potter's' approval goes a long way.

Once she completed her tasks she trudged up the stairs to slip into her fluffy pyjamas to relax for the rest of the night.

By the time she came back downstairs, her food was ready. She quickly made the tea and then carried both the mug, and the plate to the sofa. She turned at the sound of the door clicking, Alaric walked through, and she relaxed again. He smiled at her.

"Your back. How was England?" his lip twitched, so did hers knowing why he looked so amused, though his memories had returned it was still pretty new to him.

"Good, I mean for politics," she said taking a bite, he laughed.

"I can imagine, do you get called up a lot?"

"Not really, it was werewolf rights, and having me in your corner has sway. At least I can do some good with all this bloody fame." She scowled as she took another bite, he laughed again.

"Well, just try to use your forces for good. I'm gunna take a shower then head to bed."

"Night," she called as he began to walk up the stairs. She finished her food, throwing the stuff in the sink. Then, trudged up the stairs to curl up into bed, hoping sleep would come quickly.

The next morning, she woke first, making her way quietly down the stairs to not disturb Alaric. She popped the bread into the toaster, flicked the kettle on before taking out the jam and butter.

She looked above her as she heard a creak in the floorboards, not a minute later Alaric entered the kitchen, his hair a little ruffled.

"You want one?" she nodded to the kettle.

"No, coffee please,"

"Sure, black?" she said as she grabbed the mugs and the instant coffee.

"I have mine with cream."

"You put cream in your coffee," she said pulling a face.

"It's an American thing." He said, he noticed the jar, and frowned a little.

"It's gross,"

"As gross as putting tea in the microwave?"

"Who does that?" she looked at him horrified.

"Some Americans who actually drink black tea, they don't put milk in it either."

"American's are weird," she said taking a sip of her coffee. As she walked away Alaric could have sworn, he heard "bloody microwave," he chuckled continuing to clean up.

"Oh, and Azalea," he called she turned. "I'm going to get some proper coffee today." He said pulling a face, and waving the instant jar. She laughed, but continued to head upstairs to get changed.

The two were soon ready, and headed out to the car, and began to make their way towards the school.

"So, what did you think of my dad when she brought him home?" she said with a smirk on her face. Alaric chuckled.

"We'd already heard all about him, the arrogant toe rag, who was very persistent," he said shaking his head. "When she said they were together, I burst out laughing. I liked him over her other fan."

"Though I am glad they didn't get together," Azalea said going a little green. "Snape wasn't all that bad… I mean he was a dick, but he did the right thing… in the end."

"He was still a dick."

"Oh, a complete prat," she agreed as the car entered the school carpark. The two got out of the car and said their goodbyes. Azalea spotted Elena, and began to make her way towards her.

"Morning," she smiled however, Elena's expression caused a small burrow in the redhead's brow. "What happened?"

Elena launched into how they had told Bonnie that she needed to talk to Emily, and how Emily had taken over her descendants' body, to destroy the necklace.

"I mean, Damon nearly killed her." She told the redhead. "I had to tell her everything, about Stefan, and every other crazy thing that has happened."

"She would have had to know at some point. She is a part of this world even if she doesn't fully know it or understand it." Azalea said, as the bell rang. "Come on lets go." She nodded towards the school. The brunette followed.

The next few days were pretty normal, the redhead began to see what it could be like to go to High School, it was Thursday and the week had gone without an incident, the bell rang for lunch and the girls made their way towards the cafeteria. Then the redhead spotted a figure in the crowd.

"Crap, Elena hide me." the redhead whispered using the brunette's body to block her from view.

"Why?"

Using Elena as cover, Azalea ducked into the girls toilets, without being seen by the middle aged woman. She kept close to the door listening.

"Ah girls, you are all friends with Azalea. Have you seen her?"

"Uh, you just missed her, she went to the library to check out a book." Caroline said.

"Tell her I'm looking for her," she headed back towards the library. The redhead peaked out to check the coast was clear before exiting the bathroom.

"Thanks guys," she said smiling at her friends.

"Why is she looking for you anyway?" Elena said.

"Cause the school found out I was living alone, and I missed the Tanner session. I'd thought she'd leave me alone now Alaric is around, but she just won't stop."

"She is trying to help," Bonnie said.

"I know, but you have to be honest in sessions and you know I can't do that." She said, raising her eyebrow.

"Why not,"

"Because I'd make her run away screaming," she joked to Caroline. The other two knew what she was talking about.

"Anyway, are you guys excited for tonight?" Caroline said eagerly. "I mean parents coming, super lame. But the whole career night is super cool, like it's our future." She said beaming, the redhead smiled at her optimism.

"Sure Care," Bonnie teased. Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said, but she was still smiling. "What do you think you will do Lea? Do you think you'll stay in the States?"

"You know, I'm not sure. The health system here is a major bummer, paying to see a medical professional. No thank you. I hope I don't ever get sick here."

"Does your healthcare insurance cover everything?" Elena asked.

"We don't have insurance, it comes out of our taxes, it's all free. You need an X-Ray. Sure, no problem."

"Wait, seriously!" Caroline said, whirling on her, her eyes wide.

"Yep,"

"Ambulance ride?" Bonnie asked.

"Free,"

"Wait, wait, what if –"

"Free," the redhead said again.

"Wow, the US sucks," Bonnie said, making the whole group laugh.

The whole tea in the microwave thing, I discovered this while I was in NC, when I came home and told everyone they were all horrified or shocked. Most talked about how it was a sin :P. One person said we should recolonise just to teach them what they are doing is wrong. Yeah even if people aren't tea drinkers, we get very passionate about how tea should be brewed. When I told them about not adding milk, one person got up and left. Like actually left as in 'I can't deal with this'. So yeah kettle or boil water in a pan add a little milk then sugar if you want it. :P

I also wanted to tell you guys about my Youtube channel that I am starting to focus on more.

I do a bunch of stuff travel, life and nerdy of course :P So if you are bored during corona and you want to laugh at me head on over :P My channel is called Cara LifeTravelFun

I hope to see some of you there 😊 xx