Chapter 2: The First Day of a New Life
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; you've got the wrong girl. The real deal would be J.K. Rowling ;)
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"Sirius? Sirius. Sirius! SIRIUS!" Sirius jolted upright and looked around, confused.
"Wha? Cassie? What's wrong?" Sirius yawned, squinting his eyes and waiting for them to adjust to the light. The picture in front of him slowly came into focus, and he was faced with the sight of his little sister sitting in front of him, frowning.
"I'm hungry!" she whined. Sirius groaned.
"Can't you wait a few more minutes? Go back to sleep!"
"No! I'm hungry!" she frowned.
"Alright, alright! Don't get your knickers in a twist," Sirius replied, still yawning. Cassie hopped off the bed and stood by the door, waiting. He yawned again, got up, and stretched. "We should probably go to James' room first, just in case his parents are already down there."
James was in a deep sleep and snoring very loudly. Every once in a while he would mutter "Evans" and "Marry me".
"Oi! Prongs! Get up!" Sirius whispered.
"Marry me, Evans," James murmured, not waking up.
"Sirius! I'm hungry!" Cassie whined again.
"I know, I know! Prongs isn't waking up!" Sirius exclaimed exasperatedly.
"Prongs?" Cassie giggled, finding the name funny.
"Yes, his name is Prongs. Well, James really, but we call him Prongs."
"Oh. PRONGS!" Cassie sang loudly. James jerked violently and fell out of bed. Cassie giggled.
"Lily?" Prongs questioned dreamily, still half asleep.
"No, you git. It's me and Cassie."
"Hi!" Cassie piped up, smiling brightly. James turned his head to her, still on the floor.
"So this is your little sister, Padfoot? Looks like you, same eyes," James yawned. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway this one decides to wake me up just like she woke you up because she's hungry. So can you please take us downstairs and introduce us to your parents?" Sirius pleaded, making puppy dog eyes.
"Fine, whatever," James groaned.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter were already downstairs eating breakfast. They sat at a long, polished wooden table, eating quietly. The table was full of different breakfast foods such as scrambled eggs, bacon, muffins, pancakes, cereal, milk, water, coffee, and the like. It looked just like the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall during breakfast, except smaller. Cassie, Sirius, and James all came down the stairs.
"Hey mum, dad," James greeted sleepily, "Sirius and his little sister, Cassie, just left their home and have nowhere else to stay, so they can stay here right? I would've told you yesterday but they came in the middle of the night and I didn't want to wake you guys up." Mrs. Potter was the first to answer, facing Sirius.
"Of course you can stay here, dear. Both of you can stay as long as you need to, it's no problem at all," she smiled. Mr. Potter nodded in agreement, smiling as well.
"Thank you so much Mrs. Potter. We hope to be out of your hair in no time," Sirius thanked, smiling back earnestly. Sirius and James began to sit down, and realized that Cassie had already beaten them to it, and was eagerly devouring a stack of pancakes. "Cassie!" Sirius hissed.
"Oh it's no problem! She's probably very hungry after your journey here," Mr. Potter laughed. Sirius smiled sheepishly and gave Cassie a stern look, which she took no notice to. Suddenly an owl came flying into the room landing in front of where James and Sirius were sitting. The two exchanged a glance and James untied the two letters from the owl's leg. As it flew away, they noticed a red "H" wax seal on the letters.
"It's our Hogwarts letters! But how did Dumbledore know that you're staying here?" James questioned, furrowing his brows.
"Ah, Dumbledore! Nothing ever gets past that man!" Mr. Potter chuckled.
Their Hogwarts letters contained their shopping list for the third year and other boring letters that James and Sirius had skipped over. The list had things such as The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3, A History of Magic, Unfogging the Future, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection, all of which could be found in, of course, Diagon Alley.
Sirius had been to Diagon Alley before to get school supplies, obviously, unlike Cassie. Mrs. Black had always tried to keep her in Grimmauld Place, not wanting her to mix with "dirty blood" at such a young age. Kreacher would always take care of her while the rest of her family was out. This caused her to have many tantrums, for she did not like or trust Kreacher, calling him "scary" or "a monster". Sirius would always snicker at this, and then secretly give her a high five as Kreacher scowled.
"Hmm, looks like we'll be making a trip to Diagon Alley today, boys. We wouldn't want to be bothered with any last minute shopping," Mrs. Potter concluded after slowly chewing her scrambled eggs. "Go upstairs and get ready after you've finished your breakfasts. I can help Cassie here with her bath, no need to worry about it, Sirius," she told him kindly, her warm, hazel eyes twinkling.
"Oh, er, thank you Mrs. Potter," Sirius choked, becoming very interested in the color of his cereal. James was already in a fit of silent laughter. Sirius elbowed him in the ribs, not wanting to be embarrassed in front of the Potters on his first day here. As a result, James hit him round the head, running away before Sirius could get to him. Sirius just rolled his eyes in reply.
When he and Cassie finally finished their breakfasts, Sirius thanked James' parents. "Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Potter, it was a lovely breakfast," he smiled charmingly, "And you too, Minky!" he called towards the direction of the kitchens. A clatter of pots and pans could be heard, and Minky stumbled through the doors, thanking Sirius over and over again sheepishly.
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"Okay, Sirius you can Floo with Cassie since she's too small to go on her own, and James you go right after them. We'll go last," Mr. Potter told the children as they stood by the empty fireplace, Sirius and James each holding a handful of emerald green Floo powder. They were getting ready to go to Diagon Alley, and flooing was the easiest way to get there.
"And remember, you say 'Diagon Alley' loud and clear or else you might end up somewhere like Knockturn Alley or even the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, you never know," Mrs. Potter chimed in. "You can step in and go now, Sirius, and remember to tuck in your elbows and don't let go of Cassie or else she might injure herself."
Sirius nodded and steeped into the fireplace, Cassie following him. One hand clutching the green powder, and the other wrapped around Cassie's torso (he had to bend down a bit to do so) he spoke loud and clear, "Diagon Alley!" and he dropped the powder into the smoldering flames.
He and Cassie were drowned in heatless, emerald green flames; the same emerald green that the powder was. He felt the sensation of rapidly spinning in the air, and he could spot out of the corner of his eyes a blur of different rooms. He spotted a coffee table, a couch, a hearth rug, and…a pub? They had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, and were thrown onto the dirty rug, covered in ashes.
The pub was full of chattering witches and wizards, most drinking a mug of butterbeer or else a shot of firewhiskey. The mood was euphoric, and people were laughing and smiling brightly. Tom the barman was at the bar, serving two mugs of butterbeer to two girls, a redhead and a curly-haired girl. Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon! Suddenly the door of the pub opened, and in came Alice Prewett and Addison Montgomery, both beaming.
Sirius quickly scooped up a giggling Cassie, and darted to the bathroom, away from the four girls. They couldn't see Cassie! They would ask who she is, and what was he going to say? His daughter?! They could NOT know that he had a little sister, or else the whole point of keeping Cassie safe from Pureblooded maniacs would be defeated. Voldemort's followers (The Blood Suckers or something stupid like that, Sirius thought) would hunt him down; hunt Cassie down for being blood traitors. No, he would keep Cassie's existence as quiet as he could, just for now.
"Padfoot? Sirius, where are you, mate?"
He could hear James calling him. He sounded like he was close enough to the bathroom for Sirius to hear him.
"Uh, I'm in here, Prongs!" he called back anxiously. Footsteps could be faintly heard as James made his way towards the bathroom. Sirius put Cassie down, and she started wandering about the bathroom, opening and closing stalls as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. The door opened and James came in with a confused look on his face.
"Er, Pads, why are you hiding in here?" James asked with a puzzled look on his face. Cassie skipped towards him and began pulling at the hem of his robes, inspecting the fabric. James didn't seem to notice.
"Evans, Mckinnon, Prewett, and Montgomery are here! They can't know about Cassie, or else everyone will know and the psychos will be after our necks!" Sirius said it all in one breath. James frowned.
"I don't see why you're worrying, Padfoot. We'll just walk swiftly through the pub, making no eye contact, and I'm sure they won't notice us," he reasoned. Sirius calmed down a bit.
"Right. Swiftly," Sirius breathed, exhaling all the breath he had been holding in. James nodded proudly, pleased that he had solved a problem.
Sirius took Cassie by the hand as James led the way out of the bathroom. His parents were already waiting for them by the brick wall. They fast-walked out of the pub, Cassie skipping merrily behind them. When they reached the back door that led to the brick wall, Sirius let out a relieved breath. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were waiting for them by the wall, but they weren't alone. A redhead, a girl with curly hair, a girl with a pixie cut, and a blonde were standing awkwardly by them as the couple chatted happily with them.
"Are you four here for school supplies too? Our James and his friend Sirius are!" Mrs. Potter told them brightly. But she never got answer.
Just then, Sirius and James came through the door, slightly out of breath from "walking swiftly" through the pub. All heads turned to them, and they were like deer in the headlights. Sirius tried desperately to hide Cassie behind his back, but it failed terribly. All four girls had their eyes turned to where Cassie was standing, oblivious to their stares.
"Bugger," Sirius cursed under his breath. Cassie giggled.
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Author's Note: Ooh, a mini cliffhanger! So this chapter is a bit longer than the first one, but it was supposed to be longer with the rest of their Diagon Alley trip. Instead I decided to just leave it here for a little "suspense" if you could call it that. Anyway if some of you may have noticed, Cassie is a bit mature for a three year old (which is intended), but I always try to keep her dialogue short with simple phrases because, after all, she is just 3. I was also surprised to see that I got a few reviews on the first chapter! I'll just answer them here:
ZambleTheZombie: I like it! It wasn't horrible either, it was quite good so please do continue!
Glad you like it! Thank you, and hopefully I will continue! And by the looks of it, I probably will
Dramione Bartowski-Hallwell: cool id love to read the chapter tomorrow i like it i don't think ive read anything like this im very interested to see what will happen keep it up! :D
Great, I hope you enjoy this chapter Thanks so much, I had this idea for a while, and I figured it was time to turn it into a story!
Sky Nymph: How can a 3 year old Cassie keep up with Sirius' run? O.o But it's a cool
Haha, she was already running out a breath a short while into the running XD And thank you, I try ;)
-Nina