Chapter Nine
The house that stood before her took her breath away.
It was at least four stories high and twice as long as her home. It had a solid, wooden Victorian design to it. Through the setting summer sun the gardens surrounding the house looked magnificent. In front of the house were rows and rows of exotic plants and flowers all gracefully swaying in the breeze. Ava had never seen such a beautiful house in her lifetime. Each of the downstairs windows, that she could see, had soft, inviting light glowing from within. Ava stood in awed silence.
Through out the whole time Sirius stood by her and watched her take in the magical home. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face whilst watching her. He too was always a little stunned by the beauty of his home, he never wanted to be rid of the moment when the house took his breath away. Although he had 'officially' moved into the Potter's home at the age of sixteen he had considered that house, home a long time ago. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place had never been his home. That house was a part of Hell that had crawled up out of the pit to make his life a misery and it had succeeded for a long time too. He was ever so lucky to have escaped the house and his parents. He never forgot that and he didn't plan on forgetting it too.
He looked down on her and quietly spoke, almost as if he were to talk too loudly he might disturb the house and it would fly off like a startled bird.
"It's beautiful, eh?" He asked. Ava found that again she was unable to form a sentence so she just nodded rapidly and hoped he understood what she was trying to get across. Sirius let out a throaty laugh at her wide eyed nodding head and led her closer to the house.
The two walked across the lawn in silence. There was a faint, pleasant floral scent in the air, Ava noted that she really liked it. They both came to a stop on the grand wooden porch Mrs and Mr Potter stood before them. Mrs Potter was an older mother whom stood tall and proud and wore such a warm smile that made Ava want to hug her. Mr Potter stood quite like his wife but instead he wore an expression that suggested he-wanted-an-explanation-as-to-why-the-boys-had-brought-home-a-strange-girl-but-was-more-than-happy-to-accommodate-her. Ava found that she probably never seen such an expressive person and even though he wore such a peculiar expression-that was aimed at Sirius- he didn't look cold or mean, which she was grateful of.
Sirius made the introductions. "Isabelle, Everard I would finally like to introduce to you Ava Saunders!"
Ava had never really liked being in the centre of attention and found that she was vigorously blushing now that she had everyone's attention direction at her. She made a slight awkward wave at the two Potters.
"Thank you Mrs and Mr Potter for letting me stay I promise I wont be any trouble" She stuttered out.
"Oh please enough of that formal rubbish call me Isabelle and call my husband Everard" Mrs potter told her as she pulled the young witch into a warm motherly hug. "Sirius has told us so much about you!" She cooed. Ava blushed harder at hearing this.
"Come on Isabelle, let the kids in. They're probably hungry." Laughed Mr Potter, Ava was relieved to see that he looked less cautious now that he knew who she was. Ava also wondered what Sirius could have told them about her to make them trust her. Sirius laughed along with him too.
"When aren't James and I hungry?" The two Potters happily led Ava and Sirius into a grand and welcoming kitchen.