It had only been a couple of days back to school and I had already developed a hatred for Divination, a class that was taught in a stuffy tower by a woman who was absolutely mad. The second the class started, I knew I would hate it and I was right.

"Can you believe that class?" I scoffed as I made my way towards Care of Magical Creatures with my friends. "There is no way I am going to stay in that made up class with that crazy woman."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Pansy stuck her nose up into the air and gave me a dirty look. "Professor Trelawny told me that I possessed a talent for Divination."

"That's what I mean, the woman is crazy." I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for Draco and Daphne to hear me, who were both walking beside me. "Perhaps I'll talk to Snape and get transferred to Ancient Runes with you, Draco."

Draco smiled at my suggestion but didn't say anything in response to that. "What I can't believe is that they're actually this giant oaf teach classes."

We quieted down as we reached the rest of the class, following Hagrid into the forest where he claimed to have a 'real treat' for us. He instructed us to open our textbooks by stroking the spine of the book, which caused it to fall open with no trouble. Draco was complaining loudly about how Hogwarts was terrible and how his father would hear about having Hagrid as a teacher, causing Harry to come forward to stick up for the man.

I smirked as Draco took a step forward as if he was going to say something back to Harry, only to step back and yell "Dementor, dementor!" while pointing to the sky. While everyone turned to look where he was pointing, I joined my housemates in putting the hoods of our robes up and making scary noises as Harry and the Gryffindors turned back around. Harry glared at all of us and Hermione looked disappointed that I had joined in mocking Harry with the rest of my friends, but I couldn't find it in me to be really bothered by it.

Hagrid called attention back to himself where he was stood beside a weird horse/chicken looking creature called Buckbeak. Hagrid told us a bit about Buckbeak and Hippogriffs in general, bringing Harry forward to demonstrate how exactly to act around a Hippogriff.

"This will be good." Draco muttered before pushing his way towards the front of the group. We watched as Harry was able to get right up to the creature, even getting put on it's back and flown around. "Of course, saint Potter at it again."

"Jealous are we, Draco?" I teased, nudging him lightly.

"Please, as if I'd ever be jealous of Potter."

I shared a look with Daphne and let out a little giggle. As if to prove his point that Harry wasn't so special, Draco stormed his way towards Buckbeak the second Harry was off the creature. "Draco, no!" I watched as the hippogriff reared up on his hind legs and came back down, scratching Draco's arm.

Draco dropped to the ground with a cry of pain and I rushed forward to go to him. I heard Hermione tell Hagrid that Draco had to go to the Hospital Wing and took a step back as the giant man picked up Draco. I followed the two of them with Daphne in tow to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey made me and Daphne wait outside while she bandaged Draco's arm.

"You know, you rushed towards Draco pretty quickly when he dropped to the ground earlier." Daphne gave me a sly smile.

"So? He's my friend and he got hurt. I was worried about him."

"Uh huh. Maybe it's because you fancy Draco a little?"

I gaped at Daphne. "What? I do not fancy Draco!"

Daphne rolled her eyes and put her arm around my shoulders. "It's alright if you do, he got well fit over the summer."

"I don't fancy him." I insisted. "If I did, I would tell you. He's just my friend and he got hurt and so I was worried about him."

"Alright." Daphne didn't seem convinced, but she thankfully dropped the subject.

I wasn't lying when I told her I didn't fancy Draco, because I didn't. Yes, I did think that he was rather cute, but that didn't mean I had a crush on him or anything. Draco was just a good friend and I wanted to make sure he was okay. That was it.

Once Draco was released from the Hospital Wing with his arm fully bandaged and in a sling, he started to go on and on about how he could have lost his arm and how he was lucky that he managed to make it in time. While Daphne and I didn't doubt that it was a serious cut, we were highly suspicious that Draco was telling the entire truth. Luckily for Draco, however, Pansy believed every word he was saying and cooed over him each time he flinched from moving his arm too much.

Draco continued his theatrics into the next couple of days, still earning sympathy form Pansy but the rest of the Slytherins paid no attention to him. Throughout every class, Pansy would coo over Draco and do almost everything for him, including taking all of his notes for him. The conversation was centered around Draco as we had a break between our classes right before Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I was anxious to get into the classroom and paid no attention to what anyone was saying. In first year, I had found the class very fascinating, which was why I was so disappointed when we had such a terrible teacher the previous year. The new professor, Lupin, was very good at his job and I was always eager to learn more form him.

"He's been sighted, he's been sighted!" I heard the Irish boy in Gryffindor, Finnegan, yelling as he ran into the Great Hall. "Sirius Black!"

"Sirius Black?" I heard Daphne echo after the boy. Any questions we had about what the boy was going on about was quickly answered when Draco's owl flew into the hall and dropped the most recent addition of the Daily Prophet in front of us.

I quickly reached for the paper and unravelled it, skimming over the article and informing my housemates about the most recent update. "Sirius Black has been sighted in Dufftown." I put the paper down and pulled my eyebrows together. "Why would he be so close to the school? Surely he would have heard about the dementors if he was so close."

"Maybe he doesn't care if he gets caught anymore." Nott shrugged. "The man has spent so long locked away he probably doesn't know what it's like to be a free man anymore. We've all heard stories of Azkaban driving people mad."

"I think he was mad to begin with." Draco scoffed.

Taking advantage of the time we had left in our break, I quickly pulled out a spare piece of parchment and my quill and started to write a letter to my mum to tell her about the most recent update about Sirius Black.

Dear Mum,

I hope everything is well with you. I miss you loads and I know Athena misses the treats you used to make for her.

I know I only wrote you yesterday, but today we got news that Sirius Black has been sighted in a town near Hogwarts. Now, I don't want you to worry, Hogwarts is safe and there is no way he could get into the school with all the dementors around. I just thought that I should tell you the news so that you are up to date with everything.

Love you lots,

Liliana

"Ana, come on. We should go to class now." Daphne tugged on my arm lightly just as I finished writing the letter to mum. I quickly put everything away and followed my friends as we went to the D.A.D.A classroom.

In the middle of the classroom was a giant wardrobe that was shaking uncontrollably. As everyone started to pile into the room, the whispers started up as to what could possibly be in there. A couple of students had already guessed that the large piece of furniture contained a boggart, and their suspicions were confirmed when Professor Lupin started his lesson and introduced us to what a boggart was. He taught us the incantation that would get rid of a boggart and got us all to repeat it a couple of times before using Neville Longbottom as an example for what we would be doing during the lesson. Seeing Snape dressed in old lady clothes had everyone laughing and set the tone for the rest of the lesson.

I made my way towards the back of the line up and was terrified of what would show in front of the entire class as my greatest fear. I knew it would be something about the fact that I was raised by a Muggle, but I wasn't sure how that would translate into a boggart. I just hoped that time would run out before it was my turn to face the creature, and as Harry stepped up to take his turn, it seemed as though I would get my wish. The boggart quickly transformed into a dementor, causing Lupin to jump in front of the Gryffindor boy and for the creature to change shape into a moon. The professor sent the boggart away and cleared his throat.

"Right, lesson over. Sorry to those who didn't get a chance, perhaps next time we have some spare time we can work on this more. For now, the assignment is on the board."

Everyone who didn't get to participate let out a disappointed groan but listened to the teacher's instructions and copied out the word on the board. Once the class was dismissed, I quickly made my way to the Owlery to send off my letter to my mum with Athena before going back to the Common Room to put my things away before dinner.

It had only been a couple of days from when I sent my letter to my mum that I got a reply from her. The letter came on a Saturday morning along with the regular post, Athena blending in with the rest of the owls until she landed on my shoulder and dropped the letter onto my lap, waiting for me to give her a treat before nibbling my ear lightly. She seemed to notice Draco, who was sat beside me, and hopped onto his shoulder, giving his ear a little nibble as well before flying off.

"I told you, she likes you." I laughed when Draco grumbled after the bird left. He tried to shoot me a glare, but it was laced with a small smile. I watched as my friends all opened their letter before opening mine and reading over what my mum had written me.

Dearest Liliana,

I had hoped that I would have been able to do this when you came home for Christmas, but your news about Sirius Black being so close to Hogwarts was unexpected and I feel it's best to tell you now before anything else happens.

When you showed me that article about the man back in September, I knew his name right away and seeing the picture of him only confirmed what I had feared. It was a name I hadn't heard in years, one I never thought I would hear again, but life is funny that things like that will pop up again when least expected. There really is no easy way to tell you this, darling, but that man is the man I fell in love with all those years ago.

Sirius Black is your father.

I didn't even see what the rest of the letter said after those five words. My heart stopped beating and all the air rushed out of my body. The letter fell from my hands and I was vaguely aware that I was shaking, whether it was from anger or fear, I didn't know.

"Ana? Are you alright?" I heard Draco ask me, his voice barely more than background noise to me.

I quickly stood up and grabbed the letter, rushing out of the Great Hall and ignoring all of the calls coming from my friends. I didn't know where I was going, I just let my legs carry me to wherever they had in mind until I found myself by a tree in front of the lake. I collapsed to the ground and let out a sob, still clutching the letter tightly in my hand. I didn't know how long I sat there before I heard someone sit down beside me.

"Ana." Daphne's soft voice made me lift my head from my hands. "What happened?"

I couldn't answer her, just shaking my head and holding out the letter for her to read. I trusted Daphne more than I trusted anyone else in our house, and I knew she wouldn't spread around the secret that my mother had just revealed to anyone else. I heard her let out a gasp when she no doubt got to the part about Sirius Black being my father and felt her put a hand on my back right away.

It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself before I could finally look up at my friend. "How could she?"

"What do you mean?"

"How could she not tell me? Why would she wait this long to tell me if she knew all this time who he was?"

"How far did you get into the letter?"

I narrowed my eyes at the odd question. "What?"

"Did you read all of it, Liliana?"

"No." I admitted. "I stopped reading after the whole 'your father is a raging lunatic who is a serial killer' part."

Daphne sighed and held out the letter towards me. "Finish reading it."

I stared at the girl before giving in and taking the letter from her, picking up where I had left off.

Sirius Black is your father.

Now, I must make something very clear before you jump to conclusions about me. When I met him, he was a funny, extremely kind man who wouldn't hurt a soul. He was sweeter than any man I had ever met and never once made me feel unsafe or that he would do anything to harm me. We spent so long together, and I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but I was wrong because he never once told me he was a wizard.

He was always fiercely protective over me, which is why I was so heartbroken when we left so suddenly when I told him I was pregnant. He had been so excited when I first told him spending hours with me, and you, and would sit and talk to you for ages, even though there was no actual evidence that you were even there yet. It was two weeks after I told him the news that he came to my house and told me that he couldn't be with me anymore and that I would never see him again. He kept true to his promise, as much as I tried to look for him, I never saw him again or even heard his name again, that is until you said it on the way to the train station.

Again, I wish I could have told you this in person, but I didn't think waiting any longer would be wise. I will discuss this more with you when you come home for the holidays, but I will answer any questions you may have until then through our letters.

Be safe, my love.

Love,

Mum

I reread what my mum wrote three times before I could even comprehend it all. "I…I don't know what to even thing about that. He clearly tricked my mum and when he was going to go on his murderous rampage, he left suddenly."

"Maybe that's the case, but we don't know. It seems like your mum and him really loved each other. It almost seemed like he loved you, even though he didn't know you."

"Then why did he leave?" I knew Daphne didn't have the answer, but I was hoping the truth would come out somehow.