A/N: Sorry for the later than usual chapter, everyone! I've been in Florida these past days and it has been amazing :) Anyways, I got a chance to update this story during the trip, so here you go!


"Summer comes and you get rebellious," Sirius stated as he followed Rachel up a set of laminated stairs. "We should've established a relationship earlier."

"I'm fairly sure we did, actually," Rachel replied once she reached the top stairs. She shot Sirius a smirk. "It was... complicated."

Sirius climbed up the last few steps and smirked back. "Getting cheeky, are we?"

Rachel broke into a grin and grabbed Sirius's hand. She dragged him to her bedroom door and pushed it open. "Oh, I'm just getting started," Rachel replied.

"I don't know if I should be worried or excited," Sirius said.

"We've got the house all to ourselves for two and a half hours," Rachel stated with a small smile as she shut the door behind her.

Sirius approached Rachel and placed his hands on her hips, bringing her close to him. "Then I suppose we make good use of it," he said with a small smirk.

Rachel leaned forward and kissed Sirius, her hands going to his neck and pulling the two of them closer. Kissing Sirius never got old and the feeling was always the same. It always felt like small electric shocks were running through her and she loved that he always seemed to smell of petrichor.

And Firewhiskey, but that was a whole different story.

The pair stumbled back slowly. The back of Rachel's legs hit her bed frame and her and Sirius toppled onto the bed, not pulling apart. Slowly, but surely, their kissing was turning into something ardent and needy, hands desperately searching for skin.

And that was when Rachel heard the doorbell downstairs.

"Shit," she hissed. Sirius reluctantly pulled away from Rachel and she sat up. At first, she didn't think of her father, but then she remembered the many times he had forgotten his keys. Rachel stood up quickly and ran to the calendar on her wall. "He's working until seven tonight, why is he home already?"

She turned to Sirius and ordered in a hushed voice, "Stay here. And consider expert hiding spots." She paused. "But remember, my dad's a wizard."

The doorbell rang again.

With a frustrated groan, Rachel stormed downstairs to open the door. "Dad!" she exclaimed, certain that he could hear her through the open window. "Why are you—oh."

Once Rachel had actually opened the door, she was rather shocked to see who was standing there.

"M—mom," Rachel said, her voice considerably quieter. "What are you doing here?"

Rachel's mother, the very one that had abandoned her, was standing in front of the young witch. Her mother was short with light brown hair and copper eyes, as was Rachel. Sometimes, Rachel hated that she was the spitting image of her mother. Sometimes, she thought it was some sort of sign or foreshadowing.

But most likely foreshadowing, Rachel thought to herself a bit bitterly.

"You've grown," her mother stated with a smile.

"Well, there tends to be a huge gap between six years old and eighteen—which I officially am now, in case you've forgotten," Rachel replied. "Oh, and then there's puberty."

"Right, of course," her mother said quietly. "Well, um, do you mind if I come in?"

"I don't know," Rachel answered. "You do whatever you want anyways."

Rachel's mum bit her lip nervously before stepping inside. Rachel slammed the door behind the older woman and leaned against the wall of the hallway, keeping an eye on her mum. The older woman set down her bag and looked at Rachel with a smile.

"Is your father home?" she asked.

"If you only came for him, you might as well leave now," Rachel snapped.

"I didn't only come for your father, I came for the both of you," her mother replies, Rachel's coldness not phasing her.

Rachel sighed. "He's at work. You're two and a half hours early."

The doorbell rang again.

Rachel frowned and briskly walked over to the large oak door. She pulled it open and, for possibly the first time, was peeved to see her dad home early.

"Hey there, Rach," he greeted. "Sorry, I forgot my keys again. Anyways, I'm early! And, boy, am I—oh." Rachel's dad stopped rambling once he saw his ex-wife. "Hello."

Stillness and silence filled the air, only angering Rachel more. With a frustrated groan, she stomped towards the stairs and shouted, "I'm going to be upstairs and pretending none of this ever happened."

"Don't you try to Apparate; I put an anti-Apparition Charm on the house the moment you got your license," her father shouted back.

"Don't worry, I've known about that charm for awhile," Rachel snapped back. "And you put it up when I was thirteen."

Before her dad could reply, Rachel turned and stomped up the stairs. Once she reached her door, she pulled it open harshly and slammed it shut behind her. As a precaution, she took out her wand and locked the door and put a Silencing Charm on it. With a heavy sigh, she leaned her back against the wooden door and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor. When she looked up, she saw Sirius on the bed looking very concerned.

"Well, I guess we've got to find you a way out," Rachel stated with a sigh.

"No, I can Apparate," Sirius replied.

"My dad Charmed the house; you'll get splinched," Rachel said monotonously.

She felt Sirius sit next to her and wrap his arm around her. Instinctively, Rachel let her head fall on his shoulder. After a long moment of silence, Sirius asked quietly, "So who was it?"

"My mum," Rachel answered. "And then my dad."

"Wait, your mum?" Sirius repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are," Rachel said quietly.

Rachel heard a knock at the door and her eyes widened as she stood up quickly. She dragged Sirius up and after her to her closet. She pulled the door open and pushed him in.

"Stay quiet," she told him.

"Rachel, please open the door and remove the Charms," Rachel heard her father say.

She shut the closet door shut, removing the Charms quickly on her way, and pulled open the door. Her mum and dad were standing there. Rachel leaned against the doorframe nonchalantly.

"Well, what is it?" she asked.

"Tone," her father warned, giving her a look that clearly told her to behave. Rachel huffed quietly and looked down at her feet.

"Sorry," she said defiantly. "What is it you want to talk to me about?"

"Your mum and I were—"

"I didn't realize she was my mum," Rachel interrupted.

"Rachel, for Merlin's sake, behave," her dad said through his teeth.

"You know what, she only came for you!" Rachel shouted. "So I don't see how this concerns me!"

"Because she's coming back!" her dad shouted, his voice reaching a volume Rachel had never heard from him. She was shocked still, but soon recovered.

Rachel slowly turned her gaze to her mother. "What?" she asked quietly.

"I've realized—"

"You abandon me—abandon us—and then you think you can just come back?" Rachel interrupted.

"I know I made a mistake," her mother said desperately.

"I don't bloody care!" Rachel exclaimed. "You just left!"

"I was scared!"

"Scared?" Rachel repeated angrily. "I'm your daughter! You're supposed to be here for me. You missed twelve years of my life!"

"I want to make it up to you! Please, Rachel," her mum said.

"You can't," Rachel spat. "I waited twelve years for you to come back, but I lost hope a long time ago."

"Rachel, stop this," her dad hissed.

Rachel gaped at her father. "I can't even believe—"

Rachel was cut off by a crash and then a loud thud. She felt her eyes widen and heat rise to her face as she realized what happened, long before she turned towards her closet and saw Sirius sprawled on the floor.

"Bloody brilliant," Rachel muttered.

"What—who—how—what is going on?" her father sputtered. Rachel bit her lip nervously and Sirius scrambled up.

"Uh, well, I'm going to go," Sirius muttered.

"Yeah," Rachel added.

Sirius turned to walk out but Rachel's father put his hand up, stopping him. "No, I don't think so," her father said quietly. He turned to Rachel. "What is going on?"

"Erm, we were going out for... ice cream?" Rachel stammered. "With, uh, Lily... and James... yeah."

"Why didn't you at least tell me?" her dad asked angrily, quickly deducing what was happening.

"Did you ever ask?" Rachel shot back.

"This is ridiculous; since when do you keep secrets?" her father interrogated.

"It slipped my mind to mention it!" Rachel exclaimed.

"How does this slip your mind?" her father asked.

Rachel shrugged over exaggeratedly. "I don't know!"

"What do you mean—?" Rachel's father paused and took a deep breath. He turned to Sirius. "Who are you even?"

Before Sirius could answer, Rachel stepped forward, immediately saying, "Dad, come on, we'll talk about it extensively today, I promise, but—"

"Rachel," her dad said with a voice of warning. "Let him answer."

Sirius stepped forward nervously and said quietly, "I'm Sirius... Sirius Black. Gryffindor, not Slytherin. In case you were confused. Just... to clarify. Not to be associated with—"

"I know," Rachel's dad interrupted. He turned to Rachel. "This is the guy that planted doxies in your bed curtains, right?"

"... Possibly..." Rachel answered slowly.

Rachel's father brought his hands up to his temples and sighed tiredly. "I just worked for ten hours," he stated in a tired voice. "I can't even handle any of this."

That was when Rachel's mother stepped forward, placing her hand on Rachel's father's shoulder. "Do you want me to take care of this?" she asked quietly.

Rachel just barely heard her father mutter, "sure," before he walked off with tired steps. Rachel suddenly felt guilty that she had to pile her father with all of that stress just after he got off of work. That evening was supposed to be Chinese takeout night for the two of them, just like any Friday night. And Rachel had surely ruined that.

She looked over at her mother with a sigh. "Well, here's your first test," Rachel said with a slightly annoyed tone. "Your teenage, albeit adult, daughter and her boyfriend that she snuck in."

After a short pause, her mother replied, "I would handle this, but I'm not completely sure what... um, doxies are."

"Biting fairies. Tiny, breed like rabbits, positively annoying," Rachel replied. "Terrbile pests, as well. I was chugging antidote for a week after the incident. Granted, that was two years ago."

"Quite a laugh, actually," Sirius muttered amusedly. The smile dropped off of his face when Rachel sent him a glare.

"Uh, well," Rachel's mother stammered. She looked over at Rachel desperately. "Can I talk to you privately?"

Rachel shrugged and follwed her mother out of her bedroom. "What is it?" she asked once the two of them had walked a small way down the hallway.

"Why didn't you tell your father about him?" her mother asked quietly.

"Um, well, first of all, the first year of the whole thing was terribly confusing," Rachel replied. "Second of all, daughters usually tell their mothers these kinds of things."

"Right," her mother replied. "Well, he does seem nice... although I didn't at all understand the Grffin-whatever part."

"Don't worry about it, you'll catch on," Rachel said. The annoyed tone was gone. Somehow, she was learning to deal with her mum. A small part of her thought it was probably that deep down, she knew she loved her mother and there was no way she could stay upset at her forever. But Rachel wasn't ready to fully forgive her yet.

Rachel's mother placed her hand on Rachel's shoulder comfortingly and smiled. "I'm so sorry for leaving you. I feel like the worst person in the world," she admitted quietly. "I know I'll never make it up to you, but I hope that I can be here for you for now."

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Rachel looked up quickly and rolled her eyes when she saw her father standing in the doorway of his bedroom. However, a smile still clouded her face and she hugged him tightly when he approached the two of them. He pulled away and smiled at Rachel.

"All right, I suppose I can learn to deal with him," her father said once he noticed the look on Rachel's face. "I just don't understand how you ended up... forget it. We'll discuss it later."

Rachel was about to turn back to her bedroom to get Sirius when a loud bang was heard. The three of them turned toward the noise. Rachel realized it was downstairs and when she looked around the corner and down the stairs, she noticed the door was undamaged, but had flown off the hinges. She pulled out her wand quietly and turned to look at her father, who also pulled out his wand.

Rachel noticed Sirius step out of the room, his wand at the ready. The three of them headed down the stairs to confront the intruders that weer no doubt of the magical world.

Another bang was heard and they were rushing down the stairs.


So that's that! Hope you liked it :)

-Grammar/spelling?
-Who do you think broke in?
-Hope the wait wasn't to long :P

Thanks for reading! :)