Seven years later...

Remus sat in his kitchen sipping hot tea from his favorite mug. It was one that Kestrel had made for him when she had been younger, and even though it was chipped and the paint was wearing thin, he used it every chance he got.

The peacefulness of the afternoon was interrupted by a shriek. "Remus!"

Remus dropped the mug he was holding with a start and raced into the front room. Kestrel was standing in front of the door, having just picked up the mail, and as soon as she saw Remus, she flung herself at him and hugged him. "It came! It came!"

Remus took her by the shoulders and moved her back so he could see her face properly. "What are you talking about?" he asked, humoring her even though he knew exactly what it was she was talking about. Kestrel was rarely ever loud, so when she was, he had come to automatically assume it was about Hogwarts. Even though her letter had come both years before, Kestrel still acted as surprised and overjoyed as she had the first time.

Her face cracked into a huge grin as she showed him the letter. "My letter from Hogwarts!"

Remus grinned at her, taking the letter and reading its contents. He read over the list of school supplies. "When do you want to go to Diagon Alley?" he asked her.

The look on her face suddenly became a little less bright, though she was still smiling. "Whenever we can."

"But surely you wanted to go right away! Should we coordinate with the Weasley family?" Remus teased, and she knew he was hoping to earn a grin. Instead she eyed him.

"I thought you had an interview today," she said warily.

Remus grimaced. "I don't think it would have worked out so well anyway- I haven't had the best of luck lately with interviews. We might as well do something productive with our time."

Kestrel gave him a slightly forced smile. "Okay."

Kestrel stayed close to her godfather's side as they maneuvered their way through the crowds of people in Diagon Alley. They had already been to Gringott's to take out some of the money her mother had left her, and they had gotten most of her supplies- all that was left to do was buy her books.

They entered the bookstore, which was thankfully a little less crowded than the street, and Kestrel took out her list. She glanced up at Remus to ask him something, but stopped for a moment at his appearance. They were approaching a full moon, and it showed in every pain-filled movement he made, every grimace that came to his face. His eyes were rimmed with red like he hadn't gotten enough sleep in a while, and his skin was pallid. His mouth was set in a thin line, every once in a while breaking into the smallest grimace that Kestrel had learned to recognize.

She changed her mind about asking him, instead blurting out, "Please let me get the books by myself this year, Remus!"

His brow wrinkled in slight concern. "Are you sure?"

"I'm thirteen now. If you do everything for me, I'll look helpless. I don't want to look like a baby."

She hated saying things like that, because they weren't usually true. Sometimes, she wished she didn't have to do so many things on her own- she needed him to help her get the hard to reach things and tell her what book was the absolute best for her or even just stand there beside her. But if she told Remus all that, he would feel guilty, and she never wanted him to feel like that. Besides, she knew how weak Remus was before the full moon, and if he tried to do too much, it would only tax his energy even more. Remus nodded reluctantly, exiting the shop and sitting down on a bench just outside to wait for her. She looked at her list, then decided that she would play it by ear and just search around and see what she could find.

Even though she had come here for her schoolbooks both years before, Kestrel wasn't used to this bookstore because she and Remus usually went to the one in their neighborhood to buy books. It was a nice, quiet muggle store, and it was very different from this place. The whole neighborhood was muggle, actually, except for them of course. They had moved into the area a while ago, right before Kestrel's seventh birthday, because Remus had not been making enough to pay the rent at the Leaky Cauldron and still make ends meet. She also suspected that he had done it for her, so that she could finally have her own room instead of a trundle bed on the floor. It had actually been fairly easy for Remus to earn muggle money, once he got the hang of working at a muggle job, so they were able to afford their little two bedroom house. She headed over to the section that was marked Textbooks, but she had barely gone one aisle over when two faces popped up behind the bookshelf nearest her and grinned mischievously. She jumped back a little, then smiled automatically as she went over to them.

"Say, Kes, we were wondering when we'd be seeing you again," Fred Weasley said teasingly, throwing his arm around her. The twins smiled at her as she gave them both hugs.

It had been a while since her last visit to the Weasley house- usually she stayed there on nights when there was a full moon, but last month she had gone to spend the day having tea with Albus Dumbledore. She had ended up staying the whole day in the castle, talking with Albus and going to see what creatures Hagrid took care of. By the time she had gotten back to the burrow, all of the Weasley children had been fast asleep. The next morning Remus had come to collect her before breakfast, despite his incredibly weak state.

"You two already have your books?" Kestrel questioned, glancing at their bulging bags.

"Yup," Fred confirmed. "Mum's already paid for them."

"But we can help you find yours," George said cheerfully.

"Since we already know where they are," the two said in union.

"Thanks," Kestrel said as they began to pull textbooks off of shelves and stack them in her arms.

When they had located the last book on the list, the twins had but to glance at it before they began to grin. "So Kes, excited for our first Potions class of the year?" Fred snickered.

Kestrel frowned as she put the book on top of the others, trying not to look at the cover. "Don't remind me so soon. I was hoping not to think about it until I absolutely had to."

"Maybe this year you'll finally crack and give Snape a piece of your mind," George said, winking at her.

Kestrel sighed. "You know I won't do that."

"It would certainly serve him right," they said.

"Just because you're scared of him doesn't mean he should get away with it," George said.

"He's treated you like scum since first year," Fred said.

As much as Kestrel wished Fred and George were exaggerating, nothing could be further from the truth. Ever since the moment he had heard her name called during Sorting, Snape had taken it upon himself to ridicule her every chance he got. His class was her least favorite, and she had not done very well in it the last two years, something which only fueled his discrimination more.

Not that she hadn't already faced a lot of discrimination already; almost everyone in the wizarding world had seen her face in the paper at least once. The media seemed fixated on the idea of the daughter of Sirius Black following in her father's footsteps. She was infamous in their world, and for horrible reasons. She had grown accustomed to people staring at her when she and Remus went any place where witches and wizards were, so by the time she had entered Hogwarts, she had come to almost expect less-than-kind treatment from anyone who wasn't Remus or a Weasley.

"You know, we could always set off a few dung bombs in his office," George said mischievously, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"That would teach him."

"Definitely."

"Although we did do that last year-"

"He wasn't too happy about that, was he Freddie?"

"Exactly why we wouldn't mind doing it again," Fred told Kestrel.

"Guys," Kestrel pleaded. "Can we just not talk about it? We still have two weeks until school starts."

"You're right," Fred said, smiling at her.

George suddenly remembered something. "Mum said to tell you that she wants you over for a couple days before we have to leave for school."

Fred groaned. "She's been going on and on about how we're all growing up too fast."

Kestrel laughed, her worries about Snape momentarily forgotten. "Of course I'll come over, if Remus says it's okay."

"Good," Fred said, because they all knew without a doubt that Remus would say yes.

"Somebody's got to keep her from going loony," George said.

"It's a wonder she hasn't already," Kestrel teased, grinning up at the twins.

"Me and George have been talking and we've decided-"

"-that it's entirely possible she's faking her sanity for the sake of the children."