Chapter 23: Family Reunion

Claire was stunned. The woman was her mother and she suspected the other man, who's name was apparently the Doctor, to be her father. Claire was snapped out of her thoughts as Pettigrew regained consciousness and tried to make a run for it. Her mother yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Pettigrew froze on the spot, falling to the ground like a piece of wood.

"So, anyone going to call the Ministry and take care of that rat? I'd like it if my brother was freed by the end of the week." Carina said.

"Remus," Dumbledore said turning towards Lupin, "Why don't you inform Fudge that we have a rodent problem and to come straight away with the Aurors."

"Of course, Professor Dumbledore," Lupin said.

Lupin still seemed to be in shock as he left the Great Hall.

Dumbledore turned to the student body. "Students due to unexpected events, dinner will be held in your house common rooms this evening. Prefects, if you would please lead your housemates to their appropriate common rooms. Teachers if you would wait outside the hall please."

The prefects from each house began to usher the students out of the Great Hall. The students were still baffled by what had just occurred. Claire, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were following the rest of the Gryffindors out of the Great Hall when Dumbledore said, "Miss Smith, stay here." Claire noticed the woman and the man look at her shocked. Then Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at Claire.

"Go on, I'll catch up later," Claire said.

The Great Hall was soon left with only Claire, the woman, the man, Dumbledore, the Police box, and a paralyzed Pettigrew lying on the ground. The woman and the man were staring at Claire.

"Professor Dumbledore," Claire said, "Why exactly am I here?"

"I think you know, Miss Smith," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling. "I'll let you three catch up."

Dumbledore left and the woman and man smiled at Claire.

"Hello, Claire. My name's the Doctor aka John Smith. I am your father." the Doctor said.

"Oh, Claire," the woman engulfed her in a hug that knocked the air out of Claire's lungs. "You've grown so much since we last saw you."

"Well, that kind of happens when you leave me for thirteen years," Claire snapped, feeling the anger towards her abandonment resurface.

How could they just stand there and act like they did nothing wrong? She thought angrily to herself.

Carina noticed the sharp tone in her daughter's voice. "Claire, I know you must feel upset—"

"That's an understatement," Claire muttered.

"Don't speak to me that way. I'm your mother." Carina scolded her.

"Oh, so now you want to act like my mother?" Claire said furious. "No, you don't have the right to just waltz back into my life thirteen years later and pretend that you've been here for me when you haven't! My whole life I thought I would never see either of you again. I would always think about how I would react if you did happen to show up again. Would I be happy or upset? Well, if you couldn't tell I'm upset. Why? Because I've gone thirteen years without knowing the reason why my so-called "parents" just up and left me! I deserve to know that much!"

"You're right," Carina said in a small voice. "You're completely right, Claire. We should've told you, but your safety was at risk."

"My safety was at risk?" Claire scoffed. "Then why'd you leave me alone?"

"It was the only way to guarantee your safety," The Doctor said.

"I don't understand," Claire said. "If I was in danger then I should've been kept with you."

Carina shook her head. "Claire, it isn't that simple."

"Then explain to me why this was safer because you're not making any sense," Claire snapped.

Carina turned to the man. "Doctor, I think you'd better explain."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Right, where to begin."

"The beginning." Claire said.

"Always a good place to start." The Doctor nodded. "Gets confusing if you start from the middle. Trust me, I've tried it before."

Ron's right. Claire thought to herself. He really is looney.

"Anywho," The Doctor stared up at the ceiling. "Were those candles alway floating there? I could've swore that—"

"Doctor, you're getting off topic," Carina smacked his shoulder.

"Oy! Alright, the beginning," The Doctor cleared his throat. "Thirteen years ago a prophecy was made about you. It was right before your mother gave birth."

"What did the prophecy say?" Claire asked.

"A girl of two races of magic and of time will be the demise of a man of time who hears the sound of drums." The Doctor said. "However, we soon discovered that wasn't the entire prophecy—"

"Wait, hold a minute. A girl of two races? What the heck does that mean? Are you sure that prophecy is talking about me?" Claire asked.

Carina and the Doctor exchanged looks before the Doctor spoke.

"Claire, I don't know if anyone told you but I'm not exactly human."

Claire furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean? You look human."

"I'm an alien," the Doctor said as if it were the most ordinary thing to say.

Claire laughed. "That's a good one. You can't be serious."

"It's true," Carina said. "That box over there is his spaceship. A—"

"Police box or TARDIS." Claire said, remembering what the journal had called it.

"How did you know—?" The Doctor was cut off when the doors to the Great Hall were thrown open.

It was Fudge with several Aurors, Dumbledore, and Snape. Claire noticed Lupin was missing. I wonder where Lupin is? She thought to herself. Shock spread across the Aurors' and Fudge's faces.

"No, it's not possible!" Fudge said, shocked as he walked over to Pettigrew's paralyzed body.

"Believe it, Fudge!" Carina said. "My brother's innocent! Pettigrew was changed to the Secret-Keeper at the last minute and he staged his own murder."

Fudge scoff. "This is one of you and your brothers' tricks, isn't it, Carina?"

"Nope, I'll take Veritaserum if it'll make you happy." Carina said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"This could be the work of polyjuice potion," One of the Aurors said.

"Of course," Fudge exclaimed.

"Minister," Dumbledore said. "If it was the work of polyjuice potion where would they have gotten the hairs of a supposedly dead person?"

Fudge furrowed his eyebrows then looked at blue box. "That time machine box. She could've used it to go back and time and get the hairs!"

Fudge then looked at Claire and his eyes narrowed. "Or that girl! She was given a time-turner for her courses this year! She probably helped her parents and her uncle with this!" Fudge grabbed Claire's shoulders and shook them roughly. "Did you help with this, girl? Huh, did you?!"

"No!" Claire said, slightly afraid.

The Doctor grabbed Fudge's wrist roughly and glared at the man. "Get your hands off my daughter!"

Fudge released his grip off of Claire's shoulders.

"There is only one way to prove this," came the monotone voice of Snape. "The counter-curse to polyjuice potion."

Snape raised his wand and shot a spell at Pettigrew. A white light engulfed Pettigrew before it disappeared. Pettigrew hadn't changed at all.

Snape glared harshly at Pettigrew. "It appears they are telling the truth Minister. If I were you I would reconsider a trial for Sirius Black."

Fudge looked enraged and turned to the Aurors. "Well, what are you waiting for? Take that man to Azkaban!"

The Aurors went over to Pettigrew's body and disapparated with it. Fudge then turned to Carina, the Doctor, and Claire.

Fudge cleared his throat. "I believe I should apologize."

"You got that right," Claire muttered, earning her a sharp glare from her mother. Looks like I get that death glare from her. She thought to herself.

"I assume my brother will have all charges removed then?" Carina said.

"Not just yet," Fudge said. "We will have a trial to make sure. And second of all we'll need to find your brother. After all, he did escape from Azkaban."

"You didn't even give Sirius a trial before!" Claire argued. "You just sent him to Azkaban!"

"Now, see here, young lady—"

"Minister, perhaps, instead of sending Black to Azkaban he could be put on house arrest," Dumbledore said. "There is substantial evidence here that he is truly innocent, unlike before. Besides, don't you think Miss Smith and Mr. Harry Potter deserve to spend time with Sirius?"

Fudge groaned. "Fine! But you'll have to find him first."

"That shouldn't be too hard," came the voice of Remus Lupin.

Remus walked into the Great Hall with none other than Sirius Black. Sirius could hardly believe his eyes as he set them on Carina. Carina too looked as though it were a dream. Carina ran to Sirius and almost tackled him into a hug.

"Sirius!" Carina exclaimed. "Look at you, you're—flithy!"

Sirius let out a laugh similar to a bark. "That tends to happen when you're on the run."

"Sirius!" Claire hugged him. "Did you hear they're putting you on house arrest? I know it's not the best thing but you're one step closer to being a free man!"

Sirius smiled.

"Sirius Black?" Fudge choked out.

Sirius glared at the man. "Fudge."

"I—I—" Fudge sputtered then released a breath. "I've had a long day. I'll need a Dizziness Draught when I get back to my office. Good day to you all."

Fudge disapparated.

"I think we broke him," Claire said.

"Not everyday you see a man come back to life and an Azkaban escapee," Lupin said.

"Got that right, Moony," Sirius grinned.

"I could go for a cup of tea," The Doctor said.

"Splendid idea. We have many things to discuss. My office?" Dumbledore said.

The Gryffindor common room was buzzing with curiosity. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were seated around the fireplace with their food. Ron was scarfing down his food, while Harry and Hermione picked at theirs.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him, slapping his shoulder. "How can you be eating at a time like this?!"

"I eat when I'm nervous," Ron said swallowing his food.

"You always eat," Harry said.

"Why do you think Claire was told to stay behind?" Ron said, chewing a piece of chicken.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "Are you two really that thick? Those were her parents! Don't you recognize them from her boggart incident."

Harry then remembered that incident in Professor Lupin's class.

"Why are they showing up now? And with Pettigrew I might add?" Harry said.

Hermione groaned. "Isn't it obvious? They're here to prove Sirius' innocence. I bet you any moment Claire will be coming through that portrait and telling us—"

"You guys! Guess what?" Claire had just came in through portrait.

"Blimey, Hermione!" Ron said. "Maybe Professor Trelawney was wrong about you not having the Inner Eye."

"What is it, Claire?" Harry said.

"Sirius is one step closer to a free man!" Claire said excitedly. "And guess what Harry? I talked to Dumbledore and he said that you only have to spend the first month of summer at the Dursley's!"

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because you're living with Sirius and my parents at our house for the rest of summer!" Claire said.

Harry couldn't believe it. He only had to suffer one month with the Dursley's and then he'd be with his real family.

"Wait a second," Ron said, dropping his fork. "Does that mean you're not staying at the Burrow anymore?"

"Awww," Claire teased, trying to pinch Ron's cheek, "is little Ronniekins gonna miss me?"

"N—No," Ron blushed red slightly, slapping her hand away.

Claire laughed. "Well, for your information I will be visiting the Burrow this summer. Our moms have to catch up after thirteen years."

"How are you holding up by the way?" Hermione asked. "You know, you're parents showing up out of the blue all of a sudden?"

"I'll admit I was pissed off at first." Claire said. "But we talked and well it won't be a normal family relationship, it'll never be normal."

"Why?" Harry asked.

Claire bit her lip hesitantly.

"What is it?" Ron questioned.

"I'm part alien," Claire said.

I had horrible writer's block for this chapter! Not to mention I had SAT's this week and I was stressing out! Hopefully I made a 1600 or higher! Anyway, I was trying to figure out the dialogue and everything and now it's done! How do you think Harry, Hermione, and Ron will react to Claire being part alien? They'll be one-two chapters more I think after this. Anyway, thank you for all of those who continue to review and favorite this story. IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME! Thank you to the new follower: egastin77! BTW: I don't know if you all noticed but I changed the book covers for books 1-3. I made them on polyvore and I hope you like them. I have book covers up to book 7 posted on my polyvore account.

Reply to Reviews:

crossMIRAGE19: Claire didn't like it at all you could feel her pent up parent issues resurfacing. I think she did have a right to be mad at them because she was left in the dark about why they left. BTW: I LOVE THE BARTON SAGA! It's one of my favorite HP Fanfics! Anya is an amazing character!

NicoleR85: Glad you liked it! And Sirius is sort of a free man. House arrest is better than Azkaban.

Cerulean F. Revelle: Thank you and I did make you wait. Longer than I intended too but that was because I caught a nasty case of writer's block.

Themarauders21: Me too! I was squealing when I wrote the last chapter.

Timewalker: Thank you, I appreciate it! You'll see why in the next book why her parents return now.

Teckie De Cool: Thank you! I hope you're alright from your fangirl attack!

Natekleh: Yea, you'll see in the next book why he's attacking the way he is. DRAMA IS COMING!

WhovianGeronimo: You've made my day!

Rukia-chappy: Neither can I!

Guest: Thank you! And yep I couldn't resist naming the chapter YELLING AT BOXES I thought it was a cute title. The tenth doctor is Claire's dad.

drenchthedoctor: That's a good idea but I didn't use it because I wanted Claire to get in a row with her parents.