okay so I decided to move the story on two years to the start of PoA as its a pretty important chapter for some character development. Hope you all enjoy!

The Burrow was stifling hot as Arabelle made her way down the stairs. It was eerie and quiet even in the light of the morning. The Weasley's were in Egypt visiting Bill but Arabelle had chosen once again to stay behind. It had been almost two years to the day since she had last seen or spoken to Charlie. Why ruin a family holiday by tagging along and making things awkward for everyone. She had spent the last year working at Hogwarts, in the background of the medical wing. The year had been like none she remembered when she was a student, but on the plus side she had perfected the brewing of mandrake juice.

She pushed open the stable doors that lead to the garden and barely had time to jump out of the way before the large brown barn owl flew in and landed on the table, a copy of the the daily prophet tied up in a scroll to its leg. It clicked its beak and looked in her direction holding out a little foot waiting to be paid. Arabelle sighed and grabbed a sickle off the counter. "You know it should be Percy paying for this not me" she said to the owl, as it clicked its beak again, clearly it was not bothered by who was supposed the be giving the money. She threw the paper on the table and paid the owl as it flew off again, her only form of conversation gone for the day. She sighed as she filled the kettle and placed it on the stove.

There was a loud crash from the back door. This time it was from two garden gnomes who had made their way into the house and were running around knocking things to the ground. Arabelle screamed and jumped up on the dining table in one big jump. She hated those ugly things. Had it really already been a year since the boys and Harry had de gnomed the garden?

That summer had been the first time she had met the famous Harry potter. The twins and Ron showing up with him at the crack of dawn. Arabelle kept very quiet that day partly because she was worried Molly would find out it had been her and Charlie that taught the boys to drive a muggle car a few years ago and partly because being near Harry potter made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Few people knew the true reason of Sirius' imprisonment. Those that did were part of the order, and didn't tend to bring up memories from the dark times of the war. Arabelle knew though, how he had betrayed Harry's parents, and led the dark Lord right to their doorstep. She liked Harry, he was kind and from what she had heard from Ron and the faculty of the past years events he was more brave than anyone she knew. Despite the fact they were in similar situations, both growing up without parents, Arabelle shied away from him when she could. There was always this heavy feeling of guilt that pressed down on her when he was around or his name was mentioned. It was because of her father Harry was an orphan, and that made Arabelle more ashamed than anything else in her life.

It took a good hour to catch the gnomes once she was down from the table, they kept running under the stove and in tiny gaps Arabelle couldn't reach them. Once she caught them and threw them far into the field she finally made her morning coffee and sat down at the table.

She didn't know what made her do it that morning. Every other day she had chucked the papers in the lounge for Percy to read when he was home but something that morning made her untie the string holding it together and flatten in down in front of her.

The image starring up at her made her jump so badly she spilt her burning hot coffee all over the table. She barely noticed as she gasped, open-mouthed looking down upon the photo. Her hands began to sweat and a cold wave rushed over her, she felt the vomit rise up into her throat and ran to the sink just in time as she was violently sick. She squeezed her eyes shut but the image was still clear in her mind. The eyes so much like hers, but they were wild, crazy with madness. The dark hair like hers, yet matted and tangled and dirty. The cheekbones high and defined like hers but the skin sagged over them from years of neglect. He was out. Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban.

She opened her eyes and splashed her face with water. It sent her brain reeling into survival mode. She ran up the stairs and into her room, grabbing a bag and shoving clothes, jewellery and the few other items she couldn't leave behind like the engagement ring from Charlie and her mother's old wand. She didn't know if he would come for her but if he did she knew she couldn't be here when he found her. She couldn't put the weasley's in danger like that. Nor could she go back to Hogwarts, with all those children around. He was a psychotic murderer. Plus if he found out she was there, he would also have Harry within arms reach, it was a risk she just wouldn't take. Not to mention all the speculation that would be on her. Would people really think she was involved in his escape? Maybe. If the daily prophet had a say in it they would probably pin point her. The ministry would want someone to place the blame upon. She knew she had to leave the country all together. Running away would of course make her look guilty but she would rather run away and be blamed then stay and have everyone's lives put in danger.

She racked her brains for somewhere she could go. Her first thought was Romania. But she knew it wasn't an option. Charlie wasn't even there and if he had been she couldn't just show up on his doorstep and expect him to take her in after all this time. She took a deep breath trying to stay calm. It wouldn't be long until someone came knocking for her. Even as she stood here the papers bearing her father's face were being distributed all over the country, and the ministry would come to take her in for questioning. She was running out of time. There was no way she could go to Diagon Alley without being seen, so getting money was not an option at this moment. She had to get by on what she had on her. Not much, but enough until she could get in contact with Molly and Arthur from a safe distance.

She tried to clear her head, and the next option that seemed most logical to her was France. It was out of the county but close enough to still be able to get wind of what was going on. Even if the paper printed her face as a criminal the daily prophet wasn't published in France, it would bide her enough time to find some bar work or something to save some money and move on further again.

The thought of leaving her life behind and living on the run made her stomach clench. For a second she thought she might be sick again but she took a deep breath. There was no time now, she would panic later once she was out of the country. She ran downstairs and froze as she saw the back door still wide open.

A cold rush of panic came over her again, she was frozen to the spot on the stairs, staring at the door, her ears listening to any sign of movement in the house. How could she be so stupid?! It felt as if she were frozen there for hours, her legs wouldn't move. She was too scared he was in the house, he had already come for her, to kill her. She didn't know exactly why he would kill her but she knew he was a manic. She didn't really know why he had helped the dark Lord kill James Lilly or why he had killed Peter and all those muggles that day either but he had none the less.

She crept slowly down another step, the stairs creaking under her weight. She swore under her breath and tilted her head to see the clock against the wall. The hand with her face on it had moved to mortal peril. How long exactly had it been like that? She never looked at the damn thing usually.

She knew she had to leave right now. Her time here was up, but she couldn't leave without leaving some kind of note for the family to at least know she was okay. She listened in silence again before drawing her wand silently from her pocket and raising it above her.

"Homenum revelio" she whispered as quietly as she could. Nothing happened. She felt nothing. She was alone in the house. For now.

She bolted down the last few stairs and slammed the door shut locking it behind her. She grabbed a blank scrap of paper and quill from the side, with hands shaking uncontrollably, she somehow managed to attached it to the front of the paper scribbling a note upon it

I'm okay, don't worry about me.

You know I had to leave.

Please don't come looking for me.

I will contact you as soon as I can.

Stay safe,

Arabelle.

She hoped it would explain enough for now. She was sure once they read the paper they knew she would no longer be in the country but telling them where she was going was too dangerous for her and them. She breathed in deep, fighting again the vomit rising in her throat. Before she has time to change her mind she apparated leaving the burrow in silence once again.