"I'm dead jealous," was the first thing Dora said when Aurora showed her the Nimbus Two Thousand and One she'd been allowed to bring home for the Summer holidays. "Dad, look at that. That's a top quality racing broom, that is!"

Ted grinned as he came over from the sofa. "Giving Gryffindor a run for their money then, eh?"

"Well," she said huffily, "I haven't, and Draco actually lost to Potter, but we'll get there. Once they let me actually play properly." She looked at Dora. "I was benched all season, even before it got cut short."

Andromeda shook her head. "Slytherin's always been the same, Aurora. Tradition is tradition and when it comes to Quidditch, that means no girls get to play. It's remarkable you got yourself a spot in the first place."

"Draco got me the spot," she muttered, crossing her arms. "Well, he got me the trial. I don't think Flint thought I would be any good, but I was."

"You just keep at it next season," Ted told her. "There must be a spot opening."

"Only a Chaser and Beater," she said. "Now Pucey and Symms have left, but Flint says he has a plan of who he wants to join the Chaser trio and I doubt it'll be me, and I'm not really the build for a Beater. But I guess at least I'd get to play." Aurora scowled. "I might have a chance next year: there's a few seventh years now, including Flint, so they'll leave. It's so frustrating though."

"I quite share your frustration, Aurora. They were the same in my day." Andromeda smiled. "Bloody brilliant broom though."

"Can I have a go?" Dora asked, seemingly unable to help herself. Aurora laughed.

"Go for it."

"Oh, you don't want to give Dora a broom, she'll fly it into a tree."

"Dad!" Dora looked quite furious. "I am not that clumsy! I was on the Hufflepuff team!"

"And Slytherin had a winning streak all that time," Andromeda said with a smirk. Both Ted and Dora looked annoyed by this comment, prompting Aurora to laugh.

"I won't fly it into a tree," Dora assured her. "Dad's just trying to embarrass me, like he always does."

"That's my job."

"Give us a go then." She winked. "Promise I won't hurt it."

Despite Dora's assurances, Aurora was incredibly nervous watching her fly the Nimbus Two Thousand and One around the Tonkses' garden, and breathed out a giant sigh of relief when she touched down again. "Wicked," Dora said, grinning. She scrunched up her nose to force her hair back into place, at the same time turning it a vibrant orange.

"I'm still so jealous you can do that," Aurora told her.

"Listen," Dora said, grinning, "you still got that colour-changing potion I got you for Christmas?"

"Yes," she said warily, "but I haven't used it yet." Seeing the grin on Dora's face, she added, "But I'm not going to dye it that colour!"

Dora grinned. "Aw, but you'd look so cute ginger."

"And be mistaken for a Weasley?" She pulled a face. "No way. Plus, it'd probably turn it green."

"It could match your robes!"

"Absolutely not. Well..."

"One day," Dora said, with a wink. "I'll bring you round to it. Only don't tell Mum, she'd kill me for 'leading sweet little Aurora astray'."

"Sweet little Aurora?" She pulled an incredulous face, causing Dora to laugh.

"You are very cute, little munchkin."

She scowled playfully. "You're not getting a turn on my broom anymore. And don't call me munchkin!"

Dora just grinned.

Xx

The Parkinsons' annual Summer gala was set for the second week in August, and this year Aurora had been invited. She felt very grown up when she went to go shopping with Millicent and Lucille in Diagon Alley, all of them excited. Lucille already had more robes than she could possibly know what to do with - Aurora had seen her Hogwarts wardrobe - but she still wanted a new set for the gala, while Millicent fretted over what to buy.

"I like these grey ones," she told them, looking dubiously at the racks in Twilfitt and Taffling's.

"You can't wear grey to a Summer gala, Millie!" Lucille cried, holding several sets of scarlet, orange and canary yellow robes. "It has to be bright! Colourful! Summery! Like Aurora's!" She pointed to the soft blue robes Aurora was holding, which were so soft and silky they felt like water between her hands.

Millicent grumbled, but the others helped her pick out a set of pale lilac and silver robes that went well with her complexion. They took an awfully long time to decide what to buy, but Lucille's mother didn't seem to mind, and even took them out for ice cream as a treat afterwards before returning the girls home.

When Aurora got inside, having been dropped off in the garden by Mrs Travers, she could tell something was off. Dora wasn't home for a starter and Andromeda and Ted were talking nervously in the kitchen.

"We'll have to tell her before she sees it in the papers."

"It's an awful thing to have to break to her, though. Goodness, and she's had such a lovely day out."

"What's going on?" she asked uncertainly, hovering in the doorway.

Andromeda startled when she saw her, an expression of guilt coming over her face. "Oh, Aurora! Sorry, dear, I didn't hear you coming in!"

She glanced between them both. "What are you talking about? What do you need to tell me? And where's Dora?"

"She's been called into the Ministry for an emergency training session," Andromeda began.

That made Aurora nervous. What emergency? "And?"

"We've just gotten the news through from Azkaban," Ted said. There was a nervous look in his eyes, and Aurora's stomach flipped over.

"What about?" She could hear the fear in her own voice. There was only one thing they could have been talking about, only one person. Had something happened to her father? Had he finally died in there? It was something that she'd thought of enough times that she couldn't quite believe it now. But the look in Andromeda's eyes seemed too fearful to speak only of death. "What's happened?"

They both looked at each other for a long, tense moment before Andromeda finally spoke. Aurora was ready for them to tell them he'd died. She was expecting it. But Andromeda said, "Your father has escaped from Azkaban."

Aurora's stomach plummeted and shock froze her. "He's WHAT?" Aurora stared at Andromeda. "HOW? It's meant to be impossible to escape from there!"

"No one knows how he did it," Andromeda told her. "The Aurors are already on the case, they've reacted quickly, I'm sure he'll be caught soon."

"That's why Dora's been called in?" She felt sick to her stomach. This was not good, not good at all. What if Dora got hurt by him? "But - but why's he broken out?"

After what had happened with Quirrel, and the rumours last year, Aurora couldn't help but feel terror at the thought of what Sirius Black was up to. Her father. Maybe her grandmother would have welcomed the thought of the Dark Lord rising again, but he had taken every possibility of a family from her. He'd killed her mother. His betrayal of the family had driven his parents and brother to their early graves. And if he was loose, what might he do if he found her? "We don't know that either," Andromeda said quietly. "But it isn't for you to worry about, Aurora."

"He's my father," she said. "What - what if he comes to find me?"

They both frowned. "Why would he do that?"

"Well, he's - he's the reason my mother died, isn't he? Because he turned Death Eater, what if he tries to-"

"He wouldn't," Andromeda said firmly. "He's not going to do anything to hurt you, Aurora, you're his daughter."

"She was his wife!"

"You don't need to worry," Ted assured her. "He's not coming to hurt you, and you are safe with us. We promise, we'll look after you."

She didn't want to admit to being scared, but she was. She remembered Walburga saying Sirius was the worst thing to happen to the family, Arcturus refusing to speak of him, Lucretia calling him Blood Traitor and Death Eater and everything in between even if Aurora didn't understand how he could be both. Even without a lord, he was dangerous. Even before he'd had one, he had turned his back on and destroyed his family. A murderer and a traitor.

But she didn't want to think about any of that. It didn't feel real, that her father had escaped from prison. It ought to have been impossible, and somehow this felt like more of a shock than any death because she could never have prepared for it and had never seen it coming. He had a life sentence. By all accounts, he should be dead or completely insane by now. And if he was insane, who was to say what he would do?

"Do you think I'll still be able to go to the gala?" she asked, anything to distract from the idea she might get murdered by her father.

Andromeda blinked. "Well, I don't see why not. The Parkinsons won't rescind their invitation, it would be awful manners, and I'm sure they'll have excellent security." She smiled at Aurora gently. "No one's going to hurt you. I promise."

Dora didn't get home until late that night. Aurora was meant to be in bed, but she couldn't sleep until she heard her come back safe. "Dora?" she whispered, seeing her shadow by the door. "What's happening?"

The door opened just a crack and Dora slipped inside, looking tired, which was a very odd look on her. "I'm not meant to tell anyone much," she said. "But seeing as it's you, I reckon you've got a right to know." She nodded eagerly, though nervous for what Dora might say. "Fudge was in Azkaban a few days ago, just a routine observation. He said Black seemed completely normal, like he wasn't affected by the Dementors at all. Apparently he was saying..." She trailed off. "He kept saying 'he's at Hogwarts' over and over again."

"He?" Aurora asked, perplexed. "Who?"

"Can't you think of anyone?" She could. She very much could.

"You think he's going after Harry Potter?"

"I think it's a possibility," Dora said. "And the Auror Department agreed. Of course, they're not telling us much else, but we've had a whole training session about how to interact with Dementors and work with them to try and capture him."

"But you will capture him, won't you?"

"Course we will," Dora said, though she wasn't very convincing. "Well, not me personally, but the Aurors are brilliant. Don't you worry about it."

"Of course I'm going to worry about it," Aurora said grumpily, and Dora grinned.

"Get some sleep. We can go out for a fly tomorrow, I'm not in until the afternoon since we were kept so late at night. They're going to break the news in the Prophet tomorrow - and they're putting it out in the Muggle press, too."

"Really?" She supposed it made sense. They had to take this seriously. "I should write Gwen then, shouldn't I?"

Dora nodded. "I think that'd be a good idea. It's better she hears what's happening from you, than if she's confused and doesn't know what's going on. The Muggles aren't going to be given the full picture, obviously."

"Right." She shut her eyes, frowning. "Thanks for telling me, Dora."

"Course. Don't tell Mum I've told you though, she says she thinks you're scared enough."

"I'm not scared," Aurora said. Dora grinned at her.

"I know you aren't, Aurora. Get some sleep."

But she couldn't sleep. She had few photographs of her father as he had been in his school days, and most had been kept so she could try and figure out what her mother had looked like, but the thought of that man now in his thirties, as a murderer and traitor fresh out of Azkaban, driven insane, chilled her to her very bones. There was a part of her that relished the idea of coming into contact with him, to make him pay for his betrayal of his family, but there was a larger part that was terrified he would kill her. Would a man like that show mercy for his daughter? She doubted it. Even if once he might have, he wouldn't now.

She lay awake long into the night, worrying and wondering. When she finally got to sleep, it was a restless one, and her dreams were fitful whispers and hisses from her long-gone family. Traitor, murderer, Death Eater, weak, lunatic. Disgrace and scum. Unfit to bear the Black name. We do not speak of him. Do not ask questions about your father. Somewhere in the recesses of her memory or imagination, there was green light and screaming and a man laughing maniacally. She woke up feeling like she was falling. Like that green light had hit her.

Her fingers scrambled on her bedside table. She took one of the snake necklaces and held it tight to her chest. Claudius' voice whispered, "The traitor will not hurt you," but it still didn't help her sleep again.