Disclaimer: I don't own HP, I only own Evan and Iris.

Welcome to Family Secrets: The Prisoner of Azkaban! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as its' predecessors!

Read, enjoy and review!

Chapter One

The Escapee

"Good afternoon, Aludra," Mind Healer Emily Blishwick née Turpin, aunt of Lisa Turpin, Aludra's year mate and study-partner/friendly acquaintance, greeted her youngest patient with a soft smile. Emily had pale skin with warm brown eyes and chin-length, curly strawberry-blond hair. She was missing her left arm and had a bunch of small scars decorating her face, having been badly injured in the War at the same time as her husband was murdered. After the War she had risen to Head Mind Healer at St. Mungo's, and was an expert in treating mental trauma. She mainly worked with Aurors nowadays but had agreed to take Aludra on as a client on Sirius' request.

Apparently, he'd taken down the Death Eater who'd killed Emily's husband, Edmund Blishwick, saving Emily and her son, Lionel, and she felt she owed him. Letting his daughter skip the waiting list and attend sessions with her despite being under seventeen (Emily not typically treating children or teenagers), was a small request in comparison to her son's life.

"Good afternoon, Emily," Aludra replied politely, smiling at her Mind Healer who had done so much to help her recover from the trauma of the last two years.

Sirius had been insistent on Aludra attending Mind Healing given how distraught she was after the Chamber of Secrets disaster. Aludra had even begged to come home early despite how upset she'd been to be pulled out at Yule, and Sirius had been forced to take a week off work because of how hysterical his daughter became when separated from him. Initially, they'd done a session a day, but after a month and a half of mind healing, Aludra was down to one a week, and her nightmares had steadily eased to twice or three times a week.

Emily assured them she was improving very quickly given the trauma she'd gone through.

Of course, the latest disaster (for once not Hogwarts-centred) hadn't helped things, but at least she didn't need a dose of Dreamless Sleep to get through the night anymore.

"So," Emily said in her calm, soothing voice. "Is there anything specific that you want to discuss? Any nightmares or panic attacks this week?"

"I had one nightmare, but that's not what I want to talk about," Aludra replied. She bit her bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "I-I'm starting to wonder about my mother and my birth father," she admitted in a hushed voice, shame and guilt filling her at the admission.

Emily didn't outwardly react, simply studying her with her shrewd but kind eyes. "I see," she murmured. "And you're ashamed of this?"

If she didn't know any better, Aludra would think that her Mind Healer was using Legilimency on her, but she did. Aludra had started Occlumency lessons at the tender age of five, and was trained by her Granddad Albus, one of the most powerful Mind Mages in Europe this century (admittedly, Queenie Kowalski in the US was stronger, but all the same, the point stood. Aludra would notice if Emily was trying to look into her mind). Mind Healing did involve the use of the Mind Arts, but not right then. Emily was just adept at reading people.

"Yes," Aludra admitted, knowing there was no point in denying it. It didn't matter how poised she looked; the Mind Healer saw straight through her. "It's just-I love my family, and I know how lucky I am. And Daddy is the most amazing parent I could ever ask for. I wouldn't trade him for a thousand other parents.

It's just that I had my period for the first time over the weekend, and Aunt Meda and Aunt Alice took me shopping for women things. Bras, make up...and they taught me the spells for when I'm going through my cycle. And I-it just made me wonder about my mother, because that's stuff she should be telling me, isn't it? I just-I guess I've just started to wonder why they abandoned me. Why wasn't I good enough to be their daughter?"

The young Heiress tasted salt and realized that at some point, she had started to cry.

"I see," Emily said gently, reaching out to rub Aludra's shoulder in comfort. "The first thing I want to say is that it has nothing to do with whether or not you were good enough, alright Aludra? Whatever happened to lead to them abandoning you, the fault lies entirely with your birth parents. As a mother, I can promise you that no child could ever do anything bad enough to deserve to be abandoned. I want you to remember that. Alright?"

"Alright," Aludra sniffed, using a handkerchief to dab at her damp cheeks.

"Secondly, I assume you haven't spoken to your family about this?" Emily prodded carefully.

Aludra shook her head in horror at the thought. "Oh no, I can't!" She exclaimed. "I don't want to hurt my father! I don't want him to think I'm not happy and grateful he adopted me. I am really. I just-want to understand."

"Well then," Emily said quietly. "These are our options: we can work on you finding the strength and words to ask your father about your birth parents, or we can work on you coming to terms with not knowing those answers. Which is your preference? And remember, if you decide you don't want to speak with your father yet, then you can change your mind later on. There's no pressure."

Aludra was quiet for a while before she made up her mind. "I don't want to speak to Daddy yet," she decided. "Not right now, at least. I'm not ready. I'm curious, but I'm too afraid to learn the answers just yet."

"I understand," Emily agreed. "Then we'll work on coming to terms with that curious, accepting it, and putting it away to the back of your mind until you are ready."

Aludra nodded. Emily gestured to the rolled-up woven mats in the corner with her wand, causing them to spread out on her floor. They sat cross-legged on one each, facing one another. "Close your eyes and begin to breathe in and out deeply, picturing your mindscape in your mind's eye," Emily began in a soothing voice, another flick of her wand causing some gentle classical music to start playing on her enchanted record player.

Aludra closed her eyes and conjured up an image of the Black Family Library, letting herself fall into a light meditation as her healer guided her in learning how to tuck away her curiosity and release her shame and guilt about that feeling of curiosity.

She'd been upset when Sirius first decided to send her to a Mind Healer, but she couldn't deny it was doing her the world of good to talk to someone neutral who constantly validated her emotions and helped her come to terms with everything that had happened over the last two years.

Once her hour-long session was over, Aludra said her goodbyes to Emily, booked her next appointment for next Thursday, and left the office, heading to the waiting area where her Uncle Remus waited for her, reading a copy of the Daily Prophet. Aludra grimaced at the sight of the mugshot on the front page, showing a struggling and shouting man in torn robes.

Peter Ignatius Pettigrew, once known to his friends as Wormtail, the fourth Marauder. The only one to turn to the Dark and become a Death Eater.

He had escaped on the night of Thursday, July 15th. It was now Thursday, July 29th, and there was no still sign of him, despite Sirius' team (and the rest of the Auror Corps) throwing themselves into finding the escaped Death Eater. Even the muggles had been alerted and were on the lookout, but of course the main bulk of the search fell on the shoulders of the Anti-Dark Forces' Taskforce. Aludra had barely seen her father in the past two weeks since Kingsley came running out of the Floo in the middle of the night yelling about the breakout. Thankfully, Black Manor had become sort of waystation for the team, so whenever one of them needed sleep or chocolate (as the Minister had had the 'bright' idea to have Dementors of all things actively involved in searching for Pettigrew, completely ignoring the dangers of the evil creatures and that Pettigrew had gotten past them once already) they stopped by the Manor for a rest.

Unfortunately, that group now involved Lord Potter, who had re-joined the Aurors when Pettigrew broke out. Despite having quit when his son was only a few months old and only being a Junior Auror at the time, he was immediately assigned to Sirius' team in a blatant case of currying favour with the Boy-Who-Lived. Remus tried to be polite with his former friend, but he was still curt in a way that was very atypical for him, while Aludra always claimed that she had homework or something to do whenever she was unfortunate enough to come across her friends' father.

"All done?" Remus asked her, folding his newspaper and tucking it inside his magically expanded cloak pocket.

Aludra nodded quickly. "Yes," she confirmed. "Will Daddy be there for dinner tonight?" She knew it was unlikely, but there was always hope. He'd made it a few times, so it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility.

Remus gave her a familiar, sad smile. "I don't think so, cub," he told her gently. "The team said there was a sighting of him breaking into a muggle clothes store in Somerset that they need to chase up. A muggle called the hotline."

"Is the store owner alright?" Aludra asked worriedly. Pettigrew had been the least powerful of the Marauders, but that wasn't saying much given what powerhouses the foursome had been, and still were. He had been a Charms and warding expert, having created the spells that powered the Marauders' Map, and, during his arrest, had blown up a street full of muggles, killing thirteen and injuring another seven, not to mention Sirius and Remus. He was also complicit in the murders of the Prewetts, the Bones, the McKinnons, Dorcas Meadows, Benjamin Fenwick and Caradoc Dearborn, and Merlin knew who else. Clearly he had no concerns about murder and torture. A muggle would be defenceless against him.

"She's fine," Remus assured her as they made for the Floos on the ground floor. "She wasn't there at the time. It was nighttime. Shop was closed. But there was a muggle outside for some reason and he spotted Pettigrew breaking in."

Aludra nodded solemnly. They had arrived at the Floos, so she dropped the conversation while they Flooed back to the Manor.

"What do you think he wants?" She asked softly once they were at the dinner table, digging into their shepherd's pie.

Remus sighed and rubbed his chin. "Honestly, I don't know, Ally," he admitted. "He's not the Wormtail I thought I knew. Hasn't been for a long time, and that was before he spent twelve years in Azkaban. I don't know anything about this new Peter."

Aludra nodded again, not pushing him to guess. She could see the pain and betrayal in his eyes as he spoke, and she didn't want to force him to wallow in it just to answer her questions.

After dinner they changed into their nightclothes and settled in the salon, Remus burying himself in lesson plans for the upcoming year, while Aludra took out her sketchpad and continued working on her picture of Padfoot, Moony and Ruby playing in a forest beneath a full moon. She intended to paint it as a present for her father's birthday in November. Suddenly, the fireplace flared green and the Potter children stumbled out, Iris holding tight to her brother's hand, dressed in their nightclothes without so much as a cloak to cover them and clearly shaken. Neither Aludra nor Remus had a chance to say anything before their mother fell out, gasping for breath. "Lily? Kids? What happened?" Remus demanded sharply, bending down to help Lady Potter rise to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Aludra added worriedly, focusing on her friends, especially Iris who looked close to tears.

"The wards," Lady Potter gasped, gathering Evan and Iris to her in a tight, desperate embrace. "They were falling! I didn't know what to do, but the kids wanted to come here."

Remus quickly walked to the fireplace and pressed a particular stone with the tip of his wand, making it flare bright red before turning back to grey. "There," he said, satisfied. "It's sealed now. I'll send a Patronus to Sirius to let him know. For now..." He paused and waved his wand over Evan and Iris, cleaning them up. "Kids, why don't you go upstairs. You can sleep in Ally's room tonight. Lily come into the kitchen and have a Calming Draught. You look worse than when we got the news about the McKinnons." He guided the shaken Lady out of the room, while Aludra turned to her friends and began herding them upstairs to her bedroom.

"Are the two of you okay?" She repeated as they climbed the stairs.

"Fine, just nearly annoyed," Evan replied honestly. "I just can't believe it! The wards are supposed to be impenetrable, but last year Dobby broke in, and now an insane Death Eater with a grudge."

Iris shuddered and whimpered, and Aludra shot Evan a warning look as she wrapped an arm around the younger girl in comfort, rubbing her arm gently.

"It's okay, Iris," she promised her comfortingly. "You're safe here. It's under the Fidelius, and no one'll ever guess the Secret Keeper. And that's not counting all the other wards that have been layered on the Manor since it was built in the 1780s. Daddy says it's the safest house in Britain."

"Who is your Secret Keeper anyway?" Evan asked curiously. "Last year Sirius just gave us a note with the address without telling who it is."

"It's Millie, and she doesn't leave the house now," Aludra explained as she opened her bedroom door and let her friends in to collapse on her bed in exhaustion.

"That's genius!" Iris exclaimed. "A well-treated house-elf would never betray their master's secrets, and even if she wanted to, your dad could just order her only to tell those he gave permission to tell."

"Which is exactly what he did," Aludra confirmed, giving Iris a smile of praise.

"And nobody would ever suspect a house-elf would be entrusted with something like that in the first place," Evan added thoughtfully. "Iris is right. That's genius."

Aludra smiled in pride for her father's genius, nodding her agreement.

Iris yawned and rubbed her eyes. Aludra glanced at her clock and saw it was ten o'clock. No wonder the eleven-year-old was tired after such a stressful night. "I think we should all go to sleep and then we can catch up in the morning," she said decisively.

Evan opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when Lord Potter knocked and entered the room on receiving Aludra's permission.

"Kids," he greeted them tiredly.

Aludra bristled at the informality he used in respect to her but said nothing for the sake of her friends and peace.

"Dad!" The Potter children cried meanwhile, running to him for an embrace. Even Evan hugged his father tightly in relief.

"Daddy, I was so scared," Iris cried. Lord Potter rubbed his daughter's back soothingly. The similarity to Sirius comforting Aludra was disconcerting for a reason she couldn't identify.

"I know, Princess, and I'm so sorry," Lord Potter murmured. "I promise, this won't happen again. Siri- that is, Lord Black has kindly agreed to host us for the rest of the summer and there will be an Auror present at all times. We'll be safe here.

I'm sorry. There was a sighting of Pettigrew in Somerset, but we didn't realize he was heading for Cornwall. Frankly, after so long with the Dementors I'm surprised even remembers where it is. We should have been more on guard. Lady Magic knows he was over at Castle Peverell enough to find it and study the wards despite all the enchantments on it. I'm so sorry kids."

"It's alright," Evan claimed. "Nobody was hurt. Wait! Daisy's alright, isn't she? Mum sent her to Godric's Hollow, but she couldn't come with us because of the Fidelius."

"Daisy is fine," Lord Potter assured them. "Now Iris. I know this was frightening, Iris, but I need you to be a strong girl for your mum, alright? Can you do that?"

Iris sniffled but nodded determinedly. Aludra stood awkwardly to the side, forcing herself not to fidget at the discomfort she felt in Lord Potter's presence.

"Good girl," Lord Potter sighed. "Bedtime now, for all of you. It's been a rough evening. Lord Black said you could spend the night in here with Aludra. Your rooms'll be made up in the morning, but he thought it would comfort you to stay with each other tonight, and Lily and I agreed. That is, if you're all comfortable?"

Evan and Iris were quick to agree, as did Aludra, even if she was a bit surprised that her father was willing to forgo proprietary like this. They'd done it last summer, but only once without asking for permission because the Potters were so upset. In general, though, sharing a room, let alone a bed, was for young siblings, not friends. Especially given she and Evan were thirteen now. (Well, Evan would be thirteen in a few days so it was essentially the same thing). Still, she wasn't about to object and refuse to comfort Evan and Iris when they needed her to be there for them.

"Great," Lord Potter sighed. He gave Iris a hug and wished her goodnight, clasped Evan's shoulder and, to Aludra's bewildered surprise and discomfort, hesitated then gave her a quick side hug. She stood frozen, utterly shocked at his presumption, as he finally left her bedroom, much to her relief. She shook herself out of her stupor and herded her friends into bed, Iris in the middle, Evan on the left and Aludra on the right.

"Good night," Iris sighed, quickly drifting off, while Aludra stared at the ceiling, wondering what had possessed Lord Potter to touch her without permission.

"Ally? Are you okay?" Evan whispered groggily.

"I'm fine," Aludra whispered back.

Evan was silent for a moment before asking. "Was it Dad?" He took her silence as an affirmative and sighed. "You know, they really are good people who acknowledge that they made a mistake, a big one," he told her softly. "Can't you try to forgive them?"

"But it's not my forgiveness to give," Aludra pointed out lowly. "It was my dad and Uncle Remus that they hurt. It's them who have to forgive your parents, not me. Until then, I have to support Daddy and Uncle Remus, just like you have to support your parents."

"I know you're right, it's just hard," Evan murmured sadly.

"Whatever happens between our parents, just remember that we'll always be best friends, okay Evan?"

"Yeah, I know," she could hear the smile in his voice.

That was the end of their conversation, as after that they let themselves drift off to sleep at last.