Forgotten Girl

Summer and Sirius

"Ellie!" Thia called her name as she stepped off the train, and she hurried to her side, wrapping her in a tight hug. As they went back through the wall, she kept an arm around her so as not to lose her to the crowd. Thia guided her away from the station and down a side street, before offering her arm. Lilli took it, and they disappeared.

They reappeared in Diagon Alley, outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Both with ice cream in hand, they took a seat at a table outside.

"Lilli, I've something to discuss with you," Thia said, twirling her straw through her shake, "You are going to stay with me for the summer. Remus... has work travelling."

Lilli raised her brow at her aunt's excuse, but nodded, "Alright."

"And I got a new dog." The younger witch looked up, wondering if that meant what she thought. Thia nodded.

"Does he know? About me?" Lilli swallowed her last bite of ice cream as she waited for Thia to answer. 

"I don't think so. I'm not even sure he knows I have any kid." Thia tweaked Lilli's nose, "Ready?"

~

"Hey, Thia! Can you spare a minute?" Jeremy, Thia's friend and neighbour, asked, leaning against his fence, "Hullo, Ellie."

"Course, Jer. You can go on inside, love." Lilli nodded, smiling at the man before continuing on up to the house. She stopped for a moment to right a tulip that was pulling up its roots on one side. Hopping up the last few steps, she tapped a rhythm on the designs of a flower pot, waiting for it to reveal the key. It was an enchantment inspired by the Hufflepuff common room entrance and had been gifted to Thia by her friend Teddy.

Once the door was unlocked, she hid the key again, then pushed it open. Just as she stepped over the threshold, a giant dog knocked her back, paws pinning her shoulders down. Lilli looked up at the growling mutt and rolled her eyes.

"Get off of me, Padfoot. I live here." The dog cocked his head, staring down with haunted eyes. In all honesty, Lilli probably could have pushed him off, skinny as he was, but she let him stay until he chose to move. 

Finally, she got up, making a face at her dog/uncle, "That's really no way to react to a new person, you know. Not a foot in the door and attacking me." She shook her head, kicking the door closed behind her as she carried her trunk in. When she turned around again, Sirius Black stood in the dog's place, although his eyes carried the same haunted look.

"You can't be... But you look just like them..." He stepped closer, squatting to peer at the girl in front of him, "Are you...?"

"Elliana Rose Potter. Born July 15th, 1981." As he looked, he saw more and more. Those hazel eyes were James all the way, as was the small grin that curled the right side of her mouth. But the rest, that was Lily, from the red hair to her small stature.

"How did I not know?" A new pain filled his eyes. He was blaming himself for not being there for her, despite having just met her. She took his hand, leading him into the living room and settling down at one end of the couch. He sat at the other, copying her when she pulled her knees to her chest. It was almost comical, the tall man folded in half like that.

"Mum and Dad made Remus godfather. Dumbledore didn't know about me until I started Hogwarts. Harry still doesn't know who I am."

"So who does?"

"Me, Uncle Remus, Aunt Thia," Lilli began listing them off on her fingers, "McGonagall, Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey, I think. Snape has guessed by now. And one of my friends. That's all."

Suddenly, he turned back into a dog. Lilli let him lie down, laughing when he butted his head against her hand. Obliging, she ran her fingers through his fur. 

Thia found them like that when she entered the house, laughing softly, "Well, I see you two are getting along. There's soup in the kitchen if you want some, Ellie."

~

"So, Ellie, tell me a story." She looked up at her uncle, raising an eyebrow. Sirius and she had danced around each other the first week, neither quite sure how to talk to each other. Now it seemed Sirius had found a way.

"Like, from my life?" He shrugged, "Alright... umm... Oh! I've got it.

"Before I went to Hogwarts, I went to a muggle school near Grandpa Lyall's place. I was at school the first time my magic flared. Some kids were teasing me for my hair of all things, so I accidentally made theirs match." Sirius laughed.

"Accidentally, huh? That sounds like an excuse I know all too well." He winked, "Your dad and I used to say that all the time. Your uncle and aunt did too."

"Aunt Thia did?" Lilli's eyes widened, "I can't imagine that."

"Oh yeah, she did it a lot. One time," Sirius leaned back, checking to make sure it wasn't time for Thia to come home yet, "One time, near Christmas, she enchanted our noses to look like that muggle reindeer... Rudolph. Even made us grow antlers."

Lilli laughed, imagining her aunt pulling a prank.

"Minnie immediately marched over, telling us to 'stop this foolishness this instant'." Lilli laughed even harder at his imitation of the Deputy Headmistress, "Course we couldn't, cause Thia had done the spell.

"So, Minnie looks at her, and I still swear that she winked at Thia, and asked her what happened. 'It was an accident, Professor, really,'" he put on a sickly sweet voice, and Lilli was starting to tear up, "'I wasn't trying to do it to them, just those snowmen over there.'"

"Did she really? Ow!" Thia flicked the back of both their heads.

"Telling lies, Sirius? I did no such thing. That was Lily," Thia winked at Lilli, "Your mother loved to get these lads. Drove them absolutely insane, because they never could prove it was her."

"Don't you act innocent, Miss Hell-Raiser!" Sirius shook his fist jokingly at her, "You have pulled your fair share of pranks! Or must I remind you of the jello?"