11. SUMMER AT CASA BLACK

They landed in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, and were surrounded by applause. "Yes, thank you, everyone. I know we did a better job than any of you ever could." She bowed, and opened Hedwig's cage, allowing the owl to fly away.

Harry noticed Sirius sat at the head of the table, and did a double take, realizing how different his godfather looked from the last time he had seen him. He was clean shaven, and his hair combed and no longer greasy. Clothes not ripped, and quite the opposite actually, they looked very expensive. Now that he noticed, Elara's clothes looked new as well, he guessed they had gone on a bit of a shopping spree, now that Sirius had access to his vaults. After 13 years of being locked up, he must have been aching for some clean clothes.

"Sirius!" Harry grinned happily, rushing towards his godfather. Sirius laughed and wrapped the young Potter in a tight hug.

"Harry. Welcome home."

"Alright, alright. Now that we've gotten all these warm greetings out of the way. Elara, would you mind telling us why Nott is here."

"He has a name. It's Theodore and you should use it." Elara grabbed Theodore's hand and squeezed it, feeling him squeeze back. "I know many of you don't really think much of him. But, when you think about it, we're pretty much the same. We're both Slytherins, and we're both from families that have always been linked to the dark side, that is until my father was sorted into Gryffindor. So, when will you realise, that not all Slytherins are bad. If you think badly of Theodore Nott, then you should think bad of me, Elara Black."

"Why's Theodore living with you and Sirius, El?" Harry asked, curious.

"I won't go into much detail, just what I think is appropriate to say. But Theodore is here because his father is a sick bastard who doesn't know how to treat him right, and I couldn't leave him at the mercy of that monster. So, he's here because of that, and also because I want him here. Now, if you'll excuse us." She left the room with Theodore following her and went right to her bedroom, falling onto the bed.

After a while, Elara spoke up again. "Theo?"

"Yes, Lara?"

"Can you play with my hair?" Elara loved having Theodore play with her hair, but only Theodore. Anyone else who touched her hair would probably have their hand chopped right off. Theodore smiled at her question and nodded his head, heading for the bed. He leaned against the headboard and Elara placed her head on his lap.

He began running his hands through her silky, black hair, causing her eyes to droop. "Thanks for being there, Theo."

"Likewise, Lara."

Elara began falling asleep slowly, as his fingers brushed through her hair. The door slammed open and she started slightly in his arms. Theodore looked up, glaring at the kids who had just walked in. "Be quiet. She's asleep."

Ron's mouth dropped open as he looked at Theodore's hands. "You're touching her hair."

"Yes?"

"She never lets anyone touch her hair." Hermione commented, and Harry nodded.

"Well I'm not anyone, am I? I'm her best friend, and she lets me."

The kids just shook their heads, and promptly left the room. Theodore rolled his eyes at their antics, and then turned his attention back to Elara, who was sleeping peacefully. He continued running his fingers through her hair absentmindedly.

She moved slightly, and turned her head, pressing her cheek against his thigh and sighing. Theodore chuckled. Elara was the type of person who would latch onto whoever she was beside when she fell asleep, and usually it was Theodore, or Bianca.

MINI TIME SKIP

Throughout the summer, everyone had gotten to know Theodore a little bit better, and most of them eased up around him, taking Elara's words to heart. Because she spoke the truth. Her and him were very similar, both Slytherins, both from families associated with dark magic, and Voldemort.

Theodore himself slowly eased out of the little bubble he was in. He almost never talked to anyone before, besides his Slytherin classmates, and occasionally Elara's other friends. But, he wasn't very close to them, and the rest of the summer served as a way for him to become more social. He became quite close to Fred and George actually, they helped Elara get the smile back on his face after what his father had put him through.

But, while the summer was fun, it was now September 1st, and it was time for them to go back to their home away from home. And it truly was, Elara never truly had a home until her father came back recently, and so Hogwarts was all she had. She may have had Cedrella, but it wasn't the same.

And this year was also her 6th year. The year in which she would start her bucket list, and do her best to complete all of it by the end of next year, her last year.

Somehow, without even trying, she'd crossed off several of the things last year. Seeing her father, which was completely unexpected, yet greatly welcomed, and also breaking into the Shrieking Shack, which she had done after following Harry, Ron and Hermione into it. Another thing she crossed off was drinking firewhiskey. Both her and Bianca were lovers of that drink.

But this year, was the last chance she would have to do a lot of these things, considering she had her N.E.W.T.s next year, which according to everyone, stand up to their name (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). But Elara knew she was going to be fine.

The morning of September 1st, Elara was woken up by her father shoving her out of bed. She hit the cold floor and groaned. "Ah, what the actual fuck, Dad."

Sirius merely laughed and nudged her with his foot. "Move it, little moon. Time to go back to school." Hearing this caused Elara to shoot up from where she lay on the ground.

"Well, why didn't you just start with that? I would have gotten up!" She complained, a frown across her face.

"Couldn't risk it. Now hurry, we need to leave, and you haven't changed, or eaten." Sirius ordered, before walking back downstairs. Elara threw herself onto her bed and groaned. She wanted to go back to sleep, and also didn't want to leave her father after finally being reunited with him after so long.

"You alright, Lara?" She heard someone ask. Elara turned to her side and looked towards her door, to see Theodore stood in the doorway of Regulus', well actually, now it was Theodore's, bedroom. He was still in his pyjamas, and his hair was messy.

"I'll be fine." She smiled, before getting up and grabbing her clothes, heading to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and brushed her teeth, before getting dressed in a chunky, emerald green jumper, paired with some black skinny jeans.

Elara headed to her mirror and grabbed some eyeliner and mascara, and applied them, then she swiped on some dark red lipstick and combed her hair. She had it cut this summer, and it was slightly shorter than shoulder length. She ran her fingers through it and left it slightly messy. Then she left the bathroom, shrunk her trunk, grabbed her shoulder bag and walked downstairs in her Slytherin socks.

She walked right into the kitchen and sat on the table in front of Ginny, who looked up at her, an amused smile on her face. Elara opened her mouth, and the red head chuckled and placed a piece of toast in her mouth, causing Elara to close it and chew happily, before she slid from the table and fell into a seat beside Ginny and George, and opposite Theodore.

He sent her a smile, his dimples popping, and nudged a plate of food in her direction. She sent him a thankful look, grabbed a fork and knife, and dug in. But, she couldn't finish all of it, as her dad walked by, grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Let's go."

"But the food!" She whined, reaching her arm out towards the table of food. Everyone had gotten up and was now laughing at the young Black's attempts to delay the inevitable.

"You can buy some on the train. We have to go sweetheart; we're going to be late." And he guided her to the front door, with her still casting desperate looks at her plate of food.

At the door, everyone grabbed their trunks, and then they were paired with someone to Apparate with. Sirius grabbed both Elara and Harry, and Theodore was with Remus. They Apparated to King's Cross Station, and landed on Platform 9 ¾.

Sirius turned to Harry and hugged him goodbye, before letting him go. Then, he faced his daughter, and placed his hands on her shoulder. She smiled at him sadly. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I'll miss you, Dad."

"I'll miss you too, little moon. Have fun, and cause trouble for me."

"You know I always do." Sirius hugged her, and she hugged back, letting a few tears slip down her cheeks. He pulled away and wiped the tears away.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And then, after sending her father one last, sad smile, Elara turned away, and walked towards the train, where Theodore stood waiting. Sirius could see her best friend send her a concerned look, before wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and leading her inside.

Theodore had his arm wrapped around Elara's shoulder as she wiped a tear off her face. He guided her through the train until they got to the section commonly known as the Slytherin section, and there they sat in a compartment.

"You'll see him at Christmas, Lara."

"Yeah. I know Theo. It's just- I've waited for him to come back for so long, and now that he is back, I have to leave. Don't get me wrong, I love Hogwarts, it's literally my home away from home. But, I wish he were here. At least I have you." She kissed his cheek, before leaning against him and closing her eyes.

"Yeah." Came the faint reply. The compartment was silent for a while, until someone came barging in, causing Elara to jump, and immediately pull her wand out and point it at the person. It was Bianca.

"Woah, woah. It's me El. It's Bia."

"Sorry Bia. I guess I've been on edge for some reason." Elara sighed and sat back down, tucking her wand into her boot. Bianca sat down opposite her.

"It's alright love." She smiled at her best friend comfortingly. "Hey Theodore."

"Hey Bianca." He replied, lips turned up slightly.

"Sorry to do this, but I'll be taking El away from you. We need to talk, and catch up." Bianca looped her arm around Elara's and pulled her along. The black haired girl turned around and sent Theodore one last smile and waved before she was dragged away.

"El, El, El. What did I interrupt. Was it something steamy?" Bianca smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Elara rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be ridiculous. We were talking about stuff. Nothing of that sort Bia. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"My mind? Maybe you should take a look inside Theodore's, and see all the things he thinks about you." The Zabini heiress wiggled her eyebrows, causing Elara to look suspicious.

"Why? Have you looked?"

"Oh God no. I suck at Legilimency. I don't have the patience and will to be able to go through someone's mind."

"Not to mention, you lack the talent."

"Rude El, rude."

"Hey, not my fault you're like this."

"Well want do you want me to do? Blame my mother?"

"Yeah?" Elara shrugged.

"Are you mad? I haven't got a death wish." Bianca shook her head disbelievingly.

"Fair point. Your mother can be scary as fuck."

"That-" Bianca pointed at her. "Is an understatement."

"Oh, can we stop by Draco's compartment. I think he's sat with Harry. So, I'll go say hi to them both, even though I did spend half the summer with Harry."

"Yeah sure, maybe Blaise is with them. You can say hi to him too. He may not admit it, but he missed you."

"I knew it." Elara smirked, she ran a hand through her hair, and ruffled it slightly. Then she walked by a compartment and heard the sound of laughter, causing her to lean back and look in. It was the twins and Lee.

She slid the door open and poked her head in. "Hello loves. Wouldn't happen to have seen Harry or Draco now would you?"

"Of course we have El." Fred began.

"They're with Ron." George continued.

"A few compartments ahead." They both said together, causing Elara to chuckle, and shake her head.

"Hey Lee. Had a good summer?"

"Oh it was brilliant. We visited my aunt in France, and she told us about the other wizarding school there. Beauxbatons. It apparently only accepts children with Veela genes in them. Or so I heard."

"That's amazing. I would love to go there. Sounds brilliant, and I've got some Veela genes from my grandmother." She grinned.

Bianca gasped dramatically, "You want to leave Theodore and go to France? He'll be devastated to see his lady love leave!"

"Oh you little-" Elara rolled her eyes, she turned to the boys. "So sorry, lovely to see you Lee, but I've got to go commit second-degree murder." And with that she ducked out of the compartment and chased Bianca down the corridor.

"Come back here Bianca Zabini!"

Bianca laughed and whizzed past all the compartments, leaving Elara in the dusts. The Black girl slowed down and looked around the compartments, trying to find the one with Harry and Draco. She heard Hermione's voice and slid the door open.

"Hello everyone."

"Elara!" Draco exclaimed, jumping up to hug her tightly. "I missed you this summer!"

"Oh I missed you too Draco, I tried to send letters as much as I could, did you get them?"

"You sent letters?" Draco looked disheartened, "I think my father might have been keeping them away from me. He doesn't think you're a very good influence on me."

"Well he won't be pleased to know I think the same and so much more of him. Anyways, I'll be off, Bianca is waiting. Yes, Blaise, she did sign her death wish, so she'd better run, that little bitch."

Just as she was leaving, she heard Hermione yell out, "Language!"

"Me?" Elara pointed at herself with an eyebrow raised. "Hermione love, you do see who you're with, right? Draco, Blaise, Ron, they're just the same. Harry's behaved, but that's only because he wasn't around the twins or I, and Blaise is related to Bianca, I mean come on. Want to scold someone, scold Harry when he ends up swearing, because I can guarantee you, now that's he's with my father and I, he will be cussing like a soldier."

Hermione sent Harry a warning look. Elara grinned, and waved one last time before leaving and continuing her mission for the Zabini heiress. She saw someone poke their head out of a compartment and it was Bianca.

As soon as the brunette saw her, her eyes widened. "Please I beg you, mercy!"

"And why should I?"

"Because you love me so much?"

"Not good enough."

"Because if you don't, I'll tell Theodore you like him."

"I don't like him, but fine, whatever." Elara was calm, but on the inside, she was panicking. What if Theodore did find out she liked him somehow, and what if he didn't feel the same way. What if he rejected her, and never spoke to her again. What if it ruined their friendship forever. She didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to tell him and risk ruining something amazing, and risk him losing the one person who really truly cared about him.

Bianca grabbed her best friend and dragged her into the spare compartment, where they sat and caught up. This was the first summer they had been separated in a very long time, and Bianca had certainly felt its effects, as she ranted and spoke about all that she did this summer, which included visiting her family in Italy.

"Speaking of Italy, I grabbed you something from the wine cellar." Bianca winked. "I'll give it to you after the feast, and we can get drunk on it this weekend."

"Sound like a brilliant idea."

"What did you do this summer?"

"Well you know, saved Theodore from his evil father, rescued my brother from his family, scolded everyone for doubting Theodore and bought a shit ton of clothes with my father. Seems he's taking his release as an opportunity to empty the Black family vault of all its gold on clothes. Not that I'm complaining, I got some pretty nice dress robes for whatever is happening later this year."

"Yeah, Mum said it was to be something brilliant, and she's warned us against trying to do something reckless." Bianca glanced at her friend who gave her an amused look. "Yeah I know, I've told her not to think such high opinions of you, but she seems to have faith that you'll behave."

"Oh bless her. I love your mother. She's great. My father's given up trying to get me to behave, he just joins in now."

"Must be lovely, having a, you know," Bianca whispered the next word "Marauder as a father."

"Oh yeah, its brilliant." Elara sighed, "I didn't want to leave him today, I was crying. But, its hard you know, I've only just gotten him back and now I've got to leave him again, but at least I get to send him letters and actually get replies back." She smiled, and quickly wiped her cheek, brushing the tears away.

Bianca wrapped her best friend in a hug, and patted her bag. Elara lay her head on Bianca's shoulder and closed her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks. They stayed like that for some time, before Elara pulled away and leaned her back against the window, pulling her knees close to her chest and wiping her cheeks with her sleeves. She sniffled and then sent Bianca a watery smile, who returned it automatically.

"Should we get changed?"

"In a little while maybe. Let's wait for the trolley lady to come by, then we'll get changed." And soon enough, the trolley lady came walking past their compartment and Elara handed Bianca a handful of Galleons, letting the other girl buy it for her.

Bianca came back with some Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cake, Chocolate Frogs and some Licorice Wands. Elara grabbed all the Licorice Wands and put them on her lap before opening a Pasty and stuffing it in her mouth. Then, she carefully opened the Chocolate Frog and muttered a spell under her breath, causing it to freeze so she could easily bite into it.

Bianca was indulging in the Cauldron Cakes, demolishing the whole pile as she watched her best friend open a packet of Licorice Wands and take a bite of out one, chewing on it slowly. When the pair were finished, and Elara had a spare packet of Licorice with her, they headed to the bathroom, Elara summouning her uniform on the way.

The black haired girl quickly threw her uniform on, and then stepped out of the bathroom stall and stood in front of the mirror, tying her silk green and silver tie around her neck, she left it a little loose. And whilst she waited on Bianca, she took her wand out and curled a few strands of her hair around it, before brushing through them.

She also took out a tub of red lipstick that she always carried with her. It was a dark red, maroon almost, and she swiped it across her lips, before tucking it back into her robes along with the Licorice Wands.

Then Bianca walked out of the stall and stood beside her best friend, running a hand through her brown curls and messing them slightly, she also took out a lipstick, hers being a liquid lipstick that was pink, and swiped it over her lips.

"Bia, I'll go find Theo, I'll see you at the feast."

"Alright, El. I'll be with the other Slytherins if you need anything. Bye." Elara waved before stepping out and headed down the train to the compartment where she had first been in with Theodore. She knocked on the door and opened it, smiling.

He was sat leaning against the window, with a book in his hands, and as soon as Elara walked in, he looked up, smiled and put the book down. "Hey, Lara."

"Hey, Theo." She walked closer and he patted the space beside him, so she sat beside him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I've got a bad feeling about this year."

"Why?"

"I don't really know. It's just a gut feeling. Like something really bad is about to happen, and we can't stop it."

"Well, we can do our best, and you know I'm always by your side."

"Of course, just as I am by yours." Elara replied, before laying her head in his lap, and closing her eyes. Theodore continued to read over her head, but this time he read aloud, letting her hear as well. She smiled softly at the sound of his voice, which was the single most soothing sound she ever did hear.