16; MINISTRY OF SHITTY SECURITY

Dear El,

This letter was just supposed to be about how much I miss you, but it seems I have more to add. I do miss you though, that hasn't changed of course. it isn't the same here without you. Ron seems to be channelling you sometimes. He's threatened to hex Zachariah Smith for me several times.

Anyways, this is partly about my Occlumency lessons with Snape. He had to sort something out during one of them and told me we'd postpone it and then left, but I got curious and I poured one of his memories into a Pensieve.

It was him during his fifth year, and our Dads bullying him. I didn't know they did that. Isn't that cruel of them? I always thought Dad never did any of that. Maybe it explains why Snape hates me so much. But he called Mum the M-word.

Tell me I'm not crazy for thinking Snape didn't deserve it.

Harry

Elara was visiting her father for the weekend when she got the letter, and she merely sighed when she read it. Of course she knew all of this, her father told her. "Dad!"

Sirius came into the room. "Something wrong, little moon?"

"Harry's seen the memory of you and Uncle Prongs attacking Snape in fifth year. He isn't exactly pleased with it."

Sirius scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, yes. Can't imagine he would be. But, you know the truth, he doesn't know it all. Write back, will you? I want him to still like me when he comes back in the summer."

"Of course, Lord Black." Elara said sarcastically, bringing a pot of ink towards her and flipping the parchment over.

Dear Harry,

I miss you too. Lots. Maybe you've heard, maybe you haven't, but we won against the Tornadoes recently. My first match, and my first win. It was exhilarating. I wish you could have seen it. Tell Ron I'm proud of him, and if he wants hexes or jinxes to owl me.

I can imagine your shock when you saw the memory, and you are justified in your thinking, but Snape did kind of deserve it. I'm not saying that what Uncle James and Dad did was right, because it wasn't. They were immature, and they definitely could have handled the situation better.

Snape hung around the wrong type of people. He hung around Death Eater before they became Death Eater, but they were clear with their intentions of wanting to become so. They hexed children and Muggleborns and called them names. Snape did the same thing to Muggleborns. All of them, except your mother.

So really, everyone was in the wrong here, except maybe Aunt Lily. But, it isn't fair of Snape to take it out on you for something your father did.

Have fun, and I'll see you in a few months.

El

She got a response back thanking her and assuring her that he wrote to Sirius as well to make sure he knew that the younger boy didn't hate him.

The next time she was at Grimmauld for the weekend was long after her previous visit. It was the middle of June. Exams at Hogwarts were done, and they were expected to return soon.

Elara hadn't told anyone, but she was going to appear on the platform after the seventh years graduate, just so she could ride the train back one last time.

She was sat on the couch in the living room, her feet propped up on it with a book in her hands when Tonks burst into the room. "El! We have to go! Harry's in trouble at the Ministry! Department of Mysteries!"

Elara tossed the book onto the couch and barely pulled her shoes on in time to catch up with Tonks who had met up with a few others outside Grimmauld. They all began Disapparating and Elara whipped her wand out before she too Apparated to the Ministry.

She appeared alongside everyone else, and they quickly began searching room after room before Elara slammed the doors open to a room filled with students from Hogwarts, all of whom she recognised, and Death Eaters. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange who was cackling as a sobbing Neville lay at her feet.

The Order jumped straight into the fight and Elara barely managed to get a glimpse of Theodore helping Ginny up as she ran right for Bellatrix and shot a jinx right at her. The older woman laughed in surprise. "And who might you be?" Her crooked wand fired a spell at Elara.

"Elara Black, you bitch!" Elara hit her with a cutting jinx on the arm.

"Wittle Blackie? Aw, come to help your friends, have you?"

"Come to end you, more like." Elara snarled, not stopping her attack. She saw her father running towards her from the side.

"El, help Harry. I've got this one!" He called. Elara nodded and immediately hit Bellatrix with a quick spell before running in the opposite direction to where Lucius Malfoy was holding his wand to Harry. She pointed her wand at him.

"Expelliarmus!"

She fought Lucius while urging Harry and Neville to get away and she just managed to stun him when the room went quiet and Dumbledore walked in.

The only pair still fighting were her father and Bellatrix. "Come on! You can do better than that!" Sirius called out, dodging a bright red jet of light as it headed right for him. Elara saw the grin on Bellatrix's face and started running towards them, knowing her intentions were everything but good.

She saw Bellatrix's mouth move and her eyes widened in horror as a sickly green jet of light streamed from her wand towards Sirius and although she knew she wouldn't get there in time, she knew she could still save him.

Still running, she thrust her hands out and pushed with all her might. A telekinetic force slammed into Sirius and pushed him away from the jet. He collapsed on the other side of the room and Bellatrix screamed in annoyance.

Elara rushed towards her father, not noticing Harry run after the curly haired woman, wanting revenge for almost killing is godfather. Elara dropped to her knees beside Sirius and choked back tears of relief as he coughed, lifting his head.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hey, little moon. What happened? Why did you-"

"Bellatrix was going to kill you."

"That bitch." Sirius swore and Elara laughed tearfully before hugging him tightly. "Thank you, El."

"You're welcome, Dad." She buried her face in the fabric of his shirt. She felt someone else drop down beside her and a hand on her shoulder. Pulling away from Sirius, she saw it was Theodore. She hugged him tightly before checking to see if her was hurt anywhere. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm alright. Are you?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Then she hit his arm. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Your brother!" Theodore yelped defensively. "He had a bloody vision that Voldemort had Harry, so he had to come here and save him. Obviously wasn't going to let the kid come alone."

"Thank you for coming with him, but still, you're an idiot."

"I feel the love." Theodore replied sarcastically. "By the way, there's still a battle going on."

"Right." She turned to Sirius. "Stay down, please. You're injured."

"What. El-" Before he could finish, Elara ran towards the battle and Theodore followed after shrugging helplessly to Sirius. She quickly knocked the rest of the Death Eaters unconscious with the help of the order, then they were to Apparate back to Hogwarts grounds and head to the hospital wing.

Tonks would need proper medical attention according to Dumbledore who walked in later with some Aurors and they took the Death Eaters away. Elara waited at Hogwarts simply to see Harry and after she hugged him and spoke with him, she left back to Wales.

And the next time she came back was the following week, just for graduation. The surprise on her friends' faces when they saw her on the platform was nothing short of hilarious. They all rushed at her and hugged her. Theodore waited and gave her a small kiss, having seen her the prior week.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"I didn't get to go on the train when I left, so I'm doing it now." Elara replied. "With my friends." She wrapped an arm around both Theodore and Bianca's shoulders as she did so. "How was the graduation?"

"Good."

"Shit."

Elara laughed at Theodore's response. "How come?"

"It's because you weren't there." He threw her a cheesy smile and kissed the side of her temple, causing her to smile brightly.

"Why are you being so cheesy, Theo?" She raised her eyebrows. "It's suspicious."

"No, it isn't. Blaise and Draco dared him to." Bianca rolled her eyes at the two younger boys who were smirking.

"Of course they did." She sighed.

"El, did you know about Fred and George's escape?" Daphne asked curiously as they began climbing onto the train and looking for a compartment.

"I found out after they did it. Got a letter from the redheaded devils themselves. I'll visit their shop in the summer when I've got time off." She replied.

"I can't wait to watch one of your matches!" Bianca squealed as they sat down in an empty compartment after levitating their trunks onto the overhead storage. "How was the first game?"

"Well, we won, as you know. It was so exhilarating, and I never want that feeling to go away. It's brilliant. Our closest match is against the Wasps in a few weeks' time. I've got a lot of games this summer."

"I'm still pissed I didn't get to see your first match." Theodore grumbled.

"Don't worry, Theo. You'll see all of them this summer." Elara patted his shoulder.

They drifted into mindless conversations, games of Exploding Snap and eating snacks. Draco got up from his seat and stood in front of Elara. She looked up. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course." The dark haired girl stood and led Draco out of the compartment and to the end of the train carriage they were in. She opened the door and walked out, Draco following her. She shut the door and leaned against the black railing stopping them from falling. "What's up, little dragon?"