The Daughter of Sirius Black

Chapter 2

It was the eve of September first, and the Weasley family would be leaving early in the morning to make the train that they'd now be sending four of their children on, little Ron and Ginny not being 11 yet.

But Ginny had been more than happy to help her sister pack her trunk and get fitted for robes and even went with her, Molly and the twins to pick out wands.

Her wand was made of blackthorn at 14 and a half inches with a dragon heartstring core. Ollivander said it was a combination of her parents. Her mother's wand had been made of blackthorn wood, the wood of a warrior at 14 inches, while her father's wand held a dragon heartstring core at 15 inches. He had said that most of the Black family had dragon heartstring wands as it connected well with their fiery personalities. He also had high hopes for her with her wand being both of blackthorn wood and a dragon heartstring, he knew she would do great things.

She loved her wand. It made her feel closer to her parents in a way.

Speaking of her parents, it was her father's letter that she now sat on her bed staring at.

A single candle burned in her room, next to her bed as Ginny slept.

She should've been sleeping too but she couldn't.

So, after doing nothing but staring at the envelope for what seemed like hours, she broke the seal.

My dearest Rose,

There is so much I wish to put into this letter, but I fear I don't have the time nor the parchment to do so.

The first thing I need to you know is that I love you. Your mother loves you and that we could not be prouder of you.

We never wanted to give you up, Rose. Never. I would love nothing more than to keep you with me forever, but your mother and I made a grave mistake and giving you up was part of the price.

You might not understand this now but, we made Peter Pettigrew Harry Potter's secret keeper at the last moment. And it was the wrong choice. He worked for the Dark Lord and sold out Lily and James.

I fear my dearest friend may already be dead as I write this letter, but this needs to be done. You need an answer, an explanation.

I do not know what will happen tonight, but your mother and I are going to do everything we can to stop Peter, even if it means our deaths.

If I am dead by the time you read this, then know that I love you. That I am so proud of you, and I know that you are going to be an amazing Gryffindor, because you're my girl and you take after me. You're too much of a wildfire to be put in Ravenclaw like your mother.

Know that I haven't even given you up yet, but I still miss you terribly.

Know that your mother has not written a letter goodbye to you because she believes in love to the point where she believes all will be ok by sunrise.

Though I would like to share her belief, I still believe it necessary to leave you with a goodbye.

Or what may hopefully be a see you soon.

I know Molly has taken good care of you, and I could not be more grateful for that.

Rose, enjoy Hogwarts.

They were the best years of my life.

I met your mother, I had my band of friends, your band of uncles. I was Quidditch Keeper, no doubt I'm sure you'll make a fine player, it's in your blood as it is Harry's. Your mother was an astounding Chaser. She was the only one who could ever get the Quaffle by me.

And like me, you'll have the Black family vault at your disposal. Just present your wand to the goblins at Gringotts bank. You, your children and your grandchildren will never have to work a day in your lives if you so choose.

I wish you the world, my daughter.

And I wish more than anything that I could be there to show it to you, but I take solace in the fact that Molly can.

I love you, Rosalee Leona Black. More than anything.

And I await the day we are reunited.

All my love,

Your father.

Silent tears slid down Leona's face as she read the letter, chuckling at her father's words at times.

He was innocent.

This entire time he was innocent. Inside, she'd always believed that he was and now that she knew it was true, all she wanted to do was scream it at the top of her lungs. But Leona knew that it was too late to prove anything and this letter would do little to convince anyone that he was innocent of the murders he'd been accused of.

The letter also reinforced the need to have everyone call her Leona. Rosalee was what her father called her. Rose was what her father called her. And only he could call her that.

"I believe you. I believe you," she muttered to herself as she hugged the letter to her chest.

Pressing a light kiss to the delicately aged paper, she folded it up and returned it to the envelope before hiding it in her trunk.

Her first task once arriving at Hogwarts would be to charm the letter so that only she could read it. At least once she learnt how to do so.

Once her trunk was shut, she tip-toed out of her room and across the hall where she knocked on a red door.

"Lena?" Fred asked groggily, the nickname the people closest to her used. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"I read his letter."

Fred dropped his hand from where he was rubbing his eye. "Want to bunk with me and Georgie?"

"Please?"

He only nodded her inside before pushing the double bed he slept on, next to the double bed George slept on, putting Leona in the middle as they all jumped under the covers.

They did sleepovers like this often.

Normally to stay up late working on pranking products. Or occasionally when one of them had a bad nightmare, Ginny even seldom joining them.

And she was grateful that they never pushed each other to talk about it, letting them talk when they felt ready.

As Leona lay between her two best friends, she felt a little less alone, a little less scared of the future that lay ahead of her and the dark past shrouded in questions that lay behind her.

Questions she promised herself that she'd get answers to.