The Forgotten Black

A Christmas without a brother

2 month later

Estrella pov

I wake up to the sound of an alarm making me groan.

"Moony for fucks sake turn that off," I hear Sirius voice everyone else's thoughts. After getting dressed we head down to the common room to see Lily, Alice, Marlene, Dorcas and Frank there.

"Morning," I greet them, making them turn to us and say good morning. Lily tugs me to her and hugs me.

"Any nightmares Ella," she asks. I don't know where or when she came up with the nickname but I like it.

"No, I slept perfectly," I whisper. We head down to breakfast and then say our goodbyes and head to class. For once my day goes by normally and since it's Friday today I only have class until 2 o'clock. I am on my way to the Gryffindor common room when I remember the map that I still have. I search through my bag that has all my books in it and find the map folded up at the bottom. I follow the map and it leads me outside to the Black Lake. The cold winter air makes me wish that I brought my cloak with me but too excited to talk to the founders again I try to ignore the cold and continue to follow the map. I see the small footpath - if you can even call it that, it's so faded - that is marked on the map. I follow the path until I reach a solid brick wall. Confused, I look back down at the map but see that this is where I am supposed to end up. I pocket the map and take out my wand although I am not sure which spell to cast. I try to swirl my wand over the wall to see if that might activate a mechanism that does something, nothing happens. After ten minutes of just staring at the wall unsure of what to do my patience is so thin I am contemplating if I should just bombarda the wall, although I don't think the founders would appreciate that. Instead I start to drum my wand against the wall while wondering if hyperthermia has already settled in. After my wand hits the wall for the fourth time the wall suddenly opens, confused I examine the part where my wand was drumming against to find a very well camouflaged Hogwarts crest. Four taps for four houses. Smiling to myself I look into the pathway to see nothing but darkness. One the left right next to the entrance way there is an unlit torch. I ignore it and cast lumos making the tip of my wand light up, but as soon as I cross the entrance way my wand goes out. Furrowing my eyebrows I realise that magic doesn't work here. I grab the torch and realise that there is another camouflage Hogwarts crest on the metal holder. I take it outside and light it up and go back inside. Luckily the pathway is warm as though I was inside one of the common rooms. I tap the Hogwarts crest four times and the door closes behind me. I head down the pathway with my wand in front of me. After a few minutes of walking I reach a clearing and breath in a deep breath of oxygen. The narrow pathway was starting to get extremely claustrophobic. I see another torch holder. I place the torch in it and suddenly the whole clearing lights up. Magic.

"Well that didn't take you as long as I expected," I hear someone say I whip my head around to see the four founders in their life sized portraits.

"I agree, are you sure you aren't supposed to be in my house," Rowena says, making me chuckle as I can feel my cheeks heat up and shrug my shoulders.

"I am not that smart to be honest I was contemplating to bombarda that wall," I say I don't want to be put in yet another house. My comment makes them laugh.

"And so honest," Helga says with a knowing smile on her lips, making me roll my eyes knowing that one of the qualities she looks for in her students is honesty.

"I think that was rather her Slytherin bluntness," Salazar comments.

"Was this what the sorting was like when you were alive? Fight for the student," I tease.

"No this is a first, at least it's the first time we're this indecisive" Godric says seriously, making my mouth almost drop open.

1975