Dried Leather and Withered Flowers

Chapter 1

Harry is going to murder Sirius Black. Just cold blooded murder. No regrets. Just death.

Okay. Maybe he's not going to kill Sirius. But he is definitely going to yell at him as soon as he and Lea are safe. Whose idea was this anyway? Why did they have to come to America and find their long lost dad? They could have just ran away from Privet Drive and hidden out until September. But no, they had to get on a plane and find themselves in some place called Kansas.

For one, Harry is never stepping foot on a plane again, especially with Lea. Flying in a metal tube is much different than soaring through the sky on his Firebolt. Though, his discomfort was only multiplied by his sister's terror. From the moment they were in the air until they touched the ground, Lea kept the tightest grip possible on his hand. He's almost sure that she cracked his knuckles.

Landing in California had been a relief, until they realized that they had no idea where to go from there. Lea had been the one to think of a library. Figuring out the computer was a little difficult, but not impossible. It was almost fun to do when considering that they were never allowed to even look at Dudley's computer.

Their internet search had led to many insights. Such as the fact that one of their brother's, that Sirius was sure they had, was dead. And a serial killer. Which, honestly, was just on track for how their lives have been so far. Harry's existence leads to him and Lea becoming orphans, their relatives hate them and treat them like rubbish, their parents' murderer comes back to finish Harry off, Harry gets Lea bitten by a basilisk, they're almost eaten by a werewolf, Harry is entered in the Torture Tournament and almost dies, and now their older brother is a dead serial killer. Par for the fucking course.

Still, they continued the search for their father anyway. Somehow, Lea managed to track him to a house in Lawrence, Kansas. Several buses later, they find out that John Winchester hasn't lived there for over twenty years. Though, they did get a phone number.

So, they got cell phones. Harry had been nervous that their magic would burn the mobiles up, but so far so good. They had cell phones, they had John's phone number, everything was looking up.

Of course, it wouldn't be Harry's life if it didn't all come crashing down.

They called John and it went about as well as expected.

"Hello?"

The voice was gruff.

"Hi, is this John Winchester?"

Harry had let Lea handle the phone call. She's always been better with people than Harry. Well, that's not completely true. Lea's temper had gotten them in trouble loads of times, but she could still pretend to be nice better than Harry could.

It was a few seconds before the man answered. "John's dead. Is there something I can do for you?"

Harry had just stared at his sister while she stared at the phone, heart sinking in his chest. He had been ready for her to hang up and the two of them find their way back to England when she spoke again.

"What about his son? Samuel?" Lea had her jaw set. Harry knew that look. That was the look she had when she decided they were going to Hogwarts, when she said that she would stay with Ron at the chess set while Harry and Hermione went forward, when she demanded to go after Ginny with Ron and Harry, when she yelled at Ministry officials for letting her brother be entered in a 'death contest.' Lea had made her mind up about something and she wasn't going to settle until her task was done. Harry mentally apologized to the man on the other side of the call.

"What do you need with Sam?" The voice got even gruffer with the mention of their brother. Lea glanced at Harry before answering.

"I'm his sister."