Memento Mori - Sirius Black

Chapter 52

April 9th, 1976.

Dear Morgan,

I'm sorry we couldn't go pick you up at the station, love, but unfortunately, your father has to go on a work trip for a couple of days and I decided to accompany him to offer some help and use the opportunity to settle some matters from the business that needed my attention abroad.

We were going to originally leave tomorrow but something came up. Also, we didn't think you'd want to spend your break jumping from city to city and attending boring meetings or being stuck wandering alone.

Enjoy the house, bring friends over, go to that concert you mentioned, be cautious there, but please do keep practicing and training. There's a pile of books selected for you at the library and a friend of mine, Lydia from the Auror office, will be coming over so you two can practice. She'll let you know. Please knock her ego down a bit, the girl needs it. But she's amazing and you'll love her.

Please try to not go to the city or anywhere that crowded at night and alone, things are not particularly calm right now. Be safe.

We love you and will see you in a couple of days. I'll bring gifts.

Love,
A.G.

That's the letter she had received five days ago the second she stepped off the train. It'd just come flying to her face, one of the Manor's owls dropping it from the sky and flying away back to the house. Misty had been close by and had taken Morgan away instantly.

She'd been really mad for all of ten minutes before she realized that it wasn't bad at all actually. Sure, it was a shitty thing to do, after all even if Morgan was kind of pissed at the moment because of all their secretive bullshit she still wanted to see her parents. But having some time alone after spending so much time surrounded by the boys, who she absolutely loved but needed a break from, was a nice thing. Plus, she had the entire house to herself.

A thing that proved to be completely irrelevant because Morgan did exactly what she'd do any other way on vacation—when her parents didn't bother her that is. She slept twelve hours a day and spent the other twelve either outside in the woods running around in her animagus form and practicing spells, or inside reading silly books that she couldn't put down with a bar of chocolate in one hand and a cup of tea always close by.

Ophelia had been over for two of those days and they did nothing productive whatsoever. Morgan basically begged for her to stay longer but her parents were very annoying and suffocating people who wouldn't let their daughter have a life. Ugh.

She'd also taken a few spontaneous trips to the city even if her mother had warned her not to. A bit of shopping didn't hurt anyone. She had avoided Diagon and Knockturn Alley though. She'd been reading the paper every morning—or rather noon or afternoon, whenever it was she got out of bed—and things were, in fact, a bit uncalm. Attacks seemed to have subdued a little but not completely. The papers attributed the drop in attacks to Morvian and Alexis Gaunt and their heroic acts. It made her roll her eyes every time she read it. The last thing her parents wanted was to be known as heroes. It was not a Gaunt trait.

So that morning... one in the afternoon, probably didn't count as morning, Morgan put on a silk robe and made her way to the breakfast room. The table was full, the elves being always observing of her moves. A cup of steaming coffee, fruit, toast, but Morgan went straight for the chocolate-filled croissants. God, she would stop with all the sweets once she got back to school.

She grabbed that day's paper and read over it, not much going on that caught her attention, so she snapped her fingers and the book she'd been reading made its way to her hands. She looked out the window and frowned, so much sun and green trees... spring blooming once more. She already missed winter. With a flick of her wrist, the heavy white curtains were drawn closed. Much better.