Growing Up: Sequel to Secret Existence

Chapter 3: New Guests

Sky was a very happy three week old baby. I wished I could spend all my time with her, but sadly things were very busy with the Order.

One afternoon Dumbledore showed up knocking on my door. I opened up to see him with a young woman who I had never seen before. She was beautiful. Her hair was a very light blond and her eyes were a light grey. I let them in and we all sat down.

“Sirius, this is Olivia,” Dumbledore introduced us. “She was in Ravenclaw your year. Have you met?”

“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t believe so.”

She blushed and nodded in agreement and I smiled, “No, I was always a bit intimidated by the infamous gang of Hogwarts. The only one of them I ever had the courage to talk to was Remus.”

I chuckled, “Why thank you, I think.”

Dumbledore smiled, “Well Olivia is one of our newer Order members and I’m afraid she is being targeted by Voldemort. I was hoping she could stay here. It would save you from any large projects, and this is a reasonable place for her to stay.”

“May I have some time to get everything ready?” I asked not wanting to seem suspicious. He agreed and they left. I was gone instants later to talk to James and Lilly.

“Sirius, what a surprise,” Lilly smiled hugging me.

“We need to talk. Now,” I said getting to the point. James strolled in, “I’m having an Order member stay at my house. Dumbledore needs her hidden.”

“That is a problem,” Lilly said nervously taking Harry from James. “But we have no other alternatives Sirius.”

“I’ll have to tell her,” I warned.

James sighed, “Then I suppose we’ll have to tell her.”

“Who is this mysterious new Order member?” Lilly asked.

“Her name is Olivia. She was apparently in our year,” I told them.

Lilly smiled, “She was in Ravenclaw. We were friends during our first year at Hogwarts. She was always such a sweet girl, but would stand up for what she wanted.”

“And now You Know Who wants her dead,” I sighed. I smiled at my nephew and apparated home, “Kreacher.” The elf appeared holding Sky in his arms. I reached down and took her from him. “We are having a young witch stay with us for a while. I need you to prepare a bedroom. Preferably far away from Sky so she’ll be able to sleep.”

“Master, will the witch know about Sky?” He asked. I nodded and he left grumbling. I carried Sky back to her room and put her down just as Dumbledore and Olivia arrived.

“Thank you Sirius,” Dumbledore smiled. “I’ll come and make sure this is working in a week or so.” Then he was gone.

“Welcome to your new home,” I tried to sound enthusiastic.

She chuckled, “Thank you for this.”

“Not a problem,” I said. I took a deep breath, “Before we start there is something you have to know.” She motioned for me to continue. “As you’re probably aware James and Lilly had a baby boy.” We started towards the nursery.

“Harry,” She said nodding.

I smiled and nodded, “They also had a little girl. Her life was in tremendous danger.”

“The prophecy,” She asked.

I nodded at her guess, “Exactly. Lilly and James would do anything for that little girl.”

“As any parent would,” She said.

I sighed, “To protect their daughter she needed to be far away from the danger.”

“The ultimate sacrifice,” She whispered. “They gave her to a friend. Who knows?”

“You, Lilly, James, Kreacher, and I,” I said seriously. “It’s safest that way.”

She nodded, “I’ll keep your secret. If it means anything, I think it’s great that you’d do that for a friend. Raising a baby isn’t something everyone could do.” At that moment I heard a small cry and we went into the room where I picked Sky up. She was fine, just bored. She normally had someone with her at all times. “She’s beautiful. She looks like Lilly.”

I nodded, “This is Sky.”

She took a few steps closer and stood next to me looking down at the baby, “Hello Sky. I’m Olivia.” Sky blinked up at her.

“Let’s go for a grand tour of the house,” I offered. She nodded and I took Sky as I showed her around and eventually to the room Kreacher had prepared. It wasn’t really in the best condition; he tended to be a lazy rude thing so that didn’t surprise me.

“Thank you,” She said quietly. “This is very kind of you.”

“It’s not a problem,” I said smiling. “It’ll be nice to have some company.”

“You must be fairly lonely to invite a stranger into your home,” She chuckled, “But I’m glad.”

“Well I should go and find Kreacher. I’m afraid I can’t cook and we all are going to need food,” I sighed.

She smiled, “I love to cook. I can make dinner.”

“Really?”

“Of course, consider it my thank you for taking me in.”

Over the rest of the week you could definitely tell things had changed in the house. Olivia was wonderful. She helped me to take care of Sky, cleaned, and cooked. It was nice having someone else in the house. I slept for the first time since I’d brought Sky home. The two of us seemed to be becoming fast friends.

Week four started with Sky beginning to coo and make odd little noises. It was definitively appreciated since it was apparently the first step towards talking. She was beginning to become more active. She was again grabbing things, but this time it was fingers. She would grab your hand and hold it tightly in her hands.

The awake periods were beginning to be longer, and so were the asleep ones. Sadly, they were still too evenly spaced out meaning both Olivia and my sleep patterns were still extremely off.

The three of us were actually getting along fairly well. I didn’t miss the way things used to be and I was overjoyed with my new life.

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So guess what?? Secret Existence made round 2 of the watty awards!! When the page goes up I will share it with you all, but for now I just wanted to let you all know.

So I'd like 30 votes and 30 comments for the upload. Also, what does everyone think about Olivia? She is important to the plot, just saying.

Thanks for sticking with it!