Carina Black: Life After Azkaban

Visiting Harry

The next few weeks were completely normal. Carina went to work and visited Remus almost every day. Despite what he'd said before, it was hard for Remus to accept that what he'd believed for so long was completely untrue, so it took some time for him to truly trust her.

She almost had enough money to buy some better furniture, seeing as hers was completely outdated and worn. It was almost December and the weather was starting to get extremely cold. She was pleasantly surprised that her house was excellent at keeping the cold out. It was actually starting to feel like home.

One day, Carina got an idea. She was going to prepare one of the two bedrooms for her godson, Harry Potter. She'd heard that he was living at his aunt and uncle's house at the moment, so she figured she'd better stop by and see if Harry even wanted to go live with her. She'd have to do a lot to get the house set up and check with the ministry of magic and whatnot, so she wanted to make sure he wanted to go before doing anything.

The only problem was, Carina couldn't quite remember the address. She knew it was somewhere on Privet Drive, but what number? She settled on just apparating to number one and seeing if she could find them from there. They ought to come out of the house at some point. So that is what she did. She apparated to the street in front of the house and looked around. She listened for any sign of Harry, or even anyone at all. For some reason, this street was oddly quiet. It was neat and orderly, but quite frankly, boring and dull.

Suddenly, a shrill noise broke through the silence. It was a high-pitched wail, like someone was throwing a temper tantrum. It sounded like a three or four year old girl.

"It's okay, Dudikins. Mummy won't let Harry hurt your feelings," she could hear the girl's mother soothe. Harry! She saw an open window and decided to check out the situation.

"It's not an insult Mrs. Dursley. I'm just stating facts," a boy retorted. Ah, that must be Harry. He looked so much like James. Carina felt a stab of sadness at the sight.

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME! GO TO YOUR CUBORD!" Mrs. Dursley screamed. Harry skunk away, a disappointed look on his face.
Carina wish she'd heard what Harry'd said.

"Oh, Dudley, it's okay. Come here," Mrs. Dursley said, hugging Dudley to her chest. So that's who was screaming. It was a fat lard of a boy who looked about ten or eleven years old and still threw temper tantrums like a three year old. Carina was glad to be getting Harry out of this house. She walked up to the front door and knocked. There was some scuffling around in the house before the door opened.

"Hello?" Mrs. Dursley greeted, stepping out into the cold air.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley. Do you happen to have Harry Potter in your custody?" Carina asked, politely. The things she wanted to say to this woman were far more vulgar, but she bit her tongue and smiled.

"Oh, what did that nuisance do this time?" Mrs. Dursley asked, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing. I'm here to see if he would want to come live at my place in a month or two. I'm his godmother," Carina replied, biting back several insults.

"Oh, sure. I bet you're the one from the mental hospital. Maybe you're one of them," Mrs. Dursley rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah, keep rolling your eyes. Maybe you'll find some brains back there," Carina spat. She couldn't hold it back. "And mental hospital? One of who?" She asked, still fuming.

"Harry's a funny boy. We took him to a mental hospital to get him fixed. He's-" she cut herself off. "Uncanny," she said, her voice extremely soft, yet harsh.

"Yeah. He's a wizard, which I'm sure you knew, unless you're thicker than you look. Now let me see your nephew or I'll hex you," Carina sneered. She was having fun messing with this clearly ignorant woman.

"You wouldn't dare talk to me like that! Get out of my sight!" Mrs. Dursley shouted.

"Levicorpus!" Carina casted, pulling out her wand. Mrs. Dursley was thrown into the air and hung upside down.

"Let me down this instant! I'm warning you, girl! You're trouble!" Mrs. Dursley wailed, her face a bright shade of pink.

"Ha. As if I haven't been told that before," Carina sniggered, stepping into the house.

"Harry! Harry Potter! It's me, Carina. Come out, I've come to take you away from this dump!" Carina called.

She heard a door open somewhere in the house. Suddenly, she heard a small cough and turned around. There stood her best friend's son. He was wearing an oversized shirt with broken glasses over his bright green eyes. His jet black hair was messy like James's used to be, and a scar shaped like a lightning bolt stood out on his forehead.

"H-hello. I'm Harry. Harry Potter," Harry stammered. He didn't look like he was used to being introduced to strangers.

"Hiya, Harry. I'm gonna take you away from here. I was gonna wait, but seeing as you're worse off than I thought..." Carina trailed off. She could barely hold herself together, but didn't want to show it in front of Harry.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked excitedly. He didn't even know what was going on yet or who Carina even was, but he was desperate to get away.

"My place. You'll see. By the way, I'm your godmother, Carina Black. I knew your parents," Carina explained, sadly.

"I-I'll go get my stuff," Harry stammered, dumbfounded. He scampered away and came back with a small trunk.

"Is that it?" Carina gasped.

"Yes..." Harry replied nervously.

"We've got to go shopping, don't we?" Carina smiled. "Well, that's that. Let's be off!" They exited the house and Carina released Mrs. Dursley' spell.

"H-how...?"

"You'll see."