✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

15 | L O N E S O M E

•••
          oh i fall apart
down to my core.
•••

   Lynnea couldn't hold back; she bursted out laughing at the three men's stern faces. Remus flinched, as his face dropped, looking at Lynnea surprised.

   "Of course I am", she snickered. "Should have noticed it from the start. We're so damn similar, I must have been blind!"

   "It is true", Sirius said calmly. "As Harry's like a mirror of your father, you're a copy to Lily, you're so much looking like her. Exactly like Lily, to be honest it was a bit creepy at first."

   "This is ridiculous", Lynnea scoffed. "People would know if the famous Harry Potter would have had a sister. A twin! They wouldn't just forget about such stuff."

   "People are stupid", Moody growled. "And they love to believe every sensation that is pleasing their greed for gossip. This tragical story! The poor boy, losing not only his parents, but also his beloved sister. And the poor little baby girl, not to forget! How could someone just kill a baby?" He snorted. "It took just a couple of months until the first people forgot about  poor little baby, and Dumbledore did everything to keep that going. He took you out of the history books, at least the few that did actually mention you at all, and if you ask people now for Lynnea Potter, they just look at you like you want to sell them bug eyes for a dragon claw."

   "You're kidding me", Lynnea said, getting angry now. "See, it was really dangerous to get here, not just for me. You owe me the truth, I've been lied to long enough."

   Sirius shook his head, and got up from his chair. "Let me get something", he grumbled, leaving the kitchen. Still Lynnea was feeling like being trapped in a big fat prank.

   "You have to believe us", Remus sighed, looking at Lynnea with his tired eyes. She didn't even reply; this was completely bonkers. They couldn't truly think that she would believe this crap. As she was opening her mouth to tell him so, Sirius returned, crossing the room with large steps, he put something on the table right under Lynnea's nose.

   "What is this?", she asked, before she even peaked at it. Sirius just gestured at her to finally look down. It was a photo showing a family. A young man in his twenties, black messy hair, glasses, like a exact copy of Harry. Just his eyes made him look slightly different. He was holding a black haired baby boy, who's tiny fingers were trying to grab the man's glasses. But Lynnea's eyes were drawn to the woman next to him. Green almond shaped sparkling eyes met hers. She had auburn red curls falling loose over her shoulders and was smiling brightly while holding a redheaded baby with the exact same green eyes as hers and the small boy's. It was like looking into a mirror; a mirror that showed a slightly older version of Lynnea herself.

   "James and Lily Potter", Sirius said, throwing her a told you so glare. "On your first birthday."

   When she was nine, Lynnea had a tree house. She used to spend a lot of time in there reading, or just enjoying the silence. There was a rope hanging from the entrance, and during the winter it got weak. So once she tried to climb down it broke and she fell about ten feet to the ground, landing hard on her back. It was as if the impact had pressed every wisp of air out of her lungs, and she lay there struggling to inhale, exhale, doing anything at all. That was exactly what she was feeling right now; breathless, stunned, trying to remember how to speak, as the information slowly dropped.

   And then sadness hit her like a thousand paper cuts. It was not just the loss of the two loving people who she thought had been her parents for fifteen years, but the knowing, that she had lost a whole life she could have lived peacefully and carefree. Being ripped apart from her real family caused another cut; it wasn't enough to kill her literally, but it for sure it was more than enough to make her feel dead empty. Examining her mother's face once more, the grief was licking on her insides with a tongue like a knife.

   But her eyes fell at little baby Harry, and it was like a spark was enlighting, warming up the coldness that had taken over her heart. He was left. The only one being left from a family she never knew, from a live that never came to fulfilment. But he was there, he was waiting for her return right there at Hogwarts. A brother was waiting for her; Lynnea could feel something wet stroking her cheek, and as her fingers shot up to softly examine it, she noticed she was crying. She rubbed her face, trying to hide her weakness, as she looked up at the three men watching her.

   "I know this is much to take", Remus softly spoke. "You can stay here, if you want, it's just two days left until your break."

   "We'll inform Dumbledore", Sirius said, his eyes glued to the picture of his old friends. "You can have your room, I left everything as it was. The Weasley Kids for sure can bring your stuff here and -"

   He was cut short by Lynnea jumping to her feet. "I can't", she said. "I have to go back, I have to talk to Harry."

   "No", Moody growled. "Don't you understand, girl? He mustn't know!"

   "But isn't that unfair?", she replied fiercely. "He's all alone, he's been almost all his life. I've been for just a couple of months, and it was devastating! Harry for sure will be glad to know -"

   "He'll probably be the happiest he could be", Sirius replied. "But it'll take the two of you in the highest danger."

   "I don't care?", Lynnea spat, feeling a knot of rage in her throat. "And he will also not care! Why can't you just explain it to him? Why can't we just tell him to not believe the stuff, Voldemort could possibly plant in his head?" She shook her head bewildered. "I'll go."

   She turned around to the fireplace and immediately froze on spot.

   "I am sorry, but I can't allow this." Albus Dumbledore friendly smiled at her, his eyes sparkling behind his half moon shaped spectacles. What the hell was he doing here. "You may wonder what lead me here", he chuckled, and she watched him startled. "Maybe in all this trouble you forgot to have a look at the clock. It's far past eight, and your brother as well as your friends were in deep sorrow that might something had gone wrong with your plan."

   "They didn't get in trouble, did they?", Lynnea asked, as she regained the ability to speak.

   "No, but Professor Umbridge is not happy about you slipping right through her fingers", he said, laughing. "Lynnea, you have to trust me. Harry may not get to know your true identity for now. I highly agree with you, that he'll be pleased over the top to find out he's a sister, but the danger you'd put the two of you in is sheer too immense. You'll stay here until Christmas break is over, your friends will join you on Saturday."

   Defeated, Lynnea nodded, her shoulders sacked down.

   "Also there's something Remus is dying to tell you ever since you stepped through the door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place", Dumbledore said with a wink, and Lynnea turned around to the tired young man.

   "I'm your godfather", he quietly said without wasting another second. "I told your parents not to do so, because of my - problem ... But they insisted."

   "Which problem?", she whispered.

   "I'm a werewolf", he replied. "One of the reasons you never could have lived with me."