Little Red |Sirius Black|

Ghosts of family past- Sirius

Despite talking for half the train ride, the girls had failed to mention what made them leave the seemingly luxurious lifestyle of a Salem student to spend their year at Hogwarts, and Sirius wasn't the only one who noticed.

The Marauders were busy communicating silently amongst themselves whilst Lily spoke to the girls about some muggle thing or another.

Finally, after some silent arguments- which would have looked quite funny had the girls decided to look- James, Peter and Sirius prevailed upon Remus. With an inaudible sigh, Remus spoke up.

"So what brings you ladies here?" He asked

"It's a long story." Arianna said.

"It's a long train ride." James pointed out. Everyone in the compartment chuckled.

"Fair point." she conceded. "My parents don't want anything to do with me, so I've moved here to be with the only family I have left, and the girls wouldn't stay at Salem without me." she said simply, as Mandy and Vera exchanged sad looks.

The compartment was silenced immediately, save for a gasp that accidentally escaped Lily.

"Sorry Lils, but all through the summer, I've been pointedly avoiding this topic and keeping you busy with something or another." she said, sounding a little sheepish. "It's just not something I wanted anyone to know. But now I think it's ridiculous to hide my past. I've got nothing to be ashamed of."

"What do you mean your parents don't want anything to do with you?" Peter asked. Remus and James nudged him into silence. Sirius sat up a bit straighter.

"No, it's fine really. You all must be curious. So here it goes. My mom is a Longbottom." she said, stunning the compartment's occupants into silence once again- except Remus and the girls who already knew.

"My mom turned out to be a squib. She couldn't take the taunts from the other pureblood families, and her own family's disappointment, so she ran off to America and met my dad there. She didn't tell my father about being from the wizarding world though. She didn't see the point. When they had me, she just assumed that I wouldn't be magical either. Everything was fine until I got my letter from Salem. That's when all hell broke loose." she said with a humorless laugh.

"Dad found out that mom had kept all this from him and went ballistic. He said that she had 'doomed me to a life in hell' " she said, air-quoting the word for good measure.

Sirius snorted in disgust. Muggles could be so narrow minded sometimes.

"My father left a few days before I was to leave for Salem. He said that he couldn't stay in a house 'so full of evil'. My mom stayed, although I could tell that she blamed me for ruining everything. For the first half of the year she would constantly find ways to demean me, blame me for every possible thing. She even refused to tell me anything about her family, about our family." she said and Sirius could detect the slight bitterness in her tone. He couldn't blame her. "So I got tired and cut all ties to her. Thank Merlin I did that. Once I moved out, I was happier than I had ever been. I'd spend the year at Salem and spend my summers either at Salem again or with one of the girls." she said smiling at her two best friends, who grinned in return.

"So how did you know that you had family here?" Remus asked gently.

"I came to know about them when I had to get my wand. No wand maker in all of America could find a wand that suited me. So Professor Frost- our headmistress, took me to Ollivander's in Diagon Alley, because he was the best in the world. He found me my wand." she said, looking lovingly at her wand.

"Ash with dragon heartstring core. This wand has been my partner in crime right alongside the girls." she said, twirling the wand in her hands, while Vera and Mandy grinned at her. Sirius smiled at that.