Elektra Black I

Chapter 7 | 1976

Remus' house was his old family home. A house where he sadly had gotten himself into a tiny bit of lifelong trouble. A little secret that he had kept from El for her whole life was that Remus was a Werewolf and not by choice. Only a fair few of his friends at Hogwarts had known as well as the professors. At the request of Dumbledore, Snape was required to brew a potion that kept his symptoms each month at bay whilst he was teaching there. El had always feared that maybe something was wrong with Remus. Perhaps he suffered from an illness since he always looked pale and tired each month, but that wasn't the case. Remus hated what he was and kept it hidden from whoever he could.

When they had gotten Sirius into the small, cramped yet homely country house, he immediately collapsed to the floor. "I'm sorry, Moony. I'm so weak. I was trying to hold it together for the kids. My leg- it- it's murder!" Sirius hoisted himself up using the stained beige coloured walls for help. "It'll be fine within the next few days. You need to rest, old boy. There are only two beds, so you can use either since we're not here." Sirius smiled at his friend, who had welcomed him with open arms. He was incredibly thankful that Remus was so forgiving. "Fancy a cuppa?" Remus asked, popping his head out of the kitchen. Sirius nodded quickly and slowly remembered the old path he used to take to reach Remus' kitchen. He had been in it so many times; it was like clockwork. They used to spend so many holidays here, the four of them all camped out in front of the fire, mostly listening to James moan about how Lily didn't like him. "So this is where you brought her up?" Sirius politely asked, watching Remus flick his wand so that the kettle would start boiling. "Indeed. She's a right handful, you know? Just like yourself." Sirius chuckled at his comment, taking a chipped mug down from a wooden cupboard, which made Remus smile, glancing anywhere but Sirius. He'd remembered.

The kitchen was small and crowded. Cupboard hinges were falling off, and it was well unkept; luckily, there was no mould.  Except to Sirius, it was the best place he'd been in over a decade. "Thank you again. Even after that night, the night we argued, you directly told me that you didn't trust me and that-' Remus interrupted Sirius quickly, feeling rather uncomfortable, 'If anything happened to you, I'd take Elektra and raise her as my own. Yes, I remember quite distinctly." The two men seemed to feel somewhat uneasy at the memory of the conversation. "And you did, so for that, I will forever be grateful. She seems clever, fierce." Remus was now pouring two cups of tea with no milk since he hadn't been to get some. Sirius added on, "Which this world needs." Remus nodded his head quietly, popping the teabags into the bin. It was indeed true that Remus had thought often about recruiting Elektra for the Order that Dumbledore had created to spy on Death Eaters and watch Voldemort's moves. But she was far too young (although she'd argue that she wasn't) and was more preoccupied with pranking the school instead.

"Aren't you curious which house they both ended up in?" Remus glanced his way, watching him take a sip of his tea with his hands shaking. Poor sod, Remus thought to himself. Sirius looked up and cocked an eyebrow, "They're both in Gryffindor." Sirius smiled at the thought of both of the small children excitedly running to the Gryffindor table after being sorted, just like he had done in his first year. 

He sighed with relief, "Good. Are they close?" Sirius asked hopefully. Remus sadly shook his head. "No. Although the other night, I found them both in the kitchens under James' invisibility cloak. She had the map. First time I've seen them together alone in the same room. If I'm not mistaken, I believe they were trying to find Pettigrew." Sirius froze in his spot at the name. He remained withdrawn and sipped his tea for comfort. "She asked about you often. I showed her as many pictures as I could. She wanted to name her owl Sirius at first but chose Alaric instead." Sirius smiled as they both chuckled at the thought. "She had thought about me just as often as I did her, my little girl..." he trailed off, sadness overwhelming him as he reminisced back to his solitary period at Azkaban. "Do you have any pictures of her from when she was growing up?" Remus nodded and put his cup into the sink. "I do. I'll give you them once you're clean and in bed."