/Lioness\ Sirius Black

[eight]

• present •

It had been a few days since Harry arrived at Astara's house and everything was going great. Her house big but manageable for just her. It was set in the middle of a large field with forest surrounding it, a little river running along the side of the house. He had even gotten acquainted with Nala, Astaras pet cat, who seemed quite intelligent for an animal.

The inside had many different works of arts, made with all kinds of different medians, which were actually pretty good. The front door opened up into the living room, which a long couch, two comfy armchairs, and a muggle tv. She was raised by muggles so that made sense. The living room opened into kitchen, behind the couch, which had wrap around counters with an island in the middle with two stools.

There were two hallways that went out from where the living room turned to the kitchen. To the right was Harry's room, which Astara let him decorate how ever he wanted. Next to his room was the bathroom that his aunt let him claim as she had her own.

To the left was Astaras bedroom, the walls where painted light lavender with white trimming, the master bedroom so it had its own bathroom. Across from her bedroom was her office, which had paint, canvases, and other art things.

When Harry woke up, he could hear soft music coming from the living room. He looked over to the clock hanging on his wall which read 7:36. He decided since he might as well get up since he's already awake.

He walked down the hall, feeling Nala rub her face against his leg before she walked in front of him. He heard a pop and looked to the living room. Hung on the one blank wall in this house was a large canvas that barely fit with paint filled balloons taped to it, half of which were already popped. There was a plastic sheet on the ground to keep multi colored paint from getting on the ground.

Astara was stand a ready dart in one hand and a few others in her other hand as she readied her shot and hit another one of the balloons, making it explode in purple paint. Her hair was light lavender grey and very curly today, most of which was pulled into a high ponytail with two pieces handing in her face slightly.

She must have heard Harry's footsteps as she turned and smiled when she saw her godson. She quickly put the cigar in her hand out in the coffee table ashtray. "Good morning Harry!" Astara said as she waved her some of her smoke.

"Morning." Harry said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes under his glasses. He looked tot he recorded player on the couch's end table and recognized the song as 'Heart of Glass' by Blondie from 1973. An oldie but a goodie.

"That's the song we listened to when I graduated. I was a year older than your dad and mum so I had to go out into the real world by myself." Astara said as she smiled fondly at the memories before telling him, "There's some blueberry pancakes on the table. Help yourself to anything."

He walked to the kitchen and sat at one of stools. Astara pulled out all of the darts in the canvas and put them on a side table. She took off the plastic poncho she was wearing to protect herself from the paint, and walked towards the kitchen as Harry helped himself to three pancakes. She was wearing simple pjs, a light grey set and fuzzy slippers.

"So, did you have any nightmares last night?" Harry asked knowingly as he looked up from his breakfast.

"No no no, of course not. Wh-what would give you that idea?" That was a lie. She did. Ever since the death of her friends, Astara had been having nightmares of Voldemort and hearing Lily's screams in her head. Because of this, she had a habit of waking up early and distracting herself with art and baking.

"Because you only smoke cigars when your upset." Harry said inconspicuously as he looked at her and took a bite. "You know, you can always come to me when you have them."

"I knooow. But I'm the adult. I'm suppose to take care of you, not the other way around." She whined as he aggressively cut a piece of pancake from her plate as she stood on the other side of the counter and ate.

"Everyone could use some help once and a while. Age doesn't matter."

She smiled kindly at him and patted his cheek affectionately. "Thank you, Harry." He smile in return, mouth full of food. They ate in silence for a bit before Harry hesitantly asked about something he had been wondering about, "Can I asked you something?"

"'Course." She shrugged.

"Do you think Sirius Black is innocent?"

She froze. She hadn't heard that name in a long time, much less ask her that. But Astara looked up and said, "Of course." She smiled at the happy memories her and the black haired boy had when they were younger.

"Why?"

"Well, when we went to Hogwarts, even after that, Sirius and I were best friends. At first, we didn't know each other very well since I was a year older, but soon weeks felt like years. But Sirius and your father were the best of friends. They were practically brothers. Since Sirius had never had a relationship with his family, his views on blood status and muggleborns being completely different then his families, he was kicked out after getting in a fight with his mother. The first person he went to was James.  The Potter family welcomed him with open arms and he stayed with them until he was a illegal adult and brought his own place." Astara said as she smiled fondly, remembering everything about her mischievous friends. "He cared to much about your father to do something like this. It doesn't make sense. He was...just the best."

Harry watched as his godmothers hair turned from pastel lavender to light pink. Even he knew what pink meant. He smiled as his aunt continued, asking her question about his parents and what they like in school. Which she happily told him about.