/Lioness\ Sirius Black

[twelve]

• present •

"Astara! I'm back!"

Harry walked into the house and immediately looked the right to see his aunt sitting in the chair next to the tv with a newspaper. She merely looked up before looking back down and said coldly, "Heard you fought a dragon."

"One extra crispy godson for Astara White." He chuckled awkwardly as he watched her. He had never seen her mad but he had heard stories of her wrath. Besides her hair was orange for irritation so he didn't want to anger her anymore. She sighed before closing her paper, standing up, showing off her half black/half white romper with a belt. Astara walked over and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're not dead." She said quietly. He chuckled softly and said, "Me too."

"You're still grounded though."

"I figured."

Astara was true to her word that she grounded him. No letters, no friends, no leaving the house. Not that they're were a ton of places to go. The only place he would really want to go was the Weasleys but he could go when his groundings was over. They had a nice time. Just like when they first got there.

***

This was a terrible idea. He should have listened to Remus. This was the worse idea he had ever had. Well, one of. It was definitely in the top five. After Sirius had found out that Astara wasn't put into custody of Harry when he first met him, he had decided to try and slip past Remus to visit her.

Watching Harry and her live in peace was addicting to him and he couldn't stay away. It was almost painful in an agonizing way. He should be there, reassuring Harry that this was his home. Sirius could see himself with them. Maybe his hand on her thigh, or holding her hand under the table as they spoke to their godson. He wanted that..

The shaggy haired, black dog shook its head as it puffed a breath from its snout. This was a terrible idea but this was the only way to see them. To see her.

But he couldn't be around her yet. If the ministry found out that she had had contact with him then they could take Harry away from her. Besides, what if she see him as a friend anymore? What if he was just a shadow from the past? What if believed that he killed James and Lily? What if...

***

As Harry and Astara talked at the table over dinner, he told her about Hogwarts and how things weren't that different.

"Ok, so, carved into the side of the desk in the corner of the Potions class-"

"You're AW?! I never knew that.." Harry exclaimed as he looked at her in surprise as she laughed at his expression. He and Ron had found that marking in their second year. They always just thought that someone found something really cute over there.

"Huh, you would think after all these years-"
She cut herself off as her head popped up at a familiar scent. Sadly, because of her animagus, she could hear and smell everything so when something smelled weird to her, she was on high alert.

Her godson watched her curiously as she hesitantly stood up and walked to the front door, like she had heard the door bell. She put her nose in the air a little as she walked outside to try and find it. It almost smelled like wet dog?

Her dark eyes traced to tall grass of them field before spotting a black blob in amongst the lush grass. It was a dog. A big black dog with shaggy fur and stormy grey eyes that she recognized.

"Padfoot..?" She asked with hesitation as she didn't want to be talking to a random dog.

When the big dog spotted her, his tail wagging involuntarily. "Sirius...is that really you?" Astara asked once more, creeping closer to it. She reached out her hand to it and let it sniff her, not wanting to scare it off.

But once she got close enough were she could touch the beast, it got up quickly and ran off. She stared off where it ran into the deep forest, away from her.

So it wasn't him. It was just a stray. He didn't... Astara couldn't even tell you what she was thinking would happen. She didn't think that had found or heard from their friend. She didn't even know if he was safe or alive. She just hoped..

"Aunty Tara?" She hadn't even noticed that Harry had come out but she couldn't even hear him as reality started to settle in.

Suddenly she dropped to her knees and cried . Harry rushed forward, dropping with her and pulling her into a hug. Astara mumbled out words but he couldn't understand them. She cried into his shoulder, trying to say "Sorry" and "I don't know why I'm crying" but it wouldn't come out like that.

It wasn't until Harry helped her up and lead her back into the house that she got up. She thought to herself as she'd wiped her tears. 'I miss him...Siri, where are you..?'