"The Letter"

August 1993, 2 months later

Serenity apparates into the shadows of an average neighbourhood in an average town on the British coast. The smell of salt and the sound of the sea is in the air and, under yellow streetlights, she hobbled down the street.

Glancing over her shoulder as she walks, pulling the shoulder of her torn shirt over her bleeding shoulder where she had been splinched on her way out of Azkaban, she attempts to locate the right cottage. The front door to a cottage she had just passed opens, and when a tall man walks out, appearing to wield a wand, she turns into the nearest front garden and ducks behind the picketed fence.

She peeks between the fence panels and watches him stab the 'wand' through the air. It extends, revealing a broom-end, and a cat hisses and runs from the porch.

The porch-light of the cottage she was sheltering by turned on and, now seeing the postbox attached to the wall by the front door, she could see the black letters that spelled out 'TONKS'. With a weak smile, Serenity pushed herself up, falling to her knees as her wounded arm gave out on her.

Crawling along the stone path and up the stairs, she uses the door handle to pull herself up and knocks on the door. She waits in the moonlight, leaning against the house, even when the porch light flickered out. After five minutes, she gave a weak knock once again and sat down. Perhaps they sleep deeply, and she'll have to wait until the morning. That is, until the light behind the stained-glass window in the door brightened up the grimy hospital scrubs she wasn't allowed to change for eleven years.

The door opened, and she dragged her eyes from the hardwood floor to the white socks and up at a woman with light brown hair in a silver robe.

"Uh, hello?" Holding out her hand for help standing up, Serenity seemed to deflate at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Andy?" She croaked, grabbing at the air. A silence passed between them.

"Oh my-" Andromeda crouched down and searched her face, eyebrows drawn tight together. "Serenity?" As soon as she registered the presence of her old friend, Andromeda was gripping her and practically dragging her over the threshold. With the door shut and the two woman lying on the hardwood floor of the front hallway in each other's arms. For a long time the silence of the night filled the house and the faint snores of Ted, Andromeda's husband. And, then, Serenity began to cry- no, she began to wail. She clung onto Andromeda's robe as if her life depended on it, shaking like the last leaf of autumn. Andromeda raised her hand up from behind Serenity's shoulder to see the blood covering it. "Ren, you're bleeding." Pulling away, she inspects her wounded arm.

Footsteps come down the hall and, dressed in only a pair of boxer shorts, Ted Tonks rubs his eyes and looks down at his wife in bewilderment.

"Dromeda," he mumbles and shuffles forward.

"Ted! Help me get her into the lounge." As Andromeda hoists Serenity up by her good arm, she guides the wailing woman away from the front door. Confused and embarrassed to be in his underwear around guests, Ted opens the door to their left and follows the two women into the small, rustic lounge. Serenity sits on a wicker-framed sofa and slumps over, crying into her hands. "Don't just stand there, dear," Andromeda gently turns her husband back to the door, "can you get one of my nightgowns, please? And a glass of water."

"Wait, is that-" before he had the chance to say anymore, he was in the hallway and the door was shut.

Serenity mumbles 'water' under her breath and then begins to clutch her throat and whine again. In reality, she hadn't drunk clean, cold water in a very long time and the soft cushions and the red throw with tasselled corners that hung over the top of the couch provided her the most comfort in such a long time.

Andromeda rushed behind the sofa to a set of draws and the clinking of glass filled the room. She soon returned with a vial and a dropper.

"This is going to sting," she said, before applying a few drops to Serenity's splinched arm. The only reaction she had was further wailing, and she slumped sideways into her friend. Andromeda rubbed her hands along her arms as she held her. "I knew you had it in you to get out, and I know you're innocent. You're safe here, Ren." But Serenity had fallen silent, in fact, she was fast asleep in Andromeda's arms.

They remained sitting until Ted came back with a nightgown and a glass of water. While he returned to bed, Andromeda gently shook Serenity awake and convinced her to get changed and drink some water like she had once when her own daughter had fallen asleep in her clothes on New Year's Eve years ago.

With the tasselled throw draped over her, Serenity went back to sleep on the sofa while Andromeda positioned herself in the wicker-framed armchair, hugged a pillow and watched over her.

The next morning, at Malfoy Manor, Circini and Lucius were quietly eating breakfast. As usual, they were the first ones awake and had the first pick of the small buffet of cooked meats, eggs and fruit the elves prepared for the family. Circini was snacking out of a bowl of assorted berries and staring out of the window while Lucius ignored his plate of eggs and bacon as he read the newspaper when a house elf apparated into the room.

Folding down the paper, Lucius watched the elf with a stern look and followed their movements towards Circini. They handed over a letter and stepped back while staring at the ground, not daring to look at either of them. Recognising the seal on the back of the letter, Lucius batted at the elf with his paper and willed the creature away with a brief yell.

"It's my Hogwarts letter!" Circini squeals and turns the paper around to show the Hogwarts emblem and the letter welcoming 'Miss Malfoy' to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Well, I suppose we'll be taking a trip to Diagon Alley very soon." He couldn't help but smile a little bit at the grin on his daughter's face, he even chuckled as she fled the room, announcing her plans to wake up Draco.

And, as he suspected, within minutes Draco could be heard yelling and the ceiling above him thumped as his children chased each other around. For a moment, it fell silent. Then, the door to the dining room flew open and the two children ran in. Circini circled the table and waved Draco's t-shirt and trousers in the air, sticking out her tongue. When he tried to run one way, she ran the other and eventually he gave up with a stomp of his foot.

"Father!" Draco whined and craned his neck towards Lucius. Sighing as he put down the newspaper once again, Lucius dismissed any humour at the situation and glanced between his children.

"Draco!" His voice half-mimicked his son yet retained undeniable authority that silenced the two of them. "Look at you, running around in your underwear." Draco flushed red and crossed his legs while pointing across the room at Circini.

"She stole my clothes!"

"You have more clothes, Draco, they're in your draw where clothes belong." Draco grumbled and crossed his arms. "Go get dressed," Lucius waved him away while beckoning Circini over. He took the clothes from her and sent her away with a nod. As she passed the other side of his chair, he nudged her and held up his hand. Grinning once again, Circini landed what she thought to be the hardest high five ever and ran from the room laughing at Lucius, who was shaking out his hand.

She sat in the greenhouse all morning, reading over her Hogwarts letter again and going over the list of required equipment. After her third read-through, someone entered the greenhouse and cleared their throat. They didn't crouch down to her level like Lucius does, nor did they sit with her like Draco does. Instead, they stood in front of her, tapping their polished shoes and waited for her to crawl out from underneath the plant beds. Peering up through the weeds, she saw Narcissa peering down at her.

Scrambling to her feet, Circini gripped the letter close and leaned against the plant beds. Narcissa very rarely came into the greenhouse. In fact, she very rarely spoke to Circini at all.

"Good morning, Cissy! Look what came for me today." Narcissa scowled at the nickname, but Circini rather enjoyed it. She took the letter from the child's hands and gave it a once over.

"You know," she began, ignoring the pleasantries, "Hogwarts allows students to stay with them during the holidays."

"I know, Draco does sometimes but I don't think I will because I like being at home with Father and Draco and you." Circini smiled as she said this and held out her hands for the letter back. Narcissa held it just out of her reach.

"But wouldn't you like to stay with your friends?" Narcissa's counter-argument confused Circini for a moment. Friends?

"I don't have any friends yet," she shrugged and finally snatched back the letter, "and I'm sure the ones I make will be really cool and will also want to go home to their families!" Narcissa pursed her lips and squinted down at her.

"What if they don't want to go home?"

"Then they can come home with me and meet you and Father!"

"And if they don't want to come here? Perhaps they don't celebrate Christmas." Circini seemed confused at this, and she pursed her lips, trying to think. She giggled a moment and looked up at Narcissa with a shake of her head.

"You're funny, Cissy, if they don't celebrate Christmas, then how could they be friends with me?" And on that note, Circini skipped out of the greenhouse and back to the manor in an attempt to convince Lucius to take her shopping for Hogwarts now instead of soon.