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first year,
danny is missing
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The Slytherin common room had been a lot quieter recently, with the older years focusing on their exams. The younger students had the common room to themselves, that wasn't what concerned Aimee though, she hadn't seen her brother Daniel in a while, not even passing him in the halls, like she often did.

Something was off, Jacob and Theo were being unusually quiet too. She knew there was something going on, Jacob looked like he didn't want to be followed. That's exactly what Aimee did, she hurried behind him, sticking far enough behind that he didn't notice her.

'What is he up to?' she questioned

She followed him, through to the courtyard, he made his way towards the forbidden forest. He looked around him, checking for someone following him, Aimee quickly hid behind a tree. She peeked around the tree her eyes widened as she saw her brother morph into a red fox. She ran as fast as she could towards the forest, once she had eyes on the fox, she held her wand up.

"Accio!" she cast, the fox tried to grip the floor, as it was lifted and summoned to her. She held the scruff of the fox's neck. "You want to tell me what you're up to?" the fox morphed back into Jacob.

"No, and let go," Aimee released the collar of his shirt.

"Somethings going on, Theo doesn't have a girl wrapped around him, you're acting strange and I haven't seen Danny in a couple of weeks," he hummed,

"You best get looking then,"

"Jake, tell me," he sighed

"We can't find Danny," he said, "he's missing,"

"What, when did you see him last?" she asked

"Night of a storm," he said, she creased her brows

"Night of a storm?" she repeated then she realised "he didn't,"

"Yeah, he did," Jacob said, happily.

"We have to find him, he could be stuck, come on-

"No you aren't going in there," Jacob grabbed her arm preventing her from running towards the forest.

"Why not?"

"Cause there are creatures in there, and I heard a werewolf last full moon,"

"There's a werewolf?"

"I never saw it but I heard, it sounded hurt, like it was in pain, crying out for company," she eyed him, "I've been a fox too long, anyway, you go back search around the school, I'll keep searching through the forest,"

"Okay, what am I searching for?"

"A badger, and keep an eye for Mrs Norris, we don't want her eating our brother," they both laughed, "I'm sorry, now go,"

He pushed his sister back in the direction of the school, she turned around, watching the fox run towards the forest. She didn't know where to begin looking for a badger on school grounds, 'he could be hungry' she thought.

Aimee raced to the kitchens hoping to find a sign that her brother might have been there. The house-elves seemed to be distressed about something as they checked through the supplies. Whatever caused their trouble wasn't there anymore.

She heard a group of students shrieking, she hurried towards the commotion, she spotted a short fuzzy tail heading towards the library. She ran after the animal, hoping it was a badger, as she turned a corner she almost ran into Sirius.

"Woah, what's the rush?"

"I can't talk," she continued to run towards the library.

She saw the badger at the far end of the library, she hurried through the library, trying her best not to draw too much attention to herself. As Madam Pince had strict rules regarding library etiquette, she crawled on the floor, as she looked left and right down the aisle. She stopped when someone stood in front of her, she looked up.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, she stuttered

"I, I, erm, I dropped an earring," he creased his brows

"You're wearing your earrings,"

"It was another one," she stood up, straightening her robes and skirt.

As Sirius decided to hang out with Aimee, she had to give up looking for Danny, she hoped Theo or Jacob would find him in time. She enjoyed her time with Sirius, however, her mind wasn't completely there, she frequently glanced around her, in hopes of catching a glimpse of a small animal.

As the day was coming to an end, she had no luck in finding a badger. From the look of her older brothers, they had no luck finding him either, as they made their way to their bedroom. She walk to Theo's room to see if he had any idea of where Danny was.

"No sign of him," she asked, Theo shook his head

"I caught his scent but then Mrs Norris chased me down the hall," Aimee tried to hold in her laughter, he shot her a warning look.

"I'm sorry, do you think we'll find him before we go home?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, we'll find him,"

***

The time had come to head home, Aimee was worried, that they were leaving in a few hours and she still didn't know where Danny was. Theo and Jacob assured her that everything was fine, she didn't have anything to do, as she previously packed her trunk the night before.

She dragged her trunk through the common room, nearly tipping it over as she pulled it down a step. Thankfully it was caught by Theo, she smiled, looking around for Danny, she wanted to see if he could walk with her to the train.

"Where is he?" she whispered,

"He's little preoccupied," Jacob butted in, patting Theo on his shoulder

"What does that mean?"

"Take a look for yourself," he said, lowering a pet carrier.

"Danny?" she said, the badger lowered its head, "Merlin's beard I can't believe you did it,"

"He's a little stuck, but don't worry, we'll help him," Jacob told her, she smiled at the badger

"He's so adorable," she laughed, picking up the badger, which made a low grumbling sound at her. "You're going to make sure he's okay right?" placing her brother down on the ground.

"Yeah, even if we can't help Charlie will know what to do," Theo assured her, nudging the badger with his foot, back into the pet carrier, the badger attempting to bite his ankle. "Little shit," 

***

Aimee walked to the train station with her brothers, she frowned knowing that she wouldn't see them for the entire summer. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, she quickly wiped her eyes, though Jacob saw it, he wrapped his arms around her, reassuring her that's she'll see them again.

She hurried onto the Hogwarts express, finding the compartment with Lily, Alice, Mary and Marlene. She hoped to sit with them for the ride back to London, sitting with her brothers would have made it worse to say goodbye. She sat with girls, Emmeline and Dorcas were also sat with them, she awkwardly glanced around curious to know if Dorcas had mentioned anything to the girls.

Aimee smiled when she spotted her father at the platform, he patiently waited for the train to pull in, he insisted on picking her up so she could say her goodbye properly. Her mother would surely be outraged by her choice of friends, Mr Burke, also came because he didn't want his wife knowing that he had brought their son's home.

Further down the platform, stood Walburga and Orion Black, along with their youngest son Regulus, they had come to pick Sirius up from King's Cross Station. However, it appeared that only Regulus wanted to see him like their parents were being forced to collect their son.

Mr Burke couldn't understand what Sirius had done so wrong for his mother and father to act this way towards him. Especially when they showed Regulus all the care in the world. He shook his head wanting to stay out of their business, Orion had changed a lot since they were at school. He wasn't the same person he knew before.

Aimee hurried to her father wrapping her arms around him, she saw her brothers swiftly leave Kings Cross Station, with Danny still tucked away in the pet carrier. Most likely so their father wouldn't see that Danny was stuck as a badger, they never mentioned to their father that they had mastered turning into Animagi.

"Aimee!" Lily called, she turned to her, as she carefully approached Aimee and her father, she handed her a note with her address on it. "So you can write to me,"

"Thank you, Dad, this is Lily," she introduced Lily to her father, he offered her a small smile,

"Hi, Mr Burke, Aimee's told me so much about you," she held her hand out to shake his.

"Pleasure to meet you," he shook her hand.

"I have to go, my family is waiting," Lily hugged her, before rushing over to her parents and older sister Petunia.

"Aimee, your friends family, are they muggles?" he asked, she cautiously eyed her father, pursing her lips before answering her father.

"Yes, Lily is muggleborn,"

Aimee waited for her father's response, but he slung her arm over her shoulder, smiling down at her, he guided her towards the barrier. She quickly spun around heading over to the Blacks, she hadn't said goodbye to him. Sirius heard her footsteps running towards them, he let a small smile creep upon his face.

"Hey, you aren't leaving without saying goodbye, are you?"

"You were talking with your dad, I didn't want to interrupt," Sirius said, glancing to the side at his mother, her eyes watching them closely.

"You will write to me over the summer won't you?" she asked, he nodded she threw her arms around him, he hesitantly put his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.

As Sirius walked away with his family, he couldn't help but smile, even if Regulus teased him about his interaction with Aimee, the whole way home. He didn't care, for he knew that he wouldn't see her for the next two months.