Meeting Mr. Black

Chapter 11

                Anna and the other D.A. students were getting ready to leave the Room of Requirement. Most of them had found out about Anna’s parents being missing and were very sympathetic. Ginny, Ron and the twins, as well as Harry, had invited her to spend Christmas break with them instead of staying at Hogwarts, and Anna was considering taking them up on it.

                She walked over to where Harry was standing to have a word with him when she noticed photos pinned to a mirror. One was of Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff who’d been killed by Voldemort last year. The other was an old photo of a large group of people, all standing proudly together. They seemed very united. As Anna scanned the photo she did a double take. There amid the group was her mother, Meredith.

                “Harry, who are all these people?” she asked stunned.

                “That is a photo of the Original Order of the Phoenix. A group organized by Dumbledore to take a stand against Voldemort,” he said looking at it himself.

                “My mother is in that photo,” Anna whispered, stunned. Her mother had never mentioned any involvement in a group to defeat the dark lord.

                “Really,” Harry said surprised.

                Anna noticed her mother was standing next to a man Anna did not know, but for some reason he seemed familiar. She looked over the photo again but saw no sign of her father. “I had no idea. She never told me anything about it.” Anna was feeling a little hurt by this fact. That was something very important and special and her mother had never shared it with her.

                “I’m not surprised,” Harry said, “it is a secret group. It had to be to protect the members.”

                “Who is that man she is standing next to?” Anna pointed at the man in the dark shabby clothing. He had a haunted look to him, as though he had seen or been through a lot. He had dark hair in need of a cut. There were a few scars on his face, and a really large one running from his cheek down to his other jaw. Anna couldn’t tell his eye color because the photo was black and white, but she could tell that if not for the scars and the scruffy hair he would be a very handsome man..

                “That is Professor Lupin. He was our third year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was the absolute best one we’ve ever had and probably ever will. He’s a very good wizard,” Harry said proudly, as though he knew him personally.

                Lupin, the name was so familiar. Anna ran the name through her brain. It was the same name that Prof. Dumbledore and Snape had mentioned when she had been in the Hospital wing that first time she got sick. By the look of the photo, her mother and this man seemed very close.

                “You should feel proud Anna that your mum was a part of it. They were some of the only ones willing to make a stand against Voldemort .”

                Anna couldn’t shake the feeling that her parents’ disappearance and this photo were connected. With the dark lord being back, it only made sense that he would first go after the people who worked against him.

                Right before Christmas break it happened that Mr. Weasley was attacked at the Department of Mysteries. The injuries were severe and he had to be sent to the wizarding hospital of St. Mungos. Harry asked Anna if she still wanted to spend Christmas with them and Anna agreed to. Harry met Anna at the train station and took her to #12 Grimmauld Place. He went ahead and warned her that they would be staying with his godfather, none other than the notorious, Sirius Black. Harry explained about the lies being told about him from the Ministry and how he was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix. When they arrived Sirius greeted them, he was both kind and gracious.

                “I don’t believe it,” he said, shaking Anna’s hand, “so this is Meredith’s daughter, Annabelle,” and then he hugged her, “Your mother was a very good friend. Of course we both belonged to Gryffindor and the same year together.”

                Anna was pleased to meet someone who knew her mother personally.

                “I am sorry to hear about your parents, Annabelle,” Sirius said sympathetically. Anna liked Sirius immediately, “you know Harry here is my godson, and just like the son I never had. If there is anything you need or a place to stay you are welcome here. Maybe you could be the daughter I never had because I already feel as though I’ve known you forever.”

                “Thank you, Mr. Black,” Anna smiled up at him, she felt the same way. There was just something about him.

                “None of that Mr. Black rubbish,” Sirius grumbled, “I may be old, but not that old. Just call me Sirius.”

                “Agreed,” Anna laughed, “And you can call me Anna. It’s a lot easier than Annabelle.”

                Later that night after dinner, Anna, Harry and Sirius were relaxing by the fire in the sitting room. The Weasleys were going to join them the next day when Mr. Weasley was released from St. Mungos.

                “What house do you belong to Anna?” Sirius asked.

                “I’m in Ravenclaw.”

                “Hummm…,” he said, his mind seeming to be elsewhwere, “That’s odd. Well, Harry told me this is your first year at Hogwarts; that your parents trained you at home. Harry can’t get over the fact that you are well ahead of most of the other students.”

                “I don’t know about that, but it is true that this is my first year.”

                “Do you mind if I ask what your last name is?” Sirius was looking at her closely.

                Anna was wondering why he didn’t know her last name since he’d known her mother very well.

                “It’s Blackburn. My father is Kendall Blackburn.”

                “Oh yes, a Hufflepuff,” Sirius said quickly, “sorry but I have been in prison a while and I had not realized that your mother had married him.”

                Sirius stood up, “I’ll be right back.” He left the room, but soon came back holding a box filled with something. Soon he was spreading old photos and papers on the table. “Here are some things you two might want to see.” Anna and Harry started going through them. Anna picked up one of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She was shocked; there was her mother as a young girl, holding her broomstick, proudly smiling for the camera.

                “My mum played Quidditch,” Anna asked in shock.

                “She sure did,” Sirius beamed at her, “other than Harry’s father, James, she was the best flyer on the team. She was a chaser.”

                Anna looked closely at her mother, her long dark, silky brown hair flowing in the wind. Why did her mother not tell her any of this? Shouldn’t she know these things? And what other things did she not know.

                They continued looking through the photos until Anna came to another of her mum, sitting on a sofa in what looked to be a common room, a book in her lap. She was sitting very close to a young man. Anna immediately recognized him as a young Professor Lupin.  He was the same man from the Order of the Phoenix photo.

                “Were you friends with Professor Lupin?” Anna asked Sirius.

                “Oh yes, me and Remus have been the best of friends since our first day at Hogwarts,” Sirius replied.

                Remus, Anna thought. And then it hit her. It was the same name from her dreams, or as she liked to call them, nightmares. It was the name her mother was crying out for in desperation on that dark foggy night when she was so small. ‘What did this man have to do with her mother?’

                “What was his relationship to my mother?” Anna asked, looking at Sirius. She was watching him carefully and could tell he was very uncomfortable suddenly.

                “They were close,” Sirius said honestly, looking Anna in the eyes.

                “How close?”

                “Well, to be honest, I always thought that Remus and your mother would end up together, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” Sirius said honestly. At least he seemed to be truthful with her.

                Anna couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the relationship of her mother and Remus Lupin, but she couldn’t fit it all together yet. She was also getting over the shock of all the things her mother had done but never told her. Why, if her mum had been such a great Quidditch flyer, did she not teach her own daughter to fly better? Anna had had to beg her to teach her the little bit of flying she could do, which wasn’t much. And where was her father in all this? He always did what her mother advised when it came to decisions about Anna. So far she had not heard mention of her father, Kendall Blackburn, in any of her mother’s past.

                Sirius was watching her carefully, as if he knew she was processing it all and taking in the information.

                “Thank you, Sirius, for sharing all this with me. I just wish my mother had told me more of this stuff herself,” Anna helped Harry gather everything up into the box.

                “You’re welcome,” Sirius could tell she was a little upset, “you know Anna, sometimes the people we love do things we don’t understand, but I know your mother loved you, and your father also. And whatever they’ve done, it was out of love for you.”

                Anna knew Sirius was trying to comfort her and it helped a little, but Anna knew deep down there was more to this, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to take a dramatic turn.