CHAPTER ONE
↳ flash of green light

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Elara Lily Lupin was an enigma. There was the crystal clear baseline that she was a very well spoken fourteen year old, but there was so much more to her exterior of fashionable 70s looks and curly brown hair that reached long past her shoulders.Elara Lily Lupin was named after the eighth largest moon of Jupiter, a planet her eyes have gazed many times in her lifetime. She was the adopted daughter of a werewolf ( she was very much proud of that, thank you very much ) and also the unofficially stated adopted daughter of the notorious murderer, Sirius Black. Despite all the knowledge, a person could hold on Elara Lily Lupin, they would never be able to properly fathom the oddities that laid carefully in her dreams. Dreams of cups that brought you to graveyards, dreams of archways that swallowed the innocent up, how would anyone be able to fathom these peculiar dreams.

At the young age of four years old, Elara Lily Lupin experienced her first ever 'peculiar dream'. She doesn't remember much, of course she wouldn't, It had been ten years since that horrific nightmare. However, Elara Lily Lupin remembered something special about that dream. Perhaps it was the gasps of pain that escaped her and someone else, or maybe the feeling as though acid was being poured down her throat as she clawed out for oxygen, she remembered that dream vividly. She never understood what she saw, a cave shrouded in the murderous dark, human like hands clawing up from the water, Elara always assumed this odd dream was something her strange mind carbonated. She had woken up, screaming at the top of her lungs that cold winter's night, crying as she shook terribly from such an awful dream. Remus did his best to comfort her, assuring her that her strange dream was nothing more than her wild imagination.

She could never forget that dream, no matter whether it wasn't real. It seemed to permanently etch into her mind, unable to forget the look of horror on the strange boy who had silver tin eyes as cold as steel as he was dragged into the cold, unforgiving water, never to resurface again.

Elara Lily Lupin had been home for approximately one week. There was no sign of Sirius at all, she just assumed he had gone into hiding somewhere else. Laying on her bed, legs crossed, she trailed her book as she read 'Little Women' for perhaps the hundredth time. Elara could never get tired of it. The cover of the blue book remained dirty and the spine of the book was worn, but nevertheless, reading it felt like she was uplifted into the world Jo March lived. Right now, she was trapped in the tragic reveal that Amy March, in a fit of rage, burnt Jo's manuscript. In a way, Elara despised Amy for this. That manuscript was Jo's pride and joy, but Elara had to ground herself and realise that this is the worst Amy has done. Some argue Amy stealing the trip to Europe and 'stealing' Laurie from Jo is why she is such a despicable character. But, Jo would never have enjoyed those things.

"You, you are, you're a great deal too good for me, and I'm so grateful to you, and so proud and fond of you, I don't know why I can't love you as you want me to. I've tried, but I can't change the feeling, and it would be a lie to say I do when I don't." Jo rejected Laurie, she never had feelings for him and Elara admired her brutal honesty. Jo remained true to herself, she could've lied and married Laurie, but she always knew she would never be truly happy. In the end, Laurie married Amy March, someone he fell for.

"Elara!" She heard her papa, Remus Lupin, call out. The girl looked up from her book, placed the bookmark into it and placed it on her bedside cabinet. She slipped on some fairly snug slippers and huddled down to where her papa was, undoubtedly preparing dinner which he occasionally allowed her to assist with.

As soon as she walked into the kitchen, she saw a massive box on the ground and eyed it suspiciously. "Did you get the mail? Anything exciting?" On the table was a magazine, Princess Diana on the cover in a gorgeous black dress. "I see the press keeps talking about Diana's gorgeous dress," Elara picked up the magazine and read the title 'PRINCESS DIANA STILL MAKING HEADLINES EVEN AFTER A MONTH AFTER HER REVENGE DRESS DEBUT'. Honestly, Diana had every right to wear that dress, considering how Charles had admitted to cheating on her. "Hey, what's in the box?" Looking down, she noticed how some holes were poked into the box and squinted in confusion. She had a theory, she just needed to test it out. Kicking it, she listened for the grunt of pain that soon came from the box. Opening the lid, she saw a very dishevelled Sirius Black who was looking up at her with a cheeky smile. "Dad!" When the man stood up, he was immediately embraced in a tight hug.

Laughing into her hair, the man spoke, "I've missed you too Poppet," Remus coughed and Sirius turned his attention onto him. "Excuse me?"

"Come here you dickhead," almost immediately, Sirius Black collapsed into Remus Lupin, melting into a passionate kiss as the two men, after more than a decade apart embraced. For a moment, the two were occupied with the feeling of their lips dancing. For a moment, the way Sirius' arms wrapped around Remus' neck was the only thought occupying them. For a moment, all the two could think was about how much they loved each other. Remus John Lupin was incredulously in love with Sirius Orion Black, even after all these years of believing he committed such hideous crimes.

Elara coughed, shuffling awkwardly and covered her eyes. "For fucks sake snog when I'm not in the room," the two men turned, chuckling at her as she still covered her eyes. "I already walked in on Gaia and Lois, I don't need to see anymore," she wandered towards the cupboards and tried pulling out some cereal, which she couldn't reach. "I'm serving lunch, coco pops,"

Remus laughed, still quite hesitant to let go of Sirius and walked towards the kitchen, reaching down and pulling the cereal down for her, then grabbing three bowls. "Come on, we better catch dad up with everything,"

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'FREDDY MERCURY IS DEAD'?" Sirius shrieked out, gasping in complete disbelief as Remus caught him up with all the twelve years he had missed. They were emptying boxes that came from the attic. Just now, they had come across a newspaper article detailing the artist's death. "So I missed like every concert of his?" Remus nodded. "Oh you've got to be fucking with me!"

To change the conversation, Elara dig deeper in a box labelled 'SEVENTH YEAR, HOGWARTS' "Oh! Look dad, it's you!" Elara pulled out a moving photo. It was Sirius posing in a dress, Remus standing besides him, kissing his forehead and a curly haired woman who looked fairly similar to Elara covering her mouth. "Who's that?" Elara did not have a clue who she was, she wanted some elaboration.

"That would be Esmeralda," Remus quipped, smiling fondly at the scene. He remembered it very well. "Your mother," he remembered that day very vividly. Esmeralda had brought some dresses for all the girls to try on and somehow ( Remus was very certain Marlene was heavily involved ), Sirius managed to have a dress and he couldn't resist capturing the whole scene.

"She's very pretty," Elara spoke quietly. She had never seen many photos of her birth mother, she didn't know much about her at all.

"Essie always was the looker," Remus mumbled, looking down at Esmeralda's smiling figure.

"Will you tell me about her?" Remus smiled down at Elara, her eyes looking up at him with a strong hint of curiosity. "And my father!" She reached down and grabbed another moving photo. This time it had all the Marauders, Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, Esmeralda and also someone Elara assumed was her father. "This is him isn't it?"

Sirius reached and looked at the photo, scowling slightly at the sight of the traitor's face. His face, however, softened when he saw Esmeralda's forehead being kissed by the man Elara had pointed out. "Yeah, that's Xavier, Ravenclaw in our year," He pointed at the photo of her mum who was beaming so brightly. "Essie was a sweet Slytherin, probably one of the only ones at the time who weren't prejudiced little gits, didn't stop us from pranking her at any point," Remus snorted at the memories of the times they would hex the doors shut and she'd end up hexing a tail on them. "Fell in love with your dad in our sixth year and they married right at the end of our seventh," he scavenged the box, looking for something and then pulled it out. "This was their wedding. Essie wasn't happy at first because six months after Xavier proposed, her mum and dad were murdered and her little sister was put up for adoption, but me and Moony went with her for her dress fitting and we cheered her up by trying on some dresses, didn't we Moony?"

Remus snorted and nodded. "Es thought we looked ridiculous,"

Sirius gasped out, almost like he was in betrayal. "I think I looked very handsome thank you very much," Remus leaned down and planted a kiss on his pouting lips and Elara covered her eyes dramatically. Looking at her, Sirius sighed. "Elara there's no need to be so dramatic,"

"There is every need to be dramatic,"

Remus coughed. "Anyways, your mother and father, Esmeralda and Xavier, were so in love, he went to me and Sirius when he wanted to propose to her because we were like her brothers," he laughed to himself, remembering when the man was all shaky when asking the two. Obviously they said yes. "I was your mother's man of honour and Lily, Harry's mother and your godmother, was Xavier's best woman,"

Sirius continued for Remus. "When Lily and Prongs were getting married, they both attended. Essie was just two months pregnant at the time and just a month after Prongs' wedding, the two send a letter telling us they had gone into hiding," he winced, recalling the day he received the letter that was covered in tears. "Your mother, naturally, was scared. Essie always was superstitious, whole family believed in things not many would believe in,"

"And then they got killed," Elara pressed her lips together.

"Sadly," Remus paused, looking down at the photo of Esmeralda and Xavier's smiling figures. "Sadly, they were," he reached into the box, moving objects around and then pulling out a bunch of letters that were tied together in red ribbon. "I always kept these, I knew, one day, you'd want to see what your mother said, always mentioning how her 'little moon', as she called you because she found out she was pregnant literally during the night, was always up and hyper,"

"Is that why you both called me Elara?" Remus and Sirius nodded. That was, in fact, true. Esmeralda and Remus were exceptionally close, almost like siblings. She was one of the first to discover his 'furry little secret' and still remained his friend. In one of her letters, directly addressed to Remus, she detailed how she wanted to name her daughter ( she was pretty adamant Elara was a girl, Xavier always disagreed ) after a moon in honour of Remus.
Elara felt a wave of sadness swallow her as she thought more and more about her birth parents. "They sound wonderful," she commented quietly, looking down at her hands. "I wish I could've met them,"

"Same, Poppet," Sirius went over and kissed Elara's head. "I wish you could've met them as well,"
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Despite the fact that the Wizarding World was very accepting of the LGBTQ+ Community, Elara still kept up to date on the movement in the Muggle world. She knew quite a bit herself, from the Stonewall Riots where Black LGBTQ+ members such as Marsha P. Johnston fought for Muggle LGBTQ+ Rights. Nevertheless, the AIDS Epidemic had been a continuous cycle all throughout both Britain and America in the 1980s, gay men were dying and homophobia was growing excessively. The prejudice Muggle LGBTQ+ people faced was awful, Elara wished they had grown up in the Wizarding world. Then again, LGBTQ+ Wizarding communities were facing some homophobia, but it was way better as they were capable of adoption and marriage.

She had just been reading a magazine article about how the age of consent for gay men was now lowered down to sixteen. It happened months ago, but this was exceptional for the community that had faced so much discrimination.

Just earlier, Cedric and Morgan had owled her about how they're all planning to come over tomorrow, Sirius knew that very well and promised to stay as Padfoot ( or Snuffles as Elara kept calling him ). She knew they knew he was innocent, but Sirius didn't know that. The boys had detailed how Wisteria was currently staying at Cedric's because he managed to convince his parents who conveniently knew her mother to let her stay. Daphne was also staying at his, she usually did that annually when she wasn't visiting her Aunt Queenie in America. ( Cedric added how Pepper decided to steal his mum's necklace, not that she minded ). Elara was beyond elated that her friends were staying over.

Deciding to write Hermione a letter, she picked up a spare piece of parchment and grabbed a quill to write in. Dipping the tip in some ebony ink, she began:

'Dearest Hermione,' Elara started, she thought for a moment, then wrote on the parchment,
'It has been such a lonesome summer so far without. I've missed you terribly. How are you? Right now, I'm obviously writing this letter to you, but tomorrow my friends are coming over. Believe me, I would have invited you, but I assumed you would be spending some time with your parents. How are they?' Elara had met Mr and Mrs Granger once before in the summer before her second year. They seemed quite kind and Hermione was quite lucky to have them as her parents. She had also kept in touch with them during the time Hermione had been petrified, owling them about Hermione's state and keeping their spirits up by mentioning how the antidote would soon be made. Mr and Mrs Granger appreciated that a lot. 'I really miss you, like you're my bestest friend in the whole wide world and you mean everything to me. I do hope you miss me as well, although you should focus on all the exciting things you're doing right now! Anyways, have you gotten any letters from Harry and Ron? I've owled the two of them once and I'm still awaiting a reply. Then again, Harry lives with those ghastly muggles of his and Ron takes years to reply. Believe it or not, I wrote him a letter four years ago and he only replied a little over two years ago.'

Elara laughed to herself. Laurie had entered the room now, purring at her feet.

'Anyways, I've specifically counted and I have now lost count on the times I've read Little Women. I really do adore Jo and all the other characters in the novel. I still feel incredibly sorry for Laurie when Jo rejected him, but I am glad he found love in Amy in the end. Speaking of Laurie, I think he's been missing Crookshanks a lot because he's constantly clawing at me for some reason. He, however, is quite content when I give him my food at lunch so luckily he hasn't scratched me a lot. Do give Crookshanks a good pat from me, I miss him a lot and I do hope he's alright.' Pausing for a moment, Elara dipped the quill back into the ink.

'Papa mentioned my birth parents for the first time and I saw an actual photo of them! I've never been so elated to see them! I've never met them, but the warmth and love in their eyes told me they are very kind.' She dipped her quill in more ink. 'My mum looks a lot like me, but apparently I have my father's eyes and my mother's face. I can see it from their photos. When I see you next, I'll show you the photo I promise.'

Sighing deeply, she looked at that exact photo. All the happy faces, innocent faces that looked so full of life. Most were dead, one was a traitor and the other two were newly reunited after a gruesome twelve years absent of their love. Her mother and father were still so full of life and sometimes Elara wished she knew what they sounded like.

She imagined Esmeralda sounded as sweet as honey, she imagined Xavier sounded as melodic as a violin. She really wished she had a way of hearing their voices, they must have sounded beautiful.

Dipping her quill in the ink for the final time, Elara thought for a moment, thinking of how she would end her letter. She decided to write what she always wrote.

'I really do miss you so much and I love you so much,
Sincerely and with an exceptional amount of love,
Elara xxx'

Placing the parchment into an envelope and sealing it with a small yellow sticker, Elara unhinged Prince's cage, the bird immediately pecking her hand, causing a small mark to bleed out. "Nasty git," she scowled at him. "Take this to Hermione Granger, you know where to go," flying up and pecking her nose rather harshly, the owl took flight as soon as she opened her window. It was rather late, he'd most likely arrive in the morning.

Closing the window, Elara sighed. She really did miss Hermione. It had been quite unfortunate that she couldn't have her over, but having Cedric, Morgan, Lois, Daphne, Gaia and Wisteria over was such an amazing thing. She opened a drawer and took out a small plaster, placing it over her nose where Prince had bitten her. Closing her curtains and wrapping herself in a blanket, she couldn't help but feel giddy about seeing her friends again. Sure, it had been a few weeks, but nevertheless, she had missed them greatly. She laid on her bed, Laurie snuggled up by her feet as she soon allowed herself to succumb to her drowsiness and found herself trapped in her dreams once more.

Elara Lily Lupin never understood those dreams she had.

She never did, never would.

So when she drifted off, all she could heard were screams, cries and then a voice hissing out:

"KILL THE SPARE!"

And then all Elara Lily Lupin saw was a flash of green light as she jolted awake, breathing heavily, tears pricking in her eyes as she remembered that face she saw lying on the floor, blood tripping down his face and eyes void of any life.

Those grey eyes belonged to Cedric Diggory.

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HELLO HELLO HELLO-
FIRSTLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY REMMY MY PURE BBY-
all I can imagine is Remus spending his birthday happy and alive-

ANYWAYS- this chapter if for remmy-

Esmeralda and Xavier are the minimum of het couples that have many rights- along with James and Lily and Harry and Ginny-

Also what did you all think of Elara's dreams 👀👀 any thoughts about that-

essentially, Elara's writing love letters to Hermione and I live for that-

AND SIRIUS REACTING TO LIKE EVERYTHING HE'S MISSED- HSJSKSKKSKSK

ALSO- Yea I did incorporate actual LGBTQ+ history into this chapter. Yes in 1994 the age of consent for gay men was lowered to sixteen.

THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH FOR GETTING ME TO 14K- I LOVE YOU ALL AND I APPRECIATE EVERY ONE OF YOU!

LOVE YOU ALL 🥰