CHAPTER SIX
↳ mandrake leaf

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Elara held the mandrake leaf that Gaia nicked from school in her palm. It was a warm summer's night, August 21st to be precise, and the full moon gleaming, and she was prepared to start the one month process. She could faintly hear the howls that belonged to her father, sounding more playful than anguished due to the company he had with his lover.

Elara couldn't help but smile, glad that her papa wasn't suffering as he usually would. Both men remained clueless to what Elara was plotting, Elara, of course, hadn't told either of her dads that she was doing this.

Her papa would freak out and her dad, well he'd encourage it.

Tonight was the night she'd have to start the process, considering how the moon danced, shining bright in the sky. She had memorised the incantation with the assistance of Cedric and Lois, both of whom were very well versed in the process, both actually wanting to become registered when they became of age, both planning to do the process legally. That was about two years away and they were both ecstatic, Cedric remarking how even death wouldn't keep him away from becoming an animal.

When they had heard Elara wanted to do it illegally, no amount of persuading would convince her otherwise and they ended up helping the girl getting notes and everything written down. Lois was more immersed that Elara even wanted to do it illegally, Gaia literally slapped her when she said she'd do the process as well.

Elara had already had things planned out. If she started her mandrake leaf process on the 21st of August, which was today, it would equate that the next full moon, the full moon she'd have to do the rest of the process would be when she was at Hogwarts, which she'd have to evade the possibility of Minnie working it out. She'd have to convince them that somehow she had lost her voice or something else along those lines and was recovering and couldn't have magical inference because it would mess it up further. Maybe she could just speak as normally as possible and hope for the best.

"Holy shit," the girl breathed out for a moment. The dainty small leaf remained clasped in Elara's grip. She couldn't help but wonder what these next few weeks would be like. "I am about to do this,"

She knew that her dads would figure it out quickly. Her dad, Sirius, had done the process himself and her papa was well aware of it despite the fact he didn't partake. She could only hope that they wouldn't get mad, well she hopes her papa wouldn't get mad, her dad would be thrilled.

Placing the leaf in her mouth, Elara's face scrunched up in disgust and she felt the urge to spit it out. She declined and swallowed down whatever saliva was in her mouth that pooled at the sensation of the leaf. It wasn't pleasant and she was stuck with this for a whole month. How nice. Laurie seemed to be quite ecstatic as well, nuzzling his white furry head on her ankle, then jumping up onto the bed and settling down. Elara smiled, hopping down onto the mattress and curling up to the softness of the two blankets.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

One week was completed and Elara had managed to not make her drool obvious, speaking well enough while pressing the leaf at the bottom of her mouth. She woke up to the sound of Sirius belting out the lyrics from "Bohemian Rhapsody" ( an iconic song if you asked her ) but nevertheless, tried pressing her pillow against her ears to shut the music up. Just five more minutes. She internally groaned knowing her dad would work out quickly what she was doing. She had some hope, but she knew it wouldn't be accurate.

"Good morning!" Sirius' obnoxious voice rang out. He marched himself into her room and grabbed onto her bed covers, yanking them off.
The sudden chills ran throughout her body, as she moved her arms up to cover her eyes.

"Bloody hell!" She exclaimed. She quickly stood up to grab onto the blanket. Sirius held it higher, him being much taller than she was, even when she stood on her bed. "Dad, give me the blanket unless you want your kneecaps gone,"

"Feisty ain't you poppet," Sirius laughed out. Despite how much of her life he's missed, he felt like he's always been there. The family had awkward moments here and there, but they were growing accustomed to being a three people household once more. "Hang on- what's in your mouth- oof-,"

Elara had wrapped her hands around his mouth and pulled in onto her bed. "Don't. Say. Another. Word." She muttered to him, very slowly. She felt him lick her hand. "Ew- how old are you?" She looked down at her hand, feigning disgust. Sometimes, Elara wondered whether him being a dog animagus affected his mentality.

"Old enough to know you are doing the animagus transformation," he snarked back.
Elara Lily Lupin would never be able to get rid of the shock in Remus John Lupin's voice.

"HANG ON WHAT?"

"Bloody hell," Elara placed a hand over her face in a deep frown. "Dad you're a fucking snitch," Sirius snickered quietly and soon enough Remus busted into the room, a scowl on his face.

"ELARA LILY LUPIN!" He started. Elara shrunk, prepared to face the absolute hell. She suppressed a smile as she watched her dad's attempt of yelling at her. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

"Remus, language," Sirius teased with a sly smirk on his face.

"Don't you fucking tell me language,"

Sirius mumbled under his breath, "moody werewolves,"

Elara snickered, coughing to cover it when Remus glared her way."Um," Elara paused for a moment. "Illegally become an animagus?" She waved one hand in front of her. Remus pursed his lips, sighing, his eyes flickering from Sirius to Elara.

Sirius seemed to be having a field day, holding back laughter.

"And where did you learn this from?" Remus shook his head in disappointment. Although he did feel like laughing. She was exactly like Sirius and he dreaded to think about all the other things she could possibly accomplish.
Well they were in for a long story cut short.

"Well you see papa," Elara began. She took a moment to wipe her mouth, saliva dripping there lightly. "Professor Minnie taught us about Animagi and I was tempted by the promise of becoming an animal," Elara shook her head slightly. "I kinda-uh- convinced her to tell me a bit more than what she told us in class and she gave me a pass to let me get a book and I copied down the instructions from the library and-uh- look at where we are,"

Her explanation was only half correct. She also had Gaia go and somehow convince Professor Spout to let her use the spare mandrake leaves for an 'experiment' she planned on doing. Of course, she wasn't going to snitch on her though.

"And why exactly are you doing it now?" Remus narrowed his eyes at her. "And how did you manage to get a mandrake leaf?"

"So-uh-well, I have sources that I shall not disclaim," Elara explained.

Remus sighed. "Of course you got Gaia to get them from Herbology," he quirked an eyebrow at her. "And why now?"

"Well- you see, I can't exactly do the incantation outside of school because of the 'underaged wizards and witches no magic' rule thingy, so like it technically isn't magic if I put the leaf in my mouth and I'd have to wait until next month to spit out the leaf which will be when I'm in school and therefore I wouldn't be contacted by the ministry for underaged magic,"

Remus blinked a few times. "What have I signed up to?" He mumbled incoherently. He really wondered who raised this girl, after all she seemed to bear more of Sirius' personality than his own.

"A mini Padfoot," Sirius laughed out. He picked Elara up with ease, mainly as she was very small for her age and extremely light, the girl laughing with caution so that the mandrake leaf didn't fall out of her mouth. "Honestly you're more like me than papa,"

"Only learnt from the best," Elara smiled proudly. She saw tears gather in Sirius' grey eyes, she had no clue why but didn't want him to cry. "Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad, poppet," Sirius smiled, a few tears leaving his eyes which were rubbed away by Elara's thumb. "I'm just happy I get to know you now," Remus, who was standing at the entrance of her room, now started moving in.

"You're sad you couldn't see me grow up," Elara mumbled quietly. She gave him a half-hearted smile. She felt sympathetic that he couldn't see her grow up. He spent more time rotting away in a cell for a crime he didn't commit than with the people he loved. "I can see it- in your eyes," she clarified. "Dad, you may have not seen me grow, but at least you are here right now. Things happen for a purpose, maybe we'll find out your purpose soon," Sirius wrapped arms around Elara and let out sobs.

He cried for the moments he missed with his daughter. Her first steps, her first time going to nursery, he missed everything he could've been there for. When he felt Remus wrap his arms around the pair, he cried even more. For Sirius Black was a man who was broken. Azkaban wasn't a kind place for many reasons and for the first time in years, he felt safe.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

It took Elara approximately three hours to convince Remus to let her take Sirius for a walk with his leash. You see, Sirius was very much up for the idea, being Padfoot and walking around the town near their house, Remus... not so much.

Now Elara was out, Sirius on a leash and happily prancing down to the near town. Elara couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. As soon as they entered the town, she entered the nearest shop. While it was a few months until Halloween, that didn't ever stop Elara from picking up some bits and bobs for the whole group.

They had all opted to wear some type of accessory on Halloween, Morgan was quite lenient towards the idea but Cedric seemed to convince him. Cedric needed some vampire fangs considering how he wanted to be a vampire and Elara needed to pick up a bunch of fake elf ears for Wisteria, Lois and Gaia. Daphne, while very hesitant, decided she'd wear a crown as, in her words, "I'm more royal than you all combined".

As soon as she entered the shop, Sirius decided, at the most convenient time, to let out a loud bark, paddling towards the assortments of records at the start of the store. Elara tried pulling him back, looking down at him and hissing his way. "Ahem," she looked up, a man who looked to be in his mid forties, glancing strangely at her.

"Can I help you?" Elara asked, managing to pull Sirius towards her.

"Yes," he looked at where Sirius was for a moment, a split look of disgust shifting onto his creased face. "Dogs aren't allowed," he said shortly, pointing at a sign.

Elara sighed. "I-," she straightened herself up. "He's not a dog,"

"Not a dog?" The man furrowed his eyebrows.
"I- I mean he is a dog!" She clarified quickly. "Just he's more than a dog," Sirius pulled on the leash again, Elara hissing out, "dad,"

"Did you just call your dog 'dad'?"

Elara almost breathed out a laugh, had the man not been staring so menacingly at her.

"Oh, y-you've misheard me, I said 'pad', his name's 'Padfoot'," she crouched down, scratching his head. Sirius almost tilted his head at her, confused. She did call me 'dad' though. He thought for a moment. "And he's my emotional support dog," Sirius tilted his head at her. Excuse me? "Just roll with it," she whispered down to him, hoping the shop owner hadn't heard her.

"Do you require this 'emotional support' here in my shop?" The man didn't seem convinced at all, squinting his eyes at her. Elara nodded.

"And where are your forms regarding this animal being your emotional support dog?"

"Do you genuinely believe I carry these forms with me everywhere?" She coughed into her elbow. "I- well, they're at my house and I have to buy some stuff, I live quite a while away as well, so no, I will not be able to walk home and get the evidence that-," Elara grimaced at the sight of Sirius. "He's my emotional support dog,"

"Very well then," the man turned away. "Just make sure he's properly trained,"

Elara really hoped Sirius was. It would be most unfortunate if he wasn't.

She wiped her chin as a treacle as saliva dripped down, standing upright and scoffing near her foot. "Don't you even think about it, dad,"

If dogs could frown, Sirius was most definitely frowning.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"Emotional support dog? Emotional support dog?" Sirius scoffed. He had turned back when they got extremely close to the house, very cautiously hidden behind trees and shrubs. "I can barely emotionally support myself, yet alone another human being,"

Elara sighed, swinging the shopping bag back and forth. She had long forgotten the leash, it grabbing on the ground as Sirius continued walking. "Believe me, I'm very well aware,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius called out. Elara ignored him, happily skipping ahead. "Poppet, what's that supposed to mean?" Trying to run up to her, it was his misfortune to find himself catching onto a branch, stumbling to the ground.

Elara turned when she heard a loud thud on the ground, covering her mouth when she saw Sirius sprawled out in the ground. She walked towards him, arm outstretched. "Need help getting up little Siri?"

"Ha ha, very funny," He pulled himself up.

"Why do you even have a dog collar?"

That was a very good question. Elara had no idea. "Well, a few years back, Prongs decided that he'd take me on a walk and he lost me and, somehow, the daft bastard picked the wrong dog to bring home and I spent hours looking for him," Sirius scorned for a minute.
"Moony decided on getting me a dog collar and leash for Christmas after that, so Prongs wouldn't lose me,"

"You all are dumbasses," Elara deadpanned. "You're a massive black dog, yet, somehow, Uncle Prongs managed to lose you,"

"Not my fault," Sirius piped up. "All I did was go into some bushes and somehow Prongs managed to find another black dog and take him home," Sirius paused. "And apparently, they waited four hours for me to turn back and Remus, somehow, realised that the dog biting him was not me,"

"I shouldn't even act surprised,"

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

It was beyond 3am and Sirius and Remus were lying on the sofa, munching on some chocolate that Remus had secretly stashed away. Remus was busy plaiting Sirius' hair, something only he would be allowed to do considering how Sirius hated people other than Remus touching his hair.

"Moony?"

"Yeah, Pads?" Remus stopped plaiting his hair when Sirius turned to face him.

"Do you think things would've been different if nothing went bad?"

Remus thought for a moment. His mind was encased in these forbidden thoughts. Thoughts that tempted him like Eve to the apple. They would always remain forbidden because Remus Lupin couldn't bear wondering what his life could've been, it hurt too much.

Remus smiled sadly, brown eyes looking down for a moment. "I mean, obviously you, Prongs and Lily would be alright, so obviously," he looked up, turning to look at Sirius, capturing his steel grey gaze for a moment.

Sirius shook his head, eyes still remaining on Remus' amber gaze. "No, with Poppet," Sirius fondled with his fingers for a moment. "Would she be any different?"

Remus thought for a moment. Elara's childhood wasn't heavily impacted by Sirius' absence, she always avoided topics about him but Remus could tell there was always some longingness in her soft gaze. From the stories, to the little items, she always remained a small ball of curiosity. "No, she'd always be the same," he broke eye contact, plaiting Sirius' hair once more. "She reminds me of you, energetic, always looking to do good, more curious and always trying to figure out stuff,"

Sirius' heart swelled at the thought of his little poppet being like him. "She's more like you," Sirius insisted. "Bright, a big dork," Remus kissed Sirius' head. "I wish I could've seen her growing up," he looked down for a moment, his eyes drowning in oceans of grey sorrows.

"She was lovely," Remus said quietly. "Always running around, couldn't keep her still. She reminded me of you and it pained me sometimes," Sirius leaned onto Remus for a moment, still facing forward. If he had been facing his direction, Remus would've seen the translucent tears running down his cheeks. Remus smiled fondly. "She always wanted to make everything better for me, once nearly burnt the kitchen down trying to make me pancakes after a particularly bad moon," he laughed, remembering the bashful look on Elara's small face as it was drenched in pancake batter, the air around them seeping with smoke.

"Did she ever ask about me?" Sirius mumbled out, swallowing down his hopes that she did. He hoped that she did, at least once. To know his little poppet was curious about him would make him feel just a little better.

"Once," Remus replied shortly. "I couldn't bring myself to tell her much, it hurt too much. But, I told her you loved her a lot and would be proud of her," He smiled sadly, his light brown eyes filling up with unshed tears that he always refused to shed. "The week after that I caught her up the attic, digging through all your belongings I refused to throw away, I never brought it up with her again because I knew it must've meant something for her to hold something that belonged to her dad," he chucked to himself. "The next day she broke down crying because she felt so bad for taking some letters you'd written to me, it was... amusing,"

Remus looked up and stared into Sirius' steel eyes for a moment, getting lost in them. Sirius, too, was getting lost in Remus'. He had those amber eyes memorised, seeing them so many times. How they'd flicker like a flame as they moved across the pages, how they'd burn up with excitement whenever he'd laugh, those amber eyes avoiding silver in embarrassment, how, even during his transformations, they'd remain the same amber hues that sparked with a flame only Sirius Black could ignite.

Was it really possible to memorise something you hadn't seen in over a decade? Those amber eyes grew as a fantasy, Sirius Black vowing he would never, ever, forget them. Even after a decade, those amber eyes haunted Sirius and Sirius loved every moment of that. And after a moment of staring, silver memorising amber, the two men collapsed into each other, holding themselves in an embrace of love.

Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Elara Lily Lupin sat in the window seat, eyes glazed in tears as she read the old letters written by Sirius to Remus. She sighed softly, eyes drifting to look at the stars where she knew Sirius laid, dancing immortally for all his long days. She reached down, fingers gently opening the letter with her name embroidered delicately in the handwriting that she always had memorised. Her honey brown eyes darted through the words written delicately on the paper, heart swelling often and her mind wizzing with thoughts she couldn't process.

Lovesick, Elara's heart thundered in her chest, letter closer to her heart as she sighed out dreamily. She grinned stupidly to herself, looking out the window as Sirius winked, looking down at her from the peak of the night sky.

Hermione Granger had Elara Lupin around her fingers and she didn't even know.

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

FUCK- IM AT 24K- I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW- BECAUSE I LITERALLY HIT LIKE 19K OR SO LAST WERK- AHHHHH IM SO SO SO SO SO HAPPY AND GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE VOTES, COMMENTS AND READS! THANK YOU

also I watched enola holmes for the first time and FFS I HAD A GAY PANIC WHEN HELENA CAME ON THE SCEEN-
pls that woman is so hot

Elara deserves the world and more- Sirius is dramatic and Remus is done- I don't blame him

what do you think Elara's animagus form is gonna be?