Chapter 1
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ADHARA BLACK DIDN'T MEET HARRY POTTER ON THE TRAIN. Instead, she found herself an empty compartment and read through the first three of her father's letters again.

Adhara was confused. For as long as she could remember, Matron had always reminded her of all the awful things her father and her family had done, and how she would do the same because she was cut from the same cloth.

But the man in her letters didn't sound evil. He wasn't vile and horrible, like how Matron had said he was. He was far from that. In fact, he almost sounded...caring.

Regulus Black wrote quite a few letters to his daughter, right before he disappeared. Clearly, he knew he didn't have much time left; the existence of said letters was proof enough of that.

He wrote to her about everything, from the rare fond memories of Hogwarts to the horrible ones at his childhood home. In his first letter, he wrote about her mother, a muggle woman called Nadia Haque, and about their brief encounter one night. The second one mostly spoke about his brother, Sirius. Though it didn't go much into detail, he wrote about how they were once very close, and then how one day they weren't.

In his third one, Regulus apologized. He apologized for leaving so soon and for not being there for her. And he reminded her that, although he would never have the chance to meet her, he would always love her.

And Adhara's eyes welled up in tears for it was the first time someone told her they cared for her.

The letters were kept short and brief, but they said enough and there were plenty of them. The diary, which she still hadn't opened, was tucked away in her satchel. It wasn't addressed to her like the letters were, so she was hesitant to open it. She wasn't sure she was ready to find out about Regulus' unfiltered thoughts.

Each letter talked about a different topic. But her father finished each and every one of them with the same warning: Beware of You-Know-Who. Stay away from his followers. Do not get involved.

But Adhara was never one to follow orders.

━━━━

Adhara Black didn't meet Harry Potter at the sorting either. Like everyone else, she watched him on that stool from where she sat at her table. B came before P in the alphabet, thus she was already sorted and was sitting with the rest of her housemates.

Adhara wasn't oblivious. She noticed how the rest of Slytherin House sneered at her. Her blood status wasn't a secret. Matron made sure the news got to The Prophet the minute her mother handed her over to Aleyne. In exchange for a generous sum of money, of course.

They saw her as a disgrace. Someone who tarnished the name of Black with her dirty blood. She knew this. She's been reminded of this her whole life. For all Matron liked to remind her about the evil deeds of her family, she herself didn't shy away from having bigoted opinions on blood status.

Quite hypocritical if you asked Adhara.

But Adhara didn't give them the attention they wanted. Half-blood or not, her name meant something in this world. She knew that. Therefore, she kept her head high and ate the food on the table, paying no mind to the boy with a lightning scar on his forehead that everyone seemed to try and get a glimpse of.

She would meet him eventually anyway.

━━━━

But before we tell the story of the boy who lived again, let's mention this first.

Let's mention how McGonagall visibly flinched when she noticed Adhara's name during the sorting ceremony. How she was remembering the last time she saw the names "Potter" and "Black" on the same list.

Let's mention how Headmaster Dumbledore cast a suspicious look towards the young Black, knowing that she might mess with his plans one day. Wanting to keep her at a distance.

Let's mention how Professor Snape stared at her through narrowed eyes and saw another childhood bully to get revenge on and not a housemate he once called a friend.

Let's mention how wherever she went, Adhara was always a reflection of her father or her uncle. A reflection of a family she never met.

About how the blood purists saw her as an abomination, and the others saw her as evil.

About how she was shoved aside by the Dark, and rejected by the Light.

And how she decided then to ignore them both.

━━━━

Harry Potter met Adhara Black one week into the term, right before their first Potions lesson.

He was walking towards the classroom with his new friend and roommate, Ron Weasley when he belatedly noticed her right next to them.

He didn't hear her walking beside them. And now that Harry noticed her, he realized he still couldn't hear her at all. She kept her steps light and somehow managed to breathe very quietly. He admitted that it was strange to notice that about someone, but the way the girl seemed to move about so silently was almost too creepy.

Ron backed him away from her when he finally noticed her. "Better stay away from her, Harry," he all but whispered. "She's a Black, the darkest of families. Her father was a Death Eater. Muggle haters, the lot of them."

The girl in question stared back at them. Harry didn't know her name; he wasn't paying enough attention during the sorting to remember. But he did remember how the entire Hall went quiet when her name was called.

"That's a bit absurd considering my mother was muggle. Didn't you know? Matron said it made the front page of The Prophet when she spread the news."

Harry's brows furrowed. The girl was still, so very still. Her shoulders didn't rise and fall as a normal person's would. And her eyes looked empty if not for the slight raise of her left eyebrow. Harry eyed the green gloves she wore, knowing nothing about the burn marks under them.

It was obvious she tried to keep attention away from her with her quiet demeanour. However, her eerie habits managed to do the exact opposite. She was somehow able to always occupy the back of a person's mind.

Ron's stance didn't falter. "Yeah, well. I don't really believe that."

"I don't care about what you believe."

"Whatever. You're Slytherin anyway."

She rolled her eyes.

━━━━

Later during the class, Professor Snape put Harry and Adhara on the same team after he sneered at them. It seemed like he hated Black as much as he hated Potter.

Only Merlin knew why.

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Draco Malfoy approached her on the second week of class, trying to find out more about her on his mother's demand. Adhara gave him a suspicious look.

After scouring the library and listening to the other Slytherins, she found out more and more about her family, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

She figured she was the richest student in her house but a quick letter exchange with Gringotts made her realize she wasn't. She found out that although she has access to the Black Family vaults—reason why she was able to pay for her schooling because Matron refused to even spend a sickle on her—she was not heir as she had presumed. The title went to the next male member of the family, which, in her case, was the blond git sitting in front of her.

"Is it really true you're mudblood?"

Very slowly, Adhara nodded. She didn't see any reason to correct him. He knew what he meant.

"That's unfortunate. The purest blood of them all has been tainted. Tell me, Black," Malfoy spat, "how does it feel to be a disgrace to your name?"

Adhara didn't stay around to hear the rest.

━━━━

Harry never thought too much about rules. Back at Privet Drive, he would try to do as he was told as much as he could. He had to, else it would earn him a beating.

Though, sometimes he broke them. When everything got too much, when he got too angry at the world for leaving him, Harry would let white-hot anger rise to his throat and the Dursley's would listen to all the words he spat out.

It earned him a few days inside his cupboard, it earned him a few days without food and he always got new bruises as a result.

It never felt as satisfying as he thought it would, but then again, he wasn't exactly thinking whenever he let his mouth loose. Though, it always felt necessary.

He had to let them know he wasn't some sort of docile dog they could kick whenever they wanted. He wasn't weak. He wasn't helpless. He had to let them know.

Harry couldn't let them step on him anymore. He was brave enough to show them that.

━━━━

Adhara was never one to follow rules. They got in the way of what she wanted. Back at Aleyne, she got punished the most, but not for rule-breaking. Oh no, she never got caught when she did. But Matron always knew it was her and punished her anyway. She would take away her food privileges and push her into the furnace room, forcing her to manage black coal and fire all night. She's got some nasty burns to show for it.

An unsaid rule passed along the children at Aleyne. You don't snitch on others for they can always get back at you. But as the years passed by, Adhara developed a sort of protectiveness towards some of the kids. They weren't friends, not really. Though they all grew up under the same roof and understood each other perfectly.

Adhara took the blame for some of them, she couldn't bring herself not to. Matron, however, always knew when she did and punished her double for it.

Loyal as a knight, the Sorting Hat considered putting her in Hufflepuff, but her resourcefulness outweighed her loyalty and therefore she was placed in Slytherin. It did make sense though since it was indeed in Slytherin where one would find one's true friends.

━━━━

Harry sat across from Ron at the Great Hall where they were doing their homework. He had a perfect view of the Slytherin table that way. He watched as Malfoy worked on his assignments and threw offhanded comments towards Black when he thought the professors weren't looking.

The Great Hall was packed. It always was at the beginning of the term when the students still felt motivated to study. That normally died down as the months passed, when some older years skipped the homework period. McGonagall and Flitwick were keeping an eye on them that day. They roamed along the tables, helping those who asked for it.

Harry then brought his attention to Adhara Black, who's name he finally learned. She was also working on her homework and somehow ignored Malfoy altogether.

He leaned towards Ron, who did the same when he noticed him. "How bad exactly is the Black family?"

"They were all blood purists." Ron whispered back, "When You-Know-Who rose, they were one of the first families to show their support. A handful of them were notable Death Eaters who are now either dead or in Azkaban."

"Death Eater?"

The redhead opened his mouth to give him a sarcastic answer before he closed it real quick, realizing his mistake. "Sorry, my bad," he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "I forget how little you know about our world."

Harry muttered a small apology.

"That's alright! I know nothing about muggles so we're even then!" said Ron, which made Harry smile a bit. "Death Eater is what we call those who followed You-Know-Who. His servants. Charlie thought me."

Harry glanced back at Black, noticing again her green gloves when she pulled out her wand. She pointed it towards a feather. Harry thought she might be practicing for charms since they were learning to cast Incendio at the moment. She was about to flick her wand when she stopped last minute.

She put down her wand and dug around her satchel for something.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

"And you're saying that Black's father was one too?"

Ron nodded furiously.

"But didn't she say her mother was muggle?"

"Honestly, I don't think that's true. I mean come on! A member of House Black willingly being in the presence of a muggle without wanting to kill them? It doesn't make sense."

"Then why is she holding a lighter? Thought wizards didn't know about them."

"A what?"

Harry jerked his chin towards the girl. Ron turned around to get a look at the scene.

Flitwick, who noticed the lighter in her hand, was standing next to her. "What were you trying to do, Miss Black?" he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

All eyes were on her now. Harry could hear Malfoy and his crew snicker from the Gryffindor table.

"The homework was to light the feather on fire, was it not? Well. That's exactly what I'm doing."

"And why is it that you own such a thing anyway?"

"I've got many candles."

Flitwick wiped a hand over his face. "You are meant to use the fire-making spell to do so."

Black tilted her head to the side, but Harry noticed the mischievous glint in her eye. "Why? The feather isn't far away. I could easily just light it with a lighter."

"Yes, but we are practicing the fire-making spell, Miss Black. So you need it to use that."

"Well, that makes no sense."

Professor Flitwick looked exhausted. "The point of the exercise is to practice Incendio, Miss Black. Please just do as I say."

"Oh, alright."

And with that, Flitwick walked away. Malfoy started laughing less discreetly when he was far away enough.

"Look at that, the mudblood can't even cast a simple fire spell properly. Having trouble there, Black?" he jeered.

Black finally whipped her head towards the blond. "I'd be careful if I were you, Malfoy. That cheap gel you use in your hair is quite flammable," she spat yet she kept her expression calm. "Since I'm having so much trouble, it would be horrible if I accidentally put fire to your hair, wouldn't it?"

Malfoy's eyes went wide. He brought a hand to the front of his locks and visibly gulped.

The corners of Harry's mouth quirked up. Ron turned back towards him.

"On second thought, maybe we should fact check that."

━━━━

Adhara read another one of her father's letter this morning. He talked about the day he found out about Nadia's pregnancy in this one.

Regulus wrote about how he was the one to give her her name since her mother wasn't willing enough to come up with something. He also told her about how he named his brother her godfather, which he then admitted to be a stupid idea since he wasn't even certain that Sirius would survive the war either.

Adhara also thought it was a stupid idea. Sirius Black may not have died but he did something reckless and very Gryffindor and got himself stuck in Azkaban instead. She also found it stupid because the man didn't want to take her in the first place. She thought maybe the least her father could have done was to ask her uncle if he was willing to take the title.

But he didn't. And so Adhara was stuck at Aleyne until she turned fifteen.

She already knew about her godfather; Matron wouldn't stop reminding her about her criminal supposed-to-be guardian, so there was nothing new there.

However, the letter did inform her that she shared her godfather with her potions partner. She wanted to share the news with him, ask him if he knew anything about the man, but she didn't know how to go on about it.

She didn't know much about friends, but she was certain that Potter and she were far from it. Though she did want to talk to him about Sirius Black. But how could she approach the boy when he and that Weasley seem to have a palpable dislike for Slytherins? Did they not realize that Slytherin wasn't synonymous with dark? Or that there were muggleborns in the House too?

Potter didn't even speak to her during Potions when they were expected to brew together. She normally just instructed him on what to do and he would do it without a word.

"Here, take these mistletoe berries. We need to crush four into powder and add them to the cauldron."

He took the berries from her hand, keeping his eyes on her gloved hands for a second too long before getting to work. He didn't utter a single word.

Adhara frowned.

Fine. He didn't want to talk, then so be it. She wanted to tell him about Sirius Black but if he was going to be a prejudiced idiot who judged her because of the colour of her robes and because she was part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight then she couldn't be held accountable for withholding information from him. Did he forget that Weasley was also from a pureblood family?

Whatever.

She decided to simply concentrate on their potion. Snape was making them brew a whole new batch of the Forgetfulness Potion again since their last attempt was sabotaged by Malfoy and his crew.

She went to add two pinches of the powered berries into the cauldron when someone threw in another Valerian sprig into their mix. It made their potion turn into a murky red colour when it was actually supposed to be orange.

"Another failed attempt, Miss Black, Mister Potter," Snape gibed from behind them. "I cannot wait around for you to successfully brew this. The rest of the class is falling behind because of you both. Or do you two only care for yourselves?"

Potter, apparently, had had enough. "It wasn't our fault! Malfoy keeps throwing stuff into our potion!"

Oh. So it spoke. How wonderful.

Snape lifted one thin brow at him. "Did he? Then why did I not see anything? I do not tolerate lying in my classroom, Mister Potter. I could give y-"

"He's not lying," Adhara interrupted. "Malfoy threw in an extra sprig of Valerian which turned the potion red."

"I did not!"

Snape, deciding to ignore the blond git, turned his attention on her instead, pressing his lips together. "I don't presume you have any proof of that, Miss Black?"

She clenched her jaw tight. "Does Mister Malfoy have proof that he didn't?"

Snape glared at her, but Adhara didn't budge. "Ten points from Slytherin, for your cheek."

Adhara didn't bother to dignify that with a reaction, but apparently, Potter did.

"But sir, she's telling the truth! Malfoy keeps ruining our-"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for lying and disrupting class," said Snape. He walked towards the front, sitting at his desk. He kept his gaze on the pair as he continued, "I shouldn't be too surprised by this behaviour. After all, both of you seem to take after your godfather. Sirius Black is known to be a liar."

Adhara went still, never breaking eye contact with the potion master.

Potter, eyes wide, spluttered, "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Oh?" replied Snape snidely, "Does Mister Harry Potter not know about Sirius Black? Were you so sheltered that no one bothered to inform you about your lying and deceiving godfather?"

Adhara heard a few students snicker behind them. Some of those students wore green, others red.

She scoffed. So much for house loyalty.

"Our godfath-"

Adhara grabbed Harry's wrist, preventing him from continuing, and, surprisingly, he let her.

"I think that's enough, Professor. Wouldn't want the rest of the class to fall behind, now would we?" she stated, voice laced with sarcasm.

Snape glared once more. "Another ten points for cheek, Miss Black."

━━━━

"Black!"

The Slytherin slipped out of the classroom the minute Snape dismissed them. Harry quickly gathered his books, dropping a few along the way—which Ron picked up—and ran after his...godsister? Was that a thing?

The corridors were flowing with students, all rushing to get to their next class, so Harry had to maneuver his way around them. He dodged a few older and taller students, with Ron not far behind him, before finally catching up to Black.

He grabbed her by her cloak's sleeve, which made her flinch violently. Harry instantly pulled his hand away, apologizing when she turned around to face him.

When Adhara noticed who exactly she was facing, her frown deepened.

Harry cleared his throat before speaking up. "What was Snape talking about? Who's Sirius Black?"

"Were you not listening?" she threw, defensively.

Harry scowled. He didn't understand why she sounded so upset. "Yes, alright. Our godfather. But what's Azkaban and why is he there?"

"Why not just ask Weasley? He should know the answer."

"Well, ye-yeah, but I thought." He tightened his arms around his potion's textbook, swallowing heavily before continuing, "-you know, he's your godfather too so maybe you would know more. And you both share the same last name."

Harry felt all his gryffindorish courage melt away as Adhara fixed his gaze for a moment, scrutinizing him.

She finally gave in. "Fine. I'll tell you what I know."

He watched her glance around herself, before she said, "but not here. There's too many people. Follow me."

━

She led them into an unvisited corridor on the second floor. Checking to see if there was anyone around, Adhara settled herself onto a windowsill when she was certain the three of them were alone.

"What do you want to know?"

Potter stood in front of her, with Weasley right beside him. He started wringing his hands as he exchanged a look with the redhead who simply shrugged.

"What's Azkaban, and why is our godfather there."

"You don't know what Azkaban is?" Adhara asked with knitted brows, "Did your muggle guardians never tell you?"

Potter pursed his lips. "They don't like magic."

"I see." Adhara's face hardened. She's met magic hating muggles before. Nasty folks, the lot of them. They would go as far as abandoning their child for being magic. She wondered just how much they've neglected to inform Potter on things.

"Well. Azkaban is the wizard's equivalent of prison. Only worse because of the dementors. Our dear godfather was sent there for betraying your father and killing 4 people, one of which was a wizard."

"Betray?"

Adhara nodded, "Yes. Your father and he used to be best friends."

Beside Potter, Weasley sneered. "Told you the family was evil. They only care about keeping their blood pure."

"You do realize that you're also pureblood, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not Slytherin."

"Neither was Sirius Black. He was one of you lions."

"Wh-what?"

Adhara nodded. "How else would he had been best friends with James Potter?" She waited for both of them to say something, but all they did was gape at her, disbelieving. She smirked. "What? Did I just shake up your entire belief system? How tragic."

"N-no!"

Adhara scoffed and shook her head. She put one leg up on her other and leaned back onto the window. "Nevertheless, whatever my uncle did has nothing to do with me. I've never even met the man."

"How come?"

She shrugged. "Matron said he refused to take me in when the orphanage contacted him. I suppose it's because he never got along with my father."

"Orphanage? You grew up at an orphanage?" asked Potter.

"Obviously. Both my parents are dead. Where else was I supposed to go?"

"I don't know. Wouldn't any Old Family be willing to take in a member of House Black?" Weasley added, trying his best to appear nonchalant.

"And what? Associate themselves with the Half-Blood that ended the pure line of the Noble House of Black? Please. I'm lucky enough Aleyne decided to keep me after finding out who I was."

Weasley's eye went wide. "Aleyne? You live at Aleyne?"

"What's Aleyne?" asked Potter.

"An orphanage where Dark Families leave their squib children. Parents tell stories about the place to keep their kids in check."

"Not just Dark Families. Some of the kids are from Light Families too."

Weasley narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."

"I've said before that I don't care about what you believe. Though you should keep in mind that I'm the one who grew up there and not you, which means I know more about the place. Now," she said standing up. She looked at Potter, "any more questions?"

He shook his head.

"Then I'll be off."

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