Chapter 3
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"ARE YOU A HUNDRED PERCENT SURE?"

"Positive."

When Hermione showed up at their cottage that morning, Harry had been hopeful. But now, with every word that poured out of her friend's mouth, doubt and guilt started to claw him out from the inside.

"But why?"

Harry didn't understand. Sirius was proven innocent. Sirius was now free. He had custody of both him and Adhara. Adhara could now leave Aleyne. Sirius could now go and get her.

So why wasn't she here?

"If she wanted to leave, she'd already be here. Instead of ignoring all of our letters," supplied Hermione.

That confused Harry even more. It just didn't make any sense.

"But she hates it there! Even I hate it there! It's the same for me as with the Dursley's! She normally takes any opportunity she can take to leave the place. Now that she can permanently leave, why wouldn't she?"

Hermione slowly shrugged, her arched brow making her look somewhat calculating and suspicious.

They were both in Harry's bedroom. A real, actual bedroom at Lupin Cottage and not some run-down storage room they shoved a broken bed in. Harry's bed, a double, was placed in the corner, beside the window. A night table at his side, and a desk at the foot. There was a bookshelf on the other side. Empty it may be for now, but it was full of a promise to be filled up to the brim.

Harry only got here two days ago, and it still all felt like a dream. He has yet to unpack, not that he has much stuff to begin with, but the first thing he did when Sirius and Professor Lupin left him alone was owl Hermione.

And now, here they were, on the floor, summer homework sprawled across the rug because Hermione knew Harry wouldn't touch his without her prompting. But all of Harry's attention was stolen by their conversation, instead.

After all, Adhara was much more important than a DADA essay.

"Maybe she isn't comfortable around her uncle yet. After all, until recently, she thought he was a murderer."

"So did I. And Adz' more capable of adjusting to new situations than I am."

"Yeah but did Sirius ever refuse to take you in?"

Harry froze.

"He didn't want her, Harry. She knows that. Maybe she's still bitter about it, rightfully so."

"Yeah but —" Harry's mouth opened and closed with unspilled words.

He didn't know what to say. He's brought her up to Sirius and Professor Lupin multiple times already, but both have been weirdly dismissive. In fact, the latter even became downright upset at the mention of her.

But that — it just didn't make sense? After all, Sirius brought Harry here, so why wouldn't he bring his actual niece home?

Harry couldn't enjoy living with Sirius and Professor Lupin while his sister was still stuck at that awful place.

"She can't — Hermione, she can't stay there anymore! Adhara just can't!"

He stood up abruptly, letting the parchment fall off his lap. "Aleyne sucks. That Matron — I — I'm fairly sure she never said anything to you but you're smarter than all of us 'Mione. Surely, you must've noticed something was off!"

Hermione's brows furrowed, looking even more calculating than before. "Yes. Millie and I both, actually. Specifically, about her gloves. But, Harry. You're giving me too much credit. I'm not as smart as you're making me out to be. I've definitely missed a lot of things."

Harry was breathless, breathing heavily through his nose to try and calm down. He wasn't sure where Hermione was getting at.

"About what?"

"About you, for example. Now, what did you mean by 'it's the same for you with the Dursleys'?"

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Sirius was crouching down at the end of the corridor, right on top of the stairs. Right outside of their bedroom, while holding onto the doorframe, Remus watched, full of confusion as he tried to rub the sleep away from his eyes.

"Padfoot. What are you doing?"

Sirius whipped around, violently shushing him. "Listen," he pointed downstairs, "he's at it again."

Remus blinked. His brain in the morning was not at full capacity and it took Remus a while to realise Sirius was referring to Harry. He glanced at the boy's bedroom, then back inside their own, wondering if he should close the door.

When Sirius first moved into the cottage, Remus transfigured a bedroom for him downstairs. There were already three upstairs: the master's, his own childhood bedroom and the guest room. Remus had taken the master's years ago, and assumed the two others would go to the kids, so having another would be for the better. He just never imagined whatever semblance of a relationship Sirius and he had during Hogwarts would rekindle.

Once upon a time, Remus decided to take that stick out of his arse and kissed Sirius, and fortunately the boy had kissed him back. And just a few days ago, Sirius had done the same.

Harry, however, didn't know about their relationship, yet. The lad, bless him, was as oblivious as one could get, and Remus didn't want the revelation to be, well, scarring, so silencing charms and closed doors were enforced in his — and now, Sirius' — bedroom.

"He's making breakfast again!"

Sirius' voice broke him away from his thoughts, and Remus remembered that Harry was actually downstairs, not in his bedroom.

Right. Morning brain.

Remus walked up to Sirius and hunched down next to him. He could hear the clattering of plates and utensils, indicating that Harry was indeed working away in the kitchen, once again.

A quick glance at his watch indicated that it was some ungodly hour. "It's seven in the morning."

"He's been up since six."

"You've been spying on him since six?"

Sirius glared. "I went to him yesterday, and he was so startled, he broke a plate. And then he started panicking." Looking back downstairs, he added, "I told you something was off about the Dursleys."

Remus shook his head. "He's probably just nervous about living here. Or, he's trying to get on our good side."

"Why on earth would he do that?"

"Because he wants something."

"What?"

"To convince you to bring Adhara home." The girl may have sent a letter saying she didn't want to live with them, but it was just a letter. They should still go see her.

Sirius stayed silent, making Remus scoff. He stood up.

"I don't understand why you're so reluctant to bring her here. I thought you got over the whole Slytherin—"

"Of course, I have! I'm not sixteen!"

"Or the fact that she's your brother's —"

"That isn't it!"

"Then what?"

Sirius gave him a meaningful look, as though confused as to why Remus didn't understand. As though the answer to his question was just so obvious that it didn't make sense for him to not understand.

When Sirius saw that Remus still wasn't getting it, he scoffed, standing up and slapped his own chest. "Look at me! I'm a mess, I am barely functioning, myself!" Sirius's eyes were blood-shot, and his skin looked sallow. The bags under his eyes were so deep, it made him look as though he had two black eyes.

Not for the first time did the thought of a mind healer cross Remus' mind. As hypocritical as it may sound, Remus thought Sirius may benefit one.

"I haven't slept in three days! Every I close my eyes, all I hear is Bellatrix crackling from two cells down—"

Remus reached out his arm, just in case Sirius needed contact in order to calm down, but the man only tumbled back.

"I know I'm meant to take care of them, Moony! But look at me! She deserves better than me! I'd — I'd ruin her."

Sirius was on the verge of another panic attack, Remus knew that. He should help him, get him to calm down, but he couldn't help but ask: "And what? Do you not have the same doubts for Harry?"

Sirius clenched his jaw. "Obviously, I do —"

"Then why —"

"Because when I first asked him if he wanted to live with me, he eyes fucking lit up!"

In the tunnel, when they were hauling Pettigrew, Snape and Ron out of the Shrieking Shack. Remus remembered Sirius and Harry were ahead of them. He remembered how Harry had exclaimed. Remus also remembered his conversion with Adhara, and how unbothered she was trying to look.

"He had just met me then, and in fact, ten minutes prior, he believed I was a murderer. Tell me, why was he so eager to live with me?"

Remus couldn't come up with an explanation.

"I got suspicious," continued Sirius. "And when I went to pick him up —" he closed his eyes, taking a sharp inhale, "Moony, you didn't see how they — she called him a freak, Remus!"

Remus' mouth hung open, brows furrowing slightly as he tried to remember Harry's behaviour throughout the school year. Because if Sirius was right, because if what Sirius was telling him was true, it would mean that there was a kid under Remus' wing for an entire year and yet he failed to notice the signs.

"Rem, he reminded me of myself when James offered me to live with him."

He gave the kid private lessons on the patronus, for fuck's sake! How had he not noticed? How many more did he miss?

Was Adhara the only one Remus noticed? And only then because she had fainted where he would find her? Because he had seen her hands —

"Sirius. I getting a feeling that you don't know, but Adhara isn't safe —"

Sirius huffed. "Listen, I know you don't trust the Malfoys, and I don't either. But Narcissa has always valued Black blood over anything —"

"Why are you talking about the Malfoys?"

Sirius blinked, brows slowly knitting together. "Because of Narcissa? You know, the woman who visited St-Mungo's? My cousin? Adhara is with her?"

"Sirius" Remus started, slow, "I don't where you heard that, but Adhara is definitely not living with the Malfoys. She's at an orphanage."

"What? No — the paper, the paper that came before — before — it said the Malfoys got custody —"

"Sirius," Remus grabbed the man by his shoulders, forcing him to look at him. "I don't know what paper you're talking about. But Adhara is at an orphanage, not with the Malfoys." Remus released him. He was getting confused, himself. "How do you not know that? You're her godfather."

"That's news to me," Sirius revealed. "I didn't even know about that until that night we captured Peter."

"That's impossible. It said on her file that Aleyne contacted you —"

"Hold on," stopped Sirius, holding his hands up. "Did you just say Aleyne?"

"You know about Aleyne?"

"Of course, I know about Aleyne! Every pureblood knows about Aleyne! Narcissa sent her to Aleyne!?"

"You didn't know you were her godfather?"

Both men whipped around at the new voice. Harry looked out of breath to say the least, as though he had just run up the stairs. Though, his question made it seem like he had been listening to them for a while.

"How can that be?" His eyes were bright, as though outraged. "Adhara said it herself that —"

He cut himself off suddenly, surveying the men from head to toe, as his brows scrunched up in confusion. "And why are you both sharing one single pyjama set?"

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"So, someone is lying?"

The Grandfather clock in the living room didn't tick. It was no ordinary clock; it didn't tell time. It was similar to the one at the Weasleys, the one that Remus took one look at and decided they needed one too.

Instead of the usual three needles that normal clocks had, this one had four. Each pointed at a location instead of a number: Home, Burrow, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, or Unknown.

Three of them were currently pointing at home. There was Sirius' dial, on which there was a picture of him, smiling and waving at the camera, a stark contrast from his mugshot printed in the Daily Prophet. Harry then looked at Professor Lupin's one. Unlike Sirius, Lupin gave an awkward closed-lipped smile at the camera, then looked away.

Harry's dial didn't have a picture, yet. He couldn't take one, not when Adhara's pictureless needle pointed at unknown, while the rest were pointing at home.

At some point, Sirius and Professor Lupin dropped it on him that Adhara did write to them, and that she told them that she didn't want to live with them.

And any other time, Harry would call bullshit on that right away. Because why would Adhara straight out refuse an opportunity to leave Aleyne, like that? It didn't make sense.

However, this wasn't any other time, was it? Adhara had said Sirius didn't want her. She has every right to be angry with the man, and yet, here was Harry, revelling in any form of affection he was receiving from him.

And Harry couldn't feel any more guilty.

He felt like an intruder. Like he took Adhara's place, preventing her from joining what was rightfully hers.

He was an intruder, a liar. Harry told Adhara he wanted her to leave Aleyne, and yet he was the reason why she couldn't.

"But who?" questioned Remus. "What could they possibly gain from keeping Adhara away from you?"

Sirius shrugged, just as dumbfounded.

They were all in the living room. Harry sat on the big sofa. Someone had thrown a blanket over him at some point, but Harry couldn't remember. He even had a glass of water in his hands.

"I didn't even know she existed until that article was published. It said Narcissa was getting custody, so I just left it at that."

"You didn't think that was odd? That no one knew beforehand?"

"I was disowned, don't you remember? They kept me out of family affairs. I'm more surprised that Regulus actually wanted me to raise his kid."

Back in first year, when Snape revealed that Sirius Black was both Harry and Adhara's godfather, he assumed everyone else had already known.

People knew. Midge commented on it. Snape clearly knew, and so did Dumbledore.

But he was wrong.

Adhara knew Sirius was Harry's godfather because of her father's letters. And then Snape's comment was what pumped Hogwarts' rumour mill, spreading the new information in less than a day.

But if that was how everyone found out about Harry, how did they all know about Adhara's relationship with Sirius?

"I assume they didn't," said Remus. "Sirius is still her uncle at the end of the day. Perhaps that's what they were referring to."

Harry shook his head. "Snape had clearly said 'godfather'." The glass of water was replaced with a mug of hot chocolate, courtesy of his teacher. "She knew, too. Matron had told her."

Remus looked contemplating. "I didn't know."

"You didn't?"

"No. I only found out through you. The information was clearly not very publicised."

"Snape obviously knew, though."

"And if Snape knew, then Dumbledore most certainly did," concluded Sirius. He stood by the clock, arms crossed and face hard.

Harry swirled his cup, not meeting eyes with anyone. He was used to adults lying to him. Aunt Petunia lied to him all his life. His uncle, too. The teachers in his elementary school. His professors. Dumbledore. Every excuse felt threadbare at this point.

Could he really trust Sirius?

He did. He trusted him blindly. Like he did with Adhara and even Lupin.

Lupin paced in front of the fireplace, hands in his hair. "This still makes no sense. What does anyone gain from keeping her at Aleyne?"

Or a better question, who was lying?

Was it Narcissa Malfoy? Snape? Or even Dumbledore?

Matron, Harry didn't say. Matron was lying. Like how Petunia always lied.

Maybe Harry trusted Sirius and Lupin too quickly. But one thing was for sure, Harry didn't rely on people easily. And he wasn't about to start now.

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"I'll go see Dumbledore, get the address and we'll apparate there right away."

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Wait?"

"Go see Narcissa. She might know something."

"Why would that even—" Sirius didn't get the time to finish, Lupin had already ran out the door, to the apparating point.

Sirius turned to Harry, giving him a stern look, as though he knew something he wasn't supposed to. "Haz, I want you to stay put. We'll be back in a bit, and then Remus and I are going straight to Aleyne," he declared, then he walked out the door.

Harry locked the front door behind them. Then he waited five whole minutes before going straight to the fireplace.

He grabbed a handful of floo powder, then shouted: "The Burrow!"

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"I need to get to Surrey."

Ron looked at him with a quizzical brow. He looked over to his brothers to check if he was hearing correctly.

He was.

"Why in Merlin's magical bullocks would you want to go back to them?"

"No, not—" Harry exhaled. "Not Privet Drive. I meant Aleyne. I need to get to Adhara."

George's eyes turned to saucers. "Aleyne?! That place is real?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Fred stammered. "You mean to tell me Black is there? Aleyne as in the orphanage of doom?"

"That place that mum used to threaten to ship us off to if we misbehaved?"

"Yes, yes, that Aley — wait, what?"

Harry thanked Merlin that Molly Weasley wasn't aware of what Sirius and Lupin were up to. When Harry landed in the Weasleys' fireplace, Molly had smiled. Harry made up something about hanging out, and ran up to Ron's room, grabbing the twins along the way.

Ron spoke over his brothers. "Why do you want to go there? It isn't exactly better, Harry."

Harry took a deep breath. He and Adhara once made a pact that neither of them would reveal what their home life was like. But Harry no longer lived with the Dursleys anymore, when Adhara was still at Aleyne. The situation has changed, so maybe the pact should too.

"I don't think she's safe. In fact, no. I know she isn't safe."

Ron blinked. Harry saw his words fully sink in as his friend's pale brows scrunched up. The twins had quieted down, as well.

"As in 'she's playing quidditch without a helmet' unsafe, or 'Dursleys' unsafe."

"Dursleys."

Harry watched all three brothers exchange looks. They seemed to have silently agreed on something, something Harry couldn't tell.

Forge broke the silence, a mischievous smile taking over his face. "Well, well. I guess it's time to bust out the 'Rescue The Damsel from Arseholes' mission, again"

Ron rolled his eyes. "We don't have a flying car anymore, Freddie."

"Oh, you have so much left to learn, little brother."

Harry raised a brow.

"We don't need a flying car. We only need to get our hands on a flying object," clarified Gred. "Anything, really. And Harry here has one of the finest flying objects known to mankind. Currently, that is."

Harry laughed awkwardly. "Haha, yeah. Slight problem about that—"

"You broke your broom?!"

"What? No, I didn't break my — listen!" shouted Harry. "Lupin is getting the address from Dumbledore. Sirius and he will be there within minutes once they get the address, and I want to get these before them. So, unfortunately, brooms will not be fast enough."

"Wait," interrupted Ron, "but you know where Aleyne is. Why not just tell them?"

"Because I don't trust them to get Adhara out of there," explained Harry matter-of-factly. He looked at all three brothers. "Now, who's with me?"

Ron snorted, as though Harry had joked. "Mate, we were with you before you even mentioned Aleyne."

"Yeah," continued George. "Except, how do we get there? What's more quick than apparating?"

"We can always floo to Surrey, somehow. Then, fly to Aleyne. It'll take us, what? Twenty minutes?" suggested Fred.

They all turned to Harry, waiting for his confirmation.

Harry thought it over. By the time Lupin returned with the address, and Sirius with whatever he was doing and noticed Harry was gone, they would already be there.

He nodded. "It should work." Harry definitely didn't have the time to retrieve his firebolt, but that didn't mean he couldn't fly quickly. The Firebolt wasn't what made him the youngest seeker in a century.

He smiled, thinking about the plan.

Until he remembered the name of the mission, and his amusement fell through. "Wait, what do you mean 'Damsel'? That's what you named the mission? I'm not a damsel —"

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Long ago, she couldn't remember when exactly, Adhara nicked a small knife from the kitchen and sliced a hole in the inner side of her mattress. She stored what she could in there, from cash to hair ties, and more recently, her dad's diary and letters.

Now, it was full of letters her friends had sent her over the summer.

A lot of them were from Mione and Millie, who wrote to her almost on a bi-weekly basis. Even Weasley had sent her some. Professor Lupin wrote to her in both the muggle way, the letters which she kept, and also via owl, which went straight to Matron, so she didn't know what those said. Adhara only knew this because Yaritza, who was basically Matron's own personal servant at this point, had told her.

And then there were Harry's letters, which came in almost daily.

Adhara had read them all, obviously, she had. Reading letters was apparently her favourite pastime. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

Harry's letters, which first talked about Sirius' trials and both of their custody quickly shifted to mundane questions.

Where are you? Why aren't you replying? Millie said you weren't writing to her either? Did something happen?

What happened?

Adhara never replied back, but that didn't stop her godbrother from writing to her. He wrote so often that she could tell the exact date when he moved in with their godfather and professor. When his letters stopped containing jokes about Dudley and started to explain to her how her bedroom was right next to his at Lupin's cottage.

Adhara couldn't finish reading that letter. She just couldn't. She was happy that Harry had finally left the Dursleys. He was obviously happy in his new home. How could she just barge in, out of nowhere, and disrupt their entire dynamic?

Sirius and Remus had already taken in one kid, why on earth would they want the responsibility of another one?

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