"Neither You nor I'm to blame when all is said and done
In our lives, we have walked some strange and lonely treks"

* * *

It bewildered River how on earth another house appeared in front of her which wasn't there prior. It rather scared her, the thought of entering the house because if it was hidden it had to be scary, right? She was too overwhelmed to question anything as she was led into the house. Immediately, she wanted to leave, it was dark and dingy, cluttered and loud, ahead of her, a door was wide open and she could see a man sat at a table talking to people, he had greying, blonde hair and a few thick scars on his face but overall he was rather handsome.

He glanced out of the doorway mid-conversation and stopped when he saw the Dawson's stood there. "Cillian! Orla! You're early," he smiled and the chatter simmered.

Chairs squeaked against the floor as a stout, red headed woman exited the room with open arms, greeting Mr and Mrs Dawson with hugs and cheek kisses, then doing the same to Eros who had River shadowing him. The lady noticed the young woman hiding and gently nudged Eros out of the way, "Oh, Eros, dear! You're girlfriend is gorgeous, nice to meet you, I'm Molly."

Eros chuckled, "Molly, this is River, my sister remember."

"Oh sweet, Godric, I'm so sorry, dear. Well, it is still lovely to meet you, finally."

River smiled awkwardly and accepted the hug with caution. When Molly let her go, she shied away again and held onto Eros' arm. "C'mon, C'mon, no need to hide in the hall. Leave your bags there and Kreacher will sort them."

They were led into the room where the handsome man was and River was surprised to see so many people, adults and children alike, even more surprisingly how many gingers there was! She had never seen so many in one place. River was introduced to them all and there was no way she'd be able to remember everyone's name, Molly mentioned that there were two other children of hers, her eldest sons, who would arrive at any day and that other adults would pass and go. The handsome man's name was Remus and his voice was actually rather soothing for this chaotic situation.

River was sat beside him and a younger red headed boy whose cheeks were very red. She sat with her body rigid, her legs tight together so that she didn't take up too much space and her hands rested in her lap. Her head was bowed as the chatter returned, she needed to sleep, she couldn't handle anything else today.

"Spud, oi, Spud!" River was brought out of her thoughts by her brother, "you are being spoken to," he jerked his head towards a man with dark curly hair.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's alright, I was just wondering what you do for a living?" Asked the man.

"Uh, I'm not currently employed."

The man (Sirius, she thinks), sniggered, "the unemployed squad now has two members, welcome to the club." He jested but she didn't smile. Sirius didn't seem to mind he could see that something wasn't all that okay with her, something was wrong indeed. He decided it would be best to leave her to herself and moved to converse with one of the young boys with dark shaggy hair.

When everyone was finished and they dispersed off to other parts of the house, Eros took his sister to her room because he could see that she needed to rest. He couldn't imagine how she was feeling because it was all normal for him but for River it was completely new. River straight away climbed into bed and buried herself beneath the covers, she didn't want to talk nor hear anyone talking for the rest of the night, maybe even for the rest of eternity. It was too much.

"She has to be part Veela, her and Mrs Dawson are flawless! Merlin's beard, Charlie and Bill will be fighting for her if I don't get in there first." A voice said from the room above.

"Oh, in your dreams, Freddie, I'll snatch her up so quickly even you won't even get a chance."

River pressed a pillow over her ears to conceal the voices from above and eventually fell into a deep slumber. In the morning, Mr Dawson woke River and held her as she clutched onto him tightly. Everyone still didn't make sense. How could her family hide something so big and she not even realise? Her father cradled her for a little while until she pushed away and get up to get dressed whilst her father left the room.

She didn't like this house. It was dark and gloomy and the portraits were creepy. There was an elf which she didn't expect to see and he didn't show much likening towards her as he muttered about her being disgraceful as she passed him on the stairs.

When she entered the dining room Remus nodded towards the seat beside him. "Your parents and brother have had to go to work," he told her as she glanced around the room and didn't catch sight of her family. Remus seemed so lovely and he didn't mind her not speaking that much.

"River, dear, would you like a coffee or tea?" Molly asked.

"I'd love one, thanks," she replied. A mug was set down beside her almost immediately and then food appeared out of nowhere. She jumped which made the boys in the room snicker, one of the girls (the one with bushy hair) smacked the youngest boys around the back of their heads.

Once breakfast was done River remained in the dining room with the other adults, picking at the loose thread hanging at the bottom of her shirt.

"Mum? Mum!" A loud voice echoed from the hall and some footsteps approached the room. Looking up River did not expect to see the likes of Bill greeting Molly with a hug and a cheek kiss. His eyes glazed over the room and stopped on River who looked really small amongst the rest of the adults. His eyebrows arched but her expression didn't change.

"Bill, this is River, Eros' sister. River, this is my eldest, Bill."

"Pleasure to meet you, River."

River nodded her head and looked away from him. Of course she had to be living in the same house as Bill's family...