✧PRONGS & PADFOOT✧

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 Coming upon a lake, Cara knew that if it wasn't for the current situation of seeing both her uncle being fed on or Harry trying to block the attacks...She would've adored this lake.

But the terror was far too strong for her to properly comprehend anything else other than the pure terror or worry for her uncle.

It was damning to see Harry's reaction in watching himself conjure a Patronus, anything the former Potter tried to produce wasn't enough—Not with the numbers that swarmed around at the presence of Sirius Black.

"This is horrible..." Hermione said with pure dread lacing her words, and Cara knew that this is where Sirius had been captured hereafter.

"Don't worry. My dad will come...Right there...You'll see...He'll come any minute—He'll conjure the Patronus." Either of the girls had eyed him warily as he became transfixed at the scene before him, and yet when the lake began to freeze it caused Cara to jump back.

"No one's coming Harry..." Hermione warned, and Harry expressed his denial. Yet nothing had come, and the cyclone of circling Dementors seemed to be growing more and more aggressive as time had passed.

"Harry! No one is coming! You're dying, the both of you...no one is coming!" Cara's voice had been desperate, nearly bringing her to tears in seeing such a sight of her Uncle.

And then it hit him, the riddle unraveled in his mind. Causing him to draw up his wand up before stepping forward.

It had been a beautiful sight, seeing the production of such a raw and pure patronus. It caused Cara to shiver from both his declaration of the enchantment and the magic that filled the air.

A wisp of silver escaped his wand, hovering like a sheer mist, however it bloomed magnificently in size. The trees exploding with light.

The lake blazes with the reflection of this blue essence and Cara could swear she could hear it in her ears on how powerful it was to cast away so many on all sides.

Yet it was the shape that the essence had taken that caused her to smile brightly. "Prongs."

When all was said, Harry stood utterly still, wand extended to the heavens and across the lake where the Dementors were retreating towards—But not after trying to fight past the blue whisp. Yet Harry waits, still as a statue, and produced an even stronger urge until all of them were leaving.

It was then he allowed himself to drop his arm.

Cara had pulled herself back, back the way they had come, and pulled herself into Buckbeak's embrace. Sniffling as they needed to wait for Sirius to be taken away and placed in the upmost cell of the Dark Tower.

If the Ministry doesn't capture him now, then they would simply continue to search the dark forest—Leaving room for capture on all three of them.

Hermione had offered a supportive touch to her shoulder, and Cara smiled to her friend.
"I hope he's alright after all that...It takes a toll on the soul, having it tormented for so many years." There wasn't anything that Hermione could say other than he will be alright once he's free, and it still managed to bring up Cara's attitude once they succeeded.

Harry, however, had come up behind them with an endless smile. Proud that he accomplished what he had sought out to do for so long.

"You were right. It wasn't my dad I saw earlier. It was me. I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time, because...because I'd already done it. Does that make sense?" Hermione contemplated it for a moment and shook her head, but Cara smiled regardless.

"It does, if you don't believe you can then it affects your chances on your ability to do it. Mind over matter—Or that's what mum says all the time." She said with a building smile, wiping her eyes clear of the tears that were starting to blur her vision.

"Have they taken him yet?" She mumbled, fiddling with the end of her wand and he nodded.

As the three of them position themselves on the back of Buckbeak and took a flight back towards the castle, Cara had directed the beast to bring her off towards the courtyard.

"What are you doing, we have to get—"

"And how do you plan to do that with so many people on Buckbeak?... It's alright, just bring him here I—I want to see him before he goes off. Please?" It made sense, and Cara had clicked her tongue towards Buckbeak and he soon trotted forward with a running start to push back up into the air.

The tallest tower was near the Ravenclaw one if she thought on it, and Cara began to pace back and forth in complete fear.
Was there any possibility of them getting caught while rescuing Sirius?

"You truly are your father's son, Harry!" The voice of her uncle had brought her out of her small spiral. And she stared at the incoming group as they land in the very courtyard that she dropped herself off at.

In complete awe, she realized that she wasn't far off from his actual depiction—He looked ill, much like father had when she had first met him. But something about Sirius was still bright, and she felt the warmth spread at seeing him so lively, even if her suspicions told her that he felt high on adrenalin from what's happened.

With the three of them coming into the castle, Sirius felt himself laugh lightly in seeing the beautiful halls of his former home.

"I'll be forever grateful for this. To both of you." Sirius deemed, and Cara had stood still—Feeling rather nervous now that he was just paces away from her.
"Padfoot." She whispered just under her breath, having completed the rundown of Marauders from the map. It had almost made it feel whole them appearing all in one night together again.

"I want to go with you." Harry segwayed, but it would be nearly impossible seeing as how he still had the better part of the school year to finish.

"One day perhaps. For some time my life will be too unpredictable. And besides, you're meant to be here..." Sirius says, clapping the boy's shoulder before leveling to meet his gaze.

"But—You're innocent." Harry reminded, and the smile escalated on Sirius' face tenfold. That the truth was finally rectified in the smallest of ways, but if Harry Potter and his allies were the only ones to know of this.

It was enough.

"And you know it...And for now, that will do." In sitting in front of Harry's form, Sirius couldn't take his eyes off his friends' son. It ached how much the similarities between both of his two good friends had been captured into this young boy.

But it had. And it was terribly cruel and adoring at the same time.

"I expect you're tired of hearing this, but you look so like your father. Except for your eyes, you have—"
"My mother's eyes." A silent smile had played between them both as Harry and heard it a few times before from Lupin himself. And all of that talk of Cara's photo album had made the utmost sense.

"It's cruel I got to spend so much time with James and Lily and you so little. But know this, the ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them...Here." Sirius' tattooed hand had covered the better part of Harry's chest, indicating that his heart held the true memories of those he loved.

"You must promise me something, Harry."

"Anything."

"Trust yourself. No matter the challenges you face—and I fear they will be many—You'll be surprised how many times you can find the answers...Here as well." It earned a final pat to his chest as Sirius had stepped from his position and Harry up from the stone.

It was then that Cara had taken a step forward, and that small bit of movement had caused Sirius to still. Of course, from a distance, the former escapist couldn't have known who was there by just a silhouette. But Cara had taken the running steps forward and launched herself into Sirius' arms.

"Awfully cruel of you to think that we didn't believe you either...Uncle." Sirius had pulled away for a moment to take in the face he had only recalled in his darkest of moments.

The face of his beloved sister.

"Oh my sweet Cara, you've grown up so beautifully." The look she had made only offered that she was nearing tears, and Sirius cooed down to her by running his hand through her hair.

"Bloody thankful you've gotten your mother's looks instead of that arse of a father—"
"Mum always believed you, and father's scared shiteless." A tearful reunion was nearing the end as she kissed his cheek and unbuckled her borrowed cloak.

"I hadn't much time, but Romulus is near your height. I thought—Well I thought you could use a bit of everything." She said, fastening it around his neck and offering up her satchel.

"Always a few steps ahead...Aren't you, love?" He had caressed her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her temple. "Give your mum and your siblings my best, yes?" She nodded eagerly, staring longingly at him as he was nearly a carbon copy of Regulus.

But there surely was a difference besides the obvious remains of Azkaban.

"A shooting star...Make a wish." He said as his final words, winking before throwing himself over Buckbeak's back and soaring high into the night's sky.

Cara had wiped her stray tears. "I wish for you to be safe." She whispered under her breath as she tried her best to keep her emotions in check. However, what had been ignored for much too long was the chiming clock just above their heads, and Hermione had called out the warning of making it back in time.

In an effort to make it back to the infirmary in time, the three dashed off and up the given steps. Completely thankful that this had been the drop-off location since it was just a flight of stairs away from the infirmary itself, but it still took an effort to make it in time.

Upon turning the corner, the three had spotted Dumbledore just about to close the door. Leaving the third years to frantically stumble to a stop and fumble make a response.

"Well?" Dumbledore question, as though he couldn't tell already from the excitement coming from Harry's face.

"He's free-Sirius. We...We did it." He said, gasping for air every other word.

"Did what?... Goodnight," Dumbledore said with a wave, turning to use the side staircase and hum along unknowingly to hear all that's been said about this night.

Upon entering the infirmary now, they had caught a mere glimpse of their past selves before they evaporated in time fully. And Ron was in a mess of panic.

"How'd you get over there? I was just talking to you...Over there!" His panic was evident but there was no point explaining it this very second.

While Hermione and Harry taunted Ron at the fact that he was too much of a nervous type, Cara had looked to her own watch to see that it was very much midnight.

And if she knew her siblings, they would be mighty suspicious of her now after being so elusive towards Romulus and avoiding them the rest of the night.

"I'm sorry, I have to go..." Cara said with a final goodnight, she would owl Madam Pomfrey in the morning about Professor Lupin—Or perhaps Romulus would know what to do in that regard.

Yet when whispering the riddle's answer room, she had caught the stoic form of her brother reading a book utterly bored and pissed.

However, it was surreal to see the similarities to her brother now that she had been introduced to her mother's elder brother.

"Cara Regulus Lestrange." Her smile had fallen soon after, and she bit her lip as he slammed his book closed and walked forward.

"Where the hell were you?" Cara hadn't realized just how stressed her brother probably had been in the last few hours and she sighed.

"I have a perfectly good explanation, Romulus, I promise you."
"Grand, but that's a detention for the next three nights—You are out past curfew and you weren't on the map." She gawked at her brother in pure awe as to how unfair he was being.

"Romulus..."

"No, Cara. You don't understand. I've been sitting in that seat waiting for your return not knowing if you were still on Hogwarts grounds with you not being on the map anymore. Merlin sakes, I thought you were kidnapped—I suspected the worst! Just because you have no regard for your own well-being doesn't mean I don't!" Cara was much too angry for tears at the moment.

"I did not just go through all of that, to get yelled and degraded by you, Romulus!" She hissed, and Romulus had risen a brow. Perhaps he underestimated his sister's level of empathy if she hadn't picked up on his worries.

But his worries translated straight to anger as it festers the longer he sat waiting for her.

"Do tell then, perhaps it'll be worth the detention."

"I went back in time using Granger's Timetuner with Potter and we managed to save Uncle from getting his soul sucked. I will gladly take the detention." She huffed, her fist curled and the elated feeling of having managed to aid the rescue of their Uncle was starting to dwindle.

He stepped forward with his hand extended and she flinched away. "Don't bother, you've painted a worse picture than—" Without a warning, Romulus had engulfed her in a hug. Squeezing her tightly and not allowing her an escape until she conformed to lay her head on his chest.

"Did you really?" He questioned and she nodded.

"I told him we always believed him, us and mum. He looks so much like Opa and Reggie. And just as kind!"
"Of course he is, he's mum's brother. What did you expect?"
"A bit of Azkaban to ruin him...And I want to apologize in advance." There had been a pause as he pulled away for a moment to look towards her with a tilted head.

"...Detention?"

"I gave Sirius a few of your clothes, you should've seen him Rom. He hardly had his tattered prison suit. I gave him all I could put together and er—Lupin forgot to take his potion." The issue regarding Professor Lupin was there once more, and Cara offered her watch to show him.

"I can't manage to regulate if he takes the doses or not. Mother always said he was much smarter than—"
"It's not his fault, the confrontation of Pettigrew postponed his last dosage. And I—I used mum's spell on him, I set him with one of your jumpers and a protective spell around him. I'm not sure if he's still running around or still asleep." Upon moving her watch to the side, a clear sign of a rash had brought his attention directly to it and he frowned.

"You brilliant little witch, you've done wonderfully—Against my better judgment. So Uncle's made off with my clothes, what else?"
"A few coins too, which I'll pay you back I swear!" Romulus rolled his eyes as he pulled her back into his embrace and decided to go off to the Headmaster.

The two of them, with the pleasure of Romulus' prefect badge, didn't cause any worry about the fact that they were out past curfew. But warning Dumbledore on Lupin out in the forbidden forest, and it was better to share with an adult in the regard than wait for it.

However, in the midst of it all, Romulus shared that they would indeed need to inform Regulus. And Cara twiddled her thumbs, unsure of what her uncle would evidently say.

He said, in explicit detail, that nobody should engage Black. And Cara had taken the warning with a smile and threw logic out.

The wiring image of their uncle had soon appeared in the screen, but the rather stern expression had left them silent.

"If I'm looking at my clock correctly it's oh—I don't know. Nearly morning over there? What on earth are you two doing?!" Cara pouted up to her brother and he simply laughed.

"Honestly Uncle, this is good news. Cara's managed to help Sirius."

"After I explicitly told you not to go looking for Black? Well, was it worth it?" Cara nodded her head in defiance to her elder, and it felt rather good in doing so.
"I'm sorry I didn't listen, but truly it was rather harmless. He's all set and has a bit of money, food, and clothes. He won't be as traceably now that he's got a ride." Now that Romulus hadn't heard that portion.

"Ride? What ride?"

"We freed Buckbeak as well, they're off to goddess knows where now." It was silent for a moment until with was Regulus' turn to laugh his heart out, relaying what he understood in breaths.

"Oh you're mother's going to kill the both of you, and then perhaps after praise you—But kill you first. Do you think he'll be alright?" Cara nodded close to instantly.
"I think so, there's a good amount of supplies to last him a bit. He worked with nothing the last few months, nearly anything is a step up from that." The call hadn't last much more than that, and if by chance they do evidently tell their mother and she was furious.

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Date Posted: 09/04/2021

Time: 10:04

Words: 3063

Okay but Cara meeting Sirius for the first time since she was baby? 🥺

Almost done with Prisoner of Azkaban, and onto the summer...
Any theories of what might happen?

Here are a few hints--
*Ilvermorny students are coming to Hogwarts for the Tournament!!

*Rabastan and Malfoy are up to something👀

*I haven't decided who is taking who to the Ball yet, but I really want Romulus to take Luna--What do you think?

*Lori will get her time to shine as a Slytherin by teaming up with a certain author👀