Remilda had found it nearly impossible to sleep in the same room as Ginny and Hermione. The two of them were great, really they were. They were super nice, but they wouldn't stop talking. And Raelyn encouraged that. Raelyn had always been the type to sit up until the sun came up talking and choosing to be exhausted the next day. So during their time before the lights finally got flipped off for the night, Remilda had been able to make quite the list about things to remember about each of them.

For Hermione, it was that she was the witch to go to if she ever needed help. She had good marks and always had. And if she ever needed her teeth fixed, she could go and see Mr. Granger's dentist office. She couldn't stand flying, and she was already stressing herself out over the OWL exams.

For Ginny Remilda learned that she was actually a year below them. She also learned that Ginny adored flying and couldn't wait to tryout for Quidditch. Ginny also insisted on filling them in on everything that had happened each year; during her first year, the Chamber of Secrets (which everyone thought to be a myth back in Ilvermorny) had been opened. Then in her second year, Sirius had escaped from Azkaban (at that point in the story, Hermione went into detail about how Sirius was actually innocent). Then during Ginny's third year, Voldemort returned. Which was still something Remilda was trying to not believe.

Because thinking about him made her think of death eaters. Which made her think of her mother. Just thought of her final moments made her stomach feel like it was full of cement. She couldn't imagine her mothers bright eyes becoming lifeless because of two words. However, now, besides that when she thought of Voldemort she thought of what it must have been like for her father back when James and Lily Potter, her aunt and uncle, and Harry's parents were killed. It was all too much, it was too heavy. It made her just lay away, staring at the wooden ceiling. After a bit, she knew she couldn't sleep so she just opted to get up and go get a drink of water and then trying again. So slowly she made her way off of the cot, across the floor, and out of the room. She then did her best to shut the door quietly behind her...

"Can Kreacher get anything for Master Blacks guest?" a low and raspy voice krept up behind her and made her jump. She spun around just to see a house elf. He was older, he had wrinkles and long thin fingers. His tennis ball sized eyes bugged out of his head and his ears flipped over to the side.

"Uh," Remilda began, very few families in the states still had house elves anymore. "no, thanks though. I can get it myself."

The house elf then went on his way, muttering as he did so. From what Remilda could pick up, it sounded like he was cursing Sirius and saying that he was a disgrace to the Black family. But Remilda decided to stay out of it, and tiptoed down the hall and then down the winding stairs. Every step creaked, but a few of them were louder than the others. So a few times on her way down, she would stop for a second and then keep going. She then took a turn and began going down the narrow hall to the kitchen. At the end of the hall was the door and it was a quarter of the way open, light shining through it...

"I don't know what to do, Sirius..." her fathers voice came out of the kitchen. His voice was full of defeat and it sounded like he had just been crying by the sound of how hoarse his voice was.

"You're doing what's best for them, Jacob," Sirius replied, "you know what he does to people when they refuse to join him."

Her father was quiet for a moment, "But why did he come back? What could Ally and me do for him now? Last time we could have helped him find Harry, but now?"

"You're still part of the Order, and hell, he's probably stupid enough to think that those muggles would have let you see him." Sirius replied, "You know as well as I do that Hogwarts is probably the safest place for your girls."

Once again nothing but silence followed Sirius's voice.

"Sirius, we weren't even in the states long enough to be there when the Congress honors her." he said, his voice became more shaky. "I made the girls leave before they could get used to not having a mother..."

Remilda felt her throat begin to burn as it dried up. She quickly covered her mouth just in case she made any sounds as the tears began to build up in her eyes. He was right about leaving and how...wrong it was. Or at least seemed.

"Yeah, because you know it's not safe for them there. Mate, you're putting them in the safest place there is, Dumbledore doesn't just let anyone transfer to Hogwarts. He knows what's coming, and he knows it's what best. You can't beat yourself up about it-"

She couldn't listen anymore. So she forgot about the water and then turned and quickly went the other way. She couldn't stand it, her father acknowledging that they shouldn't have left so soon, and Sirius saying he did the right thing. Maybe it was the right thing, and maybe she just didn't see it yet; but at this point in time it wasn't the right thing. It was far from the right thing.

As Remilda turned the corner to go back upstairs, she nearly ran into someone. And it took a moment for her to realize who it was in the dim lighting. It was Harry.

"Sorry, I was just going to get a drink." he said, "I didn't hear you coming up."

"No worries," she replied, "I didn't hear you either..." she added. The tension between them was unbelievably thick. You would think two cousins who had never met would love getting to know each other. So after a brief moment of silence, Remilda decided to ask about the elephant in the room. "So, uh, did you not know you had anymore family or something?"

Harry nervously chuckled, "Well, sort of." he replied, "I was told about you guys, but not by the Dursley's."

Remilda sighed and nodded, "Go figure," she paused, "when me and Raelyn were about...eight, our parents tried to get in touch with you but..."

"They did?" Harry asked, his voice was full of surprise as well as excitement.

Remilda nodded, "Yeah, they did." she replied, "You didn't know?"

Harry scoffed, "The Dursley's tried to avoid the fact I was a wizard and had been accepted to Hogwarts." he said simply, "So it doesn't surprise me that they cut off your family." he said with a shrug.

Remilda offered him a small smile, "Well, I'm going to try to get a few more hours of sleep before morning." she sighed heavily, "Goodnight, Harry."

Harry stepped aside so she could go upstairs, "Yeah, goodnight." he replied, "Oh, and, uh, Remilda,"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry about your mum," Harry said quietly, the words triggered more tears to begin forming in her eyes and her throat to dry up again. "if you ever want to talk or anything..." he added with a shrug.

She nodded, "Yeah, thanks," she said quickly before the completely parted ways.

Remilda quietly made her way back into the bedroom and laid down on the cot again. She managed to drift off to sleep. But it wasn't a good sleep by any means...

When morning finally came, everyone in the girls room were jolted awake by Molly's rapid knocking and her voice barking at them to wake up and get ready. Then down the hall, they could hear her waking up the boys. Hermione was the first one up, then Remilda, followed by Ginny. Raelyn awhile to even sit up in bed. Remilda dug through her clothes and chose a plain green t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. The room was relatively quiet as everyone was still drowsy. But once Raelyn had all of her things, she quickly hurried out of the room and got into the bathroom before anyone else could try. She brushed her teeth and hair and then pulled the clothes on. Then she gathered her pajamas and left the bathroom and went back to the room. As she got to the door, Hermione walked out; ready for the day.

"See you downstairs," she smiled as she stepped past Remilda.

She offered Hermione a smile, and then went into the room and dropped her things in her trunk. She then grabbed the set of robes that she had to get a few days after moving to Scotland. She folded them up as small as they could get and then put them into the shoulder bag she would be able to bring with her on the train to Hogwarts. She then looked over and saw that Raelyn was still lying down on her cot.

"Rae," she said as she straightened up, "Raelyn,"

Raelyn grumbled something unintelligible and rolled back onto her stomach and had her head facing away from her.

"Raelyn," Remilda said loudly as she reached over and shook her, "it's time to get up."

After getting no response from Raelyn, Remilda made her way out of the room a minute or so after Ginny left. She walked down the hall, she could feel her heart pumping in her chest. She really didn't like any of this-- but for her father's sake she was just going to try. It had sort of been relieving to know that he hadn't been too happy about all of this either.

"So in forty-five minutes we are heading out," Molly announced as Remilda entered the kitchen and scanned the table for a seat. There were a few open, in between people. So Remilda opted for the seat between Harry and one of the twins. "please make sure you have everything, Ronald."

"I went through my trunk last night already," Ron replied as he got what he wanted from the middle of the table.

"Well just to make sure, you should look through it again," she stated.

"Morning," Harry smiled as Remilda sat down beside him.

Remilda smiled a bit, "Morning."

Remilda reached for the plate of pancakes and took a few and put them on her plate. Then she drowned them in syrup. This had always been her breakfast of choice, or meal of choice actually. Remilda stayed quiet for the first bit of breakfast, while everyone who already knew each other were engulfed in chitchat, and Remilda was in her own world until she was dragged into the conversation.

"How about you, Remilda? Do you play Quidditch?" Harry asked, nudging her with his elbow.

Remilda shrugged, "I've played it a handful of times," she paused, "I'm more of a Quadpot fan."

"The rip off of Quidditch you mean?" one of the twins asked, smirking.

Remilda rose an eyebrow, "Back in the states Quidditch is considered a little kids game." she retorted, "In Quadpot, the ball could blow up in your hands at any moment."

"What is Quadpot?" Harry asked.

"You have teams like in Quidditch, but there's only one ball on the field at a time and you are trying to get it into the pot at the end of the field before it explodes." she explained simply, "And if you have it when it explodes you are out of the game. When there is only one team left, the game is over and whoever has the most points wins."

"It was made by a wizard who hated waiting for someone to catch the snitch basically," Ron said, smirking a bit.

Something changed from that point on during the meal. Remilda actually found herself enjoying the company of each of them. She wasn't sitting there, constantly thinking about how much she hated it.

Hey loves! Thank you for checking it out! I really appreciate it! I'd love to hear what you think! Stay classy!