Keep Breathing ♢ James Potter

5 | Sirius's Letter

From the time that Harry arrived at the Burrow to when he got to finally relax in his Gryffindor dorm, Harry felt overwhelmed with how much had happened.

On the ride to Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed what they saw Draco and Mrs. Malfoy doing in Knockturn Alley. In an attempt to investigate, Harry snuck into the Slytherin compartments using his invisibility cloak. What seemed like a good plan then, lead him to be stunned and left with a broken nose after being stepped on by Draco.

Soon after Luna found Harry and they made their way to Hogwarts, the Golden Trio learned that Professor Slughorn will be the new Potions teacher, as Snape took the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Harry thought that they couldn't get a worse teacher than Dolores Umbridge, but yet Hogwarts proved him wrong.

Harry found himself sitting alone in the dorm as he thought about Astrid's letter to his father in the diary. He had been avoiding reading the second letter, as Harry wasn't completely sure what the journal may contain inside.

After discovering the letter, Hermione warned Harry that the book may contain dark magic similar to Tom Riddle's diary. After all, what other book had they seen that writing would magically appear? But too eager to see how Astrid knew his father, Harry planned to read the journal on his own accord, without his friends knowing.

Harry waited until all the boys were out of the room before reaching inside his trunk to retrieve it. After grabbing the journal, Harry inspected it. The journal's cover was black leather with a string that was used to tie it close. It wasn't in terrible shape, but it did look worn out.

He opened the journal once again and reached to look at the letters left inside. Harry never got to read the second letter that night with Hermione and Ron, so he was planning on figuring out who else did Astrid leave a letter for.

Harry was surprised when he opened it and saw that the letter was not written by Astrid, but by Sirius.

Dear Harry,

If you have found this, that means that somehow this book was able to find its way to you and that I am now reunited with your father. I leave this journal to you in hopes that you will gain answers to all your questions.

I wish I could have answered them myself, but I suppose you have found out about the magic of the journal. Astrid was a talented witch, especially with creating spells and positions. She designed this journal to only open to those that she charmed it to. Depending on who you are, the book will reveal only what she allowed it to.

Because of my blood from the Black family, the journal only reveals some memories left for me to see. I believe this was Astrid's way of keeping her life private and stopping our family from learning her secrets.

I suspect that you, on the other hand, will have more access to it. Not necessary because of who you are, as Astrid died before you were conceived. The reason this book opens to you is because of your blood, specifically the blood of James Potter.

Astrid engraved her secrets into the binding of this journal. Before you read this, I want you to understand something, Harry.

James loved Lily. He truly loved you and your mother. But what Astrid and James had was more than just love. It was all things above love. It was sacrifice. It was putting each other first. It was more than just love for them. They were each other's motivation to keep going on in life.

Astrid kept James alive, even after she died. They were each other's reason to breathe.

I hope you can understand why no one has mentioned Astrid before. It's because no one knew of her and James's relationship. It has been kept secret until this very day.

I still don't know exactly what happened between them while she was alive. All I know is that James cared for her, more than I ever did.

With that, I wish you the very best. I know that we will one day be reunited, and we can all be a family once again.

Padfoot

Harry felt nervous about what the journal may reveal to him. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know why his father was friends, or even lovers, with a potential death eater. But Harry knew he was also too curious for his own good.

"Here goes nothing," whispered Harry as he opened up to the first entry in the journal.