Legacies

The Hope of the Oswells

Lyonel was up from his chair within the next second. "Sage! What's wrong!?"

But as Sage was gathering her words, the front door opened and in came Romina and her new friend.

"They won't know, don't worry!" Romina was saying. "Plus, my aunt and uncle can tell them it was okay."

"Still, you don't know my aunt and uncle," the boy replied, sounding actually very nervous.

Romina dragged him into the kitchen where her aunt and uncle were. "This is my new friend, Harry, and we're going to do homework together."

"Actually..." Harry glanced at her, "...I probably should go. I'm sure Dudley is already on his way to tell my aunt and uncle how I came here without permission."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Harry, your cousin is a big bully. I hate him."

Harry couldn't openly say he agreed but...to say that he loved his cousin, Dudley Dursley, was a different thing.

"Wh-who is this, Romina?" Lyonel managed to find some words eventually. Of course he and his wife already had a good idea of the boy's identity and dreaded what this newfound relationship would mean for them.

"Harry Potter, sir," Harry cordially responded, sticking a hand to shake with the adults.

"O-oh," Sage swallowed hard. Nonetheless, she and her husband shook Harry's hand.

Neither child could guess what was going through the adults' heads. Harry was far too focused on getting home - which was actually down the block - and Romina was focused on making him stay. When Harry finally left, and Romina was ever-so-glum that her new friend was gone, Sage & Lyonel thought that maybe this friendship was over already.

Unfortunately, Romina proved to have her father's genes. She'd done the complete opposite of what was desired.

Romina and Harry had formed an unlikely friendship from then on. She was brilliant, a bit on the sly side, and a talker. Harry was quiet, shy and cautious. Still, they considered themselves to be the closest of friends despite the secrets their families hid from them. They became a trio in time as they began to include an actual muggle girl by the name of Arden in their friendship. It was an unlikely group and yet somehow they worked.

Eventually, when Romina had turned ten, her aunt and uncle sat her down and told her the real reason they had settled in the muggle world in the first place. They told her of her parents, how she had come to Lyonel's guardianship after the war. Then, they told her about the boy who lived.

"You're lying," Romina spat at them, her face contorted into a painful expression. She was struggling not to cry but the tears were filling her dark eyes. "I'm not...I'm not from those people."

"They were your family, your parents..." Lyonel began but Romina screamed an absolute 'no' at them.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY PARENTS!"

Neither Sage nor Lyonel expected Romina to understand and much less to accept the truth.

"Now you see our reservations on that Potter boy..." Sage said. "If he knew...who he was...and who we were..." she shook her head.

Romina was devastated.

For the next couple of days she ignored Lyonel and Sage and stayed away from Harry. But, of course, that wouldn't last either. She came to accept what her parents did but never to get over it. She never wanted to see them. As for Harry, little by little the boy wormed his way back into her life (with the help of Arden). Romina decided she couldn't let the past drive her away from such a good friend. Though when she was explained how Hogwarts worked, she knew that one day she would have to come clean to Harry.