Pictures (Age 11)

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Lauren and the other Gryffindor first year girls were in their dorm, unpacking and getting to know one another. Lauren had already unpacked and was writing a letter to Sirius when a girl jumped on her bed. 

That was Marian, the first friend Lauren had made, besides Harry and Hermione, of course. Marian had long brown hair that was pulled back into two braids and sparkling green eyes. She bounced on Lauren's bed and looked at the pictures on her shelf. 

"Who are all these people?" Marian asked Lauren. "The ones in your pictures."  Lauren glanced up at her shelf and grinned. 

"That's my family," she said "Well, technically they're not my biological family, but that doesn't matter." She turned and pulled the pictures off the shelf so she could show Marian. 

The first picture was Lauren's favorite. It was of her, Sirius, and Remus, standing in front of the Christmas tree. It was a wizard photo, so in the picture it started of with six-year old Lauren standing in between Sirius, who had a bow in his hair, and Remus, who had ornaments hanging from his ears. Then Sirius scoops her up and holds her as she giggles and tweaks his mustache. Then he flips her upside down and she shrieks as Remus and Sirius laugh at her giggles. Lauren smiled as she looked fondly at the picture. She showed it to Marian and pointed at the picture as she said "That's Sirius. He's my guardian and I take care of him, rather than the other way around. He's kind of like my dad in a way and I sometimes wish that he was. That's Remus. He's also my guardian but he doesn't live with me. He just pops in a lot and I stay with him sometimes. Honestly, I think he's just there to make sure Sirius doesn't do something stupid and accidentally kill me. He's kind of like my uncle but closer. And that's me when I was six." Marian looked intently at the photo and nodded. 

"It sounds like you care a lot about them," she said. Lauren nodded. 

"They're always there for me and they care a lot about me too." She sighed. "I miss Sirius though. But it's kind of cool that Remus is now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, so I don't have to miss both of them." She looked down at the next picture, a newspaper clipping. She handed it to Marian. "This is just one of the Weasley family, it's the only one I have with every one of them in it. That's Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. And then that's Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Fred, Ron, and Ginny." she said while pointing at each of them. Marian's eyes widened. 

"Wow," she said in awe. "How do you keep them all straight?" Lauren shrugged. 

"I just do. They're like my siblings," she said. She glanced down at the next photo and frowned. She picked it up and looked at for a moment while Marian was examining the Weasleys. 

This picture, unlike the other two, was a muggle photo. It showed a woman, a very ordinary one at first glance. She had ruler-straight brown hair that went past her shoulders and bright, blue lightning eyes. Lauren took a deep breath and handed the picture to Marian. Marian looked at it, then did a double take. Her eyes went from Lauren, to the photo, then back to Lauren. 

"That's my mother," Lauren said ruefully. 

"Wow," Marian said, "You guys could be twins. Except for the hair color, of course," 

"Yeah," Lauren said quietly. Marian looked at her and saw the longing way Lauren was staring at the picture, her blue eyes dark with sadness. 

"What happened to her?"she asked slowly. Lauren sighed. 

"She was murdered by a Death Eater when I was three months old." Marian gasped. 

"I'm so sorry," she said "Did they ever catch him?" 

"No," Lauren replied, her voice suddenly cold. Her eyes re-lit  with a deadly look of pure hatred. "They didn't catch him. But I was there when it happened and I know who he is and why he killed her. And if I ever-" her eyes glowed and she clenched her fists, shaking with anger "if I EVER find him, then he is a dead man."she declared. Marian nodded and set her jaw. 

"Well, I hope you catch him soon."she said. "Your mother must have been wonderful for you to be his angry," 

"Oh, she was," Lauren said, molding back into her normal self. "She was great. Her name was Anna. Anna Smithly. Sirius and Remus used to tell me stories about her. They said that she was nice and kind to everyone. But Sirius doesn't like to talk about her that much."she trailed off. Marian frowned. 

"Why not?"she asked. 

"Because he was in love with her." Lauren said. "And she married someone else."

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