The Last of the Blacks

Chapter 1: Welcome Home

Emma Rosier. That's what the stone always says. Cassie never truly understood why her uncle Remus always made sure that she brings flowers to her dead mom but secretly she loved it. It was the only time that her mother was not so far away from her.

Cassie hardly remembered her. She was beautiful woman with long dark hair but she was always sad for some reason. That was why Remus Lupin took care of Cassie even before her mom's death 11 years ago.

Thanks to him now Cassiopea Rosier Black was a proud Gryffindor with her best friends - Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. She told that to the stone the first summer she came back from Hogwarts.

It was strange, she thought. Talking to a woman buried in the ground. No. That was her mom. The woman, that gave birth to her. Her family.

Cassie turned her head to the dog lying next to the bench far away from her mother's grave. She stood up and went to the dog.

The animal was pretty big, more like a wolf with black hair and perfect blue eyes. More like hers than any others. He reminded her of that old photo of her father her uncle Remus showed her. But that wasn't possible.

Her father, the cruel murderer Sirius Black was in Azkaban and he could not run away from it.

Cassiopea gave some of her sandwich to the dog. "Why are so lonely, little one?" she asked. The dofg shooked his head like it could understand her. Cassie knew it wasn't possible. "That's my mother," she said pointing to the gravestone. "Her name was Emma. I can't remember her, but still I am coming her every last day of summer."

For a moment Cassiopea thought she could actually cry for a woman she couldn't remember. Well she couldn't remember more of the details but she remembered that her mother was so sad. Every day, every hour, every minute. Cassie couldn't actually understand why. Maybe it was because of her father, maybe it was because of her... She could never know.

"My father... He doesn't care about me. He didn't care about my mum... That's what my uncle Remus always say. He... He is in prison."

Cassie turned to the dog again. She was seeing sadness into that dog's eys like it knew her parents personally.
But her mother hated dogs the last year of her life. She had written everything from just memories of Cassie's father to her feelings of his betrayal.

She cried when she read that diary. "I can't quite remember him..." she admitted. "Yet I wish I could just hate him like the rest of this damn world. Still he is my father."

"Cassie!" she heard another voice. The girl turned around and saw her best friend Hermione running to her.

"You're here!" laughed Cassiopea and hugged her. "Oh, I missed you so much! How was France?"

The two girls started talking while they were walking to Cassie's house. The young Black had absolutely forgotten about the dog and yet she didn't care. Hermione was here and they were going to Hogwarts tomorrow. What could possibly happen?

*****
Sirius waited for the two girls to go away, for the night to fall and for the last light of Remus' house to go off before turning back into his human form. It was almost like standing in front of his wife again, her eyes finding his... All this time he thought that she was alive, that if he comes out of Azkaban, she would run straight into his arms, crying and sobbing...

Yet she was dead. All the memories he had with her from Hogwarts and afterwards came back as they were happening now.

"Hello, love," he whispered to the grave. "It's been quite long time, don't you think?" His eyes filled with tears. His voice almost broke. Sirius closed his eyes for a second then he look at the name on the stone and the roses next to it. Emma Black.