Astra

XVIII - The Reunion

He asked, "Astra?", his voice breaking and not above a whisper. As an answer, the girl simply ran up to Sirius and hugged him tightly, with tears running down her face. Sirius was shocked; not only was this girl his daughter, she knew exactly where he was, and didn't think of him as a mass murderer. Though stiff at first, he embraced his girl, feeling happy for the first time in 12 years.

"Dad," she whispered, her voice muffled by tears and Sirius's hair. After what may have been hours or minutes, they pulled apart and Sirius started spewing out questions.

"How did you find me? How's Melody? How are you? What house are you in? Who are you friends wi-" however, he was cut off by Astra laughing. The sound of her laugh was like an angel singing in his ears. His daughter was here. She was happy. She was laughing and had called him 'Dad'. He tried to frown slightly, but couldn't. He couldn't stop beaming because his daughter was here.

The same was happening to Astra. It seemed like her life was finally turning up. She was no longer in an orphanage. She was at Hogwarts with Minnie. And now she had Sirius, her father. Her father was no longer in Azkaban, but he was in front of her, and he was smiling, which only made her smile wider.

"Well, um, how about you ask me one question first, and let me out of this filthy tunnel. I brought some bread from the kitchens," she said. Astra laughed again as Sirius's eyes widened at the thought of food, something he hadn't had properly since, well, 12 years. Sirius quickly stepped aside and lead her to the only decent room in the shack and immediately started eating as she pulled out some bread. Astra didn't even think to comment on how he was eating (it was truly like a dog) because it was still her dad. After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, seeing how quickly Sirius was eating, all the bread was done and Sirius turned to his daughter.

"Alright, er, first question. If you don't mind me asking, how did you find me? Not that I'm upset about it, I just wanted to make sure that no one else finds me be-"

"Don't worry. No one else knows you're here. No one will find you. I guess that's something important, but basically I knew you were here because Uncle Reg told me." Sirius nearly choked.

"U-uncle Reg?" his voice cracked.

"Yes, as I said, this is sort of important. I'm a psychic median."

"A what?" asked Sirius, causing Astra to laugh again.

"I know, it's a stupid name, but to put it bluntly, I can speak to dead people, even fi they don't become ghosts. When I turned 11, I was greeted by my Uncle Regulus and my godparents, James and Lily."

Sirius's eyes simply widened even further and his jaw dropped. So many thoughts ran through his head, but he blurted out, "But Regulus was a death eater!"

"That he was, but he changed. He's a really amazing person. He didn't really have an option to opt-out like you did, but he rebelled in the best way he could, which resulted in his death. You should know that it was him who checked on you every single day in Azkaban and who tried to take care of me when you couldn't, along with James and Lily." Sirius's jaw dropped even further. His brother was a good person. 

"But I can tell you more about him another day. Anyway, that's how I knew you were here. Reg was tracking you down to let me know when you came to Hogwarts. He told me yesterday that you had arrived at the Shrieking Shack, so here I am. So, what are your other questions?"

"Um, well, if you can, tell him sorry and thank you," Sirius said slowly. Then, his face turned to a soft smile as he asked his next question. "How's Melody? Or how was your childhood?" He didn't know what he was expecting, but he didn't expect Astra to frown.