- Alia -
Alia beamed as she wandered up the path to Hogwarts looking up at the great castle before her. She hadn't been back here since she had left school and it was very strange but bittersweet at the same time. She had had some of the best memories of her life within these castle walls and it was great to be home.
"Ah! Alia! Welcome back." Dumbledore nodded once with a small smile on his face as Alia beamed with happiness.
"Thank you Albus, it seems strange to be back." Alia smiled, nodding her head once and following him inside.
"I'm sure it does, now, you've arrived just before the students so you'll have a little time to settle in to your room. It's just down the corridor from Remus' classroom so you won't be far away." Dumbledore told her as they walked slowly through the castle.
"That's great, thank you." Alia smiled.
"And what shall we be calling you whilst you're here, I presume it won't be Professor Black?" Dumbledore asked, a solemn look on his face.
"Professor Lupin, I can just say that I'm Remus' sister." Alia sighed, she would've loved to have used her married name but it was too dangerous. Besides, even Elenie didn't know their actual surname.
"Of course, that's very wise. Right here's your room. I think that the students will be here shortly so make your way to the Great Hall in around thirty minutes if you will?" Dumbledore opened the door to a homely looking room with an open fire sitting in the centre of the living area.
"Of course Albus, thank you for this." Alia gave him a warm smile and stepped inside the room, setting her bag down.
"It's my pleasure Alia." Dumbledore nodded once and walked off silently, closing the door behind him.
Alia smiled and walked further into the room, heading back to the bedroom where a simple double bed lay in the middle of the room with a bathroom door to the side. It was very simple but she loved it. It would be her home for the year.
Around half an hour later Alia made her way to the Great Hall where the other teachers were sat at the head table. Remus gave her a small wave and she smiled, quickly making her way over to the seat that he had saved for her.
"Alia, it's so lovely to have you back." Minerva McGonagall smiled at her as she took her seat.
"Thank you Minerva, it's great to be back." Alia smiled. She looked down the table and gave a small wave of hello to everyone until she came to Snape. He quickly turned away once he knew she was looking in his direction. He had been the same since they left Hogwarts.
"You would've thought he'd be past it all." Alia whispered to Remus.
"You'd be surprised by the grudges that people can hold Lia." Remus shrugged. Alia only had a moment to think about what he'd said when the double doors burst open and students rushed inside, taking their seats at their house tables.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Elenie could immediately be spotted taking their seats at the Gryffindor table, they hadn't spotted Alia yet.
"We had some trouble on the train Alia." Remus muttered as the first year students started to be sorted into their houses.
"What kind of trouble?" Alia asked, turning to face him quickly.
"Dementor trouble. I'll explain later." He told her as he watched Dumbledore stand up to address everyone
"Welcome! Students new and old to a new year at Hogwarts! As you may have noticed, we have a few differences to the staff this year. May I introduce our very own Mr Rubeus Hagrid, who will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures this year, after Professor Kettleburn resigned to spend time with his few remaining limbs. Also Mr Remus Lupin, who will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts this year along with Miss Alia Lupin, who will be teaching alongside Professor Lupin. Good luck to our new Professors." Alia smiled a little as Elenie and Harry looked up at her, shock evident on their faces'.
The rest of the feast passed by without a hitch, after Dumbledore's speech the students tucked in and started their own conversations, catching up from gossip over the summer break.
"What was this trouble then Remus?" Alia asked once the students had all gone to bed and the lights had been turned out in the castle. Remus and Alia headed back to their room's their wand's lighting the way as they walked.
"The Dementors somehow got on the train, looking for him." Remus told her gravely.
"What?! On the train?" Alia gasped.
"Yes. I managed to get in a compartment with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Elenie and it was a good job I did because I think they sensed him in her. But Harry was affected the most, the poor boy passed out. But i'm not surprised, the Dementor got very close to him. To them all." Remus shivered, obviously remembering the moment.
"We need to be more careful than we thought, with Dementors sniffing around Elenie could find out easily." Alia sighed.
"It's going to be fine Alia, you're here to keep an eye on them now." Remus reassured her.
"I hope so. Night Remus." Alia waved a little as she opened the door to her room.
"Night Alia."
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Birds were tweeting outside of the window when Alia woke up the next morning. It seemed such a lovely day and Alia couldn't help but have a smile on her face. Today was the first day of classes and she and Remus were teaching the third year Gryffindor and Slytherin class first today, which meant Harry and Elenie's class.
"Morning Alia." Remus said as Alia walked into the classroom after returning from breakfast.
"Morning Remus, i'm looking forward to this." Alia smiled as she walked into the classroom, flicking the blinds up with her wand as she walked down the aisle between the tables towards the front of the room.
"Someone's happy today." Remus chuckled as Alia wrote 'Professor Lupin x2' on the blackboard with her wand.
"It's a lovely day Remus and i'm trying to stay calm and happy. We're going to have a great day today." Alia beamed at him.
"Let's hope so." He shook his head a little with laughter and quickly looked up when the door opened and student's filed in for their lesson. Last but not least Harry, Elenie, Hermione and Ron made their way in to the room, Elenie choosing to sit by Hermione and Harry choosing to sit by Ron.
"Ok, good morning class, as most of you know already I'm Professor Lupin, and my co-teacher shall we call her, is also called Professor Lupin." Remus smiled to the class, a hint of laughter on his face.
A hand shot up and Remus immediately responded, smiling at the blonde haired boy.
"Ah yes, Mr...Malfoy." Oh great a Malfoy, Alia rolled her eye's.
"Are you two married, because I'm pretty sure Professors aren't meant to be married?" Malfoy asked, sticking his nose in the air.
"No we're not Mr Malfoy, Professor Lupin is my sister." Remus smiled.
"Well you don't really look like each other." Malfoy tried to pipe up again.
"Okayyy shall we get started?" Alia spoke up, immediately ignoring Malfoy's question which seemed to amuse Harry, Elenie, Ron and Hermione.
"Okay class, so today we'll be dealing with a Boggart. Can anyone tell me what a Boggart is?" Alia asked the class. The majority of the class looked around confusedly at their friend's. They obviously didn't have a clue what a Boggart was. Everyone except for Hermione, who's hand shot up in the air. "Yes Miss Granger?" Alia asked, smiling.
"A Boggart is a creature that changes form depending on your worst fear." Hermione explained.
"Excellent and does anyone know how we get rid of a Boggart?" Alia looked round at a sea of confused faces. She smiled a little as Hermione's hand shot up again.
"Miss Granger" Alia grinned as Hermione grinned.
"Simply to laugh at it professor." She smiled.
"Excellent, five points to Gryffindor!" Alia smiled. All the Gryffindor members grinned as the Slytherin's scowled. "Ok, will everyone repeat after me, you must say this spell when facing the Boggart to change it into something funny. Everybody say Ridikulus."
"Ridikulus!" The class chanted back.
"Excellent, now then if Professor Lupin is ready, let's start the practical." Alia smiled, walking over to where Remus was stood with the wardrobe.
For the rest of the class everybody had fun working with the Boggart and gradually towering over their fears. But then it got to Harry. He stood in front of the Boggart which quickly turned into a Dementor. After what Remus had told Alia about Harry's last encounter with a Dementor on the train to Hogwarts, she knew it was going to end badly. But Remus was thinking quicker than her and ran in front of Harry. The Boggart changed into a full moon, then when Remus said the spell, it quickly changed into a bursting balloon flying around the clasroom.
It then came to the end of the class and Alia decided that she needed to talk to her daughter. It was time to tell Elenie the truth, whether she liked it or not.
"Ok class, that's it for today. Please could I speak to Miss Lupin, the rest of you are dismissed." Alia announced to the class with a gulp. The class walked back to their desks looking disappointed, picked up their bags and walked out.
It was now or never. She had to do it and it needed to be now. If she had to find out, she needed to find out from Alia and not anyone else.
"Mum! I can't believe you didn't tell me you were coming to work with Uncle Remus!" Elenie grinned at her mother, giving her a hug.
"Well it was a last minute decision really El. I found out something that made me want to come to Hogwarts." Alia faked a smile and sat down on top of the desk.
"What did you want to talk to me about anyway?" Elenie asked, sitting next to her mother.
"Ok, El, I know I've never really told you anything about your real father in the past, but now, given the circumstances, I think it's the right time." Alia sighed.
"But I thought you told me that he left just after I was born and abandoned us?" Elenie asked, looking completely bewildered.
"I did, but that isn't the truth and i'm sorry. It was for your own safety." Alia sighed. Elenie nodded slowly, still not understanding what her Mother was talking about.
"Explain." Elenie simply told her, watching Alia to try and guess her emotions.
"Ok El, so I'm going to take you back thirteen years ago, to 1981. You were a year old, as was Harry. We live with your Uncle Remus for a reason. He was one of my friends at school, and he was also a friend of your Father's, and a friend of Harry's Mum and Dad. At this time, You-Know-Who was at large, and us, your father and the Potters went into hiding as he was after us. He wanted to recruit us to his side. Anyway, that night, the Secret Keeper that the Potter's had chosen gave them away to Voldemort, and James and Lily were killed. Then the Death-Eaters came after us, and your father told me to take you and get out, so I did and apparated away. That was the last time I saw him. Elenie, do you know who Sirius Black is?" Alia asked, her voice wobbling.
"He's that muderer, the one who escaped from Azkaban right?" Elenie asked. Alia grimaced at her word's.
"He is the one that escaped from Azkaban Elenie yes, but I don't believe that he gave James and Lily away, he loved them as much as I did. Elenie, Sirius Black is my husband and he's your father." Alia told her daughter boldly.
"What?!" Elenie cried, her eyes wide.
"Elenie, you must listen to me. I don't know the facts, I don't know what happened after we left but I know my husband. I loved- still love him with all of my heart and I don't believe that he could've done that to James and Lily. We were best friends all of us." Alia sighed.
Elenie just stared at her Mother in shock. Alia knew that she was going to react like this; it was too much to take in all at once.
"It's ok Mum, I get it. I believe you. If you believe in him then I believe in you. You didn't want anyone to know that I was his daughter so you changed our names for safety." She said slowly, understanding Alia's word's.
"You are everything I could've hoped for and more Elenor Lily. Completely like your name sake." Alia pulled Elenie close to her and smiled, a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulder's. Elenie finally knew who her Dad was.
"You just used my full name." Elenie stated.
"Yes." Alia smiled a little. Sirius had been the one to name their daughter Elenor Black and after he had gone she found it too painful to say the name Elenor, she only used it when it was absolutely necessary. Instead she had opted for her nickname, Elenie instead.
"You never use my full name." Elenie smiled.
"I know, your dad named you Elenor and it was just too painful. I think Elenie suits you anyway." Alia laughed a little.
"But what about Harry? I don't think he's going to be as understanding as me." Elenie sighed.
"El i'm sorry but we can't tell anyone yet. It's too dangerous. If they knew that we were alive I could be taken away for aiding a criminal even though I didn't. For all anyone knows, Alia Black and Elenor Black died that day." Alia sighed.
"Okay, I promise to keep this to myself, but only for now." Elenie told her.
"Of course darling. Oh! I also wanted to give you this. It's my diary from when I was at Hogwarts right to when I had you. It's got some good stories in there about me and your Dad if you want to learn more about him. I wrote a note to you in the back that I wrote years ago, just in case anything happened to me. Enjoy it, it's pretty funny." Alia smiled, passing her old diary to Elenie.
"Thanks for telling me the truth Mum, and for your diary. I love you." Elenie smiled, hugging her Mum.
"You deserved to know El. Keep that diary safe, I love you too." Alia smiled, kissing her daughter's head.
"See you later Mum."
"Bye El!" She called after her daughter. Alia sighed and sat back in the chair. She was glad that she had told Elenie the truth. She just hoped nobody would find out.
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