"Hey," Olivia heard from beyond her sleep, "Come on, we're here."
She felt her head being moved and snapped up instantly. Turns out the voice had been Sirius, who's shoulder she had fallen asleep on. He stood and motioned her to follow him, and they made their way off the bus.
"So this is muggle London," Olivia muttered, looking around at all the identical buildings connected to one another. There were people everywhere, although the sun was getting lower in the sky and it was going to be evening soon.
"You've never been to London?" Sirius joked as he lead them down the sidewalk. He only vaguely knew where they were, but figured that this direction was probably right.
"Only to Diagon Alley, really. Or when Mrs. Malfoy took me out with her friends." Olivia said off hand, looking at everyone they passed by. She had picked these clothes because they looked okay and were functional, but the other people wore either really colourful clothing or boring suits. Muggles dress weird.
"I'd give you a tour, but we really shouldn't be in public right now," Sirius tried to joke before sounding how grim he sounded.
"As soon as this mess is over with, you have to give Harry and I a tour of all these muggle places you've been to," She kept wanting to stare at everything, not paying attention to Sirius's sheepish smile.
"I can't say I've been very many places, Liv, you've just left the place I've been for years." He said, trying to let her down gently. Once she frowned, though, he scrambled to find something else to say, "But, hey, we can all three explore these places. Maybe take some of your friends along who know more about muggle places."
Olivia was back to smiling, though she was questioning if she was usually this moody or just super tired, "Hermione is muggle-born, she can show us around. Man I haven't seen her forever," The bushy-haired girl she remembered seemed long ago, and she didn't even get to go to any classes to see Hermione "in action" as Harry put it.
"Then we'll invite her along, then. Now come on, I see my street up ahead," Sirius grabbed her hand and they dove through the crowds of people at the busy crosswalks. Then they crossed on to a road called Grimmauld Place, which Olivia thought was an odd name.
"Is this the street you live on?" She asked, looking down the row at the identical housings. It seemed a little bland, compared to the other buildings.
"Yup. Magical number twelve." They rushed down the street, looking at the numbers tacked on to the front. Finally they reached a dusty number 12, which Olivia had to focus really hard to see even after Sirius had told her, and Sirius bolted to the familiar door.
"Welcome to the home I never thought I'd want to come back to," Sirius joked, holding the door open for his unrelated niece.
Olivia stepped into the place to find a large hall stretched out in front of her, gas-lit lighting cascading from the ceiling. Sure the odd curtains along the wall had gone to the moths, and the wallpapers had fallen victim to moisture and gravity, but Olivia still look at it as her first friendly house.
She had turned to see what exactly the object was in the corner- which turned out to be a troll's leg made to function as an umbrella stand- when she tripped over the hokey carpet and uneven floor, sending her sprawling to the floorboards.
"Shit," Sirius cursed quietly before the vitamins flew open, and the faded portrait of his mother started on her usual rant.
"And who's this little tramp, hmm? Mudblood, no doubt. No self-respecting witch would dress in such a whorish manner or leave her hair so unkempt! You should be ashamed," she started scolding, not wasting a moment to pounce on the young girlie her hall, "This is the house of all my fathers before me, and ancient and proud home, and you dare to impede on it with your ruffian ways?!"
"That's enough, Mother," Sirius said quietly, going to close the curtains but struggling on the old fabric.
"And you! You're no son of mine, filthy blood traitor! You swore to never set foot in this house again, and I died happy thinking that!" She pounced on Sirius next, who she seemed to try to reach out and grab.
"Desperate times..." he trailed off, pulling desperately before the curtains seemed to snap shut.
"What was that?" Olivia asked, a little shaken but not really effected by the harsh words.
"That's my mother's portait, Walburga Black. She was very much a death-eater enthusiast, and hates me for not following the same ways. She'll never leave, the crazy bat." He muttered, tempted to punch the portait to see if she felt pain, "Don't worry about it, as long as there aren't any loud sounds heard from here and the curtains stay closed, she'll stay quiet."
"Was she related to Narcissa at all?" Olivia meant the question as a jest, to poke fun at how similar the two's words were, but Sirius looked surprised.
"Yes, actually. Narcissa is my cousin on my mother's side." Sirius looked a little dumbfounded, but stood over Olivia and helped her up off the floor.
"Oh. They're ways of speaking sounded similar." Olivia said, not wanting to get into detail about the insults she'd endured.
Sirius decided not to bring that up, and so he decided to give her a little tour. He showed off the drawing room filled with spiders, the kitchen dustier than anything, the bedrooms that had seemed to deflate, and the stairs that seemed ready to speak.
The house elf had noticed them at one point, looking genuinely shocked and ready to run for support.
"Kreacher, nice to see you as always. This is Olivia, and she'll be staying with us for quite a while. If she asks anything of you, obey her as you would me. Understood?" Sirius commanded, and Olivia just stared at Kreacher but addressed Sirius.
"I mean, you don't have to do that, I don't particularly like House Elves anyway. . .," Olivia trailed off, the creature reminding her of the house elves back at Malfoy Manor who snubbed any conversation she had attempted, from simple hello's ignored to pleas of anguish scoffed at. Again she shuddered at the memories.
The house elf looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost and scampered from sight, ignoring her entirely.
"You almost have to be rude to him-he doesn't follow orders otherwise. Besides, he gets really rotten the more time you're around him." Sirius explained before leading Olivia into one of the undecorated bedrooms.
"Is this where I'm staying?" Olivia asked, looking at the dusty room as if it were a mirage. I GET TO SLEEP IN AN ACTUAL BED.
"Yup. I can't get into the master bedroom still, and Regulis's room has so much Slytherins memorabilia I figured you'd just want a blank slate." Sirius said, smiling at the old room. He'd used to to hide away on occasions when even his room wasn't safe.
Olivia turned and immediantly hugged him, tears springing to her eyes, "Thank you, for everything. I'd still be stuck there if you hadn't helped me."
Sirius patted her uncomfortably, not really able to embrace her back, "No problem, kid. Now let's burn these uniforms to put all that behind us, hmm?"
That night, the two sat around the roaring fire in peace. And when Olivia eventually fixed off on the dirty carpet, Sirius picked her up and put her into her new room. The whole time thinking to himself, So this is what I missed.
~~
ÉDIT 7/9/19: Sooooo I totally forgot that in the original published chapter of this I made Olivia be pro-House Elf, which is something I had since made her anti- since it makes more sense to me. I've now changed that here to help clear that up, so hopefully that makes more sense now.
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Aww they're so cute. And I know people argue the Sirius is the only parent Harry ever had (which is wrong because Hagrid) so I decided he should be a big part in Olivia's life instead. Not that he and Harry won't be friendly later on, that is. But that's still a way to go.
Anyway please leave feedback and I hope you enjoyed!