Teenagers

It was a few days later, at midnight when Eliza took Furvus and glowered at Willy on the way to the door. That old bird almost got her in trouble because he gave Snape the letter addressed to Sirius.


She was furious afterwards and kept throwing mean looks at the owl but he seemed quite proud of what he did.


Once she got outside, she got on her broom and flew into the dark night, hiding behind the clouds so that no muggle could see her. Earlier that week, she got a letter with the exact coordinates to a house, which she found out was a former hospital in the late 1800's that was rumored to be haunted. Newsham Park Hospital is one of the most terrifyingly haunted and oppressive locations, she read.


She arrived in Liverpool around an hour and a half later and landed right in front of the hospital. No one was around and from what she noticed people were too scared to wander the vicinity.


Eliza sneaked in through the window falling in the process on her face, scratching her neck slightly.


Walking down the corridor, she couldn't help but feel a bit scared. The doors were only slightly opened, enough for whoever was there to get the impression something was hiding in the shadows, waiting for the most opportune moment to jump and kill the innocent. Of course, that was only because human perception was thinking about the worst case scenario and would always imagine something diabolic where it wasn't. But Eliza was human and she was fairly young so she couldn't help the chill crawling up her back.


The wood cracked under her feet, though it seemed like the hospital was taken care of and remodeled, but she was alright; not horrified yet. The problem appeared when she stopped and the door on her right opened widely, uncovering who was behind it.


Something grabbed her wrist and she immediately screamed, "Aguamenti!"


A jet of water hit the perpetrator in the face yet she didn't even have a wand in her hand. He was wet from head to toe and Furvus crawled up his leg, plunging his fangs into his thigh. The perpetrator fell back and narrowed his eyes at the girl.


"Is that what they teach you at Hogwarts these days?" He grumbled before his eyes moved on the small black fur clinging on his thigh. Being a dog in some way, he couldn't help but glare at the cat and shrug him off his leg. "What is that?" He glowered at the hissing cat.


"Furvus," She responded, reaching out and helping him once she realized who she just attacked. "You didn't have to be so sneaky and scare me, dad."


Sirius had a few comments up his sleeve but when she called him dad everything in his mind vanished.


"How is Mooney? Howling at the full moon once a month?" Sirius asked after they entered a random room on the second floor.


"Sometimes twice. The weather has been very wicked lately so it has been harder on him and his moods. But everything else is fine." She responded like it wasn't a big deal.


It took them a while to get comfortable with each other but when that passed, Sirius started to tell Eliza more about his time at Hogwarts.


"Why does Snape hate Harry so much?" She suddenly asked, making Sirius laugh loudly.


"Snivelly hated James because of reasons that don't really matter." He started, remembering just how many fights he subjectively begun because of Snape (and maybe because of James too, but mainly because of Snape).


"Then why does he hate me?"


Sirius grinned as he scratched his head, "There was a misunderstanding and I almost killed him during a prank. Of course, I didn't realize just how bad it could turn out to be or else I wouldn't have done it."


Eliza watched her father doubtfully. He didn't look like a man who was repenting on something.


"So what? He hates me and Harry because of our fathers?"


"Maybe hate is a big word." Sirius interfered weakly, thinking he may as well soften it up for his daughter.


"What about mom? What was her relationship with Snape, Malfoy and Regulus?" She was firing every question she had at him.


"Regulus Black was my younger brother," Sirius started, feeling a bit awkward. "Our family had created followers of Voldemort and anything related to dark magic truthfully. Regulus and I, we tried to break this chain and live the life we wanted but Regulus got sorted into Slytherin and I was already a Gryffindor. Throughout our stay at Hogwarts, Regulus had gone through changes and he eventually became another Black."


Eliza frowned when her father's voice trembled. It must have hurt a lot to see Regulus be forcefully dragged into the darkness.


"Malfoy had always been a prat," Sirius continued, sneering at the memory of the blond pure blood. "And Snivelly, well he was a special case. I don't know why he turned his back in everything correct and followed his Slytherin friends but he did. He's always been an enemy," He chuckled when he remembered James and Snape dueling over some petty accident. "Now that I think about it, it was childish but back then we were taking high pride in our Marauders. Real friendship lasts forever, after all,"


From the sound of his voice, it didn't seem like he was happy with how their friendship turned out to be.


"Then what happened?" Eliza urged her father to tell her more.


Sirius sighed and jumped on his feet. He couldn't stay put while remembering that.


"We knew that Voldemort was after the Potters so they went into hiding. I was supposed to be the Secret Keeper, the only one who knew but for months already I knew there was a spy among us. I never thought-" He stopped and rubbed his face angrily before turning to her, "For a while I thought it might have been your mother until I found out the truth. She was hiding in Ireland and she didn't need any Secret Keeper. Then, I decided with James that we should place Peter instead of me. He was- he wasn't the brightest crayon you know...but then he did it and he blamed me for everything."


One minute, two minutes, ten minutes passed and none said anything. Sirius was breathing heavily but Eliza was just speechless.


"Then what happened with Peter?" She asked after what felt like an hour of silence.


"Nothing." Sirius snarled, "He got away and killed everyone twenty feet around him. He killed innocent muggles without a second thought and blamed it all on me."


"What did mom say when she heard?" Eliza asked trying not to get too emotional about everything she heard.


"I-I told them to keep it from her. She had to stay hidden or else-" His eyes widened and he suddenly pulled her in his arms. "I thought you'd hate me for not being there for you. I was afraid you'd hate me but Remus raised you well, Liz." Sirius mumbled sorrowfully.


"Nearly Headless Nick told me that you and mom, it was love at first sight."


Sirius let Eliza and sat down next to her.


"That's not exactly true. Your mother used to hate me because I was too confident in my abilities, which from her point of view sucked." A bright smiled appeared on his face as he continued, "Her mind was sharp and she could see potential in everyone, especially Slytherins. Lily introduced Snape to Ophelia and they used to spend time together, making potions."


Sirius scoffed at the end, remembering a particularly bad memory of the two.


It was a sunny day and it was the weekend so Sirius wanted to spend quality time with his girlfriend. He looked for her everywhere and when he finally found out where she ran off to, he found her with Snivelly.


He cracked the door open and eavesdropped swiftly to the two talk about things they have done over the summer. Hearing her laugh and act so childishly with Snape was sickening and it made Sirius mad; he was jealous and they fought afterwards.


"He's only helping me with potions. You know how bad my grades are because of Slughorn." She said back then but Sirius was too blind to see the truth. That was probably when he followed James into bullying Snape and almost killing him.


"She was a loyal woman but stuff happened and her world narrowed. The war begun and friends became enemies. Everything she built up crashed at her feet and she became a target because of me; she lost a lot because of me." He trailed, feeling a sudden wave of guilt.


Maybe if he wasn't there, pestering her about this and that, she wouldn't have ended up dead.


"She loved you a lot. That's quite a lot of blind trust. She must have been a bit stupid for loving you like that." She joked yet some of it might have actually been her true thoughts.


Sirius grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.


"Trust only the ones who trust you more, Liz. Don't do the same mistakes we did." He urged, his eyes earnestly staring into hers.


The brunette was a bit taken aback by her father's sudden actions but she nodded nonetheless. He knew what he was talking about; he's lived through disappointment already and it wasn't something he wished his daughter to experience.


"Where have you been?" Remus asked sternly from his place on the couch.


She continued her meeting for the whole night and came back home around breakfast. Furvus took a liking to Sirius after he scratched him a bit but once she ordered the cat to behave, he did. When she arrived home, she met Remus glowering at her.


"Well?" He repeated in an authoritarian tone.


Eliza placed Furvus down and leaned the broom against the wall before walking towards the stairs.


"I'm a big girl Remus. I can take care of myself, you made sure of that." She was using subtle flattering to get away from trouble.


"Eliza!" He yelled, just like a father whose teenage daughter was acting up.


She went in her room and locked the door, staying there until late at night when she walked out only for dinner before locking herself back. Remus couldn't believe it. Growing a teenager was so much harder than growing a four years old

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