The Black Mystery

The Black Mystery

Prologue

"Have fun, okay?" Sirius Black said to her. "It's not like Beauxbatons, but I had a lot of fun, and you will, too."

His daughter just grumbled in reply

"Look, I know you're angry, but I've written to Harry, and he said he'd take care of you."

Kathrin-May Janeen Black just looked at her father, with that infuriating stare she'd inherited from her late mother. He remembered when he'd met her. Clarrisa June Hollow. Even James had had his eye on at one point. She was stunning, blonde hair, brown eyes. He always wondered how his daughter had managed green eyes. She had his black hair, and good looks. Not that Clarrisa hadn't been beautiful. She had been. It was just Kathrin's features were like his. More feminine, of course, naturally, but more like his than Clarrisa's.

He stared back, from his blue eyes, to her green. 'There's no ways to describe that stare,' Sirius thought, not for the first time. 'It's just so...'

"Five minutes!" came the shout, down the platform, and Sirius saw Harry, and the Weasleys come bursting through the barrier, out of breath. He watched for a moment, and saw Hermione bound off the train and run over to the group. Then he turned back to his daughter.

"There's Harry, come on," he grabbed her hand and led her over to the group. The two Weasleys and Hermione had left for the train, for their prefect meeting. Harry stood with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, saying good-bye, and thanking them for letting him stay over the holidays. Harry looked round as they approached, and he smiled broadly.

"Hey, Sirius, how are you? And you must be Kathrin-May," Harry said, turning to her, and smiling at her.

"Yes, I must be, mustn't I?" She said sweetly, the sarcasm evident in her voice.

Sirius frowned at her, and then turned to Harry. He whispered in his ear, "She's not happy about leaving Beauxbatons; she may be like this for awhile."

"And she's in Gryffindor?"

"Yes, when we went to see Dumbledore about a transfer, he got the Hat down, and Gryffindor is what it said," he paused; then continued, "If you just let her sit with you. She'll probably become friends with Hermione, seeing as she's your friend, and they share a dorm and all. You will look after her, won't you?"

"Of course I will. And she's in my class? She's quite short."

"So was her mother. And yes, she's a seventh year. Fourteenth, August is her birthday."

"She look's just like you," Harry said, with a smile. Sirius grinned back, but just then the train whistled.

"Whoa!" Harry cried. "I've still got to load my trunk! I'll see you at Christmas, okay? Bye!"

Harry walked off dragging his trunk.

"You better go show him which compartment you're in," Sirius said, turning to his daughter. "And don't worry. You'll settle right in at Hogwarts. I promise."

Kathrin gave a small smile. "Bye, daddy," she said, then turned, and swept off to find Harry. Sirius straightened and turned to the Weasleys.

"How's Harry been? He came to me for a few days before he went to you, and he still seemed upset about Voldemort," the Weasleys shuddered. "But I think he's happy it wasn't intentional. You know, it was manslaughter, not murder."

Mr. Weasley just nodded, but Molly said, "He's still pretty upset about it, but he's a lot better than he was. Murder, manslaughter, it's still a lot to take in. And he's only a-"

Word's Sirius had spoken two years ago jumped into her head: 'He's not a child!' "-a, uhm... quite young still, really, isn't he?"

"He doesn't like the publicity much, either," Arthur said. Sirius nodded. He'd noticed that too.

"Anyway," Molly said. "What about you Sirius? And Kathrin-May? How's she coping?"

Sirius sighed. "I think we'd better go to my place for that story."

~*.*.*~

The train was already going by the time Kathrin and Harry reached their compartment. No one else was there. The prefects were already coming down the corridor. Head Boy, Draco Malfoy saw them coming and was about to slip into a spare compartment, to hide from Potter, when he saw the girl Potter was following. She was short, and very beautiful, with black hair, green eyes, and milky skin. Her arms were crossed, and he saw perfect nails resting by her elbows, attached to long, shapely fingers. A strange flurry of emotions overtook him. It took him a minute to realise that he was jealous of Potter, getting the pretty girl to himself. He wondered why he was jealous. When he realised, he was not happy. He was infatuated. He liked a girl he'd never even met.

'Who is she?' Draco Malfoy wondered. As he walked off again, he didn't notice the red headed boy, behind him, wondering the same thing.

~*.*.*~

Ron Weasley was following the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, grumbling to himself that that stuck-up Slytherin had made Head Boy instead of himself. Then he saw Malfoy stop walking. He stopped too, but the rest of the prefects walked past, except Hermione, who was Head Girl and had gone down towards the other end of the train to check everyone had settled in okay.

Ron stood a few paces behind Malfoy, and looked past him, and what he saw made his heart jump. Harry had a girlfriend?! Then Ron caught sight of the girl's face. She did not look happy. Her long black hair bounced and swung loosely behind her, her face was dark with irritation and annoyance. Obviously she was not Harry's girlfriend, or she would look happy.

'Who is she?' Ron wondered as Malfoy started to walk again. Ron went to join Harry and the pretty girl in their compartment, dragging his trunk behind him.

~*.*.*~

Harry, of course, knew who the girl was. What he didn't know was why he had never met her, why she had been transferred, and, of course, why had Sirius never said he had a daughter?