Learning to Love

Chapter 5

The 31^st of July was starting out to be a hot and humid day. Keli was sitting in the kitchen next to Remus, sipping on a weak cup of tea she was having with her breakfast. The young girl was wearing a skirt, sandals, t-shirt and jumper to hide her back; Sirius and Remus had tried to persuade her to just wear the t-shirt but she was more than a little self conscious of her back, and had decided to hide it from the world. Ever since the full moon night, a couple of weeks back, Keli had started to relax more around Sirius and Remus, and had even begun to ask the odd one or two questions here and there.

As she started eating her breakfast of sausages, tomatoes and bacon, Sirius came bustling in to the kitchen, startling her slightly.

"Morning Keli, sleep well?" asked Sirius.

Swallowing the bit of sausage she had in her mouth, Keli answered, "Yes thank you. You?"

"Very well," answered Sirius sitting down next to Remus, "Are you ready for today?"

Keli had found out a couple of days ago that today was the birthday of Sirius' Godson Harry, and they had planned a party for his 21^st. Both Remus and Sirius had kept reassuring her again and again that everyone who turned up at The Burrow would not hurt her in any way. This had calmed her slightly, but it still didn't take away the feeling of nervousness she felt.

"Yes," answered Keli uneasily.

"Don't worry Keli," soothed Remus, "Nothing is going to hurt you."

"I know that!" retorted Keli, perhaps a little too loudly.

Realising what she'd said and how loudly she had said it, Keli got off her chair and bolted to her bedroom. Sitting down on the bed she tried to calm herself down. Don't be silly Keli. They won't hurt you, they won't hurt you, she thought, hearing the blood rushing in her ears, They won't hurt you, they won't hurt you, repeated Keli again and again.

The door of her bedroom opened and Remus and Sirius came in and sat on either side of her.

"Sorry," mumbled Keli, looking at her hands.

"Keli, we know you've been through some terrible ordeals," explained Remus cautiously, "But do try to understand that we will never hit you. Especially not for something as trivial as expressing your self or voicing an opinion,"

Looking up at them, Keli explained her most confusing thoughts.

"I do understand and I do want to trust you both, but I can only ever remember being scared. I don't want to be scared any more but it's hard."

Taking her hand Sirius replied, "We know you won't change overnight, but after time you won't be scared of us any more. Just give yourself some more time."

"I will," whispered Keli.

"Good girl. Now it's time we left for The Burrow. Come on," replied Sirius, standing up and pulling Keli up with him.

***

The Burrow was buzzing with noise; Keli, Sirius and Remus were the second guests to arrive for Harry's party. Keli had tensed slightly as Molly had given her a motherly hug. Sirius introduced her to Harry, to whom Keli had given a small smile. She had recognised Ginny and Hermione immediately and had been willing to give a small 'hello' to them.

Whilst they waited for the other guests to show up, Keli didn't move from Sirius side. They didn't have to wait long before people started arriving in twos and threes. There was Bill, Fleur, and their son Simon - who was older than Keli by a year - then came five people, all of whom were laughing. They were Fred, Angelina, George, Katie and their daughter Claire, who was due to start Hogwarts the coming September. Then came Charlie Weasley on his own, he had preferred being single so had been made some of the children's God parent instead. Last came Draco Malfoy his wife Victoria Malfoy nee Frobisher. Victoria had been in Ginny's year at Hogwarts and had always had a thing for Draco, before he finally started to notice her in her sixth year. Alongside them came their son Michael, who was also a year older than Keli.

Keli had been sitting in between Remus and Sirius as she watched everyone else turn up; the vast among of men that were at the table had caused her to guard herself immensely.

Finally, when the last person had arrived they had to move out into the garden. Sirius took Keli outside, knowing that today would be a milestone for Keli, whilst Remus helped Molly in the kitchen.

Sitting down Sirius asked, "Keli, are you okay?"

"Yes," whispered Keli.

"Remember: no one is going to hurt you," Sirius reminded her.

Nodding her head Keli settled down and drank the water she had asked for. It was a very hot and sticky day and with Keli having her jumper on it had made her extremely thirsty.

Keli was watching the other children over by the trees. They were all laughing and joking together; even the older ones had joined in. Why have they got an easy life? Keli asked mentally, then realising what she had thought, felt guiltily and cast her eyes downwards ashamedly.

Sirius had been talking to Harry when he turned around and saw the guilt ridden face of Keli looking at the table.

"Harry, will you do me a favour?" asked Sirius, struck with a sudden idea.

"Yeah, sure, what?" answered Harry.

"Would you shout Lily over?" said Sirius quietly so Keli wouldn't hear.

Lily was the only daughter of Harry and Ginny. She had looked so much like Harry's mum they had named her after Lily.

Lily held a lot of the same qualities Harry had, but if she lost her temper it could rival that of Molly Weasley's, and no one liked being on the receiving end of it.

"LILY!" shouted Harry.

Lily looked over to her dad and strolled over as though she had all the time in the world. Stopping at her father's side she flashed an innocent smile.

"Yes?" asked Lily innocently.

"Would you introduce yourself to Keli for me," answered Sirius quietly.

"Of course Uncle Sirius," replied Lily, smiling sweetly.

Rolling his eye at the attempted innocent look, Sirius turned back to Keli.

"Keli? I want you to meet someone," started Sirius, "Her name is Lily."

Lily smiled, stuck out her hand and said, "Hi Keli, I'm Lily."

Looking up Keli shook her hand and replied, "Hello."

"Hey Lily, are you coming back over?" shouted Michelle.

Michelle and Stewart were twins - daughter and son to Ron and Hermione. They also managed to cause as much trouble as Fred and George.

"No, you come here," Lily shouted back.

Sighing Michelle turned back and spoke briefly to her brother before dragging him over to Lily.

"Michelle, Stewart, this is Keli," introduced Lily.

Keli shook everyone's hands, still a little tense at the new presences but knew if she tried to back away she'd regret it later on.

"Keli, do you like Quidditch?" asked Stewart.

Quidditch? Thought Keli before answering, "No."

"No? How can you not like Quidditch?" questioned Michelle.

Michelle and Stewart had inherited Ron's passion for Quidditch and thought anyone who didn't like Quidditch was mad.

"Not everyone is a Quidditch freak like you," defended Lily, noticing that Keli didn't know how to answer.

Michelle and Stewart took offensive to Lily's words and took off back to the others. Although Lily, Michelle and Stewart had grown up together they had never been close; sure they were friends, just not best friends.

Taking a seat facing Keli, Lily smiled and apologized, "Sorry about them, there worse than Fred and George sometimes. Aren't you hot in that jumper?"

"No," answered Keli, "I don't feel the warm weather."

"You're lucky. I can tell you I'm nearly melting," replied Lily smiling.

Keli felt herself relaxing immediately, something she found strange as the last time she'd felt that way was just after the full moon with Remus and Sirius.

Both girls sat talking to each other; Lily explained everything about the wizarding world and also gave brief descriptions of every person sitting around the table. What neither girl knew was that all the while whilst they'd been talking they were forming a bond of a very close friendship, which would last through anything.

***

Remus had been in the kitchen helping Molly, Ginny, and Hermione with the food when he looked out into the garden to see Keli actually talking to Lily.

"It looks like Keli's made a friend," commented Remus.

"Who?" asked Ginny curiously.

"Lily," answered Remus smiling.

"How is she doing, Remus?" questioned Molly.

Sighing, Remus answered, "It's still hard for her to accept not being hit every day, and she gets along more with animals rather than humans. But then again, don't most children?"

"Yeah, but most don't have two guardians who can turn into canines," stated Hermione chuckling, "What did you do for the full moon?"

"Stayed in the house. Why?" questioned Remus.

"I mean what did Keli do?"

"This is the weird thing," explained Remus, "I remember transforming and then pacing outside the door, then nothing. According to Sirius I curled around her protectively and fell asleep, but I just don't remember."

"So you lost control but didn't attack her?" asked Ginny, in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes," answered Remus seriously.

"Don't you think that's a little ... weird?" she delved.

"I thought that as soon as Sirius told me," Remus said, before carrying on in an undertone, "Something must have drawn me to her. Maybe - no, not possible," He spoke up again, ignoring the questioning looks they were throwing him, "So, Molly, what's Arthur been up to recently? Still got that weird plug fascination?"

The four of them talked whilst finishing off cooking finally finished they made their way outside and celebrated Harry's birthday.

Tired and full, Keli leaned against Sirius as she waited for Remus to return and say goodnight. The afternoon had been great time for all of them and Keli had made her first true friend, Lily Potter, and she had promised to send a letter to her the next day.