Even to those closest to her, Althea was as much a mystery then as she is now. As a girl, she was driven by her ambition and thirst for knowledge to a place very few could follow, and she didn't hesitate to leave them behind. But now, after living a...
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"SHE'S THE LAST FAMILY HE HAS."
Sirius and Remus watched in silence as Althea cautiously made her way upstairs to meet her nephew. It was so odd for them; earlier that day, they had been plotting ways to recruit a village of goblins for the Order, and now, they were in the presence of a woman they had believed to be long dead, a woman who could change just about everything.
"Are you sure we can trust her?" Remus whispered to his friend when he believed the woman to be out of earshot.
Sirius felt a heaviness in his chest before he answered. "I've never been sure of that, but I don't know if we have a choice. She's the last family he has."
Althea was in a haze as she navigated the second level of 12 Grimmauld Place, not being able to shake the image of her brother from her mind. He's dead, she reminded herself. He's dead.
She stopped at the door Sirius had told her about, but as she stared at the dark wood, she couldn't bring herself to knock. She had missed his entire life. She should have been there the day her nephew was born; the first time he had shown magical ability; when he got his Hogwarts letter - god, she should have been at her brother's wedding. Why hadn't she been there for them?
With closed eyes and a deep breath, she knocked on the door.
"Sirius - finally - who - ?" came a desperate, youthful voice, but that changed the moment his eyes set on Althea instead of the expected Sirius. "You," said Harry Potter.
Althea couldn't get over just how much he looked like James, everything from his messy hair that stood up in the back the way James's had, to his thin face that mirrored even her own. Finally, she smiled at him. "Hi," she breathed. "I'm sure you'd like some questions answered."
Harry was staring at her just as much as she had been staring at him. However, at her words, he nodded, though still hesitant, and turned to his room, only to come face to face with Hermione and half of the Weasley kids, who all sat in silent shock.
"I didn't realize you had company," Althea muttered awkwardly, shooting a smile at the kids as she shrunk away from them. "I can come back later, if you'd like - "
"No, wait," Harry said quickly, stopping her from walking away. He turned to his friends. "Guys - could you - ?" With little hesitation, Fred and George disapparated with a crack, and Hermione grabbed both Ginny and Ron by the arm, towing them out of the room with a polite but awkward smile at a woman she'd seen break down only moments ago.
There was a silence in which the Potters carefully avoided eye contact, listening to the distant bickering of Ron and Hermione. "You're - " Harry started suddenly, causing Althea to jump. "You're really my - aunt?"
Althea looked at the boy sadly, not being able to begin to imagine what he's gone through. She unhooked a rusting gold chain and pulled a small locket from around her neck, holding it out to Harry. "Your father got me this for Christmas when I was ten," she answered in almost a whisper, placing one of her most prized possessions in the hands of her nephew. It was then that Harry beckoned her into the room, and the two sat side by side on his bed. The locket still in his hands, Harry looked to this strange woman, who nodded to him, telling him to open it.
Harry was surprised to see, on the left, a photo of two children, the boy looking very much like him when he was young. Beside him, smiling and waving up at Harry, was a six-year-old version of the woman that sat beside him now, her dirty blonde hair in two braids cascading down her shoulders. On the right was a photo of an older couple that Harry had only seen one other time before, in a mirror when he was eleven.
"It was his first year at Hogwarts," Althea continued, a bittersweet smile on her conflicted face. "He'd had such a good time that when it came around to the holidays, he didn't want to come back home. I was so upset, I sent him a howler without telling Mum and Dad." She chuckled here, and it was then that Harry knew without a doubt that she was telling the truth. Althea smiled, though tears were forming in her eyes, and looked at her nephew. "James and I were really close, and when I told him how much I missed him when he was in school, he didn't take it lightly. It was only a couple months before I would join him at Hogwarts, but he got me this locket so he and our parents would be with me wherever I went, whenever I needed them. I never took it off."
"Can't have been that close," Harry said bitterly.
For a moment, she didn't dare break eye contact with the boy, suddenly realizing she couldn't even pretend to know him. She turned away, wiping a tear as she admitted she had no one to blame but herself for that. "I-I know I wasn't there for you - "
"What's your excuse?" Harry cut in with the same bitterness, mixed with true curiosity. This woman was a mystery, and he couldn't deny that he was intrigued. "Can't be better than being locked away in Azkaban."
She went to explain herself, but stopped short, looking up at her nephew again. "Azkaban? Who was in Azkaban?"
Harry looked at her incredulously for a moment. "Sirius was. You didn't know that?"
Althea's face paled. Sirius had been in prison. Why had Sirius been in prison? "Sirius didn't raise you?"
Harry laughed at that, but there was no humor in it. "I was left with a family of Muggles who took better care of the dirt on their shoes than they did of me. Thought they were the only family I had left. Guess I was wrong about that."
"I - I - " she stuttered, not being able to find the right words.
"Did you know?" Harry questioned now, and the bitterness he'd had only moments ago vanished. Althea looked at her nephew and saw for the first time a boy who seemed hurt beyond belief, a boy who wanted nothing more than a family that cared about him. "Did you leave me to suffer there, without even thinking of taking me in like your brother would have wanted you to?"
Tears were running freely down her face now, and Harry began to wonder if he'd crossed a line. "Harry - I didn't even know you existed before tonight."
His eyes widened nearly to the size of Dobby's as he took in her words. How is that even possible? He's Harry Potter, possibly the most famous young wizard alive, yet his own aunt didn't know he existed? He pushed his falling hair out of his face, not knowing what else to do in his state of shock.
Althea was watching him carefully, wishing she knew how to make this easier on him, but she didn't. How could anything make this situation easier? As he brushed his hair away from his forehead, Althea glimpsed a large, jagged scar that greatly resembled a lightning bolt. "Oh, Harry," she cooed in a motherly tone that Harry had only heard from Mrs. Weasley. He didn't know why, but Harry allowed his aunt to push his hair away from his scar and look at it fully. She didn't know I existed. Does she know - "What happened?" she continued, causing Harry's stomach to drop. "How did you get that scar?"
