Matches Lit | Seamus Finnigan

Chapter 1

Stepping off of the puffing train, known as the Hogwarts Express, Harper Leona Sherlock knew with a complete sense of finality that she was not at Beauxbatons anymore. Beauxbatons, it seemed to the young Scottish girl, had been far more about appearances than the platform on which she now stood. And while the castle she could see towering in the distance (which she had only visited twice before) was immense and awe-inspiring, it was not the polished grounds and bubbling fountains of her old wizarding school. But, she knew what she was getting into when she signed to transfer. Things had further become more final when she was escorted to the ground to have a private sorting over summer. She was a Gryffindor now, like her uncle had been. Her mother, and aunts on her mother's side, were the ones to attend Beauxbatons, and the reason she was sent there. Linage.

A pang of utter sadness filled the young witch's heart at the briefest thought of her parents. Harper had never known her father, and barely known her mother. She had heard hushed discussions of what he had done and of his old family, but he was never spoken of directly to the girl. She only found out through some curious snooping and severe eavesdropping. Harper was a child out of wedlock. The daughter of French witch Camille Sherlock, a pureblood, a witch as strong as she was gentle and pure. She inherited her mother's fair skin, and her grandmother's red, wavy hair, and both their general desire to remain hidden, behind the scenes. She inherited the maternal last name. But more importantly, was Harper's father. Harper was the daughter of Regulus Black, young brother to Sirius Black. Her father had been a Deatheater. Her mother had known this, yet she had loved him anyways. She was a member of the original Order of The Phoenix, in its earliest of forms. He had done everything he could to protect her, and was ready to wed her, when he was killed, for his attempt to leave Voldemort's service. Regulus never knew he was to have a child. She was born in December of 1979, her father just missing her birth by mere months. Two years later her mother was killed by Lord Voldemort, as further punishment for her lover's digressions. Harper was hidden away amongst her Aunts, and her Aunt's children, neighbors, cousins. They moved to Scotland, a place no one would expect. She was kept hidden, kept safe, until word of the Potter boy's defeat of the Dark Lord. And even then, she was never brought to her father's remaining family. There were hushed tones of her uncle's imprisonment, both that of it being wrongful, and also notes of 'goodfornothing' and 'it's about time.' After all, it was whispered that her Uncle was the one to betray the Potter family as well as murder twelve muggles. This was the only link she had left to her destroyed family. And though Harper had barely knew them, in her heart of hearts, Harper loved her parents, regardless of how little they had been in her life. Thinking of them always filled her with an emptiness nearly impossible to fill.

But it had been approximately a year ago when her Uncle had escaped Azcaban, for his wrongful imprisonment. At the time, Harper had only been fearful. There was word of him going after the Potter boy, the one who defeated Voldemort, but among her family, there was hushed tones that he was coming back...for her. And coming back for her, he was. Just not in the way any of them had imagined. When Harper had been on one of her 'nature walks' around the Beauxbaton campus (something she had done quite regularly simply to take some private time and practice magic of her own accord) he had found her. It was late, and she was by herself, and she was certain she was about to die when the gentle looking black dog she had been approaching and then gently petting morphed into the man whose face had glossed the papers for weeks. But he had calmed her, forced her to listen. He explained to her how he was framed, how he would never, on his life betray the Potters, for he had been best friends with James Potter, and was God Father to their son, Harry. It was Sirius who convinced Harper that Hogwarts was where she truly belonged, where she would feel far more at home than she ever had in the clean, sparkling halls of Beauxbotons, which were filled only with expectations she could never meet. It was Sirius who set up a safe place for her to stay over summer, rather than under the watchful eyes of her nosy aunts. And it was Sirius whom she begged to not tell Harry Potter about their relationship. She wanted nothing to do with the excitement and bustle of the chosen one. She wanted only to go about her years at Hogwarts learning as much as she possibly could, forming a few small friendships, perhaps getting into a small amount of mischief, and to make her uncle proud. The Chosen One could learn about her after all the stress of schooling was behind her.