A Muggle Coffee Shop AU

Locket

Anna's home was a modest double-story building, not too far away from her work. Her parents had bought the house after they had gotten engaged, and for sixteen years she had lived in it with them.

Then the car crash had happened, and she had moved in with her Gran, who had insisted that the house would remain empty until Anna became of age, and could choose what to do with it. When she had turned nineteen, her Grandmother had passed away, Anna had returned to her childhood home, and she had lived there for two years.

She arrived at the door with Sirius, having strict instructions from Dumbledore to retrieve the locket, and come back with it as soon as possible.

That had been the original plan.

There was a desperate search for her keys, once they arrived at her door, and then, with a subtle flick of his wand, Sirius unlocked it, smiling when she glared at him exasperatedly.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" Anna whined as she led the way inside, where a large and comfortable living room waited for them.

"Coffee or tea?" she offered as she disappeared into her kitchen, glad to be back home.

"Tea, please." Sirius answered, and Anna turned the kettle on, while he looked at the few pictures on the shelves in the living room.

The first showed a teenaged Anna and Gen, both of them laughing wildly as the picture had been snapped. They were wearing matching dresses, with a pretty flower print, and their matching brown hair was decorated with bows. Anyone could easily assume that they were sisters.

In the second, a younger Anna sat between a woman and a man, all three of them dressed up and smiling wide into the camera.

"That's my parents." Anna said quietly, having appeared on silent feet. She offered him the cup of tea, and Sirius accepted it, thanking her as he did. Anna's eyes remained on the picture, her expression wistful.

"We went to the beach for the day." She said, nodding her head to the picture.

"There was a little fair on the beachfront...I got cotton candy, and Dad won Mum a huge teddy bear and then we went on the ferris wheel..." She was quiet for a moment lost in her memories.

"You really miss them."

"Yeah. I mean it's been five years...but it still hurts." She shrugged her shoulders, as if to get rid of the melancholy atmosphere that had settled over them. "What about you, where's your family?"

"My parents are still alive...I don't talk to them though." He answered slowly, his attention still on the pictures of the happy family. "They...they believe that Purebloods are superior to others, half bloods and muggleborns. I couldn't stand to be in the same house as them...and so I ran away when I was sixteen, and lived with James."

"You know, I thought that James was your brother when I first met him." Anna mentioned, looking up at him, and Sirius smiled.

"We might as well be. We've known each other for almost eleven years, and he's the best friend I've ever had."

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"I'm lucky I didn't fall for their views." Sirius shrugged. "My brother...wasn't so lucky."

"Your brother..?"

"Regulus. He died, or was killed, we don't really know." Sirius looked at her with a sad sort of smile. "He became a death eater, then tried to run away only after he'd gotten himself in too deep."

"That must have been really hard." Anna reached down and took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently. Sirius turned to face her, kissing her gently. "Thank you."