Chapter One ~ Prisoner of Azkaban
Carina awoke groaning with her alarm clock chirping beside her. It was a miniture cuckoo clock her godfather, Ted, had charmed to fly around her room for her 5th birthday. After all these years the little bird has become increasingly angry and has resorted to sitting on Carina's shoulder right beside her ear to wake her up, that is if it bothers to wake her up at all. But it must have realised it was an important day.
It was the 1st of September 1993, the start of her third year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Carina would typically be excited to go back to school, especially since shes starting the new electives third years were able to pick and now has special priveledges to be allowed into the shopping village near school. But her father, Sirius Black, had recently escaped Azkaban which is the magical prison for convicted criminals in Britain. This has given Carina and her family unwanted attention, she never realised so many people would know who she was just by a glance. When they travelled to Diagon Alley to gather the school supplies Carina needed that year people couldnt stop staring at her, seemingly out of fear, before she caught them staring and they quickly turned their attention away. HA, thought Carina, as if i would be stupid enough to do anything to harm them in a place so public, but say we were in a darkened alley perhaps...
Seeing this reaction has caused Carina to start to worry though. She could live with people staring at her while she minded her own buisness shopping for a day, but she highly doubted that she could stand the whispers while she tried to eat her pie for dinner, or while in the library trying to finish off some last minute homework for a whole year, it would truely drive her insane. She also doubted her friends would be much help, she wasnt very gifted in that department. Most her "friends" were prejudiced, pompous, two faced arses who could never forget the fact she was raised by a muggleborn and a bloodtraitor, alongside having a halfblood godsister. However they werent downright rude to her face, most of the time, due to the fact they all knew her father was a mass murderer and fellow supporter of you know who.
Andromeda and Ted, Carina's godparents, rarely spoke about Sirius, but when they did it was in a wistful manner, reminicing on his apparant charm of his younger days. When Carina was younger and was going through a phase of asking "why?", she stumbled upon asking why her father had done the 'terrible' things he had done. It confused little Carina to know end, why her father who everyone seemed to adore would suddenly turn around and end up in prison, abandoning his baby girl not long after her mother passed. Andromeda and Ted were stumped at this question too, as it was a shock to everyone that knew Sirius and the Potters, but they eventually told her that he had lost his way after Carina's mother passed, the weight of it all had chipped away at his sanity, causing him to finally explode in the worst of ways. They werent sure if they believed it themselves, but it was an answer that would help them sleep more peacefully at night.
Carina, however, was not satisfied with this response. As she sat pondering the reason she no longer had her father she grew angry and resentful. "why couldnt he have just gone to someone for help, he had friends and andromeda and ted, loads of people could have stopped him from doing what hes done. Then i wouldnt have to deal with the looks of fear when i say my name, the hesitation of other children no longer wanting to talk to me." But now when she stumbles across a wanted poster, seeing her father deranged, thrasing and screaming at the camera, she feels terrified. She has no clue how he escaped,where he is, and what hes going to do next. He could be coming after her, her family, and what he will do when he finds her, she doesnt know.
Shaking these thoughts from her head she rolled out of bed and landed her feet on the plush carpet floor. She reminded herself that she was strong and can get through this, even if it meant hiding in the kitchens for the rest of the year. She went and took her last, long, uninterupted shower until christmas and got dressed into presentable clothes. She would have rather just stayed in her pajamas for the train journey to hogwarts but she didnt want to give her friends another reason to sneer and insult her.
As Carina went out into the hall she could smell breakfast being made and hear the never ending chatter of her godsister, Nymphadora. Carina strolled into the kitchen where her family were waiting for her.
"Hey Carina!" said Nymphadora in a voice that was way too loud for this time in the morning.
"Come sit down and have some breakfast. I saved some pancakes for you before Ted could steal them all" said Andromeda placing a plate on the table.
"Thanks Andromeda" Carina muttered settling down to eat.
Ted lifted his gaze from the pancakes with a mild look of concern, "Its going to be alright Carina, ok? If any of those kids start to say anything you don't like I advise you to take after your sister for once"
"Yeah Carina dont worry im sure you'll have a good time eventually. Maybe it'll be a little rough when the initial shock kicks in, but once they settle in and get used to being back at Hogwarts it'll be fine." said Nymphadora while carina glared over her pancakes, "ahh to be back in third year, what a great year for me that was. I annoyed Madam Pince to no end, it was so funny dad you should have been there. And i got to spend all my pocket money at Zonkos! Carina that should be the first place you go in Hogsmeade, now you have no excuse for not getting me anything for christmas. shame about the jelly slugs though i-"
Andromeda cut off Dora's rambling by charming the blender to make a smoothie. It didnt seem to put off Dora though, who continued to chat as if people were listening. Once Carina had finished her pancakes she ran up the stairs to double check she had packed everything in her trunk. She lugged it down the stairs while Dora stood watching her.
"You could help me levitate it you know" Strained Carina as she moved down a few more stairs.
"And wheres the fun in that, Carrie?" laughed Dora. They moved into the living room where the fire place was. It was almost 11 so Carina needed to get to platform 9 3/4 to catch the train to hogwarts.
Ted stood up and hugged her then ruffled her hair, "Bye Kid, have fun exploring hogsmeade and dont let them get to you"
Nymphadora was up next and squeezed Carina so hard she couldn't breathe for a few seconds, once Carina was able to escape Dora said "remember to send me loads of letters, dont leave anything out, ok? we'll see you at Christmas."
"Bye Ted!, Bye Dora!" said Carina, turning to the fire place which Andromeda was climing in. Carina watched as Andromeda gathered some floo powder in her hand and shouted "platform 9 3/4!". Andromeda was englulfed in green flames as she was taken away by the floo network.
Carina grabbed her trunk and with a final wave grabbed some floo powder and followed suit. With a flash of green Carina felt compressed from all sides as she watched fireplaces flash by infront of her. On top of her growing nerves the travelling was making her feel sick, so Carina screwed her eyes shut until she felt herself come to a stop.
Andromeda rushed her out of the fireplace so she didn't get crushed by anyone travelling behind her. As Carina rubbed the soot out of her eyes she took in what was around her. Kids of all ages running and weaving around large groups of families, overbearing mothers fussing over their children before they let them on the train, sulky younger siblings staring longingly at the Hogwarts express. A brilliant, scarlett train, sitting proudly on the train tracks, which students were filing into trying to get the best seats.
Andromeda and Carina stopped in a gap between the families and gave each other a hug. Carina savoured this moment, her last bit of comfort before being thrust into what could be her worst year at Hogwarts.
"If anything happens borrow someones owl and send me a letter straight away. I'll send a letter right back to Mcgongall, you know how scary i can be and I won't let anything happen to you", Andromeda held Carina by the shoulders and looked seriously into her eyes. Carina smiled weakly back and gave one last hug.
"Bye 'Dromeda, i'll see you at Christmas" said Carina.
"Bye darling" Andromeda smiled. Carina turned and scanned the platform for any sign of her friends, not seeing anyone she sighed and made her way to the train alone.