Chapter
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The Lost Letters

Kasia Alexa Days was a werewolf. In fact, when she'd been infected at the age of six, her mother had disowned her, and she had come to live with the Woods. It was complicated. She had thought she was a Muggleborn until her younger sister Anelia had come to Hogwarts too, a year after Kasia. She then spent her second year trying to find out as much as she could about her father, Marvell Days. In fact, it was only a few months earlier that she learned that she had a middle name. Alexa came from her great aunt, and her sister's middle name – Pierette – came from her great aunt's twin. But that was a long story.

In the summer of Kasia's thirteenth year, Anelia was staying over at the Wood's for a week. Kasia could not be more overjoyed at this, especially since she had doubted that Ramona – her mother – would've let her. It was on Anelia's last day, after lunch, when her little sister came up to her.

"Kasia, can I talk to you?" Anelia said seriously. Kasia nodded, yawning. The full moon was that night.

"Sure."

"Alone?"

Kasia's brow wrinkled, but they went up to her bedroom.

"What's up?" Kasia noticed something. "What're those?"

Anelia looked nervous. It almost reminded Kasia of the way she used to always get frightened.

"Look, I...I found these when I was looking for my rain boots," Anelia said slowly, watching Kasia as she handed a pile of letters over.

"What...?" Kasia started, shuffling through them. There had to be at least nine of them. And they were addressed to her. Not just Kasia Days, though. Kasia Alexa Days.

"Alexa?" Kasia was confused. Nobody knew that she had a middle name besides herself, her three closest friends, Anelia and Donaghan Tremlett.

"Come talk to me when you're done. If you want," Anelia said softly, before leaving the room. Kasia's curiosity boiled inside her. She almost didn't want to open the letters. Finally, she decided to open the one dated most recently, to be opened on the 13th of October. Her birthday.

Dear Kasia,

Happy fourteenth birthday! From the moment I saw you, when you were born with your mum's hair and our violet eyes, I knew you were going to be a beautiful young lady one day.

Kasia stopped reading. "Our violet eyes?" she whispered to herself, unable to believe who was writing the letter. It had to be her grandmother. She inherited her purple eyes from the Selwyn side of the family.

And I only wish I was there to see it happen.

"It's my grandmother," Kasia assured herself, "my father's dead, it's got to be my grandmother."

My father keeps telling me I should stop writing you letters, seeing as you never reply, and it 'puts me in a mood', as he puts it. But in a way, it keeps me sane. Writing these letters every year keeps me from forgetting my biggest mistake: not telling your mother that I'm a wizard before I married her. Then you could've grown up with a father. That may seem masochistic, to want to write these letters, but when I picture you it makes me as happy as I get here, although mum says I seem content when I'm studying the animals. I've said before what I do here, but if you're ever interested...please feel free to reply. I know I've said it before, and I realise you might be angry at me, but if you'd just give me a chance, we could get to know each other. I'd love to show you the research I found. You loved hearing about magical creatures when you were three.

Lots of love, Dad.

Dad. The word jumped off the page. Kasia couldn't believe it. This wasn't a letter written before he died. This was recent. Kasia's throat felt strange. Constricted, and the breath choked. Without thinking about it, Kasia ripped open the letter from a year before. Her thirteenth birthday. "Finally a teenager!" "If you need any advice of what subjects to choose, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes are the best." "If you want, you can write back. Anything would be alright."

By the time she got to the letter from her eleventh birthday, Kasia had tears streaming down her face for the first time since she was in St Mungo's hospital.

Dear Kasia,

It's hard to believe that you'll be going to Hogwarts this year. Happy eleventh birthday, Kasia. It's a special year. It's a huge regret of mine that I couldn't get to see you grow up. I try not to dwell on it too much in these letters, but you haven't once replied, and, after what I did, I deserve that. It's entirely my fault for not telling your mother about magic sooner. I should've handled it differently. I only hope you still continue to read these letters, for it is that small hope that keeps me writing them. I'm sure your first year at Hogwarts will be magical and you'll do amazingly. Don't make your sister too jealous.

Even if you won't forgive me, I beg you to reply at least with a "I'm still here" or something. Please.

Love, Dad.

Kasia's sobs filled the room and she clutched the letter to her chest. Her father was alive. He was real. He missed her, wanted to see her.

He thought she'd forgotten him.

She read the other letters, down to the one for her fourth birthday, which was simple-worded and had a request to allow someone to read it out for her.

In every single one, there was that hopeless sentence, asking her to reply. To forgive him.

Kasia cried for hours straight. She couldn't stop. Her father was alive, shouldn't she be happy?

Finally, when her tears had run dry, and she just sat there with her knees gathered tightly, re-reading the letters, Kasia heard a soft knock on the door.

"Zia, we're seeing your sister off now. Are you coming?

It was James Potter's voice. Kasia stayed silent.

"Can I come in?"

"N-no!" Kasia said loudly, her voice broken.

"Kasia, is something wrong?"

"I'm fine!" she called, her voice betraying her.

Silence. "Can I come in?" His voice was softer, now.

Kasia thought about it. She would talk to Anelia later. Demeter Wood, her adoptive sister, would be too sympathetic. Demi's older brother Apollo wouldn't know what to do. She would feel weird talking about it with Katie and Oliver at this stage.

"Okay."

Kasia wiped her cheeks dry and gathered herself. James walked slowly up to her and sat down beside her, leaning against the bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" James asked uncomfortably. Tears welled up again and Kasia let them out, silently crying. James looked alarmed.

"I don't think I've ever seen you cr−hey, now!"

Kasia leaned on James, burying her face into his chest. James slowly put his arm around her.

"It's – it's okay."

She could tell he felt awkward, but it was comforting nonetheless. "My dad's alive," she whispered finally. Before he could reply, she handed him the letters.

"Kasia..." he began softly when he was finished.

"He's been alive all this time," Kasia went on, shaking, "he's been sending letters, every birthday I've ever had. He thinks I'm mad at him...or ignoring him..."

Breathing heavily, Kasia's eyes widened slightly. "All because I didn't get the letters. Because Ramona hid them."

James looked worried as she sat upright, removing his arm from her. "How do you know that?"

"Anelia said she found them," Kasia breathed, her fists clenching, "Ramona intercepted them. Because she wanted us to think he was dead...my own father. She had no right..."

She stood up suddenly and whipped around to James. "You said we were seeing Anelia off?"

James nodded, his eyes wide. "Kasia, you've got to calm down."

Kasia snarled at him. "I haven't got to calm down."

She walked towards the door and down the stairs, James following her.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to have a word with my dear mother," Kasia growled.

Five minutes later, Kasia and Anelia were on the front lawn of the old house. It looked much the same. The weeds had grown over the geraniums that once flowered.

"Kasia, are you sure you want to do this?" Anelia asked, worried. Kasia's expression was stony. They had caught the Knight Bus together.

"You got letters too, didn't you?" Kasia said furiously, "She told us our father was dead."

And she rang the doorbell, seething. After about ten seconds, Ramona opened the door. She looked exactly as Kasia remembered, and when her mother saw her, Ramona's expression was as familiar as ever.

"You!"

"Me!" Kasia snarled, and held up the letters. "Care to explain?"

Ramona's expression became defensive. "I hid them from the two of you."

"Why?"

"Because you were better off thinking your father was dead!"

"Better off?" Kasia repeated, beside herself. "What is so bad about our father? Yeah, he kept it a secret that he was a wizard, so what? He wasn't a different person because of that, and he pretty much gave up his world to be with you!"

"How did you...?"

"So you kept us from our own father because of your own selfish reasons?" Kasia went on. "What kind of a monster are you? You had no right to keep our father from us!"

Kasia started to shake. Her mind was racing faster than ever. A small part of it reminded her what day it was.

"I'm not the monster!" Ramona insisted, narrowing her eyes to slits. "Would you look at yourself? You're lucky I even let Anelia stay with you!"

Kasia growled. Some part of her registered that it was sunset, and it was a full moon. She hadn't taken her potion. She'd felt this once before, when she was resting in the common room too late. Her skin bristled, and her anger multiplied. For once, she didn't want it to stop. She was mad.

"Stop!" Anelia screamed, pushing Kasia back. "Kasia, what are you doing?"

Crack!

It was Oliver. "Are you out of your mind, Kasia?"

She was close to transforming. So close. Nothing going on around her meant anything. Suddenly she was being sucked into the air, into nothingness, and arrived at home with the sound of a gunshot.

"Katie!" Oliver bellowed, holding Kasia's shoulders, which were shaking.

Through her rage, Kasia saw Katie running out of the house with a potion in her hands. She saw James, Demi and Apollo behind them, their faces shocked. As soon as the potion took its effect, Kasia ran for the woods, faster than she ever had before. Almost as fast as when she was a werewolf. And the next moment, she was.

oOo

She remembered running. She remembered being glad that she had gotten the potion in time. She remembered thinking of her father, and swiping at a small tree, watching it fall.

She woke up in the woods, exhausted.

Kasia was ashamed. At dawn, she wandered back, her feet and heart heavy. She was a monster. Sometimes she could convince herself otherwise, but that was just the truth.

It was long after sunrise before she finally went inside and managed to drag her feet up the stairs and to her bed. And then the tears fell. There was no sobbing, just tears.

Her father was alive. Kasia's anger at Ramona was still there, but it was far eclipsed by that fact.

She'd had two different mindsets about not crying since St Mungo's. The first was pride. After all she'd been through; she was strong enough not to cry. The second was worry. Crying was supposed to be a good way of dealing with emotions. She had even tried a few times to cry, but she couldn't.

So now, Kasia couldn't tell if she was pleased or afraid that she was crying. James had just seemed shocked when he saw her cry the day before.

Her mind grew weary of thinking, and she drifted off to sleep, tears drying on her cheeks.

The next morning she woke up just before lunch, and started downstairs.

"Have you ever seen her cry?"

Kasia froze. It was James' voice.

"She was crying?" Fred Weasley's voice, in disbelief. "Does she ever cry?"

"No. Not when she found out about Anelia, not even when you found out she was a werewolf," Demi answered, her voice serious. Kasia narrowed her eyes.

"I didn't really know what to do," James said softly.

"What did you do?" Demi asked dangerously.

"She sort of...cried into my shirt, so I put my arm around her. Like a side-hug."

"Did you say anything?"

"I said 'it's okay'. That's about it."

"That's it? James, you are hopeless."

"What's wrong with that?"

"What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing," Kasia said loudly, walking down the stairs. All three of them looked shocked and guilty at the sight of her.

"You didn't do anything wrong, James," Kasia assured him, "the reason I let you in was because I knew Demi would want to talk about it, Apollo wouldn't know what do to and it would be awkward with Katie or Oliver, at this stage."

James looked proud of himself.

"What about me?" Fred demanded, pretending to look offended. Kasia raised an eyebrow.

"Well, for one, you weren't here. Two, you'd probably run screaming from my room if you saw me cry."

Fred nodded. "True."

"You can call them mum and dad, Kasia," Demi said in a pitying voice. Kasia laughed mentally. That was exactly why she didn't want to talk to Demi.

Kasia shook her head. "No, I can't. I assume James told you two about my father?"

Fred and Demi nodded, and James looked a little guilty. "Yeah, I did. Sorry, Zia."

"It's fine," Kasia waved it off, "I'd rather not have to tell everyone myself. So I can't call your parents mum and dad, Demi, because apparently I've got both a mum and a dad."

"Are you alright?" Demi looked concerned, now.

Kasia sighed, and ran a hand through her fringe. "Yes. I'm fine."

"So what are you going to do?" Fred asked eagerly.

Kasia thought about it. "I don't know."

"It's simple!" Fred insisted, "Just reply!"

"This isn't simple," Kasia shook her head, pacing, "this is anything but simple. What do I say to a man who I thought was dead since I was three? I can't explain what happened in a letter, of all things. No, this isn't just simple."

"You're right," Demi sighed. "How about you talk to Donaghan Tremlett at King's Cross? He said you could ask him about it after the summer."

"Yeah, alright," Kasia nodded.

Then she thought about it.

"Are you alright?" James asked, looking concerned at the expression on Kasia's face.

A grin pulled at the side of Kasia's mouth. Soon enough she was grinning from ear to ear, and she laughed.

"She's gone," Fred said in horror. Kasia hugged Demi suddenly.

"I've got a father!" Kasia marvelled, "I've got a dad! He's alive, he's real! He wants to see me!"

"Which is why you should just reply," Fred said obviously, looking as relieved as Demi and James that there was a reason she was going mental.

"Shut up!"

oOo

Kasia had decided that Donaghan mustn't have known that Kasia thought Marvell was dead, or maybe he just thought Marvell was dead anyway. Whichever the case, she was certain that he would help her out, seeing as her father was one of his closest friends. Thinking of Donaghan reminded her of his son, Nico Tremlett. Last year he'd said that cancer was exclusively a Muggle disease, ruling out that her father had died from that, like Ramona had told her.

"Earth to Kasia," Demi waved her hand in front of Kasia's face, "you'll run into something at this rate."

"If I run into a wall, I'll just hope it's Platform Nine and ¾," Kasia joked, paying more attention, "I'm just excited to ask Don about my dad."

"You're on first name basis with one of the Weird Sisters," Demi sighed.

And when she got onto the platform, she set out to find the Weird Sisters group. It didn't take long, they were so huge.

"Kasia!" Katriel shouted, grinning. "Hey!"

The Weird Sisters group was a weird group. For one, there was all of the members of the former band there, and all of their kids. Zeno Tremlett, and two blonde twins were dancing around the group yelling "Hogwarts! Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts!" while seven younger kids followed them jealously. The oldest, Chairo Tremlett, looked as if he was about to silence them all, but Amy Wagtail was convincing him to calm down. Katriel Barbary, in Kasia's grade, was talking to Petra Duke and Nico Tremlett.

Kasia was greeted by most of the gang.

"Can I talk to you about my father?" Kasia asked Donaghan, who nodded.

Kasia told him everything that happened.

"Did you know?" she asked once she was finished. Donaghan snorted.

"Of course! That's why I was so confused about the way you spoke about him. Where did I leave off?"

"Just after you told me how my dad went and met my mother all over again," Kasia grinned, excited.

"Right!" Donaghan laughed. "Now, Ramona hadn't known about magic up until now. But, your dad figured he should tell her before you started showing signs of being a witch. He told her everything. How he met her before, and then met her again. Let's just say she didn't take it well. From her point of view, their whole relationship was based on a lie. So she kicked him out and told him she never wanted to see him again. I suppose that's when she told you he died.

"At this point Marv comes over to my place – this is in the middle of the night, mind you, he nearly woke the kids, and it took ages to put all three to sleep – and tells me what happened. He was breaking at the cracks. Not only did he lose Ramona, but he lost you and your sister, too. I told him to go back there and take a stand, but he insisted he would do what your mum wanted. I think he spoke to her once about it, but he respected her wishes for some stupid reason. Mental, right?"

"No kidding," Kasia said with wide eyes.

"So he moved to Scotland with his parents and studied magizoology. He'd always loved that, anyway."

"So how should I go about meeting him?" Kasia asked.

"You couldn't just reply," Donaghan mused, and then his eyes lit up excitedly, "how about you go and visit him?"

"In Scotland?" Kasia gasped, thinking about it. "Out of the blue? Oh, and my grandparents would be there too..."

"Bring him back," Donaghan told her, "I haven't seen the idiot in years. You going to go over the Christmas break?"

She couldn't believe she was making this decision so quickly. "I-I suppose so."

"Excellent," Donaghan grinned, and then looked at her fondly, "he's going to be overjoyed."

With that, he went back to the group, and Kasia went to find her friends.

It didn't take long; they were just getting on the train. They looked at her with anticipating expressions.

"I'll tell you on the train," Kasia grinned, "move along, let's get a compartment."

James stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of what was in front of him.

Teddy Lupin, his hair a bright blue, was standing on the platform, kissing Victoire, who was level with him as she stood on the train. Kasia grinned, and then her grin fell as James started forward.

"James, don't interrupt!"

"Teddy!" James said loudly in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

Victoire's skin turned a sweet shade of pink, and Teddy turned to James with a glare.

"What does it look like? I'm seeing Vic off. Go away, James."

James' mouth opened and closed like a goldfish as he walked back to Kasia.

"That was Teddy."

"Yes," Kasia replied, amused.

"Snogging Victoire."

"Yes."

"Teddy and Victoire?" James stressed, maddened at the lack of Kasia's reaction.

Fred suddenly came running up to them. "You'll never believe what I just saw!"

"Teddy?" James exclaimed.

"Snogging Victoire!" Fred nodded drastically.

"Our Teddy!"

"Snogging our Victoire!" Fred agreed, wide eyed. "Our cousin!"

"I've got to tell dad." James marvelled. "I've got to tell mum! And Albus and Lily! Be right back!"

"You know, sometimes I think he's matured," Kasia mused, "but then I remember he's a thirteen year old boy."

"How are you not shocked right now?" Fred demanded.

"I already knew," Kasia shrugged.

"You already..." Fred was speechless. He was stopped from saying more when Demi rushed up to them breathlessly.

"You'll never believe it!" she squealed.

"Teddy and Victoire were snogging, yes," Kasia smiled, shaking her head. Demi looked thoroughly disappointed.

"Did you already see?"

"I already knew," Kasia clarified. Demi gasped and hit Kasia's arm.

"And you didn't tell me!"

Kasia rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Demi."

Demi sighed happily. "It is so sweet, though."

"Here we go," Fred muttered.

"You don't think it's sweet?" Demi said challengingly. Fred puffed out his chest.

"I'm a man. Things aren't sweet."

"A man?"

"Yes!"

Demi snorted, and Fred narrowed his eyes.

Finally they found and empty compartment, and James soon joined them, disappointed at his family's lack of reaction.

And Kasia told them what Donaghan had said.

Hello everyone! See, that didn't take long did it?

If you're reading this story and you haven't read Kasia Days: It's Full Moon Again, go read it now! This chapter will make a lot more sense. Because I'm writing in a way that assumes you know what happened last time. And hello! Hope you like it!

For the old readers, welcome back! This was an eventful chapter, huh? They didn't even make it to Hogwarts! And yet it's one of the longer chapters.

Please review, it really doesn't take long!