You are but a stranger to me -- Summer 1997

Mum had told me all about my sister... and it worried me.  I was sure that she had to know who her parents were by now -- I mean, she was quite older than me.  She never tried to make contact, though Dad had said he spoke to her at times.  I had a feeling that was why she never came around.  Dad was scary and I knew how he could be... it was why I kept my distance from him.  There was no point in denying that.  Lincoln had told me about the Potters being mates with the Lupins that he was part of the family of now... and Mum told me the surname of the family who adopted Alana was Potter.

So, on a limb, I wrote to her... realizing it might not work, but it was okay.  I had been surprised when she wrote back; I figured she was merely being polite.  I did enough research to realize that she had a rough life having married Sirius Black and him being in Azkaban and whatnot.  Maybe that was the reason she never searched for her family because she was working so hard to keep hers together.  I sat at a small table in the café waiting for her to come in.  I wondered if I would recognize her because I was not sure if she would look similar to either of our parents.  It was set up almost like a blind date as I told her of my features so she could find me.  My signature longer hair and scarf made it easy to give a description.

The door opened and I looked up.  It was no surprise to me to see that she looked quite a bit like our mum.  I stood up when she walked over to the table and pulled out the chair for her to take a seat in.  "Erm, hi," I said, uncharacteristically nervous.  "I'm Fletch... like I said in the owls..."

I was rather surprised when he pulled out the chair for me.  I smiled kindly at him and thanked him for doing so.  "It's nice to meet you, Fletch," I said to him.  "Call me Ems or Ember -- that's what everyone calls me.  Though... you probably know me more as Alana, don't you?" I bit my lip.  Only our father called me that once or twice and I never wanted to be called that again.

Of course the first words out of my mouth would upset her.  That was not my intentions at all.  I sighed.  "I'm sorry," I said to her.  "I'm really nervous about this... and yeah, Mum always called you that."  Alright, now I knew I had to be crossing a line.

I smiled slightly and shook my head.  "This doesn't have to be so difficult," I assured him.  "There's no point in that.  We'll ask whatever we want to know this first time and then we'll end up getting to know each other and be family.  I know what it's like to have family you never knew before -- I had found out I had different parents when I was thirteen or so.  So I can sort of understand what it's like for you to find the sister you merely heard of as a baby rather than an actual person."

I chuckled a tad when she spoke, instantly making me feel a bit better about everything.  "Alright... well... Ember, I'm not going to be intruding in your life or anything, right?  I don't want you to think you are obligated to speak with me let alone anything else," I said to her quickly.  I was so nervous about this.