Homecoming from Hogwarts

boom!
A crisp banging sound awakened the oil and gas lamps on both sides of the narrow entrance hall, and fresh air rushed into the room, bringing some vitality to the slightly dull old house. Then there were some more crisp sounds, and Kreacher, the butler of the Black old house, an old house-elf, appeared in front of them.

"Welcome back, Master Brian, Master Sirius, Mr. Lupin, and this..."

Kreacher's ears, which were covered with milky white fur, wrinkled, and his fleshy nose sniffed, and then, as if he had smelled something unpleasant, his shoulders shrank, but under the scrutiny of Amosta and Sirius, he said in a garbled voice,

"Kreacher does not know the lady's name, but Kreacher welcomes her to the noble and immortal Black family mansion."

"Oh, thank you!"

Amelia was a little surprised to see such an old house-elf here. She nodded at Kreacher.
"I'm Amelia Detter, you can just call me Amelia Kreacher."

Some ideas were deeply rooted in Kreacher's mind. It made Kreacher uncomfortable to hear a 'Mudblood' he had never seen before calling him by his name. But in the end, he restrained some of his bad habits.

"It will take a while before dinner is served, Master Blaine, Master Sirius."

"It's alright, we need to chat before dinner, go and do your own thing, Kreacher."

Amosta said.

After bowing, Kreacher disappeared in front of them.

"Did it just barely survive, Amosta?"

Sirius pouted and joked.

"Don't blame me, Sirius -"

Remus said amiably,
"I think Kreacher has become a good guy now. I haven't heard him call me 'dirty wolf cub' in private for a long time."

Master Brian and Master Sirius.
Both names are very common, but they seem very strange when put together. Amelia blinked her eyes and looked around this old house, which was old but revealed extraordinary taste and luxurious style in many places, and her heart was filled with doubts.

Since this house-elf calls Amosta the master, it means that the ownership of it and the house belongs to Amosta, but isn't he a Muggle-born? And Kreacher's welcome speech just now also said that this house belongs to Black.

"Let's go--"

Amosta turned his head and glanced at Amelia.
"Let's go to the restaurant and talk about your things."

As he spoke, Amosta took the lead and walked forward, but his gloomy face and low aura made Amelia feel panic.

"don’t worry--"

Sirius smiled slightly and said,
"From what I know of Amosta, although he looks unhappy, he is not angry."

Sirius experienced the scene where Amosta and Amelia recognized each other in the hotel in the World Trade Center that night. What they said was vague at the time, and Sirius did not ask any further questions, but through what he heard and the in-depth discussion with Remus later, the two of them roughly understood the relationship between Amelia and Amosta.

"You've been with Amosta, Amelia--" Remus also gave Amelia a gentle smile.

"You know he's actually a very easy person to get along with."

Amelia nodded stiffly and walked forward behind Sirius and Remus.

They stopped in front of the door leading to the underground that Amos Tower had just walked into, and Remus suddenly said, "Sirius, if you don't mind, could you help me pack my luggage?"

"Oh--"

Sirius was stunned at first, then he reacted and glanced at Amelia, then said briskly,

"Of course, no problem. Then, Amelia, the restaurant is in the basement. You can just go down the stairs. The stairs are quite short, so you have to be careful not to hit your head."

Of course Amelia knew that they wanted to create an opportunity for her and Amosta to chat alone. She bit her lip and nodded. After watching the two people walk up the stairs, she took a deep breath and pushed open the half-open wooden door.

The clean and clear glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling emitted a steady glow, illuminating the cave-like deep room. At the back of the room was a rough stone fireplace. The house elves they had just seen in the hallway were busy preparing dinner, while Amosta sat in the middle of a long wooden table near the outer room, gently rubbing his brow.

Amelia bit her lip again, and she went down the long and narrow stone staircase to the basement and walked to the wooden table.
Amosta snapped his fingers, and the tinkling sound from the fireplace suddenly disappeared. He took a breath and looked at Amelia, who was a little nervous. A feeling of pity emerged in his heart, and his expression and voice softened a lot.

"Sit down, Amelia—"

Hearing this, Amelia obediently pulled out a stool and sat down carefully.

The two men looked at each other in silence. The weird feeling in the dull atmosphere made Amosta want to laugh.

Obviously, Amelia was the one with higher seniority between the two of them, but she sat there like a child about to be criticized, nervously awaiting Amosta's wrath.

"How did you get here?"

Rubbing his brows again, Amosta sighed and asked
"There's news from the Ministry of Magic that Cornelius Fudge has ordered that no Auror from the American Magical Congress be allowed to enter the UK. How did you break through this obstacle?"

Amelia breathed a sigh of relief, pretending to be calm and saying,

"I resigned."

"Resigned?"

Amosta was stunned.

"But becoming an Auror is your dream, isn't it? As far as I know, the Magic Congress will only accept the best young wizards. By chance, you have such an opportunity, and you also participated in the fight against vampires, which is a great help to your career in the Security Department. But you gave it up and came to the British wizarding world to wade into the muddy waters?"

Like a parent worried about his child's future, there was a hint of criticism in Amosta's tone.

"It was my dream to join the Magic Congress and become an Auror,"

Somehow, when Amosta really expressed his dissatisfaction, Amelia suddenly found that the slight fear in her heart disappeared, and was instead filled with a warm feeling, just like the warm current that flowed into her body when Amosta touched her magic wand.

This warmth gave Amelia courage. She puffed out her chest and said fearlessly,
"But after what happened with Trak Graves, and witnessing Chairman Colehaug's distortion of right and wrong for the sake of the so-called greater good of politicians, I realized that I might not be suitable for the work of the Magic Congress."

"If you feel that you cannot adapt to dirty politics, you can find another job in the American wizarding world. If you are willing, I can let Remus recruit you to be the head of the workshop's business in the United States, leading the goblins there and promoting the construction of after-sales service outlets for learning machines."

Amosta frowned and said,
"You are very smart, Amelia. You should know that if our relationship is exposed, Voldemort will not send out his Death Eaters."

“I know the risks involved.”

For a long time, no one dared to interrupt Amosta, but Amelia stared at Amosta with burning eyes, contrary to her usual quietness, and said loudly

"I know the danger and harm of this dark wizard who cannot even be named in this country, so I came here. As your family, I can't let you fight alone, right?"

"I am not alone, Amelia—"

Amosta said,
"In addition to Dumbledore, there is a group of like-minded people who are fighting together with me, such as Sirius and Remus. Oh, these are not the point, Amelia, you need to go back to New York, your home is there, your parents are not young anymore, they also need you."

“They know all the facts.”

Amelia interrupted Amosta's chatter again, with a firm look in her eyes and a stiff neck,
"They're the ones who begged me to come here and take care of you!"

(End of this chapter)