Chapter Text
Chapter One
A Lonely Birthday
June 14th 1992
Carina was eleven now, which meant that she could finally go to Hogwarts. She had wanted to go the year before when her brother did, but they couldn’t find a way to trick Hogwarts into sending her a letter a year early. Carina had heard about Harry’s run-in with Voldemort at the end of last year. She was mad she hadn’t been there to help him.
She sat at the table in Number 12 Grimmauld Place, staring at the small cake before her. Her father had been on a mission to locate one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. He must have asked the Kreacher to prepare it for her. Her father was often gone, always looking for the pieces of Voldemort's soul. He hadn't found any since he had found the Locket almost eleven years ago. He had been looking for it, hoping to save his son from the prophecy, when Voldemort killed her other parents. Lily and James. She had never known her mum and dad but knew her father loved them very much. Her mum had cast a silencing charm on her crib in their bedroom. She had been sick, so Lily wanted her closer to watch over her. Regulus had felt the ward's fall and had rushed home to find his family gone. Voldemort hadn’t known of her existence, hadn’t known to go for her first instead of the boy who would live. She had been screaming silently. Papa said someone had gotten there before him and took Harry. He always thought it was Severus Snape who took Harry to Dumbledore. He may have taken her too if he had known.
Looking at the chocolate cake, she could only think of the past she had been taught. Her favorite, though, she had never said. Her father had told her it was her mum's favorite, and that was all she needed to know. It would be Harry's birthday next month, and it made her sad that they both had summer birthdays and couldn't celebrate together. She wondered if Harry liked chocolate cake. Had they even given him a cake? She knew that Harry was staying with their Mums sister and her family. They were muggles and apparently Petunia had always been jealous of Lily having magic. Father would check on Harry every now and then. He would tell her about how they treated him, always cruel and had him living in a cupboard until he went to Hogwarts. She wished they could bring him home, but Harry was safest where Dumbledore could find him. Eventually they’d find a way to be a family. She would make sure he got a birthday cake once she finally met him.
She had never seen her brother, but she had seen pictures of her dad and was told he looked just like him. She thought sadly about how that made father feel, having two children who looked like his lost loves. Carina's hair was a darker red than her mother's ginger, but she looked just like her otherwise. She wondered if Harry would recognize that and be drawn to her. All she wanted for her birthday was her family. Yet, she was alone again.
Sitting alone at the table, she ate her cake slowly. It was a bit dry. Kreacher wasn't the best baker, but he always added Raspberry jam between the layers to help. Kreature never spoke kindly to her, but she always felt he liked her anyway. He only praised her father, and still rarely since it was usually just herself and Kreature at home
She spent the rest of her birthday reading books and listening to some of her uncle's records. She hadn't met her uncle, but she knew her father didn't believe he was responsible for her parent's death. He had been trying to figure out how to get Sirius out of Azkaban for eleven years, almost. Perhaps one day he could tell her why he liked rock music so much.
The rest of the summer passed by, and her father would come by as often as he could. He had dropped off everything she would need for Hogwarts. She wasn't nervous about school; she had read nearly all of her textbooks already and just needed a wand and classroom to actually practice her magic. She would get her wand next week before going to Kings Cross station.
Her letter didn't have her name on it. It couldn't; there was no Carina Liliana Black Potter, just like Harry wasn't Harry James Black Potter. No one had known. Father had been assumed dead by the Death Eaters before they were born. Everyone knew James and Lily had gotten married, but Regulus was a spy. So they had a separate ceremony just the three of them. The plan had been to reveal the truth after Voldemort's fall. They hadn't even told Sirius, Harry's godfather, or Remus, Carina's godfather. She was only a few months old, and they worried what Voldemort would do to her and Harry if he knew. They had realized their mistake in announcing Harry's birth after the prophecy and didn't want to risk it.
Hera Liliana Night, that was her name now. She couldn't be a Black or a Potter. Her father had even thought of changing her first name. Carina, the star. Harry had been named in the Potter tradition, and she in the Black. She understood why it might draw attention. She was just glad she got to keep her middle name. It had been her dad, James, idea. Harry was named after him so their girl should be named after her and regulus. Regulus chose the star Carina. Lily hadn't wanted her middle name to be Lily, so they chose Liliana. It made her feel closer to her mum.
She had been staring at her Hogwarts letter for the hundredth time when Kreature popped in with an unfamiliar house elf.
“Miss said she wanted to know her brother, did she not,” Kreacher said blandly, glaring at the other elf.
“Yes, Kreacher, I did…” she waited for him to explain himself; he did not. “I don't think this is him, though, so would you mind explaining, please?” She gave him the soft smile she always gave when she wanted something.
“No, Miss, this is Dobby” he glared at the elf again. “Dobby is trying to keep Miss and Young Master apart.”
“Dobby is trying to save Harry Potter!” The little elf looked like he might cry.
“What do you mean, Dobby? Why do you think Harry's in danger?” she asked, softly smiling, which seemed to only made him sadder.
“Dobby cannot say. Dobby's master forbid him.” He started to shake.
“Dobbys masters are the Malfoys,” Kreacher said with a tone that might have been disgust.
The Malfoys were a pure-blood family that had been on Voldemort's side—and probably still were. The Malfoys' matriarch was her father's cousin. Her thoughts on the Malfoys were interrupted by Dobby's cries as he started hitting himself.
“Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!”
“Dobby, stop! " she shouted in as commanding a voice as she could for an eleven-year-old. “Dobby, you cannot stop Harry from going to school. If there's something happening at the school, then I will help him. Just tell me how I can help”
Dobby did not seem encouraged. He glanced between her and Kreacher before whispering, “Dobby will do what he must,” and disappeared with a pop.
Carina, no… Hera. She had to start thinking of herself as Hera or she would never pull this off. Hera did not like that something dangerous might keep her from meeting her brother. She was determined to meet him, and she would help him in any way she could.