A kiddo

12th May 1990

"You did that, right?" Harry said.

Sia looked at the look of admiration on the eleven-year-old face.

She thought for a bit before answering.

"Yes. I did. I was the one who threw those things at the boys." Sia said in her most convincing tone.

The boy-who-lived looked at her, clearly not falling for her lie.

'Change the subject when in a spot.'

"I think you hurt your knee quite badly there. Look how much you are bleeding. Let's get you patched up." Sierra said, pointing to Harry's knee.

"Oh, don't worry. It isn't that bad, little compared to others," Harry said indifferently.

"Kiddo, that's not supposed to be something you should get used to ever. Let's clean the wound," Sierra said as she held Harry's hand and pulled him to the park.

Harry tilted his head while letting Sia pull him away, "How old are you?"

Sia winced on hearing the question. For a second there, she forgot that he was ten years old while she was nine years old now. Though it would be true, others would see it as hypocrisy.

"I'm nine," Sia said with confidence.

The key behind fooling others is to have confidence and stick as close to the truth as possible.

"I'm ten. You cannot call me kid," Harry said, frowning.

Sia turned around and stared at his face with mock shock, "You're ten? Sorry, I thought you were around eight or seven."

Harry huffed at that.

Sia quickly apologized to him and continued walking to the tree under which she had kept her things. They sat on the blanket, and Sierra used her first aid kit with a bit of magic to ease the pain.

After cleaning up the wounds, the two sat quietly for a bit.

But Sia decided to break the silence after seeing how Harry was embarrassed.

"Who were they?" She asked.

She could not give the poor kid some shocking news out of the blue, for instance, that he was a wizard. They should know a bit about each other. Though she knows a lot about him, he doesn't know that.

Harry turned his head to look at her. The two were sitting leaning on the tree.

He thought for a bit before answering, "My cousin."

Sierra did not miss the acid in the tone as if he hated all people falling under the category of a cousin.

"Hm. My cousins are good," Sia said, trying to act as simple as a nine-year-old.

Usually, she only hung out with her siblings, who knew she was a grown-up girl. Other people around her that were kids were Theo and Draco, who were both raised in pureblood families that expect females to be mature from a young age. So this was the first time Sia was dealing with a child around her supposed age.

"Really?" Harry looked at Sia with doubt in his eyes.

The kid found it hard to believe that siblings could ever be kind to each other.

"Ya," Sia said shortly, but when she looked at Harry's face, the curiosity was written all over it.

She continued, "We go to cinemas together, and they buy me ice creams and all. Once we even-"

And so the two spent the next few hours with Sia telling Harry different stories about her siblings, parents, and the place where they live, though she changed the topic every time he went anywhere near asking where she lived exactly.

She cannot go around telling people that she lived in a mansion that was in a forest.

Harry stared at Sierra with full attention for all the time she talked. His eyes shone with curiosity over that something that he had never experienced. But at the same time, Sia could see the longing that the little boy had for those relationships.

As the sun went down, Sia decided it was time to go home.

She looked at her watch before saying, "I think I should get going now."

Harry became sad on seeing that, but he, too, had to return to avoid getting beaten. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seemed to feel that whenever Dudley turned up was the right time to be home, and anytime after that was much too late. He would get beaten by Uncle Vernon if he was late.

"Hm. I, too, should go back. Do you plan on coming here again?" Harry said dejectedly.

Sia smiled a bit at that, "I can come if you want."

"Please do," Harry said hastily.

"Okay then. I'll be here at noon," Sia said.

Sia went back to the alley after ensuring that Harry had gone back.

"Peach," she called.

The cute house elf apparated in the alley with a pop immediately.

"Yes, miss," she said.

Sierra smiled at her and said, "Let's get going now."

The two apparated back to the Galloway forest, on a road that led to the mansion.

By the time they reached the mansion, the sky was almost dark. Kar was back from her friend's place and was waiting for Sia in her room.

"Welcome back," Karalyn wished from the couch, without looking up from the book she was reading.

Sierra went and flopped on the seat next to her, putting all her weight on her sister, "Sissy~ I'm dead."

"Oh~ finally, when is the funeral?" Kar asked, without giving her sister the attention she was asking.

Sia looked up at Kar's face with a sparkle in her eyes and asked, "You'll attend my funeral? That means you care for me."

Karalyn finally turned to face Sia and said with total seriousness, "Of course. I'll have to celebrate as it will be the happiest day of my life. I'll finally be ridding myself of a dumb sister."

"Sissy, you are mean," Sia said while pouting.

Karalyn smirked at that, "You are mean. I'm Aquarius."

Sia grinned at that, "I was born mean, Sissy."

[I'm sure many people did not understand this. Here they are using a pun. In Hindi, the zodiac sign 'Pisces' is called 'Mean.' The girls had lived in India for a few years before they died (chapter 2), and Sierra is a Pisces.]

Both the girls chuckled at that. It was one of the puns they always used.

After a while, Karalyn asked, "How was the trip?"

"He is just like a normal kid. But he is so skinny that he looks like an eight-year-old. The Dursleys use him as a punching bag. When I went there, I did not see him anywhere. But after a few hours, I found him getting beaten up by Dudley. That boy looks like a total pig," Sia spoke, giving Kar a summary.

"Hm. What did you guys talk about?" Karalyn asked curiously.

"Nothing. I was telling Harry stories about you guys. He was very curious when he heard that siblings could be good," Sia said.

Kar sighed at that, "Poor kid."

"Ya," Sia agreed.

"We'll talk about that tomorrow with everyone. For now, tell me, how was your day?" Sia asked, changing the topic.

"Lia joined Noah and me at the zoo. Then we spent a few hours there before going for a movie and dinner," Kar summarized in short.

The sisters spent the next few hours talking about various books that Kar had read at Hogwarts. Or thinking what their next move should be in protecting people from the coming danger.