Chapter Text
Allie turned six years old that day and it was celebrated by sending her out in the garden to weed the flower beds. She didn’t mind that chore so much, as it allowed her to be outside and weeding was easy enough once she had learned to differentiate between weeds and flowers.
She vaguely hoped that she would meet one of the snakes that frequented the garden, they were interesting to listen to even though they didn’t speak of much other than their lives. It was simple being a snake, she thought.
Being busy with tugging at a particularly stubborn weed prevented her from noticing someone approaching, something she rarely allowed herself to do as it would mean the difference in receiving a beating or not by her large cousin.
“Why are you weeding?” a male voice suddenly asked in a tone of voice Allie had a hard time interpreting.
Allie lost her grip of the weed, fell over with a squeak and quickly got back up on her feet, hiding her dirty hands behind her back. She glanced up at the man briefly, through her fringe, before looking down again. He seemed to be awfully well dressed, looking out of place on middle class Privet Drive.
“Aunt Petunia told me to,” she answered quietly.
The man muttered something under his breath that Allie didn’t quite catch, before he crouched down in front of the small girl to get closer to her eye level and make himself seem less threatening.
“Is your aunt inside?” he asked gently.
Allie nodded. She knew she shouldn’t speak to strangers, but this stranger looked oddly familiar and he had entered the Dursley’s garden. Maybe he was someone the Dursley’s knew? She rarely, if ever, got to meet any of their visitors as she was always shut inside her cupboard and told not to make a sound.
The man seemed to hesitate, or maybe Allie hadn’t given him the answer he wanted, she didn’t know.
“I am Orion Black,” he finally said.
“Allie,” she squeaked. She had recently been called Allie by her aunt, which was a much better name than Freak or Girl.
Mr Black looked at her for a moment longer, searching for who knows what, before he slowly rose to his full height.
“Let us go inside and speak with your aunt,” he said.
Allie was torn. She had been told to weed the garden and not come inside before it was done and she had only gotten halfway, she didn’t want to be punished for it being unfinished. She hadn’t eaten at all that day and hoped that the finished chore would result in
something
to eat.
She bit her lip.
“Come, you will wish to hear what I will speak with her of,” Mr Black added when he noticed her indecisiveness.
It took everything he had to not just take her and leave, he needed to do this the right way and the girl needed to know. She needed to be allowed to make her own decision.
“Okay,” Allie finally said, but didn’t move until Mr Black did.
Mr Black stepped aside and gestured to the door, silently urging Allie to announce his presence to Petunia Dursley.
Allie opened the door and stepped inside.
“Aunt Petunia?” she said cautiously. “Mr Black wants to speak with you.”