NORMALLY NOOR didn't get much mail.

All of her friends attended Hogwarts, and she wasn't in touch with any of her relatives ( minus her brother and mother ). So you could imagine her surprise when, one sunny Monday morning, while she was eating breakfast, a majestic tawny owl landed in front of her.

Noor looked around hesitantly, wondering if the owl was meant for someone else. But no one at the Slytherin table seemed to recognise the bird, and it stayed in front of her, talon outstretched.

Slowly, she reached forward and untied the letter from the owl's leg.

She unfurled it, expecting to see it addressed to someone else. But it was her name written on the back, as clear as day.

Eyebrows furrowed, she flipped the piece of parchment over.

The name that was written there made her drop the letter with a gasp.

———

    "DEEP BREATHS." Noor thought to herself, "In and Out."

Noor's hand hovered over the door to the Three Broomsticks. On the other side of that door, was the person who wrote to her. Was a person she hadn't heard from in eight years. Inside was her sister.

"Deep breaths." She thought to herself again, "Just in and out."

"Umm," she heard a voice behind her said, "Are you going to go inside, or not, you're kind of blocking the way."

Noor whipped around to see a bunch of students standing behind her.

"Sorry." She blurted, stepping aside, letting the people behind her through.

Noor slumped against the wall outside the pub, her heart pounding in her chest. She unfastened a few buttons on her jacket, inexplicably hot.

Her sister. It had been so long since she had seen her sister, that her face was a blur. A distant memory in her brain, a fuzzy figure. She had been seventeen when Noor was six, an age gap that seemed gigantic to Noor at the time.

The age gap had meant that, even when they had lived in the same house, Noor hadn't seen much of her sister. In the huge manor her family had lived in, the only time Noor and her sister had spent time together would be at meal times. And those meal times were something her sister would often skip, in favour of going out with her friends, a fact that used to infuriate their father.

In fact, one of only memories Noor had of her sister was of her sister and father shouting at each other, faces red and voices rising higher and higher as she, Blaise and her mother watched in silence.

To Noor, her sister had always been a tall, unapproachable, far off figure. A stranger who was related to her. A stranger who she was now going to meet for a drink.

Noor scrunched up her eyes, trying to summon up the courage to go inside.

"Hey, the Three Broomstick is that way." A familiar voice joked.

She opened her eyes and was met with the freckled face of Ron Weasley.

"Oh, Weasley." She said, standing up and trying to look nonchalant. "What - what are you doing here?"

"I was going to get a Butterbeer." He said, "What are you doing?"

Staring into Weasley's bright blue eyes, Noor, who hadn't told anyone about her sister, not Astoria, not Blaise, not anyone, couldn't help telling him everything. With a quick look around them, to make sure no one was watching them, she said, very quickly, "My half sister wrote to me, asking to meet up. And we haven't seen each other in six years. And we were never really close. So I'm really really nervous."

Weasley blinked rapidly, trying to process everything Noor had just dropped on him, after a minute of silence, he spoke up, "You're nervous?" He asked, smiling a little.

"Yeah."

He left out an amused exhale at that.

Noor punched his arm, making him stumble back "What are you laughing about?" She snapped, her voice high.

"Nothing, nothing." He said, "It's just I didn't think you were capable of being nervous, you always seem so ... composed." He mumbled, his ears burning red.

"Of course I get nervous." Noor said softly. "You're the Gryffindor here, not me. I - bravery isn't something that comes easy to me. It's all an act, just a ... mask of confidence."

Weasley paused, seemingly not knowing what to say, and after a minute, said, "Well ... it's the same for me. I'm always bloody scared - I mean I'm best friends with a Boy - Who - Lived for Merlin's sake, I always find myself in danger, and I'm always shitless scared too." He hesitated, "But ... you can't let that fear stop you, she's your sister. She's family. There's nothing to be nervous about."

"You don't get it." Noor said, sighing, "You're a Weasley, your family is close and tightly knit. But my family is different. It's not like that."

"But ... do you want to go see her?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Then just do it. Just don't think about, and do it. I'll come in with you, if you like."

"Okay, okay." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'm going in, come with me. But enter after me. I don't want people to see us come in together."

He nodded, "Okay." He said, patting her shoulder awkwardly.

Noor took a deep breath, and, with one look back at Weasley, she opened the door and stepped inside.

The Hog's head was relatively empty, only a few tables were occupied, she stood there motionless, feeling awkward and out of place, scanning the room.

Her sister had said, in the letter that she'd sent, that she'd be at one of the back booths.

Only one of the back booths was occupied. A woman sat there alone

Just then, the door behind her opened and Weasley walked in. Giving her a supportive look, he walked over to a nearby table.

Taking a deep breath, trying to quell the frantic beating of her heart, Noor walked over to the woman, repeating what Weasley had said like a mantra. "Don't think about it, just do it." Don't think about it, just walk, walk forward.

As she got closer, Noor took in the woman's face.

She had long dreadlocks framing her face, chocolate brown skin, slightly lighter than Noor's own, and was wearing a leather jacket and vintage looking sunglasses.

When she was younger, Noor remembered believing that Zara was the coolest person in the world. She practically idolised her, worshiped the ground she walked on, a thing, she remembered used to annoy her sister immensely.

And now, almost a decade later, if this woman was, in fact, her sister, she looked just as cool to Noor. Not a thing about her appearance had changed.

Noor wondered if anything else about het had stayed the same, namely the way she had always seemed to hate Noor.

If she did, however, why would she invite Noor over for a drink?

Much too quickly for Noor's liking,  Noor found herself standing in front of the woman and there was no denying it anymore, the woman was Noor's sister. The similarities between them were too much to be a coincidence.

They had the same small nose, the same shaped eyes, the same oval face. There was no denying it, the woman in front of her was her sister, Zara.

Zara looked up, a smile forming on her face as she saw Noor, "Are you Noor?" She asked.

Noor nodded, and shifted from one foot to another awkwardly.

"Sit." She said, gesturing to the seat in front of her. "Sit. How are you?"

"Um good." Noor said quietly as she slowly sat down on the padded seat.

"Do you want a drink?" Zara asked. "Butterbeer? Firewisky? It's on me."

Noor smiled awkwardly at that, "I can't drink, I'm fourteen."

"Well it's never too early to start." Zara said, slapping the table. "I can get you some if you want some." She said, eyebrow cocked.

Noor wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"No I'm good, a Butterbeer's fine."

"Okay, I'll be back." Zara said, getting up and striding over to the counter.

Noor sat there alone, twiddling her thumbs.

She glanced over at Weasley, sitting at a table a little while away. He was watching her intently and when there eyes met, he mouthed,

"You good?"

Noor nodded.

He took a sip from his drink, the foam at the top giving him a comical mustache.

Noor snickered at this, and when he noticed what she was snickering at, her wiped at his face furiously, his ears a bright shade of red.

Noor smiled to herself as she watched him.

That smile was quickly wiped off her face, as the girl next to Weasley, who Noor recognised to be Weasley's friend Hermione, wiped the foam away for him.

Noor couldn't explain the feeling she was feeling as she watched them. She clenched her fist, a sudden scowl on her face.

A cup of Butterbeer slammed onto the table in front of Noor, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"There you go. One Butterbeer." Zara said, sitting back down in her seat.

There was a stretch of awakened silence, as they both sat there, unsure what to say next.

"So, uh," Zara, said, breaking the silence, "How have you been?" She asked, and then mumbled, "Shit, I already said that."

It suddenly occurred to Noor that Zara was probably just as nervous as she was. That the air of confidence that surrounded Zara might just be an act.

This made Noor feel a lot less nervousness.

"What, uh, house are you in?" Zara asked.

"Slytherin." Noor said, cringing as her voice broke at the end.

"Yeah me too." Zara said.

There was another stretch of silence, before Noor decided to speak up, "Um, what - what do you do? What's your job?"

Zara's eyes lit up at this, "I'm a dragon tamer." She said, somewhat smugly.

Noor's eyes went wide at this, "No way!" She exclaimed. "What's that like?" She asked eagerly, all shyness she was previously feeling, leaving her.

"It's really cool! A little dangerous sometimes." Zara said, and then rolled up her right sleeve, where a long, jagged cut resided, "I got this from a Hungarian Horntail."

"And this from a Peruvian Firetooth." She said, gesturing to a cut on the side of her neck.

"Wicked!" Noor breathed out.

"Yeah, that's why I'm actually here, at Hogwarts. We had to bring some dragons here for the Triwizard Tournament. And I figured that I might as well reach out to you, while I'm in the neighborhood."

There was another lapse of awkward silence, as Noor found herself unsure what to say next.

"Look." Zara said, sighing, breaking the silence. "I was never really fond of you and your mum when I was younger. It was childish, but I always blamed your mum for my parents splitting up. So, I don't know if you even remember, but I wasn't the nicest to you when we lived together. And dad's death I stayed away from you.

"But," she went on, fiddling with the sleeves of her jacket. "I've now grown up, and realised how wrong that was. You're family. And I'm sorry. And, if it's okay with you, I'd like to be in your life." She said, looking up hopefully.

Noor smiled widely, "I'd love that."