Due to the recent situation, Harry found himself in the uncomfortable company of the now horribly unhappy Tonks. Ron sat beside him at Fred and George's small kitchen flat table, staring at each other with most dreadful silence hanging over the air above them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had taken Ginny out for the day, to remove her from most of the sour air around them, although Harry found, it left a bitter taste in your mouth no matter how many times you walked outside. Tonks was currently inflating and deflating a large green balloon that had been left on the kitchen counter top, with her wand in small strokes. Fred was tinkering downstairs with some new breed of pygmy puff and how to give it spots, while George was standing at the window staring down over Diagon Alley. Harry watched Ron move his fingers back and forth across the table, they were all waiting on some news, better news than what had been delivered last night.
Harry had come to learn about Alina's disappearance upon his waking that morning. He'd ventured into the kitchen to hear Arthur and Molly in a heated whispering match about whether leaving her or not had been the right action. Harry mutely decided that Mr. Weasley was right, that she could fend for herself, seeing as the spell she'd shouted he'd never heard of before, and because she'd managed to knock Bellatrix on her butt. The part that worried him however, was that she was now missing. He found it impossible for her to be dead, because there was no body and Bellatrix left her marks wherever she killed, but also because there had been no Dark Mark left over the Burrow. Had she actually been killed, had she actually been dead, Harry was quiet sure the Dark Mark would be hanging over the Burrow at that very moment. The Aurories had left shortly after Tonks and Lupin had rejoined them in Diagon Alley, mainly because Dumbledore was to arrive soon as well. Meanwhile, new flyers had been stuck al over the alley that night, about Sirius Black's daughter on the run in Diagon Alley-To beware and be well protected-Stay indoors with wands. Harry found all of this to be ridiculous regarding a five foot seven girl with green eyes and a lanky build.
"Think she'll be on er' way ere then?" Ron asked whispering.
"Doubt that." Tonks said just as she inflated the balloon rapidly, and it's remnants exploded all over the room. A piece landed on Ron's arm and he quickly shook it off, but where the balloon had set was a hideously stupid looking pink rabbit with big eyes and a flower. Ron groaned shoving his arms in the air.
"Bloody HELL!" he shouted twitching. George turned to see what exactly Ron was shouting about, and simply smirked shaking his head.
"It's called a tattoo little brother." Ron looked horror struck.
"A rabbit!?" he yelled again. "A pink rabbit!? Really?"
"Relax will you, I can take it back off." He said yawning.
"Then do it!" he retorted.
"Maybe later, I'm tired." Said George, beaming a grin at Harry.
"You look nice Ron." Harry said brimming with laughter. Ron turned red in the face and looked away crossing his arms over his chest; he was going to ignore them. Tonks didn't smile; in fact, she sat as if nothing had even happened. Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye, wondering vaguely what was the matter with her.
"Here come here, let me fix it." Hermione said resurfacing to the second floor. She'd been downstairs with Fred for something, although what Harry hadn't the slightest imagination. She pointed her wand at Ron's arm and muttered something, and tapped the tattoo, and it instantly flaked off his skin. Ron smiled at Hermione, and Harry wasn't sure he liked it.
"Thanks Hermione." He said lightly, although Harry thought he heard a twinge of sappiness to his voice.
"You think…she'll be alright?" Harry said under his breath to Hermione. She didn't seem to want to meet his eyes, but she did.
"I don't know Harry. Bellatrix is a very strong woman. I'm not sure what exactly Alina can and can't do." She replied darkly. Harry sighed laying his head on the table on top of his arms, she had to survive. She had too.
Harry hadn't been told much about her previous life, except that she'd successfully hidden herself amongst dark wizards and witches for most of her life. The times before she was old enough to care for herself, however, Dumbledore had explained to him in a letter, that she had lived in an old orphanage. To Harry's astonished amusement, she'd lived at the same orphanage as Voldermort for twelve years of her life. By age twelve she'd decided to run away, after a brief visit from Lucius Malfoy had graced her at the orphanage. By age thirteen, she'd managed to make it over seas and to Africa, and from then on, as he'd been told: been on the run from death eaters ever sense. The other unnoticed fact, that Ginny had pointed out to him before, that she had marked herself with the Dark Mark for safe passage from place to place. How she had managed to keep herself that well hidden, especially with the Dark Mark branded on her skin, Harry didn't know. He was even more surprised to find out that it was Sirius's brother that had marked her to begin with. She'd gone to him on a whim from her last name when she was fourteen, lied about who she was, and gotten herself branded right under Voldermort's nose. Of course, he thought to himself, he hadn't known she existed until she turned fifteen anyway. Alina Black was perhaps, apart from her father, the most evasive witch of all time.
Harry's glasses fell from his nose, clattering onto the table, waking him from his dreams of Death Eaters and Malfoy. He rose like a drunken man at a bar, his head swaying back and forth. Hermione was chatting comfortably with Ron, and he noticed the slack expression on her face, which meant there had been good news. He perked up immediately, Lupin looking at him oddly, and pushed his glasses back on his nose. Lupin got up walking over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't get too excited. We've only just found her." He said taking a seat beside him at the table. Ron and Hermione were on their way down the stairs, for some odd reason.
"Is she alright?" he asked quickly. Lupin nodded, then took a small breath.
"Listen Harry. She's alright, but she's not being brought here. They're taking her to Hogwarts under Dumbledore's watch until the start of term." Harry rose and eyebrow confused.
"But that's not for a while, can they do that?" Lupin nodded again.
"Yes, and because Dumbledore realizes that you should naturally feel some pull towards her, we all do, being Sirius's daughter…that you can go to the school with her early." He finished. Harry thought of Ron and Hermione and Ginny, he thought about Sirius, and then decided that what Dumbledore had asked him was most important. His words as he'd taken the walk with him down the lane at the Burrow dancing in his head. He'd asked him to treat her with kindness, and as Harry was well sure, she felt quiet outcast at the moment. He also vaguely figured he owed her for saving his life as well as the Weasley's lives.
"I'll go then." He said defiantly. Lupin nodded and started to get up.
"I'll get Tonks ready." He said and Harry was sad to say he'd be missing his friends.