/A.N./ Okay, I know this is weak of me but I can't help it. In this fic, Sirius isn't dead. I know! It bad of me but I love him! I don't want him dead. Please just bare with me and my eccentric tendencies.

I'm a dog person, what can I say?

Quote: War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Jimmy Carter

Next Step

Chapter One: New Allies, New Deaths

By Salaphina

Ron and Hermione sat in the afternoon tea room on the east side of the house. The order had moved back in to the Black family mansion shortly after the end of the last school years on Harry's request. He had wanted them there so that they could still have a safe meeting place even though Dumbledore was no longer around. And of course they were staying there because they knew instinctively that Harry would come there first before going to Godric's Hollow where he was supposed to be meeting them. Especially since he had left his uncles house before the set time and left them in the dust.

Two weeks ago they had went to his uncle's house to meet him only to find out from his uncle that he had left in the middle of the night just a few hours before they arrived. When they went ahead to Godric's Hollow they found he was not yet there and had a feeling that he wasn't going to be there for some time.

So they waited, irritated, for him to show up at Sirius's family home.

And he did. Eventually. He really did take his time about it, though. Two weeks is a long time to keep people in the dark about these kinds of things, really.

So it wasn't totally unthinkable that when he did show up they were so busy welcoming him that they didn't notice right away that he had brought a tag-a-longer with him. Until, of course, both Mrs. Weasley and Ginny asked, "Who's she?"

At the time the entire Weasley clan was in the room. They had come to visit and for sure if they could make it to Bill's wedding the next day. And right then Mr. Weasley, the twins, Charley, Bill and Fleur were looking in interest at the darkly tanned, green eyed, exotic looking girl in the doorway. While Ginny and Mrs. Weasley looked on in dreading horror.

He looked at the girl standing behind him and made a motion for her to step forward. She put her head down realizing she was attracting attention and shrunk back further.

Harry just rolled his eyes and reached back to grab her arm.

"Everybody, this is Amai, Amai this is everybody. You should be able to tell which is which with as much as I have told you about them." The girl gave a tiny nod when he looked at her but kept her head to the ground. He rolled his eyes again and let her arm go.

She stood for a moment alone, not sure what to do. It gave everyone in the room time to get a good look at her. She had long, dark, black hair that came down to the tops of her thighs. Her eyes were green but they weren't normal, they were darker than any green they had seen before but also brighter, like neon lights with dark green paint over them. Like the ones seen at Halloween or Christmas around muggle houses. Her skin was spattered with freckles but they were drowned out by the dark tan she had. She had long fingernails and slender, nimble hands. She was fairly tall and gave the impression that she was lean but no one in the room could really tell.

Because, oddly enough, she was wearing a large, long overcoat. And in the middle of the summer too.

Tonks, every willing to be helpful, came forward, stumbling a bit, to ask, "Would you like to hang your coat up? I will put it in the closet for you if you like." She raised her eyebrows at the girl and smiled when she looked up. Amai quickly looked back down and shook her head.

Now Harry looked worried. "I told you that you didn't have to worry here. They're my friends. They'll understand." His brow scrunched up and he took a step forward when she hesitated. But then she started to move toward Tonks and out in to the hall ahead of her. Tonks threw a hopeful look at Harry and shrugged before fallowing. Harry nodded and turned to look at the rooms occupants. Realizing for the first time how many of them were there.

"Hi everybody, not late for the wedding am I?" He asked Bill.

Bill, always in good spirits, shook his head and said, "Nah, you made it just in time…"

"WHO IS SHE?"

Everyone in the room looked at Ginny who looked ready to tear off Harry's head being calmed by a similarly irritated Mrs. Weasley.

Harry just grinned, not at all bothered by their reaction, and said, "You'll see." And walked out in to the hall.

The room practically started buzzing when he stepped out.

Everyone was suddenly asking Hermione if he had mentioned he was bringing anyone with him.

"No, he hasn't said anything at all. In fact he was being unnecessarily cryptic. Wasn't he Ron?" But when they looked at him they saw he was wearing a very guilty look.

A look that told everyone he knew something.

The twins jumped on him immediately. "Who is she? Where is she from? Does her name mean anything?" This noisy reaction wouldn't have been out of the ordinary if they had not been silent two minutes ago. What everyone hadn't realized was that they had been to busy watching Harry's new friend to be noisy.

Ron got a strained expression on his face and said, "All I know is that she's a hunter. She was tracking someone and crossed paths with Harry in Godric's Hollow."

Hermione, who was already upset at being kept out of the loop said, "He was in Godric's Hollow and you didn't tell me? I thought we agreed to go meet him when we found out where he was?"

Ron looked sheepish. "He asked me not to tell you because he didn't want us to meet with him yet. Said he had things to take care of. I thought I would let him finish what ever it was first. The guy has a right to do some things on his own you know."

Hermione looked miffed. "I know that but we agreed. You should have told me."

"He asked me not to tell. I wasn't going to go around telling things that I didn't even know the whole story about, anyway."

She looked slightly mollified at the thought that he didn't want to spread false information.

Then Harry came back in with Amai in tow. Tonks had a slightly shocked expression on her face. It was the same expression that everyone in the room adopted when Amai walked back in with a stone faced expression ant walked right over to sit on the couch next to Sirius.

Oh, but it wasn't her look that surprised them. It was her wings. That's right, wings. Her wings that if measured would have had a fourteen foot span. The feathers glistened even in the dim candle light. They were a dark purple and brown with a golden sheen when the light hit them.

And she was very lean. In a strong, but feminine way.

Soon every person in the room with the exception of Amai and Tonks who was trying to get the girl to talk to her or even look at her was watching Harry.

"Amai is not a wizard, as you have probably figured out by now. She is a harpy. Or," He rolled his eyes again. "A branch breed of harpy."

Even though it was small all of them saw Amai nod.

Harry saw it too and waited for her to take up the explanation.

She noticed and went red but aside from putting her head down didn't refuse. "My family is from the Mediterranean like the harpies from legend but unlike them we were not created by the gods. In fact, we were what the gods modeled their harpies after. Of course we are not as ugly as they are." She scrunched up her nose. "Well, we aren't anymore. At the time we were under a curse of the goddess Circe. Anyway, I'm part bird."

This last part she said while looking them straight in the eye.

"I met Harry in Godric's Hollow. I was tracking a man there…"

"So you are a hunter." This statement came from Lupin sitting on the other side of Tonks.

She looked confused. "No. I am a tracker. I track magic, artifacts, relics, locations. Anything to do with magic really, I am good at identifying power signatures. But at the time I just happen to be after a man. The same man that you guys are after."

This brought silence. And many confused looks. Not that Amai noticed with her head back in its position pointed at the ground.

Charlie asked, a bit hesitant, "You're after you-know-who?"

She looked up at him with an expression that said he was out of his mind. "No. I am after the Soulless One."

"Who?" Was the collective response.

She sighed and said, "Your, Lord Voldemort, I believe?"

The reactions were predictable all around. Some gasped, some flinched, Harry rolled his eyes again and Amai put her head back down at the alarming reactions.

Tonks, who was being motherly all of a sudden (probably because Molly was showing an uncharacteristic disliking of the girl and she was clearly having a hard enough time without Molly's cold shoulder), was rubbing the girls back, trying to calm her down. "Why are you after him?"

"He killed my clan."