CHAPTER-I
"Welcome to the order Miss Black."
Sirius's head snapped up, "Black…Black you say?" at Sirius's enquiry, Dumbledore nearly smiled.
"Indeed Sirius ….Miss BLACK or May I say Selena Black."
Sirius stared with a bewildered expression on his face. Then he suddenly shifted his gaze to the newly introduced order member, named as Selena Black.
"You are a Black?"
Selena looked less than amused, "How long it takes to penetrate your thick skull, that I, indeed am a BLACK." Sarcasm & rudeness was literally dripping from her attitude, as she gazed at Sirius smugly with a slight irritation in her eyes.
"Definitely a Black!"
Both Blacks turned to face Remus Lupin, who was amusingly watching the conversation in front of him and plainly trying not to laugh.
"Excuse me?" both Blacks simultaneously blurted out. Startled, at their unison they quickly glanced at each other wearing the same expression of irritation of each other's intrusion. Both scowled, but then fixed Remus with identical fiery glares.
"Oh! Did I say it loud?" Remus said in a mock fearful voice.
"YES" again in unison.
"Nice talking shadow you've got yourself Padfoot." Remus burst out laughing.
"Who are you calling shadow, you werewolf?" Selena shouted, as she advanced on Lupin.
The smile from Lupin's face vanished immediately.
"How DARE YOU…" Sirius growled menacingly & reached for his wand.
Selena whipped around & pulled out her wand in a blink of her eyes.
Remus automatically grabbed Sirius's wrist, trying to restrain him from blasting the girl apart. Dumbledore however turned to Selena.
"Selena put your wand down." His voice is full of ice & missed even a bit of warmth in it. His eyes were unusually hard & missing the usual twinkle. Selena was actually shaking with fury, didn't lower her wand but glared at Sirius fiercely.
"Selena, you heard me…NOW" Selena glanced at Dumbledore. Dumbledore nodded slightly. Slowly & reluctantly Selena lowered her wand.
"Take your seat, if you please, Miss Black."
With a last hateful glare at Sirius, Selena walked to her chair, facing the two marauders & sat down with a huff.
Sirius returned the glare with double interest and faced the headmaster instead.
"Care to explain Albus?"
Dumbledore merely raised an eyebrow.
"HER, explain her." Sirius said impatiently.
"Ah! Yes of course, how very silly of me to keep you in dark for so long Sirius, forgive me."
Sirius stared.
"This is Selena Walburga Black. She is your youngest sister & born after you severed all ties with your blood families. "
"My, sister?" Sirius glanced at her. Selena was determinedly staring at the ceiling. Surely, he could see the resemblances. Black hair but no grey eyes, he noticed. Her eyes were black. She is tanned a little too much, Black tradition, Sirius thought dully. A perfect figure, not too thin, not too bulky, just perfect and to complete the Black look, she has got the famous Black temper and the obvious rudeness & God knows what else, Sirius concluded, 'Yeah definitely Black, as Mooney said.'
Suddenly Selena looked at him and then Dumbledore, "If he is finished staring, can we continue with the real important thing, like the meeting?"
Sirius scowled but blissfully remained silent.
"Oh, I beg to differ, Miss Black, but I think the introduction of yours to your family & friends is of more importance than the meeting, right now," Dumbledore continued smoothly, ignoring the disbelieving noises, coming from both the Blacks, "AND another important thing is the introduction of the rules of the Order to you Selena."
"Rules?" Selena's lips curled, "I don't follow any."
"Indeed and the first one of them is to show respect to each and every order member, despite of their upbringing, blood status and house status." During the last two words, Dumbledore pointedly looked at Sirius.
"And I believe you owe an apology to Mr. Lupin over here for being rude to him." Dumbledore finished in a clam tone.
However, Selena's face twisted in an evil manner, "You didn't say anything about human status Dumbledore, so I owe nothing but shit to a monster for calling it what it is." A slow smile erupted at the corner of her mouth.
That was more than enough to ignite Sirius. "REDUCTO", a flash of red light bursts out from Sirius's wand tip & hit Selena across the face.
"SIRIUS .NO." Remus cried out, but the damage was done. Selena sprang to her feet; blood was dripping down her cheek. Sirius's curse left a deep gash at the left side of her forehead. Her eyes were burning in utmost fury. Suddenly the wand, Sirius was holding, was yanked from him by a strong invisible force & went straight to Selena. Selena caught it. She raised her hand at Sirius & flicked her index finger. Sirius was lifted from the ground & was smashed against the wall. Selena advanced on Sirius.
"PROTEGO" a white shield erupted from a shocked Remus's wand & situated between two Blacks. Dumbledore got to his feet & nodded at Remus, silently told him to maintain the shield. Remus nodded back. Dumbledore moved to Selena's side. He put a hand on her shoulder gently.
"Selena, please calm down. He is your elder brother." After a pause Dumbledore added, almost inaudibly, so that only Selena can hear, "just like Regulus."
Selena jerked his hand back, as if got burned. Slowly, she turned her back to Sirius facing Dumbledore and whispered, "No… nothing like him." Then slowly she moved towards her chair & sank down.
Sirius was utterly shocked at the sudden display of such high standard skillful wandless magic. He slowly got to his feet ignoring the help Lupin was offering & went straight to his seat & sat down without looking at anybody. Remus too sat down besides Sirius. After a brief silence, Dumbledore opened his mouth.
"Selena, this incident doesn't excuse the fact that..."
"I am sorry ." Selena cut in smoothly facing Remus but didn't meet his eyes.
Remus smiled, "Call me Remus and that's alright. Here… let me…" Remus pointed his wand at Selena & muttered "Healia Exilirio". The blood was stopped and the gash was healed, leaving behind a permanent scarlet, long scar, running from her forehead to his left cheek.
"Thank you …Remus." Selena said in a flat tone.
Sirius's eyes narrowed & lips curled in a typical Black manner. But he remained silent as he felt a warm pressure on his right hand, which Remus was squeezing without looking at him.
"So, on this happy note of reunion we shall have a drink while we wait for the rest of the order member to arrive, which could be any minute now, if I am not mistaken." All three of them stared unbelievably to the headmaster at his sudden cheery tone. But Dumbledore ignored them all & summoned four glasses and a bottle of butterbeer.
"WHAT ARE WE? FOUR?" Two blacks said indignantly & in unison, as they saw the bottle of butterbeer. Sirius & Selena glared at each other briefly & Remus tried to hide his smile which was threatening to spread across his face.
"Oh forgive my choice Selena, Sirius, but for an old man, firewhiskey is indeed a bit too much." Dumbledore finished with a twinkle in his eyes as he poured four glasses of butterbeer & offered each one.
They took the glasses, Sirius with a sigh, Selena with a smirk & Remus with a strained straight face.
"To the order." Dumbledore said as he raised his glass.
"To Harry." Sirius raised his glass.
"To light." Remus raised his glass.
Selena didn't say anything but raised her glass none the less & they took the first sip.