Hogwarts 1976 was the place to be , With Albus Dumbledore as Headmaster it was considered the Safest place in the country , Apart from Gringotts. But what about the horrors out side the castle? Belle Segal soon learns that she's been looking at the world through rose tinted glasses its time for her to join the order and face the real world.

i own nothing but the mac i'm writing this on ! all rights go to J.

Belle quietly read the letter from her parents again

Dear Belle,
we're sorry for not writing for so long we are currently in france at the main manor with your grandparents as we have not seen them since your birth

Always

Edward Segal and Marie Nannette.

The letter didn't sit right with Belle , why would her mother write her maiden name? and from what she knew her father's french parents where dead, they died a year after her birth.

Belle was sitting at the Hufflepuff table picking at her small breakfast, her parents letter was still bothering her , she hadn't heard any thing else back from them.
She looked up to the enchanted sky as the morning post flew in, she was hoping to see her mothers owl with a another letter but she couldn't see it , she dropped her head in disappointment , if she didn't hear any thing from her parents in the next few days she would go to Dumbledore, a close family friend, about the strange letter, he would surely know what was up.

A hoot from beside her head made her look up. A ministry owl sat there extending its leg out to her , she glanced down , a light blue envelope was tied to its leg, she quickly untied it and the owl flew away.
In the Wizarding world a blue envelope meant the death of a loved one , that was the reason Belle was so hesitant to open it , as far as she knew most of her extended family was dead , she flipped over the envelope the ministry emblem was stamped on the back with bronze wax, her hands shook as she broke the seal , inside a single piece of heavy parchment the same hue of blue as the envelope changed Belle's life.

Dear Miss Belle Segal,
We are writing to you to inform you of some rather unfortunate news Your mother and father ,Mrs Marie Belle Segal nee Nannette and Mr Edward Thomas Segal, where unfortunately found dead at your families french manor.

we suspect foul play but we cannot be certain.
Please be in touch about funeral arrangements

Our deepest sorrow

Matthew Booth

Head of Death and Funeral arrangements at the Ministry of magic

Belle read the letter over and over again before she understood the contents of the letter

"Belle, are you alright you've gone all pale?" a fellow fifth year Hufflepuff , Lauren Pen, asked, all Belle could do was shake her head Lauren looked down to the letter Belle was gripping tightly she quickly realised what it was "oh Belle! I'm so sorry, who was it?" she asked sympathetically to the shy girl

"My parents." Belle's normally sweet voice was empty as she whispered to Lauren, who was shocked , with You-Know-Who out there many deaths have happened but so far not many have affected any of the hogwarts students directly.

I have to see Dumbledore was Belle's first though he would know what to do , Belle's blue eyes scanned the Teachers table Dumbledore's seat was empty , she quickly grabbed her bag the the horrid letter and ran from the great hall , leaving behind a few confused stares form some students.

"JELLY BEANS"
"SUGAR MICE"
"SHERBET LEMON"
"LIQUORICE WANDS"
Belle shouted many different sweets at Dumbledores gargoyles they didn't move

"CHOCOLATE FROGS" she shouted running out of ideas ,the stone gargoyles move apart with a grinding noise, Belle ran up the small stone steps to find Dumbledore's office door was closed, with out thinking she barged straight in.

In Dumbledores office was five students all looking grave.
"Ah Miss Segal I was wondering when you get here." Dumbledore greeted the distressed girl

"Have you heard?" was the first thing Belle asked not even thinking about the five other students in the room, Dumbledore nodded gravely

"I am sorry Belle." he told her

"Was it death eaters?" she asked not really wanting the answer, again Dumbledore nodded Belle pinched the bridge of her nose and thrusted the blue letter to Dumbledore , his blue eyes scanned the letter, he cleared his throat

"would you like me to make the arrangements ?" he asked she nodded

"I'm not of age." Dumbledore nodded

"as theres only a few days left and you have finished your exams you may go home if you wish, Lily would you please help her pack."

Belle looked up the five other people in the room where, Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin

Belle felt slightly embarrassed at barging in the room in the middle of their meeting "Of course headmaster." Lily said standing from her seat next to James , her boyfriends from the start of fifth year,

"I shall be in to see you when school has broken up" Belle nodded and turned to leave the room with lily on her heels , It wasn't till they where a few floors from Dumbledores office that Lily spoke to her

"I'm sorry for your loss" she said putting a hand on Belle's shoulder

"Thank you" Belle whispered quietly, she was going to have to get use to all the 'I'm sorry' over the next few days.

They didn't speak till they had reached the basement of hogwarts "Um where is the entrance ?" Lily asked as they pasted the kitchens entrance, they rounded a corner where down a dead end was a load of butter beer barrels, Belle pointed towards the barrels as they approached lily asked "Do you know the password ?" Belle shook her head

"We don't have a password." she replied then banged in a rhythm on one of the barrels, all the barrels swung open to reveal a hole that looked just like a Black hole "You have to step into it to be in the common room"Belle told her when she saw lilts confused face, the two girls stepped into the black hole, Lily gasped at the sight.

The Hufflepuff Common room was empty seeing as lessons started five minutes ago. The Common room was a large round room full of Plush yellow chairs, sofas and bean bags , the floors where a light oak colour and the walls painted Hufflepuff yellow , to one-side of the room desks lined the wall each made to fit the curved wall, and like most of the surfaces in the room, the desks each had different plants on them, at the middle of the far side of the common room was two identical light oak doors one with a black handle and the other with a yellow handle, they where the entrances to the dorm rooms.

"How do you remember what door is yours ?" Lily asked looking at the identical doors

"Yellows girls, blacks boys." with that Belle opened the yellow handled door it opened to a large round tunnel like corridor with large yellow round doors each with a list of names carved on each door , they walked down to a door with four names carved:

Brooke Grace

Hannah Jena

Lauren Pen

Belle Segal

Belle opened the yellow door open to reveal a bright airy room with four beds covered in fluffy quilts and pillows all Hufflepuff yellow, four large desks and four different trunks one at the end of each bed , the room had several large round windows all level with the grass outside

"If we are in the basement why is it so light ?" Lily asked

"the windows are charmed to always be bright and sunny, even when its snowing and raining , its quite a pain when you want to know what its like out side." Belle walked over to a bed with a large trunk covered in different house stickers and different flags of other countries

"Slytherin ? Ravenclaw?" Lily questioned looking at the trunk

"its passed down each generation , each one of us are meant to add something , like the one with the two lions my dad put it on there when he met my mum , they where both in gryffindor" for the first time since she received the letter Belle's eyes welled up with tears

"Oh Belle its okay to cry" Lily reassured her when she saw Belle try to hide her face , Belle shook her head

"My mum hated people crying" Belle dabbed her eyes with the sleeve of her Hufflepuff sweater but the tears didn't stop.

Belle's vision was blurred with the tears but the one thing she could make out was the moving picture next to her bed , it was a sliver frame with 'Family' in green glitter inside it was a picture of her and her parents at their english home , the picture started off with Belle and her mother on each side of her father then her father would pull them both in for a hug and they where laughing the whole time.

Belle screamed in rage at the photo, it was unfair!, Lily jumped in surprise at Belle's Sudden rage, Belle stormed over to the picture with all the smiling faces she grabbed the sliver frame and flung it to the floor "ITS NOT FAIR!" she shouted tears streaming down her face.

Lily quickly tried to calm the distressed girl down but a clock was thrown at her, seeing she would not be able to do this alone she sent a patronus to her boyfriend and his friends "Come quickly to the hufflepuff dorms, Belle's gone mental" when she sent it she realised that they may not be able to get into the common room.

But in true Marauder fashion they where at the girls dorm within a few minutes, in that time Lily had put a shield up around herself as Belle chucked books, Clocks, Shoes and other things she could find around in rage, the four boys burst into the hufflepuff girls dorm narrowly missing being hit in the head with a charms textbook

"Petrificus Totalus." Remus shot the curse at her hitting her straight in the chest with it, she hit the floor with a thud,

"Lil's you all right ?" James asked rushing over to his girlfriend

"I'm fine James , I'm more worried about her , the poor girls just lost her parents." Lily sighed and walked over to Belle who was lying motionless on the floor only her eyes following Lily "Belle I'm sorry but you needed to calm down" Lily apologised.

Belles eyes whipped around the room taking in the ones who stunned her 'The Marauders' Belle thought to her self.

"I'm going to take the curse off" one decided Belle looked at him it was Remus Lupin, the peace keeper of the lot, he aimed his wand at her and she could freely move

"I'm so, so sorry Lily" Belle sobbed

Belle had never felt so emotional in her life , one minute she was shocked then angry and now she was sobbing on the floor while the Marauders and Lily watched not knowing what to do.

Belle took her wand off her bed "Reparo" she whispered all the broken items repaired themselves and with another wave of her wand her trunk was packing it self.
Lily approached Belle with caution

"Belle, you okay?" she asked softly Belle nodded

"I am sorry you had to see that Lily." Belle whispered lily put a hand on Belle's back

"Its all right Belle I would do the same in your place." Lily stood up and brushed her skirt off and offered a hand to Belle "Dumbledore is expecting us." she announce pulling Belle up, she knew Belle probably wanted to go home and have a proper cry, not in front of a bunch of strangers.

The fifth years made their way to Dumbledores office, the Marauders shooting looks at Belle , they had never seen her before today it made them a little weary of her, but Lily had often spoken to her in the library but after today Lily felt like more of a friend to Belle than before.

Belle stood in the Floo room of the Segal's English Manor house, Belle never saw a real need for a whole room just for the Floo fireplace, but it was something her mother had insisted the house have.

Belle dragged her trunk into the hall way, the house was no different from when she left at christmas.

The Segal's Manor was an large house with three floors and hundreds of acres surrounding it. Belle had not grew up in the Manor, she had grown up in a cozy cottage in a small town in the french country side. She had moved to the Manor when she was 10 and was never really fond of the museum like place, she missed the warmth of the cottage compared to the emptiness of the manor but she never voiced her opinion of the house as she knew how much her mother loved it.

Belle felt tears once again fill her eyes , standing in the empty cold hall way Belle realised how much she already missed her parents and it hadn't even been a day yet.

That night Belle cried herself asleep.

The next morning Belle pried one of her eyes open 'Why has Lauren not woken me?' was Belles first thought, then yesterdays events came crashing back to her.
Belle was lucky nobody had visited the Manor that day , as she had stayed in bed crying for hours and had eventually fallen asleep.

When she woke the next morning her eyes where sore from all the crying and she felt stiff from all the sleep.

She pulled herself out of bed, not even bothering to get changed from her night clothes, she wandered down to the kitchen, her mother wasn't a very good cook often burning dinner so Belle normally cooked when she was home. But standing in the silver and white kitchen Belle couldn't bring herself to make something to eat so she searched in the pantry for something to snack on.

Belle didn't expect the pantry to be empty. In fact there was no food in the house, not even milk in the fridge. This seemed a little strange to Belle, she knew her parents had gone to France before their demise but they normally left food at the house with preserving charms on everything but never had they cleared the pantry and fridge.

A knock at the Manors door made Belle forget about the empty pantry, she quickly opened the door not even waiting to check who it was.
"Dumbledore!" she cried in surprise at the old man on her door step , Albus smiled at the teen

"Belle I did say I was dropping by." he reminded her Belle ushered him into the house

"I'd offer you something to eat but it appears I need to go shopping." she said offering a set to him in the manors reception room.

Albus chuckled lightly but his face grew serious "Belle I'm here to ask you something." he paused "Important." he stressed Belle nodded

"Ask away."

"Belle, I want you to join the Order of the Phoenix."

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