Chapter 1: A New Beginning
It was a dark night, the moon gave a soft glow; just enough for two cloaked figures to find their way along the shadowed sidewalk. If anybody was to watch them, they would be bewildered. It was a warm July night; definitely not cold enough for cloaks. In fact, these two figures were so strange that every living object stopped to stare at them. However, the travelers seemed unperturbed by the unusual silent night and kept walking.
Suddenly, a small laugh tinkled out of nowhere. The taller of the two travelers cocked his head toward the sound of the laugh and asked, "What is it Elizabeth?" The girl named Elizabeth sniffed, "Professor Dumbledore, why are you taking me here? How come you're letting me back in the Order? "
Dumbledore sighed, "Elizabeth, you haven't done anything that cannot be forgiven." Elizabeth gave a dry chuckle, "Can't be forgiven? Professor, you forgive very easily! Perhaps, I should remind you that if it wasn't for me, they would still be alive!" Dumbledore slightly turned his head toward Elizabeth, "Ah, you say I forgive easily, but I am always right on who I forgive…for example, Severus Snape. It wasn't your fault; you were merely hoodwinked by the most powerful dark wizard ever."
He smiled and walked quickly ahead of her looking at his hand occasionally. Elizabeth followed quickly and they both came to a stop between two big apartment buildings. Elizabeth could hear the television in both buildings. Dumbledore tapped once between the buildings and with hardly any noise, both of them drew apart. A gate appeared and Dumbledore ushered Elizabeth in. A huge black wooden door appeared; Dumbledore used his wand again to open it. A cold draft met them as they walked in. Pointy, ugly heads stared at them from the wall. Elizabeth distinguished them as dead elf heads and shuddered. Mrs. Black wasn't normal. A dim, soft light came seeping through a halfway closed door. Dumbledore continued walking, but stopped when he realized Elizabeth wasn't following.
He raised his eyebrow. Elizabeth whispered, " I can't do this, I can't face them, not after what I did!" She broke down shaking with sobs. Dumbledore walked over and calmly replied, " You won't have to face anyone…..you didn't do anything wrong, even if you think you did, you did what Sirius told you to do. You stayed away, alone, isolated from everyone for 15 years. You suffered just as much as he did."
He waited until Elizabeth calmed down. He added softly, "You don't need to endure this pain anymore. Come now Elizabeth, they're waiting." Elizabeth wiped her eyes and masked her face with no emotion, a task that was no feat for her. Dumbledore opened the door and let Elizabeth come into view. From a table of at least 20 people, twice more than last time, there were very loud gasps. Everybody's eyes went wide and their bodies froze. Elizabeth's eyes swept over them, she noticed Molly Weasley, her kind eyes awake with shock, her husband Arthur, who had his hand up in the air with his glass of butter beer, Remus Lupin who slopped butter beer down his front and of course, Sirius.
She stopped to look at his face. His face was pale and gaunt. He was very handsome, still, but his eyes were so dark and blank. She felt guilt and anger at the pit of her stomach. How could she have been so stupid? Just like everyone else, his eyes were wide, only they showed anger, pure anger.
She slightly flinched, she did not blame him for his anger, and she knew she deserved it. The only thing that was paining her was she couldn't bear that it was Sirius that was so angry at her. Sirius, the man who was so kind to her, who teased her, who's laugh was always heard when she was next to him was now looking at her with something much more than anger, hatred. She quickly turned away and noticed something out of place.
There was only one girl who wasn't staring at her, but was looking around in confusion. Elizabeth took a great liking to this girl. Right next to her, Dumbledore was looking around with an amused expression. He cleared his throat and quietly said, "I think Miss Elizabeth would greatly appreciate it if you would kindly stop staring at her." Many things happened at once, Elizabeth felt Molly hugging her, saw Remus restraining Sirius and saw that Dumbledore was standing right in front of her. His voice boomed, "SIRIUS!" Sirius immediately stopped struggling and looked at Dumbledore with a raging expression. "What is she doing here? WHAT IS SHE DOING IN MY HOUSE?" Sirius yelled.
There was an awkward silence while Sirius eyed Dumbledore and Elizabeth. He stopped shaking and added in a quiet dangerous voice, "Tell her to get out, Albus. She is not allowed here. Tell her to leave." Dumbledore calmly said, "No. She will not be leaving." Sirius fumed, "It's my house and I don't want her staying here, especially where Harry is!" Dumbledore walked around and grabbed a chair and sat down. He pointed to a chair next to him and gestured Elizabeth to do the same. Elizabeth took small steps and tentatively sat down. The rest of the Order did the same, except for Sirius. Dumbledore eyed him and said, "Please sit down, Sirius." Sirius took a deep breath and sat down. Dumbledore looked at Elizabeth who was staring down at her hands and fumbling with her cloak. He then again turned his attention to Sirius, "I recall you handing me your house for the purpose of The Order of the Phoenix. Or am I mistaken?" Sirius's eyebrows furrowed, "Yes I gave you to use it for the Order, not to house her!" he said with disgust.
Dumbledore turned his head so that he could see everyone at the table. "Everyone, Elizabeth will be joining us back in the Order. She has inconveniently been unable to come back to the Order for special reasons." When Molly opened her mouth, Dumbledore smiled and said, "Reasons that are not mine to tell."
Molly quickly closed her mouth and stared at Elizabeth. Dumbledore started again, "Sirius, she is here to rejoin the Order. Therefore she has every right to be in this house as everyone else does. I ask you a special request; will you please allow Elizabeth to stay in your house for a while? Until she can find other whereabouts?" Sirius protested, "Albus, you won't let me do anything for the Order because there is a chance I might get caught! At least, are you able to leave me the privilege to decide who can stay in my house?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrow, "Isn't that what I'm asking you to do now? I'm letting you decide Sirius." "And if I say no?" Sirius questioned. Dumbledore replied, "I'm hoping you won't." Sirius said, "You know what my answer is Albus. She can't stay." There were protests from Molly, "Sirius, she's a girl, all alone. She needs shelter! Surely, you are manly enough to house her for a month or two!" Sirius shook his head, anger rippling through his eyes. He stood up and replied, "Molly, you don't know what she did! She can't stay!" Elizabeth nodded her head and stood up. She eyed Sirius with an apologetic expression. He looked away. "Professor", Elizabeth said, "I told you. Nothing can make a difference.""
She then said to everyone else, "I'm sorry for the trouble." As Elizabeth turned around to leave, she saw the girl who was staring around in confusion, stand up and walk over to where she was.
She smiled and said, "My name is Nymphadora Tonks-just call me Tonks. I hate the name Nymphadora. I mean I don't know why my mother likes that name. Apparently Remus likes it too. It's strange. Oh by the way, you can stay here." Sirius yelled, "Tonks!" Elizabeth looked at her in confusion. Tonks chuckled, "I'm Sirius's niece….though we call each other cousins. So I have some right to this house. Kind of…Sirius said that once he got out of this pothole and found a new house, he said I could have it. So technically it could be mine. Unless Harry wants it, but I don't think Harry would want it. Don't you think it is kind of too green in here? I don't think Harry would like it."
Elizabeth found herself smiling and saw Remus chuckling to himself. She looked at Dumbledore unsurely. His eyes were tinkling, "Well that settles it then. Elizabeth, you can stay here. As long as one of the Black family members accepted you, you can stay here as long as you want to." Elizabeth was still confused, "What?" Dumbledore chuckled, "The Blacks, more specifically, Sirius's mother placed a charm on this house so that only Black family members could live in the house and only specific acquaintances of the Blacks could stay here."
Tonks interjected, "Maniac, that woman. She couldn't bear it if a muggle-born set foot in her house. Those elf heads in the hallway were her idea."
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As I was saying, Sirius did not accept you, but Tonks did so you can stay here." Elizabeth questioned him, "What if I stayed here even if he or Tonks said I couldn't? What would've happened?" Dumbledore chuckled, "I don't know. I haven't lived here for more than an hour or two. Rumors are that the victim will either become like one of those elf heads. Ghastly woman, Mrs. Black. But then again, if you look on page 34 of the Daily Prophet, they state that I'm crackpot." Sirius muttered, "Well, they've got one thing right."
Elizabeth glanced at Sirius who gave her a threatening glare. Elizabeth said in a low voice, "Um right…but Professor, I really don't think I should stay here…..if he doesn't want me to." Tonks who heard this frowned and whispered to her, "Why does Sirius hate you so much?" When Elizabeth didn't answer , she skipped back to her seat knocking over a vase in the process. Molly sighed, "That was a new vase."
"Well then" Dumbledore said, glancing at Sirius, "The meetings over for tonight. I just wanted to introduce you to Elizabeth. The next meeting will be here in a week's time." Tonks chirped, "Professor, aren't you going to see Harry?" Dumbledore smiled and said, "Er…no. I'll be seeing him in a few weeks time anyway. Bye everyone. Take care Sirius." Sirius did not reply. Instead he walked out of the room. Dumbledore sighed and apparated by the front door.