The Order of the Phoenix sat around a circle table, in a heated debate. Fred and George Weasley were testing out their new Extendable Ears project at the door. Neither could catch what the Order was saying, but all they could pick up was that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were being scolded heavily by the rest of the Order.
Inside the room, Sirius defended himself and Lupin. "We weren't allowed to tell! We had to swear! We had to make the Unbreakable Vow, Molly! It wasn't our faults!"
Molly Weasley crossed her arms. "I'm sure you did, but being you, Sirius, you could well have found a loophole and given us a tip-off in some way!"
In the hallway, Fred and George were forced to dive sideways into a broom cupboard and abandon their mission, caused by Severus Snape, who burst into the room, cloak billowing behind him.
"Severus," Arthur Weasley said. "Close the door behind you. Lock it. I reckon you know what is going on?"
With a flourish of his wand, the door slammed closed and locked itself. Snape sat at the end of the table and gave a crooked smile. "Ah, Sirius, finally broke out of that old room with that hippogriff and decided to join in the fun for once?"
Sirius glared at Snape and said, "If you were one of the most wanted people in the entire Wizarding world, I bet you would hide too, Snivellus."
At the sound of the name, Snape stood so fast the chair he had sat on only a moment ago slammed to the ground and his wand was drawn in a blink of an eye.
Mrs. Weasley scolded, "Severus, put the wand away, right your chair, and sit. We have a meeting to get through."
Snape grudgingly obeyed and sat. Mr. Weasley spoke after a brief pause. "When will we get the girl? Who will do it?"
Sirius asked the next question. "Who will tell Harry?"
Again, Mrs. Weasley spoke. "Dumbledore said he would fetch the girl and explain everything to her. He said he would wait a week, when Harry's here."
"Well, shouldn't I get a say in anything that happens to the poor thing?" Lupin spoke up.
"Why on earth you?" Snape gloated.
"Because, Severus, I'm her godfather in the first place." Lupin snapped, reaching a nervous hand to his wine glass.
Snape did not answer, but said quickly, "I have limited time, so if we could hurry this along-" Before he could finish the sentence, Sirius cut him off with the snap, "Yes, it would be terrible if we made you late for one of your little Death Eater parties."
Snape stood yet again, with Sirius following his lead. "How dare you accuse me-"
Sirius sneered. "Sorry for telling the truth, and only the truth, Snivellus."
Lupin got to his feet, too. "Enough, Sirius. Severus, if you need to leave," He motioned toward the door, standing between him and Sirius.
Snape sneered and left the room, the door slamming behind him. Fred and George emerged from their hiding place, having heard nothing, and, disappointed, trudged upstairs to make corrections on the Extendable Ears.
For the first time, Nymphadora Tonks spoke. "What's her name? How old is she?"
Lupin's eyes softened as he sat down again and replied, "Her name's Teresa. She's 15, same as Harry, only just turned, and she's the spitting image of Lilly."
Tonks replied, nodding, "So they're twins?"
Lupin nodded, almost smiling. "And Harry has no idea." He added as an afterthought, "She lives in America."
Mrs. Weasley looked nervous and turned to her husband. "So is Alastor coming for dinner?"
Mr. Weasley had been staring off, and when he finally seemed to have heard Mrs. Weasley, he turned to her and hastily said, "Oh, yes! In fact, we should start preparing it, but first, Remus would like to ask everyone something…"
"Yes," Remus said. "We need everyone's word that no one will tell Harry, or the other children."
Everyone around the little table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place nodded, all except for Sirius, who said, "But he has the right to know!"
"Sirius, you say that about everything. This is bigger. This is a family member he doesn't know about. Dumbledore has to tell him." Lupin replied, looking Sirius in the eye. "Your word, Sirius?"
Sirius nodded, and stood. He muttered something about trying to find Kreacher the house elf, and walked out. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood, too, and Mrs. Weasley began waving her wand as different pots, pans, and food zoomed around the room, beginning to cook themselves with her supervising. Tonks said good-bye, as she couldn't stay for dinner, and walked out into the night.
Ron Weasley, at the smell of dinner cooking, walked into the room grinning and said, "Excellent. What are we having for dinner?"
Ginny Weasley followed him into the room and said, "You're always hungry, Ron."
Teresa Potter sat in her little, cramped room in King's Orphanage. She held in her hand a necklace with a starfish charm dangling off the end. As she held it, she saw the shadows on her floor start to lengthen as the sun sank. After a few moments, she heard heavy trudging outside in the hallway, signaling someone was coming towards the room. She shoved the necklace under the flat, uncomfortable pillow and jumped onto the bed, pretending to be bored and twirling her hair with her finger. Matthew Jinkins ripped open the door, wearing a stupid smile, and said, "Not touching anything, are you, Potter?"