Chapter 2:The Help and Confusion

The sleeping body of Celena Neoma could be found in the darkening dephs of the woods. The sun was just beggining to rise and little light was reaching the woods. Celena awoke and streched while trying to remember the events of the past few hours.

The pack hunting, her parents killing, her parents being killed. It was all fresh in her mind and she wished she knew how to do a proper memory charm to erase the horrible memories.

Celena took her change of clothes and wand out of her backpack and changed. She held her mahogony 11" with a werewolf hair core wand softly in her hand and thought of how she could get out of this mess. "I can't just go anywhere. I'll get lost in this forest for sure," she mumbled to herself. "Maybe if I..." Celena trailed off her sentence straining her ears, trying to listed for the rustle in the bushes she had just heard. They rustled again and Celena stood into a fighting position faster than any natural human could. Although this could be because of the werewolf thing.

As she waited a strange looking man stepped carefully out of the dense trees. His hair was graying for sure but not quite grey yet. His robes were shabbier than that of a normal person, but his eyes held a kindness that not even Celena had ever experienced before. And scars covered almost every part of his body that she could see, which is only his face.

He took a step forward and Celena took a couple steps back, still with her wand held firm in her hand. He stepped back once more and opened his mouth to speak.

"Celena Neoma?" the man questioned her. Celena was surprised and slightly creeped out that this stranger knew her name. Her shocked face did not stop him from continuing. "Please forgive me for startling you, but Albus Dumbledore sent me to come retrieve you and take you back to the headquarters," he whispered this last part so softly, even Celena's wolf ears could barely pick up what he was saying. And still he continued with his former tone, "I do not know why on earth Albus would need me to get you, but you do look half starved and maybe it would be a good idea to get you to shelter. Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like Molly. But you won't get to meet her until we arrive at the-"

Celena had to cut him off mid-sentence for she was afraid he would never stop talking. "What?" She was quite confused but did seem to find this whole ordeal a little humorous. The man was startled that Celena finally spoke. He composed himself and spoke in a slightly less confusing way. "I apologize. My name is Remus Lupin and Albus Dumbledore has sent-"

Once again Celena had to interrupt. "Who?" "You mean you don't know who Albus Dumbledore is? How very odd," he pondered to himself quietly for a moment. "Anyway, we should get you to the Order before anybody finds you out here."

As much as Celena wanted to say "No you fool, I don't even know who you are", but she had to agree to shelter and food. Plus the kindness in his eyes was undeniable. "Ok."

He nodded his head and made a motion for her to follow him. She got her stuff and followed him through the trees and shrubs until they got to the edge of the forest. The sun shined so much more outside than inside the forest. But before Celena could have anymore time to contemplate what the feeling of being out was like, Remus had gotten a strong hold of her arm, which surprised her, and apparated himself and the girl next to him in front of a dreary number 11 and number 13 Grimauld Place. A stereo was playing in an above room in one house, and a pungent odor was making its way to the sensitive nose of Celena.

But wait a moment. "Where is 13?" Celena found herself questioning. Remus put a single finger to his lips in a quiet shushing movement. Before Celena could ask yet another question, a huge house started to squeeze itself between the two houses fitting itself perfectly in place as number 12 Grimauld Place as if its always been there.

Celena's look of bewilderment caused a smile to appear on Remus's face. He found this young girl interesting and was still trying to figure out why Albus would wan't Remus, of all people, to pick up this girl in the middle of the woods. He hoped to get answers as soon as they walked through the door, but with all the commotion in that house, he highly doubted it.

Quickly, Remus placed his hand on her back to hurry her along and reached out to ring the doorbell. Bad idea.

He had forgotten about the portrait of his best friend's mother in the hallway, and how she always screams and yells at the slightest of noise. He glanced at Celena who looked scared out of her wits and tried to put on the most peaceful face he could. That didn't help much.

Finally the rambunctious noise stopped, and a disheveled, handsome man tore open the door and gave the most evil glare that even the devil could coward away from. "Moony! What the hell were you thinking! Get in here and stay quiet!"

Remus, a.k.a. "Moony", quickly dragged the confused Celena into the house. The hallway that was just seconds before a loud hallway was now silent, but filled with a few more people than Celena had noticed before. The handsome, dark-haired man whispered something to Remus, and he whispered something back.

As Celena turned around to look at the house, the strangers in the room started to look her up and down. Evaluating her. These stares hardly went unnoticed by her, but she wasn't about to tell these obvious wizards and witches to stop looking at her. Who knows what they would do to her.

Remus then started to push her lightly down a set of stairs into what looked like a kitchen. There was a red-headed woman who was working profusely on cleaning the dishes, clearing the table, and preparing dinner. Wow. The wonders of magic.

She turned as she heard the two people enter and gasped at the state of the young girl. Celena hadn't noticed but she looked terrible. her long brown hair was a tangled mess of dirt. Her face and body had small cuts where trees had scratched her, and her clothes were none the worse for wear. The red-headed woman sat the young girl down at the long table and started to speak about her being way too thin and started making a pot of tea.

Remus spoke again, the first time since they were at the forest, "Celena, this is Mrs.Weasley. Molly, this is Celena Neoma. Albus asked me to bring her here. Do you have any clue as to why?" Molly was just as clued in as Remus was, and decided to just wait till Albus came by to explain what the hell was going on.

Just as the teapot began to whistle, an old man with a really long, white beard and half moon spectacles strided into the kitchen and stared at Celena with blue, kind, mystical eyes and then continued to stride towards her. He lifted his hand for a handshake and Celena reached to grab it and shake it. He had an unusually strong handshake for having such feeble looking hands. He smiled at her, blue eyes twinkling, and started to speak with a soft but strong voice.

"Good day Miss Neoma, I'm Albus Dumbledore. I'm glad you could make it."

Mrs.Weasley set teacups in front of Celena, Albus, and Remus and also set a plate of sandwiches in the middle of the table. Molly was just getting ready to leave until Albus stopped her.

"No Molly, I wish for you to stay. I'm afraid this explanation may take a while to explain and I am in need of both your's and Remus's help."

Molly sat down again as Albus got ready to begin the speech that would change Celena's life forever on.