CHAPTER-II
CRASH!
"Tonks!"
"I am okay; I am okay, not to worr...arrrgh…stupid umbrella stand"
"FILTHY HALF BREEDS, CREATURE OF DARK, HOW DARE YOU SET FOOT IN THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK…"
"SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU OLD HAG…" The girl, named Tonks, shouted at the top of her lungs.
Sirius & Remus rushed to the drawing room, wand at the ready.
"SHUT UP MOTHER!" and with that Sirius & Remus forcefully shut the curtain of the valiant & violent portrait of Walburga Black, his charming mother. Sirius panted a little & before he could see the visitors, he was attacked by a very excited mass of bright pink hairball & a girl underneath it.
"It is nice to see you Siri" the girl exclaimed, as she flung her arms around Sirius's neck, managed to trod on a Dark man's foot in the process, who yelped in pain & toppled on the ground taking his beloved cousin with her, squeezing the life out of him in a tight, almost chocking embrace.
It took a couple of moments for Sirius to register her action & then he too returned the embrace with equal force & laughed out loud.
"Nice to see you too Nymphie." Sirius said after pulling back & ruffled his baby cousin's hair affectionately.
"Call me Tonks, will ya?" Tonks stated irritably to him as they both got up & then looked at him up and down, "You look like shit." She declared.
Sirius threw his head back in laughter.
"Haven't changed much, have you? Since I last saw you? How old were you then? Oh yeah four right?"
Tonks made a face.
"No, for your information I was SIX, not four."
Sirius continued laughing, "Yeah, that sets your maturity level, a whole two year higher, than I thought."
Tonks narrowed her eyes and about to open her mouth, when she was pulled into a warm & bear hug from Sirius.
"Missed you…" Sirius murmured against her hair kissing the top of her head and pulled back grinning. Tonks grinned too.
"Nice to see you again Black, Lupin." A deep voice talked from behind Tonks.
"Kingsley!" Sirius greeted.
"Long time no see" Remus stated pleasantly.
Tonks however turned to face Remus.
"Lupin?"
Remus inwardly cringed, after the hateful outburst from a Black about his condition; he was not sure about this one. Although, technically she was a Tonks, but was born by a Black nonetheless. He stiffened a bit.
"You are MOONEY!" Tonks said excitedly "I remember you, you came with Sirius to our home once. You are the voice of reason among them and a bookworm AAND a prefect and smart and boring…" she said this all in one breath & flung her arms to his neck too.
To say that Remus was shocked is most definitely an understatement. He was so bewildered that he forgot to return the embrace for a whole minute. Then as it clicked he embraced her lightly & pulled back saying, "And a werewolf." He gazed fixedly at the floor & waiting for the usual outburst or at least a hateful "OH".
"Yeah, I know, that's why you are Mooney." Tonks piped up. "I am not that dumb you know." And she visibly pouted.
Remus's head snapped up in surprise & astonishment. "You know?"
"Duhhh!" was Tonks's reply.
Remus smiled a true smile at her.
"You don't remember me. Do you?" Tonks continued in a slight hurt voice.
Remus was overwhelmed that she actually cared whether he remembered her or not.
Remus's smile grew & he answered "I do remember you bubblegum head."
Tonk's face lit up immediately, yes, that was her nickname to him.
"So, can I get a proper hug?" Tonks raised her eyebrows.
Remus chuckled. "Come here."
And he pulled her into a gentle & warm embrace but got a chocking hug in return. It felt different, but in a nice way, Remus thought.
Sirius was watching the whole exchange silently with a smile on his face & his smile grew as he noticed a faint blush, creeping slowly on Tonks's cheek, while she was hugging Remus. Her hair went the brightest shade of pink. Sirius thought 'FINALLY SOMEONE' and mentally high fived himself.
Kingsley already moved to kitchen to meet Dumbledore. Sirius followed the suit and a second later Tonks & Remus too.
Whoosh!
The fireplace in the kitchen roared into life & Weasleys stepped out one by one from it.
"Ah, Welcome to order Molly and Arthur." Dumbledore smiled pleasantly at them.
"Welcome young Weasleys" He added to the rest of the Weasleys, which included Fred, George, Ron & Ginny. All of them smiled & nodded at him & then turned to look at the house.
"Charming place professor" George said.
"Absolutely classic." Fred added.
Molly threw a stern glare at the twins who were sniggering, but Dumbledore chuckled. Trust these young men to lighten the mood anytime, anywhere, Dumbledore thought amusingly, a great gift indeed.
Sirius entered the kitchen at this precise moment.
"SIRIUS BLACK" Molly shrieked.
Immediately Sirius found himself at the wandpoint of almost all the Weasleys, except Ron, who reacted immediately & ran between Sirius & his own family.
"NO. MOM, DAD. It's not what you are thinking. He is innocent. He is alright. He didn't betray…"
"UNCONFUND MY SON BLACK" Arthur Weasley roared. "NOW."
Remus rushed passes Sirius & elbowed him unintentionally & stood protectively in front of him.
"Arthur, Molly, Fred, George, Ginny Ron is right. Sirius is innocent."
Everybody turned to face Dumbledore as he spoke calmly.
"Please lower your wands. Let me explain…" and the whole story was fed to the Weasleys then. Ron however threw an apologetic glance over Sirius for not telling his family about his innocence beforehand, but Sirius smiled at him reassuringly.
After knowing the truth, the Weasleys, except Ron apologized to Sirius profusely. Molly shooed the young Weasleys to upstairs before the meeting started. Sirius showed them his room, as by that time, that was the only room suited for human habitation apart from ground floor.
"Not a word to anybody, what you saw in that room." Sirius added in a low voice to them. They nodded & disappeared upstairs.
Sirius turned around, only to find Remus standing there with an amused smile on his face "Bikini babes? Still now?"
"Permanent Sticking charm, you wanker." Sirius shot back.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yet to get rid of your colourful tongue I see."
Sirius rolled his eyes in reply.
"Oh, you have grown up Sirius, Finally. At least you learn to roll your eyes, where you used to prefer to throw random rude hand gestures, a certain improvement I must say." Remus said in a straight face.
Sirius glared at him. Then they both burst into laughter.
"Well, had to restrain myself from now on, I have a Godson now, who happen to follow in my footsteps." Sirius stated.
"Please remind me to thank Harry when he arrives, he is such a good influence on you." Remus laughed.
"Stuff it Lupin." And this time Sirius did shoot the famous rude hand gesture to him.
"Oh losing the touch already, I see." Remus laughed and Sirius joined.
Slowly, all the members of the order arrived starting from Minerva McGonagall to Mundungus Fletcher & lastly Severus Snape.
Sirius glared hatefully at Snape, but Snape took no notice & gracefully walked to his seat.
"Snobbish prat." Sirius muttered.
"Don't start." Remus murmured tiredly.
Dumbledore cleared his voice & the kitchen fell silent.
"Ladies & gentlemen, we all know why we all are gathered here today. Voldemort is back and we are reforming the Order of phoenix in order to bring the downfall of the dark wizard. This time however we have several new members in the Order. So to our old member welcome back & to our new members welcome to the Orders Weasleys, Tonks, Fletcher & Black."
"But Sirius was in the previous order." Kingsley exclaimed.
"Oh I don't deny it Kingsley."
"You said, welcome to the Orders Weasleys, Fletcher, Tonks & Black."
"Yes I did."Dumbledore smiled at their confused expressions.
"May I present you Miss Selena Walburga Black, the newest and youngest member of the order of phoenix." Dumbledore gestured at Selena, who was sitting stiffly.
"She is not a Hogwarts student, but completed her education from the Drumstrang. She is 18 and a very skillful witch, undergoing auror training program in the Irish ministry of Magic."
"Drumstrang, but it is known for producing dark witches and wizards and it shows a great amount of leniency to the matter of teaching dark arts to its student. They actually teach them those and…"
"And yet, it is Hogwarts that produced the darkest wizard of the century, Voldemort." Several people shuddered at the mention of the name. Noticing this, Selena added "Or should I say he, who must not be named or you know who?" Selena finished with a smirk & looked challengingly at Kingsley. Kingsley, who was interrupted rudely by her, just stared at her, astonished at her arrogance & the rightness of her point.
Snape threw her a calculating glance. Not many people shut Kingsley up so effectively.
"Mind that attitude of yours girl." Moody growled.
"Or what?" Selena shot back.
"Really wanna see or what?" Moody threatened.
Selena was about to open her mouth to retort but felt a pressure in her left hand. Surprised, she looked at her left side. A pink haired girl, sitting beside her murmured in low voice, "He can turn nasty you know. Let it go."
Selena was surprised. From the sincerity of her voice, she got the fact that she meant well for her. This is something utterly new to her. She just stared at her and missed the smirk Moody sent at her direction. But Selena however dropped it.
"I am Tonks by the way." Tonks muttered in a low tone & stretched out her hand grinning.
Selena shook it hesitantly.
"I am Black."
"Yeah I heard, not deaf you know, Black." Tonks rolled her eyes.
"Call me Selena…if you wish." Selena murmured awkwardly.
"Selena it is then." Tonks grinned brightly.
"I hate to interrupt your little social conversation Miss Tonks, Miss Black. But we are here to protect the world, not for some chit chatting." Professor McGonagall's stern voice rang through the kitchen.
Selena scowled at McGonagall but Tonks said brightly to her.
"Oh Com'n Minnie, cut her some slack, you know, it is important to save the world, but it is important for all of us to stick together and THAT is not possible without friendship and the first step of friendship is small talk. Isn't it Albus?" Tonks turned to Dumbledore for support.
"Indeed! Miss Tonks." Dumbledore said with a bright twinkle in his eyes.
"So, technically I am on my first step to save the world." Tonks finished brightly.
McGonagall's face was a sight. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, as she turned her gaze to the headmaster.
"Don't encourage her Albus. She is the reason, I have more gray hairs than I should have and don't call me by that horrible nickname." At this she turned to Tonks, only to catch her giving thumbs up to Sirius.
"Thank you Sirius to pass her that only bit of wisdom of yours." McGonagall added acidly to him.
Sirius bowed. "My pleasure Minnie."
McGonagall made a disapproving face. That set almost everybody in the kitchen into a laughing fit. Even Remus, Snape & Selena's mouth twitched in amusement.
