When they reached the house, Magdalene made to enter; reaching for the door knob, but Sirius caught her hand and stopped her. She looked at him with raised eyebrows. He released her hand and knocked.
"Why can't you just walk in?" Magdalene asked.
"Well, first off, it's rude," Sirius said. Magdalene rolled her eyes. "Secondly, they need to make sure it's us."
"Make sure it's us?"
Sirius nodded. Before Magdalene could ask him to elaborate the noise of someone leaning against the door could be heard. The door knob started to turn, but didn't complete.
"Who is it?" asked a voice from the other side of the door. It was a female voice, sounding a bit anxious.
"Sirius Black," Sirius said to the door.
"If you're Sirius you know who I am and what sex my child is," she said.
"Lily Evans-Potter," Sirius said. "Your child is an unborn boy."
Lily tore open the door and looked at Sirius with wide eyes. Her eyes opened even wider, if that was possible, when they fell on Magdalene.
"Magdalene Markus!" Lily stammered stepping forward. She slapped Magdalene across the face, shocking Magdalene. Sirius stepped back with a low whistle. Magdalene shook her head and frowned. She was not expecting that.
"Guess I deserved that," she said.
"Damn right you did," said Lily as she pulled Magdalene into a warm hug. "Where have you been?"
"Around," Magdalene said causally.
She pulled away and looked her best friend up and down, smiling. She had missed Lily a great deal. The skinny woman she remembered still remained, but with a large circle expansion on her belly. Magdalene's eyes beamed at her best friend's green eyes. It was like no time had passed at all between them. Lily was still the same clever, advice-giving witch that Magdalene remembered.
"You're pregnant," Magdalene said stating the obvious. Lily laughed and nodded.
"Yep, Harry is due in three months."
"Harry? You've already named the child?" Magdalene asked with raised eyebrows.
"Uh huh," Lily said beaming. Her hands rested on her belly, rubbing it caringly as if to comfort her unborn child.
"Why don't we move inside," suggested Sirius.
"Of course," Lily said turning and entering the house. Sirius allowed Magdalene to enter before him, smiling at her as she passed. Magdalene bowed her head to him, then he followed the two women into the kitchen of the small country house. Sirius shut the door tightly.
"Are we expecting anyone else?" he asked.
"No, you're the last."
Sirius nodded once and tapped his wand against the door, saying silent spells in his head to keep the door locked for the night. Magdalene looked around the small kitchen they had entered. There was a small fireplace across from the door they had just entered, a table with four chairs around it in near the corner, and then a counter with a sink and cabinets. Magdalene followed Lily into the house, staying silent. Once pass the kitchen, they entered a small living room with sofas and armchairs, the fireplace from the kitchen doubled in the living room. To the right of the room was a small staircase going up to a loft. From where Magdalene stood in between the kitchen and living room she could see a bed up in the loft. Next to the staircase leading up to where Remus' bedroom appeared to be, there was a staircase that went downwards. Lily was descending it.
"Everything okay?" Sirius asked quietly. Magdalene nodded and looked at him with a force smile. "Remus doesn't have a job. He does the best he can."
"Oh no," Magdalene said quickly. "It's not that at all. Are you kidding? This place is nicer then mine. This is cozy and colorful. My home is a slightly larger house with four empty rooms. I only use my bedroom and kitchen, and even then I have a bed, a nightstand, dresser, kitchen table and two chairs. No. This is beautiful."
Sirius smiled and nodded. "Never struck me as a simple woman, Maggie."
"Really?" Magdalene inquired. "You thought I was complicated?"
Sirius laughed lightly and went down the stairs into the basement of the house. Magdalene followed, anxiety building up in her body. She tensed her back and shoulders with anticipation of what people would say when they saw her. At the bottom of the stairs she entered a large basement that looked twice the size of the top floor of the house. She looked around in great surprise. There was a large table on one side of the room with at least twenty chairs around it. On the other side were two couches, a small fireplace that was directly under the other fireplace of the house, and a wall made up of bookshelves. The shelves were crowded with books and photographs. One of the shelves had a bottle of fire whiskey on it and some glasses, right next to a stack of other leather bound books. Magdalene couldn't help but smile—it was very Remus.
"Magdalene!" voices erupted once she entered the basement. She smiled and looked at the crowd of people who had been gathered around the table, not all sitting, waiting for the meeting to start. Meeting for what exactly, Magdalene still wasn't sure.
James, Remus and Peter immediately came over to Magdalene to hug and greet her.
"I missed you all so much," she said with a smile. "It's so good to see all of you."
"Welcome to my home," Remus said hugging her tightly in his arms. Magdalene thought he had gotten taller, or leaner. He seemed healthy considering being a werewolf. She reminded herself that the full moon had not occurred yet that month, and in a matter of a week, Remus would be very ill. "Can I get you something to drink?"
"No, I'm fine, thank you."
"Come on," Sirius said. "I think Dumbledore wants the meeting to get started."
"Yes, thank you Sirius," said Albus Dumbledore who was sitting at the head of the long table. He looked the same as he had three years ago, with a long white beard and hair, half moon glasses on the tip of his very crooked nose and bright all knowing baby blue eyes. "Hello Miss Markus, it is good to see you well."
"You too, Head Master," she said as Remus pulled out a chair for her. She thanked him and took the seat. Remus sat down next to her and Lily on her other side. James, Peter and Sirius walked to the other side of the table where there were open seats. She watched as Sirius took off his leather coat, revealing his navy blue tee shirt and tattooed arms. Magdalene was surprised—in three years he managed to have two complete sleeve tattoos slapped on his arms. She smiled slightly, she liked them. They fit Sirius' dark, bad-ass, womanizing persona. She bit her bottom lip and looked around the rest of the room.
There were only ten or so more people in the room, they all looked pleasant. She recognized some from school like Frank Longbottom, and his long time girlfriend Alice. She assumed they were married now because Alice looked just as pregnant as Lily. There was a man sitting on the other side of the table who looked like a young version of Dumbledore, and then a man next to him with a magical blue eye rushing around in its socket.
"Thank you all for coming at such short notice," said Dumbledore. "I'd like to introduce Miss Magdalene Markus."
Magdalene waved her hand shyly. "As you all know," Dumbledore continued. "We have been looking for Magdalene for the last couple of months. I'm very pleased to see that Sirius managed to find her and that she agreed to join us this evening."
Magdalene smiled slightly. Dumbledore was a smart enough man to know that Magdalene didn't plan on staying longer then that night. By the next morning she would have relocated to another town, somewhere perhaps out of the country where no one could find her.
"Magdalene is the daughter of the notorious vampire Marius Markus," Dumbledore said. Magdalene wished he wouldn't tell her entire life story to the group at the table. "She destroyed her Father and Grandmother which resulted in the destruction of the vampiric slave trade in England, and has caused chaos to emerge in the vampire world for the last three years. Without knowing so, Magdalene has helped us against Voldemort. Our sources say that he planned to form an alliance with Ariana Donovan to help purify the wizarding race."
Magdalene was half surprised by this. She thought the only reason Ariana and Voldemort wouldn't align their forces was because of the hatred for the other race that burned deep within each of them. She was surprised that Voldemort, who seemed to do most of his work based on hatred, would over come that to work with someone else. But then again, if Voldemort and Ariana had the same common enemy they could align to defeat that enemy and then separate to battle each other. While she was mulling over these thoughts, Magdalene wondered if all it were really true. Because despite what Dumbledore was saying, and the commonalities between her Grandmother and Voldemort, she wasn't sure she believed it. Ariana Donovan hated Magdalene for being a half breed; she had hated Elizabeth for being a witch, and for a short time hated Marius for impregnating Elizabeth. Magdalene didn't think Ariana could over come that hatred.
"Forgive me," Magdalene said softly, interrupting Dumbledore.
"Miss Markus?"
"What sources led you to believe that Ariana and Voldemort were going to form an alliance?"
"Sources that will remain nameless because they are deep under cover in Melanie Thompson's clan," Dumbledore said soundly. Magdalene bit her bottom lip and played with the diamond necklace that hung around her neck.
"You have a spy in Melanie's clan?" she was surprised. She didn't even think that was possible. They had to be a vampire, turned against the clan, because Melanie would know if there was a magical mortal in her presence; and obviously if they knew from Melanie the plans for Ariana and Voldemort to join forces then they had to be high in her trusted ranks.
"Have for the last year and a half," said Dumbledore.
"When you went missing," James said softly from across the table. "We suggested finding an alley in the vampire world to try and find you. Our alley turned into a spy for the Order after we couldn't find you."
Magdalene nodded her head very slowly. "You're sure you can trust them?"
"I trust them," Dumbledore said firmly. Magdalene frowned and leaned back in her chair.
"I'm sorry to have interrupted."
"Quite alright, Miss Markus," said Dumbledore. He proceeded to explain other interest the Order of the Phoenix had. Magdalene was listening intently because she was very unaware of what had been happening in the wizarding world. She had sense that something was wrong, but never investigated to find out what exactly. It appeared that the wizarding world was in complete chaos. Only the few that sat at the table could really be trusted. Every day new people were over taken by blackmail or the Unforgivable Curses. Magdalene was puzzled by everything that was going on because she had never experienced a war before. She had read about the feud between werewolves and vampires, but that was ancient history—here in her reality things seemed more frightening. People were dying. Remus had leaned over at one point during Dumbledore's discussion to say that the Order was dropping like flies. There were ten Death Eaters to every one Order member. The odds were against them. "We have people scouting the debris of the fight looking for their bodies, but unfortunately we have not had any luck locating either of them yet…" Dumbledore's voice trailed off sadly.
From what Magdalene heard, she understood the Order of the Phoenix to be a secret organization that was fighting against Voldemort, and not affiliated with the Ministry of Magic. She didn't fully understand why they weren't working with the Ministry, but perhaps it was matters of trust. If there was one thing Magdalene got from the discussion that evening at the Order's table, it was that no one outside the room could be trusted. Some even seemed uneasy about trusting Magdalene, which she understood quite well.
When the meeting ended, Magdalene remained sitting at the table, very unsure of what she was going to do next. Yes, she would have loved to stay with her friends in the magical world but there were many reasons why she shouldn't. Mainly, she couldn't just flip a switch and fit into their life like she had before. She was different now, three years did a lot to a person, and she wasn't sure if she could just go back to being a witch. She also wasn't sure how ready she was to fight against Voldemort. She had her own war raging with the entire vampire population of England. The last thing she needed to do was get involved in somebody else's war.
"Magdalene?" questioned a voice.
Magdalene blinked and looked at Dumbledore, who was standing at his bottom of the staircase. They were alone in the basement, either everyone had left and Dumbledore returned to speak with her, or he had waited for everyone to leave. Magdalene stood up and turned to the old man, frowning slightly.
"Dumbledore," she said softly. "How are you?"
"I am well, considering," he sighed softly. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her very seriously. "How are you?"
"Very well," Magdalene said. "Considering."
Dumbledore beamed and nodded his head. "You had us all very worried for sometime."
"Sirius said you went to Palazzo del Te?"
"I told you I would," Dumbledore said motioning for Magdalene to sit down again. They both took the closest seats at the table, facing each other. "I hadn't heard from you or Demetrius, and when Miss Potter came to me with concerns, I agreed that something was not right. I saw the library, Magdalene. I saw the pile of ash…what happened?"
"I did not go back with the intent to kill her," Magdalene said breathlessly. Dumbledore's eyes smiled at her. He knew that much. She bit her bottom lip and looked down as she played with the diamond necklace around her neck. "She killed Demetrius."
Dumbledore nodded, not seeming surprised, but looking sad just the same.
"She meant to stab me, but he jumped in front of her. Took a stake right through the heart," Magdalene said sadly. She held the diamond up high enough for Dumbledore to see it. "I made his ashes into this."
"It honors him," Dumbledore whispered.
"Ariana bit me," Magdalene continued. "She…changed me…I killed her in my rage when I woke from the ritual sleep. If she had given me more blood when she woke me I probably wouldn't have killed her. The change…it makes you crazy. You're hungry for blood—any blood—but my rage consumed me. Demetrius was dead and she had changed me. As if his death didn't hurt enough she had to do that. Some days I wish she had killed me. I wish I could have saved him…"
"Magdalene," Dumbledore said taking her hand and squeezing it. "What Demetrius did, he did out of love. He would not want you to spend the rest of your life hiding, wishing Ariana Donovan had killed you when she had the chance."
Magdalene smiled slightly. He was right. Dumbledore was always right.
"Dumbledore," she sighed. "I can't stay here."
"I didn't expect you to," Dumbledore said. "But I hope you realize that your friends here love you also, and they would not tolerate you leaving because you thinking you're putting them in danger."
"I'm afraid they'll end up the same way Demetrius did," she sighed. "They don't understand that you can't fight vampires the same way you fight Death Eaters. Vampires are practically immune to magic. Just tonight, Sirius tried stunning Janson and it had no effect!"
"Then prepare them for that," he said wisely. "They will not forgive you for protecting them as if they were less then you."
This made Magdalene frown. She didn't mean to insinuate that her friends were less then her. She just was afraid they'd try and save her like Demetrius did and would end up dead. She didn't want that. She didn't want any of her friends to risk their lives for her. She was the one who was less then them. Deep in her heart she felt that she didn't deserve them because she was a vampire—a dangerous monster.
"I'll leave you with those thoughts," Dumbledore said standing up. Magdalene stood up after him and he smiled frankly at her. "And Magdalene, you should remember your connection to Sirius. You may think that it is insignificant, but Sirius is a much stronger man now because of it. He is very strong with his mental powers and has developed a keen understanding for how to use them, even on others." Magdalene nodded her head slowly, not saying anything. She was surprised that Sirius had mastered his mental powers, something that very few mortals could do. Perhaps because Sirius was a wizard, magic already flowing in his veins, it was easier for him to develop the physical vampiric power of telepathy. "Magdalene, if I may, how long have you lived in that abandoned house in the city?"
This question brought a deep frown to Magdalene's lips. Her eyes also flashed for a moment, until she remembered herself. "How did you know of that?"
Albus Dumbledore smiled. "Sirius found it seven months ago. He just wasn't sure how you knock on your door after all that time."
Magdalene raised her eyebrows with surprise and nodded her head, acknowledging Dumbledore's response. She didn't say anything though, and he seemed to accept that. He bid her goodnight and left the basement. Magdalene stood for a few moments looking around it. Perhaps she couldn't run away—not from Sirius anyways. She had been living in that house for eight months. He had found her within one.