3

A couple hours later when lunch was being served Mad-Eye came back into the room. He was alone. The room sighed.

"Is she okay?" Lupin asked delicately.

Moody nodded, "She sure can cry a lot. Could barely understand what she was saying. I found her in the sitting room with the tapestry of the black family tree." he explained. "Poor thing was completely distraught."

"Where is she now?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Sleeping. I imagine when she wakes she will be hungry though. She is so thin, she looks sick."

"Well she has three broken ribs. I think we should take her to St. Mungo's to be treated for them. They can fix what ever else is wrong with her."

McGonagall came in. She sighed and sat down. "The minister wants to know who will be taking care of the girl. Who will take responsibility for her?" She sounded stressed and pushed to her limits.

Everyone remained quiet. No one knew if they really should take care of Voldemort's daughter or not.

"Well, if no one will volunteer then we will decide as a group. Molly you can't take her. You have enough children in your house with out having to worry about her as well. Lupin, you and Tonks are still newlyweds so you won't have her. Moody...Well Moody you just shouldn't have a child in your care. I can't have one because I'd never be home to care for her." She sighed. " Bill and Fleur are still newlyweds as well."

"We can take her if we need to." Bill said. "Fleur won't mind, but we're not home much. We are usually working."

"Then Tonks and I will take her. I can't work and Tonks will be working for the ministry this year as a guard." Lupin explained, "So we can take the girl."

"Remus...You don't work?" McGonagall asked. "Can't. No one will hire a werewolf."

"Oh, that, yes...You can work at Hogwarts then. That way you can be near the girl and Tonks can still work."

Lupin smiled. "All right. Then it's settled. Unless you don't want to take care of her Tonks." he added as a side note.

Tonks smiled. "It will be great. We can raise her like she was our own child. Or at least for he most part."

McGonagall smiled. "Its settled then. Lupin and Tonks will take her. She will go to Hogwarts for school. And when summer comes she will be seventeen and then she can go on her own or stay. Hopefully stay a bit longer."

The door opened slightly and Pegasus entered the room. She hadn't slept long or very well. Her eyes were back to normal and not red like they had been when Moody left her.

"Did I interrupt something?" She asked when the room stopped and looked at her.

"No, we were just discussing you and who should take care of you." Lupin explained.

"Oh I can take care of myself. I don't want to impose on any of you."

"Well, we were thinking Tonks and I could take care of you. I'll be working at Hogwarts this year anyway. The ministry is saying you need someone to watch over you. And we don't doubt that you can take care of yourself." He smiled.

"Oh well if I have to have a guardian and you two are willing to do it. It doesn't leave much room to argue. I would be delighted to have you two take care of me"

Tonks smiled. "You don't have to be so polite about it. We all either have or are a kid and know that kids don't willingly talk that way."

"Father said I should always act my best no matter who is in the room and no matter how they act. It shows that I'm a lady and am civilized, at least that's what he always told me." she said innocently.

The room said nothing when she talked of her father. It was still new to them that he could have been caring enough to raise a child as good as Pegasus was; and as innocent as well. They all thought that any child of Voldemort's would be evil and do the things their father did. Pegasus didn't though. She was good. She had shown she could be nice, caring, and civilized.

"Wait. Um...If she is to go to Hogwarts then will she still use her last name? Won't people know? Even if Voldemort is dead we don't want to scare them right?" He asked.

He didn't want to sound mean about it but he didn't want the girl to be scaring people. She obviously didn't want to either.

"That's right. If people know my last name they might think I'm like my father and that I would do all those bad things and I don't want to scare people like that. It wouldn't be right." She said sounding almost urgent.

McGonagall smiled, "That's the good part. Most people don't know him by Tom Riddle. They only know him by the name he chose when he decided to become evil."

Pegasus smiled too, "So that means people won't know from my last name who my father is. So I can keep my last name, right?"

"Exactly. You can still use Riddle." Lupin interjected.

Pegasus smiled. "Wonderful, but...If you are to become my guardians wouldn't I take your last name?"

"Nope. Just like Harry keeps Potter as his last name but his aunt and uncle take care of him."

"Oh. I see," she smiled, "That's wonderful. Thank you for your hospitality. All of you thank you so much."

They all smiled back at her. They were all glad that she was happy with the decision. Then lunch was served up. A large plate was set in front of Pegasus. She had looked so weak and thin. Like Harry had when they first met him. They all had felt sorry for her. Kingsley had felt the worst.

He had tried to save her from seeing her father die but had failed. He felt so horrible no one had seen him after they had brought the girl to the house. He had turned quickly and left without a word, but everyone had seen the tears in his eyes when he had gently held the delicate girl.

Pegasus, who stood about 5'8", had just draped over his arms like a sheet. She had been so pale and was so thin everyone could have sworn she was dead if it wasn't for the gentle rise and fall of her chest showing she was still breathing. Everyone seemed to have gone into the memory for they all shook their heads trying to come back to reality. Pegasus sat there confused.

"Is something wrong? Did I say something?" Everyone smiled at the way she had automatically jumped to it being her fault.

"No, we were just remembering is all. It seems all of us were." Lupin explained, "Sorry to scare you like that."

Then everyone started talking as they ate. The talk was light and happy. People were laughing and joking which was a good change of pace from the normal hushed strained feeling everyone usually had. Lupin sighed happily watching the interactions. Pegasus was talking happily with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. He knew that those three would protect Pegasus.

He looked around and saw Mad-Eye watching Pegasus intently. He knew what was going through the other man's head and sighed again. He knew Moody was thinking about Allora. He had like Allora and ended up the reason she is dead now. He knew Moody felt bad for it, but there had been no way to stop it from happening. She had just jumped up suddenly.

Moody had cried out too late. Lupin kept his attention moving. He sighed. Sirius would have liked to see the end of the war. They all missed Sirius, but Harry and him seemed to miss him the most. Lupin forced his attention back to the room. This was not time to be thinking of death. They all should be celebrating. He stood up.

"I think in order to celebrate what has happened in these past few hours we should go out." He said over the din in the room.

"I second that idea. It will do us all good to go out and have fun." Mrs. Weasley said. Everyone did a cheer showing that they would like that.

Lupin smiled. "Then its settled. What shall we do?"

"Let either Harry or Pegasus decide. Harry is the hero and Pegasus is new to the group." Fred offered.

Lupin nodded when the rest of the room seemed to agree. "All right then. Harry, Pegasus, what do you two want to do for fun? What do you usually do for fun?"

Pegasus blushed at being addressed and waited for Harry to go first. They all realized that the girl was not use to such attention and quickly shifted their gaze to Harry, who seemed to have a bit more hold on it.

"Um...Well Muggles usually go to an arcade or dance club for fun." He himself never really managing to go out and have fun. They turned to Pegasus. "Um...Well...I," She stammered, "I've never left the house other than to go hide at the Malfoy's."

She looked helpless and the room took pity on her.

"Where is one of these arcades, Harry?" Lupin interjected quickly feeling the girl's embarrassment.

"There are some in London. But you need Muggle money to play the games." Harry explained.

"Um...Well I have plenty of gold that can be transferred into Muggle money if that's possible." Pegasus said.

She wanted to be of some help.

"Oh no, we couldn't ask for you to put up your money." Mr. Weasley said.

"Oh, but I want to." She insisted.

She was stubborn and that was evident. Not wanting to fight her he nodded and quieted back down. They all watched. None of them wanted to upset the girl and were trying to refrain from doing so as much as possible. So far they had been successful. She blushed,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude or anything."

"Itâ's ok." Lupin smiled. "No harm done." She nodded.

She still felt bad for saying what she had said. The room picked up with its normal activities.

"Calm down everyone. We need to figure out what time we will be going." Lupin said over the noise.

"How about we go this evening? After dinner perhaps?" George suggested

"Yes, that way if we go then we will just be thought to be crazy muggles if we slip up." Harry said quickly.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded. They all nodded and laughed. They knew he was right. No one would believe they were normal muggles. Pegasus watched them all interact. They were amazing how no matter what seemed to happen they just continued on in with their lives.

She knew these people had seen death and lots of it. She knew some of them had even killed her father's men. Yet they all seemed to just carry on like it never happened. She concentrated on eating. She didn't want to ruin whatever the room had going on in it.

They had already lost so much and then brought her into their home with no apparent heed what so ever. Lupin watched her as she seemed to slow down as if hurt or awed. Either of which were understandable at the moment. She had lost her father, never knew her mother, and was surrounded by quite a bit of new people.

He noticed how she ate quickly and quietly seeming as if she wanted to end the meal as soon as she could. He watched the way she moved as if she were unsure of everything and everyone, including herself.

"Do you need some clothes?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Pegasus looked up.

"Oh...I guess I will if all my clothes were left at my house when it burned down."

"Unfortunately they were. We can get you some new ones though. It won't be that hard." Lupin said with a soft smile.

"Oh thank you. I need to repay you all for this. I mean my father killed your friends and yet you still take me in."

"That's because we know that no child is just like their parents. Plus your mother was a good woman." Molly said.

"Yeah these people are very accepting of different people. I mean they all took me in right away." Harry said.

"I'm sorry; I'm just not use to such kind treatment. Usually at home I was left alone with only Dante to keep me company. I'm so use to being alone that this is all new to me."

"Well, we hope you can get use to it" Molly said reassuringly.

Pegasus smiled a little. "I hope I can as well. I'm sure I will be able to though."

Molly nodded. "You are a strong girl. It wouldn't surprise me if you woke up tomorrow already use to what's going on around here dear."

Pegasus blushed a little. "That's very kind of you to say ma'am."

"Oh don't call me ma'am. That sounds too formal." She smiled and walked off leaving Pegasus to wonder what to call her then.

Pegasus was use to using ma'am and sir. She didn't know what else to call anyone; except her father. She always called him father though. She looked around at all the new faces. This was going to take more than one night to get use to. This was a dramatic change. She turned back to her food.

Her head was starting to hurt. She wasn't sure if she should go with them this evening after everyone ate. She had never interacted with muggles and wasn't sure she would be in the best of conditions to do so now. Lupin leaned over as if reading her mind

"You don't have to come with us tonight. You should probably rest. You've had a full day."

She nodded. "Thank you. Rest would be much appreciated. I'm sorry if I ruin any plans or hurt anyone in the process."

Lupin smiled. "Nonsense. You're a free person you can do as you choose. And everyone will understand that you need rest more than you need to go out with a bunch of muggles."

"I've never even talked to a muggle before. I've never had the chance to interact with one so perhaps I should come."

"There will be other chances to interact with muggles. Trust me plenty will come soon. And really for me all they are is a big headache. They don't know about us you see and can't know so we have to act like them. It's a big headache and can get really confusing."

She nodded "Well thank you. I think I will stay here and rest while the rest of you go out."

"Well someone will stay behind just in case. Usually someone does. You know to watch over the house and in case you need anyone."

She nodded again. "Of course. I understand perfectly."

He smiled. "I think I'll stay as a matter of fact. You know I've had a hard day as well and I don't much like muggles."

She smiled back. "I would appreciate your company."

"You don't always have to be so proper in your speaking. Talk like a teenager. I think you were earlier."

She blushed a little. She then realized how she had been talking. She blushed more.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize..."

He smiled. "It's ok. Just relax."

She nodded. "I'll try."

The rest of the room was a buzz with talking and laughter and plans. Pegasus quickly ate and stood to leave. The adults watched her go. Moody stood as well.

"I'll show you to where you can get washed up." His voice left no room for question or protest.

She nodded. "Thank you." She disappeared from the room with Moody close behind.

"Mum?" Ron looked at Molly.

"Yes Ron?"

"Why is he following her like that?"

"He is just worried about her."

The whole truth was that Moody had liked Allora. He had even loved her. It nearly killed him when he watched her die. He had been heart broke when they found out that Allora was marrying another man.

After Allora had left no option for him is when he started getting funny and weird like he is now. Ron nodded as did the rest of the kids.

The adults knew, and keep it from the children seemed best right now. These should be happy times. The great evil was dead and the greater good prevailed. They all realized that even if good had won.

People hurt from evil falling. They also realized that there might be some value to keeping some evil around. Perhaps if even Voldemort could produce a daughter with such a kind heart, just perhaps he wasn't so evil after all.

These thoughts were racing through everyone's head and quickly. Everyone came to the same conclusion; Voldemort had been crazy after Allora died. Up until her death he had been fine and was just being evil.

After Allora died he lost it and took out his rage on them. Now all they had to do was wait to see what would happen. Harry would most likely be made out to be a huge hero and the girl would be ridiculed and soon forgotten but when she was remembered she would be hurt.