A/N: Better late than never... Sorry for the long wait, guys. Hopefully I'll do better with the next one.

Dedication: To anyone who's still around to enjoy this story.

Disclaimer: None of JK's settings and characters are mine (sadly). My original characters on the other hand... ;)

Thirty-Four: Into The Fire*

The landing in Grimmauld Place turned out to be rougher than expected. It was a bumpy ride on the Floo Network to begin with, and Mary had trouble slowing down as she was reaching her final destination. When she had made it to Grimmauld Place, she came down too fast and was literally rocketed out of the ancient fireplace. She clumsily fell against her trunk, which had arrived a few minutes before her, made an awkward turn and finally landed hard on the wooden floor, right on top of her wrist. There was a snapping sound, followed by a sharp pain and Mary gasped in agony: she had broken her wrist. On top of that, there was absolutely no one in sight. Mary was all alone in that relatively dust-free but dark study room of Grimmauld Place, which Mary assumed had belonged to Sirius's father one day.

This was not quite the arrival she had been expecting.

She carefully tried to sit up and cringed when she gingerly studied her wrist. Groaning, she bit her lip to brace herself and reach for her wand to mend the bone. An orange glowing light slowly sank into her lower arm, making the pain disappear almost instantly. Mary heaved a relieved sigh and finally got to her feet.

Then, she stopped, wondering once again how out of place this situation was. She had expected a line of people waiting for her arrival, all expecting to see her arrive in London. Sirius and the children knew at what time she would arrive in England, didn't they? But oddly enough, there was absolutely no one around.

Realizing she was no longer staying at an hidden ranch in Brazil but had landed in the British wizarding world where Voldemort and the Death Eaters were once again at large, she gripped her wand a little firmer and started to inspect the dark room more thoroughly.

The outdated wallpaper had come of the walls in the corner and the painting of an old, proud-looking wizard was no longer on the wall but put down on the floor instead. There were two doors; a small one next to the fireplace, which could only be opened from the other side. There was an porcelain vase lining the wall right in front of it, which was a rather unusual sight to place a fragile object. Someone heading in from the other side was bound to knock it over sooner or later. The other door was at the opposite end of the room. When Mary peered through the doorway, she looked into the deserted and elongated hallway leading to the heavy front door. She recognized it from when Sirius had brought her here back in the day to meet his mother; an ill-fated visit which had made Sirius turn his back on his family fore good. It was deadly quiet here, too; still no indication of any people living in this house.

Even though there was no sign of struggle, Mary was starting to feel a little worried. Where was everyone? What if the Death Eaters had burst inside right before she got here and killed everyone present? She carefully edged towards the window and glanced outside at the street below. It was the first time she was looking at an English street in years, and her eyes quickly found a middle-aged Muggle couple. They were dressed in brightly coloured coats – coats, in the middle of August(!). Mary looked up at the sky, which appeared damp and grey, justifying the couple's choice to wear those coats. Good old England, she found herself thinking surly.

Before she could have made peace with the absence of any sunshine, drops of rain started to fall onto the dusty window. You have got to be kidding me. Mary sighed, by now strongly considering to head – wand at the ready, of course – down that eerie-looking hallway all by herself after all, when the door next to the fireplace suddenly swung open.

CLONK.

A young woman in black robes with short spiky hair in a particular violent shade of violet was walking through the door and tripped over the vase. It landed on the floor with a crash and was shattered into a hundred pieces.

"Crap, not again!" There was laughter coming from behind the door. "I'll... I'm repairing that!" she called as the door was swinging shut and the noise disappeared just as soon as it had come. The woman, not yet noticing Mary standing by the window, kneeled down while muttering to herself about things like this and why they were always happening to her.

Then, as she reached for her wand to mend the vase, her eyes fell on the trunk in the middle of the room and she finally looked up. "Oh," she said taken aback when her eyes – Mary noticed they were dark but twinkling – had found the only other person in the room. "Wha-Mary?"

Mary, still with a firm grip on her wand, realized she was just being recognized by someone she did not know at all. But on the other hand, someone must have told her she was coming today. "Er... yes. Hi," she replied after clearing her throat. "Where's ev-?"

"-Oh my Godric," the woman said excitedly, getting to her knees and walking over to Mary while simultaneously shouting "Sirius! Sirius!" in the general direction of the door. "It's lovely to see you," she grinned before arching both her dark eyebrows in a confused manner. "Though... You're quite early."

"No, I'm not," Mary replied wearily while frantically racking her brains if she should know the over-energetic person standing in front of her. "Dumbledore and Roberto created the temporary connection and I left at the exact scheduled time. It' should be around six o'clock here. Is that correct?"

"Well yeah. But you were supposed to be here at seven."

"What?"

"That's what they told us."

"Well, they were obviously wrong."

The woman chuckled, made a pffff-sound and waved her hand in a "who cares, anyway"-manner. "Ah well, you're here and alive and well now. How was the journey?"

"Hang on, I have to ask. I'm sorry, but who are you?"

She laughed and did not appear insulted at all. "Oh, fancy that! Of course I don't blame you for not remembering me, Mary. After all, you only met me once and that was years ago at a dinner party over at my parents house. The one cousin Sirius could stand, I might add." When Mary's eyebrows were knitting together thoughtfully, she added meaningfully: "The one who married a Muggle..."

Something in Mary's head finally clicked. "Nymphadora?"

The bright woman pulled a face and wrinkled her nose. "I prefer to go by Tonks now."

Mary laughed. "Fair enough. Merlin, how you've grown! I haven't seen you since you were about, what, seven years old? Goodness, you're making me realize how old I am."

"And yet you look like you haven't aged a day. I only know you from Remus's old photographs at Hogwarts, go figure!"

Mary shot Tonks a grateful smile, who grinned back and suddenly, without taking a single breath, babbled: "Believe me, I am so glad you're finally here. It will be great to have another woman around. I mean, there's always Molly, I suppose - who by the way will be making an ah-mazing stew for dinner tonight - but she can sometimes act a little bit too much... motherly. I already have one nosy mum and although Molly's intentions are good, I feel she is taking certain things a step too far, you know? Now, I've already discussed this with Remus, but he says I should just take it easy and I try to every day, I really do, but then-"

"Easy there, Tonks. Are you trying to suffocate her?"

Both Tonks and Mary looked back at the other door. Sirius was leaning against the door post with his arms crossed, grinning at the pair of them with a twinkle in his eyes. Mary felt a familiar rush of happiness run through her when she saw him standing there like that and for a second, she could swear her heart fluttered in a cartoonish type of way.

But when she looked him up and down more closely, she noticed he had lost practically all the weight he managed to put on in Brazil. His hair was still long, but at least it now looked like it had been combed not too long ago (Erin's influence, perhaps?). But his face definitely was looking more gaunt than the last time she had seen him in real life. She met his gaze steady on for the first time and shook her head, unable to hide a smile. "I leave you alone for one second..."

Sirius, apparently knowing exactly what she was talking about, seemed unfazed by her stare. "I suppose that's what living off rats does to a person."

He was waggling his eyebrows in a teasing manner and she rolled her eyes, as to which he merely opened his arms wide. Mary did not know how fast to cross the room and jump straight into that embrace she had missed so much. Sirius hugged her back just as fiercely. He was breathing in the scent of her hair and giving her tiny kisses all over her head. "Godric," he muttered in her hair, "it feels good to have you in my arms again."

"I missed you," Mary said as she broke free from his embrace, but only to lean up and give him a long kiss.

"Now that's what I call a welcoming gift," he grinned when they finally broke apart, making her laugh. Sirius tenderly flicked a lock of hair behind her left ear. "Welcome home."

Mary shot another estimating look around the room. "Who'd have thought you would ever call this place home?"

"Not me, obviously. This place and the people living here have made my youth a living hell. But I must say... With everyone chipping in to clean things up, it's slowly turning into a real house."

"As much of a home as it will ever be?" she asked while slightly raising her eyebrows.

"No, like an actual home," he replied seriously and she felt touched by his sincerity. "And... I understand part of you still wants nothing to do with this, but I'll do anything to make sure that one day, this house will become your true home, too."

Mary smiled, having forgotten all about the other woman in the room until a sudden loud crashing sound interrupted their intimate little talk. It was Tonks, who had tried to magically lift and transport Mary's trunk, but accidentally knocked over the vase she had repaired only moments before in the process. "Bugger."

There was a brief moment of silence before Sirius burst out laughing. "You know, for an accomplished Auror you really are quite clumsy."

"Yeah, drives Mad-Eye nuts at least once every shift. But honestly," Tonks said. "I don't know what happened while levitating this little trunk. This thing was a lot heavier than I anticipated-"

"-I can imagine that," Mary explained dryly. "That thing is is filled with about a life's worth of stuff."

"Mary couldn't even pack light if she tried," Sirius chimed in.

"Also, you should probably know I'm absolutely hopeless at throwing things out."

Tonks laughed. "Gotcha. Well, I'll just take this thing up to Sirius's room then."

"Oh, let me help you with that," Mary offered while pointing her wand at the trunk."

"No need," Tonks replied airily. "I need to go upstairs anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Also," she added with a grin, "this way you guys can have some more privacy before dinner."

Mary felt a blush creep up her cheeks fast – Had they been acting too affectionate with each other in front of her? – but Sirius merely let out another of his characteristic bark-like laughs. "Oh make no mistake, I'll make sure we have all the privacy we need tonight."

She turned back at him and jokily punched his shoulder. "Don't push it, you," she replied softly before looking at Tonks. "Thanks! This way I can go meet up with Erin and Oliver. Where are those kids anyway?"

"In the kitchen, helping Molly to prepare dinner," Sirius said, taking her hand. "Come on, I'll take you there. See ya, Tonks."

"Bye," the short-haired woman said before once again pointing her wand at Mary's trunk, this time levitating it steadily.

Sirius was taking Mary through the dark corridor and she assumed they had to take a little detour. "Why is it only possible to open the door to the kitchen from the other side?"

He shrugged. "Beats me. It has been this way as long as I can remember. My father used to say the house had a mind of its own, but I'd put my Galleons on my dear mother. That paranoid bat saw danger in every unguarded corner."

"Hmmm. Sirius?"

"What?"

"Why weren't you guys waiting for my arrival? I was all by myself and for a moment I thought... I feared-"

She looked at him meaningfully and he frowned. "Something might have happened?"

Mary was biting her lip. "This is London and with the return of Voldemort and all... I just-"

"Love," Sirius said earnestly, "Grimmauld Place is a safe haven. Nothing will happen to us while we're here. It even has its own Secret-Keeper!"

"Who?"

"Dumbledore."

"Oh."

"Doesn't that make you feel much better?"

"I guess so," Mary said, feeling somewhat reassured by Dumbledore being involved in this.

"I obviously learned my lesson in the past," he added, arching his eyebrows meaningfully. She tried to figure out if he was messing with her head, and he rolled his eyes. "See, I'm trying here. Cracking jokes and all."

"I'm sure Lily and James would appreciate it."

He smiled wryly and tugged her hand. "Come on."

As they were crossing the long corridor, the dark atmosphere continued to make Mary feel like an uninvited guest. "What about Erin and Oliver. Have they... gotten used to living in this place?"

"They feel right at home. Why wouldn't they?" Sirius sounded rather surprised.

Mary wondered if she should point out that no matter how much they would tidy the house, most people would still think Grimmauld Place was a dark, damp and downright unwelcome place, easily matching the deepest dungeons at Hogwarts. However, when she detected a sense of happiness on Sirius's face, she decided against it. She shot him a smile. "I'm glad."

"Besides, the Weasleys have been great. Ron and the twins are looking after Oliver and Erin and Ginny seem to have become friends already."

"So.. They did not miss having their mum around, not even a little bit?"

"Er... They haven't discussed it with me, but hey, I bet they're dying to tell you everything they've done so far."

They were passing the infamous Black Family tapestry on the wall and Mary paused for a moment, searching for the familiar burned hole where Sirius's name had been once. She noticed there were now three golden lines attached to it. One line to the side where, she assumed, her own name would be should they have been married back in the day. And two lines down that led to two familiar names, printed in that characteristically golden and fair embroidered font: Erin Dawn Black, 1981- and Oliver Remus Black, 1982-. Mary realized that although she had changed their last names in Brazil, this did not have any effect on the Black family heritage here in England. She carefully touched Oliver's name. "This all makes it so... official. The Black family line continues in him and Erin." She paused. "Funny thing is, your remaining relatives don't even know they exist."

"Yet. But I can think of one person who wasn't spared the truth. I like to imagine she tumbled over from shock and suffered a heavy stroke before she would have had the chance to blast their names off her precious tapestry."

Sirius was joking, but Mary still recognized the bitter note underneath the sarcasm. In the past she had found it hard to deal with his stubborn bitterness towards his mother and even attempted to reconcile them, but ever since meeting the cold and extraordinary sly Walburga Black in person, she could understand his attitude a lot better. "Don't you think your mother could have found at least some consoling in the fact that her family line did not become extinct?"

"Come off it, Mare, you've had the "honour" of meeting the Banshee yourself. My mother would rather have died a thousand deaths than see her precious bloodline become polluted with Muggle-born blood."

"But-"

"She would haunt us till eternity and you know it. Actually, in a way... the old hag is doing just that." Before Mary could ask what he meant, he added: "Let's head to the kitchen. I'm starving."

After Sirius and Mary reached the end of the corridor and went round the corner, they headed down a couple of stairs and then finally entered the basement kitchen. This room appeared somewhat less gloomy than the hall and corridors situated above. There were no windows here; most of the light was coming from a large fire at the other end of the room. There were several pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. A long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, with several chairs placed around it. One man with red hair and glasses was dipping his quill in ink and continuing to fill out some parchment forms. A ginger-haired boy was showing Oliver and Erin a magazine article on the Chudley Cannons. Contrary to her brother, Erin seemed bored out of her wits and repeatedly exchanged meaningful looks with one of the girls sitting to her right, whose hair was the fieriest of red.

"Look who decided to come by early!" Sirius announced.

Everyone at the table looked round at the same time. "Mum!" Erin and Oliver called while jumping up almost simultaneously, but they both seemed indecisive on what to do next. Mary felt no such hesitance and hurried over their side of the table to envelope them in the biggest hug she could muster. "I missed you guys! Tell me, have you been good?"

"Of course," Erin said.

"Did you guys miss me too?" Mary asked before kissing Erin's forehead first and Oliver's curly hair next, who looked embarrassed and tried to back out desperately. "Muhum..." he said while trying to avoid the older boy's eyes, who seemed amused by what was happening.

Mary laughed, decided against keeping her children hostage any longer and released them from her tight embrace. "I'm just glad we're all here."

"Sure, so are we," Erin said. "How come you're here this early?"

"I'm not. I arrived right on schedule."

"You were supposed to come around seven," Oliver chimed in.

Mary looked up at Sirius. "Who told you I would be here at seven o'clock?"

"Er... Dung, I suppose," he replied.

She frowned. "Dung?"

"Mundungus Fletcher," he elaborated. He's also an Order member, told us Dumbledore told him you would get here around seven."

"Seems Dung wasn't paying attention when he passed the message," the ginger-haired boy grinned matter-of-factly.

"So it would seem," Mary said, shaking her head but unable to hide a smile. It was a rather funny story now that everything turned out to be alright and no one was attacked by the Death Eaters. "What's your name?"

"Ron. Ron Weasley," the boy said while politely standing up to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you, Miss Woods."

"It's nice to meet you too, Ron. However, I insist you call me Mary from now on. And you must be..." she said, turning to the two girls sitting next to Erin.

"I am Hermione Granger," the girl with a bushy brown hairdo said kindly.

"My name's Ginny," the red-haired girl added. "Erin told us a lot about you."

"Really? Mostly good things, I hope."

Erin rolled her eyes in exasperation and the other two girls laughed. The older man had come over to shake her hand. "Arthur Weasley. Welcome back."

Mary shook his hand and smiled. She had a strong feeling she had met this man before, but she could not quite place him. It had not been a happy event, she knew that, but the times back then were very dark, so it could have been anywhere, really. Perhaps this man had once been a patient of hers at St. Mungo's? She was just contemplating if it would be appropriate to bring up the subject in front of the others when they were interrupted by a woman walking into the kitchen, followed by a pair of identical looking boys – twins, probably – hot on her heels. They were carrying a set of cauldrons as well as a bunch of wooden spoons and mats. "Now, Fred, George, must I remind you, there will be no apparating or any magical activities in this house tonight!" the middle-aged woman, who was heavyset but had a very kind face, was saying curtly. "You may be allowed to use magic all the time, but I won't have you use it for every little-"

The woman stopped talking abruptly when she spotted Mary standing among the others. "Oh my goodness, you're early!"

"A small misunderstanding, darling," Arthur explained. "The exact time of arrival seems to have been mixed up."

"But we had all prepared this really nice..." After a subtle warning glance from Arthur, the woman coughed and changed the subject. "Oh well, there's no use crying over spilled beans, I suppose!"

She quickly made her way over to their end of the table and pulled Mary in a hug. "It's so wonderful to see you, Mary. Godric, you haven't changed one bit. You look exactly like when I last saw you."

Luckily, at that very moment something clicked in Mary's mind and she remembered where she had seen this woman and her husband before: Gideon and Fabian Prewett's funeral, where the woman had given her Fabian's birthday present. "It's great to see you too... Molly," she said, recalling the woman's name just in time. "I like what you are doing to this place, making it more... liveable and all."

"We're doing what we can, although with this kind of family history you cannot prevent it'll always stay a little..." Molly's voice died away when her eyes found Sirius, who had crossed his arms and seemed to be following their conversation attentively. Mary sensed they had gotten on each other's nerves more than once. "... intimidating," Molly concluded after another pause.

Her statement was followed by an even more uncomfortable silence. Right when Ron wondered aloud how a house could possibly intimidate people, Molly cleared her throat. "Anyway! Mary, I assume you've already talked to everyone at the table. Now please meet my other sons Fred and George. Merlin, is that the time already? We should start preparing dinner. Ginny, Erin, Hermione, can you girls come cut some vegetables?"

The girls obediently rose from their seats and followed Molly to the sink, who was just saying: "Fred, George, you can leave those spoons and mats here."

One of the twin brothers stepped up to Mary and managed to shake hands while balancing the objects in his arms. "One thing," he said merrily, "I'm Fred, not George. He is."

"She can never tell us apart," the boy called George added. "We think it's funny," he grinned before following his brother and dumping his stuff onto the sink.

Mary repeatedly offered to help in the kitchen, but Molly insisted on treating her like a guest tonight, so she joined the others at the table and sat down next to Sirius. He explained not everyone would be around for dinner, but that there would be an Order meeting later that night. Dumbledore, Hagrid, an Auror called Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus would join them in a few hours. Mary was especially looking forward to see Remus; she had not talked to her friend since 1981. Apart from those letters he and Jonathan wrote each other back in the eighties, she had no idea how he was doing these days. Tonks came bolting down the stairs a short while later and sat down next to George, where she entertained the Weasley brothers and Oliver by magically changing the colour of her hair from violet to bright green, a blackish blue and back to purple again.

"She must be an extremely powerful witch to perform wandless magic like that," Mary told Sirius.

"Something like that," he grinned while refilling her goblet with fresh pumpkin juice. "Tonks is a Metamorphmagus. She can change her looks by will."

"Wow..."

"It used to be even more fun when she was younger and spontaneously grew antlers on a regular basis. It took Andromeda quite some time and patience to make her daughter control her talent."

"Still," she said after sipping her wonderfully cool drink, "that's just cool."

"I agree."

They sat there for another half an hour before the stew Tonks had been raving about earlier was ready to be served, and Mary enjoyed watching Oliver and Erin interact with their new friends. They seemed to feel right at home, reassuring her she had made the right decision by bringing them here. And the fact that her family had once again been reunited was making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Everything about tonight seemed nice and quiet; Voldemort and the war seemed miles away, and although there was an Order meeting to attend later tonight and Mary knew things would probably get worse in the future, she preferred to momentarily deceive herself and hope everything would stay exactly the same.

After dinner – Tonks had been right, Molly's stew was simply delicious – Mary insisted on helping Molly clean the mess in the kitchen. They had another cup of tea with the children, who were animatedly telling Erin and Oliver famous tales about Hogwarts in turns. Afterwards, Molly unrelentingly sent all of them upstairs, stating the upcoming Order meeting was no place for children. Mary found she did not even have to tell Erin or Oliver they were also not allowed to stay, because they were already obediently following the Weasleys upstairs. She shot a look at Sirius, who shrugged moodily. Mary got the feeling he would not have sent his children to bed if they asked, but apparently when it came to being at Order meetings or not, whatever Molly wanted, happened.

There was a sudden cracking sound coming from the hallway. "Ah," Mr Weasley said while checking his watch, "that must be Remus."

Mary looked up in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Eight thirty. Right on time as usual."

She felt a sudden rush of excitement go through her. She was about to meet up with one of her oldest and dearest friends. This night was getting better and better. Failing to notice the look of alarm on Sirius's face, Mary jumped up from her seat and headed for the stairs.

"Mary, wait!" Sirius called after her. "You should probably know that-"

But Mary was already running into the hallway and had not heard him. When she saw her old friend standing there by the front door wiping the dust from his pants, her heart literally skipping a beat. His hair had turned greyish over the years and his robes were rather shabby-looking, but Mary would still recognize him anywhere. "Remus, you're here!" she called happily.

Remus hardly had the time to process who had been calling his name, because at about the same time he turned back, Mary had already reached him and was flying straight into his arms. "I cannot believe this is happening! It's you. Oh, it's really you!"

She was still embracing him fiercely, but calmed down somewhat when she realized Remus was not hugging her in return. Her friend was just standing there and did nothing, his arms hanging limply at his sides. In fact, he also had not said a word since she had run up to him and slowly, an unsettling feeling started to come over her. She could not explain why, but Remus did not seem to be glad or relieved to see her alive and well. Mary took a step backwards so she was no longer awkwardly hugging Remus and could look him in the eye.

A second later, she wished she hadn't. Remus's brown eyes, normally kind and warm, were staring at her with a coldness that would have given Sirius's fierce glares a run for his money any time. "Hello Mary."

His voice was as distant as his stare. Mary hesitantly took a another step back, resisting the urge to run away. She was desperately trying to figure out what was going on and wondered if she should say anything else or wait for him to speak first. "I... um..."

There were fast approaching footsteps echoing on the marble floor behind them and Mary gratefully turned back to see who had come to interrupt them. Sirius was hurrying over to him. "Ah, I see you already found each other," he was saying in an unnaturally merry voice. "Great. Lovely. Wonderful." He clapped his hands while grinning like a maniac. "Let's head back to the kitchen and share a Firewhiskey or two, shall we? I'm sure you two have got lots to talk about."

Mary blinked in confusion. What was he going on about? She cautiously dared to shoot a glance at Remus and found he was now glaring angrily at Sirius. "Sirius," Mary started but could not finish her sentence because she was being interrupted by Remus. "what in Merlin's name-"

"-Have you not said anything about how I feel?"

********** End of Update **********

* Song from the title: Into The Fire by Thirteen Senses.