Well, this was a pretty prompt update. Two days? That's my normal.
So, thank you to The souless ones, Daizychains123, sarahmichellegellarfan1, MarineAstriella, HT118, BellatrixD, Blueberrytoast, and Charlyxx.
Well, Harry returns (hence the chapter name) and HE WANTS ANSWERS!
Basically, this is where we start to get in the Order of the Phoenix storyline.
So review! Thank you in advance.
"Memories, they seem to show up so quick but they leave you far too soon." - High Hopes by Kodaline
Chapter 37: Harry Returns
"I hate my name." Selene said conversationally, picking at the loose threads on her jumper, which bore a large red 'F'.
Fred and George looked up from the Extendable Ear that they had been trying to use to listen in to the meeting in the kitchen. "No, you don't." George corrected. "It's unusual sure, but not stupid."
"Yes, but Selene. I'd rather have a name like Jane, or Andrea, or Lea." Selene elaborated, sitting down with a grimace.. "But of course my mother had to fit in with the family tradition of naming everyone after outer-space stuff."
"Selene is an awesome name." Fred insisted.
"You're just saying that because it's in the job description." Selene pointed out, using his own words against him.
"Ooh, burn!" George grinned. "Gives me an idea for a joke product, actually."
"What is the job description anyway?" Fred asked Selene, moving to sit next to her. "Right, okay, number 1: Boyfriend must have red hair. Number 2: Boyfriend must be a handsome devil."
"Number 3: Boyfriend must be egoistical, annoying and idiotic." Cut in Selene, shaking her head at him. "I really don't understand you sometimes Fred."
Fred continued. "Number 4: Boyfriend must be kind, able charm the pants off you, and awesome. Number 5: Boyfriend must be a great kisser."
"So far Freddie darling, you fit number 1 and 3" Selene sighed. "Leave me alone and it might stretch to all of them."
"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"
The yells cut through the conversation, sending Selene bolt upright and Fred almost fell off the bed. George almost dropped the ear.
"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"
"Is that-" George began, but he was quickly cut off again.
"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR-"
"Har-" George attempted to continue.
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DROVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"
"Harry." George finally finished, but he was unable to say any more.
"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A RIGHT LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER-"
Selene exhaled, avoiding looking at either George or Fred. "Oh no, Harry…" She said quietly, feeling immensely guilty. "We should have at least sent him some kind of information, it must have been horrid for him."
The shouting seemed to have stopped, for now at least. George looked at the Extendable Ear he had been working on with slight trepidation, as if he half-expected Harry to begin shouting again. "Well." He said, after a few moments had passed. "We're all together now."
No more shouting came from the floor below, but Fred, George and Selene were reluctant to restart their earlier conversation, which could be viewed as a good or bad thing depending on how you looked at it.
They had been sitting in silence for quite some time when Fred stood up. "I think we need to pay them a visit, brother and girlfriend of mine."
George nodded, standing up and passed Fred the Ear. "Keep that on you mate, don't want Mum finding it."
"Shouldn't we walk downstairs?" Selene followed Fred and George to the centre of the hall. "Just this once. Harry isn't… used to you two apparating everywhere yet."
"Nah, it'll be fine." Fred waved a hand unconvincingly. "Harry won't mind, not after…" He trailed off here, looking at George.
"Not after he's been shut up with his Muggles." George finished for Fred, nodding at his twin. "Oh, come on Cheesecake darling, it'll be a right laugh."
Selene sighed and rolled her eyes, begrudgingly nodding at George. "Okay then, but if he has a heart-attack I refuse to cover for you."
"…drawing room tomo- ARRGH!" Hermione screamed as Fred, George and Selene materialised out of thin air in the middle of the room. "Stop doing that!" She said weakly.
"Hello Harry." George said, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."
"And when he says dulcet, he means that you weren't putting on a falsetto." Selene added, smiling at Harry and sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out." Fred continued, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away that didn't hear you."
"You three passed your Apparation tests then?" asked Harry grumpily.
"With distinction." Fred explained.
"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs." Ron said.
"Time is Galleons, little brother." Fred shook his head, holding up the Extendable Ear. "Anyway Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears." He added, in response to Harry's raised eyebrows. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs.
"You want to be careful." Said Ron, looking dubiously at the Ear. "If Mum sees one of them again…"
"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having."
The door opened, and a long mane of red hair appeared. "Oh, hello Harry." Ginny said brightly. "I thought I heard your voice." She turned to Fred and George and added, "It's a no-go with the Extendables, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."
"How'd you know?" George asked her, crestfallen.
"Tonks told me how to find out." Ginny said simply. "Just flick something at the door, and if it bounces away, then there's no way the Ears will be able to get under the gap."
Fred heaved a deep sigh. "Counter –enchantment?" He asked Selene, who shook her head. "Dammit, I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."
"Snape's here?" Harry perked up considerably.
"Yeah." George said carefully, before closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds, Ginny following and Fred sitting next to Selene on the floor. "Giving a report, top secret."
"Git." Fred added idly.
Hermione looked at him reprovingly. "He's on our side now."
Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."
"Bill and Charlie don't like him either." Ginny said, like this settled the matter.
"Are Bill and Charlie? I thought Bill was working in Egypt, and Charlie was back with his Dragons in Romania." Harry pointed out.
"Charlie got a bit of time off and decided to come back to England for a week or so." Fred began. "And Bill applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order. He says he missed the tombs, but there are compensations."
"What do you mean?"
Selene groaned, it always fell to her to talk about her grumpy quarter-Veela friend. "Fleur's got a job in Gringotts to improve her English."
"Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons." Fred sniggered, earning an elbow in the side from Selene. "Oi, watch it woman!"
"And Charlie's in the Order too, and when he is in Romania he makes contacts on his days off." George added.
Harry looked around at the group in faint surprise. "Couldn't Percy do that?" He asked.
They all exchanged darkly significant looks. "Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad." Ron told Harry in a tense voice.
"Every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying." Fred explained darkly, and Selene rested her head on his shoulder. "Had a huge row with Dad just after 'Lene came. I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that, Mum's the one who shouts."
"We were about to come and join the Order." Ron began. "Percy got a promotion, under-thingy of Fudge or similar. Dumbledore's name is mud with Fudge and the Ministry nowadays, so Dad wasn't happy. Percy left, you got dragged into it Harry and… there we have it."
"You're in almost every Daily Prophet now Harry." Hermione said dubiously. "Just… little mentions, nothing serious."
From the look on Harry's face, he was just as upset about this as the Weasleys, Hermione and Selene already were. "But well, the Prophet publishes bad stuff about everyone." Hermione added quickly. "Dumbledore, you…"
There was a sound of footsteps on the stairs and Fred and George disappeared with a crack. Mrs Weasley poked her head around the door, smiling around at the people that were gathered in the room. "The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to meet you Harry. Ginny, did you leave all of those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"
"No." Ginny said, convincingly. "That was Crookshanks, crazy cat loves playing with them."
"Oh, I thought it might have been Kreacher again." Mrs Weasley shook her head. "He keeps doing odd things like that. What have you been doing, your hands are filthy! Go and wash them before dinner please."
Ginny grimaced at the others and followed her mother out of the room, leaving Harry alone with Ron, Hermione and Selene. "Who's Kreacher?" Harry asked them.
"The house-elf that lives here." Ron muttered. "Nutter. Worships Selene, of course."
Harry turned to Selene, questioning in his eyes. "Well, I'm family." Selene explained, not really confident with the subject. "And Kreacher might listen to me, but he hates me anyway."
George and Fred shared a look for a split-second, before taking out their wands.
"What are you about to do?" Selene looked up from where she was supervising the stew as it simmered quietly in its cauldron. "Fred, George, what are you about to do?"
"Nothing dear!" Fred said brightly, as Mr Weasley often did to Mrs Weasley. "Nothing to worry about."
"Locomotor stew." George waved his wand at the stew and it began to hover in the air, Selene scooting backwards from it in surprise. "That worked better than I expected. All that extra studying for our OWLs paid off, I guess."
Doing the same to the breadboard and a flagon of Butterbeer, Fred grinned at Selene. "You can't say we're lazy."
"Uh…" Selene blinked at the quietly floating stew, Butterbeer and breadboard. "Yes I can. You are both incredibly lazy, it'd take approximately ten seconds longer to walk with the food. Everyone knows by now that you two are of age, you don't need to keep drawing attention to it."
"Harry hasn't had the pleasure of the full spectacle." George said, in a tone that made her inwardly groan. "Come on Forge! Lets show the littlies how it's done!"
The twins disappeared from view, and Selene cautiously began to follow them, keeping a safe distance at all times (George's concentration tended to waver).
"Fred-George-NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs Weasley shrieked, and Selene abandoned all cautiousness to run around the corner, arriving just in time to see the bread knife lodge itself in the table where Sirius's hand had been a second before, before colliding with Fred's back and pushing all three of them down onto the floor, taking the now empty flagon of Butterbeer with them.
"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Screamed Mrs Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED – I"VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS – JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON"T NEED TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred called, from where he was sandwiched between Selene and George. "Sorry Sirius, mate – didn't mean to-"
Harry and Sirius began to laugh, the latter giving Selene a hand up as she finally got to her feet. Mundungus, who had evidently been talking with them, had toppled backwards off his chair and was now swearing furiously.
"Boys." Mr Weasley said firmly, placing the stew in its rightful place. "Your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age."
"No one else caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs Weasley raged, slamming a fresh flagon of Butterbeer onto the table, spilling just as much as the twins had before. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Selene doesn't almost kill people with flying knives! Percy-"
She stopped, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband.
"Let's eat." Charlie said quickly, Bill nodding briskly.
For a few minutes there was silence, apart from the scraping of chairs and chink of plates and cutlery. Then Mrs Weasley turned to Sirius.
"I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, that old Boggart we found hasn't gone away. It's still trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room. Could we get Alastor to check it out?"
"Whatever you like." Sirius said indifferently, as Selene froze across the table. As much as she insisted to the contrary, she was extremely embarrassed that she wasn't able to face her Boggart, and liked to pretend that the incident never happened.
Tonks caught her wariness and grinned at her cousin, screwing up her face in intense concentration, turning her nose into an impression of Snape in a an effort to get her spirits up. Selene managed a little smile, which put Tonks off the subject for now.
Hermione and Ginny were watching Tonks fixatedly, requesting their favourite noses like patrons in a restaurant. "Ooh, can you do your duck face one?" Hermione asked her politely, and Tonks obliged.
If Selene had looked up at that moment, she would have seen Harry watching her intently, like he knew that something had gone on while he had been with his aunt and uncle but wasn't quite sure what. But when she finally did lift her gaze, Harry was listening to Ron, Fred and George's conversation with Mundungus.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked Selene unexpectedly, who jumped, almost dropping her fork on the stone floor.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Selene nodded, looking anywhere but at Hermione's face. "What about you?"
Hermione launched into a detailed explanation about just why the Ministry could not expel Harry, that Selene stopped listening to after a while. She unceremoniously caught Harry's gaze across the table, flashing a swift smile in his direction before turning back to her bushy-haired friend.
"Nearly time for bed, I think." Mrs Weasley said, with a yawn.
"Not just yet, Molly." Said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing that you would do when you got here was ask questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed with astonishing rapidity, Selene becoming fully aware of all the conversation going on around her for the first time since Mrs Weasley mentioned the drawing room Boggart.
"I did!" Harry said indignantly. "I asked Hermione and Ron but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so-"
"And they're quite right." Mrs Weasley cut in. "You're too young."
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order to ask questions?" Sirius pointed out. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen-"
"Hey, hang on!" Interrupted George loudly.
"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" Said Fred angrily.
"We've been trying to get information out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single bloody thing!" George complained.
"Harry's not even of age!"
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing." Sirius said calmly. "That's your parent's decision. Harry, on the other hand-"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Mrs Weasley said sharply. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly." Said Sirius. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back, he has more right than most to-"
"No one's denying what he's done!" Said Mrs Weasley, her voice rising and her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still-"
"He's not a child!" Sirius added impatiently.
"He's not an adult either!" Mrs Weasley said, the colour rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"
"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks Molly." Said Sirius coldly.
"I'm not-"
"Molly." Lupin cut in calmly. "Personally, I think it better that Harry gets the facts – not all the facts Molly, but the general picture – from us, rather than a garbled version from… others."
His expression was mild, but Selene could tell that he knew that Fred and George still had a numerous amount of Extendable Ears at their disposal. She stifled a smile, instead forcing a suitably enquiring look onto her face.
"Dumbledore may have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart-"
"He's not your son." Sirius said quietly.
"He's as good as Si-"
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry." Lupin cut in sharply. "Sirius, sit down. I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this." Lupin continued. "He's old enough to decide for himself."
"I want to know what's been going on." Harry said instantly. He didn't look at Mrs Weasley.
"Very well." Said Mrs Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny – Ron – Hermione – Selene – Fred – George – I want you out of this kitchen right now."
There was an instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" Shouted Ron.
Sirius's voice cut above all the others. "Molly, I want Selene to stay too. She deserves this just as much as Harry does, and as her cousin I think I have the right to decide for her."
"Sirius, just because she's seen more than maybe even Harry does not mean that Selene is ready too!" Mrs Weasley hissed. "She might be of age, but you of all people should know why we shouldn't let her know!"
Standing up again, Sirius raised his voice. "She's a legal adult, and again you are not her mother!"
"I…" Mrs Weasley took a deep breath. "All right then. Fred and George can stay, I guess Ron and Hermione can too, but Ginny – BED!"
Ginny didn't go quietly, Selene could hear her raging and storming up the stairs. Sirius gave her a look that loosely translated as 'I-risked-Mrs-Weasley's-wrath-for-you-don't-mess-it-up', before dampening the effect slightly by grinning at his little cousin manically. "Okay, Harry… What do you want to know?' Sirius asked.
"Selene…" Someone was shaking her gently. "You'd better get up right now."
Shaking away her still dream-filled thoughts, Selene cracked open her eyes. "Yes, Ginny, I'm awake." She yawned, staggering upright. "Just… didn't get much sleep, that's all."
Hermione shot her a sympathetic look. "Me too." She revealed. "I was so worried about what Sirius said about the weapon that Voldemort was trying to get hold of. I shouldn't be but…"
"You are." Ginny completed the sentence. "But come on, Mum's found a nest of dead Puffskeins under the sofa and there are way more Doxys than she initially believed. If we don't turn up to help soon she'll blow her nut."
Just as Fred had predicted the previous night, Hermione and Selene had provided Ginny with a step-by-step explanation of the discussion, aided by Selene's ability to perform magic outside of school (the silencing charm). Ginny had been just about as worried as both of the older girls, although it didn't seem like she had lost sleep over it.
"Selene, can I talk to you for a moment?" Harry asked her, just after Ron had left his and Harry's room.
"Yeah, sure Harry." Selene ducked inside the room, breathing a sigh of relief when Harry closed the door behind them. "What's the problem?"
Harry shifted from foot to foot gingerly, trying to avoid the subject but at the same time address it before he chickened out. "Last night, Mrs Weasley said that you'd seen more than maybe even me. What did she mean by that?"
This question had been bound to come up sometime, the only thing that shocked Selene was the quickness of the query. "Well, as you know my father is a Death Eater." She shuddered, not bothering to put it in the past tense. "My aunt and uncle were also Death Eaters too. You can't grow up in that sort of environment without seeing things."
"If it's too-" Harry began.
Selene shook her head. "As you said last night, you deserve to know. Knowledge brings power, so it's understandable that after being shut up with those Muggles that you want to know what's going on."
"Do you know more about what's been going on?" Harry asked eagerly.
"No, but I know things that will prove helpful to the Order if they need it." Selene explained cryptically. "I made it out of my engagement, but I'm still a Malfoy Harry. There's more than one reason Father didn't want me to go to the Weasleys, and one of those reasons is because I know too much. They wanted me for the Death Eaters Harry, and from what I heard Voldemort was willing to take me in without a second glance. You screwed Voldemort's plans up Harry, I screwed my father's up. I know what he's done, who he's killed, what he'll do this time around. Did you ever wonder why I acted like I did at the Quidditch World Cup?"
"Are you joining the Order then, as soon as you leave school?" Harry said calmly, but he didn't look happy at what Selene had just told him.
"Fred won't like it, but yes I'm planning to." Selene exhaled, hanging on for a shelf for support as the world began to swim around her. "Just… give me a… second…"
The world stopped swimming after a few seconds, and Selene raised her eyes to meet Harry's. "Professor Dumbledore was doing what was best for you at the time Harry. If you knew any more in such an environment then you would have been an open target. You're safe at the Dursleys Harry, more so than here. But the more you knew the more you were at risk. Dumbledore couldn't risk it."
"How do you know this?" Harry' voice was filled with both surprise and concern. "No one else had told me that, not Ron, not Hermione, not Mrs Weasley, not even Sirius. They all think that Dumbledore was being deliberately mistrustful of me."
Selene pointed one finger at herself. "Ravenclaw." She said simply. "I notice things, I know things. No one else realised because no one else looked for it."
A bluebird among the robins – the only Ravenclaw in a house full of Gryffindors. Hermione was close, but even the smartest witch of her age could become blinded when among people that all believed the same thing, even if it was deep down.
"You're smarter than Hermione!" Harry smiled. "No wonder she likes you so much then, you're the only person who can beat her in anything!"
Selene laughed, shaking her head again. "No, she's much, much smarter than I am. I just know where to look for things. It's no big deal."
"Selene!"
Selene looked up from where she was trying to move a vicious hand-eating box into a big black bin bag. Sirius was waving at her from the other side of the room, gesturing to the large tapestry behind him with one hand. Passing the bag to Ginny quickly, Selene moved over to where he and Harry were standing.
As she neared, she could read the gold inscription on the very top of the tapestry:
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
'Toujours pur'
"Family tree." Sirius explained, looking up at it in distaste. "Thought you two might like to see it."
Selene traced the words with one finger. "I'm on here somewhere then, aren't I?"
Sirius nodded, and Harry leaned in towards the tapestry too. "Look, there's where I was." He pointed to a large black burn mark on the tapestry. "I got blasted off when I ran away when I was sixteen. Went to your Dad's place Harry, lived there in the summer holidays then got a place of my own when I turned seventeen. Got a bit of gold off my Uncle Alphard – he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why."
"Why did you leave?" Harry asked, and Selene looked at her cousin as well.
Sirius smiled bitterly and ran his fingers through his long, unkempt hair. "Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal…" He trailed off momentarily, his gaze drifting to Selene slightly. "My idiot brother, soft enough to believe them… that's him."
He jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name 'Regulus Black'. Selene shivered involuntarily, and she knew Sirius had at least one eye on her. Of course he knew.
Sirius and Harry continued their conversation, but Selene just stared at the name 'Regulus Black', memories flying past her rapidly. She felt nausea hit her again, and wrenched her mind away from that point determinedly. She was not going to succumb to it this time.
"Hey, there you are!" Harry pointed to where a double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black to Lucius Malfoy, and then two single vertical gold lines from their names that led to the name Selene first, then the name Draco.
"Wish I wasn't on there." Selene muttered, shaking her head.
Sirius chuckled. "Might come in handy one day cuz. You never know. I doubt it though. You know, just give me a second." He scanned the tapestry up and down a few times, before nodding and pointing to another burn mark. "Cedrella Black, my great aunt. Arthur's mother."
Harry did a double take. "You're related to the Weasleys too?" He asked.
"Arthur's my second cousin once removed." Sirius explained. "The pure-blood families are all interrelated. If you want your kids to marry a pure-blood, the choices are quite limited; there are hardly any of us left."
"Lestrange…" Harry said aloud, and Selene blinked, concentrating on keeping her mind in the present.
"They're in Azkaban." Sirius said shortly. "Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch junior. Rodolphus's brother Rabastan was with them too."
Fighting the urge to vomit, Selene closed her eyes and took a few, deep breaths. Her aunt was in Azkaban, far away. She couldn't get to her. She could feel Harry looking at both her and Sirius in distaste, like having a relative that did such despicable things meant that they were despicable too.
"You never said she was-"
"Does it matter if she was my cousin?" Sirius snapped. "As far as I am concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban."
"She might be my aunt." Selene gasped, trying to get oxygen to her mind. "And she might also be my godmother, but I haven't seen her since I was ten. I now everything that she's done, and do you think I'd choose her if I could choose my family?"
"Sorry." Harry said quickly. "I didn't mean…"
"It's fine." Selene insisted. "You can't choose your family."
Harry and Sirius continued talking, and Selene walked out of the room. She had to get out of there before the memories consumed her. The nausea and headaches hadn't improved in the slightest, and Selene didn't want people knowing about that. If she couldn't help herself then who could?
After all, she was completely alone in this.
Well, that was… actually quite fun to write.
Hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.
Eleanor xxx