AN:All thanks to Katherine my beta.
The night before the full moon Mia looked down at the sleek grey wolf panting softly before her. She laughed and transformed into a tiger. "You did it! You did it!" She pounced on Remus and he darted out of the way, a playful look on his wolf face. He jumped at her with a yip and they chased each other around the cellar for a moment.
Sirius came downstairs, a disapproving look making his face. "Now what am I going to do with the two of you? Oh, I know!" He turned into a big black shaggy dog and joined their game.
Finally, Mia ran up the cellar stairs and out the back door into the small wood behind the house, the two men chased, and they had fun running about for an hour. Afterwards Remus transformed back and forth between wolf and man three times before passing out on the couch, a big smile on his face.
Sirius chuckled. "Little tyke, gone and tired himself out." He levitated his friend and started for the stairs.
"Dad?"
Sirius stopped and turned.
Mia hesitated. "Do you think it will work?"
"I guess we will have to see tomorrow night." He looked back to his friend. "He already looks better though."
Mia was the night before the full moon and Remus didn't look pale and sickly like he normally would. Instead his face was pink from running around, and the bags under his eyes were the smallest Mia had ever seen them. Mia quietly hoped it would work, and she hadn't just gotten up her godfather's hope for nothing.
The next morning Tonks, Gabe and Alec came over for breakfast. Mia made crepes, and the mood was jovial and excited.
There was a sound from the fire in the next room, and a light voice spoke "knock, knock".
Mia looked at Gabe. "Is that Dumbledore?"
Sirius set down his fork and left for the sitting room. After a quiet greeting he came back, Dumbledore in tow.
"Join us, we are having a bit of a celebratory breakfast," Sirius said.
"Oh, thank you!" Dumbledore greeted them all and took a seat, and Mia got up to fill a few more pancake shells with cream and strawberries. "I take this to mean we have been successful," Dumbledore asked looking at Remus.
Remus grinned and looked at Tonks who smiled back. "We won't know for sure till the full moon, but I'm officially an animagus. And I feel amazing. I'm not feeling the moon's approach at all."
"Well done, well done indeed." Dumbledore thanked Mia as she set down the pancakes in front of him. "And how about your other task, have you been successful there?" He asked Remus.
Remus sighed and rubbed his face. "They don't like me Dumbledore. They never have. They hate me for the little acceptance I've gotten from the wizarding community."
Mia looked at Gabe and he looked back. They had been dying to know what Remus was up to. They knew they all had secret missions from Dumbledore, and each time Remus left with his unspoken task, her curiosity grew. Maybe if they pretended they weren't listening they wouldn't be sent away.
"And what about Miss Black's discovery?" Dumbledore asked. Mia looked up and saw him smiling down at her, a twinkle in his eye. "Could we leverage that to our advantage?"
Did that mean Remus was dealing with other werewolves?
Remus shook his head and grimaced. "No. Well, mostly no. As a whole, they would see it as a threat or an insult, as if we were trying to exterminate them, not accept them for what they are. One on one they would likely be persuaded, but do we really want to leverage a cure for their support? It feels wrong and manipulative, and if it got out to the community as a whole, they would see it the same way."
Dumbledore nodded sadly. "I fear you are right. Keep working on them. Even if just one mind is turned to support us, it will help."
"Anything else we can help with Dumbledore?" Alec asked. Gabe nudged Mia under the table. He was right, Alec was definitely in the Order.
"My current worry is finding a base of operations, somewhere that could be made secret from our enemies. A safehouse. If any ideas come to you, I would be more than grateful."
"I may know of a place Dumbledore. I am the rightful heir after all." Sirius was frowning at the table then looked up with a grimace at Mia. "Your grandparents' home, my childhood home. It's a nasty place. Probably been closed up since they died. I don't fancy going back, just think of the nasty things that have probably moved in over the years with all the dark artifacts inside. We would have to clean it out, but it's available."
Dumbledore nodded thinking it over. "I think that would work quite well. You don't mind Sirius, giving it over for the Orders to use?"
Sirius smiled, and it wasn't a happy smile. "I'd burn it down if it wouldn't cause more trouble. You can have it."
"Excellent. Maybe we can pop over today and have a look after we finish this amazing breakfast?"
"Professor Dumbledore," Gabe started. Mia squeezed his hand under the table, and he squeezed back. "Is there an age requirement for joining the order?"
Dumbledore frowned slightly as he examined Mia and Gabe.
"I am not one to doubt the strength and abilities of children but do consider for a moment what you are asking. Joining the order is committing your life to our goals."
"But I want to be an author. To fight dark wizards, for the good of mankind. Isn't that the ultimate goal of the Order?"
"Perhaps," Dumbledore frowned. "But think instead if you joined, who else would then believe they have the right to join? Could we say no to others who are equally driven, if not yet emotionally ready?"
Gabe frowned. "You mean Harry."
Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, I do mean Harry. He has gone through much this year and I fear entangling him in the missions of the Order would not help."
"But Dumbledore, surely having a mission, or a goal would help him. He's going mad with nothing to focus on."
"Sirius, please. We've spoken on this before, and you know my views. I ask that you respect them." Sirius frowned and nodded, and Dumbledore turned back to Mia and Gabe. "Regardless of your Order status, I am sure you two will see and hear things no one will be capable of preventing. We will need your promise of secrecy all the same." Mia and Gabe of course nodded. Dumbledore tapped his chin in thought. "And perhaps when Harry does join you for the second half of the summer, you may help with providing reason when this argument comes up again."
Mia frowned but nodded. She wasn't sure of her ability to reason something she didn't totally agree with.
After breakfast, Alec left and Tonks and Remus decided to stay behind and clean up while Sirius, Dumbledore, Gabe and Mia headed to see her ancestral home.
They apparated to an empty street in the middle of a crowded neighborhood. Mia felt sick after the side along apparition.
Sirius patted her back. "It's not so bad when you're the one apparating," he told her. Gabe looked equally as uncomfortable as he held onto Dumbledore's arm for balance.
"Which one is it?" Dumbledore asked with a smile as Gabe let go of his arm and bent over taking a deep breath.
"Just there." Sirius pointed to the most rundown house on the street. "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," He said with disgust, the shutters were bent and warped, the paint was peeling, and it generally looked grim and old.
The shabby black door had a silver snake knocker on it, and Mia rolled her eyes. Sirius tapped the door with his want, and a series of clunks and metal snaps sounded on the other side, before the door cracked open. Sirius pushed the door the rest of the way and it creaked terribly. It was dark, and the air was musty. Sirius lit his wand and stepped inside, Mia followed with Gabe at her back, and Dumbledore took up the rear. Mia reached for her wand, then remembered it was summer, and she couldn't do magic, especially in front of her headmaster.
"There should be a light," Sirius whispered. There was a hiss, and a gas light on the wall flicker to life. The wallpaper was peeling, and the carpet was black, although in spaces it looked like it hadn't always been so. Spiderwebs stretched in a thick matte along the ceiling, and dark dingy portraits lined the hall.
"It's not so bad" Gabe said. Just then the door behind them flew shut and something on the wall started screaming. A pair of dingy violet curtains flew to the side and an old woman with a black cap and dress violently wailed at them. Her sickly yellow face stretched and morphed into a pained and gruesome expression and her eyes rolled in her head until they landed on Sirius.
"YOOUUUU!" she wailed. And her eyes started to pop out. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!" she screeched again.
Sirius darted to the painting trying to rip it off the wall, but it wouldn't come. Shut up you old bag!"
"And SPAWN OF MUDBLOODS! Filth! Scum! Begone from this place! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS!"
Her screeching woke the other paintings in the hall, and they all woke and started shouting. Mia covered her ears, trying to shield herself from the noise.
"Half-breed child of mudblood filth! BLOOD TRAITORS ALL OF YOU! GET OUT OH MY HOUSE!"
Dumbledore shot a spell at the painting and the figure in it went still. Sirius let go of the frame breathing heavy and closed the curtains hanging on either side of the painting. He turned back and looked at her with a grim expression. "Mia, meet your grandmother."
Mia was suddenly very happy she had never met the woman in real life.
Dumbledore and Sirius shot spells at the rest of the paintings, until Mia's ears burned with the sudden silence. Gabe moved to her side and took her hand for the rest of the tour.
The house was worse than she imagined. There were a few doxy infestations, something oozing but alive in one room. Sirius showed Mia the black family tapestry, showing their family legacy traced out with ornate names and connected by gold threads. A family tree reaching back to the middle ages. 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black' it read. There were holes all over it where names had been burned off.
"Our legacy" he said, sticking a finger through a hole in the bottom. "She blasted me off when I moved in with James in sixth year."
Mia didn't blame him. She would have run from this house too.
He traced two gold lines to another hole. "Your mother," then he followed the two holes down to a third. He was frowning. "I doubt your name survived longer than a day after you were born. Tonks isn't on here, nor is her mother. Bellatrix and Narcissa are still there, they both turned out right."
Mia winced. Bellatrix had killed her mom. If that was the right way... she was so glad she hadn't grown up here.
He pointed to more names and gave brief explanations. There's Phineas Nigellus, my great-great-grandfather, and the least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had and Araminta Meliflua, cousin of my mother's, tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal. And dear Aunt Elladora, she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays. Of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned." Mia felt a small spark of pride at her little hole. She didn't want to be included in this memorial for the worst of society.
Sirius tried to pull down the tapestry, but it wouldn't budge. "Another permanent sticking charm. Maybe we can just burn it."
The house was huge, several times the size it appeared from the outside, and every room was contaminated with magical bugs or warped spells. But here and there Mia saw little signs of life. A china hutch filled with lots of things that felt very wrong had one of its glass panels very clean, showing the object inside, her grandmother's painting had been clear of cobwebs, and then the final evidence, the kitchen fireplace had embers in it.
"Is someone still living here?" Mia asked softly as she examined the scuffs on the dirty kitchen floor.
"Oh no. I thought he would be long dead." Sirius turned to Dumbledore, a look of disgust on his face. "Kreacher!" Sirius called. A cupboard opened and the oldest most filthy house elf Mia had ever seen crawled out. He looked like he should be dead. So skinny, with a gaunt empty face. When he saw Sirius, his face contorted with horror and hatred.
"Oh, it's master, home at last," he said loudly, then in a quieter voice he continued. "Filthy disgrace of a blood traitor, how dare he come back and darken his mother's blessed home."
"Lovely," Sirius drawled.
"He will have to be sworn to secrecy and obedience in very clear language." Dumbledore sighed and turned to observe the rest of the kitchen. "It will take some work, but I believe this will suit. Sirius, write to Author and Molly and see if they will assist with the cleanup. Molly is very accomplished with such spells, and I know she's been antsy for some work." He turned back to Sirius with a gentle expression. "Will you be well here? I know revisiting the scene of past horrors can have a weight on one's soul, and you have worked so very hard to overcome your past already."
Sirius grimaced. "I do hate being back here, I can feel the weight of it already." He looked to Mia and put an arm around her shoulders. "But I'm a different person now than I was back then. And I have people in my life to keep me grounded this time."
AN: We are so close to the end guys! only a few more chapters left!