Hello there!
Welcome to the next chapter of Cruel Angel Thesis and the first one of Year 5. Anyway I hope you enjoy and now on to the review.
girani4: Actually Harry wasn't really needed. Voldy wanted him so he could bypass the protection Lily gave him, any enemy would have worked for the ritual. Now I'm curious how you got to that theory that Clark is Charles and or Sephylon.
And now story time.
Harry, Claire, Alex, Sirius and Margaret arrived at at a row of old houses. It wasn't until they reached the part about number twelve, that a battered door emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows.
It was as though an extra house had inflated, pushing those on either side out of its way. Harry gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven thudded on. Apparently the Muggles inside hadn't felt anything.
"Come on, hurry." Sirius said, as they walked up the worn stone steps towards the newly materialized door.
It's black paint was shabby and scratched. The silver doorknocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox.
Sirius, pulled out his wand and tapped the door once. Claire heard many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain. The door creaked open.
"Get in quick." Sirius whispered, "But don't go far inside and don't touch anything."
The group stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. Claire could smell damp, dust and a sweetish, rotting smell; the place had the feeling of a derelict building.
She looked over his shoulder and saw the others filing in behind her, Harry and Alex carrying their own trunk and Hedwig's cage, before Sirius and Margaret walked in as well and closed the front door, so that the darkness in the hall became complete.
"Now stay still, everyone." Margaret whispered, "While I give us a bit of light in here."
The hushed voices were giving Claire an odd feeling of foreboding; it was as though they had just entered the house of a dying person.
She heard a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls.
Claire heard something scuttling behind the skirting board. Both the chandelier and the candelabra on a rickety table nearby were shaped like serpents.
"We'll be having something to eat in the kitchen." Margaret said, "You can take a rest in the..." before Alex accidentally knocked over the umbrella stand.
"Oh balls..." Sirius said, the rest of his words were drowned by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech.
The moth-eaten velvet curtains had flown apart, but there was no door behind them. For a split second, Claire thought she was looking through a window, behind which an old woman in a black cap was screaming as though she were being tortured.
Then she realized it was simply a life-size portrait, but the most realistic, and the most unpleasant, she had ever seen in her life.
The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched out as she screamed; and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell, too, so that Claire actually screwed up her eyes at the noise and clapped her hands over her ears.
"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers!"
Margaret took out her wand and in a single swipe of it, stunned all the other portraits as Sirius roared, "Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut up!"
The old woman's face blanched, "You!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of Sirius, "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"
"I said... Shut up!" Sirius roared, and with a stupendous effort he managed to force the curtains closed again.
The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence tell. Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes, "Well Claire, I see you've met my mother. We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Lets get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."
"You mean that Banshee is my grandmother?" Claire said wide eyed as they quickly exited the hall.
"I can see the family resemblance." Alex whispered, getting hit on the back of his head by his mother.
"Claire, don't call your grandmother a Banshee." Maragret said but even she couldn't hide the smirk on her face.
"Claire, I forbid you to call that Banshee your grandmother.", Sirius added with a proud smirk.
"But what's a portrait of your mother doing here?" Harry said, bewildered, as they went through the door from the hall and led the way down a flight of narrow stone steps, the others just behind them.
"This was my parents house." Sirius said, "Seeing as I am the current head of the Black Family, it's mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore as a Headquarters."
"If you want to get the portrait off the wall..." Alex said, "Why don't you just remove the part of the wall were the portrait is stuck on? Just sharing with the class..."
Both Sirius and Elizabeth had to admit that he had a point.
Nearly a month later, Claire had went to sleep but seconds later, or so it seemed to Claire, she was awakened by what sounded like cannon fire as the door burst open. Sitting upright, she heard the rasp of the curtains being pulled back, the dazzling sunlight seemed to poke her hard in both eyes. Shielding them with one hand. "What's going on?"
"Wake up already, Claire." said a loud and excited voice, and she received a sharp blow to the top of the head.
"Ron, don't hit her!" a girls voice said reproachfully.
Claire rubbed the sleep from her eyes, though the light was so bright she could hardly see anyway. A long, looming shadow quivered in front of her for a moment; she blinked Ron, Neville and Hermione came into focus, grinning down at him.
"You doing all right, Claire?" Neville said.
"...I just want to go back to bed." Claire said, rubbing the top of her head and rolling back into her bed.
"Had a long night?" Alex said as he came walking in. After the group of friends greeted each other, Harry and Alex asked how the others had been.
"Not bad." Neville said, taking a seat at Claire's desk.
"How are you, Hermione?" Alex said, his friend told them she was fine, while Hermione was scrutinizing the covered form of Claire as though she was sickening for something.
"What's the time?" Claire's muffled voice came from under her blanket, "Have I missed breakfast again?"
"Breakfast, brunch, lunch, liner but don't worry about that." Alex told his cousin, "You have just awoken in time for dinner."
"So who is in the Order Of The Phoenix?" Ron said to Alex as Harry sat down on Claire's bed.
"Quite a few people. We've met about twenty of them." Alex said, "We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them. Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order, and some of them are standing guard over something."
"We're not allowed to attend Order meetings, but Margaret and Sirius gives us hints sometimes." Harry said, but he was disturbed by two loud cracks, Fred and George had materialized out of thin air in the middle of the room.
"Stop doing that!", Ron said weakly to the twins.
"Hello everyone!" George said, beaming at them.
"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" Claire said.
"With distinction." Fred said proudly, puffing out his chest.
"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs." Neville pointed out.
"Time is Galleons, little Neville." Fred said, as he held up the string which was now trailing out on to the landing, "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs. There's a major meeting they're having."
"It's a no-go with the Extendable Ears." Ginny said as she entered the room, "Margaret has gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."
"How do you know?" George asked, looking crestfallen.
"Tonks told me how to find out. You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact, the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap.", Ginny explained.
Fred heaved a deep sigh, "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."
"He's on our side now." Hermione said reprovingly.
"Doesn't stop him being a git. Bill doesn't like him, either." Ginny said, as though that settled the matter.
"Is Bill here?" Claire said, "I thought he was working in Egypt?"
"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order." Fred said, "He says he misses the tombs...", but before he could inquire, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.
There was another loud crack and he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.
"The meetings over, you can come down now. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"
"Crookshanks." Ginny said unblushingly, "He loves playing with them."
"Or maybe it was Kreacher." Alex added, "You know how he keeps doing odd things like that." and Mrs. Weasley seemed to buy it.
Ginny gave Alex an thankful wink, and he responded with a discreet thumbs up as the others and followed Mrs. Weasley out of the room, leaving Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione alone in Claire's room.
"So... Could you leave my room so I can get dressed?" Claire said dryly.
A few minutes later, Claire found herself in the basement kitchen. It was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room.
A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling.
Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of them, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags.
Mr. Weasley and his eldest son Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.
"Claire!" Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet her, and shaking her hand vigorously, "Good to see you!"
Over her shoulder Claire saw Bill, who still wore his long hair in a ponytail, hastily rolling up the lengths of parchment left on the table.
"Hey Claire." Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once, he took out his wand, muttered, 'Evanesce!' and the scrolls vanished.
"Sit down, Claire." Sirius said, "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"
The thing Claire had taken to be a pile of rags gave a prolonged, grunting snore, then jerked awake.
"Some'n say m'name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily, "I agree with Sirius...", he raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.
Alex and Ginny giggled.
"The meeting's over, Dung." Margaret said, as they all sat down around her at the table.
"Fred! George!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked, "No, just carry them!"
Harry, Claire, Alex, Sirius and Margaret looked round and within a split second, they had dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air towards them.
The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.
"For heaven's sake!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, "There was no need! I have had enough of this! Just because you are allowed to use magic now, you don't have to whip your wands out for every tiny little thing!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred said, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table, "Sorry, Sirius, mate... Didn't mean to..."
Harry, Claire, Alex, Sirius and Margaret were laughing, while Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, from where his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.
"Boys." Mr. Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "Your mother's right, you are supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age..."
"None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley raged at the twins as she slammed a fresh flagon of Butterbeer on the table, and spilling almost as much again, "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy..."
She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden. "Let's eat." Margaret said quickly, "It looks wonderful, Molly." ladling stew on to a plate before her and handing it across the table.
For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs. Weasley turned to Sirius. "I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius. There's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."
"Whatever you like." Sirius said indifferently.
As they had dinner, Margaret and Bill were having an intense discuss on about goblins. "They're not giving anything away yet." Bill said, "I still can't work out whether or not they believe he's back. Of course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it."
"I'm sure they'd never go over to Voldemort." Margaret said, shaking her head, "They've suffered losses too... Thought it depends what they're offered. I'm not talking about gold. If they're offered the freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?"
"He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment." Bill said, "He hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know..."
A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, Ron, Neville and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.
"...And then." Mundungus choked, tears running down his face, "And then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, 'Ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Sludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back from me for a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place..."
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus." Mrs. Weasley said sharply, as Ron slumped forwards on to the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly.", Mundungus said at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Harry, "But, you know, Will nicked 'em off Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong."
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus.", Mrs. Weasley said coldly, "But you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons."
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of Butterbeer; George was hiccoughing. For some reason, Mrs. Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding.
Three helpings of deserts later, Claire laid down her spoon, there was a lull in the general conversation: Mr. Weasley was leaning back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed; Ginny, who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling Butterbeer corks for him to chase.
"Claire, we need you tell you a few things. Its best you and Alex hear it too Harry." Margaret said, "Its about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Claire associated with the arrival of Dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense.
A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
"They're too young." Mrs. Weasley said, she was sitting bolt upright in her chair, "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Its your decision to not tell your children..." Margaret said.
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said sharply. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous.
Ron, Neville, Hermione, Fred and Georges heads swivelled from Sirius to Margaret to Mrs. Weasley as though they were following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned Butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Margaret.
"Claire has seen Voldemort come back." Margaret said, trying to remain calm, "She has the most right to."
"She's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" Mrs. Weasley said "She's only fifteen and..."
"And has have dealt with as much as most in the Order and more than some." Sirius said.
"No one's denying what she has done!" Mrs. Weasley said, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair.
"She's not your child." Margaret said impatiently, "Neither is Harry."
"Neither are they adults!" Mrs. Weasley said, the color rising in her cheeks, "They are not James nor Elizabeth!"
"We are perfectly clear who they are, thanks, Molly." Sirius said coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" Mrs. Weasley said, "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" Harry spoke up.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes still boring into Sirius and Margaret, "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Are you implying we're irresponsible parents?" Margaret said, her voice rising.
"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said rounding on her husband, "Arthur, back me up!"
Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he reply.
"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that they will have to be filled in, to a certain extent"
"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever..."
"We are going to tell him whatever you like it or not, Molly.", Sirius said.
"Well... I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry nor Claire to know too much, and speaking as someone who has their best interests at heart..." Mrs. Weasley said.
"They are not your children." Margaret said ferociously, "Molly, you're not the only person at tis table who cares about them."
Mrs. Weasley's lower lip was trembling. "Very well." she said, her voice cracking, "Ron, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George. I want, you out of this kitchen, now."
This caused an instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry, Claire and Alex are allowed, why can't I?", Ron shouted.
"Mum, I want to hear!" wailed Ginny.
"NO!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, standing up, her eyes were blazing, "I absolutely forbid..."
"Molly you can't stop Fred and George." Mr. Weasley said wearily, "They are of age."
"They're still in school."
"But they're legally adults now." Mr. Weasley said in the same tired voice.
Mrs. Weasley was now scarlet in the face, "I... oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron..."
"Harry, Claire and Alex will tell me, Neville and Hermione everything you say anyway!" Ron said hotly.
"He's not wrong." Alex said.
"Fine!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, "Fine! Ginny, BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs.
"Okay..." Sirius said, "What do you want to know?"
Claire took a deep breath and asked the question that had obsessed her for the last month, "Where's Voldemort?" she said, ignoring the shudders and winces at the name, "What's he doing? I've read the Daily Prophet and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything."
"That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet." Sirius said, "Not as far as we know, anyway... and we know quite a lot."
"More than he thinks we do, anyway.", Lupin said.
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry said, he knew Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. It would be dangerous for him. His second coming didn't went off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up." Margaret said with a satisfied smile, "Or rather, Claire messed it up for him."
"How?" Claire said perplexed.
"Well... First it was suppose to be Harry in the graveyard and neither you nor he were suppose to survive!" Sirius said, "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you and Fleur survived to bear witness."
"In no small part thanks to Sephylon." Claire mumbled.
"Yes, and the very last people he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore and Sephylon." Margaret said, "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."
"How has that helped?" Alex said rubbing the back of his head.
"Are you kidding?" Bill said incredulously, "Those two were the the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"
"Thanks to your efforts, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned." Sirius said, "We have been working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans."
"How do you know what his plans are?" Claire said quickly.
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea." Lupin said, "And Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"Firstly, Voldemort wants to build up his army again." Margaret said, "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?"
"We're doing our best." Lupin said.
"How?" Harry said.
"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard.", Bill said.
"It's proving tricky, though. Because of the Ministry's attitude." Sirius said, "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened. He believes the incidents during the Triwizard tournament were all Sephylon's doing."
"But why?" Claire said desperate, "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore..."
"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem." Mr. Weasley said with a wry smile, "Dumbledore."
"Fudge is frightened of him, you see, frightened of what he's up to. Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic." Margaret said, "Of course he doesn't. He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."
"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice." Lupin said, "But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" Claire said angrily, "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up? That I would make it all up!?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen year's." Sirius said bitterly, "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him."
"You see the problem, while the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place." Lupin said, "What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" Harry said, looking around at Sirius, Margaret, Lupin, Mr. Weasley, Bill and Mundungus, "You're letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humorlessly. "Well, I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community." Lupin said, "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Me, Tonks and Arthur would lose our jobs at the Ministry if we started shooting our mouths off, and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them." Margaret said, "We've managed to convince a couple of people, though. Tonks for one, she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage. Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too."
"I did not..." Claire growled, "Why are none of you putting the news out that Voldemort's back!?"
"Who said none of us are putting the news out?" Sirius said, "Why do you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What do you mean?" Harry said.
"They're trying to discredit him. Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true." Lupin said, "He was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot, that's the Wizard High Court, and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards.", Bill said grinning.
"It's no laughing matter. If he carries on defying the Ministry like this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up.", Mr. Weasley said sharply, "While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way... Well, only Sephylon and his knights will be there to stop him."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" Claire said desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Claire." Margaret said, "He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment."
"What's he after apart from followers?" Harry said swiftly.
He thought he saw Sirius and Margaret exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."
When they continued to look puzzled, Margaret added, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
"Like what kind of weapon?" Claire said, "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra?"
"That's enough!" Mrs. Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door.
Claire hadn't noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious. "I want you in bed, now. All of you." she added, looking around at Ron, Neville, Hermione, Fred and George.
"You can't boss us..." Fred began.
"Watch me.", Mrs. Weasley snarled. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius and Margaret, "You've given them plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway."
"Why not!?" Claire said rather aggressively, "I'll join! I want to fight!"
"No."
It was not Mrs. Weasley who spoke this time, but Margaret. "The Order is comprised only of overage wizards who have left school. There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you... For now we said enough."
Sirius half-shrugged at his friend but did not argue. Mrs. Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons, Neville and Hermione. One by one they stood up and Harry, Claire and Alex followed suit.
Mrs. Weasley followed them upstairs looking grim. "I want you all to go straight to bed, no talking." she said as they reached the first landing, "I expect Ginny's asleep. So try not to wake her up."
"Asleep, yeah, right." Alex said in an undertone, after Claire and Hermione bade them goodnight and they were climbing to the next floor, "I highly doubt that."
Claire put on her sleeping wear, and climbed into her bed, settled down under the covers. She laid there in bed, looking up at the ceiling as thoughts run through her head.
That was before she heard a soft knock on door, she called that the door was open as she sat up.
The door went open and in sneaked a pajama's and bathrobe wearing Harry, "Keep your voice down or Mrs. Weasley will be back up here." he said as he sat down on her bed.
"Harry?" she said, "What's wrong?"
"I just wanted to talk." Harry said, "They didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?"
Claire sat in her bed, thinking of all that had been said earlier.
"I mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people from joining Voldemort..." Harry said, "What do you think that weapon could be?"
"Could be anything." Claire said looking at her boyfriend with her cloudy gray eyes.
"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra Curse, can there?" Harry said, "What's worse than death?"
"I guess a lot of things..." Claire said, looking up at the ceiling of her fourposter bed. She knew that the others, like her, were wondering what horrors this weapon could perpetrate.
"So who do you think got it now?" Harry said, "If it is on our side, Dumbledore's probably keeping it."
"Where?" Claire said, "Hogwarts?"
"Wouldn't be the first time. The Philosopher's Stone was hidden there... Though now it is with Sephylon." Harry said, "Though I guess a weapon is going to be a lot bigger than the Stone..."
"Not necessarily." Claire said, "Size is no guarantee of power."
"I guess your right, look at yourself for example." Harry said before looking concerned, "Claire, is everything alright?"
"I'm... fine." she said which was a lie, she hadn't felt fine in a long time, "Can you... stay with me for tonight?"
"Of course."
To her surprise, Harry wraps his arms around her, and holds him tight, pressing her breasts against him. Claire was sure she would not be able to fall asleep; the evening had been so packed with things to think about that she fully expected to lie awake for hours mulling it all over.
The next thing she knew, she was curled into Harry's arms, her chin resting on his shoulder as they were laid under her bedclothes.
During the afternoon, Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were sitting in the living room. All was quite until they heard the doorbell.
At once, everyone dashed over to the window to look down on the doorstep. They could see the top of an unkempt gingery head and a suck of precariously balanced cauldrons.
"Mundungus!" Hermione said, "What's he brought all those cauldrons for?"
"Probably looking for a safe place to keep them." Harry said.
"Yeah, you're right!" Fred said, as the front door opened; Mundungus heaved his cauldrons through it and disappeared from view, "Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley. Do you reckon we can risk the Extendable Ears?"
But at that precise moment there was an explosion of sound from downstairs that rendered Extendable Ears quite unnecessary. All of them could hear exactly what Mrs. Weasley was shouting at the top of her voice.
"We are not running a hideout for stolen goods!"
"I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else." Fred said with a satisfied smile on his face as he opened the door an inch or so to allow Mrs. Weasley's voice to permeate the room better, "It makes such a nice change."
"Completely irresponsible as if we haven't got enough to worry about without you dragging stolen cauldrons into the house!"
A little later, Claire was exploring the house, even after a month of exploring Grimmauld Place still held many secrets. It was one afternoon she came across a room with a tapestry that hung the length of the room. The tapestry looked immensely old; a golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back as far as Claire could tell to the Middle Ages. Large words at the very top of the tapestry read:
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
"So you found the family tree?" the voice of Sirius said behind her, the man himself walking towards his daughter, "Took you a long while."
"You're not on it." Claire said, after scanning the bottom of the tree closely, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn, two gold lines sprang from it, showing the name 'Claire Earlena Black-Kent'.
"My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home. Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath." Sirius said, "When I was about sixteen, I'd had enough."
"Where did you go?" Claire said staring at him.
"James place. Harry's grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at James during the school holidays, and when I was seventeen I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold... He's been wiped off here, too, that's probably why... anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. and Mrs. Potters for Sunday lunch, though."
"But why did you leave?" Claire said.
Sirius smiled bitterly and ran his fingers through his long 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... My idiot brother, soft enough to believe them... that's him."
Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name 'Regulus Black'. A date of death, some fifteen years previously, followed the date of birth.
"He was younger than me and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded." Sirius said, "But he died... Stupid idiot... he joined the Death Eaters."
"You're kidding." Claire said surprised.
"Come on, Claire." Sirius said testily, "Haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards our family were?"
"Were... were your parents Death Eaters as well?"
"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea. They were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things... they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."
"Was he killed by an Auror?" Claire said tentatively.
"Oh, no, he was murdered by Voldemort or on Voldemort's orders, more likely; I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."
"I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus... my great-great-grandfather, see? 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. I am surprised you are on it at all. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her... He's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him."
"We're related to Tonks?" Claire said surprised, remembering the cute pink haired Auror who had exchanged some flirty remarks with Alex the few times they were here.
"Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda is my favorite cousin." Sirius said examining the tapestry closely, "No, Andromeda's not on here either." he pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.
A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy and a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco.
"We're really related to the Malfoy's!?" Claire shouted horrified, "I thought Margaret was joking!"
"The pure-blood families are all interrelated. If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods our choice is very limited." Sirius said, trying to not smile at his daughter's reaction, "There are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here, if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasley's."
Claire was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Lestrange..." Claire said aloud.
"They're both dead, killed by Sephylon when they tried to torture Frank and Alice Longbottom." Sirius said in the same brusque voice, "Guess Barty Crouch junior was the unlucky one."
"We have one messed up family..." Claire said and her father couldn't agree more with her.
Sirius turned away from the tapestry, his hands deep in his pockets. "I don't like being back here... I never thought I'd set a foot in this house again." he said, staring across the room, "It's ideal for Headquarters, of course. My father put every security measure known to wizardkind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call, as if they ever have wanted to, and now Dumbledore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere. Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order, you know. If my parents could see the use their house was being put to now... Well, my mothers portrait should have given you some idea."
"I can't believe you would hate your brother like that..." Claire said staring at the name of her uncle, "Alex can annoy me sometimes, but I can't even imagine hating him..."
Sirius gave his daughter a look over, before placing a hand on her shoulder, "Claire, if something is bothering you, you can talk to me."
"In the graveyard... I felt so powerless when Wormtail took my blood." she said, admitting something that had been eating away at her, "And now, I just feel so angry, all the time. What if I've been through, something's gone wrong inside me? What if I'm becoming bad?... or worse."
"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Claire." Sirius said, his hand tightly gripping around her shoulder, "You're not a bad person. You're a very good person, who bad things have happened to. Besides, this world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."
And that's the end of the chapter, hope you enjoyed it.
Many thanks to everyone who read, review, favorite or follows this story as usual.
For now I wish you all a fantastic day, if you enjoyed my work don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you ladies and gents next time.
Mischief Managed.