"I don't understand," Winona said, only to yelp when Moody flicked his wand sharply in her direction. The parchment in her hands was instantly set alight, and she dropped the flaming note, watching as it floated slowly towards the ground, reduced to nothing but ash by the time it hit the pavement.

"This way," Moody grunted, the thump of his wooden leg loud against the concrete as he limped his way up towards the houses before them. Winona stared after him, her eyes going round as dinner plates as she watched another house appear to magically inflate right before her eyes.

Where there was no house, suddenly there was, and Moody didn't break his uneven stride as he thumped his way up to the door and pulled out his wand. He tapped it against the door, and as Winona approached with Lupin and Tonks at her side, she could hear the metallic sounds of locks being magically opened, then the clatter of a chain.

The door to the mysterious house opened with a low, ominous creak, and Winona peered through the darkness within, understandably suspicious.

"Well?" said Moody impatiently. "In you go."

Winona could barely get her feet moving, but she did as she was told, making her way slowly inside the creepy house. The inside was just as gloomy as the outside. Everything was covered in a thick layer of grime and dust, and there were ancient artefacts lining the walls that Winona knew had to be worth more than just a pretty penny.

Moody, Tonks and Remus followed her inside, and they heard the door shut and relock itself behind them.

"So, uh, what is the Order of the Phoenix, exactly?" Winona asked, head tilted back to stare up at the levels connected by a spiral staircase above her. The house was tall, almost seeming to stretch upwards forever. It reeked of mothballs and death.

"You don't already know?" asked Tonks playfully. "I thought you knew everything."

Winona chuckled, but the sound was a nervous one. "Where would the fun be in that?"

"Come on," said Remus, very obviously not answering her original question. "Somebody wants to see you."

He lead the way through the gloomy house, taking her across the full length of the ground floor and then down a steep flight of stairs, until finally they reached what appeared to be a kitchen.

The sight of Sirius stood at the counter, eating peanut butter straight out of the jar, gave her a thrum of relief like nothing she'd ever felt before. He was here, he was okay, and they were together again.

"Winnie," he said as he spotted her, dropping the jar and his spoon to the counter with a clatter and crossing the space between them in two large steps, sweeping her up into an unexpected embrace. He clutched her so tightly that the air whooshed from her lungs, but she didn't care, hugging him back with a desperation that surprised even herself.

She'd gone a long many years without getting the chance to hug her father. It seemed the both of them were eager to make up for all that lost time. "Hi," she said, voice muffled by his jacket.

"It's so good to see you," Sirius told her fervently. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she told him, thinking that now, it might have even been the truth. "You?"

"Better now you're here," he said, a charming smile on his face that might have made anyone else doubt his sincerity. But to her, it was just warm, reminding her that this was her dad. And she was safe with him.

She pulled away, looking up at him. He didn't look nearly as gaunt as he had the last time she'd seen him. Clearly he'd been eating more than whatever scraps he could find in the trash. "I have questions," she blurted, because by now those questions were itching at her mouth, demanding to be asked.

"And we will try our very best to answer them," came a rasping voice from the corner. Winona whipped around with a gasp to find Dumbledore stood in the corner like some kind of watchful gargoyle, his blue, star-covered robes glittering like the night sky.

She'd been so distracted by the sight of Sirius, she'd completely missed the headmaster in the room.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Where are we? And what's the Order of the Phoenix?"

Sirius took a seat at the table, and Winona followed his lead, getting the feeling she should settle in for a long explanation. "This is my family's house," Sirius began, watching her closely. "With the rest of the Blacks gone, it's now mine – and yours."

Something about hearing that left her with a racing heart. Even after all this time, she was still coming to terms with having an actual family. The concept of having family heirlooms and things passed down through the generations, like houses, was still so foreign to her. She was so used to having nothing to her name; not even a dad.

Sirius was still staring at her, awaiting a reaction. "Um," she said uncomfortably, looking around the kitchen they were sat in, everything grimy and old. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a hundred years, and it wouldn't have surprised her to find doxies in the walls. She wouldn't even eat off the table if you paid her a thousand Galleons. "It's…nice," she finished lamely.

Sirius laughed, a loud bark of a sound, before grinning at her wolfishly. "You don't have to lie, Pup. I know it's awful," he told her, and she let out a breath of relief. "It's been empty going on thirteen years now. We only got here the other day – I offered it to Dumbledore as a headquarters for the Order."

Winona shifted in her seat. "What is the Order?"

"The Order of the Phoenix is a secret society I founded back during the first wizarding war," Dumbledore explained, still stood in her corner, hands folded together in front of him. "It's a collaboration of all the witches and wizards in Britain who are opposed to Lord Voldemort's rule and have some degree of power or platform to do something about it."

Winona stared at him a moment, considering. "So, basically," she finally said, "you're the good guys."

Sirius grinned. "We're the good guys."

And although Winona wanted to smile with him, she was plagued by concern. It was like for every answer she received, a dozen more questions took its place. "You're getting ready to fight, then?" she asked, looking between Sirius and Dumbledore seriously. "You're getting ready for the war?"

The levity in Sirius' eyes melted away, replaced by a haunted kind of expression that made her insides twist. She looked at Dumbledore instead, and the look in his eyes was sombre. "We are," he told her quietly. "And we'll need your help to do it."

She opened her mouth to speak, but then Dumbledore walked forwards, taking a seat at the table in front of her, and she got the feeling he had much more yet to say.

"I would like to bring you into the Order, Winona. But there would certain…stipulations," he said carefully. Winona knew instantly that whatever these 'stipulations' were, she wasn't going to like them.

She squared her shoulders and looked the Headmaster in the eye. "Okay. What are they?"

"There is really only one," he said, then paused as if giving her time to prepare for whatever he was about to say. "You mustn't discuss Order business with anyone who isn't already a member of this organisation."

His eyes were darker than usual, telling her exactly how unbreakable this stipulation was. Winona looked to Sirius and found him scowling. It made her curious, and more than slightly wary.

"Will the twins be brought into the Order?" she asked. And maybe it was juvenile for that to be her first question, but she couldn't help it. She didn't have secrets from the twins, and last time she tried to, it hadn't exactly ended well.

"That will be entirely up to Molly Weasley," Dumbledore said diplomatically.

Winona bristled. "But they're of age, just like me," she reminded him hotly. "If I don't need a parent's permission, why should they?"

Dumbledore smiled, a little distant, and looked meaningfully at Sirius. "You do have a parent's permission."

She'd been so caught up, for a moment she'd forgotten who Sirius was to her. Looking over at her dad – it was still super weird to think that, but she was trying to get better at it – he was smiling sheepishly.

"I won't try to control what you do. I can't just waltz in here and force you to do as I say, even if I am your dad," he said fairly. Again, the 'd' word gave her a bit of a thrill. "If you want to fight, you can fight. Because you're right, you're an adult now. And anyway, I was your age when I first joined the Order. Be awfully hypocritical of me to try to stop you, wouldn't it?"

Winona had to laugh. He made an excellent point.

"So," she continued once the mirth had faded into calm, "if I agree to join the Order, I'm not to tell anyone who isn't in the Order what's going on?"

It seemed an easy enough trade. Apart from the twins, there weren't many people she could imagine needing to tell anything to anyway. Well, except-

"What about Harry?"

Dumbledore's eyes went hard, like he were shutting himself off from emotion – almost like he were afraid of what she might see in his face. "Harry won't be joining the Order," he told her flatly.

Winona bristled. "What?" She turned to Sirius, finding him scowling down at the worn wood of the table as if it had wronged him. "You won't let Harry join?"

Sirius blinked up at her in surprise. "Me?"

"Well, you're his Godfather. I mean, his legal guardian…right?"

Sirius cast a frustrated look at Dumbledore, who was staring back at him inscrutably. "It isn't me who doesn't want him joining, Pup."

Winona turned to Dumbledore with accusations in her eyes. "You're actually not going to let Harry fight?" she demanded. Dumbledore turned his enigmatic eyes back to her. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want him anywhere near this kind of danger, but he's put You-Know-Who in the ground once before. And from what I've Seen, he's going to play a vital part in doing it all over again. It's just plain stupid not to let him fight."

"It isn't about letting him fight, Winona," said Dumbledore, patient but stern. "Harry cannot be a part of the Order. Not now. He's too young, and there are…other reasons…that I feel it would be unwise to allow him to join."

Winona blanched. "Unwise?" she asked, aware her voice was shrill but doing nothing to change it. "That racist son of a bitch has put Harry through hell," she reminded him, in case maybe he'd forgotten. "What has he done to you personally that makes you think you're any more entitled to be the one to take him down?"

"Winnie," said Sirius, sounding reproachful, but when she turned to look at him she found his eyes warm with pride. She took that as her cue to continue.

"Harry deserves answers, and I'll be damned if he's not going to get them," she told Dumbledore with fire in her eyes.

Dumbledore's expression shuttered. "I can't allow you into the Order if you intend to share information with anyone outside of our bounds. No matter who they are to you."

"This isn't because he's my cousin," she snapped. "It's because I'm a decent human being. He's going to go crazy, having everything kept from him. It isn't fair."

But Dumbledore didn't appear to be listening, like her words were going in one ear and out the other. "Winona, I must implore you. We need you, more than anybody else, in the Order," he beseeched her. "Your abilities as a Seer will be invaluable. Your involvement could be the difference between winning or losing this war."

And to Winona's immense displeasure, that gave her pause. Her eyes flickered to Sirius to find him staring at her. He looked like he were warring with himself – and she got the feeling he was torn between her righteous argument and Dumbledore's cool logic.

"Look at it this way, Pup," he finally said, turning back to her, seeming to have come to a decision. "I can't tell him anything either, but I'm still doing it. Because, like it or not, keeping information from him may be the only way we get through this thing."

Winona still wasn't convinced, guilt sitting low in her stomach for something she hadn't even done yet. Sirius seemed to sense her indecision.

"By knowing everything there is to know, you can help protect him better than you would otherwise," he argued, frustratingly rational. "You can keep him safe in a way I can't, being that you'll be at school with him."

She both kind of loved and hated that he knew her well enough already to know it was the exact type of argument that would work.

She turned back to Dumbledore. "I can't lie to Harry," she said slowly, honestly. "I mean – even if I promise to now, I can't trust myself that I won't break my word. I'm sorry."

Dumbledore stared at her another long moment, before pursing his lips from behind his thick white beard and saying, "I believe I may have a solution."

Winona leaned back in her chair, waving her hand impatiently.

Dumbledore hesitated only moment before asking, "Have you ever heard of the Unbreakable Vow?"

Winona shook her head, but judging by the thunder that erupted in Sirius' expression, it wasn't anything good. "Dumbledore," her dad barked. "No."

But Dumbledore's eyes didn't so much as stray from hers. "It's a binding magical contract between two willing parties," he explained as if Sirius hadn't spoken. "Breaking it would mean imminent, unavoidable death."

"No," said Sirius again. "I won't allow it."

Winona wasn't listening to him either. "Are you asking me to make you a promise that will kill me if I break it?" she asked, just so she had all the facts.

"If you needed the incentive," Dumbledore shrugged like it were no big deal.

"Winona," Sirius pleaded.

Her stormy eyes cut across to him. "Weren't you just saying that you wouldn't try to control what I do?"

Sirius looked ready to pull his hair out in frustration. "Do you hear this, Moony?" he demanded, and Winona looked over her shoulder in surprise. She hadn't realised Lupin and Tonks were still with them – but they were, both stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching on silently.

Moody was gone, having slipped out without them noticing, but Winona was glad. She couldn't quite separate this Moody – the real Moody – from the imposter that had kidnapped and tortured her. And she didn't really want to waste energy trying.

Winona expected Remus to agree with Sirius, but to her surprise he looked awkwardly uncomfortable, and she knew what would follow wasn't going to make her father very happy at all. "Dumbledore's right, Pads," he said, his voice a low rumble. "Winnie's abilities are beyond invaluable. Having her as one of us…" he trailed off, but he didn't need to finish.

Sirius shot Remus a glare and turned his attention back to his daughter. "Can't you just join the Order and agree not to say anything to Harry?" he pleaded.

But Winona knew it was impossible. Her loyalty to Harry was too strong, her sense of justice too ingrained. "The only thing that will keep me from telling Harry what I think he needs to know is if I have the threat of death keeping me quiet," she told him plainly. Sirius' face fell. "You're right," she added quietly. "I can only help Harry by knowing everything. If the price I have to pay for that is silence, then I guess it's one I'm going to pay."

But Sirius wasn't done fighting; a Gryffindor to the core. "You could give us your predictions without joining the Order," he suggested, clinging to stubborn hope. "You don't need to know everything to See everything. Right?"

Both Winona and Dumbledore were already shaking their heads. "The more I know, the more accurately I can translate my predictions," she told him. "I'm hardly any use at all if I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle."

Sirius slumped over in his seat, forehead braced on his palm like he were fighting a terrible migraine.

"What's the big deal?" she asked, confused. "This doesn't sound that dangerous. So long as I keep my vow, there's no reason to worry."

"But what if you can't keep the vow?" he asked, helpless but to worry. "You're stubborn, Winona. I'm not sure I can trust you not to look for a way around it."

Winona pursed her lips. "I might be stubborn, but 'on pain of death' are some pretty serious words," she told him. "Stubborn doesn't matter a damn if the alternative is dying."

Sirius stared at her a long minute, considering, then slowly nodded his head. "If this is what you need to do."

And to tell the truth, Winona wasn't 100% sure it was. But there was a ticking clock, and this was the only solution presenting itself. She needed to know more about Harry's situation to protect him, and more about the situation with You-Know-Who to protect everyone else. And if that meant making a deal of this kind with Dumbledore – well, like she said, it was just a price she was going to have to pay.

This was war; they all had to make sacrifices for the sake of the greater good.

"How do we do this?" she asked Dumbledore.

Watching her a moment longer, he finally stood to his feet and walked around to the side of the table. Taking his cue, she stood and followed him. When he held out a hand for her to take, she took it, as if shaking his hand. No magic had been used yet, but still she felt a steady thrum of fear in her veins.

"Remus," said Dumbledore mildly. "If you would be so kind as to stand witness?"

Winona wasn't sure why he hadn't asked Sirius to do it, but with a glance at her father, Remus accepted, making his way towards them, wand outstretched.

"Winona, I'm going to ask you to make some vows to me now. All you have to do is say clearly and with intent; I will," Dumbledore paused, icy eyes like lasers as he peered at her over the edge of his half-moon spectacles. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Remus lowered his wand until its tip was resting at the place where Winona and Dumbledore's hands met, and she felt a swoop in her gut. Was she doing the right thing, or making a terrible mistake? She had a feeling that only time would tell.

"Will you, Winona Black, keep the things discussed in these Order of the Phoenix meetings confidential, talking about them with nobody but other members of the Order?"

"I will."

As she said it, a thin line of fire drifted from Remus' wand. It began to wrap around their hands in an intricate dance, and Winona could feel the heat of it against her skin, sharp and unforgettable.

"And will you, to the best of your ability, use your Sight to aid the Order in their quest to destroy the Dark Lord forever?"

"I will," she said, and another line of fire appeared, twisting over the other like vines.

"And, under no circumstances, will you tell Harry Potter that which I mean to keep hidden, for his own protection?"

The wording threw her off, and she suddenly felt a flash of fear. She didn't want to promise that – she really, really didn't. She tried to tug her hand out of Dumbledore's grip, but he held firm.

This had all been a mistake, and now she was going to die, and Harry was probably going to hate her-

"Winona," Dumbledore thundered.

Mouth dry, Winona could only swallow around the painful lump in her throat. Her hands began to tremble, but her eyes remained locked with Dumbledore's as if the magic of the vow was keeping them pinned together.

"I will," she whispered, and there was a final vine of twisting fire. Then, all at once, the fire seemed to melt into their hands. Winona hissed with pain as it burnt her skin, yanking her hand forcibly out of Dumbledore's. This time he let her go, and when she glared up at him it was with a seed of hate in her heart.

"Very good," he said, clapping his hands together like nothing at all had happened. "Now, if you would like to take a seat, I can tell you what we know so far."

He sounded pleasant, like they were discussing knitting patterns, and Winona scowled as she took a seat, this time in the chair beside Sirius – who somehow looked older than he had before, as if watching them make the vow had shaved weeks off his life.

Dumbledore didn't sit down. He remained standing, towering over those of them in seats. Winona thought he might have done that on purpose, and the thought made her sour to him even more.

There was a moment of quiet, like he were giving her time to prepare for whatever he was going to say, and wariness built in her gut like a warning. This wasn't just any old information; this was the most important information she was likely to hear for a very long time. This had the potential to turn the tide of the war itself.

She listened, utterly silent, as Dumbledore began to speak. He started first with a prophecy made by none other than Professor Trelawney herself.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

It probably shouldn't have surprised Winona that Harry had a prophecy made about him, but it did. She was reminded again with astounding clarity that Harry wasn't just her scrawny cousin with stupid glasses and a mouth too smart for his own good; he was an actual, proper legend.

Winona said nothing, staring at Dumbledore without a word as he went on to talk about a night thirteen and a half years ago, that fateful evening in Godric's Hollow. She listened as he told her about Lily – Winona's aunt – sacrificing herself to save Harry's life, and how the lingering power of that sacrifice kept Harry safe while he was under Lily's sister's roof.

She listened as he told her of his suspicions that, as a result of what happened that night – the failed Killing Curse and You-Know-Who's subsequent defeat – the Dark Lord and Harry now shared a mental connection, one Dumbledore himself didn't even understand the full extent of.

"And that is why Harry mustn't know anything, Winona," Dumbledore said urgently. "Because anything thing Harry knows, there's too much of a chance Voldemort will be able to see into his mind and know it, too."

It was terrifying, the thought that You-Know-Who had a direct line into Harry's head. Protectiveness surged within her, potent and bubbling, like a potion brewing underneath her skin.

"This is all just a theory, right?" Winona asked, hoping she didn't sound as pathetic to their ears as she did to her own. "Nothing's been proven?"

Dumbledore looked pitying, and dismay twisted her insides into knots. "How else did Harry see what he did in his dreams over the last year? How else could he speak Parseltongue?" he said smartly. Winona's shoulders slumped and she sank down in her seat, staring listlessly at the cracked tabletop.

As much as she wanted to disagree, the evidence was right there, burning bright and obvious in her mind. He was right; she could feel it in her gut. There was no denying it.

"So how do we break the connection?" she asked, staring at a knot in the grain of the wooden tabletop. Nobody answered her, and she looked up with fire in her eyes. "How do we break it?" she demanded again.

Sirius exchanged a long look with Remus, but Dumbledore just stared back at her, his icy gaze unwavering. "Once You-Know-Who is dead-" he began importantly.

"And how exactly is that going to happen?" she interrupted him sharply, hands balled into fists in her lap. "We don't know where he is, or what he's doing. We have no way to get to him; he's too protected."

Dumbledore sat back down in his chair, putting their heads at the same level. Winona knew he was trying to appear less threatening, but it only made her recoil internally, something stubborn within telling her to deny him whatever he asked. Because surely he was going to ask for something. She wasn't now a part of the Order of the Phoenix just for the laughs.

"This is where you come in, Winona," he said quietly, voice rumbling and steady, but to Winona it sounded insincere. Sirius bristled where he sat, stormy eyes flickering between Dumbledore and his daughter, indecision in their depths. "Up until now, you've been a passive participant in this war. This is the moment that changes. You've been given these visions for a reason, and I believe that reason is to keep us – the Order – one step ahead of Voldemort's at all times."

He was trying to sound encouraging, but to Winona it just felt like a fancy way of saying she was the Order's new personal pet.

"You're going to turn the tide of this war, Winona," he told her urgently. It wasn't comforting – it was just an onslaught of pressure and responsibility she hadn't expected when she'd made that vow with Dumbledore. She understood better, now, why Sirius hadn't wanted her to do it. He'd wanted her to have an out – and now that was impossible. She was in this for life – or, at least, for as long as Dumbledore lived.

Sirius seemed to read the sudden exhaustion in her body, and he turned to Dumbledore with hard eyes. "I think that's enough for today," he said firmly. "Winona needs to rest. You can talk to her more at the next meeting."

Dumbledore's eyes glittered, but not with levity. "Very well," he said slowly, beginning to stand.

"When will Harry have had enough of the protection at the Dursley's house?" Winona asked him quickly, standing to her feet with him. "Will a week or two be okay?"

To her great dismay, Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry will be staying with the Dursley's for the majority of the summer."

Winona's teeth ground together. "Okay," she said, sensing it was a waste of time to argue the point. She turned to Sirius. "Is there a station or something nearby that can take me to Surrey? Obviously I can't tell him anything, but I can't just let him rot there all summer without any company. He'll go mental."

There was only silence in the room, ringing and loud, like she'd said something wrong. Winona didn't understand, and wasn't sure she wanted to.

"What?" she asked warily, heart dropping like a stone.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, but Sirius held up a hand, speaking before Dumbledore got a chance. "You're – er – you're not going to be able to visit Harry this summer, Winnie," he told her apologetically.

For a long moment, Winona said nothing. Then, with careful, foreboding calm, "Why not?"

"It isn't safe," said Sirius, the look in his eyes haunted. "You're not going to be able to leave Grimmauld Place until school starts back up in September."

Winona stared at him, half waiting for them all to burst out in hysterics over their lame attempt at a prank. But the longer that nobody laughed, the more dread she began to feel. "Well, that's not happening," she finally scoffed.

"With the article released about you in the Prophet last year, there's not a person in Wizarding Britain who doesn't know you're a Seer," said Dumbledore mildly. He was calm, and she hated him for it. He could read the discontent in her eyes. "The Dark Lord is returned, Winona," he said patiently. "And we now know he's searching for you just as intently as he's searching for Harry. You're safe here. The location of Grimmauld Place is hidden under the Fidelius Charm."

And Winona knew what that was; Charms was her best subject. But that didn't mean she any more liked what she was hearing.

"I have to stay, too, Winnie," said Sirius suddenly. "Out there, I'm still the Ministry's most wanted criminal. I can't leave, either."

And maybe that made her feel just a little bit better, but it wasn't in her nature not to argue. "I'm not going to stay trapped in this house like some sort of…prisoner," she snapped, staring at Dumbledore, daring him to disagree.

"And what will you do if you go out there and get caught?" came an unexpected voice.

Tonks had been so quiet that Winona had once again almost completely forgotten she was there. Winona turned to find her leant against the wall, watching the conversation with intelligent eyes. "Who says I'll get caught?" Winona countered hotly.

"You're not even out of school yet, and you think you're a match for the Death Eaters?" Tonks arched a perfectly pink eyebrow.

Winona didn't have a good answer to that one, and Tonks knew it. Smirking, she continued.

"You want to keep Harry safe, right? He and those redheaded friends of yours? That's your main goal?" she asked intently. Winona pressed her lips into a hard line and stared at her. "The knowledge inside your head puts them all at risk."

"I'll never talk," Winona insisted.

"You won't have a choice," Tonks told her, firm but not unkind. "It doesn't matter how tightly you shut your lips, or how good you think you are at Occlumency. A few hours under the Crutiatus Curse and you'll tell You-Know-Who himself your cousin's home address."

Winona wanted to argue that she was different, that she was strong enough and powerful enough to resist anything the Dark Lord could throw at her. But she knew, deep in her gut, that she wasn't special like that. She was just like any other young witch – You-Know-Who would make her regret ever being born, and at the same time it would put Harry in unspeakable danger. That wasn't something Winona could risk; not even for her pride.

"Fine," she said, and both Sirius and Remus leaned back in their seats, as if they hadn't been expecting her to give up so easily. "I'll stay here."

"All summer?" asked Sirius, looking doubtful. Winona wasn't sure he knew her well enough to have any sort of opinion either way, but then again, maybe she was just exceptionally easy to read.

She nodded her head once. "If it's what needs to be done."

"Thank you, Winona," said Dumbledore properly. "Now, I must be off. I have business to attend to at the Ministry," he told them, making his way towards the door. He didn't elaborate on what sort of business it was, but Winona knew by now that the old warlock hoarded secrets like a dragon's treasure. "I'll see you again soon, when we call another meeting."

And with little more than a polite nod at the others in the room, Dumbledore left, robes sweeping out behind him before disappearing around the corner. They heard the front door creak open, then shut with a click, leaving them all in a ringing silence.

With him gone, the whole room seemed to relax, everyone releasing the tension that had gathered in their bodies. Winona wasn't immune, sighing loudly, sinking down deeper into her chair. She was so glad he was gone.

"Anyone for tea?" Remus asked, standing to his feet and making his way towards the kitchen that sat at the other end of the room.

"Please," said Tonks brightly, taking his vacated chair and spinning it around so she could sit on it backwards, facing Winona.

"You two?" Remus asked as he began to fill the old metal kettle with water from the tap.

Winona nodded once at Sirius, who answered for them both. "That'd be great, Moony," he said with a sigh, slumped in his seat much like she was. She saw a little of herself in him, in that moment, and it was enough to make her throat go tight.

"What's it like to be a Seer?" Tonks asked her suddenly. Winona turned to look at her, a little surprised but truthfully just glad for the distraction. "From what I've heard, it's not really a pleasant experience; having a vision."

Winona chatted with Tonks idly about the pros and cons of having The Sight, wasting time – which, apparently, she now had a lot of – as she waited for her tea. Sirius said nothing, watching and listening as they talked. The kettle whistled loudly on the stovetop and a few minutes later Remus was making his way back towards them, four teacups floating along behind him.

They set themselves down in front of each of them, and Winona immediately took a gulp of hers. It scalded her tongue.

"So, what's there to do here?" Winona wondered as they drank their tea. "I don't s'pose you have a TV?"

"A what?" Sirius frowned.

Remus rolled his eyes. "No – no TV," he said lightly. "But there's a radio."

The idea of sitting beside a radio all day everyday felt even more pathetic than a TV, but she didn't say that, just shrugging her shoulders and drinking more tea.

"You could work on your summer homework," Remus suggested.

Winona snorted into her teacup. "Yeah," she laughed. "That'll happen."

Remus smiled, exchanging a look with Sirius she didn't understand. But the moment was over in a second, and Remus turned back to her expectantly. "Did you have anything at your foster house you wanted us to go get you?" he offered, probably since she'd come straight from the station.

But Winona shook her head. "Everything I need's in my school trunk."

"Speaking of," said Sirius. "Kreacher."

There was a sharp pop, and a house elf appeared beside the table. Small and wrinkled, he had great, bat-like ears with white hair growing from them like grass, and bloodshot eyes that glared at her with all the hatred his little body could muster. Winona shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Kreacher, take Winona's things up to Regulus' old room," Sirius ordered the house elf lazily.

Kreacher's squashed face split with fury, but he didn't yell. He wasn't anything like Dobby, or the house elves down in the kitchen at Hogwarts. He wasn't friendly or kindly looking at all. Instead, he looked like – were he given the legal opportunity – he'd murder them all in cold blood.

"Now, Kreacher," Sirius barked.

With a great sneer at them all, Kreacher turned to pick up the very end of Winona's school trunk, beginning to slowly and reluctantly drag it out of the dining room. "Filthy blood traitors," the house elf was muttering venomously under his breath as he left. "Bastard daughter besmirching the Ancient and Noble House of Black. Turning in her grave, my mistress is…"

His muttering disappeared along with him, and they listened in half-awkward silence while her trunk clunked loudly against each step as it was dragged carelessly up the staircase.

"What in the hell crawled up his arse and died?" Winona finally asked.

"Kreacher was my family's house elf," Sirius explained, looking tired as he held his tea close to his heart. She noticed again that he looked better than he had when they'd last seen each other, but even with the extra weight he'd put on he was still thin. He clutched the teacup like he hoped its warmth would sink through his chest and heat him from the inside. "As a result, he's rather…prejudiced."

Tonks snorted loudly. "That's putting it mildly."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "He was left to me when my parents finally died," he continued, taking a deep gulp of tea as if wishing it were something stronger. Clearly talking about his late family wasn't an easy thing to do. She knew the feeling. "He's a bitter, grumpy old thing, but he's magically bound to do whatever we say."

"We?" Winona echoed, blinking in surprise. Surely she'd heard him wrong.

"You're my blood," Sirius shrugged. "Heir to the Black line. He belongs just as much to you as he does to me."

Winona cringed. "I don't want him."

Her dad laughed. "Nobody does."

"Can't we just set him free?" she wondered. "I'm happy to make my own bed if it means not putting up with his fascist mumblings."

But to her disappointment, Sirius shook his head.

"He knows too much," Remus explained. "Letting him go free now isn't an option."

Winona took a sip of her tea, buying time to think. "Okay," she finally said. "But the minute You-Know-Who's in the ground, he's getting the boot."

Sirius laughed again. "Deal."

They faded back into quiet, but Winona was hardly out of questions. She turned to Sirius, brow furrowed. "Who's Regulus?" she asked him, trying to think about whether she'd ever heard that name before. To her best recollection, she hadn't.

Apparently it wasn't a question that had an easy answer, because Sirius looked back down at the table and Remus shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The only one who didn't look completely awkward was Tonks, who was now tapping an uneven beat against the lip of her teacup.

Nobody answered her for a long minute, and Winona wondered if she'd said something terribly wrong. But then Sirius stood to his feet, stretching his arms up above his head until his spine popped. "Come on," he said. "Why don't I take you up to your room?"

She got the feeling he wasn't avoiding her question, but rather wanted it to just be the two of them when he answered it. And anyway, she really did want to take a shower and change into something other than jeans, so settling into her new room sounded perfect.

"Sounds good," she told him, draining her tea. As she stood to her feet, however, something occurred to her. "Dumbledore mentioned the Weasleys earlier," she said to Remus and Tonks, fear igniting in her chest and gripping at her insides like the claws of a hungry dragon. "Are they safe where they are? Their house isn't under the Fidelius Charm, and they're considered blood traitors. Now that You-Know-Who's back, they'll be a target-"

"Winnie," said Remus, holding up a hand to stop her. Realising she'd begun to ramble, Winona pressed her lips together tightly. Remus was smiling gently, and it helped her relax. "We're already planning to have them moved here before the end of the week."

Her stomach swooped. "A week?" she asked, concern knitting at her brow. "Will they be safe that long?"

"They're under Dumbledore's protection," said Sirius from behind her, and she turned to see him smiling just like Remus. "They'll be fine until they can get here. They aren't as…unattached, as we are. It'll take time for them to get here."

It was strange to hear it put that way – but he was right. She and him were unattached. They had no home to worry about, no family other than each other and Harry. They had few worldly possessions to their names, and hardly any friends to speak of. It wasn't exactly a good thing in general, but considering the unique circumstances of the war they were now a part of, it was convenient at the most.

"Can I write to him?" Winona asked, then winced at her own slip of the tongue. She wasn't exactly shy about her relationship with Fred – but this was her dad. The dynamic was a little different. "Them, I mean," she corrected herself, cheeks warm. "The Weasleys."

To her relief, neither Sirius nor Remus seemed to really register the slip, but Tonks was smirking knowingly. Winona made a face at her, and the Metamorphmagus responded by turning her nose into a pig's snout and oinking playfully.

"Sure. Let them know what a palace they have to look forwards to," Sirius said with the utmost sarcasm.

"But you can't mention anything important at all. Not where it is, whose it is, or what it is," added Remus sternly. Winona mimed locking her lips shut with a key.

"Dumbledore mentioned bringing Hermione here around the same time," Sirius continued. "It isn't safe for her out there, either."

Winona hadn't considered that, but it made sense. Hermione was known to be a close personal friend of Harry's, and being a Muggle-born who couldn't yet use magic outside of school, she was even more vulnerable than most.

"I s'pose I'll see you guys at the next meeting?" Winona asked them, hesitating in the doorway with Sirius.

"Just me," said Tonks, climbing to her feet and pulling on the jacket she'd shed when they'd entered. "Remus lives here with Sirius."

That was a surprise to Winona, although it probably shouldn't have been. "S'pose that means I'll be seeing a lot of you," she murmured.

Remus lifted his teacup in a playful toast of acknowledgement. Tonks put her hand on Remus' shoulder and rubbed, an affectionate farewell. Remus' cheeks went pink at the action and Sirius stifled a laugh beside Winona. With a self-satisfied grin, Tonks made her way towards them, pulling Winona into a quick hug.

"Lovely to meet you, Winnie," she said warmly. "Write me anytime."

"You too," Winona told her, watching as she bumped fists with a bemused Sirius before leaving the same way the others had. The front door shut with a creak, and Winona was suddenly very aware that she was alone with Sirius and Remus, and she would be for much of the near future. "So, my room?" she asked, turning to Sirius expectantly.

"Right this way," he said, gesturing to the stairs.

"So, you were saying about this Regulus bloke-?" Winona asked blithely as they made it onto the first landing, only for a sudden onslaught of screaming to drown out her voice.

"BLOOD TRAITORS! VERMIN, ALL OF YOU! WHO DARE BESMIRCH THE ANCIENT AND NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK? FLITHY MUDBLOODS, THE LOT OF YOU-"

With a screech of shock, Winona spun around to find a portrait of an old lady roaring obscenities at them from a frame set into the wall, a pair of curtains having been covering the painting. Sirius lurched forwards attempted to drag the curtains back over the woman's furious face, but it wasn't as easy as it looked.

Winona dove into the fray, taking one end of the curtain and tugging until finally, together, they managed to close them on her ire. The screeching went muffled, then trailed off into silence.

"What the actual fuck was that?" Winona demanded.

"That," said her dad bracingly, "was your grandmother."

Grimacing deep enough to leave lines, Winona stared at him, half hoping he'd laugh and tell her he was joking. He stared back without reaction, and she realised he was being serious.

"Great," she said, flat and full of sarcasm.

Her dad chuckled. "Yeah, I figured she'd get that sort of reaction."

"She's not…erm…alive, is she?" she asked, trying her best to be delicate. But she couldn't help it, she'd never been very good with subtlety.

To her relief, her dad smiled again, unworried. "No, thank Merlin," he said fervently. She supposed the reaction wasn't very surprising, considering what she'd just witnessed. "She's long since in the ground. This house and Kreacher are all I have left of her."

Winona eyed the décor as they made their way slowly up another flight of stairs. "What lovely gifts," she said dryly, and he laughed again. "What was her name?"

"Walburga Black."

Winona's feet stopped moving, and Sirius looked back at her curiously. "Was I named after her?" she demanded, horrified.

"Not at all," he hurried to assure her. He looked a little shy, then, before continuing on. "I actually hated the name Winona when I first heard it – told Jess it was too close to Walburga – but she loved it. She always had. So that's what we named you, and you know what she used to say?"

Winona said nothing, staring at him without even breathing. Her dad was smiling warmly, making his eyes look less like storm clouds and more like jars of shining silver ink.

"She used to say that you would take the name Winona and turn it into something even more beautiful," he told her distantly, physically there with her but mentally a million miles and more than several years away. Winona stared at him, and after a moment he came back to himself, eyes flickering to her and the smile never leaving his face. "And, you know what? As always, she was right."

It made Winona smile too, and she realised her arms had wrapped around her middle of their own accord, holding herself tight in a hug. She released herself, stuffing her hands into her pockets instead.

"So, Regulus?" she asked, keen to get off the subject of her mother before he told her anything that might send her into fits of tears. She'd told him once that she wasn't ready to hear about her yet, and it remained true. She'd tell him the day that changed, and he knew that, too.

"He was my brother," Sirius told her, pressing a gentle hand to her back to lead her up the next flight of stairs. "Your uncle."

"Was?"

"He died," he said, voice hard, but not aimed at her. Winona stayed silent, wondering if that was all he was going to say, but her silence seemed to spur him on, and he let out a puff of air and began to speak as though he'd been bottling it all up for decades. "He was a Death Eater. Changed his mind eventually, but by then he'd gotten in too deep. He was killed for trying to defect."

Something about that niggled at Winona's mind, like there was something about that she should have known, or was supposed to know soon, but then it flickered out of reach, leaving her wondering if she'd imagined the whole thing.

"Was he younger or older?" she asked quietly as they climbed yet another flight of stairs.

"Younger."

She nodded, processing that slowly. "I'm sorry," she told him. He turned to look at her in wide-eyed surprise. "Despite him being a Death Eater and all…it can't have been easy to lose him."

She heard Sirius swallow loudly before replying. "I lost so many people back then; it all became a bit of a blur, honestly. One death just melted into another."

It was such an honest reply, one that left her heart aching. Slowly, almost convinced she shouldn't do it at all, Winona reached for her dad's hand. It was much bigger than hers, nearly swallowing it completely. She gripped his hand before she could talk herself out of it, squeezing tightly.

"I can only imagine," she whispered.

Sirius looked down at her, surprised and maybe a little bit happy, and he squeezed her hand back. "I know," he said softly. "Thank you, Win."

She smiled back at him tentatively, and as he came to a stop in front of a door on the final landing before the ladder to the attic, she let go, sticking both hers hands back into the safety of her pockets.

"This is your room," he said bracingly, lifting a hand to the handle and curling his fingers around it. He hesitated before opening it, brow furrowed. "Dumbledore only confirmed you'd be coming yesterday, so I didn't really have time to set it up for you…"

He opened the door, revealing a small, bare room with nothing but a dresser, a bed, and a cupboard filling it, along with a large number of haphazardly packed boxes pushed against the back wall.

"I put all Regulus' things into boxes, I've just got to move them to the attic. I also checked over the whole room for any nasty traps or lingering curses – you'd never know with Regulus – but it's completely safe. I even had Moody do a sweep, just to be sure. And I figured you could decorate it how you like. We won't be here forever – just until all of this is over, then I thought I'd get something nicer, somewhere I can see the sky. You'll probably have moved out by then, seeing as you're an adult now, but I want to make sure you always have a room wherever I live, so you have somewhere to go, should things-"

"Sirius," she cut him off, and he turned to look at her with wide, vulnerable eyes. It was enough to make her smile. "You're rambling."

Sirius smiled sheepishly. She hadn't thought of him as sheepish before, or really as anything other than what she'd seen so far. It occurred to her, rather suddenly, that her dad was a person in his own right, with a life outside of her.

She wondered, for the first time, what he was like as a person. Was he funny? Was he sweet? What did he like to do in his free time? What was his favourite song? Because surely he had favourite things, just like everyone else. It was a strangely humbling realisation.

"I like it," she told him to cover her own surprise, walking deeper into the room and pressing a hand to the covers on the bed. They were a deep red in colour, like that of Gryffindor House, and they looked brand new. "Did you buy new bedding?" she wondered, looking back up at him, bemused.

Either she was imagining it, or his cheeks went just a tiny bit pink around the edges of his neatly-trimmed beard. "Er, I had Remus go," he confessed. "Seeing as neither of us can leave the house."

Although the reminder was a distasteful one, Winona still smiled. It was endearing in the best way, and she got the overwhelming urge to hug him. She refrained – it would probably just be awkward for the both of them. Besides, they'd hugged enough for one day.

"Er – Kreacher usually has dinner ready around six," he told her, and Winona got the feeling he was stalling for time with her. It made warmth spread through her nerves. He wanted to spend time getting to know her just as much as she wanted to know him.

"I'll head down by then," she told him. Sirius nodded, kicking his heel idly against the floorboards. "Would I be able to have a shower?" she asked hopefully.

He looked up in surprise. "Of course," he said quickly. "This is your house as much as it is mine. I know it isn't much to look at but…please, make yourself at home?" he ended it like a question, and she got the feeling he needed her to agree, if only for his own peace of mind.

Winona smiled. "I'll do my best," she promised him.

Her dad smiled back, tentative but genuine all the same. "Bathroom's just across the landing," he told her. "Clean towels are hanging up."

"Thanks," she said warmly.

Sirius nodded, turning to leave. However, he paused with his hand on the doorknob, seeming to rethink his exit. He turned back towards her, that tentative look back on his face. "I want you to know I'm just – I'm really happy you're here, Winona," he said it like it was difficult to get the words out, but she didn't mind. She didn't imagine he'd had very much practise talking about his feelings while locked away in Azkaban.

And so, despite the fact that being open and honest with her emotions was about as painless for her as walking over a bed of glowing coals, she replied sincerely. "Me too."

Sirius smiled once more before finally leaving, pulling the door shut with a creak, leaving her in lovely silence.

Winona collapsed onto her new bed, trying not to think about the last person who had slept in it – her late uncle, a man she hadn't known had existed until five minutes ago. She wondered if he'd been a good person, but then she remembered what Sirius had said, about him being a Death Eater. She couldn't help but think there was more to the story, but she'd only just arrived. They still had all summer to talk – and Winona was looking forwards to every single minute.

She showered in the bathroom, the water blissfully hot and the tiles mercifully clean. She didn't imagine it had looked so spotless the day before – clearly Sirius had cleaned it the moment he'd learned she was coming, and the thought made her grin.

Back in her new room with a towel wrapped around her body, Winona stared into the mess of her trunk. She didn't imagine Sirius or Remus particularly cared about what she wore to dinner, but no matter how much she longed to pull on track pants and a holey old teeshirt, she thought she should make at least a little effort.

Pulling on a pair of clean jeans and one of her many Weasley sweaters, Winona brushed out her hair, then stood in the middle of the room, staring listlessly at the wall. She still had plenty of time until dinner, and she was at a loss for what to do.

Eventually she decided on writing to the twins, and quickly ripped a blank piece of parchment out from her sketchbook, sitting down at the empty desk and dipping her quill into some blue ink to write.

Fred and George,

Wanted to let you know that…

She stopped writing, staring down at the letters unseeingly. What was she supposed to say? What was she allowed to say? It occurred to her very suddenly that she had to be extremely careful of what she said and how she worded it. Not only were the things she knew sensitive to their side of the war efforts, but she now had the shackles of that damn Unbreakable Vow she'd made.

Who knew what the bounds of the Vow would consider 'too much'? If she accidentally gave something away that she wasn't supposed to, would she just keel over right here? The thought made unease churn in her gut.

She took a deep, calming breath, and wrote on.

Wanted to let you know that I'm somewhere safe. I can't say much, except that I very much like where I am, and that I'm with two of the best cartographers Hogwarts has ever seen. I can't come to the Burrow anytime soon, but I've heard we'll be seeing each other in only a matter of weeks, if not days. I can't say more; you'll have to beg your parents for details.

I miss you already. Be bad and cause trouble, and I'll see you both soon.

All my love,

Winnie

She folded up the note, sealing it and writing their names on the front. She was just about to head downstairs when she realised there was somebody else she had to write, as well.

She'd spent the majority of every summer since the one before fifth year with Harry – and now it was looking like it would be weeks before she'd get to see him, if even at all. It wasn't fair, and she felt that new hatred for Dumbledore bubbling in her blood. She pushed the feeling away, telling herself that it was necessary, maddening though it may have been.

Still, despite the fact she couldn't tell him a single useful piece of information, Winona could at least warn him that he'd have to find his own fun this summer.

Guilt sat, thick and curdling like expired milk, in her stomach as she pulled free another piece of parchment, dipped her quill in ink and began to write.

Harry,

I wanted to give you a heads up that I won't be able to see you this summer – at least, not until the very end, when you come to me. There isn't much I can tell you in a letter, so you're going to have to wait a while for answers. I know it's going to be hard, and I know you're going to feel alone. But you're not alone, not now, not ever.

Write to me anytime. Write to me so often you get sick of it. We may not be able to talk about the important things, but we can at least come up with fun new ways for you to torture the Dursleys back; discuss the newest headlines in The Prophet; talk about our summer homework.

Okay, that last one's a bit of a stretch, but you see my point.

I'm sorry I can't be there to talk to you in person. Just remember that it'll all make sense eventually, and know that I would never do anything that wasn't in your best interest.

You're not alone, cuz.

Love ya,

Winnie

She finished signing her name with a sigh, heart uncomfortably heavy in her chest. Winona looked up from the parchment, blinking at the blank expanse of wall in front of her. It was strange; for a witch, she sure felt powerless right about now.

Folding her cousin's letter and sealing it, she scrawled his name before standing to her feet and stretching her spine until it popped. Then she gathered the two letters in her hand, slipped her shoes back on, and slowly made her way back down the five flights of stairs to the basement where the kitchen and dining room were located.

Sirius was sat at the table opposite Remus, the two involved in some sort of card game. They looked up as Winona walked in, both of them smiling at the sight of her.

"Settled in all right?" Sirius asked as he tossed a card down onto the pile on the table. Remus' moustache twitched, but otherwise he didn't react.

Winona nodded. "The shower's nicer than I thought it'd be."

There was the clattering of metal from the kitchen, along with low mutterings, and she turned to find Kreacher stood at the stove, cooking what looked like shepherd's pie for dinner. Winona took a hesitant steps forwards. "Need any help with that, Kreacher?" she offered.

"Not from blood traitor scum like you," sneered the bitter House-elf. Winona's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise.

"Kreacher!" barked Sirius. "Don't you dare call her that. Winona is your mistress, and you will speak to her with the utmost respect."

Kreacher's thin lips pulled back in a pained sneer as the order sank into him. Winona knew the basics of House-elf magic, and she knew one bound in the service of a family couldn't disobey any direct order given by their master. But they were still capable of free thought. She was glad, suddenly, that she wasn't a Legilimens. The last thing she wanted was to know what was going on inside that spiteful little thing's head.

"Yes, Master," said Kreacher resentfully. "Of course, Master."

He went back to making dinner, and Winona turned back to the two men at the table, a wary look on her face. "How do we know he's not going to spit in the food?"

Sirius laughed, the sound unexpected by them all, judging by the surprise on their faces. "I already made sure he couldn't," he told her with a shake of his head. "Sorry about him, by the way. I'd get rid of him, but honestly, he comes in handy."

Winona casually batted away his apology. "You don't happen to have an owl I can use, do you?" she asked, holding up the two letters in her hand.

"Sure," said Remus, putting down his cards and climbing to his feet. "I'll go get Gypsy for you."

Winona took a seat in the chair at the head of the table, watching as Remus left the room. "Gypsy?" she asked her dad, who was tapping the edges of his cards impatiently against the table.

"Remus' owl," he shrugged. "Well, she's really more the Order's owl, but Remus is mostly the one who takes care of her." He put his cards facedown on the table and reached for a small glass sitting to the side. It was full of a clear liquid, but Winona would bet her set of expensive watercolours that it wasn't water. "Who're you writing?"

"Harry and the twins," she told him. Concern flashed on his face, and she read him like a book. "Don't worry, I didn't tell them anything. Just letting them know I'm safe. My plans for the summer were a little…up in the air…before Remus and the others came to fetch me. They'd panic if they didn't hear from me – especially Fred."

Sirius took a deeper sip of the liquor in his tumbler, and it made her smirk. Remus reappeared, a decent-sized barn owl perched on his arm. "Winnie, meet Gypsy," he said, and the beautiful bird dove gracefully off his arm and landed smoothly on the table, hooting once.

Winona took a minute to coo to the owl, petting her caramel-coloured feathers, then she looked down at the two letters. While she was most eager to hear back from Harry, she knew Fred would be a wreck if she didn't let him know she was okay, so she tucked Harry's letter into her pocket.

"Take this to Fred and George for me?" she asked Gypsy softly, stroking her plume once more. She hooted again, leg outstretched. Winona tied the twins' letter to her small, clawed foot, then once Remus had produced a small handful of oats from his pocket, she took off, soaring out the window and disappearing up into the darkening sky.

Sirius and Remus went back to playing cards, and as Winona fetched a cup of tea, she was filled with an unexpected sense of peace.

Sitting at the table, listening to Remus and Sirius bicker over the rules of a game they hadn't played in over a decade, Winona felt for maybe the first time in her whole life like she was home.

A/N: To address something that's come up once or twice in reviews, I wanted to talk about Winnie's opinion of Dumbledore. She respects him a lot, and I'd say she definitely trusts him…to a certain extent. Winona is very intuitive, and she notices things, particularly where power is involved. She sees Dumbledore manipulating the strings around him, and she doesn't like it, that's where her animosity comes from. She doesn't hate him in a literal sense, but more in the rebellious way a teenager hates their guardian.

Above all else, she values her friends, and her main concern is keeping Harry safe – both physically and emotionally. Anyone who poses a threat to him; well, she fights against it.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and this week's spotlight review goes to: BlondeHufflepuff – your review was so amazing to read. It came after a tough morning, so thanks for brightening my day! I'm glad I kept you guessing with Winona's heritage, I know the blonde hair threw a lot of people off. So happy to hear you're enjoying the story, and I hope I get more feedback from you soon!