"I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to become." - C.G. Jung

Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Patronus

With a disgusted scowl, Ankaa cleared away the dirt and dust that had settled on the top of the boudoir in the drawing room. Mrs. Weasley had wasted no time in allotting cleaning schedules so that Grimmauld Place could begin to resemble a home. She had put everyone to work, even a reluctant Sirius, in the next few days.

Sirius was muttering under his breath as he searched through the contents of one of the many drawers. His hair, which he refused to trim, was falling in his eyes. He let out irritated puffs of air, occasionally reaching up to roughly push the ringlets behind his ear.

"Here," Ankaa reached for her wrist, pulling down a hair tie. She offered it to Sirius. "It'll keep it out of your face."

"Thanks." Sirius reached for it gingerly. With practiced ease, he wrapped his hair up into a little bun on the top of his head and stuck his wand through the bun. Noticing Ankaa's raised eyebrow, he smirked up at her, "It's my style."

With a roll of her eyes, Ankaa got back to dusting the top. The two worked in silence for another few minutes, occasionally letting out groans of distaste and fatigue.

"Listen," Sirius began uncomfortably, "I wanted to talk to you about Ceph."

Immediately, Ankaa tensed up. The cloth in her hand hovered over the dirty wooden surface, and her grey eyes went out of focus momentarily. Then she continued with her cleaning as if Sirius had not spoken. But of course, Sirius was never one to back down once he had started.

"I wanted to apologize," He told her, looking up at her form as she stepped further up the ladder to reach the back of the boudoir.

"Don't worry about it," Ankaa grunted, wrestling another devious pixie into her hands and roughly throwing it into the box.

"Ankaa, he was my son." Sirius said firmly, "And I know you don't like me, but I feel the loss that you do. I was there when he was born, I helped take care of him. I remember the first time his tiny little hands wrapped around my finger… He was my son."

Ankaa stilled once more. She was glad she hadn't tied her hair up, or Sirius would be able to see her eyes welling up with tears. In the few weeks that she had been at Grimmauld Place, Sirius had not once mentioned Ceph. Ankaa had assumed it was because he had moved on…

"I'm… sorry." Ankaa finally muttered. Glancing down at her father, who was now looking up at her inquisitively, she repeated herself, "I'm sorry for your loss, Sirius."

There was a small moment of understanding that seemed to pass between the two. While Sirius knew Ankaa was still not too fond of him, he knew she at least seemed to understand his place within their family.

Sirius smiled warmly at her before patting her leg. Then, he got back to work. Ankaa smiled softly when she heard him complaining about all the useless things his mother had kept locked up in there.

"What was she like?"

Sirius did not even look at her. With a snort, he shook his head, "The worst woman I've ever met. And that's saying a lot, especially since I'm related to Bellatrix."

They worked in silence for another five minutes or so before Ankaa asked him another question.

"And what about Mom's parents?" When Sirius raised his eyebrows at her, she told him, "Ceph and I went back in time to 1981, and we saw Mom's memories. You knew her parents?"

"Knew of them." He corrected solemnly. Sirius seemed lost in thought as he spoke, "I just remember my parents being very happy—which was odd, since they were hardly happy when I was around. But they were happy with the Archers' work."

"Well… I'm glad they're gone then."

"You and me both." Sirius gave her a wink. With a sigh, he glanced towards the still dirty boudoir. "You think Molly will notice if we don't finish cleaning it today?"

"Of course I will!"

The two turned to find Mrs. Weasley standing by the entrance of the room, her hands on her hips and her glare trained towards Sirius. Ankaa smirked slightly and quickly turned back to her work, noticing that Sirius rolled his eyes in slight irritation before muttering something along the lines of 'a dictator in my own house' and turning back to his work.

"Oh, leave it for now!" Mrs. Weasley motioned him along, "You're not cleaning it properly."

"What!" Sirius was outraged. "I scrubbed it clean twice! Twice!"

"You didn't clean under the box!" Mrs. Weasley pointed out with a sigh, "You didn't even pick it up. Did you clean around it, Sirius?"

Momentarily, Sirius looked like a child who had been scolded. He shuffled on his feet uncomfortably before looking up at a snickering Ankaa and scowling. He hit her leg and told her to stop laughing, quite indignantly too.

"Leave her alone!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, "At least she's cleaned properly!"

"You don't even know that! You can't see to the top of this thing!"

"I don't need to." Mrs. Weasley looked up at Ankaa with a smile, "Go on then dear, I think you're done for today. Hermione will be along in a bit—"

"OH FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

The three looked towards the entrance, where Tonks had run into the umbrella stand by the corner and knocked it over. Behind her, Maya was shaking her head in amusement. Just then, the curtains covering Walburga Black's portrait flew open and a horrible screeching filled the house.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS IN MY HOME!" She was shouting at the top of her lungs, the curtains flailing about wildly. Tonks looked embarrassed that she had been the reason for all this noise, but Ankaa supposed that by this point she had grown used to this.

"Now you've done it," Sirius sighed as he followed his wife and tried to close the curtains and ignoring his mother's shrieks.

Ankaa stood a few feet away from the life-sized portrait of her grandmother, watching her mother and father trying to get the curtains closed. Walburga was shouting at the top of her lungs, throwing every insult in the book towards her son. The other paintings in the house soon came alive as well, shouting along.

"What's going on!" Hermione had just stepped into the house, accompanied by Remus. Her trunk was beside her, and Crookshanks was in her arms. The cat squirmed at the tremendous racket and wiggled out of her arms and ran somewhere upstairs.

Ankaa just shook her head.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU OLD HAG!" Sirius shouted back and finally, he managed to get the curtains closed along with Maya and Remus' help.

"What… was that?" Hermione asked softly as Ankaa levitated her luggage upstairs and into the bedroom that they would be sharing with Ginny. Inside, Ginny looked up from the magazine she was reading and smiled at Hermione.

"That was Sirius' mother," Ginny informed her, "She's got her portrait on there with a Permanent Sticking Charm."

"And she's always screaming?"

"Always," Ankaa propped herself on her bed, flipping through her mother's diary once more. "A few days ago, Fred and George tried to set her on fire to see if they could get rid of the portrait. She screamed up a storm. And so did Mrs. Weasley."

Ginny grinned.

"How long have you been here?" Hermione asked Ankaa.

"A few weeks." Ankaa shrugged, "Dumbledore thought it wasn't safe for me to be alone."

The girls looked towards the door as Hedwig swooped in and deposited letters in front of Hermione and Ankaa. Ginny looked slightly glum at the fact that Harry hadn't written to her but she didn't voice her opinion. Instead, with a slight huff, she turned back to her magazine and flipped through it nonchalantly.

"Still got a crush on him, do you?" Ankaa taunted, waving Harry's letter in her face with a big smile.

"You're one to talk, with your fawning over my brother." Ginny did not even glance up from her magazine, but Ankaa could hear the smirk forming on her face.

Behind her, Hermione was laughing.

Ankaa scowled at the younger girl before settling herself at the foot of her bed. Ginny gave her an amused smile before poking at her with her foot.

"Guess we're in the same boat," Ginny remarked.

Hermione smirked, "A boat that Ankaa desperately wants out of, it seems."

"I was never on the boat," Ankaa shot back haughtily, rolling her eyes. "I've told him that as well. I had misinterpreted my feelings, that's all."

The other two looked like they did not believe her. Hermione and Ginny cast each other disbelieving stares, rolling their eyes slightly at Ankaa's naivety. Ankaa noticed, but she did not say anything. They were not the ones she needed to convince. She only needed Fred to believe her lie, which he already had.

"Girls!" Molly called from down the hallway, "Dinner!"

"Come on," Ankaa stood with a stretch. To Hermione, she said, "At least with you here, I won't have to put up with Ronald as much."

Ginny walked ahead of them, meeting up with Fred and George as they walked downstairs (one of the rare moments when they did not Apparate). The trio was deep in conversation about some of the new products they were designing. It was the only time they could talk, seeing as Molly had a knack for hearing the quietest of conversations.

"Is it true?" Hermione whispered to Ankaa when she noticed the others were quite a distance away. "Did you really tell him that you misinterpreted your feelings? I thought you were going to ignore him?"

Ankaa raised a brow, "I can hardly avoid him now that we're in the same house, can I?"

"We both know that wouldn't have stopped you. I've seen you give silent treatments to your dorm mates, at least you and Fred have an entire house to avoid each other in."

Ankaa scowled. Hermione had a point. If she had truly wanted it, Ankaa was more than capable of avoiding Fred. But they had settled back into their friendship so easily. There were times when Ankaa was reminded of her feelings, but she would much rather drown herself in those than think of her dead brother.

"When the school year starts up again," Ankaa said as she settled herself next to Hermione on the dining table, "I'll have all the time and space to ignore him."

Hermione just smiled sardonically. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

"He can't stay there the entire time."

Ankaa leaned further over the bannister, trying to hear what the Order of the Phoenix was discussing. The others were all around her, focused on hearing the conversation happening behind closed doors. They were fortunate enough that Molly had been far too preoccupied to cast a muffling charm.

"Reckon they're talking about Harry?" George whispered. The others, who were all trying to listen, just barely nodded. Ankaa noticed Hermione and Ronald shoot each other identical, worried glances.

"We've got people watching him," said a female voice, "Today will be Kingsley, and then Mundungus tomorrow, and then myself. We'll have a more detailed schedule for you soon."

"Harry?" Ronald whispered, "They've got people watching Harry?"

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Hermione retorted softly, "Harry's probably in the most danger."

The group shared an apprehensive look before turning back to the doors. There was a jumble of voices emanating from the inside. The loudest one was Sirius', complaining about Mundungus being on duty.

"What's wrong with Mundungus?"

"He's a crook," Ronald answered Hermione, "Last year he was at the Quidditch World Cup—"

Ankaa shushed Ronald quickly, waving her hand in his face when she noticed a pair of boots move closer to the door.

"—What!"

At Ronald's outraged cry, the door was thrown open by none other than Alastor Moody (the real one, this time). Moody's magical eye zoomed in on the children standing in the hallway upstairs, half leaning over the bannister. The scowl on his face deepened and his normal eye narrowed itself at them.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" As caring as that sentence seemed, coming from Moody it would give anyone nightmares. "Weasley," He barked, taking a few steps into the hallway, "If I catch you in the hallway one more time—"

"Let it go, Moody," Maya appeared behind him. "We've got to finish this."

With one last glare, Moody vanished back into the room. Maya shot one look at the kids, who remained frozen, before heading back and closing the door behind her gently. Immediately after the door had closed, a buzzing noise filled their ears. Ankaa recognized the spell immediately. It was the same one Ceph had found in an old copy of Advanced Potion Making and shared with her, a Muffling Charm of sorts.

"Nice one Ron," Fred mocked, flicking his younger brother on the forehead, scowling irritably.

"Yeah, you might as well have knocked on the door and told them to speak louder." George rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't me!"

"Oh yeah?" The twins scoffed, "Who was it then? Kreacher?"

"Dungbrains," Fred tossed one last insult over his shoulder as he and George Disapparated to some other room in the house. Ronald, looking slightly deflated and immensely insulted, glared at Ankaa.

Ankaa paid him no mind though, already turning to head back to her room. Ginny, Ronald, and Hermione followed after her silently, each of them deep in thought about what they had heard. When they reached their room, Ankaa found Fred and George lounging by the fireplace, comfortably stretched in the oversized chairs.

"Way to make a dramatic exit," Ankaa muttered, shooting each of them a look. Fred and George only grinned, giving her a mock salute.

"I don't understand," Ronald began, following after Ankaa and settling onto Hermione's bed, "Why don't they just bring him here? It's probably better for the Order members too, isn't it? Just so they're not stuck babysitting."

"And why can't we tell Harry about what's going on?" Hermione ran a tired hand over her face, "He's been so insistent. It's getting harder and harder to keep the truth from him."

"Dumbledore told you two not to say anything?" When Hermione and Ronald nodded, Ankaa pursed her lips deep in thought.

Hesitating, Hermione glanced from Ginny and Ronald in confusion. "What are you thinking?"

"Just that it's a bit odd, don't you think, that Dumbledore's assembled the Order on Harry's word that Voldemort—" Everyone flinched at the use of his name, but Ankaa continued regardless, "—is back, and yet he refuses to let Harry get involved?"

Ginny shrugged, "Maybe because Mom and Dad won't let him. And I don't think Sirius and Maya would let him join either. It's too dangerous for him to be involved."

"Okay, maybe, but then why not just bring him here, like Ronald said? Why would you keep Voldemort's number one target in a Muggle town, somewhere he's easily accessible?"

"Maybe he's placed some sort of protection there?" Hermione suggested weakly, keen on defending dear old Dumbledore. Ankaa just rolled her eyes and gave the girl an unimpressed look.

"Yeah," Fred agreed, "After all, he gave this place all loads of protection, didn't he?"

"Then why not bring Harry here? Everyone's here, there's more protection."

"This is the first place they'll attack," George guessed, "Maybe Harry's better off with his aunt and uncle."

Ankaa raised a brow at him, "They'll attack here? Just a moment ago, Fred said Grimmauld place was given all sorts of protection. No one can find it unless Dumbledore tells them about it, and it's unplottable. Only the members of the order know this place, and Dumbledore trusts everyone in the Order. So, again, why not bring Harry here?"

Ankaa looked around. Their silence should have been their first clue that something was not right.

It irked her that no one was able to see what was wrong here. It also amazed her that these people had so much faith in Dumbledore that they never questioned him. They blindly accepted the fact that Harry was best off with his aunt and uncle (that abusive aunt and uncle, mind you), simply because Dumbledore had made it that way.

"I think he's trying to draw him out," Ankaa mumbled, running a hand through her hair.

"What?"

"Dumbledore," She answered Fred's incredulous stare, "I think Dumbledore is waiting for Voldemort to show himself. I think he's left Harry behind on purpose, and maybe that's why he's got the Order watching him. If Voldemort—"

"—will you stop saying his name!"

"Voldemort—" Ankaa glared menacingly at Ronald as she spoke, "—might show himself if he tries to attack Harry in Little Whinging. And if he does, the Order will fight him there."

"That's ridiculous!" Hermione scoffed, "Dumbledore wouldn't risk Harry's life like that!"

"You're giving him too much credit," Ankaa retorted, "He's desperate. Think of it from their point of view, Hermione. These people have lived through the First Wizarding War, do you really think they'll want to be launched into a second one? He's going to try everything in his power to stop it from happening, and I don't think he's particularly bothered if Harry has to pay the price for it."

There was an uncomfortable silence that settled over the group. Ankaa knew it must have been a blow to them, to think of Dumbledore that way. But she did not feel bad about anything she had said. They had elevated him to a god-like status, and she was just showing them the truth. Well, she wasn't entirely sure if that was the truth, but with Dumbledore's past record, it seemed entirely plausible.

"Well," Fred stood with a loud sigh. Giving everyone a smile, "As illuminating as this conversation was—"

"—we are true businessmen," George joined his brother, "who need to get back to their work."

"It's an entrepreneur's life," Fred nodded solemnly. "Someday, you might understand."

They both turned on the spot and Disapparated with a small pop. Ginny amused herself by flicking through the book of advanced spells Ceph had given Ankaa. Ronald and Hermione remained on her side of the room, talking quietly amongst themselves. Ankaa lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

And slowly, she drifted off to sleep.

She was having a vision. For the first time in a long while, Ankaa opened her eyes and felt the familiar feeling of being suspended in a vision crawl up her spine. Excited, she took in her surroundings quickly. She was in the middle of a Muggle park, in the dark, and all alone.

No, not alone.

Sitting on the swings, by himself, was Harry Potter. He sat on one of the only swings that had not been broken, a moody scowl on his face. Ankaa took a few steps in his direction, even though she knew she could not talk to him.

Just as she did, his head snapped up. His green eyes focused on something behind her, and she whirled around quickly. There was a gaggle of teenagers on their bikes, crossing the park and jeering and laughing at one another. She spotted their leader, a big and chubby boy who she immediately identified as Harry's cousin.

Ankaa turned her head back to watch Harry's reaction. From what she had gathered, the two didn't get along too well. She watched Harry carefully, looking for any sign that he may jump off the swing in a fury and start an altercation.

Surprisingly enough, Harry refrained.

The first vision in a while and it's one of my most boring ones, Ankaa sighed to herself.

She followed after Harry as he made his way back to Privet Drive, maintaining a distance from his cousin. Ankaa glanced up at the sky then, noticing how it had gotten dark. With a frown, she looked around the street. The street lamps had come on, casting an eerie glow about the place.

You're in a vision, she told herself, nothing can happen to you.

"Hey, Big D!"

Ankaa watched as Harry fell in step beside his cousin, grinning widely. Shaking her head in amusement, she listened in to their conversation, hoping to catch something interesting. Anything that would make this vision more interesting.

Sadly, for her, she grew tired of hearing Harry taunt his cousin quite quickly. And yet, she continued to walk behind the duo, occasionally pausing to look at the drawings the children had made on the sidewalk. She amused herself by following through with a game of hopscotch.

She watched a bit of Muggle television through the window of one of the houses as she passed, noticing that it was the news channel. It was twelve minutes past nine according to the telly.

"Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and help me!" Dudley was taunting Harry when Ankaa turned back to them, "He's killed Ceph! Dad, help me—"

Ankaa awoke with a jolt.

She lay still for a moment, breathing in deeply, trying to calm her furiously beating heart. Her fingers were curled around her wand. As she sat up, she realized that the feeling that flooded her system was anger; utter rage that was directed at Dudley. She wanted to use her wand and shove it up so far up his—

"Did I wake you?" Hermione asked, looking away from a letter she was writing. "I'm sorry. I tried to tell Hedwig to calm down, but she's been a bit on edge."

"No," Ankaa mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck with a frown, "I had a vision."

"About what?"

Ankaa brushed away Hermione's concern. "Nothing, just Harry and his cousin arguing." She glanced at the watch on her wrist. It was already twelve past nine, which meant that Harry and Dudley were already having that argument.

"You've got that look on your face," Hermione began apprehensively, "The same one that you have before you do something… mean."

Ankaa smirked over at the Gryffindor girl. "I'm surprised you have my facial expressions categorized."

Hermione shrugged, "It's the only way I can tell what you might be feeling."

Ankaa left Hermione to continue writing her letter and quickly exited the room. She jumped down the stairs, ignoring the glare she got from Kreacher, and ran to the dining room where another Order meeting was being held. She couldn't hear anything, but Ankaa knocked on the door several times.

"Won't work," said Fred from the floor above her, giving her a grin, "They've put the Imperturbable Charm on it."

"How do you know?"

"Ginny," he said, right before he Apparated to the bottom of the stairs to stand behind her. Fred reached for one of the small trays that were placed on the table in the hallway and chucked it towards the door. Ankaa watched as it hit the door and bounced back without a sound. "Tonks told her how to find out. Apparently, if it bounces back, it's been Imperturbed."

With a groan, Ankaa turned to face him. "I haven't got the time for this."

"Why?" Fred smirked, "It's not like you do much, anyway. All you do is write letters and read your mum's diary."

"Just because I'm not helping you with your stupid shop—"

"Shh! Mum might hear!"

"—doesn't mean I don't have things to do." Ankaa pushed past him then, heading for the main door. Fred followed after her.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Ankaa lied. "Just out for a walk. I'll be back in a bit."

"Good idea," Fred mumbled, "Let me just get George, and we can all go together. We could use the fresh air."

Without waiting for her response, Fred Disapparated. Ankaa breathed a sigh of irritation before she glared up the stairs at where the twins' room was. Just as quickly as he had, Ankaa turned on the spot and Disapparated from number twelve Grimmauld place.

Ankaa appeared in the middle of the Muggle Park with a loud pop. For the briefest of moments, she scolded herself for being so impulsive. She was lucky no Muggle had spotted her, given that the park was not lit by any of the street lights. With her wand grasped firmly in her right hand, Ankaa glanced at her watch once more.

"DUDLEY!"

Ankaa startled at Harry's yell. Without a second thought, she bolted towards his voice.

"KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!"

Ankaa jumped over the metal fence, panting as she pushed herself harder and harder towards the source of his voice. She knew something was horribly wrong the moment she had heard Harry scream, but when she felt the cold air hit her skin, Ankaa knew just how much trouble they were both in.

She had seen them once, in her third year, when one of them had come too close to comfort. Ankaa had not forgotten her first encounter with a Dementor. Despite the fact that it had happened two years ago, Ankaa still remembered the feeling of dread that had filled her with it had come close. And today, she was filled with the same feeling all over again.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Harry's words echoed in her ears as she rounded the corner and into the alley. She stopped a few paces away from him, amazed and terrified by the scene before her at the same time. Dudley was pinned to the wall, a Dementor holding him up by his neck. Harry stood with his back to her, his wand pointed at the cloaked creature, but to no effect.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A small wisp of vapour was all that shot out from his wand. The lack of a Patronus, as well as the fact that the Dementor had now turned its attention to Harry, spurred Ankaa into action.

"You'll need a happy memory," Ceph had told her, smiling at her from over his book, "The happiest you've ever felt."

And for the first time in all her life, Ankaa closed her eyes in the face of imminent danger. Her wand pointed towards the rapidly advancing Dementor, Ankaa recalled her happiest memory.

"Look at that Ceph," She saw a young Sirius deposit a curious toddler onto the bed. Little Ceph stared up at Maya with big, grey eyes. "You've got a little sister."

"Hi baby," Maya smiled lovingly down at her boy, "Come meet your little sister, Ankaa."

Ankaa watched as her brother gingerly reached forward, lips pursed in concentration as his hand brushed over her head. Ankaa, with her eyes closed, reached for his hand and wrapped her fingers around his. Ceph smiled up at his parents, immensely proud to have a baby sister he loved so much.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A stream of silver vapour poured from her wand, heading straight towards the Dementor.

At first, it had no shape. But then, it crossed Harry and a magnificent dragon took form from the silver light. It took up almost the entire space in the alley. Its wings spanned the entire width of the alleyway, brushing against the wall on either side as they flapped. The wings shielded Dudley from the Dementor briefly, and the dragon quickly advanced towards the Dementor and chased it away.

Ankaa's attention wandered away from her Patronus only for a moment, to see Harry staring at her in amazement. But that was all it took. When her eyes travelled back to where her Patronus had been, all she saw was a small wisp of the silver light as it vanished.

"I didn't know you could do that," Harry mumbled, in shock.

"Me neither," Ankaa admitted, mirroring his expression.

Suddenly, Harry's eyes widened and he drew his wand up and pointed at her. Reflexively, Ankaa clutched her wand tighter and turned it towards him.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The jet of silver light passed through her, and the wind blew her hair everywhere. Ankaa turned quickly to see Harry's Patronus chase away a second Dementor that had crept up behind her. The stag used its massive horns to keep the Dementor at bay, before finally pushing it out of the alleyway.

"You didn't think I was going to hurt you, did you?"

Ankaa turned to Harry, who was trying to help his cousin to stand up. Ankaa joined him, grunting as she lifted the massive boy.

"Of course not."

Harry gave her a look as if he knew she was lying. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? Won't you get in trouble for doing Underage Magic?"

"I'll explain everything later," She promised. With a groan, she stepped away from Dudley. With another wave of her wand, she levitated his body slightly so that they could get him back to the house. To Harry, she said, "Make it look like we're carrying him."

Just then, another person stepped into the alleyway. Ankaa turned towards them suspiciously. Harry buckled under Dudley's weight when Ankaa stopped levitating him, and eventually let his cousin drop to the floor with a dull thud. Ankaa pointed her wand at the odd little lady who was running towards them.

"Mrs. Figg," Harry recognized her. He hurriedly tried to stow away his wand, standing in front of Ankaa so that Mrs. Figg could not see her wand.

"Don't put it away, idiot boy!" she shrieked, her grey hair sticking out of her hair net. "What if there are more of them around? Oh, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

"Mundungus," Ankaa echoed. "You know him? Wasn't he on guard duty? Where is he?"

Mrs. Figg eyed her up and down for a second. If she was suspicious, she didn't show it. Her anger towards Mundungus won out, and she cribbed about how he had left to see someone about a batch of cauldrons.

"What?" Harry turned to her blankly, "What's going on?"

"Later," Ankaa promised him, waving her wand and levitating Dudley's body once more. "We have to get you back now. It's probably not safe here."

"Smart girl," Mrs. Figg muttered, "Let's go."

Ankaa and Harry were on either side of Dudley, pretending to lug him around as they walked back to Privet Drive. Ankaa remained quiet during the walk back, keeping an eye out for any other abnormalities. She let Harry and Mrs. Figg talk, knowing that Harry was going to grill her enough when they got back.

"MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Mrs. Figg's enraged shout made Ankaa lose concentration. Harry and Ankaa's legs buckled under Dudley's weight for just one second before Ankaa levitated him once more. She had honestly never been so glad to have the trace off of her. If she had to physically carry this idiot back to Harry's house, she would have just let the Dementor kiss her.

Mundungus appeared in front of the group with a loud pop. Ankaa glared at him, noting how he had no idea what had just happened. He clutched an Invisibility Cloak under his arm, giving Mrs. Figg an indulgent smile.

"'Sup Figgy," He said, "What 'appened to staying undercover?"

"I'll give you undercover," cried Mrs. Figg, "Dementors, you useless, skiving sneak thief!"

"Dementors?" Mundungus repeated, aghast, "Dementors, 'ere?"

"As much as I would love to hear Mrs. Figg chewing you out," Ankaa glared at the smaller man, "Harry and I are growing quite tired of carrying Dumbley, here."

"Someone's gotta tell Dumbledore what's 'appened." Mundungus muttered, glancing from Ankaa to Mrs. Figg.

"Yes—they—have!" yelled Mrs. Figg, swatting at him with her handbag, "And—it—had—better—be—you—and—you—can—tell—him—why—you—weren't—there—to—help!"

Ankaa turned to Harry with a snicker, "I have no idea why you didn't like her. She seems amazing to me."

"Go on then!" Mrs. Figg told the kids, "Someone will be in touch with you soon enough."

"Hang on!" Harry called after her as she turned to go back to her house. Mrs. Figg did not turn back, hobbling quickly away from the trio. Harry turned to Ankaa quickly, "Dumbledore's having me followed?"

"I suppose," Ankaa looked away from him and to the house he lived in. "Here," She slowly started putting Dudley's weight on Harry, who grunted under the pressure but remained upright nonetheless.

"You're leaving?"

She debated it for a moment. If she stayed, Harry would only pester her with questions she wasn't allowed to tell him the answers to. But if she went back to Headquarters, she was sure she would be in trouble with her mother and Sirius. Maya had most likely had the vision too, and if she hadn't, Fred and George would surely let her know that Ankaa was missing.

"No," She sighed after a second, "I'll stay. You get him inside and I'll be in your room upstairs."

Notes:

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