Chapter 3:  Rendezvous with Luck

"OUCH!" Helen yelled and her eyes flew open. Moody had used a wakening charm that felt like sharp nails digging into her stomach.

      "Read this and memorize it." he said.

Helen stared at a slip or parchment. "The-"

     "Read it to yourself!" he hissed.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimwald Place, London, England.

     "That's Alby's-"

"No talking yet!" Moody muttered. Helen handed Moody back the parchment and stared at the beaten door, dirty windows, and filthy walls.

      "This it?"

"Hurry! Hurry! Inside!"

It was then, before Helen fell back asleep that she noticed she was being carried and that was her last thought before darkness....

~*~

Molly Weasley rushed about the room trying to make last minute clean ups.

 "Mum! There's no point in doing that." Fred said.

      "Yeah because they'll find out soon enough that they're a lot of worse parts of the house than this." George explained.

"And a dirtier THING too." Fred muttered, obviously talking about Kreacher the old batty house-elf.

"Who do you reckon is this person the Order had to find?" Ron asked.

    "And what could they have that the Death Eaters would want?" Ginny pondered.

"I don't know but it must have been something dangerous if they sent four of them." Hermione answered right away. "What do you think, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer. He was very thankful to be away from the Dursley's but this house brought back so many memories of Sirius not to mention the fact that Harry had to be constantly restrained from killing Kreacher.

  "Harry?"

Harry didn't reply. The front door opened and everyone stared. First Mad-Eye Moody entered and following him was Kingsley Shacklebolt carrying an unconscious teenage girl with straight dark black hair, and at the rear were Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin.

Mrs. Weasley let out a strangled cry. "What happened to her?"

"I'm guessing she gave answers they didn't want to hear. Should we wake her?"

     "No! No! Let the poor dear sleep!"

"She was awake a minute ago. I'm sure it'll be alright."

     "No! Questions can be saved for tomorrow!" Mrs.Weasley said very red in the face. At that moment Harry saw Helen was stirring awake.

The first thing he noticed was her eyes (very exotic looking). She gazed at everyone in the room with a look of apprehension. Mrs. Weasley crossed over to her and spoke kindly.

"Don't be frightened, dear. We..." Mrs.Weasley stopped as she looked at the dried blood on her hair.

"Oh my-we've got to-she's-"

 Helen seemed to notice what Mrs. Weasley was talking about. "Oh! Mr. Umm...Mr. I don't know your name...."

     "Lupin."

"Mr. Lupin stopped the bleeding. It's alright." Helen finished. Harry noticed her accent.

     "I'll clean it for you though." said Mrs. Weasley, running her wand through Helen's hair. Kingsley walked over to the couch and sat her down next to Crookshanks, who curled instantly in her lap. Helen petted the cat while looking around at them again.

"Ummm."Helen began. "What happened?"

The door opened and closed emitting none other than Professor Dumbledore.

"Alby!" Helen shouted. The others looked around at each other. No one had ever called him "Alby" but he seemed to act like it was a perfectly natural name, as though he had been hearing it for years.

"Helen." he spoke regarding her. "Please tell us what happened."

Helen frowned as though expecting a friendlier welcome but started talking anyway.

*A/n: Yeah, this story switches point of view often.

"We were in the Dining Hall-"

    "Huh." Ron said confused.

"Great Hall as you British would call it."

   "Wait a second...you were in school? Why?"

"Americans start school late in August. I go to Salem Institute."

    "Rea-"

"Shhhhh, Fred!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

    "I'll try making substitutions of words. Anyway...we were in the...Great Hall when suddenly these seven people wearing black hooded cloaks-"

"Were they British?"

     "No. Only the girl."

"Bellatrix. Continue."

Harry froze. Bellatrix Lestrange was the witch who murdered Sirius. Bellatix. Fury came over Harry unlike any he'd ever known. Hermione and Ron looked worriedly at him and back to Helen. Harry pulled away from his thoughts to try and listen to what she was saying.

"And then...Prin-Headmaster Spritz was killed."

     "Are you sure of this?" Dumbledore asked warily.

"Killed or Stunned."

     "Continue."

"So then suddenly Kevin-er-top senior...augh! Head Boy...came running over to me saying that YOU...(she glared at Dumbledore)  had been preparing for this sort of thing to happen and couldn't find the time to let me know about it!" Helen said very upset.

"So Dumbledore had kept things from this girl too. Seems like he'd been keeping a lot of things from people." Harry thought with a touch of annoyance.

"We'll discuss that later." Dumbledore replied calmly. "What happened afterwards?"

    "Then Kevin got Stunned and I got stunned and I found myself in this weird room. Hey how did you all find me anyway?" Helen asked.

"Unauthorized portkey. Carry on."

 She seemed to be tired of "Carrying on" but she did anyway.

      "She made a comment that I didn't have much of something in me. Then she asked if I was Helen. I said no. She asked if I had an...Amulet...and I said no. Then next thing I knew I was smashed into the wall and sprawled on the floor, head hammering with pain and wood digging into me." Helen concluded. "So would anyone mind telling me what these people want from me, why I wasn't told, and what I'm supposed to do about it?" she fired.

"Yes we mind." was all Dumbledore said before Disapparating. Helen stared open mouthed where he was standing a second before, clearly taken back that her questions were going to go unanswered. She looked around at the others, as if to ask them too but they all shook their heads and mumbled that they were just as clueless on this issue as she was and this didn't seem to cool Helen off one bit.

"Well!" piped Mr. Weasley. "I think some introductions are in order."

     "Hello everyone my name is Helen hold-information-from-me Cliff." she said sarcastically.

"Her mood reminds me of you, Harry." Ron grinned.

      "I know how she feels...what she's going through." Harry said quietly.

"On a serious note though...thanks for saving me." Helen whispered.

    "I'll make you a nice cup of tea!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly. "Oh dear! Won't your parents be worried sick about you?"

Harry noticed an abrupt change in Helen's countenance.

"My parents died when I was nine." Helen spoke softly. Mrs.Weasley's face went pale and a few tears ran down her face.

"You too." she said and hugged her, though not tightly after remembering Helen's injuries.

Yes indeed. Harry knew exactly what she was going through.