Year Six

Chapter One.

Stopping with a sigh, a lady with raven hair, and crimson eyes looked at the building in front of her. It looked.. rather nasty.. but that was beside the point. Recalling the address that had been divulged to her, she watched as a house slowly appeared. Shifting the bags on her shoulder and the staff in her hand. She went quickly to the door, she stepped in and looked around.

It had a musty scent, but she remembered the place easily, as she had a good memory. To good for her likings. She had been smart enough not to ring the bell and wake the old hag, er.. the previous owner who lived here. Who kept herself stuck up on a wall and threw a hell of a fit when she was woken.

Continuing on, she entered the living room. She quietly set her bags down, then gripped her staff, and called out, "Hello? Is anybody here?" She heard no answer. She continued through the house, looking around she opened a swinging door into the kitchen.

The next few moments had been a dangerous few, for the girl, as she had to duck a few spells that had been sent off.

"Everybody please, calm down, and lower your wands, for it is just Aubrey." Said a voice, old and wise.

Aubrey smiled and looked towards the voice ," Thank you Dumbledore." She said with a smile, as she lowered her staff from the defensive position that she used to shield herself.

"Please sit down, we were just about to start the meeting." Dumbledore said, waving his wand and producing another chair out of thin air.

Aubrey smiled and said thank you as she sat down, and the meeting started

Harry Potter looked around the room that he was in. He was back in Grimmauld place. He wasn't sure if he should be happy that he was in the wizarding world, or depressed that his godfather, Sirius, wasn't here.

Across the room, he heard his best friend, Ron Weasley, grumbling as he cleaned his owl cage, and Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, hooting merrily as it zoomed around the room.

Not to far from Ron, was Hermione Granger, reading a book, making sure that she kept up with the homework the teachers had given over the holidays. Nagging at them, making sure they also stayed caught up.

Harry sighed and readjusted himself in his chair. There was another meeting for the Order, today..

He then turned his head towards the door, as he though he had heard a voice. Getting up, and quietly walking down the hall, he looked down from the staircase. No one there? He was sure he had heard something. He waited.. nothing.. He sighed and walked back towards the room that Ron and Harry had claimed as their own. Sitting back down in the chair he stared at the floor, when he realized that Ron and Hermione were staring at him. "I had to use the bathroom." He lied. The others then when back to what they were doing.

Almost seconds after Ron yanked Pig out of the air and put him into his cage and closed the door, Ron's younger sister, Ginny came through the door, "The meeting is over and Mum said we were suppose to come down for dinner." She said, looking between them.

Hermione closed her book, and said, "Alright, Ginny, we're coming." She then got up from the seat that she had been sitting on and walked out the door with Ginny, the two of them talking lightly.

"You coming, Harry?" Ron asked, stopping by the seat that Harry had been on. He nodded, got up and followed Ron out the door.

Down in the kitchen, Harry looked around the table, seeing some of the more common faces, The Weasley's, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Remus and a few other faces.

Then he noticed an unrecognizable face, that was sitting between Remus and Dumbledore, they were all talking, the girl looking rather serious. She had black hair, then went a little past her shoulders, and.. bright red eyes… Harry shuddered from the reminder that the dark lord also had red eyes. He then took a seat next to Ron and asked, "Who's that girl between Remus and Dumbledore."

Ron raised an eyebrow and looked towards the other end of the table and said, "Uhh, I've seen her before, although we were never introduced or anything."

Aubrey sighed as the meeting was adjourned, it wasn't a very good meeting she decided. Severus, who had told them that the Dark Lord, was still recruiting more people. Aubrey was also able to tell that Severus had not been saying everything he knew. She was worried about Severus, his teenage years had sucked to an incredible extent, and Aubrey had been around to witness that..

Her mind then turned to the fact that the Red Mages were remaining neutral, deciding that this battle that was brewing was a pointless cause. Her mission had been a complete failure, Dumbledore had asked that she go and try to extend hands of friendships with the Red Mages. But they declined. They had given several reasons; they thought this was a pointless battle and a stupid reason to risk their lives, they didn't want to go back to wizarding society.

Those were some but Aubrey knew the real reason. The wizarding world hated Red Mages, for they were seen as evil tyrants, who practiced their magic on helpless creatures. Some wizards blamed the Unforgivable Curses them.

Almost none of this was true. Sure, sure, they had used test subject to see the effect of certain spells, but.. so did all the others. And the Unforgivable curses bit?

No.

Red Mages had only envisioned such spells, they had nowhere near enough power to create and master them.

And another thing.. Dumbledore had asked Aubrey to be the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, she of course accepted, she had heard that the past few years, teachers didn't last for a very long time. Her mind swirled as she though about teaching people, she had never been very good teacher, but.. She felt like she owed this to Dumbledore. Nearly half a year had been wasted. While she spoke with the Red Mages. She had to do this for him.

She then turned when Remus said, " Aubrey.. There's something that I need to talk to you about after dinner."

"Is it bad news?" she asked, she waited for an answer then sighed when she got none. Then pushed her black hair behind her half-elven ears with some frustration.

She watched quietly as Mrs. Weasley came out with some food, followed closely by a few of her kids, helping her, as they lifted the pot of soup that she had prepared. She looked at the food that was being passed around and sighed inwardly, it was beef soup.. "Oh well", she thought, as she ladled mostly broth and vegetables into her bowl, avoiding as much meat as possible.

Shortly after supper was done, she nudged Remus, "What do you want to tell me?" she asked, she had been almost dying to know. He got up and said so only she could hear, "You probably don't want me to tell you right here. Come on, let's go get your stuff." He then walked out of the kitchen and into the entrance area. Aubrey followed him, her face showing extreme puzzlement.

When they were in the entrance way, Aubrey was about ready to beat the conversation out of him. Resisting the urge, she went and sat on the steps nearby and waited…and waited.. Finally she asked out of the blue, "Hey.. where's Sirius? Is he sick or something?"

Remus sighed and said, "No, he's not, he's…well.. he's dead.."

Aubrey's eyes got very wide and she shook her head, "Whoa.. What?"

He looked at her and sighed, "He died, at the Department of Mysteries, at the Ministry of Magic."

"H-how?" was all she managed to say

"Somehow the kids seemed to think that Sirius himself was being held there, so.. they went on a mission.. I guess you could say, and when they figured out that, well, it was a trap.. The few that had been here, for the order had to go and get them, and.." he sighed and took a deep breath then continued, "he got into a duel with Bellatrix Lestrange, and.. he died.." he finished then looked at Aubrey, who sat, nearly immobilized on the steps.

She then got up and walked down the steps that she had been sitting on, ran her hand through her black hair, in a sign of disbelief, or frustration. "Thanks for telling me Remus," she said quietly then gave him a comforting hug.

Aubrey was about ready to start throwing things across the room. But for her sake of holding a decent composure, she got up off the steps and gave Remus a hug, and told him she was sorry about the loss of someone, who must have meant a lot to him. After stepping back from the hug, She looked across the room to her bags and asked, "Is there a room that I can stay in for tonight? I'll probably go to Hogwarts tomorrow and start on what I want to teach the students."

Remus nodded and Aubrey grabbed her bags and followed Remus. After he got to his destination, he opened the door and let her in. "This was, or is the drawing room, you can stay here. Hopefully, the doxy infestation is completely gone."

"Doxy infestation?" she asked, and then shuddered, "Where was the infestation at?"

"It was over in the curtains, but the kids and Mrs. Weasley cleaned them out."

"Good kids…" Aubrey muttered, as she set her bags down.

"Well I'll see you later then," Remus said, then left the room. Aubrey nodded with a smile then pushed the door closed. She went back to her bags and dug through them for a little, when she found a well oversized sweatshirt, pulled it on, glancing lightly at the design, as it read some muggle teenage contemporary store. She then pulled on a pair of baggy black leisure pants. She then sat on the biggest and comfiest chair she could find and grabbed her book and started to read, knowing that she would have it done by at least six tomorrow morning

She sat and tried to read the book, but she couldn't, she knew she couldn't, even if she tried. She then grabbed the book off of her lap and chucked it across the room, hitting the tapestry that hung, showing the Black family. She then sat for a few minutes, her head hung low, forehead in the palm of her hands, and her eyes wide open staring at the old fabric on the chair. She sighed and leaned back in the chair and stayed there the rest of the night.

"So glad to see that your back," said a sweet soprano voice, "We were almost sure that we lost you."

"I don't die that easy," Another voice answered, cold and a little high pitched.

"Those spells I gave to you worked well then?" said a confident, and more masculine voice.

"Who cares if your spells worked or not, Tors," said another voice, definitely belonging to a female, ."Can we get on with the point?" she asked.

"Yes, Yes" said the soprano voice, "Sorry Ezenai. As you all probably know, the main reason we are all here, is because we all desire the power over the magical world and the muggle world. Although we know we may be enemies someday, we can't win, without aid.. But, anyway, I suggest that we help dear Tom this year.." She said, looking at the others

"You still haven't gotten that kid yet?" asked the male voice, Tors.

"No..the child is very, very lucky," Answered the cold voice, in an annoyed tone.

"Perhaps infiltration should be tried again this year," Said Ezenai, "After all, now that we know you are.. umm.. living, I'm capable of using one of my assassins, who is trained for such a thing, and Tors, possibly a friend of his, who are wise in their abilities.." she finished, looking at first the other female, then towards Tom, then diverting her gaze towards the ground once more.

"That sounds like a fairly good idea, Ezenai," the other woman mused. "I actually think I might know of someone already, if that's alright with you two, that is.." she added, looking towards the other two members. Where they next nodded.

Ezenai nodded, then stood and faced one of her own and said, " Fetch thy High-wind, and tell him to see me, I have a request of him." The man she spoke to nodded and swiftly left the room.

The others then followed Ezenai's suit and waited, while the requested people came. Then.. formulated a plan.