Chapter 5 - A disturbing turn of events

Harry woke with a start and saw light in the room. He looked over to Ron's bed and found it empty. He looked at his watch and realised that he had slept in. He walked down the stairs to the dining room. The dining room was empty except for Sera, who was sipping a cup of tea with Kreacher eying Harry menacingly. Sera looked up as Harry entered.

"Good morning" she said and turned to Kreacher, giving him an order to make Harry some breakfast.

Kreacher looked a little unwilling, but Sera smiled at him and he fawned her robes before setting off happily to do her bidding.

"Where is everyone?" Harry asked, rubbing his eyes.

"There's a playground not far from here. Hermione decided to take the boys out and teach them how to play a muggle game to keep them quiet for you so you could sleep. Everyone else is meeting with Dumbledore and I volunteered to stay here in case any of you kids need anything." Sera explained.

Harry nodded and sat down at the table where Kreacher put a plate of food in front of him. Harry eyed the food suspiciously. He didn't trust Kreacher in the slightest. He hated the house elf because it was partly Kreacher's fault that Sirius had been killed. He sighed as he began playing with his food. He didn't notice Sera watching him.

"You know you're not going to bring him back by not eating" she said quietly.

Harry's head shot up and he looked her dead in the eye. He could see how hurt and yet understanding her eyes were. He felt like he could trust her.

"I don't deserve to live" Harry said quietly, looking down at his hands.

Sera did something unexpected. She reached over to Harry and embraced him. Harry found himself crying as he had never cried before. All of the pain from the past weeks flowed out in a stream of tears and he was thankful that they were the only ones there. Once he had composed himself, he looked up at Sera again and noticed that she had tears in her eyes also.

"Sirius never told me about you" Harry said after a minute. He instantly wished he hadn't because he saw the pain in her eyes increase. She composed herself for a moment before responding.

"That's probably because I hurt him more than anyone else in our family ever could" she said quietly.

Harry looked at her puzzled and she motioned for him to follow her as she got up and walked upstairs to the drawing room, where the tapestry hung on the wall. Sera stopped and looked at the tapestry.

"Sirius and I were very close when we were growing up" she said, not looking at Harry. "We were very similar, he and I. We both got into Gryffindor, we both had friends that were muggle born too, although I didn't ever proclaim that fact to the world. I wanted to maintain the family image, Sirius never understood that"

Harry listened patiently, knowing that she would explain everything in her own time. She pointed to a spot on the tapestry. Harry looked at it. Harry saw the name she was pointing at. Serephim Black.

"Notice something wrong here Harry?" she asked quietly, with a strange smile on her face.

He looked at her confused.

"I'm still on here, and Sirius isn't. Why do you think that is?" she asked. Harry shook his head.

"He asked me to go with him when he left. He wanted to get me away from this place and the people in it. I was afraid. He was older than I was. When he left I was only fourteen. That's hardly old enough to be living on your own. I stayed here, and that nearly destroyed him. I had to publicly renounce him in order to please my parents, but still maintained contact with him until he got sent to Azkaban. I got into some unpleasant times and he smoothed them over for me, but I don't think he ever forgave me for not going with him" she said sadly, touching the hole where Sirius' name should have been on the tapestry.

There was a loud bang from downstairs. Sera and Harry ran down, with their wands out to see who it was. They heard voices yelling in the hall and Mrs Black was screeching. Sera pulled the curtain back on her mother and turned to the people gathered in the entrance hall. There stood a very pale Tonks, with Kingsley and Mr Weasley.

"Meeting of the order now" Dumbledore said coming up behind them. A large group of witches and wizards congregated in the dining room in a surprisingly short space of time. Dumbledore ushered them all in pausing before he closed the door.

"I'll explain everything later Harry" Dumbledore said, before shutting the door and leaving Harry standing in the empty corridor. Harry sighed and made his way back up to his room. To his surprise, Remus and Tonks had managed to get his school things and put them into the room without him knowing it. He reached into his trunk and found a set of clean clothes and went to the bathroom to have a shower and get dressed into the clean clothes. He got as far as the door before the room began to spin and he felt himself being pulled somewhere else.

He looked around him. It was just on dusk, he was standing in a deserted street. The street lights were dim and Harry heard movements coming towards him. He looked up at them. The first was a woman. He couldn't tell exactly how old she was. She looked fairly young but when she looked straight up into his eyes he could see a wisdom that comes only with age and experience.

"Get help Harry! They've got Vance, my secret keeper! If they catch me they'll kill me!" she said quickly, scrambling up and trying to run.

Someone came up behind her and yelled "Crucio".

A jet of light flew from the man's wand to the woman that Harry had just seen. Harry looked at the man and his heart froze in horror when he recognised the face.

"Harry!" the woman screamed, tears of pain falling down her face.

She pointed to the sign on the street. Harry could only just make out the letters in the faded light. Winchester Avenue. He turned back to the woman and saw the man cast another spell.

"Avada Kedavra!" he cried. The spell hit the woman and she fell back on the ground motionless.

"NOOO!" Harry screamed.

"It's alright Harry" someone said to him, holding him back on the floor.

It was Remus. Harry began sobbing. Someone called for Remus, who helped Harry up and walked him down the stairs. The other members of the order were congregated at the bottom of the steps.

"Remus they've got Emmeline Vance" Arthur said, looking extremely pale.

Harry's eyes widened and he ran outside. Remus was afraid that he would faint again and ran after him.

Harry looked outside. The sun was still up. He still had a couple of hours to go. Remus caught up to him with Sera directly behind him.

"Where's Winchester Avenue?" Harry asked urgently. Sera looked at him confused.

"I saw a woman. She told me they've got Vance. Fudge used the unforgivable curses on her. He's going to kill her I have to help! She was calling for me to help her!"

Harry said, looking pleadingly between the two of them. Remus and Sera exchanged a look. Harry thought that he heard both of them whisper "Emily" before Sera grabbed his hand and took him back into the house. Harry began screaming at her to listen to him and she put up her hand to stop him.

"I believe you!" she said, her voice slightly panicked. "We have to get ready to go though. We'll take days to get there if we walk. Accio broomsticks!"

Two broomsticks flew at her. One of them was the firebolt, which she passed to Harry quickly before casting the disillusionment charm on him and then herself. She turned to Remus

"Remember, red sparks, then green" she said quickly.

He nodded and she led Harry out the door. They both got onto their broomsticks and he followed her into the air, trying hard to see her properly because the disillusionment charm made it extremely difficult.

They had been riding for what seemed like hours. Dusk was beginning to fall. Harry's stomach clenched as he remembered the scene, but it unclenched a little when they landed and saw that the street lights were still on. They walked along the street until Harry found the spot that he had seen the woman hours before in his vision. He pointed out the spot to Sera, who sent up red, and then green sparks from her wand. Harry heard loud pops fill the air as a number of order members, all dressed in red and gold robes, materialised in front of him. The each put a mask to their face and Harry was struck by the fact that except for colours, they dressed exactly like the deatheaters. Harry knew that it was for their protection, because some people in the order couldn't afford to be recognised. They all hid among the undergrowth and shrubs. The street suddenly became black as a number of people began walking down the street. Harry's stomach knotted as he waited anxiously for the woman to appear.

It took about 15 minutes before they saw the figures. They were running up the street as they had been in his vision, the woman in front was dodging a series of curses that were being thrown at her by her persuers. She tripped and fell just a few feet from where Harry stood, just like she had in the vision. This time however, Fudge did not get close enough to attack her. The order members sprung out of their hiding places and began throwing curses at the woman's pursuers. Harry made his way over to the frail woman on the ground. She looked up at him.

"Harry! Thank goodness it worked!" she exclaimed throwing her arms around him.

Harry was stunned. He didn't recall ever meeting this woman in his life, yet something about her was strangely familiar.

"Come on, let's go before they remember us" Sera said quickly and led Harry and the new woman back over to where the broomsticks were.

"First of all, I need to make sure that you are really Emily, or Moody will have my head" Sera said, facing the woman.

The woman thought for a moment before grinning and turning to Sera.

"Meow" she said, and chuckled as Sera's eyes widened.

"Yep, that would do it for me" Sera said, glancing nervously at Harry who was eying them both suspiciously.

Sera passed each of them a broom and turned to Harry.

"Take her to the hideout. Make sure that you're not followed. Here" she said, casting the disillusionment charm on Harry once again and then repeating it for Emily.

"We'll probably be there by the time you get back"

Harry nodded his understanding and he and Emily set off back towards where the hideout was.