Chapter 4: Secrets and Revelations
Harry didn't like the fact that just about every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on him when he walked in. He sat down uncomfortably and looked at Dumbledore, waiting for him to talk. After everyone had seated themselves down and Mrs. Weasley began to serve dinner, the silence was broken and Dumbledore spoke.
"I have called you all down here because there is something important you all should know," he began, his eyes never leaving Harry's face.
Harry already thought he knew what Dumbledore was going to say. So did everyone else in the room. He thought it best to pretend that he didn't though; Dumbledore didn't know about their new way of eavesdropping on the Order meetings, and he preferred to leave it that way.
"Remus is now on his way to France to bring someone back here," Dumbledore continued, choosing his words carefully, "a girl actually, who will need our protection from Voldemort."
"Who is she and why is she so important?" Harry asked slowly, in what he hoped was an innocent tone.
"Her name is Lyra and Voldemort is after her— " he paused for a moment, "she is Sirius's daughter."
Harry hoped that his face looked surprised, though he was still surprised by this revelation, so he thought it would show. Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, however, were narrowing their eyes suspiciously from the lack of reaction from Fred and George. If Dumbledore noticed he didn't show it.
"Why does Voldemort want her?" Harry asked again; Dumbledore had never fully answered that question.
"If he knows about her, he will be able to use her to gain access to a new power, one that can ensure him victory," Dumbledore said.
"But what kind of power—" Hermione began, but Mrs. Weasley cut her off.
"It's not for you lot to know," she said impatiently and, turning to Dumbledore, continued, "I think we've told them enough for now!"
Dumbledore stared at her for a few minutes, watching her carefully, then nodded his head.
Harry felt a new burst of anger engulf him. Who were they to decide what he could and couldn't know! Voldemort wanted to kill HIM after all! He felt someone kick his leg in a warning though. He looked to see Hermione shake her head a fraction back and forth, hardly noticeable. Harry understood her though; they would find out next time the Order met.
"Well, I think we should eat!" Mr. Weasley said cheerfully.
Dinner was a rather quiet affair. There were bits of conversation around the room, but it was mostly quiet. Harry was lost in his own thoughts. He was about half way through dinner though when a new thought occurred to him. Why didn't he think of this before!
"Professor, am I still banned from Quidditch?" He asked.
"No, Potter!" Professor McGonagall answered, "but do try to control that temper next time."
"Yes, Professor," he said, feeling a weight lifted off his chest. He could keep playing Quidditch!
He was in a much better mood as he finished dinner. He, Ron, and Hermione all went up to the bedroom he and Ron shared. As they walked across the hall, they were careful not to wake up Mrs. Black's portrait. They finally reached the room and when Harry got in he went to his bed and sat down.
"Well…" Ron trailed off. He didn't have to say anything else; they were all thinking about what Dumbledore had told him earlier.
"Why didn't he tell me!?" Harry said angrily, finally speaking the thought that had been echoing through his head.
Ron and Hermione looked rather taken aback by his sudden harshness, but Hermione was the one to actually start talking.
"I don't know, Harry," she said in a pacifying voice, "he—he must have had a good reason… after all, he didn't even tell Dumbledore."
"But Snape's sister?" Ron said incredulously, "I hope she didn't inherit the git's nose!"
"I'm more interested in the amulet that they were talking about in the meeting. I wonder why Voldemort—honestly, Ron!" Hermione said as Ron winced, "why he wants it?"
Ron just shrugged. Harry, however, just remembered a stray thought that had occurred a few days ago.
"There was something stolen from a London museum a few days ago, the same day Voldemort was really happy," he said slowly, "the broadcaster didn't say what it was, just that it was stolen from their Roman exhibit."
"Yeah," Ron said as if he just remembered something too, "I heard Tonks and Bill talking about a robbery, they said that the Muggles blamed it on—burgers."
"Burglars," Hermione corrected him impatiently, "Maybe that's where they stole the amulet from."
"Maybe," Harry agreed.
"Well," Hermione said abruptly, "I'm going to get some sleep. I expect we'll have a busy day tomorrow."
With that, she got up and left the room. Ron got up and closed the door behind her. Harry was already getting under the covers of the bed, ready to finally fall asleep. He still was angry about the lack of information, but there were bigger things to worry about now, like the arrival of Sirius's daughter. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he didn't even know her, but he didn't want to face her knowing that he was the one responsible for killing her father. He was sure that she'd blame him, but he wasn't sure he could live with the guilt.
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The next few days passed without much incident. Harry had been busier as Grimmauld Place than he had all summer. Apparently there were still rooms in the house that hadn't undergone a good cleaning. On his third day, Harry found himself cleaning the sitting room in the Black house; a room he didn't even know existed until this afternoon. It was rather surprising to see what had decided to live sofas and other furniture over the years. He had just finished cleaning out the desk, the live dust bunnies put up a big fight, when Mrs. Weasley called for a lunch break. They all marched to the kitchen and sat at the table as Mrs. Weasley passed around sandwiches. Harry was halfway through his when the kitchen door opened and Lupin walked in.
"Remus," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "Where have you been? Dumbledore expected you back yesterday!"
"I had trouble convincing Breena to let me take her goddaughter back to England," Lupin said wearily, "she agreed though once I told her that Voldemort was after Lyra."
"Where is she?" Mrs. Weasley said, looking around the room.
"She went to take her suitcase upstairs," he answered, "she should be down soon."
"Well, why don't you have some lunch, you had a long journey," she said and pointed to the sandwiches.
"Thanks, Molly," he said gratefully and sat at the table.
"How was your trip, Professor?" Hermione said.
"Long," he said cryptically, "and I'm not a professor anymore. You can call me Remus or Lupin."
Harry saw Hermione go slightly red when Lupin said this. He was just about to reach over and grab another sandwich, when the kitchen door opened, and he stopped mid-reach. He instead fixed his eyes on the strange girl that had just walked in. She had very dark, ebony hair that went in elegant curls down her shoulders and very stormy, grey eyes. He couldn't help but notice that she was rather pretty.
"Everyone," Lupin said when he noticed her enter, "this is Lyra Black."
"Hi," Lyra said, but the smile was absent from her face. She didn't look very happy about being brought to Grimmauld place.
"Dear," Mrs. Weasley said, her tone leaving no room for refusal, "you must be hungry after the long flight! Sit down, eat a sandwich!"
Harry saw her cross the room and sit down next to Lupin.
"Your from France," Hermione asked Lyra as she put a sandwich on the plate that had appeared in front of her, "did you go to Beauxbatons?"
"Yeah," Lyra said after swallowing a large bit of the food, "I lived in Toulouse since I was six. Breena, my godmother, got a job offer there so we moved and I got to go to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. She thought it would be better for me to go there anyway—given certain relatives and all."
"What! Snape?" Ron asked, as Harry kicked him under the table.
"Yeah…" Lyra said and trailed off there.
"How did you know she's related to Snape?" Lupin asked suspiciously.
"So did you take the O.W.Ls at your school?" Hermione asked in a desperate bid to keep away from the subject Ron had just brought up.
"Sort of," she said, and then clarified, "We actually take C.A.Ts (Common Abilities Test). I got six T's, two E's, and an A"
"You got six 'Trolls' on your test!?" Fred said, looking surprised, "I didn't even think those really existed!"
"No!" Lyra exclaimed, and for the first time, Harry saw her smile, " They stand for 'Terrific' that's the highest grade you can score!"
"Oh," he said, though he sounded rather disappointed.
"So what is your best subject?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Potions," Lyra said simply.
"Must run in the family," Ron whispered to Harry.
"Alright you lot," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, "we have a sitting room to finish cleaning."
"We'd love to help finish Mum—" Fred said.
"—but we have to go to the shop now," George finished. With that said they both disapparated.
Harry followed Ron and Hermione reluctantly back to the sitting room, hoping it wouldn't be much longer till it was finished. He wasn't even sure if the Order even needed that room cleaned! At least while he was cleaning he could avoid Lyra, who was upstairs unpacking. He didn't want to hear her blame him for Sirius's death, because he knew it was true. Luckily, the room only took another few hours to clean, now with all the dust and other creatures out of the room it seemed to look a little less gloomy. As they walked out to the hall, Harry thought he heard someone talking. As he got closer he recognized the voice as Lyra's and heard the last bit of conversation.
"…why Voldemort is after me, Remus!" he heard her say.
"I'm not allowed to tell you why, all I can tell you is that he needs you and he will come after you," Lupin said as calmly as he could, though Harry could hear a note of panic in his voice.
The next thing he heard was footsteps walking up the stairs. Harry looked at Ron, who just shrugged, and Hermione, who looked thoughtful. She started to walk up the staircase, with Harry and Ron following right behind her.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he climbed the last step.
"We're going to talk to Lyra," Hermione answered as she walked over to the door of her room and went in.
Lyra was rummaging through her bag when they walked in, but she suddenly stopped and raised a questioning eyebrow at them.
"We heard the conversation," Hermione said as she closed the door.
"You did?" Lyra asked and she set the bag aside.
"Yeah, if it helps, we know why they brought you here," Ron said, only to be nudged in the ribs by Hermione.
"You know why?" Lyra said, looking both confused and eager, "how could you know?"
"Fred and George," Harry explained, "they invented a way for us to spy on the Order meetings."
"So that's how you knew I was related to Severus?" she asked with a slight smile on her face, "Why am I here then?"
Hermione took a deep breath then said, "From what we've heard, Voldemort wants you because Sirius sealed some sort of amulet that your blood can open and get whatever power it has—"
"Amulet?" Lyra interrupted her, and then she looked thoughtful, "my godmother liked to tell me stories about an amulet?"
"You know what it's for?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Maybe…" she trailed off with a slightly confused expression on her face, "She told me a tale once about a man who lived back in the days of the Hogwarts Founders…"
'The man fell in love with a beautiful woman and they were married. He wanted to spend all eternity with her, so he started to make an amulet to give him and his wife an immortal life so they could be with each other forever. He almost finished it after many years, but before he could complete it with the final ingredient, blood, his wife was bitten by a snake and died. At her grave, he vowed that not he or anyone else would ever have the gift of immortal life. He tried to destroy the amulet, but he couldn't because he made it unbreakable, so he tossed it into the river and it was lost for centuries, becoming nothing more than a legend. '
'A thousand years later, a magical kingdom found the amulet at last. They brought it back to the magical castle to study it, but a dark wizard stole it from them. He would have used it to gain immortal life and bring the entire kingdom into darkness, but a handsome prince stopped the evil wizard by sealing the amulet with a blood bind, using his own blood so that only he and his bloodline could access the power. After the evil wizard was defeated, the prince gave the amulet to a good wizard, who sent it to a far off Muggle world to keep it safe…"
She finished telling the story and looked up at the three of them.
"That's your godmother's idea of a story?!" Ron said incredulously.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "don't you get it? It wasn't just any story!"
When Harry and Ron both looked at her confused she continued, "Honestly, are you two always so thick!? The amulet gives someone an immortal life! The Ministry of Magic found it and brought it back with them, but Voldemort stole it and Sirius must have stopped him by putting a sort of blood binding spell on it so that only his blood could open its powers! Voldemort needs Lyra to open the amulet's powers and give him an immortal life! "
Realization dawned on Ron's face and he said suddenly, "but that's not a good thing!"
"Well said," Hermione snapped sarcastically.
"Just because we're not as clever as you doesn't mean that you can rub it in our faces!" Ron said indignantly.
They continued to bicker for a few more minutes, their voices steadily increasing in volume. Lyra looked like she was going to interrupt, but she caught Harry's eye and he shook his head in a warning. He had been around Ron and Hermione long enough to know not to interrupt their arguments. Besides, they would stop eventually.
Harry slowly got up and walked out the door before they could notice he was gone. If what Lyra said was true, Voldemort was after an immortal life, something he had not tried for since the Sorcerer's stone. He had the amulet, now all he needed was Lyra to be able to access it. No wonder Dumbledore brought her here! If Voldemort got an immortal life… Harry shuddered. Dumbledore should have told him!
Before Harry realized it, he was back at the door to his room. He tried not to think about the disturbing revelations that he had just found out about mere minutes ago. Lyra was safe with them! As long as she was under Dumbledore's protection Voldemort couldn't get to her! He had to tell himself that if he was going to get through the rest of his summer. Yet all the while the doubt and uncertainty was gnawing away at him. All he could think about is what would happen if Voldemort got an immortal life…
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A/N: Here's chapter four as promised! I would have had it up sooner but I couldn't log in. Well I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it that is, if not I hope you have a nice day anyway. Hopefully I'll be back to writing soon.
Next Update: 12/1/2004
