Seeing the Past, Present, and Future
Peculiar Behavior
The girl leapt up from her bed and started running towards the door. As if by reflex, Harry grabbed her wrist, and succeeded in keeping the girl from fleeing any long distance.
"We're not going to hurt you!" he yelled over her screams. These words were apparently of no comfort to the young girl as she continued to struggle in her attempt to flee. Slightly annoyed by the girl's behavior, Harry grabbed her other wrist, forcing her to face him. She, however, continued fighting and turned her head to gaze at the door, as if looking at it would teleport her outside.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled. "You're with us now and there's nothing you can do!" At this the girl stopped screaming and broke into sobs, collapsing to her knees. Harry shot a bewildered look at Ron and Hermione, the latter slowly approaching the crying girl as he let go of her wrists.
"No...dead...gone...evil...demon...insane..." the girl incoherently sobbed to herself.
"And then she started crying for no reason," Ron's voice came. Harry looked up and saw that Ron was talking to his mother, who happened to be standing in the doorway with several other Order members.
"Alright," Mrs. Weasley said, slowly entering the room. "Do you want to talk?" she kindly spoke, kneeling down to the crying girl.
Hermione shook her head. "I've been trying the same thing. She might need a calming draught."
Mrs. Weasley nodded, still looking at the small girl. "Alastor, can you check if we have any of that potion in stock?"
Mad-Eye Moody swiveled his electric blue eye upward. "We actually do. I wonder why we'd have that," he spoke, already walking toward the staircase.
The last two Order members entered the room, standing near the doorway.
"Wait," Tonks said, cocking her head. "What exactly did you say to her?"
"When she woke up, I just started introducing ourselves," Hermione nervously spoke. "Was that bad? I mean it didn't seem bad, it couldn't have been bad!" She, too, seemed as if she was on the verge of tears.
"No, well, it shouldn't--" Tonks cut herself off. The young girl had now gone rigid, raising her head to the ceiling. The three Order members (Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and Lupin) watched her intently, waiting for a hint of movement.
"Moon!" she yelled, a hint of dying hope in her voice, as she leapt to her feet and ran toward Lupin, grabbing onto him.
Lupin was bewildered by this behavior. "What?" he asked, not understanding the solitary word the young girl had uttered.
"The moon shall never hurt anyone; it is not of its way. The sun may destroy delicate heirlooms and steal lives, burning all in its path, but the moon is always gentle. The moon's light will be forever soft and welcoming, a lone traveler's friend and a thief's enemy, but the sun's light is harsh and blinding. And the sun can be of the shadow, for the sun is the shadow. But the moon will never be of the shadow, for it is not of the moon's way. The moon is banished by the shadow, but that does not matter, for the moon would reject the darkness anyway. The moon reflects light onto our world at night, cutting through the blackness and keeping the shadows from ruling all. So just as the moon shall never hurt anyone, those from the moon will never hurt anyone and as lycanthropes are of the moon they, too, shall never harm those that come to them for help," the girl finished her long speech, whether prepared or not, one could not tell. Lupin had gone silent.
"I got the calming draught and--" Everybody looked at Moody, who was looking at Lupin with his mouth slightly open. "Guess we won't be needing it."
The room was uncomfortably silent for several moments. The girl continued holding onto Lupin, as if for dear life.
"Have you ever seen this girl before, Remus?" Mrs. Weasley asked, diving into the silence.
Lupin vehemently shook his head. More silence followed.
"I think we should get some Veritaserum, for the girl," Mrs. Weasley continued after a very long pause.
"I think that's a good idea," Lupin concurred, subtly trying to get the young girl to let go of him. She broke off the awkward hug she had been giving him and instead held onto his arm. The Order members slowly filed out of the room, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione alone.
"What was that?" all three of them spoke simultaneously.
A long pause followed the unanswered question before Ron spoke. "You know, I think Fred and George might've left some extendable ears," he trailed off. "Does anybody want me to go get them?"
All three of the teenaged children looked at each other, intensely curious but not wanting to violate the Order's privacy, for once. Ron took it as a silent yes, which, in a way, it was, and left the room.
Soon he returned, holding three flesh-colored pieces of string. "I already put them under the door," he unnecessarily whispered. The other two teenagers silently nodded, and inserted the Extendable Ear into their own.
"So...wait, how old are you then?" Tonks's voice asked.
"I'm nine," came the young girl's voice, flat from Veritaserum.
"You're nine? You don't look nine. Could she be lying?" Moody's voice snapped.
"Stop being so paranoid, Alastor," Mrs. Weasley sighed exasperatedly.
"Who did you live with there?" Tonks asked another question.
"I live with my father."
"No mother?" Mrs. Weasley asked, concern evident in her voice.
"My mother left when I was four."
"Why?" Mrs. Weasley spoke.
"Because that's when they found out about my powers. My mom didn't want to die, and she thought it was all my father's fault because he had a brother who was magic, too."
"So you're muggle-born?"
"Yes."
There was a pause. "How did you know I was a werewolf?" came Lupin's question.
"Daddy says it's because I was born on the blue moon."
"I've never heard any cases of that," Lupin spoke uncertainly.
"We can research it," Tonks said. "And there might be some exceptions, or something."
There was another pause; the Order members seemed to be contemplating their word choice.
"Do you know how you appeared here?"
"No."
"I think we should Floo Dumbledore and see if he has any questions he wants to ask."
"Good idea."
There was the sound of an opening container, a yell of "Dumbledore's Office!" and roaring fire.
"She is awake, I take it?" came the Headmasters voice. Whether or not Dumbledore was communicating through the fireplace or was actually in the room, they could not tell.
"She's under Veritaserum," Moody replied.
"What have you found out so far?" Dumbledore asked.
"She doesn't know how she got into Grimmauld Place. She told us the last thing she remembered before appearing here, but it doesn't seem to make much sense," Mrs. Weasley spoke.
"And we think," Tonks spoke uncertainly. "We think she comes--"
"Wait!" Lupin interrupted.
"What?" Tonks asked, concerned.
"We forgot to put an Imperturbable Charm on the door."
"Oh, you're right."
A spell was cast and everything fell silent except for Ron's curses of "Damn, damn, damn!"
Disclaimer: The honor of owning Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's.
Review Responses:
fire-sprite-14: Thank you so much. I'm flattered. :o)
written: Yes, the girl is an OC. I guess I failed to mention that. (Oops.) As for why she screamed....all will be revealed. Later. :-D And I'll definitely try to update as often as I can.
Kuramakicksass: lol. Thank you for the compliment and I just reviewed your story.
HarmonyHanyou: Why thank you. :-)