A/N: Ok, superduper inspired to write this. So. What to do about the relationships? We'll see. And in this chapter, there's gonna be some back jumping, seems I got a little ahead of myself with the last scene in ch. 6. Hope you like.
Chapter Seven: What Were You Doing In There?
Xander stared at the older man who sat across from him, his hands folded over a pile of parchments. Xander's hands clasped on the small diary of his dearly departed uncle. The man had gotten quite sentimental over the last three years, writing pages upon pages of his family, his obsession with why so many of his cousins had gone bad, what his mystery sibling might be doing.
"So you see, Mr. Harris, your uncle was quite aware of your mother's presence. In the end, it weighed on him as heavily as his concern for Harry did." Dumbledore spoke softly.
"So he knew about Mom?" Xander asked softly.
"Yes, in general, he knew that he had a half-sibling. Sirius did not know if said sibling were male or female. I'm sure he would have been very proud of Jessica."
"Glad one of us is deluded enough to believe that," Xander rolled his eyes. "Unless being trapped in a loveless marriage with another drunk is something you can be proud of. And then being too stubborn to save yourself because you don't want to have to pay for a hotel room. Or God forbid, a new house."
Albus Dumbledore didn't want to say too much. He knew that Alexander's life had not been easy. Yet the boy did not know that the painful trials in his mother's life had started at a very young age. Jessica La Velle had had a brush with the cold woman who ran the Black Home with such an iron fist, cursing all muggle-born witches and wizards, when her own lineage was dotted with half-bloods. For a single year, the shy timid little creature had lived in the Black Manor. Until it became obvious to the witch of the house that her beloved little boys looked awfully similar to the squib housekeeper's daughter.
Jessica had been haunted for years with that particular nightmare of a woman trying to pour poison down her throat. Her mother had forever walked with a limp and carried her own night terrors with her for the rest of her life. Aurelia La Velle never did remarry, instead she gave her young, impressionable daughter to her Muggle family. Aurelia naturally assumed that she would draw the brunt of Scylla's revenge. She was correct in that assumption. Aurelia was viciously attacked, leaving her horribly disfigured, partially crippled and unable to raise her own child. She was however, wrong in assuming young Jessica would be well cared for by her family.
Jessica was abused as a child, and taught that all women were weak and useless. That was probably why the misguided woman latched on so quickly to the abusive Anthony Harris. Albus was very sorry to hear of the girl's passing.
Of course, Albus had very little knowledge of the whole situation himself until a few days ago. He decided that it would be best to avoid telling the boy the whole truth for right now.
"The Black family is one of the oldest wizarding families in England, did you know that?"
"Can't say as I did." Xander replied truthfully, rather relieved to not be talking about his mother.
"Yes, there are several of your relatives in this very home. The entire Weasley family is distantly related to you, and of course, Nymphandora. Your Grandfather, Julius, had three siblings. Alphard, Augustus, and Medea. Augustus married a woman who was half Veela, or one would say, like a nymph of lore. Christianias bore him three daughters, Andromeda, Bellatrix, and Narcissa. Andromeda is Tonks' mother, and was your uncle Sirius' favorite cousin."
"So why doesn't she move in? She -"
"Lost favor in the Black family when she married Ted Tonks, and was forever banned from setting foot in this home ever again. Tonks, however, was not."
"But the other cousins -"
"Are not the sort we'd care to have, seeing as Bellatrix murdered Sirius, and Narcissa betrayed him."
"Lovely family you found me, D-man."
"Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy, who is now in prison, and bore one son Draco. And please do not call me that."
"So my family here's even more screwed up than the one back home?" Xander asked, shifting uncomfortably, his eye locking on a cage in the corner.
"Yes, precisely."
"What happened to my other uncle?" He asked, distracted by the sudden movement in the cage.
"Regulus was a death eater for a very brief amount of time. He did not join up until he was twenty, and was killed before he reached his twenty-first birthday. Your uncle Sirius was nearly four years his senior." Albus sighed heavily. "Sirius never knew if he or his brother had sired any children, and we were hoping that maybe they had. For you see, we need you here to act as an assurance that the home will indeed remain open for the Order's use in the war against Voldemort. Are you willing to help us, Mr. Harris?"
Xander snapped his head away from the pair of pixies battling it out in the cage that hung directly over Dumbledore's left shoulder.
"What?"
Faith lit the cigarette, ignoring the five men ogling at her and the one that was glaring in her general direction. She leaned heavily out the window and took a deep drag. That was when she got smacked upside the head.
"Put that filthy thing out at once, young lady." A red-headed woman shouted.
"That was my last cigarette. I'm supposed to be enjoying it!" Faith yelled right back. "Colonel Pain In My Ass is making me quit."
"Language!" She cried again.
"What the hell are you screaming about, Faith?" Cordelia cried, as she led the small troop into the kitchen. Her arm was wrapped around a tall, lean dark-haired boy. Faith leered at the boy.
"Who's baby Salty Goodness, C?" Faith purred. She gave him a wink. She knew that was one of Cordy's favorite lines, and was teasing her.
"This baby salty goodness, is just that. A baby. That means you keep your mitts off of him." Cordy snapped. Faith grinned even wider. She half expected someone to chirp up with a solid old school 'Darn tootin'. But even as she was thinking this, Cordy spoke again. "Unless of course, it's in a saving his life kinda touching. Of course."
"Oh, right, of course." Faith mimicked. She let her eyes travel over to the kid. "Course, that kinda touching could save him from the boring ass life he's gotta have been livin' here with Mommy Dearest and The Man That Wore a frickin' dress." She gestured her head towards Molly and Severus.
Harry was absorbing in this woman. And he didn't really know if he should be insulted that his aunt thought of him as a child, or if the other woman thought of him as an adult. It was . . . odd. And she'd insulted Snape and he was letting her get away with it.
"Faith, Harry. Harry, this is Faith. She's my -" Cordelia paused. She furrowed her brow. "What are we exactly? I mean, you tried to kill me and mine a couple of times, but you also saved us. But we're not really friends." Cordy eyed Faith. "I mean, at least Xander's fashion sense got better with age - yours? Not so much."
"And here the G-man was hoping ya'd learned tact over the years. You slept with your boss' -" Faith started, until she saw the panicked look in the other woman's eyes. "Besides, I'm two years younger than the rest of you and yours. My fashion sense is still in. As apposed to - and I'm not bickering over fashion tips with you, am I? God, I've lost all bad ass points I had - and lady," She snapped her hand up to catch Molly's hand before it touched her head, "Try that again, and I just might have to snap it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard it before Faith, and I'm not impressed. You're about as big and bad as Spike was when he tried to bite me at Wolfram & Hart. Although -"
"Wolfram & Hart? Angel's Wolfram & Hart? When you woke up, Spike was there?" Faith demanded.
"Yeah, all peroxide-ed out. Talk about bad style." Cordy continued.
"Spike died in the battle with the First, Cordy." Faith said softly.
Severus Snape found this rather distasteful. But then, most things that involved his old schoolmates often left a disturbing feeling that clouded him mind, and left a rather sour taste in his mouth.
The women, the Americans who'd been able to have wands pick them, left a very similar feeling in him. He turned to face them, clearing his throat. As amusing as this wasn't, Severus was actually hoping they could get to the bit about explaining who the odd girl was. Both of them snapped their gazes on him, and actually seemed to be challenging him. He stiffened, and unfortunately, it was quite visible to all and sundry. He narrowed his eyes to that of the crude girl.
"While we all find this rather fascinating, who are you?" He sneered.
The chit had the gall to turn from him and face that ridiculous creature, Tonks. She gave a grin that reminded him eerily of one of his students.
"Who's Tall, Dark, and A Pain In My Ass, and why is he commanding me like I've got all of two brain cells." Her gaze snapped quickly to Cordy. "Say anything. I dare ya."
"Please, that was too easy." She rolled her eyes.
"He's Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts." Flint helped, as he scooted closer to Tonks, who visibly backed away. She continued on, grinning up at Snape as she said what pretty much all of his students were thinking. "Though, it's really Defense Against the Dark Arts he's wanted all these long years."
"They actually teach a class about dark arts?" Faith asked.
"We could have used something like that at Sunnydale. Would have made things a whole lot simpler than they were, and bonus credits towards graduation."
"Higher Being, still a sore subject." Faith warned.
"Forgot. You were in a coma and all."
"So were you."
"Ladies, you're going off topic here." Tonks said, wiggling away from Flint who'd wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "And you are treading in very dangerous water, Flint."
"Is anyone else about to be nauseous that Flint is making moves on Tonks?" Ron whispered loudly.
"It's not just you." Ginny replied.
"You still haven't answered me, Miss -?"
"It's Faith. No miss, no ma'am, no hey toots." A mischievous grin played over her lips. "Well, unless it's for kinks."
"And if she told you who she is, she'd have to kill you." Cordy replied happily. "Always wanted to say that, and hey, it's true."
"I think I should show Faith to her room. Excuse us, Molly. Snape." Tonks pushed the chair back to get up, but tripped and nearly went sprawling to the floor. Almost. Just as she was about to smack against the hard floor, two arms dug into her shoulders, yanking her back. She turned to thank whomever it was that grabbed her. The thanks were on her lips, where they soon died as she looked up at who it was. "Let go, Flint." She said coolly, exiting the kitchen. She barely heard the mutterings of sexual tension before Faith followed her up to the room they would be sharing.
Tonks had been in one of the rooms, doing nothing of real importance when she heard a small movement. Ignoring it, she went back to whatever it was she was doing. She heard the noise again. This time, it frightened her a bit. She jerked around quickly, colliding into a thick wall of warm muscle. A small, pained groan slipped past her lips. Her eyes darted up to the face that had once given her chills of fright. His cold, calculating eyes burned with a frightening fire.
Desire.
Lust.
Whatever you chose to call it, it all equaled up to the same thing. Sex. And Marcus Flint wanted her. For that! And Merlin help her, if the chills darting up her spine didn't feel good now. She must have gone 'round the bend. But as his arms wrapped around her, and his hands claimed her flesh, as if he were molding it. He lowered his lips to hers and -
"Bloody Everlasting Hell!" She cried, jerking awake and up off the bed. Sunlight glared through the windows, blinding her, waking her fully. The dream had felt so very real, and hung heavily on her mind. Or it did, until a pillow collided heavily with her face.
"What -"
"Shut it, Tonks. Some of us are still sleepin' here." Faith grumbled from under her own pillow.
Tonks felt a rather strong urge to vomit. And in the back of her head was the tickling little notion that she really wished it hadn't been a dream. Merlin, her new friends and family were having a horrible influence on her!
Xander finally got to leave the room early the next morning. He crept into the kitchen and found that someone had left a plate magically warming for him. He picked up the piece of parchment on it.
Figured you'd need food before sleep
- Cordy
He had to smile at that. For a second, he thought, that's my Cordy. Even though she hadn't been his for nearly five and a half years.
"So, learn anything interesting?" She asked, disturbing his thoughts.
"Lot's about needing to stabilize something, and a war against some guy, and well. It was long, I was tired, and there were a couple of pixies having it out in the background."
"So you pretty much zoned out?'
"Yup. And I think I volunteered to sign up in the war." He grinned suddenly. "But hey, I got a nifty fixer-upper and a butt-load of money, so I'm not complainin'"
"Same old Xander." Cordy snorted.
"No, not same old Xander. Rich, one-eyed Xander. See the difference."
A/N 2: Well, I'm back on track with some of my older stories. And I'm back from a very long internet deprivation. (Not good when you find out you've got nearly four thousand emails.) This is a shorter chapter than most, but I hope you like it anyway.