"Hello Ms. Abbot; I've brought biscuits." Ella stepped into the small, dark cottage, holding up a small Tupperware container. The old woman gave an impervious grunt from the corner. Ella suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and came closer. The room smelled of all things old with a bit of bad perfume thrown in for good measure. "How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm just fine; thanks very much. I've just got a pain in my side and a splitting headache not to mention Purcell hasn't come back in a week. How're you?" Ms. Abbot said. Her voice was crackly, sarcastic and shrill.

"I'm lovely thank you. What do you say I put on some tea and we have a sit outside today?" Ella's usual timid voice took on an authoritative tone. Sun was good for Ms. Abbot as was food, tea, and company. Ella knew this and, to a certain extent, Ms. Abbot did as well.

"Bit pushy today aren't we dear?" Ella didn't answer but helped the old lady to her feet and lead her out the door. It was a fine day, a welcome change from the dreary, rainy week which had proceeded it. The air was warmer than usual and Ella distinctly heard Ms. Abbot give a small purr of pleasure.

"I'm going to put the kettle on and be out in a minute." As abhorrent as Ms. Abbot was, she was a welcome change from home which, at the moment, was particularly frigid. She walked back into the cottage and filled a violet kettle with water from the tap. She poured tea leaves into a voluminous yellowing tea pot and, after a second on the bewitched stove, the kettle began to hiss. She poured the water over the tea leaves and let the whole thing steep for exactly five minutes. She stole glances out the window at Ms. Abbot who was studying the bluebird at the bird feeder.

It had been two weeks since the dinner incident and she still didn't feel completely comfortable with her father or Remus. They were still sore that she hadn't informed them of her near-death which, to a certain extent, she could understand but annoyed her none-the-less. Because of this, she had thrown herself fully into summer volunteer work and holiday homework. The volunteer work made her feel especially fulfilled and it allowed her to forget the problems at home.

She arranged half the biscuits on a plate and set them on a tray next to two tea cups, the tea pot, sugar, and cream. She picked up the tray and walked back out into the glistening sun. "Here we are Ms. Abbot," she said brightly, setting the tray down on the low garden wall and sitting down in a chair opposite Ms. Abbot's. The woman had once been the Herbology professor at Hogwarts but had gone slightly senile in her old age. She played host to an obese ginger cat, Purcell, who often gave her the slip. Ella found she could relate to the old woman as both of them needed a friend.

Ella was not hated in her year but rather ignored. She managed to slip into the background very well and quite liked the position. She was acquainted with Ginny Weasley with whom she shared a room but studies very much got in the way of a social life. The library books were her friends for they never judged but simply offered to her a wealth of knowledge that had yet to be over extended. She held the position of Prefect in her year in addition to being a Beater but that's where her social involvement ended. Her shy persona was aided by the fact that she was the youngest in her year. Her Birthday was August 31, the last possible day to be accepted into Hogwarts.

"So you say Purcell has run off again?" Ella inquired, pouring Ms. Abbot a cup of tea. The old woman bobbed her head slightly, dropping crumbs from her mouth onto her tattered, black robes. The old hag could pack in her sweets.

"Yes, I haven't seen him in days. I've spotted him with that awful tabby from next door though so, well, you know." Ms. Abbot turned her gaze lazily toward the garden wall which separated her yard from the next-door-neighbor's. Ella had found that no one paid much attention to Ms. Abbot. She did not expressly invite friendly conversation, nor did she bake cookies for the neighborhood children. So, because that's the only real purpose old, un-married spinsters could really serve, she was pushed to the side, out of the neighborhood consciousness. Ella nodded, understanding exactly to what Ms. Abbot was referring.

Sirius and Remus had avoided that particular conversation but Ella, ever curious, had found out all she needed to know from books. Though real, literal romance was not part of her life, she knew the significance of the white horse and shining armor. "Ms. Abbot," Ella had directed her gaze at a lovely orchid of a particularly violent purple. "What kind of flower is that?" She stood and walked to the flower, touching it with a gentle, tentative finger. Ms. Abbot kept the most beautiful flower garden.

Ms. Abbot got up and walked over to Ella, leaning in for a closer look. "That is a Laliocattleya MiniCat Purple. I got it while I was in Brazil. It's a hybrid between the Laelia an Cattleya orchids."

"It's very lovely." Flowers had always intrigued her, ever since she was little. More specifically it was exotic flowers that enticed her. She enjoyed wrapping herself in the mysterious glamour they exuded.

"Indeed it is," Ms. Abbot intoned, walking back to her chair and picking up her tea once more. Ella followed suit and finished her tea, sipping slowly. The afternoon passed lazily and, when the tea pot was finished, Ella stood up.

"I think its time for me to go," Ella said, picking up the tray of tea things. Ms. Abbot nodded, not really looking at the girl. She was looking at the orchid with an odd passion, like it represented some long forgotten adventure. She didn't look up till Ella came back from putting the tea pot and cups away. "Ms. Abbot, might I help you inside?"

"N-no, I think I'll stay out here for a bit longer," the woman answered distractedly.

"Okay, I left the leftover biscuits on the table in case you got hungry. I'll try to come back later next week." Ella didn't expect a reply and left after giving the woman a slight squeeze on the shoulder.

She needed to be back home by five which was when both Remus and Sirius got off work. As much as she dreaded going home to the tension, the situation would be much worse if she happened to be late. It was 4:30 and she had to get to the train station. It was a short trip but she was still cutting it a bit closer than she would have liked.

The station was a buzz of activity and she allowed her self to sink into it, a people-watcher's dream. She only had to wait a couple minutes for her train to roar into the station. Choosing a seat in the middle, next to the window, she contented herself with watching the gray walls whiz by in one long blur. A man behind her was humming tunelessly and the woman in front of her had a ridiculously tall, green hat. She almost forgot about everything as she sunk into anonymity. She ran her fingers absentmindedly over the soft cotton of her skirt which was long and flowy, a present from Remus.

The trip went much too fast for her and before she knew it, she was once again out in the sunlight. She walked quickly, only five minutes till five. She got to the house at 5:01 and placed her key in the lock. Hopefully, they wouldn't be home yet as she hadn't even put out a note. They were being fairly paranoid as of late and she had been instructed to leave a note before leaving the house. She had not thought she would stay so long with Ms. Abbot or she would have written one.

The door creaked open and she stepped over the threshold, her ears peeled for her father and godfather. Two pairs of feet rushed from the kitchen and she was met with two very annoyed looking Ministry workers. "Hello," she said, surprised by their presence. They couldn't have been home for more than a minute or so could they?

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked, his voice dead calm.

"I've been having tea with Ms. Abbot. I lost track of the time and came home as quick as I could. Why are you jumping out of your skin? It's 5:02!"

"Because, perhaps, I came home early from work to see my daughter and she wasn't here. In fact, not only was she not here but there wasn't so much as a note saying where she was exactly! That's why I'm jumping out of my skin."

"Oh," Ella murmured. She could see this was going to take a while. "I'm sorry I just-"

"Vela, this is inexcusable! Do you know how worried we were? Sirius comes home, wanting to have a chat, patch things up and he can't find you anywhere. He called me and I rushed home and neither of us could find you! What if a Death Eater had found you? What if-"

"What if a crazed Cornish pixie had crossed my path and taken me to the man-eating leprechauns in Bolivia? Nothing happened. Look, I'm sorry but I honestly didn't think I would be out so late. Ms. Abbot needed someone to visit her and I went early in the afternoon, thinking I'd be there for an hour or so. I lost track of time."

"We told you expressly to leave a note even if you were stepping out for only a minute! It doesn't matter if you thought you'd be home earlier." Sirius' face had gone red.

"I made a mistake! I messed up this one time and you're acting like I should be chucked into Azkaban. Do you not have any confidence in my abilities as a witch?"

"For one thing, it doesn't matter one bit whether you're the most advanced seventh year Hogwarts has ever seen; the fact remains that you are a seventh year and still a student. Secondly, well I don't have a secondly but-but. Vela, you can't do this."

"As I told you before, I didn't purposefully forget to write you a note. It just happened. I won't do it again." Ella felt very much that she was talking to a tree. She was getting very close to cutting that tree down.

"You're damn right you won't. I'm going to make sure you don't do it again," Sirius felt rage bubble up inside him like lava in a volcano.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah Sirius, what's that supposed to mean?" Remus was very curious as to what exactly was going through Sirius' head.

"You clearly can't be left on your own so you'll just have to stick with me or Moony." Ella's jaw dropped.

"What!"

"You heard me young lady. You seem to think that you can just waltz out whenever you please well this is war and I won't see my daughter captured."

"This has nothing to do with this little slip up, for that's what it was, a slip up," she added before Sirius could retort. Her voice was deadly calm and her eye glinted. "This has to do with you feeling you're loosing control. You don't feel that you have any power as a parent anymore and that scares you. Well, I'm sorry but I won't be treated like a child." Her voice was precise and low, almost a growl. It seemed Ella's beater tendencies came out in full force when she was angry. After finishing her little speech, she turned on her heal and walked up the stairs.

Sirius stood stock still for a moment before everything she had said caught up with him. He turned to Remus with a questioning look. He nodded and Sirius turned toward the stairs, walking up soundlessly. It annoyed him that she had gotten it right, that she knew what he was thinking. It annoyed him still further that she no longer seemed to view him as an authority.

He walked to her door which was still cracked as if she had slammed it so hard it had bounced open again. He peaked in, thinking he'd see the same powerful force he'd just witnessed downstairs. For a moment he didn't see her for she had sunk into the shadows of the far bookshelf. It looked normal at first, Ella sitting pretzel style with a book spread open on her knees. Upon closer examination, however, Sirius realized she was crying. His heart filled with remorse and pity and all he wanted to do was take her into his arms as he had done so many times before.

She was reading, or rather dripping onto Jane Eyre, her favorite classic. Her shoulders shook and tears streaked more profusely down her face. It was all crashing down, her summer, her life, her family. The war, the blasted war had ruined everything. She hated fighting and that's all she seemed to be doing with her father now-days. It didn't seem quite fair, or, to be completely honest, real. Well, though she didn't know it yet, her world was about to be spun in many more circles.

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Thanks to the two of you who reviewed and I hope to hear from you again! Tell me what you think REVIEW!

Cheers,

Elle's Bells.