Chapter 5

I Even Amaze Myself at Times

It had been three days since the meeting about what to do about Harry, and Paige was now at breaking point. Sirius had been the most irritable person over the past few days – she had only narrowly avoided nearly a dozen different curses and hexes sent her way, Sirius having deciding she made good target practice. She had been shouted at no fewer than seven times, for things as inane as standing around the wrong way, or sitting in the wrong chair. She assumed he normally hated her, but the past few days tension had been stretched even further between them. Of course she had shouted back, and called Sirius a number of things which had Mrs Weasley giving her a lecture about proper conduct while living in a house occupied by children. Nobody seemed to care that Paige was taking the brunt of Sirius's anger, and to see Paige fleeing a room was now a common sight.

She had taken to hiding on the sixth floor but at times it still gave her the creeps. Regulus's collection of books whilst interesting were rather narrow in their subject area; and when he was awake she could almost feel the hatred in the air thrumming despite the fact that he couldn't speak. She could ignore it, but generally she preferred arguing with his living older brother. The sixth floor had continued to spring surprises in the way of spells and magic left festering for years, Regulus's room seemed the only safe haven; and even then the door had taken to trying to slam itself onto her. All in all Paige was not in the best of moods.

The meeting had resulted in more than a few arguments about what step to take next. Some supported Sirius's shoot first ask questions later theory; and wanted to go in wands blazing and take Harry away from the muggles bringing him back here. Others were more cautious and rational. Paige had managed to start an argument with Sirius because she had focused more on the Dementors than on Harry's safety. It had been nothing personal; but she had never met the boy, and she was pretty sure that if everything everyone claimed he had done was true then he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Very few other Order members seemed willing to give him any credit for his past acts – they seemed to believe him to be helpless. When Sirius had received an owl along with Hermione and Ron there had been even more uproar. It had only fuelled Sirius's overprotective manner; but had given Paige an insight into how much they were clearly leaving the boy in the dark. Of course it was for everyone's safety but if she was him she'd be more than annoyed.

The Dementors themselves posed such a big question for Paige. You could jump to the conclusion that it was the work of the Dark Lord's forces; but there had been no sign as of yet that the Dementors were under his control. She had no doubt that they would be eventually – something that feeds off the happiness in a person's soul would thrive in a world ruled by someone as purely malevolent as the Dark Lord, but there was no reason to believe that it had yet happened. So if it wasn't the case then who else could have sent them? Of course there was a small possibility that they were merely rogue and acting of their own accord, but they were hardly creatures prone to holding grudges so they wouldn't have any real reason to be in Privet Drive. The last, and in Paige's mind, one of the darkest options was that the Dementors were still under the control of the ministry and it had been someone there that had ordered the attack against the nation's hero. It made little sense, other than corresponding with the idea of the ministry being out to get him, but who would go to that much trouble? Who would do something so drastic? Who had the power to pull those strings? Paige was unsure as she knew little about the ministry itself and her inquiries had not really been met with open arms.

"It couldn't be Fudge." She muttered under her breath. It didn't add up that it might be the minister himself. From what she could tell the man was a bumbling idiot, but he would hardly have to guts to take such an action, and even if he did he would not have the wit to think up that plan.

"What isn't Fudge?" Tonks asked.

"Who ordered the attack," Paige replied absentmindedly

"Well obviously," Tonks snorted "If you're going to go through the entire population of who it wasn't we could be here a while. You may as well knock off the ministry anyway, I don't know why you're starting with them."

"Because it makes the most sense," Paige said clearly annoyed at Tonks' attitude.

"Why would the ministry order an attack on Harry?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"Why Indeed?" Paige muttered, before looking up, "I'm not saying it is the ministry I'm just saying it is most likely to be someone in the ministry."

"Why? Who says it isn't You know who?" Arthur asked.

"As far as I'm aware the Dementors are not yet under his command," she replied. To which of course Sirius had to add his two pence worth.

"You of course would be the expert on his movements," Sirius muttered.

"Oh so you're ready to believe instant conspiracy on my part but if I suggest it on the part of your precious ministry you all look at me like I'm mad," she said angrily.

"We're not saying anything about you," Remus said tiredly with a pointed glare at Sirius. "It just doesn't seem like a logical move on the part of the ministry."

"Well actually, I'm not so sure. You said yourself that they might even try and arrest him even for a case of such obvious self defence. If they're that willing to get to him then there is very probably someone within the ministry ranks with the mind and means to pull it off," Paige tried to explain. Everyone still looked a little doubtful – well most of the ministry workers themselves did. Although they may be losing faith in the ministry and its ability to deal with problems and crisis they were not quite ready to believe conspiracy and deliberate wrongdoings, rather than wrongdoings by inaction.

"What does this matter?" Sirius asked angrily, effectively cutting off the discussion and returning it back to Harry.

Dumbledore had arrived and basically taken charge. Paige, as of yet, had had no chance to look into her theory, but she wasn't quite ready to abandon it. Harry had a hearing with the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore had managed to stop the immediate destruction of his wand and an arrest. Paige was hoping she would manage to get herself tagging along on that journey. It would give her a good opportunity to snoop at the ministry. Also a trip into muggle London would probably get her more shoes; she had sent an owl order out yesterday for a new pair, and they had arrived this morning; but shoes were the one thing muggles could make much better than wizards could.

She had already managed to convince people that she should go along for this rescue mission to Privet Drive which would take place tonight. It had only added insult to injury for Sirius who had wanted more than anything to go for himself – his convicted criminal status, unfortunately meant he couldn't leave the house. Sirius had argued heavily against her going saying she was more likely to try and kill Harry than save him, resulting in another argument. It seemed to other members of the house that all Sirius and Paige ever did was argue; and for the moment it was true. Paige had been just praying for the day that they could prove to Sirius that Harry was fine; and he could return to his cold indifference of her. It seemed odd that she was lamenting times previous, but at least then she got brief glimpses of a Sirius that didn't hate her. In the state he was in all he saw when he looked at her was someone he could shout at with no fear of reprisal.

For the moment she was following her typical path of avoidance. Tonks had told her at breakfast that morning that they would be leaving early evening; and that she would need to get hold of a broomstick. Paige had been slightly panicked at that and pointedly commented that if Tonks had bothered to give her some more advanced warning then it would have made things a little easier. Tonks, of course, had merely ignored her. It was lucky for Paige that whilst her flying was merely adequate, Regulus had been on the Quidditch team. His broom was outdated but in good condition and Paige had no doubt it would do the job just fine. She hadn't bothered to talk to his portrait since their previous conversation and wasn't about to start now. She had checked the broom for hexes and found to her surprise that it had none. Then again why would Regulus have any reason to hex his own broom?

She felt no guilt as she picked up the dead man's broom from his room. He was dead; what use would he have of it now? He had made his own decisions and paid for it with his life, Paige had no reason to give him respect. The only feelings she felt for him were contempt. He had not been strong enough to live by his decisions and he had made bad ones. Strangely though Paige felt contempt at him for the pain she saw in Sirius's eyes every time his eyes swept the bottom of the tapestry pausing momentarily on the gold embroidered name of his brother. For the pain in his eyes the night she had told him of the portrait and his words about his perfect favourite younger brother. If she had no other reason to hate him; she would hate him just for that. Perhaps she was just too quick to hate people.

Brushing off her thoughts she tied up her long hair. If they were flying it would merely get in the way. She put on her new shoes, frowning at the feel of them against her bare feet. Over the past few days she had got used to the feel of the cold wood against her feet, and it felt oddly disconcerting to only feel the soft fabric. Climbing from the four poster bed her eyes shot up to the ceiling and to the sky outside. The moon could be seen as a crescent and stars twinkled where they were not shrouded by clouds. Cloud cover would probably be good if they didn't want to be seen, but it would be bloody cold outside. She grabbed her cloak fastening it and walked out of the room, carefully taking a sidestep left as she passed the part of the hall that made you stick to the floor. Not pausing she took the stairs two at a time and made her way to the ground floor.

She was going to head straight for the kitchen, from which she knew the members leaving were gathering before apparating to Privet Drive. A light shone from under the door of the library though, making her pause. It could be anyone – Hermione doing homework, or the twins working on some nefarious scheme or another. Still, she walked forward and pushed open the door regardless. The sight that met her eyes was strange and oddly sad. Sirius sat in the same chair he had days previous, what looked to be a glass of firewhiskey at his side, but this time, instead of a thick volume of the most boring prose ever written, he was staring into what appeared to be a photo frame. His eyes were glued to the image in front of him his long hair untamed and falling about his face. He didn't even notice her arrival.

Paige was unsure what to say, if anything. She was contemplating leaving – hoping he didn't notice anything, when he looked up. For once there was no hatred, no anger, no veiled emotions that he would let no one see. There was simply sadness. It was a stark contrast to the look she was so used to in his eyes. Knowing that if he had no mean comments to shoot at her, no angry accusations then now was probably not a time he wished to see her, she walked backwards out of the room. Before she did so, however, her eyes caught sight of the picture in his hand.

A beautiful woman stood smiling and laughing, flame red hair and bright green eyes made her look full of life, whilst a smiling man next to her with brown hair, glasses and hazel eyes held a young child no more than a year old. Behind them stood a much younger Remus – though even then, surprisingly, he had that tired look in his amber eyes – smiling at the woman and man. What caught her eyes the most, however, was the other in the picture. Her eyes were instantly drawn to a younger Sirius. The same black hair and deep grey eyes gave a roguishly handsome look that even now with his years in Azkaban Paige could see. She had no doubt that in his youth the girls had fallen at his feet, and knowing the man before her he had basked in it. The years had shown him the harsh realities of life, and now a deeper and more haunted look could be seen in his grey eyes which in the photo there was little sign of. It showed a man with his friends; friends that he was clearly close to, who he valued more than anything else since he chose not to recognise his family. However there was one other in the picture that had Paige not been looking she would have paid very little attention to. A small mousey looking man stood in the picture on Sirius's right looking nervously at the other members in the photo. Paige was unsure as to whom he was, but he seemed almost detached from the picture of friendship the other four made. Paige wondered what had happened to him and the woman and man, they were not in the order. She supposed perhaps they were dead.

Moving into the kitchen to join the other assembling members Paige's mind was still on the photo and on Sirius. He had been a Gryffindor so clearly friendships were stronger than they ever were in Slytherin; nobody trusted the Callaghan's anyway; and that reputation had permeated into her schooling.

"You ready?" The gruff voice of Alistair Moody asked as she walked in.

"Hmmm….Oh yes. Sorry I was just thinking," Paige said after taking several moments to reply.

"Got to be a new experience," Tonks muttered quietly but not quietly enough for Paige not to hear.

"Oh yes very funny," Paige replied bitterly. Tonks had no chance to reply as Paige apparated after Moody.

They had apparated straight into the Dursleys' living room. Paige took the several moments waiting for other members to look around. It was clearly a muggle living room, floral wallpaper and curtains along with pristine furniture made an attempt to make the room look cosy. Several muggle appliances the use of which Paige had no idea were scattered around. A black box stood to the left of a fireplace with another appliance in it, whilst a white object with a wire coming from it stood on a table next to the armchair. Although not sharing in the ideals of many of her house that muggles were vermin that needed to be exterminated, Paige had never felt any sort of interest in them. She knew virtually nothing about them, except that which they taught at school and the little she had picked up from trips into muggle London. Her ignorance on the subject had never really bothered her before, as it was not something she had ever found the need to know.

Once everyone was assembled people began to follow the plan that had been made the day before. Walking towards the stairs Paige winced as a large clatter behind her was loud enough to alert anyone to their presence. It was lucky there was only Harry in the house, but as she turned to perpetrator she briefly wondered how the clumsy witch before her ever made it through auror training.

"Could you have made any more noise?" Paige hissed at her, payback for Tonks' earlier comment. Tonks' had the decency to look a little embarrassed as Moody's magical eye turned to her. Clearly Tonks' inelegance had alerted the house's occupant to their presence as a sound of footsteps made Paige aware of someone making their way towards them.

Paige stared inquisitively up the stairs as the boy stared down at them shocked. Green eyes and unruly dark brown hair had Paige's brow furrowing as she worked to figure out where she had seen those same eyes before. Moody told the boy to lower his wand, and it seemed Harry recognised the voice along with that of Remus Lupin, as he did so.

"He looks exactly like James." Kingsley Shacklebolt said. It was then that it finally dawned on Paige, the people in Sirius's picture the red haired woman and the messy haired man, they were Harry Potter's parents: Lily and James Potter. She now understood more of Sirius's mood; she had never really connected the dots before, why Sirius was Harry's godfather. Thinking on it now she had been an idiot, of course Sirius had to have been friends with Harry's parents, with Harry's dead parents. The other man though, the brown haired one, Paige's mind sought back to everything she knew about the night of Voldemort's fall. It was during Paige's schooling she had been fourth year, no third. Sirius had gone to Azkaban for his supposed murder of twelve muggles, and one wizard: Peter Pettigrew. The man had got an Order of Merlin and his mention in the incident had been small, which was probably why Paige could only remember a little of it. But if Sirius was innocent where did this man fall in the great scheme of things?

They had moved into the kitchen as Paige thought on, she was half listening to the conversation, the other half thinking back to Sirius in the library. His sad reminiscent look. Then again if two of his best friends were dead and he had spent twelve years in prison unable to look after his godchild then it was probably understandable. Remus was starting to introduce people and Paige tuned back in, her grey eyes moving to the boy.

"And that is Paige Callaghan." Remus said. Harry's eyes finally came to rest on her. Paige got the feeling that Harry was uncomfortable with everyone looking at him – an understandable feeling. Feeling uncommonly generous she turned her eyes to the ceiling with a smile that got some very odd looks from fellow order members.

"What?" She asked innocently "It's a very nice ceiling." Sturgis Podmore who was stood to her left shuffled a bit further away giving her a worried look, however as she turned her eyes back to Harry she caught his eyes and saw him give a small smile.

"Nice to meet you by the way Harry," she said, her eyes still trained on the ceiling.

"You too," he replied with a small smile.

Luckily for them both Moody took it upon himself to make himself the centre of attention as he removed his eye and asked for a glass of water.

"Very clean aren't they these muggles?" Tonks said making conversation. She had a point however, all the surfaces seemed spotless. It was a touch disconcerting, as both the Callaghan household and Grimmauld place seemed to be an attraction for dust and dirt. Everyone however seemed to be put on edge as Harry mentioned Voldemort, Paige sensing the change in mood begin to whistle to herself quietly once again gaining her odd looks.

"Shut up," Moody hissed at her. Paige smile still firmly in place stopped whistling.

When the subject came around to packing and waiting for the signal, Paige decided she wanted to volunteer.

"I'll help too," Paige said after Tonks.

"Surely we don't need another," Tonks replied through gritted teeth.

"Ok," Paige agreed amiably a devious glint in her eye as she retuned to whistling.

"Let her go." Moody growled. Remus shot her a tired look to which she just replied with a trademark Slytherin smirk and followed after Tonks and Harry up the stairs.

Harry's room was certainly much messier than the rest of the house and the abundance of magical books and objects made Paige feel much more at ease. Listening faintly to Tonks' comments about the room and about being a metamorphagus Paige settled herself on Harry's bed. Paige stifled a scoff at Tonks' comment about failing stealth and concealment. It wasn't surprising really with the woman being the biggest klutz around.

"… Did you hear me break that plate downstairs?" Tonks finished.

"She made enough noise to wake the dead." Paige muttered earning her a glare from Tonks.

"So what do you do?" Harry said turning his attention to her.

"Make a nuisance of herself mostly," Tonks muttered and Paige immaturely stuck her tongue out at the woman.

"Well I'm pretty much unemployed at the moment. Through no fault of my own of course," she assured him "On the run myself I suppose," she added thinking it made her life sound much more interesting.

Harry shot a glance at Tonks, who had her eyebrow raised at Paige. "Of course, it's nowhere near as interesting as being an auror for the ministry…" She said the word ministry with so much derision that even Tonks who was at the moment magically packing Harry's things caused her wand to drop the book she was levitating with a clunk. "But it has its perks..." She seemed to think about it for a moment "Strike that; no it doesn't. Living with a tetchy man for the summer is not a perk."

"Right," Harry said with a bemused smile.

"Ignore her," Tonks said, "she talks a load of rubbish." Paige merely carried on smiling as she watched Tonks try and fail to get Harry's packing in some form of neat order.

"Need a hand with that?" Paige asked.

"No." Tonks answered shortly with one last flick of her wand which only made a sock on the top do a pathetic sort of flop. "Doesn't matter, it's all in." Paige just gave her a look as if to say 'well if that's what you want.' Paige knew she was being infuriating and probably a bit of a bitch, but she didn't really care,

Tonks had made it quite clear from the beginning that she thought Paige no better than many she hunted. There was, however, always the sense that as Tonks had been at school a similar time to her; she knew some of the things that Paige had done as a Slytherin. Of course it had been just after the Dark Lord's fall so things were less tense but the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor never faltered, and the attempts to get at each other never really got much more original.

Tonks was checking Harry had got everything as Paige picked herself up off the bed lazily.

"Wow a Firebolt." Tonks said her voice childlike. Paige's eyes involuntarily strayed to the broomstick at Harry's side, true it was very pretty but with Paige's lack of knowledge on brooms she had no idea what was making Tonks so worked up. Regulus's broom which whilst in good condition was probably outclassed by even Tonks' comet two sixty which she didn't seem all that enamoured with. Paige couldn't care less; it was a broom; it flew, she could probably sweep the floor with it, but other than that what else did she need?

They headed downstairs Harry's luggage in tow. Paige was not particularly looking forward to flying to London and to flying to Grimmauld place. Whilst it was true it was not particularly far; the late nights and high altitudes meant that it would be cold. Paige listened half heartedly as Moody outlined the plan once again; she had already heard it half a dozen times, but she supposed it was for Harry's benefit. Paige already knew she was not trusted with any of the important jobs and merely had to circle Harry. In case of attack basically those flying around him would be more likely to delay their attackers by getting in the way.

The flight was just as Paige suspected exceedingly dull and exceedingly cold. Her cloak was wrapped tight around her as she circled Harry, but the ends still whipped in the wind. Her breath left a mist in the air and her fingers were frozen to the broom handle. It seemed however she was not the only one who had this problem as Tonks shouted angrily at Moody for making them take yet another diversion. Paige was beginning to think it would be lucky if she were able to thaw out and detach her hands from the broom even on landing.

They eventually landed in the square outside of Grimmauld place, in the dark of the London street. Harry was shown a piece of paper which was quickly burnt and they finally traipsed inside. Paige was shivering and couldn't help but bite back a groan as she realised they had an order meeting before she go shower and to bed. As she cast a warming spell and took her seat around the table; she winced as she heard a familiar voice raised in anger; and for once it wasn't Sirius. Harry's voice could be heard from here and there had to be floors between them. Well she had known there were going to be fireworks.

Paige only hoped this meeting would not be as drawn out as the last. Dejectedly she turned her head to Dumbledore as he started to speak. There was one consolation at least as she caught sight of Sirius. Maybe now Harry was here, he wouldn't be such a miserable git all summer.