Disclaimer: Anything recognisable belongs to JK. I can't even claim commission on the ink some of you use printing this all out… (LOL)

Updated: Wednesday 15th March 2006

Beta'd by (as always) 3-Legged Dog

Chapter 13: First Meetings…

Order meetings were held once a week, with any interim reports being made directly to the Headmaster. As planned, Harry and Estella were alternating their attendance, with Estella nominated to go first because she'd have more to report.

"It will take Harry some time to build a rapport." Dumbledore had told her earlier that week. Personally, Estella couldn't understand why Harry would have a better chance of accessing Horace Slughorn's secret memory than she. Then again, maybe it was tactically advantageous to have someone unfamiliar to the man to penetrate his defences. Though she'd known the Potions Master for much longer, that advantage, she realised, worked both ways. There was little doubt that the former Slytherin would recognise her overtures and push her away, whereas Harry stood a much better chance of catching him unaware. Knowing too how the eccentric professor gravitated towards gifted and influential students, Estella could only conclude that perhaps Harry was the wisest choice.

In the meantime, Estella had her own responsibilities to worry about. Giving a report to a body of adults was more daunting and involved than she could ever have anticipated. Though she had the assistance of Benson and, to a lesser extent, her Charms professor, as the only Order member involved in the project, she alone was held accountable for its progress. Questions she had not counted on having to answer were thrown at her from every direction, and her inability to address them satisfactorily made her feel like an amateur. The slightly disproving looks of the older members bore down on her, the silent implication that her age was beginning to show, not needing to be spoken.

If Estella thought she couldn't feel any worse, she was sadly mistaken. The casual revelation that Harry had been chosen to captain the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the remark thrown to her in passing as though she ought to have already known, ate at her. That her father was then too wrapped up in his pride and admiration for the absent boy to so much as cast her a reassuring look, made her feel like absolute mud. With Remus deep undercover and out of contact, only her uncle's eyes caught hers from across the kitchen table. Estella could not find what she was looking for in the man's penetrating gaze, however, because her uncle's inherent dislike for Harry clouded his perception.

No one, then, at the table, could understand the sense of drowning Estella felt at that moment. Normally, when she'd fallen short of the mark – such as with her Transfiguration performance, for instance – someone would always be there to reassure her and get her back on task. Sinking even lower in her chair, Estella realised that no such pampering would be deployed at Order level. These were adults, and their egos weren't in need of development.

Tuning out of the meeting, Estella shifted restlessly in her chair. When she found herself missing the presence of the one person who'd understand how out of her depth she was feeling, she had to stop herself. Harry had more or less ignored her ever since that morning she'd had the confrontation with Cho. He hadn't even shared with her the news of his captaincy… Estella began to doubt if Harry would actually sympathise with her now.

'Maybe after he's had to endure a meeting like this on his own…' Estella left the thought to hang and returned her attentions to tracing patterns on the blemished wall opposite her. 'Or maybe it will just be better for him because he's the Boy-Who-Lived and gets special treatment!'

She scowled.

"Estella?" her father's voice shook her from her thoughts and she blinked up at him, confused.

Around them, Order members were activating Portkeys and going their separate ways. The meeting had adjourned, and Estella had not even been aware. The weary girl sighed and slumped in her chair, inwardly ticking her inattention off as yet another sign of her inadequacy.

"The meeting's over." her father pointed out, situating himself on Remus' empty chair and placing a steadying hand on his daughter's shoulder in concern. "Where were you?"

"Oh," Estella shrugged, gathering up the notes in front of her. "I was just revising some notes in my head. There's a few things I'll need to go over with Benson on Monday. How am I getting back to the school?"

Sirius regarded his daughter for a moment, and, checking to make sure no one was paying attention to them, he leant in close. "You really weren't with us, were you? Are you all right?" sighing when his daughter's face merely stared at him blankly, her features not giving anything away, he explained. "Tonks volunteered to pose as you for the weekend, so you can stay here if you want."

"I didn't bring my homework." Estella blurted, slightly put out by the unexpected news. "And I promised Jo… a friend, that I would, er…. help them with something on Sunday."

Estella was referring to her promise to help John secretly train for the Quidditch tryouts. It wasn't so much that she couldn't tell her father that, but she just didn't want him to start running off with grand ideas of his daughter dating or showing a real interest in Quidditch. She'd come to learn that once her father got an idea into his head, it was nearly impossible to get him to back down.

The man in question looked at her suspiciously, his brows raised. Dismissing his unasked question, he instead stood wordlessly and held out his hand to help Estella up.

"Tonks will leave your book bag and Kneazle with Dumbledore before breakfast." Sirius explained.

"Do I even get a say in this?" Estella frowned, wondering how long this plan had been in the works without her knowledge.

"I thought you would be happy. It's just you and me, kiddo." Sirius mirrored his daughter's facial expression. "You can go back early if you want, of course, but don't you at least want to spend some time with your lonely old man?"

"I was never allowed to visit with Moony during the term," Estella pointed out. "Are you sure Tonks can pull me off convincingly? My friends don't even know an Order exists."

"Our cousin may look a bit daft sometimes, but she's actually pretty good at keeping a low profile," said Sirius. "Dumbledore doesn't send her on reconnaissance missions simply because she knows how to change her face, you know."

"You're right, I suppose," Estella sighed.

"You're still not happy." Sirius frowned. "Don't you want to be with me?"

"No, it's not that!" Estella smiled weakly. "It's just… I don't know… it's unsettling to have these things sprung on me, is all."

"Well, so long as you want to be here-" Sirius chanced a look down at his daughter, continuing when he saw her slight nod of assurance. "-then how's about we go to the Ministry tomorrow and register that Kneazle of yours?"

"I can't believe we forgot!" Estella shook her head slightly. "With a Ministry troll loose at the school, it's a damn lucky thing that Skunk never leaves the Ravenclaw Tower." she paused. "Uh, Dad… how are we going to go to the Ministry tomorrow? With Tonks pretending to be me, I'll be in two places at once, and aren't you supposed to stay either here or in the Muggle world?"

"One," Sirius smirked down at his daughter. "Since when do I follow the rules?" he smiled mischievously. "Two, who said anyone will recognise us?"


With the assistance of a few aptly placed charms and a few of the Weasley twins' products, Estella was almost unrecognisable the next day after breakfast.

"Perfect," Sirius stood back to admire his handiwork, having taken great joy in magically rendering his daughter's hair into its present state. He'd not yet forgotten the prank she'd played on him that had almost destroyed his own locks, and a Marauder always gets his back. "If anyone didn't know any better, they'd think you were Tonks."

"Merlin knows why she would actually morph her hair to look like this by choice!" Estella grimaced at her reflection, though she was inwardly happy with the magenta shade the Weasley confection had changed her eyes to. With her Metamorphagus cousin changing her appearance so frequently no one even knew her true appearance, Estella knew that her disguise would more than suffice in hiding her identity. "I do wish you'd disguise yourself though! Dumbledore…"

"Since when do you leap to do everything that man tells you?" Sirius argued with her, not for the first time that day.

'Since he has good reason in this case!' Estella had wanted to scream at the man. If the Ministry did not require visitors to check in their wands at the security desk, she'd have flat out refused to step out into the wizarding world with her father's identity so recognisable. Brushing off Sirius' incredulous question, she backed down huffily and made a show of looking for her Kneazle. Since the wards had been suitably amended to provide extra security, the pair had left Grimmauld Place shortly after the Order meeting and gone home. Having never been in the house before, Skunk had taken to exploring, and was not easily found.


Imitating Tonks was proving to be relatively easy. All Estella had to do when a passing witch or wizard's gaze lingered their way was trip and fall over, and all question of her identity were answered. The father and daughter pair had just come out of the registry office for Magical Creatures and were on their way back out when disaster struck. Too preoccupied with sympathising with her Familiar, who was entirely unhappy with being carted around in a small cage by Sirius, Estella rounded the corner distractedly and, not noticing where she was going, ploughed directly into someone's path.

Sprawled out on the floor, winded slightly by the impact, Estella looked down in embarrassment. A humbled apology was just about to leave her lips when a voice chilled her to the bone, causing her to snap her head up and look at the man she'd careened into for the first time.

"Black." the silvery-haired man leered malevolently, a look of smug satisfaction on his face.

One step behind her, Estella heard her father drop Skunk's carrier in shock. The tension in the air made the hairs on her neck stand on end. No sooner had her father pulled her up and behind him, the disorientated teen grabbing hold of her Kneazle's carrier and clinging to it as though for dear life in the process, had the livid Animagus rounded on the two-faced Slytherin before them.

"Having a little difficulty controlling your pets, are we, Sirius?" Lucius smirked at the slightly younger man. "However do you expect to care for children, may I ask?"

Temper barely in check, Sirius tightened his grip on Estella's robe, pushing her further behind him. So far, the finely attired wizard had shown no sign of having recognised Estella. With neither wizard permitted to carry a wand within the corridors of the Ministry's administrative offices, they were at no immediate risk, but Sirius couldn't help the natural instinct to put himself between his child and the man who had very nearly killed her. His mind plagued by the memories he'd seen in Dumbledore's Pensieve an impossibly short three months earlier, Sirius Black saw red.

"You bastard," he swore, pushing Estella away from him as he drew back his fist and, without warning, landed a powerful right hook across the haughty blonde's face.

Much to Estella's chagrin, the blow was not enough to fell the evil wizard before her. That said, she drew silent satisfaction from watching the man's head snap back violently, the sickening crunch of fist on flesh echoing off the corridor walls. When she noticed that her father was hardly about to stop at that, she leapt forward in alarm.

"Dad! No!" she cried out, pulling the man back as he made to take another swipe at the wizard who, for some reason, was making no effort to defend himself.

No sooner had she called out to her father, did Estella feel Lucius' shark-like eyes on her, his smile looking even more disarming with the blood spilling from his mouth.

"Why, good morning, Estella," Lucius looked positively victorious. "Isn't this interesting?"

"How dare you address my daughter!" Sirius spat, all too ready to wrap his hands around the grinning wizard's neck if not for Estella's firm grasp on his robes. "Stay away from her!"

"It's such a shame to see years of Severus' hard work going to waste," Lucius shook his head mockingly. "Really, Sirius, whatever possessed you to permit your heir to dress so unseemly? Why, I almost didn't recognise the girl!"

"That was the point you barmy git!" Estella scowled at the man who haunted her dreams, emboldened by her father's presence. "Or are you completely daft?"

"Ah, charming. It's so rewarding to see that my wife's concerns are not completely unfounded." Lucius' grin was becoming increasingly smug. "No, child, I cannot blame you for your cheek. Teenagers are so notoriously impressionable at your age… which is why we have a dedicated department at the Ministry to ensure that our society's young do not fall prey to undesirable influences."

Sensing the implied threat, Sirius broke free of his daughter's grasp and threw himself at the pliant Malfoy, easily pinning the docile wizard to the wall.

"If I had my wand, Malfoy, I swear to Merlin…" Sirius scowled, so blinded by his anger he was unable to express his ire.

"Keep going, Sirius." Lucius encouraged him. "Make things easier for me, by all means."

Knowing she didn't have the ability to pull apart two fully grown wizards, and reluctant to go anywhere near Malfoy, lest he Portkey them all away, Estella looked around hopelessly. Her eyes catching a sign pointing in the direction from which Malfoy had come from, Estella blanched.

'Department of Family Services' it read.

Inhaling sharply, the shaken teenager pulled at her father with inhuman strength. Pulling him away from the Dark Lord's number one follower, Estella acted without thinking. Grabbing fistfuls of finely tailored robes, she pulled the man towards her and, in the same moment, kneed him in the groin with all her might. Holding the shocked wizard up by his robes as his legs began to buckle, she sneered at her former tormentor.

"No one… no one… threatens my family!" she hissed in his face before letting him fall to the ground.

Taking a step back, she relished in the sight of the fallen wizard at her feet before turning to leave. Anger filling her again, however, she spun back around and landed a full-bodied kick in the man's side. Knowing full too well that Malfoy covered his tracks much too efficiently to ever get caught frustrated her, and the very real risk that he could succeed in whatever he was currently planning made her want to keep on kicking him until he was no more.

Having spotted the same sign on the wall and noticing his daughter's tenuous grip on her control, Sirius sobered responsibly and pulled her back.

"Let's go before anyone finds us here," he whispered hoarsely in her ear, not stopping to look back at the fallen wizard as he pulled Estella along hurriedly. The fear of losing his daughter was very real, and he suddenly felt spectacularly vulnerable without his wand.


"What are we going to do?" Estella was in a full-blown panic by the time they had Apparated back to the place her parents had made a home. Their exit from the bowels of the Ministry had left them both shaking with adrenalin. Several times as they had made their way back out through security, intent on collecting their wands and escaping to the Apparation point, they had thought they were done for. Physical assault of a unprotected wizard was a serious offence, and in the very least, they would have been detained for questioning. It was imperative that they got out of there before the alarm could be raised.

"Pack." Sirius said simply, the knuckles of his hand white as he clutched his wand, ready for anything. "We'll go back to the summer house, where no one can find us."

"But what about Harry?" Estella asked quietly.

"Moony or Tonks can bring him along when it's safe," the fraught Animagus said after a moment's thought. Rounding on his daughter in consideration, he rested his hands on her trembling shoulders. "Right now my priority is getting us both out of the country."

No sooner had Sirius pulled the shaken girl into an embrace were the pair interrupted by a voice behind them.

"Are you entirely sure that's wise?" Dumbledore emerged from the study, where he had just travelled through the secure Floo connection in anticipation of their flight. "What of Estella's education?"

"I can teach her all she needs to know," pledged Sirius, though Estella was looking hesitant. The idea of leaving her friends when she'd only really just started to get close to them was something she didn't particularly care to consider.

"If you leave London, it will be impossible for the Order to assist you." Dumbledore warned. "The Ministry will keep an even closer eye on young Harry…"

"Are you asking me to choose?" Sirius said brokenly. "If she goes back to school the Ministry will take her away from me… Malfoy will make sure of it! I don't know what he's got on me, but it must be good if you're here now."

"I must confess that things are not looking good." the old wizard looked tired. "Your altercation with Mr Malfoy has just been made a matter of public record, and apparently Mrs Malfoy and several other individuals have sworn that they witnessed you physically accost your daughter in Diagon Alley last week. I've just met with Dolores Umbridge, who, as Ministry representative at the school, informed me of the recent developments."

"That cow!" Estella spat, unable to stop herself. "All right then, I'll go… I'll go tell the toad-faced wench how stupid-"

"I'm afraid it's not as easy as that, Estella," Albus' tone was grave as he looked from father to daughter sadly. "The physical proof of Lucius Malfoy's injuries is quite damning, and there now exists a warrant for your father's arrest. Pending resolution, it is procedure to remove all minors from his care."

"So is that it, Albus? Are you here to take my daughter away from me?" Sirius asked, hurt.

"Of course not, Sirius!" Albus blinked, uncharacteristically surprised by the younger wizard's conclusion. "I am doing everything in my power to rectify this situation. Keeping Estella from the school will only ascribe to your guilt."

"What about Tonks?" Sirius asked desperately. "Surely she can pull it off!"

"After the incident with Alastor last year, the Ministry have implemented new procedures to their investigative processes. Someone will undoubtedly wish to get a statement from Estella, and Nymphadora will not fool them in that setting. I am afraid too, that your young cousin needs to return to her other assignments." Albus informed them. "I assure you, both of you, that no matter the Ministry's ruling, nothing need change. Legally, the children must remain in school. I am certain that we'll have reached a resolution by the holidays."

"So what am I supposed to do, Albus? Turn myself in?" Sirius scowled.

"By all means, no!" Albus said firmly. "So long as Lucius Malfoy walks freely, the Ministry is compromised. It is imperative that you do not leave Headquarters under any circumstances. I cannot guarantee your safety if you are taken into custody."

"So I am a fugitive again?" Sirius sat down heavily on a chair, pulling his daughter down with him. Estella could not blame the man for not wanting to relinquish his stabilising hold on her hand. "I'm no coward, Albus. I will not hide and save my own skin while my kids are taken away."

"No one will take the children from you!" Albus was blunt. "They will return to Headquarters for Christmas as was planned. You must stay there in the interim until I can guarantee a hearing for you under controlled circumstances."

"There are people in the Department for Family Services that you trust, Albus?" A glimmer of hope was evident in his tone. The promise of still seeing his children was comforting, yes, but he didn't want to lose the legal right to raise them. He remembered what it had been like having custody of his own daughter when he had been a fugitive. At any time, Severus or Dumbledore could have come to take her away from him, and he would have been powerless to stop it. Now, two teenagers were at stake, and having experienced the freedom of being able to make decisions without interference he knew he couldn't go back to that. Estella was his daughter, and James had trusted him to raise Harry; and he would be damned if he would be forced to do that from the shadows. Not again.

"Yes, but I will need time to pull something together." Albus informed them. "So please, Sirius, give me that time."

Sirius stared at the aged leader thoughtfully, not missing the unspoken request for his trust. Feeling his daughter's small hand squeeze his in encouragement, he made his decision.

"All right," he said. "I'm trusting you to get me a fair hearing."

A moment of silence swept over them, before Sirius spoke again.

"Do I have to stay at my mother's?" he asked quietly. "Can't I stay here?"

"Though I must admire the work you've done on the wards, Sirius, it's likely that this house is already under surveillance." said Albus.

"But I just finished the unplottable charms! Copied them right from the notes my father used on Grimmauld Place!" Sirius was adamant that his matrimonial home was safe. "And you know Remus is our secret keeper."

Sirius was clearly not about to make the same mistake James and Lily had made by not letting Dumbledore know of his choice.

"No one will find…"

"Very well." the Headmaster cut in, displaying an unprecedented sign of cooperation. "I trust the Floo is limited?"

"Grimmauld and your office only." Sirius confirmed, smiling slightly at the opportunity of staying in his home. "It's as impenetrable as Grimmauld, even more so with Moony undercover."

"Are there emergency Portkeys on hand?" Albus asked. Ever since James and Lily, he too favoured extra precautions. He now recommended that a 'secure' safe house have readily accessible Portkeys in each room, all charmed by him to go to a select number of safe locations.

"I have the one… the one we used to go on holiday," said Sirius cryptically, still not willing to divulge the location of their holiday spot. "Then I have the Portkey I'd given to Selina to get to my parents' place, and the one she gave me still works, but I'm not sure where that will go now…"

"Mum's room," said Estella. "Moony only temporarily redirected it."

"Well that's settled then," Albus said congenially. "Estella, if you would be so kind as to rustle this old man up with a spot of tea, your father and I will see to situating more Portkeys around the house."

In the end, there were no less than three Portkeys in every room of the house. Borrowing from the tendency to use objects of Muggle origin for the purpose, the assortment of broken CD cases, Muggle magazines and household utensils hardly looked out of place in the hybrid home.

"I'm going to have a hard time remembering what's a Portkey and what's not," Sirius groaned. "No moving them around, ok kiddo?"

"Like I would do that!" Estella scoffed indignantly. As if she would consider fooling around with something that could quite possibly save their lives in an attack. Flopping down on the couch after the Headmaster had returned to the school – Estella was due to follow the next day – the young girl let her contentment show. "I'm glad you're getting to stay here, Dad."

"Me too," said Sirius, collapsing in a heap next to his daughter. "You want to watch a film?"


Shortly after breakfast the next day, Estella Flooed back to the Headmaster's office. After swapping details with her decoy, Tonks, she politely declined the Headmaster's invitation of tea and set out to find her friends.

"Hey stranger," Estella snuck up on her housemate, who was waiting nervously at their prearranged meeting spot behind the Greenhouses. "Y'know, people are going to get the wrong idea, the two off us sneaking off here together."

The small courtyard behind the Greenhouses was notorious for being a quiet place for young couples to go and snog. Since most people favoured the late afternoon shadows or the blanketing security of night, the area was largely left alone during the day. With its steep slopes receding the ground level well below the dungeon walls, it would be the perfect place to fly relatively unseen.

"You sure you want to do this?" John shifted his weight nervously as he pulled out his shrunken broom. "You… you don't have to if you don't want to."

"You still want to try out, don't you?" Estella levelled her eyes at the boy, feelingly only slightly awkward in his lone presence. Despite all of her bookish knowledge, the young girl was notoriously naïve when it came to the opposite sex. "I don't really mind flying that much when I am with people I trust."

"You trust me, then?" John asked, genuinely surprised. It was an established fact that the niece of the Slytherin Head of House was not one to give her trust easily.

"With this I do." Estella responded diplomatically, resizing her own broom and mounting it without hesitation. "Did you bring a Quaffle?"

"Oh!" John fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a small ball, which he resized. "Almost forgot. Baz'll kill me if he finds out I took it from his set… but he's away training until Christmas, so I figure I'll be safe."

"Why, didn't you want your family to know you were trying out?" Estella kicked off slightly and hovered a few feet off the ground, level with her classmate, who had done the same.

John Ryan was the younger brother of Barry Ryan, a successful professional Quidditch player for the Irish National Team. To date, he'd only ever displayed a casual interest in flying while at school, but now the House Team had lost its Keeper, he had resolved to try out for the position.

"I don't want to get my parents all excited, only to not make the team. You know that!" John sighed, hefting the worn Quaffle from hand to hand. "I'll never live it down! I've always paled in comparison to Barry…"

"Only because he's got years on you and has trained religiously since he started playing Quidditch!" Estella pointed out. "You've never played at school before and so you're at a disadvantage. From what you've told me though, you manage to hold your own when he tosses a Quaffle with you over summer, right? That's got to mean you're at least better than average."

"Well, we'll see, shall we?" John said dejectedly, flying to the far side of the courtyard where the ground level was lower, and tracing a goal ring into the air. The purple trail hovered, suspended by magic.

"Brilliant!" Estella commended her friend on his handiwork as she flew over to inspect the makeshift goal. "Right, now give's the Quaffle."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right trying to get them past me?" John furrowed his brow as Estella wobbled slightly on her broom as she adjusted herself to accommodate the ball. "You hardly fly, let alone play Quidditch. Have you even-"

"Trust me, all right? I know what I am doing." Estella fumbled with the Quaffle and almost dropped it when a gust of wind caused her broom to sway. Correcting her position, she sheepishly added, "somewhat…"

"Uh, if you say so," said John, tucking his wand away and pulling out his Keeper Gloves. "Come at me from all directions, kay? I can't thank you enough for helping me with this."

"S'ok," Estella shrugged, tossing the Quaffle in the air experimentally and then catching it awkwardly. Though one of their best friends was presently reserve Chaser for the House Team, Estella could understand why John had not wanted to ask for his help. "I'm just going to circle the courtyard a bit to get used to flying with this thing, all right? Be on your guard."

Much to Estella's amusement, she was able to get three shots past the Ravenclaw before he came to his senses and began to block her shots with earnest. Just as she had thought, her modest housemate wasn't just modest about his ability, he was downright subjective.

"You know, I know I'm nothing like a proper Chaser," Estella flew up to her friend and rested a while to catch her breath. "But you're doing a brilliant job."

"You're not so bad yourself!" John blurted, his cheeks flaming red in embarrassment as Estella raised her brow. Fumbling for his words, John's hands gripped compulsively around the Quaffle he was holding. "I mean, you should try out too. You and Reg will be good together… um, I mean…"

"You're a ham, John Ryan." Estella smirked at the stammering fourth year in front of her, only slightly confused as to why he'd been so awkward around her lately. "I'm not trying out though. You saw how many bloody times I dropped the Quaffle."

"You… you dropped the Quaffle?" John looked down at the ball in his hands as though it would provide him with all the answers.

"Really, John, you call yourself a Keeper? Don't you pay attention to anything?" Estella shook her head in amusement.

"I do! I pay attention to you!" As soon as John had said it, his face took on the look of one who had just bitten into a pickled egg.

Estella was just about to put the poor guy out of his misery when a voice shouted at them from the side of the Greenhouse. They had been spotted.

"Hey! Estella! What are you doing around here?" Harry had spotted the girl he was looking for and was waving at her from the rise on the opposite side of the courtyard.

"Oh, don't look now," Estella leaned her broom closer to John's and looked to him conspiringly. "It's the Captain of the opposition."

"Better not let him see this, then." John smirked and shrunk his brother's Quaffle, returning it to a pocket in his robes before removing the fading purple ring in the air completely.

"What do you want, Harry?" Estella flew over to the Gryffindor and hovered so that she was level with the boy standing on the higher ground a few feet ahead of her. The fact Harry had not seen cause to make time to tell her about his appointment as Quidditch Captain still stung ever-so-slightly.

"You're back, then." Harry sounded almost hurt.

Estella chanced a look back at John who, though still out of earshot, was heading their way.

"What do you mean? I didn't go anywhere!" Estella said incredulously, gesturing wordlessly that other ears could be listening from the nearby Greenhouse. "What brings you out here this fine Sunday morning?"

"Morning?" Harry looked up at her, frowning slightly. "It's afternoon! You missed lunch! Where have you been?"

It was then that Estella noticed the Marauder's Map in Harry's hand. With Estella in possession of the mirrors their fathers had used to communicate with each other, it was only fair that the older boy kept possession of the heirloom the twins had passed on to him in his third year.

"Around," Estella responded flippantly, deliberately vague as John was now hovering alongside her. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought that her fellow housemate was being almost possessive.

"Oh, hi, John, is it?" Harry acknowledged John for the first time, who nodded back at him in confirmation. "Do you mind giving Estella and I a moment in private?"

John looked from Harry to Estella, disappointment flickering upon his features as Estella nodded slightly. Shrugging, the dejected Ravenclaw landed and dismounted his broom, muttering something about heading to the Great Hall for something to eat before stalking off in the direction of the main entrance.

"Did you have to be so blunt?" Estella hissed, landing near the Greenhouse wall and shrinking her broom with short, stabbing motions. "The poor guy's already a wreck. He doesn't need you adding to it."

"What do you mean?" Harry walked over towards her, a thoughtful look on his face as he took in their location and what it was known for. "Wait, he… he fancies you, doesn't he?"

"That's none of your business!" Estella shrieked at him. If he couldn't take her comments about Cho, then he had no right sticking his nose into that area of her life.

"Just what were you two doing here, behind the Greenhouses?" Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "You hate flying."

"I don't hate flying!" Estella corrected him tersely. "I just don't like making a spectacle of it. Not all of us are attention-seeking Gryffindors, you know!"

"Why was Tonks posing as you all weekend? The meeting ended by 7 on Friday," Harry asked suddenly, having pulled her towards him and whispered directly into her ear.

"Are you deranged, or just plain stupid?" Estella hissed back, quickly casting a privacy bubble before continuing. "Do you want to announce what we're doing to the world?"

"Relax, Estella, you're being paranoid! There's no one near here! I checked the Map moments ago." Harry brandished said parchment and waved it in front of her. "Now, you want to tell me what's going on?"

"If it had anything to do with the Order, you'd have heard about it!" Estella snapped back, the stress of the past 24 hours getting to her. Deep down she knew it wasn't fair to be lashing out at Harry, but she was still mad at him for not respecting her opinion of Cho that she wasn't thinking straight.

"What's with you lately?" Harry shot back. "Ever since term began you've been criticising my choice of friends and acting strange. Since when do you go off to a remote part of the grounds and not tell anyone where you are? If John's your boyfriend I don't know why you think you have to hide it, especially from me. I'd tell you if I were to go out with Cho, even though you've made it clear you don't like her."

"Oh, just like you'd tell me you made Quidditch Captain?" she said scathingly as she threw her body back against the cool glass of the Greenhouse wall. "You're so presumptuous! I was out here as a favour to a friend. While I mayn't have announced my intentions to the Great Hall, my housemates have the deductive abilities to find me if they so wished."

"You weren't at lunch." Harry stated again. "And I wasn't the only one who noticed. You might want to tell your uncle that you and John aren't an item, cause he noticed the both of you missing from the table."

Estella swore. "He is not my boyfriend! I refuse to be in a relationship with someone who I can't share all my secrets with…"

"Is that why you hate Cho so much then?" Harry asked suddenly. "Because I'm the only boy allowed to know all your secrets, I'm the only one who would fit the criteria…"

"Ew, no, you daft prat!" Estella made a face. "I'm not that baseless! I just don't have time for that sort of thing right now! And nor should you if you took your role seriously!"

"Estella, there's no saying that we can't have a balance…" Harry's voice trailed off as he was plagued by his own doubts.

"Whatever, Harry." Estella waved him off dismissively, smirking slightly when she thought of something to lighten the load. "You're not the one with a professor for an uncle… a highly protective expert at Dark Arts at that. Trust me, I'm doing the male population of Hogwarts a favour by concentrating on my schoolwork."

"Um, maybe you should find Snape before he finds John, then," Harry suggested, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh, bollocks!" Estella's eyes widened in realisation as she held her hand out for the map and began to scour it for signs of her uncle. Seeing the striding footsteps labelled 'Severus Snape' heading directly for the completely oblivious mark labelled 'John Ryan' as it made its way into the Entrance Hall, Estella's face paled. "Too late!"


By the time Estella reached the Entrance Hall, John and her uncle were nowhere to be seen. She was just about to make her way towards her uncle's office where, no doubt, her unfortunate friend was having his ear chewed off, when an unwelcome obstacle made itself known.

"Hem, hem," the tell-tale call of the loathed Ministry official prickled at her ears like nails running down a chalkboard. Pretending to have not heard the woman, Estella kept walking, determined not to turn around.

"Miss Black!"

'Bugger!' Estella scowled inwardly and turned around slowly, schooling her face into what she hoped was an innocent look.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ms Umbridge! Was that you? I though Mrs Norris was choking on a fur ball, the poor thing." said Estella, her voice dripping with innocence. To herself, she added, 'nope, you're still wearing that god-awful cardigan, my mistake!'

Across from her, the short, mousy-haired woman curled her lips into a grimace. Unable to detect the intended rudeness in Estella's tone, she took the girl's observation as a innocent mistake and refrained from taking defensive action.

"A moment in my office, if you'd please?" asked Umbridge, though Estella sensed no tone of question in the woman's voice.

"Oh? Um, you see, I've actually missed lunch, and I was just about to…" Estella tried to defer the inevitable anyway.

"It wasn't a request, Ms Black." Umbridge snapped impatiently. Estella found herself wondering how many of her schoolmates had the woman matched with her uncle. She shuddered at the thought.

"Very well." Estella nodded politely and turned to follow the woman up a staircase. "But may I ask what all this is about?"

"You may, but I will not answer until we are in private." was Umbridge's response. Coming up to a non-descript office door, the toad-like woman released the wards and gestured for her to step through first. "Come along, this won't take long."

Turning back to nod at the woman in acknowledgement, Estella didn't notice the other occupant of the room until her hostess had closed the door behind them and locked it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she gasped, intuitively reeling back at the sight of Lucius Malfoy leaning against a desk. Knowing Umbridge was behind her, however, she couldn't get as far back as she would have liked. She settled for drawing her wand.

"Expelliarmus!" The stern voice of the dotty Ministry official caught her unaware, and her wand was torn from her hand. "Now, now, is that anyway to greet a School Governor?"

"School Governor?" Estella gaped. "School Governor!"

She was at a loss for words.

'Oh shite!' her inner voice was screaming. 'Malfoy with a wand! Malfoy with a wand! No one knows I am here! Oh crap…'

If not for the anger and derision she felt towards the woman behind her, Estella was certain she would have launched into a full-blown panic attack. She noted somewhat absently that her pendant was not burning, but it wouldn't be the first time the resourceful dark wizard had exploited means to neutralise it. Only a fragment of her mind clung to the hope that perhaps the pendant wasn't burning because Lucius couldn't pose a risk to her in front of a witness.

Umbridge. Never did Estella ever imagine that she'd ever feel grateful for that woman's presence.

"What's all this about?" she asked the woman, refusing to turn her back on Malfoy so as to look at her.

Umbridge went on to confirm that this meeting was in fact to discuss her father's 'documented' behaviour and express a vested concern for her well being. As Ministry representative, Umbridge was to interview her and submit a report to the Department of Family Services, whilst Lucius, as School Governor, was representing the school's interests. When asked why her uncle couldn't be there in Lucius' stead, she was promptly informed that as both her next of kin and professor, Severus Snape had a 'conflict of interests', and subsequently, 'all other' members of staff were likely to be bias as his colleagues.

'Conflict of interest?' Estella rolled the words over in her mind, raising a brow slightly and staring intently at the elder Malfoy who curled his lip in an unmistakable smirk.

Knowing that the woman had already made her mind up about her father's inability to be a parent, Estella tuned out the insults and derogatory comments being made about him. When Lucius prompted the Ministry puppet to suspect Estella as being a flight risk and mention was made to a tracking charm 'for her own good', Estella couldn't help but react.

"Not bloody likely!" she shrieked, backing away from both adults, heading further into the room. Clearly, they underestimated her resourcefulness, for it was a point of fact that such Charms could not be made without Ministry approval, and even then it was only used on suspected criminals awaiting trial.

"Lucius, please restrain the girl. The spell requires wand to flesh contact." Umbridge nodded to Malfoy who moved from his stance against the desk for the first time. Had Estella eaten lunch, she would have lost it all over the man's shoes on account of the predatory gleam in his eyes. Estella knew she must have looked like a caged animal, her eyes darting back and forth looking for a way out as the man approached her slowly.

"Come now, don't make it any worse than it has to be." Lucius' voice drawled at her, laced with false sincerity. Not missing the double-meaning of his words, she shook her head in denial. The man continued to get closer to her, and Estella knew she was running out of floor space. When her back hit a bookshelf on the far wall, Lucius stopped in his approach. "Cooperate, child, and I assure you it will be quite painless."

"Never in your life!" Estella hissed, drawing her mother's wand and casting a shielding charm and summoning her wand in rapid succession. She knew Malfoy was not just referring to the tracking charm, but she didn't care. By the time she had her own wand back in hand, both Lucius and Umbridge had drawn their wands on her. Estella knew that she had to stall for time until a teacher could find them. Under no circumstances could that tracking charm be placed on her… she'd never be able to leave Hogwarts. If she remembered correctly, only the person who cast the spell could track her with it, and only that person could remove it.

'C'mon Harry, look at the map!' Estella chanted in her mind, praying to whoever would listen. Though her pendant was a Portkey, she did not wish to rely upon it if it could be avoided. A teacher stumbling upon them was more preferable then simply vanishing from the school and later having to explain the Portkey to the likes of Umbridge. Every one knew that only a member of Hogwarts staff can create a Portkey that can be activated from within the school, and the last thing she wanted to do was implicate her uncle in any wrong-doing.

Several disarming spells were thrown her way, but with a wand in each hand, her shields were too strong. It was, however, a small blessing. Estella knew she couldn't keep her shield so strong for any longer than a few moments at a time, and she did not doubt that a strong, simultaneously cast spell from the two adults before her would hit its intended target.

Beads of sweat were dripping from her brow and running down her cheeks like the tears pooling in her eyes. Estella could feel her shields failing, and she wasn't sure she could get her hand to her pendant fast enough to activate her Portkey. Thankfully, the office door blew off its hinges, and, not a moment too soon, Albus Dumbledore let his presence be known.

"Dumbledore!" Estella called out weakly, her head beginning to swim under the magical strain. In front of her, Umbridge immediately turned to address the Headmaster, but Lucius was still slowly advancing on her. Blinking through water-logged eyes, Estella sensed, more so than saw, Dumbledore distracted by Umbridge's verbiage. He probably assumed that Lucius Malfoy would not do something so foolish as hurt Estella in his presence. He'd clearly not considered that a harmful spell was the least of Estella's worries.

"Get away from me!" Estella cried out, this time drawing Dumbledore's attention.

"Lucius!" Dumbledore called out in warning, but the blonde wizard was too close to Estella to risk magical intervention. Knowing this, the determined pureblood continued, the weakening shields around his target not designed to deflect physical contact.

"No!"

END CHAPTER

Next Chapter: Just Friends

Due: 28th of March (I'm putting it in my diary in big bold letters, I swear!)

A/N: Profile has been updated