Ronan had not said much to Dora the rest of the evening after the trial, and even the next day, he was more quiet than usual. It was not until the second day that Dora was able to get him to go to the playroom with her, but he didn't want to play and simply sat there with his arms around his knees.

"Ronan," Dora sighed, and he shook his head at her, continuing to stare aimlessly out the window.

"It doesn't seem real," he barely whispered. "It's a nightmare."

She abandoned her toys and walked over to him, climbing up on the windowseat beside him. "I'm sorry," she told him.

Ronan didn't move. "You didn't do it," he said. "Don't apologise."

Dora gave a great sigh and leaned against the windowpane. "But I am sorry that this happened," she told him. "I didn't want you to lose your mum and dad."

"Dora, I don't want to talk about it," Ronan told her sharply.

Dora was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are you going to play with me?"

"I don't feel like it," Ronan muttered. "This is the worst year ever."

"It's only the fifth," Dora told him. "It could get better."

He glared at her, then looked around as the playroom door opened. Desmond stood in the doorway, looking ready to attend a grand party. "We're going out, Nymphadora," he said to her. "Comb your hair, and let's go."

Ronan didn't look up as Dora huffed, got to her feet and followed his grandfather from the room. He didn't think much of anything until minutes later, he heard her scream for him. Jumping up, he rushed out of the playroom and down the hall until he saw her running toward him. "Dora," he began, but there was a bang, and Dora yelled, falling to the floor as if thrown down.

Desmond appeared with his wand out, and Ronan moved to stand over his fallen cousin. "Leave her alone," he said angrily. "What's she done?"

"He's going to send me back," Dora cried tearfully. "I can't—I don't want to go back!"

"You are not part of this family, and you do not belong with us," Desmond said sharply. "Ronan, you will not interfere."

"No!" the girl cried. "I need to stay with Ronan—he doesn't have anyone, and Mum and Dad have enough kids!"

Desmond moved toward them, and Ronan stood between him and Dora as she scrambled to her feet. "Grandfather, she can't go," he said in a pleading voice. "She's my friend."

"Your mother brought her here to raise her for the Dark Lord," Desmond said sharply. "Bellatrix didn't care what happened to her. Nymphadora must go back to her family; she was never supposed to be here."

"I can't go home!" Dora cried. "Please don't make me—I don't know them, and—"

Desmond stepped forward again, and Ronan stayed between him and Nymphadora. "Ronan, I'm warning you," Desmond said quietly.

Ronan was scared, but said, "Don't make her leave. Please!"

"I'm not telling you again, Ronan," Desmond answered. "Get out of the way."

Dora didn't know what to do, and within a minute, Desmond had thrown a spell at Ronan, and the boy collapsed to the ground, yelling with pain. "Ronan!" she cried in fright, shrinking away from Desmond.

The man grabbed Nymphadora by the arm, and she screamed, anger and fear flooding through her as she realised that she was being ripped away from her only friend, who had just lost both his parents. "Leave me alone!" she screamed, fighting him as her hair shot bright red.

He ignored her cries and pulled her with him toward the front doors. "I've already packed your things," he told her sternly. "You are going back to your parents."

"You're a bad man!" Dora cried, still trying to get away from him as the gates opened. She saw Ronan hurry into the room, though he was clearly still in pain.

The boy moved to grab Dora's other arm, but Desmond knocked him back with the same spell, only stronger, Ronan letting out a shriek of pain and writhing on the floor. "Ronan!" Dora cried in her fear for him, ceasing her struggle against Desmond. "Don't hurt him!"

Desmond took the opportunity and pulled the girl through the gates and disapparated with her, leaving his grandson crying out in pain before the open gates.

That morning, Andromeda had sent her husband off to work with a hug and a whispered, "Have a good day." They hadn't said much of anything to each other since they'd argued after the trial. He had hugged her tightly and said he loved her, then kissed his daughter and left.

Ever since breakfast had been over, Percy had been trying to make the younger boys behave, and the two older boys were staying close to their mother, sensing that she was also rather sad. Andromeda was just putting Elsie down for her first nap of the day when someone knocked at the door and Will went to look out the window and let out a gasp, speechless with shock. "Mum," he mouthed silently when she walked back in, motioning her to the door.

She frowned, then walked to the door and opened it, her eyes immediately widening in shock. "Dora," she breathed. "Hello, Desmond." Her daughter looked terrified, and Andromeda could not imagine what was wrong with the girl.

"Your daughter," Desmond said to Andromeda, and she could only nod. "The last thing Rodolphus told me before he was arrested was that if anything happened to him, I was to bring Dora back to you, and I agree that it's for the best."

Andromeda saw tears gathering in the little girl's eyes, but Dora looked down, trembling from head to foot. "Of course," Andromeda murmured. "She's more than welcome. This is her home."

Desmond nudged the girl forward, and she shook her head. "Nymphadora, I am not taking you back to my home," he said. "This is where you should have been all along. Now take your things—" he produced a bag from his pocket and placed it in her arms "and go."

"No," Dora choked. "I don't want—" But even as she spoke, Desmond turned, walked away and disapparated, leaving the girl in the yard of the Burrow. "No!" she cried. "No!"

"Dora," Andromeda breathed, "come in, dear."

"I don't want to be here!" Dora cried. "Ronan needs me! Desmond hurt him because he was trying to help me—I don't want you!"

Andromeda was trying to think of what to say when her two oldest sons appeared beside her in the doorway, and Dora looked at them only to cringe away from their shocked faces. "Come," she said gently. "You can go up to your room for a while until you feel better."

Dora was about to speak when they all heard the sound of a baby crying, and Dora backed away from the door of the house, wanting nothing to do with it. Andromeda took a deep breath and said, "Will, please go try to quiet Elsie. I'll be there in a moment."

Dora looked as if she were about to burst into tears, and Andromeda felt sorry for the girl who had been so unceremoniously dumped on her doorstep. "Dora?" Andromeda said quietly, "let's get you upstairs and settled into a room, okay?"

Charlie looked up at his mother. "Is she going to share with me?"

"No, I do believe she'll need her own room, and you and Will will have to share a room," Andromeda told him. "Because she's a girl, and girls and boys don't need to share rooms."

"Oh, is she going to have my room?" Charlie asked.

"Well, I think so," Andromeda answered. "Will's room is bigger, so you and he will need that space. Why don't you go on up to him and tell him?"

Charlie looked at his distraught twin, then turned and left. Andromeda opened her mouth to say something else to Dora, but one of the other twins yelled, "Mum, make Elsie be quiet!"

Andromeda sighed slightly and said, "Dora, why don't you come sit down. Have you had anything to eat this morning?"

"Not hungry," Dora said stubbornly, tightening her arms around her bag of belongings.

"It's cold out here, dear, come have a cup of tea or cocoa," Andromeda coaxed the girl.

Dora looked as if she were about to protest or cry when her shoulders slumped and she plodded dejectedly into the house after the mother she barely knew. She sat down in one of the old chairs at the small kitchen table, glaring at the three little boys that were staring at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" Silas wanted to know.

"Go away," Dora hissed at them angrily, turning her back on them.

"Mum doesn't like bad kids," Silas said warningly.

Andromeda turned to her younger twins and said, "Silas, leave her alone. That's your sister Nymphadora."

Will and Charlie reappeared, Elsie held in her oldest brother's arms. Andromeda hurried to take the baby from him and began to shush her gently, seeing the look of anger on Nymphadora's face at the sight of the baby.

"She can have Charlie's room," Will said to his mother. "He can stay with me."

"Thank you, boys," Andromeda said. "Here's your cocoa, Dora. I'll be right back after I've fixed up your room." She looked at the other children and told them to behave, then hurried upstairs to make the arrangements for Dora to stay, shocked that she had her first daughter back.

"How is she our sister?" Regis asked Will with a frown.

"She's Charlie's twin," Will answered. "Aunt Bellatrix stole her from us years ago and she's been living up at Lestrange Manor with them."

They heard Elsie stop crying, and Dora let out a breath of relief, though she still eyed the boys in distrust as she pulled her cocoa toward herself. "Here," said a voice, and Dora looked over to see another boy offering her something. "Do you want marshmallows?"

Percy gave her a nervous smile before her face softened only slightly and she accepted a few marshmallows into her cup. "Who are you?" she asked him, supposing she might as well know the name of the boy that seemed to want to make peace with her.

"I'm Percy," the boy answered. "I don't remember you, but Will and Charlie do because they're older."

Dora didn't answer, and minutes later, Andromeda came back downstairs, Elsie quieted in her arms. "Ready to see your room?" Andromeda asked kindly. "Or would you rather finish your drink first?"

"I'll go," said the girl, setting down her cup immediately. She got to her feet, ignoring the boys, and followed the woman up the creaky staircase, noting how much smaller and more crowded this place was than Lestrange Manor.

When the woman opened the door to the room, Dora was shocked to see how small the room was, and just looked around sadly, seeing how bare the room was. "I thought you'd like to decorate it," Andromeda said to her with a smile. "Would you like me to put your things away for you? You can rearrange them if you like, but it might save you time."

Dora hesitated, then handed over her bag, unable to care about her things when she felt so unwanted. She saw the surprise on the woman's face at how many things flew into the closet and drawers and arranged themselves on the walls.

"They really took care of you, didn't they?" Andromeda sighed. "I know you probably don't remember being with us, Dora, but you are my firstborn daughter, and I love you. If you need anything, just ask, okay?"

"You didn't send me away, did you?" Dora asked before she could stop herself.

"No, Dora," the woman answered. "I would never send one of my children away. You are all very special to me."

Dora nodded and turned away, an awful, awful feeling setting in as she realised she was trapped with this family—her real family, that she now realised she didn't want. She couldn't speak and walked straight to the bed, which was much smaller than the ones she was used to.

"I'll let you know when it's time for lunch," Andromeda said softly, then backed out of the room and closed the door. She went to her room for a moment to take care of Elsie and put her back down for her nap, but the instant she set foot on the stairs to go keep an eye on the rest of her children, she heard an anguished scream from the room where she'd left Nymphadora.

She had barely turned to go to Dora when Charlie appeared along the hall. "Charlie, don't go in there," Andromeda said sharply, but the boy ignored her and entered the room without knocking, Dora's screams immediately silencing.

"GET OUT!" everyone in the house heard Dora scream at her twin.

"No!" Charlie said firmly. "Everyone can heard you scream, Dora. Only Mum and Dad's room is silenced."

"I don't want to be here!" Dora shrieked. "Mum and Dad have enough children: they don't need me! Ronan needs me: his grandfather was being really mean to him, and there's no one to help him! I told him I would stay with him because his mum and dad were gone, and now—"

Andromeda didn't catch the rest of her words, but could hear the girl sobbing heartbrokenly. She could appreciate the girl's loyalty, and felt the girl's concern for her little cousin.

"You're our sister!" Charlie was saying. "You're my twin! I've missed you—Will's missed you, too. You've been gone for four years!" The girl didn't respond, still crying, and Charlie tentatively moved closer to her, saying, "Mum and Dad are nice, Dora, and even though some of the younger kids are annoying, they're okay."

"Ronan," Dora was sobbing inconsolably. "Ronan needs me."

Andromeda was more than aware that Charlie didn't care what Ronan needed. Charlie just wanted Dora back home. Andromeda continued down the stairs, meeting her oldest son on the way down. "Is Dora okay?" Will asked breathlessly. "I was trying to keep the twins from annoying Percy."

"Charlie's talking to her," Andromeda sighed softly. "She's upset that her cousin's all alone now that she's here."

"Should I go join them?" asked the boy.

"Perhaps listen to them for a couple minutes, and join them when it seems like a good time," Andromeda said. "Be careful. If she gets really upset, leave her alone because she might accidentally hurt you if she's angry."

Will nodded and hurried off toward his sister's room. Dora was not pleased to have someone else enter the room unannounced, and Charlie was quick to tell her that Will wouldn't be mean or stupid. "Tommy's always stupid, but Mum says he's still a baby," Charlie shrugged. "I don't think so. Elsie's the baby."

"I don't like babies," Dora said darkly. "They cry all the time."

"I didn't like Elsie at first," Charlie admitted to Dora, shaking his head. "I didn't want another sister: I wanted you back. But I learned with Silas and Regis that as the little kids get older, I can tease them into doing what I want."

Will grinned and nodded in agreement as Dora seemed to look at her twin with slightly less distaste. "That one is rude," she said.

"What one?" asked Will. "Silas?"

"One of the other twins," Dora huffed, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I don't know. There's too many of you."

"Silas and Regis just say what they think," Charlie said. "Mum hasn't been able to teach them how to say things nicely. What did they say?"

Dora scowled. "He said I was bad and that Mum doesn't like me."

Will scoffed at this, and hastened to explain before he became the target of Dora's anger. "Mum cried when Bella went to Azkaban," he said. "And Bella hurt Mum's best friend really badly, too. Mum loves her whole family, Dora, no matter what they do."

"Mum likes all of her family, but no one else," Charlie shrugged, then was distracted by something. "Hey, you've got your own broom!" he said in surprise, hurrying over to inspect the broomstick resting against the closet door. "It's brand new!"

"I got it last year for my birthday," Dora mumbled, shaking her head.

Charlie hesitated, then asked, "May I try it?"

Dora frowned, then shrugged. "I don't care," she answered. "It's fast, though. There's no protective charms on it."

"Why would there be?" Will asked her. "Surely you're a good flier."

"I am," Dora huffed, "but sometimes shops put spells on brooms to keep them safe for children. Aunt Bella took the spells off of it for me because I don't need them."

"Come with us outside," Charlie coaxed her, picking up the broomstick. "It's more quiet outside: Tommy and Elsie can't go with us."

Will glanced at his brother and Dora eyed him suspiciously. "What?" she demanded.

He hesitated. "Well, I don't know if Mum will let us go outside," he said. "You aren't going to run away, are you?"

"I should," Dora said, crossing her arms as anger returned to her eyes. "But Ronan's grandfather wouldn't take me back. You saw what he said."

"Yeah," Will sighed. "It seemed like he thought it best for you to be here."

"More like he didn't want her at his home," Charlie scoffed, and Dora gave a bitter laugh.

"He and Rodolphus are too much alike," she said. "Come on: let's go outside."

The three trooped downstairs, Andromeda looking up at them from taking care of Elsie on the couch. "Flying practise?" she smiled at the boys, then realising they had a strange new broom. "I expect both of you to be extra careful, do you understand? Get used to the speed first."

Her sons laughed at her immediate knowledge and agreed, leading the way into the orchard. "She just knows," Dora muttered. "Just like Aunt Bella."

"I mean, they are sisters," Charlie shrugged. "I don't like Bella because she stole you from us, but Mum still likes her a bit, I think. Shall I go first?" He looked between his twin and their brother.

Will glanced at Dora, then nodded and waved Charlie to go on. The boy immediately swung his leg over the broom and shot off into the sky with a whoop of delight, Will laughing excitedly along with him. Dora shook her head slightly and said, "Surely your mother would take the charms off your brooms if you asked her?"

"We don't have brooms," Will answered with a shrug, still watching Charlie zoom around the orchard. "We borrow Mum and Dad's from time to time, but they're old. Yours is new—and it's supposed to be the second fastest broom in the world right now!"

"So, ask for a broom of your own," Dora said matter-of-factly.

"We...can't," Will said quietly.

"Why not?" Dora frowned.

"Mum and Dad can't afford stuff like new brooms," Will murmured as if it were a secret. "There's too many of us, and well, you've seen. We've got a small house; we're not rich."

Dora was shocked at this. "You can't have toys?!" she said, horrified.

Will grinned. "We have toys," he said. "But we can't just get new brooms for all the kids in the family. Mum told us that if we do well in school, we'll be rewarded. So maybe if we asked then, we could have one."

"Well, I don't care," Dora muttered. "You and he can have it."

Will looked eager for a moment before he shook his head. "You don't really mean that," he said. "You're just sad. Charlie's like that, and so's Mum."

Dora scowled and turned away from him, walking closer to one of the trees as Charlie dived and Will yelped and jumped out of the way. "Charlie!" Will yelled up at him. "If you break that broom—"

"It won't," Dora huffed. "Ronan crashed it a couple times and it was fine."

"That's...our cousin?" Will asked tentatively, smoothing his robe and approaching Dora again. "What's he like? Was he nice to you?"

"Yeah," Dora said gruffly. "He understood me."

"You liked being at his house?" Will asked curiously. "Were his parents mean to you?"

Dora's hair turned grey and she shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it," she said firmly.

Will wanted to ask more questions, but managed to curb his curiosity and merely say, "Your hair is grey, Dora."

"Leave me alone," she said sharply. He began to say something and she said more loudly, "Leave me alone."

Charlie landed in a flash beside them and cheerily handed the broom off to Will. "It's great!" he said. "Your turn!"

The instant Will was gone, Charlie turned to Dora and she scowled, receiving a simple nod in return. "Whatever he was saying," Charlie said quietly, "he only wants to help. And so do I."

Nymphadora didn't answer.

That evening, Andromeda called for Charlie and Will to join her, then paused mid-sentence, frowning. Nymphadora was looking at her in concern, clearly not wanting to be left with the rest of her brothers and sister. Andromeda hesitated, then said, "Charlie, Dora, Percy, come with me. Will, if you'd stay with the others, please. Silas, Regis, behave. Tommy, be nice."

The other twins simply grinned and Charlie and Percy joined their mother, used to the drill. Will shrugged, his mother and other siblings heading up the stairs. "What are we doing?" Dora asked them.

"Mum teaches us magic," Percy told her. "So that we're not stupid when we go to Hogwarts."

"We'll be at Hogwarts in three years," Charlie grinned at his twin. "And Will's going in two years. We've got to know some things, Mum says."

"I assume Aunt Bella may have taught you some spells?" Andromeda asked Dora as they entered Will and Charlie's room.

"Yes," Dora answered. "Charms and things she said I'd need to know unless I wanted to be a disgrace. She said I was doing well...I used her wand."

"You used Bellatrix's wand?" Percy said in shock, staring at Dora.

"Yes," Dora frowned. "No one else's wand worked for me. Why does it matter?"

Andromeda smiled slightly. "I've taught the boys that their wand is their lifeline, and never to give it up unless they're forced to. They've learned using either their grandmother's wand, or your father's wand. They're surprised to hear Bellatrix allowed someone to use her wand."

Dora huffed. "Well, she never let me hold it if someone else was there, and she always took it away if Rodolphus entered the room," she said. "She doesn't like to be unarmed in front of anyone." The girl got a faraway look in her eyes and turned away.

"Did they teach you the Unforgivables?"

"Charlie!" Percy said scoldingly, but Dora simply smirked.

Andromeda smiled, bouncing baby Elsie on her hip and distracting her with a toy. "Did Bella let you do them?" she asked.

"She let me try one, but there wasn't much time to practise," Dora answered. "And I don't like the Imperius."

"They did that to you?!" Percy demanded. "That's wrong!"

"It's fine," Dora giggled. "Bella Imperiused me to go hug Rodolphus...I couldn't get rid of the curse, but I did punch him instead. Ronan still can't fight the Imperius at all."

"Wait, really?" Charlie laughed at his twin's statement. "You punched Rodolphus? What did he do?"

"Yelled at Bella," Dora shrugged. "It was her fault." Charlie laughed in delight at this, and Dora added, "He yelled at everyone except his precious heir, so it didn't mean anything."

Andromeda brought their attention back to the lesson at hand, a colour-changing charm. "We're working on changing this old scarf into some sort of colour that looks presentable," she told them.

Dora frowned at the scrap of fabric. "That looks terrible. Where did that come from?"

Charlie and Percy glanced at each other hesitantly, and Andromeda took a moment before answering, "I bought it secondhand and figured we could use it to practise this spell. I was hoping my children might make it look beautiful so I could be proud to wear it."

"Secondhand?" Dora asked. "It's from someone else?"

"Yes, dear," Andromeda answered, sensing confusion in the girl and feeling an old spark of embarrassment and anger at her own life situation. "But there are no holes or dangling threads, so it's still useful."

Dora's face was crinkled up as if she were thinking very hard, and the boys looked up at their mother worriedly, but Andromeda was already trying not to think about the things that Dora should have already heard about the Weasleys, especially from purebloods such as the Lestranges and Malfoys. "Charlie, would you like to go first?" Andromeda asked, shifting Elsie in her arms. "Remember what I've told you. Envision, and concentrate."

Charlie stepped up and took the old wand that his mother held out to him. He tried the spell a few times, with Andromeda occasionally giving advice and putting out a spark here and there whenever Charlie got annoyed with it. Finally, after Andromeda had had to summon a snack to quiet the baby, Charlie had managed to get a small corner of the scarf to change from the ugly greenish blue to black—though Dora wasn't sure if that was because it was burnt. It did shock him so much that he lost his concentration, but he was very excited to have made progress, and bounced up and down.

"Charlie! Don't wave the wand around!" his mother said sharply, and he stopped moving quickly. She smiled and sighed in relief. "It's a good start," she told him, and held out her hand for the wand.

Percy was next, but though he concentrated really hard, he made no progress. "I need more practise, Mum," Percy groaned, handing his grandmother's wand back finally.

"I'm not sure this is the right wand for you to practise on," Andromeda said thoughtfully. "I might have you use mine next time. Dora's talk about using Bella's wand made me think that that may be the problem." She looked at her long-lost daughter. "Your turn," she said, holding out Cedrella's wand.

Nymphadora took the wand, seeming at ease, though she frowned at the feeling of the wood in her hand. "I think it knows me," she said.

"Your dad's mother was a Black, many years ago," Andromeda told her. "She helped me when I came here; she was a good witch, wife, and mother. Go on and try the spell, Dora."

Dora turned to the scarf and frowned. "What colour?" she asked.

"Whatever you like, dear," Andromeda answered.

With a sigh, Dora turned to the scarf and pointed the wand at it, giving it her best concentration and trying to remember think of the darkest black she could. Black, like her uncle's wand. Black, like the eyes of her aunt and cousin. Black, like Aunt Bellatrix's hair.

Within a second, the scene of Bellatrix striding out of the courtroom flanked by dementors had planted itself firmly in Dora's mind, and she shook her head and opened her eyes to see a horrible, twisted black and grey design on the scarf before her. Charlie was grinning at her, but Percy looked confused, and Dora couldn't read her mother's face.

"Did you mean to do that, Dora?" she asked, picking up the scarf and holding it away from Elsie, who was giggling and reaching for it.

"No," Dora said, set down the wand, and backed away. "May I go?"

"Yes," Andromeda answered. "Though supper will be ready in an hour, and your father will be home soon."

Dora paused with her hand on the doorknob. "Let me know when he gets here," she said. "Or will I know when he's here?"

"You'll hear Tommy and the other twins shout, probably," Charlie told her. "I'll come get you."

Andromeda met her husband at the door that evening, kissing his cheek and nearly tripping over Tommy as she murmured, "Arthur...Dora's here."

"Wh—what?" said the man, unsure if he had heard properly as he looked around.

"Nymphadora is here," Andromeda answered, beginning to feel slightly emotional. "Arthur, Rodolphus' father brought her back to us—she was very upset."

"Was he mean to her?" Arthur asked, not having moved since he'd walked in the door.

"Well, I don't think so," Andromeda sighed, "but I do think she wanted to stay with her cousin...she kept saying that he was all alone and that Desmond was mean to him."

The stairs creaked and both Weasley parents looked toward the stairwell, seeing Will and Charlie appear with a young, black-haired girl. "Dora," breathed Arthur. "We missed you."

Dora stopped in her tracks, just looking at her parents and trying to think of any shred of memory that she might have of them. "I...I don't remember you."

"Oh," said Arthur in surprise. "Well, of course, you were only four when she took you."

"And now she's eight like me!" Charlie said, looking between his twin and his parents. "She was gone for four years, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," Will nodded. "But she's learned lots of cool stuff and she's got a brand new broom!"

"Not brand new," corrected Dora. "I got it last year."

Arthur smiled at the girl. "Welcome home," he told her. "How was it at Lestrange Manor?"

The little girl seemed troubled at this question. "They were nice to me, but they're mean people. Ronan's okay, though. I wish I could stay with him."

The rest of the meal was just as awkward, Tommy not caring that there was another person there, and the other twins were play-fighting with their food as Percy tried to make them stop. Dora escaped from the table as fast as she could, and Charlie looked down at his plate, suddenly no longer hungry.

"Mum, will she ever be happy with us again?" Charlie said sadly.

"I hope so, Charlie," Andromeda said gently. "Give her space, and some time to think through what's going on. It's not only Ronan who lost Bella and Rod, but Dora lost them too. They were the only parents she had known—and he was the only friend she had."

"She doesn't like us," Percy said, shaking his head. "But there's a lot of us. She doesn't like loud noises—like when Elsie or Tommy cries."

Charlie shook his head, and Will put a hand on his shoulder. "She's our sister," Will said firmly. "She might always think we're weird, but we'll be her friends too."

Later that evening when the older children had been put to bed, Andromeda and Arthur met in the nursery for the evening ritual of putting Tommy and Elsie to sleep. The youngest two currently shared a room, though Andromeda was almost ready to separate them in an attempt to make at least one of them sleep through the night.

"What did Dora say when you told her have a goodnight?" Andromeda asked. "She told me that she wouldn't, and that Ronan wouldn't, either."

"Oh dear," said Arthur. "She didn't say much to me, but I don't think she wanted me in the room. She just pulled the blanket over herself as if she felt threatened. Maybe we should tuck her in together in the future."

"Yeah, probably," the woman sighed. "Arthur—"

"Mum, read!" Tommy insisted, waving a child's book at her.

The two adults didn't have any more time to talk until the toddler and the baby were sleeping in their beds. Retiring to their room, Andromeda sank down on the bed with a sigh, and Arthur sat down next to her, slipping his arm around her.

"I feel so bad," Andromeda whispered. "I should be more happy—I've always wanted her to come back, but she doesn't want to be here." She leaned her head on his shoulder, staring at the wall above her vanity.

"She remembers you, at least," Arthur murmured, trying to comfort his wife. "I'm shocked that Desmond Lestrange brought her to us and didn't have a house elf drop her off on the doorstep."

"He has more class," Andromeda said, laughing painfully though nothing about it was funny. "And Dora only remembers me because of Bellatrix. We look a lot alike."

"You don't," argued Arthur.

"We do," the witch disagreed. "Arthur, I don't know how to handle her."

Arthur turned to look at his wife, who was wiping away a stray bit of moisture from beneath her eyes. "You'll love her and protect her, just like we have all the other children," he said. "I know it's going to be difficult: I sense that she's a very angry child and it wouldn't take very much for her to lash out at us."

"We've got to be careful with her," Andromeda murmured. "She's very defensive of Bella and Rod, even though she knows they kidnapped her."

"Do you think I should stay home from work tomorrow?" he asked.

"No," she sighed after a moment. "We need to keep things as normal as possible for the children."