Not even a week after her father's reappearance, her miscarraige and the return of Lord Voldemort, Lyla was being woken up unceremoniously by her uncle.

She had shown up at his house that very same day after being roused by her sister from fainting at the sight of her father. At her father's and sister's request, she had sat down and attempted to listen to the story her father had to explain where and why he had gone.

Between the miscarraige, her mother's clear mental break and trying to process her father sitting in front of her again after all these years, she found it hard to concentrate. All she could remember him saying was,

"For five years, I knew he was still out there...I had finally discovered proof that he wasn't gone for good"

"I had to do everything I could to stop his return...for the safety of my family; for the good of all wizard kind"

"Five years I tracked and took down every animal with a trace of him in the Albanian forest, but I could never catch him."

"Then, he disappeared from the forest entirely...I stayed because I wasn't ready to give up yet...went up into the mountains...giants"

"Retraced his family history…"

"Enough!" Lyla finally said, standing up quickly, a plate of an untouched slice of pie she didn't remember getting, sliding off her lap and crashing to the floor "Don't you see how none of this changes anything?" her mouth was slightly open as her eyes darted back and forth while she thought frantically. Getting on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, her first kiss, her O. and N.E. , graduating Hogwarts, Steven being sorted, Alicia's first words, first steps, first spell, Vanessa's wedding, Vanessa's first child, her own child, her miscarraige, birthdays, Christmases, Easters, concerts, rainy days, days at the beach...No father; not much left of her mother, either. "This doesn't change anything" she said again, more firmly, her eyes staring at her father with nothing behind them. She faltered there for a minute before turning on her heel and walking back through the kitchen

"Lyla Esmeralda!" her mother chided in a sickeningly normal tone, "You threw your pie on the floor? You insolent thing! Just you wait until you have your own children and see how it-"

Lyla stopped her mother - mid-mindless rant - and grabbed her by the wrists. She forced Hannah's hands onto her stomach, holding tightly as her mother fought against her. She stopped when her hands were pressed flat against Lyla's stomach, underneath Lyla's own hands

"Mum" Lyla pleaded softly, blinking and forcing a tear down her cheek "I had a baby. It died. My baby died, mum. My baby boy is gone and so am I if I can't talk to you" Hannah blinked stupidly at her daughter. "Oh, pleeease" Lyla gasped, resting her head against her mother's and closing her eyes "please say something!"

"I-I" Hannah pulled her hands away from her daughter's stomach and backed away "I don't like these tricks you play on me, Lyla Murphy. They get less funny by the second."

Lyla sniffed and swallowed her tears, wiping her face roughly as she made her way to the door

"Lyla, don't!" Vanessa said, following her "Come-"

Lyla was already halfway out the door when her sister caught the door before Lyla closed it behind her. Lyla took a beat, her hand still on the doorknob, "She needs a healer. She needs a professional." She turned to look at her sister, her voice and face devoid of emotion. "If you don't get her to go to St. Mungo's, you're not my sister anymore." She snapped the door shut behind her on her sister's shocked and wounded face.

When she arrived at her uncle's he was already three-fourths deep in a bottle of Firewhiskey. He answered the door with the bottle in his hand; when she saw it she said, "Care if I join you?"

"You can't" he slurred, "You're pregnant" he hiccuped and put the bottle to his mouth as he stumbled back and let her in the door.

"Not anymore" she said sadly, grabbing the bottle from his hand and plopping into an oversized chair.

"Oh no" he said, distractedly before sitting down on the couch adjacent to the chair, "Does your mother know?" he stopped, then laughed wetly "Your mother? She doesn't know what day it is!" he hiccuped again "Hey!" he said, his voice suddenly harsh "Don't you say that about your mother!"

"...I didn't" she said pointedly, "you did."

"Oh, well" he sighed and shrugged, "don't you go repeating it, then!"

"Sure thing, Uncle Ethan. Anyway, can I stay here with you for a while?"

"Don'tchu wannu spend some time with your newly risen pa?" he drunkenly chuckled but there was an element of disgust behind his words

"Nope." Lyla said flatly

"Well, bully then!"

For the rest of her time living with Uncle Ethan, he was mostly business and he didn't let up on her or let her wallow in her sorrows. Mostly, all she wanted to do was lie in bed, paralyzed by her own grief, but he didn't understand that and she was too exhausted all the time to argue.

"C'mon, get up!" her uncle said forcefully but brightly "I know what you need"

"Ugggg" Lyla groaned from under the mound of her comforter

Ethan ignored her, "You need a purpose! Let's go" he whipped the sheets off of her and yanked them completely off the bed "I'm taking you to your first Order meeting."

This perked Lyla right up. She had been dying to get involved ever since she had learned that Voldemort was back and what the Order of the Phoenix was. Until today her uncle had told her that too many kinks were getting worked out for her to go and, now, she wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

Once she was up, Lyla headed straight for the bathroom and looked at herself for the first time in a while. There were breakouts all over her chin and temples and her hair was greasy and matted to her temples. She waved her wand and the brush and it started violently brushing the mats and knots out of her hair while she pointed the tip of her wand at each of the blemishes on her face until each and every one had shrunken away into nothing. With those things done, she jumped in the shower and washed her body and hair quickly but thoroughly.

After getting clean, she dressed in a simple heather grey, ribbed tank top and distressed jeans with a wide black belt that had a large, silver ornamental buckle. She went back into the bathroom to brush her teeth and, as she did, she took in her appearance. I look almost like my old self. she thought, Whatever that means. When her teeth were clean, she twisted her hair up onto the back of her head and grabbed a large hair claw clip to keep it loosely in place.

"Ready?" Ethan asked when Lyla emerged from her bedroom into the living room

"Yup!" Lyla said, as enthusiastically as she could

"Oh, by the way" Ethan said as he grabbed her elbow to tandem apparate "Your dad and the Weasley's will also be there"

"Wha-?!"

Pop..

Pop..

"-t?!"

"Yeah, sorry about it" he said, still holding tightly to her elbow so that she wouldn't fall off the steps leading up to 12 Grimmauld Place. He knocked and waited patiently for someone to open the door.

Lyla was shocked to see Professor McGonagall on the other side of it, hurriedly beckoning them to come inside before closing and locking the door swiftly behind them.

"Professor, I-" Lyla began , but she was cut off by McGonagall's sudden tight hug around her upper arms and neck.

"Miss Murphy" she sighed into the side of Lyla's head "I'm so sorry" Lyla felt her heart flutter a little. She hugged Professor McGonagall back briefly before they broke apart. "Call me Minerva" she said warmly, cupping Lyla's hand in her cheek "We're not only peers at this point, but we're about to be soldiers as well." She nodded firmly and opened the door of the foyer onto the ground floor of the bleak house.

"You'll need to be quite quiet just through here" Ethan whispered in his niece's ear "There's a particularly horrid portrait we don't want to disturb" he pointed at a large piece of cloth clearly slung over a frame hanging on the wall. Lyla nodded to show she understood and continued quietly following Minerva into a room just off the side of the entrance hall. She and her uncle were ushered in quickly and doors shut behind them to seal the Muffliato enchantment around the room again.

Half the room fell silent when Lyla and her uncle entered. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, a man with dark hair and a beard that looked familiar but she didn't recognize, Lyla's father, sister and brother-in-law all stopped mid sentence when they saw her.

"Alright," Lyla whispered to her uncle, stretching her shoulders back "Let's get this over with"

As though he had heard her, Arthur Weasley was approaching them, his hand on Mrs. Weasley's lower back, gently guiding her toward them as well. "Ah, Ethan" Arthur said politely, shaking Ethan's hand once before turning to Lyla. She shrunk a little at his worried yet comforting expression. "Dear Lyla" he said warmly, patting his wife's hand he had tucked into his arm. "It's so lovely to see you."

"You as well. Really." Lyla said, feeling uncharacteristically meek. It was silent for a while, as though they were waiting for something more from her. Despite the fact that she didn't want to ask, the pounding of the silence surrounded her, she said, "Is Charlie here?"

"No" Mrs. Weasley said, deadpan; looking at a spot just over Lyla's right shoulder

"Oh, is he not in the Order?" she asked, unable to stop herself

"No, he is" Mrs. Weasley said, with the same detached affect

"Anyway," Mr. Weasley said, awkwardly "I'm glad you're looking well"

"I'm not." Lyla said wistfully; without even thinking. It just went straight from her brain to her mouth while she stared at Mrs. Weasley, who still would not look at her. Mrs. Weasley turned her head to the floor, closed her eyes and tucked her lips into her mouth.

"No" Arthur said, uncertainly "Of-of course you're not. I'm so sorry"

"It's alright" Lyla lied, hoisting a smile onto her face. "Please excuse me"

"Yes, of course" Mr. and Mrs. Weasley moved aside and walked in the opposite direction that Lyla was making toward her family.

When Vanessa saw Lyla walking toward them, she quickly scurried to meet her.

"How's Elton?" Lyla asked lamely when they came together

"He's good" Vanessa smiled, relieved that there was not a confrontation

"Who's watching him?" Lyla asked

"Oh, um, well..." Vanessa fumbled, her smile immediately sliding off her face.

"Right." Lyla scoffed, understanding that Elton was with their mother, who clearly had not been admitted to St. Mungo's. Lyla started to turn away from her sister but Vanessa grabbed her.

"She asks about you" she said quickly before her sister could get away

"Oh yeah?" Lyla asked, feigning interest, "Does she ask about the 'me' now, or the 'me' ten years ago?"

"Both" Vanessa admitted, softly "But she's getting better!"

"Right, well you call me when that works out for you, Ness" she pulled away from her sister and walked back towards her Uncle.

"Lyla" Bill pulled her attention to him cautiously. She tried to simply nod politely at him and wave but he beckoned her closer to him and the strikingly beautiful blonde girl standing next to him. When she was in front of them, Bill said, "Fleur, this is the woman I was telling you about. Lyla, this is my girlfriend Fleur."

"Hi, nice to meet you" Lyla said distractedly, she was suddenly aware that the dark haired man she had vaguely recognized looked an awful lot like Sirius Black; he was still staring at her from across the room.

"You are very brave" Fleur said, uninhibitedly, in her thick French accent

"I'm-wha?" Lyla began, taken aback by her comment

"Brave; a very strong woman"

Lyla blinked twice, then realization dawned on her, "Weren't you in the Triwizard Tournament?"

Fleur nodded gracefully "I was"

"You're brave!" Lyla retorted playfully "Those tasks were intense!"

"Yes, they were" Fleur said, as though Lyla were pointing out the obvious "but, when I thought I had lost my dear Gabrielle I only got a whisper of real terror. You must live in it." She laughed a little and although it was hurtful, it did not seem cruel.

Before Lyla figured out how to respond, Ethan came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Sorry," he said, nodding politely to Bill and Fleur "Lyla, come meet some people"

"Sure!" she said and waved goodbye to the pair before following her uncle

"Lyla, this is Remus Lupin, Mundungus Fletcher, and Kingsley Shacklebolt." Ethan gestured at each of the men gathered around the fireplace. Lyla shook each of their hands smilingly. "Lads, this is my niece, Lyla."

They all greeted her jovially and she smiled back at each of them, "Nice to meet you all"

"And this," Ethan continued, "Is Sirius Black." realization dawned on Lyla's face and her uncle cleared his throat.

Before he could speak, Lyla thrust her hand out to shake Sirius' "You look much better than your wanted poster" she said sweetly

"Thank you" Sirius said, his voice low and husky as the men around him chuckled.

"This is his house" Ethan interjected, leaning forward to break Lyla and Sirius' eye contact

"Oh!" Lyla said politely, looking around "It's, uh, dark." she wrinkled her nose and Sirius turned up the corners of his mouth at her attempt to compliment his childhood home

"Alright!" said a gruff, familiar voice from the doorway of the dining room "Let's get started." It was Mad-Eye Moody who entered the room alongside a girl with brightly colored hair

"Give us a minute!" the girl with brightly colored hair said as she made her way around the room, greeting everyone

"Fine" Mad-Eye growled and poured himself a glass of water from one of the pitchers on the table

"Miss Murphy," McGonagall called to Lyla, waving her over to where she and the girl with purple hair were standing. "Do you remember Nymphadora Tonks? She was in your year; a Hufflepuff"

"Ummm" Lyla began, giving her hand for Tonks' to shake enthusiastically. As she did, Lyla watched her hair change green and her nose elongate "Oh!" she said, realization dawning on her and a pit forming in her stomach. Lyla recalled her old friend, Alaysia, was particularly cruel to Tonks throughout their time at school and Lyla had simply been too self-involved to say anything about it. Even in their sixth year, when Alaysia's antics were grating their friend group as they began to realize how juvenile they were, Lyla did nothing to change it.

"Why do you care so much about what she does?" Lyla asked Alaysia as they sat around the courtyard fountain with Rebecca, passing around a small potion vial and sniffing the contents

"I don't care!" Alaysia said, unconvincingly, "It's just that she's a freak!"

"Merlin! Shut up already!" Rebecca said, angrily "You're just jealous!"

"What do I have to be jealous of her for?!" Alaysia scoffed, indignantly

"She's unique, she stands out on her own merit; not on the merit of her parents" Rebecca spit the last line to cause maximum damage to Alaysia's ego

"Becks!" Lyla hissed warningly

"What?!" Rebecca became incredulous, "It's true! Ever since our First Year, Nympho-" Rebecca shook her head, "NymPHAdora has been showing you up in Transfiguration." Alaysia was looking murderous, "Just because your eighty-fifth grandfather, or whatever, was Falco Aesalon and your parents are editors of Transfiguration Today…" Rebecca stood up, fully exasperated "You know what? If you don't see that you're the problem here, Ally, you're just never going to grow up." She stormed off and the two of them didn't talk for weeks afterward.

Little did she know, at the time, that Rebecca and Alaysia had been dating for the past year and a half but had broken up over the summer due to Alaysia's refusal to acknowledge that she was gay. Lyla didn't find out about that until much later; after graduation, when Alayasia had fallen off the map completely and she and Rebecca happened to cross paths in Diagon Alley.

Suddenly, Lyla became aware of the silence between herself and Tonks as a result of her reminiscence "Listen," she said, leaning forward to speak softly to Tonks "I know we weren't close in school but I'm really excited to have this opportunity to be in the Order together. Maybe start over?"

Tonks' enthusiastic grin softened, "That'll be nice" she said softly.

"Alright, let's get going!" Moody said impatiently, tucking his pocket watch back into his travelling cloak and stamping his walking stick onto the floor.

People began pulling up chairs around the table. "Sit next to me!" Tonks said to Lyla, grabbing her arm and dragging her toward the head of the table, where Remus was sitting, with Alastor on his right and Sirius on his left. Tonks sat next to Moody and patted the chair next to her for Lyla. Ethan sat on Lyla's other side.

"Right," Remus began, "First order of business, Induction of the New Order"

Moody rolled his human eye and grumbled something about "Unnecessary pomp"

Remus ignored him and continued, "As some of you may be unaware, The Order of the Phoenix was founded in the year 1970, during the First Wizarding War by none other than Albus Dumbledore. We were a group of aurors," he nodded at Tonks, "curse breakers" he nodded at Bill, "and otherwise concerned, brave and talented witches and wizards willing to risk as much as their lives to protect the Wizarding World" he nodded at Lyla, Vanessa, Jerry and Fleur. "Many members of The Order have had to pay this price; too many to list. It is dangerous work, and it is dirty work. The violations against wizard law, and even moral laws, that the Death Eater's are willing to commit are vast. Therefore, we must shirk some - but not all - of these same rules in order to stand a chance against them." He looked around the table at each young member's face. "We ask that any new member joining us today be willing to make an Unbreakable Vow to pledge their best abilities to the cause and their utmost secrecy in defending The Order, itself. Anyone who does not wish to go to such lengths, you are free to leave." The air was thick with anticipation as Remus and some of the old members of The Order looked around the table. Not one person moved a muscle. "Alright," Remus nodded sternly and turned to Mad-Eye Moody

"Right!" Moody barked, standing up. "New members, form a line" he gestured to the wall on the other side of the table, by the door "Minerva, if you would" he grumbled as he hobbled over to where Kingsley began the line. "Now," Moody directed as he drew his wand, speaking loud enough so the line could hear him "Minerva will be going down the line and you'll be making the Unbreakable Vow with her. Maintain eye contact!"

Professor McGonagall clasped forearms with Kingsley, then Jerry, Vanessa, and Tonks before standing in front of Lyla and gripping her forearm in her hand. They looked into each other's eyes as Moody touched the tip of his want to the space between Minerva's thumb and the heel of Lyla's hand. The shimmering strand that unfurled from it wound its way around two women's clasped hands. Lyla felt a slight searing sensation as it flickered over her skin.

"Will you, Lyla Esmeralda Murphy, serve The Order to the best of your magical, physical, mental and emotional abilities?" McGonagall asked

"I will" Lyla replied solemnly

"Will you also keep the many secrets entrusted to you on The Order's behalf?"

"I will" the burning had been intensifying with each additional pledge and Lyla was beginning to feel it.

"Will you pledge these things to The Order of the Phoenix at any cost so long as and at any time it is active?"

"I will"

Moody pulled his wand away from their hands and Lyla looked down to see the thin strand of flame slowly flicker out and leave a feeting red mark where it had been before Minerva let go and moved on to repeat the process for the final time with Fleur.

When she was finished, Remus rose from the table and addressed all those still seated there. "Do these Vows satisfy the requirement for membership in the eyes of The Order members present here, today?"

"They do" the members said in unison

"Then I welcome new Order members Shacklebolt, V. McKinnon, J. McKinnon, Tonks, Murphy, and Delacour." he began clapping and the rest of the table joined in, some, like Mr. Weasley and Ethan rose from their seats to applaud the new members. "Please" he gestured back to the table to indicate they could take their seats again.

Once seated, Tonks and Lyla exchanged excited smiles but turned their attention to Moody, who shouted "Right! Moving on!"