PART FOUR: THE HUNT

July 13th, 1996

Harry had been with us at #12 Grimmauld Place since the beginning of July. After spending one short night with the Dursleys, Sirius and I had collected him, apparating back to Grimmauld Place. For the last month, Sirius and I had been making the house feel more like a home in preparation of spending the foreseeable future stuck within it's dark and gloomy walls. While we had asked Dumbledore if we could go back to Oak Place, he had advised us that the protection of the Fidelius Charm would weaken were we to place another of our homes under the mysterious magic of the ancient charm – there were so many rules when it came to the charm, I was amazed it had protected us for as long as it had to begin with. Sirius and I didn't want to take any chances – so we stayed in Grimmauld Place.A

Luckily, the Weasley's had decided that they would stay as well. After the events of last year – Arthur, Ron and Ginny all being attacked – Molly had wanted the Fidelius Charm's protection for her family. Sirius and I were overjoyed – the more people working to make the house a little cheerier, the better. Plus, after everything we had learned at the end of last year, having more people around to keep us from getting stuck within our minds was a huge help.

It wasn't so bad, now – the house. We had completely revamped the sitting room, the kitchen, and most of the bedrooms to a much more welcoming and inviting décor. Molly had been a huge help, her household spell work coming in handy. We had managed to clear the house of most of the pests that had moved in, and gotten rid of most of the junk that the Black's had sitting around during the last year, so we were able to focus solely on revitalizing the house this summer.

Early last week, Dumbledore had sent Harry a letter, asking for his assistance with a task on the night of July 12th. As instructed, Harry had waited for him in the kitchen. At 11PM, Dumbledore had knocked on the front door gently, not wanting to wake up Mrs. Black's portrait. He had swept in, his long robes billowing behind him. He'd taken Harry with him, promising to return him by morning.

Sirius, Molly and I were the last ones up, sitting in the drawing room waiting for Harry. We'd just sent Hollyn and Ginny to bed, as they had been keen to wait up for him. Molly had put her foot down, insisting Ginny go to sleep, and realizing that we were probably setting a bad example, Sirius had told Hollyn she ought to go to bed as well. Hollyn had stomped her foot, but with a sterner glare from Sirius, she had gone with only minimal grumbling.

"It's amazing how quickly that girl has gone from thinking of you as just Sirius, to acting like a normal teenager whose Dad just told her to do something she doesn't want to do," I chuckled at Sirius's contemptuous sigh at her teenage attitude.

"Sometimes I wish we could go back to when she thought I was a murderer," Sirius said darkly. "At least then, she was afraid of me."

Hollyn had been in a funk all Summer. She was cranky and sarcastic – sometimes downright rude. It was as though she were in a bad mood all the time. She spent an inordinate amount of time alone in her room, while Ginny had taken to spending most of her time with Hermione, who she was sharing a room with. Hades, our owl, was gone more often than not, bringing letters to and from Hollyn's room.

"She's being a normal teenager, for once," Molly said placatingly. "Honestly, serves you two right." She glared at us. "She's always been so perfect – never giving you a hard time, such a good kid. Serves you right you're finally getting a taste of what I've had to deal with."

I rolled my eyes at Molly, but deep down I knew that after having put up with Fred and George alone, she deserved to complain about raising children as much as she wanted. "I think Fred and George were right," I said, offhandedly.

"Oh Merlin, what have they told you?" Molly sighed. "It's not something to do with their joke shop is it? I swear if they sent that girl something that's making her act…off…I'll have their heads! They would find it funny to send her things to try–"

"No, Molly," I chuckled, cutting her off before she could go on a rampage. "They told Sirius and I last year that they thought Hollyn had a boyfriend. That's who I think she's writing all the time."

Sirius growled next to me. "Shame I've been forbidden from opening her mail," he said angrily, shooting a dark look at me.

"Quite right!" Molly said. "The girl needs her privacy, not an overprotective father reading her post."

"That's what I said!"

"That's not fair! I'm her father – she doesn't get privacy from me!" Sirius protested childishly.

"I'm not so sure you would have felt the same way if it had been my father opening the letters you used to send me," I said glibly, smirking as his face went bright red.

"That's – well, that's – that's not the same thing!" Sirius sputtered, looking around wildly. "Merlin, you don't think she's getting letters like that, do you?" he asked, looking horrified.

"Well, if he's anything like you, or Arthur," Molly said slyly, "I'd say she most definitely is."

Sirius's red face fell pale, horrified at the idea that his daughter was getting suggestive letters from a boy. I just laughed and patted his cheek sympathetically – she was a teenager now, and it was time for Sirius to adjust to the idea that his little girl wasn't so little anymore.

"Well," he said finally, "Eliana just isn't allowed to grow up then. She's going to have to stay a baby forever."

"Good luck with that," Molly laughed. "I swear Ginny was two just last week, and here she is fifteen and on her second boyfriend."

"What did happen with Michael?" I asked.

"Prat was upset Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw," Sirius supplied, much to my surprise. "Good on Ginny, cutting off the dead weight and going for someone with a better head on his shoulders."

"You mean a Gryffindor," I rolled my eyes at his prejudice.

"Yes, obviously. Don't tell me you'd rather she be dating a Ravenclaw?" He said the word as though it disgusted him, scrunching his nose up as if he had smelled something rank.

"It's amazing, that all it takes to catch your attention when it comes to teen romances is house rivalry and quidditch," I said, shaking my head at him in amazement. "But if I asked you who Harry was interested in last year, would you have any idea?"

Sirius scoffed, leaning back in to the couch, offended. "Of course – Harry wasn't interested in anyone. He would have told me."

"Cho Chang," Molly and I said in tandem, Molly not even looking up from the sweater she was knitting.

"What?" Sirius asked, taken-aback.

"Took her on a date and everything – it was a disaster, by the way," I said, smiling at Sirius's hurt expression.

"Why didn't he say anything?" Sirius asked.

"Because he's a sixteen-year-old boy," Molly drawled. "I couldn't tell you one girl Fred or George dated at Hogwarts. And it doesn't get any better with boys as they get older, let me tell you. I barely got any warning at all that Bill was so serious about Fleur." She said Fleur's name in the same way Sirius had said "Ravenclaw."

Bill had announced to the family that he had asked Fleur to marry him last week, and the family was none too happy. Fleur had been staying with us, as Bill worked much more than she did. He cited that he wanted her to get to know his family, but I knew he was happier knowing that she was safe within the protections of the house and not alone in their small London apartment.

I liked Fleur well enough. She was friendly, if a little oblivious to how abrasive she could be, and she obviously cared for Bill. Molly hated her – not because she didn't like the girl, but because in her mind, no one would ever be good enough for her first born. I didn't have that bias, so I was able to see her for who she was – a lovely girl who was trying the best she could to get to know an extremely large family that was disinclined to like her based on principle alone. Ginny, Hollyn and Hermione in particular were not being nice – just another way I knew that something was going on with Hollyn. The Hollyn that I knew would have been nothing but nice to Fleur, but the Hollyn that was currently living in this house could frequently be found gossiping and making nasty jokes about Fleur in various corners of the house. The kids may think that we didn't know they had taken up the habit of calling her Phlegm, but we most definitely had.

Ron, as was to be expected, made a fool of himself whenever Fleur was around. That, more than anything, was what annoyed Hermione the most about Fleur. Hermione had obviously figured out that the reason her and Ron were always fighting hinted towards a feeling of being more than friends. Ron hadn't figured it out yet, but he would. Harry was better at hiding the effect Fleur had on him, especially in front of Ginny. He'd spent more time staring longingly after Ginny than he had even realized – but I had. Ginny was still playing it cool, but when Harry wasn't looking, she could be found grinning sillily at him.

I decided not to mention anything about Harry's new crush to Sirius, deciding that if Harry wanted Sirius's advice, he would ask him. If I told Sirius now that Harry was interested in Ginny, he would go to him and tell him that going after your best friend's sister was completely fine – after all, hadn't he basically done it when he went after me? James and I might as well have been brother and sister. And then Harry would do something stupid, anger Ron, and scare Ginny off. No, it was better to let Harry discover his feelings on his own time, when he was ready. He was wildly immature when it came to girls, and innocent in ways that Sirius had never been – Harry had a lot more on his mind at the moment than girls, and I didn't need Sirius adding even more stress to that.

Sirius and Molly had begun chatting about the joke shop as I had pondered the burgeoning relationships of our children. I tried to turn my attention back to their conversation, but at the same moment I heard footsteps on the staircase.

"Harry's back," I said, cutting Sirius off who was doing a realistic impression of the effects of one of Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes.

"Oh thank goodness," Molly said, happy to have an excuse to turn away from Sirius, who was miming vomiting in to a bucket. "He's back much earlier than we expected."

The door to the drawing room opened, and Harry came inside, followed by Dumbledore.

"Oh, Dumbledore!" Molly said excitedly. "We didn't expect you until morning!"

"Our task took much less time than anticipated, thanks to Harry," Dumbledore smiled fondly at Harry.

"I didn't do anything," Harry said, putting a hand to the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"On the contrary," Dumbledore corrected him, "you will find that you did very much."

"Are you hungry?" I asked Harry, who nodded. "Let's go downstairs and whip you something up."

"Won't you stay Dumbledore?" Molly asked, getting up off of the couch and putting a comforting hand on Harry's back, pushing him gently from the room.

"Oh, I couldn't impose," Dumbledore said airily.

"It's no imposition," Molly said brightly. Sirius snorted next to me, which he managed to pass off as a hasty couch. Sirius was still incredibly angry at Dumbledore, and I couldn't blame him. I was just happy that we had Harry with us, that he wasn't facing this alone. I know that he had told Hermione and Ron about the Prophecy when he first got to Grimmauld Place – while I was happy he had them, I was happier knowing that he had Sirius and I looking out for him as well – that we knew exactly what was going on.

Sirius and I had let Remus know, obviously, but we hadn't told anyone else. We'd decided that Molly and Arthur didn't need to know. Molly was already so overprotective; I think she would completely lose the plot if she knew that Harry was to one day fight Voldemort. Remus had decided that he could best help us by going undercover with the werewolves. He had been gone since the day after we had told him about the prophecy – I think it had less to do with helping out the Order and more to do with avoiding Tonks, whom he hadn't seen since the Department of Mysteries. Not being able to be with her while she was injured, I'm assuming, had reminded him of all of the ways in which being a werewolf made him inadequate, in his mind. Sirius and I both had agreed that he was being a right tosser, and that Tonks loved him, werewolf and all, but once Remus made his mind up about something, he was impossibly stubborn. Tonks hadn't been herself since he had left, and it was awful seeing her feeling so down. Nothing we said made any impact on her – she wanted Remus, and not being with him was making her miserable.

So, in addition to being angry with Dumbledore for keeping the contents of the prophecy from us, Sirius was also angry with him for allowing Remus to be sent away.

"No, no," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "I really can't impose. I'm afraid I have somewhere I really must be." And with that, he swept out of the room, clutching his blackened hand (for which he provided no explanation when asked) to his chest.

"Alright, Harry, downstairs," Molly said. "I'll whip you up something quick and then off to bed. Sirius, Addie – why don't you go up to bed? Check on Eliana and then turn in. Harry will be along shortly."

I wanted to protest, I wanted to ask Harry where he had been and what he had done, but as Molly mentioned going off to bed, I realized that I could barely keep my eyes open. Eliana had been keeping Sirius and I up most nights, and we both desperately needed to catch up on some sleep. Sirius, seeming to agree with me, clapped Harry on the back, bade him and Molly goodnight, and pulled me from the room by my hand.


July 13th, 1996

I rolled over from a deep sleep several hours later, away from the warmth of Sirius's embrace. I blinked my eyes open, taking in the light slowly as my aching eyes adjusted to the brightness. I laid my head back down against the soft pillow, the silky sheets cool against my warm cheek. I quickly realized what had woken me up when I heard the tiny cooing's coming from the enchanted baby monitor that we slept next to – Eliana was awake and making her little morning noises.

I threw my feet over the edge of the bed, the cool air hitting my feet and causing me to shiver. I put them on the hardwood floor, stretching before I stood up.

"Do you want me to go?" Sirius mumbled, rolling over to face me. I looked over my shoulder at him, chuckling at the state he was in. He had rolled over, tangled up in his long black hair, which was strewn all over the bed, hiding his face. His eyes were still closed, enjoying the last moments of fleeting sleep. I leaned over to kiss him, despite his morning breath.

"I'll go," I said, standing up. "Go back to sleep, if you can. We both look terrible – one of us should get some sleep."

"You never look terrible," Sirius protested. Still, he turned back over, settling back down beneath the covers. I smiled at him, and walked around the bed to smooth his hair back. Sirius leaned in to my touch, but snuggled deeper in to the pillow. I left the room after throwing on a robe and padded down the hallway to Eliana's room. She was awake, moving slowly in her white crib. I bent down and picked her up, bringing her soft cheek to my own and nuzzling her softly. I rubbed her back, the material of her yellow onesie soft to my touch.

I bounced her gently and she opened her grey eyes wide, looking up at me with such innocence and purity. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, and smiled when she giggled, her tiny hands coming up to grab a strand of my brown hair. She was such a sweet baby, hardly ever crying or fussing – she kept Sirius and I up, but was quiet enough to not wake the rest of the house.

Eliana squirmed in my arms, and I realized that she must be hungry. "It's okay, baby," I whispered, cradling her in my arms and leaving her room. As I walked in to the hallway, I saw the door to our bedroom open, and Sirius walked out, already dressed for the day.

"Sirius!" I said. "You should have slept a while longer, it's still early."

"It's fine – I want to see Harry, and plus you shouldn't have to feed little Spud all alone," Sirius said, his eyes lighting up when they landed on is daughter. "Good morning, baby girl," he said brightly, leaning down to kiss the top of Eliana's head. She turned her eyes to him, smiling up at him and giggling. Sirius winked at her before turning and heading downstairs.

I followed Sirius down the stairs. "Harry's not going to be awake, anyway," I said. "It's too early. Everyone's still asleep."

I was, however, wrong. When we opened the door to the kitchen, we saw that it was already full – Molly was at the stove, slaving over a pan of bacon, and Fleur was standing behind her, hands on her hips.

"It is not the way ve have done zis!" She was saying in her heavily accented voice. "In France, ve would cook the bacon in butter, not grease! I zink eet is better!"

I exchanged a glance with Sirius, not willing to get involved with Molly and her future daughter-in-law this early. I sat Eliana down in her high chair, and Sirius walked over to the cooler drawer for a bottle of milk.

"Good morning, Sirius!" Fleur said brightly, her beautiful blue eyes shining against her tanned face. "And 'ow is baby Eliana today?" She came over to the highchair and leaned over, her sheet of silver hair falling in a curtain over her shoulder.

"She's fine," I said, taking the bottle from Sirius and beginning to feed Eliana.

"Oh, let me! I 'ave always loved children, I keep telling Bill that I would love to 'ave three or four, but he always says he zinks a small family will be nicer. I zink he wants our children to get more attention than he did as a child – poor zing told me all about being left behind in Diagon Alley as a child…" Fleur said, oblivious to the fact that Molly had turned from the stove, her face as red as Ron's hair.

"Right, Fleur, that would be lovely, thank you," I said quickly, letting Fleur take the bottle from me. I walked over to Molly and put a comforting hand on her back. She was practically buzzing with fury, but at my soft touch, she turned around without a word, prodding the bacon slightly more violently than necessary.

I turned to the kettle and prodded it with my wand, filling it with water and boiling it instantly. As I was summoning cups from the cupboard, I heard the thundering of steps on the staircase. The kitchen door slammed open, and I closed my eyes hoping Mrs. Black wasn't about to start screaming. After a moment, when it was clear Mrs. Black hadn't woken up, I opened my eyes and turned from the kettle to see what was happening.

Hermione had stormed in to the kitchen, her bushy hair almost standing on edge from the electricity that was burning from her eyes. "Have any owls come?" She practically screeched, her eyes scanning the kitchen frantically.

Harry and Ron entered the kitchen moments later, panting, having obviously run to keep up with Hermione's desperate pace. Ginny followed behind them at a more reserved pace, with Hollyn bringing up the rear.

"No, dear," Molly said, slightly confused, turning from the stove once again.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Hermione said, hanging her head in her hands. "I just know that I've failed everything – I know I messed up that one translation in Ancient Runes – I just know that I've failed everything."

"Hermione," Ron groaned. "The rest of us are nervous too! And when you have your ten Outstanding OWLs–"

"– Don't Ronald!" Hermione cut him off sharply. "I know I've failed everything and they're going to kick me out!"

As Ron and Hermione bickered, Hollyn walked over to me and bade me good morning.

"Morning, Holl," I said, giving her a quick hug. "What's going on here?"

"I guess Dumbledore told Harry last night that the OWL results would be coming today," Hollyn said. "Hermione is set to jump off the Astronomy tower if she doesn't find out soon."

"Hermione, you're never going to get your results down here," Sirius said, sipping his tea.

"Because I've failed!" Hermione wailed. "I've failed everything and McGonagall will probably come and tell me in person, tell me I've got to ship out, find a job with the muggles…"

"No," Sirius chuckled, shaking his head in amusement at Hermione's hysterics. "Because we don't have a window down here…"

"Oh." She went pink, but turned on her heel and rushed from the kitchen. Harry and Ron exchanged a look, but sighed and followed her upstairs. I'd imagine she was going to the drawing room, where our owls usually delivered out post. Wizarding households did usually receive their post to their kitchen, but given that the Blacks had placed their kitchen in the basement, they hadn't thought to include a way for mail to be delivered. Besides, Mr. and Mrs. Black had house elves who did all of the cooking, so they spent all of their time in the drawing room. We spent more time in the kitchen in one day than Mrs. Black probably had in her entire life.

Molly ushered Ginny and Hollyn upstairs, and Sirius trailed after them. I looked over towards Eliana, but Fleur waved me off, "I will look after ze baby."

I nodded my thanks to her, and followed the rest of the crowd upstairs. They had made it to the drawing room already and Hermione was standing at the window, her nose pressed up against the glass.

"Fleur has Eliana?" Sirius asked, wrapping an arm around my waist. I nodded and he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "Were we this neurotic about our OWL results?"

"We weren't, but Lily definitely was. I think I got 50 owls from her the week leading up to getting our results, each more ridiculous than the last. 'Addie, what if I have to go back home and tell Petunia I wasn't good enough to be a witch! She'll never stop laughing at me.'" I said, in a mediocre imitation of Lily.

Sirius laughed, and picked up the joke. "I swear, if Potter or Black beat me in anything I am going to hang them by their toes from the tallest Quidditch hoop!" He said in a better imitation of Lily than I had been able to do.

"Oh!" Hermione screamed so loudly, I actually jumped. "They're coming." She pointed out the window, her pointer finger shaking.

Three beautiful Hogwarts owls landed on our windowsill, and I saw that Hermione's hands were shaking so much, she was shaking the entire owl. Hollyn stepped over and helped Hermione untie her letter. Harry and Ron had already opened theirs, their eyes roaming their papers slowly.

Ron was the first to speak. "Not too bad! Only failed Divination and History of Magic – and I always knew I'd fail those. Here swap!" He said brightly, swapping papers with Harry.

"Nicely done!" he said, clapping Harry on the back. "Always knew you'd be tops in Defense – Outstanding! Well, we're NEWT students, now, aren't we?"

"Hermione?" Ginny asked cautiously. "Everything alright?" Hermione hadn't turned around – her back was still turned to all of us, clutching her results down near her stomach.

"I – yes – fine," Hermione said in a small voice.

"How'd you do?" Ron asked.

"Fine – yes, just fine," she said, still in that same small voice.

"Let me see that," Ron said, snapping the paper from her hand and ignoring her protests. Ron quickly scanned the results and then whooped. "Just as expected…Nine outsanding OWLs and one Exceed Expectations in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Don't tell me you're actually upset?"

Hermione blanched. "Of course…of course not. Did I expect to be the top in everything no? Perfectly adequate results…" she said, as though trying to convince herself.

"Oh well done, everyone," Molly said brightly, coming over to ruffle Ron's hair affectionately. "Seven OWLs, Ronald! That's better than Fred and George got combined."

I walked over to Harry and pulled him in to a hug. "Congratulations, Harry! Really wonderful results!"

"Well done, son," Sirius said, clapping Harry on the back. "Let's all go downstairs and get some breakfast, eh?"

Everyone agreed enthusiastically and followed Sirius downstairs. Hollyn lingered, looking out the window wistfully. I walked up behind her and smoothed her long dark hair back. She hadn't expected my touch, and flinched at the unexpected contact.

"No letter today?" I asked quietly. Hollyn shook her head no.

I paused, letting the silence fill the room. Just as I was about to turn and head downstairs, Hollyn spoke. "No letter for the last week. Something's happened, but I don't know what." I turned to look at Hollyn, and saw that her grey eyes were shining with tears. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and let her cry quietly. I knew better than to ask her who she was writing to – she wouldn't tell me. She would just push me away, like she had been doing all summer.

I let the moment sink in, appreciating my daughter showing me an increasingly rare moment of vulnerability. I stood with my arm around her for so long, I forgot that everyone had gone downstairs to eat.

"Hollyn, Molly says your eggs are going to go cold if you don't come eat soon," Sirius said, having bounded back up the stairs to see us standing wrapped around each other.

Hollyn jumped a little, but turned and left the room for the kitchen. "Everything alright?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But I hope so."