The next morning found her waking at the loud crack of the twins landing in her room. Before she could even think about it she had thrown a hex their way, forcing them to duck to the floor.

"Blimey, Ellen!" One of them (maybe George?) exclaimed. "What was that for?"

She glared at them sleepily. "You startled me."

"Oh. Right." The other elbowed his brother. "Well, er, Mum sent us to tell you that your breakfast is downstairs if you want it and she needs help in the other drawing room. There are more doxies than she thought."

They disappeared with a loud crack. Ellen groaned and pulled herself out of bed and through her morning routine. After half an hour she had finished her breakfast and walked into the drawing room to a rather peculiar sight. Molly, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins were grouped together with tied cloths over their noses and mouths. Each of them were also holding a large bottle of black liquid with a nozzle at the end.

"Cover your faces and take a spray," Molly said to Harry and Ron as they walked in behind Ellen, pointing to three more bottles of black liquid standing on a spindle-legged table. "It's Doxycide. I've never seen an infestation this bad.."

The clean green curtains were buzzing dangerously, reminding Ellen of the Teez that had followed her around so loyally in her youth. "Right, you lot, you need to be careful, because doxies bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it." Molly called out.

She straightened up, positioned herself squarely in front of the curtains, and beckoned them all forward.

"When I say the word, start spraying immediately," she said. "They'll come flying out at us, I expect, but it says on the sprays one good squirt will paralyze them. When they're immobilized, just throw them in this bucket."

She stepped carefully out of their line of fire and raised her own spray. "All right — squirt!"

The group had been spraying only a few seconds when a fully grown doxy came soaring out of a fold in the material, shiny beetlelike wings whirring, tiny needle-sharp teeth bared, its fairylike body covered with thick black hair and its four tiny fists clenched with fury. It stopped dead in its tracks when it laid eyes on Ellen, flying up to rest on top of the bottle she was holding.

Ellen smiled softly and rubbed the rough fur of its tiny head. "What are you doing here?" She cooed at it, the doxy buzzing happily under her attention. "You can't go attacking the wizards, it's very rude."

The doxy's antennae drooped at the criticism, forcing a small giggle out of Ellen. She ushered the small creature into her front pocket and patted it gently with an order to stay there. She turned back to the others just in time to hear Molly scolding one of her brood.

"Fred, what are you doing?" Molly was saying sharply. "Spray that at once and throw it away!"

She looked over to where the boy was holding a struggling doxy between his forefinger and thumb. "Right-o," Fred said brightly, spraying the doxy quickly in the face so that it fainted, but the moment Molly's back was turned he pocketed it with a wink.

The de-doxying of the curtains took most of the morning. It was past midday when Molly finally removed her protective scarf. The curtains were no longer buzzing; they hung limp and damp from the intensive spraying; unconscious doxies lay crammed in the bucket at the foot of them beside a bowl of their black eggs, at which an ugly orange cat was sniffing and Fred and George were shooting covetous looks.

The clanging doorbell rang suddenly, setting off Mrs. Black's portrait downstairs. Molly immediately rushed off to deal with it, leaving them all alone with the promise of lunch when she returned. The teens peeked out the window, remarking about Mundungus' abundance of cauldrons.

Ellen gently pulled at the twins' shirts to catch their attention. She jerked her head at the pile of doxies and eggs. "Go on, take them while Molly is occupied. I'll just tell her I got rid of them."

They blinked in shock before quickly grabbing the items and vanishing from the room with a loud crack. Ellen just smiled and pet the doxy that refused to move from her front pocket.

At that precise moment there was an explosion of sound from downstairs. All of them could hear Molly shouting at the top of her voice. "WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!"

"I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else," said Fred, with a satisfied smile on his face as he and his twin appeared back in the room. "It makes such a nice change."

"— COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE —"

Ellen rolled her eyes and made for the door. "I'm going to go stop her from killing Mundungus. You lot just do..whatever kids your age do." She quickly moved down the stairs and into the kitchen where Molly had dragged the portly man.

Said witch was still screaming, pointing to the pile of cauldrons that were strewn across the floor and the portrait was shrieking nonsense down the hall. Ellen slammed the door loudly, catching everyone's attention. "What the bloody hell is going on down here? Are you completely daft Mundungus?"

Mundungus began to stutter out excuses. "Someone was willing to buy 'em back orf me for twice what 'e wouldsta paid in the first place!"

"That doesn't mean you can bring them here, you dolt!" Ellen resisted the urge to wrap her hands around his neck. "What if someone came looking for you and saw you disappear here?"

He sputtered and turned red, running out of things to say. "She paid me to bring 'em 'ere. Said ta bring 'em straight to the Walker girl."

Ellen stopped in her tracks and whipped her wand out of her boot, pressing it under his chin. Her voice was deadly quiet and calm. "What was her name?"

"She didn't give me no name," Mundungus said quickly. "Tiny li'l thing she was, mustn't of been older than a firs' year."

"Is there anything else she gave you?" She asked, a deep sense of dread filling her. The man squirmed uncomfortably as she pressed the wand against him hard when he didn't answer.

"Gave me a letter for some bloke named Allen. Don't 'spose you know 'im, do you?"

All the color drained from her face and she felt her knees go weak. Ellen pulled her wand away from him and sat heavily in the nearest chair, focusing on breathing. "Get out of here before I do something I regret."

Mundungus sputtered but obeyed her, not before setting the accursed letter next to her on the table. At her glare he jumped and all but ran out of Grimmauld Place. She picked the letter up and stared at it, taking in the familiar writing on the front.

Molly leaned over her, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"The others are here." Ellen said quietly. "They're here in London and they know that I'm close by. This letter, it's from the Ninth. She could possibly bypass the Fidelius with her gift. We need to alert Albus, now."

She watched Molly's eyes widen in horror. "I'll handle it, you just feed the kids. Let Sirius know that I need to speak with him when you get up there."

The woman quickly made a plate of sandwiches and drinks for the children and hurried out of the room, taking one last glance at the distraught Noah. Ellen gripped her wand tightly, breathing out the spell she could barely use. "Expecto Patronum."

A glowing white butterfly balanced on the tip of the wand, it's wings fluttering softly. She reached out and stroked one delicate wing with her fingertip, smiling as it climbed on off the wand. "Go to Albus Dumbledore. Tell him that the Clan has found us."

The Patronus fluttered quickly out of the room, passing by Sirius's head as he walked in. She leapt up out of her chair and wrapped her shaking arms tightly around him. He pulled her close, murmuring reassurances and sweet words.

"They found me Paddy." she whispered against his chest. "They know where we are."

Her friend sat her down, rubbing her arm as she clung to him. "T-they sent me a letter through Mundungus. They've been watching long enough to know where I am and who I'm in contact with. I've only been here for three days. How can they have found me?"

Sirius just pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm not going to let them get to you. I don't care how powerful they are, no one is taking my sister away."

"I love you Sirius." Ellen pressed her face into his chest. She stayed like that for a while, listening to the steady beat of his heart, the gentle in and out of his breathing. Bit by bit she pulled herself back together until she was able to reach out and pull the letter towards them.

She rubbed her thumb across the smooth ink spelling out her real name. Flipping it over, she delicately tore the wax seal and pulled the thick parchment of the letter from the envelope. Her hands were still shaking as she read the words written carefully across the page.

Dearest Allen,

It's very rude to hide from your family. We've been looking for you for such a long time and here you are, back in London. We're watching your little hideout as you're reading this. Don't worry, we won't hurt your pet humans as long as you work with us. You have until the end of this year to rejoin the Clan or we will be forced to kill every single one of them. This is your choice. See you soon, Allen.

Love, Rhode

Ellen set the letter down softly, screwing her eyes shut. "I have to go to them." She said, trying to stand while Sirius held her still. "Sirius, they'll kill all of you. You don't get it, they're stronger than I am. This isn't something that we can win."

He pulled her back down and turned her to look him in the eyes. "We have until December to figure this out. You don't have to do this alone anymore."

"I need to be alone right now." She jerked out of his arms and opened an Ark gate. "I'll come back, I promise."

The gate slammed behind her with a resounding thud, echoing in the emptiness of the atrium. It was a beautiful place, bright green grass and lovely flowers planted all throughout. Stone benches lined the edges of the atrium and there was a deep blue pond resting at the north side, elegant koi swimming in its depths.

She stormed over to the grassy area next to the pond and laid down. Gazing up into the bright blue sky, she frowned. With a wave of her hand dark storm clouds began appeared and rain began to fall, soaking her and everything else in the Ark.

Ellen laughed to herself. "And so God set upon the world a great flood.."

The rain poured down viciously, never slowing. Ellen lay there in the same position, her eyes closed to feel the rain fall over her skin. Completely numb to the passage of time, she was soaked to the bone yet she felt no cold or discomfort.

If only she could stay that way forever, slowly letting the rain purify her tainted existence. It was all her fault, after all. She had brought danger to the Order, a danger that they couldn't hope to fight.

Voldemort may be strong and have great magical powers, but even he wouldn't stand for long against one of the older Noah. Tyki and Sheril may not have been awakened for as long as Rhode, but their memories were just as old and just as strong. They could do things that Ellen couldn't even dream of, control their abilities with such finesse that it was like they had been born with them. They were ancient and powerful and everything she was not.

She wasn't strong enough to stop them. But, she asked herself, would she even want to?

There had been a time when she'd truly considered them family. For two blissful years, they had been everything she had ever wanted in life. She'd found love of every kind in their arms. She had been willing to cast the world into darkness if it just meant that she could stay with them forever.

But things had changed. She could still see it now, the pouring rain falling on her skin as she stood over the corpse of Adam. The war had been won, the akuma all destroyed the second the Earl took his last breath. She remembered looking up, nodding to her beloved. He had grasped the Heart of Innocence in his hand and with one final squeeze, destroyed it. Fine green dust had spilled out of his hand, his face filled with joy as he walked to her.

Then she had felt herself breaking. Crown Clown, her beautiful Innocence that had been with her from the day she was born began to shatter. She could hear it dying, its terror filling her mind. She'd looked down at her hand to see the glowing green crystal dull. Her Innocence gave one last wail in her mind, and then the crystal shattered. It had felt like she was dying. Everything in her felt so empty and it had all been his fault. He had reached for her to pull her into a loving embrace but she couldn't stand to touch him. He had killed her Clown Crown, he had killed a part of her.

She'd screamed and wailed at him, throwing everything she had in his face. Never once noticing the yellow hue of her eyes, the dead gray color of her skin. She'd stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the Dark Matter flowing through her left arm, filling the empty spaces Innocence had left.

Pure horror had filled her and she did what she would soon do best. She ran far, far away from all of them. Never to be found or loved, never to trust another person with her heart as she had him.

Thunder crashed loudly, sending her eyes flying open.

Ellen sat up, brushing her wet hair from her face. With a deep sigh, she lightened the rain to a gentle drizzle. There was no need to flood the Ark when she wasn't even around. She walked out of the atrium to a empty, covered room and dried herself off with a few charms.

Opening the gate without really thinking, she stepped out high above the kitchen chairs and landed in Albus's lap. Her friend let out a loud 'oof!' and winced. She was startled for a second before she stared at him seriously. "I want a pony for Christmas."

Her old friend chuckled deeply as she slid off of him and into the seat next to him, the kitchen empty except for them. "You've been gone a while, Ellen."

"It can't have been more than a few hours." She snorted.

Albus stared at her oddly, almost as if he was concerned. "It's over a week, my dear."

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. She had lost track of time before, drifting away for hours but never for that many days. "I-I'm sorry Albus. I wasn't even aware that I was in the Ark for that long..."

"No worries, I'm just glad that you're safe. I feared the worst when you did not return at the end of the first day." Dumbledore removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sirius gave me the letter that you received. The contents are...troubling to say the least."

"I know." Ellen ran her fingers through her hair. "If I go to them, I'll be giving up the life that I've built for myself. But if I stay, who knows who they'll kill to get to me."

Albus hesitated, looking almost frightened to say what he was going to. "Ellen, I have to ask.. Do you believe that they would join Voldemort in their quest?"

She jerked back. "No! I know them Albus. They can be monsters and I've seen them do truly evil things, but they would never resort to asking a human for help. Much less one that has tried to murder one of their own. No, they're a threat all of their own."

"Would they be an asset to the Order?" asked Albus, ignoring her outraged look.

"If they weren't so them, I would say yes." Ellen said. "The powers that they have are extraordinary, and their control of them even more so. But they're very unpredictable and more dangerous than anything we could face. I don't know if we would ever be able to fully trust them."

Albus nodded in agreement. "Nonetheless, you will be safe at Hogwarts. No one can get through the wards surrounding the castle."

She reached out and grabbed one of his wrinkled hands with her own smooth ones. "I'm so sorry about this Albus. I know how stressful things are and I've just added to it. You've got Harry's trial to worry about and I've heard what the Prophet is doing..."

Ellen trailed off in confusion when her friend laughed. "Harry's trial was a few days ago." Albus smiled at her. "Not even the Wizengamot could find him guilty."

Elation filled her as she heard the news. She hugged Albus tightly before running out of the room and up the stairs to Harry's room. Ellen pounded loudly on the door and all but launched herself at the boy when he opened it.

"Oh Harry, I'm so happy for you!" She cupped his face, slightly squishing his cheeks. "I knew those twats wouldn't have anything on you."

"Er, thanks?" Harry said slowly extracting himself from her grip.

It was all she could do from blushing as she remembered that they had only really spoken once. The boy didn't know her. She patted him awkwardly on the shoulder before stepping back. "Right then. Sorry, I just got a bit excited. Been gone for a few days and I just heard the news."

Harry stepped out into the hallway with her, shutting the door behind him. "Were you in the, um," he lowered his voice, "the Ark?"

She nodded in response, looking down to see that Harry was wearing the ring she had made him on his right hand. "I lost track of time." Ellen admitted. "When you've been alive as long as I have, a days can seem like hours if you don't pay attention. I honestly thought I was only there for an hour or so."

"Hermione and Ginny were really worried about you. Mrs. Weasley too, she wouldn't really say it but you could tell." Harry said. "I almost went after you, but the place is so big and I wasn't sure you were there."

Ellen smiled widely. "You don't ever need to worry about me. I'm much tougher than I look."

Harry looked her up and down in all of her short, pixie-like glory. The look he gave her was filled with so much sass that she could have sworn she was standing with James Potter. Her heart twisted painfully for a second before she pushed the feeling away, reaching out to swat Harry on the back of the head. "I'll not be taking any lip from you, Harry Potter!"

He smiled at her mischievously and she couldn't help but grin back. "C'mon," she jerked her head to the side. "I found something the other morning, meant to give it to you that night but then the whole Ark mess happened."

She led him up another flight of stairs and they walked quietly past Hermione and Ginny's room and into Ellen's. Harry watched as the Noah pulled out a worn duffel bag and zipped it open. She stuck her arm all the way in, feeling around for something.

"Oh, for the love of! Harry, could you be a dear and come help?" He walked over to her slowly. "Alright, can you grab hold of my ankle and don't let go? It must have drifted further down."

With that she threw her whole body into the bag, Harry barely having time to grab her thin ankle. He could hear her muttering the whole time, cursing everything in the bag. "I've got it!" She yelled. "Pull me up!"

Harry yanked hard on her ankle and she came flying out of the bag, clutching a folded up photograph in her hands. She dusted herself off and grinned at him. "Got about fifty years worth of junk in there. Here you go!"

Harry gripped the worn photograph in his hands, gazing down at the faces below. "Original Order of the Phoenix," Ellen said softly. "I found it when I was searching for my wand holster yesterday, and well, I thought you might want to see it."

"There's good ole Mad-Eye," she said, pointing at the grizzled wizard. The Moody in the picture was unmistakable, though his hair was slightly less gray and his nose was intact. "And there's Albus beside him, Dedalus Diggle on the other side... That's Marlene McKinnon, Frank and Alice Longbottom..."

"They didn't deserve what happened to them..." Ellen's face was filled with pain as the image of her friends waved up at her. "and that's Emmeline Vance, she was supposed to be a part of the Advance Guard, and there's Remus and I..."

Harry blinked at the image of his old professor and the girl standing next to him. Remus looked so much younger and there was joy in this face as Ellen clung to his back. The Ellen in the picture waved out at them before pressing a firm kiss to the werewolf's cheek. Harry looked over at her, but she kept talking as if she didn't see anything.

"...that's Benjy Fenwick, oi, move over," she added, poking the picture, and the little photographic people edged sideways, so that those who were partially obscured could move to the front.

"That's Edgar Bones...brother of Amelia Bones, he was a great wizard...Sturgis Podmore, Caradoc Dearborn...there's Hagrid, of course, has such a kind heart, that one...Elphias Doge, you've met him, I'd forgotten he used to wear that stupid hat...Gideon and Fabian Prewett, keep moving, keep moving..."

The little people in the photograph jostled among themselves, and those hidden right at the back appeared at the forefront of the picture. "That's Albus's brother, Aberforth, he's always been an interesting fellow, must run in the family...That's Dorcas Meadowes...Sirius, oh, I forgot what he looked like with short hair, and... there you go, thought you might like this!"

She watched Harry look down at the picture, examining every detail. His mother and father were beaming up at him, sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man she recognized at once as Wormtail. "Wormy was a nasty git and a traitor. I'd blast him out of the picture if I knew how."

Harry didn't say a word, just kept staring down at the picture. He shot up suddenly. "I've got to go, I forgot to pack my, er.."

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Sirius walked it, saving him from whatever excuse he was about to make. "So you're finally back." His godfather stared Ellen down. Harry slipped out the room behind him, moving like the bats of hell were chasing him. Ellen threw herself back onto the bed, hiding her face with a pillow. "I didn't mean to leave for so long. Time moves differently in the Ark."

Sirius sat down next to her, yanking the pillow away from her. "You do know that tomorrow is the 12th, right?"

"What?" She shot up. "No! I haven't even gotten my uniform yet, oh my god, I haven't even packed!"

She whipped her wand out in a panic and quickly began summoning everything into her duffel bag. Shoes and hangers were flying every way, clothes trying to fold themselves in the air. Sirius sat there laughing at her, ducking when something came flying over his head.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore got a few uniforms for you. They're in that package on your desk." He laughed again as she all but lunged for the package. Ellen ripped it open and set everything out on her bed. It was everything that she would need. All of her schoolbooks, shirts, skirts, different types of sweaters, appropriate shoes and socks, school robes, even a heavy cloak that she would need for winter.

Ellen ran her hand over everything before she frowned. "How did Albus know what size to get me?"

"Probably just told them to get the average size of a third year." Sirius dodged the shoe she threw at him. "Not your fault that you're titchy."

"Rude." She sniffed. "You wouldn't be so tall if you'd stopped aging at 16."

"Yeah." Sirius's eyes softened. "I'd forgotten how young you look.. Didn't really notice back then, I guess."

Ellen threw a school robe in his face. "Hey, stop that. I'm not going to let you feel bad about something that you have absolutely no control over. Besides," she continued, "It's coming in handy. I'll get to keep Harry safe, even if I have to refer to myself as a Beast."

"That's always bothered you, hasn't it?" Sirius tossed the robe back to her. "The whole Beast thing."

She sighed and turned away from him. "It's frustrating. Noah have never been treated like they were human for as long as I've been alive. Back then they were monsters, something that had left humanity behind. So when the war was done, I left and I lived like any other person would. Then I find this world and I'm told that again, I'm not a human. No, your Ministry doesn't believe that something like me has the bloody intelligence to understand your laws, just because there aren't enough of us to really fight it. I'm a human. I was born a human, raised a human, and I've lived as a human. It's demeaning to constantly be told that I'm not one."

"Even when I had Innocence, they didn't see me as a person. I was a demon, I was cursed." Her black, clawed hand clenched in a fist. "All of this for something that I never chose. I didn't choose to be born with Innocence. I didn't choose to be the host of a Noah. None of this was something I would have wanted for myself."

The pair let silence fall over them, only the sound of Ellen's packing filling the air. Sirius watched her as she began stripping the room of all personal touches. She vanished everything she had conjured minus the bed. The wardrobe returned to its original color, even the wallpaper dulled back to the original gray

The doxy that had attached itself to her the other afternoon flew out of the bag, landing in her hair. Ellen giggled lightly and pulled it off, cradling it in her hands. Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. "Why do those things like you so much?"

"They have traces of Dark Matter in them," Ellen explained, stroking the creature's rough fur. "Not as much as the first generation, but there's still enough that they recognize the Noah and are drawn to us. They're part Teez, you see. Joyd caught a few of his Teez with faeries of all things and when they gave birth, this was the result. I guess they just grew from there."

She allowed the doxy to crawl back into her pocket, the thing purring in contentment. Settling down next to Sirius, she leaned against him. The wizard wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "I'm going to miss you." She said softly.

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere." Sirius promised.

"You've still got the key I gave you, don't you?"

Sirius nodded, pulling the ring out from where it hung around his neck on a chain. She took it from him and slid it back onto his right hand. "I want you to actually use it this time." She grasped his hand in hers. "I want you to promise me that you won't try to be the hero. If anything goes wrong I want you to get the hell out of there. You can't do anyone any good if you're dead."

He said nothing in response, just stared down at the ring. Ellen sighed and shoved him away. "At least consider it. Now get out, I have to get to sleep now if I'm going to be able to wake up on time tomorrow."

Her friend quietly left and closed the door behind him. With a flick of her wand, all the lights in her room went out and she was quickly shrouded in darkness. Ellen blinked once, twice, and then she was fast asleep.

We're getting so close to Hogwarts! I'm excited!