Landing on the pavement on the empty street of London was certainly not where I thought that we would end up. The four adults pulled their brooms to their side and huddled around the two of us in a defensive formation, as if the death eaters would pop out at any moment.
"Okay. You two are going to look at this and memorize it." Moody handed me and Harry a piece of paper. On the paper written out in neat script was an address, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at 12 Grimmauld Place.
"What doe-" Harry stopped suddenly and I looked up to see what the problem was. Looking at the building that before only had numbers 11 and 13 located there were slowly moving apart. As to make room for another building.
"What the hel-"
"No let's go. In, in. Quickly." Uncle Remus said ushering us in the House. And once inside, I was decidedly unimpressed.
It was very dark with dust and spiderwebs practically everywhere. And walking along the corridor toward one of the many stairs, I could see the house-elf heads lining the stairwell. Dust coated the house like a bad stain and the house gave off a decidedly musty smell. At the end of the hall I could hear voices arguing over something.
"Well this place is homey." I said. We started walking and I heard Harry's chuckles behind me. Moving into the light towards voices did not do the house any favors, quite the opposite actually. The small amount of light that slipped through the room made the dust seem to come out more, and you could see the house-elf heads more clearly. "So this is the 5 star hotel we're staying in,"
"Yeah, honestly I think that it's six." Tonks said as she passed me and somehow tripped over a ugly umbrella stand that was leaning up against the wall.
"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS IN THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! MUDBLOODS AND HALFBLOODS IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATH-"
"YEAH, YEAH! Shut up you old hag!" And as suddenly as the yellowing portrait of the ugly woman appeared, it was gone. Pulled behind even uglier drapes. The portrait stopped screeching and the house had gone slightly quieter after that. Only the small voices and little pitter patters of feet coming from upstairs could be heard.
"Harry." And like a bullet, Sirius Black came over and gave Harry a massive hug. And if the smile on his face was anything to go by it, Harry definitely did not mind.
"And what am I? Chopped liver." I ask after a moment just for Harry and his godfather. Snorting slightly as he and Harry detangled each other he looked over at me, a slight smirk on his face,
"No of course not Aubrey." He said, finally pulling me into a hug. "Just needed to show my Gryffindor pride. Can hug the snake first." Squeezing in a little before releasing me he looks down at me and gives me a fond smile. Huffing a laugh I pull back completely.
"Okay Sirius, is that you're way of telling me Harry is your favorite. Because honestly I kind of already kne-"
"What not Uncle Sirius anymore?"
"Well you told Harry you like him better. I just think that has to come with some consequences."
"So Remus is still Uncle Remus then. You know he likes you better than Harry." I can hear Uncle Remus's objections down the hall followed by Harrys laughs.
"Yeah but he wouldn't tell us Sirius."
"Well if it makes you feel any better your my favorite Slytherin Aubrey."
"Thanks Uncle Sirius."
"Yay! I'm Uncle Sirius agai-"
"Alright Black keep it down. We don't want to wake your mother again." Moody said pushing past us into where the rest of the people and Harry were talking. Looking over I can see some of the Professors from Hogwarts, people in Auror robes that had obviously just gotten off work, and other people I didn't know.
"Now, now dear, you and Aubrey should go up stairs. Ron, Hermione and Ginny are waiting for you." By the stairwell Mrs Weasley was trying to maneuver Harry upstairs. I walk toward her and extract her arm off Harry. I put them around me to give her a hug. "Oh. Hello Aubrey." She squeezes me a little tighter for a moment before releasing me. "You are looking a little peaky dear. They do not feed you enough there."
"Yeah, Better than last summer though. And it's good to see you too Mrs Weasley." I smile at her and grab Harry's hand. He gave mine a squeeze in thanks.
"It's good to see you too dear. Now you and Harry go to the other kids." She made a shooing motion towards the stairs. "Go on now."
"Here." Uncle Remus said, handing over the shrunken trunks. Grabbing the trunks and giving everyone a quick smile, Harry and I start walking upstairs.
Both of us started walking up the first flight of stairs by Walburga Blacks portrait, we heard voices coming from down the hall. Taking a glance at each other we both venture towards the door. Harry reached out for the handle and pulled open slowly, only to be rocked back by a bushy haired bullet.
"Harry! Oh, it's so good to see you. Aubrey, you as well. It's been too long. Ron and I wanted to write so much, but Dumbledore told us not to. He said tha-"
"Hermione let them breathe." A lanky redhead said behind the door. Backing up sheepishly, Hermione moved to let both of us in. Harry walked in first and I was about to follow when I heard a voice down the hall.
"Hey Az! You didn't want to come and say hi?" Turning to the right I saw the figure of my best friend leaning against the door. Smiling and turning towards her, I pull her into a bone crushing hug.
"It's been too long, Mare. Honestly your letters were so vague you better be glad that I'm not a Gryfffindor right now or you would be dealing with that." I motioned over my shoulder to where Harry was ripping Ron and Hermione a new one.
"Yeah I'm definitely lucky my best friend is a snake."
"You should be glad." I said, pulling back from the hug and puffing out my chest in a playful way. "I'm awesome."
"Sure."
"What I am."
"Aubrey. Ginny. Come here." Ginny and I look behind us to see Fred motioning to the stairwell. "There in a meeting." Ginny nodded, as if that was the only explanation needed, and pulled me towards the banister of the staircase where Harry, Hermione, Ron and the twins were standing with a dangling ear on a string.
"What's with the ear?" I ask motioning to where George was holding the end of the string.
"New product-"
"Extendable Ears-"
"Extendable ears?" I question.
"Yeah Aubrey-"
"Ears that extend-"
"To where ever you so desire-"
"So we can hear-"
"The meeting." Fred finished as he came up next to me.
"You guys keep talking about a meeting. What meeting?"
"The order of the Phoenix."
"The order of the what?" Fred stops looking down at the kitchen and turns all his attention on me.
"It is a secret club that is helping fight Voldy Snort." He says in the most serious way. We both look at each other for a moment, completely serious looks on our faces. Everyone around the stairwell looked over at us and our staring contest. They were all silent for a moment as well, just for Ron to break it when he muted 'bloody mental' and the others to agree and turn their attention back to the kitchen. Fred only started to crack a smile when I started to break and smile myself. He took one arm off the banister and looped around my shoulders. Leaning down he whispered into my ear, "Missed you Brie."
"Missed you too." I said leaning into him slightly not to gain the attention of the others. From the corner of my eye I can see Ginny looking over at us with a soft smile. Looking away from the kitchen over to Ginny, her smile widens and turns from soft to playful. Glancing at Fred's arm over my shoulder and then at Harry two people down from me, she wiggles her eyebrows. I just showed her a finger in response.
"Ginny figured it out" Fred's quiet question takes my attention away from my friend and back to Fred.
Pinching his side as a silent affirmative, I take my eyes away from his brown ones and look back down.
"Can I pulse one down there?"
"Down into the kitchen?" George asks.
"Yeah, I mean if you haven't gotten past the silencing charms that they put on the door the ears might not work." I pointed out to him.
Looking me over, he nodded his agreement. So I plunged into me and reached for my magic. Finding the violet ball inside that was crawling with what looked like electricity, I pulsed myself down into the kitchen door. Leaning into Fred slightly, trying to get my vision back into rights, I put my vision upstairs to the side and put more focus into the second me.
"I never liked the split screen vision I always get with this." I mutter to the others.
Down stairs I reach out with my hand to feel the charms on the door. Silencing and locking. Narrowing down to which charms that were used, I expand my magic slightly so that I can see the strings on the door. All different colors and sizes, I run the magic through my hands to try to find the right one. Grabbing the silencing string, I give it a quick tug, and the spell breaks. Releasing my hold on the strings I moved back away from the door so that my magic could settle. Pulsing my second back up to where the rest of the kids were I right my vision, and try to listen into the ear.
"So we are all in agreement." The voice of Kingsley comes through the ear like a radio. Chorused yes's comes through after his announcement. "Okay then. This meeting is adjourned."
"Fucking fantastic." George mutters as he quickly pulls up the ear. "Well that was useless." He states as we all move to gather back into the room where Hermione and Ron were earlier.
"I'm still confused." Harry says, when we all get comfortable. "I get that this is a group for fighting Voldemort." All the Weasleys and Hermione sans Ginny shiver at his name. "But what does that actually mean. And who is involved."
"It was created by Dumbledore in that last war." George replies. "It was made up of a bunch of different people who helped fight Moldy Pants and his death eaters. Your parents were involved." He said almost as an afterthought motioning to Harry and I.
"Really?" I ask. Eager for any more information he could give us about the two. Although we got some from over the years, we were always eager for more.
"Yeah they were. So were a bunch of other people. Both of our uncles were in it too. Mom and Dad were asked to join, but they had us to take care of us." Fred finished.
We all sat in silence for a minute. Just as Harry was opening his mouth to talk we heard the sound of footsteps coming up to the room.
"Well not that this hasn't been fun and all-"
"But it seems that mummy dearest is to call us for dinner-"
"Good to see you Potters-"
"But we must be off." Fred finished, throwing me a wink as he and his brother apparited away.
"Oh good you are all here." Mrs. Weasley said entering the room with a knock. "The meeting has just ended and dinner is on the table."
So the first night at Grimmauld Place continued. With some of Mrs Weasley's amazing cooking and good company. It was definitely a dinner that I would remember and I enjoyed, until me and Ginny got kicked out.
"Honestly I don't know why mom insisted on kicking us both out. Does she not know you can just pop back down there." Ginny said as we sat on her bed in our room. Turning toward my suitcase, I unshrink it and start unpacking.
"Not sure." I mumble as I pulse myself down to the kitchen and continue unpacking. Pushing the sight of me unpacking in my second mind to the side slightly, I applied a disillusioned charm on me as I silently entered the kitchen. Making sure to reiterate what is being said back to Ginny in our and Hermione room, I listen to my uncles explain about how there is a weapon that Voldemort wants and there trying to stop him.
"That was very helpful but also very useless." Ginny finally says after I pulsed my second back into me. Standing to help me fold my pants into the draws we work in comfortable silence until Hermione enters the room. Eyeing both of us with a questioning gaze, I just respond with a nod that earns me an eye roll.
"One of these days you're going to get caught." Hermione lightly scolds. As she moves to help Ginny in hanging my shirts. Gin snorts in response, knowing the likeliness of that situation.
And so the night continued. With the three of us moving to our beds after getting in our pajamas and finished in the bathroom. We talked for some time before Hermione dozed off. After a few minutes of being silent I move to Gin's bed and we both sit across from each other.
Grabbing my hands and looking into my eyes, I pushed my astral magic into her and stood up pulling an astral version of Ginny with me. Releasing the second Ginny's hands I grab onto the original as she falls asleep. Lying her back down under the covers so she can sleep, I pulse a second me as well, I join the second Ginny where she took purchase on the floor. Walking the original me into my bed where I fell asleep like original Ginny, I turn all my focus onto the second me. Ginny and I both slowly start to meditate. Ginny, her animagus, and my occlumency. And as the night turned into day, we sat upon the floor both inside our own minds.
Once the first rays of light filter into the room lightly dusting our sleeping faces we slowly excited our minds. Helping Ginny back into her rested body on the bed, I turn to my own and do the same.
"Night Az." A quiet voice disturbed the all but silent room as I'm reading my magic to pulse back into me. Turning back to a half awake Ginny, I give her a small smile as I grab my right hand.
"Night Mare."
