PsionicShadow, really: A couple of things for you to keep in mind. One, Jen's bisexual; she can fall for a guy just as easily as she does a girl, and some relationships happen faster than others. That's just a fact of life. Two, this isn't a new development. Go back to Princess and look at chapters 25, 27, 32, 33, 35, and especially 31, where I explicitly spell out for you that Jen was already developing feelings for him. The year apart dulled them, but it did not remove them. In Ascendant, even though he doesn't show up in person, take a look at chapter 43, where Tonks reminds you of that little wrinkle, and chapter 34, where I hint at this very plot point, albeit subtly. This has been building for a while. Where exactly it's going, I don't know, but for right now it's a thing.

Disclaimer: Did the Order reconsider letting Harry and possibly Ron and Hermione into their meetings after being reminded at the end of book 5 that not only did Harry have a better track record against Voldemort than any of their members except Dumbledore, all leaving the trio in the dark would do was make them hunt for information and act on it at their own discretion? If not, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise; it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Warner Bros., and whomever else she sold the rights to.


Chapter 3
Expanding the Circle

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I'm pretty sure I just went crazy for a moment there."

Sirius shook his head with a sigh, and Dora just rolled her eyes. "While I think you might be crazy sometimes, this wasn't one of them," he said.

"Are you sure?" Jen asked, cocking her head. "Because I could swear you said that you wanted Dora and me to join the Order of the Phoenix as if you actually thought I would ever say yes."

"No, I said the two of you have been invited to tonight's meeting. Mad-Eye didn't say it outright, but I think he and Albus want to question you about exactly what happened during your fight with Voldemort." He grinned weakly, as though he found what he was about to say only darkly humorous. "They apparently think there was more to it than what was in the official report. What it says clashes with the story Danny told Dumbledore."

"Should have let the little bastard die when I had the chance," she muttered to herself. She had gone through the trouble of saving the Potter heir in hope that he might prove himself useful in her fight with Voldemort – and, to be honest, whatever he had done with his wand had given her the time she needed to spring her trap on the black wizard – but when he ran off once Dora showed up, she thought that would be the end of it. Clearly not. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "And do you think I want to be interrogated by people who will distrust me either because they think Bellatrix is my mother or because they know I want nothing to do with the Potters? This will just be a colossal waste of time on all sides."

And then she leaned back and opened her book back up.

"Really?" Sirius asked in an unimpressed voice. "That's it? Your entire response to this can be boiled down to 'Bugger off', then?"

"What would you rather me say?" she shot back, eyes not leaving the page. "Should I instead volunteer to put up with people who despise me and suborn myself to someone I believe tried to reduce me to a Squib when I was a toddler? Someone who has not once denied the charges that he used mind magics on the students under his care?"

He sighed. "Do you think I like Dumbledore? That I haven't wanted to strangle him with his own beard from time to time? That, if you found any actual evidence at all that he attacked your magic, I wouldn't help you hide the body? When the news of his actions at Hogwarts broke, it was a good thing he went into hiding, or I might have reported his location to the DMLE myself. But much as I dislike him on a personal level, he is still one of the only people to fight Voldemort one-on-one and force him to retreat."

Jen looked pointedly at Dora, then down at herself. When she looked back at Sirius, one eyebrow was raised in question. They had represented themselves pretty well, if she did say so herself.

Sirius, however, did not seem to agree with her silent counterargument. "Dora had to step in to save you, if you care to recall. Do you think a few days is enough time to make any appreciable difference should you give it another go?"

"You'd be surprised," she answered with a faint smile. She had not told anyone just what she had done to Voldemort, mostly because explaining the what would then necessitate discussing the why, and she would much rather not explain just how she knew that Voldemort was a soul mage. Knowing too much about the Black Arts tended to earn one suspicious glances.

Walking over, Sirius pulled her feet off the other seat of the library's sofa and sat down. "Jen, talk to me. What is the real reason you don't want to go to the meeting?"

"You mean your little club's abysmal failure a few weeks ago isn't reason enough?" He opened his mouth to refute that, so she pressed on, "You were led into a trap, and now whatever fighting force you were once able to bring to bear has been cut down to half that number, either from those who died or are still too injured to be able to contribute in the near future. Furthermore, if those I've come across during the Solstice Ball or when they showed up at Hogsmeade are representative of the group, they don't have the power needed to fight Voldemort with any hopes of success. You don't," she added, staring directly into Sirius's eyes.

"No, I don't," he replied, "and yes, the Death Eaters' ambush hurt us. I'm not going to deny either of those facts. But we're working more closely with the Ministry now – at least, some of us are – and several people have discussed taking a bit more of an investigative role. Not to mention, there are still those of us who, even if we can't fight Voldemort directly, can still hold our own against the Death Eaters.

"And I know you. This may all be true, but it still isn't the real reason, and the fact that you keep talking around whatever it is you're trying to hide isn't making me feel any better about it."

She looked down and flipped a page, pretending to read but taking none of the words in. "You see what you wish to see. That's all it is."

"Jennifer."

A slow breath in, and it was exhaled with the faintest shudder. She just did not know if it was from nervousness or rage. "Sirius, I doubt it's escaped your notice, but I'm a dark witch. When I fought Voldemort, I was doing my best to break him. I wasn't using Stunners or Disarming Charms, either. I used Fiendfyre and runic spells and the Killing Curse—"

"La la la la la!" Dora shouted at them, fingers jammed into her ears and a hard glare aimed at her specifically. "If you're going to admit to using dark magic, wait till I'm out of the room. And look up the definition of 'plausible deniability' while you're at it."

She rolled her eyes at the Auror's foolishness. Like she didn't know the importance of deniability. Turning back to her godfather, she finished her thought. "I don't fit with the Order, nor would I want to. In some ways, I'm more like the Death Eaters than those fighting them. And while I could not care less that a bunch of bumbling Dumbledore-worshippers don't like me, that doesn't mean I want to spend my time being looked down upon by people who can't do a fraction of what I can and consider their weakness and timidity to be virtues." Glancing down again, she muttered just loud enough for them to make out, "I'm a bitch, not a masochist."

Through her sonar, she felt Sirius moving, so it was not a surprise when he grabbed her knees and pulled her across the cushions so he could hug her tight. Nor, if she were completely honest with herself, did she exactly mind his attempts to be comforting. Ever since her fight with Voldemort, she had been reminded again and again of just how different she was from the people she knew and cared about. The pain that had wracked her body at the sound of the phoenix song released from Voldemort and Potter's wands; Luna's comments of not sympathizing with someone 'unrepentantly evil', though directed at Morgan le Fay rather than herself; Viktor's abhorrence at even her downplayed connection with the Baron…

She knew she was a monster. That didn't mean she wanted it repeatedly shoved in her face.

"You are a dark witch," he muttered into her hair, "but like I told you before, I don't care about that. No matter what you do, you're still my goddaughter first and foremost. Is this what's been bothering you since you came back from Bulgaria? I thought something had happened, but when you said the test went fine and nothing remarkable happened, I wasn't sure what was going through your head."

Had she been mulling this over subconsciously? She certainly did not remember doing so, but if Sirius, who was far from the most perceptive member of the family, had noticed, it must have been obvious. Not knowing what else to say, she whispered, "I'm sorry I worried you."

Nearly a minute passed before she finally extricated herself from his grasp, and looking at his mournful expression, she did not need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. The pity in his gaze made her grit her teeth and set her blood to boiling. "But regardless of all that, what I said before is still true. Going to the Order and dancing to their tune is pointless, and given the choice, I would rather have Voldemort at my back. At least his actions I can predict." She grabbed for her book and turned away from godfather and cousin both. "If you two want to waste your time with them, fine, but leave me out of it."

"Sure, Jen, if that's what you want," Sirius said in far too conciliatory a voice as he stood and motioned for Dora to precede him out of the library.

She managed to wait until they both Flooed out before she hurled the book at the closed door with a shriek of hate.


I hate to admit it, Dora thought, her eyes nearly glazed over from boredom, but Jen might have been right about all this.

It wasn't that the meeting was pointless, per se; the information being discussed was important, and the more people who knew, the better. The issue she had was that this was all stuff she already knew, facts and estimates and potential targets that had been debated throughout the Auror Office for days, and so far, none of the Order members had come to any conclusions that had not already been reached, and in much greater detail, too. Shooting Kingsley a pointed glance and exaggeratedly rolling her eyes once he looked her way, she was disappointed but not terribly surprised when he just pursed his lips at her and returned his attention to what Mad-Eye was saying. Kingsley was a nice guy, and he had helped her out of a couple of jams when she was a fresh recruit, but Merlin if he couldn't be a stick in the mud.

Looking back down the length of the Longbottoms' dining room table, she caught the piercing glare Mad-Eye's mad eye was giving her and answered it with a cheery smile.

With nothing better to do, she let her gaze rove over the Order. Some of them she knew from the Ministry or Hogwarts – she had been horrified to hear of Hestia Jones's death, who had been a fellow Hufflepuff only a couple of years older than her – and she knew her family, obviously. The three Potters she also recognized, though she had to admit that she really did not exactly know anything about them beyond what was publicly available and the things Sirius and Jen had said. All things considered, she really had no reason to get to know them personally, either, not when they had threatened to take away her baby cousin.

Most of the rest of the Order she had only been introduced to that night. Her eyes fell on one member of that group in particular, and a small smile crossed her face. She had always been attracted to older guys, a trait that had gotten her into trouble more than once… several times… okay, a lot while she was still in school. By her seventh year, Professor Sprout had ceased to be embarrassed or irritated and had just grown bored of finding her half- or totally naked in a broom cupboard or empty classroom. Still, this wizard was just yummy: wiry build, grey streaks in his hair that gave him a distinguished appearance, strong hands, even the wispy little mustache he had going. He looked like a teacher, and while it had been a while since she graduated, being a Metamorphmagus meant she could still pull off the perfect naughty schoolgirl look—

Her aunt Narcissa's elbow collided with her ribs, and she flicked a glare at the piebald witch sitting next to her before realizing that the portion of the meeting she had been ignoring was now over. Unobtrusively shifting her clothes and face around to hide her previous inattention, she then had to hide a scowl when Dumbledore stood at the head of the table. She was one of the only ones who seemed displeased at his presence, however, because apparently most of the Order had managed to convince themselves that the accusations leveled against the old man were all made up or something.

Or perhaps, she admitted to herself, they just had a harder time shaking off the respect that just about all Hogwarts students eventually developed for the former Headmaster. If it weren't for his actions affecting her family directly, she might be in the same frame of mind.

"Thank you for that summary, Alastor," he was saying, looking over the assembled group. "As you all might have noticed, we have two new faces with us tonight. Young Danny Potter needs no introduction, and Nymphadora Tonks is another Auror and was part of the group that responded to the attack on Hogsmeade a few weeks ago."

"She fought Voldemort by herself," Mad-Eye grunted with obvious pride, "and from what I heard, she landed more than just a few glancing blows."

She smiled at him in appreciation. The grizzled old wizard had been set to retire before her final phase of training, but instead had stayed on to be her mentor for that last year. Hearing him say in front of the entire Auror Corps that she was going to be great while pinning her scarlet cloak around her shoulders was one of the happiest moments of her life.

"Indeed." Dumbledore frowned and continued, "The primary reason I have asked them to join us is that the Minister has finally permitted us to have a copy of the official report of that incident, and I could not help but notice some discrepancies between it and what Danny said he witnessed. I assume everyone has had a chance to look through the copies that were delivered to you?"

"But weren't you only around for the end of that fight?" one of the members she did not know the name of asked her. "Why can't we just talk to the Black girl?"

Sirius's smile was toothy and humorless. "She said she had other things to do. None of which are the concern of anyone else here," he added when several people started talking over themselves to ask just what could be so much more important than this waste of time.

"That is unfortunate, but as Nymphadora—"

"Tonks," she cut in, interrupting Dumbledore before he could say any more. "Just call me Tonks." Her family could get away with calling her Dora, but they were it. Everyone else would have to make due with her surname.

"Very well," he said after a moment's pause. "As I was saying, since Tonks was there for some of it, she can tell us what actually happened while she was present."

Glancing over the group again, she was not surprised to find all of them watching her expectantly. It was unfortunate that she was going to have to disappoint them. "Like that guy said, I wasn't around for most of it, but what's in the report after I showed up is almost word for word what I said in my debrief. If you've read it, then you know what happened."

"What about the fires?" the youngest Potter challenged. "There's nothing in there about Voldemort making a snake out of fire, or of what Black did with her own to force it back."

She blinked at him, her eyes growing the slightest bit larger to make herself look more innocent. It would not trick everyone – already she could see the corners of Mad-Eye's lips twitching from the smile he was suppressing – and she had her doubts that most of the people here would believe her, but if she could shake the assumptions of even a couple, she would count that as a success. "What fires are you talking about? I don't remember either of those things happening."

Danny gaped at her, and James shot her a disbelieving glance from beside him. Whatever. There was a very good reason for her denials: as she had been reminded not half an hour earlier, her cousin was a dark witch and throughout that fight had probably – 'probably' only because she had intentionally never asked – been casting dark magic like it was going out of style. Revealing that information to the rest of the family was one thing, but if Dora was going to keep that a secret from her fellow Aurors, all of whom learned enough dark magic over the course of fighting it that one of them going rogue and naming himself a Dark Lord was a legitimate nightmare scenario, then what were the chances she would tell the Order anything?

"Then we are left with a frustrating conundrum," Dumbledore said, one hand running over his beard. "Two people who can both be proven to be at the scene, and yet your accounts are mutually exclusive. One of you is either mistaken or lying."

She shrugged her shoulders as though she didn't have a clue. If she were really trying to needle him, now would be the perfect time to refer to the accusations about him altering kids' minds, but she wasn't going to be so stupid as to—

"Considering only one of them has recently spent time around someone who has been accused of manipulating people's thoughts, I know whose version of events I would trust," Narcissa pointed out in an airy voice.

The tail end of her comment was nearly lost amid the protests the rest of the Order voiced. "That's a lie!" Molly Weasley yelled, her voice rising above the rest. "Everyone knows that nasty Umbridge woman made all that up!"

"Then perhaps one of the active Aurors among us can tell us just what the DMLE's position is on the subject. Surely they have investigated those claims."

Dora kept silent, knowing that her own testimony would be ignored because of who her family was, so after another few seconds Kingsley sighed. "We did investigate, and what we found is that some students did, in fact, admit to certain things that led her to that conclusion. The veracity of their statements is still in question, but it was not a fabrication on Umbridge's end."

And if that wasn't the most politic way ever of saying that the charges were true but he didn't want to believe them, she didn't know what was.

His words seemed to mollify the group, though, who could now convince themselves that they were not in the wrong. "Probably it was a bunch of Slytherins who said that," the same wizard said, blind to the glares he received from both Narcissa and Snape. "But it still doesn't help us figure out what really happened."

Dumbledore finally spoke now that his followers had reassured themselves that he would never do something so foul. "Thank you for your faith in me. I am saddened that you would think so little of me even now, Madam Malfoy, but I assure you and everyone else here that I have done nothing of the sort. Doubtless you do not believe me, but it is the truth."

"You're right, I don't believe you," the Dark witch replied, voice silky and dangerous. "You see, I still remember how you set yourself against my younger niece practically from the moment she set foot inside Hogwarts. I remember how you seized our family's belongings without cause and destroyed them. I remember how you attempted to punish her when she defended herself from ten witches and wizards who tried to grievously injure or even kill her, and how it took that news leaking to the press and the DMLE getting involved to have the ringleader arrested and the rest sufficiently cowed that they did not try such a despicable thing again." The smile she shot Dumbledore from across the table was sharp as a razor. "From my personal experience, twisting young Mister Potter's memories to cast her in the worst possible light would be par for the course for you, and to then indirectly accuse my other niece of lying? Why, that would just be the icing on the cake."

"I did not say Tonks was lying," argued the old man, "merely that one of their stories must, by sheer necessity, be wrong. Whether such inaccuracies are intentional or not is something I cannot say without more information at hand. Besides," he turned to face Dora, "one of the discrepancies between your account and Danny's is that he said that at one point Voldemort vanished, at which time you fell to the ground in apparent pain. It is well-known to all of us who fought in the last war that Voldemort is capable of possession, and in such a case, it is not an impossibility that the mental attack could have skewed your perceptions. How sure are you in your memories, Auror Tonks?" Dumbledore asked in a gentle tone that nonetheless sounded almost mocking to her ears. "Can you say without a single doubt that everything you think happened is true?"

"Considering my cousin was there for that part of the fight and her story matches mine, yes, I can say without a doubt that I was at no point possessed and that my memory is totally intact," she lied boldly. "Moreover, something I don't remember is Potter sticking around. He vanished shortly after I Apparated in, and I did not see him again until after the fight was over." Leaving that for the Order to mull over, she leaned back and carefully glanced over at Mad-Eye. If anyone was going to ruin this smokescreen, it would be him.

The old Auror was looking right at her, both eyes focused, and as she watched, he pointedly looked away and took a sip from his hip flask. She grinned inside; yeah, he would keep her secret.

"If that's where you stand, then I suppose further discussion is pointless. However, also related to the Auror Office… Kingsley." The African wizard looked up at the sound of Dumbledore calling his name. "You mentioned to me last week that you had heard rumors of changes that would be coming to the Corps. Do you have any more information on that score?"

Kingsley stood, and Dora's mind raced as she tried to figure out what they were talking about. The only thing she could think of that fit that was…

"Yes, Professor. Minister Bones just a few days ago signed a set of executive orders that have informally been termed the Crouch Protocols within the Ministry. It is, in many ways, a return to the operational orders Bartemius Crouch got signed off for the Aurors and Hit Wizards during the tail end of the previous war." Kingsley frowned. "More specifically, they permit field commanders to authorize lethal force without consulting the director and lower the amount of evidence necessary to make arrests based on suspicion of public threat. Officially, this is to hasten the capturing of suspected Death Eaters and avoid losing sight of them while waiting for an official arrest warrant to be issued, but…" Giving Sirius a short nod, he continued, "It also increases the chance of people being arrested unjustly. That is not to say that such things will certainly happen, but the potential for abuse is still there.

"There are some other changes in protocol that were made, such as placing Listening Charms in public places where known or suspected criminals have been found to visit frequently and reducing the number of Wizengamot members needed to approve the use of Veritaserum for interrogation, but those are relatively minor in comparison."

"Surely that can't be legal," Arthur Weasley said, several others muttering in agreement. "Wouldn't changing laws like this need approval from the Wizengamot?"

James Potter and Dumbledore both nodded, but then Kingsley continued, "Ordinarily, yes, but since we are officially in a state of war, she does have a little leeway. There is a precedent that wartime Ministers have greater latitude in regard to the orders they give the DMLE, and the permit for lethal force and evidence threshold are not a change in the law so much as a change of department policy, which even under normal circumstances is well within her purview. Furthermore, while the orders she has issued will need ratification by the Wizengamot to continue, she does have a wartime grace period of sixty days before that is necessary. She did, however, mention to several of the Senior Aurors that she would be asking them for official approval fairly soon, potentially at the next meeting."

"Good." Everyone turned to look at Mad-Eye in surprise. Letting his blue eye rove over their faces, he shrugged and explained, "About time we started fighting fire with fire. Nothing tempts predators like prey that won't fight back."

"Alastor, surely you are not serious," Dumbledore began, only to be cut off by the ex-Auror's raspy laugh.

"Not serious? Albus, you know I was an active Auror in the last war." He jerked his thumb at the scars crisscrossing his face. "It's where I got most of these, after all. Crouch only got those expanded powers for the DMLE in the final year of it, and do you know what? That was when we actually started getting ahead of the bastards. Do you really think any of the Death Eaters were remorseful about what they did? Do you think if threatened with jail time, they would stop, even without the richer members paying for them to get off? No. Besides, the ones who aren't devoted to the cause are more scared of their boss than they are of us. They won't surrender. They won't stop. Not unless we make them."

"So instead you want to murder them all?" James asked, a sick expression coming over his face. "If we descend to their level, we'll be just like them."

"You're saying I'm just like the Death Eaters, then? I took down my fair share of them last time." A couple of people, to Dora's complete shock, actually turned green at that. "And it's not murder if they're trying to kill you. Not if they're trying to kill someone else, either."

Dumbledore frowned, the expression more like a scowl. Speaking carefully, he asked, "Not to denigrate your efforts and sacrifices, but how does that sort out the actual Death Eaters from those who are victims of the Imperius? Surely you are not advocating killing everyone who happens to be in regalia."

"A cynical individual might say that there will always be collateral damage in a war," he answered in a thoughtful voice. Dora had to fight her bark of laughter down; it would be hard to find someone more cynical than Mad-Eye. Or more distrustful and paranoid, for that matter. Before anyone could freak out too much, however, he continued, "But no, I'm not. Do you really think we just barged in throwing curses at anything that moves?" He shook his head. "People under the Imperius act differently, and their reactions are slowed. Most of the time, they could be Stunned with little risk. Those who move faster, who obviously are trying to kill us? If we could capture them alive, we did – you can't interrogate a corpse, after all – but if it was too dangerous, sometimes killing them was the only option. It's distasteful, no doubt about it, but you do what you have to do."

"Killing is never the only option," Lily refused.

Dora glanced about the room. That she and Kingsley were in agreement with Mad-Eye, albeit reluctantly on the African wizard's part, was no great surprise; as Aurors, they were the ones who were going to be putting their lives on the line every day. For Narcissa and Snape, both of whom were of a Darker persuasion, to be comfortable with the turns this conversation had taken was likewise expected. So, too, was the disgust and denial on the majority of the Order's faces. What was surprising was the few wizards and witches who, despite their discomfort, appeared to be giving it some serious thought.

From next to her, Sirius let out a faint whine but said nothing.

Dumbledore, too, was surveying the Order, but what he thought about what he saw was a mystery. "This is something we clearly will need to discuss more at a later date. Following our last engagement with the Death Eaters, Alastor suggested we spend time practicing how to react as groups, and so he and I have divided the Order into several teams. I have the list with me"—here he held out a roll of parchment—"so please take a look at it before you leave. Alastor and Kingsley have both offered to act as your opponents for this training so you will have experience dueling people with similar skills to the more dangerous Death Eaters; Tonks, would you be willing to do the same?"

"Sure," she answered easily. It would be good for the Order members to learn how to defend themselves more effectively, especially after Jen's reminder of just how badly they had done in their previous fight.

"Thank you. Is there anything else anyone wishes to discuss?" When no one spoke, he concluded, "Until we next meet, then. I do not need to tell you that we are in dark and dangerous times. Stay safe."

Everyone stood and immediately broke up into small groups, no doubt to discuss the divide that had just been revealed. Not for the first time, Dora wished Jen had taught her how the girl could keep track of everything going on around her. Her aunt took her hand, shaking her from her thoughts, and tugged her toward the door. "Was it everything you hoped it to be?" the older witch asked, a raised eyebrow indicating there was more to the question than what had just been voiced.

A moment's thought let her realize what it was Narcissa really wanted to know. "Is this what it's always like? Just spreading information around?" The woman thought for a moment before nodding, and she admitted, "Maybe Jen had the right of it, then. Except for that last little revelation, there's nothing here that I didn't already know, and they don't seem to really do anything."

"Yes, that was certainly interesting," Narcissa murmured in agreement. "I might just need to reach out to a few people, sound out their thoughts on the subject. And in the Order's defense," she added in a reluctant voice, as if she would rather do anything else than defend Dumbledore's crew, "in the last war they did have a decent record of responding to the raids alongside or even before the DMLE could arrive. Lucius certainly complained about them showing up to interfere often enough."

While Dora was still caught off-guard by that admission – not that she was unaware of Lucius's membership in the Death Eaters, but just from the sheer surprise that the habitually circumspect Narcissa would speak of it so openly – a loud thunk, thunk made her turn her head. "Painted a bit of a target on your back, didn't you, Mad-Eye?" she joked.

"Just said what needed to be said. Fourteen years of peace left us all a little complacent. That ambush was a wake-up call." He turned his ugly visage to Narcissa. "Not that I want to tell you to go away, but Tonks and I need to have a private chat. Go away."

"And here I thought you had finally learned some manners. Such a disappointment." Dora was not sure if her aunt's smile was meant to take away from or reinforce the cattiness of that remark. "You're a big girl, Dora. I hope you won't mind if we don't wait up for you."

"No, I think I can Floo home on my own, thanks."

Mad-Eye clucked his tongue as he watched Narcissa walk off. "There are days I wonder how you can stand to be around her."

Some days I wonder the same, but… She shrugged. "You can choose your friends. You can't choose your family."

"Aye, that's the truth." Stomping across the hallway to a closed door, he waved his wand at it in one of the more esoteric unlocking charms she knew and let himself in. Dora followed, taking a glance around a small powder room before the door swung shut behind her.

She grinned to herself. "Look, Mad-Eye. I'm flattered, really, but I just don't like you like that."

"Can it, girlie." The old wizard settled himself on the lid of the toilet and stared at her. "You and I both know you were lying about what happened when you fought Voldemort. I haven't heard all the details – all Albus told me was that there were a number of discrepancies – but I suspect Potter's version of events is closer to what actually happened. I think you're covering up for Black."

"Was there a question in there?" she asked sweetly.

He snorted. "Just tell me this. Are you doing it because she's family, or are you doing it because you think it's in the public's best interest? Are you acting like a Black or like an Auror?"

"Can't I be doing both?" His natural eye, dark and beady, narrowed at her while the electric blue one continued spinning dizzily. Before he could say anything, she continued, "My cousin fought Voldemort. Head on. By herself. Far as I could tell from how she told it, Potter was a distraction at best. A fifteen-year-old girl, and while she didn't land a solid blow on him"—Mad-Eye grunted disparagingly—"he also couldn't touch her. She wasn't trying to stop him, either; what she cared about was killing him."

"Did she use dark magic?" he asked in a knowing tone.

"If it's not in the official report, I'm going to say no, she didn't." That actually earned a mocking laugh from her old mentor. "And, for the sake of argument, let's assume she did. Would it really matter what she used to kill him as long as she managed it in the end?"

"If it means we'll have to worry about a Dark Lady rising up to take his place in a decade, yeah, I'd be concerned." She bristled at that, and he held up one hand. "Not saying for sure she would or wouldn't, but you know that's what Albus would suggest. A bunch of other people who were just in that room, too. And you have to admit they've got a point; the Blacks don't have a reputation of being trustworthy. Give them power, and they'll take as much as they can the second you turn your back."

"And yet you called me a Black just a minute ago. Are you saying you don't trust me?"

His craggy face shifted as a mocking smile appeared. "I don't trust no one, cadet. You should know that better than most. I didn't get a good read of the girl when I was a teacher; too busy trying to figure out who messed with the Goblet and then increasing the security around Hogwarts. What I do know is that she acts a lot like your aunts, and that's not a comparison I like."

"She's Bellatrix's daughter and spent a lot of time growing up with Narcissa," she commented, repeating the lie that they all had grown so familiar with over the last year. Sometimes it got hard to remember that it wasn't a lie. "I'd be more surprised if she didn't act like them. But it doesn't mean she's evil." Back straightening, she declared, "I'd fight alongside her again in a heartbeat."

"Fight with her again?" Mad-Eye asked with a nasty smile. "I don't recall that being in the report. In fact, I think it said that you fought him alone as soon as you arrived." She winced at that mistake, but before she could say anything, he opened the door. "You've got a good head on your shoulders – I managed to teach you that much, at least – so I'll leave it alone for now. But if I think it becomes relevant, we'll have to talk about this again, and it won't be so friendly. Understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." Unless he thought Jen was a threat, that she really was going to turn into a Dark Lady, this was a nonissue, but if he ever did start thinking that… She shuddered. Even after fighting Voldemort, crossing wands with Mad-Eye Moody was still a terrifying prospect.

"Good. Now, I think I need to talk to some other people. See if I can't convince them not to do something stupid just because Albus is the one who told them to do it." The ex-Auror shook his head. "I like the guy, but Merlin, he can be an idiot sometimes."


Oh, Dora. She's actually my third favorite character in the series, behind Luna (obviously my number one) and snapping at Hermione's heels. She loses points for the moping she does during the whole Lupin/Tonks subplot in book 6 (you'll see why that irritates me next chapter), but Hermione was also a massive bitch in that book, so she isn't that far from stealing the silver.

Silently Watches out.