Trinity finished cleaning herself and she walked downstairs, brushing her long black hair. She could hear happy voices as she approached the kitchen, voices untainted with pain and devastation.

The witch was marred by the death of her beloved Muggle husband.

She vowed never again, to let that love be replaced in her heart.

So she locked up her love, her pain, her emotions,

This way, no one would ever see her true feelings.

All they would see would be a strong woman, who was not affected by pain.

Trinity remembered reading that passage from a book a while ago. It had touched her then, made her cry sad tears for the witch who could feel nothing. But now, she knew how that witch felt, wanting to not feel the pain of losing someone you were so close to, the betrayel of being left behind. Before she stepped into the kitchen, Trinity locked up her emotions and put on a straight face, a face that showed no pain and no fear. Nothing, no one, would ever replace her mother's love in her heart

Trinity entered the kitchen to silence. Two red-headed kids, a black haired boy, and a brunette, all looking to be around the same age as her, stared at her with interest, yet no one seemed able to speak a word. It was the red-headed boy who caught Trinity's eyes the most, the way he looked at her as if she were something spectacular. It was uncomfortable, the way he stared.

Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley broke the silence.

"Good morning, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "Did you sleep well? How are you feeling?"

Trinity gave a shrug to both questions and sat down at the table across from the red-headed boy.

Mrs. Weasley tried again. "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Trinity decided to satisfy her need for conversation. "No thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

Mrs. Weasley seemed delighted that the girl still had a voice. Mr. Weasley came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kids, this is Trinity Black, she'll be staying with us for a while."

The atmosphere seemed to tense a bit at the sound of her last name. Had Mr. and Mrs. Weasley already told them about her mom?

The red-headed boy was the first to break the silence. He leaned across the table and held out his hand. "Ron Weasley," he said, giving her a small smile.

"Ginny Weasley," said the red-headed girl.

"Hermione Granger," said the brunette.

"Harry Potter," the black-haired boy said.

Trinity shook hands with all of them polietely. "It's nice to meet you all. . . . But, really, Mr. Weasley, I can't stay. My mom said that you could probably tell me where I could find Sirius Black."

No one seemed to want to look at her after she had spoken. Trinity looked around the kitchen, confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Trinity dear," Mrs. Weasley said, bending down so that she could look her straight into the eyes. "This might be hard for you to here, but . . . Sirius Black – he – he – passed away in the middle of last year."

Trinity stared at Mrs. Weasley for a minute before looking at her hands. "Oh," she said.

"I'm terribly sorry, dear," Mrs. Weasley said.

Trinity nodded. "Could you excuse me?" she said, getting up.

She left the room and went out the door that led to their backyard. She closed the door behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist.

Wonderful. Just magnificently perfect.

In two minutes, her dream of meeting with Sirius again and being in his reasurring arms had been dashed.

She sat down cross-legged in the middle of the garden, trying to calm her rapid thoughts. They were starting to make her head hurt.

"Hey."

Trinity looked over her shoulder to see Ron Weasley coming over to her. She had sort of wanted to be alone but . . . the idea of another presence was somewhat comforting.

"Mind if I sit here?" Ron asked.

Trinity shook her head and he sat down, leaning back on his hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Trinity said, not being able to resist. "I just found out I'm an orphan, but I'm perfectly fine."

"You know, Harry's been an orphan his whole life."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"A little, I guess, I mean, you have to remember the fact that you got to spend seventeen years wth your mom, at least. And that's a whole lot better than none."

Trinity had to admit he was right, no matter how much she hated it. She was grateful for all the time she had with her mother and the couple of hours she had with Sirius. Nothing could take those wonderful memories from her.

She took another tack though. "How did you know I was seventeen?"

"Just one of those little things I remembered from when we were little. Your birthday's today, too."

Trinity felt a small smile on her face. They had been friends when they were little, she remembered now. Friends until she was about five, when she and her mother had moved. "We used to play with little toy brooms here in the garden," she said.

"Yeah, and I used to fall off my broom all the time and you would fall off yours to make Fred and George stop laughing at me."

Trinity grinned and a small laugh came from her mouth, but she quickly wiped it away.

"Whoa," Ron said, sitting up.

"What?" Trinity asked looking at him.

"You just changed incredibly fast."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, one minute, you looked happy and then the next, you were indifferente. You did the same thing inside when Mom told you about Sirius. I thought for a minute you were going to cry and then all you said was 'oh'."

"What's your point?"

"Just that, if I had found out my dad was . . . gone, I'd probably cry."

"Crying isn't going to help the situation."

"Yeah, but it might make you cfeel a little better."

"Wouldn't help."

"Wouldn't hurt."

Trinity shrugged. Ronald Weasley was a bit annoying but right. Her mother always said that crying cleanses the heart. But Trinity always considered it as a sign of weakness.

For some reason though, talking to Ron had made her feel a little better but it had made her a bit wary. He had made her laugh to easily. She'd have to keep her guard up around him.

"So . . . what does your mom have to eat?" Trinity asked.

Ron grinned, a charming grin that took up half his face. "Loads of stuff, come on."

He held out his hand to her and picked her up. Then he led her inside, telling her about all the different kind of food they had.

This was going to be an interesting month.