Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 3 – Welcome home

Out of everything Melanie had expected, this was nothing like it.

Remus Lupin smiled at her. Melanie got a flash back from her third year at Hogwarts; a younger and healthier Remus Lupin, smiling at the same way, and said she looked just like her father.

"But … Professor Lupin …?"

"Remus. I'm not your teacher anymore." She was very confused and stared from Remus to Allison, who watched her tea, and back again. "Please, sit down." Remus pulled out the chair beside him. "Tea?" Melanie nodded speechlessly.

"Why …?" was all she managed to say.

"Why am I here?" Melanie nodded again. Remus had that bad habit of being able to read her like an open book. She assumed she really was like her father.

"I'm going to take you with me to Sirius." Melanie had forgotten she had sent Howie. This time Remus answered before she even opened her mouth: "Your father is the second most wanted wizard in the country, you know. How would it look like if he just walked up the driveway and knocked your door?"

"Like he wanted to see his daughter", grinned Melanie.

"Precisely", said Remus. "That's why you're probably supervised by the Ministry."

"But he didn't do it!" said Melanie hotly.

"Like we said a year ago: We don't have any evidence. Peter got away."

"But we saw – !" spit Melanie.

"Calm down, Melanie. You know it was word against word", said Remus softly.

Yes, Melanie most certainly remembered how Snape first off had lied for the Minister and claimed that Sirius cast a Confundus Charm over Melanie, Harry, Ron and Hermione, and then Snape "accidentally" revealed that Remus was a werewolf, which had cost Remus his job.

"Don't think about it", said Remus. "Have you packed?" he asked instead. Melanie nodded – she hadn't even got any time to unpack. But she was still confused, and it hadn't really helped to be overwhelmed by old memories. And for the record, it was indeed overwhelming to walk into her own kitchen and be offered tea by Remus Lupin.

"I guess we're ..." he began, facing Allison, and stood up. He squeezed her shoulder encouragingly when he passed her. "Sirius is waiting. I guess we'll tell you everything you need to know when we're there", he continued, now turned to Melanie. "Are you coming?"

She jumped to her feet and fetched her trunk and Howie's empty cage. She had been a bit worried when he didn't return, but now she knew he was with Sirius. Allison sat in the same position, obviously far away in mind. Suddenly Melanie became aware of Remus' look in her neck and felt obligated to say something to her mother.

"Well, bye mom. I'm going now."

"Have fun", said Allison rather blankly.

"We're traveling with the Knight Bus", explained Remus when they stepped out on the little street in front of the house, Melanie lugging her trunk and owl cage. Remus stretched out his wand arm. A sharp bang rang and the squally purple, triple decked Knight Bus appeared in front of them.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus", said the pimpled conductor Stan Shunpike and stepped out on the street. He helped Melanie with her baggage and Remus paid.

"Now hang on a minute ..." said Stan suddenly and gazed at Melanie. "You look like ..." His face wrinkled from concentration, a look worthy the Slytherin Gregory Goyle. "Ernie, doesn' she look jus' like that crazy murderer Sirius Black, does she! Yeah, sure she does! I remember him 'cause Harry Potter travelled with us, two years ago, and he didn' kno' who Sirius Black was, so I showed him the picture from The Prophet, didn't I, Ern?" said Stan and it almost appeared as if he was talking to himself, rather than the driver Ernie.

Melanie, who was so happy and relieved to finally meet Sirius, became entirely flabbergasted by hearing Stan talk about her father and Harry, as if they were exhibition objects. Anger sparkled inside her.

A calming hand was put on her shoulder. Remus seemed to know she became angry and as usual he had a soothing effect on her, knowing which button to press, so she swallowed her vicious answer and let herself be guided backwards in the bus. They climbed the stairs to the second floor. The bus wasn't crowded but everyone who had heard what Stan said goggled Melanie as if she carried a contagious infection. Melanie got extremely snarly and glared furiously back.

Eventually she found a somewhat lone seat in the very front of the bus (after a pale witch had left her seat, while staring so much, Melanie imagined her eyes popping out). Melanie put her trunk down and sat on the seat closest to the window, with Howie's cage in her lap. Remus sat next to her.

"He –!" she began, at the same time the bus hopped to the countryside and their chairs slid backwards.

"I know ..." interrupted Remus. "How was it at Dave's?"

As tactful as always, he changed subject for conversation. Melanie felt an unexpected wave of affection for Remus. She's always seen him as somewhat of an uncle – since it felt like she'd always known Remus, as if he'd always been there for her, even though they only had known each other for about two years. When she later on found out that Remus and Sirius were close friends during their own Hogwarts time, he certainly fit in under the dad's-brother-category.

"We had so fun ..." Melanie told Remus everything that had happened and what they had done at Dave's house – and it was not an easy task since their chairs were flying all over the place. When she told him about Allison's and Mr and Mrs Marcus conversation and Dave's conclusions Melanie could see a slight twitch in Remus' corners of his mouth.

"What! You know something!"

"Let's just say that Dave is a very sharp lad." Melanie stuck her tongue out. "Come on, finish your story", said Remus teasingly and didn't manage to hide his amusement. Melanie, who didn't want to sit around and pretend being angry with him, came around and continued her telling. In that moment the bus made a sharp jump and an abrupt stop. Melanie and Remus' chairs crashed into empty seats, other travelers and their luggage and formed a giant pile in the front. It took them several minutes to free themselves from the disorder, find Melanie's baggage and sit down again – before Melanie could finish her story.

They kept on chitchatting until Stan yelled "King's Cross!" and the bus stopped so sharp they almost flew out the front window. Remus rose and pulled Melanie on her feet.

"But … why – ?" Melanie believed she must have missed something very important since she didn't understand why they stopped at King's Cross. They weren't catching a train, were they? Remus shoved her down the stairs and towards the exit.

"Later", he said strictly. The other passengers began staring again while Stan helped Melanie with her baggage.

"You should kno' you really look like –"

"My dad, yeah I know", said Melanie in reply. She waved provokingly good bye – the moment later the bus had vanished with a loud crack.

"Come on", said Remus and started walking. "We're stretching our legs for a while. And I'm not sure if that was the best of good byes … but you are your father's daughter ..." A broad grin spread in Melanie's face. She was indeed her father's daughter.

"Thanks", she grinned. "But why'd we stop here?" A fleetingly smile flew across Remus' face.

"It's safety precautions", he answered mysterious. Melanie became very curious and tried to get more out of him but Remus retained like a clam. "I will tell you – soon."

They kept walking in silence in, what in Melanie's book seemed like an eternity, but in fact was about twenty minutes. They entered a small open space, with a rampant grassplot in the middle, surrounded by worn houses, all looking like they've been there for centuries. Despite the light summer sky, the corners were dark and dusky; all the street lamps were put out, Melanie noticed surprised.

Was this the place where Sirius was hiding? Did he live here? If Melanie's life had been different, would she'd been living here now? Would she'd liked it? The question's spun in her head.

A cheerful dog bark broke the silence and woke Melanie from her speculations. A large, black dog came leaping towards them. Melanie's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the dog. She was home.

"Padfoot!" hissed Remus as the dog skipped around their legs, almost making them trip over him. Melanie fancied joyful leaps together with Sirius, but instead she tripped over him and would have fallen head first if Remus hadn't grabbed her by the arm.

All of a sudden, a man stood in front of them. He was tall and thin and wore a sky-blue robe beneath a black traveling cloak. His long, wavy, silver hair and beard was unmistakeably characteristic.

"Good evening, Remus", greeted Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening", answered Remus.

"I see you have miss Black with you", Dumbledore continued and stretched out his hand.

"Pro-Professor", said Melanie and shook his hand. She looked from Dumbledore, to Remus, to Sirius, who was still skipping around them, and back again. This definitely had to be some kind of joke. The Headmaster smiled.

"Everything is set now, Remus. I think Melanie here needs an explanation –" he said, facing Remus. "Which she also will receive ..." he added when Melanie opened her mouth. "... inside!" he finished with a excited expression. Vaguely Melanie wondered whether he thought himself funny, but got second thoughts when Dumbledore pulled out a small piece of parchment and handed it over to Melanie and Remus.

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

Dumbledore watched Melanie, who once again wondered if she had missed out on something. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Fidelius Charm", murmured Remus, once again before Melanie had even asked.

"Before I leave, and before you go inside, Remus, I want to talk to Melanie", said Dumbledore. Melanie wondered who had stuffed her brain full with Fizzing Whizzbees, because her brain seemed to be fizzing from the overload.

"Melanie, I must ask you to promise me, not to tell Harry anything about the Order of the Phoenix – " Melanie felt her face turn into a surprised look. Why wasn't Harry supposed to know? He didn't know a thing, while he was locked up and alone in his aunt and uncle's house.

"Why?" she said in a defiant tone.

"You've got to promise me." His voice was mild and friendly as usual; he didn't seem to take notice of her resistance, and that made irritated her.

"Why?" she repeated.

"Harry mustn't know more than he needs to know, and you may never, under any circumstances, write anything important in a letter. Letters can be snatched and read, and the last thing we want is our secrets leaking out to … let's say … unauthorized." His tone was still mild but when Melanie met his eyes they radiated a certainty and appeared to be looking through Melanie's very own thoughts.

"Promise me, Melanie." She nodded with an uncomfortable feeling in her midriff, the feeling of being read like a book by the Headmaster, mixed with the unpleasant feeling of Harry still being kept ignorant.

Suddenly Melanie became unaware of what happened around her, in an infrequency way she was preoccupied with thoughts and merely noticed when Dumbledore disappeared in thin air, or when Remus, with a wave of his wand, followed by a numerous clicking sounds from different locks, locked up a door that hadn't been there when they arrived. Neither did she noticed herself walking through the black painted and very old door to number twelve.

Inside, Melanie returned to reality by a peculiar and nasty smell, from something very old, almost … rotten. But she hadn't much time to reflect over the smell or the gruesome soul in the room, because she was shoved down the stairs and down into the basement. The door closed and Sirius, in his human form, strode towards her and embraced her in a bear hug. Nothing else seemed to matter anymore.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Yeah", said Melanie.

"Welcome by the way!" grinned Sirius hand made an ironical hand gesture towards the room. Melanie looked around and realised that it was more of a kitchen rather than a basement – a long table was placed in the middle, which Remus had sat down by and placed his cobbled traveling cloak over the back of the chair, and casseroles and frying pans were hanging from the ceiling. The only light source was a fire, which crackled joyfully in the far end of the room.

"D'you live here?" asked Melanie and the stiff smile from Sirius' face and was replaced with a exasperated expression.

"I never thought I'd have to come back here. This was my parents house ..." He seemed for a moment lost in the past. "A portrait of my mother is hanging in the hall, that's the reason why we didn't stay there longer than necessary." He realised that Melanie didn't understand and continued: "She doesn't like having me back." He laughed bitterly and marched to the stove. Melanie had expected … well, a different place than Sirius childhood home.

"You hungry?" asked Sirius. Melanie nodded, still quiet. He started to boil pasta and fried some meatballs. Remus put three Butterbeers on the table and Melanie found tomato sauce in the spence. They sat down by the table and started to eat with good appetite. There were so many things Melanie wanted to know but she just didn't seem to know what to ask first. Sirius noticed her quietness.

"You regret coming here?" he asked. How could she? She met his gaze and realised he was just teasing her

"Never", she said in reply.

"How was it at Dave's?" Melanie began once again to tell about Allison's and Mr and Mrs Marcus' hush-hush, Harry's letter and the trip to the lake.

"Smart kids", said Sirius smilingly when she was done.

Remus nodded. "I said the same thing."

"But …" said Melanie and put her knife and fork together on the empty plate. "Can't you tell me? What's going on?"

"Well", said Sirius and scratched his stubble. "They were right. Voldemort doesn't have much going on, at least not outwards."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Melanie. "'Not outwards'?"

"Well, let's put it like this; he's not home, laying on the couch and sucking his thumb. As far as we know he's trying to build up his army again, but in the dark."

"Despite the fact that Dumbledore learned immediately that he's back, the whole situation is in his favor. It's Fudge's and The Ministry's approach that make people have doubts, and it creates fear." Melanie understood what Remus meant and she repeated what she had said to Dave and Oliver:

"Not knowing is scary." Remus nodded seriously and Sirius patted her comforting on the back. "But I wonder … what's the Order of the Phoenix?" Remus lowered his butterbeer. "Dumbledore spoke about it outside ..." Sirius threw Remus an astonished look.

"She doesn't know?"

Remus put down his drink and shook his head. "Allison hasn't told her."

"Hasn't told –" said Sirius testily.

"Hasn't told me what?" uttered Melanie, bursting with curiosity.

"No, Sirius", said Remus as if there had been no interruption. Melanie felt like a kid, trying desperately to convince her parents to buy ice cream in the middle of ice cold winter. Remus continued: "Whether you like it or not, Melanie actually has a mother too."

"Why do you always have to defend her?"

"I wouldn't need to, if you stopped attacking her ..." said Remus restrainedly.

"Oh, come on", Sirius burst out.

"You know that things aren't they way they were before – it's been, what, thirteen years – "

"It's not like you can put that on me", Sirius cut off darkly.

"No", said Remus hastily. "You know I don't. But she's been through a though time –"

"Then what have I been through?" Sirius raised his voice.

"... I just mean that it hasn't been a bed of roses outside either, Sirius! Allison was eighteen years old and had lost everything. Her family turned their back on her, she was unemployed and you were gone. How easy do you think it was raising a baby in that state?"

"Of course, perfectly good old Remus came and saved the day, didn't he?" spit Sirius ironically. "You slept with her too?"

"All I did ..." began Remus close-bitten. Melanie had never seen him try so hard not to lose his self-possession. "All I did … was to take care of my best friend's daughter … and her mother …!"

Both Sirius and Remus had stood up and was now standing on each side of the table and scowled at each other. Melanie was terrified by the thought of them pouncing at each other at any second, so she cleared her throat as loudly as she could.

"Er … well, hullo ..." She waved her arms and they broke their intense eye contact and turned, with milder expressions, to Melanue. "Yes … I'm still here", she said. "And I still wonder what the Order of the Phoenix is ..."

Sirius opened his mouth but Remus cut him off. "Not again", moaned Melanie.

"Allison has kept quiet for a reason", said Remus in a calm voice. "For Melanie's sake, try to cooperate ..."

"No, no don't let me cause any problem, none at all", muttered Melanie.

Sirius bridled his neck uncompromisingly. "I still think she has the right to know, especially if she's gonna live in the Headquarters."

Melanie felt a sudden urge to jump onto the table and celebrate with every victory gesture she knew, but believed this was not appropriate at the moment. Instead, she sat there, quiet and waited keenly.

With a last look at Remus, Sirius began talking: "Dumbledore created the Order before the first war. It's a group of witches and wizards who dare to pick up the battle with the dark side."

"Have you always been a part of it?" asked Melanie breathlessly. Remus nodded and Sirius continued.

"Yes, we joined after school ..." He looked crestfallen when he thought back, and hesitated slightly. "... But when Voldemort disappeared the Order wasn't needed anymore – until now, obviously. Dumbledore summoned the Order about an hour after his return, and here we are now."

"But, what do you do, more exactly?"

"Well", said Sirius after a reproachful look from Remus. "The biggest problem now is really to get people to understand that Voldemort is back. Far to many people believes The Prophet, though", said Sirius grimly.

"How do you become a member of the Order?" asked Melanie eagerly. Remus sighed and hid his face in his hands. Sirius didn't look surprised either, but shocked Melanie with his answer.

"Oh no, there's the line. Honey, you can't join." Remus looked up, almost taken aback, when Sirius continued. "By the way, it's neither fun nor adventurous or whatever you might think – we don't really run around and battle Death Eaters every five minutes. Me, I'm sitting here on my butt! Ask Remus instead, at least he has duty", proclaimed Sirius and threw his arms out towards Remus.

"Sirius …!"

But Sirius just grinned and caught Melanie yawning. "Aha!" he said and jumped to his feet. "Sleepy, say good night to Moony and I'll show you where you're sleeping." Sirius pulled Melanie out of the kitchen, past the dark hallway and up more stairs. Melanie vaguely wondered whether the whole house consisted of stairs and doors, since that was all she could she in the absent light and the dust flowing around like mist.

Finally Sirius stopped at a landing step and opened a worn door. He brought an ancient gas lamp to life and in the obscure light Melanie could see a small room with two old beds at each side of the room. In the far end a giant wardrobe stood leaning on one side. The doors were lying on the floor.

"Er, yeah", said Sirius and cleared his throat while he sat down on the left bed. The bedsprings groaned. "Not really a five star hotel, but I reckon it'll do. You don't wanna know how it looked like before." The last sentence he just mumbled and hoped Melanie wouldn't hear. But she did.

"Tell me", she said and surveyed her own bed. He didn't respond immediately, but when he did, he was serious.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. It should have stayed between Remus and myself ..." Melanie stiffened. She didn't know how to answer, she didn't even know what she thought about the whole situation. I had just been very … awkward. However, she was relieved to realise that Sirius didn't expected an answer, he just leaned forward and kissed her in the forehead.

"You're my Pearl, you know that, don't you?" he said with a warm smile and stood up. Melanie thought about her middle name. "I gave you that name, you know", he said.

"I've always wondered who came up with that weird name …!"

"Hey!" laughed Sirius and stopped in the doorway. "I love you honey."

"I love you too, dad."

A/N: Aaaaaaand enter favourite J.K. characters! What do you think about my portrayal? Is it worthy?