Author's Note: I humbly apologise for the late update. I've been struggling from a very hectic college schedule and a bad writer's block. But here is the next chapter. I sincerely hope it came out nice. Thank you to all the readers for sticking up with me. Also thank you to all those who have added the story on their favourite/following lists, and those who reviewed.

I don't own Harry Potter.

Good day to all!

CHAPTER 7

THE TONKS' HOUSEHOLD, CENTRAL LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN

Harry looked around the apartment, observing and taking everything in. He along with Ron and Hermione had arrived for dinner, sharp at six. At the moment, Hermione was helping Andromeda at preparing dinner while Ron was in the living room, clearly impressed with the wonder known as 'Television'. Harry had taken the moment to look around and he admitted that the Tonks' owned a beautiful house; certainly very homely as compared to the Dursley's. The wall high glass windows gave a perfect view of Central London, while each wall was lined by family photos, paintings and what not. His gaze was fixed on a family photo; a young Nymphadora smiling widely as Ted and Andromeda kissed her on either cheek. It was a beautiful picture, full of love and happiness, and Harry wondered if he would ever get the chance to live a life like that.

The only time Harry had been happy, had been content was when his godfather was alive. Sirius had loved him like his own, lived Harry with every fibre in his being, but now he was gone. Of course, Harry still had Remus, but after Sirius' death his honorary werewolf godfather too was broken; broken after losing his brother and best friend.

"I was eight at that time," Nymphadora said as she came to stand beside Harry and relived the fond memory of that day. "It was the first time I went to the muggle zoo and I was so excited, particularly because I wanted to see penguins. Quirky little creatures they are, and so beautiful. So when I saw them, I totally lost my mind and started jumping like a kangaroo while laughing the whole time. Mum was excited too, you know, because she didn't visit Muggle places very much. And we were so engrossed in our shenanigans that we didn't notice this lady watching us. She approached dad and offered to take a family picture. it was so difficult for me to control my enthusiasm and not metamorphosis myself into a penguin right then." By the time she was finished, Nymphadora was lost in her own little world. It was one of those rare moments Harry had seen her without any trace of worry etched on her face.

"You do look cute in pigtails, Nymphadora." Harry teased his auror friend. And just like that, all the playfulness vanished in thin air.

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Potter. Next time, I won't be so forgiving." Dora glared at Harry as her hair turned from playful pink from angry blue.

"I promise." Harry mock surrendered. His attention snapped to the muffled voices coming from the living room. "More guests?" He asked as Dora watched his expressions carefully.

"Yeah, come on."

As the duo entered the living room, Harry's eyes instantly landed on Draco and his face scrunched up in anger.

"What is he doing here?" Harry pointed a finger at the smirking boy.

"Hello to you too Potter, Weasley and Granger." Draco mock-bowed to the golden trio then turned to Dora and said, "you owe me three galleons. I won the bet."

The look of betrayal on Harry's face spoke a thousand words, and on the other hand, Ron exploded, "Are you conspiring against us? Are you guys in the Dark side now?"

"Ron calm down."

"No, Hermione! They betrayed Harry. Out of all the people they invite Malfoy whom we suspect to be the newest Death Eater. Merlin knows how long have they been going behind our backs."

"We haven't done anything to betray Harry's trust or put his life in danger. Believe us, Hermione." Andromeda said in a calm yet firm tone, trying to convince the only sane person of the trio.

"Come on Hermione, Harry. Let's get out of here." Ron moved towards the fireplace with Harry right behind him, but Hermione didn't budge from her place and stood defiantly, yet thoroughly embarrassed at her friends' outburst. The look of pure hurt that graced Harry's face would surely haunt her for days, Hermione knew that. But she wasn't going to leave the Tonks' household without getting reasonable answers, and so the bushy-haired girl was left all alone in a very awkward situation.

"Our apologies. We didn't know Draco's arrival would cause such a ruckus or I would have never him here with me." A soft voice broke Hermione's gaze from the fireplace and only then she realised that she had totally missed the other guest standing beside Malfoy.

"Forgive my brother for his manners. I'm Elara Black." Elara extended a hand towards the girl who looked pale as a ghost.

"Black?" Hermione's voice only came out as a whisper. She noticed the awkward smile on Elara's face at her sudden questioning tone.

"I'm really sorry I got lost there. I'm Hermione Granger."

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Granger. I certainly have heard a lot about you." Elara gushed, and the instant blush creeping up on Draco's face certainly didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.

"You're Lady Black, aren't you?" No matter how hard she tries, sometimes it was difficult for Hermione to keep a filter on her mouth before asking questions. But Elara only laughed at her innocent curiosity and suggested a suitable solution.

"How about I explain everything to you while we sit in the living room?" Hermione readily agreed while Andromeda breathed a sigh of relief as she went to get some snacks. The Gryffindor chose to sit beside Dora, still a bit wary of the new Black which Elara perfectly understood, and didn't question. Her family reputation had been thoroughly thrashed in the past few years and she was going to make sure that the Black family get it's rightful glory back.

She patiently explained everything to the muggleborn witch and didn't hide anything from her - not even the sudden demise of Bellatrix Lestrange or Elara's marriage proposal to the Dark Lord. She believed that in order to win Harry on their side it would be best not to hide anything from him.

Hermione carefully listened to every word spoken. She would have scoffed at Elara had she truly been light and on Dumbledore's side. But there was something genuine about Elara's expression which made the bushy-haired girl believe her. Now she could see what the Tonks' were up to. They too were neutral, just like Ron and she. The news of Bellatrix's death caught her off guard; she wouldn't have believed it in a million years had Andromeda not backed the story up and told in detail exactly what had occurred. Hermione, though, was generally confused as to why did she thought about marrying the Dark Lord and wanted to ask her the same, but for now, she held her tongue.

"I believe what you said is true," she said as soon as Elara finished her explanation. This made a small smile instantly cover up the Black's face.

"Then I need your help to at least let me explain all of this to Mr Potter." Elara pleaded and Hermione agreed, but she made it perfectly clear that her loyalties lay with Harry and she would support his decision no matter what. She perhaps expected Elara to get irritated with her or ignore her words, but she got quite an opposite response.

"That is perfectly understandable, Miss Granger. You've known Mr Potter longer and better than any of us. I'm quite sure you are aware as to what is actually right for him and in his benefit." With those parting words, Hermione took her leave, mentally preparing herself at the outburst Ron and Harry were going to have at her decision.

THE BURROW, OTTERY St CATCHPOLE, DEVON, ENGLAND

When Hermione came back to the Burrow that evening, she expected a dramatic outburst from Ronald and some angry words like 'how could you do this, Hermione?' from Harry's side. Instead, she was given the silent treatment - the boys didn't even acknowledge her presence much less talk to her. The whole time she was given a cold shoulder, even Ginny saw to that. So after dinner, Hermione went straight to Ron's room to try and explain everything to them.

She stood at the doorway awkwardly for several moments before huffing an exasperated breath and walking right in. Ron was startled when he was suddenly pushed from his place on the bed with an impressive amount of strength.

"What are you doing, Hermione?!" Ron's voice came out as a squeak. Harry too was scowling; Ron and he were supposed to be angry at her, not the other way round.

"Honestly you two act so stupidly sometimes." She glared daggers at her two best friends.

"Us? Stupids? You are the one who chose to stay there after what they did!" Ron exclaimed.

"And what did the Tonks do, Ronald?" She counter questioned them.

"Didn't you see? Malfoy? Why would they invite him of all people at their place? It's clear that they trust him enough to reveal their safe place, which also means that they have met him quite a few times. What do we make about this situation then?" Harry voiced his thoughts. Hermione sighed and looked at them with such an irritated expression which Harry was sure could have beaten that of Snape's.

"Well, first of all, the Tonk's didn't invite Malfoy - he was there only to escort his cousin, whom I'm sure none of you noticed in your fit of rage. He was there only to drop off Lady Black and then he would have taken his leave." As soon as the word 'Lady Black' left her mouth, both their eyes widened comically.

"Did you just say Lady Black?" Harry asked and got an affirmative answer. "Tell us everything from the beginning." He told her and so Hermione did as she was asked. With every word she said, Ron's expression contorted from anger to confusion to absolutely ridiculous. Harry too was confused judging by the disbelief on his face. But she was actually stumped after hearing the news of Bellatrix's death - someone finally took revenge for his godfather's murder.

"Can we trust her?" Ron asked looking at his friends.

"Seriously, I don't know. She was polite and humble, yes, but her actual intention behind all this is unclear. We can't really say if she's good or bad and I don't want to trust anyone blindly, especially when the war is upon all of us." Hermione said, finally relieved that the boys at least understood her course of actions.

"What do we do then?"

"We meet her, of course, and then we decide." Harry said while his friends nodded in agreement.