Chapter 15:

After a week with Eve living at Grimmauld Place, it was hard for Alina to believe she had ever survived without her daughter.

Soon enough, although still rather shy and uncomfortable around too many people, Eve was content with helping clean the house and spent the majority of her days with Ginny or Hermione. To both Alina and Sirius' surprise, the twins had seemed to make a pet out of Eve and their daughter seemed to enjoy their lively chatter and excitable ways, often sitting with them quietly as they plotted their next venture.

What had them baffled them though, was Eve's reaction to Harry. The second day she had come out of her room, Harry had tried to make conversation with her, but Eve had quickly brushed him off, somewhat coldly, and left the room.

Alina had watched this happen more than once, and she could not fathom the reason. Although sometimes quiet, Eve was comfortable talking to any other person, but seemingly not Harry.

'She did it again' Sirius muttered in her ear, as he came out of the room that his daughter and the other children were cleaning. He did not need to tell her to what he was referring to; it had been a constant conversation between them in the last few days.

'Again?' Alina sighed and ran her hands through her hair despairingly 'should we talk to her?'

Sirius hesitated 'I don't know…maybe? I just don't know why she's like that to him and nobody else…'

'Maybe she knows he's Voldemort's main target…I mean she's seen Him, she knows what he's capable of, maybe she's scared to be around Harry?' Alina suggested, not feeling confident in what she was saying.

'I don't think that's it' Sirius shook his head thoughtfully 'she doesn't seem worried to be near him, she just seems unwilling…she acts coldly to him…in fact she kind of reminds me of –'Sirius caught himself mid speech and glanced at her.

'She reminds you of what?' Alina asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

'Erm…she reminds me of you' he replied quickly, grimacing in preparation for some kind of blow.

Alina blinked in surprise, before shrugging in agreement.

'I suppose I've been referred to as 'cold' before, in my time' she relented, and smiled wryly at him.

'Unless it's jealousy? I mean, Harry's as good as a son to me…and you' he quickly added.

'Let's just let it play out, Eve's been through a lot and she's young, it might just sort itself out…I mean, we didn't really start off on the right foot'

'Yeah' Sirius agreed, although his tone didn't sound confident 'I'm sure it will be fine.'

A few days later Alina sat alone with Eve in the living room, Eve was silently staring into the fire whilst Alina attempted to concentrate on an ancient book she hoped would hold some detail into the Vadima Race.
She frowned, giving herself a little shake and forced her eyes to return once again to the dusty book in front of her, yet almost against her own accord she found her eyes straying back to her daughter. Eve's eyes were slightly glazed as she stared into the flames almost as if she were in a trance.

What is she doing?

She had caught her doing it more than once, gazing into the fire as if it were about to reveal a secret to her.

A secret…

Alina's mind began to spin, and she turned fully to her daughter, neglecting the book, and examined her expression.

She watched Eve's eyes widen as if she were seeing something that surprised her, she watched her body begin to tremble.

What is she doing? The thought was gnawing at her mind, as if she knew, deep down, exactly what was happening, but she could not locate the information.

It was hidden behind lock and key.

For a few more seconds she studied her daughter, and then glanced back down at the book.

A slow wondering smile crept upon her face.

Eve let the flames take hold of her, she had grown familiar to the sensation now and she relaxed her mind, allowing her magic to seep from her and delve into the flames.

Please let me see him, Please let me see him.

She begged silently, knowing deep down that she needed to give up on this obsession.

She saw the flames begin to open, shadows begin to dance within. The shadows grew bigger, and the detail became clearer, the flames and the room faded away. She prayed desperately for blonde hair, for his grey eyes, she just wanted to know that he was all right and not in any trouble…

A cloaked figure stood before her, the ivory mask gazing expressionlessly forward. A cold chill flooded through her body, sinking her heart to the depths of her stomach.

'I have heard rumours My Lord, we may have found the location –'

'OUCHHH!'

Her own cry of pain transported her from whatever dream like state she had fallen into and straight back into reality. Something had smacked her directly in the face. For a moment, all that she was aware of was the blazing heat on her face and the sweat dripping from her entire body, before reality, quite literally, hit her in the face once more, this time accompanied by her Mother's startled cry.

'WHAT THE FU-'

Eve blinked, ignoring her mother's colourful language and instead staring wide eyed into the fire. Shooting from the flames, almost as if they were bullets, came letter after letter in a flurry of white.

She jumped up, before she could fall victim to anymore of the weapon-like envelopes, and felt an ominous rumbling beneath her feet, leaving her hopping from foot to foot in shock.

Her mother had already whipped out her wand and had proceeded in casting spell after spell in an attempt to stop this onslaught of…post.

'I WILL KILL THOSE TWINS!' she yelled, although Eve could detect the amusement behind her shouting.

'Did we hear a death threat aimed at – WOOOAHHH!'

At that moment, with two loud cracks, Fred and George had apparated into the room, and let out identical yells of surprise.

'THIS IS BRILLIANT!' George cried, before letting out a strangled shout as he slipped on a letter and tumbled to the floor.

'Erm…Alina' he started, from beneath a pile of letters 'the floorboards…'

The boards, already shaking, seemed to do so more violently. Eve let out a yelp, and sprung up onto the armchair, and watched in amazement as letters began to force their way through the cracks between the floorboards and shoot into the air like an erupting volcano.

The commotion had drawn the houses' attention, and within minutes all of the inhabitants had made their way to the living room, letting out identical cries of shock (her father letting out a short bark of laughter, before Mrs Weasley glared at him in disapproval) and they soon enough found themselves knee deep in thousands of letters.

'They're coming out of the toilet!' Ginny yelled, shuffling into the room through the sea of letters.

'WHAT IS GOING ON!' Ron's voice sounded, as he, Harry and Hermione appeared in the doorway.

'WE DON'T KNO-' Mrs Weasley began to shout back, but was interrupted by a loud explosion of laughter.

'Harry!' Hermione scolded.

Eve scoffed in disgust, the whole house was falling to pieces, for all he knew the letters could contain any form of deadly substance, and he was standing there laughing.

'Prat' she muttered darkly to herself.

'Sorry, it's just - I know what this is…what's happening' Harry wiped the tears from his eyes, for the first time since she had met him, he was grinning happily…almost carefree.

'Have you opened one yet?' he turned to her, and it took a moment for Eve to register that it was to her whom he was talking too. She stared blankly at him for a second.

'No' she replied, allowing the coldness to seep through her tone, her nose crinkling in distaste at having to speak to him.

A flash of something flickered over Harry's face and Eve frowned, trying to place the emotion.

Hurt.

She refused to accept the guilt that tried to invade her body, but catching the look of confusion and disappointment from Alina, she couldn't help the flutter of shame in the pit of her stomach.

'Well I'm almost positive they're for Eve, that's all' he continued, shrugging his shoulders in nonchalance.

In response, Sirius grabbed a letter from the pile that nearly exceeded his waist, and exchanged a disbelieving look with Harry.

'It's for you' he stated simply turning back to her, a broad grin lighting up his worn features.

Tentatively, keeping her eyes on her father as if waiting for the punch line, Eve picked out an envelope from the pile and glanced at the address.

Miss Eve Black,

The House of Black,

Address Unknown.

She frowned, that couldn't be right…

But as clear as day, in eloquent green writing, it stated her name.

'Eve Black' she whispered, tasting it on her tongue, for the first time experiencing her family name.

She broke the seal and opened the letter, and as she did so, to her own and the rest of the order's surprise, the thousands of letters disappeared with a loud crack.

In alarm she stared at her father, her eyes questioning.

'Go on, read it' he encouraged, his smile lighting up his features and flashing a ghost of his good looks.

She complied, unfolding the letter and reading the cursive writing.

Dear Miss Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

In stunned amazement, she slowly looked up and met her father's eyes.

She didn't have to say anything; the question seemed to be clear.

'Is this for real?'

He grinned happily at her, and to her annoyance she caught the wide, knowing grin of Harry in the corner of her eye.

Sirius nodded, slowly and deliberately.

'Yes. Yes it's real.' He confirmed, his eyes sparkling with pride, and his face suddenly seeming more youthful and handsome.

'Can somebody please tell me what is going on?' Alina demanded, and the others in the room made noises of agreement.

When it seemed that nobody was going to reply, Harry cleared his throat.

'They're Hogwarts letters' he told them 'four years' worth of Hogwarts letters'

A few days later, Alina, Eve and Sirius returned from their trip to Diagon Alley. After hours of arguing, which to Mrs Weasley's horror had included a few jinxes being thrown; Alina had been unable to convince Sirius into remaining at home for Eve's first visit to the Alley. It had only been the previous evening that Alina had relented from the silent treatment she had been giving Sirius and accepted his 'stupid decision.'

And although she hated to admit, she could not deny that being together as a family had been brilliant. Sirius, rather than in animal form, had opted to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak after announcing how 'good it felt to be back under this thing.'

And they had both watched happily, as Eve's head twisted from left to right, upwards and downwards, her mouth hanging open in awe as her eyes tried to absorb everything possible in the bright and magical street.

All three came home extremely exhausted, their arms heavy with the weight of a wardrobe worth of clothes, books, cloaks, school equipment, and Owl (Mohani, named to Alina's delight after her own childhood owl) and to Eve's utter joy, a wand.

The traces of discomfort and fear were slowly fading from Eve's eyes, and her body had filled out to a slender frame instead of the far too skinny form she had been only a few weeks previous, happiness, so intense that it almost seemed tangible in the air around them, seemed to engulf Alina.

This is what a family should be…

Once they had aparrated back, Sirius had taken a handful of bags straight upstairs to give to Harry, whose impending trial and high risk of being targeted by Voldemort, had made it too difficult for him to join them.

Tiredly, Alina had followed Eve into the living room, and paused in the door way as she watched her daughter take the familiar seat before the fire. In Eve's hands, her wand was held tightly, as if she were frightened to let it go, but her attention had drifted, like normal, to somewhere entirely different.

Narrowing her eyes in thought, she observed Eve, watching her again simply confirmed what she had suspected previously. Eve began to tremble, her breath deepened and her eyes widened as if she were watching something occur before her…

She's seeing something.

She knew that for certain. She had experienced the sensation enough herself for it to be obvious, but unlike what she was used to, there was nobody there whose mind could be read, whose memories could be looked into.

What Eve was doing was not familiar to her, and no amount of searching through ancient books so far had provided an answer to her question.
What is she doing?
A sudden thought came to her, whether it would work or not she was unsure, but surely there would be no harm in trying? Before she could allow her mind to consider the question and highlight the faults in her plan, she allowed her instinct to guide her.

After all, it's got me this far she told herself silently.

She breathed in deeply, filling her lungs to their capacity before slowly exhaling, relaxing her entire body. She kept her eyes focused on her daughter, like a hawk focusing on its prey, and she gathered up the tandems of power that trickled through her veins. The response was instantaneous, she could feel the excitement spreading through her, as if her magic was exclaiming with joy. Her hairs stood on end with the electric current of her magic, and the power crackled in her fingertips, itching to be used.

Somewhat reluctantly, she kept the force reigned in, and pushed with her mind, forcing the energy directly towards the girl before her.

She felt Eve's barrier, and marvelled at its strength, but the magic seemed to recognise her, it had recognised her from the moment they had touched, and it bowed before her and allowed access. The instant she had entered Eve's mind, a picture flashed before her eyes and suddenly Alina was no longer in the room. She was no longer watching her daughter.

She let out a gasp as her new surroundings sunk in and frowned in confusion as she looked around at what seemed to be a jungle. The trees, towering over her diminutive frame grew wildly, entwining with one another so that only trinkets of light were able to shine through, painting an almost eerie golden lighting on the surroundings. Bright green veins hung down, some almost touching the ground, and plants tangled around her feet, making it nearly impossible for movement.

A hooded figure stood before her.

It did not take even a second for the bubble of rage and disgust to expand in the pit of her stomach at the recognition of Death Eater attire. She had experienced such visions enough times for her gut to correctly tell her that her presence was not known and she watched in silence as the Death Eater slashed their wand, clearing the plants in violent sweeps to form a pathway.

Stop. Don't go any further she silently found herself begging, although unsure of her reason behind the plea.

The figure continued for a few minutes, Alina could hear the heavy breath of the Death Eater as they made their way through the untamed jungle. The figure sighed with relief, and paused as a clearing opened before them. And automatically Alina drew forward, eager to see what it was that they were in search for.

The clearing was large, perhaps a hundred metres in width and length, and central was the giant ruins of what seemed to be an ancient temple. The second her eyes had adjusted to the sheer majesty of the structure, she could not tear them away. Her mouth dropped in awe, as her eyes gazed over the Temple.

A surprising rush of tranquillity rushed through her veins as she looked at the Temple, and her heart seemed to swell with an unrecognisable emotion.

Wild moss had crept across the faces of each stone, the lush green contrasting against the pale, almost yellowing dullness of the ancient rocks, creating the kind of beauty that can only be formed through time. At the mouth of the temple, a commanding door glared out into the jungle, encrusted with Gold and precious stones, intricate engravings, possibly ancient writing, adding to its regal mystery.

Movement in the corner of her eye drew Alina's gaze away from the beautiful ruin, and her attention once again fell upon the Death Eater, who was making their way determinedly towards the temple, stumbling slightly as their strides lengthened in what Alina presumed to be excitement.

She followed.

They slowed as they came to the entrance, slowly leaning forward to inspect the writing on the door, peering closely as if trying to determine some kind of meaning from the ancient symbols.

Get away from there she inwardly growled, surprising herself at her own feral anger.

After a few minutes, Alina watched in anticipation feeling an unexplainable sense of smugness, as they reached out their hand, and with pain staking slowness lightly touched the golden door.

'ARRRGHHHHHHH'

The scream from the Death Eater broke the religious silence that had consumed the air, sounding inappropriate and brash in the serene surroundings of the uninhabited jungle.

Alina jumped in shock, her eyes widening and her heartbeat racing as the Death Eater was thrown violently backwards about thirty feet through the air and landed with a bone crunching thud in a heap on the ground. The cries did not stop there; screams of utter agony bounced through the clearing and were swallowed greedily by the mass of the jungle, never to be heard by another human's ear…

Alina jolted, letting out a loud gasp of surprise as suddenly, her surroundings disappeared and were instantly replaced with the familiar setting of Grimmauld Place's living room. The first thing she was aware of was the blazing heat that stormed her body, and she reached out a hand in panic, grasping the door frame firmly as a wave of dizziness washed through her.

'What was that?'

It was Eve's confused cry, the fright in her voice that broke her out of her daze and somehow, Alina managed to stumble across the room towards her daughter, who was clutching her head and frowning.

'It was me' Alina told her gently, her voice sounding foreign and distant to her own ears.

'I'm so sorry, I just needed to know what you were seeing every time you look into the fire –'

'I don't – I don't get…' Eve was confused, as she stared at her mother 'that's not what normally happens'

'What do you mean?' Alina asked her.

'I – It's not always that, and it's never that – that long!' her voice was shaking 'what is it…what am I doing?'

Alina paused, unsure of how to respond.

'You know your powers, you know how they have been used and can be used to enter another's mind, to control certain actions?' She spoke carefully, and saw Eve flinch as the memories clearly rushed back to her, and Alina shuddered involuntarily as similar memories flashed before her own eyes.

'But the problem is,' she continued softly ' with our kind, there are very few of us…in fact we may be the only ones now, and we know very little about our ancestors – we'll need to speak to Dumbledore, because what we've just seen…that may very well be real.'

'Y-You mean that really happened…w-what we just saw?'

Alina nodded thoughtfully 'it probably lasted longer because we combined our powers. Are you all right though?'

'I'm fine' Eve nodded, looking lost in thought.

'We'll figure it out' Alina smiled, gently stroking her daughter's hair and taking a seat beside her 'I'll owl Dumbledore in a bit, why don't you look at one of the books you bought today?'

Eve nodded obediently, and went to collect her books leaving Alina alone in the room.

She found herself absently staring into the fire, almost questioning it as to what power it possessed to charge such a vision. She thought back to what she had just seen, the Death Eater and the temple.

What were they doing? She knew, without doubt, that Voldemort wanted something inside that temple, and whatever it was it was important.

What is inside that temple?

A familiar knot twisted inside her, the feeling of fear, nerves and determination.

The feeling of war beginning again.

A/N: Thank you so much for all of your reviews, my writers block is beginning to fade (finally) so I known what direction I am going in now! Your support has really helped me so I cannot thank you enough.

Now, I don't know if anyone is interested in this, but I am looking for some cover art for this story, so If there is anyone out there interested in helping out it would be much appreciated (as I have no artistic talent at all) and as a reward you can give me a date, and I will promise to have updated by that time!

Thank you all xxx