Sequel to "More Than Just Friends". All credit to J.K. Rowling and my crazy brain.

Set Aflame
By: Weaselle7

Chapter 3
The Order of The Phoenix (part 2)

"Oh, I forgot you haven't passed your Apparition test yet." said Dad disappointedly on the next morning.

"Where are we going?" asked Cecille, gulping her milk.

"Minerva's old house." said Mom merrily. Mom was still in her cheery mood after finally finding out a phoenix's feather.

"McGonagall's?!" Cecille asked, panic and disbelief carved in her face. She had a scenario in her head where she would be talking with Dumbledore and McGonagall about kicking her out of Hogwarts with the help of McGonagall's explanation of her mischief.

"Professor McGonagall's, yes." said Dad.

Cecille finished her breakfast with brief flashes of thoughts haunting her about being scolded for her mindless dream to join this secret association. She was even unconsciously arranging some well-reasoned counter opinions. Suddenly, she had the urge to owl Fred and George about this. They must've discovered about it anyway. She gazed up to the clear sky where the layer of invisible shield laid and gave her hope up.

"We'll be heading to the Diagon Alley." said Dad, scooping a handful amount of Floo Powder. He stepped into the fireplace and adjusted his glasses. "After me. Leaky Cauldron!"

Cecille took a handful of the powder, stepped inside the now-shrunk fireplace (she could still recall some faint memories when she first floo'd and she could hardly touch the fireplace ceiling) and took a deep breath. "Leaky Cauldron!" she said before pouring the powder violently against the fireplace floor.

The tosca-esque flame swallowed her and filled her with familiar euphoria. The next moment she was standing on one of the series of fireplaces at Leaky Cauldron; one of them had taken her, Mom and Cedric to their old house to learn about his aunt and Charlie's deaths. She couldn't help but notice how much her nightmare had relived the tragedy. Another burst of greenish flame disenchanted her from her sudden realization and Mom stepped out from the fireplace next to Cecille's.

"Okay, we'll take the Knight Bus." said Dad, leading his wife and daughter out of the pub. Cecille was glad the pub was nearly empty, despite the hot summer air that could fry them outside. It looked like nobody in their right mind fancied a glass of Butterbeer now. She could imagine if the pub was filled with wizards and they talked to them, sending condolences, which (in spite of their opinion that it was meant as a comfort) reopened the scar of her pitiful life.

Dad greeted the bartender warmly. Cecille and Mom's arrival behind Dad seemed to hold the bartender's attempt to send him some soothing words. They walked out of the pub and waited on the pavement. Dad extended his right arm and a loud explosion came from nowhere, bringing a three-stories-up bus along.

A youth in purple outfit that matched the bus, couldn't be more than twenty five years old, stepped out. "Welcome to the Knight-"

"We know, we know, thank you." said Mom briskly.

The three of them climbed up and took the nearest seat.

"You sell iced-tea here?" asked Dad as he swished the air around him to cool him down.

"Nah. But we sell hot chocolates." said the lad.

"You're kidding." Cecille muttered silently.

The trip took only ten minutes, and it felt strangely longer than how a ten minutes trip should be due to the violent turns the bus made. Cecille didn't know how the whole thing worked but she thought the bus actually apparated to certain requested places. Cecille watched, much to her amazement, that the bus managed to slow graciously when it was about to hit things. The last haphazard maneuver took them to the Hogsmeade and Cecille was really grateful she could feel the ground again.

"Okay. This way." said Dad, leading them to a small alley. She passed familiar inns and shops, saw Madam Rosmerta and Madam Puddifoot were having a girl talk inside the Three Broomsticks. She couldn't help but stopped for mere three seconds, looking hopefully into Zonko's Jokeshop, through the "CLOSED" board and almost forgot that she wasn't in her Hogsmeade weekend. They stopped right before a small house, only a size of the Three Broomsticks, and Mom knocked the door. McGonagall opened the door, but she didn't seem to notice Cecille when Mom flung forward to greet McGonagall.

"Good to see you again Minerva!" Mom squealed. "Minerva. I don't know how can I get used to say it, you're my former House Head, after all."

McGonagall let out the first warm laugh Cecille had ever heard. Just like women in common when they'd get to see each other.

"Good day, Minerva?" asked Dad casually.

"Well, compared to last week when they got Dumbledore voted out of Wizengamot, I'd say today's a good day, seeing you two again. Good to see you too, Helena." said McGonagall. "Helena. I don't know how can I get used to it, you used to be my house student."

She and Mom laughed, Dad watched the two of them as if cherishing some memories. Cecille stood there, unnoticed, staring at both disbelief and awkwardness as she imagined McGonagall talked warmly to a thirty years old of herself as if McGonagall had never given the detentions to her.

"Oh come in, please, come in. It's frying hot out there- Oh, Miss Diggory?" McGonagall seemed to notice her as if she had just apparated in.

"Morning, Professor." Cecille greeted awkwardly. Never in her mind she thought she would be with McGonagall and Dumbledore discussing about something aside from school matters.

"Oh yeah. Dumbledore's mentioned you last night, of course. Come in, come in." said McGonagall, almost in the tone Cecille determined as a tone she would use if she was about to invite Cecille into her office after successfully terminating the twins' prank.

But as soon as McGonagall closed the door behind her, Cecille could see her face turned dark, losing all the colors. The warm smile she had shown to Mom had faded and curved down to her usual pursed lips. McGonagall busied herself with anything to - in Cecille's theory - avoid looking at one spot for more than three seconds. Cecille tried the best to contain her curiosity towards the house that's filled with frames of moving photographs.

"Dumbledore's here?" asked Dad, doing himself a favor by taking a seat on the couch.

"He should be here any minute now." said McGonagall, apparently looked as if she had just remembered she wasn't home alone. "What would you like to drink? Tea? Juice?"

"Oh, don't worry, we won't be long." Mom said as she sat next to Dad. Cecille followed her.

"It'd be long once you talked to Dumbledore." McGonagall said and smiled.

"Oh. Okay. A cup of tea will do." said Mom.

McGonagall took her wand out, barely moving it, and five cups and a jug came out from nowhere. The jug and the cups filled themselves with tea. All of them took one, leaving the other for Dumbledore. Mom knocked her wand against the china and suddenly droplets of dew swelled like beads on the china's surface.

"The Order's changed much then?" asked Dad. Cecille was torn between drinking her tea and got rid of her thirst or listening to every ounce of information she could absorb.

"So much has changed, Amos." said McGonagall bitterly. Cecille felt sorry for the changes that were awful instead of improving. "You wouldn't even believe it-"

A silent pop found a way to penetrate the walls from the pavement outside. Dumbledore knocked the door and McGonagall jumped as if she had just seen her boggart jumping out of a drawer.

"Oh, there's Dumbledore." McGonagall muttered as she opened the door for Dumbledore. "Morning, Dumbledore. The Diggorys are here. What happened to your skin?"

"Oh, don't worry, just a bit of disguise while on travel. Although I think I'd like to keep them." said Dumbledore, coming from the doorway, looking slightly a bit more tanned. "Ah, Amos, Helena, Miss Diggory. So nice to meet you again."

He walked through the living room and settled himself on a couch next to the Diggorys, followed by McGonagall who sat next to him. Dad and Mom rose to shake his hand. Cecille, feeling so awkward and unacceptable, rose from her seat and shook hands with Dumbledore as well. She felt slightly embarrassed of acting casually awkward at such age. "Thank you for accompanying our guest when I'm away, Minerva."

"Oh, no problem." she said.

"Now. I must admit I am so happy to have you two on our side again." Dumbledore started. "In The Order of the Phoenix." he added to Cecille, smiling, as if he knew Cecille was so curious how they named the society.

"We are too." Mom responded cheerily.

"But, firstly, I want to make sure, Miss Diggory," he turned to Cecille now, "you are not here as the member of the Order of the Phoenix. But I personally think that you are old enough-" Cecille felt a rush of admiration towards Dumbledore for being the first to ever voiced their realization of her age "-for me to tell you some things s it's no one's but your twin, Cedric, who died in Voldemort's hand just last month."

The usual respond that followed after the mention of You-Know-Who's name showed, although not in the scale of her friends' jolting responses. Dad backed of slightly, covering the reflex by adjusting his sitting position. McGonagall looked at Dumbledore as swift as a cat when it caught a slight movement if its prey. Mom squeezed the couch pillow and Cecille found herself looking at Dumbledore as if she was seeking for protection. Cecille nodded. Dumbledore continued.

"There are several things I should inform you." he said, referring to the three Diggorys. "One involves with Sirius Black."

Mom choked before she could seized herself.

"Calm down, Helen." Dad comforted.

"He's not-?"

"Oh yes." Dumbledore answered, reading Mom's mind. "He's still with us."

Cecille, Mom and Dad sat there statued against the statement. Cecille wouldn't be surprised if Mom was about to yell that Dumbledore is mad for engaging a secret alliance with a murderer.

"I can hardly believe Sirius did that. I mean..." Dad started.

"Then, Amos, it has turned out that our fear is actually nothing more than a big fat lie." said Dumbledore sternly, almost comfortingly. "Sirius has taken the blame of Peter Pettigrew's-" Cecille didn't know who Peter Pettigrew was, but she could see the horror in her parents' faces "-crime of twelve muggles murder and has suffered twelve years for it in Azkaban. His innocence has protected him whilst surrounded by Dementors. Unfortunately, only a handful of people have been notified about this, and I'm afraid they are the ones in the Order. Now, as the last heir of the royal family of Black, Sirius gives his noble house to serve us as our Headquarters, namely Grimmauld Place Number 12."

"He gives his house? He has escaped Azkaban then?" asked Mom, her face showed amazement and horror and the same time. It was indeed amazing though, to Cecille, for someone to escape a prison like Azkaban, which also meant that there were possibilities for other criminals to slip out.

"Sirius, apparently," McGonagall took the turn to explain "has learnt the art of Transfiguration. He is an unregistered Animagus, along with his old fellow friend, Peter. He broke out from Azkaban in his dog animagus form. That's one of the reasons we have trouble explaining it to the Ministry to stop hunting for his head."

"Pettigrew. What a shame!" Dad suddenly said in disgust. "I thought they are friends."

"I believe that it's a personal thing between Sirius and Peter, which is not our concern." said Dumbledore with a comforting tone as if telling them to drop the conversation about Sirius. But Mom seemed to miss the impression and asked Dumbledore away.

"How do you know this, Sir?" she asked.

"Harry Potter himself has told me." Dumbledore said back to his usual deep tone. "The same boy who has verified the return of Voldemort and brought us together to fight him. Also, I found that all evidences can as well confirm the truth."

"Now, Miss Diggory," he turned to face Cecille. "Can we trust you this information so that you will not broadcast it to anyone out of the Order under any circumstances?"

Cecille stared at him, his half-moon glasses reflected her own shadow. Dumbledore, what Cecille thought would put a dead serious expression on his face, smiled at her understandingly.

"Of course, Sir." she said, not really caring if it wasn't the real fitting answer.

"And will you promise us to not ever discuss it to other people?" Dumbledore asked.

Cecille had to admit that she had trouble not to divulge all of her problems to her best friend. A rush of relief flowed within her as she thought of Fred and George. "I so swear" she said lightly in a challenging tone.

But, as if Dumbledore had figured out her wish to be a hero, he asked her for one more request.

"And finally, will you promise us that you will never attempt to take any part of the Order?"

Silence fell to the atmosphere. She could see McGonagall, Mom, and Dad were looking at her intensely, threatening her to say yes. A thought flashed to her mind, a faint whisper beat her eardrums. It was Cedric, reminding her to be careful every time she was doing something clumsy in classes when daring took control over her.

"I so swear."