Two days later Ashlynn and Lily sat at the table eating a light lunch of cucumber sandwiches. James had left the morning after Ashlynn's arrival and had yet to be home, though Ashlynn and Lily had become fast friends. Lily enjoyed the company of the quiet Malfoy girl.
"Lily I was wondering if I could walk around the town today." Ashlynn asked softly. It had been weeks since she had felt the warm fall sun and she had hoped to suck it all in before November turned to rain.
Lily grimaced and sighed. "I'd rather you not go by yourself…" Lily began.
"I'll go with her." A new voice volunteered. Both women whirled around frightened. Lily laughed when she saw it was just Sirius Black.
Ashlynn gazed at him for a moment. "Ashlynn you remember Sirius from Hogwarts don't you?"
Ashlynn nodded. "I do." She answered slowly.
"That's a girl!" Sirius cried and then turned to Lily. "James will be home soon."
Lily let out a long breath and sighed. "He has taken no hurts then?"
Sirius smiled and shook his head. "Our mission ended on good terms."
"That is good news." Lily said with a smile.
"So about that walk?" Sirius asked with a small smile as he turned to Ashlynn.
Soon the pair was walking around the small village of Godric's' Hollow. They were quiet for a few moments before as they walked down the road. "Ashlynn, Dumbledore asked me to speak to you."
Ashlynn looked up at him surprised. "About what?"
"You have heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ashlynn nodded. "Of course."
"Dumbledore is the head of the Order, I think you know this." Ashlynn nodded once again and Sirius continued. "Would you be against helping rid our world of you-know-who. It would mean going against everyone you have ever loved. You would be risking your life for the greater good."
Ashlynn sighed. "How can I help?" She asked softly looking up.
"Welcome to our side fellow blood traitor." Sirius said with a smile.
The next couple of weeks passed in a dream like state for Ashlynn. She spent much of her time training with Sirius, Lily, and James, and in Hogwarts with the rest of the Order explaining certain facts about Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Today Ashlynn and Sirius were taking a break from training sitting in the backyard of the Potter's house drinking lemonade. The two had bonded quickly over being blood traitors to their pureblood fanatic families. "You know Dumbledore wants to put you under the Fidelius Charm." Sirius said with a smile.
Ashlynn sighed as she placed her face in her hands. "Why would he want to do that? How can I help if I'm stuck in one place?" Ashlynn cried.
"He's after the one person who knows all about his right hand man. You know the inter workings of his Death Eaters better then any of us do." Sirius said as he picked up his glass and sipped.
"I don't want to be part of the Fidelius Charm. I want to help the Order. I want to reverse all the bad I've done." She whispered softly.
Sirius looked at her oddly. "Bad you've done? Ashlynn you were under the Imperius curse for couple of months you can't be held accountable for any of that stuff." He said.
"Before that." She gulped. "Before I rebelled against them, I hurt people. People who didn't deserve it. I wasn't a good person Sirius."
"None of us are good people Ashlynn." Sirius said with a smile.
"Still I hurt people I want to make things right." She said with a small smile.
Sirius walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You were young you didn't know better. Stop blaming yourself." Sirius cried. Ashlynn looked up into his eyes with a small smile. Sirius stopped for a moment and thought. 'Her eyes are a beautiful shade of grey.' Then without thinking, he leaned down and kissed the girl hard on the mouth.
James and Lily watched from inside the house as Sirius and Ashlynn kissed. James sighed and shook his head. "They are becoming very close." He whispered.
Lily laughed and shrugged. "You knew it was going to happen the moment we saw them together." She said softly as she brushed some of her red hair out of her face.
James nodded and remember how after returning from his and Sirius' mission. Sirius had come up the steps without tearing his eyes off the Malfoy girl. It had been an instant attraction for Sirius and James could tell. "He trusts her; he wants to take her on our mission this week." James said. Lily gasped as she looked up at her fiancée and James nodded. "I know my dear, but Sirius wants her to get some real experience."
Lily nodded slowly in understanding. "I can take to go get Alice." Lily said with a smile.
"When do you have to go get her?" James asked as he laid his head on her shoulder.
"Tonight at nine, do you think I should take her?" Lily asked as she reached up ran her hand through his hair.
James thought for a moment and nodded. "I think it'll be a good training excise for her. Neither you or Alice are high on you-know-who's radar so you shouldn't run into any issues." James said. "I'll Owl Dumbledore and inform him, why don't you go ask Ashlynn is she'd like to go with you."
Lily nodded and kissed James quickly before she walked out into the backyard. A few moments later Sirius walked in with a sigh. "So we trust her to go with Lily?" He asked.
James laughed. "Well you trust her enough to go around snogging her!" James cried.
Sirius' eyes widened but then shrugged and smile. "What can I say? She's charming."
That night Ashlynn sat in her room looking at her borrowed cloak. It was too short as she was a bit taller then Lily and it was just plain red wool. She sighed and closed her eyes picturing the fine black velvet cloak with the Malfoy crest, and lined with fur. "Ashlynn?" Lily's voice said from outside. "Are you ready?"
Ashlynn got up, walked over to the door, and nodded. "I am."
"Are you okay?" Lily asked.
Ashlynn forced a smile and nodded. "I'm fine Lily."
"Good let's get going" Lily said and handed Ashlynn a Cleansweep 5, which made her long for her Comet 180. She might have hated her father and brother's ramblings but she did miss her material things. "Ashlynn are you sure you're okay?"
Ashlynn nodded again. "Sorry just got lost in my thoughts."
Lily laughed and smiled. "You're just like Sirius he gets lost in his thoughts all the time." Lily said as they moved to the back door. James and Sirius had left to see Dumbledore earlier in the night.
Ashlynn smiled at the mention of the dark haired man's name. Sirius Black had caught her interest the very first day they had walked around Godric's Hollow. Even though all four had been at Hogwarts at the same time, Ashlynn had never really known them. She had disliked them for the fact of how James and Sirius had treated her best friend Severus Snape.
"Does someone have a crush on Sirius Black?" Lily asked as they made their way into the backyard and mounted their brooms.
"No!" Ashlynn cried unhappy that she couldn't hide the fact from Lily Evans.
Lily laughed and shook her head. "It's alright if you do dear he's very single. In fact I think you're the first girl he's actually taken an interest in since our sixth year."
Ashlynn blushed and without another word, she kicked off into the air. She could hear Lily's laughter following her into the night air. Ashlynn closed her eyes and smiled happily. Flying had always been one of her passions, she could remember her mother teaching her how to, and playing Quidditch with her brother on holidays before her father had changed him. She shook her head. 'Don't think like that Ashlynn, those days are over.'
The flight took over an hour and most of it was in silence with Lily leading the way to the Longbottom's house. Finally, Lily began to descend and they landed in the backyard of a small cottage. There stood a smiling Alice Longbottom. "Lily!" She cried happy to see her old friend.
"Alice!" Lily cried as they hugged. "Alice this is Ashlynn Malfoy, Ashlynn this is Alice Longbottom."
"Malfoy?" Alice looked up at the taller blonde girl. "Ah Lucius' little sister."
Ashlynn nodded slowly. "It's nice to meet you." She said extending her hand hoping that the women would take it. Not many in the Order had shaken her hand when they had been introduced.
"It's nice to meet you too." Alice said with a smile and shook her hand. Ashlynn sighed happily, as they made their way into the house for a small break before continuing.
The three girls flew through the night sky this time there was much talk between Lily and Alice, with Ashlynn scouting out ahead of them and behind them. Her stomach was in knots she wished the two would quiet down. For some reason she feared something or someone was coming for them. Once again, she shot ahead of the two girls and completed a full circle around them to make sure no one was in the night air.
Lily sighed and looked at Alice. "I wish she wouldn't do that." Lily said softly.
Alice raised her eyebrow. "Do we trust her?"
"I do." Lily said.
Ashlynn swooped down next to Lily. "Is there anywhere we can stop for a few moments?" She asked hopefully.
"Why?" Lily asked looking at the blonde-haired person.
"There's two death eaters behind us, they are catching up. If we hide somewhere they'll fly past us." Ashlynn said.
"No, we will keep flying just faster." Alice said.
Ashlynn's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "It won't work. They'll have two more ahead of us in minutes, we need to land quickly and hide." She said.
"No we'll pull ahead of them." Alice said.
Ashlynn sighed and shook her head. "I know these people Alice! It's not enough for them to fly behind us. They will surround us and take us down. Please just trust me." She begged as she flew faster to keep up with Alice.
Ashlynn sighed as she grabbed out her wand and pointed it at Alice…
"They should've been here by now." Frank Longbottom cried as he paced back and forth on the highest tour of Hogwarts. "How could you send Malfoy with her Potter?"
James sighed and looked up at the sky. "They are only twenty minutes late. If they aren't back by the end of the hour we will go looking for them."
Sirius stood by the edge of the tower and he bit into the apple. "Why do you have a problem with Malfoy but not me?" He asked looking over at Frank.
Frank sighed and shrugged. "You've been James' best friend since the day you met. Plus you were never like the pureblood freak." He said.
"Ashlynn's not a pureblood freak." Sirius shot back suddenly.
"Careful Longbottom, our friend Sirius was snogging Malfoy in my backyard just this morning." James said laughing as Sirius chucked the half-eaten apple at him.
"Why must you tell people about that? It's not anyone but mine and Ashlynn's business." Sirius said.
James laughed and shook his head as Frank leaned forward. "Really got a wee bit of a crush on Princess Malfoy do we Sirius?" He asked. Sirius shook his head and turned his back on the two once more looking up at the night sky.
"Cave Inimicum." Ashlynn muttered at Alice and then at Lily and both turned invisible. Then quickly before either could protest, she cast a spell that made them both unable to speak. "Just fly to Hogwarts quick and fast I'll catch up." She said and then turned her broom around and took off in the opposite direction.
Lily and Alice suddenly appeared in the night sky over Hogwarts and landed on the tower. "Where's Ashlynn?" Sirius asked.
"We don't know she cast spells on us and told us death eaters were coming. She said she'd meet us here." Lily said.
Sirius without thinking ripped the broomstick out of Lily's hands and was off towards the way they came. A few moments later, he heard James behind him laughing. "This is fun Sirius!" James cried over the whipping wind. Sirius grinned madly and leaned over his broomstick making it go faster. James laughed again and leaned over his own broomstick.
"Hello little sister." Lucius said to Ashlynn who was surrounded by four death eaters. Ashlynn bit her lip looking around trying to find a way out of the situation. "There's no help coming for you Ashlynn."
The rest started laughing and Ashlynn sighed. "Get if done with that Lucius." She spat at him.
"Don't talk to him like that!" A women's office called.
"Still hiding behind your mask Bella?" A male's voice cried and Ashlynn smiled seeing Sirius Black and James Potter.
"Sirius!" Bellatrix cried.
Ashlynn extended her wand arm and quickly sent a stunning spell at the mask figure behind her. "You little bitch! Can't ever take anything laying down can you?" Lucius cried.
Ashlynn laughed and shot another stunning spell at her own brother. "I'm a Malfoy, Lucius; we don't take anything lying down!"
Soon the three were speeding away from the death eaters. "Watch out for Snape!" Ashlynn screamed at the boys. She knew her best friend would be anywhere Lucius and Bellatrix were.
Sirius turned his head and had just opened his mouth when someone bellowed "Sectumsempra!" From behind them. Ashlynn screamed in fear as the spell hit her in the back. Blood splattered all over James who rode by her side and her grip on the broomstick became lax.
"Come on Ashlynn keep going we'll have back up in just a few moments!" James cried as he tried to get her to pull the broomstick up. She looked up at him confusion written all over her face as slid off the broomstick plummeting quickly to the ground to the cheers from the death eaters.