Dinner with the Order was never a quiet affair. There were many social circles, and many individual conversations within those circles, which made it difficult for an onlooker to glean any knowledge. That, of course, was the point.
Bill Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Arthur Weasley were having an intense conversation about goblins.
"They're not giving anything away yet," Bill was saying. "I still can't work out whether or not they believe he's back. Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it."
"I'm sure they'd never go over to You-Know-Who," said Mr Weasley, shaking his head. "They've suffered losses too; remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near Nottingham?"
"I think it depends what they're offered," said Lupin. "And I'm not talking about gold. If they're offered the freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?"
"He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment," said Bill, "he hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know -"
A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, Ron and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.
"… and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, 'Ere, Dung, where did ya get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place -"
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," said Mrs Weasley sharply, as Ron slumped forwards on to the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly," said Mundungus at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Harry. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong."
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," said Mrs Weasley coldly.
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of Butterbeer; George was hiccoughing. For some reason, Mrs Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding. Harry looked round at his godfather.
"Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus," said Sirius in an undertone.
"How come he's in the Order?" Harry said, very quietly.
"He's useful," Sirius muttered. "Knows all the crooks - well, he would, seeing as he's one himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. She hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you."
"So, what were you saying about Ragnok, Bill?" Mr Weasley asked seriously. Bill scrubbed his hand across his face wearily.
"Well, the only wizard – well, witch, really, that he'll speak to is the only curse breaker who's currently off on an extremely extended holiday."
"Who?" Lupin asked, leaning forwards.
"Oh, Penny. She left just after Sirius escaped from Azkaban. The most I ever got out of the goblins was that she had gone to search for her twin sister, but the Curse Breakers said she was scared of you, Sirius. It always struck me as strange, because although I never heard anything about her having a sister, and I was in the same year as her, she was never afraid of you in the slightest. In fact, I remember her being enraged that you never got a trial, first year at Hogwarts. I'd never mention it to the other Breakers, because every time the prophet came and she saw you on the cover, she made an odd face and left the room. They made fun of her for it once she left, but only because they were infuriated that she'd abandoned us at such short notice. We really relied on her."
Lupin frowned. "Tell us more about her."
Bill looked rather taken aback. "OK. She was a Gryffindor, like me, and her parents never dropped her off at the Platform. She says she was adopted just before Hogwarts, and she never called her parents Mum and Dad, she called them Lola and Jim instead. Um… she's an expert at obscure curses and wards. There wasn't a raid where we came back empty handed, until she left. The goblins seem to trust her more than any other employee, she's allowed in high security vaults, and she got extremely high marks in her OWLs and NEWTs, even though she didn't do well in general lessons. She didn't try to, really. Always said there were more important things to attend to in life than lessons. She doesn't even really enjoy Curse Breaking, she prefers to research some strange curse that she can't tell anyone about 'for safety reasons'. She can break any ward on any tomb, in five seconds flat. She's a wiz at Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, and it's as if she spent 15 years with the goblins, instead of 5."
"Bragging about me again, Weasley?" heads whirled in the direction of the amused voice. A tall, willowy woman stood there, smirking at the shocked looks on their faces.
She had a blonde bob, sleek and cut to mid-neck, and her doe brown eyes sparkled with amusement and no small amount of mischief. She wore ripped skinny jeans and ankle boots, and the tee shirt under her tan leather jacket spelled out in stark black against the white fabric; 'the Nargles don't believe in you, either'. Tucked casually under her arm was the latest edition of Xenophilius Lovegood's 'The Quibbler'.
Bill was the first to recover from the shock. "Sadie! How are you?"
She raised an eyebrow, the simple questioning gesture turning him beetroot red in embarrassment. "You know, Billie, asking about my welfare doesn't hide the fact that I walked in on you practically singing my praises!" she raised her wand high in the air and shot out several fluorescent orange streamers. Bill put his head in his hands as she squealed. "YOU DO LIKE ME AFTER ALL!" she shrieked, doing a short little happy dance which involved flapping arms and stomping her feet furiously on the floor.
She smirked at Mrs Weasley's horrified face.
Kingsley Shacklebolt stood up tall. "How did you get through the wards?" he asked, his voice thundering across the kitchen and making the teens in the room cringe. Sadie, however, smirked unabashedly as though she faced down tall, angry aurors every day before her morning coffee and was quite bored with having to deal with them.
"Oh, that weak old Fidelius? I'm not a Curse Breaker for nothing, you know! Psh, my adopted parents are more protected than this mouldy old dump! It's lucky I am on the side of the light. You should consider second guessing your leader once in a while. There are many ways to counter a Fidelius!" she turned her back on him, and stared around at the kids in the room. "Fred! George! My current two favourite trouble makers! How's the joke shop going?" Fred and George looked over at their slowly reddening mother and grinned evilly.
"Great!" they chorused. Sadie turned to Ron and Ginny, with considerably less enthusiasm.
"Ronnie! So good to see you!" Ron narrowed his eyes, and said nothing.
Ginny eyed Sadie warily.
"Hello, Ginny," Sadie said quietly, eyeing the redheaded girl almost pityingly.
Sadie finally turned her attention to Hermione, and Ginny breathed a subtle sigh of relief. "Well, I have never seen you in my life! Who are you, then?" she shot an accusing look at Bill over her shoulder, as though it was his fault that they had not yet been introduced.
"I'm Hermione Granger. I'm Ron's friend." Hermione answered uncertainly. Sadie's eyes flickered to Ron, who was making a disgusted face at the back of Hermione's head, and back to Hermione, who eyed her suspiciously, but not malevolently.
"Hello, Hermione." She said kindly, turning to Harry. "And who are you then?" she frowned lightly, as though trying to remember something. Ron snorted.
"Don't tell me you don't know who this is!" he called out sceptically. Harry shot him a vaguely irritated look, annoyed by his rude attitude. It was refreshing to have somebody ask who he was for once, instead of instantly recognising and informing him of his own name.
"I'm Harry Potter." Sadie's face showed no shock, no reverence, but something in her eyes showed her emotions flickering between triumph and urgency.
"Nice to meet you, Harry." She said quickly, turning to Bill. "Bill, I'd love to stay and chat, but I just remembered some vital information as to the whereabouts of my sister." She made her way to the kitchen door. "Bye, Billie!" she called, Disapparating.
"Aren't you going to go after her, Bill?" Mr Weasley asked uncertainly. Bill snorted.
"No, thanks. I don't fancy being hexed; Sadie's created a lot of awful jinxes that would be detrimental to my well-being. And she doesn't take well to being tailed."
"Well someone should go after her! She could be dangerous!" Mrs Weasley claimed. Bill shot her a reproving glare.
"I know that for some reason you and Ron don't like her, mum, and somehow you've convinced Ginny that Sadie's not to be trusted, but she's not dangerous, and nobody could find her if they tried. Despite not knowing where she is, I do know that she will have already warded the place she has gone to heavily; she won't take any chances, she never has." Moody nodded, seeming fascinated by the woman's CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
"Do you think she would join the order?" Remus asked, screwing up his face in concentration as he tried to remember where he had seen her face before. Bill snorted again.
"Not bloody likely! She is not dark, and is fully on the side of the light, but she positively detests Dumbledore." The Order looked shocked, and Ron and Molly scowled.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Bill, I don't trust her! If she hates Dumbledore, she hates the Light!" Bill stood up.
"Her biological parents were killed by death eaters before her 10th birthday. She may hate Dumbledore, but she hates the Dark Side more! She's a bit like the goblins; neutral until further notice." Molly opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius cut her off.
"She reminds me of Isadora. Do you remember her, Remus?" Remus slapped a hand to his head in realisation.
"That's who she looked like! Of course I remember her! She was Marlene's twin sister; best friends with Lily. The three were inseparable! I remember she never got into a relationship – the complete opposite of Marley." Sirius got a dreamy look in his eye as he continued where his best friend left off.
"Ah, Marlene. God, she was lovely. I was the last person to… to see her. My own brother cast the curse that did it, you know." He sighed deeply, then straightened. "My point is, Sadie reminds me of Isadora McKinnon, and I could always rely on that Sadie to listen, and keep my secrets, so I will rely on this Sadie, too." Bill smiled at Sirius, as Sadie's voice came from the doorway.
"Aww, that's so sweet!" she exclaimed. Heads turned towards her, and she smirked. That smirk remained on her face as she saw Sirius, and the expectant glances that were being cast at her. Slowly, sarcastically, she raised her hand to her mouth in an extremely fake gasp. "Oh no! It's Sirius Black, the supposed murderer!" another girl appeared behind her, in a tattered skirt and a tight tank top with a rip at the hip. She was almost identical to Sadie, though slightly worse for wear, as if she had been in a battle recently.
"What have you dragged me into now, Sadie? We are going to be killed, you say?" she deadpanned, before glancing at Sirius. Despite his waxy skin and thin frame, he was still quite handsome. She smirked appreciatively. "Well, if it's him then I sure wouldn't mind." She winked at the escaped prisoner, who gaped like a fish. Here was an exact replica of Marlene McKinnon!
Sadie grimaced. "Well, to each their own, I guess." She muttered. The Marlene-lookalike slapped her head, scowling playfully.
Bill looked around at his speechless colleagues, realising that they were not going to speak. "Sadie, who's this?" the Marlene-lookalike smirked at him suggestively, wincing as Sadie pinched her savagely, before smiling innocently at her Weasley friend.
"This is my twin sister… Lenora Penny. She was lost about 15 years ago, and now I found the annoying twit, I'm beginning to regret recovering her!" Lenora slapped her arm gently in reproach.
"Zip it, Sadie." She commanded in a low voice.
"Whatever. You could have at least made yourself more presentable, you know. Hey," Sadie started with a grin. "You have 15 years of dishes to wash, sweetie!"
"That's not –" Marlene started.
"Nope!"
"But I was-"
"No excuses!" Sadie sang.
Marlene smirked at her. "More fool you! Li…L…Lil… I mean, Ja…J-J-J… damn! The old goat put a bloody tongue tying curse on us!"
Sadie ignored the nervous glances being sent their way, and asked sweetly. "What's for supper?"
"Stew." Mrs Weasley said tersely. Remus and Sirius stifled grins at her stiff attitude. Lenora winked at Sirius, smiling at Remus. Sirius swallowed thickly, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"Yay! Let's eat."
Mrs Weasley slammed the dish down rather harder than necessary in Sadie's place. Sadie shook her head, as though watching a naughty toddler.
Everyone tucked in to their meal except Sadie and Lenora. Sadie yanked out her wand and moved it quickly, muttering complex charms under her breath. A thin layer of cloying dust like powder lifted off and vanished. Sadie looked vaguely annoyed, and yet also amused at the same time. She quickly did the same to Lenora's meal, yielding the same result. Sadie gritted her teeth. Lupin heard her muttering.
"If they have to try to control us, they could at least have the common decency to be a bit original!" Lenora shot her a look, and Sadie grumbled and began to eat.