Eliza sat stiffly at the head of the long dining room table in Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Across from her, at the other end, sat Sirius who was on the receiving end of a rather fierce scowl. She wanted nothing more than to smack the triumphant smirk off his face. Even though she had been adamant in her refusal to join the Order, her dear cousin sitting across the table had played on her weakness and convinced her to return to the world of magic.
As Eliza continued to glare at Sirius, Molly Weasley bustled about, tidying the room before the other Order members arrived. Eliza wanted to tell her to sit down and quit worrying about others but she knew it would be no use. Molly was a mother to several children and her kind caring nature carried over to other areas of her life.
"You will be staying for dinner after the meeting, won't you dear?" Molly asked Eliza kindly.
"Oh, no thank you. I'm just here to borrow an owl," She answered, her voice wavering a bit when her stomach emitted a loud growl. Sirius grinned widely and leaned back in his chair.
"Nonsense. You look like you could use a good meal. Goodness knows what you've been eating all this time. Muggle cooking, indeed! There is no nourishment there." With that, Molly left to answer the doorbell.
Sirius shook his head as the woman left and chuckled a bit. "So you've come to borrow an owl. Are you sure that is the only reason you came?"
"Yes," answered Eliza tightly. She was beginning to regret this idea as Sirius continued to watch her with that insufferable knowing look.
Before she could snap at Sirius to put him in his place, Bill Weasley came in closely followed by Lupin and Moody. They each cast Eliza a curious glance before sitting down at the end of the table, closer to Sirius, and immediately struck up a conversation. Eliza crossed her arms tightly in front of her and began tapping her foot furiously on the floor. All she wanted was to borrow an owl and go home. She had no idea when she left her house that there was going to be a meeting and she really didn't want to participate.
Pretty soon the room was buzzing loudly as more members arrived. Kingsley Shaklebolt came in and clapped Eliza on the back, greeting her just as he did years before whenever he saw her at the ministry or St. Mungo's. Arthur Weasley came home, briefly stopping to kiss his wife on the cheek before sitting down beside Eliza and trying to engage her in a conversation about toasters.
The meeting was just about to begin when a loud crash came from the front hall, followed by the howling of Mrs. Black's portrait. Eliza snickered when she heard her aunt's tell-tale screeching and cast an amused glance at Sirius. He responded by rolling his eyes, shouting for the woman to shut up.
"That would be Tonks," Lupin murmured, grinning as she walked through the door. Eliza looked up at the late arrival and was quite surprised to see a young version of her sister Andromeda. Well, a young version with purple spiky hair. Of course, this would be the child that had attended the funeral all those years ago.
She watched as Tonks flashed a grin at Lupin before taking a seat beside Moody. Sirius cleared his throat loudly.
"Eliza, it is time that you met your niece, Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks, this is your Auntie Elazara Slope." Sirius' introduction was quickly followed by a loud cough as he tried to mask his laughter at their dagger-like glares. Both of the women dearly hated their first names and were quite irritated at their cousin for neglecting to use the proper monikers.
"I'm glad to finally meet you, "Tonks said shyly to Eliza. "My mother talks about you frequently. She has missed you all these years."
"And I have missed her," Eliza replied softly. "It is good to finally meet you too." The room was quiet for a moment as everyone enjoyed the endearing meeting. Eliza brought her hand to her mouth and began chewing on her nail. The situation was getting increasingly uncomfortable and as much as she wanted to finally meet her niece, she would have preferred not having an audience.
"Well, shall we begin?" Moody asked impatiently, unable to bear the sentimental nonsense much longer. "We have a lot to cover tonight now that we have a new member to catch up to speed." His magical blue eye rolled towards Eliza.
"I'm not joining," she interrupted. "I just came to borrow ..." Her voice trailed off at the end as eight sets of eyes glared back at her. The room was now deafeningly silent. Eliza looked down and nervously smoothed her skirt, praying that the others were not too angry with her. This was the reason she didn't want to come here. Everyone in the Order would want her unwavering support, something she wasn't ready to give.
Across the table, Sirius stood and walked over to where she was sitting.
"Come with me," he murmured as help helped her pull her chair back. He led her out of the room and as the door closed behind them the meeting resumed.
Silently, Sirius and Eliza walked down the hallway to the drawing room. It had been years since she had been in this room, not since she was about eight years old. As she looked at the sprawling Black family tree, running her fingers over the worn fabric, she remembered the last time they had visited.
It was the engagement party for eighteen year old Bellatrix which their aunt and uncle had graciously agreed to host. It had been a nice party, at least as nice as these sorts of snobbish parties could be. Shortly after dinner, as the guest settled into the parlor for drinks and conversation, Bella made another announcement. Along with her fiancé, she stood before the room and rolled back her sleeve to reveal her recently added Dark Mark.
Sirius' mother was proud to have a death eater for a niece and hoped that the other children would soon be joining. But Eliza's parents were not as proud of their daughter's decision. True, they hated the muggle-borns as much as the next self-entitled pureblood did, but the Dark Lord was not the answer to their problems. Even though they were not pleased with Bella's choice, in fiancé and allegiance, they stood silently by as she careened about the room, lapping up the attention she was getting for not one, but two announcements.
Only Andromeda had something to say, calling Bella out for her foolish decision in front of the entire crowd. The girls fought loudly, just as they had as children, and when wands were finally pulled, the other party goers jumped in to stop. The party ended abruptly and everyone hurried to get home from the disastrous celebration. That was the day Andromeda was wiped from the old tapestry and Eliza remembered seeing her aunt blasting the fabric just before being whisked away by her parents.
Sirius remained by the doorway as Eliza continued to trace the branches of the fabric, pausing over the burn marks that were Sirius, Andromeda, and finally, herself.
"I see I lost favor with your mother," She said, glancing over at Sirius.
"Thank Merlin for that," he said darkly. He stepped away from the doorway and joined her in front of the tapestry. Eliza turned back to the faces of her remaining sisters, Bellatrix's deranged expression and Narcissa with her usual blank stare.
Eliza reached out to touch Narcissa's picture. They were twins, although there had never been such opposite twins in existence. Eliza was a scrawny black-haired teen while Narcissa was developed and blond. Eliza delved into books and her studies, quickly surpassing her classmates and even those a few years above. Narcissa had set her sights on finding a pure-blood husband from a wealthy family. Eliza married the muggle-born Uriah Slope. Narcissa married Lucious Malfoy. They were nothing alike.
"How can we be so different?" She whispered to no one in particular. Narcissa had hated Eliza and constantly punished her for being different. Growing up, Eliza was called a freak and a weirdo by her sisters. They didn't understand her talents. When Andromeda left home, she had no one to defend her from Narcissa's jealousy and taunts. Although Eliza was clearly favored by her father, he spent long hours at work or with his business partners, barely sparing the time to make sure his daughters weren't trying to kill each other. At school, Narcissa led their housemates in torturing Eliza, but the other Slytherins left her alone after the first year because it was easier to just pretend she was invisible.
Sirius continued to stand silently beside Eliza, waiting for her to say the words.
"You're right, I didn't just come here to borrow an owl," she finally said. Walking away from the wall, she sat down on the dusty sofa and hugged her self tightly. Sirius sat down beside her and waited for her to continue.
"I want to try again, with the potion. What do I have to lose?" she asked. It was a depressing thought, really, but it was true. Eliza had nothing left to lose but herself and there was no one around to care if she was gone.
"Everything is worth losing if you are doing it because it is right," Sirius said, his gray eyes full of spirit. Eliza shook her head. She was always baffled by his constant need to justify idealism. Didn't he realize that this righteous attitude would get him killed? And who would care that Sirius Black died doing what was right?
"I wouldn't call it right," She said sadly "I'm only doing it because I failed the first time." The words burned as she spoke them. With a room full of people just down the hallway who were willing to give up their lives for the sake of wizard kind, she felt weak and cowardly.
Sirius bit back a retort. He never could understand how people could not be selfless. How could anyone resist trying to defeat the man who brutally murdered innocent people for his own sick pleasure?
"Why did you try before? Surely then you wanted to keep people from becoming Voldemort's victims," he said and Eliza could hear the venom in his voice. She shrugged.
"I didn't care about the people I was saving back then," she answered. " I just wanted the fame and glory. Can you imagine how famous I would have been if I could reverse the most finite spell out there?"
Sirius' eyes widened as he realized what his cousin was saying.
"So it was all about fame and power for you? That makes you no different than the Death Eaters," he said, his voice low and angry. Eliza rubbed her face with her hands and let out an exasperated sigh. Her green eyes blazed as she tried to find the words to explain.
"It was more than that. I care about people, really, but my ambition often overrode my emotions. I'm a Slytherin, that is my weakness. The research started out as a way to save people but it became something else. I became more concerned with success rather than how it affected the people around me. Maybe if I had worried more about my husband and child, rather than my work, they would still be here. That is where I failed. I failed to put any compassion in my work so I am going to try again."
Eliza was a bit out of breath when she ended her speech. She had not intended to unleash on Sirius like that, in fact, until the words came pouring out of her mouth, she wasn't sure why she wanted to pick up the work again. It was the guilt. Guilt for not being there when the Death Eaters showed up at her house, guilt for not being the wife and mother she should have been, guilt for not succeeding.
Sirius sat back to assess her. Her words still hung in the air and he was unsure how to react. True, her intentions were not as pure the Order's, but her heart was undoubtedly in the right place. She was not brave like those willing to put their lives on the line, but she was smart, unbelievably smart, and brain power was something they needed. Maybe with time she would find her way into the Order, but for now this research was a big step in the right direction.
"We'll give you a second chance, cousin," Sirius finally said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and putting on his most cheerful smile. "Now about that owl you needed…"
With her note on its way to Dumbledore, Eliza was able to breathe easier knowing that she would soon have the answers she needed to move forward with her work. But all through dinner she was quiet. She was thinking back on her last interaction with Snape. It seemed strange that he still didn't recognize her even though they definitely knew each other many years before. She was invisible at Hogwarts, so she was not surprised that he didn't remember seeing her in the common room, the library, the hospital wing. But there was another time, he should have recognized her, because she definitely remembered seeing his face. She may have had a potion to erase her memories but he didn't have an excuse.
A/N: I took a little creative leeway with Andromeda being blasted from the tapestry ;)