Posted: 2/20/16

"You're going to leave me alone in a dark London park, in the middle of the night?" she asked, clearly shocked. Her tone was a touch disapproving.

"I am going to cast some spells," he explained quietly, as he drew out his wand, "that will deter all passers-by from approaching you from a ten foot radius, Lux. Just don't move from this spot, and I promise you shan't be waiting here for long. We're almost to your bed, and a bath should you want it."

When the spells were cast, Dumbledore walked into the impenetrable shadows and disappeared.

Luxminder yawned and lay down on the hard bench. Within seconds she was asleep.

A Serious Mistake

19th September, 1995

Dumbledore did not like leaving Luxminder on her own, in the open, and so he almost sprinted across the square and hurriedly mounted the steps.

Without knocking, he Alohomora-ed the door – against all protocol - and flew straight in. Once he reached the stairs he paused, listening for any clue as to Sirius's whereabouts. The kitchen door swung open quickly, and the very wizard he was looking for was standing at the bottom of the steps, wand out, ready to curse-gouge Dumbledore's eyeballs.

"It is I, Siri-" he began, breathing hard, raising his hands up, immediately assuming a posture of defenselessness.

"I'll decide who you are!" Sirius called up, his bony face set in a brutal scowl.

The volatile and voluble portrait of his blasted mum began to decry them all. "Filth! Vermin! Loathsome of my loi-!"

Sirius swiftly jerked his arm and magicked the curtains closed, but his eyes never left Dumbledore's, and the wand was instantly retrained on the wizard who had come bursting in without punctiliously following the required procedures laid forth for every entrant.

"The night Wormtail escaped," he called up softly, "and rejoined Voldemort, you came to me where I was locked up in Professor's Flitwick's office at Hogwarts and questioned me. I told you everything. The reason I escaped from Azkaban, and how I did it. Once I finished telling you my story, I said one last thing to you before you left the room. Tell me what that was."

His hands still held up in a gesture of submission, Dumbledore answered immediately. "You didn't say anything. You asked me a question. You asked after your godson, Harry Potter. You wanted to know if I thought Harry was happy, and had turned out well."

Sirius lowered his wand.

Dumbledore went down the stairs and silently beckoned Sirius into the kitchen with him.

Sirius could see that something had riled Dumbledore, and immediately asked, "Has something happened at Hogwarts? Is Harry hurt?"

"No, no, Sirius. Everything and everyone is fine. Who's here?!" Dumbledore asked with unrepressed urgency. He began to roam the kitchen, peering into the corners. "Has Remus come back early from the Divianati's? Are any members of the Order here at the moment?"

Sirius was quite surprised by Dumbledore's unsettled questions and the way he was walking rapidly through the dim kitchen, looking everywhere, even inside the pantry, as though it was quite common to discover guests lurking in there. Well, maybe Mundungus occasionally…

"No one is here, Dumbledore. I'm alone." As usual. "What is it? What's happening?"

Dumbledore came back to Sirius and pierced him with those bright, clear blue eyes. "I am sorry. Only I'm a bit anxious, you see. I have brought someone with me and I-" He stopped for a moment while he studied Sirius's face and appeared to be gathering his thoughts.

"Someone's here? Who? I didn't see anyone with you. Is he waiting in the foyer?" Sirius asked.

"No," Dumbledore was quick to say. Then he was silent again. Thinking. Sirius could see that Dumbledore was thinking very hard about something. He almost spoke again, to ask him what was wrong. But he decided to simply wait, knowing that Dumbledore would explain himself when he was ready and not a moment sooner. And very soon he began, "I need your help Sirius." He paused.

Sirius hurried to assure him. All he wanted to bloody do was help with something. "Of course, Dumbledore. You know I'm more than willing to assist with whatever needs doing."

But then Dumbledore was silent again. It was such strange behavior from this hoary wizard, who was always so collected and calm, and so eloquent. Sirius tried to remember if he'd ever seen Dumbledore at a loss for words before. He couldn't.

Finally Dumbledore began, but what he said didn't provide a scrap of the illumination which typically accompanied his explanations. "I need your help, Sirius. But it is to be a secret. For now, that is. I would like you to help me care for someone, a very young person. And I think that absolute secrecy is in order at the moment. I do not know that much about her yet. I haven't anywhere else to take her tonight. I could not Apparate with her, or I might have taken her to the Burrow. I think Molly should have done well by her. But that does not seem to be an option at the moment and so I am enlisting you. I know you will do very good for it, Sirius. I have complete confidence in you, but you must not tell anyone that she is here!"

"Wait," Sirius began in confusion, "who-who is she? What do you mean a very young person?"

"She is-," and here he hesitated again, looking deep into Sirius's eyes. "Do you trust me, Sirius?"

This question couldn't have been more shocking than if Dumbledore had asked him, "Do you hate Voldemort?" Because the answer to both of them could not have been more obvious.

Sirius tossed back his head as he loosed a clipped laugh, a tendency he had when he was taken by surprise. "Of course I trust you, Dumbledore! What's going on?! What is it that you're asking me to do exactly?"

"I cannot explain everything to you because I do not know everything myself. But I have taken a chance, you see? A great chance. I have discovered someone – or rather, she discovered me. But I think she might make an enormous difference in the fight against Voldemort. She is very young though, Sirius, and she is-" Dumbledore was speaking quickly and he panted a little. "She is a Muggle."

"A Muggle!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Dumbledore hissed. "Is Kreacher about?" he asked, peering anxiously around again. "You must tell him, order him specifically that he is never to mention her existence to anyone."

Sirius quieter, but rather stupidly, repeated, "A Muggle! Dumbledore-!" but then he stopped, utterly nonplussed. This was the murkiest clarification Dumbledore had ever provided.

"I have left her far too long, Sirius! I need to get her and bring in her from the cold night. But will you help me?! Sirius, can I trust you not to tell anyone about her until I know more about who she is and what she is capable of?"

"Capable of?" Sirius repeated, still at sea.

"Sirius, will you keep her here and care for her and not tell anyone about her, until I am able to come back and talk to her? I need time to think and make a plan for her."

Dumbledore was so solemn and sincere. Sirius was beginning to realize that this was not, as he had first thought, a very bad attempt at a very bad joke.

"I know I can trust you, Sirius," Dumbledore said confidently. "I have to go and get her. Put your house under lockdown until I return. I will use the Order's knock. Be sure that you check the peep-hole before you open the door-"

"But what if it's an Order member? McGonagall or Kingsley? They'll need to be let in!"

Dumbledore grabbed Sirius's arm, lowered his voice, and began to pull him out of the kitchen. He dragged him up the stairs and into the foyer while he quietly told him, "It is only for a little bit. I am supposed to be meeting with Mad-Eye and I am already running spectacularly late. Let us just get her settled in, the highest floor perhaps, where no one ever goes. But this is your house of course, so I will leave it to your discretion, Sirius. Now, when I am out the door lock it all down. Wait here for us. I will only be a moment!"

And with that said Dumbledore was out the door, rushing down the steps, and he was almost across the square before Sirius realized he was meant to lock the house down.

~x~}{~x~

Luxminder could not tell how much time had passed since she had fallen asleep on the park bench and now, Dumbledore gently shaking her, "Wake up, Lux," whispering to her. There was no confusion about where she was and who she was with. It was her savior, her champion, come to take her out of the chilly night air, in for a hot bath and a soft bed.

She followed him bleary-eyed across a street, his guiding hand on her back making sure she did not veer into traffic. He led her up some steep steps and they stopped on the stoop while he knocked on the wide black door. Five times he rapped, paused, gave three more, paused again, and Dumbledore completed the encoded rhapsody with another four. Luxminder felt the whole porch humming and then it seemed to emit a susurration, like a quiet gasp. Something poured through her, some reluctant release, and the door in front of her creaked open.

Luxminder looked up into a startling picture of a man. So wan and drawn he was. Emaciated. She took in a valance of deep brown hair framing his pale hollow face, his mouth and jaw darkened by a thinnish thatch of neglected stubble, and his grey intelligent eyes, frankly curious, were the only gentling aspect of this haunted face. They scanned across her personage twice before Dumbledore said, "Let us in, Serious! It is not safe to linger here."

The Serious man moved back and to the side, as he widened the door to allow them through.

Luxminder's sleepiness fell back, made way for more shock, as she was ushered into the creepiest place she had ever seen. She stood in the entryway, quite awed as she absorbed each filigreed, gilded, and dusty detail of her surroundings. It was dark inside the vestibule, darker than the cloudy night she had just left. All she could think to compare it to was the set of an old Dracula movie as her roving eyes fell on an antique console and a monstrosity of an umbrella stand. The umbrellas resided in a huge, hollowed leg of a…a something. It was boulder green and grey and had long toes with grimy talons. It was quite baffling and horrific. Her eyes were drawn to the ceiling, and she was amazed to see that it was arced and hung with three black chandeliers, filled with unlit candles, and they were thickly swathed with cobwebs. They looked like horridly mouldering wedding cakes dripping with folds of dark grey frosting. It was all so gothic and otherworldly and Luxminder was gripped with strong, conflicting desires to explore the rest of this unearthly place, and also to turn around and flee from it.

Luxminder was already in love with magic, though she hadn't as many chances to see it as she would have liked. This was certainly a place filled with it - magic made and magic kept. It possessed the same majestic antiquity as Hogwarts but, unlike the school, there was a sinister feel to it as well. It seemed a place where dark plots had been incubated and hatched, where dirty deeds were frequently committed and then covered up.

Dumbledore was whispering something urgent to the Serious man and she saw him pull out a small dagger, prick the tip of his finger with it and, pressing it to the door, he whispered loudly, "Je ferme toi maison avec ce mon sang noir!" Immediately there was another sibilant jolt around the walls, and she could feel something inside of her. It did not have any affect on her, only it left her with the vague impression of a gripping. Then the Serious man pulled out a wand, waved it quietly over his lightly bleeding finger, and the blood vanished as the cut sealed.

Dumbledore sotto-voced her name and gestured for her to stay quiet and to follow them. After they passed through the eerie foyer, the two wizards led her up a stairway and her eyes scoured every detail, as she deliberately avoided Dumbledore's gaze as he watched the arrhythmic way she scaled the steps, the way she clung to the dusty banister.

Luxminder was startled when she realized that something with enormous eyes was looking at her. She turned her head to see who it was.

"What the-!" she gasped. "Are they- are they aliens?" Because she was facing the grossest display of taxidermy Luxminder had ever seen, and all she could think – looking up at the ascending procession of stuffed and mounted heads – was that someone had a penchant for hunting down and beheading Martians.

The Serious man belied his name when he threw his head back and began to bark at her question. Luxminder realized that this was how he laughed. She could not help smiling a little at this display of canine jocundity.

"No, Lux, they are house-elves," Dumbledore rapidly explained, and then urged her, "Come now. We must hurry."

Finally, the Serious man with the dog-laugh led them into a bedroom off the third landing. It looked the same as every other part of the house that she had seen. A ruinous splendour: a humongous four poster bed with green and silver curtains, a walnut brown wardrobe and matching dresser, and worn evergreen carpet. A thick film of dust lay over everything and more cobwebs darkened the corners. This could not be where they meant her to sleep.

Dumbledore and the other man came into the room behind her and closed the door. Luxminder turned around to face Dumbledore as she tried to think of a polite way to tell him that this room was not fit for habitation. For mice and spiders perhaps, but not humans.

"It's too dirty," she said quietly.

"Serious will get fresh sheets for the bed and- here." With a wide sweep of his wand, Luxminder watched as almost all of the dust floated up, causing the air to turn a smoggy brown and grey, and then vanished. She looked around and saw that all the dust and cobwebs had dissolved and disappeared. It did look quite a bit better, but Luxminder was still worried about the possibility of insects and rodents.

"Isn't there someplace else?" she asked him quietly. "I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but this-" She stopped. Whatever she said probably would sound rude and ungrateful.

"I am sorry, Lux," Dumbledore told her. He waved his wand again and she saw her bag materialize on the floor before him. With another turn of his wrist, the bag floated up and landed on the bed. "Serious will help you settle in, and he will also change the bedclothes and get you some food if you are hungry. I have to go now. I am late for an important meeting with a fellow Order member."

"What!" she practically yelled. "Go?! You can't go!"

Dumbledore looked shocked by her outburst. Luxminder was scared of making him mad, as he was all she had, but he couldn't possibly be thinking of leaving her here alone.

"My dear, I cannot stay any longer, much as I would like to. Serious will gladly tend to all your needs," he told her

"No!" she cried. "You can't leave me here alone with him! I don't know him! I know you! I want to stay with you!" Luxminder was appalled as she realized that Dumbledore actually intended to leave her alone in the company of a strange man.

The strange man, with the strange name, was looking rather appalled himself, though Lux suspected it was more to do with her emotional outpouring than the notion that they were going to be left alone together.

Dumbledore was an exceptionally erudite person, blessed not only with book smarts, but he was also fortunate enough to possess that which evaded many of the most learned witches and wizards – common sense. Therefore, he was a bit surprised by his second and more glaring mistake of the evening.

"Luxminder, I have nowhere else to take you this evening and I must attend to some pressing business for the Order. Serious is a very good friend of mine and I can assure you that he will conduct himself like the gentlest of gentlemen. I know that after everything…"

Heat compressed painfully behind her eyes and Luxminder was angry to feel the tears blurring her vision, ashamed of the rivulets burning down her face. Dumbledore's mouth was moving, his jaw worked up and down to make the word sounds, but she heard none of it. She was having an out of body experience as she realized that she had erred in judgment again. It was another mistake, a terrible case of misplaced trust. Did he not know how badly she yearned to stay with him? She had chosen him and he was passing her off to an unknown man like so much fluff and nonsense.

Luxminder moved to a chair in the corner and sat down, weeping. She could no longer stay standing as she was weighed down by fear and sadness. She pulled out the handkerchief that Dumbledore had given her to use only two hours ago and began sopping.

Dumbledore came to stand in front of her. He leaned down a bit to get level with her and began, "I know what you are thinking."

Luxminder made a sound which clearly indicated doubt.

"You think that you have made a mistake. And also that you have no choice. But you are wrong on both counts, Luxminder." She peeked up at him from under her long lashes. "You can choose to trust me and my friend here." He gestured at the wizard standing to the side. "Your faith in humanity is in tatters. That is perfectly understandable given all that you have endured since your parents passed away. But try to think back to how you imagined people when your world was happier and secure. Did you not believe that most human beings are basically decent and good?" He stopped here, waiting for her answer, so finally she nodded. "But then you encountered the other sort. You have lived with the kind of people who not only completely dismissed your needs, but who also cruelly imposed on you burdens that are not your responsibility and that you are not old enough to take on.

"You did not give up though. You held onto the hope of finding something better. You proactively sought to secure a life for yourself that could bring you a chance of peace and safety. This tells me that deep down you must still believe that there are people who can be trusted. And you chose me. Something about me calmed your fears, laid enough of your doubts to rest, and so you wrote to ask for my help. And I answered your call, Luxminder. I have brought you somewhere to rest and regroup. You can choose to believe me when I tell you that this man is a most trusted friend of mine. He will never lay a hand on you, Luxminder.

"I wish that I could stay here with you, alleviate your worries with my presence. But a matter of some import prevents me from following both of our wishes. Understand that it might not be tomorrow, but as soon as I can I shall come back here to see you.

"My final request," and he paused and glanced at the Serious man, "and this is for both of you, is that you do not leave this room except to use the toilet and to bathe. Serious can bring you trays of food, but Lux," he hesitated again to add gravity to his next words, "you know why it is imperative that you not see anybody until I have decided who you should or should not meet. Do you understand and agree with me?"

The look he received from her was one he had received from innumerate pupils over the last four decades. He was fairly certain that she was doing all she could to not roll her eyes at him. "Yes, sir," she answered, in a calm respectful tone.

He hoped she was not prone to petulance.

~x~}{~x~

When they exited the room, Dumbledore locked the door.

Immediately he headed to the staircase and Sirius began to question him. "What was that? Is she a bit…you know, unbalanced?"

"No, Sirius. Her reaction was completely rational given what I saw when I went to fetch her this afternoon. She has just had a terrible time of it since her parents passed away. Her mistrust of strange men is not simply understandable, I should have expected it really. But I do have a lot on my plate at the moment, and that one gave me the slip I am afraid."

"Well, will she be alright? I mean, what happened to her? Is there anything I shouldn't do or say? Is she liable to go mental if I… I don't know, look at her a certain way?"

"No, no, Sirius. You have nothing to fear. Just be yourself. Do not ask her too many questions though." They were almost to the entryway now. "Just take care of her basic needs, and if she seems lonely and inclined to converse then I haven't an issue with you speaking to her, of course. But otherwise, let her be. I will return as soon as I can. In two to three days to be sure." At the door now, he turned to him with these parting words: "You're a kind person, Sirius. Kindness is what she needs most."

Kindness, he thought, as he watched Dumbledore swirl out of existence with a piercing crack. I can do that.