Dorea felt very anxious as she watched Harry leave with Mr Weasley out the front door to go to his Hearing early next morning. What if they expel him? She couldn't help but ponder the idea in her head, they'll snap his wand in half and he'll never come to school with us again!
She tried to push those horrible thoughts away as she was dusting the furniture in her grandfather's old study with Amelia and Tonks. Tonks even flipped through some of the documents that looked to be over fifteen years old, maybe even twenty. "Listen to this - 'Dear Mr Orion Arcturus Black, your application to the position of Board Chairman for the League of Purity Council has been approved. Please find attached our Code of Conduct and confirm your Approval.'"
"League of Purity? Sounds like some Death Eater malarkey." Amelia piped up as she was dusting the old wooden bookshelf.
"Who on earth would keep letters of the least important things? He's even kept monthly updates of the balance of the Black family vault." Tonks muttered as she attempted to carry on dusting out the drawer. It was quiet for a few moments, as they resumed work. "Dorea, you've been dusting that same shelf for ten minutes, it doesn't need to be sparkling."
"What? Oh.." She realised that she had in fact done just that. "I was just thinking about Harry."
Tonks looked sympathetic. "I just know they'll let him off. Amelia Bones is strict but fair."
"I have a feeling Fudge will have a nose in at his trial, though." She admitted. "He'll be pulling all the strings in the shadows."
"He'll definitely be there." Amelia said as she turned to them. "He'll have an influence."
"Albus will make sure it swings in Harry's favour, trust me." Tonks said kindly.
Dorea was about to mention her disagreement to that statement, yet kept it to herself.
Harry came home around about midday, and they all held their breath as they awaited his verdict. "I got off!" He announced gleefully.
The whole kitchen erupted in cheers. Fred, George and Ginny started chanting "He got off, he got off," whilst everyone else crowded around him. Sirius looked simply delighted, as did Remus. She hugged him when the crowd finally dispersed. "How was it then?"
"Well, I was almost five minutes late to the thing."
"What?" She replied, gasping.
"They conveniently changed the courtroom and start time. They sent an owl to Privet Drive - obviously still thinking I live there, and they sent one to the Burrow too. Thankfully one of Mr Weasley's colleagues told us or else I would have been screwed."
"What did Dumbledore say?" Hermione enquired, when they were back up in the girls bedroom discussing the trial.
"He spoke in defense of me, and buggered off without a word when it was all done." Harry grumbled.
"He didn't even say a well done or a congratulations?!" Ron said incredulously. "That's terrible!"
"And when me and Mr Weasley were leaving, guess who we saw talking to Fudge? Only Lucius Malfoy." Harry continued. Ginny made a noise akin to Crookshanks growling.
"Why was he talking to the Minister?" George piped up.
"God knows. Maybe… I don't know, maybe Fudge is secretly supporting Voldemort and is just waiting for him to take over, but is hiding his true loyalties." Harry said.
"Or he's under Imperius?" Amelia guessed.
"I still can't get over how you were tried in front of the whole Wizengamot for a simple debate over using magic to save your own life," Hermione said, "That has Fudge written all over it."
"Yeah, I mean, I was meant to be interviewed in Amelia Bones's office before they changed the time and place, but no - I just had to have about fifty people staring down at me."
"Did you see Percy?" Fred asked. Her boyfriend's question made them a bit tense.
"He was the Court Scribe. He didn't even look at me and your dad when he walked past us on the way out." Harry replied.
"Pompous git," George commented, "I bet he was doing that stupid thing where he holds his head high to make him seem really important."
"Yeah, he was doing that." Harry said.
Dorea always thought Percy was far more suited to Slytherin than Gryffindor, if she was being perfectly honest. He had his ambitions to rise high within the Ministry of Magic, and was very resourceful too - his position at the Ministry as Fudge's Junior Personal Assistant proved just that.
They were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in!" Dorea called out. The door opened, and low and behold, it was their fellow Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom.
"Neville!" Harry and Ron said in surprise at the same time.
Also at the door with Neville was Lupin. He had obviously shown him up the stairs.
"What are you doing here, mate?" Ron said in happy surprise.
"My gran is an Order member, and she's just arrived for the meeting downstairs. She didn't want me home alone, so she took me along." Neville explained. "I must say, this is a weird house." He added.
"Takes some getting used to." Amelia commented. Dorea noticed how much Neville had grown since the end of fourth year - he was taller (he just about reached Lupin's shoulders) and more lanky. His hair was freshly styled and his teeth were a bit straighter.
Neville spent a few hours at Grimmauld Place, and even stayed for supper. They all met his grandmother, Augusta, who was quite sharp. The woman was sat directly across from her at dinner. "So, you're Sirius's daughter?" She quizzed.
"Yes, Madam, I am." She replied politely. She noticed her father glancing down from the head of the table at the mention of his name.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you weren't Marlene's daughter at all - you're the spit of your father, girl." Augusta Longbottom said. Emmilene Vance was also sat next to the old woman.
"She certainly is," Vance hummed in agreement.
"Oh, aren't Harry and Amelia the spitting images of James as well?" Hestia Jones all but reminicised.
"Yes, yes." Augusta seemed nonplussed. "Are you in the same year as my grandson?"
"Yes," Dorea replied, "I'm a Gryffindor too."
"Another Black in Gryffindor? Gosh, Walburga and Orion will be turning in their graves." Augusta muttered.
"Did you know them?" She asked.
"I was a few years above spoke to them though, for obvious reasons. You have your grandmother's look, that's for sure. I just hope you don't have Orion's temper." The Longbottom matriarch answered.
She had no clue about that. She didn't know a thing about him except his love for pureblood superiority. "Erm, I don't think so."
Fred muttered next to her, "Doubtful."
She kicked his legs from under the table, causing him to stifle laughter. Augusta Longbottom seemed to be bored of the conversation, as it ended there.
When Neville and his grandmother left, Dorea, Ron, Harry and Amelia made a start on their homework they got assigned to do before the holidays (with Hermione's supervision, as she'd already done all the work and refused to show them her essays, but agreed to give them tips). Professor Snape wanted two double-sided parchments about Weedosoros, which they covered at the end of fourth year. They had just got to the effects of its potency when Sirius walked past their door, but then doubled back to pop his head in.
"Working hard?" He grinned knowingly.
"How on earth are we meant to fill two parchments about this bloody potion if we only have three paragraphs of information in the textbook to go on?" Ron groaned.
"What potion is it?" Sirius asked.
"Weedosoros." Dorea answered, tapping the top of her quill against her chin, stumped for answers.
Her dad pulled a face. "Oocha! I hated brewing that poisonous filth almost as much as I hated writing about it. To make things worse, it came up in the O.W.L!" He said, feeling their pain.
"Hermione's done it, but she ain't showing us it." Ron complained.
"You've got to work it out for yourself, Ronald!" Hermione said, irritated.
"Well, what did you all write about? We only need one more section." Harry said.
Hermione sighed in annoyance. "All right, fine - I wrote about its description, its effects, characteristics and key information about brewing it and cautions to take whilst doing so."
"Thank you." Ron said as if Hermione had just saved his life.
Sirius hung about, asking them about other school work they had to do, but as soon as they were done with the Potions essay, he turned to her. "Darling, can I talk to you for a minute or two?"
If he's found out about me and Fred.. Dorea's mind was spinning. Nah, surely not, he doesn't even look that bothered.
They just went into the room next door. It was her uncle Regulus's old bedroom, decked out in Slytherin colours and the Black family crest. Her father put an arm around her. She decided to speak first. "When are we going to the new house you said you found for us?"
"You read my mind, dear, I was just about to tell you about it." Sirius smiled. She perked up.
"Dumbledore found us a few house elves at Hogwarts who all agreed to serve us there. They're cleaning it all out and preparing it for human habitation - just like we're doing here." He explained as they sat down on her uncle's bed.
"It can't be that messy," Dorea said, "You said your uncle Alphard only died last year."
"Yeah, well, in the last few years of his life, his memory started to go haywire, and it got to the point he had to be transferred to St Mungo's - I think they called it something that sounds like dementor… Anyway, due to his compromised mobility, he couldn't get up and about to clean the house - he even left a cauldron cooking away for two hours the week before he was transferred, the poor man. It is a bit messy, but it's nothing compared to this place." Sirius explained.
"Will Remus be staying with us?" She asked, remembering.
"I did make the offer to him, but he's far too bloody modest. Even though there's plenty of room, he declined." Her dad answered. "But that's not to say he won't come and visit."
She smiled at that. "Is there a date fixed for when we can move in?"
"Anytime after Friday," Sirius said.
"This Friday? As in, three days from now?" She said excitedly.
"Yes." Was her father's answer.
On Thursday night at dinner, Dorea told Fred about the new house she, her dad and god siblings were moving into. She thought he didn't know.
"Sirius told us about it two weeks ago." Fred answered.
"Oh." Was all she said to that. She thought it was brand new information to him. "Does all the Order know?"
"Only the ones that stay in this house." Fred replied, "Your dad figured it would be safer that way. He added us all to the security wards."
She knew that the people who had been added to the house's security wards were the only people who would be able to have access to the house, and also the only people who could locate it. That way, no Death Eater's could even hope to find or even see it, except if they had managed to get somebody with access to give up the location under torture. She had read that in a household Charms book at some point last year, even though they didn't do household spells until sixth year.
She was optimistic about moving to this new house - she hoped it had plenty of sereneness and countryside. As much as she loved the Weasley's, and her boyfriend, living in Grimmauld Place with them felt a little suffocating - they were all living on top of each other.
On Thursday night, Dorea went to bed almost too excited to get to sleep. With her trunk packed and ready at the end of her bed, she must've tossed and turned for ages before she even began to feel drowsy. She could hear Amelia's mattress creaking a bit - she must've been doing the same, but it soon stopped. Finally, at two in the morning, mere hours before they moved to this new safehouse, Dorea Black fell asleep.