The next few days were revision packed, again. Harry thought it a good idea if they all went to the library and spent an entire morning revising History of Magic. Blaise and Theo were a bit reluctant, yet agreed all the same. The most important thing in History was remembering dates of things - and there were lots of them to remember.
"Right - Amelia, when were the Salem Witch Trials held?" He asked his twin sister, sitting across from him.
"1692?" She guessed after a few moments.
He nodded and said that was correct. He moved on to Blaise. "Blaise, when was the final Goblin Rebellion?"
Blaise immediately answered. "Pass."
Theo chuckled. Harry smirked. "Are you two not that bothered about History?"
"Not really, it's not like I need it anyway." Was Blaise's answer, as he went back to reading his Charms book.
"I want to pass it just for the sake of passing, but I'm not continuing with it subject or career wise. I'll admit, it would be a far better subject if that ancient ghost wasn't teaching it." Theo responded.
Harry could see the logic in that. "These days I just drown out his voice by focusing on taking my own notes - works a charm."
He continued just asking Amelia and Dorea the questions, since Blaise and Theo clearly had long given up revising for History. They did decently, though Harry got a bit stuck when they started asking him. He really needed to revise the Medieval Assembly of Wizards - as in, the topic they had only just gotten onto before Easter break. His notes were incomplete regarding it, which wasn't good with OWLs just under six weeks away. He made a note in his book for later.
Their revision session brought them right up to lunch time. When they went downstairs, Theo's mum had just taken a newly-made quiche out and started serving it up. Regulus Black and Barnaby had just come into the kitchen as well, after spending the morning outside.
"That Hippogriff is so cool!" Barnaby Lee sounded excited about meeting Buckbeak. "I've never had the chance to even study one before, but he was just so chill about meeting me!"
Harry smiled at that. Barnaby Lee was something of a creature addict. You wouldn't expect that at all of someone who had a reputation of being tough for a fourth year.
Over lunch, they all sat around the table and ate, again marvelling at the excellence of Ophelia Fortesque's cooking. They had the Wizarding Wireless on mainly for background noise purposes, so that they weren't totally in silence.
About halfway through, a particular story caught their attention. The radio host explained: "We have had reports within the last ten minutes that Rita Skeeter, previous Editor of the Daily Prophet, has outrageously announced plans to start up her own newspaper, circulating what she calls 'the real news'. This comes after Skeeter and dozens of other ex-Daily Prophet staff were forced to resign from their jobs by command of Minister Bones back in February."
"What?" Was what everyone exclaimed. This was outrageous - Rita Skeeter was back reporting? Surely not…
"How's that allowed?" Ophelia Fortesque said in near disbelief, "Wouldn't the Ministry have to give her the go-ahead? I can't see Amelia Bones letting Skeeter startup her own newspaper."
"I bet Hermione's delighted." Dorea muttered.
"She'll be back spreading smear campaigns against me now," Harry said with realisation. "Just watch - I'll be blamed for a goblin strike, or something."
Mostly everyone chuckled at that, but without any humour to it. They all knew what this meant - utter rubbish would be back in circulation, and naive students and adults of the British wizarding public would ride the bandwagon of all that crap. They'd lap it all up, he just knew it. Even if Skeeter proclaimed that Harry was a descendant of Uric the Oddball, you just knew her readers would believe it and call for him to be sent to the psychology ward at St Mungo's permanently for everyone's safety.
Surely I'm not going to have to convince people again? He thought with dread. It took months for even the students at Hogwarts to believe him, and that was with a revamp of the Daily Prophet and a public apology from them. Would some of them go straight back to their old beliefs? It was unfortunately likely. After all his work…
When lunch was over and done with, he remained at the table for a few more minutes whilst everyone else was up about the kitchen helping to clean up. His mind was spinning with the revelation of the past few minutes; he really wasn't looking forward to going back to school and having people look at him like they did before. All of a sudden, he felt overwhelmed and claustrophobic. The large kitchen felt like it was closing in on him. Stupid Rita Skeeter.
When all the other occupants of Black Manor were either facing the sink or putting stuff away in cupboards and drawers, he took his chance and left as quickly and as quietly as possible. He let his body carry him back up the stairs to his bedroom, where hopefully nobody would come and cause more anxiety to him.
As soon as he passed the threshold between the corridor and his doorway, he closed the door shut behind him and just slid down it, head in his hands. She's going to be undermining the Daily Prophet at every turn now, as revenge, he thought, groaning, and people are going to be on her side.
Sighing, Harry felt weirdly relaxed all of a sudden. He simply just stared ahead of him. He came to a sudden conclusion; I'll still have supporters, no matter what, he thought, the DA members proved that to me after the Bletchley and Harper incident, and they'll do it again.
Most importantly, he knew his friends and his family would have his back. That was all that mattered, surely? Though a good chunk of the school were likely going to be back giving him dirty looks when school resumed, there were still hundreds of Junior and Senior DA members that would stand by him.
He stayed like that another while, until Rita Skeeter was no longer in his brain and stressing him out to the max. He remained up against the door though, but was about to move when he heard footsteps out in the hall that brought him back into focus.
Then there was a knocking sound on his door. "Harry? You in there?"
It was Amelia's voice. Can always count on her to check up on me, he smiled. "Yeah."
"Well… Can I come in?"
He stood up from his previous position and twisted the doorknob. When he pulled the door back, his twin sister stood expectantly. "Hullo." He said awkwardly.
"Let's talk." Amelia moved into his bedroom. "I caught a glimpse of you leaving the kitchen quickly. I guessed you know fine well what will be the fallout from the Skeeter news."
He nodded. "Yeah. But I've thought about it - I don't even care."
Amelia looked a bit startled. "Harry, how can you not care? Do you not know what this means? She's going to go straight back to her old tactics of trying to make you and Dumbledore look like raving lunatics!"
"But don't you see? I'm not that bothered if people choose to go back to believing her over me."
Amelia was almost lost for words. "But why?"
"Because I - we, - have the DA on our side. Our friends. And that is enough for me."
It took a few moments for his twin to understand, but she almost lit up when she realised. "You're right, brother."
"Exactly. So long as we have our true friends, we can walk past those dirty looks with our heads held high, knowing we still have believers." He continued. Both of them were grinning now.
Later that day, Harry went to the Potions Lab with Blaise, Theo and Barnaby. He wanted to brush up on Potions that were specifically Healing Potions, as he was sure there would be questions regarding them in the Healing tests. Since the Lab was soon quiet with the other boys concentration anyway, he was able to sit at one of the benches and revise over his notes. The Healing theory and practical tests were only three weeks away, after all.
Just as he finished summarising a section regarding Bezoars and their nullifying effects on poisons, the door to the Potions Lab was near sprung open. Barnaby let out a noise of fright. Dorea was standing in the doorway. Harry elected to ignore the giddy face that Theo was aiming in the direction of Blaise. "Harry, Ginny is calling through the Floo."
"What?" He was confused.
"The Weasley's have just heard of the news regarding Skeeter. They're wanting to check on you. His godsister repeated.
He got up out of his seat and went to leave the room. He followed Dorea. "She's on the Floo in the living room. I think Fred and George are there too."
He nodded, and walked briskly down the very long hall until he reached the living room. When he got in, he shut the oak door behind him and went over to the fireplace. When he kneeled in front of it, he could hear background noise on the other end - probably Ginny or the twins.
"Oh, Harry, there you are!" George exclaimed. Their faces looked a bit weird in the fire.
"I'm here." He said. "And I'm fine, before you ask."
"Are you sure about that?" Fred asked. "Even though you know what drivel Skeeter's about to spread about you again?"
"Yes," he chuckled, "in fact, I don't really care about what she has to say."
"But you know she's going to harm your image?" Ginny spoke. "People are going to believe her over the Prophet."
"I've thought about it. I've come to a solid conclusion as well - so long as my friends in the DA have my back, nothing can harm me." He said, confidently this time.
Fred and George looked surprised but in awe. "That's brave."
"It is, but that's how I'm going about it. If other people hate me, I don't care. I have a great friend group who supported me the last time somebody tried to hurt me, and they'll do it again and again."
The three Weasley's were quiet for a few seconds as they listened, and even though their faces were represented by ashes, you could tell they agreed with him. "We've got your back, Harry, we just thought we'd let you know that." Ginny said.
"As if I'd ever doubt you lot," he snickered, then he realised, "where's Ron?"
"Mum has him back at our house, cleaning the whole downstairs, as he tried to ask a drunk Mundungus about the Order." Fred supplied.
Harry smirked at the thought of that. Then he had a thought. "Wait, if Ron's back at the Burrow, and you lot are at Grimmauld Place…"
"Oh, we're literally going back home in 5 minutes. We just thought we'd call before we left - we only heard about the Skeeter malarkey about ten minutes ago, via Elphias Doge." George said, then his face disappeared out of the flames for a moment or two. He could hear muffled talking.
Then Fred spoke. "Mum's wanting me and George for something. We'll see you in a week or so, Harry."
Just as he said farewell, the twins were gone, and it was just him and Ginny. "How's revision going?" She asked him with a knowing grin.
"Decent, but I've barely started on Runes and Arithmancy." He replied, smiling. "When is Astoria going to your house again?"
"The seventh," Ginny responded, "I can't wait to see her. Though I'm not sure what we'll actually do - she's only staying until four o'clock."
He nodded. "I'm sure you two will figure something out. Just spend the day talking, or better yet revise for your fourth year tests." He said in part-jest towards the end.
Ginny laughed loudly. "You sound like mum and dad!" Then she paused, "And Percy."
There was a silence for a few seconds. To be honest, Harry had forgotten about Percy. He had assumedly lost his job as Personal Assistant to the Minister when Fudge was voted out of office. He hadn't heard a thing about him since. It was clear Ginny was feeling awkward now. He decided to tread the water carefully. "Is Percy… still not speaking to you all?"
"Not a word. The last we heard, he's the Court Scribe at the Ministry, there at all the trials copying everything down like a machine. Even with a brand new government and newspaper, he's not for speaking." The youngest Weasley explained, with a tad bit of venom.
"Oh," Harry felt awkward asking now. "Well, it's only a matter of time before he sees the truth."
"Nah, I don't think so. He's a little bootlicker, that's what he is." Ginny said. She also added a few choice words to the end of that statement.
Harry chuckled. There was a comfortable silence for a few seconds. Ginny spoke again soon enough, though. "Harry, are you sure that you're alright? You can tell me, the twins aren't here. I know you were bound to be stressed about Skeeter returning to journalism, I just hope you aren't letting it get to you."
"I was." He admitted to her, straightening up. "I felt overwhelmed, panicked, all sorts. Like the room was closing in on me. I left the kitchen as soon as I could and shut myself in my room. I literally just thought of bad things, and it made me stressed. But then I felt at ease as soon as I realised that my friends and family would have my back - and that was all I needed."
Ginny looked very thoughtful. "That's a good way of going about it; and it's true that we'll all have your back, Harry. I'll Bat-Bogey Hex anyone that doesn't."
He laughed then, a true laugh. "Start with Malfoy and his gang."
"He's been on my list for quite a while," Ginny said through a giggle, "if he even looks in your direction when we go back, I'll be on him."
They spent a minute or so talking some more, but eventually good things had to come to an end. Mrs Weasley could be heard shouting for Ginny, which could only mean they were going back to the Burrow. "Home time," the girl said after shouting a 'coming!' back to her mum, "I'll see you back at school, Harry."
"Farewell," he said a bit weakly, "I'll see you then."
With that, the Floo call ended. Harry had a sudden feeling then - it was like he was yearning for Ginny to come back on the call. He stared into the now-empty fireplace and willed it to happen. He just felt really good after getting a few things off his chest, and distracting him from the recent news. It was like Ginny knew, and had called him for that reason.
He stayed in his current position for a few seconds longer. He was actually about to get up when he got a sudden fright - for the Floo blared to life once again and this time, someone emerged from it. Someone's legs were suddenly in his face.
He fell backwards slightly onto the carpet, and readjusted his glasses before steadying his breathing and looking up at whoever it was.
Luckily, it was just Remus. "Harry, why on earth were you sitting in front of the fireplace? I almost stood on you!"
"Oh, erm, Ginny called me via the Floo from Grimmauld Place," he said as he brushed himself off.
He swore Remus smirked a little bit. "I'm just back from there myself. Doge told us about Skeeter. I'm assuming you've heard-"
"-about how Skeeter's starting up her own paper and is likely going to be snidely mentioning me at every turn? Yep, I've heard, Moony."
Remus let out a laugh. "And are you bothered by it?"
"Not at all."
"Really?"
"Yes. I have tonnes of people who'll support me no matter what. Nothing and nobody can hurt me knowing that they're there for me." He said with confidence as he got back up on his feet.
Remus raised his eyebrows. "Where did this new Harry come from?" He said, half-amused.
"I don't know where he came from, but all I know is that he's not gonna let Rita Skeeter affect him in the slightest." He added.
He had no clue if that last part was true or not, but he knew he was going to try his best and not let the women's waffle get to him mentally.
The next morning, Dorea woke up at the reasonable time of nine. The early spring sun was shining outside, she could tell by how her curtains were holding back light from splaying into her bedroom. When she got up to actually open her curtains, she was surprised to see that it was slightly foggy - a light haze surrounding the perimeter of the Manor.
She got dressed into something quite simple - a sweatshirt that was neither too heavy nor too light, and some jeans that had a slight leathery look to them. Dorea thought they looked really cool, though she couldn't remember where she actually got them from. To finish the look, she put on a semi-long necklace that Fred had gotten her for Valentine's Day; it was gold, and apparently second-hand, but she loved it nonetheless.
Tummy rumbling, she went downstairs in search of some food. Amelia appeared to be awake, as her bedroom door was ajar and her curtains open, yet she wasn't in there. She found it a bit odd that she could neither hear nor find any of the boys, but assumed they were either brewing, studying or flying outside.
She heard a few voices coming from the living room, so assumed they were all in there. Just as she walked past it, though, she peeked in and saw her dad talking to a stranger.
The stranger was a woman, and a pretty one at that. She flinched a bit when the woman's eyes drifted towards her and sighted her. Her father turned around at that moment. "Ah, Dorea, there you are. Come in, sweet girl."
Curious more than anything, she stepped into the living room and towards her father. She knew this must be a trusted person, else her dad would never have given them access to Black Manor. She did look familiar, though Dorea couldn't really put a finger on where she'd seen a woman that looked like this before…
"Dorea, this is my cousin, Andromeda." Her dad introduced her.
It clicked then. That was why she looked so familiar - for the woman Andromeda looked a lot like Bellatrix Lestrange. "Hello, Dorea, it's a pleasure to finally meet you after so long."
Dorea smiled back and said a hello, and then her father continued. "We've decided that you and Andromeda will have a nice day out together in London. It'll just be you two, but then Ted will be joining you both at some point. So go out, spend some cash, and have some fun!"
Dorea grinned, and her - second cousin? Did so likewise. Her father continued. "I've already got some money converted for you - one thousand muggle pounds. Go out and blow it on whatever you want, darling."
With that, Sirius handed her a zipped wallet, assumedly filled with the cash. It felt like an awful lot, she wasn't even sure if she'd spend all of it. Just as she slipped it into a pocket for safekeeping, Andromeda was linking her arm with hers. "Let's get going!"
"So long as you're back before dinner, I don't mind." Sirius said as he followed them both to the front door. "If there's any trouble, you'll know what to do, Andy."
The woman nodded, and waited patiently as Dorea grabbed a jacket for herself just in case the weather turned. When she was ready to go, she smiled at the woman.
"Right, we'll see you later, Siri!" Andromeda called behind her as they exited through the front door. Dorea looked back, and her father waved affectionately as he watched them walk down the front garden path.
"The Apparition point is just at the end of the path, dear," Andromeda explained, pointing ahead. Dorea just nodded as she transferred the wallet of money into her inside jacket pocket so it was even more safe and unlikely to fall out.
"Okay, we're here. Gosh, the house looks gargantuan from down here… Okay, have you ever been in a Side-Along Apparition, Dorea?" The woman smiled at her.
"Only once," she answered politely, though she was starting to feel a bit sick at the thought of going through it again.
Andromeda smiled knowingly. She stuck her lower arm out, and Dorea grabbed it. Within moments, they were being pulled by their navels into the horrible transition that was Apparating. It didn't last that long, though, and before she could even comprehend they were suddenly appearing in a random alleyway, assumedly in London. When Dorea got her bearings, the sound of the city was soon in her ears.
"You good?" Andromeda asked, grinning knowingly.
"Yup," Dorea answered, trying to sound confident, yet she had a feeling she was a positive shade of green.
"When we turn out of this alleyway we should come out and be on Charing Cross. I'm sure we'll find a nice little place to get some breakfast in us." Andromeda explained, as she straightened her coat and started walking forwards, gesturing Dorea to follow.
Dorea didn't really know London that well, but she knew they were now on Charing Cross - for a big London Underground sign signalled an entrance to the tube station of the same name. Though it was April, it felt like a winter's day, strangely - it was sunny, yet cold. She was glad she'd dressed appropriately.
They found a cute little cafe after a minute or so of walking and deciding, and entered. A waft of warm air hit Dorea, which she welcomed. The two of them found seats by the window, and had a look through the menu.
"So, dear, let's get to know each other," Andromeda smiled, and placed a hand over hers, "how's school? Sirius didn't tell me all that much. What subjects are you doing?"
Dorea was all but happy to talk. Since the muggle cafe was pretty busy for this early in the morning, she spoke in a normal tone instead of lowering her voice. "School's going great, actually. This year is my OWL year, so as you could imagine the next month and a half is going to be pretty stressful. I'm doing Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, Defence, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."
She smirked at the shocked look on Andromeda Black's face. "Crikey, eleven OWLs? That's more than I ever did!"
"Because I revise a lot, it's quite easy to manage them all. Though my timetable is pretty packed." She added, and the woman across from her nodded. "What subjects did you do at school?"
"Oh, all the core ones - yes, even History. I did try and do Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in third and fourth year, but I dropped them before fifth. Astronomy is a speciality subject of the Black family, so I was very good at that all the way through school. Speaking of which, I heard Sirius now teaches that subject?" Andromeda answered.
Dorea nodded, trying not to laugh. "To my chagrin, yes, he does."
The woman opposite her laughed. They continued talking before a waitress came over and ordered their food and drinks: Dorea ordering tea and her usual toasted bagel, whilst Andromeda ordered some coffee and pancakes. When they were left alone again, conversation resumed. Andromeda told her that she worked at the Ministry, as she'd been newly appointed to the Wizengamot by Minister Amelia Bones. "I'm the Minister's Undersecretary, which is a huge honour. Though I primarily specialise in wizarding law, it gets incorporated into that as well as I get to sit at all the councils and hearings. My husband Ted does Wizard Law as well, though I warn you he likes to drone on about it."
Dorea found that fascinating, that the woman opposite her was in such a high position of power. She didn't act superior in any way at all, which was great, she was just a normal person. "I imagine it's quite stressful, though." Dorea added.
"Oh yes, especially with the increased Death Eater activity. Raids are being planned, and simultaneously Madam Bones is clearing anyone with Death Eater sympathies out of the Ministry. Though she's having trouble with a certain Malfoy… Anyway, enough of that. Tell me more about you, dear."
So Dorea did. She explained a bit about her personal life and talked a bit more about her school life too - her friends there and what not. The woman listened tentatively and nodded throughout. When their breakfast came, they gladly ate. Dorea's bagel was delicious, and noises of approval were coming from Andromeda, so it was safe to assume breakfast went down a treat for both parties.
Once they were done and had paid (Dorea insisted, since she had a thousand quid to spend), they exited the little cafe and began shopping in earnest. They took the Tube to Oxford Street and began milling around for about an hour - after just four shops, both of Dorea and Andromeda's arms had at least one bag on them. Dorea honestly had bought herself a new wardrobe practically, and Andromeda was going all out too.
Their shopping took them up to lunch time, where they stopped to chill for a minute.
"Right, we're meeting Ted for lunch at a place called Townsend, which is in Whitechapel, at twelve forty-five. We best get going." Andromeda told her, as they walked down the steps of another tube station, on their way to this place. "He's been dying to go to this place for months. In fact, when I told him about this day, he was begging me to make a reservation at this place!" Dorea giggled at that.
It took about half an hour on the Tube to get from Oxford Street to Whitechapel, and it included a change of train about halfway through. That wasn't too stressful, though - Andromeda seemed to be really good at understanding muggle systems for someone who was pureblood. But she supposed that came with having a husband that was muggleborn.
At twelve thirty-five, they arrived at the restaurant where they were meeting Ted Tonks for lunch. They stopped by a bench so Andromeda could check her watch. "Right, we're a bit early, do you think we should meander around in this general vicinity or just go inside and order our drinks while we wait for Ted? It's up to you, dear."
Dorea thought for a moment. "After all this shopping, I think I need a drink. We can easily have a shop around here after lunch."
Her cousin giggled at that first bit in understanding. The two of them made their way towards the restaurant, which on first impressions looked very clean and maybe a bit posh. There was a lunch menu protected in laminate fixed to the wall just beside the entrance.
When they got inside, Dorea thought it was definitely a very clean place - everything looked spotless. There were clean glasses hanging down above the bar, and a waiter was polishing freshly dried ones and delicately hanging them up with the rest. There were only a handful of people actually sitting and eating, but Dorea liked the glimpses she caught of their food; it looked very appetising.
It wasn't long before a spritely young waitress approached them and greeted them. Andromeda started speaking right away. "Hiya, we have a reservation booked for twelve forty-five, under the name Tonks?"
The waitress scanned a book which was perched on a stand of some sort before smiling at them. "I'll show you to your table."
They followed her to a window seat which was in the corner, and gave a good view of the steps that lead up to the restaurant and the adjacent street. They gladly set their shopping bags down under the table at their feet, glad to not carry them for another while. Dorea took her coat off and placed it on the back of her chair. The waitress laid out three menus.
"Would you like to order drinks whilst you wait for the third member of your party?" The waitress asked them.
"Yes. Could I have a fresh orange and lemonade please?" Andromeda didn't even look at the drinks menu.
The waitress nodded and noted that down in her little notebook. Dorea quickly realised that she would have to make a choice in a few seconds. She had a sudden urge to have hot chocolate - even though it was April, outside it was definitely hot chocolate kind of weather. But would it be a bit much? It was only lunch.
"Erm, can I have a hot chocolate, please?" She ended up saying, though she sounded a bit unsure. Andromeda just gave her a smile.
"Of course. Would you like cream and marshmallows with it?" The waitress asked, smiling. This time, with more confidence, Dorea nodded and said please. With that, the young lass left them.
Drinks arrived a few minutes later, and with that they started engrossing in more conversation. It took them right up until twelve forty-five, when a jingling sound indicated the door to the place being opened.
"Here's Ted now," Andromeda said, looking over her shoulder. Dorea looked around as well. She easily caught sight of him as he gave them a wave. He looked a very cheery man - not particularly tall or squat, but you could tell he and Andromeda were similar ages. He looked with fascination up and around the restaurant, clearly delighted he was finally getting to try it out.
He slid into the seat next to his wife, and kissed her cheek. "Hello, Andy," he said, and then faced her. "You must be Dorea… Gods, you look like your dad alright!" He said.
Dorea grinned, and gladly shook his hand across the table. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
They talked for a few minutes before the waitress came back over and took their orders (though in Ted's case he also ordered his drink). Dorea chose a baked potato, whilst Ted went with a quiche which he liked the sound of. Andromeda went with a ham and butternut squash soup. When they were left alone again, Dorea decided to start another conversation.
"I hear you also work at the Ministry, Ted?" She asked him as she spooned another mouthful of whipped cream and marshmallows into her mouth.
"Oh yes, I'm basically a lawyer. Although I don't have a set department that I work in - I just kind of work everywhere. As you could imagine, that gets very fun at times." The man said, and said that last bit with a drip of sarcasm. "Though Madam Bones has been very kind and isn't planning to arrest every single Death Eater at once. That will easily lessen my workload a bit - there's nothing worse than having to look at every single case at once."
"See what I mean?" Andromeda leaned forward and whispered to her, referring to earlier where she said her husband liked to drone on about his work. Dorea smirked at that.
They spoke a while more, and Dorea found her cheeks hurting after a while - from smiling, since Ted and Andromeda together were very funny and easy to talk to. When the food arrived, the conversation changed; for they were very impressed with their lunch choices. Dorea wanted to savour every bite of hers, she was practically in love. Ted and Andromeda kept making noises of approval as well.
Lunch brought them right up until half past one, since they spent that much time talking. They had some hot drinks after their meal, and Dorea was glad to have another cup of tea. When it came to paying, the bill came up to £45. Though that was less than what she was expecting, she paid it nonetheless (though Ted insisted, since the reservation was under his name). Dorea felt quite grown up paying for things herself.
Ted soon had to go back to work, since he had a department meeting at two. Dorea almost didn't want him to go, for she liked the man's company. But she supposed there would be other days.
When they said farewell to Ted, Dorea and Andromeda very much agreed to go back to shopping. They stayed in the Whitechapel area and milled about the shops. She honestly didn't know how long they spent, but they spent a good amount of money.
At three, they took the tube back into central London. When they got there, they had thought about concluding their day shopping and decided to go to the John Lewis department store for one last mill around. Andromeda wanted a few things for her home there. Dorea wasn't bothered in the slightest what shop they went to, for she had a feeling she'd find things she liked everywhere.
When they got in, Andromeda wanted to quickly go to the bathroom. Dorea nodded, and perched up against a pillar whilst she waited for her. Scanning her eyes and relaxing, something caught Dorea's eye.
In one of the many shops within the building, there was one which was dedicated to music. In the window of one of them, there was something that Dorea recognised - a muggle music player. She knew that Harry had used one before - he'd said that he and Susan had used one in the Room of Requirement that one time he'd worked on Occlumency with her. They required a physical disc called a record in order to play the music. Dorea remembered how fascinated she'd been with them.
She counted her remaining money - £320 left. She walked closer to the window of the shop to look at the price. It was only £55. This is great news, she thought. She would have to be quick, though, as Andromeda would probably be done any second now. She didn't want her worrying she'd gone missing or something.
Walking inside the shop, she quickly found where the record players were and found the one that was on display in the window. Realising she'd have to buy the physical vinyl records as well, she sighed before looking through the piles of them. Dorea wasn't the biggest expert on muggle music, but she did like quite a few bands.
Without even thinking of the cost, she picked up vinyls of Queen, Abba, and Fleetwood Mac and went to pay for them. The box of the record player wasn't even that heavy. Once she paid, she quickly made room for it all in one of the shopping bags she had already and carefully placed them in there. Oh I've got a great idea for this… She thought to herself, the shop, she made her way back over to the pillar she was previously up against. She was lucky, for Andromeda emerged about ten seconds later.
"Gosh, there was practically a queue for toilets in there. It was so busy… Right, let's get back to shopping, shall we?" The woman grinned.
They took the escalator up to the first level where more of the clothes and homeware type shops were. Dorea didn't really care about buying home stuff, but she went into the shop with her cousin either way, choosing to just stand around and wait for her, or give an opinion about something Andromeda wanted to buy. When Andromeda went to look at some bed duvets that caught her eye, Dorea kept a respectable distance. Her eyes started wandering around the shop whilst she waited - wondering what her father and the others back at Black Manor were doing right now. She also wondered about her other friends and what they were up to. She knew her fifth year friends were probably either revising extra hard or trying to relax and chill out. Easter holidays this year weren't really holidays as such, not with exams just around the corner.
She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name. She quickly refocused and brought herself back to reality. When she located her cousin, she realised that it couldn't have been her calling her - for Andromeda Tonks was eying up a thick looking bed throw. That was odd..
Looking around, she wondered if she'd just imagined it. That was probably likely - the other people in the shop would have no way of knowing her, they were all random muggles assumedly. Unless someone from school was here?
She looked around her, and her heart just about jumped when she caught eyes with people she did recognise.
Kaspar and Sofia, who were previously her guardians.
They stood near the front of the shop, and looked at her lovingly. They had willingly let her go and live with Sirius at the end of fourth year, but even she'd been reluctant to leave them - for they were so loving and caring in the time she'd spent with them. And now they were mere feet away.
She scolded herself then, for she realised she hadn't written to them since Christmas. School had just been that hectic she'd clean forgot. Dorea felt a bit shit in that moment, but she pushed that aside - she could make it up to them now.
She practically jogged over and flung her arms around them. "Oh, sweet girl," Kaspar said in that funny little English-Swedish hybrid accent that she remembered so well, "we've missed you."
"Tonnes." Sofia said, pulling back and patting her affectionately.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I haven't written since December!" She instantly profusely apologised. "I've been so-"
"-It's alright, dear, we understand." Kaspar cut her off, insisting it was fine.
"Besides, we are members of the Order," Sofia added, lowering her voice, "we get constant updates about you anyway, from your father."
"You know dad?" She was a bit surprised at that. She knew they'd have interacted by now at meetings and stuff, but she didn't know to what extent.
"Oh yes, Sirius practically loves us for how well we took care of his baby girl." Kaspar pinched her cheek softly, something he used to do. She grinned at him.
Sofia and Dorea were about to speak, but Andromeda had found her. "Oh, who's this?" The woman said in a polite tone.
"Oh, Andromeda, this is Kaspar and Sofia - they were my guardians whilst dad was… unavailable to take care of me." She introduced them. They shook hands with her cousin, who loosened up around them. Before she'd obviously been wary. "Kaspar, Sofia, this is my father's cousin Andromeda Tonks."
"We've heard about you from the Order," Sofia made the connection, "though we must keep going to the meetings that you can't attend, for we always hear your name in the Apologies."
"That must be true. Oh well, we're meeting now, that's the main thing." Her cousin said cheerily. It was plainly obvious that the three adults wanted to talk about Order-related stuff, but couldn't due to Dorea being there. They all talked with one another for the next few minutes.
"We should let you get back to your shopping," Kaspar said, clasping his hands together, "we've got to get going."
"Oh yes, we've still got cash to spend." Andromeda said, and shared a look with Dorea.
"In the summer holidays you could some and spend a day with us," Sofia said to Dorea, "you know, for a catch-up."
"That would be great!" Dorea agreed instantly. "We can owl each other suitable dates. Just send them through the Floo to Grimmauld Place and I'm sure we can agree on something."
Dorea would have mentioned Black Manor to them, but decided not to. Besides, it would be pointless, as they didn't have access to the house so therefore couldn't send anything. She made a mental note to talk to dad about setting them up for a connection - maybe not direct access, but maybe a channel in the Floo where they could send letters to one another or something.
Reluctantly saying farewell, Dorea watched as her two previous guardians walked away and out of the shop. She felt a bit crap watching them leave again after such a short amount of time of seeing them again, but she hoped one day in the near future she'd get to spend a lot more time with them, catching up on everything.
"They seemed like great people," Andromeda remarked as they went back to browsing.
"They were, they are." Dorea replied, nodding, "they really did act like parents when I was in their care."
Andromeda smiled at her. She seemed to notice the slight sadness and yearning in her tone. The woman then said something so quietly Dorea almost missed it - "I wish I had parents like them in my life."
They concluded their day shopping at four o'clock in the afternoon, and took the Tube back to Charing Cross, where they went down the same alleyway they had Apparated to, assumedly to Apparate back to Black Manor. Dorea took the chance to thank her cousin for the day out before she forgot to, but Andromeda insisted she should be the one thanking Dorea, for she paid for breakfast and lunch. Overall, Dorea felt great about spending the day relaxing and buying whatever she wished. She hoped there were more days like this to come.
What Andromeda had so quietly said back in the shop, though, stuck with her. She hadn't wanted to ask about it in case it brought up bad memories, but she made a mental note for when she got back to either research or ask her dad about Cygnus and Druella - who she knew were Andromeda's parents (and subsequently, Bellatrix and Narcissa's parents too). She felt quite sad that her cousin hadn't had such a great life at all in terms of childhood.