The Three Witches and the Fifth Year of Hogwarts

(4 years later)

Summer Holidays 

Olivia Dragonheart, Amelia Clearwater and Isabell Bluesky were at Olivia’s aunt and uncle’s house. Mr. Watson instantly refused just as his grand belly peeked through the door. He was a round bellied man with a bushy brown moustache, beady brown eyes and a short beard.

‘Uncle, you don’t want me to give Hailey a pig’s nose,’ Olivia reasoned. 

Mr. Watson glared at her from inside. 

‘YOU DARE THREATEN MY SWEET ANGEL WITH SOME HOCUS POCUS?’  

‘Yes.’

She drew her wand at Hailey, who had come to them. She shrunk as she saw a wand pointed directly at her. 

‘Dad, just do anything she asks!’ she pleaded.

Mr. Watson growled.

‘FINE! BUT IF YOU DO ANY MAGIC TO TRY TO HARM MY HAILEY-’ 

But Amelia and Isabell already went through the door, squeezed to the walls because of Mr. Watson’s grand belly that was at the door. 

‘TAKE YOUR FILTHY SHOES OFF! MY WIFE JUST SCRUBBED THE RUG AND FLOOR!’ 

Amelia and Isabell finally went through and walked in the small corridor without any shoes as Mr. Watson had ordered them, meeting a round mirror that was surrounded by a leafy rope, which had daisies. The walls were dull beige, with brown patterns. The floor was made of polished wood, which was blanketed by a beige fur rug to match the theme of the house. 

‘Never went to a Muggle house before,’ Amelia said, looking around. 

‘It’s close to wizard homes, really, except that the pictures don’t move, and Wizarding houses usually have magical furniture.’

They reached the living room as they walked in the corridor. The living room was coated with two large beige fur rugs, as well as two brown leather sofas that were opposing each other. Between them was a glass coffee table, which was covered with a beige sheet that had brown swirls. A small screened television was where the sofas were, where it stopped at a channel with cartoon animations. 

‘By the way,’ Olivia said. ‘Don’t compliment my aunt about how clean or nice the house is. She will throw at you an entire speech about how hard she had been working on keeping the house as best as it could.’

Amelia and Isabell firmly nodded. 

‘Why didn’t you invite Albert?’ Isabell asked casually. 

‘Oh, Uncle Watson would have probably never let him in,’ Olivia lied. 

The real reason she hadn’t invited him was because of what had happened the previous year. With her going with Harry Potter to the Yule Ball and Albert forced to unwillingly go with Isabell. He never had time to talk to her about it. Bring him here, and he will get that conversation with him. 

Amelia and Isabell exchanged looks, realising the nervous tone in Olivia’s voice.

‘Sure…’ Isabell said suspiciously. 

A tall woman came out of a glass door. Amelia and Isabell saw through the glass door some spoons, pans and forks, realising it was the kitchen. The woman was a brunette and her hair was a neat curly bob. She had forest-green eyes. The tall woman kept stroking her curls admiringly. 

‘That’s Aunt Watson,’ Olivia sighed, swishing a hand to the woman who came out of the kitchen. 

She was wearing a blue floral dress with yellow daffodils, as well as a white apron. 

‘Are their shoes outside?’ was the first thing Mrs. Watson asked.

‘Yes, Aunt Watson.’

‘Good. You children never realise the hard work that I put to scrub the floors and make them polished. I have to break my poor back to do so, and yet even Hailey so carelessly forgets to put her muddy shoes outside, adding to the effort that I put towards cleaning the floors. And the rugs! These fur rugs! I find chewing gum, melted chocolate stains that probably came from this freak (‘Accusing the least-favoured one of doing such a “horrible crime”,’ Olivia murmured), and god knows what else lies within these rugs! But with the burden I have to suffer, I took out the smallest crumbs, the tiniest stains that don’t seem visible! Only my husband truly appreciates me. He appreciates my food and hard work! (Amelia and Isabell knew what she said was true, considering that Mr. Watson had a large belly) Off you go to that freak’s room, I don’t want to smell the stink of m-magical (she shuddered) people.’

Amelia and Isabell were offended, but decided not to argue since Mrs. Watson would fire at them another speech and waste their time. 

Amelia’s golden-blonde hair was still at its shortest, resembling her dead mother, Victoria Clearwater. Her electric-blue eyes were shimmering like the sea and her sweet smile remained at its best. Isabell’s skin still had the dazzling touch of tan, with smooth, wavy, brown hair that was tied in a high ponytail with an iceberg-blue hairband. To add to that, Isabell was wearing a blue shirt and dark blue jeans. Her eyes remained luminous greenish-brown.  Olivia’s hair remained long, pitch-black like a void and smooth, with sparkling emerald-green eyes. They climbed creaking stairs (which were polished wood and were covered with a beige, thin rug) that were in a corner and Olivia opened one door as they marched across a wide corridor. Amelia and Isabell expected the room that they were entering to be beige and brown, themed, with striking decorations. The room’s floor was wooden, but dull and unpolished. The floor shivered as it wasn’t covered with a warm, beige, fur rug. There was a bed in the corner, covered in a moth-eaten, beige sheet and a brown, velvet, handed-down blanket. There were banners hung on the walls near the bed. There was the Ravenclaw house logo, with a majestic eagle with spread wings and flying feathers, as well as shining, wide, blue eyes and large, black pupils. There was a dirty frame, with the images of three girls, beaming brightly together as they were bathed in a fiery orb behind them. They were Olivia, Amelia and Isabell. Amelia and Isabell noticed something stick out from under the bed. 

‘Do you mind if we-’ began Isabell.

‘Isabell!’ Amelia groaned. 

‘It’s fine. It’s nothing personal. You can look around and all,’ Olivia said.

Isabell laid on the floor, with her stomach on the shivering wooden planks of the floor. She looked at what was underneath the creaking bed and saw… books. Hundreds of them. But they were separated into four piles.

‘You have all the books from all the previous years?’ Isabell questioned. 

Olivia nodded slowly. 

‘I mean, I’ve got nothing to do all day, compounding to the fact that I’m not allowed to use Hailey’s computer.’

‘What’s a-’ Amelia began.

‘I’ll explain later.’

Isabell got up from the floor and rubbed off specks of dust on her shirt. She then sat next to Amelia on the bed and Olivia sat on a chair that was near an old, wooden desk. Silence took over the room for a while. 

‘Want to eat anything? I could get something from the kitchen…’ Olivia said nervously, breaking the silence. 

Amelia and Isabell shook their heads. 

‘Why did they want you back when you lived with me in second year?’ Isabell asked. 

‘Don’t know…’ Olivia replied. 

‘I still can’t get the image of Cedric out of my mind… he didn’t deserve to die, even if we didn’t know him much. He was chosen as a Triwizard champion for a wizard, he had a strong heart. And Dumbledore said: “This tournament isn’t for the weak-hearted.” And if Dumbledore said that Voldemort is back… then, sadly, he’s back…’ Amelia said after a while. 

‘We’ll fight together no matter what stands in our way, though,’ Isabell bubbled optimistically. 

Olivia and Amelia nodded and they all gave each other broad smiles. A bang from down stairs was abruptly heard by the three girls. Stricken with terror, they warily walked downstairs to see Mr. Watson, Mrs. Watson and Hailey on the leather sofa, staring at the corridor with dumbfounded eyes. The girls followed their gaze to the corridor and jumped in surprise to see three people there. A witch with a pale heart-shaped face and spiky, vibrant, violet hair and with a velvet green cloak stood there, smiling radiantly. Behind her stood a broad wizard with brittle, grey hair and an artificial eye with a bright, blue pupil and a black iris that was darting in all directions. He had a great chunk taken out of his large nose, and his cheek was badly scarred. The other wizard was a tall black wizard with a blue kufi hat and blue robes. He was bald, and had a single, golden hoop earring. 

‘There you three are,’ Alastor Moody gruffed as the badly scarred wizard came limping towards them. 

He had a wooden left leg. 

‘Who are you…’ Isabell asked, looking at the wizard and witch by the door. 

‘Tonks, nothing else,’ the witch responded. ‘You can call me Dora Tonks if you want. Whatever suits you better!’ 

‘Kingsley Shacklebolt,’ the tall wizard spoke in a low, yet reassuring voice. 

‘Professor Moody, might I ask what are you all doing here?’ Amelia asked, taken aback by the arrival of the two wizards and witch. 

‘Taking you to the Order of the Phoenix’s secret Headquarters, of course!’ Tonks chirped. ‘Ron, Hermione and Harry are there.’

‘Nymphadora, it’s enough that there are three Muggles listening to all of this!’ Alastor said irritably. 

‘I hate that name,’ Tonks muttered. ‘Didn’t I tell you for the millionth time to call me Tonks?’ 

The girls noticed that each of them was holding two brooms. 

‘Fastest and safest way to go there is by brooms,’ Kingsley explained, noticing the girls eyeing the brooms intriguely. 

They all completely ignored the three muggles’ horrified stammers on the brown leather sofa. 

‘Sorry, what is the Order of the-’ began Isabell. 

‘We’ll explain when we ruddy get there!’ Mad-Eye fumed, already outside of the house and waiting for them as he rode on his broom and prepared to explode into the starry sky. 

‘But, we didn’t prepare our bags and we don’t have the books for Hogwarts,’ Amelia said, baffled. 

‘We got that sorted out. All you need to worry about is getting to the Headquarters safely,’ Tonks confirmed. 

‘You can’t ruddy ‘ell just take ‘em away!’ Mr. Watson blurted loudly, standing up from the sofa and waddling towards them. 

‘Sorry, sir,’ Tonks beamed. ‘We’ll have to.’

Tonks pushed the three girls towards the door and closed it as Kingsley exited the house. Tonks gave Olivia a broom, which was a Cleansweeper. Kingsley gave Isabell a Cleansweeper broom, too. And Alastor Moody handed Amelia her own broom, Nimbus 2001. Mad-Eye’s broom had a back support, and it almost resembled a flying wheelchair and a wheel-free motorcycle at the same time. Tonks owned a Comet 260 broom. 

‘Hold on to your brooms, don’t want any of you to die in the attempt,’ Alastor grunted. 

‘No one’s going to die, I assure you,’ Kingsley whispered to the girls in his low voice. ‘Mad-Eye’s overreacting, like he usually does.’

They snickered. The two wizards and witch started soaring into the skies, the girls hurriedly following them. The girls’ hair flowed as the wind whipped their faces, but they didn’t mind it. They finally felt liberation, freedom, as they flew across the twinkling stars, each whooping with joy as they flew on their brooms. Amelia was racing Tonks. Each witch was now going in between ships of the River Thames. Amelia laughed as her fingertips felt the cold rippling waves of the river. She then darted up and did a 360 loop, Tonks following her breath-taking moves. 

‘You sure do know what fun is!’ Tonks cheered. 

Amelia smiled as she and Tonks continued flying about in the night. Olivia was flying alongside Kingsley, who proved to be an excellent flyer as he zoomed here and there, and yet surprisingly his hat never left his bald head. Isabell was catching up with Olivia, who saw her and blasted away. 

‘Oh no, you don’t!’ Isabell laughed as she caught up with Olivia, who also laughed. 

‘Enough messing around!’ Moody barked. ‘The important part is to get you there safely! You can do whatever the bloody hell you want to when we do!’

The girls saw Moody descend, and they followed him. He was going in the right direction, and the girls leaned their body to the right to add weight to that direction as they started to slowly descend. They were now flying in between shallow, tall buildings with matching windows and black fences with sharp tips. Alastor made a stop and his feet touched the pebbled-ground. The girls mounted off their brooms, Tonks and Kingsley right after them. 

‘The headquarters for the order is hidden behind a Fidelius Charm, before you even ask,’ Mad-Eye gruffed.

‘A what?’

‘Fidelius. Used to hide and conceal buildings, for protection,’ Moody said impatiently.

‘Why’d you need protection?’

‘Because, Voldemort’s back! And these are Muggle buildings!’ snapped Moody. 

The girls noticed that where they were standing were numbered houses. Number 11 and number 13… 

‘Where’s building number twelve?’ Isabell asked, bemused. 

‘That’s the number of the Headquarters,’ Tonks explained. 

Mad-Eye tapped his wand on the fence three times, and all at once buildings 11 and 13 started moving. They were separating as another building came into view, its bricks coloured darker, looking more old than the other buildings. The building moved forward, until it was just like the buildings it was stuck between. He opened the gate, and started limping inside. 

‘You comin’ or not?’ he snapped, his staff banging on the dark ground.

The girls followed Alastor inside. He climbed up a worn set of front steps and approached a batted front door. On the door was a silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent. But it had no keyhole, handle or anything, which made the three girls suspect that the door would only be opened by magic. Indeed, Mad-Eye muttered an incantation that was unclear to Amelia, Isabell and Olivia. The door opened, and Alastor limped inside, the girls scurrying after him. As soon as they entered the building, there was a loud, clanging bell, and a woman’s horrible shriek was heard from inside. 

‘Who dares enter the Black’s house!’ the shrieks echoed, getting louder as they headed deeper inside the corridor. 

‘Honestly, shut up!’ they heard a man’s voice groan. 

The man from inside seemed to have closed some curtains, and the woman’s yells died. The girls could smell damp dust and a sweetish, rotting smell; the place that the girls were in had the feeling of a dilapidated building. Old-fashioned gas lamps shivered to life all along the walls, casting a flickering flimsy light over the drooping and peeling wallpaper, as well as a threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway. The gloomy hallway had a cobwebby crystal chandelier that glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung misplaced and crooked on the walls. One portrait was the biggest, which was covered by a black moth-eaten curtain. Suddenly, the curtains swung open and a woman inside the portrait started screaming from the top of her lungs. 

‘Halfbloods dare to step into the Black family’s house!’ she shrieked. 

‘Enough of this nonsense, Walburga,’ Tonks groaned. 

‘Another half blood dares to speak to someone with the purest of wizarding blood!’ Walburga Black screamed. 

Walburga Black had light skin, frowning brown brows and curly brown hair tied back into a bun. She was wearing a black gown, which reached her neck. She was wearing dangly dull golden earrings, and she looked as strict as ever. 

Tonks shut the curtain annoyedly. She continued walking, but accidentally stumbled over an umbrella stand that formed the shape of a severed troll leg. The curtains of Wulburga’s portrait opened again, and she screamed at the top of her lungs once again. On one side of the long hallway, the girls spotted a dining room. It contained a long wooden table with wooden chairs and hanging light fixtures. The dining also featured a dresser which held the crest and china of the Black family. At the end of the hall, they faced a large staircase which led to the upper floors. The end of the hallway also featured a door, which led to the basement and kitchen according to Kingsley. The girls in curiosity opened the door and went down the stairs. Mad-Eye was climbing the staircase. They entered the kitchen. It was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large cackling fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. There were people sitting on the rammed chairs. Someone stood in front of the girls. It was a plump woman with fair skin, though her nose and cheeks were red. She had short red hair and small twinkling, hazel eyes, as well as a kind smile. It was Mrs. Weasley, mother of Ronald Weasley.

‘Ah, you’ve come safe and sound! The kitchen is pretty occupied right now. I suggest you go to your spare room upstairs,’ Mrs. Weasley said brightly. 

She pushed the girls up the stairs and closed the door behind them. 

‘Wait, she didn’t tell us which room exactly,’ Olivia said. 

‘Better try them out,’ Isabell shrugged. 

The trio climbed the grand staircase. The walls of the staircase were decorated with shrunken house-elf heads, mounted on the wall with plaques. They reached the first floor. They entered the drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room on the first floor with olive-green walls covered in dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled little clouds of dust every time someone put their foot on it and the long, moss-green velvet curtains were buzzing as though swarming with invisible bees. The first floor also had a bedroom and a bathroom. They continued climbing up the staircase. Amelia, Isabell and Olivia reached the second floor. They entered the first room they reached, which looked, if anything, even danker and gloomier than it had at first sight. The blank picture on the wall was now breathing very slowly and deeply, as though its invisible occupant was asleep. They tried the second door, which revealed four people inside it. 

‘You came!’ Hermione Granger exclaimed as soon as the girls entered. 

The room had two twin beds and a wardrobe, and like the rest of the house was gloomy, had lofty ceilings, and had a doorknob in the shape of a twisted serpent. 

The other three people were Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. 

‘I think your room is the next floor up,’ Harry said as he shook hands with them. 

‘Place looks small from the outside, but it’s large from the inside,’ Isabell laughed. 

‘What’s this place called, anyway? They didn’t tell us when we came in,’ Olivia spoke as she seated herself next to Ginny, who was sitting on one of the twin beds. 

‘Number Twelve Grimmauld Place,’ Ron responded. 

Two people suddenly popped inside the room. It was the twins, Fred and George Weasley. 

‘They learned apparition,’ Ron said annoyedly. ‘Now they go anywhere they want to go and have to show-off in front of all of us.’

‘No worries, Ron!’ Fred, who was on the left, chortled. 

‘You’ll get to apparate next year!’ George, who was on the right, said with a bright smile. 

They both disapparated and they heard Mrs. Weasley scold them from downstairs. 

‘Just because you can apparate doesn’t mean you won’t have to use your legs to walk about!’ Mrs. Weasley thundered from downstairs and they heard another popping sound, which indicated that the twins disapparated once again. ‘You know that’s not what apparition is used for!’

‘Alright, we better go upstairs to check our room,’ Amelia said after a while as she, Isabell and Olivia bade their four friends goodbye. 

The girls climbed the squeaking stairs up to the next floor, where they met a door. Amelia opened it and it revealed a bedroom. It had three beds with green pillowy blankets, and a single wardrobe. The room gave them a gloomy appearance, just like all rooms of Grimmauld Place. They saw three leather trunks, one on each bed. On two of the beds were cages with owls perched inside of them. One owl was white as snow, with sharp eyes and a small beak. 

‘Bianca, I was so worried about you,’ Amelia said happily, freeing her pet owl from the cage. 

At once, Bianca spread her feathery wings and started zooming about in a circle, hooting gleefully. Bianca then perched herself on a waste bin, which surprisingly coughed as soon as Bianca’s waste fell to the base. The other owl inside the silver cage had brown, smooth feathers, and wide piercing eyes with wide black pupils. Isabell opened the cage of her pet owl, Mocha, and the brown owl joined Bianca in the sky (she had gotten off the coughing waste bin). 

‘I’m starving,’ Isabell mumbled hungrily. 

‘You always are,’ Amelia rolled her eyes.

‘Let’s go down and see if the adults ended their discussion in the kitchen,’ Olivia said. 

A cat pounced on Olivia and seated itself on her lap, purring softly. It had pale orange fur with soft purple streaks. It had pointed ears that almost represented nacho triangular crips and a small shining pink nose, as well as mystical purple eyes and round black pupils. 

‘Not the time for a nap, Twilight, you lazy cat,’ Olivia said, shooing the cat away from her. 

Twilight mewled annoyedly and sashayed furiously out of the room. The girls got out of the room and descended the staircase. They were about to enter the kitchen when they heard angry muttering behind them. They swivelled around to see a house-elf wearing a ragged grey cloth. The house-elf had a droopy face and squinting black eyes, as well as large dangling ears. The creature’s skin was so tight that they could make out his bones and saw his rib cage through a hole of his ragged clothing. He was rubbing the frame of Walburga’s portrait, muttering. 

‘...Don’t worry, Mistress… Kreacher is here… still at your service….’ the house-elf whispered as he scrubbed the frame with a dirty cloth. 

‘Hello,’ Isabell greeted as she approached the house-elf.

‘A halfblood scum is talking to Kreacher. Oh, what would poor Mistress say?’ the house-elf gnarled as he drew away from Isabell’s stretched palm.

‘Kreacher, enough scrubbing and go clean the drawing room!’ a familiar man’s voice ordered. 

Behind them was a tall man with shoulder length, curly, black hair and grey eyes that glittered with old mischief. 

‘Must be the three girls that Harry was talking about,’ the man said as he shook their hands one by one. ‘I’m Sirius Black, though you would recognise me because of the breakout I’ve done from Azkaban and all.’ 

The girls indeed recognised the man standing in front of them. The moving image of him in the Daily Prophet had shown him with filthy tousled black hair that reached his elbows, grey eyes and bared yellow teeth. Now his hair was below his ears, and his teeth were nicely aligned and lost their yellowish touch. His face was more clean, with no dust or stains on it like the ones they had seen when he was in the Daily Prophet. 

‘Adults’ discussion is over. And Molly made some food. Wonderful cook, she is,’ Sirius said as he descended the stairs and entered the kitchen, the three girls following him. 

‘Mr. Black-’

‘Call me Sirius,’ he chuckled.

‘Alright. Sirius, do you know why they brought us here?’ Amelia asked. 

‘Ah, I think they just want to slip out information from the two of you about your parents,’ he pointed two fingers, one at Olivia and the finger at Amelia. ‘Not your real mother, though,’ he said as he addressed Amelia. ‘No offence,’ he added, seeing the expression on Amelia’s face.

‘They just want to know information regarding your Death Eater parents. They think that the information could help them at some point. And as for you, young lady,’ he pointed his finger at Isabell. ‘Your father was in the original Order of the Phoenix. So, why not just tag you along, eh?’ 

‘My father was in the Order of the Phoenix?’ Isabell exclaimed sceptically. ‘He never told me, though…’ 

‘Here’s proof. But I’ll give that to Harry. Don’t tell him, though, don’t want to ruin the surprise,’ Sirius whispered as he got a folded picture from his pocket. 

He unfolded it and stopped, making the girls almost tumble on the stone stairs. Sirius took his wand and ignited it with dim light, so that Isabell (along with Olivia and Amelia) could see what the picture revealed to them. It was the original Order, with the picture having a vintage sort of filter to it. They recognised some faces. One of them was Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts’ Headmaster. His face was still ancient, his blue eyes twinkling brightly through his half-moon spectacles. Another face they recognised was Sirius himself, alongside two people. The girls noticed that the photo was moving, with several people changing their poses or smiles. Sirius in the photo was smiling brightly. The man next to him had the same smile as his. He had messy, black hair and bright brown eyes. Next to that man was a beautiful woman with long red hair and jade-green eyes, and a broad smile across her face. There was someone standing behind the three people. It was a short man with mousy brown hair, and a pear-shaped face. 

‘Isn’t that Peter Pettigrew?’ Amelia asked, pointing at the man.

‘Ah, yes,’ Sirius replied bitterly. 

They continued to scan the moving image, until their eyes locked to a man with rippling black hair and greenish-brown eyes. 

‘He really was in there,’ Isabell exclaimed. 

‘Alright, better get down or Molly will scold us all for being a few seconds late for dinner,’ Sirius said as he hastily folded the paper and tucked it in his pocket. 

He started to dash down the stairs, the girls catching up with him as they entered the kitchen. The clangs of pots and pans echoed and buzzing and chattering went to their ears as soon as they entered the lively kitchen.

‘C’mon everyone, help if you want to eat dinner before eleven!’ Mrs. Weasley barked at them, well, mostly Fred and George.

Isabell dashed towards her, as though ready to do anything she asked of her, as long as the food was served in five minutes.

‘By the way,’ a voice whispered behind Amelia and Olivia. 

They looked around and spotted Ginny, her flaming red hair tied as a high ponytail, and topped with a bow.

‘Just wanted to say hi.’

‘Uh, hi. Are you sure about that-’

‘Ok, fine, I wanted to warn you about something. Remember Percy? The Gryffindor prefect who left Hogwarts last year? (Olivia and Amelia nodded) Well, please don’t mention him in front of my mum and dad.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well, mum would burst into tears and dad would break anything he’s holding (Olivia and Amelia’s expressions went blank, confused, and Ginny noticed). Percy came home one day really pleased with himself and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed.’

‘Only dad wasn’t,’ a voice added in a quiet tone. 

It was Fred, and next to him was George.

‘Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on us, and Dumbledore,’ explained George.

‘Then, Percy went completely berserk... He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he- Percy- knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn’t belong to our family any more. He packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now.’

When Ginny finished explaining, Olivia and Amelia’s jaws were dropped. They couldn’t believe a Weasley could disown his family, let alone for the ministry.

‘And on the bad news note, tomorrow you wake up at seven. We’re decontaminating the house, it's been empty for ages and stuff has been breeding in here.’

‘R-right. Er…We wanted to ask… well, we were going to ask Mad-Eye but he said-’

‘Yeah, I know what you want to ask. So, the Order of the Phoenix is basically a secret society that was founded by Albus Dumbledore to oppose Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. There used to be an old one, back in 1970. They stopped it when Voldemort was gone, but now that he’s back again, it started.’

‘Are we allowed to join?’ Olivia asked hesitantly.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Tonks muttered, appearing out of thin air. ‘You can only join when you’re of age. I just joined recently, and as an auror, they take pride in me being in the order. Kingsley’s an auror too, but he’s much more advanced than me. I only just began my apprenticeship six months ago in becoming a real one. We have to be careful at the ministry though, as to not let slip anything about the order in case there were Death Eaters disguised as ministry employees.’

‘Uh, I’m sorry, but what’s an auror?’ Amelia asked confusedly, but looking at Olivia as though daring her not to answer.

‘Aurors are the Wizarding World's best defence against the practitioners of the Dark Arts. We're well-versed in offensive magic, because our very lives depend on it. It takes courage, wit, and guile. Not many have the stomach for it,’ Tonks replied. ‘I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during auror training without any study at all, it was great... Because I’m a metamorphmagus, you know.

‘A-?’

‘Metamorphmagus. Let me show you.’ 

Tonks screwed up her eyes. Her hair started changing into pink, then it got longer, then it turned to green. 

‘How did you do that?’ said Amelia incredulously, whose hand was clapped over her mouth.

‘A metamorphmagus can change their appearance at will. That’s what made me ace the Concealment and Disguise exam. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking, though. I’m dead clumsy, I tell you.’ 

Mrs. Weasley placed food on the table, making everyone inhale the sweet scent of cinnamon, honey and vanilla. Shepherd’s pie was served on the table in a glass tray with a low base. The juicy minced meat, peas and cooked carrots were hidden underneath a coat of smooth, mashed potato. Mrs. Weasley had created steak and kidney pudding. The thick pieces of steak and pudding were trapped inside a crispy layer that resembled a mountain with a flat peak. Mrs. Weasley punched the layer with the base of a spoon, and the steak and meat poured out as though the collision was brown and orange liquid. Triangular cucumber sandwiches were put on a layered tray, the toast so soft you could make out where the cucumbers were. And as for dessert, a mixture of soft meringue, cream and cut strawberries was put on a small bowl, with a single strawberry with fresh green leaves and dimples where small yellow seeds lay. Everyone had a dirty glass of butterbeer, with its froth just on the edge of the glass. 

‘Food’s amazing,’ both Ron and Isabell sighed in satisfaction.

Mrs. Weasley smiled.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper meal,’ Amelia admitted as she stuffed the mixture of mashed potato and minced meat in her mouth.

The satisfaction and content that Amelia was living in made her body go numb as her tongue felt the hot food and pulled it down as she swallowed it. And then as the cold waterfall of Butterbeer tumbled down, the hot and cold collided together, causing a twinkle of pleasure in Amelia’s eyes. She licked her froth-filled lips with delight and continued to feast on the food in front of her. 

‘So… you want us here to ask us about our Death Eater parents…’ Olivia said slowly as she swallowed down a cut strawberry coated with meringue and cream. 

‘Right you are,’ a voice growled.

Alastor Moody came down the stairs and leaned against Fred’s chair, which was closest to the stairs. 

‘To see if what you’re about to say will be helpful for the Order,’ he continued. ‘Startin’ with you.’

He pointed his staff at Amelia, who gulped. 

What would she say about her father? That he is a worthless scum that will never be loved by his own daughter-?

‘Well?’ Mad-Eye snapped.

Amelia’s tongue couldn’t find words.

‘Well, he’s one of the Death Eaters that V-V-Voldemort (Isabell almost spat the Butterbeer in her mouth before she gulped it down) really trusts and thinks is most loyal to him. He told me loads of stuff about Death Eaters and You-Know-Who and all. He told me once that Death Eaters can communicate with each other using their Dark Mark. Before V-Voldemort lost his power when he made an attempt to kill Harry, my father said that he had hundreds of thousands of followers, which means that those would now join their leader once again.’

Amelia paused, fixated on Isabell and Olivia for a while. 

‘Anything else?’ Tonks urged. 

‘Well… in my first year of Hogwarts, I had a vision of my father. I was him. I saw what he saw from his point of view when I was sleeping one day. He contributed to that plan of killing Dumbledore, which means that he would do anything for Voldemort and you would probably face him first if you ever get to duel some Death Eaters somewhere. Adding to that… Death Eaters can’t break their loyalty to their leader, their Dark Mark sticks to their skin, even if you cut your skin where it is, it will instantly reappear. Even if you try to wash it as many times as you do, it will stay stuck there. The problem is, he’s in Azkaban and he didn’t tell me anything about what’s happening right now, so I don’t really have information regarding modern-day activities… Though, knowing my father, he and the other Death Eaters in Azkaban will find a way to escape, and I’m sure there will be a mass breakout. Other than that, I don’t know what he is or wants to do.’ 

‘That information is still helpful, though. If we find out someone who is a Death Eater, he or she will remain a Death Eater and will never be able to join the other side,’ Tonks said. 

Murmurs of agreement echoed around the silent kitchen.  

‘Wait… and Emily’s a Death Eater too.’

‘Emily?’ Lupin said incredulously. ‘Emily Francis?’

Amelia nodded as the heads of the adults turned to look at each other.

‘Was she a Death Eater before your mother d- I mean before she married your father?’

‘I don’t know, in fact, I don’t know anything about her, and I don’t think my father does either.’

‘Well, that was really important,’ 

‘And you,’ Mad-Eye growled as he pointed his staff at Olivia. 

‘Uh… I know nothing of my parents’ whereabouts or Death Eater friends. But, let me tell you that my father has a curse on him. His eyes turn all red and that means that he’s terribly evil and murderous. ‘

‘That’s very interesting,’ Sirius muttered, scratching his chin. ‘Your father… he’s Owen Dragonheart, right?’

Olivia nodded. Sirius cocked a brow and started pacing, and it seemed all the adults understood why he was acting like this.

‘No… it couldn’t be… no…’ Sirius kept muttering. ‘That’s how-that’s how he gained followers… no… the arrow… no…’

‘Sirius, what couldn’t be?’ Olivia asked worriedly. 

‘Owen used to have-’ Sirius started. 

‘Never you mind,’ Mrs. Weasley interrupted quickly, before Sirius could complete his sentence.

‘But we want to know!’ Ron said furiously.

‘The children’s eyes are getting all puffy. They need some peaceful sleep from their tiring journey.’

‘But they want to know!’ Sirius argued. ‘Even Harry wants to know!’

Mrs. Weasley glared down at Sirius, as though she were giving a naughty child a scorching death stare. 

‘They’re just children for god’s sake, Sirius! Come on, off to your beds!’ 

‘You can’t boss us around,’ said Fred sharply.

‘We’re of age!’ George added angrily. 

‘Watch me,’ snarled Mrs. Weasley.

‘Molly, dear. They’ve got a point. Harry and the twins have got a right to hear. And so does Owen’s daughter,’ a man spoke. 

A man with bright red hair and sharp green eyes through glasses spoke as he addressed his wife.

‘But Ginny doesn’t!’ Mrs. Weasley scorned Mr. Weasley. ‘Everyone, off you go or you won’t be given any food tomorrow!’ 

Nobody moved, as though they were stuck to their seats. 

‘Olivia’ll tell us everything,’ Isabell said simply.

‘Yes,’ Amelia agreed confidently.

‘Oh, alright, Harry, Fred, George, Olivia, Amelia and Isabell can stay, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, off you go to bed.’

‘But-’ Ginny began.

‘No, Ginny, no arguing! Off you go!’

Ginny muttered something unclear and rolled her eyes, though she stopped at George and whispered something in his ear. George exchanged looks with Fred, who nodded.

‘Harry will tell us,’ Ron said, grinning widely as Hermione nodded.

‘Fine, Ron, Hermione, you can stay, Ginny, go to bed now.’ 

All eyes shifted to Sirius as soon as Ginny slammed the door which led to the kitchen. 

‘So, what about my father?’ Olivia asked, looking closely at Sirius. ‘And how do you know him so well?’ 

‘Owen was a well-known Slytherin, always bullying first years when teachers weren’t around.’

Sirius paused and closed his eyes, as though lost in memory. He opened them again and continued. 

‘However, when James. Peter, Remus and I would have fun doing tricks on Severus… how foolish we were at those times… Owen stood up for Severus one time when Lily wasn’t there, and yet Severus never thanked him. And then you have Ava Hallow, a Slytherin whose family made her believe that purity of blood was always put first. But Ava had a different view of life that she didn’t share with her family. She thought that the most important thing in life was to value yourself and accept who you are, no matter how pure your blood was. She was the complete opposite of Owen. Never bullied anyone, and yet never stood up for anyone, unless she thought they were worthy enough to stand up for. I had no idea how those two came together. I saw Ava giving him that cold glare whenever he passed by her. You see, Owen liked Ava, but she always rejected him. And then, one silent night as I was outside in the Grounds doing… something with my friends, I spotted two shadows, one small and the other slightly thicker and larger. I told Prongs, Wormtail and Moony that I would be back, and I followed the two shadows. It was Owen chasing after Ava out of Hogwarts. He threatened her. I remember very well what he said that night: “Reject marrying me and all of your family will die. I will make everyone ashamed of even knowing you. I will make up as many lies as I have to to make everyone hate you.” And so, next year after they finished Hogwarts, a wedding was held between these two… and I crossed paths with them once before I was framed for killing thirteen muggles and Wormtail, you know that story. Ava didn’t look sad. She was calm as she carried two babies. Two girls.’

Olivia’s eyes bulged. 

Isabell clasped her hands to her mouth.

Amelia choked. 

‘And then another night in the Grounds, I saw Owen running out of the Forbidden Forest with a black bow and arrow with a sharp black tip. And I knew that arrow only too well. It is the Malum Arrow, an arrow that has evil spirits trapped in the tip. When fired at someone, the spirits are unleashed into the victim’s soul and cause their irises to turn blood-red. That’s how Voldemort gained so many followers. Owen was his weapon to gain followers that originally had a good soul.’

It seemed like Sirius had something else to say, but decided to keep it to himself. 

‘So, Olivia has a sister?’ Amelia asked, baffled. 

Sirius nodded.

‘Her mother was forced to marry her father?’ Isabell demanded, bemused. 

Sirius nodded again then turned to look at Harry.

‘Now it’s your turn to ask, and if anyone wants to ask as well, it’s alright.’

'Where's Voldemort?’ Harry asked, shudders and gasps being heard around the table. 'What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no deaths or anything-' 

'That's because there haven't been any deaths yet,' said Sirius. ‘Not as far as we know, anyway.... And we know quite a lot.' 

'More than he thinks we do, anyway,' Lupin added. 

'How come he's stopped killing people?’ Harry asked. 

Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself,' replied Sirius. 'It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up.' 

'Or rather, you messed it up for him,' said Mr. Weasley, with a satisfied smile. 

'How?’ Harry asked, perplexed. 

'You weren't supposed to survive!’ chuckled Sirius. 'Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness.' 

‘And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore,' said Lupin. 'And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once.' 

'How has that helped?’ Isabell asked. 

'Are you kidding?’ said Tonks incredulously. 'Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of!' 

'Thanks to Harry, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned,' continued Sirius. 

'So, what's the Order been doing?’ demanded Harry, looking around at them all. 

'Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans,' Sirius replied. 

'How d'you know what his plans are?’ Olivia asked quickly.

'Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' shrugged Lupin. ‘And Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate.' 

'So, what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?' Ron asked.

'Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again,' said Sirius. 'In the old days he had huge numbers at his command, witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants… Well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters.' 

'So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?' 

'We're doing our best,' said Lupin. 

'How?' 

'Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard,' said Mr. Weasley. 'It's proving tricky, though.'

'Why?' 

'Because of the Ministry's attitude,' said Tonks. 'You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened.' 

'But why?’ said Amelia desperately. 'Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore-' 

'Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem,' said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. 'Dumbledore.' 

'Fudge is frightened of him, you see,' said Tonks sadly.

'Frightened of Dumbledore?’ said Harry, baffled. 

'Frightened of what he's up to,' said Mr. Weasley. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic.' 

'But Dumbledore doesn't want-' Ron began.

'Of course he doesn't,' said Mr. Weasley. 'He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when the previous minister retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job.' 

'Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice,' said Lupin. 'But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it.' 

'How can he think that?’ said Olivia angrily. 'How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up- that Harry would make it all up?' 'Because accepting that Voldermort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,' said Sirius bitterly. 'Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him.' 'You see the problem,' said Lupin. 'While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse.' 

'But you're telling people, aren't you?’ said Harry, looking around at Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. 'You're letting people know he's back?'

They all smiled humourlessly. 

'Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?’ said Sirius restlessly. 

'And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. 'It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.' 

'Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off,' said Sirius. ‘And it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them.' 

'We've managed to convince a couple of people, though,' said Mr. Weasley. ‘Tonks here, for one, she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage, Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet.' 

‘But if none of you are putting the news out that Voldemort's back-' Harry began. 

'Who said none of us are putting the news out?’ said Sirius suddenly. 'Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?' 

'What d'you mean?’ Amelia asked.

'They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. 'Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot, that's the Wizard High Court, and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too.' 

‘But Dumbledore doesn’t care as long as they don’t remove him from the chocolate frogs,’ Tonks chirped, grinning.

‘It’s no laughing matter!’ said Mr. Weasley sharply. ‘If he keeps on defying the ministry like that, he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way, well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field.'

‘But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?' asked Isabell desperately.

'Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Isabell,' said Sirius. 'He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practised at operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment.'

‘What else does he need apart from followers?’ Amelia asked. 

‘A weapon.’

‘What kind of weapon?’ Harry demanded.

‘Something he didn’t have last time,’ Sirius replied in a low voice. 

‘Is it worse than the Avada Kedavr-’

‘That’s enough! Sirius, I told you they’re just children! Now they’ll fire at you countless questions every day!’ Mrs. Weasley bristled, her arms akimbo. ‘Off you go now. You’ve heard enough for the day. Come on!’ 

The rammed chairs harshly scraped the floor as the three girls climbed up the stone steps, each one expressionless. 

Olivia was the palest of them all.

They woke up as sunlight struck their faces in the morning the next day. Twilight jumped up on Olivia’s bed and hit her paw on her owner’s face with a soft pur. Olivia shooed her cat off as she woke up, seeing Amelia and Isabell already out of bed and brushing their teeth in the bathroom. Flashes of last night’s conversation appeared in her mind. 

Who was her sister?

Why wasn’t she dumped into the streets like her?

Was her sister even alive?

‘Olivia, you don’t want to go downstairs with messy hair like that,’ Isabell said as she exited the bathroom, her tanned face dotted with water drops. 

She gently wiped her face with a green towel and pointed at Olivia’s hair. Some of Olivia’s hair was sticking out, as though an invisible magnet was attracting parts of her hair upwards. 

‘Oh, right,’ she muttered as she grabbed a brush lying on a desk in front of her bed and combed her hair. 

They went downstairs to the kitchen, where breakfast was already placed. Kreacher was in the kitchen, cleaning a rusty pot with the same dirty cloth he had. He was murmuring unclear things as he gave the girls a dirty look. Mrs. Weasley was fully dressed, with a midnight blue cloak that had constellations and a matching witch’s pointed hat. 

‘Arthur and I are heading off to Diagon Alley to get all your books. Sirius will be the only one to stay with you all.’

They realised that she had an uncertain and doubtful look on her face, as though she didn’t trust Sirius to supervise nine children. 

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were already at the table, munching and biting and chewing in the middle of a conversation. Amelia, Isabell and Olivia joined them and saw what was on the table. 

Plates of boiled eggs sprinkled with black pepper, along with juicy sausages. They were accompanied by grilled tomatoes with black markings, fried onions and cut mushrooms. There were glasses of white milk served as well. 

‘Aren’t Lupin and Tonks and Mad-Eye and Kingsley here?’ Isabell questioned. 

‘No, I’m afraid. They have some important business they have to attend to,’ Mrs. Weasley answered as she plucked some flour specks from her red hair. ‘Right. Arthur is waiting for me outside. I better go. Now, all of you stay good. Ron, if Fred and George try to blow up the headquarters… you tell me immediately.’ 

Mrs. Weasley walked away and ascended the stairs, until they heard the door upstairs close. 

‘What were you guys talking about?’ Olivia asked as she bit a sausage.

‘Oh, talking about what Sirius said yesterday,’ Hermione replied nervously. ‘And I tried finding the Malum Arrow somewhere in a Dark Objects book. It said that the tip of the arrow is made of a stiffened and shaped black swan feather. The arrows are said to be very rare, and creating one is very expensive and extremely difficult to make, too.’

‘Oh,’ Olivia muttered, feeling queasy. 

Their conversation trailed away as Sirius entered the kitchen, fully dressed and his hair well styled. His grey eyes flickered towards Kreacher for a second, and the house-elf staggered towards the door, shooting everyone in the kitchen one, last, depraved glare as he went up, his bony arm grabbing onto the rusty rails for support. 

‘Are you going to make us tidy up the place?’ Ron blurted out.

Hermione shot him a look. 

Sirius merely chuckled. 

‘You think that an adult doesn’t do fun? I have an old Wizarding Chess board, if any of you want to play (he looked at Ron in particular) and you can play Gobstones, too. And something else that I won’t tell you just yet,’ he replied, smiling. ‘Besides, we have Kreacher to handle the burden of cleaning.’ 

Hermione looked unsettled, and the girls knew why; Hermione thought that wizards mistreated house-elves, and started a society called S.P.E.W in their fourth year, which stood for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. The girls had joined Hermione’s ignored society, mostly because they thought she did have a point in her argument. They had heard her protest in the Quidditch match between Bulgaria and Ireland last year:

‘You know, house-elves get a very raw deal! It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?’

The children eagerly followed him up the stone stairs. 

‘And, you two, if you want to blow up the place, I’d really like you to, never liked this place. Left it when I was old enough. But, you’re not allowed to do so as this is an important place now, and Molly would probably unleash hell upon you both,’ Sirius noted, directing his conversation to Fred and George. 

‘We’re the ones who found your map,’ Fred chirped, smirking. 

‘Ah, the Marauders Map, I presume?’

Fred and George nodded as they opened the door and went outside, gloominess stinging their eyes. 

‘Took it from Filch’s office,’ George admitted, though Sirius seemed amused by what he had said.

‘That map helped us with the mischief we’ve caused, Prongs, Wormtail, Moony and I,’ Sirius sighed. ‘You still have it?’

‘We gave it to Harry,’ Fred responded.

Sirius smiled at Harry, as though knowing that the map would have somehow reached one of the Marauders’ children. Sirius climbed the grand staircase, nine children scurrying after him as though hungry mice going after a large piece of cheese. They kept climbing until they reached the topmost floor of Grimmauld Place. Sirius walked in a wide hallway, nine children following him. He then stopped and faced a door which had a dusty silver nameplate stuck on it. Sirius blew off the dust, and the name became apparent for the children:

Sirius

He touched the serpent on the door, and with his touch the door opened. Sirius’ room was spacious, with a large bed that had a carved headboard, a tall window with long velvet curtains, and a candle chandelier. The walls of the room were covered with so many pictures that it was barely possible to see the wallpaper. Many of the pictures had a Permanent Sticking Charm on them. His room was decorated with Gryffindor banners and colours. He had pictures of Muggle motorcycles and bikini-clad Muggle girls. There was also a picture of the four Marauders: himself, Moony, Prongs and Wormtail. The room wasn’t at its best, with several books and papers scattered on the dusty floor. The curtain was a little open, with a small beam of sparkling sunlight dashing through the window entering the airy room. Sirius merely kicked them away as he approached his bed. He crouched and his arm went under the bed, until it grasped something. He took his arm out from under the bed, and in his grasp was a chessboard. But it wasn’t any ordinary chessboard, it was a Wizarding chessboard.

‘Ron, I assume you’re a good Wizarding Chess player,’ Sirius looked at Ron and smiled. ‘I’d like to propose a challenge.’

Ron beamed.

‘Let’s begin already!’ he said eagerly. 

Sirius chuckled. 

‘Not quite. We can’t leave them empty-handed.’

He crouched once again and his arm slithered under his bed, until he got it out. His hand had a small sack and he handed it to Fred and George, who grinned at each other. 

‘There’s a room where the kitchen is. Go there and play Gobstones,’ Sirius instructed the two twins. 

They were already rushing down the stairs. 

‘Now, the rest of you…’ He seemed to be thinking as he walked about. 

‘Ah! I think I know what will give you a little entertainment.’  

He ducked under his bed once again, and extracted…

‘Cards?’ Amelia asked disappointedly, as though expecting the game to be more fun than an ordinary set of cards. 

‘Not any ordinary games of cards,’ Sirius chuckled. ‘We are in the Wizarding world, remember? Any Muggleborns here?’

Hermione’s hand shot up.

‘Ah, I suggest you know how Muggles play this, maybe you could instruct your fellow friends on how to play the game?’ 

Hermione firmly nodded (showing off a tinge of superiority) as Sirius and Ron exited the room. 

‘Where do we play?’ Olivia asked.

‘Maybe… drawing room,’ Ginny suggested. ‘There’s enough space for all of us.’ 

They all headed downstairs and into the drawing room, where some seated themselves on the sofa and the rest on cushions that were on the floor. All eyes went to Hermione. 

‘So, uh, we have fifty-two cards in a deck of cards, and the cards are divided into four groups called suits- spades, heart, diamonds and club- and in each suit, there are thirteen cards. The cards are: Ace - that basically means a one - two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, Jack, Queen and King.’

Hermione shuffled the cards, making sure the place of the cards were anonymously put. She then placed four cards on the table. A red, two hearts card, a black, seven spades, a black, club Queen and a red, nine diamonds card. Hermione then handed each person five cards. 

‘I don’t know how this differs from the Muggle cards,’ Hermione said anxiously. ‘Make sure that nobody else can see your cards. Now, to play cards, you’ll have to have either the same number card that's lying on the table or have a card which is the total of two cards on the table. This game takes skill and intelligence. So, if you have a five number card, you will play with that card if there’s a number five or if you have three and two for example. Now, when the Jack is played, you will get the chance to collect all cards on the table. If it is your turn to play but you have no card you can play with, you still have to place down a card no matter what. Oh, and the seven diamond card is the same as the Jack. So, we’ll start and go clockwise. Who wants to sta-’

Hermione’s voice trailed away, for something seemed to be happening in front of her. It was happening to everybody in the room. Small bubbles started forming around everyone’s cards, so no card was visible to the other. 

‘That’s one way it differs from Muggle cards, I guess,’ Isabell muttered. 

Harry was first to start. He placed down a Queen card, and from inside his bubble emerged a miniature queen, marching forward until she stopped at the rightful card. She tapped her staff on the card once, and she floated. Then, the Queen started flattening, until she dropped like a falling paper. The remaining of the card started circulating around the queen, a small light magically igniting and fading. The card lay on the other, and both floated towards Harry dropped neatly beside him.  The game continued on like that, with miniature diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs of different amounts and either the colour blood red or pitch black. Everyone’s cards were done, but nobody knew what to do next. 

‘I think we just count-’ Hermione began, but something miraculous happened. 

On top of Ginny’s head was a golden number 11. The number glimmered like a star while present on top of the winner’s head. The others had numbers floating above them, too, but they were the colour brown and smelled quite awful.  Then, all of a sudden, the brown numbers exploded into repulsive, dead flies that instantly fell down on the losers. Amelia and Olivia burst into laughter because of Isabell’s shocked and revolted expression on her face. A few seconds later, the number on top of Ginny’s head faded, leaving a few sparkles falling on Ginny as it made its departure, and the dead flies disappeared. Abruptly, a yell echoed from downstairs. The six children (Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Amelia, Isabell and Olivia) all eyed each other tensely. Harry got up first and led the other five down the stairs to see what the commotion was about. Amelia suggested they go to the kitchen first, and they climbed down the stairs into the kitchen, where they encountered the grim Kreacher scrubbing a pan with a dirty cloth. Olivia spotted a closed door that was on a wall, and Isabell opened it to reveal George’s face squirted with liquid, while Fred laughed at his twin’s expression. 

‘I’ve never lost in a game of Gobstones!’ George huffed, rubbing away the liquid with a towel that Ginny had gotten from the kitchen. ‘Thanks, Ginny,’ he added. 

Someone had entered Grimmauld Place. Sirius, apparently having finished the chess with Ron (and lost), swiftly drew his wand to the hallway. Mrs. Weasley had arrived, large wrapped packages floating behind her. 

‘Arthur and I decided to just get everyone’s equipment from Diagon Alley,’ she explained.

The Packages had the initials of everyone, and the eight children took their packages, and, as Mrs. Weasley had instructed them, started packing their trunks, getting ready for their next year that would be full of new spells and enchantments.