「𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒」
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Harry Potter's screams for his godfather were the most heartwrenching thing Natalia had ever heard. She felt for the little boy, who was probably no older than fifteen and had already faced so much, lost so much. She didn't even know she was crying until she felt hot tears trickling down her face.
Sure she didn't even know Sirius Black (she knew Sirius Black but she didn't know him). But the whole scene and watching him die even when she tried to help, caused her emotions to rumble up and tears to start falling.
Yet, Natalia was convinced Sirius Black wasn't dead. After all, he didn't pass through the veil and she was sure the killing curse was green. That was its whole thing. The green light. So, Natalia soared forward, wiping her tears away from her face, passing through people on the way down the steep stone steps, not noticing Harry going after Deranged Stranger. She only stopped when she reached Sirius, a man was hunched over his body, silent tears falling from his pale face.
"May I try something?" she asked quietly and still she startled the man.
The man looked up, his eyes hollow and redrimmed, he saw as Natalia gestured towards his friend's body.
"Who are you?"
"She's fine, Remus," said Tonks, startling both Natalia and Remus, who turned to see her approaching. "She helped me and I'm pretty sure she saved Sirius."
"Wha—How?" the man asked his eyes shining with despair. "He—he's dead."
"He isn't, " Natalia said fiercely and gestured for Remus to get out of the way. Once he did, she kneeled over the body and pointed the masked guy's wand to his chest. "Rennervate!"
A moment passed in which everyone was silent, not a soul around them dared to speak, everyone anxiously waiting for something to happen and then Sirius was gasping for air, jolting into a sitting position. Alive.
"What happened?" he asked looking around and his eyes bulged out once they stopped on Natalia. "You! What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"
"Says the man who was about to die," Natalia snarked back and he cracked a grin, much to the confusion of those around them.
"You two know each other?" Remus asked frowning between them and they nodded.
"This is Claire," Sirius said and Natalia grimaced.
"It's Natalia, actually," she said and he gaped at her. "Natalia Santiago."
"You gave me a fake name?" Sirius gasped and Natalia rose an eyebrow at him.
"You're one to talk, James," she said cheekily and he closed his mouth with a huff.
"James?" Remus asked in amusement turning to Sirius, who was looking anywhere but at him. "That was the fake name you used?"
"We haven't got the time, Remus!" Sirius snapped, standing up, causing Remus and Natalia, who were still on their knees, to stand up as well. "Where's Harry?"
"He'll be fine Dumbledore followed him," Tonks replied with a reassuring smile, "but you have to get out of here, you're not a free man just yet, cousin."
Sirius nodded as he glanced at Natalia who gave him a small smile.
"Right, " Remus nodded. "But we're talking about this later."
"You need to come with us, " Tonks told Natalia. The latter frowned. "As much as you helped, we still don't know who you are."
"So you want to interrogate me?" Natalia asked and Tonks smiled sheepishly.
Natalia shrugged and before they could go, she snapped the wand she was holding in two and let go of the man's magic, though, still retaining his knowledge (the useful parts).
"Why did you snap your wand?" Remus choked out and Natalia looked at the pieces on the ground and back at him.
"Wasn't mine, " she said with a shrug. "I don't have one."
"This is exactly what I meant, " Tonks said, gesturing to Natalia. "We have to know who you are."
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12 Grimmauld Place, as they had called it, looked taken out of a movie. One of those haunted and abandoned houses that made chills run through somebody's spine. Including Natalia. She couldn't even fathom as to why wizards would live there in their right minds. Why couldn't they just buy a muggle house and use their juju to hide it from the others? Why choose the old, grimy, dingy, dusty, and scary place?
Natalia had spent the next few days there, as everyone around them took care of the recent events. Sirius had gone to Hogwarts to see his godson, now, as a free man—the ministry had cleared his name a couple of days after the whole Department of Mysteries mishap. Tonks was running around, answering the orders of a man with a disfigured face—Mad-Eye Moody, was his name, as Natalia had come to know him. And Remus was the only one with not much to do, apart from a few missions he had to go on for the Order.
Now, the Order Natalia knew what it was. After all, it was one of the titles of the books/movies. The Order of the Pheonix. Led by Gandalf, the manipulative old coot. Natalia had mixed thoughts about the guy, but one thing she knew was that she really didn't want to trust him.
During those days spent at Grimmauld Place, Natalia was basically waiting for everything to calm down so she could finally be interrogated and out of there, back to her journey around London—she had been thinking of maybe traveling the world or something, meeting new places, maybe going back to LA and try her acting career once more.
Her time in that dingy old house was mainly spent playing chess with Remus. The man, Natalia had come to know better, was a lot of fun, though he seemed worn out. He and she would usually have long talks about everything and anything, usually steering away from anything personal—he didn't want to give out any details she could then use against them and Natalia the same (she would have to do that already under interrogation).
And now, Natalia was sitting on a chair in the long kitchen in the basement of the house. Sirius, Tonks, and Remus were the only ones there at the moment but they had told her more members would be on the way. She was finally going to be interrogated. Yay, she thought sarcastically.
"First things first," Remus began, his hands clasped together atop the table. "How did you and Sirius meet?"
"That's your first question, Remus?" Sirius asked incredulously and Remus nodded.
"Obviously. You couldn't have met if you didn't leave the house. And I want to know just when that was."
"A week or so back," Sirius mumbled, much to Natalia's amusement. "No one was here so I decided to step out for a drink."
"We met at a bar," Natalia continued, "one thing led to another and. . . ."
"We were back in a hotel room, and I was ravishing her silly," Sirius said with a smirk, winking at Natalia. She rolled her eyes, ignoring the faint blush that rose to her ears. Tonks and Remus exchanged grimaces. "She told me her name was Claire and she was from LA. Now we know her name is Natalia Santiago."
"Actually," Natalia said correcting him, "I'm from Portugal."
"Is anything you said real?" Sirius asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I did live in LA," Natalia said rolling her eyes. "But it's not like you can talk, Mr. My name is James."
"I was a fugitive, a convicted murderer," Sirius said, "I couldn't give you my real name. What's your excuse?"
"I didn't want you tracking me down," Natalia shrugged.
"Why would I?"
"Let's refresh our memories shall we?" Natalia said challenging with an eyebrow raised.
"You were the one moaning—"
"—I'm a great actress, " Natalia cut him off with a sly smile. "You weren't even that good."
"I'll give you—"
"That's enough!" Remus said loudly cutting them off. "We already established you shagged. That your name is Natalia Santiago and you're from Portugal."
"Wait," Tonks said holding a hand up and Natalia turned to her. "How do we know that's true? As you said, you're a great actress."
"Huh, you're smart," Natalia conceded with a nod. "But it is true. My name is Natalia Santiago. I was born in Portugal. Lived there until I was eighteen and was finally able to get out and go live my dreams."
"Can you prove it?" Sirius asked and Natalia frowned.
"How do I do that?"
"Veritaserum?" Tonks asked the two men and they nodded.
Natalia's brows drew together as she tried to think of what that could possibly mean. Verita. . . . Veridict. . . . Verdade. . . .Serum.
"You want to shove the truth serum down my throat?" Natalia asked and the three nodded. She hesitated for a moment but trusting her abilities to skirt around the truth she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine."
Tonks smiled and went to fetch the serum as the two men eyed Natalia with curiosity. Tonks was back in a few moments and had put a drop of the serum in Natalia's mouth.
"What's your name?" Remus asked.
"Natalia Santiago," was her immediate response, not being able to hold it back or even change it. The serum really worked.
"Where were you born?" Tonks asked.
"Portugal."
"Was I great?" asked Sirius and Natalia glared at him not being able to lie.
"Yes."
Sirius smirked and she glared at him again.
"How did you know about the happenings in the Department of Mysteries?" questioned Remus.
"I saw Harry Potter and his friends riding these black creatures," Natalia answered and they frowned at her.
"Why did you follow them?" Sirius asked
"I saw a group of kids surely about to get into a loathsome of trouble," Natalia said, smiling to herself pleased she was telling the truth. "I couldn't let anyone get hurt," she added glancing at Sirius.
"How did you know to save Sirius?" Remus asked and Natalia had to bite her tongue not give up the whole truth.
"I saw the cackling Strange woman pointing her wand at him and because he was laughing I just figured maybe I should do something. He was dangerously close to the arched thing."
"Why did you break the wand you had?" Tonks asked her.
Natalia shrugged taping her fingers to the wooden table, "It wasn't mine and I didn't need it."
"Why don't you have a wand?" Sirius asked, a brow raised.
"I don't need one," Natalia said and before she knew it she couldn't help herself to say the next part, "I don't have any magic of my own."
The three wizards frowned in disbelief. Tonks clicked her tongue and leaned forward on the table in her direction. "You can't handle a wand without magic."
"I never said I couldn't have magic, I just said I didn't have any of my own."
"What do you mean?" Remus asked curiously forgetting about the fact that a few minutes ago they thought her to be a threat.
"I can copy people's qualities. Their skill. Apparently their magic." Natalia was feeling the effects of the serum gone by now, but it was no use lying now. "I took the magic from a fallen bad guy and his wand and started shooting.
"How long have you had this... power?" Remus asked again.
"Since I got here. In England. A couple of weeks ago, maybe."
"What?" Sirius and Tonks asked and Natalia could only shrug.
"I got hit by a car in LA. Next thing I know I woke up in a forest close to Hogwarts with freaky abilities. I really can't explain it better."
"So you were telling the truth?" Sirius said. Natalia nodded. "That's a pretty odd story."
"I find what's pretty odd is her first instinct when getting here was to sleep with you," Tonks quipped. Natalia flushed in embarrassment.
"In her defense, no one can resist me."
Natalia rolled her eyes, "If I remember correctly I left you in that bar. You were the one who came after me—"
"Only after you invited me—"
"We're not doing this," Remus said loudly.
"Are you going to tell Dumbledore?" Natalia asked the three tentatively. They raised their eyebrows at her. Natalia shrugged. "I don't trust him. I've heard things about him I don't quite agree with."
"What?" they each asked her incredulously.
"Just... just tell him I was a fortunate case. He doesn't need to know how I got to London or about my freaky powers," Natalia said to them. The three looked skeptical. "Look, I'll be out of your hair. I don't wanna be in this old house anymore, anyway. Just tell him I was there at the right time, at the right place."
Remus and Sirius looked at each other, seemingly having a conversation with their eyes. Natalia frowned and looked at Tonks with a questioning expression. The latter shrugged.
"Fine, " Sirius was the first one to talk.
"But—"
"Of course, there's a but," Natalia groaned. "What?"
"You need to stay close by, " Sirius answered and Remus nodded. Natalia raised an eyebrow. "We still don't know you or really trust you, but your abilities might come in handy. If you flee, we'll know not to trust you and will have to tell Dumbledore."
"I was planning on traveling the world you know," Natalia muttered under her breath and then sighed. "Fine. You can find me somewhere in London."
"How?" Tonks asked.
"I dunno, magic?" she said trailing off as she stood up. "Anyway, so long!"
And with that Natalia was finally able to get out of Grimmauld Place, inhaling the air around her with a sigh, before setting off through the streets of London.
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