The night was calm and quiet. No living being could be seen on the street. There were a few lights in some houses, but most of them were dark and silent. So was 12 Grimmauld Place. It was actually nowhere to be found.
I looked around to check if I was in the right street, and undeniably I was.
Disoriented, I summoned the man that led me there. "Dumbledore!" and immediately the ground started to shake, the houses in front of me began to crack apart and another house started to appear in the middle. 12 Grimmauld Place, I thought to myself, grinning.
When the house was fully settled, I opened the small front gate and walked until I arrived at the main door, which I was about to knock when it was suddenly opened back to a smiling Hermione.
"Teacher! It's so good to finally see you. How are you feeling?" She asked with a hug and inviting me in, closing the door behind me.
"Still sore, but ready to fight," I answered her with a soft smile.
"Come. I'll show you where the adults are gathered. They still don't let us participate for being too young, but I don't agree with that." She pouted.
"You know they're just worried about your safety right?"
"Yeah, but whether we join or not, we're in danger either way." She had a point. But they are just kids. They have to be protected first of all. "We're here, they're inside that door. Good luck. I'll put your bags in your room, don't worry."
"Thank you." I opened the door slowly, only to find a long dining table in the middle of a dining room, filled with people. Known and unknown. Scanning the people gathered in front of me I smiled and said "Hi."
Severus' eyes seemed to brighten up as he lifts his head to look at me and nodded with his head, acknowledging my presence.
"Aw, you're here. This is Angelina, she'll be joining the Order. These are Arthur and Molly Weasley, parents of Ron and Ginny. This is Nymphadora Tonks, member of the Advance Guard. And that's Sirius Black. Your cater-cousin." Dumbledore introduced me to everyone.
I looked to him and he smiled back. The last time I saw a picture of him, he looked a homeless or a mad-man. But right now, I'm looking to a real gentleman, curls perfectly combed, purple suit and a shine on his eyes.
"Please, take a seat." Sirius, who was sitting on the edge of the table, nodded me to sit on his right and I promptly accepted it.
"Dear Angelina." Dumbledore started talking to me and heads rolled once again in my direction. "I know it must be hard for you, but the Order wishes to know every detail of your incident, from your own words. Any detail could be important for us. Enlighten us with your life story."
I nodded him, coughed and started talking. "I ran away from home and from Hogwarts when I was a teenager. Sirius must know how... hard and violent our family could be regarding their beliefs. So I had to run away from that environment, otherwise, I would end up dead - So I thought. And after all these years I was only in contact with our family long after started teaching in Hogwarts. They never found me, or at least I think they never did. I received an unwanted visit from..." I gulped. "My aunt Maxime, in Hogwarts. After Dumbledore tightened the security I didn't receive any more visitors, thankfully. But instead, I started receiving threatening letters.- I showed them all to Dumbledore. - They talked something about being the one to resurrect Voldemort." I saw Molly flinch when I said his name. "When we were in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, one of my cousins pointed a wand on my back and asked me to go with him quietly. I don't know how, but there was more of them in the middle of the crowd. So..." I gulped. "I had to go. He led me to a cemetery, where they had his grave opened. My father told me that he and my mother had a dream where Voldemort told them I would be the one to resurrect him. That my blood was a key. And because of that my father..." I looked down to my belly, trying to hold the tears. "Stabbed me several times and left me bleed to death on top of Voldemort. After that, it's just a blur. Harry was there, Cedric... was dead and we were back to Hogwarts. The next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed."
"Hmmm." Mad eye-moody breathed. "You don't know why you were chosen to be the one?"
"I have no idea. My mother didn't know she was pregnant until they had that dream. They thought that I would be a strong wizard, following strictly their beliefs, but since I was the exact opposite, they treated me...bad. And because of that, I ran, not daring to look back."
"Is there anything else?" Mad eye-moody asked, with a dubious gaze on his face.
"I told you everything that matters."
"Did you now?" He continued.
"Yes," I answered harshly.
"Why can't I believe in that?" He was getting annoying and didn't care about Molly trying to shut him up.
"That's your problem."
"You think this is a joke?" He yelled.
"After your behavior, yes," I yelled too.
"You are hiding things, young girl. The rest of the members might not think the same way I do, but I see more than you tell."
I got up from my chair with anger boiling up. "What? Do you want me to tell you how my dear parents starved me because I had Muggle-born friends? And how my parents would beat me up with a belt, while I was almost naked? Or that he used once a while the Cruciatus curse on me, just because I didn't want to marry some shitty Malfoy? Or when he made me eat bugs, because I wasn't worthy of a proper meal? Do you want me to continue talking about my deepest secrets? Because I have almost FUCKING 15 YEARS OF IT!!!"
He gulped and reclined on his chair, disconcerted. Sirius put a hand on my back and said softly. "It's enough for today. You want me to show you the family house?"
I nodded and looked annoyed to Mad-Eye before leaving the room. I could even see a glance of a shocked Severus staring at me and an almost crying Molly. After closing the door I could hear her yelling with Moddy and I smirked internally for her lash out.
"The house was abandoned. Kreacher is the house-elf and he was loyal to our family, so he stayed here. He was supposed to clean it and manage it while I wasn't here, but as you can see." He passed a finger on the stairs rail and showed me the dust. "He is making a formidable job."
We went up, through the stairs, until we reach for a wall full of pictures of the deceased family members and we continued until we reached for an empty room, with a huge Black's' genealogic tree.
"You lived here?" I asked him.
"This was one of the family's' houses. Since I'm locked inside this bloody house, I offered it to Dumbledore to be the headquarters of the Order. This is our family tree. Our deranged cousin, Voldemort's' right arm. Uh, I hated most of them." He pointed to his name, where his face should be exposed, but instead, there was a burnt mark on top of it. "My mother burned this after I ran away."
"Where did you go?"
"To Harry's' parents. They were my real family and they gave shelter, but... you know what happened after that."
I muffled a laugh. "Our family is... charming."
He laughed too. "Yes, they are. But at least there are still hope for us." He turned to me and hold my hands with his. "Even distant, we are family. And we'll stay together."
I nodded and smiled. When I was about to talk, we were interrupted by an enraged Severus. "Mrs. Weasley asked me to tell you the dinner is ready." He stared at our intertwined hands and his eyes boiled with fury.
Sirius was a little perplexed but he enjoyed to mock Severus, so he hugged me and led me out of the room with his arm around my neck and I could feel Severus' gaze burning my back. I didn't look back at him but he surprised me when he talked. "Can I talk with you, Angel? I won't take too much of your time."
I looked at Sirius and he let go of me, leaving me alone with Severus in the room.
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"You barely know the man and you're already friends with him?" He hesitated to talk but he ended up doing it anyway.
"Hã? What are you talking about?"
"I just need to warn you. Be careful around him. He is not a good company." He whispered harshly.
"What do you have to do with who I am friends with or not?" I asked, approaching him. "Do you even care?"
"I don't." He turned to leave the room and I grabbed his arm, making him gasp. He looked surprised at me, and his eyes dig into mine, where I saw a glimpse of affection he had shown me before. Without thinking he grabbed the hand that had a grip on his arm and pulled me to him, embracing me in a demanding but gentle kiss.
Both of us don't know why this happens. There's this unseeing force that attracts me to him and him to me and there's no way to resist it. My hands automatically wandered his back, caressing him and pulling him harder against my body. His hand tangled with my hair, guiding the kiss the way he wanted it.
"The dinner is getting cold!!!" We heard Molly yelling for us and we jumped back startled.
Looking at each other, we almost ran away from that room, heading for the kitchen, both of us reddened, breathless and ashamed.