While Harry was being acquainted to the house, Eliza remained on the upper floors, looking at everything she could find. She wasn't supposed to wander the halls freely because no one knew what was hiding around the corner or what kind of surprises were under the couches. That house elf did nothing for 10 years, especially cleaning, said Mrs. Weasley who found herself obliged to take that responsibility.
Eliza dreaded house work and Remus only chuckled when Mrs. Weasley told her to help. It is your house, too, he said. Well, Eliza wasn't seeing Sirius going around with a mop and it was his inheritance.
Besides, the meetings of the Order were done in secrecy and the children were not allowed. Fred and George tried their best to find out what was going on, especially when Snape arrived one night. That was actually the night after the Weasleys arrived.
Eliza couldn't forget how much tension was between Snape and Sirius. There was one particular moment when they were alone in the hall and Snape was getting ready to leave.
The greasy haired hateful teacher turned to Sirius with a poker face.
"I see the father and the daughter are finally reunited." He spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You should hurry, Sev. You might be seen leaving by the death eaters."
Eliza was upstairs, looking down over the railing. Sirius' response was just as ironic as Snape being in the Order.
Snape let his mask fall and looked at Sirius disgracefully, "Just because she is your daughter doesn't give you the right-"
"Exactly. She is my daughter and it gives me the right. She is not an object and she is definitely not Ophelia." The dark long haired wizard stated coldly.
Eliza raised an eyebrow waiting for Snape's response but he didn't say anything and just left.
Kreacher appeared on the stairs, looking at her with those little narrowed eyes of his. "Cursed child of the cursed woman. Always trouble for the Blacks." He mumbled seeing her there. "Always stealing. Always disgracing the family."
Eliza watched him until he walked into one of the rooms. He was lurking at every corner, trying to get his point across.
Walking down the stairs for dinner, she started to feel nauseous. Harry was there and they haven't seen each other since the school year ended. Was it going to be awkward? Was he going to be annoyed that she didn't write to him at all? Willy was being even less responsible than before.
Once Eliza entered the kitchen, her eyes went straight to the messy haired glasses boy sitting next to Sirius.
Harry sat up right away and the two stared at each other for a minute. Eliza walked slowly and sat next to him, feeling awkward.
"Hello. Long time no see." She mumbled keeping her eyes on the table.
For a moment,she thought he was going to yell at her but he didn't. He did look quite annoyed, though.
"So you've been here too. For the whole time." He stated coldly.
"Yes well you should have known I'm spending time with my father." She retorted.
Harry looked at Eliza for another minute before he sighed.
"Thanks for the letter. I know your owl is unreliable but he did send that one to me." He said, his tone getting softer.
Eliza looked up at him and smiled. He was talking about her card for his birthday. She bewitched a muggle card into recording her and Sirius' voices telling him happy birthday.
That seemed to break the awkwardness in the air and Mrs. Weasley started to yell at her children to help with the food.
Sirius smiled at the sight of the two. He could see Ophelia and James, the first time they fought. It was funny to see them speak to each other comfortably now that Harry already vented his anger.
Everyone was worried and everyone was fussing about something. However when the feast begun, everyone seemed to forget everything and enjoy themselves.
After dinner, though, it looked and sounded like an ice cold bucket of water was thrown over the warmth of the kitchen.
Harry wanted to know everything, he had a lot of questions and Sirius was ready to answer each and every one of them. That didn't seem to be Mrs. Weasley's opinion because she just fired up.
"They're too young, Sirius! Dumbledore said-"
"They have every right to know. Harry has every right to know."
"What he knows is enough. Everyone go to sleep!" She screamed, her eyes glaring at Sirius.
It became rather rash but in the end everyone except Ginny remained seated. The men had the same opinion and Sirius won the argument. He told Harry absolutely everything he knew yet it didn't look like it was enough. Mrs. Weasley came back right before Sirius could say something new and important and shooed them upstairs.
Eliza stayed next to her father and Mrs. Weasley was ready to say something when Sirius sneered.
"What now, Molly? Can I not have a word with my daughter?" He emphasized the most important element in the sentence.
Mrs. Weasley swallowed her words and left. Eliza chuckled and looked at her father.
"How did you even conquer mom's heart, I wonder." She said bemusedly.
Sirius raised an eyebrow and leaned towards her, "I thought it was obvious. My charms."
Eliza's eyes twinkled, "Confundus maybe?"
Sirius was ready to answer when he realized what she meant. His eyes narrowed at her playfully.
"Do I look like I needed to use Confundus on your mother?"
Eliza chuckled, "Did you?"
Sirius opened his mouth but the door opened and the man who entered responded instead.
"Yes he did. Now, Sirius, it seems we need to have another meeting."
Eliza laughed loudly before running out of the kitchen. She only heard Sirius moan loudly 'Remus, she didn't have to know that!' before walking up the stairs.
She found one door open and peeked inside. Hermione and Ginny were getting ready to sleep.
"Hey," Hermione whispered, assured that Mrs. Weasley was around.
Eliza waved, "Hey. They're having another meeting."
"Mom's still furious. She couldn't shut up about it when we left the kitchen." Ginny mumbled sourly.
"Yes well Sirius was being just as stubborn." Hermione continued. "But he is right. Harry needs to know what's happening."
Eliza leaned against the door and nodded, "But it was interesting seeing Mrs. Weasley so angry while dad looked like he'd done it before."
The girls chuckled before Eliza left and went into her room. The green and silver were a bit overwhelming now that there were so many Gryffindors around.
The cleaning was going well but Eliza was standing as far as possible. She heard something fall in the hall and the portrait of Mrs. Black started to yell.
"Scum! That blood traitor brought filth!"
Eliza sneaked out and went straight in front of the old woman. She stopped yelling and glared at the green eyed witch.
"You! You should have died with that woman! She destroyed my poor son! It's all her fault! Scum!"
Eliza blinked twice before she swayed her hand and the curtains hid her ugly face.
"I see training is going well with Sirius?"
Eliza nodded and turned to face her godfather, "He is very spontanous. He made a list of charms and I'm certain we went through most of them already."
Remus chuckled before he glanced at the hidden porttrait, "Your mother wasn't cursed, Liz. You aren't either. That woman hated Ophelia because she and Sirius lied to her."
"About what? Blood?"
Remus nodded, "They said she's half blood. Also, when Regulus died, Ophelia vanished. She thought her son died for the woman she hated the most."
"Did he?"
Remus shrugged and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You just take care of yourself. The past is the past and we can't change what had happened already."
The brunette looked at her godfather doubtfully. He looked even more ragged and stressed than before and she was sure he was in more danger than she was.
Actually, that morning Tonks followed Eliza around the house, watching and talking about random subjects.
“So, what is like to be a metamorphmagus?" Eliza asked out of nowhere.
“It’s fun and useful. Especially in my work as an Auror.” Tonks responded, chuckling in her pillow since they ended up in Eliza’s-Regulus’ bedroom.
"Is there a way to become one?"
Tonks chuckled, "You know, Harry asked me the same thing when I told him. But no, we're usually born like this. If there is a way, it must be very painful."
Eliza looked at the collage on the wall before she took a long look around, "Have you seen Remus with a cat?"
Tonks blinked in confusion.
"A black cat with bright green eyes. He doesn't like Kreacher and I decided not to take him with me but I'm curious who's taking care of him." Eliza explained, a look of worry appearing on her face.
"Ah! You mean Furvus?" Tonks got up and laughed, "I saw him once. Remus uses him to send letters to the other members of the Order."
Eliza's eyebrow twitched once, twice until she turned towards the door and glared at it.
"He is not an owl. What if he gets hurt?" She hissed.
"It may be just me but that cat looked smart." Tonks begun.
Eliza scoffed, "Of course he is."
Tonks shook her head, "No, no. Like, humanly smart. He looked up at me and I swear he knew what I am."
"Maybe it's his instinct."
Tonks nodded, "Maybe. Anyway, this is the HQ so he will end up here sooner or later. I wouldn't bother with the house elf. He is really weird but inoffensive."
"Not weirder than that awful portrait. She snarls at me every time she catches a glimpse." Eliza mumbled angrily.
Tonks looked at the teenage girl and smiled. She had never met Ophelia so she didn't know why Mrs. Black was so mad about it. However, she knew one thing for sure.
"She does even worse when she sees the rest. Let's not forget I am one of the faces she sees every time something breaks near her."
That seemed to have done the job and Eliza laughed. Tonks was glad that she was part of the Order with such brave men and women, be them of age or not.
703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEJpqMisdf
"Only traces of Death Eaters looking out and calling for reinforcements. They are very careful this time." Tonks responded, getting up from the bed once she heard noise downstairs.
"They're back." Eliza noted, following Tonks.
When Eliza got downstairs, everyone was happy that Harry was cleared up. She didn't ask him anything about the hearing itself.
Instead, she got entangled into Fred and George's silly jokes, now that they could use magic.
"You don't have to get mad, Liz." Fred started, wrapping an arm around her shoulder loosely.
"Yes, it wasn't even supposed to hit you. At least we know it works," George continued, copying his brother's actions but on Eliza's other side.
When she woke up one following morning, she didn't expect a sudden knock on the door so early. She groggily got out of bed and opened the door, looking to the right and left before looking down, finding a little box. She took it and scanned it closely. Nothing flew out of it and just to be safe, she placed it near the wall. Kreacher hit it and the lid fell off, the substance inside getting into her room.
Eliza walked on it without realizing and when she got downstairs, her face was purple and her eyes looked enlarged.
Everyone stared, speechless, before Sirius started to laugh loudly while pointing at her face.
Her eye twitched and levitated Fred and George for two hours before the color faded away.
"It wasn't funny." She repeated, her eyebrow twitching at the memory.
"Actually, it was quite funny."
She heard Ron whisper to Harry before she glared at him. Ron smiled nervously and waved from across the room.
Days passed like that. Sirius was getting grumpier because both Harry and Eliza were going to leave. Besides, Ron and Hermione became Prefects.
"Is it that important?" She asked Harry during the festive party. She couldn't understand what was so great about a badge.
"Neah! They're only given more authority." She heard Fred mumbled before hurrying towards the man Eliza found out was Mundungus Fletcher.
Harry nodded to what Fred just said. "That's true. But that's not all."
Eliza shuddered lightly, "I hate authority. I have a problem with following other people."
Harry smiled and Tonks could be heard laughing loudly behind them.
When time came to leave, Eliza left earlier with Remus. He had to come back afterwards but it seemed that was part of some plan.
The werewolf man followed her silently for the whole ride, which was quite interesting. They took the muggle way to the train station and it was really fun compared to the fast Floo Powder.
Remus was still young and even if he looked so ragged and slightly ill, he was still somewhat handsome. He also didn't look anything like Eliza, who had dark hair and green eyes compared to his brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her trunk and owl cage were drawing a lot of attention especially when Willy was glaring at everything. Needless to say, they were one strange pair.
"He hates Kreacher. I tried to take him with me but he bit and scratched. He quite likes traveling. I believe he thinks he is important." Remus chuckled, feeling good that he chose Furvus out of all the other animals.
"He is not a messenger. He is a kitten."
Eliza glanced from her godfather to the wide eyed cat, smiling when Furvus jumped on her luggage.
"You can take him with you without a problem. He will take care of you." Remus encouraged her, ruffling her hair like a father would.
"You know, nothing will happen to me at Hogwarts. I will be careful." She mumbled innocently.
"I know you, Liz,"
That was enough to understand that he didn’t believe a word she said. After all, Eliza inherited her parents' troublesome personalities.
She smiled and hugged him, surprising him with the sudden affection.
"Take care, Eliza. If anything happens, send me a letter with any owl you find."
The brunette nodded and hugged her godfather once more before rushing through the wall towards platform nine and three quarters.
In the train, Eliza met Seamus first. Dean entered a few seconds later and hugged Eliza before showing her his football magazine.
For the first few hours, they spoke about everything he had done during the summer, like before. After Dean finished his interesting story about a few men having a fit in a pub, Seamus started to share his opinion over the latest matters.
"Have you read the Daily Prophet? Have you seen what it says? Me mom reads it every day."
"Are you serious? They know nothing and don't believe Dumbledore." She interrupted, trying her hardest to keep her tone in check.
"Liz, my mother didn't want to let me come to Hogwarts this year because Harry claims You-Know-Who is back."
"He is back." She retorted, Dean staring at her with wide eyes.
"So you believe him, ay?" Seamus was growing annoyed rapidly.
She nodded, "Don't you believe Dumbledore? He announced it in front of the whole school."
Seamus rolled his eyes, leaning back folding his hands on his lap.
"Tell that to the parents. My cousin thinks Dumbledore is just covering for Harry." Seamus got hit after saying that, though it mustn’t have hurt at all since she didn't use any force.
"Really, Seamus. You're dorm mates. Do you really think Harry would lie about something so important?"
"I think anything is possible but when you bring You-Know-Who in the sentence, it's just unbelievable." The Irish boy continued stubbornly.
"I don"t really know. My parents don't get tje Daily Prophet. But no one died and muggles haven't noticed anything strange or else it would've been on the news." Dean added.
Eliza glared at Seamus but he shrugged it off.
"That doesn't really mean anything. You have no idea how it felt when mom told me she doesn't want me to go. I had to use every reason I could to finally convince her."
For a moment Eliza felt like she was speaking to the wall. She took a deep breath and left the compartment.
The brunette walked around thinking, when one door slid open and someone pulled her inside.
“What are you doing!?”
She squirmed before he finally let her move.“My father,” Malfoy started, grabbing her attention immediately, “He knows you’re at Hogwarts.”
