1
January 1996
Cecelia's morning coffee stood on the table before her, cooling down to a lukewarm temperature while she was reading the Daily Prophet.
It was a dark time in the wizarding world. Even now, three months after Voldemort's return, almost every headline warned the wizards and witches of the dark lord. It had shocked the magical society of England, even Cecilia, to hear of the second rise of the dark wizard and his so called 'death eaters'. Many could still vividly recall the terrible years of the first wizarding war. How Voldemort had gathered his lethal army and no one was to be trusted, not even your own lifelong neighbors.
Cecilia had been in her last year of school when the dark lord rose to power and was gaining more and more followers. Not few of those were Hogwarts students even though it was strictly forbidden to take part in the uprisings of the brewing war. Especially amongst the Slytherin students, Voldemort found loyal followers who were willing to risk everything for their lord.
Most of them were captured at the end of the war and imprisoned in Azkaban. There they were under constant supervision until the recent mass breakout which had send the wizarding world into a state of panic.
The newspaper was full of pictures of the wanted death eaters that had escaped, just a few days ago. Word had already spread of who the escaped death eaters were. Names like the Lestrange Brothers, the famous Bellatrix and even Dolohov were whispered everywhere.
Now, finally, the newspaper confirmed the rumors. In total, ten death eaters had managed to escape from the high security prison.
Cecelia was familiar with most of the faces pictured in the newspaper.
She had gone to school with most of them, had shared a classroom with them and even exchanged a word here and there.
She recognized the faces of the Lestrange brothers, Rabastan and Rodolpus. The famous wizards Dolohov and Rookwood were also amongst the escaped.
The most famous of all was probably the lethal and reckless Bellatrix Lestrange.
Her picture was on the front page. It was beyond disturbing.
The witch had a madness in her eyes that matched her exterior. Bellatrix' once majestic locks were so incredibly tangled and full with dirt that it just looked like a big nest of hair. But not only her hair was in such a horrible state, the witches face and clothes were full of dirt as well.
The woman didn't resemble the girl Cecilia had know all those years ago, not even in the slightest.
Back then the young witch had been a lioness in her own little kingdom.
Bellatrix Black would never walk out of her room dirty or with tangled hair. Every single strand of hair always had to be in its place, her clothes were always tidy and had never shown a sign of even the slightest wrinkle. Sometimes she even painted her nails in a dark red.
The Black girl hadn't been the nicest by any means, some students even feared her but she had never been so consumed by madness.
Looking at the witch's picture caused all of those memories of the dark years and Cecelias frantic efforts to pull her out of the insanity and back into her arms to find their way back to the surface.
But Cecilia would not loose herself a second time.
She closed the Daily Prophet, stacked a few books over it and began her work.
Luckily her position in the magical law enforcement at the ministry was neither highly challenging nor important. And on top of that her shifts usually didn't last past one pm.
After sorting countless papers and delivering messages Cecilia's time to go home had finally come.
She was already standing in the cold winter air when a young witch approached her.
A bit out of breath and with a cold, red nose the girl asked her: "Cecelia Crimson?"
"Yes?", answered the older witch, a bit surprised as why this unknown woman knew her name.
Her response seemed to please the other witch as she began to explain her matter: "Great, Finally! It was really difficult to find you, im not sure if you're aware of that.. but nevertheless I have message from", the girl lowered her voice to a whisper, "the order."
The order. Cecilia hadn't heard these words in a long time. She herself had never been an official member but during the last years she had fought alongside them. But since the end of the war Cecilia hadn't been in touch with any of the members of Dumbledore's order of the phoenix.
What did they want from her now?
"Well what do they want?", she asked.
"They want to bring together some former trustworthy members to be prepared in case , or rather when, the dark lord and his death eaters strike again. It's also in the best interest of the boy, Harry Potter, he needs to be protected at all cost.", answered the young witch.
"That all sounds really interesting but I was never a member of the order and even if I were, I fear my fighting days are over. Dumbledore should know that.", Cecilia said. She really didn't need this in her life now.
But the girl didn't give up. She continued to insist that it was only a simple talk and that Cecilia could still refuse afterwards. She was so desperate that she almost begged her to agree.
Cecilia felt sympathy with her, it probably wasn't her fault she had to convince her.
And after all what harm could one talk do? Cecilia could always leave and never think of this again.
"Fine, one talk. But first I have to go home and feed my cats. And could you please tell me your name?", said the older witch.
A smile appeared on the younger woman's face and she answered quickly: "Of course, your cats are no problem just meet me at this address at six pm. And my name is Nymphadora Tonks, it's a pleasure to meet you."
And with that Nymphadora Tonks handed her a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. The next moment she was already on her way, leaving Cecilia behind in the cold.
Tonks.
Cecilia was very familiar with that name.
It had originally belonged to a nice young man named Ted who fell in love with the beautiful Andromeda Black.
The star crossed lovers. What a scandal that'd been.
And for the second time this day Cecilia was reminded of her past.
Two times too many, in her opinion.
But as she made her way home she convinced herself that it meant nothing and that it was probably a meaningless coincidence.