One
6 August 1995
“It’s not fair” I pouted as I sat in a bedroom at 12 Grimmuald Place with George and Fred. George laid his head in my lap while Fred was looking around the room. “We should be included, we are old enough”
Fred laughed at me, “Why are you so mad? You knew it would be like this”
There was a meeting for the newly reinstated Order of the Phoenix. My dad was a member back during the first war and has rejoined now that it seems another war is on the horizon.
My dad made me a promise once it seemed that Voldemort was back. He promised that he would not lie to me, and he would not keep any secrets from me.
He told me everything about the order, he always felt it was best to be informed, which is why he always told me everything about my mother. With the war looming, parents have started to lie to their kids, to keep them ‘safe’. But we will only be safe if we know what is going on so we can protect ourselves.
“I still don’t like it” I rolled my eyes at him as I ran a hand through George’s hair. George relaxed into my touch and closed his eyes, Fred gave me a knowing look and I turned away from him as he laughed.
George opened his eyes to see what was funny.
“What kind of place is this? Who decorated it, a socialite from the 1800s?” Fred mentioned as he looked through everything in the room. Thankfully, that distracted George enough to not ask what was funny.
Suddenly, as I made contact with George’s head, a vision appeared to me.
All the kids were standing on the top floor landing, near the stairs, Fred brought out an extendable ear and we were trying to listen to the meeting downstairs.
Hermione’s cat walked down the hall on the first floor and tried to get the ear as if it were a toy. Hermione tried to shoo him to stop, but she was unsuccessful.
I gasped as the vision entered and exited my head in an instant. Both George and Fred looked at me, worried.
“Did you have a vision?” George sounded concerned, he knew that sometimes my visions would take a toll on me. Occasionally, I would get dizzy or faint, if the vision was intense enough.
“Yeah, I did, don't worry your pretty little heads about it, it was mundane” I wanted to ease their worries, both twins worried too much, but mostly it was George, worrying about me.
Fred smirked as he looked at me, “You think I’m pretty?”
I could see George roll his eyes and I did the same, ignoring Fred’s comment.
We lulled into a comfortable silence between the three of us as I continued to run my hand through George’s hair and Fred rummaged through the belongings of whoever used to live here. I could hear voices from down the hall, but I just assumed it was Ron and Hermione.
George popped his head up from my lap suddenly, “Freddie, do you hear that?”
“It sounds like the chosen one is here” Fred raised his eyebrows as he spoke.
Suddenly, there was a pop and then I was alone in this bedroom.
I sighed, laying down for a moment before getting up to look for the twins, who were presumably down the hall. I couldn’t stop thinking about the war, and what might happen. I kept thinking it would be the worst-case scenario, we cannot lose this war, not again. I’ve heard too many stories from before to entertain the idea that that would be the case, but the fear still crept in.
I finally got up and as I left the bedroom I was in, everyone was leaving another room down the hall, exactly where I thought the twins apparated to. Fred pushed by me in a rush, so I followed him back to where his belongings were.
“What’s going on?” He rummaged through his bag and pulled out an extendable ear, just like in my vision.
“We are gonna listen to the meeting, wanna listen?” my eyes lit up, he already knew what I was gonna say.
We gathered around at the top of the stairs and Fred dropped the extendable ear, as it got closer we could hear what was being discussed in the meeting.
I had a slight grin on my face because it was exactly what my vision entailed, “What are you smiling about?” George whispered into my ear.
“I’ll tell you about it later”
We started to be able to hear the voices coming from the meeting.
“If anyone’s got a right to know it's Harry. If it wasn't for Harry we wouldn't even know Voldemort was back. He’s not a child, Molly.” It was Sirius, as long as I've known him, which hasn't been long, Sirius has been very outspoken about what he believes in. I'm not surprised he would be like that in an order meeting too.
“He's not an adult either! He’s not James, Sirius.” Molly Weasley’s voice came clearly through the extendable ear.
“He’s not your son”
“He’s as good as. Who else has he got?” Ginny joined the group of us at the top of the stairs and listened in on the back and forth between Sirius and Molly.
“He’s got me”
“How touchingly paternal, Black. Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon, just like his godfather” Severus Snape, I had no idea he was a part of this.
I've always had a bad feeling about Snape, no matter how long he has been my professor, it was like he had it out for me. He might have, my dad told me all about their history because that might have been the reason Snape treated me so poorly.
“You stay out of this, Snivelus”
“Snape’s part of the order?” Harry interjected.
I watched as Crookshanks, Hermione’s cat, came walking around the corner and batted at the ear like a toy. Surely the cat got the ear, I could see the disappointed faces as the cat walked away happily.
“Well we’ll be eating down in the kitchen” Molly said happily.
Just then, George and Fred apparated to the bottom of the stairs, right behind where Molly was standing.
“Oh! Just because you're allowed to use magic now does not mean you have to whip your wands out for everything” She seemed angry, but the twins sped up their pace and continued towards the kitchen.
“Thank you, Molly,” I said to her, “I’ve been telling you that!” I went after the twins as we headed to the kitchen for dinner.
Dinner was uneventful, well for me it was. I listened to the members of the order reluctantly explain everything to Harry, everything they had been talking about all summer.
My dad and I arrived at 12 Grimmuald Place at the beginning of summer, he claimed it was so “Sirius isn't lonely” but I knew he really just wanted to see him. I had gotten to know Sirius quite well over this past year, we visited him when we could and where we could. His being in hiding didn't help.
When Sirius offered up his family’s home to use as headquarters, my dad used the opportunity to see his ‘friend’ whom he hadn't seen in a little over a decade.
We all listened to the conversation happening at the other end of the table, but I wasn’t focusing on it too much. I suddenly got this pit in my stomach, it was like a feeling. It almost felt like guilt, but I wasn't guilty of anything. I had only had this feeling a few times before but I wasn't sure what it was.
“No, that’s enough, he’s just a boy!” Molly Weasley walking down the length of the table shook me from my thoughts, “You say much more and you might as well induct him into the order straightaway”
I didn't understand why Molly insisted on leaving him in the dark, he is the chosen one, and he needs to know.
“Good, I want to join” Harry interjected, “If Voldemort’s raising an army, then I want to fight”
I, on the other hand, had no wish to fight in a war, but I would. I will fight in the war to protect the people I love, most of whom are sitting around this table.
Once the food was served, the conversation got quiet. Harry ate like he hadn't eaten in months, which, knowing his home life, he might not have eaten much all summer.
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“Are you worried?” George whispered from the floor. I guess I was silent for too long, because he continued, “I know you're awake up there, Lia,” I saw his head pop up from where he was lying.
The twins and I shared a room, there weren't enough rooms for all of us kids and the adults to get their own rooms, so we offered to share.
Both George and Fred insisted on sleeping on the floor and giving me the only bed in the room, even though there was enough room for one of them to sleep on the bed with me. Neither of them would have let me sleep on the floor, they were gentlemen like that.
Fred fell asleep almost instantly, like usual, while George and I lay awake. George knew me better than anyone, he knew I would still be awake, just staring at the ceiling.
“I don’t know, I guess I’m a little worried. I can’t not be worried, you know?”
George came up to sit on the end of the bed.
“The first war was awful,” I continued, “I’ve heard the stories my whole life, Harry’s parents died, my dad lost the love of his life, who eventually came back, but still. Everyone my dad knew was either dead or broken beyond repair”
“Wow, Lia, you got dark really fast”
A reluctant smile grew on my face as he smirked at me, I gently nudged him with my foot, “I just don't know what I’ll do if that happens to us, you know?”
“It won’t” he looked right into my eyes, and grabbed my hand, “I won’t let that happen to you”
We stayed like that for a few seconds, but I could only think about how beautiful he looked in the moonlight, peeking through the window.
“Wait a minute,” he started again as he dropped my hand, “you said the love of your dad’s life”
A smile grew on my face, “Yeah, I did”
“But, your mum’s alive, she didn't die in the war, did she?”
I scoffed slightly, “She’s not the love of his life”, knowing my parents, it’s almost funny to think anyone thought they were each other’s true love.
“Then who is it?”
Oh, this is gonna be fun, I thought. A smirk slowly appeared on my face. “Who do you think it is?”
“Aurelia, this isn't funny, who is it?” We were still whispering, making sure not to wake Fred, but he doesn’t usually wake up when George and I talk.
“Who was gone after the first war, but came back. I didn't say died, I said lost”
He was truly racking his brain trying to think of who it could be. He was kinda cute when he was thinking so hard. I had to look away so he didn't notice me staring.
“Aurelia, please” he gave me the puppy dog eyes he knew always worked on me.
And of course, they did, “Whose house are we in?”
His eyes went wide as he loudly whispered, “Sirius Black? Your dad is in love with Sirius Black?”
“Shhh… you don’t want to wake your brother” I looked down to the floor, on the opposite side that George was. Fred was seemingly still sound asleep.
“Lia, your dad and Sirius Black? Professor Lupin and Sirius Black?” George was dumbfounded.
“Uh huh, he is my godfather after all”
“You and Harry share the same godfather?” The more I said the more I seemed to confuse him. It was kinda fun if I’m being honest.
“Yeah, my dad was dating Sirius when I…” I paused, trying to find the right words to describe it, “came along, but it was too soon in their relationship for Sirius to formally adopt me, so it was the next best thing”
I stayed quiet to let George think about this, he definitely seemed confused, at the very least, and will most likely ask me a million questions about it.
“Wait…what was your vision? Before, when we were sitting in here earlier”
“Oh, it was the extendable ear, and Crookshanks taking it from us”
“YOU KNEW” He was as loud as he could be while technically still whispering.
I blocked my face with my hands, “maybe”
He reached up and grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and hit me with it, “We could've heard the conversation, we could have kept the extendable ear” He wasn't angry, I knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t mad at all.
I tried to take the pillow from him to stop the attack, but we fell down onto the bed, he was right on top of me. For a moment, we stared into each other's eyes. I kept admiring his face, he didn't feel the same for me as I did him, we were friends, just friends. One of his hands came up to brush lightly in my hair when Fred moved from where he was sleeping on the floor.
George got off of me and made his way towards the other side of the bed, “we should get some sleep”
I grabbed his arm before he could make it off the bed, “You could just stay in the bed, there is plenty of room for the both of us. Besides, you're already up here.” I wouldn't beg him to stay, but I was silently hoping he would.
“Yeah, okay” he grabbed the pillow he used to attack me laid down beside me and fell asleep.
At some point in the night, George and I cuddled up together. He had his arms wrapped around me from behind and I was holding onto them.
That is how Fred found us in the morning, wrapped up in each other’s arms, but of course, Fred being Fred, we both woke up to the flash of his Polaroid camera.