“Wotcher, Hermione, Ron,” Tonks said cheerfully as they entered the large, grim house, taking great care not to disturb Mrs. Black’s portrait. Even now, they were still unable to remove it. As hard as everyone had tried, as much as they had cleaned, the place still looked dark and…creepy. The candles left dangerous looking shadows everywhere and sometimes, it looked like something was moving under the wallpaper. Harry once said it reminded him of the Basilisk, without the creepy voice.
As they crept through the corridor, Tonks’ arm brushed a shelf, accidentally knocking the vase off. It sailed through the air and headed towards the ground. Quick as lightening, Holly snatched it from midair before it smashed on the floor.
“Quick reflexes!” Ron said admiringly. Holly grinned.
“Thanks! Not meaning to be rude, but who are you?” Tonks asked, looking relieved that she wouldn’t have to deal with the screaming portrait again. Last week, she was all alone with that cursed portrait, and it had taken her almost an hour to shut it up. Tonks was sure her blood curdling screams haunted her dreams from time to time.
“Holly Rose, she’s my mother’s best friend’s daughter, and she wants to join the Order,” Hermione recited, gesturing towards Holly, who waved cheerfully.
“She saved us all from that burning house yesterday,” Ron added, his tone of voice suggesting that his last statement would end all argument about her.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Tonks,” she said, outstretching her hand to Holly, who shook it.
“Shall I introduce you to the rest of the Order, or at least who’s here?” Tonks suggested. She trusted Ron and Hermione, therefore she trusted Holly.
“Yes please,” Holly said, putting the vase back on the shelf and rearranging it so it stood in its original position.
“I’m so clumsy!” Tonks said, going pink, almost the same colour as her hair.
“It happens to the best of people,” Holly said kindly. “I was in a shop once and almost knocked a whole shelf of crystal glasses over!”
Tonks looked a little less embarrassed, and smiled slightly. Hermione had a feeling that Holly knew Tonks in the future, but once again, didn’t voice her thoughts. Then again, Holly seemed quite familiar with all of them. Maybe it’s just how she is Hermione contemplated, looking at Holly questionably for a second.
“Your brother is here,” Tonks announced as she led them into the living room, visibly tucking her elbows in and becoming very conscious of the objects around her.
“Which one?”
“The one with a very fat wife,” Tonks said, laughing.
“Stop calling Fleur fat, she’s pregnant!” Hermione said, annoyed. Even though she didn’t particularly like Fleur, she didn’t like people getting picked on. It reminded her of her primary school days.
“Oh come on, it’s harmless! Pregnant woman are very demanding…and annoying,” Tonks said, rolling her eyes.
“How is she?” Ron asked. He was very excited about becoming an uncle.
“She’s okay…I guess. But she keeps complaining that she feels sick and has very strong cravings for the strangest foods. The latest was croissants and chilli sauce!” Tonks chuckled. Hermione screwed up her nose in distaste at such an odd mixture.
“No wonder she feels sick!” Hermione exclaimed.
“We have visitors!” Tonks announced cheerfully as they entered the living room, which was full of people. They all turned round to greet the three newcomers.
“Who is this young lady?” Bill Weasley asked.
“This is Holly Rose, she wants to join the Order,” Hermione said, gesturing to Holly.
“And how did you meet, was she a student at Hogwarts?” Moody asked gruffly. Hermione was the Transfiguration professor there, and became the youngest teacher ever to be employed at Hogwarts.
“No, she’s Hermione’s mum’s best friend’s daughter, and she saved us from the house yesterday,” Ron explained, sitting down. It really was a mouthful to say all of those things in one go. Why couldn’t Hermione just say she met her at Hogwarts? It would have been so much easier to remember, and say.
“That was a very brave thing to do,” Tonks said admiringly.
“It was nothing,” she replied dismissively.
“No, that’s Auror qualities there,” Tonks said. Holly just shrugged.
“How can we be sure that you’re not a spy?” Moody asked roughly, his electric blue eye was concentrating on Holly in an eerie fashion.
“I think that saving our lives and capturing the Death Eaters does show a certain level of trust,” Ron pointed out. Ever since Holly had told them she had saved his life, he felt a sense of protectiveness over her.
“I know that, but who can we trust anymore? We thought Snape was on our side and look what happened there…” Moody growled darkly. Everyone broke out into dark mutters. No one had ever gotten over Snape’s betrayal.
“Are you sure you want join the Order of the Phoenix? It’ll mean having to go after lots of tip-offs about the missing Death Eaters; it’ll be dangerous,” Bill said seriously.
“I think I can handle it. I want to help,” Holly said. She had an air of confidence around her.
“I can tell that you are a very powerful,” Bill said. Maybe it was from the way she acted, or just what she was like, but she seemed much older than she actually was. But there was something else about her, something different and unreadable. A dangerous combination.
“Thank you,” Holly replied, blushing slightly.
“Come and sit down, have a cup of tea,” Tonks said, smiling. Hermione grinned; it was always Tonks who would be the one to try and lighten the mood.
“I love your hair, by the way,” Holly said to Tonks, grinning at her.
“Thanks!” Tonks beamed, patting her bright pink hair before leaving for the kitchen to get drinks. As Tonks left the room, Moody announced he had to leave. He had some work to do at home.
“Have they found any more Death Eaters?” Hermione asked after Moody had left.
“No, not yet, not since the ones from yesterday,” Bill said. Tonks then walked back into the room holding a tray laden with cups of steaming hot tea. After handing them out to everyone, the room was silent, appreciating the rare calmness. Usually, it was always very busy, what with people coming in and out of the house and people popping in randomly through the fireplace. Even though Voldemort was no longer the threat, they were still very busy, there was still evil out there in the shape of Death Eaters, Dementors and various other forces. While the others chatted light-heartedly to each other, Holly was brooding and staring into space.
“What’s the matter, Holly?” Hermione asked. Holly broke out of her daydream with a sour look on her face.
“I just can’t believe that I let that last one get away ” I should have been faster!” Holly muttered, looking angry, more at herself than anyone else.
“What do you mean? You caught three Death Eaters single-handedly, while we were just crashed out on the floor, panting like no one’s business!” Ron said, shocked.
“But that wasn’t good enough ” after all these years and I still fail!” Holly said heatedly.
“Stop talking like that! Not many people would have the balls to risk their own lives to save others. You should be congratulating yourself, not beating yourself up!” Tonks exclaimed. Just then, they were all distracted from the argument when there was a burst of flame and someone’s head floated into the fire.
“Hello, Ginny,” Hermione said, trying hard to sound normal, in spite of the tense atmosphere. One thing Hermione had really noticed about Holly was she was prone to mood swings. Then again, time travel on such a scale that Holly had done must have messed with her head a bit.
“Hi, I just thought I’d check in, see how everyone is,” Ginny said.
“Everything’s fine, we were just having some tea,” Hermione replied, lifting up her cup and showing it to Ginny.
“Has Harry Flooed in or anything?” Ginny asked, looking around the room for any sign of the raven-haired boy.
“No, he’s still out with Remus,” Hermione said, shaking her head and looking at Ginny sadly.
“Oh. Well, I’ll talk to you later then,” Ginny said, sounding disappointed. Then she disappeared into the flames.
“Look, you all don’t worry about me. It’s my own problems, not yours,” Holly said apologetically.
“As long as you’re okay,” Hermione said. Holly nodded and smiled slightly.
“Ginny looks well,” Tonks said, smiling.
“Yeah, but what are we going to do about her and Harry?” Hermione sighed.
“I was sure they would get back together after he defeated Voldemort,” Ron said, frowning and shaking his head.
“What happened?” Holly asked, looking concerned and slightly confused.
“Harry broke up with Ginny at Dumbledore’s funeral. He wanted to keep her safe,” Hermione explained.
“That was five years ago,” Ron sighed.
“But it did take another three years to defeat Voldemort,” Hermione added.
“They haven’t got back together?” Holly asked, her brow furrowed an inscrutable look spread over her features.
“No, they haven’t talked about it at all, they just skip past the topic!” Hermione said, huffing. Holly stayed silent and Bill looked uncomfortable. “And that’s so unlike them!”
“I think that we should lock them in a broomstick cupboard!” Ron declared, slapping his hands on his thighs. Holly coughed on her tea and almost dropped her cup. Fortunately, the others didn’t seem to notice, they were too absorbed in the topic of Harry and Ginny’s love life.
“No, that’s too overused!” Tonks replied, shaking her head and grinning.
“It would work though!” Ron said excitedly. Hermione also shook her head, smiling crookedly.
“It’s not like they’re angry at each other, they’re just avoiding the topic,” Hermione explained logically. “I think it’s hardly likely they would talk about that in a broomstick cupboard, they would be more likely discussing how to kill us. The only thing that plan would accomplish is having a very annoyed Weasley on our tail, after our blood for locking them in there in the first place!”
“Oh yeah,” was all Ron could say in response to that little speech. He looked slightly crestfallen that his idea wouldn’t work.
“I don’t think you should be talking about locking Harry and Ginny together in a broomstick cupboard, Ron. She’s still our baby sister after all,” Bill said, standing up and looking quite annoyed.
“Yes, I know, but Harry and Ginny were great together. Harry is so much better for her than any other bloke and I think that they deserve a bit of happiness. If locking them in a broomstick cupboard or something like that is the only way to do that, then I think that it’s worth it,” Ron said frankly, looking directly into his older brothers eyes.
Hermione was looking at Ron in a whole new light.
“What, have I got dirt on my nose or something?” Ron asked as he noticed Hermione staring at him.
“No, I just never thought I’d hear you speak so maturely,” Hermione said admiringly.
“I think hanging around with you has rubbed off on me a bit,” Ron teased, putting an arm around his girlfriend. Then he turned his attention back to his brother. “Okay, if it’s making you feel uncomfortable, we’ll stop talking about Harry and Ginny.”
“Thank you,” Bill said, looking a little calmer.
“Let’s talk about your love life. Have you and Remus set a date yet?” Hermione said, gazing at the beautiful jewel on Tonks’ left hand. Tonks’ eyes seemed to sparkle almost as brightly as the diamond on her finger.
“No, not yet!” Tonks said, beaming. Remus had proposed to her earlier that same year. Ron and Hermione had never seen them happier.
“What has Moony been up to these days?” Ron asked. While Harry was training for the final battle with Voldemort, Remus had helped them all prepare and they had all gotten a lot closer. Since then, all of them had been very busy with work. Harry and Ron had become what they always dreamed of being ” fully-fledged Aurors.
Remus now owned his own business, a duelling club for young people, based on the old illegal club Harry had started ” Dumbledore’s Army. So it was fitting that it was named after that. It was a big success; people were still very interested in learning how to defend themselves, particularly due to the fact there were still many Death Eaters on the loose. It did help that the famous ‘Man-Who-Defeated-You-Know-Who-and-top-Auror’ popped into the club occasionally to help his old friend teach, seeing as he had lots of experience.
“Great! He’s been quite busy though, with all that paperwork he had to fill in after that boy broke his arm when he fell down two flights of stairs. Thank Merlin Harry was there to catch him!” Tonks said. Holly raised an eyebrow as she looked at Tonks, then at Hermione and Ron.
“We have pretty eventful lives,” Hermione explained, laughing.
“I can see that,” Holly said. They were interrupted again when a head appeared in the fire.
“We have an emergency! We think there are some Death Eaters near a Muggle village,” the man said seriously.
“I’ll go ” where is it?” Holly said immediately. The man blinked at Holly, obviously surprised how quickly this new girl had volunteered, and looked at the others for permission. The others nodded in agreement, so he told her the address, then disappeared.
“Okay, I’ll be off then,” Holly said, getting up as soon as the man had departed.
“We’ll come with you,” Ron said, also getting up. Holly looked surprised.
“You don’t have to,” Holly pointed out. She had already tied her hair back in a tight bun to keep out of her face.
“We’re not letting you go alone,” Hermione said. Holly smiled as if she had said some private joke.
“Thank you for the tea,” Holly said politely to Tonks.
“No problem, I expect we’ll see you again soon,” Tonks said. Holly nodded firmly.
“I’m sure you will,” Holly replied. Then she left, with Ron and Hermione at her tail.
“You know what? I still don’t like Apparating,” Ron said, leaning against Hermione for a second to regain his balance after Apparating to the address the man had told them.
“Look on the bright side ” at least you haven’t left an eyebrow behind or something like that,” Hermione said teasingly, as they rushed towards the park where the alleged Death Eaters were.
“I wondered when you would bring that up again,” Ron said, pulling a face.
“Pay attention!” Holly hissed, pointing at the figures in black that were huddled together, some feet ahead of them.
“Ready to get them?” Ron whispered, ready to dash forward, but Holly stopped him.
Then, out of the blue, she lunged forward and high-kicked something behind them. They heard a dull ompf. Spinning around, they found themselves face to face with a Death Eater. Immediately, they raised their wands, but Holly had already kicked him twice more and punched him hard in the face. He was out cold and hit the floor with a crunch of gravel, and a thud as his head made contact with the hard floor.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Ron asked, dumbfounded, his eyes darting from the unconscious Death Eater to Holly, who was stretching her arms out and flexing her fingers.
“Later,” Holly said, sprinting off towards the other Death Eaters. Ron and Hermione followed, but almost crashed right into her when she stopped dead. Looking ahead, they saw what Holly was staring at. Beyond the large, spidery, dark tree, were three Death Eaters.
And they weren’t alone.
In the centre of them, was a small, tied-up and very frightened little boy.