I sat alone on the way back to London. When we arrived at King's Cross, the Order was waiting for us on the other side of the platform. Dora was among them, alive and well. Her hair was pink and spiky again and she was wearing patched jeans and a Weird Sisters tee. Yes, she was certainly back to normal.

I went over to her; she pulled me into a hug.

"How are you?" she asked.

I sighed. "Okay."

"Hey, listen ... " She seemed reluctant to tell me whatever was coming next. "After we talk to Harry's aunt and uncle, we have an Order meeting. I hate doing this to you, but you'll have to come. There isn't enough time to take you home."

For a moment, I wasn't sure why she thought I wouldn't want to come. Then I thought of Grimmauld Place, now empty except for Buckbeak and Kreacher. It wouldn't be the same. I sighed again. "All right, then."

The moment we arrived in the square, I felt the tears coming. There was no possible way Grimmauld Place would be the same without Sirius. I couldn't care less if I ever went back.

We opened the door. It was like déjà vu: Kingsley greeted us and took us to the kitchen. Everybody else was there. Except this time, I didn't point my finger at Sirius and accuse Dora of falling into a trap. The thought of not doing this almost made me cry.

"Lyra," Dora said, making me flinch. It was hard to get used to being called by my real name in public. "You can go anywhere. I'll be out in an hour."

I nodded my head, trying to ignore the lump in my throat. It would be nice just to be alone for a while. I wouldn't have to hold back any tears.

I walked quietly through the gloomy house. I reached the top floor where there were only two doors leading into rooms. One had Sirius's name on it. I went inside. It was his bedroom.

There were pictures of Muggle motorcycles and even Muggle girls in bikinis. There was a single moving picture of the Marauders - Sirius, Lupin, James, and Peter Pettigrew. There were also several Gryffindor banners, which were painful to look at. Remembering that Sirius and I were the only two Gryffindors in the Black family made my eyes wet with tears. It only took the smallest connection to make me think of him.

I sank to my knees and sobbed with my head in my hands. It was all over, it really was. Sirius was gone, my own mother had murdered him, and my identity had been revealed to everyone. Nothing was ever going to be the same.

I had no idea how long I had been sitting there, weeping. When I stopped, I went down to the drawing room. I wasn't sure what had led me there until I arrived. The tapestry.

Sirius's burn mark stood out. I ran my finger over it. Dead or alive, it was as if he had never existed on the tree.

My finger moved to Bellatrix's name. His cousin, his killer. Anger boiled inside me. Andromeda had said at Christmas that she hadn't always been so evil, and evil was definitely the right word. So what had happened? I was dying to know. Andromeda was one of the few who knew, but she probably didn't even know the whole story due to her betrayal.

My finger moved down to Rodolphus's name. Was it because of him? Had he changed her? Or had it been her parents? Or Voldemort? Or Azkaban? Or a combination of several of those?

I traced the golden line linking their names together. I moved down to the spot where my name belonged. No ... it didn't belong. I would have been burned off just like Sirius or Andromeda. I was a blood traitor without even trying to be one.

CRACK. Kreacher appeared in the room. As soon as I saw him, my anger came back.

"YOU!" I yelled at him.

He laughed. "Miss Lyra, what is the problem? Is you disappointed because Master Sirius is dead?"

"KREACHER!"

He continued to chuckle as he rolled on the floor. I had never felt so much anger and rage - except for when I had confronted Bellatrix at the Department of Mysteries. I was shaking and fuming so much that, almost instinctively, I pulled out my wand.

"Kreacher, you little murderer! I hate you! Why didn't you tell me Sirius had been here all along?"

He laughed harder. "Because Master Sirius deserved what he got!"

"He did not!"

"Master Sirius was never nice to Kreacher. Master Sirius - "

"I don't care what Master Sirius thought about you. YOU KILLED HIM!" I advanced on him, my wand pointed at his chest. He immediately stopped laughing and a fearful look appeared in his eyes.

"Miss Lyra ... no, you mustn't! Kreacher has not hurt you! Kreacher is a loyal elf!"

"LIAR!" I yelled. "TRAITOR!"

"Miss Lyra, please! Kreacher begs-"

"CRUCIO!"

It was more than enough. Kreacher howled in pain and writhed around on the floor. I would have continued - I was sure the curse would have killed him - if Dora and Lupin hadn't heard the screaming and busted through the door.

"Lyra!" Dora exclaimed. "Stop that!"

I turned and faced them with my wand still pointed, but the curse lifted from Kreacher.

"Why?" I asked, anger beginning to dissolve and be replaced with sadness. "He practically killed him!"

And then came the tears.

"I know, but you don't need to kill him because of that!" Dora exclaimed, glancing at Kreacher. He was shaking.

I fell to my knees with my face in my hands again. I had to stop. I really had to stop. I always did that when I became incensed and I really couldn't ...

"It's time to leave," Dora said soothingly. "We need to go."

I stood up, wiping my eyes as Dora said, "See you soon, Remus."

"Yes," he said, pulling her into a hug. "We have some things to work out. We'll need a new place for headquarters."

She closed her eyes - an all-too-familiar look crossing her face - and nodded her head. "Yeah."

Remus pulled away and turned to me. "I'll see you later, Lyra. I hope everything goes all right."

He smiled at me as best he could, but it wasn't much. I saw the pain clouded in his eyes and remembered how close he had been to Sirius. I felt sudden sympathy for Remus-both of his best friends were dead now and Wormtail was working for Voldemort.

I tried to smile back.

"Yes, well ... we should go," Dora said.

"Okay," Remus replied. "See you, then."

With a final nod, Dora turned grabbed my arm and pulled me away. We were out the door in moments. She handed me my broom - I was on my old Comet Two-Sixty; I couldn't face the Firebolt - and began to take off.

"What was that all about?" I snapped once we were high above the square.

"What?" she asked with an exhausted tone.

"That look on your face when he hugged you," I said. "I know that look, Dora."

"It was nothing," she said, blushing slightly. "So don't attack me for it."

"Yeah, right."

"Just forget about that, all right?" she said.

"Good. Then I suppose you'll forget about it too. He's way too old for you, anyway. And he's a werewolf ... "

I trailed off, thinking back to last summer. Sirius had seen it coming. He told me that Dora and Lupin would get together, despite their major differences. Thinking about this brought back the tears. Sirius may have been right all along.

Why? Why did she have to kill him? Why did Bellatrix have to become so evil? I couldn't stop thinking about this. As we flew home, I resolved to find out everything about my family's past. I wanted to know how things had happened. I had to find out how Bellatrix was before, and how things came to be.

It was just like that night back in February when I had gone stargazing. She was the star, Gamma Orionis ... once just a regular star, then a supernova. Or had she been regular? There were too many questions, but it didn't matter. I would uncover every answer. I would search for the past. I was determined to find out everything.

END OF PART TWO.