02. MOTHER DOES NOT KNOW BEST

"Eve Finnigan. That's the name of my absentee mother." Elara ran a hand through her hair. "She was a squib; I suppose that was partly the reason she left Dad. She couldn't bear the thought of a magical child when she herself wasn't one."

"So, you and Seamus?" Ron asked.

"Distantly related, I think. My English and French overpowers my Irish, but I've got some." She smiled. "That woman is not my mother though. She just gave birth to me. I want nothing to do with her. She left not only me, but my father, and I swear on my life that if I see her again, she won't be getting away unscathed. Call it self-defence."

"El." She turned to see Sirius standing at the door, a sad smile on his face.

"Hey, Dad."

He walked closer and opened his arms. "Come here, love." He hugged her tightly, and she laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. Elara never had a mother, because hers couldn't deal with her, and decided to leave her on her father's doorstep. Sirius never wanted his daughter to have a childhood without a mother, and partly without a father. But he came back, and he never wanted to leave. Unlike Eve, who left both of them intentionally and never bothered coming back.

//FLASHBACK//

The doorbell rang, and Sirius stood, placing his butterbeer on the table. "Be right back, guys." He headed to the door, leaving James, Lily and Remus waiting for him, all of them with their own butterbeers, an engagement ring glinting on Lily's finger.

Sirius swung the door open without looking through the peephole. He saw a shadow around the stairwell that disappeared as soon as the door open. "Hello?" He looked down when he heard a little sniffle and saw a baby in a small cot, wrapped in a blanket and accompanied with a little bag that had a letter sticking out of it.

He knelt down and opened the envelope. He slid the letter out and unfolded it.

Sirius,

I met you a while back. We spent a lovely night together, and this was the result. This is your daughter. I never named her because I was never going to keep her. You got me pregnant, and this is your responsibility. My job was to give birth. I did.

I know she's yours because the Healer at St. Mungo's checked, and I never slept with a man around that time other than you. Keep her, give her up. I don't care. As long as she isn't with me.

Eve Finnigan.

Sirius looked down at the little girl. He knew for sure that she was his daughter. She looked like him. Black hair and pale, grey eyes. He dropped the letter into the bag, before lifting it and the girl. He walked back inside and closed the door, walking to the living room.

"Sirius, where are yo-" Remus called out, going quiet when he saw the long haired man walk back inside with a bundle in his arms. "Is that a baby?"

"Yeah." Sirius sounded hoarse. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, she was outside." He sat and held her in his arms, before fishing out the letter inside the bag and handing it to Lily who was sat beside him.

"You took her?" James questioned.

"She's his daughter." Lily gasped. The other two looked over, wide eyed and jaw dropped.

"What?" Remus whispered.

"I never knew. I never saw that woman again. She never came looking for me to tell me she was pregnant, she never wrote me, nothing."

"Are you going to keep her?" James asked.

"I couldn't get rid of her. I saw her and I knew she was staying with me. There's no doubt she's mine. Look." Sirius pulled the blanket away slightly and everyone crowded to look at the little girl who giggled and reached out, yanking a lock of Lily's fiery hair.

"Seems she likes you Lils." Sirius smiled. "Want to hold her?"

"I'd love to." Lily takes her and cradles her carefully. "She's beautiful."

"Very."

//FLASHBACK OVER//

Sirius kissed his daughter's forehead and then let go, patting her shoulder and leaving the room. Elara threw herself down, laying on the ground with her eyes closed. She took a deep breath. "That was intense."

"Shut up, Ronald." Hermione hissed, smacking him, causing him to hiss.

"Bloody hell, Hermione."

"El?" Harry called out, looking at his god sister who was still on the ground, eyes closed. She hummed in response. "You alright?"

"Yeah. The floor's just really nice and cold and I don't really want to get up." Elara replied. Everyone laughed and Theodore nudged her with his foot. "Stop it, Theo."

"How'd you know it was me?" He gave an incredulous look.

"I didn't. You confirmed it for me." She replied, causing him to groan in exasperation. "Love you."

"Love you too." Theodore replied.

"DINNER!" Came a yell from downstairs. At this, Elara's eyes snapped open and she sat up, pulling herself up and holding out a hand.

"Someone apparate me downstairs." The twins both looked at each other before they bolted towards her, but George got there first. He grabbed her hand and apparated. Elara herself could apparate, considering she was 17, but she just was lazy and didn't want to.

"FUCK YOU!" Fred yelled.

"LANGUAGE!" Came another call from downstairs. This one in Elara's voice.

"Fred, let's go." Theodore nodded to the door. "Let's beat these kids." Fred grinned and placed a hand on Theodore's shoulder, apparating them downstairs where they almost hit Tonks. She stumbled back, letting out a screech.

"Shit. Sorry, Tonks!" Theodore apologised before hurrying to take a seat beside a laughing Elara. George sat opposite her, and Fred took the seat beside him. The table began to fill up and Harry ended up beside her with Hermione opposite him and everyone else scattered around.

"When are you heading home, Charlie?" Elara asked the buff redhead sat a few seats away from her. He looked up.

"Tonight."

"Say hello to Bronze for me, yeah?"

"Of course." Charlie grinned.

"Who's Bronze?" Sirius asked.

"The Peruvian Vipertooth I trained with. She's amazing, and very friendly. She lets me ride her and we flew around a little." Elara said casually, taking a bite of some bread.

"Peruvian bloody Vipertooth?" Sirius screeched. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Probably."

"Oh bloody hell." Her father face planted the table.

"It's fine, Dad. Bronze is the best trained one there. I should know, I trained her." Elara smirked smugly, but that did little to comfort her father as he lifted his head with a look of horror on his face.

"So, you're telling me, you went near an untrained Vipertooth?"

"Ye- wait, no, she was trained by Charlie. I just made her better."

"El's a natural at this. It almost feels like she can talk to the dragon." Charlie sent a sideways glance at Elara, who coughed at the hidden message in his sentence. Sirius chokes on his drink and Elara laughed at his reaction.

"Well, what can I say, Charlie. I just connect with dragons really well." She grinned.

"ALRIGHT, ELARA BLACK! THAT'S ENOUGH ABOUT DRAGONS!" Sirius yelled out. "Your letter came. We didn't open it." Sirius grabbed the letter from the kitchen countertop and handed it to her. People around her were immersed in their conversations, but her close family and friends paid attention to her opening the letter.

She slid her nail under the flap and ran it across, unsealing it. It felt oddly heavy in her hand and when she stuck her hand in to get the letter out, she felt something cold, and upon pulling it out, realised that it was a silver and green badge that spelled out Quidditch Captain.

It fell from her hand and landed on the table with a loud 'clink' as she gasped. Theodore from beside her grabbed what had fallen and his eyes widened, he placed it down and then hugged her tightly. "I'm so proud of you, Lara."

"Thank you." She whispered back, before pulling away and lifting the badge, running her fingers over the silver snake on the front. "New Quidditch Captain here. You Gryffindors are going down." She stuck her tongue out teasingly, smirking.

"Alright, one, shut up." Fred started.

"But, two, bloody well done!" George finished.

"Thank you boys." She smiled, before being bombarded with congratulations from everyone else.

"Well done, El. Captain of the Quidditch team. I mean, Slytherin's alright." Her father commented. Her eyes widened.

"OI!"

"Come on, Sirius!" Theodore rolled his eyes.

"Yeah! Slytherin's the best house, no arguments needed." Elara folded her arms over her chest, sureness radiating off her.

Tonks piped up from a bit lower down the table. "Beg your pardon? I believe that title goes to Hufflepuff!" She exclaimed.

"No, you're both wrong, it's Gryffindor." Remus shook his head in amusement, as though anyone would believe it was anything but that. Most people around the table nodded their heads in agreement, causing Elara to scowl.

"Well that isn't fair, is it? There's quite a lot of Gryffindors, a bit of Slytherins, and only me, a lone Hufflepuff. No Ravenclaws as well, I see." Tonks commented.

"Good point. Why do we not have Ravenclaws here?"

"They're smart enough not be friends with us." Theodore replied to his girlfriend's question, causing her to laugh.

"Although, El, there are stupid Ravenclaws. You know who I'm talking about." Bianca looked over at her best friend, who scowled.

"That incompetent arse. I don't know how he got into Ravenclaw, whether the Hat was smoking something weird that day, or if Dumbledore was high on those lemon sherbets and he cursed the Hat."

"Lockhart, I assume?" Sirius asked. When his daughter nodded, he laughed.

"I remember him. Always a pretentious bastard." Remus shook his head, amused.

"Right on, Uncle Moony!" Elara reached her hand out for a high five, which he gave to her happily. Then, Mrs. Weasley stood and waved her wand. All the plates zoomed to the sink and began washing them. "Dad learn that spell please. We desperately need it."

"On it."

Once they were all finished with dessert, Mrs. Weasley spoke. "Nearly time for bed, I think." She yawned.

"Not just yet, Molly." Sirius pushed his plate away and turned to Elara and Harry. "You know, I'm surprised. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

The atmosphere of the room changed. It was alert now, more tense. "I did!" Harry cried out. "I asked Ron and Hermione, but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so –"

"And they're quite right, you're too young." Mrs. Weasley stated, stood up now.

"I'm bloody not!" Elara stood as well, an angry look on her face at being called young. She loved Molly Weasley, but now was not the time to be motherly. "I'm 17! I deserve to know!"

Sirius retaliated to Mrs. Weasley's statement. "Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions? Harry's been away this whole summer. He's got the right to know what's been happen –"

"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.

"How come they get their questions answered?" said Fred angrily.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing." Said George.

"You're too young, you're not in the Order." Fred imitated his mother, his voice a high-pitched one that sounded uncannily like Mrs. Weasley. "Harry's not even of age!"

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing." Sirius said calmly. "That's your parents' decision. Harry and Elara, on the other hand –"

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said sharply. Her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Who cares what Dumbledore fucking said!" Elara exclaimed, but was ignored.

"Which bit?" Sirius questioned.

"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know." Mrs. Weasley placed emphasis on the last three words.

Heads turned from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley. "I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly, but as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back, he has more right than most to –"

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix! He's only fifteen and –"

"– and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order, and more than some –"

"No one's denying what he's done! But he's still –"

"He's not a child!"

"He's not an adult either! He's not James, Sirius!"

"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly." Her father replied coldly.

"I'm not sure you are! Sometimes the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"

"What's wrong with that?" Both Harry and Elara called out.

"What's wrong is, that Harry is not his father, however much he might look like him! Harry, you are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!" Molly exclaimed.

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?"

"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius. Arthur! Arthur, back me up!" She turned to her husband, who took his glasses off and cleaning them before placing them back on.

"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled into a certain extent now that he is staying at headquarters –"

"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"

"Personally," Remus began quietly, glancing from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley. "I think it's better that Harry gets the facts – not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture – from us, rather than a garbled version from others."

"Well," The redheaded woman breathed heavily. "I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry's best interests at heart –"

"He's not your son." Sirius' voice was quiet.

"He's as good as. Who else has he got?"

"Me!" Both Elara and her father interjected.

"Yes, but the thing is, Sirius, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"

Sirius started to rise from his chair, but Elara stood and held her hand out to stop him. She turned to Mrs. Weasley, her expression thunderous, eyes furious. "Mrs. Weasley, you have gone too far this time. I understand your concern for MY brother, but you should not be taking this out on my father! My father, who has been suffering for 13 years, whilst you've been living your merry life. Harry is his godson, and my brother. He has us, so please, refrain from badmouthing my father."

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked and upset. Elara was still breathing heavily, eyes sill furious. Harry stood from his chair and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her middle and laying his head on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and hugged him back.

"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this." Remus spoke. "He's old enough to decide for himself."

"I want to know what's been going on." Harry pulled away from Elara and replied immediately.

"Very well." Mrs. Weasley's voice cracked. "Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Astoria, Blaise, all of you, out of the kitchen, now."

"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed.

"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" Ron protested.

"Mum, I want to!" Ginny wailed.

Astoria and Blaise silently went upstairs.

"NO!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "I absolutely forbid –"

"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George." Mr. Weasley said, wearily. "They are of age."

"They're still at school –"

"But they're legally adults now."

She turned red in the face. "I- oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron –"

"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" Ron cried out. "Won't – won't you?" Harry nodded and both Ron and Hermione beamed at him.

"Fine! Fine! Ginny – BED!" Ginny went up the stairs stomping her feet. She got to the portrait of Walburga and woke her up. Mrs. Weasley followed behind her.

Remus closed the door, and then Sirius spoke. "Okay, Harry, what do you want to know?"

"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and even in Romania, but there hasn't been any mention of anything."

"That's because nothing's happened, not as far as we know, anyways, and we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do anyway." Remus said.

"How come he's stopped killing people?" The younger boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Sirius replied, "Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment. It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."

Remus smiled. "Or rather, you messed it up for him."

"How?"

"You weren't supposed to survive! Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness." Sirius said.

"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore. and you made sure Dumbledore knew at once." Remus continued.

"How has that helped?"

"Are you kidding?" Bill had an incredulous look on his face. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"

Sirius nodded. "Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned."

"So what's the Order been doing?" Harry looked around.

Again Sirius responded, "Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans."

"How d'you know what his plans are?"

Remus brushed some hair from his eyes. "Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea, and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."

Throughout all of this Elara was listening, rolling her eyes at every mention of Dumbledore. "What does Dumbledore reckon Voldemort's planning?" She asked.

Her father's eyes shot to her. "Well, firstly he wants to build up his army again. In the old days he had huge numbers to his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark Creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll just be one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."

"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?" Bianca asked, tucking a loose strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

Remus nodded. "We're doing our best."

"How?" Theodore questioned.

"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who has returned, to put them on their guard." Bill explained. "It's proving tricky, though."

Daphne gained some confidence seeing everyone speak up, so she did, "Why?"

Tonks blew a raspberry. "Because of the Ministry's attitude. You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely to believe it's happened.

Harry's eyes widened. "But why? Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore –"

Mr. Weasley smiled. "Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem. Dumbledore."

Tonks's hair glimmered blue as she adopted a saddened look. "Fudge is frightened of him you see?"

"Frightened of Dumbledore?" Harry questioned, shocked.

"Bloody well right to be." Elara muttered under her breath, hearing Theodore snicker at her comment beside her.

"Frightened of what he's up to." Mr. Weasley corrected. "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He think Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."

"But Dumbledore doesn't want –"

"Of course he doesn't. he's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore's never applied for the job."

Remus continued. "Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice. But it seems he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's manged to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring for the sake of it."

Harry's eyes flared furiously. "How can he think that? How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up – that I'd make it all up?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, replying bitterly. "Because accepting Voldemort's back would mean more trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years. Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. it's so much more comfortable to convince himself that Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him."

"You see the problem." Remus followed. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse.

"But you're telling people?" Harry looked around at everyone. "You're letting people know he's back." They all smiled humourlessly.

"Well, some people still think I'm a bloody mass murderer, and those that don't won't take my word for anything." Sirius shook his head.

"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community. It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they start shooting their mouths off. And it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."

Mr. Weasley came with some good news. "We've managed to convince a couple of people, though. Tonks here, for one – she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage – Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too."

"But if none of you's putting the news that Voldemort's back –" Harry began.

"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" Sirius said. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble."

"What d'you mean?"

"They're trying to discredit him." Remus said. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last well? They reported he's been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was votes out by the Ministry after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot – that's the Wizard's High Court – and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."

"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards." Bill grinned.

His father wasn't amused. "It's no laughing matter. If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. while You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way – well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."

"But of Dumbledore's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out what he's coming back, isn't it?"

"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on the front doors, Harry." Sirius shook his head. "He tricks, jinx's and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secret. In any case, fathering followers in one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."

Harry asked quickly, "What's he after apart from followers?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a quick look before Sirius replied. "Stuff he can only get by stealth." Harry looked confused, so Sirius elaborated. "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."

"When he was powerful before?"

"Yes."

"Like what kind of weapon? Something worse than the Avada Kedavra?"

"That's enough." Came Mrs. Weasley's voice from the door. She came back from bringing Ginny upstairs and she looked furious. "Bed, all of you." She looked at the twins, Ron and Hermione.

Naturally the twins refused. But while they fought with their mother, Elara stood, kissed her father goodbye and hugged Harry and Bianca before linking her hand with Theodore's and pulling him out of the room. She Apparated to the top floor. They both stood outside Elara's room and Theodore kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, El. See you tomorrow."

"Night Theo. See you then."