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—RIGEL FROWNED AS THE WEASLEYS ALL CAME IN, ALONG WITH THE MUDBLOOD— HERMIONE GRANGER. A short and plump woman stepped up, giving Sirius and Remus a hug, which they reluctantly returned. "Oh, I haven't seen you two in years!"
As soon as she noticed Rigel, her eyes widened at his looks. He looked nothing like James or Lily.
"And you must be Harry. It's so nice to finally meet you, dear! I'm Molly Weasley."
"My name's Rigel, ma'am." Rigel blankly replied.
10 minutes later, most of the Weasleys were unpacking. A few, however, stayed.
Rigel raised an eyebrow, making them start talking.
"Hi! I'm Ginny Weasley." A blushing girl stepped up, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers.
Tom, who was far away, frowned immediately.
Rigel merely nodded.
"Fred Weasley, good sir." One of the Weasley twins said in a fake posh accent and stepped up.
The other one followed his lead, "George Weasley, oh great one." He bowed mockingly.
Rigel had to refrain himself from rolling his eyes.
He was going to be dealing with this for the whole summer.
••
"Wow, Mad-Eye, you're in a good mood today." Remus grinned as the said man walked into the meeting room, where all of the other Order members were sitting at.
"Really?" Sirius asked. "I think he's looking a little—"
"Black, if you finish that sentence, I will literally pick you up and throw you out of that window." Mad-Eye immediately threatened.
Unfortunately, he was the real Mad-Eye and was saved by Dumbledore. Barty Crouch Jr. had escaped last minute with Tom's help.
"—moody." Rigel finished with a smirk, high-fiving his father.
"My god, there's two of them." A woman with pink hair said as she walked in.
"Ri, meet your cousin— Nymphadora Tonks." Sirius introduced.
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" Tonks' hair changed from pink to red.
"—and why do we have to stay out?! Why can he stay?" Ron Weasley angrily pointed to Rigel.
"Because Dumbledore said so!" Molly Weasley exclaimed, pushing all of her kids out of the room except for Bill and Charlie Weasley.
••
Rigel, who was bouncing his little sister on his lap, stayed quiet throughout the meeting, until..
"—and Harry, my boy, I trust you can defeat Voldemort?" Dumbledore questioned, giving the boy a grandfatherly smile.
Rigel's, alongside Tom's, Sirius', and Remus'— eyebrows rose. The old man had just admitted that he was using Rigel for Voldemort's downfall— oh the irony!
"Rigel." The Black heir corrected. "Sir, I'm only 15. You can't possibly expect me to—"
"Harry, your parents were in the Order before you were even born, you know? I'm sure they would've liked you following in their footsteps and you can make them proud by defeating the person who took their lives away." Dumbledore said in fake sympathy.
Sirius's knuckles turned white, along with Remus'.
Rigel really wanted to say something along the lines of 'I'd rather die.' or 'I'd rather join the deatheaters than the Order', but couldn't bring himself to ruin Tom's careful planning.
"Of course, headmaster." Rigel finally said, looking at his sister and bringing her closer to his chest, not feeling very safe around the old man.
Dumbledore clapped his hand once with a smile. "Very well, now that this is settled— Remus, your mission is to bring the werewolves on our side before Voldemort can."
Remus gaped. "Dumbledore, surely Voldemort has already done that. Besides, I can't leave my daughter."
"I'm sure Sirius will take good care of her."
"But-... It's Voldemort we're talking about! If he's returned without us even knowing about it, he's probably achieved many things by now!" Remus pointed out, earning a few nods.
Dumbledore sighed, knowing he couldn't manipulate his way out of this. "Very well, Remus."
••
"Where's Tom?" asked Rigel as he walked into the kitchen, where Remus was feeding Cierra some food.
"A raid with his deatheaters."
Rigel raised an eyebrow as a sign for Remus to elaborate.
Remus explained, "The Order meeting. They talked about having a sneak attack to capture some of the death eaters, but Tom and the deatheaters just went there earlier, so he's going to be surprising the Order."
"Won't they recognize Tom?"
"No. He glamoured himself into Lord Voldemort."
"Right." Rigel nodded, dodging the food his sister accidentally sent his way.
"Cierra, you're not supposed to do that!" Remus scolded, calling Kreacher to clean the mess up.
••
Rigel's eyes widened when Tom walked in his room, clutching his side, which was all bloody. "Sorry. Didn't want the Order to notice me like this." Tom mumbled.
"Shut up for once in your life." Rigel instructed as he motioned for Tom to lay on his bed, who did as he said.
A few wandless spells later, Tom's side was as good as new, but it was still bloody.
Rigel conjured a wet cloth, and started wiping the blood from Tom's side.
The older boy stayed quiet, his heart hammering in his chest.
When Rigel was done with that, he moved on to Tom's face, which had a few gashes on it, making the Black heir wince.
"What happened?" He asked softly.
Tom didn't look away from Rigel, who was wiping his forehead and healing him. "Mad-Eye Moody. I forgot he could see through hedges and stuff. I got in a duel with him. He managed to get a few spells in just before I killed him."
Rigel nodded, not asking more questions.
"Why are you healing me?" Tom eventually asked.
"I dunno. I've got nothing else to do." Rigel shrugged. "This doesn't mean that I care about you, so don't flatter yourself, Riddle."
The corners of Tom's mouth quirked upwards. "Of course not, Rigel... I am nobody to you." He whispered the last part, avoiding his eyes.
Rigel froze.
"Am I so hard to like, Rigel?" Tom asked, looking hurt.
Rigel hesitated. "I-..." he sighed, continuing with cleaning Tom's wound. "Don't ask me that."
"Why? Because you'll say yes?"
"No. Because then i'll have to open up."
"Why do you hate me so much?"
The younger boy sighed again. "I don't hate you." He merely replied, not saying anything else.
••
"Thank you." Tom said, walking out of Rigel's room when he was fully healed.
"Don't mention it." mumbled Rigel, watching the older boy walk away.
