Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 71

~ Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name,

'Cause I can't reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah. ~

***

With the reformation of the Order, the members were reaching out to everyone they possibly could to recruit. For that very incentive, Remus had gone to Magnolia Crescent and informed Felicity about the Order and told her that Dumbledore had asked from her if she would want to rejoin.

However, he did not tell her about her cousin being with the Order at the moment because Sirius had strictly forbidden him to tell her anything about him. In other words, he wanted to surprise his cousin himself.

As expected, Felicity agreed to join the Order. Perhaps if she hadn't met Harry personally, she wold not have taken that decision. But seeing the boy and finding his parents' reflection in him urged her to help him out in any way she could.

The Order was also doing the same, helping Harry as well as the rest of the Wizarding World by standing against the Dark Lord. Hence, she didn't hesitate to take that side.

Though deep down, she had a feeling of dread because the previous war had snatched from her everyone she held dear and she did not want that to repeat.

Right then, she had finally showed up at the Order's current headquarters as instructed by Dumbledore; Number 12, Grimmauld Place. She had also been told not to ring the doorbell so when the door appeared in front of her, she chose to knock upon it.

Shortly after, Remus opened the door and stepped aside to let her in. He gestured her to stay silent and she nodded, feeling that there might be a valid reason he had asked her that.

Felicity hung her coat at the hanger, immediately putting her hands in her pockets looking around as if examining the place.

The new Order Headquarters were nothing close to what she had expected. Not only was the Black family's mansion dark and gloomy, but it was also undeniably cold.

"Looks like someone forgot to add the central heating here," she remarked as they walked further in and Remus visibly relaxed which meant she could speak.

Remus shrugged in reply, "we've gotten used to it by now. But I'll see if I can reheat it up for you."

"No, that's not necessary. I'm fine, the cold isn't that bad." Her eyes flickered back towards the entrance corridor, "why did you ask me to keep silent there?"

"Oh that," he shook his head, "there's a portrait right in front of the door who starts screaming if disturbed."

They were just walking through the corridor when a giant black dog came out of a room and pounced on her nearly knocking her down to the floor.

"Bloody H...," she managed to stop herself in time before cursing out loud.

Remus was looking at her pointedly as if trying to gauge her reaction. But he was surprised to see that when she saw the dog wagging it's tail at her and licking her feet, instead of the disgust he had expected, a soft smile crept up to her face.

Bending down she stroked the dog between its ears who licked her hand as well while she just laughed, "you guys have a really cute dog."

Remus was clearly not expecting that answer but seeing the mischievous spark in the dog's eyes, he nodded, "we call him Snuffles."

"That's a really nice name for such a cute dog, right Snuffles?"

He kept his mouth shut trying to retain the laughter ensuing within. He could just imagine what her reaction would be when she finds out about the black dog being none other than Sirius.

"The meeting will begin after an hour or two," Rem told her, "you can acquaint yourself with the Weasleys in the meantime."

Sirius followed Felicity everywhere like an obedient little puppy. And she being much of a dog lover, was quite enjoying patting him from time to time.

Just before the Order meeting, the rest of the members started arriving at the headquarters so Felicity and the others gradually assembled into the main meeting room.

She had taken her seat on the oval table, when Sirius (still in his Animagus form) leapt up to the chair right beside her.

Out of instinct she stroked the top of his head letting her hand rest there as she looked ahead where the rest of the witches and wizards were standing talking among themselves.

She could recognize a few such as McGonagall and the remaining were either people she had seen in magazines or just not at all.

It wasn't long after that she felt the dog's fur under her hands had somehow lengthened into long strands that were tangling up in her fingers.

Much alarmed, she turned in her seat to see Sirius sitting there with a very smug look on his face.

"What the absolute hell! When did you get here?"

Heads turned around startled to see Felicity standing with her hands balled into fists and Sirius leaning back in his chair rocking it carelessly.

"Ciao Felicity," he remarked, all the while smirking annoyingly at her.

"What kind of devilry was that? I'm pretty sure a dog was sitting in this seat not you."

He shrugged his shoulders with a careless expression, "well, that devilry you just mentioned is called an Animagus in the wizarding dictionary."

She groaned, "ugh, I'll have to go and take a bath now. The absolute nerve of you, Sirius, you should have just been a dog for the whole of your life and I would have honestly been spared the trouble of tolerating your nonsense."

"Mind you, there happen to be only fifteen minutes left for your bath. Or else the meeting will have to be conducted without you."

Glaring at him murderously, she pushed the chair back in its place and turned to stomp off. However, she paused as if she had just struck upon some noticeable point.

Sirius was sitting right in front of her. Sirius, who was a convict on the loose after escaping Azkaban where he had been imprisoned for betraying the Potters and being a Dar Wizard.

Sirius who was in the Order's company at the moment without any chains to bind him up. That could mean only one thing that her cousin had been framed for the crimes that were put on his name.

And that meant her assumption regarding him being innocent had been right all along.

"Sei un idiota..." Her voice was a low whisper as realization sunk in.

"Apprezzo il complimento," he swept a dramatic bow just like he used to in their school days and nostalgia hit her hard.

Though as soon as he straightened, she had stepped forward and hugged him tightly, accepting the fact that he had not betrayed James and Lily and wasn't responsible for any of the crimes he had been sentenced for.

A smile flickered on Sirius's face as he hugged back but he couldn't stop himself from teasing her even then, "five out of those fifteen minutes are gone, Fel. So if you have to take a bath, you better wait till after the meeting."

She pulled apart, all traces of the emotional reunion gone from her face as she smacked his arm away from her, "you're disgusting."

"I would have preferred devilishly handsome instead but compliments have never been your specialty, right? Fourteen years yet that hasn't changed..."

Out of irritation, she grabbed the first thing that came to her hand and threw it right at his face.

Unluckily for Sirius, it happened to be a wooden snuffbox, "ow! And here I thought you'd be a little less violent now that you had apparently matured."

"Don't you forget, I'm a total terror when it comes to people who mess up with me, no matter how old I get over the years. And by the way, you deserve me being violent to you, the nerve of you to ask Rem not to tell me anything about you."

And much to Felicity's satisfaction, the box left a striking red mark on his nose that was quite visible as compared to his usually pale skin.

***