Enemies Working Together

7

After dinner and dessert are over and everyone is sleepily full of food and good conversation, Sirius turns to Harry and makes the room more alert than it was before.

"You know, I'm surprised at you, Harry. I thought the first thing that you'd do when you got here was start asking questions about Voldemort."

"I did!" Harry exclaims, "But Ron and Hermione said we're not allowed in the Order."

"And they're quite right," Molly said, sitting up straight, "You're too young."

"Since when did somebody have to be in Order of the Phoenx to ask questions?" Sirius asks, his face looking unusually serious, "He has a right to know what is going on-"

"Hang on! How come Harry gets his questions answered?" George interrupts Sirius, looking pissed.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a thing." Fred continues in a pretty good imitation of his mother's voice, "You're too young, you're not in the order."

"It's not my fault that you haven't been told what the Order's doing. That is your parents' decision. Harry on the other hand-" Sirius gets interrupted again but by Molly this time.

"It's not just your decision. You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Which bit?" Sirius says. The argument goes back and forth between the two adults and Remus finally puts a stop to it. Molly then tries to get all her children to leave the kitchen along with Hermione and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia stands up and is about to leave the kitchen, knowing that she will probably not be allowed to listen in, despite the fact that the other people her age are allowed.

"Cassiopeia, sit!" Sirius says.

"No! She leaves the kitchen now!" Molly particually snarls.

"This is my house, Molly, and I say my cousin stays in the kitchen."

"It's okay, I can go." Cassiopeia says but another voice stops her.

"No, Cassiopeia sit." Remus was the one who told her to sit this time.

"Remus-"

"Dumbledore trusts her, Molly. He has allowed her to know things because she is staying here. So Cassiopeia, take your seat." Cassiopeia takes her seat but is ready to leave at a moment's notice, should she be told to leave. Cassiopeia quietly listens to Harry's questions that are getting answered and some of the other children also ask questions. Molly returns and managed to get them all to leave.

The next morning, Cassiopeia wakes up before everyone else and heads downstairs to make herself some tea. She is sitting at the table, sipping at her tea and reading The Daily Prophet when Molly comes in to make breakfast. Molly watches the girl but she just continues to read the newspaper.

"Would you like some help with breakfast, Mrs. Weasley?" Cassiopeia offers the same thing every morning, although Molly always refuses her help.

"You are the only one who hasn't asked any questions about any of this. Why?" The older witch asks instead of answering Cassiopeia's question.

"Because I know that a lot of people don't trust me, due to my family's reputation and my house. What's the point to asking questions that won't get answered anyway? It just seems like a waste of breath." Molly looks thoughtful and doesn't say anything while she starts breakfast. Cassiopeia eats a little bit of porridege and a piece of a toast but she has always had a small appiette. The rest of the kids come into the kitchen and eat the breakfast that Molly prepared.

After breakfast, the kids and Molly all gather in a room that Molly wants them to clean. They all quickly clear the curtains of doxies. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassiopeia watches Fred and George slip the doxies into their pockets but she decides to not say anything because it really isn't her business.

When they finished, it was lunch-time and the doorbell rang and Molly went to answer it and get lunch for everyone. While she did that, Kreacher came into the room. Kreacher is the Black family house-elf. Kreacher started insulting everyone except Cassiopeia. Sirius comes in and kicks Kreacher out of the room.

Cassiopeia wandered over to the tapestry on the wall. It was the Black family tree and she was staring at it with a sad expression, remembering how coldly her father looked at her when she told him that she wasn't like him or her mother. Her eyes scan it and she finds herself at the very bottom, unburned.

Sirius joins her at the tapestry as does Harry.

"This is your family tree? You're not on here, Sirius." Harry asks. Sirius points out a burned spot on the tree and explains that he was burned off when he ran away to Harry's dad's when he was 16. Sirius explains that each member of the Black family who either runs away or does not agree with the mindset of the family gets burned off.

"I should have been burned off." Cassiopeia says, softly, still staring at herself on the tree.

"You ran away?" Harry asks, somewhat hesistantly.

"Two weeks into the break. I never agreed with their mindset but didn't have the courage to say anything until about a month ago. I'm sorry for the way my brother treats you, Harry." She says, before turning away and grabbing a sandwich off the plate that Molly left in the room.

'You alright, Cass?' She hears Ron think.

'Hard question to answer. I just wish my parents weren't the way they were. That me having a different mindset than them didn't mean losing them. That I could tell them about us without having them freak out. I just feel a lot right now but I'm suppose to play the part of the Ice Princess so I don't let it show.'

'Maybe you don't have to be the Ice Princess anymore. Maybe you can let your emotions show.'

'After years of hiding them, that is going to be hard.' About a week or so passes and one night, Molly reminds everyone of Harry's hearing.

"I ironed out your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Harry. A good first impression will do wonders." The dining room goes silent as everyone turns and stares at Harry who looks pale. Cassiopeia tunes out the conversation and goes back to eating so at least one person isn't staring at Harry.