Blood Bound | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [5]

𝗶 | 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲

The journey to twelve Grimmauld Place was certainly one Gwenevere Everill had never taken before. It was the end of July, on a particularly hot day, and she and Remus Lupin were transporting all their belongings in a single trunk that had been placed with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Gwen had been staying with Remus for the last few weeks, for she could not return home. She had run away at the end of the school year, and there was no chance she would be welcomed back with open arms.

  Her father had been ordered to kill her, by none other than Lord Voldemort himself, who she had witnessed return to his body last month.

  It had tormented her nightmares. Two years before, she had been possessed by Lord Voldemort's memory, and now, she had witnessed him murder an innocent soul, Cedric Diggory, and restore himself to a body.

  To say it was traumatic was an understatement. Gwen had found that the best way for her to deal with things was to laugh about it, which worried Remus. He had been so kind to her, so great. He had housed her for the last few weeks in the Lupin family home, a home he had inherited from his parents after they had passed. Due to his, well, condition, as he put it, he struggled to find work. On the full moon that during Gwen's first week of staying, Remus had disappeared from the home, left her at dusk, guarded by protective enchantments, and had gone into the nearby forest to transform, where she had heard his distinctive howls all night, mixed in with the cries of foxes and birds of prey. She had not slept the night he had transformed, for fear he would harm himself. He had been so good to her, so kind to her, provided her with a roof over her head when she had nowhere else to go...

  He had returned the morning after the full moon with fresh scratches on his face. Gwen had refrained from asking how they had been caused. He refused to let her help tend to the wounds. He seemed rather embarrassed, which Gwen didn't understand. She had seen him transform once before, over a year ago, when he had almost attacked her and her friends. She didn't care he was a werewolf, he was one of the gentlest souls Gwen had ever met.

  Yet Remus was still ashamed, and Gwen could do nothing to alleviate that.

  Today, however, they would be joining a group known as the Order of the Phoenix, the group who had stood against Voldemort the first time he had been in power. Dumbledore had deemed it safest if Gwen went to join them, lived under their protection. This also meant that, in order to avoid wizarding detection, she had to travel via the Muggle means of transportation.

  So Gwen and Remus, Gwen clutching the purple beaded bag gifted to her by her sister, and Remus the trunk which had been charmed to fit both of their belongings, were taking the underground through London toward Islington, where twelve Grimmauld Place lie.

  The way Gwen had found out about twelve Grimmauld Place was rather strange; Remus had handed her a piece of parchment over breakfast, one that simply said:

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix can be found at number twelve Grimmauld Place, London.

Gwen had read it, confused, and handed it back to Remus, who had then set fire to the note and explained the Order of the Phoenix. He had explained the Fidelius Charm, which Gwen already knew, but felt it best not to mention; she was only aware of it because she had eavesdropped on a conversation with Professors McGongall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, in her third year.