Bookworm

3

At the end of the meeting, she had swiftly been pulled into the fireplace by Dumbledore. She recognised his office almost instantly and he swiftly walked around his desk, sitting in his chair gracefully and gesturing for her to use on of the many chairs before him. She obliged, wringing her hands and looking nervously around the room. Just at the end of this year, Harry would go on a rampage and destroy it. Sirius. Not if I have something to do with it.
She glanced back up at Dumbledore when he repeated her name for the third time.
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Fifteen, Sir." she replied softly. He smiled, blue eyes twinkling, before he waved his wand and the sorting hat fell into his hand. He offered it out to her. she eyed it warily before leaning back slightly.
"Um, Sir? I-I'm not a witch. I'm a muggle-"
"Say that all you want, but all three members that I sent to the scene agreed that you sent some sort of spell at Miss Tonks." He replied with amusement, offering the hat to her once more. Her eyes widened and she reproachfully took it, jamming it on her head. It slipped down over her eyes, and suddenly a voice began whispering in her ear.
"Ooh, yes. This is interesting. Very interesting. I haven't seen anyone like you before. I remember your father like I sorted him yesterday-very difficult choice, yes...just like you." The hat whispered. She refrained from looking up to find the source of the voice, instead staying perfectly still. The hat chuckled. "You certainly have much to do here, don't you? Yes...I'd say Ravenclaw...but with what you are faced with it had better be...GRYFFINDOR!" The hat was swiftly pulled from her head and placed back onto the shelf. She watched it with wide eyes before turning back to the headmaster as he chuckled slightly and smiled widely at her.
"Well, that seems to be in order. Lets get you back to Grimmauld Place-"
"Sir, with all due respect, you cant just kidnap me-I have a home, and a family to return to." His small smile faded as he glanced out of the window.
"That's the thing, Miss Harfield. Upon further inspection of your home, they found a further two bodies." Despite the calming draught, Mira felt herself tense up. No. She shook her head and leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees and burying her face in her hands as she sobbed. He was silent for a few moments, allowing her to grieve, before the fireplace casted a green light upon the room and someone stepped out.
"Albus, Molly and Arthur are asking if its okay they bring their kids to stay with us-rather than going back and forth." Sirius Black looked slightly agitated and avoided looking at the mourning girl. Dumbledore rose from his seat, nodding his head before casting a glance to the teenager.
"Take Miss Harfield with you, would you Sirius? She's had a hard time-and with nowhere to go besides staying in the castle alone-" Finally a sympathetic smile took over his features and he nodded his head, resting a hand on her shoulder gently. She rose without question, following him with a hanging head into the fireplace.
When they arrived back at Grimmauld, she was surprised to see hardly anyone was there. Only Molly, Arthur, Remus, Tonks and Sirius remained.
"He said yes." Only Remus, Tonks and Sirius remained. Sirius gently guided her to his table and sat her down, looking at the other two for help.
"Erm...are you hungry?" Remus asked. She shook her head.
"Do you...want to play a game?" She shook her head.
"Are you tired?" She wasn't. But she nodded her head, quickly standing to her feet and scampering from the room. She followed the path she had done before, coming to the same room. She could hear shouting in the kitchen downstairs and a loud crash before Walburga Black's portrait was set off screaming. Many sets of footsteps were hurriedly coming up the stairs, and in a moment of panic she threw the door open and stepped in, slamming it behind her and twisting the lock. The footsteps paused outside her room for a millisecond before setting off again. She breathed a sigh of relief and slowly made her way to the bed, curling up under the covers and releasing a shuddering breath. She wasn't tired, no, but her head was heavy with tears and her eyes ached. They slid shut and she fell into a fitful sleep.

Mira awoke early the next morning. So early that the sun was just beginning to rise. She watched it through the grimy window for a few seconds before turning away and surveying the room. Not much had changed, the bed was slightly messier from her tossing and turning. She looked down and realised that she was still wearing her school uniform from the day before. She couldn't leave the room wearing it again-it was torn and dirty and covered in dust. Thinking quickly, she walked to the wardrobe and prayed that something was in there that she could wear.
Not minutes later the room was a tip. The floor was no longer visible-clothes were scattered everywhere. Mira scowled. They were either elaborate, elegant dresses not suitable at all for breakfast or a large mans' pair of trousers and white shirt, along with a few huge pairs of robes that drowned her when she tried them on.
"Knock knock." she span on her heel and Tonks entered the room, a bundle of clothes sat in her arms. She grinned when she saw the mess.
"Sirius owes me 10 galleons. He didn't think you'd dare go near the wardrobe." She threw the bundle of clothes to her before whipping her wand out and raising it above her head. "Now, I've never really been that good at these household-y spells, so you might want to move out of the way."
Mira hardly had time to step aside before Tonks brought her wand down with a swish, grinning at her handiwork as the clothes stuffed themselves into the wardrobe haphazardly and the doors slammed shut and locked to hold them in. Mira couldn't help but smile.
"Either way, you weren't getting a change of clothes. So I've brought you some of mine-I didn't expect you to be awake-when you're done, Sirius and I are in the kitchen." Mira nodded, the door shut and she quickly stripped her shirt off, grabbing the one Tonks gave her and holding it up. It was just a simple, grey tank-top.
Before she had time to put it on there were two cracks behind her and she turned around with a shriek, pulling the shirt to cover as much of her body as she could.
"Oh Merlin! We are so sorry-"
"We didn't think you'd be awake at this hour-"
"We just wanted to see who was hidden in here-"
"Turn around!" she snapped. They quickly obliged, eyes wide, and she slipped the shirt on before folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. "You can go away now." Mira knew for a fact that her cheeks were flushed a flaming pink. One of the twins glanced over his shoulder before grinning and nudging the other. They both span around, and she was extremely lucky that her hair was somehow always neat, no matter what she did.
"I'm Fred." The first one announced.
"And I'm George." She narrowed her eyes.
"And how do I know you aren't lying?" she asked in a haughty voice.
"It's simple-" The one who introduced himself as Fred grinned wickedly.
"You don't." They said together. She rolled her eyes before scoffing and turning around once more.
"She really looks like she belongs in this house," she heard one of them whisper.
"Would you mind leaving? I kinda need to get changed?" She waved the jeans in the air and heard two obliging pops before pulling her school trousers off and sliding them on. They fit nicely, slightly loose around the waist but not to the point they'd be falling down. Gratefully, she grabbed the black robes and put them on before leaving the room once more. The robes were slightly inconvenient-yet comfortable. She entered the kitchen to see only Tonks and Sirius, sat in a deep conversation. They smiled at her as she entered the room.
"The Weasley twins are awake." Was all she told them before falling into a chair beside Tonks, ignoring the laughter at her expense. The woman eyed her slightly with a grin.
"Wotcher Mira. They fit." Mira nodded in thanks, accepting the slice of toast from Sirius.
"I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Sirius Black, owner of this delightful building."
"Mira Harfield, currently squatting in your...delightful building. Sorry." She winced awkwardly and shook his hand. He grinned, eyes bright.
"Ohh, I'm going to have some fun with you."
"Don't bully the poor child, Sirius." A tired Remus entered the kitchen, not even looking at them as he went straight to make a cup of tea.
"Yeah, Sirius, don't bully me." she smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at him. He snorted and stole the toast from her hand, taking a bite and leaning back in the chair.
"Remus is going to take you shopping for your school stuff-you remember the cover story, right?" At Mira's blank look Sirius groaned loudly.
"Merlin-we told you everything last night!" Mira flushed and tried to smile in what she hoped was a apologetic way.
"I kinda maybe...wasn't listening."
"You're worse than Prongs." Sirius muttered, shaking his head. Remus only glanced at him before sipping his tea loudly, drawing all attention in the room onto himself.
"You're going to Hogwarts under the pretence that you're my niece. People there know me-they should respect the story. You're under my protection." he paused, his honey-coloured eyes shifting to Sirius before flickering to Tonks for a fraction of a moment. They stood up and silently left the room before he continued. "My sister-she was a squib. Um, she died about ten years ago."
"Remus, I'm so sorry!" Mira gasped. The books had never mentioned that. JK Rowling had never mentioned that. He simply waved her off.
"It's fine-we weren't that close anyway. She didn't really like me because I had magic and she didn't." Kind of like Lily and Petunia, Mira noted silently. "Not many people knew of her-its the perfect cover story."
"What was her name?" Mira asked softly. Despite the man shrugging it off, the strain in his voice told her that he wasn't really over it.
"Catherine Lupin. She-um-had a husband. A muggle. Jamie, Jim for short-Moriarty I think his last name was. I'm not entirely sure- I never met the man. She didn't want me nor my father anywhere near him in the fear of scaring him off." Remus snorted in disgust and shook his head.
"I-I'm so sorry." She stuttered. He merely waved her off once more. They fell into silence.
"My mum was a muggle." she suddenly blurted. "Um-I never knew my real dad. Malcolm raised me-I count him as my dad." His eyes snapped to her as she fiddled with her fingers. "I guess he must have been a wizard-why else would the death eaters be looking for me?" She watched as they widened.
"They were looking for you specifically?" he asked, leaning forward. She cleared her throat slightly.
"Well, I'm guessing so." she shrugged her shoulders slightly. "They were asking each other where 'she' was, and I was the only one there. They could have been talking about my mum-but she's nothing at all to do with...this world." He said nothing, instead drinking the rest of his tea and standing up, towering over her.
"I'm just going to get ready, then we'll go. Yes?"
"Oh-but Remus! I don't have any money." she suddenly realised, eyes widening in alarm. He chuckled and waved her off.
"You're a Lupin now-to everyone else, anyway. I'll pay for your stuff." She felt awful-she knew of his financial situation from the books.
"No-I don't want-"
"It's fine, M, I got a rather hefty inheritance. And its not like I can go out and spend it." Sirius strolled back into the room, clapping Remus on the back as he left the room. Mira bit her lip, still unsure.
"And besides, I already combined the Lupin and Black vaults. Giving Bellatrix and Narcissa extremely limited access." He grinned proudly.