Bookworm

8

That had instantly shut Kreacher up. He looked at her through watery eyes.
"D-destroy it? It is impossible, Kreacher knows-Kreacher tried."
"Not everything." She crouched in front of him, eyes boring into his won. "It needs to be destroyed beyond magical repair."
"No magic can bring back the dead. The-killing curse should have worked." he responded dryly. Mira shook her head, walking around the kitchen and sitting down.
"No, the killing curse kills. But the body-" she felt sick saying this. "The body isn't damaged. It only kills what is inside-"
"So we need to destroy the object itself? Not what is inside it?"
"Um...sort of? The object and the...fragment. They're the same thing? The object is possessed by it, in a way." Kreacher nodded, gulping slightly.
"I shall get it for Mistress." He croaked. They both fell into silence as the door opened and Sirius entered, looking suspiciously between the two for a moment before turning to Mira.
"I didn't know you were up."
"I didn't get back to sleep." Sirius stared at her for a moment before sitting heavily in the chair and pulling the cup of tea Kreacher pushed at him closer, wrapping his hands around the mug.
"That was some nightmare." He finally said. Mira snorted, thinking back on it.
"You're telling me." Daddy's here, Mira. Her father was there. Was it a dream? Or a memory?
Sirius watched as a dark look fell across her face and she was silent once more. The door suddenly burst open and the twins fell through it, bright grins on their faces.
"Black!" Fred called.
"Hide us!" George pleaded, ducking behind the man. Ron came sprinting in several moments later and Mira couldn't help but laugh. He had a sprinkle of powder remaining on his face, but whatever would have been in his hair had turned a vibrant pink. Even his eyebrows and eyelashes had been changed. Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Ron was fuming.
"Get rid of it!" He demanded angrily.
"It's your own fault for messing with our stuff!" Fred defended. Ron turned to glare at Mira before snatching her wand away from her and pointing it at them.
"Now!" he growled.
"Hey!" Mira snatched it back from him, glaring at him before flicking her wrist lazily. Fred only took one look at him before collapsing into a fit of laughter, George soon following. Sirius had tears streaming down his face at the sight of his pink hair-stood on its end and flowing around his head as if he was underwater. The sound seemed to attract other occupants of the building, as people began slowly filing into the kitchen and laughing at the poor Weasley boy. Hermione at least tried to hide her smile.
Eventually they could hear Mrs Weasley coming down and Tonks hastily waved her wand to return it back to normal-except, it didn't really work. Mira's charm was gone, but his head was still pink. His face was a few shades darker than it. Mira took pity on him and charmed it back to ginger just as the door opened.
"This racket? At this time! Really?" she cried. Mira grinned before Kreacher crept past her and made a beeline for her.
"I have it in my possession, Mistress." He told her in a croaky voice, eyes fixed on her.
"What? What are you saying, house-elf?" Sirius asked loudly. Kreacher's face instantly crumpled with dislike as he turned to the Black master.
"Sirius! Leave him alone!" Mira demanded. Kreacher wasn't a bad elf. He just needed to be shown kindness-he was extremely loyal to the Black family.
"You sound like Regulus." Sirius muttered angrily, not looking away from her as his hand reached for a bottle of firewhisky. "And that's not a good thing."
"Master Regulus was a better person than you'll ever be!" Kreacher cried angrily. Mira laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, one that he flinched and shrunk away from as Sirius rose from his chair.
"OUT!" he roared. "GET OUT!"
"Of course, Master." Mira snapped her head to look at him, her eyes wide.
"Kreacher, don't." she snapped. He paused and turned to look at her in confusion. Everyone in the room was looking between the three. "Just leave him alone, Sirius."
"Why should I? Have you heard what he's been saying to everyone? He's vile!"
"Well maybe if he'd had some better examples he wouldn't be! Just try to be kind to him-"
"Like that's going to happen." Sirius scoffed. Mira gripped at her hair in frustration.
If Sirius showed him even a little respect, Kreacher wouldn't lie to Harry. Harry wouldn't want to go to the Ministry-Sirius would survive. They all would.
"Mira just leave it. It's not gonna happen-they both treat each other equally as bad." Mira glared over at Remus as he tried to reason with the girl before standing up and pushing her plate away from her just as Molly moved to put some bacon on it.
"I'm not hungry." she growled out before turning and stalking from the room.
She knew she seemed pathetic in their eyes. She knew that they were confused. Kreacher had been just as rude to her as everyone else had been-maybe they would think she had joined SPEW. Mira snorted before walking to the wardrobe and throwing it open, grabbing her bag.
She had been allowed to return to her home with a few members of the Order on watch to retrieve a few things of her own. She had grabbed some of her own clothes and pyjamas-past the point of caring that they stood out from the clashes of popular fashion from the two eras. Her phone was nowhere to be found, none of the technology had survived the quake. She had managed to grab a few photos, of both her family and friends, along with some souvenirs and all the money in the house, but that was about it.
Besides the most important things she could get. The Harry Potter books were sat at the bottom of her wardrobe, hidden by a large pile of blankets. It would not be good if someone found them. She paused before grabbing her coat and some money and silently leaving the room.
No one noticed as she slipped from the house, softly clicking the door shut behind her, before setting off down the street. She had no clue where she was going, nor any idea of what she was planning to do, but she went anyway. She hadn't left the house for ages to just relax and it beginning to get suffocating. Despite hating leaving her room, she didn't mind going for lonesome walks to clear her head.
And besides, her wand was up her sleeve. As long as she could defend herself, she would be fine.
After a few random turns, she saw a sort of shopping district beginning to form. After buying an ice cream, she sat on a high wall and ate it slowly, watching passers by. No one spared her a second glance as they bustled about with their shopping. A few ice creams later, she jumped from the wall and dusted herself down before proceeding to walk once more.
The sun beat down on the back of her neck as she walked in silence, longing for her little home in the heart of Yorkshire where trees actually existed. Her stomach was growling in hunger, not satisfied by the ice creams she'd consumed.
Which led to her outside a café, looking out of the window as she ate her bacon sandwich and sipped at her cup of tea. She watched silently as Arthur strolled past, a large black dog bounding at his heels as his eyes scanned up and down the road frantically. With a sharp breath she lowered her head and pulled her hood up, trying to act casual.
Upon leaving, she knew it wasn't a good idea. But its all she could think to do besides hexing someone. In hindsight, she should have realised the amount of trouble she would be in for doing it.
"Mira." she didn't look up, despite the relief in Arthur's voice. The dog jumped up on her, tail wagging frantically as he whined and licked her face and rubbed himself all over her before stealing the remnants of her sandwich and jumping back down. "Where the hell did you go?"
"For ice cream." she shrugged, drinking the rest of her tea and standing up. "I suppose you're wanting to go back?" Arthur pursed his lips, stepping slightly close to her as they began walking back down the street.
"Molly isn't impressed-and I don't think Remus was too happy either. Sirius was all too happy to leave the house and look for you; but of course he couldn't go on his own. It was a risk even letting him come with me." Sirius in the form of Snuffles made a small yelp of agreement as he walked on her other side, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he sniffed at everything they walked past. People really had begun to stare-a large black scruffy dog that looked like a stray running in circles around a ginger, balding man with an awful fashion sense (He was wearing a flowery shirt one would see an old man wearing on holiday in Hawaii, some oversized blue jeans and large, brown shoes) and a girl that looked nothing like they had seen before following along behind. Mira cursed her decision to wear her skinny jeans and pulled her hood further down her face. The fashion just made her stand out even more.
"I just had to get out of the house." she told him quietly.
"We understand, just don't do it again." the man replied as they paused outside 12 Grimmauld Place. "These are dangerous times. It's not safe, especially for you."
"But-none of the death eaters know me. No one knows I exist!" Mira protested as he opened the gate for her and Sirius bounded ahead. She pushed the front door open for him, watching as he transformed back and turned to her with a stern look on his face.
"Do you really think they wouldn't question two of their friends being killed after going after a random kid?" he asked in a low voice. "Snivellious reported back-they're trying to find out who you are and where you've gone." Mira paused her snarky comeback, staring straight back at him.
"What? Did I miss this meeting or something?" she asked. Arthur had come in after them and pushed the door shut with his foot.
"It was today. We didn't realise you were gone until we tried to get you to come out of your room-" He was cut off as the door to their left was thrown open and a worried Remus flew out, forehead creased. Relief flooded his face when he saw her, but it quickly morphed into anger. Mrs Weasley was close behind him, her face a bright shade of red as she puffed herself up to reprimand the girl.
Fred and George slipped out of the room behind her, sending grins in Mira's direction.
"Best be getting out of here Freddie-"
"Before she starts again-"
"Wouldn't want to be you right now, Mira!"
"Although it is nice hearing her going at someone else for once-"
"Like music to my ears, Freddie." They high-fived each other and sprinted off. Mira scowled after them as Sirius put a hand on her back and led her into the kitchen, where most of the Order was still sat.
"We need updates, kid." Moody growled from his place at the head of the table. "How's it going to go tonight?"
"Fine. Without a hitch." Mira responded instantly. She knew they were going to ask her this at some point and had read up on the whole chapter, memorising every detail. "Although, Tonks if you could watch out for Petunia's plate, it would save Potter a massive heart attack." The heart-faced witch grinned cheekily at her, sticking her tongue out. Mira could only grin back, letting her mind wander from the matter at hand as she began to think of a way to embarrass the young woman.
"OI!" A hand slammed on the table before her. Mira could have swore she almost crapped her pants and glared at the owner of the gnarly hand.
"I already told you it goes fine." she snapped. Moody curled his lip but backed away slightly none the less, turning to the room at large and nodding his head.
"We'd best get going-advanced guard, you're with me. Rear guard, you go East with Weasley." Mira nodded encouragingly at them before everyone filed from the room. Remus bent his head between hers and Sirius.
"We'll be having words later." He said in a low voice. Sirius turned his head away to stifle his grin.