Bookworm

9

They were gone for hours. Mira had gotten a right bollocking from Mrs Weasley for leaving, and was currently sat silently staring at the wall with a sour look on her face. That was, until Sirius entered the room with a small stack of cookies and offered her one.
"Thanks." She mumbled, taking one and nibbling on it. He sat beside her and placed the plate between them.
"Why did you defend him?" his voice held no bitterness or anger, just genuine curiosity.
"You'll have to trust me, Sirius. When the time comes to it, you'll want him on your side. You need to be more careful with how you're treating others."
"'Others' all think I'm a mad, raving mass-murdering lunatic. Forgive me if I don't treat them with the respect they so clearly deserve."
"They're not too far off the mark. You're just yet to murder people." Sirius ignored her quiet comment and the pair sat in a content silence for a few minutes.
"I remember one time," Sirius suddenly spoke up, a slight grin ghosting his lips. "Before I was kicked out, Regulus was my friend. We-He lured Kreacher into the kitchen and helped me throw flour all over him." He snorted. "The ruddy elf was furious-crying and calling us brats. Regulus felt kinda bad, but I hated the little bastard even then. Best prank of my life." His grey eyes were shining brightly as he relived the moment. Mira laughed slightly, if not from the vision it gave her but from the pure look of childish happiness on his face.
"Sirius?" Mira finally said in a small voice. "I need to tell you something."
He turned to look at her. This was it. This was the moment she told him her secret. Both him and Remus knew there was more to it than her being a seer. She took a deep breath.
"You need to-um. Choose your words carefully. No matter your mood. Just think of the implications-words can have large loopholes."
Was it too vague? Sirius was looking at her oddly, confusion plastered on his face. Mira sighed.
"Telling Kreacher to 'get out'. He can take that as get out of the house and leave." Realisation dawned on his face and he nodded his head.
"Oh. That's what earlier was about. Thanks for the warning?" he sent her another strange look before the door downstairs opened and Walburga Black's portrait began screaming at the top of it's lungs. Sirius shuddered slightly before standing to his feet.
"I always hated that woman too. Why she couldn't just die in peace is beyond me..." he mumbled before bidding her goodbye and rushing from the room. Mira decided it would probably be a good idea to turn up to this meeting and begrudgingly left the room, skimming past Fred and George on the stairs and catching the door just before it shut. She entered the room to a hushed conversation, opting to say nothing and taking a seat in the corner of the room. They had yet to notice her presence in the room.
"He'll ask questions. What are we meant to tell him?" Sirius was asking angrily.
"Nothing more than what he needs to know." Dumbledore replied calmly. Mira raised an eyebrow.
"Not a good idea. At all." She said in a loud voice.
"When did she get here?" she heard Tonks hiss after jumping and she just grinned at her.
"What do you mean, Miss Harfield?" Mira didn't reply, she just gestured around the table at the broomsticks. They were all handed to her and laid by the door in a neat bundle in a few seconds.
"I mean, Professor Dumbledore, that just giving a little information is what makes Harry desperate enough to put himself in all this danger." Dumbledore's eyes flashed with something, she wasn't sure what, but she held his gaze all the same. "Surely, you're not wanting Potter to be in danger?"
"Are you saying we tell him everything?"
"Well, you said what he needs to know." she argued back. The Order members had gone silent, their heads going back and forth between the two like they were at Wimbledon.
"Not yet."
"Albus, this has repercussions that you don't know of." She said in a low voice.
"Risks I am willing to take, Miss Harfield. I trust that you have a plan in place to...prevent these repercussions?" she scowled at him.
"I do, but I would prefer we don't need to use it in the first place-"
"Then I don't see the problem." Mira forced herself to take a few deep breaths, her fists clenching and nails digging into the palms of her hands.
"I see the problems! What's the point in you bringing me here if you're not going to at least consider what I'm saying?"
"There is a reason for everything, Mira."
"It's a bloody stupid reason!" she shot back. He didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"I'm with Albus." Elphias Doge finally spoke up. "The boy cant know everything-what if they get hold of him? He's a child, they'll get it out of him easily."
"Well I'm with Mira." None other than Alastor Moody spoke up, smacking his cane on the ground slightly. "She knows better than anyone-I daresay, even better than you, Albus." Mira was in shock alongside most of the table. This certainly was a turn of events. She got her wits about her when she noticed most of the table was staring at her and sent him a thankful nod.
"Dumbledore, if you tell him the bare minimum it gives him enough fuel to find out more on his own. You know of the connection he has with the Dark Lord-it'll be exploited sooner or later."
"So we tell him nothing." Mrs Weasley said. "Then He can find out nothing."
"You're not getting the point! Harry is desperate!" Sirius barked at her. "He has more of a right than anyone here to know what is going on!"
"He's already proven he can be trusted." McGonagall chimed. "Albus-I hate to go against you-but you of all people know how curious he tends to be."
"As soon as they find out what he knows he'll be a target."
"Oh come off it, Remus. He's already their biggest target!" Sirius spat. Mira leaned away from the table slightly, her gaze fixed on Dumbledore with a disapproving frown.
"Albus, if you wont listen to me then I'll just assume that you don't want my help?" The bickering around the table instantly hushed as people turned to look at her in shock and mild horror. "No good will come out of this. Your aim to protect him because you don't think he's ready-"
"That is enough." Dumbledore said loudly. Mira held his scalding glare as he stood from the table quickly. "No more than he needs to know. That is final."
"I'll pack my bags." They swept from the room at the same time.

Mira was pacing around her room when she heard a loud crash downstairs, followed by a cry of 'TONKS!' and hasty apologies, before it was drowned out by the screams of Walburga's portrait. Footsteps sounded outside her room and she could clearly hear Fred, George and Ginny sniggering. Probably at Harry. She could just imagine the look of shock on his face. Footsteps fading into the kitchen and a scream from downstairs told her that now was the opportune time to escape-whilst they were distracted with their food.
It wasn't rare for her to skip mealtimes-and she knew that everyone in the house was in the kitchen.
"Kreacher." she whispered. A small pop and he was stood before her, eyes bright in the darkness as he looked at her. "Do you have it?" she asked softly. He nodded and pulled it from his pocket. The chain gleamed in the dark, the locket itself having an eerie glow to it. Mira shuddered and carefully took it from his hand, ignoring the slight burning in her hand and shoving it to the bottom of her robe pocket. "Thank you, Kreacher. I'll sort it out."
"Does Miss promise?" he croaked quietly. Mira paused her pacing once more.
"Of course. There is another at Hogwarts I can easily get." He muttered something under his breath, something that Mira only just heard.
"Kreacher wants you here. Miss is the only one that is nice to Kreacher."
"You'll be okay, Kreacher." He bowed so low to the floor that his nose and the tops of his ears were scraping along it. She sent him one more smile before he was called away.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she found another door. A locked door. Curiosity overwhelmed her and she pulled her wand from her sleeve.
"Alohamora!" It clicked open, probably locked to keep the nosy children now in the house out. Quietly locking it behind her after a few tries, Mira ventured up the stairs into the attic. There wasn't much there, just a few boxes in the corner with Regulus written on them in a messy scrawl. Mira paused, glancing at the window before taking a slight detour and opening the top box. Dust rose in the air, burning her throat and stinging her eyes. She coughed slightly and looked back at the contents.
Baby clothes?
Regulus didn't have a child. These must be clothes from when he was a baby.
Baby toys.
They must be toys from his childhood that Walburga couldn't bring herself to throw away.
Baby photos.
She picked up the large album and smiled slightly at how happy Sirius looked at a young age. Regulus slowly aged before her eyes, and as soon as he got around thirteen Sirius was completely out of the pictures.
Must be when he was kicked out. Mira frowned and continued flicking through the photos. Regulus was getting older. There were a few of him with a girl, then in one there was him with a baby.
A child.
Mira frowned, about to pull one out to inspect further when she heard her name being called faintly from the very bottom of the house. Had she been breathing any louder, she would not have heard it. Cursing under her breath, the girl shoved the photo album in the large pocket of her robe and rushed back to the door.