Blank Sheet

Knockturn Alley

"So, the Order of the Phoenix is a secret society, that was founded by Dumbledore? - Our headmaster Dumbledore? And it is working against Vol- You-Know-Who with this being its secret Headquarters?" Medea asked and the others at the table nodded confirming.

They sat at an old, wooden table, that must have been used for a long time now. The kitchen was, like the table, old and dark, even Molly Weasley had trouble to cook something serious in there.

The members of the Order, people of all ages and social ranks, had gathered around some plans that they had spread on the table. As soon as Medea and the other teens had entered, they had made sure to hide all evidence of what they had been doing.

"But, how are you working against You-Know-Who?" Medea asked, curious to find out more about the people and their actions against the Dark Lord. Some of them hunched their shoulders, Sirius Black was suddenly very interested in his drink and Tonks turned to help Mrs Weasley in the kitchen (where she smashed a plate right away).

Even though she had just gotten to know most of these people, she was sure that this was not the normal behaviour to a question like this, where they could pride themselves with their actions.

"Dinner is ready!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed from the oven right then and the tension was broken, leaving Medea with no exact knowledge. She sent her friends a look, but Ron just shook his head at her, making her understand she wouldn't find out anything else.

But she still tried. The rest of the holidays in the ancient house, she spent her time pumping Sirius Black for information. She had soon figured out he was the one most likely to tell her anything, and he was also one of the members who stayed at Headquarters consistently.

Even though he chuckled amused every time she asked him something about the Order, he didn't let anything slip, his lips were sealed as if he had put a spell on it.

Mrs Weasley, who stayed at Grimmauld Place too, pursed her lips when she saw Medea talk to Sirius and she had the feeling the older woman did not approve of her eagerness to find out what was going on in this oh-so-secret Order.

Instead, Ron's mum held them busy most of their time. The house, that had been in Sirius' family's property for ages, needed cleaning badly. They cleared out old cabinets, finding some seriously weird stuff, including a creepy music box that nearly knocked them all out with its tune, a spidery pair of tweezers that tried to puncture Harry's skin and a set of purple robes that tried to strangle Ron.

Soon after the beginning of the holidays, they were allowed to visit Mr Weasley in the hospital, but Medea always stayed back at Headquarters, the intimacy of the Weasley family always making her feel out of place.

After one of those days the Weasleys spent at the hospital, they came back excited and told Medea they had met Neville, he had visited his parents, who had been tortured to insanity by Death Eaters. They asked her not to tell anybody about it and she agreed right away.

A lot of the time the adults spent pondering over their plans, Medea strolled through Diagon Alley. She had seen the sweet shopping street before the school year the first time and immediately fell in love with the adorable tiny shops and the many different orientations.

"What do you think about that?" Ginny held up a book. The title said "How to pull pranks professionally" and there was a dung bomb depicted beneath.

"Uh, Fred and George would never read a book voluntarily. And they really don't need help to pull a prank like a pro," Medea answered her, and the younger redhead put the book back.

The two of them were shopping Christmas presents, Ginny with some money she had saved over the year and Medea with her savings as well as some money the orphanage gave her every year.