Shifted: Book Two

Chapter One - 12 Grimmauld Place

It was nearing the end of summer, with just a few days left before the start of a new year at Hogwarts. The aqua car, packed with the Weasley's, Hermione, and Hazel herself, parked just outside a, somewhat familiar, block of houses in London. They stepped out the car and looked up to the bricked buildings, studying their surroundings.

"Where are we?", Hazel asked, oblivious to her whereabouts.

"12 Grimmauld Place", Hermione answered, as they all watched another building separate houses eleven and thirteen.

Sandwiched inbetween was a duplicate of the houses beside it, only this one was darker, and certainly hidden. Hazel's eyes began to glow, she realised where she was.

"Wait, this is headquarters for the Order?", Hazel asked in astonishment.

She watched Molly and Arthur walk in, followed by Ginny and Ron.

"Oh, finally caught on have you?", Fred chuckled, shoving Hazel playfully.

Hazel rolled her eyes and laughed back, pushing his arm and jokingly hitting George on the shoulder as he chuckled too. The twins hurried in, escaping the cold air that surrounded the ghostly street.

"They can't wait to meet you, Hazel, they've heard so much about you!", Hermione said before patting Hazel's back and walking inside.

Hazel's face grew from awe to confusion. Her eyes squinted at the debris and ashy painted bricks, the curtain-drawn windows, keeping all the secrets held in the house concealed, the noir door that was slowly closing as Hermione walked in.

"Who?", Hazel asked herself, rushing to the door before she could get locked out.

She placed her hand against the cold door before it slammed her out, Hazel pushed it open and was greeted by the dusty oak walls. The door creaked and squeaked as it shut behind her, stopping anything else from entering the secret house. Hazel ran her cold fingertips against the wooden planks that held the walls in place; her eyes studied the portraits hung beside her. She looked down to the carpet her tired feet were stood on; it was a greyish checkered pattern that trailed all the way down the hallway to the room ahead of her, where the distant chatter was coming from. She slowly followed the carpet.

She took a few steps forward and was in sight of the room that seemed to hold more than just the Weasley's. With curiosity, she slowly walked towards the room as what was inside became clearer and clearer. From afar, she could see a long, wooden table in the middle of the room, though she couldn't quite see who's faces were there. She carried on making her way to the room before stopping in her tracks just a few steps away from the door. She was met with so many familiar faces, yet she couldn't quite remember the names of them; their identities were on the tip of her tongue.

"Hazel Jones", a man spoke greatly.

Hazel walked into the room, with everyone's attention solely on her presence. In front of her, sat at the brown table, was a man with fair skin (and a hint of rose that tinted his complexion), he had very dark and wavy locks that sat on his shoulders; those were furnished in a deep violet, suede coat that kept his body warm. He had a small, chevron moustache that was neatly trimmed and complimented the dark soul patch just below his smiling lips. His grey eyes locked with Hazel's, as words spoke from his mouth.

"Hello, Hazel. It's about time we met", he said.

"You're...-", Hazel began to speak, before her mind went blank. She knew this man, but she just couldn't remember his name.

The man chuckled lightly, looking down at his inked, bony hands that lied upon the table, then back up at Hazel's frozen body.

"You may be the only one who's not aware of my name", he said with a sarcastic tone in his voice, as the familiar faces around him lightly giggled.

Hazel fiddled with her thumbs and bit the inside of her bottom lip timidly before being awoken by his voice, once again.

"Sirius. Sirius Black", he said with confidence.

Hazel's eyes lit up to the name; she finally remembered him. Her pupils expanded and her cheeks grew ever so slightly fuller as her shoulders dropped, her body relaxed.

"Sirius!", Hazel said with joy and relief.

"I recognise you, I know-", Hazel said quickly, trying to apologise for not knowing his name, but was cut off by his reassuring voice.

"It's alright, Hazel. I've been told you tend to be familiarised with your surroundings, yet you're still uncertain with who is who, or what is what", he chuckled, raising his cup and taking a sip of his drink.

He then placed it down and introduced everyone else.

"This is Remus Lupin", Sirius spoke softly, patting his hand on Remus' shoulder and pointing to him.

Remus was dressed in an off-blue and greyish jumper, concealing a loose shirt and tie underneath. He had short, brown hair and a brown moustache to match that sat just underneath his nose. Remus' eyes were a shade of blue and grey; as though they were the morning sky on a warm spring that had suddenly been touched by the storm clouds. He smiled and nodded his head to Hazel, who returned the warm grin.

"And this is-", Sirius continued, before the woman, which his hands were pointed to, stood out of her seat and took Hazel in for a warm embrace.

"I'm Tonks", she said with a smile, cupping her face in her warm hands.

"You're even more beautiful than Harry described!", she blurted out, taking her hands away and sitting back down to take a sip of her drink.

Hazel blushed before actually realising what Tonks said; Harry told them! How did they get a hold of Harry?

"Harry? Is he here? Where is he? How did you speak to him?", Hazel questioned with curiosity.

"Harry isn't here, but he's alright, Hazel", Remus said, calming Hazel and pointing her to sit in front of him.

"I haven't seen Harry in a while, not in person. I spoke with him through the fire pit in your common room during the tournament, that's how I heard of you, Hazel", Sirius admitted, raising his glass.

Hazel felt reassured, but she hadn't heard from Harry, she was worried.

"Will he be coming here? I haven't heard from him and I've been writing letters-", Hazel continued to speak, tapping the table lightly but quickly, and her leg bounced underneath.

"Professor Dumbledore has told us to not tell Harry anything, and we've made that a promise", Remus spoke softly as Hazel's eyes grew in worry.

She glanced over to Ron and Hermione.

"What happened to my letters then?", she spoke, her voice cracking with a slight sense of nervousness.

"We couldn't tell you too much, not until you got here first", Ron admitted, his grin turning into a disappointed one.

"We've kept your letters, we're sorry Hazel, we needed you to see this place before we could explain everything", Hermione finished, her eyes grew in honesty.

Hazel's attention was drawn back to Sirius.

"I know this is a lot, Hazel. Everything will be explained tomorrow, but right now, you need to rest", he advised.