Analeigh did not know what to expect from staying at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Did she expect to be more updated on what was going on behind the scenes? Yes. Did she think she would at least get some information on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's whereabouts? Maybe. But did she imagine she would spend her summer cleaning a dusty, old house? Certainly not, but that's exactly what she found herself doing, along with Hermione and the Weasley siblings.

She had thought that after finding out that Snape was in the Order, they would be in for more surprises along the way, including some juicy information about what they do in their missions and the like. However, that proved to be useless, because the adults always held their meetings secretly and with the necessary protective charms and enchantments, leaving the teenagers with nothing interesting.

"I can't believe we're being forced to clean this place," Ron said irritatedly.

"We should at least be thankful that Sirius is offering his parents' home to all of us," Hermione tried, but even she looked grossed out as she wiped some grime off of a side table.

A crack sounded from behind Analeigh and she jumped, nearly knocking over what looked like a very expensive brass statue.

"Oops, sorry, Leigh," the Weasley twins chortled, having Apparated directly behind her. It had already been a week since she had moved into number twelve, Grimmauld Place, and she still wasn't used to the two of them appearing and disappearing out of nowhere whenever they got the chance.

"Too bad you guys can't use magic to clean, huh?" Fred teased.

"You're not allowed to, either," Ginny said to her older brothers. "Mum is so gonna throw a fit when she finds out how much you two have been using magic recently."

"What's the big deal? We get things done quicker," George shrugged.

"Yeah, we're even helping you," said Fred, waving his wand for emphasis. The dirty table Hermione was wiping shook a bit from the spell until it was squeaky clean.

"Just because you're both seventeen now doesn't mean you need to use magic for everything," Ron grumbled.

"Come on, Ickle Ronnie-kins, we know you'll do the same when you're —"

The sound of footsteps going up the staircase caused Fred and George to shut up. In an instant, they had grabbed the spare rags from whoever was nearest to them and positioned themselves as if they had been cleaning this whole time. Mrs. Weasley appeared by the stairs a second later, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Have you lot been doing your chores?" she asked them.

"Yes, mum," George said innocently, only making Mrs. Weasley narrow her eyes further.

"Alright, then. Girls, do you mind helping me clean downstairs? It's taking a bit longer than I thought, and I'll have to cook dinner soon."

"Sure, Mrs. Weasley," Analeigh and Hermione replied. The two of them, along with Ginny, followed the older woman down the stairs. Analeigh looked back in time to see Ron send the three girls a pleading look, not wanting to be left alone with his brothers.

Downstairs, Analeigh, Hermione, and Ginny were all assigned to different hallways to clean. Analeigh would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly creeped out — it was cold and dark, and she was almost expecting something to pop out and scare her. She pushed those thoughts away as she dusted off the portraits down the corridor. Some of them were enchanted and were clearly annoyed by her presence, but she chose to ignore them so that she could finish quicker.

She didn't know how long she was cleaning — maybe twenty minutes had passed when she had finished that hallway, coming to a stop by a door that was left slightly ajar at the end of it.

No, don't go in there, the logical side of her told her. For all she knew, there could be some dark creature lurking the shadows, ready to jump out and attack her.

But curiosity got the best of her. She carefully pushed open the door with her hand, letting out a creaking noise as it moved. The room was mostly empty — just a few chairs and tables here and there. What caught her eye, though, was the massive and intricate family tree spread across the four walls of the room.

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: Toujours pur, it read on the top of the tapestry. Although it looked old and faded, Analeigh was fascinated and couldn't help but enter the room and approach the walls.

She was intrigued by the fact that she could recognize a lot of the surnames. Weasley and Potter were scattered around, although considering the ideals of many purebloods, it wasn't that shocking that they were related in some way through the Blacks. She visibly cringed upon seeing the Malfoys on the side, though.

I wonder if Ron and Harry know they're distantly related to that git, Analeigh thought, already prepared to tease Ron later on about it. But the words died in her mouth when she saw names that were all too familiar to her, and yet she didn't expect to see them there.

Alphard and Altair — her grandfather and her father's names. Another strange thing she noticed was that where there should've been photos of their faces like the other individuals in the family tree had, Alphard's and Altair's were burned off. She noted that even Sirius's face on the tapestry had been burned the same way.

Was this some crazy coincidence that two members of the Black family held the same names as the men from Analeigh's family? However, there were too many signs indicating that what she was thinking of was correct. The name next to Alphard, indicating the person he married, read Radella Abott — her grandmother. Then, she observed the family crest alongside the motto she read earlier, and it even resembled the engraving on the necklace Altair gave her before the Third Task, the same one he made out to be a Portkey. She vaguely recalled him saying it was his father's, and that he didn't quite like the necklace despite it being an heirloom because it came from his blood purist family. She connected it to what Sirius Black said when she first arrived at the house: that his family was exactly like that — blood purists. Was the engraving on the necklace her father gave her perhaps the Black family's coat of arms?

There was no way this was just a coincidence.

"Analeigh?" someone's voice echoed down the hall. She jumped, suddenly panicking for she wasn't sure if she was even allowed inside the room. She didn't get the opportunity to try and leave before someone caught her when the door was pushed open wider, and Altair Heart himself stepped in.

"I — what are you doing here?" he asked, gulping when he knew what she had discovered.

"Mrs. Weasley asked me to clean the hallway and the door was left open, so..." Analeigh trailed off absentmindedly. "Is this you?"

Altair sighed, walking over to where his daughter stood as she pointed at his name on the tapestry.

"Yes," he answered, knowing that there was no way to avoid this.

"I don't understand..." Analeigh said in confusion. "I thought our last name was Heart."

Altair had to hold back a chuckle at how that was the first thing she pointed out.

"Well, it is — technically," Altair admitted. "It's your grandmother's middle name. I had it legally changed to that once the war ended."

"But why?"

"Analeigh, you already know about my past," he said with another sigh. "There were just too many issues linked to the Black family — dark wizards, Death Eaters, and not to mention the fact that everyone still thinks that Sirius Black is a mass murderer. After I helped Dumbledore and the Order years ago, I knew He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would not take it lightly if he ever found out that I wasn't really on their side, especially because I'm a Black — my family practically worshipped him. Even after his defeat, I was worried about what his followers would do."

"I was paranoid and didn't want them to find me since I had a family already," Altair went on. "You already know how I returned to France to you and your mother right after the war. Well, I had my surname changed before I left England, hoping that it would help prevent other Death Eaters from following me. It wasn't unlikely that it would happen — after all, many of them continued to wreak havoc even after You-Know-Who's death. An unfortunate number of Order members were killed even after the war was over.... luckily, we were safe in France. Now, I still stand by what I did. He's back, and there's no guarantee what lengths he'll go to in order to recruit his old followers and find new ones. This way, we could stay hidden."

"But why are your faces burned off here?"

"Your grandfather's was burned because he helped Sirius out during a particularly rough time in his life — but, that's a story for another time, and not mine to tell. They kept my picture because I agreed to be a Death Eater, but once I ran away after You-Know-Who's fall, they labeled me a coward and eventually burned mine off, too."

Analeigh took a moment to absorb all this new information. It was unexpected enough to learn about his former Death Eater status, and now there was this? If he had told her sooner, it wouldn't have been this surprising. After all, purebloods were always related to one another in some way... and yet, he kept this hidden for years.

"Are there any more secrets I should know about?" was all Analeigh said after her father's long explanation.

"Oh," said Altair, slightly caught off guard. "Er, that's it."

"Thank Merlin. You're not hiding a secret pet dragon somewhere, are you?"

Altair relaxed slightly, seeing that Analeigh didn't seem mad at him for keeping yet another secret from her. He was preparing for his daughter to lash out, which wouldn't have been an unreasonable reaction. He did keep all of this from her her entire life, always saying that his majority of his side of the family had died during the war.

"Not that I know of."

Analeigh cracked a small smile at her father who sighed once again.

"I know I should have told you sooner," he continued. "But your mother and I agreed that maybe it was safer for you not to know, especially now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back. It lessens the likelihood that they'll find us — our family."

"I do wish you had told me sooner," Analeigh agreed.

"We only did it to protect you —"

"I know. I just wish I knew earlier that I'm actually related to the Malfoys of all people."

★ ★ ★

It was the beginning of August, just a few weeks after Analeigh's dad finally explained their family history, when Cedric Diggory also moved into the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Thankfully, the boy didn't show up unannounced like he did before, but it was only because he had arrived with his parents on a tight schedule.

Analeigh found herself in Cedric's temporary room the day he arrived; there were a lot of spare bedrooms due to massive size of the Black residence. As usual, the adults were busy chatting downstairs, this time with Mr. and Mrs. Diggory in the mix.

"It actually took a while for them to convince dad," Cedric was saying. He was updating her on how it was actually Altair and Arthur Weasley who were tasked with explaining to his parents everything to do with the Order of the Phoenix, as well as the importance of having them move in to the headquarters for the time being. "Dad believes Harry, of course — about You-Know-Who. But I don't think he wanted to admit that it was as serious as we all know it is... he kept insisting that we were safe back home, and that he and mum didn't need to take part in some secret society like the Order."

"What finally convinced him, then?" asked Analeigh.

"Mum knocked some sense into him. She reminded him that the Order contributed a lot of good back in the day, so this was the right thing to do."

"Proof that women are always right."

"I won't argue on that. Thanks to her, you'll be seeing me everyday again," Cedric said cheekily.

"I saw you too much last year already."

Cedric stopped transferring his clothes to the drawer to face Analeigh. Feigning offense, he said, "Are you tired of me already?"

"Maybe. Now, I have to deal with you for an extra month. I should leave while I have the chance," Analeigh said dramatically, pretending to stand up.

All of a sudden, a rope had wrapped itself around Analeigh's wrists and attached it to one of the posts on the four-poster bed. With an accusing glare, she looked at Cedric, who was not even trying to hide his wand after he had cast that spell.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Just stopping you from escaping," he grinned, walking over to her. "You should be getting used to my face, not running away from it."

"And you think keeping me as a hostage is a good idea for that?" she rolled her eyes, pulling on the rope for emphasis.

"I'm just playing around," he teased, leaning closer to her for emphasis. Analeigh couldn't deny that it made her heart race. "I'll remove it."

"Hey, Cedric's here!" the door had swung open without so much as a knock, revealing a certain redhead twin. "Hey, Forge, look who's —"

He stopped short at the sight of Analeigh's wrist tied to the bed with Cedric leaning over her suggestively.

"Nice, someone else our age, right Gred? We should — oh."

The other half of the Weasley twins appeared next to his brother only a moment later, the two of them gaping at the scene. Analeigh blushed beet red when she realized how her position with Cedric must have looked like to them.

"It's not what it looks like," Cedric began.

"Oh, no need to tell us, Ced," Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "We'll give you and Leigh some privacy."

"But we weren't —"

"Don't forget to use a silencing charm!"

A/N: I honestly think I'm really bad at foreshadowing throughout the book so idk if Analeigh's family thing is surprising or too obvious :< I hope you all liked this chapter anyway.

Also, I just had to add that scene between Analeigh and Cedric towards the end LMAO I wanted something light and funny because the previous chapters have been a bit dark and boring since Voldemort's back :')