"Laurel!"

I ran to her and flung my arms around her, completely consumed by emotion. I didn't care that everyone was staring. I didn't care that I was showing weakness in front of them. I didn't care about anything other than Laurel, and the fact she was alive. The words were echoing in my head.

She's alive...

I couldn't quite believe it still, but I knew for sure now that it was true. She hugged me back, stroking my hair to calm the mess of emotions she could tell I was experiencing.

We stood like that for quite some time, until Remus decided to break the moment.

"You two know each other?"

"No, Remus. We've just decided to hug each other for ages even though we've never met before," I said sarcastically, cursing silently in my head as my emotions came through in my voice.

Laurel smiled at me, then we slowly let each other go. I just about managed to stop myself asking her any of the many questions that were flying around my mind — it would be better to ask later, when there weren't so many other people around.

"So, uhm..." Sirius started, a little awkwardly.

"Oh, right. Introductions and stuff." I sighed, and mumbled, "Never liked this bit."

"Do you know who anyone is already? Other than Laurel, obviously."

I nodded slightly, then listed off the people I knew, pointing to them in turn.

"Alastor Moody. Mundungus Fletcher. Mr and Mrs Weasley. Oh, and Sirius, obviously." I frowned slightly as I looked at the girl with the pink hair, then suddenly realised why I recognised her. "I'm not sure who you are, but you look a bit like my mother." I paused for a second, then added, "And like me, I guess."

I shifted a little awkwardly, and Laurel started gently stroking my hair again, knowing this was one of the best ways to keep me as relaxed as possible.

"Tonks," the girl with pink hair said. "Technically I'm your cousin, but since my mum's been disowned, I don't know if I am legally."

"Tonks," I mumbled, thinking of a conversation I'd overheard before between my mother and Narcissa, when they'd been talking about someone called Andromeda, and 'that filthy mudblood Tonks'. I hadn't been able to make head or tail of it at the time, but now I knew what they'd been talking about. Well, pretty much. I was a little curious about what Tonks' first name was, but thought it impolite to ask. "Well, hi, Tonks." I glanced at her hair, which I could've sworn was a much lighter pink when I'd first entered. "Are you a Metamorphmagus?"

She grinned, and her hair suddenly went Hufflepuff yellow. "Yup."

Before I could express how cool I thought this was, Mrs Weasley spoke up.

"I'm Molly, and this is Arthur." She hesitated for a second, then said, "And we're sorry about what happened at the station."

"Don't worry about it," I mumbled. "Natural response."

Another awkward silence, then Mr Weasley said, "Well, we'd best be off."

There was a chorus of goodbyes, some hugs were exchanged, and then Mr and Mrs Weasley left.

Once the front door had closed, Remus introduced the other Order members: Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, Thana Hamlyn, Omnis Shalfey, and Hestia Jones.

"There are a few others as well — Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill and Charlie Weasley, Elphias Doge, and Aberforth Dumbledore," he explained. "Oh, and Severus," he added, in a resigned tone.

"Snape?" I asked, unable to keep the disgust out of my voice.

"Dumbledore's orders."

"Brilliant," I mumbled sarcastically, leaning into Laurel a little as she continued to stroke my hair. "Just brilliant."

Emmeline, Sturgis, Mundungus, Omnis, and Hestia all left a few minutes later, most of them with promises to come back the next day for a meeting. Immediately feeling more relaxed now that there were less people, I allowed Laurel to lead me out of the room, and into one with comfortable-looking sofas and armchairs, a couple of small tables, a piano, and a few cabinets and bookshelves. She gently pushed me onto one of the sofas, before sitting down next to me. I leant my head on her shoulder, trying to make sense of how I was feeling.

"So, how do you two know each other?"

It was only now that I realised the Order members who were still here — Moody, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, and Thana — had followed us into the room, and were now settling themselves on various sofas and armchairs. Well, except for Sirius, who had decided that one of the tables made a much better seat than any of the actual seats.

I glanced at Laurel, silently asking her to answer this question. I wasn't sure how much of her past she'd told the Order about, so I didn't want to accidentally say something she didn't want them knowing. She nodded slightly in reply.

"When I was a — you know — one of his, I would spend most of my holidays with them." Despite the fact she was more or less speaking in code, I could tell everyone knew exactly what she meant. "I was just wandering around one day, when I found Iv in the kitchen."

I thought back to that day, remembering how terrified I was that I'd been caught trying to get myself some food, and how my fear had turned to amazement when Laurel had cooked me some sausages with her wand, then helped me get back to my 'room' without anyone noticing me.

"After that, I'd bring her food, potions, books, and anything else she needed as often as I was able."

"And you saved my life a couple of times," I reminded her quietly.

"Oh yeah, that too."

I frowned slightly, trying to work something out, before slowly asking, "How did you... uh... not die?"

"When I left?"

I nodded.

"I went to Dumbledore, and told him everything that could be of use to him," she explained. "In return, he let me join the Order, and hide out here."

I couldn't get my head around it. I could vividly remember seeing my father kill her... and yet, he couldn't have done, because she was here, alive and well. Then, the reason for these major inconsistencies came to me in a flash.

"Damn him," I hissed under my breath, which earned me some strange looks from everyone.

"Who, Dumbledore?"

"No, my father," I said, practically spitting out the last word. "Messing around with my memories." For that was what had happened, I just knew it. There was no other possible explanation for it. He must have removed part of my last memory with Laurel — or possibly more than just the last one — and planted a false memory of her being killed in its place.

A horrible thought suddenly drifted into my mind — were there any more memories that he'd created, modified, or removed? Could I trust anything I remembered? He'd either removed or modified all of my memories of my sister, and created one of Laurel being killed, so who knows what else he might have done. Feeling a little overwhelmed now, I curled myself up into a ball and leant into Laurel, who gently hugged me to her.

"It's alright," she said softly, "you're safe here."

And with those five words, I finally allowed the tears to flow — tears of joy, of sadness, of anger, and of fear. She hugged me closer, stroking my hair with her free hand.

"You're safe."