After about three more days, I was allowed out of the hospital. Remus and Sirius had stayed with me for the majority of that time, only leaving at night so they could sleep (and even that had taken quite a lot of convincing for Remus). During that time, they'd told me a bit more about the secret organisation they were part of — the Order of the Phoenix — and, in turn, I'd told them a bit about what I either suspected or knew that my father and the Death Eaters were up to.

It was just as we left St Mungo's, through the doorway hidden in a disused Muggle building, that I was struck by a sudden thought.

Where am I going to stay?

As if reading my mind, Remus said, "You can have a room in Headquarters, if you like."

I twitched slightly, thinking of my 'room' back at the Manor, but nodded nonetheless. After all, any room was preferable to living on the streets, just as long as there weren't any Death Eaters there... right?

I followed Remus and Sirius a little further down the street, and into an alleyway.

"You'll have to do side-along apparition to get there the first time," Sirius said. "And we'll have to get the bit of parchment with the location on."

"Actually, I have it here." Remus pulled a small square of parchment from his pocket and passed it to me. "That's Dumbledore's handwriting," he explained. "He's the Secret-Keeper of the location of Headquarters, so if you read that, you'll be able to see it when we get there."

I looked down at it, and silently read the words written in Dumbledore's curly writing:

'The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number Twenty-Five, Timor Lane.'

I handed it back to Remus when I was done, repeating the sentence over and over in my mind. The address felt somewhat familiar to me, as if I'd heard someone speaking it before. But I couldn't have, surely? If Dumbledore was the Secret-Keeper, there was no way anyone else could speak it — so therefore no reason for me to recognise it.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by someone tapping me lightly on the shoulder, causing me to tense up, though I soon relaxed again when I realised that it had only been Sirius.

"Yeah?"

"We should probably apparate, in case any Death Eaters are nearby," he said, holding out his arm.

"Oh, right."

I held onto his outstretched arm, and almost immediately felt the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tight tube as he apparated both of us to the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters.

After a few seconds of this uncomfortable feeling, we were stood in front of a small, red brick cottage. It had burgundy dahlias in the small front garden, and crimson roses growing up the walls and around the light blue window frames. The front door, which was painted the same colour, bore a brass plate engraved with the number twenty-five. Although it looked very nice, it hardly seemed big enough to house a small family, let alone a secret organisation. Nevertheless, I followed Remus and Sirius up the pathway, and into the building.

As soon as we entered, it became apparent that the inside of the house had an Undetectable Extension Charm of some sort on it. A long hallway stretched out in front of us, with doors leading off on either side. To our right were two staircases — one leading up, and one leading down. The whole place was light and airy, and, for a few moments, I felt an unfamiliar peace wash over me. It was soon disrupted, however, by the sound of voices coming from one of the nearby rooms, which caused doubt to start to fill my mind.

"Remus?"

He and Sirius both stopped, turning to look at me.

"Yes?"

"H-how many people are here right now?" I asked, a note of unease in my voice.

"I'm not sure," he said. "Why? What's wrong?"

I shrugged slightly, looking down at the floor. How was I meant to say it? 'It's not that I don't trust you, but I'm the daughter of the Dark Lord and Bellatrix Lestrange, and you think it's a good idea for me to be in a building full of people who've had friends and family killed — or worse — by them and the rest of the Death Eaters'?

Eventually, I decided on mumbling, "It's just... my parents..."

"Ivory, you're not your parents," Sirius said firmly.

"And we've made it completely clear to the others that you are your own person, and not to be blamed for the things your parents have done," Remus added.

"But I look so much like them..." I said quietly, still not looking up. "Especially — especially her..."

Sirius gently tilted my chin upwards, a softness in his eyes that I couldn't recall ever seeing before.

"You know, I was a lot like you at your age," he said. "I looked a lot like my parents — mostly my father — and I hated it. I hated that I looked so much like the family who considered me a disappointment for having different beliefs to them, and who hurt me when I defied them."

I blinked a couple of times when he said the last part. I wasn't shocked, exactly — it was, after all, fairly common for blood-purist families to punish their kids if they went against their beliefs — but I was a little surprised at just how casually he'd said it.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is that there are things you can do to stop yourself looking so much like them, if that would make you feel more comfortable," he said. "You could cut your hair short, or dye it, or use a potion to tame it. You could wear contact lenses to change the colour of your eyes. You could use a spell to give yourself some freckles. But whatever you do or don't do to change your appearance, remember this: it's your actions that define you, not your parents'. You are your own person, with your own path, and your own choices to make. Trust me when I say there are people who understand that."

I nodded, but I was still more than a little sceptical. Apparently sensing this, Remus said, "Shall we find you a room before you meet any of them?"

I nodded again, then followed both of them to the stairs. I'd been expecting to go down, into what I could only assume was a cellar of some sort, but instead, they both went up. I went up the stairs after them, a little confused. Maybe we were going to the attic, rather than down to the cellar? I listened to their quiet conversation as we climbed one set of stairs, then another.

"We can't give her the third one, Tonks uses that. What about the sixth?"

"I thought Bill claimed that one when he was here last?"

"Oh yeah, I think he did. Is anyone using the one opposite that?"

"That's the one with the leak that has no obvious source. How about the one next to Thana's room? I don't think anyone's using that."

"Yeah, that one's definitely free."

I frowned, trying to make sense of what they were saying. Were these other Order members they were talking about? Why were they making them stay in cells? Unless — unless they weren't cells, but actual bedrooms, like my friends had described to me before. They'd said they were sort of like the dorms at Hogwarts, only they could be decorated in any number of ways, and they usually only had one or two beds. Was this where Sirius and Remus were taking me? Were they going to give me a proper bedroom?

I got a little excited at this, although I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up. After all, it was only a very small chance that they were talking about bedrooms, and getting too excited would only lead to disappointment if that chance wasn't realised. And even if it was realised, I was sure that it would still be quite small and plain; probably just a bed, and maybe somewhere to put my belongings. Not that I really needed either of those things, of course, as I had the purse.

But even if they're not talking about bedrooms, I ought to be grateful, I reminded myself. They saved me from Malfoy Manor, and now they're letting me stay in possibly the only place the Death Eaters can't get to me.

"Well, here you go," Remus said eventually. "This is your room from now on."

I looked at him and Sirius, who were both smiling slightly at me, then at the door we'd stopped by. It was then that I knew without doubt — whatever was on the other side, I'd be grateful for it.

***
A/N: Honestly, I really don't like this chapter. It was such a pain to write, and I feel like it slowed down the story a little too much, but there is no way in hell I'm rewriting it since I've been trying to write it for almost a month now 😂

Also, Fear of the Thing Itself now has over 1k reads!!! Thank you so much!!! I'm glad people seem to be enjoying it 😊🖤

~Charlie 🖤