I wasn't broken.

The feeling of pure elation I'd felt when Thana had first explained how this sort of thing was normal for people who'd gone through traumatic experiences like I had... there were very few instances I could remember where I'd felt anywhere near that much joy. It even had a name — post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I'll find you some books on it, yeah?"

I nodded, allowing a smile to finally appear on my face.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem."

There was silence for a few minutes as I fully processed all that she'd just told me. Then, in an effort to continue the conversation, I said, "I like your picture."

She gave me a slightly confused look, and I indicated to the beautiful drawing of a river she had that wound around her neck and down onto her chest. Like most art in our world, it was moving — the river really flowing, and the tall grass on either side swaying in a nonexistent wind.

"Oh, my tattoo," she said, a laugh in her voice. "Thanks!"

"What's a tattoo?" I had vaguely heard of the things before, but couldn't quite remember exactly what they were.

"They're like a drawing on your body, but with permanent ink," she explained, her eyes suddenly lighting up. "They can be pretty much anything, especially with the use of magic — look, I've got another one here." She pulled her right sleeve up a little to reveal a beautiful blue and bronze butterfly that was flying around the lower part of her arm.

"It's amazing," I said quietly, looking at the tiny details on its wings in awe. "How did you get it?"

"I did it myself." She looked proudly down at the butterfly as it came to rest on the back of her hand. "I'm a tattoo artist, you see — well, when I'm not busy with missions and meetings and all that stuff. I like to draw and paint as well, but there's just something so beautiful about the creation of tattoos that neither of them can come close to."

She pulled her sleeve down again, and a sudden thought came to me.

"How would I get one?"

"You want a tattoo?" she asked, sounding a little confused. "I know they're pretty, Ivy, but they hurt like hell sometimes... plus, you'd usually need to be seventeen to get one."

"Oh. Right." Despite the fact I had tried to hide it, my disappointment was clearly heard in my voice.

A mischievous smile suddenly spread across her face. "Well — only if you were to get it done professionally. If you really wanted one, I could do it for you..."

"Really?"

"Sure! D'you know what design you want, and if so, d'you want me to do it now?"

I nodded yes to both questions, already visualising the tattoo in my mind — a fairly simple picture, with what I assumed would be a fairly simple piece of magic, but a usefulness to it that I was sure would prove invaluable, especially if my experiences at the end of third-year were anything to go by.

"Awesome! I'll go get my pens!"

***

My first ever Order meeting started later that day, at exactly 10 am, in the meeting room at Headquarters. I sat at the table between Remus and Laurel, uncomfortably aware of the stares I was getting from most of the other people in attendance.

"Alright, everyone listen up," Moody said eventually, when most of the seats were filled. "Ivory Riddle's joining the Order today, as Dumbledore's certain that she's trustworthy." He nodded his head in my general direction. "She's going to tell us what she knows of Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and their plans."

Most of the others flinched when he said my father's name, but, although I'd tried to stop it, my flinch was by far the worst — something I could tell wasn't missed by anyone.

"Uh — hi," I started awkwardly, not used to having so many adults listening to what I had to say. "Um — so I've been slacking a little on the whole 'eavesdropping on the Death Eater meetings without them realising' thing recently, since I was at Hogwarts and stuff — uh — m-most of the time... but over the Christmas holidays, when I was back at the Manor for... reasons that I would rather not go into..." my voice trailed off, and I glanced at Remus, who was looking a little guilty, "uh — well, there seems to be a plan to try and get my father back to full strength that involves Harry Potter, and — uh — I think they said something about a graveyard?"

There was immediately a wave of people all trying to talk at once, their voices fighting to be heard over the others'. Then — bang! — Moody hit his hand on the table, making me flinch badly, and effectively getting everyone else's attention once more.

"Alright, one at a time," he said, his normal eye flicking round the table, whilst his magical eye stayed unwaveringly fixed on me. "Remus, you first."

"I suppose we always knew this was going to happen," Remus said resignedly, before looking at me. "But before we make any plans, do you know anything else about it, Ivory?"

I made an odd face, catching Thana's eye from across the table and making her smile slightly.

"Not exactly, but I can guess at a few things."

Everyone's eyes were now back on me.

"Based on — uh — past experiences," I continued, "I can guess he'll use some sort of potion of his own devising. When he first got his body back, he used a rather unpleasant combination of one of my grandfather's bones, a Death Eater's hand, and — uh — some of my blood." I neglected to mention the fact Adrienne had also had her blood added to the potion, not wanting to expose that particular vulnerability to these people I had only met once before.

Laurel placed a calming hand on my leg, and I gave her a thankful look, before continuing again.

"Uh — based on that, I'd assume that he'll do the same for his strengthening potion, just with Harry's blood. Not only would it bring him back to his full power, but also, whatever protection Harry had in first-year would be overcome."

"What protection?" Hestia asked, her curiosity overcoming her clear reluctance to talk to the daughter of the Dark Lord and Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Oh, some sort of protection from Lily Potter that stopped my father being able to touch him, even whilst possessing Quirrell," I explained. "Something to do with a promise and Lily's love for Harry, or something like that."

"So," Sirius spoke up suddenly, "how are we going to protect Harry?"

"Well, I could go and spend the summer with him, and—" I started, but Remus quickly cut me off.

"Absolutely not. Ivory, you're in even more danger than Harry is at the moment, and putting you together would be like painting a giant target on the front of the house!"

"But—"

"Iv..." Laurel's soft voice came from my other side, and I turned towards her. "For now, no life-endangering trips, alright? Not when there's no need for them."

"Fine," I mumbled, giving her an exaggerated pout. "So... what're we going to do?"

***
A/N: After this, you're gonna have to expect a lot more time skips, because if I were to write this in as much detail as I did with FoaN, it would take me about a decade or two tbh 😂

Anyways, what do y'all think Iv's tattoo is? I'd be interested to see what you think!

~Charlie 🖤