〖Number 12 Grimmauld Place〗

The Advanced Guard had been gone for over an hour, they had left in a rush to collect Harry Potter from the muggle house he had been staying at. There had apparently been some kind of an altercation involving dementors, a muggle boy, and Harry's expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and now he was coming to stay with the rest of the Order as a safety precaution.

The slam of the large front door announced the arrival of the guard and Harry Potter thirty minutes later. Seraphina ran out of her room and leaned precariously over the railing in order to gain a better vantage point and as her eyes roved over the crowd in the hallway they met Harry's and she waved at him, he eyed her with amusement but he didn't wave back.

"Sera!" Remus Lupin called up to her "The meeting's in five minutes, be down in the kitchen!" she looked down at him and nodded and headed down the stairs.

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A few minutes later Harry entered into the room next to hers and the furious yelling of Harry echoed throughout the second floor. He yelled for what seemed like hours about the lack of news he had gotten but he seemed oblivious to the fact that Ron and Hermione didn't quite have any news to tell except for the order keeping tabs on the death eaters and some object that the order was guarding.

"Well, what about Seraphina?" Harry demanded angrily "Why is she here?" there was a short silence until Ron spoke up "Her grandmother and her apprentice are both in the order, other than that nobody knows. She's the only underage witch who's been allowed into the me-"

"She can control fire!"

Hermione blurted out "I saw her the other day upstairs, she put her hand into a fire in one of the fireplaces and these little wisp thi-" "Oh come off it Hermione!" Ron interrupted her loudly "you know that isn't possible!" "Well, why is she allowed into the meetings then?" Ron opened his mouth and then closed it again "I don't know why she's here," said Hermione quietly "but something about her doesn't sit right with me."

"I wouldn't put it past her." Harry said bitterly "she knows more than she lets onto and I intend to find out what." The two nodded quietly and an uneasy silence fell over the room.

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"Anything?" asked Mad-eye Moody he was staring at the small fire wisp in front of Sera which was making a multitude of crackling, popping, and hissing noises "Sshhh," Mrs. Weasley hissed from across the table. The small sprite stopped and Sera handed it a wood chip which it started devouring immediately.

The order looked at her expectantly "Nothings changed, with the target but the councils preparing for Harry's hearing and then there's talk going around about a new educational plan of some kind they want to instate at Hogwarts. "

"Also, Lucius Malfoy you should be keeping a closer eye on him they've been watching him for awhile" she said pointing to the sprite "but he's smart and he doesn't say anything suspicious in his office."

Sirius grinned widely at her "Sera this is brilliant! This ability could help us win the war!" "Don't count your chicks before they've hatched," Sera said sullenly "Sure, it's a useful ability but it can only last for so long."

"I have a feeling Lucius and the rest of the death- eaters suspect something isn't right and it's only a matter of time till they catch wind of what's going on if they've done this before they've got more than a few tricks up their sleeves," she said shrugging.

Sirius nodded at her "I believe you, but that'll only happen if worst comes to worst right?" she nodded "or if someone snitches," she smiled bleakly "I need to stop being so pessimistic."

"Quite right it's uncharacteristic for you," Sirius said smiling, she sighed "they'll keep listening though, they always are I mean." She looked down at the sprite as it gave on last pop and disappeared into the fire, just as the meeting was adjourned.

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As dinner began her mind began to wander and she took little notice of the miscellaneous swirl of words around her and just decided to enjoy a pleasant disjointed reverie in the deep recesses of her mind.

The sad thing was that it only lasted until Sirius turned to his godson and said, "Harry, You know, Iʹm surprised at you. I thought the first thing youʹd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

Everyone flinched at the mention of the dark lord's name all except for Harry and Sera, the tension in the air was so thick Sera could feel it everyone was alert and waiting, the pent up anger and emotion was going to come pouring out any second now,

Lupin looked over the edge of his glass of wine warily at her, she tried to keep her face as stoic as possible, she apparently wasn't doing very well. Harry looked at Sirius "I did! he said indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said weʹre not allowed in the Order, so ‐ ʹʹAnd theyʹre quite right," said Mrs. Weasley. "Youʹre too young."

The happy feeling she had felt only moments before drained away as quickly as it had come she looked down at her plate and tried to make herself as small as possible. She needed to get out of here, she started fiddling with the cross necklace at her throat and kept her head down.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harryʹs been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. Heʹs got the right to know whatʹs been happen—"

"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly. "How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily. "Weʹve been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you havenʹt told us a single stinking thing!"

said George.ʺYouʹre too young, youʹre not in the Order,ʹʺ said Fred, in a high‐pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his motherʹs. "Harryʹs not even of age!" the Weasley twins exclaimed angrily. "Itʹs, not my fault you havenʹt been told what the Orderʹs doing," said Sirius patiently, "thatʹs your parentsʹ decision. But Seraphina is a special case" said Sirius calmly defending the dark-haired girl. Harry on the other han, ‐ʹ

"Itʹs not down to you to decide whatʹs good for Harry!" said Mr.s Weasley sharply. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You havenʹt forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?" "Which bit ?" Sirius asked politely,

Mrs. Weasley sighed exasperatedly "The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Mrs. Weasley, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.

The rest of the dinner table was watching silently as the argument unfolded it was like a deadly pendulum you needed to look away you needed to get away but you couldn't because it was so mesmerizing.

"And heʹs dealt with as much as most in the Order,ʹ said Sirius, ʹand more than some."

"No one's denying what he's done! " Molly's voice was getting dangerously high, and the color was rising rapidly in her face. Sirius was trying to remain calm even though his hands were visibly shaking,

"He's not a child Molly!" Sirius fired back, "He's not an adult either! He isn't James, Sirius" "I'm perfectly clear on who he is Molly." Sirius said quietly, "Well I'm not so sure about that, sometimes, the way you talk about him, itʹs as though you think youʹve got your best friend back," she snapped.

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Sera was trying very hard to restrain herself she wanted to speak but she couldn't this argument was escalating quickly and if someone didn't do something this was going to turn into a brawl.

Mr. Weasley and Lupin seemed to have seen her trying very hard not start screaming because they both spoke up and tried to be the voices of reason. Mr. Weasley suggested that this was inevitable and that Harry was going to get information now that he was staying here at the headquarters, and Lupin suggested to give Harry the general picture rather than a corrupted garbled version from other people.

At this point, Mrs. Weasley knew she was fighting a losing battle and so she figured she might as well go down swinging. "I see that I'm being overruled and let me just say that Dumbledore has his reasons for keeping information from Harry, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart-".

"He isn't your son," Sirius said quietly "Well he's as good as one!" "Who else has he got?!" she said defiantly. "He has me!" exclaimed Sirius angrily,

"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling, ʹthe thing is, itʹs been rather difficult for you to look after him while youʹve been locked UP in Azkaban, hasnʹt it?!"

Sirius started to rise face white and fists clenched, "EVERYONE SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" all heads turned toward the source of the voice and Seraphina stood on her chair hands over her mouth disbelieving in what she had just done.

She wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment and her primal instinct told her to run and a white-hot blaze was issuing out of the fireplace and was slowly creeping towards Mrs. Weasley's chair, but she was done sitting quietly and waiting for someone to end this,

"All of this fighting and arguing it isn't getting you anywhere! Mrs. Weasley, I'm sorry but the last thing you just said crossed the line. That phase of Sirius's life is thankfully over and it isn't right to bring something like that up just to make a point!

You both care about Harry and everyone here very, very much and I know that this is a time of very high stress for everyone but the last thing any of us here need to do is lose our heads and let what little civility and patience we have towards each other go to waste on a hissy, little idiotic spat like this!

I know that it's hard for everyone here, but the sad truth of the world is that it's going to get a lot worse before it can get so, so, so much better." She got slowly off her chair and gave a sigh of relief when the blaze in the fireplace became nothing more than ash and embers.

"I hope you get the answers that you all want," She said smiling peacefully "Good night." Then she turned and left the kitchen in a swirl of robes closing the door softly behind her.

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〖 I OWN NONE OF THE QUOTATIONS THAT YOU RECOGNIZE, THEY ALL BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING!! 〗