All the things that had happened were swirling in Megan's mind as she slept that night. She first dreamt of hundreds of gigantic letters surrounding her with a large red EXPELLED on them. Then, she saw herself at the hearing in a tutu with them all laughing, saying she was out of her mind and a liar...

"Mum says breakfast is in the kitchen, and then she wants you in the drawing room, there are more Doxys than she thought. And there's a nest of dead Puffskeins."

Megan opened her eyes as Ginny left the room. Half an hour later, they were all in the drawing room, tying cloths over their noses and taking Doxycide sprays. Sirius popped in, carrying a bag of rats.

"For Buckbeak," he told Megan.

"Ah, Sirius, that's the cabinet I was telling you about." Molly said.

He peered into the keyhole.

"Hm... I would say it's a Boggart, but maybe Mad-Eye should take a peak," Sirius commented with a frown. "Knowing my mother, it could be something worse."

"Thank you, Sirius."

Despite their cordialness, Megan could tell they hadn't forgotten their argument.

"The others have arrived, I'll go and join them," he said.

He ran a hand over Megan's hair as he passed and walked out of the room, leaving the others spend their morning spraying Doxys while avoiding their bites, which were poisonous.

"We're thinking of experimenting their venom for our Skiving Snackboxes." Fred whispered to Megan.

"What are those?" she asked.

"Boxes of sweets that make you ill – just enough to get out of class if you feel like it," he said. "We've got a few products already. Puking Pastilles, Nosebleed Nougat..."

"Joke shop still on, then?" Megan smiled.

"You bet." He grinned. "Haven't had a chance to get any premises, yet. We run it as a mail order service, for the moment. We put an add in the Prophet."

"Great."

"All thanks to you," George smiled.

"But won't your mum..."

"Na, she doesn't have a clue. She won't read the Prophet any more, it's too full of lies about you and Dumbledore." He grinned.

Megan grinned back. She had given the twins her thousand Galleons prize money for winning the Triwizard Tournament to help them open the joke shop they wanted, and was glad they were pursuing the idea. Finally, they had a huge stack of unconscious Doxys in a sack and their black eggs in another.

"I think we'll deal with that after lunch," Mrs Weasley said, indicating a glass cabinet full of strange objects like rusty daggers, claws, a snakeskin and a bottle with a red stopper Megan was sure was full of blood.

"You stay here," Molly said, glancing out the window. "I'll bring some sandwiches."

As soon as she was out the door, they hurried to the window.

"Mundungus...? What's he brought all those cauldrons for...?"

"Wasn't that what he was doing when I ran into the Dementors?" Megan asked. "Picking up dodgy cauldrons?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"WE ARE NOT A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!" Mrs Weasley was yelling. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! WE HAVE ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOUR BRINGING STOLEN CAULDRONS!!"

"Still hasn't forgiven him for slipping off when he was supposed to watch you," Fred smiled at Megan. "Nice to hear her scream at someone else for a change."

"Think of the run in we'd get if she found out about our little enterprise," George grinned. "I hear Malaysia's quite nice, this time of year."

They all laughed. Just then, Kreachur the house elf crept in.

"Blood traitors and scum..." he muttered. "Oh, if my poor mistress knew..."

"Hello, Kreachur," Fred said loudly.

He looked up.

"Kreachur did not see young master..." he said, before muttering again. "Friends of Muggles... and the Mudblood..."

He eyed Hermione darkly.

"Don't call her a Mudblood!" Megan snapped.

"And Megan Potter..." he whispered. "Stopped the Dark Lord... Kreacher wonders how..."

"Don't we all, Kreacher."

"Get out of there, you filthy beast, leave them alone," said Sirus, from the room across the hall.

Kreacher went out, muttering to himself.

"Been alone too long," Sirius told the others, glaring after him. "He always was a foul thing."

"Why not set him free, then?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, no, definitely not, he knows far too much about the Order," Sirius answered, shaking his head. "Besides, he's too devoted to this place."

Megan crossed the room and joined Sirius in the other room. It was empty but the wall Sirius was looking at was covered in a large tapestry covered in names bound together by the branches of a large tree.

"My family tree... the noble House of Black..." he said bitterly.

Megan noticed several faces had been scorched.

"I used to be here," he said, indicating a scorch mark. "My mother burned it when I was sixteen. I ran from home, see."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Had enough of the pure blood talk. So I went to your dad's, and his parents were really nice about it. Sort of took me in as a second son. And when I was old enough, I got my own place. My uncle – there he is, he was wiped off too, – had left me some gold. Probably why he was taken off. So I looked after myself. I hated the lot of my family. My mother and father, seeing the name of Black as near royalty. My brother, who believed them. Always was considered the better son... he joined the Death Eaters. There he is."

He pointed to a "Regulus Black", with a death date fifteen years prior.

"Killed by Voldemort," Sirius went on. "Or on his orders anyway. From what I heard, he panicked and tried to leave. But when you're in, it's for life..."

There was a veil of sadness in his expression.

"Were you close?"

"We could have been... we wanted to. As children, we would play together all the time. But then, when I grew up and began resenting the family's ways... we were forced into separation. School was the worst part..."

"He was shunned because you were considered a blood traitor by the Slytherins..."

Sirius nodded.

"I could see it destroy him inside..." he said, his voice catching. "But I was afraid if I tried to help it would make it worse. Now I keep wondering if that was the right thing to do... maybe if I'd been there for him... he would never have joined the Death Eaters..."

Megan couldn't think of anything comforting that didn't sound overused, so she said nothing and slid her arm around his, leaning into his shoulder.

"Lunch," called Mrs Weasley's voice, coming into view with a large tray of sandwiches and cake.

Megan glanced towards the hallway, but didn't move. She looked back to Sirius.

"Haven't looked at this for years..." Sirius said. "My great-great grandfather. Least popular Headmaster Hogwarts had. Aunt Elladora, started the tradition of house elves heads on the walls... Ah, that's probably why Kreacher won't take orders form Tonks, she's not on here."

"You're related?" Megan wondered, with some surprise.

"Yep. Her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin. Her sisters are here because they married pure-bloods. But she married a Muggle-born... so..."

He pointed to the scorch mark. Megan then noticed the name next to Andromeda's.

"... Narcissa Malfoy? You're related to the Malfoys?"

"Well, if you're going to marry only pure bloods, you're going to have limited choice, there aren't many of us left." Sirius explained.

Megan remembered Ron saying something about that before. He'd said almost every witch or wizard had some muggle blood somewhere, because without them, the wizarding race would have disappeared. She then noticed another name.

"Bellatrix Lestrange..."

Megan remembered hearing the name Lestrange in the graveyard. The memory sent ice through her entire body.

"In Azkaban," Sirius said. "Went in with Crouch's son and her husband. As far as I'm concerned, none of these are my family."

He glanced around.

"I never thought I'd be stuck here again..."

Megan squeezed his arm and rested her head against his shoulder.

"I know how you feel... I do when I have to go back to the Dursleys."

"I have to admit this place is ideal for Headquarters," Sirius mused. "My father put all kinds of magical protections on it. And of course Dumbledore added his own. Became Secret Keeper. Can't find this place unless he tells you."

He sighed.

"If I could at least do something useful..." he groaned.

Megan half wanted to ask him to come to the hearing, which she had tried not to think about in the last few days, but didn't want him to take that kind of risk. But there was something else she could ask him...

"Sirius..." she began. "If... if I am expelled... well... would it be okay if I stayed here?"

He stared at her, his mouth half open in surprise.

"I'd feel better about the hearing if I knew I didn't have to go back to the Dursleys..." Megan explained, trying not to sound as desperate as she was feeling. "And besides, you said this was the safest place one could find, so where better to keep me out of trouble?"

She was hoping Sirius would be convinced. To her surprise, he didn't answer for a moment.

"We'll see." He finally said with a sad smile. "But they must be bad if you prefer it here..."

"I don't care where I am," Megan said. "I just want to be with people I'm close to..."

She looked away.

"People who don't look at me like a criminal... or like a piece of rubbish..."

Sirius sighed and stroked her hair.

"Come here..."

He pulled into his arms.

"You are neither of those things, d'you hear? Never let anyone tell you different."

Megan nodded, feeling somewhat better.

"Hurry up, you two, or you'll have nothing left!" Harry called.

Breaking apart, Megan and Sirius exchanged a smile and joined the others.