3rd Person's POV

Mrs. Weasley kept them all working very hard over the next few days. The drawing room took three days to decontaminate; finally the only undesirable things left in it were the tapestry of the Black family tree, which resisted all their attempts to remove it from the wall, and the rattling writing desk; Moody had not dropped by headquarters yet, so they could not be sure what was inside it.

They moved from the drawing room to a dining room on the ground floor where they found spiders large as saucers lurking in the dresser. Ron left the room hurriedly to make a cup of tea and did not return for an hour and a half. Karina, Fred, and George always disappeared throughout cleaning and would only return when Mrs. Wesley appeared... something about not wasting their summer cleaning a disgusting house that Sirius didn't even want to be in.

The china, which bore the Black crest and motto, was all thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same fate met a set of old photographs in tarnished silver frames, all of whose occupants squealed shrilly as the glass covering them smashed.

Snape might refer to their work as "cleaning," but in Harry's opinion they were really waging war on the house, which was putting up a very good fight, aided and abetted by Kreacher. The house-elf kept appearing wherever they were congregated, his muttering becoming more and more offensive as he attempted to remove anything he could from the rubbish sacks.

Sirius went as far as to threaten him
with clothes, but Kreacher fixed him with a watery stare and said, "Master must do as Master wishes," before turning away and muttering very loudly, "but Master will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and traitors and scum..."

At which Sirius, ignoring Hermione's protests, seized Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and threw him bodily from the room.

The doorbell rang several times a day, which was the cue for Sirius's mother to start shrieking again, and for Harry and the others to attempt to eavesdrop on the visitor, though they gleaned very little from the brief glimpses and snatches of conversation they were able to sneak before Mrs. Weasley recalled them to their tasks. Snape flitted in and out of the house several times more, though to Harry's relief they never came face-to-face; he also caught sight of his Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, looking very odd in a Muggle dress and coat, though she also seemed too busy to linger.

Sometimes, however, the visitors stayed to help; Tonks joined them for a memorable afternoon in which they found a murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs toilet, and Lupin, who was staying in the house with Sirius but who left it for long periods to do mysterious work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather clock that had developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts at passersby.

Mundungus redeemed himself slightly in Mrs. Weasley's eyes by rescuing Ron from an ancient set of purple robes that had tried to strangle him when he removed them from their wardrobe.

Despite the fact that he was still sleeping badly, still having dreams about corridors and locked doors that made his scar prickle, Harry was managing to have fun for the first time all summer.

But there was still one thing that bothered him.... Karina Grey. Every time Snape was over she would be allowed to come down. Hermione, Ron, and Harry would sneak out the room to see her hugging Snape with a huge smile again and again. He didn't know why and he felt like he needed to.

He would ask her today. It was now or never.

...

Karina's POV

"I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you all. After I clean up the mess Tonks made..."

As Mrs Weasley goes to move we all hear a loud crash upstairs before also hearing Tonks yell sorry.

Mrs Weasley sighs rubbing her forehead, "The messes..."

I watch as she leaves the room then turn to Fred and George who are grinning at each other. Fred holds his hand out allowing me to grab it and within a second we apparate out the room with a crack.

Sighing I sit on my bed as Fred sits at my desk and George sits at the end of the bed.

"I'm pretty sure at some point we're going to get caught... then we'll really have to clean."

Fred chuckles shaking his head, "Oh sweet pure innocent little Karina Grey... the only way we would be caught is if someone ratted us out. And no one will do that."

Raising an eyebrow I stare at Fred with a blank face, "Ginny might."

Fred freezes staring with wide eyes before cursing, "Damn it you're right. We didn't quite think about that."

Without hesitation, Fred hurries out the room probably looking for Ginny so he could threaten her to keep quiet about us three leaving all the time.

"So how's the boy toy?"

Snapping my head to George with a light scoff I roll my eyes, "He's not my boy toy Georgie... he's my... I'm not quite sure anymore..."

George frowns, "As much as I can't stand Malfoy. I hate seeing you sad... Harry really messed things up for you two, didn't he?"

"N-no... a little. It would've happened anyways... me and Draco fighting. I just... I can't choose a side. I love all of you. Even if most of you all get on my last nerve."

George smiles leaning over patting my hand, "I get it Karina... I'm just sorry. Not for him at all obviously. But I know how much you like him, and I know how much you're hurting."

I shrug smiling sadly looking down at my hands. It did hurt. We weren't as close as before. It was like we were strangers once again. But slowly over the summer it's gotten much better. We both still very much have feelings for one another, but with me being on both sides it was tough. I couldn't be like my parents and grandmother... I wouldn't... I didn't want to follow Voldemort. I didn't want to be on his side... and I wouldn't... ever.

Knock knock.

George frowns looking at the door before glancing over at me.

"Who do you think it is?" He whispers.

I laugh quietly, "I don't know as much as you Georgie... maybe it's Fred messing with us?"

"Doubtful he would've tried to scare us."

George stands up and walks over to the door, "Who is it?"

I laugh as he tries to use a girlish voice. He looks over at me frowning.

"What?"

"Who are you trying to sound like?"

"My mother..."

"In my room?"

Holding his chin he thinks for a second before sighing, "Right... smart. Who is it then?"

A muffled reply comes from the other side of the door. George says ahh as he pulls open the door to reveal Harry Potter standing in the hall. Harry quickly looks on both sides of the hall before stepping into my room.

"Harry... always a pleasure to see you. To what do we owe the honor of this visit?"

I stand up and slap the back of George's head as I laugh at his stupidity, "Move you goof."

George laughs moving to the side letting Harry walk fully into the room. George steps out saying he would give us our privacy as he closes the door. Harry stands twiddling his fingers as he looks at the floor.

"You okay Harry?"

"Yeah... no..."

"Did you want to talk?"

Harry sighs sitting down at my desk chair before staring at me intensely, "Yes... Karina I don't know what's going on right now. And there's so many missing pieces. I'm so confused when it comes to you and your family and how they connect to me and I j-just I need to know... what happened to your parents?"

Biting my lip I freeze in shock. I never thought Harry would be this curious to ask me, or that he finally would have the balls to. But could he handle knowing what his parents did.

"I d-don't know if that's a good idea Harry..."

"Karina... please. I know there's something going on with you. I'm not sure what but you knew about Cedric. It's like you believed me about Voldemort without hesitation... without a second thought like everyone... like you already knew. You're hiding secrets and I j-just... I think if it will help us you should tell us. I find it odd that you're the first one to know everything about the order when I wasn't even allowed to know. You're super close to Snape... nothing makes sense."

"You really want to know?" I ask him angrily.

I was done with the secrecy, done with people thinking that I was someone who I was not. Done with people assuming things about me. I didn't want any of this to happen.

"I have to know Karina. There's no way Voldemort can just talk about my parents and how they were killers when he was on the bad side... his followers were on the bad side. I need to know."

I scoff crossing my arms, "Fine. I'm a seer Harry. Like Professor Trewlaney I can see into the future. I see things that will happen before they do and for some reason I keep hearing that I can stop it and I can change it but obviously if we look back I can't do shit. I know when every single bit of my family was going to die. I saw it... like it was a movie being played in my head. I saw Cedric's death. I knew about my parents, grandmother, Cedric... and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't do a damn thing. So excuse me for wanting to keep it a secret. I was scared. I was confused. I didn't know what the hell was going on with me. You don't know how it feels to suddenly see everything that would happen in the future and have no clue how to stop it. You don't know how it feels to see yourself being tortured and have no idea when it would come. You have no idea what it feels like to grow up having everyone think you're a terrible person. To grow up hearing about how horrible your parents were when really they didn't want to followers of Voldemort. They wanted to get out. I'm sorry that my parents were given a task to kidnap you, a baby Harry Potter, and bring him to Voldemort then they would be free and their baby Karina Grey would never in her life have to fear and worry about becoming a death eater. She wouldn't have to worry about Voldemort wanting her on his side. I'm not sorry that you know what your parents did. Yes they did kill my parents. My family... my grandmother was killed because she wouldn't give up my location... she was trying to keep me safe. Harry Potter you're not the only person in the world who has people after them. You're not the only person who has lost someone dear to you. Everyday I'm seen a bad person because I'm a Slytherin, because of my parents, and because of you. I'm basically a traitor because I want to do good. I want to stop Voldemort... he killed my entire family... I didn't ask for any of this to happen. I didn't ask for this life, this trouble, all the heartache and the fear... is that what you wanted to hear Harry Potter? Does that help you gain some kind of clarity and understanding?"

Harry frowns, "Karina I'm sorr-"

"Just get out."

Harry stands and walks over to the door. He steps out looking back at me once before closing the door behind him.

I fall back onto my bed staring up at the ceiling.

"I just want to have a normal life."

...

3rd Person's POV

Harry stands in his room trying to pack in all the information he just learned. He felt bad that he had even asked as he thinks back to the lone tear that slid down Karina's face.

Sure he was still upset that his parents killed hers but he also knew that they were trying to protect him. So he couldn't be as upset with them as he should've. Karina had lost her parents due to his but both of them had truly lost everything due to Voldemort.

Harry would stop him. He would figure some way out to end this all. And when he did it would all be history.

𝑆𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡!! 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙.

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔?

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜?