𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 102

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND TWO
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY ARRIVE 
AT GRIMMAULD PLACE

. . .

"Don't think anyone has ever come through a portkey so gracefully." Sirius's sloping, tired voice interrupted the dizziness that had entirely enveloped Aviana as they travelled, and she came to in a hardened gaze. "Lot's of practise?" He asked, cheerfully.

"Suppose so." Aviana said, glancing around. Nobody else seemed to have managed such a feat; each of the Weasleys and Harry were pulling themselves back to their feet, also dizzy from the whirlwind of colours and rush of wind, the kettle clattering uselessly on the tiled kitchen. 

A sudden, creeping tone filled their ears. Kreacher had noticed the interference. "Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying-" The house-elf began, and just as Sirius was about to begin telling him off, another voice interrupted.

"Do you mind?" Aviana asked, voice sharp. "I cannot believe that you think yourself superior,  considering you are the worst behaved house-elf I have ever come across. I have half a mind to send you away to my manor so you can learn how to behave properly." She snapped.

"Miss Rosier-" 

"Miss Black. I am Sirius's daughter, am I not? You are supposed to serve the Black family, and I intend to follow through on my words if you continue to act in this way." Aviana said haughtily, pulling herself up and folding her arms. "Out. Go and think about your behaviour."

"Crikey." Sirius sniffled, as Kreacher dragged his feet away. "What's going on?" He asked, extending a hand to Ginny to help her up. "Phineas Nigellus, old sod, said Arthur's been badly injured. 

"Ask Harry." Fred turned pointedly towards the Potter. 

"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself." George agreed. Both he, Fred and Ginny were looking at him expectantly, Ron frowning to their right and Aviana slowly joined the former group, turning her gaze away from Kreacher's retreating back to Harry. The house-elf's footsteps stopped on the stairs outside.

"It was -" Harry began, before stopping and swallowing, taking a particularly deep breath as he avoided their gazes; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and Dumbledore. "I had a - a kind of - vision..."  And he told them all, filled with guilt, of what he had seen, a snake making it's way down a long, dark hallway to the unsuspecting Mr Weasley at the end, and how the snake had attacked. 

Aviana's inquiring gaze dropped, hands dropping to her sides to pull at the sleeves of her pyjamas. Ron gave Harry a fleeting look and Harry shifted uncomfortably before the Weasleys, almost as though they were staring accusatorily at him. 

"Is Mum here?" Fred asked, turning to Sirius. 

"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," Sirius shook his head. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now." 

"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," Ginny pushed urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pyjamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything- ?"

 "Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" Sirius looked positively alarmed at the idea. 

"'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," said Fred, with a mulish expression, "he's our dad!" 

"You can't go to St. Mungos." Aviana looked up, expression a slight graver than usual. 

"Well, why not?" 

"I don't know, have you considered that nobody else, nobody of any true authority knows about Mr Weasley's injuries?" Aviana blinked. "How do you think anyone will respond if you turn up at St. Mungos when nobody has even had a chance to let Mrs Weasley know?"

"What does that matter?" George asked hotly. 

"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" Sirius pushed angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?" 

Fred and George looked as though they could not give less of a shit about what the Ministry might make of anything at that moment. Ron was still white-faced and silent. Aviana was still looking oddly guilty as she stood in the corner, facing them all. 

 "Somebody else could have told us..." Ginny shook her head, defiant. "We could have heard it somewhere other than Harry."

"Like who?" Sirius asked impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's-"

 "We don't care about the bloody Order!" Fred shouted, getting angrier by the minute. 

"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" George continued, in the same loud tone. They had the same looks of anger on their faces as they did before the fight with Malfoy.  

"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" Sirius replied, just as angrily. "This is how it is - this is why you're not in the Order - you don't understand - there are things worth dying for!" 

"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" Fred snapped. "I don't see you risking your neck!"

The little colour remaining in Sirius's face drained from it. Aviana looked quite pale too, Harry noticed, and she rolled her eyes. For a moment, it looked as though her father would quite like to hit Fred, in a familiar show of boyish anger, but when Sirius finally spoke, it was in a tone of completely determined calm. "I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?" Sirius told them, choosing his words carefully. 

Fred and George still looked mutinous. Ginny, however, took a few steps over to the nearest chair and sank into it. Harry looked at Ron, who made a funny movement somewhere between a nod and a shrug, and they sat down too. The twins glared at Sirius for another minute, then took seats on either side of Ginny. Aviana remained stood up. She had a particularly odd look on her face, and amongst it all, Harry couldn't help but continuously notice, as though she was entirely uncomfortable with everything included in the situation. 

"That's right," Sirius said, encouragingly. "Come on, let's all... let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!" He raised his wand as he spoke and half a dozen bottles came flying toward them out of the pantry, skidded along the table, scattering the debris of Sirius's meal, and stopped neatly in front of the seven of them.

"No, thanks." Aviana pushed away from the wall she had been leaning on, and Harry watched as she walked down the length of the kitchen before reaching a specific counter, tapping it twice with her wand. The doors swung open, and out she pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey. "I found it on the second day I was here." She said, in explanation, and when she came to sit beside Harry again, she took a swig from the bottle.

And when she offered it to him, he took it.

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