𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 | l. lovegood

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𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘, Dorothea Tonks held her breath to remain undetected as she spied on the meeting. The Order of the Phoenix were talking about the Dark Lord's return and arguing about whether or not to act now. Molly Weasley was scolding Sirius Black for wanting to get Harry Potter involved, and Severus Snape was insulting Sirius every chance he got.

"Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon like his godfather."

"You stay out of this, Snivellus."

Dorothea covered her mouth with her hand and stifled a laugh. She froze when a few heads turned in the direction of the pantry. She quietly hoped that they couldn't see her through the shutters, but she knew she was in trouble when her mother, Andromeda Tonks, walked over. She opened the pantry door, revealing the petite 14 year old.

"H-Hi, Mummy." Dorothea smiled sheepishly and stepped out of the cramped space, avoiding the eyes of the Order members, more so the eyes of her older sister, Nymphadora Tonks.

Andromeda sighed. "Thea, I thought we talked about you not sneaking into these meetings anymore."

"I got bored." Dorothea shrugged.

"Go upstairs and hang out with the other kids, okay?" Andromeda led her youngest daughter to the closed door of the kitchen with a gentle hand on her back. She opened the door and nodded for her to leave. "It won't be that much longer."

"The other kids don't like me that much, Mum," Dorothea mumbled, staring down at her feet as she dragged them up the stairs. Andromeda sighed softly and shut the door.

Instead of going to the room where the other kids were hanging out – the Weasley children, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter – Dorothea went to her shared room with her big sister.

She spent the summer with a few fellow Hogwarts students at 12 Grimmauld Place, which was Sirius's childhood home and headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. It was the safest place for them in the Muggle world with You-Know-Who rising to power again.

Dorothea was under the impression that the others didn't like her. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were a tight-nit friend group, and Fred and George were always pulling pranks or doing something in their room. Dorothea was the odd one out. She was the youngest out of them all, and even Ginny, who was only 3 days older than her, preferred to hang out with the older kids.

Dorothea knew that it was because of her not-so-secret crush on Harry Potter.

The door opened, and Tonks came in. She sat down next to Dorothea on the bed, a stern, yet gentle, look on her face.

"You have to stop spying on these meetings, Dorothea," she said softly. The teenager looked down, her cheeks burning with shame. Tonks gently rubbed her back. "Have you tried talking to the others? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to let you hang out with them. People aren't so bad once you give them a chance."

Dorothea shook her head and mumbled something incoherently, her long brunette hair falling in front of her face to hide it.

"Hey, look at me." Tonks nudged her baby sister with her elbow, and she glanced up at her. The older girl morphed her face to look like a blobfish. A tiny smile twitched on Dorothea's lips, and she laughed a little. She's always envied Tonks's metamorphmagus abilities – part of the reason why she was interested in becoming an animagus and spent the summer researching and studying them. Tonks morphed her face back to normal and smiled at her sister. "Come on. Mum said to tell you that dinner's almost ready."

Dorothea followed Tonks back downstairs to the kitchen. She sat down next to her at the table, keeping her gaze on the plate in front of her as the other's talked. She could feel a few of the adults watching her – they weren't pleased that she kept sneaking into the meetings; they would have appreciated it if she stopped the first time they asked...15 meetings ago.