NOX° SIRIUS BLACK

Chapter Fifty-Seven

         Nymphadora let out a small squeal when Calypso tickled her stomach while they sat on the floor with toys spread out on the floor. Andromeda and Ted left a few hours prior to volunteer to help patrol Diagon Alley since the Ministry feared Voldemort and his followers would attack again. Calypso wanted to leave and had pleaded until she was blue in the face but, apparently, Dumbledore's orders were to keep her entirely in the dark about everything that was happening until they returned to Hogwarts so that she could "rest". All of the members of the Order had either gone silent or refused to answer her when she asked questions. Even Andromeda didn't let Calypso read the Prophet since they were still writing about her.

       Sirius, on the other hand, had a hard time lying to her so she saw less of him lately, but she knew he was busy helping the Order and Dumbledore.

        Calypso was desperately awaiting the start of school, but she didn't mind getting to spend her days reading or playing with Nymphadora, who she thought was the funniest toddler she'd ever met. She was always sticking out her tongue or crossing her eyes to get Calypso to laugh, although she wasn't the most coordinated kid in the world.

       "Are you hungry, Nymphadora?" Calypso asked when Nymphadora settled down in her room and she rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchen. Calypso could imagine the look on the girl's face. Nymphadora hated her name and was constantly turning up her nose whenever someone called her by it.

        Calypso could hear Nymphadora messing around with something in the other room and she doubted the girl had heard a word she said at all. Calypso closed the cabinets, preparing to go ask Nymphadora what she wanted for lunch when she saw something pass by the kitchen window overlooking the front garden. Immediately, Calypso's hand gripped her wand and she moved to the living room window, watching as a person wearing a black hood over their head trudged through the snow-covered ground before they knocked on the front door.

    "Who is —"

    "Dora, stay there." Calypso said, making sure to keep her voice calm when she heard the girl's small voice float in from her bedroom. Calypso crept towards the door, her wand raised before she threw it open as the person dropped their hood and revealed themself.

      Rhea Krane's gloved hand shot from underneath her magenta cloak and produced a Shield Charm to protect herself from the spell that shot out of Calypso's wand from the shock and anger at seeing her grandmother for the first time since she found out about who she was. But, Calypso quickly buried her feelings as she remembered Dumbledore's orders. She couldn't show Rhea that she knew anything about her involvement with Voldemort until their spy on the inside found the location of Alex and Maverick's safe house. Calypso forced a concerned look onto her face and began apologizing profusely.

"I am so sorry, I didn't realize it was you." Calypso said, her heart beating loud even though she was trying to mask the fact that she was standing in the presence of someone who had betrayed her.

Rhea waved her hand dismissively.

"I'd be more worried if you hadn't, given the circumstances." Rhea's eyes looked over Andromeda and Ted's small cottage. Calypso thought back to Nymphadora in the other room and her shoulders tensed. She didn't want to bring Rhea around Nymphadora no matter what. The Death Eaters had already taken Maverick and Calypso didn't want anything to happen to Nymphadora. "May I come in?"

"Actually, I know the perfect place we can go. I don't want anyone listening." Calypso stepped by her grandmother, quickly grabbing her parka off the coat rack and pulling the front door shut before leading her to the back vegteable garden Ted tended to. Calypso sat down on a stone bench, pulling her coat tighter around her as Rhea sat down beside her. "I'm sorry I didn't write to tell you what happened."