Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 34

Author's Note
10k! I love you guys so much! Thank you for reading! I couldn't have got this far without you!

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A gloomy atmosphere reigned the Burrow throughout the week after Percy had left like that.

     Words had it that he was now living in London. So Mrs. Weasley, longing to make everything right again, went to the flat he was staying at now, but Percy shut the door on her face.

     Hermione and Charlie Weasley joined us in the next few days, but as soon as they asked where Percy was, Mrs. Weasley bursted out crying and Mr. Weasley broke anything that he was holding.

     Because of this awful state, Fred and I never seemed to have the chance to get alone again and talk about what had happened a few days ago.

     And certainly not when Mr. Weasley one day announced that we would be moving to a new place now.

     "Where are we going?" Ron asked for the hundredth time.

     But each time, Mr. Weasley would just say, "You'll see when we get there."

     We all walked towards the Ottery St Catchpole main road and Mr. Weasley called out the Knight Bus. In less than a minute, the big purple bus appeared before us.

Gulping, I got on it along with the others, trying to forget about the fact that I could see it even though I was a Muggle. I tried to remind myself that Dumbledore probably had an explanation for it all.

When we all got off the bus, Mr. Weasley first handed Bill a piece of paper and said,

     "Memorize this and then give it to the others to memorize it, too."

     When Ron had read it as well, I was the last person to get the paper and when I looked down at it, I saw that it read,

     The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix can be found at number twelve, Grimmauld pace, London.

     When I memorized it and handed it back to Mr. Weasley, he took and set it on flames with his wands.

     Everyone was so confused as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley led us to the other side of the street.

     "Now think about what you have just memorized," said Mr. Weasley and we all did.

     And the next moment, out of nowhere, a house started to appear between number eleven and thirteen.

     This is Grimmauld place, I smiled to myself at the sight of the house.

     "Quickly, get inside, everyone," Mr. Weasley rushed us all inside the old walls of the house.

     "What is Order of–"

     "–Shush, Ron!" Mrs. Weasley cut him off. "Not here. We'll explain everything once we're inside."

     It was exactly as I had read in the books: the grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, and paint was peeling from many of the doors.

     "Welcome to the headquarters," we all turned around at the voice, seeing Dumbledore standing at the end of the hall, beaming at us.

     But as he saw the kids still looking at him in confusion, he went on, "We decided to have this place as a safe house as somewhere we could have our small meetings. And I must ask you this," his voice became very stern, "this will stay between us, and us only."

     He then turned his eyes on Ron and Hermione and said, "and that means that I want your word as to not tell Harry about any of this, until the time is right."

     "But, Professor–" Hermione tried to protest, but Dumbledore beat her into it.

     "–your word, Miss Granger."

     Hermione hesitated at first, but then said, "My word, sir."

     "And you, Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled down on him as Ron nodded silently.

     "Yes, sir." He mumbled.

     "Very well, now that that's out of the way, let me introduce you to Miss Hooper," Dumbledore said, gesturing down at me. "I don't think there's a point in hiding your true identity from them anymore, now that we're all in this together."

     "What's that supposed to mean?" George muttered in Fred's ear, but he didn't say anything.

     "It is a matter of fascination for all of us to know that Miss Hooper here," Dumbledore started, putting a hand on my shoulder, "is a Muggle."

     George snorted in laughter. "Ha! Good one."

     "It's true," I said in a small voice, watching all of their eyes widen.

     "She has come to us from the future, destined to change specific moments," said Dumbledore, "yet, we still don't know what moments or tragic accidents those might be."

     "You're joking!" George let out.

     "I am not," Dumbledore chuckled. "I'm very serious."

     "Did someone say my name?" All our heads turned at the voice, seeing a man coming down the stairs.

     "AARGH!" Fred and George yelped, taking a few steps backwards.

     "That's – is that – that's Sirius Black!" Fred let out, pointing at him in horror.

     "It's rude to point, Weasley." I grinned. "Get it together. He's innocent."

     "Well, well," Sirius beamed, walking towards me. "Someone who defends me before actually meeting me. Is the world coming to an end?"

    I stared up at him with glimmering eyes as he chuckled. I couldn't believe that I was seeing him before my own eyes. Sirius Black had always been my ultimate favorite character.

     "H-hi," I stummered, automatically raising my hand for him to shake. "I'm Lexi."

     He was surprised by my actions, but he then chuckled lightly again and took my hand.

     "Ah, yes. Dumbledore's told me about you, of course," he said brightly, shaking my hand, finally looking into my eyes. "You probably know me, but I'm–"

     He stopped in mid sentence, staring down at me with frowned brows.

He had stopped shaking my hand, but didn't let it go.

There was long seconds of silence as none of us dared to move.

     "Er – Mr. Black – Sirius?" I muttered awkwardly, as he had not looked away from me all this time. "Are you alright?"

     By that, as if suddenly coming to his senses, Sirius pulled away, clearing his throat.

     "I'm sorry... it's just that..." Sirius shook his head, but then looked back at me again. "You look so familiar."