New Alliance

"Alright, Leyla. Arthur inform Charlie, I'll meet him in the next meeting." Dumbledore said. "And who's on guard tonight?"

"Dedalus Diggle," replied someone.

"And Harry?"

"Emmeline Vance and I'm going after dinner." Lupin said.

"Good. That'll be all for today." Dumbledore said and then there were noises of chairs moving.

Fred and George hastily pulled the strings and they all ran back to Ron's room.

Some time later Mrs. Weasley call all of them down for dinner. As Chris entered the kitchen, where the meeting was going few minutes ago, she saw Mr. Nelson were talking to Bill, Lupin, Sirius and few more Wizards and Witches, near the door. Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny passed them and went to Mrs. Weasley, as she shouted to help her with dinner but Chris stopped near the door, waiting for a chance to talk, or else someone to notice her. But before anyone noticed her, she heard a scratch of their conversation.

".... Charles is my brother, he works with Dragons in Romania..." Bill said to a jet-black haired witch. "Dumbledore asked him to convince the wizards in Romania to join us. I think, he'll be great help in your work."

"That'll be good because she needs some help." said the golden haired wizard, standing beside Mr. Nelson. "There are lots of people more than we know, who are devoted to Kazle. If he succeeded to gather them, we'll be in difficult position."

Somehow Chris felt the wizard beside Mr. Nelson seemed familiar to her.

"I'm not gonna lie, when I found out how many people are already planning to join Kazle, only from America, I was awestruck." said the black haired witch. "He has some different kind of convincing power. People are devoted to him more than you can imagine. The death eaters going to be seem waste compared to them."

"Yes... but I think..." Lupin stopped noticing Chris. 

"Hello." said Chris hurriedly before anyone can blame her for eavesdropping.

"Hello Christina." Sirius said.

"Oh!" Mr. Nelson turned towards her. "How are you, Christina?"

"I'm good. Thank you." Chris replied. "Not to sound rude but are you also in the order, Mr. Nelson?"

"Yes. I am." Mr. Nelson smiled. 

"Hello Christina" A thin witch smiled at Chris, who was standing near Lupin. "I've heard very good things about you. Shawn really praises you a lot."

"Shawn? Er... are you?" Chris started but the witch cut her off.

"Yes, I'm his mother Amanda and this is his father Steven Nelson." she said pointing at the wizard beside Mr. Nelson.

"Hello." Chris simply smiled. Wondering how the entire Nelson family was in Order of the Phoenix.

Bill, Sirius and Lupin left to sit on the table as Mrs. Weasley called them.

"Shawn told us about what happened last year at Hogwarts. We contacted Dumbledore as soon as possible." said Shawn's father. "Our family always supported Dumbledore."

"We wanted Shawn to go Hogwarts but it was a little far." Shawn's mother, Amanda said. "But I'll never forgive Karkaroff. We trusted him with our children's life and what he did in the moment of crisis? Ran away."

She clutched her wand angrily. Shawn's father put a arm around her shoulder.

"It's alright Amanda. We'll find him and teach him a lesson. Don't worry." He said. "No one chooses the wrong thing and escapes."

"Amanda was really worried about Shawn." Mr. Nelson said to Chris. "I was also trying to ask you... are you ok, dear? I mean what we heard.. you went through a lot a month ago."

Mr. Nelson's voice was concerning, not fatherly but something close to that. Chris realized how much she had misunderstood him in the past.

"I'm fine, Mr. Nelson." Chris replied smiling. "And sorry for the way I behaved when I first met you..."

Mr. Nelson laughed.

"You were six or seven that time, girl. You think I'll hold a grudge over that? Silly girl." He said. "There's nothing to apologize for. You were just angry I was taking your mother from you. That's all."

His smile suddenly disappeared and he sighed.

"Anyway call me Richard. Oh! I forgot to introduce her." said Mr. Nelson. "She's Leyla Flores. Our newest member of the order but very helpful one."

He pointed at the girl who were talking to Bill when Chris came in.

"You're just as lovely as I heard." said the black haired witch, she hold her hand out to Chris.

"Hello." Chris shook hands with her.

The way Leyla looked, Chris guessed she was the youngest member of the Order, but not younger than Tonks. They were probably are same age. But unlike Tonks, who was chirpy and enthusiastic, Leyla had a calm and calculated aura. Even her face was nothing unique, infact Chris felt it was that kind of face, people saw everyday in crowds and forgot instantly. But there's was something different the way she hold herself and talked. Her voice was sweet but confident at the same time.

"Amanda! Steven! It's time." He said urgently.

"O! Alright." Amanda looked a little disappointed. But she recover herself in a second and turned to Mrs. Weasley who was scolding Fred and George at the dinner table. 

"We'll be going, Molly."

"What! But you haven't had dinner, Amanda." Mrs. Weasley replied but Chris felt there was a relief in her voice.

"Next time." said Richard. "We really should be going. Leyla lock the door after us, will you?"

"Sure." Leyla replied and followed them out.

Chris went to sat on the table.

"What were they talking about, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she served Chris some soup.

"Er... just that Shawn their son told them about what happened at the Triwizard Tournament and they trust me and Dumbledore.. That's all." Chris replied earnestly.

"Nothing else?" Mrs. Weasley asked again.

"Umm... no.. I mean.."

"Stop inquiring her like that Molly. They know the rules. I don't think they told her anything about the Order's work." Sirius said with irritated voice. "You worry too much."

Chris and Hermione shared a look with the Weasley siblings.

"I worry too much because I care about them, Sirius." Mrs. Weasley snapped. "They're still in school and I think they don't need to worry about anything else other than their homeworks."

"Right! And their homework will save them if they ended up in Graveyard again?" Sirius replied still looking at the food.

Mrs. Weasley went red with anger.

"Sirius." Lupin sharply looked at him. "Drop it."

Mrs. Weasley was still looking furious, she was looking for words to reply Sirius but Mr. Weasley interfered.

"It's alright Molly. Sirius just want them to be prepared for any difficult situation. That's all." he said. 

"But isn't it our job to protect them from this difficult situations?" Mrs Weasley turned to her husband.

Before Mr. Weasley can reply Leyla returned and sat on the table.

"We should clean the other rooms quickly." She said casually. "You're a great help Molly. It's difficult without someone supervising."

Mrs. Weasley slightly relaxed on her seat. The others concentrated on eating. Chris chuckled as she saw Leyla winking at her. 

Chris finally felt excited to get to know someone new.