dumbledore felt that the less she knew, the less danger she'd be in. elara called bullshit. she was already in danger, no matter what. voldemort wanted elara's power. he wanted her to be on his side. the more elara knew, the more she'd be able to help. in a fit of spite and anger, elara began to stop telling the order what she'd been dreaming about. it was only then they 'half-inducted' her. she was only allowed to attend the less important meetings. any information she got, she spread to ron, hermione, fred, george, aurora, and ginny. it'd gotten harder to do so recently. aunt meda, uncle ted, and nymphie were all in the order. they knew elara better than anybody. now, elara could only talk to hermione, aurora, ginny at night.

aunt meda joined the order as soon as she heard about it from nymphie. last time voldemort was in power, she'd done nothing. she was ashamed of it. uncle ted joined for muggle perspective. any suspicious rumors flying around about any suspicious activity, he would report to the order. aurora's parents joined. they rarely came as they already had business with the fae ministry. thomas, aurora's father, was a highly respected individual in the fae community, and was doing all he could to alert others of voldemort's return. corrine sharpe, the former captain of the hufflepuff quidditch team, joined within days. corrine had the nastiest temper out of any individual. she's still working on her auror training, but the department already loves her.

elara's dreams have started to become 'fainting spells'. she'd suddenly zone out, drop whatever she was holding, and fall. the order, along with ron, hermione, fred, george, aurora, and ginny, had gotten so talented at detecting an oncoming vision that elara rarely hit the ground before she was caught. her fainting spells have started to even out her dreams. some nights she wouldn't have a single dream, but the next day, she'd faint. some days she wouldn't faint, and then that night, she'd have night terrors so vivid that the muffliato charm had to be casted. professor snape had gotten so used to elara asking for that special sleeping potion so often that he just brought a few vials of it whenever he was over for a meeting.

in over the first month of the summer holiday, elara had already filled two journals with recollections of dreams and visions. some days they'd be terrifying. other's they'd be mild. elara didn't know when to expect what kind of dream that'd she'd become afraid of her fainting spells and sleep so much to the point where she'd panic whenever she felt it coming on. professor snape had started to bring calming draughts with him too.

elara was sat in a meeting when they suddenly learned harry had been attacked by dementors in little whinging. the order members went into an uproar. mrs. weasley, sirius, and corrine were all yelling at mundugus. but no one's anger trumped dumbledore's. his eyes were blazing. it was the first time elara actually heard dumbledore yell.

in the commotion, elara slipped out the dining room of twelve grimmauld place. she snuck past the portrait of sirius's mum. mrs. black had started to begin screaming. elara ignored the yells and went up the stairs to find ron, hermione, fred, george, aurora, and ginny using the extendable ears. elara motioned for the to follow her into a bedroom.

"you have to promise not to yell," said elara as she closed the door once everyone filed in.

"what's happened?" said ron eagerly. "the ears couldn't pick up anything clear with all the yelling -- "

this is the first time elara had been able to relay information in weeks.

"harry was attacked by dementors," said elara quickly as if she were ripping off a band-aid.

hermione made a noise. ginny clamped her hand over hermione's mouth.

"he fought them off with his patronus. mundungus was supposed to be trailing him but he left because of a situation with cauldrons. problem is, harry used the patronus in front of dudley. the ministry's called him in for a 'disciplinary meeting'. they're going to destroy his wand."

hermione made another noise. she shoved ginny's hand away from her.

"he's not going to run away again, i hope?"

"if he does, i'll find him and drag his ass back to his aunt and uncle's house," said elara almost automatedly.

"why not here?" fred and george chorused.

"that bit is kind of complicated. even i can't explain it properly."

"is the order telling harry what to do?" asked aurora.

"sirius and mr. weasley were already writing letters to harry when i left."

"d'you think his uncle's gonna kick him out?" said ron.

"dumbledore's gotten that taken care of, i think."

"is harry ever going to come here?" said ginny.

"i believe a guard is going to pick him up in a few days?"

"a few days?" said hermione indignantly.

"believe me, i know," said elara tiredly. she'd been drained of energy for days. "i don't understand either."

"did you see this? like, in a vision?" said aurora.

"no," elara ran a hand down her face. "i wish i did."

elara itched to send harry the notes she'd taken during the order meetings. harry, more than anyone in twelve grimmauld place, deserved to know what happened, when he's going to leave his aunt and uncle's house, and what's going on. there was a knock on the door. everyone jumped. without a greeting, moody thumped in along with dumbledore.

"ah, i suspected you were up here, elara," said dumbledore.

he seemed to have calmed down considerably.

"i'm sorry professor, but -- "

"there was no better person to let them know than you. it's quite alright."

"i saw you up here," said moody in his usual gruff voice. his magical eye stared unblinkingly at elara. "you've got a piece of paper in your back pocket, did you know?"

"just my meeting notes," said elara quickly. "didn't have the chance to store them in the folder yet."

elara could tell moody didn't buy it.

"i need you all in this room to promise you won't tell harry anything elara has told you, again," said dumbledore.

elara's mouth dropped open.

"professor -- "

dumbledore held up a hand. "it is safer for harry to find all this out when he arrives in a few days time."

elara, ron, hermione, fred, george, aurora, and ginny all grumbled their promises. dumbledore, satisfied, bade them goodbye and turned to leave. moody's magical eye remained on elara. he gave a 'hmph'.

"molly's asked you come down for dinner," growled moody. he turned and thumped out the room behind dumbledore.

"you all go ahead. i have to put my notes away," said elara.

hermione casted elara a look. she shrugged in turn. hermione filed out behind ginny and closed the door. in case moody was looking at the ceiling with his magical eye, elara walked over to her trunk at a normal speed and began filing through its contents until she found her folder. she pulled the other papers out and set them on the floor. she plunged her hand back into the trunk and dug around until she found a sufficiently sized envelope. she pulled out the paper in her back pocket.

elara neatly stuffed the papers into the envelope under the cover of the trunk. jupiter was hooting from his cage across the room. elara grabbed some owl treats and fed them to jupiter while attempting to tie the envelope to his leg. she heard footsteps coming up the creaky stairs. she ditched feeding jupiter owl treats to avoid suspicion and began to tie the letter faster.

the footsteps were now heading towards the room elara was in. she tied off the string. jupiter hopped onto elara's arm and she began walking towards the window.

"bring this to harry -- "

the door flew open.

"elara callisto lestrange, don't you dare open that window," came the voice of aunt meda.

elara turned around as innocently as she could. she put a hand over the envelope that had harry's name and address written on it. aunt meda looked furious with her.

"i was just going to let jupiter stretch his wings," said elara, feigning confusion. "he's been locked up all summer."

"move your hand," said aunt meda. her tone rarely got this dangerous.

elara sighed and slowly moved her hand. aunt meda's frown grew bigger. she marched forward and snatched the letter off the desk.

"you swore to dumbledore that you wouldn't tell harry a thing!" aunt meda's voice trembled. "by writing to him, you're putting us all in danger!"

"what about harry?" said elara fervently, temper rising. "he's just been attacked! by dementors! in little whinging! he deserves to know what the bloody hell is going on!"

"don't you swear around me!"

"i can do whatever the hell i want! i saw voldemort come back, i saw cedric get killed, i fought barty crouch! and i'm a bloody seer, a powerful one! yet i'm not allowed in the order!" elara had begun shouting.

"you're too young," aunt meda's voice was raised too. "you're just fifteen!"

"a fifteen year old who voldemort's after! it makes no bloody sense that i shouldn't know anything," elara yelled. "i'm already half in the order, so why can't i just become a real member?!"

"because i said so! i'll be damned if i let you get hurt!"

"don't swear around me!" said elara, placing her hands on her hips. aunt meda's nostrils flare.

"don't imitate me."

"it's in my blood," said elara cooly. "i'm a metamorphagus."

"jupiter's to be locked up," said aunt meda matter-of-factly. "no dessert. no letters."

"fine," said elara.

she pushed past aunt meda and stomped down the stairs into the dining room. it was deadly quiet. they were listening to her and aunt meda's fight. elara sat down quite roughly in an empty chair between ginny and nymphie.

"what's for dinner?"

for the next three days, everything was in chaos. elara felt badly for yelling at aunt meda and apologized. the two forgot any bad blood between them and carried on with making sure harry didn't get attacked again. hedwig at pecked elara's fingers to the point they began to bleed. ron and hermione had to bandage their fingers as well. elara wished to send harry something, but she was still grounded.

hermione worried endlessly and it annoyed ron to the point where if hermione were to bring up that she was anxious, ron would just leave the room. ginny would pick at her hangnails. the only time elara could distract them was when she involuntarily fell into a vision. fred, george, and aurora pestered corrine endlessly with questions about when she and oliver wood were going to tie the knot. corrine would say nothing and turn exceptionally pink. nymph would help elara metamorphose. soon, the pair would do impressions together. the most recent: draco and pansy.

tonight was the night the advanced guard would bring harry to grimmauld place. ron was beyond excited. he liked elara and hermione, but he could only handle so much of them without harry. hermione was glad harry would be safe, but she was more excited for elara and harry to reunite. hermione kept asking if elara was going to finally kiss harry. elara would just ask how viktor krum's doing, and hermione'd go silent.

all but a few were left in grimmauld place when the advanced guard left. mrs. weasley forced everyone upstairs as their anxiety distracted her from cooking.

they were in the middle of a conversation about whether snape is a git or not when the bedroom door opened. elara immediately jumped up, but it seemed hermione was quicker.

"HARRY! ron, lara, he's here, harry's here! we didn't hear you arrive! oh, how are you? are you all right? have you been furious with us? i bet you have, i know our letters were useless — but we couldn't tell you anything, dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got to tell us — the dementors! when we heard — and that ministry hearing — it's just outrageous, i've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the decree for the restriction of underage sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations —"

"jesus, let him breathe, hermione," said elara, grinning, closing the door behind harry.

harry had grown again over the summer. he towered above elara by five inches. when they hugged, he was just about able to rest his chin on the top of elara's head. his harry was messy as ever.

elara, beaming, let go of harry, but before she could say another word there was a soft whooshing sound and something white soared from the top of a dark wardrobe and landed gently on harry's shoulder.

"hedwig!"

the snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as harry stroked her feathers.

"she's been in a right state," said elara. "pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this —"

she raised her hands to show harry her heavily bandaged fingers.

"oh yeah," harry said. "sorry about that, but i wanted answers, you know. . . ."

"we wanted to give them to you, mate," said ron. "lara was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but dumbledore made us —"

"— swear not to tell me," said harry. "yeah, hermione's already said."

there was a strained silence in which harry stroked hedwig automatically, not looking at the others.

"dumbledore seemed to think it was best," said elara rather bitterly. "i called bullshit and got grounded."

"right," said harry.

"i think he thought you were safest with the muggles —" ron began.

"yeah?" said harry, raising his eyebrows. "have any of you been attacked by dementors this summer?"

"well, no — but that's why he's had people from the order of the phoenix tailing you all the time —"

"didn't work that well, though, did it?" said harry. "had to look after myself after all, didn't i?"

"he was so angry," said elara in an almost awestruck voice. "i was there when i saw him find out mundungus had left before his shift had ended. it was terrifying."

"well, I'm glad he left," harry said coldly. "if he hadn't, i wouldn't have done magic and dumbledore would probably have left me at privet drive all summer."

"aren't you . . . aren't you worried about the ministry of magic hearing?" said hermione quietly.

"no," harry said defiantly. he walked away from them, looking around, with hedwig nestled contentedly on his shoulder. "so why's dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark? did you — er — bother to ask him at all?"

elara, ron, and hermione exchanged a look. he was acting as they thought he would.

"we told dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on," said elara. "we did. but he's really busy now, i've only seen him a handful since i came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls might be intercepted —"

"he could still've kept me informed if he'd wanted to," harry said shortly. "you're not telling me he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls."

hermione glanced at ron and elara and then said, "i thought that too. but he didn't want you to know anything."

"maybe he thinks i can't be trusted," said harry, watching their expressions.

"don't be thick," said ron, looking highly disconcerted.

"or that i can't take care of myself —"

"of course he doesn't think that!" said elara, slightly annoyed.

"so how come i have to stay at the dursleys' while you three get to join in everything that's going on here?" said harry, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word. "how come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on — ?"

"we're not!" ron interrupted. "elara's allowed in only just half the meetings, but mum won't let us near them, she says we're too young —"

but before they knew it, Harry was shouting.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU THREE'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT — WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

hedwig took fright at the noise and soared off on top of the wardrobe again; pigwidgeon twittered in alarm and zoomed even faster around their heads; jupiter rustled in his cage.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

ron was standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say. hermione looked on the verge of tears. elara pursed her lips, biting back words. she helped save them from the dementors. she saw voldemort come back. she helped harry escape.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did —" hermione began.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR —"

"well, he did —"

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON —"

"we wanted to —"

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER —"