"Of course it is happening inside your head, Miss Jones, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

"Who was that?!" The cloaked figure turned around frantically before looking at Kelsey. "What did you do?!"

"You heard that too?" Kelsey wondered in surprise.

"Tell me what you did, witch," he picked her up as she tried to pry his hands off her robes.

"I mean, I hate to break it to you but we are at a school of witchcraft and wizardry," she said matter-of-factly.

At that moment a spell hit him in the back, making him release Kelsey. She steadied herself against a nearby desk. When he didn't get up, Kelsey rushed to pick up her wand tripping over her own foot in the process.

"It's a miracle you made it this far in life with such clumsy skills."

Kelsey couldn't believe her luck. Of course, it had to be him.

"We have to stop meeting like this." She looked at the hand that was held out to help her stand back up on her feet. Regulus Black grinned down at her.

"What're you doing here?" Frankly, she was surprised he held his hand to touch her voluntarily.

"Reinforcements," he said mysteriously while sending a furtive glance behind them towards the restricted section.

"I think there's another person in there." Kelsey stared at the boy on the floor. The silver mask covered his face. "Is-is he one of them?"

"If you mean Death Eater, then yes. Probably one in training..proving their loyalty to the ranks and whatnot. I've seen masks like those back at my family house." Regulus nodded to Kelsey quietly beckoning her to follow him where the second person apparently was. They entered the restricted area.

"He has to be a student! We need to go back and uncover him and tie him up or something-"

Regulus put a hand up to his mouth telling her to stay quiet when they heard scuffling behind the large shelf.

Kelsey took the lead and stepped forward carefully, keeping an ear out for any more noises. From the corner of her eye, she saw something move and hastened towards it.

"AHA!" She jumped over to the next row of books only to be met with emptiness. All that was there was a book lying on the ground.

"Please, for the love of Salazar never, and I mean never, become an Auror," she heard Regulus mumble behind her. The tip of his wand was lit with a Lumos and he waved it around trying to see if they could find anyone.

Kelsey picked up the book on the ground and studied the cover: 'Dark Magic: A History of Family Secrets' She opened it and skimmed the table of contents.

"Looks like it's clear here. Look.." Regulus pulled the book away from her grasp before she could read further. "..I'll go and get a professor, you stay here okay? I trust you can look after this much?"

"Guess I'll watch over Ronan over there," she agreed reluctantly when she realised Regulus wasn't going to hand the book back to her. With a nod, he left.

The restricted section was empty now. She wasn't imagining it because even Regulus seemed to have heard someone. So whoever it was must have run away. He would be back with a professor soon enough.

More importantly, how did he find her? And what had he meant by reinforcements? The answer evaded her as she walked back to the unconscious body. Her belongings were now scattered on the floor making her sigh as she bent to pick them up, keeping one eye trained on the unconscious boy.

She could...but she shouldn't..she was tempted to unmask him. It would be just like Fred Jones in Scooby-Doo. It was a shame she didn't have a dog. The thought made her giggle before becoming upset by it: Sirius.

Had they really just thrown that away?

She heard the faint sounds of footsteps scurrying behind her making her turn. It was too soon for Regulus to be back.

"I really wish you had stayed away, Jones," Peter Pettigrew came into sight and walked over to her. "Now, where's the book?"

Kelsey wished she felt vindicated over Pettigrew's involvement but was instead left with a sick feeling in her stomach.

"This time, I'm not letting you go, you rat," she spat, ignoring his question. Regulus had taken the book with him and she hadn't even gotten a chance to check it out properly.

"Please just tell me where the book is. I-I don't have a choice," he was both, terrified and anxious. His patience was wearing thin.

"You'll have to fight me for it," she lied.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Sectumsempra!"

Kelsey didn't recognise the spell Pettigrew threw her way and wasn't able to dodge it. She saw Pettigrew's wand fly from his grip the same time the spell hit her.

"Kelsey!" Just in time, she saw Sirius' horrified face appear behind Pettigrew as she fell to the floor in pain. There was a lot of blood. As her eyes closed she saw a bright flash of a tall man appearing next to her.

"I think you've done enough Mister Pettigrew."

'WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

The voices grew fainter as she heard a rough smack. She heard Albus Dumbledore mumble incantations. Someone charmed makeshift bandages to wrap themselves around her. It was becoming too heavy for her to stay conscious.

ϟ

When Kelsey came to eventually, her head was in someone's lap and everything hurt.

Her eyes opened and she saw Peter Pettigrew and Atticus Mulciber restrained in a corner. Pettigrew was shivering while Mulciber was knocked unconscious still. She put two and two together.

She tried to get up but someone harshly pushed her back down. "Stay still Miss Jones, I am still fixing your gashes. Some were quite deep," Madame Pomfrey chided her sounding displeased. Kelsey looked at the nurse's face upside down but even she could make out the frown. The anger with which the nurse was treating her wounds would make anyone think that she was the one who did this to herself.

"Irresponsible," muttered the nurse. "Can't believe they didn't bring her straight to the hospital wing...the amount of blood she has lost..unbelievable!" The nurse waved her wand furiously closing up the last remaining wounds although it still left Kelsey in pain.

"That will be all Poppy," Dumbledore spoke up. "I will make sure she comes to you right after our discussion. It was critical that Miss Jones got immediate treatment."

The nurse looked at Dumbledore murderously but let go of Kelsey. She walked out of the office in a huff.

Kelsey took in the shelves and portraits around her as she got up to sit in the lounge chair that had been conjured for her treatment. They were in Dumbledore's office.

"Miss Jones, I'm glad to see you're feeling well..let's just say better."

Startled, she nodded, eyes skimming over the room and its occupants and froze.

"Professor, I really think we should take her to the hos-"

"Not now, Mister Black," Dumbledore held up a hand to stop him. She took note of Sirius, Potter and Remus in the other corner, with bags under their eyes looking worse for the wear.

"W-what happened?" she croaked.

"Something that never should have been a burden for students as young as yourselves to bear," Dumbledore sighed sadly. He glanced at Mulciber.

"Why are they here?" she stared at the three boys. Dumbledore sent her a small tight-lipped smile. "And how did you know to show up when you did! I heard from you! In my head. It was you wasnt it."

"I'll have you know that I have sent Professor McGonagall to your parent's house in London to take them into protective custody preemptively, given the attack on you-"

"They WHAT?!" Kelsey was horrified.

"I think it was a chance encounter," Potter cut Dumbledore off as well. "It appears as if they didn't expect Kelsey to be there. They were using Wormtail to find out about the spell and information in the book. But it seems you already have it." Potter eyed the Dark Magic book suspiciously on Dumbledore's desk. It was the same one that Regulus had snatched from Kelsey's hand earlier in the library.

"Hey, that's the book-" Kelsey shut her mouth when she saw the warning look on Dumbledore's face.

"I think it's time I told you about the Order of the Phoenix, Miss Jones," he decided. Kelsey nodded warily as the boys tried to catch her eye. She continued ignoring them out of principle.

The office door burst open and Lily rushed in, hair sticking out everywhere, makeup smudged, and in her night robes. Her eyes landed on Kelsey and she rushed over pulling her into a hug which Kelsey again, on principle, did not return it.

She was mad, confused, hurt. And beyond all petrified. Kelsey had never felt so alone despite being in a room full of people.

Lily smiled at her to which she only nodded.

"As I was saying.." began Dumbledore.

An hour later Kelsey was still sitting in her lounge chair next to Lily. She had since consumed a few healing potions that had been left by Madame Pomfrey and was feeling better physically. Mentally, she felt as if her head might explode from the information that had just been dropped on her.

"Just to clarify.." Kelsey wasn't sure if she was really dead and this was in her head again because none of this made sense "..you have been running a secret underground group to fight against Death Eaters," she pointed at Mulciber. "Members of this Order, that Potter and crew were supposedly researching information in the restricted section which - I told you so for the record - the rat was passing along information to them."

"And then you," she narrowed her eyes at the headmaster again. "Showed up in the library with those two," she pointed at Sirius and Remus, "Just as Pettigrew hexed me with, Merlin knows what spell and t-that's it?"

"That would be the gist of it, yes," nodded Dumbledore.

"The gist?!" she shrieked "Why is he even here still?" Anger was a charitable word for the contemptuous look she threw Pettigrew's way. He had a black eye and a split lip. She had briefly noticed the injury on Sirius' hand.

"We are currently trying to locate Mister Pettigrew's parents who it appears had been taken by You-Know-Who's followers. It was how they appeared to have persuad-"

"And why are you having kids - seventeen-year-olds doing your dirty work?!" Kelsey felt guilty about Pettigrew's missing parents but it didn't lessen her anger towards the rat. That spell could've been lethal if the headmaster had not shown up right then.

"We were hoping to get fresh minds on some text about certain Dark Magic," Dumbledore's gaze flitted to Mulciber who was starting to stir. "But that's a tale for another day."

"I think you should tell her the rest," Sirius spoke up for the first time in an hour.

"All in good time Mister Black," said Dumbledore. "Now if Miss Evans and you boys would please escort Mister Pettigrew and Mister Mulciber to the bottom of the stairs outside my office, I'm sure you will find Professor Slughorn waiting to take over."

Sirius seemed reluctant to go but he did anyway. Lily patted Kelsey on the shoulder and said she would wait for her outside. When the room had cleared again, Dumbledore spoke again.

"Miss Jones I take it that news of the younger Mister Black being present in the library shall not be made public among your friends."

Friends, Kelsey wanted to scream at that word.

"You mean, you sent him?" she laughed dryly. Why was she not surprised?

"It seems that we still need his services as he currently stands."

"Wow," she remarked. "Your secrets have secrets. How did you make that happen?"

Dumbledore winked at her. A portrait on the wall yawned and suddenly Kelsey too realised how tired she was.

"Regulus came to me towards the end of last year with certain..concerns let's say. I would rather not divulge further until you decide or not-to to accept the offer I put forth."

"What will happen to Pettigrew?" she asked aloud to no one in particular. "And what was that spell? They don't teach that at Hogwarts.."

"He will be suspended for a month since this was a case of unprecedented blackmail. He will be allowed to sit for the NEWTS next month."

Kelsey frowned. Her initial sense of vindication over being right about Pettigrew was gone. This was a friend of almost seven years the boys had lost. Someone who had volunteered to become an Animagus for a boy he barely knew back in third-year. This wasn't a happy ending.

"As for the spell," Dumbledore looked really tired. Kelsey felt bad for pelting him with all these questions but again she was the one who almost did die. "Mister Pettigrew claims to come across it in an unclaimed Potions textbook left in the classroom."

"Tell me, Miss Jones, would you like to be a part of something bigger than you?"

Kelsey snorted. "If that's the lure you're using to bring people into this Order, it's no wonder you got stuck with those four idiots," she smiled wistfully.

What would happen now?

"Miss Evans appears to have the same view it would seem. We always welcome qualified students like you to keep them in check."

"I'll think about it," she said honestly. Truth be told she wasn't sure. She had just gotten her ass handed to her. How could anyone trust her with protecting them?

"I will have you know that the protection offered to your parents will in no way be affected by your decision to join or not." Kelsey considered this in relief. Seeing it as the end of their conversation she got up to leave.

"And Miss Jones?" She stopped right before she was out the door. "Go easy on them. As I said before: These times will test our loyalties and the dark times are far from over." There was a glint of amusement in his eye.

Kelsey paused at the spiral staircase leading down into the main castle. Her uniform was bloodied. She could see a few tears where the wounds had made cuts. She was still weak from the loss of blood.

And yet all she could think of was how everything made sense suddenly. Why they hadn't told her all of this. Their muffled conversations during classes. Their sneaky behaviour. What Sirius meant when he had said it wasn't his place to tell her yet. She felt some shame for her behaviour. They were all on the same side.

"Kelsey," she looked up as she stepped out of the headmaster's office. "Can we talk?" Sirius asked hopefully. Remus sent her a sympathetic look as her heart tugged for the boy she loved.

And yet all Kelsey could hear echoing in her mind was him in a closet and about the castle with other girls, not even a week after they broke things off.

"I have nothing to say to you," she quipped.

"Kelsey please," his voice almost broke.

Her voice caught in her throat.

"I'm sorry. I-I can't do this."

She let herself be taken to the Hospital Wing by Lily.

She would take it one day at a time. She had much to learn and re-learn. She had priorities to fix and lots to examine about her own behaviour. She would tackle their relationship - or lack of soon enough. But now was not the time. She still had some growing to do.

ϟ