Aww, thanks guys! I went back and forth between deciding whether or not I wanted her to be able to communicate with Fawx on a more verbal sense and ended up deciding it was a good idea. Just adds a little something to her abilities.

The entire Order was assembled in the kitchen when I got there. Mrs Weasley had practically sprinted down the hallway, hitting me with so much force that I nearly fell over. Once she was done telling me how glad she was that I was safe and how ridiculous all of this was she let me go into the kitchen where everyone else was waiting.

"Thank heavens you are okay Abby," said Kingsley, giving my shoulder a little squeeze.

"Thank you," I said with a smile. "And thank you for stalling."

Kingsley gave me a little smile. "It was the least that I could do."

I looked around the room, not surprised that Dumbledore wasn't there but very surprised that my mother wasn't.

"Where is my mom?" I asked them.

Everyone got silent, a couple of people shifting in their seats. Instantly my eyes fell on Sirius because I knew out of them all he would not lie or sugar coat it. That's why I liked Sirius so much. He spoke the truth.

"Your mother is not coming Abby," he said, coming around the table and laying his hand on my shoulder.

"Why isn't she coming?" I asked.

Sirius turned me so that I was facing him completely. "We are afraid that your mother is not who we thought she was."

I looked at him, confused as to what he meant. "What do you mean she's not who you thought she was?"

"Here Abby, take a seat," said Lupin, turning a chair around and gently guiding me in to it. Sirius bent down in front of me so that he could see my face clearly.

"Your mother is working for Voldemort."

I stared at him, my body uncertain and confused on how to be responding to this bit of information. My first instinct was to laugh out loud, believing that this was some kind of joke and that at any moment my mother would come out from behind a chair and say, "Just kidding!!"

But she didn't come out and no one's thoughts or moods changed.

"How do you know?" I asked.

Sirius cleared his throat. "We had been suspecting for a bit of time. Your mother has been sneaking around a lot, lying to us as to where she's been. We thought that by bringing you into the Order and showing her just how loyal you are to Harry that she might have come clean about some things, but she didn't."

"What kind of things? What has she been hiding?" I asked, gripping the side of the chair.

"Mostly about what she has been up to. Moody has made sure that she can't disclose anything about our Order's location and such, but we believe she has been passing information to death eaters."

"About what you're trying to protect?" I said.

Sirius nodded. "But why would she do that?"

Sirius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We think to protect you."

"Protect me?" I said, exasperated. "Protect me from what?!"

"From the prophecy your mother had of you and Harry. Things are falling in to place much cleaner than she had been expecting. Your mother has given up hope that we will be able to change it without making some kind of a deal with Voldemort."

"But he's VOLDEMORT!" I yelled. "How in the world would anyone expect him to keep his word? Besides, he sees me as a threat doesn't he? There's no way he would let me live!"

"Yes, we know this," said Lupin, "but your mother is driven by fear. She is desperate and after you made it clear to her that you would stand by Harry she saw no other way."

"No other way than to join the other side?"

Lupin and Sirius both fell silent and continued to look at me. The rest of the Order watched me, waiting for me to cry, scream, break something...anything than just sit there.

"You must be hungry dear," said Mrs Weasley coming around the table and smiling at me warmly. "Some soup maybe?"

"Um...sure," I mumbled, not wanting to look at anyone.

"Anyone else? Come on, let's talk about something else!" Mrs. Weasley said motioning with her hands to leave me be. Instantly, as if waiting for the right cue, they all began to talk amongst themselves.

"This is a lot to handle, to say the least," said Sirius, leaning forward so that I was the only one who could hear him. Lupin pulled up a chair besides me before placing a hand on my arm.

"I just don't understand. How could she do this? She knows how much I love Harry."

"Yes, she does," said Sirius. "But she's your mother. She loves you above all else, even Harry."

I left out a pathetic attempt at a laugh.

"What am I going to do? I've been expelled from Hogwarts, I am supposed to be rotting in Azkaban, and my own mother has become a death eater."

Lupin rubbed my arm in sympathy.

"You can stay here with me," said Sirius with a bright smile. "We'll preoccupy ourselves with the never ending cleaning, plus, I know Buckbeak will be fond of having you around."

"Ah...Buckbeck," I said with a little laugh.

"This expulsion and Azakaban business is going to get sorted out Abby. Perhaps not right now, but surely they won't keep you out," said Lupin.

"I hope so," I said, letting out a sigh. "But Harry," I said...

"We'll let him know that you are safe," said Lupin with a reassuring smile.

"He's going to blame himself," I said.

"When doesn't he?" said Lupin.

"Good point," I said.

"He'll be alright," said Sirius to me as Lupin got up to help Molly with the soup.

"But he's all alone now," I said, trying to stop the flow of tears from coming. Sirius wiped one that managed to escape. "I mean, he has Hermione and Ron but you don't realize how much he leans on me."

"He'll manage," said Sirius with a weak smile. "And besides, you two will be back together again before you know it!"

I let out a shaky laugh. "Thank you Sirius," I said.

"Eh...it's nothing."

I leaned forward and pulled him into a hug. My own father might be M.I.A. but at least I had Sirius, and in my opinion, that was plenty enough.