Chapter 2 Meeting the Order

James and Lily Potter (recently brought back to life through a failed experiment of Voldemort's) were sitting in the meeting room at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. They were supposed to be listening to Dumbledore as he gave out jobs to everyone, but they weren't. At least, James wasn't. He was watching Remus and marveling at how even through all Remus had lost he had kept fighting. James didn't know how he did it. if he had lost Sirius and Remus at the same time he would've gone insane. Peter was a thought he didn't want to get into.

Remus had even suffered through the loss of Sirius again, shortly after they had been reunited. And then there was the worst thing (well for James and Lily at least). Harry had gone missing with Sirius. The two of them had gone to Diagon Alley two years ago and never returned. There had been a raid the day they had gone there….everyone was almost certain that both of them had been killed even though no bodies had been found.

Every member of the order was at this meeting. James thought it was kind of dumb to pull everyone off duty at the same time, but Dumbledore normally knew best so…..

He glanced around the room and saw two seventeen-year-olds sitting a few seats down. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They had been Harry's best friends (or so James had been told) before he went missing. They had known him the best and missed him the most. Apparently they had been wrecks for weeks after Harry was taken and had only just gotten back a modicum of normalness when James and Lily had come back.

His musings were interrupted by the alarms going off, warning that someone without the order tattoo had entered the building. This tattoo was another recent addition, and a stupid one in James' opinion. If any of them were caught they would be instantly recognizable by the tattoo.

Dumbledore stopped talking abruptly and looked up with something akin to hope

"The only way someone could get in here without setting off any of the curses around the perimeter is if they were either born or married into the house of Black," he said carefully.

"Or both," a familiar voice came from the doorway. Or it was familiar for James and Remus at least.

James' head shot towards the noise and he was overjoyed and unbelievably relieved to see Sirius Black himself standing there. What confused him was that Sirius had his arm around the waist of a young looking girl who was holding a child in her arms. The girl was beautiful. She had curly black hair that went down almost to her tail bone and jade colored eyes. She was so small though. She could've passed for eight or nine of she hadn't developed in some other areas too. Á/nreasonforthiscominglater

"Why the hell did you turn the hospital wing into a meeting room? There were plenty of other rooms you could use you know." Sirius sounded annoyed.

"Since when are we married?" the girl next to him demanded.

"Since Emerald," Sirius said flatly. "It's a law in the house of Black. You have a kid with the person you're automatically married."

'Well, damn. I've been married since I was sixteen," the girl pouted.

"Yes well," Sirius said rather uncomfortably. "Anyway, we need to get the wound healed. Come on."

He almost carried her out of the room. "Oh, and by the way," he said, stopping and turning back to look at the rest of them, "I really don't appreciate that someone is impersonating my best friend. I only trust that he doesn't mean any harm because Remus hasn't mauled him yet. And Snape? I know you must be talented to being continuing this deception. What does this make you? A triple agent? An interesting question. I just wanted to warn you that you aren't going to be getting any help from any of your little friends. Something to think on."

James and the rest sat stunned for a moment, before he, Remus, and Lily all jumped out of their chairs and ran down the hall in pursuit of Sirius and the girl, leaving everyone else to deal with Snape.

When he got to the door to the room Sirius had gone into he heard him coaxing the girl to do something.

"Come on Baby, we've got to get you healed," he said in a low voice.

"It's nothing Sirius. It isn't as bad as most of the other ones. We've left worse injuries alone before," she answered in the same low voice.

"But he was watching then. And besides, this will be the first time in a year that we can sleep in a bed that wont make us start kissing every time we sit down on it. I don't really want to get blood all over it. Just let me seal it, please?" he pleaded. James hadn't ever heard Sirius plead with a girl before. Sirius normally just suggested something and the girls went running to do it.

She sighed. "Fine." There was the sound of rustling fabric and a hiss from Sirius. "I think he meant to hit my heart, but missed," the girl said quietly. There was a moment of silence before the girl let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said quietly. "I'm tired now though. So is Em, and you're about to drop. We should get to bed."

James chose that moment to walk back into the room. Sirius and the girl looked up at him from where they were seated on a couch. They seemed rather defensive. Sirius put on a blank look that James hadn't even known he was capable of when he got a glimpse of who was at the door, but it was the girl's expression that confused him the most. It was a mixture of hope and pain. It was like he should know her, but he had never seen anyone like her before.

"Sirius-" James tried.

"I don't want to hear it right now. I'm tired and I'll probably end up blowing up at you. Tomorrow I will be ready to listen to reason, Jade will not be severely magically exhausted, and Emerald will be awake. You can question us then. Right now we are going to bed. Please don't disturb us unless you would like to be cursed," Sirius replied. He then supported the girl as they walked out of the room.

"I can walk for myself you know," the girl complained, "you're half carrying me."

"Oh really?" Sirius asked. He swung her bridal like off her feet and into his arms. "If I was carrying you before what am I doing now?"

"Put me down Sirius!" she squealed even as she laughed at him. "I give up, you weren't carrying me before! You're holding too much weight with Baby and I together!"

"Am not," Sirius said in a mock petulant voice. Their voices faded away into the distance.

"Well," Remus started, "that was possibly the most calm I've ever seen Sirius. I don't know whether to be concerned or not."

"I just hope he knows what happened to Harry," Lily said longingly as James nodded. "Did you see how happy that girl made him though? I've never seen him like that with any girl. It was like they were almost flirting, but past the stage where flirting was needed and were just teasing. Sirius' never gotten that far in a relationship before. He normally just dumps the poor girl when he gets bored. He seems really different," she finished.

"I know. I guess we should go tell the order that we've got some unexpected guests for the night. At least we know he's the real Sirius," James answered. The three of them sighed as the walked down the hall towards the meeting room.

Once they entered they were met by the sight of Snape tied to a chair and being force fed a truth potion. It was going to be a long night.

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Jade woke up the next morning feeling better then she had in two years. Maybe better then she had in forever. She didn't have to worry about evil megalomaniacs or abusive relatives anymore.

She looked to her left and saw Sirius laying beside her. She loved him so much. It was odd how their relationship had started out as that of brothers and ended up romantic. It was the one thing she could thank Voldemort for sincerely.

Well, maybe there were two things. She looked to her right and saw Emerald in the crib they had conjured for her last night. She really needed to get a wand; it was tiring to do magic without one.

Looking at Sirius again she decided to leave him sleeping. It wasn't often that they were allowed to sleep late. Normally it was because the Death Eaters had gone a little overboard with the torture. Sirius loved to sleep in, but Jade found that after a life of getting up at the crack of dawn (either because of the Dursleys or because she had classes and had forgotten or purposely not done her homework) she couldn't sleep in. She decided that she would get up and make him a nice breakfast. It had been so long since he had had one and she knew how much her husband liked food. She also knew she was at least a fair cook, if not a fairly good one.

She carefully got out of bed and quietly opened the door. As she slipped out of the room she cast one last fond glance at her husband and daughter.

Walking down the stairs she was surprised to find someone already in the kitchen. She knew even Mrs. Weasley didn't get up that early normally. Entering the room she was met by the emerald eyes of her own mother.

"Hello," she said quietly and somewhat nervously.

"Hello dear," Lily said kindly, trying to put the poor girl at ease. "What's your name?"

"Jade," Jade answered nervously. It was odd to have to tell her own mother her name.

"Nice to meet you Jade," Lily said with a blinding smile.

"I was just going to make breakfast for everyone," Jade said. "It won't be a problem will it?"

"Of course not!" Lily cried. "But wouldn't you rather wait until later and have someone else do it for you? I'd offer, but I'd probably burn the whole house down."

Jade smiled shyly. "No, it's fine. Sirius will be up soon, and I want to have it made by then." She moved over to the fridge and started removing eggs, milk, butter, and the like. Finding her way around the kitchen she gathered all the ingredients for eggs (scrambled, over easy, and over hard), toast, pancakes, waffles, sausage (links and patties), bacon, English muffins, and omelets. Yes, it was a lot of food, but she was taking into account that she was cooking for all the Weasleys, her father, and Remus. All together they probably only ate as much as Dudley did anyway; she wouldn't be making more then she was used to.

Lily watched on in astonishment for awhile as the young girl in front of her moved around the kitchen as though she had been born in one. Despite the girl's height it looked like she definitely knew what she was doing. Lily was also stunned by the amount of food Jade was making. She didn't think all the people who had stayed the night would be able to eat it all, and that was with the Weasleys.

"Where did you meet Sirius?" Lily asked. She knew everyone had seen him as a convict until she and James had come back, and was curious as to why a girl would trust a known convict enough to have his child.

Jade gave a short laugh. "I've known Sirius for a very long time. We were thrown into a cell together and forced to make love right after I turned sixteen. That resulted in our little girl (her name is Emerald, by the way) and I guess our marriage. I didn't know about that until yesterday though. I guess it was kind of irrelevant when we expected to die any second though."

James choose that moment to find his way into the kitchen. "Something smells delicious. Please tell me Lily didn't cook it so I can eat it and feel safe," he said. Lily came out of her shock enough to look insulted. "Sorry, dear, but you are a horriblecook," James said apologetically.

Lily pouted, but then laughed and kissed James gently. "Can't fault you for telling the truth; it's an odd enough occurrence as it is, don't want to make things even worse," she told him.

"Quite right," Remus said as he entered the kitchen. "So if our lovely Lily isn't trying to burn down the kitchen, who's cooking?"

"You remember Jade from last night Remus," Lily said, "she came in with Sirius."

"Ah yes, the lovely maiden who has finally managed to get my playboy friend to settle down. How is he doing, he didn't look too bad when he came in?" Remus answered.

Jade was glad Sirius had had enough presence of mind to place glamories over them last night; she certainly hadn't been able to. "Fine, I think. He should be up in about….five…four…..three. two….now!"

"JADE!" came a yell that was unmistakably in Sirius' voice from up the stairs. Everyone else had wandered into the kitchen and was starting to pick at their breakfasts while Jade and Remus had been talking, and they all looked up in surprise at Sirius' yell.

"Down here Sweetheart, don't forget Gem," Jade called back. Gem was Emerald's nickname. She was named after a precious gem, hence, she was their little Gem. It made perfect sense to Sirius. Jade didn't really think most people would nickname their daughter "Gem" (more like Princess) but Sirius never really was "most people". Hell, Jade wasn't most people. So Gem fit Emerald.

There was the sound of thudding footsteps on the staircase and then Sirius burst into the room. Remus' eyes widened as Sirius shoved Emerald into his arms (him being the only one Sirius would trust with anything in the whole room) and grabbed Jade in a hug.

"You weren't there when I woke up. You scared me, I thought-I thought….." Sirius trailed off as they both remembered the last time he had woken up with her gone.

She kissed him softly. "I'm fine," she reassured. "I was making breakfast, I thought you could use a big meal after everything. It's been so long since you last had one." Both of them had forgotten they weren't alone in the room.

"Thanks, Love, just leave a note or something next time, you're all I have left" Sirius whispered as he kissed her.

They both turned around and discovered they had an audience. The whole Weasley family, Remus, the Potter-look-alikes, and Tonks were all watching them with great curiosity. Well, most of them were curious, Mrs. Weasley had an odd expression of hatred on her face, and the Potter-look-alikes looked like they had just lost what little hope they had left.

"Um…hi?" Sirius asked. Remus silently held Emerald out to him, looking like he had no idea what he was supposed to do with her.

Sirius looked at his awkward looks and snorted. "Oh come on, Moony, you handled Harry much better then that, and Harry was the first baby you ever touched," he said as he rolled his eyes.

Jade took Emerald back and cuddled the silent little girl to her. "She smells odd," Remus said with a funny look on his face, "She smells like my cub's cub."

Everyone froze at that statement, and Remus gave Jade an odd look.

"Eat first, explain later," Jade decided. "I don't know about Sirius, but I'm literally starving."

Sirius promptly picked her up and carried her to the table, ignoring her complaints.

"I don't know how you can be so happy when Harry's still missing," Mrs. Weasley snarled at him. "It almost makes me wonder how much you cared in the first place."

Sirius' whole demeanor suddenly changed. His face morphed into a rather frightening snarl, but before he could do anything Jade was already on Mrs. Weasley's case.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I doknow you have absolutely noidea what Sirius and Harry went trough, and what Sirius did for Harry." It was odd to talk about herself in third person.

"I know you always counted Harry as another son, but did you ever stop to think about how Sirius felt when you tried to push him away and tell Harry that you were a bad influence? Did you ever stop to think about how Harry felt when you badmouthed a man who he respected and looked up to? No, you didn't, or else you wouldn't have said anything. But most of all you never stopped to think just seconds ago that Harry might be a painful memory to most of the people in this room. You made your own son cry at how casually you threw him out in a conversation that had nothing to do with him. Maybe you should think about how your words affect the people around you before you just blurt things out," Jade finished.

She had inspected Mrs. Weasleys behavior while they had been imprisoned, and come to realize that the woman wasn't all she made herself out to be. She professed to care deeply for almost everyone, but then turned around and hurt a lot of people with her words. She casually threw out things that were hurtful and had nothing to do with the original conversation. Jade almost thought she did it on purpose. It actually kind of reminded her of Bellatrix, and that was why she had snapped.

"Hey, calm," Sirius whispered soothingly into her ear, slipping an arm around her waist. "It's over now anyway; she's not here and she'll never touch you again. " She twisted and hid her face in his chest.

He held her calmly for a few seconds while she calmed down, before leading her back to her seat. She didn't notice that he was throwing dagger glares at Mrs. Weasley the whole time.

The rest of breakfast was a quiet affair. It had a depressing air about it that got to everyone, even the normally fun loving twins. As soon as the meal came to an end Sirius led them to one of the many living room is the giant old house.

Motioning for all of them to have a seat he sat down on a couch and pulled Jade into his side. She quickly conjured a crib for the sleeping Emerald (who really needed to be fed soon) and burrowed in his side.

"Now, I think some explanations would be appreciated," Sirius said.