Destiny

Meeting Panic

Chapter 7

The next day, Destiny was running around the room in a panic.

"Where did my shoes go?" she shrieked, sticking her head under her bed frantically.

"Where did you last see them?" Lavender asked, desperate to shut her up.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be looking for them!"

"Have you ever noticed that everything's always in the last place you look?" Parvati asked.

"Of course they are!" Destiny snapped. "Why would you keep looking after you found it?"

Finding the shoes, Destiny stuffed them on her feet and headed for the mirror. Staring at herself, she decided she looked presentable. She had left her hair down in curly ringlets and had only put on a touch of make-up. Wearing her favorite black pants, red spaghetti strapped shirt and black ankle boots, she knew she looked stunning. She had wanted to look her best when she met her father for the first time and now she most assuredly would.

Giving the okay, Hermione and Destiny hurried out of the room and down to the common room where the guys were waiting impatiently.

"So, when do we go to meet him?" Destiny asked nervously.

"We're going to meet him in Professor Lupin's office a little after breakfast." Harry said.

"I thought we were going later this afternoon!"

"Relax. He's going to meet us sooner. How do you want to do this?"

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I want to talk to him for a bit and I'll let you guys talk before we tell him. I'll nod to you when I'm ready. How much time do we have to hang out with him?"

"Until noon, So that's... three hours."

"Okay, let's go."

They ate breakfast and walked around a bit to waste time until they could go see him. They were heading towards Lupin's office when Destiny suddenly stopped.

"What?" Harry asked.

Shaking her head, she looked around.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"Something's coming... Something big..." Trying to shake off the feeling- and praying it wasn't a premonition, she said, "Oh well. What's coming, will come. We'll meet it when it does." Seeing Harry's surprised look, she said, "What?"

"Nothing. Deja vu." Giving her a reassuring smile, Harry knocked on the door to Lupin's office.

'Here we go again,' Destiny thought.

"Hello Harry, Ron, Hermione... Destiny." Giving them a questioning look about her presence, he opened the door.

"Sirius!" Harry said happily, running over and hugging him.

"Harry! How are you?" Sirius Black answered hugging him back.

Looking at him, she was surprised by how much she looked like him. They both had the same blue- black hair that looked perfect no matter how it was fixed- except, of course, when it was wet or matted-, large blue eyes- though his were a darker shade-, long lashes, and a lithe body.

'To bad I got the short gene. He's like 6'2"!'

"I'm good," Harry said in response to Sirius' question. "Sirius, I want you to meet a new friend of mine." As he waved Destiny over, he said, "This is Destiny. She's from America."

Smiling, Sirius stuck out his hand, "Nice to meet you!"

Feeling a bit awed at the sight of this man who'd always been a hero to her; she timidly shook his hand.

Giving her a curious look, and obviously wondering why Harry would have told a girl he'd just met such an important thing, he asked him carefully, "Did you tell her everything?"

"Yeah, almost everything."

As they continued talking, she felt an oppressive sadness overtaking her once more. Sadness over so much lost time.

'I could have had a wonderful childhood. This is a person who would have protected me from all that hate. We've all lost so much...' Determined to lose no more time now that it could be helped, she poked Harry and nodded.

With a startled look, Harry exclaimed, "Now?" Seeing her nod again, he said, "You sure picked the weirdest time."

"No, I'm just through wasting it. You have no idea how precious time is until it's gone."

Nodding, Harry sighed. "Alright." Turning to Sirius, he said, "Destiny has something important to tell you. Please just listen and try to believe her."

"Okay, what do you need to tell me?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Do you remember Julia Snow?"

Looking at his feet, he muttered, "Yes. She was my fiancée."

"She's my mother."

Seeing the hurt and surprise on his face, she opened her mouth to continue but he interrupted her. "Well, your father is a very lucky man."

While bouncing on the balls of her feet, she smiled and exclaimed, "I'm your daughter!"

Sirius' eyes widened, and for a second she was afraid they'd pop out. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as he gasped for air.

'He's going to pass out... or blow chunks! Ew! I better move!'

Before she could move though, her father's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed onto the floor.

After a minute of shocked silence, Destiny turned to the others and said with a laugh, "I think he took it rather well!" She just smiled serenely when she heard Remus snort. "So, did anyone else think for a minute there he was going to puke?"

Looking up from where he was kneeling on the floor next to Sirius, Remus Lupin shook his head disbelievingly, "I can't believe you broke it to him like that!"

Destiny just shrugged. "I was nervous. I figured it was best to just say it before I lost my nerve." Pulling out her wand, she pointed it at her father and muttered, "Enervate!"

As Sirius opened his eyes, she smiled. "That was a really impressive reaction. Your eyes turned completely white before you fell over!"

Groaning, Sirius sat up and put a hand to his head. When he realized that she was still there and not part of his imagination, his eyes widened again.

"Did I hear you right the first time?" he asked dumbly, obviously still in shock.

"Yes."

"Oh... Um... Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Is she telling the truth? ... Please tell me she isn't..."

Giving him a disapproving look, he turned to Destiny.

"He didn't mean that. He's just being-"

"A turd?" Destiny asked suddenly somber. "He does have the right to not want me to be a part of his life."

"Remus! You're supposed to be on my side! You're my friend, not hers!" Sirius said, completely ignoring her.

"Oh, grow up! You're not the one who needs the support! Or the one who needs a father! Destiny does though!" Changing tracks, Remus pursued a different line of thinking. "Just look at her. She's an exact duplicate of you! She has the same personality and every thing! All she's asking is for you to take the chance to get to know her. Please! She's a really sweet girl- just give her the chance to prove it!"

Nobody moved after Remus' speech. It was very rare that Remus Lupin ever got angry and rarer still that he was angry enough to yell.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Destiny burst out laughing. Shocked, everyone turned to see her leaning on the back of a chair, holding on to her stomach. Seeing their confused faces, she gasped out, "Oh! That was so great! Spit flew out of your mouth and your vein looked like it was about to pop! I just-" At that moment the chair flipped over and Destiny went sprawling on the floor. This only made her laugh even harder. She finally managed to gasp, "I gotta pee!" After a few minutes of relative silence, she managed to calm herself down.

"You know," Sirius said, amused by the strangeness that was Destiny- and how she was indeed just like his teenage self, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Why don't we start over?"

"Because if I laugh that hard again, I'm going to need a new pair of pants," she replied with a giggle.

"Be serious for a second-"

"No you're Sirius! I'm Destiny!"

Groaning, Remus cried, "That is so old!"

"Yes, but it will forever be a classic!" Sirius crowed with delight.

Just then, Harry's watch went off signaling that they had to get to their "secret meeting".

"We have to be going. Tell you what; why don't I meet you here in two hours and we can try to get to know each other a little? Hey! I can teach you bad things to do to the teachers!" Sirius said with an excited grin.

"Cool! See you then!" Destiny said with an enthusiastic smile.

As Destiny bounced out the door with Hermione and Ron, she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

Everything was going according to plan. Soon she would be able to do anything she wanted with her life and there would be no more prophesy to stop her. Only about a million more tasks to go...

*****

As Remus, Sirius- as Padfoot- and Harry walked to the secret room where the Order of the Phoenix meeting would be held, Harry smiled. The Destiny- Sirius introduction hadn't gone exactly as planned- Okay truth be told, it hadn't gone the way it was supposed to at all- but Harry was still happy that they had agreed to get to know each other.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when Sirius suddenly popped back into his human form and asked, "How long have you two known about her? And why didn't you tell me sooner?"

With an annoyed sigh, Remus answered, "I've known since the beginning of the year. I found out when I was first calling roll. Needless to say, I was a little startled when I saw Black on the roster and looked up to see a girly you."

"So why didn't you tell me right away?"

"Destiny wasn't really sure she wanted to tell you," Harry replied. "She wanted to meet you first so that if you two didn't like each other, you could save both of yourselves the hassle, but... I think that something happened yesterday that changed her mind.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked concerned.

"I'm not sure. She's just been acting... different. Before, being liked was the most important thing to her, but suddenly... it just doesn't matter anymore. It's like she's more confident, wiser. Do you know what I'm saying?"

Looking slightly nervous suddenly, Remus said, "I'm sure it's nothing." Picking up his pace, he called to them, "Come on. Must hurry... Don't want to be late!"

Raising his eyebrows at his Godfather, Harry asked, "What's with him?"

*****

A quarter of an hour later, Harry found himself sitting nervously at the table with the Phoenix members.

"Welcome everyone!" Dumbledore said enthusiastically. "To start with, we are going to initiate a new member. Harry, please stand." Nervously, he rose to his feet. "Mister Harold James Potter, do you swear to fight against the Dark Arts, to protect the innocents of the world and to help any member of the Order of the Phoenix- no matter your personal feelings- if need be, until you die? If so, raise your wand , touch the symbol of the phoenix and answer, 'I do'."

Without hesitation, he raised his wand, touched the phoenix that had been carved into the table, and stated clearly, "I do."

Smiling, Dumbledore shook his hand and said, "Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix." In a lowered voice, he added, "Your father would be very proud."

Just as he was about to answer, Sirius came up from behind and hugged him. Everyone laughed as Harry let out a yelp of surprise as Sirius' hug lifted him clear off of his feet. Everyone continued to chuckle as they reseated themselves. Once settled, Dumbledore spoke.

"Now, to the point of this organization: Voldemort has struck once again. Another student has lost their parents. We need to start figuring out who some of the newer Death Eaters are and if any of them would be willing to become a spy. If they are not, we need to start putting them in jail and planting our own spies. Does anybody have any suggestions on what course of action me should take?"

Tentatively, Harry raised his hand. At Dumbledore's nod, he spoke.

"I think we need to start recruiting more people to fight with us. If we recruited people who could look innocent and blend in, we would be able to find out more secrets. Also, if we can figure out whom Voldemort is going to try to recruit, we can ask them to spy for us... Or in the very least, hide them." Looking around, he was relieved to see people nodding in agreement.

Looking at Harry closely, Dumbledore carefully asked, "Do you know who he's targeting?" Harry nodded. "A dream?" Again, he nodded. "Why didn't you come talk to me as soon as you woke up?"

Giving the Headmaster a sad look, Harry said, "Because I knew that one of the people had something very important to do today and if I told you before she did it, she probably would never get the chance to. I had to at least give her that chance. Especially if she's going to be forced to become a spy or go into hiding."

"Very well. Who is it that Voldemort is targeting?

Looking around nervously- and lingering on Sirius-, he said, "Draco Malfoy and Destiny Black."