One To Battle, Two To Conquer

Chapter 2

"You know, you could be a little nicer since you're leaving tomorrow," Mindy's little brother, Orion, said.

Jorden had decided that she was to be called by her real name: Mindy. This had made her parents sour, but they had done as she wished. "You're just jealous that I get a chance to get out of this hell-hole," Mindy said simply. They were sitting outside on their front porch. It was evening and the sun was setting.

"The only thing that I am jealous of is...you got new everything! New clothes and everything else you can think of," Orion started.

"Why would you care if I got new clothes? You never change your clothes," Mindy said. Orion glared. "I'm not even going to go as far as to ask you when the last time you changed your underwear was."

"Hay!" Orion retaliated.

"Hay is for horses, not people, grass is cheaper," Mindy continued. "You should really do it some time; you know, change your underwear. What if something happened and you went to the hospital and, well, just think of it. You would have racing stripes."

"I think, not that you care, but I think that that potion thing that you swallowed affected your brain, if you even had one in the first place." Orion smiled and jumped up as his sister reached over to smack him in the head.

She did change drastically from the potion. It was kind of difficult to explain when people came to say goodbye to her. She was probably a little taller than Brenda now. Besides her height, eye color and hair, only her completion and figure had changed, and matured. She obviously looked more mature and older, since she was now sixteen. She also thought that she thought differently. She knew that it sounded weird when she tried to tell it to her mom. Still, it was true. She used to be really shy, so shy that she would be taken advantage of, but now she was different, almost smarter than that.

Of course, all the family and family friends either knew the truth, or thought she was going to England to attend a boarding school. That's what all her school and close friends thought. Jorden still thought it was a little odd that total strangers came to talk to her a bit, and then, all of a sudden, she was leaving her home to follow them. She had a big imagination, but her mom and family must have had a trace of the idea about what was really happening, or what had happened; otherwise, it would've never ended up like this. She kept thinking about the Harry Potter books and why they wrote them. It was a pretty obvious way to give their whole world away, but then again, it would be only little children who actually would believe there was such a thing as Hogwarts, and flying broomsticks, and crap like that. All the same, she was glad it all existed, and she was even gladder that she could be part of it...being the sister of Harry Potter was a big part of it, plus she got to leave that old place. She looked gloomily around it. She didn't have a bad life; she was just tired of the everlasting monotony of it. She thought it was what any other teenager would think, though.

Her brother had came back to sit by her, and her mom stepped outside to have a cigarette. "Are you all packed and ready to go?" her mom asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I have to check one more time," Mindy said. Her brother was right at the fact that she got a whole new wardrobe and everything else. Well, what else was she supposed to do? She had outgrown all the clothes she already had.

"You father and grandma will be here tomorrow to see you off. You'd better go to bed early and get a goodnight sleep. You don't want to be tired tomorrow." Mindy went inside at her mother's words.

"

Mindy did just the opposite of what her mom told her, and played on the internet for several hours, emailing friends, and instant messaging before retiring to bed. She was going to miss the luxury of modern Muggle technology.

She opened her eyes and immediately jumped up. It was 11:00! She was due to leave in thirty minutes. Luckily, she had already lain out clothes. She decided to wear capris and a tee shirt. She had to look good, but there wasn't going to be much impressing since she got to hang out at headquarters for three months. Term didn't end at Hogwarts for another month. Quickly, she got dressed and prettied up, pausing to admire her new flat stomach. It did look like she had been undernourished, but that was okay; at least she wasn't fat. She opened the trunk that Dumbledore had sent her. "Forget it," she muttered. She was going to check it like she had promised to do the previous day, but then decided that it was too much of a hassle. She pulled it out in the hallway and stopped to listen to the voices in the hall.

"I remember these people from somewhere but just barely," her mother's voice came from the kitchen.

"I do as well. I remember them. It feels like just about the time when Jorden, or Mindy, came into our lives. It doesn't make any sense. But why would they be spending their time with us. They said that's how it happened and that's exactly the way I remember it. I believe them. I believe that they did some kind of mind spell. We're not that old. We would have remembered." That was Jorden's father's voice.

"I'm old, and I also remember it like that. At first, I didn't understand how you could have taken that decision, but then I saw them, at least the old one, Dumbledore, and I got it." Her grandma's voice followed her dad's.

Mindy quietly pulled her trunk into the living room. She was right, they did remember getting her. It was vague, but they remembered. This made her feel better. They obviously trusted the people that she was going with. Even though she should trust them as well, she was still scared. She strained to see if she could hear anything else.

"It is still sick," her grandma said. "I can't believe we hadn't been told this before."

"They all sounded very argent. It was almost like something was wrong and they needed her," her mom added. "I hope she doesn't forget about us."

Her dad spoke. "Of course she's not going to forget about us, don't say that, although she seemed to forget me sometimes." Her dad always joked like that. Ever since her dad moved out and each side had gotten remarried, he thought they were drifting apart. In her opinion, they were just getting closer in other aspects. She really missed her dad. She had always been a daddy's girl.

"Is that girl ever going to get up!" her grandma chimed into her thoughts. She had lived with her grandma when her mother and father broke up. She thought it was her fault and was angry at both of them. She only moved out from her grandma's less than a year ago, and she was slowly getting closer to her mom, but now she figured that was over.

She took her grandma yelling about her not getting up as a clue to make her presence known. "I'm right here. I was putting my trunk thing in the living room."

"Did you hear what we were talking about?" her mom asked.

"No," she lied; she figured that they already knew she had heard, since her reputation around her was being 'ears'.

"We were just saying how much we will miss you," her father said. She sat on his lap.

"Yeah, sure you were," she said.

"Of course we were, and we will miss you," her dad continued.

"I won't forget you, not that I heard any of you talking about how I would," Mindy joked.

"Of course not," said her mom. "You just have to be careful. Here's your early birthday present from all of us; well the bill is from all of us to pay. Unlimited, so don't worry. We got the world wide plan." She handed her a cell phone.

"Thank you, everyone," Mindy said. She had been trying to get one of these for years. She proceeded to go around and hug her mom, grandma, and dad. She then went to sit back down on her new acclaimed seat: on her dad.

"Now, I want you to use it as soon as you get there and it's appropriate. You have to keep in touch. We won't call you unless we have to, just in case, but I want you to keep this on," her mom continued.

"Don't worry, mom," Mindy ensured. "I'll keep in touch, I'll be a good girl, I'll make a good impression, and be myself." She saw the look on her grandma's face when she said be herself. "I mean I'll be myself when I'm my good-self. Well, that doesn't make sense but I know what I mean."

"Okay," her grandma said, "I guess we won't have to give you a lecture, seeing that you already know the whole thing."

"I do, I've been hearing it for years. That's a good thing because, grandma, I know I'm lucky for having people who care about me." The table erupted in laughter. "Well, it wasn't supposed to be that funny, I was just saying before you had to say it."

She looked at the clock. "Where's Orion?"

"He's at Mikey's house. I figured this would be hard for him," her mom said. There it was again. Mindy guessed he was at his cousin Mikey's house, throwing a party because she was going, going, gone.

"Okay, then I guess I'll go say goodbye to the animals." Mindy needed to get out of the house and at this time that was the only thing she could come up with.

She got up and went outside. First she went to her horses. "I wish I got the chance to ride you one last time, but I can't." She patted each of the horses, including her award winning Arabian Andalusia cross. Absentmindedly, she went to each stable and pen and said goodbye. She really had no clue where she was going, because she was deep in thought and didn't want to know what she was saying to these animals, because she probably sounded like she belonged in a mental hospital. She was thinking about everything. She had no idea of what was going to happen to her. All her parents and family saw was the urgent sound in the Order member's voices as they explained why they were there. What if something was wrong what if they really needed her for something? There were all those emotions, and then the feelings of excitement. This was more than she could've dreamed of. She just didn't know what to do with herself.

Her thoughts were cut short as she realized that she only had fifteen minutes, and she had probably used most of them up, so she went back inside through the back door.

Professor Dumbledore and Lupin were already there. They smiled brightly at her as she entered the room.

"Well, are you ready?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, I guess," she said. "Bye," she added to her family, and put her cell phone in her pocket as she turned to them.

"Have a good life, jay," her dad said.

"Well, thanks, dad," she replied and she hugged him.

"Bye, Jay, I love you," her grandma said. She hugged her grandma too.

"Bye, --> jadage[Author:NCAC] ," her mom said as she hugged her.

Then she paused. "Be a good girl," her grandma added.

"I will, don't worry," Mindy answered. "I always am."

"Oh yeah, right," her mom said. "Get out of here."

Mindy waved once more, and then turned to go. Dumbledore charmed her trunk to float about a foot off the floor, and flicked it so it was invisible. Then they went out through the door.

"

"That was a little awkward," Mindy admitted. She walked down her driveway, not knowing were they were taking her. They turned on the road that her driveway intersected. It was dirt and very dusty.

"Did your family say anything about meeting us before this?" Dumbledore asked as they continued down the road. Mindy thought they were lucky that not many people went on this road, since they would probably think she was being kidnapped by mental hospital patients by the way that they were dressed in their wizarding robes and everything.

"Um... they were talking this morning; my mom, dad, and grandma, and they said they thought they remembered you from somewhere, but they didn't know where," Mindy explained.

"Where you included in the conversation?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, no. I was supposed to be sleeping, but later they figured it out, although they didn't say anymore than what I heard," Mindy said earnestly. "Where are we going?"

"We had a fireplace connected to the Floo network over this way, in an abandoned building," explained Lupin. "It was the only thing we could do under the present circumstances."

"Isn't that really far to go?" she asked. They turned down a small deer trail that leads into a clump of trees. Mindy had only been this way once, because there was an apple tree back here, but there had been a small fire and most of the property was destroyed.

"Well, yes, it is, but it's better than walking. Don't you think so?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yeah, I guess so."

They reached the clump of trees. Inside there was a small hut thing. It had an old ragged door that was falling off the hinges. For the looks of it, the door had once been painted in white. Now, the painting was all chipped, and it looked like the fire had gotten it because it was scorched and with smoke damage. It didn't look like a place Mindy would choose to go into if they were taking a walk. It wasn't that welcoming.

Dumbledore took out his wand, pointed it at the doorknob, and muttered something. It must've been a magical door, because it looked like you could just poke it and it would fall down. However, even after Dumbledore cast the spell, Lupin had to lurch at it to make it open with an awful screech.

Inside, it had a totally different appearance than the outside. "You can't judge a book by its cover," Mindy murmured. It was quite plain, but beautiful all the same. It had newly polished, light- covered wood flooring; Mindy always wanted wood flooring, so she appreciated it more than the average teenager. The window had curtains and shades but, from the outside, they were not visible. The walls were solid stone, which was another drastic thing you wouldn't have guessed from it. That's probably why the fire didn't burn all the way through. However, what really made the room special was the magical tint. You could feel it as soon as you walked into the room. Everything was colored in different shades of the same color. The only other remarkable thing in the room was the fireplace. It was a tall fireplace, so tall, that a person could stand in it. People in America where not used to this devices, unlike British people. She knew this was normal there, but to her, seeing a fireplace this large was very unnatural. Many people didn't even have fireplaces here. The fireplace now had blazing green flames. It was a result of Professor Dumbledore throwing some kind of powder into it. There was a warm heat flowing off the flames. "Okay, Mindy, you know what to do, right?" Lupin asked.

Mindy nodded. She had read it in the books. It was easy; well not for Harry, if one takes into account his first time, when he tried to get to Diagon Alley and ended up in Knockturn Alley. She pushed the thought out of her head for it made her worry.

"I'll go first just in case," Lupin said.

"The address is Number Two, Grimmauld Place, London, England," Dumbledore told her. "It leads to an abandoned house close to number eleven. We can only be there for a short period of time. Once inside, everyone must remain silent until we can get into number Twelve."

Lupin grabbed a handful of the Floo powder and step into the fireplace. "Number Two., Grimmauld Place, London England!" he said louder than he would normally do, but he didn't really yell it like Mindy thought one would have to. Then he threw down the powder and disappeared into a midst of swirling green flame.

"Get your powder," Dumbledore said. Mindy scooped up a handful of powder and stepped into the fireplace. "I'll be apparating, so I'll be there before you," Dumbledore continued. "You will slow down when you start getting closer to the residence, and when you see Lupin step out."

Mindy nodded. "Number Two, Grimmauld Place, London, England!" she called and threw down the powder just as Lupin had done.

Flames started swirling around her until she was entirely engulfed into them. She started swirling around fast. It was lucky she didn't have motion sickness. Houses and everything else zipped by until, a minute later, it started slowing down, and she suddenly saw Professor Dumbledore and Lupin.

Finally, she was there: in England.

It was a lot cooler in England, even with a fireplace behind her. Through the window, she could see that the sun was setting, and realized that there was a time difference. Mindy must have had a sudden awareness explosion, because she also realized that she was sitting on the floor. She must've slipped when she stepped out. Dumbledore and Lupin were beaming at her. She quickly got up. "You know what to do next, don't you?" asked Dumbledore.

Mindy thought for a moment. "Be quiet and think about the address?" she guessed quietly and Dumbledore nodded.

They filed out of the room and shut the door behind them. Outside, it was pouring rain. Mindy stepped out into it, and she was immediately drenched. It was quite a change from the boiling temperatures she remembered, back at home. It was kind of nice. They walked out onto the road and followed it down. Something was very odd; number thirteen was down the street, next to number eleven. The houses weren't like Privet Drive at all; at least it didn't fit the description. These houses were more...normal. They weren't exactly trashed, but neither were they perfect. The grass needed some mowing, the houses were painted differently. But all the same, it was a quiet, little neighborhood.

Mindy thought hard on the number. The space between number thirteen and eleven looked as if they had just miscalculated the numbers, until a few moments later, when a grimy and broken, old house protruded out of the ground, pushing the other buildings out of the way. The inhabitants of the shifted buildings remained silent. Apparently, they didn't even notice that their houses had moved a few feet. Mindy followed Dumbledore up the crumbling steps. He opened the door with a fairly loud screech and went in.

Mindy had no doubt about what she found inside...total darkness. She quickly tried to straighten her hair, which was hanging all over her face, soaked from the rain. She noticed there was a musty sort of smell, like when you move into a new house that has been empty for a long time. She knew this had been the case. After Lupin shut the door, there was enough light to show that they weren't going to run into anything. The entrance room was very large, and Mindy could tell that this was a very large house just by a few yards in.

Mindy followed Dumbledore to a plain wooden door. He paused and glanced at the door, then at her, then proceeded in. Suddenly, Mindy got a huge nervous knot in the pit of her stomach. She knew everyone was looking forward to seeing her, so that meant that she would have to make a good impression. Well, at least Harry wouldn't be in there. It would've been way harder than it would be if he was.

Mindy braced herself as she followed suit and entered behind Dumbledore. It looked the way she expected. There was a long table in the middle of a great stone kitchen, and sitting at the table were many magical people. Right away she recognized Sirius Black. He was tall, pale, and quite skinny; he had long, dark hair that fell to his shoulders, and to his face, much like Mindy's, and he also had dark-grey eyes. He was the one person she had been most anxious to meet. He was her favorite character in the books. She smiled as she sat between Dumbledore and Lupin, and across from who she guessed was Mr. Weasley.

"Everyone, this is Mindy," Dumbledore announced. Mindy made an effort to nod or something, but she only managed to keep a smile. She found it rather embarrassing.

"Now, you probably know who most of these people are, but I'll introduce them anyway," Dumbledore continued. "This is Mr. Weasley." He indicated the redheaded man across from her. "Nymphadora Tonks." Mindy was doing pretty well guessing who was who so far. "You know Kingsley Shacklebolt, this is Alastor Moody." She obviously knew who this was. He was kind of hard to miss. "And last but not least," Dumbledore continued. "This is your godfather, Sirius Black." Mindy tried to make some kind of acknowledgment towards each one, because they certainly did to her, which was welcoming more or less. "You need an explanation." Mindy gave the slightest of nods feeling very shy. "And you have a right to know, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be the one that tells you. I feel that your godfather, Sirius, should have that responsibility." Everyone around the table looked up at Dumbledore in surprise. "I really should be getting back to Hogwarts. I, unfortunately, have a very important meeting with the Minister of Magic. I think we all need to be somewhere." Dumbledore stood up. He whispered something into Lupin's ear and the latter nodded.

Kingsley, Moody, and Mr. Weasley all stood up as well. Mindy had the impression that they were all in a hurry. Kingsley clasped Mindy on the shoulder as he walked away. They all filled out of the kitchen and Mindy was left with Sirius and Lupin.

"I'm sorry about that, Mindy," Sirius said. "They're having trouble in the Ministry, and it's been a lot of work for them to keep that under control. It's only because Fudge is a..."

"Sirius!" Lupin warned.

"Well, Fudge has got to figure it out one day. I mean he's been Minister for a while. Why would Dumbledore want his job now?" Mindy added.

"Exactly, I think he's growing madder by the minute," Sirius agreed, looking at first surprised that Mindy was able to make a comment and know what she was talking about. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Sirius Black and this is my house." He looked glumly as he took a quick glance around the room.

"I'm... well, Mindy, I guess. I used to be Jorden." Sirius, who moved to the chair next to her, reached out and Mindy shook his hand.

"Okay," Lupin broke in, "it looks like you'll be fine here but, sadly, I also have to depart. Dumbledore has ordered me to find an important document, and I must get it before somebody else does."

"Goodbye, Remus," Sirius said as Lupin walked out the door as everyone else did before. "You'll have to get used to that. Everyone has had their hearts set on staying here as little as possible, though I don't blame them." Sirius paused. "You look like your parents," he added, beaming.

Mindy was proud to have someone say that about her. She hadn't heard much about her parents from the beginning. She knew what they looked like. The only image she had formed of them came from their descriptions in the books.

"I should get to explaining everything that you want to know, because Molly Weasley is coming, and you probably know how she feels about you young guys knowing too much," Sirius continued.

"Well, let's start way back... I don't know how much Lupin has told you already. July 31, 1989 Harry and you were born to Lily and James Potter. You probably noticed that those books said this had all taken place about ten years ago; well that's a complete lie. When you were born, a prophecy was made. At that time, we didn't know until Dumbledore met an applicant, who was a granddaughter of a famous Seer to fill the position of Divination teacher; her name was Sibyl Trelawney. As story goes, she had a premonition and recited the prophecy." Sirius took out his wand and flicked it and piece of paper rolled out. He handed it to her. "This is the piece that was recorded on paper after the original was lost in a fire." Sirius paused once more as Mindy read.

THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES...BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DIFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES... AND THE DARK LORD WIL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT... AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER, FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES...THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES...

"Well, as Trelawney recited this, they were being spied, for they were at a local pub. The spy caught the beginning and, thinking that she was finished, ran off to tell his master. But he had only heard the first part, so Voldemort ended up with just one bit of the whole thing. I'm assuming it is the part that went 'he would mark him as his equal'. You know what it means don't you?"

"Well, I'm not sure exactly," Mindy replied. This was all going so fast.

"What do you think it means?" asked Sirius.

Mindy thought. "Well..." She unfolded the piece of paper for the second time and smoothed it on the table. "The first line must mean the one person that can kill Voldemort is, um... about to be born. The next line must mean..." Mindy paused. BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. What did that mean? "Thrice? Thrice is three; Defied? Well, that must mean that the person who would be born that can kill Voldemort... their parents have gone against Voldemort three times. And seventh month; the seventh month is July. So, they had to be born at the end of July." Mindy thought out loud. Sirius nodded. Mindy glanced at the next part. "Voldemort is going to mark him; that way he'll know who it is and they obviously will have a connection, but he didn't know that he has the power to kill him. Which goes to the next part, either the chosen has to kill Voldemort or be killed by him.'

"That was good," said Sirius surprised. "That's exactly what it means. However, here's the thing. Why when it said 'he' it just didn't say Harry?"

Sirius must know this, he's just testing me, Mindy thought. "Bbecause Harry wasn't the only choice; it could've also been Neville Longbottom."

"Correct. You know more than I thought," Sirius replied. Mindy was right. "Voldemort wanted to pick the one he thought would be less of a threat, the Half-blood, like himself, instead of the pureblood." Now Mindy got it; she never actually knew why he had chosen Harry Potter instead of Neville Longbottom.

"Okay," Sirius said, moving on, "Lily and James were put under tight security, but with only that much of the prophecy, they didn't see why they should put you in that much danger. Pettigrew was their Secret Keeper and, as you know, he sold them to Voldemort. I'm not going to get into that. Dumbledore knew a family who wanted to take you. Of course, he had their memories erased and planted with false information. The night when your parents were killed, Voldemort thought he was completing the prophecy and that everything would be over for good, but he only ended up marking Harry as the prophecy said, and ridding himself of powers. As we can see now, he transferred some of them to your brother in the process."

Sirius sighed. "He was brought to the Dursleys. The plan was that if that happened he would remain with the Dursleys because of Petunia and your mother. I'm sure you know that story. I was supposed to take you but being framed and sent to Azkaban, I couldn't. Dumbledore managed to arrange it so that you could stay permanently with the Muggle family. I know for a fact that everyone in the Order and involved didn't want him to resort to that, but there was nothing we could do."

Mindy nodded; she understood and wanted to show him that she did, because it was obviously bothering him to tell her.

"We have been tracking Death Eaters, and we have spies of our own. Through them, we have found out a great deal of information. This last year we have been gathering information about the prophecy. Voldemort wants it, and he is going to do anything to find it. He knows that he didn't hear the whole thing now. He also found out that Harry has a living immediate relative. As soon as we heard this, we planted the books to prepare you. We kept tailing the supporters and found out another piece of vital information... there's another part of the prophecy, that not even we knew about, that has something to do with you. Right now, we're trying to find it, but there has been an idea going around that Voldemort and his immediate followers found it first." Sirius stopped. "I don't mean to scare you."

"I know," Mindy said. The weird thing was that she wasn't scared. She thought it sounded stupid and conceited, but it was true. She certainly was nervous but not as far as scared.

Sirius smiled. "So, do you have any questions?"

"What's the deal about the books?" Mindy asked.

"I'm assuming that you found them. Yes, they were planted. Somebody had approached us with a very interesting idea about letting you and your family in on the general idea. So Dumbledore had those books written. I was completely blown away by the fact that they were in exact detail. Of course there were some minor changes, but that was just so you wouldn't get too curious. Another thing that's interesting about them is that they are from Harry's point of view. Members of the Order were leery about the idea because of that reason. They thought that you would get just his perspective and judge people and things the way he thinks. Just keep that in mind. I guess that's it. So, that's some wise advice from your godfather."

"I'll remember it," Mindy said both serious and jokingly.

About that time, Mrs. Weasley walked in the kitchen. They hadn't even heard her. "You must be Mindy," she said, beaming, before hugging her. "What have you been talking about Sirius?" she asked. Mindy could hear it in her voice that she didn't like Sirius explaining things.

"I have just finished explaining the bare minimum of facts about what is going on to Mindy," Sirius replied calmly. Mrs. Weasley just nodded, not wanting to get into it.

"Mindy, dear, have you been shown where you are staying?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Mindy shook her head. "Okay, get your trunk."

Mindy looked over and immediately saw it. It was sitting against the wall by the kitchen. She had totally forgotten all about it. She tried to pick it up.

"Here let me help you," Sirius offered, and the carried it through the kitchen and up the stairs.

Mindy saw the difference of color in the wall where the house-elf heads once were. Last thing she knew, they had doing some cleaning, and there was quite a difference in what she thought it looked like when Harry left.

They trudged down the hall into the room where Mindy was going to stay. The only thing in the room other than the two beds was the window on the wall; draped over it were clean, white curtains. The cobwebby ceiling was the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes to go to bed. Sirius slept down in the hall, just in case she needed him. She couldn't believe where she was. She couldn't even think that yesterday, she was a plain, old, Muggle called Jorden, and now she was half-way across the world, hardly knowing who she was or what she was doing there.

I don't know what you mean here either, I guess it's some nickname you made up.