Remus sighed heavily, plopping his body down onto the sofa. Today was the day. Today his daughter would graduate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It seemed to him impossible that she was old enough to be graduating. In fact, it felt like it was only yesterday that he saw her for the first time.
He opened the carved mahogany box in his hands. Inside, nestled in the crimson velvet lining of the chest, lay a pile of photos. Some were wizarding photographs, sporting moving images, while others were ordinary pictures taken with a muggle camera. The photos were a bit faded, and some were a little ragged at the edges, evidence that they had been handled or looked at quite often.
Remus's face broke into a broad grin at the sight of the photo in his hand. It was a picture of three young girls, all splattered in paint, but giggling and smiling for the camera. Below that picture was another, which featured one of the girls from the first photograph – Remus's daughter. She was the picture of perfectness, fast asleep clutching a bit of fuzzy blanket in her hands. Although she was almost fifteen in the photograph, she still looked the picture of childhood innocence.
Remus let his thoughts wander with that thought. He wondered what exactly Ashlynn had been like as a child. . .His memory returned to the day he had first met the girl who would eventually become his daughter. . .
BOOM!
Remus jumped as thunder crackled ominously outside the window of the Ministry of Magic. He glanced nervously around the small office. The desk in front of him was cluttered to capacity, overflowing with messy stacks of files, hastily scribbled notes, quills and scraps of parchment, and stray odds and ends. There were no knick-knacks or family photos, no sentimental ornaments or fancy baubles. This was the office of Alastor Moody, who felt that one's private life should not interfere with his duty to his work.
Thus, his office was straight-forward and down to business. And business was just why Remus found himself in Moody's office on the dreary Monday morning this story starts.
"Sorry about the mess, Lupin," Moody grumbled, stepping into the room. "As you know, the maintenance workers are threatening to strike, and we're just over run with the excess prisoners waiting to be carted off to Azkaban."
The war had ended some five months previously, but the Aurors were still busy rounding up convicted Death Eaters. Things were obviously quite hectic in the Ministry, as was apparent by the chaotic state of Moody's office.
"Anyway," Moody continued, giving Remus a scrutinizing look, "That's why I summoned you here, Lupin. I need a favor. We are in desperate need of space down in the dungeon. There are more prisoners than we can handle, and we have some people two to a cell down there."
Remus continued to stare at Alastor expectantly, wondering what sort of favor he was about to plead for.
"The other night we had a most peculiar case brought in. A twelve year old girl was brought in, convicted of being a Death Eater.'
"Only twelve?" Remus gaped.
"Yep. Anywho, the Wizengamot decreed that it would be unlawful to send a child to Azkaban to await trial, even if she has been proved a Death Eater. They ruled that either we must keep the girl here at the Ministry, or make arrangements to contain her elsewhere until her trial. So, since we are almost to the point to locking prisoners in the broom closets, do you think you could possibly keep her at your place?"
Remus gaped at him. Moody wanted him to harbor a convicted criminal for a week? Surely he'd gone mad. . .
"Please, Remus, we need the space. I will charm the door to her room to keep her contained, and it's only until next Monday morning," Moody looking pleadingly at Remus. The werewolf, defeated, sighed.
"I suppose," he said, a little crossly.
"Splendid!" Moody roared, clapping him on the back. "Good man, Lupin!"
Ten minutes later, the duo entered the Ministry's dungeon, where the holding cells were located. Many prisoners usually had to wait in the Ministry for several days before making the voyage to Azkaban. However, with so many cases and trials of Death Eaters still going on, the Ministry was holding much of Azkaban's overflow.
The smell of human stench assaulted Remus's delicate sense of smell as the walked down the narrow halls between the cells. The cells were nothing pretty to the eye – a cot with a grubby blanket, a small slimy sink, and a toilet – maybe ten feet by ten feet of space at the most.
They halted abruptly in front of one of the smaller cells, and Moody pulled a set of keys from his pocket. Selecting one, he unlocked the door. Inside, Remus could see a small figure asleep on the filthy cot. Moody went over and shook the girl awake, sitting her up and slapping magical handcuffs on her wrists.
He led her out of the cell, and Remus scrutinized the child. She was bedraggled, sporting slightly greasy hair and muddy clothes. Obviously she hadn't had the chance to shower since before her imprisonment. As the trio walked towards the elevators, she kept her eyes trained to the floor, not meeting anyone's eyes.
Her silence continued, and she did not even speak when they arrived at Remus's house via Floo powder.
"Where will she be staying?" Moody asked.
"Upstairs in the guest bedroom I suppose," he replied. "Follow me, it's this way."
The girl was safely stored in the bedroom and several spells had been cast on the door and window to thwart any escape attempts.
"Alright, then," Moody said. "Well, her name's Ashlynn. Like I said, she's twelve, but that doesn't mean you should let your guard down. Constant vigilance, Lupin. Don't trust her. Keep a close watch. And most of all, be careful. I'll be checking in with you periodically."
And with that, Moody apparated out of the house, leaving Remus alone with the child.
"Hello?" Remus called, stepping cautiously into his guest bedroom, wand held at ready, and shutting the charmed door behind him.
The girl – Ashlynn – was perched on the full size bed, leaning casually against the oak headboard, her dark copper colored hair falling into her eyes. She gazed silently up at him, wariness apparent in her amber eyes.
"Yes?" It was the first she had spoken since he had met her at the ministry.
"I just wanted to let you know that you will be staying here until your trial next week, and that if you attempt to escape and alarm will sound. Also, my name is Remus," he said, observing her.
She nodded solemnly and made no move. In the dim light from the lamp on the nightstand, Remus could see the mud caked onto her skin, and he could also discern some blood dried onto her clothes and skin from where she had been injured, presumably during her capture.
"If you want to clean up, there is a bathroom over there," he said, pointing toward the door across from the closet. "Let me clean your robes."
He pointed his wand at her and muttered "Scourgify!". The dirt and grubbiness of her clothing was washed away, but the plain black robes she wore were still rather tattered and raggedy.
"Do you need anything?" he asked.
She did not reply, instead shaking her head, her hair obscuring her face.
"Alright, then."
The rest of the night continued in that fashion. Whenever Remus checked on his charge, she was strangely silent, which he thought unusual for a Death Eater. Voldemort's Death Eaters were notorious for their rude, crude, and violent behavior, and it was also well-known that most who were captured did not come along quietly. Only once they had been given the Dementor's Kiss, or spent several days in Azkaban did they become subdued and quiet.
But then, he reminded himself, she is also a child.
Which led him to the question of why a twelve year old would join the Death Eaters to begin with. Even Pureblood families who were well-known to belong to the dark side would not allow a child that young to join Voldemort's ranks.
Well, it's not as if she was a high ranking official, Remus thought. The file Moody left says she was a lookout, an expendable soldier. Obviously she had not joined the Dark for the honor and prestige. Then why? Why was she a Death Eater?
He flipped the report he was clutching over and read that her parents had been found in there home brutally murdered. Had she killed her own parents? This made no sense to Remus. Whether it made sense or not, it would probably be enough to get her convicted on two counts of homicide, which would likely get her the Dementor's Kiss or life in Azkaban. Since she had not spoken at all to deny the charges, it was likely that she would in fact be found guilty as charged.
His head spinning with the puzzle, he turned to the next page, a prisoner profile. He read that Ashlynn was in her second year of Hogwarts, one of the best witches in her year, and a Quidditch player besides (According to the file she was a Seeker on the Ravenclaw team. Not the most spectacular player, but she was fairly good for a girl of twelve.)
Gryffindor? Not Slytherin? Top of the class? Something here is not quite right. Why would a brilliant girl murder her parents and then join Voldemort's legions. It just doesn't add up. Maybe tomorrow I can get some answers out of her. This mystery is beyond me.
He stood up and headed upstairs to get some much needed rest, leaving the mysterious report on the coffee table. It was nearing the wee hours of morning, and the rest of the puzzle would have to be unlocked in the morning.
Dawn came too soon for Remus's taste. The werewolf was awoken by the dazzling sunlight streaming onto his face, and as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he began to muse over the mystery of Ashlynn's background. He made the decision to try to extract some answers from her over breakfast.
That was why half an hour later he entered her bedroom, a small smile on his face and a tray of toast and orange juice in his hands. Ashlynn was once again propped against the headboard of the bed, as if she had never moved since the day before. The only evidence that she had strayed from her perch was the fact that the peach colored blanket was tossed across the bed, and she was now clean.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, taking in her small frame and her tiny body. She was really too thin for her age, and she had the air of someone who had been malnourished for some time.
She nodded in response, taking the tray he offered her in her slender hands and delicately beginning to nibble on a piece of toast. Remus sat down in the chair next to the bed, feeling very awkward. Ashlynn watched him closely, almost nervously.
"So, um, I've been reading your file that Moody left," Remus said, stumbling over the words. "It says you killed your parents. Is that true?"
He got no response. The girl stared down at her lap, offering no indication that she had even heard him speak.
"Why did you kill them?" he asked.
"I didn't."
The phrase was so softly spoken that for a moment he wondered if it had just been his imagination at work.
"What?"
"I said I didn't kill them," she repeated, raising her voice an octave to a more perceptible whisper.
"Who did then?" he prodded.
"I can't say."
"If you don't say who killed them you will most likely be sentenced to life in Azkaban," Remus said gently.
Ashlynn ignored him, staring out the window, a forlorn expression on her face.
"What did you join with Voldemort?"
Still she remained silent, gazing at the birds nesting in the oak tree branch just outside the window. All of his attempts at further questioning were ignored, and at last he gave up and retreated to the safety of his own bedroom down to hall.
So she claims innocence. Is she telling the truth? Could it even be possible that she murdered her parents? I wouldn't think a girl her age would be able to perform the Killing Curse, no matter how advanced a witch. When will I find out the truth?
He didn't have long to wait. . .
"Help! Help!"
Remus jerked awake, vaulting out of bed as the shrieks and bloodcurdling screams of terror continued. He raced out of his room and down the hall to Ashlynn's room where the yells were coming from.
Fumbling with the locks, he finally managed to wrench the door open. He was astonished to find Ashlynn fast asleep, in the throes of what was apparently a horrific nightmare.
The cream colored sheets were twisted around her body, and she thrashed around in terror, her face and hair damp with sweat. Remus was about to shake her awake, but stopped dead in his tracts as she uttered a pleading cry.
"Please, no! Don't take my parents! No, stop! I'll do anything, anything!" she screamed, still caught in the throes of the dream. "No! Please!"
She jerked awake, still wild with fright. Seeing Remus hovering over her, she leaped from the bed and in her panic clattered to the floor, still entwined in the bedcovers.
"Get away from me!" she howled, trying to drag herself away from him.
"Ashlynn, stop! Ashlynn! It's Remus, stop it! You were having a nightmare!" he pleaded.
She stopped, gazing at him as if she had only just recognized him.
"Oh!" she said softly. She disentangled herself from the bed sheets and climbed back into bed. "Oh, I'm sorry I woke you."
Ashlynn stared at him apprehensively, as if she expected him to lash out at her at any moment.
"That's alright," Remus said, deeply curious. "What were you dreaming about Ashlynn?"
"I-I-I don't remember," she stuttered, and it was clear that she was lying.
"You were telling someone to stop. You mentioned your parents and how you didn't want someone to take them," he prodded.
"I-" she broke off, her mind clouded with panic.
"Ashlynn, what happened to your parents? How did they die?" he asked gently.
She was silent, and Remus feared that she was lapsing into one of her mute episodes again, when she spoke.
"He killed them."
The response was soft, laborious as if it took a great effort to utter the words. It was obvious the memory caused her a great deal of pain.
"Who?" Remus breathed.
"Voldemort."
Okay, Remus thought, this is making the kind of sense that's not. And she just called Voldemort by his proper name, when most Death Eaters refer to him as their master.
"What? Ashlynn what is going on? What happened to make you a Death Eater? What's the story?"
She sighed, and looked up at him. Finally, realizing she was caught, she nodded.
"Alright, I'll tell you. You see, on the night my parents died. . ."
Flashback
Ashlynn rolled over in bed, unable to shake the eerie feeling she was experiencing. Tomorrow she was going back to Hogwarts, and perhaps the nervousness she now felt was a byproduct of that. Every noise seemed amplified – the steady drip-drop of water from the leaky faucet in the bathroom, the crick-crick of a sparrow landing on a tree outside, the creaky sounds of the house settling.
Somehow she felt ill at ease, as if something was horribly wrong.
You're being crazy. Its just your imagination and nothing else, she told herself firmly.
"AHHH!"
Ashlynn bolted upright, hearing her mother's piercing scream. Heart racing, she bolted from her bedroom, grabbing her wand from her bedside table along the way. Feeling her way through the pitch-dark hallway, she made her way to her parents' room.
Reaching the doorway, she let out a tiny gasp. Silhouetted against the moonlight was the black clad figure of Lucius Malfoy. Her mother was writhing in on the floor, his wand pointed at her heart. Ashlynn's father was standing over his wife in a panic.
Seeing the youngest member of the family, Lucius grinned maliciously. Abandoning his torture of her mother, he uttered one phrase "Avadra Kedavra".
Her mother fell to the floor, lifeless, her eyes staring blankly up at the chipped white ceiling. Ashlynn's own eyes widened in horror and revulsion.
"No, please!" she begged, as he turned toward her father.
"No!" her father screamed. But before he could make another sound, his lifeless body fell to the floor alongside his wife's corpse.
Lucius now turned toward Ashlynn, advancing slowly toward her.
"Please don't!" she pleaded, panicking as she realized these may be her last moments alive.
"Oh, little one, I'm sorry, but the master ordered all of you Muggle-Lovers dead. Anyone who will not join the master shall die."
"Please, no! I'll do anything!" she shrieked.
"Anything? Join You-Know-Who perhaps?" he smirked.
End Flashback
"So that's how I became a Death Eater," she finished, somewhat lamely.
He sat in shock for a moment, listening to her tale. Before he could speak, however, Moody's head appeared in the fireplace.
"Remus! Urgent news! The girl's trial has been moved up to tomorrow!" Moody said gruffly.
"What?"
"Apparently the Wizengamot wanted the case solved as quickly as possible," he replied.
"Alastor, I think there are a few things you should know," Remus said slowly. "How about you meet me downstairs?"
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute," Moody replied, somewhat puzzled.
And so it was that twenty minutes later Mad-Eye Moody was gaping at him from across the kitchen table.
"And she swears this is the truth?" he queried.
"She swears it's the truth."
"Well, this changes everything. If the jury has enough sympathy for the child she may very well be acquitted."
"That's good, isn't it?"
"Yes and no. If in fact what you've just told me is the truth, and she does get off, she is now a ward of the state as she is an orphan. Good grief, this case is turning into a nightmare," Moody dropped his head into his hands, massaging his forehead.
"So what do we do now?" Remus asked curiously.
"We wait for the outcome of the trial," Moody responded. "That's all we can do."
The next morning dawned bright and early. By noon everyone was assembled in the court room for the hearing. A swarm of witches and wizards had turned out to see the infamous twelve-year-old Death Eater. People were piled into the seats above the jury, talking excitedly to one another and predicting the outcome of the trial.
Remus was sitting next to Moody, his attendance almost compulsory because of the fact that he had been jailer to the defendant. Ashlynn herself was led into the center of the room and chained to a chair. The questioner, who was an older man in his mid-fifties, moved forward.
"She has been given a dose of Veritaserum," he announced to the room at large. "The trial will now begin."
The first questions were obvious, things like Ashlynn's full name, age, grade, etc.; then the harder questions were asked.
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"Yes."
"Did you join Voldemort willingly?"
"No."
The answer caused a stir in the crowd, and the judge had to bang his gavel several times to restore order.
"If you would continue, Richard," he said, motioning to the questioner.
"Why did you join Voldemort, then?"
"He sent a Death Eater to kill my family, and the Death Eater threatened to kill me unless I joined."
Ashlynn's voice was flat and devoid of emotion, a side-effect of the Veritaserum. It was eerie to see her speak in such a detached way about the subject of her parents' murders, and it was even stranger still to see the blank look in her eyes as she stared straight ahead, looking at the crowd, but not really seeing what was in front of her.
"Who was this Death Eater? Are you aware?"
"Lucius Malfoy."
"I see," the man shuffled the sheets of parchment in his hands. "Isn't it true that you have killed, maimed, and murdered?"
"No. I was a lookout for Voldemort, nothing more."
"And you've never used any of the Unforgivables?"
"I tried to use the Imperius Curse once, to save myself from an Auror, but it didn't work. It was too hard of a spell."
The questioner glanced at the judge.
"That will be all."
The judge nodded, and the courtroom burst into whispers and murmurs.
"Order! Order in the court! The jury will now vote - guilty or not guilty."
He turned to face the jury, which was comprised of a variety of witches and wizards of varying ages. Some were looking impassioned, others impassive. One man looked rather as though he had dozed off.
"All those who vote guilty?"
Five of the twelve adults raised their hands.
"All those who vote not guilty?"
The seven remaining members raised their hands.
The judge nodded, muttering to himself.
"The not guilties have it. The child will be released from the court's custody and put into the care of the Ministry pending her possible adoption. Case closed."
An hour later Remus was standing with Moody in his kitchen. Ashlynn was up in her room, which was now devoid of the various locks and alarms placed on it. Moody was looking extremely worried, and rambling on and on.
"What am I supposed to do with the girl? Answer me that! Someone has to take her! I don't have time for this!"
Remus, meanwhile, was blatantly ignoring the Auror's ramblings. He was too busy considering his own feelings about the situation. Of course he felt sorry for the child. She'd lost both of her parents and nearly been sent to prison. However, he wasn't sure he could take her in. A kid was a huge responsibility and Remus was not at all sure it was a responsibility he was ready for. If he was to care for her would he be able to properly insure her safety during the full moons? Did he have the money to pay for school fees and new clothes and other things a growing girl would need?
"I mean its not as if I can adopt her-" Moody was still babbling on.
At last Remus decided that it couldn't hurt to give caring for Ashlynn at try. She would be his foster child, after all, and if it didn't work out, then it didn't work out. Besides, he was not at all certain that anyone else would be willing to adopt a child who had been a Death Eater and most certainly carried emotional scarring from watching the deaths of her parents.
"Moody," he said. The older man, too worked up over the current situation, didn't hear him. "Moody! Alastor!"
"What's that Remus?"
"I will take her in," he said.
There. He'd said it.
"Wonderful! Thank you so much Remus! You have no idea how much else I have on my plate right now. This is such a relief! I'll get the paperwork done immediately."
Remus nodded, though he wasn't really paying attention. As Moody continued to talk about things like paperwork, child support payments from the Ministry, and certification. Why was he getting himself into?
Author's Note: This story was on before, but it has not been edited and is going to a different place than before, as the old plot was not working out! Most of the plot points from before, including Sirius babysitting and both of Ashlynn's friends will still be in the story, though. See my profile for more details. I hope you liked it! Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome!