Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and if I did there would be some mild changes to the plot line but since it is fanfiction, I do have a sense of control.
Author's Note: This is my second Harry Potter fanfic, I don't recommend reading my first one Nocte Venatores. It's just a mess to be completely honest with you all. I'm considering taking it down revamping it and then publishing it again or just getting rid of it all together. I did considerable amounts of research for that piece but I just am not quite satisfied with it yet. I will get there eventually. Anyways, carry on my wayward children. This piece takes place just after the fall of Grindelwald and before Voldemort's rise to power.
Characters: Helena Katharine (OC), Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, Rosston Reddingwall (OC) and possible others as the story progresses along.
Summary: An innocent child born from powerful wizards has no idea how she's changed the course of the recent, developing wizarding war. Will she be able to defeat the newest threat to the wizarding world? Or will she fall along with others?
Rating: T for mild depiction of violence. (Rating may change throughout the course of this story.)
Trigger warning: Mention of Blood
28th August 1973
Her heart was beating ferociously; she thought it was going to beat out of her chest as she made her way towards Professor McGonagall's office. She felt the blood and sweat trickling down her legs with every step. Her heart beat faster and faster the closer she got. The sweat that dripped into her eyes didn't seem to alter her pace in the slightest, she only became faster. Well as fast as you can whilst cradling a newborn child.
The newborn. The baby needed a name, her daughter needed a name. She would name her after her mother whom she loved dearly and remained most loyal to? No, she couldn't, she couldn't follow the family tradition when naming her child. She needed one that meant a lot to her yet still represented royalty. Helen? No.. Helena.; Helga and Rowena, two of the most powerful sorcerers to grace the Earth. Salazar forgive me.
McGonagall would give her a proper full name. Minerva was good at that. Minerva? Since when did she become Minerva? Minerva seemed the motherly type though she has never mentioned her children nor even her family. Did she even have children or a family?
The infant in her arms began to stir. She stopped for a brief moment to look at the child in her arms. 'Am I making the right decision? It's not too late to turn back.' Her thoughts interrupted by the wailing of Helena in her arms. As she approached, her thoughts raced around the pitch in her head and her hand raised to the door with obvious hesitation. Her heart beating in her ears, everything seemed to slow. She turned back towards the corridor she came from when McGonagall's office door opened.
"Who's there?" Her hearing dissipated, and she slowly turned back towards the voice that called for her. When she turned towards the professor, they made eye contact and Minerva gasped at the sight before her. "My dear whose child is that?" Her mouth began to water, and the words burned at the back of her throat begging for release. She needed a friend, could she trust her? Trust, ha, interesting word. So hard to earn yet so easily lost. The word was innocent yet complicated and toxic. Trust was, in her mind, her greatest downfall. She was so easy to trust those around her, yet it was stomped on numerous times by those she had trusted. Trust, a fickle being at best. The professor spoke again but more softly this time, "It's okay love, you can trust me."
There was that word again. Trust, she laughed deviously. "Trust? Why would you give me your trust when I have been nothing but cruel to you? I haven't earned your trust, it's something earned not given." She shook her head. She'd been nothing shy of awful to the professor yet why was the professor was willing to drop everything and lend her a hand when she was most vulnerable? She had successfully tossed that all away.
"My dear girl, you don't have to trust me. Like you said, trust must be earned, but I am offering you another chance and lending you a hand when you need it. I told you I would always be here for you no matter what." Minerva sighed and looked at her feet taking a moment to gather herself as she knew what was coming, the harsh blow from the girl she'd watched over for the last eight years. Watched her grow from a primary school girl into a young adult. The blow never came, Minerva cautiously raised her head towards the young girl and noticed the horrifying thoughts running through her head beginning to unfold. The pieces began to fit, the blood and sweat began to pool at the girl's feet. "I need to get you to hospital, you're bleeding."
"No please," Her voice laced with panic. "Nobody's to know of my bearing of a child. Please, just trust me. Her life is in danger. We're all going to be in danger if she stays with me. I'm doing her more harm than good. Please" She felt tears sting the back of her eyes.
"Trust," Minerva laughed softly. "such a funny word in my opinion." Her eyes quickly connected with blue and the tears began to flow from the girl standing before her. "Is she yours?"
"Yes." Her walls began to crack. "I can't say who her father is, but I can tell you that he is very dangerous and will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. There's already been so many innocent lives lost because of her. I don't want anyone else to die because of me or Helena…" She walked up to the professor and held Helena up to her. "Please take care of her. If she stays with me, a lot more people will die, and I don't want that for anyone. I know you'll take excellent care of her, you've taken care of me since I was a shy little first year even though I wasn't even in your house. It takes great admiration, true love and bravery to go above and beyond for somebody who was downright nasty to them. Fitting as you're a Gryffindor. Would you consider making an unbreakable vow with me? To ensure that you will keep her safe?"
Minerva, despite numerous attempts, could never bear a child and that broke her heart every day. She vowed that she would watch and protect every student that passed through Hogwarts as if they were her own children even the nastiest witches and wizards the came and went, she still viewed them as her own. This may well have been her only and final chance at having her own child and she seized it without hesitation.
"That won't be necessary my dear. I will raise her as my own." Minerva looked and the beautiful green eyed, blond child in her arms and she felt a great rush course through her body, she felt the sorrows wash away from her being.
"Thank you, can I hold her one last time?" Minerva handed over Helena and the girl began to tear up.
"You can still be a part of her life."
"No I can't." She handed Helena back. "Like I said earlier, I would be doing more harm than good by keeping her. Once her father finds out that she actually survived, he will do everything in his power to find her which means more innocent people will die. I myself will die once he learns the truth and I couldn't bear the thought of my daughter losing her mother because of my history. She must not know of me until her father is gone from this world or better yet, it's best that she not know of me at all. It would spear the three of us the heartbreak." She felt the second wave of tears bring forth.
"Who is her father?"
"Someone more powerful and hateful, he makes Grindelwald out to be a saint. That's all I can say, I am magically bound to keep her father's identity hidden. I- Just please, Minerva, tell me you will do everything you can to keep her safe. Please let me do the right thing for once, we both know I haven't made the wisest decisions during my course at Hogwarts." She tried to keep her composure, but she felt it slipping through the cracks. "I'm begging you. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you since I was a young child. You were only trying to protect me, and I tossed it back in your face like typical Slytherin scum. I understand if you never forgive me. I don't expect you to. I won't be able to forgive myself." She turned on her heel and ran as fast as her legs would carry her leaving Minerva standing there with unspoken words. Minerva stared into the eyes of her child. Her child, that would take some time. She looked back where the girl was standing as if she were still there and whispered into the empty corridor.
"I forgive you Narcissa."
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. Chapter 1 will be up soon. The more I hear from you all, the faster I'll update. :)