A/N: Alright, I should have mentioned this in the last chapter. The whole reason Voldemort even wants an heir is because of the whole 'just in case' factor. At this time he still does not know of the prediction Trelawny will make about him, and he does have the horocrux's, this is just another precaution like they are. Think of it as if he were planning to train his heir to know how to bring him back to full body with the horocrux's if he were to die. He would need someone to do that right? The reason Dumbledore has a daughter? Even though he is gay? Well…cause it's a fanfic and I can do that! I do not own Harry Potter, or the characters names, just Josephine in general…absolutely nothing that has to do with Harry Potter though sadly. One last note, Josephine's birthday is May 8th 1980. I choose that day for personal reasons, nothing to do with Harry Potter at all. It also helped with making sense to help me fit her into the same age as Harry and his friends. That is all! Oh wait, one more thing, French speak will be like this English will be like this.
Chapter 2
It was just over a year later that the famous Harry Potter caused the evil Lord Voldemort to disappear. Though no one knew exactly what happened, it was a night that marked history forever in the wizarding world. Most celebrated this great occasion; however, some, like Dumbledore, did not see this as the end. He knew that Voldemort would return one day and that was why he put Harry Potter in the custody of the Dursley's. That was why, even though Voldemort was claimed dead, he left his granddaughter in the orphanage he had placed her in a year and five months previously.
After Dumbledore left the forest that night he went to a little orphanage just on the border of France. It was a wizarding orphanage for children of wizarding parents to go to when they were either no longer wanted or their parents died. Dumbledore wanted to keep Josephine with him, to raise her like he had his daughter, but that had failed once and he did not want to fail again. She needed more protection than even he could ever offer. It was why he decided to leave her at this orphanage, for her protection. He had left her on the doorstep wrapped in a blanket with a note upon her.
Morning had not yet awakened before Josephine was discovered on the doorstep by a young woman. Her name was Angela Kadic, the mistress of the orphanage. She was always the first one up, and the last one to bed, so naturally it would have been she who would open the door to find Miss. Josephine resting on the doorstep. She was in no way prepared to discover the new edition to the orphanage on her porch….Josephine Jane Aquliano.
Just over fifteen years have passed since Josephine was brought to the orphanage on her birthday. After all of those years Dumbledore had never forgotten one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. The memory of his daughter dying, and then having to give up his granddaughter was something that haunted him every night, but he knew it had to be this way for Josephine's safety. That was how it was supposed to be; however, now situations have changed. Just a few weeks ago the boy who lived, Harry Potter, had come back from a graveyard and announced to the wizarding world that Voldemort had returned and Cedric Diggory was dead. Ever since that night, after making sure Harry was going to be okay, Dumbledore had been contemplating what to do about Josephine. He was sure that Voldemort, since he had failed at killing Harry for the umpteenth time, would start up a search for his heir. Though he was sure Voldemort had no idea where to look for her, or that his heir was even a female at all, he still did not feel that Josephine was safe at the orphanage anymore. She did not have the same protections on her that Harry Potter did from Voldemort, so she would be easier to find. He needed to make sure she was as safe as Harry Potter was, and the only way to do that was to bring her here.
Dumbledore had already come up with a plan, but he needed help. The only problem was that the only people who knew about Josephine were himself, and his trusted friend Mad-Eye Moody. It was frightening when he had figured out that Moody had been imprisoned, and was being forced to give the imposter information about Harry. He was worried as to what Barty Crouch Jr. might had found out about Josephine through him, but it was too late to ask him in private if he had passed on any information to Voldemort before he was kissed by the dementor. He had asked Mad-Eye if he remembered anything he might have told Barty that could give her away, but Mad-Eye could not remember much. Moody was going through enough pain right now, so he could not help with this plan anyway. No, Dumbledore needed someone else, someone younger to help, and that was why Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were knocking on the door to his office right now.
After a lot of thought, and consideration, Dumbledore decided that he really could trust these two with the information he needed to share with them.
"Come in," Dumbledore said as he sat back in the chair behind his desk. His hands had been holding his head up underneath his chin before that, and for now he placed has hands on his desk and folded them together.
The door opened and in walked Remus and Tonks. The two walked closely together as they approached Dumbledore's desk expectantly. Neither knew what was going to come from this meeting, they had just received a letter at their houses insisting that they both come tonight as soon as possible. They had only been home a few short hours before they had gotten the letter; because they had been helping set up the new headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix that Dumbledore was trying to get back together. The time has been rough these past few weeks, and they did not know what else could be needed of them.
"Thank you, both for coming; I know that I have been asking a lot of you. As well as Mrs. Weasley, I'm sure, back at the new headquarters; however, I do apologize, but I must ask one more thing of you. I know that does not sound like much, but please keep in mind that this task is very dangerous. I need you both to keep a very open mind about all of this, and understand that I cannot give you all of the details. I also ask that you keep in mind that you two are the only two I trust with this, and that is a great deal on my part."
Dumbledore had not wasted any time in getting to his point. He waited for them both to respond to what he had just suggested to them. Remus had looked over at Tonks, who had instantly done the same to him. Both of them where uneasy about what Dumbledore was going to ask of them, but Remus already knew what his answer would be. He owed Dumbledore more than he could ever repay back, and he would do whatever he could to help his old mentor, his friend. "Of course Dumbledore, we will do anything to help." Remus said, as Tonks had nodded in agreement with him.
"Good, than please sit for this is a long story…" Dumbledore said, as he sighed in relief. He closed his eyes and thought back to where he wanted to start.
"Voldemort," He paused while Tonks flinched at what he had said but then continued, "Has a past that only he and very few other people know about. Myself being one of them, as well as Harry Potter learning more about him every year; I know more about him than he would ever think anyone would know. I know that he has an heir."
Dumbledore paused again. He let Remus and Tonks take this information in, the looks on their face were ones to be expected. Shock was one of them, which was mixed with a little fear, and curiosity. After a moment, he continued, "I am sure you are wondering how, or why this is true. I will inform you only that this child was not conceived willfully by the mother, and that she died giving birth. "
"To make a rather long story short, just before she delivered the child, she had escaped Voldemort's grasp and came here, the only place she thought she would be safe. I was lucky enough to find her before anyone else did, and helped her deliver her child; right outside of the Forbidden Forest. "
He paused again when Tonks opened her mouth to ask a question, but he did not allow her to ask. He simply raised his hand and said, "Please wait for questions, I am not done with my story…I promise I will do my best to answer questions later."
"Now…as I was saying, I had delivered the baby, and tried to save the woman's life, but I was unsuccessful. With her dying breath, she named her baby and asked me to protect the child from Voldemort. It was, alas, her dying wish."
"And so I did, I took the child to France and left the baby, with a few spells for protection of course, on the doorsteps of an orphanage there, with a letter explaining that this baby needed care. I have not seen the child since, and when Voldemort fell, I knew that would not be the last of him so I left his heir there for safety reasons. To my knowledge the child, now teenager remains there to this day." He finished his story peering over his half-moon glasses at the young couple in front of him.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking" Tonks finally said, "What is the child's name? Is it safe to assume You-Know-Who had a boy?" She asked.
"I was surprised when the child was born Tonks, I like yourself, expected a boy, but when I held the new born in my arms that night, I was proud to name the child Josephine Riddle." He answered. "Of course, that is not what she is known as at the orphanage, the now fifteen year old girl is known as Josephine Jane Aquliano, though threw the news I have received throughout the years she prefers to go by Joey, must be a French thing." He said dismissing it with a small smile and the wave of his hand. His expression changed as they went back to the topic at hand.
"With that information, you must understand that with certain things in light now Josephine's whereabouts may no longer be safe. Mad-Eye was the only other person to know about her, and if younger Barty had found out and told Voldemort, she could be in just as much danger as Harry Potter is, if not more. For her safety though, I still do not want her to know who her parents are just yet, not when Voldemort just came back…I do want her here, and that is where you come in." He paused to let them take this all in.
"So…you want us, to bring Voldemort (Tonks flinched again) daughter here? How? Where will she stay? How do we know she isn't just like her father, even if he did not raise her?" Remus asked curiously, he had a feeling he knew where this was going though.
"First, I have secretly been keeping tabs, with Moody's help, throughout the years as to how she has been. I, myself, taught Voldemort as a student here, back when he was known as Tom Riddle. I know what he was like, what he used to do, and going by my word alone I can promise you that young Josephine is almost nothing like her father…it is under my assumption that she is like her mother, who I also knew as a child and was a very wonderful person." He said quietly, if Tonks and Remus did not know any better, it sounded as if he knew her rather well, whoever she was.
"Now, this is the reason I told all of you this much, I want you two, to go to the orphanage, pose as a couple, and adopt Josephine. This week, if you can, please. Tonks you can use your morphing powers to pose as someone just a little older so that it would look believable to the orphanage that you are ready to adopt. Remus I will provide you with a polyjuice potion to change your appearance into someone else, I will provide the hairs of someone no problem. Then I want you to bring her to a home I will set up for the three of you, and keep her on a need to know basis. If she does not need to know, do not tell her. Just, as the muggles would tell their children, play house for a few short weeks. "He explained seriously, Dumbledore waited to see if they had anything else to say, and then continued,
"When the time comes in September, I will have her transfers finished and she will attend Hogwarts, entering in her fifth year. I cannot ask anyone else, especially since you two now know…so please…help her." He said peering over his half moon glasses at them as he waited for them to decide.
Angela Kadic had been able to easily figure out that the night Josephine was left on the doorstep of Kadic Wizarding Orphanage of France was the same night that she was born; just by her size alone. She also cast a spell designed to help with situations like though, which told her when Josephine was exactly born. Josephine had grown up to be a beautiful, well-behaved child, who then went on to be a well-mannered teenager. She is one of the longest members of the orphanage, and that was because she had her mind set on how she wanted to get out of this orphanage.
You see, Josephine has always been curious about her past. Ever since she could speak she had always asked her teachers and the mistress where she had come from. All those hard questions of what had happened to her parents, and why she was here. Even after Angela, her husband, and the other workers at the orphanage had all told Josephine that they did not know where she came from, she still did not stop asking. The only clue's she had where the note that was left with her as a baby, and the fact that she always spoke with in an English accent, even though she had never been to England. She was naturally fluent in both languages, which was a wonder to all the witches and wizards at the orphanage. All of them spoke French, which was what they raised Josephine as, but only one or two of the workers spoke English, and yet she had learned to speak it as if she was raised there. So, the staff had come to the conclusion that Josephine's parents must be from England. That was all she had to go on, and that was all she needed. Ever since then Josephine had been dead set and getting out of Kadic and going to England to find her parents, she just did not know how to get there just yet.
Josephine's goal was to go to England, no matter what. She has not allowed herself to be viewed by other parents who have come in looking to adopt because she did not want to be stuck anywhere else she did not have to be. Once a British couple had come in looking for a child to adopt, and Josephine had thought of going with them, but by the time she had made up her mind they had already chosen someone else. She has not seen another couple from Britain come in since. Judging by her age though, Josephine is not really expecting to be adopted at all anymore, and just is trying to enjoy her time left at the orphanage before she turns seventeen and is on her own from there.
She is unaware though that her plans might just change, today.
Right now all the other orphans at the orphanage, mostly the younger ones, where getting ready to meet a few new parents that where going to be coming in. It was a big day, that only happened once a month, and Josephine was sitting on the porch outside the orphanage reading a book.
She looked quite comfortable as she sat there with her feet crossed in front of her, and her elbows resting on the arms of the chair, holding her book up. She was dressed in muggle clothing, casual. Just a pair of denim jeans and a short sleeved red tank top. She had sneakers on, and a sweat shirt that she had been wearing was lying on the floor by her feet. She had long brown hair, which came down past her shoulders. It was straight all the way to the end when a few waves teased the bottom of her hair, and very nicely maintained. Her facial features were what she considered normal, but others have always told her she had beautiful, slim, and long features. Though it was a little hard to tell with her sitting down, she was very tall for her age; and even as she sat in that chair she looked as graceful as a cat. Her brilliantly bright blue eyes scanned the page as she continued to read her book.
She could hear the younger ones running around inside getting ready, and a few playing excitedly outside in front of her. Their feet where hitting the floor boards with a loud thud each time they ran past, and she could hear them all talking loudly about what to expect, or what they should say, or do. Josephine remembered when she was there age, she never had that excitement. She had been afraid if she was taken away from this orphanage, than who ever left Josephine here might not know where to find her. Now, she wants to find them. That would just have to wait.
As Josephine turned the page to her book, she could hear the swishing sound of something coming through the air. She looked up to see six brooms heading their way, and in a matter of seconds, the brooms touched down on the grounds in front of the orphanage. Josephine smiled, and closed her book as she stood up. The children that were playing outside paused for only a moment before continuing their games, hoping to catch the attention of any of the couples that just arrived. Placing the book down on the chair she had been sitting in, she picked up her sweat shirt and walked down to the bottom of the steps. Normally it would be Angela Kadic, or her husband Tom, who greeted the parents, but they were inside still getting the children ready. Josephine had been through this enough to know it would be okay if she greeted them for the Master and Mistress.
"Hello, welcome to Kadic, Wizarding orphanage of France; my name is Joey. I'm an orphan here, and it is very nice to meet you all…" She said pleasantly as she let them look over everything.
Among the group were three couples. This actually quite a large group to be visiting the orphanage; normally there would only be one set of parents, or maybe two coming to adopt and even that was rare, but Josephine did not complain. The more couples, the more chances the younger children inside had of getting parents. To the right of Josephine, the first to land was a small couple. They were just about as tall as Josephine, but not the normal size you would think of for adults. The woman had short, curly dark hair. She had a little bit of weight to her, while her husband was just as chubby, he had no hair. They smiled at Josephine, but did not say anything to her as they looked around the grounds.
The couple in the middle was a little friendlier than the older ones next to them. Though, at least the male, did not look as well off as the other couple. He was tall, balding, but he still had some dirty blonde hair. He had a mustache, and a nice suit. You could tell it had been worn a lot though from the creases in the jacket. He looked very homely as he walked up to Josephine and extended his hand to her. His wife, who had followed, looked just a friendly. She was taller than her husband, but not by much. Today, her hair was a light blonde color, and she looked about the same age as than the man was. Her smile was bright, and friendly, very welcoming Josephine had noticed.
"Hello, my name is James, and this is my wife Lily." He said extending his hand. Josephine was surprised to hear that he spoke in broken French, and that his accent was English. His wife spoke the same.
"It is nice to meet you Joey." She said looking up at the dark wooden building behind them.
The orphanage was quiet nice looking. It was not extravagant like the Hogwarts castle, or like a mansion of some sort. It was just a very tall, wooden, house, with a lot of windows. Some of the windows were open, while others remained closed, but you could still see inside of them. You could tell that this place was lived in; the door was big and well used. The lawn looked like it needed some caring, but when you have children running around on it; it kind of makes it difficult. All in all, it was not a bad place to live.
The third couple, that Josephine had not had a chance to see, had finally come up and spoken. It was a husband and wife, like the other couples, but they did not seem as friendly or as kind as the other two. Both of them where very tall, had dark hair, and dark eyes. They had a dreary look on their face, as if they were already bored and ready to leave. When they came up to James, Lily, and Josephine it was the man who spoke.
"We are here to see your Headmistress, Angela Kadic. I trust you can run along and fetch her for us." He said. He was speaking French, but Josephine, who was fluent in both languages, could hear his English accent behind it. She could also tell that he was trying to hide it. For some reason, she did not trust them, and unbeknownst to her the man called James and the woman Lily did not like the looks of them either.
"Of course I can, Sir…but they are currently finishing getting the children ready inside, and I am sure they have already been alerted to your presence, they should be along any moment, but until then, I can help you with the beginning process of this for I have been here long enough to know how this works." She said calmly, but you could tell by the small flash in her eyes that she was not pleased by his tone, when she finished speaking to him she flashed a small smile to the other couple who had come up and obviously were French so they just waited like instructed for the mistress and her husband to come out. Josephine, however, had turned her attention to the couple in the middle.
"If you do not mind, I happened to catch your English accent when you were trying to speak with me before. I am fluent in both languages and can help you with interpreting if you like? Our headmistress is not that great with other languages, and the only other ones here who speak it are probably busy handling the nursery or cooking." Joey said kindly. The man named James seemed more relaxed when she said that.
"That would be greatly appreciated Joey. My wife and I heard of this orphanage through a friend and thought we would come and check it out, but we were misinformed of the fact that it was located in France! I'm sure you could imagine our surprise when that happened." He said with a small laugh. His personality was coming out to Joey as he spoke, and she really liked him, he seemed like a very nice man.
Before anyone could say anything else elderly woman came out of the orphanage as the door swung open. They could still hear voices of the children inside, and the young ones that were out here ran up to her and started to be directed inside by the elderly gentlemen that was coming out from behind Angela Kadic. She was a tall, stern looking older woman, who had kindness shinning out of her eyes. She had grey hair that was the length of her shoulders, and bright brown eyes that shone with years of experience. She eyed the three couples from across the lawn as she approached. She smiled when she got closer, and eyed Josephine as she approached.
"I do hope this older child here was not being too annoying. She likes to help out a lot, but can be a little over excited sometimes!" said Angela. It was the older plumper couple that spoke this time,
"Oh no not all, she was very pleasant-"then they were cut off by the rather snobbish couple that had come in
"It is about time Mrs. Kadic, I am Walden Macnair of the Ministry of Magic in England, we have spoken through letters for the past week or so and this is my wife Bella Macnair." He said not giving a damn about the other two parents that are not here. If he had, he might have noticed the look that 'James' and 'Lily' had given each other when he announced who he was. Both knew exactly who he really was, but had never seen his face before, which was why they did not pick up on it right away. 'James', who was really Remus using the potion that Dumbledore had given him, and 'Lily', who was Tonks, knew that Macnair was really a death eater and working for the ministry as a spy for Voldemort. When Dumbledore had told them about this mission, he said it might be dangerous, but they had not expected a death eater to be here this very same week! That just led them to believe that Dumbledore's suspicion that Voldemort had gotten something out of Mad-Eye Moody when he was captured was true. They just hoped he had not said much more than to check this place out. With what Mrs. Kadic said next, their assumption was right.
"Yes, you were the curious couple asking for an older boy! Curious, most indeed, but welcome none the less, yes my Husband will be the one to help you, he was waiting inside to show you around for the specific children you were looking for. Just go right along in there, and he will help you." She said pointing up the stairs where Mr. Kadic was waiting patiently. With a grunt, Macnair grabbed his wife's hand rather roughly and lead her up the stairs.
Mrs. Kadic turned back to the other couples and Joey. She smiled at them and turned to Joey who had spoken up before anyone. "Madam, this couple here does not speak French very well. I am more than happy to help them with showing them around the orphanage if you would like. They speak English you see, so I can be very helpful!" Josephine said with a smile, offering her help was what she usually did here.
"Yes, that would be most helpful Josephine, seeing as that I am not very fluent in your other language, and then I can help this couple here. So, go ahead and find me if they have an interest in one of the children. Now, how can I help the two of you…" she said turning to the first couple while Joey turned back to 'James' and 'Lily'.
"I was just speaking with Mrs. Kadic, if you did not mind; I got permission to show you around while she helps them out." Joey said kind as she smiled at them.
Remus and Tonks were sure once Josephine introduced herself that this was who Dumbledore was looking for. Besides her name being Joey, she looked the same age, and from the picture of Tom Riddle that Dumbledore had shared with them to have an idea of what she might look like, she looked almost just like him. With the dark brown hair, and her beautifully handsome features like her fathers in the picture, with the exception of her extraordinary blue eyes that seemed to shine with light, almost in a familiar sort of way. They felt rather lucky, besides Macnair being there, to have her show them around while they tried to think of a way to ask her to come home with them.
"That would be lovely Joey." Tonks said as she took her 'husbands' hand. It felt nice in her. Tonks had been growing fond of Remus and there time together, it had only been for a few weeks now, ever since Dumbledore had called the order together to get help in fighting Voldemort, but she liked his company, and she felt very happy to be on this mission with him.
Remus and Tonks amused Joey with their tour of the orphanage. They pretended to be interested in the younger children as she showed them around, introducing them to the children around. Both adults felt bad for the children here. Tonks even found herself wishing that she could adopt a real child, if under different circumstances. Today, however, they had to pretend to be more interested in older children. The older the children, the more interested they acted, until Joey had introduced them to one of the ten year olds and they had kindly rejected did they bring up what they were really looking for.
"All the children here seem wonderful, but it would be difficult for us to take on a young child. You see, with both of us working full time jobs, we want to adopt, and we are sure that all of these children will find good homes with other parents…we were, well, more interested in a teenager. We had specifically come here because we heard about the older children here and wanted to meet some of them." Tonks said offhandedly.
Joey was taken aback by what they had said. She was slightly surprised by this. They did not seem that old, definitely close to the age that most parents who come in here looking for a younger child, but they were asking for older. It almost seemed like they wanted someone around her age. Joey dared to think for a moment that because they were from England that she might get to go back with them to their country, but she wanted to be fair to the other kids here that were her age.
"Well…Mr. Kadic was already showing all the older boys to that other couple that had arrived with you. They specifically asked, and donated a lot to the orphanage to see all our boys around my age here. Mind you, there are not many…it was quite strange…really. We don't get many people willing to take us older kids…and now two in one day, but I might be able to see if some of the girls my age wanted to come down. We try to not get our hopes up mind you…" Joey said, starting to ramble. She was not even supposed to know about the donation that the orphanage got, but Joey knew a lot more here than she should. She always seemed to have a way to get information from the older people here, even when she was younger.
Remus had taken the hint from Tonks and went with this act to try and get Joey to catch on. He smiled kindly at her, and said "Well, what about you Joey? Were you interested in being adopted…I mean we live in England and we know that is far away, so you might not get to see your friends very much…and in the fall we'd have to enroll you in the wizard school by us, Hogwarts, I dunno if you've heard of it, but it's a really good school. You have been so kind to us while we were here." Remus finished.
"We'd be honored to have you Joey." Tonks said.
If Joey was stunned before, she was floored now. She did not know what to say. Never, in the fifteen years that she had been here, had anyone offered to adopt her as their child. She did not know what to say. She was torn. It was like her dreams were coming true, but it was a dream. Two very nice people, that she felt like she could trust right off the bat, where asking her to come and live with them, and to send her to a school she had only heard about. A school she had dreamed of attending! She was torn because a part of her was afraid to leave the orphanage. She did not want to leave incase her parents came to look for her. She was in the middle of her lost thoughts when Mrs. Kadic surprised her even more by walking into the room, after over hearing the conversation, and giving her own input.
"Josephine, if I understood them correctly, they are willing to adopt you? And you are hesitating? They seem like a very nice couple, and they are from England…who knows, you may be able to find out if your parents went to that school they want to send you to. I think you should take this offer up Josephine." It was not that Mrs. Kadic did not want Josephine to stay. She was like a daughter, all of her children here were like her own, but she knew Josephine wanted to go to England, and James and Lily's background check had passed, she had a feeling that Josephine would be very happy with them.
It took a little more convincing, but Josephine eventually agreed to go with Remus and Tonks to London and live with them for the summer. She worked out with Mrs. Kadic that if anyone came looking for her here that she would send word with who it was and tell them where Josephine had went. To top that all off, the little plump couple had adopted twins at the orphanage, but the Macnair couple had not taken anyone. It was strange, but Mr. Kadic said it seemed like they were looking for a specific boy, and that the boys they had here were not him. It did not matter, they left in a huff while Mrs. Kadic finished the paper work for the two adoptions taking place today, and that evening Josephine flew with her new Mum and Dad to England.
Her hopes of figuring everything out about her past rose as she did into the sky with a new feeling of excitement building in her chest as she flew closer and closer to her new home.
A/N: Well, what did you think. No reviews yet, but two people are following! Sorry it took so long to update! I have the whole summer to write, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon! Anyone wanna give some ideas on what I could throw in for some plot twists along the way? I have some ideas, but I'm open for reviews with some! Please people! It's not that hard! Better yet, it keeps me going with a story or I might get bored and drop the story again! Anyway, thanks people for reading!