Chapter 6

The St. Jerome Emiliani Orphanage didn't look half-bad. In fact, it looked just like the orphanage that was described on the website. If mother left her here, maybe Gemini should be okay.

From the gate's entrance, Draco could see muggle children playing in the courtyard, supervised by several staff members in yellow shirts. On one end of the courtyard, there was one staff member playing with a muggle instrument that let out music to some of the older children. The building wasn't like the drab one he visited up north, and actually looked homey. It was a Victorian house made out of bricks with large windows and stairs at the bottom that led to a large entrance. At the top of the steps was a heavyset woman with short graying hair and warm blue eyes.

"You must be Mr. Malfoy." The woman said as Draco greeted her up the steps. She shook his hand. "Jacqueline Hastings. We spoke on the phone. It's not every day we get requests like yours, so how can I help you?"

"It's rather…a sensitive matter, Ms. Hastings." Draco said hesitantly. "I don't suppose we could talk about it in your office?"

"Of course. This way, please." Ms. Hastings said as she opened the doors, motioning him to follow. The orphanage's interior was more modern that the exterior, but was every bit of child-friendly. "We just finished a renovation two months ago." Ms. Hastings said as she caught him looking at the place. They went up a spiral staircase to a mezzanine overlooking the foyer. "St. Jerome was founded just short of fifty years ago, named after the patron saint of orphans…"

But Draco wasn't listening to her anymore. He was thinking about his cousin, and what her life was like if she lived here—assuming his hunch about his mother leaving her here was right. He had no doubt she would have been a pretty rounded-out kid growing up, assuming she wasn't adopted earlier.

"...highest rate of successful adoptions in Kent." Ms. Hastings finished as she reached the top. That caught Draco's attention.

"So all of your children get adopted?"

"Ehh…not exactly." Ms. Hastings finished. "As much as possible, I go out of my way to look for adults seeking to raise or adopt children of their own. Many times, adoption programs are successful, but there are rare cases. Our rate is determined by the government not by the number of kids that get adopted—because that would be unfair to orphanages that have hundreds of children—but by the number of eighteen-year olds we send to the shelter."

"The shelter?" Draco asked, confused. He did not know what a shelter had to do with orphanages.

"Oh, it's like a halfway house, but for unadopted children." Ms. Hastings said. He had no idea what a halfway house was. "Law states that we can't keep eighteen-year olds in orphanages because that makes them adults, not children, and as much as possible the donations from charities and the government should be emphasized on children. When we're short on volunteers, we let the eighteen-year olds stay here as volunteers where they take care of the other kids in exchange for a small salary and housing benefits, but we have a few cases of eighteen year olds that go to shelters to help them move on. From there, there are a lot of options for them to find work and homes of their own. It's rare here in St. Jerome's…but it's possible."

Draco's heart sank at the possibility that that was Gemini's fate. No, she should be sixteen by now. She'd have two more years before that happens. "Here we are." Ms. Hastings said as she led him in an office. It looked more like a grandmother's craft room with file cabinets on the side. "Have a seat, Mr. Malfoy. Tea?"

"No thank you." Draco said politely. Ms. Hastings poured herself a cup before she sat down.

"So how can I help you?" Ms. Hastings asked.

Draco started. Remember your lines, he told himself. The night before, he had been rehearsing this story many times, trying to check if there were any flaws to the story. He had never dealt with muggles before, and he made sure he wouldn't do anything that would raise suspicion. "My mother passed away a week ago, and in her will she left my cousin a house in Essex. The only cousin I knew passed away from a…an…an…an—"

"An aneurysm?" Ms. Hastings asked.

"Yes, that." Draco cleared his throat. "Anyway, my mother also left this letter explaining that her other sister—my aunt—had a daughter she gave away because she couldn't handle being a mother, and she was too proud to let her sister take care of the child so she forbade my mother from looking for her. Well, they're both gone now, and I intend to find my cousin so…you know, give her what's hers."

"How noble of you, Mr. Malfoy." Ms. Hastings said. "And your cousin is here?"

"I don't know, actually." Draco scratched his head. "My aunt was in Kent around the time my cousin was supposed to be born. I was hoping to check your children left here around 1998, but if my mother was correct, my cousin was born 1997. Maybe I can recognize her…or something."

Ms. Hastings narrowed her eyes. "And if you don't find her here? You're planning to check every orphanage in Kent?" Draco bit his lip and shrugged. "Well, that's very kind of you. I can help."

Ms. Hastings got up and walked to the file cabinets. "Unfortunately, it might take some time. We arrange our children's files according to birth year, but we sort them into two: adopted and those who are still residing here. We can check both—in case your cousin was adopted already, but it's going to take a lot of time, and I'm afraid I'm quite busy with meetings with potential adopters today…"

"I can do it." Draco smiled hopefully. "I won't mess anything up, I promise."

Ms. Hastings looked at Draco. Such a nice young man, she thought. "Very well. Here's the master key." She handed him a key, but yanked it back. "Oh, and I almost forgot."

Her voice became serious and her face stern. "We have some adopters who adopt babies here and would rather not let their children know about the truth of their adoption." She said slowly. "It's perfectly legal for them to do so, so if you find your cousin in the adopted cabinets but find that it's labeled Closed Adoption, I'm afraid I can't give out her address."

I can get it out of you either way, old lady. "Very well." Draco said calmly. Ms. Hastings gave him the key before she stepped out of the room. The clear sliding window to the balcony was too near that he couldn't use his wand to skim through the files, so he manually opened the first cabinet labelled "ADOPTED. Born October 1996-May 1997". There were dozens of files for children, each with a photo of the child on the year they were adopted, their birth year, and the day they were placed in the orphanage. There were some born on 1998 who were adopted at an early age, some at their late childhood, and some even in their teens. None of them resembled his cousin nor were left on the fourth of May. He opened another cabinet for "June 1997-October 1997", but also got the same results. It had taken him an hour going through the files. The last file cabinet was dedicated only to "November 1997-December 1997" and was packed with files as well, and Draco groaned as he flipped through the rest of the files—none of which had anything he was looking for.

If mother left her here, then she wasn't adopted. Draco thought disappointedly, until a thought came to his mind. But if I find her file here, then she's somewhere in this building.

Draco looked through the rest of the files for the children born on 1998. Much to his disappointment, none of them were left on the fourth of May. An hour had passed before Ms. Hastings returned to the office, a bunch of papers and a tray of biscuits in hand. "Find what you were looking for?" She asked hopefully. "I brought some biscuits in case it'll take long."

"No." Draco muttered as he closed the cabinet and locked it with the key. "Unfortunately not."

"I could help you find your cousin in Kent." She piped up after setting the tray on the table. "I could call the other orphanages and see if they have a file on her. Do you know when she was left?"

"Ummm…" I had Gemini in Madrid. She was born the week before that meeting with the Muggle Studies professor in your manor. "Around the first week of May. But Gemini was born around June, or so my mother's letter said."

"Oka—Gemini?" Ms. Hastings squeaked. "We have a girl named Gemini in this orphanage. Are you her cousin?" Draco could see her tense up. Have I found her that quickly?

"That depends. I just know her mother named her Gemini."

"Does your cousin have blonde hair—a bit like yours—blue eyes, and honey-colored skin?" She asked quietly. Draco's heart sank as he shook his head. Ms. Hastings sighed, before she smiled and said, unable to control her excitement:

"Good, because Gemini Ridley here has black hair, brown eyes and skin that never gets a tan."

Draco's heart leapt out of his chest. "That sounds like her mother. But…but why isn't she in the file cabinet?"

"Oh thank God that girl has a family! I knew it! I knew it the day I saw her in that basket!" In excitement, Ms. Hasting's jumped like a schoolgirl. She blushed when she saw Draco staring at her. "Sorry. You see, ever since she turned sixteen, Gemini's sort of been a special project of mine."

She pointed at a box on one of the shelves near the door and Draco walked over to get it down. "Gem's a very nice girl—intelligent, kind-hearted, with just a bit of mischief—and I didn't want her to end up in the shelter. Lately I've been searching for people willing to adopt a girl in her late teens." Ms. Hastings explained. "Just drop the box on the couch. You see, when it comes to adoption, the older you are, the less likely you're going to be adopted—there aren't that many working couples who want children but don't want to deal with tantrums and puberty. I've been trying to find a kind and responsible adult who can take care of her, despite her…er, condition."

"What condition?" Draco asked, huffing as he dropped the heavy box on the couch.

"Well…Gemini…she's…special." Ms. Hastings said cautiously. "And well...when she was a little girl…"

"No one wanted to adopt her?"

"Oh no, no!" She said quickly, pulling one edge of the box's top. "When she was a little girl, a lot of people wanted to adopt her."

She opened the box. Draco found several files bursting with papers and photographs. "It was the keeping part that was difficult." Ms. Hastings said in a brittle voice.

Draco selected the oldest-looking folder, a brown one with dark spots. It was labeled "May 1998". In it was a birth certificate from the muggle Ministry, though under parents the boxes were left blank. There were medical certificates, health records, and other papers Draco scanned through. There was a photo of her as a baby, still in the black dress he faintly remembered. At the back of the folder, there was a small note. He recognized the delicate handwriting immediately.

Gemini Ridley, Born June 14, 1997

Please take care of her.

"She was given a name, not all people who abandoned their kids cared about clearing things like that up for us." Ms. Hastings said somberly as she saw Draco's hand shake at the letter. "I figured they wanted the baby to keep the name because the mother might have been planning to come back for the child when they got on their feet. It's not uncommon."

Draco put the file back and picked up another one. It was a report labeled August 19, 2001. There was a clipped photograph of Gemini, her curly hair grown-out and her skin so white it blended with the background.

Gemini (4yo) was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Stark on August 19, who, prior to the adoption, visited her twice.

He skipped the rest of the technicalities he did not understand nor cared about, until he reached the last page of the file.

REASON FOR RETURN: Mrs. Stark claims that, after bringing Gemini to their home, unexplainable accidents started occurring. Their animals in their barn would start to disappear, including a retired racehorse owned by Mr. Stark. An infestation of snakes started roaming the house—an event Mrs. Stark would vehemently blame on the four-year old. A room full of fragiles broke. Accidents seemed to happen around the girl's presence that the superstitious couple decided to return the girl two months after their departure, taking Ms. Olivia Daye (5yo) instead.

Draco knew from having Scorpius that young wizards often had powers they couldn't control. Must have been a lousy house. He put the file back and randomly selected another one. He skipped to the end once more, only taking a glimpse at a much older-looking Gemini.

REASON FOR RETURN: Gemini was blamed for the injury of the Dawsons' son. Children were playing a nearby field when son claims Gemini "showed him how to fly" and ended up breaking both legs. Boy hospitalized for two days. Gemini reported to have been emotionally distant with family.

Draco didn't bother reading the rest and pulled out more files. They were all reports on failed adoptions, and he watched Gemini's picture like an evolution of a girl who began to smile less in photos and whose eyes began to do darker. He looked at all the other reasons.

REASON FOR RETURN: Adopters felt like Gemini did not fit in with the family…

REASON FOR RETURN: Gemini allegedly destroyed room filled with glass and valuables…

REASON FOR RETURN: Gemini allegedly pushed their son in the lion's cage in a zoo…

REASON FOR RETURN: Gemini and their children attempted to jump off the roof with umbrellas—Gemini is safe, but the other children…

REASON FOR RETURN: Gemini seemed too sullen and withdrawn for family…

REASON FOR RETURN: Adoptees knew former adopters of Gemini, who convinced them to return her before "something bad happens".

Draco didn't bother reading the rest of the files because he knew what most of them would say. This is the life we decided for her. Draco thought guiltily. A life of being adopted and rejected by muggle families who couldn't comprehend what kind of child they had adopted. Why did we think this was a good—oh right, to protect ourselves. We've put a little girl through hell all to protect ourselves—and the girl isn't even evil!

"You see…" Ms. Hastings said awkwardly. "Unexplainable things tend to happen when Gemini's around. I've never taken Gemini for a liar, but there have been many occasions where she's been very honest about things she did. She's so honest that when things happened and she started saying she didn't do it…"

Magic, Draco thought sourly. "Are all these just adoption reports?" There must be dozens of files! More files than the cabinet of unadopted children I went through!

"Oh, not this one." Ms. Hastings pulled out the last folder, which was red. "The adoptions stopped for Gemini after this, mainly because she was only home for less than three months before she had to go back."

The file read "Gemini – Special School". There was a small sheet of paper that explained the folder:

Gemini has been invited to go to a special boarding school for people like her. Folder includes info & matters on her school.

"A special school?" Draco asked carefully.

"In Scotland." Ms. Hastings nodded. "They probably heard about her…condition. If you ask me, it's MPD."

"MPD?"

"Multiple Personality. Maybe there's this bad girl side only adopters see." She shrugged. "But Mr. Slughorn assured me she's well taken care of at St. Thomas."

Professor Slughorn. Draco looked at the next page and saw a formal-looking paper about St. Thomas, a school that prided itself on turning special cases into normal, successful students. "It's the end of school season…" Draco started. This is it. "I'd like to…I'd like to see her."

Ms. Hastings huffed. "So do I."

"W-what?"

"She was supposed to come home on her birthday. We had a party waiting for her but she didn't return, and she hasn't returned since. I called the school and Professor Slughorn said she's at her friend's house in London, and that she plans to stay there until she turns eighteen."

"And you're okay with it?"

"Well, she's almost not a child anymore." She shrugged. "She's almost eighteen, so I'm sure she's just finding a contingency of her own if I don't…you know."

Draco's heart was beating fast. This is going to be harder than I thought.

"Are you alright, Mr. Malfoy?" Ms. Hastings waved a hand near his face. "You look nervous."

Draco mumbled something incoherent before thanking the muggle woman quickly and running out the door. He raced down the stairs and jogged out the gate. He bumped into a couple entering, but continued blindly running out the gate and to a deserted alleyway, where he apparated back to his manor.

"Draco, you're back!" Astoria climbed down the stairs and hugged him. "How was the orphanage?"

Draco was speechless. He was closer to finding her, now that he knew for certain that she went to Hogwarts. He was closer to finding her, but now his search could get a lot more public than Draco would like. People could ask questions, Draco thought. And questions could lead to answers.

He remembered his mother's warning. He found the lead she never wanted him to find, and now he knew that his work was going to get harder, he wondered if he should have just taken her advice. And then he remembered the file case, the folders upon folders of families who adopted and rejected Gemini. And then he remembered the people to blame for her horrible life.

He was sure that wherever Gemini was, she would have left some clues in Hogwarts. Finally, he looked at his wife, his face grim. "I have to go to Hogwarts."