Chapter eight
After Minerva McGonagall left, Harry cleaned up the dishes, but noticed the girls staring around the house.
'You don't need to ask for anything, please make yourself at home,' Harry said kindly giving the girls a small smile.
'Can I ask you about this magic?'
'You can ask anything Julie.'
'Could we be magical?'
Harry sat at the table, 'You mentioned your father said something about spells, so there is a possibility you could be. Let me explain something. My father was a wizard, all his family were magical, right back hundreds and hundreds of years. Now my mother was a witch, but she was the first in her family, so I'm what you call a halfblood, half magical and half muggle, that's what we call non magical people. So even though my mother was a witch, she did come from muggles. You mentioned your father, so he might have been a wizard, but your mother might not have been, I don't know. But professor McGonagall will ask Dumbledore, he knows a lot about rare and old spells. So I'm sure she will be back tomorrow to see if you are or not. You don't remember seeing your parents use magic, use a wand?'
Julie shook her head, 'No, but I don't remember a lot about them. I know my mother had blond hair, my father had brown hair, he was tall, like your friend.'
'Okay, maybe those memories will come back to you once you've healed and rested. It still might take a while, but you never know. I did want to ask you something though. As you can see, you've got my mother's clothes on, but I have this friend, Hermione, she's my best friend. If it's alright with you I can ask her to go buy you both some clothes. I don't mind you wearing my mother's stuff, but it's not really for young girls.'
Julie looked down at the pants and top she had on, 'There nice,' she looks back up at Harry, 'But I'm sure you want to keep them, so maybe some other clothes would be good, especially for Sandy.'
'Then I'll contact Hermione. She's staying with her boyfriend at the moment, who is also my best friend, Ron. See, the fighting I mentioned, the war, Ron's brother Fred died. So the family is all together, a big family. Normally I stay with them, but now I wanted to live by myself since I never had any time to myself before. So I'll contact Hermione and give her some money to get you some things.'
'Okay, thank you. But what you said before to that lady, about guardianship, you really want to do that? I don't want us to go into an orphanage, they might take Sandy away from me.'
'No,' Sandy yelled and hugged her sister.
'It's fine Sandy, I'm going to do everything I can so you and Julie can stay here and with me. I'll speak with Kingsley, he should be able to work something out for me.'
'But he's a policeman, how could he help?'
'Actually he's an auror, but he was recently made minister for magic, that's like the muggle prime minister, the boss of everyone you could say.'
'Oh, I though he looked dignified.'
'Yes, he does look dignified. I met him a few years ago and at first I was a little intimidated by him. He was an auror, that's like the job I used to want, but his voice and looks, I was just awed by him. But he is a very nice man that has helped me a lot. Now remember, if you want anything, don't ask, just help yourselves and I'll contact Hermione,' Harry gave the girls a smile then sat thinking about what he needed to say before he cast his patronus and Prongs again leapt forth and took off through the walls, 'She'll see Prongs in a few minutes and if I know Hermione, she'll be here soon or send me a message saying when if she can't make it now.'
'Thank you. You said something about your parents died and the house has been closed up. Where did you live, in an orphanage?'
Harry shook his head, 'No, with my mother's sister, but they were muggles and they hated me, well, they hated magic, so that instantly made them hate me. But my aunt hated my father for taking her sister, she blames him for my mother dying. But it wasn't either of their fault, it was Voldemort's fault, he killed them, here in this house actually, I was only a baby.'
'I saw a couple of pictures of a red haired woman holding a black haired baby, so that's you and your mother?'
'Yes, I don't know much about them, but my mother had dark red hair and green eyes, like my eyes. Everyone that ever knew them said I look like my father apart from my eyes, I have my mother's eyes. My father also wore glasses,' the three heads turn when they hear a knock on the door, 'That might be Hermione,' Harry gave the girls a smile then went to the door, 'Hey,' Harry saw Hermione, Ron and Ginny, 'Um come in, but I don't want you to frighten them, I'll explain,' Harry let his friends in then closed the door. He saw Julie with her arm tight around Sandy, 'It's fine, you're safe, these are my friends, they won't hurt you, but we'll stay in here. If you're nervous at all, you can go up to your room or into the library if you want.'
'Room,' Julie said softly then keeping a hold of Sandy they hurried up the stairs.
'Who are they?' Ginny asked staring up the stairs.
'Okay, there's a lot to go into, but I found them, in the cemetery, naked and hurt. I had Madame Pomfrey heal them, Kingsley questioned them. First, the clothes their wearing are my mother's, they need clothes, that's what I was hoping you could do for me Hermione. If I give you some money, could you get them clothes that are more for their age? Julie, the older girl, she said Sandy was eight she thinks. They had been prisoners for at least five years but escaped the night of the fighting. They travelled of a night, hid through the day, that's how I found them, hiding in the cemetery. They had been hurt and raped for years, by snatchers and Lucius Malfoy. Kingsley is getting Gawain Robards to question him. So I've told the girls they can stay here and I'm going to take guardianship of them since their parents were killed.'
Hermione, Ron and Ginny gazed at Harry and all looked shocked at what he had said. Those two girls were raped and been prisoners for years. Hermione thought of that small blond girl who had been hurt like that, she was so little and young. But she saw the look on Harry's face and knew why he wanted to help them. They had been hurt and their parents had been killed, so much like Harry himself.
