Disclaimer: Not mine…Harry or Bon Jovi.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Chapter 9: She's a Mystery
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Tonks spotted the dark haired man sitting at a window seat in the quaint little café they used to lunch at. Sitting down in front of him Tonks waited for Graham to acknowledge her presence.
"You know I'm not supposed to tell you this right?" He asked without looking at her.
Tonks didn't answer; her face was set hard as she waited for Graham to tell her what he'd brought her here for.
Graham slipped a piece of parchment over the table, finally looking up to meet her eyes.
Tonks held them for a minute before unfolding the paper and reading the single line written in Graham's familiar script.
..an infant of black and blue..
"What is this?" Tonks asked quietly.
"I was given that and instructions to find any infant born in the past year that fits that description," Graham paused and placed a hand over Tonks' causing her to look up. "Tonks, the child in that photo, Sirius and Hermione Blacks daughter, what colour eyes does she have?"
Tonks glared at Graham and kept her mouth shut.
"Tonks, I'm only trying to help you..."
"You can help me by staying away from my Goddaughter."
"You don't understand, I want to stay away from her for as long as possible, our orders are to find any black haired blue eyed infant then report to the minister. His officials take over from there, and if I can stop them questioning two of the people who helped save the wizarding world I will." Graham paused again "Tonks, what colour are you Goddaughters eyes?" he asked again.
Tonks' eyes were filled with worry as she answered quietly, glancing back down at the piece of parchment. "Blue."
Graham sighed and sat back. "We believe that may be a part of a new prophecy."
Tonks' head snapped up again. "What? But prophecies are supposed to be kept secret the ministry can't involve themselves if the prophecy wasn't for them."
"That's what I thought, which means there must be more to this than what we've been told," Graham stood to leave, "My advice is to keep your Goddaughter away from ministry officials for as long as possible, it may not be anything but…" Graham let his sentence run off as he patted Tonks on the shoulder and left, leaving her staring down at the small piece of parchment.
…an infant of black and blue…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Remus woke in the early hours of the morning and frowned, normally he was accustomed to waking at this time in an effort to steal back some of the sheets Tonks was so good at pilfering in the middle of the night. Tonight however the presence of the duvet covering him woke him. Rolling over he noticed the bed was otherwise empty and a soft glow was emitting from under the closed door. Slipping on a robe Remus stepped out of the room and into the small lounge area where he found Tonks sitting on the couch in front of a small fire.
Taking a seat beside her Remus looked at what she was holding. It was the photo of Sirius, Hermione and Elizabeth that had been sitting on her desk in her office.
"Tonks?" Remus asked quietly, concerned as a small tear rolled down her face. "Nymph, what's the matter?" He asked gently wiping away the tear.
Tonks looked up and met his eyes. "I've been warned by a friend at the ministry to keep Elizabeth safe."
Remus frowned. "Safe? From what?"
"The ministry."
"Tonks, I don't understand."
Tonks handed Remus a piece of parchment.
..an infant of black and blue..
"Graham's team has been ordered to find an infant born in the past year that matches that description then report it to the minister. They think it might be a new prophecy."
Remus read the line thoughtfully, the way it was worded made it possible that it was part of a prophecy. "Is that all they had?" he asked looking up at Tonks and meeting her eyes.
Tonks nodded. "It's probably nothing you know, but I can't stop thinking that maybe it is something…I don't want it to be something Remus. Sirius and Hermione have been through too much already."
Remus pulled Tonks into his arms and placed a small kiss on the top of her head. "I know," he whispered his mind wandering to that single line on the parchment.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"I'm going to give Elizabeth a bath," Hermione announced walking though the living room of their chambers where Sirius was going through some homework set for his NEWTs class, "Do you want to help?" She asked knowing Sirius loved to bath Elizabeth.
Sirius grinned up from his work. "I'll be in soon."
Hermione wandered into the bathroom with Elizabeth in her arms and placed her on the mat on the floor. She turned the water on before opening the cupboard above the sink. "How about some bubbles?" She asked Elizabeth, who just grinned up and made ba-ba sounds, Hermione laughed, "Bubbles it is," she said as she poured a small amount into the warm water. Turning off the taps she turned to undress Elizabeth before slipping her into the bath, giggling Elizabeth immediately began to splash sending foamy white bubbles and water into Hermione's hair.
Out in the lounge Sirius was finding it hard to concentrate on his work with the sounds of Hermione and Elizabeth's laughter floating in to meet his ears. After a few minutes of torture Sirius stood and wandered into the bathroom.
Hermione heard Sirius approaching, and still supporting Elizabeth's back turned to greet him as he walked in.
"You two make a lot of noise…hey…since when did we have gold bubble bath?"
Confused Hermione turned back to the back and gasped as she took in the gold bubbles floating in the water before looking at a grinning Elizabeth.
"They weren't gold," she whispered in shock, "they were white."
Sirius frowned then looked from Hermione to Elizabeth before grinning and moving in to kneel next to Hermione.
"Hello my little Munchkin, can you change the colour of the bubbles again?"
Elizabeth just giggled and shrieked continuing to soak Sirius and Hermione in the process as both watched on to see if the bubbles would change again.
"Sirius?" Remus' voice flowed into the room, "Hermione?"
"In here Moony," Sirius called, not taking his eyes off Elizabeth.
Remus stepped into the bathroom and Elizabeth's grin grew as she recognised the sandy haired man, and, in between the giggles and splashes, the bubbles turned to amber.
"Um," Remus started, as Sirius and Hermione grinned at Elizabeth, "who just did that?"
"Wasn't me," Sirius stated. "Hermione?"
Hermione shook her head, a beaming smile on her face. "Not me."
Sirius turned to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth giggled again and continued to splash the now amber coloured bubbles about.
"Moony, grab the camera," Sirius ordered, not taking his eyes off his daughter.
Remus did what he was asked bumping into Tonks in the process.
"What's the rush?" she asked, as Remus grabbed Sirius' camera.
"Come and see," he said, grinning and leading the pink haired witch into the bathroom, the camera ready in his hands.
Remus entered first and was followed by a slightly confused Tonks. As soon as Elizabeth saw the Auror her face lit up and the bubbles turned violet.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Ten minutes later and Sirius was flooing Harry and Ginny to tell them the news as Hermione dried Elizabeth off and dressed her. On the couch Tonks prepared herself to give Sirius and Hermione the news.
Sirius noticed the change in Tonks' demeanour as he sat opposite them on the couch and frowned at his cousin.
"Alright Tonks?" He asked, as Hermione handed him Elizabeth while she went to dry herself off.
Tonks glanced nervously at Remus who elaborated for Sirius. "Tonks found something out at the ministry and she's just a little worried about it."
Sirius frowned. "What did you find out?"
"Maybe we should wait for Hermione," Tonks suggested.
Sirius eyed Tonks suspiciously but let the matter settle until Hermione entered the room, eyeing the subdued group warily.
Once Hermione was seated, Sirius turned to Tonks for an explanation, Elizabeth settling comfortably in his lap.
Tonks handed Sirius the piece of parchment, "One of our teams has been given this," she explained as Sirius and Hermione read the line, "They're looking into any child born in the last year that fits that description."
Hermione frowned and Sirius' face was unreadable as he slowly looked up from the parchment back to Tonks clearly wanting further explanation.
Tonks uncharacteristically cowered under the stares from Sirius and Hermione, "They think it may be a new prophecy," she murmured.
"Is that all they have?" Hermione asked, her eyes falling on Elizabeth.
Tonks nodded, "At the moment that's all they've been given, when they find a child fitting the description they have to inform the ministry officials."
"It doesn't mean anything," Remus murmured from beside Tonks, "You shouldn't worry too much at the moment, just try to keep Elizabeth out of sight."
Sirius' grey eyes fell on his daughter and he pulled her closer, "There must be quite a few black haired blue eyed babies out there," he murmured, "Remus is right, we'll just keep her away from the ministry for as long as we can."
"They can't be doing this if it's a prophecy, they are supposed to be private," Hermione pointed out.
"That's what I said," Tonks answered.
A burst of green flames in the fire place interrupted the group and Harry stepped out followed by Ginny, dusting themselves off as they made their way over to the couches.
"Where's my favourite little witch?" Harry asked, walking up to Elizabeth not noticing the quiet group of adults.
Elizabeth squealed happily as Harry lifted her up in his arms her fingers immediately reaching for his glasses.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked, glancing around at the others. She was still dressed in her training robes from St Mungo's where she'd begun studying to be a healer. Harry was also dressed in his training robes after finally starting Auror training.
Harry now took the time to glance around at the sombre faces surrounding him. "What's happened?"
Hermione handed Harry the piece of parchment and explained what they'd just learnt.
Harry glanced down at the smiling child in his arms and shrugged, "Doesn't mean anything," he stated simply, his face unreadable as the others glanced at each other. They all knew how he felt about prophecies.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Sirius and Hermione heard nothing else on the matter for the next two months. Tonks was updating them regularly from what information Graham was able to pass on and from the sounds of it the ministry was beginning to become frustrated with the whole thing. Rumours were beginning to build up with some reaching Ginny at St Mungos and others reaching Harry and Draco at the academy.
Nothing though was able to prepare Sirius and Hermione for what was in the Daily Prophet at the end of November.
Sirius and Hermione joined Remus and Tonks in the Great Hall for breakfast, Hermione transfigured a chair into a highchair for eight month old Elizabeth to sit in as the owls arrived with the morning post.
Sirius and Remus both unfolded copies of the Prophet as Hermione put a small piece of toast in front of Elizabeth to chew on.
"Holy Mother of Merlin!" Sirius cried, upending his tea over Remus' paper with his exclamation and earning curious glances from the student population as well as one from his daughter.
"Sirius?" Hermione asked concerned, but Sirius' eyes were already scanning the page.
Breaking News! Ministry Reveals Prophecy For The First Time In History.
In a shocking press release from the Minister of Magic, Robert Tomkinson, reveals an almost six month old search for a prophesised child. With the ministry searches pulling up no apparent leads it has put a call out to the community for help. The following is the prophecy released to the media.
Born to the two of time stolen, an infant of black and blue,
Unknown, Dark or Light, a fresh mould to hew,
Vigilance in the wind as the sky begins to once more darken,
A new peril in the air should this infant be taken,
The Minister has expressed his concerns about keeping this infant safe from any immediate danger and requests that any new parent whose child has black hair and blue eyes be brought forward as ministry searches so far have come up negative.
Hermione had tears in her eyes as she read over Sirius' shoulder, as soon as the black haired wizard had finished reading he stood and picked Elizabeth up out of her highchair, grabbed Hermione's hand and walked out of the room.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o