Chapter 14

The lessons with Rhydderchs proved very interesting. Cadoc expanded his instruction to include all four teens and Remus. By the end of the month, all of them were capable of making a basic wand, from start to finish. Harry and Ron turned out to be the most adept at matching the core to the wood. Hermione was the best at selecting core material. Cadoc was pleased with the results of the lessons and began to show them some of the more esoteric parts of wandcrafting. This included a number of spells that were able to affect a wand at a distance. He stressed the need for them to be cast silently, unless used in a shop. He also showed them how to tune a wand to only respond to a specific person. This was very useful in a combat situation. It prevented someone else from using your wand, he explained.

The lessons in Wizarding culture were also very popular with the teens. Ron even stopped grumbling about the dancing and music lessons. To everyone's dismay Ron's best instrument turned out to be the bagpipes. After the first couple of sessions, in which Hermione thought that Crookshanks was being tortured, Ron quickly became proficient with them. Harry's favorite instrument was the harp, followed by the flute. Ginny had had some music lessons as a young girl and continued over the summers, until before her fourth year and the summer spent at Grimmauld Place. She was fairly confident on the piano and lute. Hermione also had lessons as a girl. She was quite good on the violin. Rhys started providing extracts of songs. The extracts usually held a half dozen songs and took about half an hour to absorb and another half hour to learn to play.

With the magical assistance provided by Rhys Rhydderch, the four of them were now completely fluent in four languages, only one of which was a repeat of any they already had learned. The use of the pensieves allowed for more language instruction than would have been otherwise possible. As soon as all four teens had finished the advanced Latin, most of their lessons were conducted in Latin. The same was repeated for each language that all four of them learned, with Latin being the language used most often. The month of March was going to be devoted to the learning and use of an advanced Welsh series.

Kat had settled in quite nicely and was even willing to help with the language lessons. She helped the teens correct their pronunciations of Giantish and since she knew several Eastern European languages, she helped those who learned any of them with pronunciations in those languages. She also proved to be a very good source of information about Giant culture. There were many things that were not covered in any course, Harry or any of the others had taken before, that she taught the teens.

Bill also introduced the teens to several goblins. One of them, Griphook, promised regular lessons on Goblin culture. Griphook proved to be a very understanding and competent instructor. He covered the basics in two one hour long sessions. Harry was surprised that Griphook and the other goblins were willing to divulge so much about their culture and themselves to a bunch of wizards. Bill explained it as a few of the younger goblins, which include Griphook and the other two, were less jaded than most of the older generation and had developed amicable working relationships with a few wizards. Plus Bill's marriage to Fleur raised him in the esteem of all the goblins at the bank. This was also coupled with the fact that a number of the goblins truly liked Harry. Harry couldn't understand what he had done to get the goblins to like him, until after the second lesson he asked Griphook about it. Griphook explained that it wasn't any one thing, but a series of events, going all the way back to how Harry had behaved during the Triwizard Tournament. They especially liked the way that Harry stood up to the Ministry over the past couple of years. It didn't hurt that Harry's accounts were so large, Griphook added, half joking.

The group living at Applegate also spent some time preparing for the next full moon. On the day of the full moon, the group arranged to meet at the Tower an hour before dusk.

"You lot ready to go?" shouted Bill.

"Give us a sec," said Harry walking into the main room of the Tower.

The other three teens joined Bill and Harry. Bill looked over them. They were each wearing dark trousers, cut to allow free movement, black, crew neck, wool jumpers, boots with built in wand holsters, a pistol grip crossbow and a web equipment harness. The harness held special bolts for the crossbows, vials of potions and an extra wand. Cadoc had provided them with several items that were popular in America among big game hunters. One of the items was animal scents. Bill and Remus decided that the 'buck' scent provided the most masking, so everyone coated their boots and other parts of their gear.

"This stuff stinks," muttered Ron.

"Yeah. But if it keeps us from becoming werewolf kibble, I can live with the smell," said Harry.

Before they headed out the door, Fred handed each of them a small black tangle of wires. "You put this end in your ear and this other end by your mouth. It will allow you to talk to each other without being too loud. We got the idea from a Muggle device that Kingsley showed us. A radio that security people wear."

As they walked through the door, each felt the slimy, cold, egg running down the back feeling of being Disillusioned.

"Thanks, Mad-eye," whispered Harry as he caught the heat signature of the hidden retired Auror.

"We need to talk when you get back," Moody whispered in return.

The four of them Apparated to Hogsmeade. There was going to be a special children's event that evening and Ron thought it was the most likely place for Greyback and his pack to show up, Harry and Remus agreed. Arriving in the shadow of the Hogshead, the four teens pulled their self shrinking brooms from their harness and took to the air. They began a sweep of the village. Harry and Ginny flew a perimeter sweep, while Ron and Hermione flew a criss-cross pattern over the main part of town. The devices that Fred had given them allowing them to stay in constant communication. The event was set to end shortly after five in the evening, with moonrise due slightly before five. Shortly after five, Harry spotted five dog-like shapes slinking to the edge of town. A few seconds later, Ginny spotted five more moving in from the opposite side of town. Ron flew off to join Ginny and Hermione met with Harry.

"Otter one to Falcon. Copy?" Harry heard as Hermione approached.

"What was that all about?"

"I always wanted to say stuff like that. Comes from watching too many movies as a kid."

"Whatever. We have about two minutes to take out that group. Let's just do it, OK?"

She nodded and they both swept into a dive. They pulled up and hovered about fifty feet over the group. This particular group consisted of two larger and three smaller werewolves, the smallest looking more like a larger puppy.

"I don't like the looks of this," whispered Harry. "Go non-lethal, I think these smaller ones are still kids."

Hermione nodded, tears running down her cheeks. Harry drew his crossbow and selected three blue bolts. He fired one at the largest in the group. It hit the creature in the haunch. A few seconds later another blue bolt lodged in the rump of the second largest. Switching to pale yellow bolts, Harry and Hermione shot each of the smaller werewolves with one.

"That was too easy," said Harry as he dropped to the ground to bind the now unconscious werewolves. The two full grown werewolves were bound in heavy chains and stunned. The three small ones while bound were not additionally stunned. Harry removed a tooth from the two adults, but did nothing to the others. Additionally, he suspended the two adults from a nearby, low hanging branch.

Screams from the other side of town alerted Harry and Hermione that things were not going quite as smoothly for Ron and Ginny. Harry and Hermione both took off on their brooms and crossed the village in seconds. It seemed that Ron and Ginny had easily dispatched the first group of werewolves, which also contained two younger werewolves. The problems started when they were binding their captives. A third group of werewolves emerged from the forest and at first turned on the downed werewolves, killing the youngest two first, then the other three. Ginny had time to remount her broom and take to the air. Ron, was trapped, with his back against a building brandishing a flaming piece of wood in one hand and his wand in the other. Three of the werewolves formed a rough circle around him, while the fourth and largest was making lunges at Ron. Harry, Ginny and Hermione switched to red bolts and each targetted one of the three circling Ron. In seconds all three of them were down, with at least two bolts in each wolf.

The largest, which Harry was convinced was Greyback, made a flying leap at Ron. Ron ducked at the last second and was knocked to the ground by the wolf. The wolf's snapping jaws missed Ron. Rolling, Ron tried to get a bit of clearance, but was unable to. The wolf, doing a quick turn around came back at Ron and placed its large paws on his chest. The wolf was preparing to bite Ron when an orange shape streaked from nowhere and landed on the wolf's back. The wolf howled in pain as the cat sunk its claws into the tender flesh of its snout and eyes. The distraction gave Ron the chance to roll out from under the beast and in a flash a large wolfhound stood where Ron had been.

With a deep throated growl, the hound launched himself at the wolf. The cat jumped clear of the wolf as the dog made his lunge. The two canines collided. Neither was giving any quarter. The growls and howls tore through the night and shook nearby windows. The two creatures rolled and growled. Massive paws and steel trap jaws moving in blurs almost too fast to see. After few minutes of this intense action, with neither one gaining the upper hand, Ron connected with a massive blow to Greyback's head. While Greyback was trying to shake off the blow Ron lunged in low, and sank his teeth into the werewolf's throat. Holding tightly, he shook his head. A loud crack was heard and Greyback fell limp. Ron dropped the still werewolf and retreated, favoring a rear paw.

Many Apparation cracks were heard as Order members and Aurors poured onto the scene.

Harry whispered to Hermione. "Get Ron out of here. I don't who would be more trouble if they saw him like this, the Aurors or his mother."

Hermione nodded and led the dog away.

Harry walked over to the now whimpering form of Fenrir Greyback. Drawing his wand he spoke a long complex spell, in ancient Greek. A silver light enveloped the werewolf. A loud scream erupted from his nearly ruined throat. It rang out for several seconds before abruptly stopping. When it stopped, on the ground was now the broken form of a man and a wolf pelt. Without saying a word, Harry picked up the pelt and walked off.

Back at the tree where he had suspended the other two adult werewolves, he cut them down. He also gathered the three young werewolves. Floating the five of them, he rejoined the crowd around the body of Greyback.

"I already collected the teeth from these two. The young ones I am taking. There were two more young ones that Greyback killed."

Tad walked over and dropped six more teeth into Harry's hand. "You all did good work here."

"No, two kids got killed."

"Two werewolves were prevented from becoming worse."

Harry's fist flew of its own volition and the Auror was not expecting it. Tad flew through the air and landed on his rump, to the laughter of several other Aurors, including Moody. Harry summoned Hermione's and Ron's brooms, shrank them and looking at Ginny Apparated away.

They took the still unconscious werewolves down to the pool room. Harry overrode Remus's locking charms and opened the door. Ginny, transformed back into her cat form stood guard, while Harry floated the three werewolves to the beach. Harry sealed the door. He removed the binding spells and then reversed the stunning spell on each of the werewolves. Before they were fully awake, Harry transformed into a wolf. He and Remus both let out long mournful howls. The three younger ones were now fully awake and they started howling. In wolf form, Harry could now notice the differences among them. The youngest and oldest were female. The middle one was male. He half heartedly tried to attack Remus, who put him down with a couple of clouts to the snout. He rolled over and bared his throat to Remus. Harry sauntered over and Remus rolled on his back to Harry. The youngster then did the same. Harry nipped each of them. The two females then came over and lay down at Harry's feet, he nipped each of them on the ear. Harry curled on the ground, the three youngsters curled up around him. Ginny climbed onto his back and curled up. Remus lay down behind Harry.

Several hours later, Harry was awakened to the sound of screaming and crying. The youngest, a girl of about seven was huddled next to him, wrapped in a blanket, crying. The other girl was sitting nearby, also wrapped in a blanket, drinking something. Remus was cradling the young boy in his arms, stroking his head. Hermione and Ginny were standing over Ron, who was still in his dog form. Harry stood and transformed back into his human form.

"'Morning."

Ginny turned to him, and with a casual wave of her hand, summoned a large mug of coffee from the table. She smiled at him as she hand it to him, "'Mornin'. There are about twenty people who want to talk to you this morning. Oh, and Tad said something about finding out who taught you to punch like that."

"Oh, that one is easy. Dudley. What does everyone else want?"

"Tad wants to apologize. Moody wants to grill you about how you saw him and everyone else wants to know what the hell that spell that you cast on Greyback was."

Harry thought for a few minutes and then called Moppy. "Can you get us some breakfast down here? And I want some clothes. Make it formal robes, not too...not something for a ball, more like for hosting..."

"I knows just what you'll be needing, Master Harry."

"Bring something for everyone else too. Especially these kids."

Moppy nodded and disappeared with a pop. A few minutes later, several elves were placing steaming platters on the table.

"The clothing is in the cabana, sir," said one of the elves. Harry tried to thank her, but could not remember her name.

Ron woke up as breakfast was being served. Remus and the children were not very hungry, but they were grateful for the tea and porridge that Moppy had sent down.

As Remus took the first spoonful, a large grin appeared on his face, "I see she does still remember. This is the first time since I've been back that I've actually had breakfast the morning after. Moppy remembered to make mine extra sweet, with just a touch of cinnamon and plenty of cream."

During breakfast, Harry found out a little about the three children. The youngest two were brother and sister. The boy had just turned ten and the girl would turn seven in a few weeks. The older girl was their cousin, and her thirteenth birthday was two days ago. The three of them were Muggles who had been attacked at a caravan park the previous summer. Their parents were killed in the attack. This had been the first hunt for the younger two, and the second for the older girl. She refused to talk about that first hunt.

The boy's name was David. His sister's name was Katherine. She preferred being called Katy. The oldest girl was named Maureen, but had taken to calling herself Raksha, since she had been bitten.

After breakfast they took turns taking showers. Ginny and Hermione helped the two girls dress in the unfamiliar clothing. They also treated several minor injuries that the girls had. When everyone was fed, cleaned and clothed Harry led the group to the portal and then to the Tower. The clamoring crowd quieted when Harry and the group walked down the stairs into the meeting room.

Before anyone could start shouting out questions, Harry stood before them and demanded their attention.

"Good morning. I know that our actions last night have caused an uproar." Several snorts and chuckles were heard. "Before you lot start firing nonstop questions, I have a few things to say. Firstly, I hope none of you have a problem with the actual purpose of last night. The stated goal was to eliminate Greyback. We accomplished this. In the process of doing that, we elected to save these three children. I hope that none of you hold that against me." There was a muffled grunt from somewhere back in the group. Harry noticed one of the newer members of the Order, looking like he was going to say something, but Fred and George were standing on either side of him.

"You were in Ravenclaw a couple of years ago. You graduated with Percy Weasley?"

The man nodded.

"What was it you were going to say?"

"Umm...that you should have let those creatures up there die."

Harry did not rage, he calmly raised his wand. Several people in what could have been his line of fire dived to the side. He pointed it at the former Ravenclaw. "For someone who comes from the house of the intelligent, you sure are stupid. You no longer have a place here." He quietly spoke a spell. A silver beam shot from his wand and hit the man in the face. He then waved his left hand and the man flew through the air and out the door, which slammed closed after he was through it..

"Anyone else. That is how Moldyshorts and the Death Munchers think. These children are the victims of a now dead, twisted, evil man. As such, they are now under my care."

He drew a small knife from his robes and made a knick in his thumb, a small drop of blood formed on it. He turned to the children. "Maureen Cauldwell, from this day foreward, you are a ward of the House of Potter. You shall be as a child of my house. I now mark you with my blood and call you Daughter." He pressed his thumb against the girl's forehead. There was a bright blue flash as he did this. There were several gasps from those in the room.

Harry did not turn around. He repeated the ritual with David and Kathrine. Then he turned around. "As you see, I have used an old ritual to adopt these three. Now they have my full protection. Any questions?"

Cadoc, standing in the rear of the room whispered something to Bill, who in turn walked over to Remus and then Moody. The four men all moved to stand behind Harry. Arthur Weasley soon joined them. Hermione and Ginny led the children back up the stairs to one of the bedrooms. Ron went to join his brothers. Harry and the five men retreated to one of the other bedrooms.

Cadoc was the first to speak. "Well done."

The other four nodded in agreement. Moody spoke next, "Lad, when you do something you don't do it by half, do ya? What you did in there makes it so even the Ministry can't touch them, even with all those new werewolf laws."

"I know," said Harry, with a grin.

"Dammit, you looked so much like your father doing that I almost had a seizure. Don't pull stunts like that so early on the day after a full moon."

"Not to rain on your parade, Harry, but what exactly do you know about these children?" asked Arthur.

"Other than they are some of the survivors of the attack on the caravan park last summer, not much. I know their names and ages. I know that their parents are dead and that they have only a grandmother, who thinks they were killed too, because that is what you all told her. Maureen is the oldest and is David and Katy's cousin. This was Maureen's second hunt and that she has started calling herself Raksha. This was David and Katy's first hunt."

"Aren't they a bit young for a hunt?" asked Bill.

"No, not really," answered Remus. "Greyback wanted to blood them around their seventh birthday. That would be roughly the same as a year old pup if they were really wolves. I am somewhat surprised that it is only Maureen's second hunt. I suspect that some other things have happened to her. She won't talk about any of it."

"That will take some time," said Arthur. "It took almost the whole summer to get Ginny to open up after her first year."

Bill nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't until you were heading home from visiting me that she really started to talk about it."

"So what are you going to do next, lad?"

"I'm not sure. I want them to grow up and not worry about what they are. I can make Wolvesbane Potion so we don't need to worry about that. I just don't want them to go through what I went through or worse. If Umbridge were to get her hands on them. Merlin's nads! They are people and just children!"

The other five men nodded at Harry. They each clapped him on the shoulder. "You're doing the right thing."

"Now, lad, you think I might be able to talk to them?" asked Moody.

"Sure, but be gentle, they've had a rough night."

Moody smiled and nodded. He left the room and Harry heard him knock at the other bedroom door.

Harry and the other four rejoined the rest of the Order. McGonagall stopped him.

"You need to meet with the Minister. He wants to see you in his office as soon as possible."

Harry nodded, stepped outside and Apparated to the Ministry.

Percy was waiting for Harry and led him directly to Scrimgeour's office.

"Well, that was some work last night. I want to congratulate you on a job well done. We do have one small problem though. Those three children are Muggles."

"Yes, they were."

"Were? How does one become not a Muggle?"

"I used an ancient blood oath and adopted them, in front of about thirty witnesses, this morning."

Scrimgeour sat, lost in thought for a few seconds, "Yes, that works. Good idea, by the way. They'd be considered Squibs now, at least legally. There has already been some muttering about getting them off of you and..."

"Eliminating the problem," said Harry. "Well, that toad can just learn to live with disappointment."

"Toad?" the Minister asked, then the puzzled look slowly faded and he burst out laughing. "Merlin's toenails! You're right!"

"So, I take it you liked my statement and we are now mates?"

"If you want to be."

"No, I'd rather we just worked together."

"You do know that last night is going to get you another medal? This one is probably going to be an Order of Merlin...third class, for each of you."

Harry shrugged, "I'm not doing this for the medals. I'm not Lockhart."

"No, you're not. Since you have taken the children into your care, you'll need to find a source of Wolvesbane Potion."

"No, I don't."

"Why not?"

"I've been brewing it for the past four months. I was able to learn it from Belby, himself. He signed for me." Harry started to draw a piece of parchment from his pouch.

"No need. If you can do that, then you should at least sit for your Journeyman's certificate."

"I'll think about that."

"Well, on to the final business," he passed Harry a sack, that jingled as it moved. "Ten thousand Galleons, the bounty on Greyback. I know you already have his pelt. By the way, what was that spell you used on him?"

"An ancient Greek spell. It is a judgment spell. If the werewolf is innocent of any wrongdoing it will break the curse. If not, it will still separate the wolf and the man, but it kills both in the process. Obviously, Greyback was not innocent."

"Yes, I guess that is true. Can you pass it on to the Aurors and MLE?"

"That spell is very difficult. I only know one of the items it looks for. If the werewolf in question has never killed or tasted human blood, then the spell has a good chance of working without killing him. But in the research that accompanied it, only two cases of over two thousand castings did it work that way. Using that spell would probably kill Maureen, the elder girl I saved last night. I don't want to do that to any kid. If she did kill or taste human blood it was no fault of her own. The sick bastard who did it is in his grave, that is enough for me. Now if you want to use it on the older members of Greyback's pack, then, maybe, I'll think about it. In the mean time, the only Auror I'll teach it to is Tonks."

Scrimgeour thought over what Harry said, "Fair enough. Most of Greyback's pack were already criminals, both the wizard and Muggle members."

"I know, they are a sick twisted lot. For them, I'll use it."

"May I ask where you found it?"

"Old family sources."

"Right. Again, I want to thank you."

Harry left the office pondering the recent changes in the Ministry's position. It still seemed to waffle nearly as much as it did under Fudge. He was a hero, again, this time getting an Order of Merlin out of it. He mused that by next week he would be back down in the muck and filth again.

Harry told the other three teens about the medal and what Scrimgeour said. He grabbed Tonks and taught her the spell. Hermione and Ginny had spent the rest of the morning dealing with Ron's mood and with the children. Harry found that having spent nearly eight months with Greyback's pack had taught them much about the Wizarding world, most of what they learned biased against it. He knew that there was a chance of them becoming bitter and resentful. He would have to ask McGonagall to see if either of the younger two were potentially magical.

That afternoon, the teens had short lessons with Rhys. After the lessons, Harry spent the rest of the time with Remus.

"Remus, have you ever tasted human blood?"

"No. I have never killed. I have never knowingly drank human blood. Why are you asking?"

"There is a potion that I can make, it may cure you. I need some of Greyback's fur or blood. Since I still have his pelt I can make it."

"What does this potion do?"

"Since you are a bitten werewolf, and your alpha has been killed, this potion is supposed to lift your curse. But only because Greyback has been killed."

"I don't want to try it. There seem to be too many risks."

"I thought you would say that, but I had to offer. Where are Bill and Moody?"

"They went off to the caves to see if there are anymore kids or anyone else."

"Yes, it seems that Greyback was a Secret Keeper and put the caves under Fidelius."

"That explains why nobody could find his lair."

That evening, Hermione cornered Harry, "Where are you finding all these spells?"

"A lot of them are coming from the Jevons books. Most of them are from the early sixteenth and fifteenth century ones. A few are from even older books. Why?"

"How are you reading them so fast?"

"I found some of my Mum's old books. There were about five Muggle speed reading books. By the time I finished with them I was able read about a hundred and fifty pages an hour, with ninety percent retention and comprehension. Then I found a spell of hers in the family Grimoire that doubled the speed and upped the retention to nearly photographic recall and the comprehension is still increasing." Harry pulled a small note pad and a pen from his pouch. He wrote down the spell and the list of books. After Hermione left, Harry grabbed the wolf pelt and threw it on the floor in front of the fireplace, in the study room.

The next two weeks forced Harry and the other teens back into their normal routine. As the weather in March started to change, Harry was eager to spend more time out of doors. Kat proved to be a very welcome guest on these outings. Late in March, on the next to last weekend, Rhys took Harry to the caves located on the property.

"There are very few who know that this, at one time, was Merlin's home."

"This is the reason for this estate?"

"Yes. Godric's lineage is that he is a descendant of Merlin. In his line there was always a son. You are descended from his second daughter, I am descended from the eldest. Dumbledore was descended from the daughter of the youngest son."

"Is there anything special about these caves?"

"These outer chambers, no. But there is an inner chamber, that is very special."

Rhys led Harry to the inner chamber. It was a room of crystal. Harry had to crawl through a small opening to enter it. Inside, the light danced around the room. Resting on a ledge of crystal, sat a harp. With the slightest movement of air the strings stirred and the harp seemed to play on its own. Rhys did not enter the chamber.

"Some of our ancestors believed that this room acted much like a Pensieve and that we, as members of this family could access the knowledge stored here. I do not know how true this is. But you may want to try. The procedure is somewhat similar to Occlumency. Except, instead of totally clearing your mind or erecting a wall you focus on a particular question. Then, according to the journal entries I've read, the answer will be presented as a series of memories."

Harry climbed out of the room without trying to find the memories.

"I was wondering, the entrance looks large enough, would it be allowable for Kat to move in here?"

"You are the owner of these caves now. You have final say in the matter. This land was handed over to your ancestors when mine left this country. Just as the scrolls of Merlin were placed in my family's care. I am too old and too in love with my own country to return here. The same can be said of the sons of my sons. No, this land is truly yours."

A few days later, Harry showed the caves to Kat. She accepted his offer and the teens spent the afternoon helping her get settled in them.

The only trouble was that Maureen had become moody and sullen. Molly had taken an instant liking to the children and began to tutor them. Not being magical, she taught them the basics of math and language skills. Maureen was an avid reader, so Harry acquired many Muggle school texts and allowed her to read any of his now extensive collection of fiction. As March drew to a close, so did Maureen. She refused to answer to any name except Raksha and she also refused to take the potion after her transformation in March.

One night, Harry found her curled up on the wolf pelt in the throes of a nightmare. After Harry awakened her, she broke down and began to cry. She told him what she could remember of that first hunt. She could not remember any details, but she knew that she had been part of the killing of an elderly woman and the two small children she had been caring for. She also knew that she had gone into 'heat' that transformation and that Greyback had 'taken' her. That did not disgust Harry as much as her final revelation of the night. That Greyback had had her to bed several times after that and that she was now a week late for her period, had Harry's blood boiling. If Greyback was not just a pelt on the floor Harry would have left the house to seek him out right then. His cry of outrage woke the entire household. Tonks sent her Patronus with an urgent message to McGonagall. Several minutes later, both Minerva and Madame Pomfrey, still in their nightdresses and dressing gowns showed up in the Arrival room.

Both women were outraged at Maureen's recounting of her treatment at Greyback's hand. Poppy quickly set to work, while Ron, Ginny and Hermione tried to calm Harry. Poppy emerged several minutes later, a grave look on her face.

"The good news is that she is not pregnant. The bad news is that she has been severely traumatized and needs time to heal. Molly, do you remember the state Ginevra was in after her first year."

Molly nodded.

"This child is worse."

Molly pulled back her shoulders, set her jaw and walked into the room, closing and locking the door behind her.