A/N: Hey! Sorry about the delay... it appears that I'm not going to update every 3rd day, but every 4th instead... well...

I owe nothing :D

Chapter Twenty-One – Not her, right?

"Mama?"

There was no answer.

Shutting the door behind them the two witches crossed the Headmistress office to where she knew the older woman kept the item they sorely needed.

"Are you sure she won't mind?"

Hermione smiled softly at the phrase that had become so natural when they were doing something they both knew her Mama or Xeno would not like. "I don't think so." She said as she opened the door to a more private area of the office.

The younger witch frowned. That was not the right answer. "Are you telling me that it's highly probable that she'll be mad?" She watched as the older girl went to a glass cabinet and tried to open it, only to find it locked.

The brunette blinked as she started looking for the key she knew Minerva kept somewhere in one of her books behind her personal desk. "Yeah, I think she could." She shrugged as she kept looking.

Luna groaned. After Hermione had been adopted the girl had become reckless and daring when it came to the Headmistress. The older girl had stopped thinking about consequences when it came to the stern witch a long time ago if the stories she had heard were true. Minerva had spent several nights over dinner telling her the stupid ideas Hermione came with since she entered Hogwarts and the punishments she had received because of them, stories that had to be true if the red face of her silent friend was any indication.

Hermione had known the Headmistress was always on her tail, keeping tabs on her and always ready to deliver any disciplinary action that was deserved. What had started as a disappointed Professor punishing a small twelve-years-old bushy haired girl after a troll accident had become over the years in the love and familiarity that both shared. Still, Minerva was always happy to deliver punishment when the girl asked; having adopted the girl had not changed that, but for some strange reason Hermione had decided to forget that little fact. She had been doing things more fit for a bratty child since the adoption when she knew there were things the older witch did not approve of. At least the girl had not been caught doing any of them since the canning she had received at the start of the holidays.

"Neenie! We should not be here!" Luna whined. She knew what kind of repercussions messing with the Headmistress entailed.

Hermione cried in triumph once the little key fell out a worn out copy of 'Moby Dick'. Picking it up she made a quick job of opening the case and getting the bowl she was looking for. "Relax, love. I know she has a meeting at the Ministry right now."

The blonde did not look convinced, though. "Want to bet you ass on in?" She asked her with her long arms crossed.

The older girl simply smiled a toothy smile and reached for a small vial from her robe's pocket. "You only want my ass for your own use, Luna." She replied amused as she gently poured the clear liquid on the bowl. "There. We can watch the memory now."

Momentarily forgetting why they were arguing, the younger witch looked at the small Pensive with a frown. "Are you sure?"

Hermione's playful attitude disappeared in an instant, turning to something that reminded the blonde of that first time she had met the brunette. "You are the one that wanted to know what happened that night, and I rather you watch it than I tell you." She sighed.

Luna shuddered. "I'm sorry, Neenie. I don't think I can actually watch." She looked at her friend with barely concealed guilt and sorrow.

The brunette gave a sigh of her own. She knew she was pushing the girl too far, too fast. For two weeks, since the moment the younger girl had wanted to know about Voldemort's demise, she had tried to avoid talking to her, she had wanted to simply lie to her and tell her a fairy tale in with the bad, bad, bad man was defeated by love and courage. But the true was far from that, and she knew that she could never forgive herself if she lied to her Luna. "I'm sorry." She whispered, truly ashamed of her actions.

The blonde smiled and reached to hug her friend. "It's okay, Neenie. I love you."

The older girl let herself melt onto the shorter one, glad that everything was at least somewhat alright. "Love you too." She pecked the lips she had come to desire almost on daily basis. "Let's get out of here, love, before Mama comes back."

"Too late, little girl."

Both girls stiffened at the new voice that echoed in the small private office. A well-known, stern, soft, angry, voice. Gulping and getting out their embrace, they turned to the room's entrance, paling at the sight that greeted them.

"Hi, Mama."

"Go stand in the corner, Neenie."

"Yes, Mama."

XxXxX

The witch sighed as she kept walking through the halls of the almost silent school. It was Saturday afternoon and most students were out playing in the snow or inside doing homework, but at least they were nowhere near her. She hoped to not be disturbed. It had been maybe two weeks since her dear friend had come to ask for help, and of course she had said yes. The matter was too much important for her to say no, after all.

Voldemort and Bellatrix having a child. That was simply too bizarre to be true, but at the same time, too strange for not to be real. Nobody in the Order of the Phoenix could have imagined that the Dark Lord had actually had an heir. Never mind it was half Bellatrix, the mere fact that the vilest man on earth had been able to procreate was enough of a shock.

Sure Narcissa Black, the divorcee of Lucius Malfoy, had known all along, but she could never blade the woman for keeping it a secret. The bond between the eldest and the youngest Black sisters was legendary, both had been devastated when their sister, Andromeda, had left to marry a low Muggleborn and as such they had simply grow closer together than before.

Many thought Narcissa was a Death Eater, mainly because her oldest sister was one, but after a Veritaserum session with Bellatrix had provided that her little sister was never approached with that proposition. Minerva highly believed that it was in fact Bellatrix the one that made sure her sister was never marked with the Dark Lord's snake and skull.

Minerva knew better, Minerva had gotten to know the Black sisters when they had attended Hogwarts. She had seen the way Bellatrix had loved both her little sisters, only to be left with the youngest after Andromeda's blood treachery. The crazy witch had then doted and loved her little sister with more vigor. The Headmistress knew Bellatrix, and knew she had done everything in her power to protect the youngest Black from the repercussions following Voldemort entailed, so it had been a shock to learn that she had killed the daughter Narcissa Black swore she had loved.

Bellatrix Lestrange was a strange witch. She loved with a sick love, but it was a love filled with devotion and loyalty. If what she had learned from seeing Siruis' memory was true and Bellatrix had loved Voldemort, she can easily see what kind of love she had professed. Having a child, a child she had loved also, had surely made her even more aggressive towards the people wanting to defeat the Dark Lord. It had surely made her do anything in her power to protect her.

So this hidden girl, that Bellatrix had made it so that everybody who knew of the girl believed her dead, but actually hiding her in plain sight, was something that the crazy witch could certainly do.

According to Sirius the girl had been born in late September, 1979, meaning that the witch was cursing her fifth year at Hogwarts, if she was studying in the school.

The Headmistress sighed. She had already read through the logs that the school kept about the magical children in the United Kingdom. Once a magical child was born in the Islands the logs would magically add the name and date of birth of said children. And there it was, in bold, big, black letters, the girl's name and the date… September the nineteen.

But there was no record of any contact made with the girl, of nothing that the school had done to ensure the girl was taken care of. Much like the A.C.D., one of Hogwarts' main purposes was to make sure no magical child was neglected or harmed, that was why the school always made sure the Ministry was informed of any magical new-born at the end of each year, so the girl should had been reported at the end of 1979 at the latest. Sometimes there were so many children born that it was hard to keep count, but that had not been the case in the years leading to Voldemort's first death.

During the First Wizarding War kids were sacred… at least the pureblood ones. The Muggle-borns and half-blood were hunted and killed mercilessly. Some vampires and werewolves had aligned with the Dark Side and they were the ones responsible to eliminate all the kids that were not pure in every sense of the word. Muggles had not known what was happening in the country, but even they could sense in the most primitive part of their instincts that that was not a good time to have children.

So it was a mystery why Capella was not contacted or even registered at the Ministry as a magical child.

There was no Capella Morgen Black in the records beyond the school logs regarding her birth.

That name had haunted since the day Sirius had told her it. It had taken her at least an hour to calm the Auror at the reaction she had had when that name had exited his lips. No, she was right, she had told him, just a little pain in her wrist that had bothered her since she had helped defeat Voldemort, she had said.

Morgen.

Morgen.

That was the name that had provided her nightmares for days. The name that was so cursed, so stained. A name that represented the very first witch that had used her magic for the greatest evil. A name so known yet so uncommon. A name that had become popular for the last seven months.

That was the name that the press had granted the most important person in her life.

That was the name her little Neenie had been dubbed.

That was the name Voldemort had yelled when he had seen her Hermione.

Capella Morgen Black and Hermione Jean McGonagall were not the same witch, right? Right?!

They needed to make the students use the Name Potion. She needed to be sure she was wrong. She needed to be sure her baby was not Voldemort's.

The tired Headmistress sighed again glad to finally reach the door to her office. She was ready to collapse in a minute. Her meeting with the Ministry had ended sooner than she had expected, but that was okay. It was great even, because she really needed time to herself, time to think and regroup her ideas. And she surely did not need to deal with any kind of trouble right now.

But of course the powers to be were not okay with her wishes. She sighed yet again as she slowly made her way to the door that lead to her personal rooms when she was distracted by voices. Voices in her personal office. Voices she knew, knew too well.

Minerva groaned. 'Why, oh Merlin, why she won't behave for just a couple of months?'

XxXxX

She stared at the entrance of the Common Room, waiting. School had started for a month and a half now and they had yet to see her.

Loony Lovegood had not been seen in Ravenclaw for as long as that. No. For longer than that. Loony's disappearance act had begun the weekend before the holidays started. She remembered well, that night the girl had been striped and tossed out the Tower. It had been the night when the charm's stones had been broken, the coldest night they had ever had in the castle.

Nobody knew where the kid was, but they all missed her. They missed making the girl cry. They missed making fun of her. They missed the pranks they could come up with, each on better than the last, each one of them Claws trying to outdo the other.

For a moment they had thought that maybe the girl had finally given up, that she had asked to go home and the Headmistress had agreed. They were not concerned about being punished, no, Professor Flitwick did not like the blonde either, and as powerful as the Headmistress was, she could not punish students without proof and without the Head of House support. Having none the stern witch could not touch them.

So they did not know what had happened to Loony, but they were just a tad disappointed when they had thought the girl had gone home. There would no longer be something to entertain them. Sure the girl disappeared on them just before holidays, but the blonde was not known to hide for longer than the night. She always came back to her dorm, looking for clothes and her school things. They had not seen her for the whole weekend, up until she had boarded the Express to go home in the company of no other than Morgen.

The fifth year Gryffindor had been always a sore topic for the Ravenclaws. There was no reason for the smartest witch of the century to be sorted in such an idiotic house. The Weasleys, Potter, Longbottom, the Creeveys… the ones that were considered the dumbest were all Gryffindors, it was just a shock Crabbe and Goyle were not Cubs.

They were the cleverest House, but it had taken them by surprise when Morgen had actually met with the strange girl and her stranger father to take the Express back to school. The Claws that had been there for the meeting swore that the brunette had actually talked like them and that she had embraced the odd Lovegood patriarch.

It had been a greater surprise the moment they all went back to the Tower after the feast, ready to start the term with a good party and a miserable Loony, when they noticed the girl was nowhere to be seen. Her roommates told them her things were not there and it did not took them that long to finally realize the girl was no coming back.

"She's certainly with that stupid Morgen…"

"Cho, did you say something?"

The Scottish witch blinked, her gaze never leaving the entrance. Loony was not coming, but she was so not going to escape them, no. Cho Chang loved making the girl miserable and just because she was no longer sleeping nearby was she going to stop being her main source of amusement.

A/N: Come one guys! I'm one review and two followers short to have the hundred. Somebody help me out here please?!

Hope you enjoyed reading :D