Outside Interference

Chapter 33

Avalon Gardens

Dumbledore looked up from his device. He had tracked young Potter to the general area of the Library, even with the needle erratically pointing pointing between Surrey, and into the sky. At the moment, the signal was dead, but he could see children, both human and non-human playing some sort of game with a black and white ball. Amongst them was the distinctive green and red hair of Violet. He frowned slightly, as he spotted the red and pink hair of her 'shadow' Dorea.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore. What brings you to Surrey?" greeted the familiar voice of Pandora Lovegood.

"Just following up on a rumour," deflected Dumbledore.

Pandora leaned in and whispered. "The magical library, secretly hidden in this building? The ICEP people gave me a key weeks ago." She looked towards the sound of approaching footsteps, then looked down. "Luna darling, Mr Hayes and Selene are here."

Dumbledore watched as Luna's face lit up. He looked towards the approaching people. He saw a young man of Greek descent holding hands with a young girl, about the same age as Luna. She had golden-blonde hair, decorated with pink flowers. She was wearing a pink dress that looked like it was made of giant flower petals.

"Luna! Selene!" called a girl's voice from near the library. Dumbledore tried to hide his distaste at the sight of the young dryad. They may be 'Light' magical creatures, but she was still a magical creature.

"Venus!" chorused Luna and Selene, as the three of them ran together into a group hug.

"It's good to see Luna getting along with more people her age," Pandora commented. "Ginevra Weasley and her used to get on so well, but Ginevra has been avoiding her lately."

"She's the little redhead that lives near Ottery St Catchpole, right?" asked Hayes. He shook his head and tsked. "Just because Luna is a little different."

"It's just another reason I'll be enrolling Luna in classes with ICEP, when she's older," Pandora commented. "It's not like she'll be getting into Hogwarts with those restrictions."

"Pandora, my dear," warned Dumbledore, drawing his wand. "The Statute..."

"That doesn't apply to me," interrupted Hayes. "I'm a squib, and Selene is an Aralune, just like her mother. We're supposed to know about magic."

An Aralune? Dumbledore thought. What's an Aralune?

"From that confused look, I'm assuming you haven't read The Quibbler," Hayes commented. "They've been publishing articles for ICEP and the ICW for at least two years."

"The 'getting to know your fellow sentient' articles?" Pandora joined in. "Xeno was so proud to be chosen to publish those. I didn't even know about the existence of Owl Harpies until I met Dorea's friend. It just goes to show that no matter how old you are, you are never too old to learn new things. An Aralune is to flowers what a Dryad is to trees."

"WATCH OUT!" called a voice from the direction of the sports ground.

Dumbledore startled, as a circle of glowing, pink runes appeared in his field of view, and a figure came spinning out of the portal at its centre, kicking the black and white ball back towards the field. "BALL STILL IN PLAY!"

"Violet..."

"Yes, Mrs Lovegood?"

"What have you been told about opening Gates this close to people?"

"Not to do it until I have more experience with pinpoint drills." Violet spread her wings, and flew back towards the others.

That's not a Glamour! Dumbledore realised, as he spotted the rest of the airborne flyers. Where was Harry/Violet Potter being hidden? I'm going to have to adjust the restrictions on the Admissions Book.

===/===

Sergeant Benton was in the motor-pool area of Cassiopeia Station, looking for Warrant Officer O'Reilly, when he was startled by something brushing past his ankle. He looked down to see a serpentine tail, holding a spanner, disappear under the Jeep he was standing next to. "What the-"

"Bugger!" muttered a young girl's voice from under the vehicle. "It's five sixteenths, not one quarter. I shouldn't have joined last night's hunt. I'm too tired for this crap." The tail came back out, and dropped the spanner back into the toolbox near the front wheel.

"What are you doing down there, Sally?" Benton asked.

"Fixing a loose gearbox casing," replied the young lamia, as she extracted herself. "If you're looking for Uncle Seamus, he's showing Juniper how to maintain the Chinook. We converted the old stables into a hangar last week."

"And he's leaving a ten-year-old girl, by herself, to work on a vehicle?" Benton was surprised.

"It's not on a jack, the handbrake is on, and the wheels are chocked," Sally dismissively replied. "Besides, Okaasan is nearby, even if she is playing kissy-face with Mum." She looked at her wristwatch. "I'd better get ready. Aunt Cissa is taking some of us shopping in about forty five minutes. Lyra needs new clothes."

===/===

Diagon Alley

Theo sat at the table out front of the cafe, along with Daphne and the rest of his circle of friends and acquaintances.. Whatever tensions had occurred with Draco's family seemed to have eased back from 'social pariah' to 'can meet in public' and that meant he could finally reconnect with his best friend, for the first time in months.

"What in Merlin's name..." Pansy trailed off, looking towards the Cauldron's archway, causing the rest of the group to look over.

Theo immediately recognised Draco and his mother due to their distinctive hair colour, but they were also accompanied by a red-haired girl in a dark green dress, a blonde boy in what Blaise said was jeans and a bomber jacket, and a blonde girl in a blue dress. The redhead was slightly taller than Draco, and had a slightly exaggerated sway to her hips, as they walked towards the cafe. It took him a moment to realise many of the passing witches and wizards were staring at the three of them.

"Look at that red hair! Is he friends with a Weasley?" Pansy asked.

"Definitely not," replied Blaise. "Her clothes are too new."

"Why is that girl swinging her hips so much when she walks?" Pansy asked. "She's going to give everyone the wrong sort of impression."

Blaise tried to hold in an involuntary scoff.

What does he know? Theo thought.

Then he noticed.

Now that the group was a lot closer, he could see why the girl's hips swung so much. "Blaise! You knew already?!"

Theo had heard the rumours that the Founder's eldest child had gone into hiding, overseas, many centuries ago, during the time of the witch-hunts. Apparently, the family had returned around ten years ago, and that the current Heir was a Lamia. "Well done Draco," he said quietly. "You've got yourself the beginnings of an excellent set of contacts." Most Pure-blood families are introduced to politics from an early age, and Theo saw this as being a good way for Draco to mitigate some of the damage to his social-standing, even if she was a half-breed.

Blaise tried not to laugh. "Of course I knew," he replied. "When Mother found out that the Hogwarts admissions procedures had been tightened, she decided to investigate. There is going to be a scandal this year, when they realise just who won't be getting letters." He stood up, and stepped over to the just-arrived group, and gave a theatrical bow. "Good afternoon, Miss Black, Draco, and you must be the lovely Miss Slytherin." He looked at the other blondes in the group. "I'm not sure I know either of you."

"Leo O'Reilly," replied the boy, holding his hand out in greeting. "Sally is my older sister."

"Lyra ...Black," stated the blonde girl. "I was recently adopted by Miss Black."

"I'll leave you to get reacquainted, Draco. Lyra and I will be in Madam Malkins for an hour, maybe two," Narcissa took her leave.

"You must be Blaise," commented Miss Slytherin. "Please call me Sally. Draco has told me a lot about you." She looked him in the eye. "He says you're almost as good with the ladies as Leo." She glanced towards where Leo was kissing Daphne's hand in greeting.

"Blaise," hissed Pansy. "She's a half-breed." Sally narrowed her eyes.

"A Lamia, actually," replied Blaise. "Mother speaks quite highly of the tribe that lives near her old childhood home. They taught her everything she knows about ...potions."

Theo and Daphne gave each other knowing looks.

...Dot. Dot. Dot. 'Potions'...

Daphne then turned towards Sally. "I like your glasses. They're such a pretty shade of yellow."

Sally blushed with embarrassment, the change in skin colour highlighting the tiny green scales, where freckles would normally be, if she were human.

In a quiet voice Leo replied "Mama makes her wear them. They're enchanted, so she doesn't accidentally petrify someone."

Daphne blanched at the comment. "P-petrify?"

"The Ministry probably forced that restriction on her and her mother," stated an unusually insightful Vincent.

"The Ministry wishes," scoffed Leo. "It was our mothers' decision." He pulled Sally into a half-hug. "Our family are pretty high up in ICEP, and it wouldn't look good for their integration program, if the daughter of one of their SRTs was involved in an incident."

"What's an ess-art-tea?" Greg asked.

"It's sort of like an Auror," Blaise explained, as everyone took seats back at the table. "Some of them have specialist training." He turned to Sally. "Your mother is a front-line Healer, right?"

"That's right," replied Sally. "Okaasan said there are quite a few people who are only alive today because of Mama."

"Okaasan?" Daphne asked. "Isn't that Japanese for mother?" Part of being in a family with international trade-ties meant she had to learn multiple languages.

"Dad is Heir to several Lordships," Sally commented.

"Ohh," chorused the rest of the table. They all understood immediately. Sometimes a Lord had to take on Consorts to ensure the continuation of some family lines.

They started making small-talk, although it was a bit forced for the 'properly' raised children. Blaise had all the makings of a natural ladies-man. Even at nine years old, and just let the conversation flow. He and Draco were able to steer the others through topics the group, as a whole, could relate to. The others having little to no experience with the muggle world did limit what they could talk about. Their conversation eventually made its way around to Hogwarts.

"This year will be interesting," commented Daphne. "The letters should have gone out today. How is the Ministry going to explain away you being denied a place at Hogwarts, especially with all the fuss Father said they'd made when your mother declined due to still nursing you at the time?"

"I don't care one way or another," Sally replied. "My spell range is too limited for your school system. Aunt Mizuchi says I'm purely a White Mage. Besides, I'm poikilothermic. The winters up there would probably kill me."

"A White Mage?" asked Pansy. "What's that?"

"It means she can only cast spells of Healing, Purification, or Protection,"Leo replied.

"Mama is a little bit disappointed I want to be a mechanic, instead of a Healer," Sally commented. "She and Aunt Fern are still going to teach me anyway."

"So you can only defend yourself with shields?" Greg commented. "That's Hippogriff shite. At least you have your eyes."

Draco snorted. The others looked at him in a mixture of askance and disgust. "Cousin Fern can punch holes in steel-plate with her Lumos spell."

Sally laughed. "It's good for cutting and welding steel plates. I don't need welding goggles for it, either."

"Aunt Mizuchi gave me a practical demonstration on, and I quote, 'what can go wrong, if you use the wrong spell on a person, or aren't in the right frame of mind, when treating someone.'" Sally commented. "She then got one of Mama's nearly expired transfusion packs, and used a Water Purification spell on it."

"What's that?" asked Daphne.

"It removes contaminants and toxins from water," replied Sally.

"No, the other thing. The fuse thingy," Daphne clarified.

"Oh, that. It's a blood pack, for when someone is seriously injured," replied Leo. "Regular humans can't use blood replenishment potions."

"Does that mean a Healer can turn someone's blood to... Merlin!" Daphne exclaimed. "I'm so glad none of the Death Eaters never found that one out."

Theo had gone green. "And I thought father's Blood Boiling curse was bad."