Bloom and the Malfoys are eating breakfast, with Bloom's massive appetite having finally settled into a somewhat-normal size like it does after a few weeks at Hogwarts - no surprise she was so hungry, she was going without food for the summer and got sick so badly her healing abilities were stretched to their limits keeping her alive - when suddenly they hear the Floo activate. Draco frowns, and asks "Father, do you have anybody coming over? A business deal, perhaps?"
Lucius shakes his head, and says "No, and they certainly wouldn't come during breakfast."
Narcissa gets up and says "Children, stay here. Lucius and I will go see who it is."
The two adults head to the foyer, and find Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, and several Aurors. Lucius inwardly curses, but puts on a polite mask and asks "To what do we owe the…pleasure of this visit?"
Dumbledore calmly says "It's come to my attention that you might've found young Bloom Potter. I'd like to express my thanks and get her back to her family, Lucius."
Narcissa smirks, and then says "While we appreciate the gratitude, Ms. Potter is quite enjoying her time here. If she decides to leave, it'll be her choice - she's also proven to be a very stubborn, headstrong young lady. Who, incidentally, doesn't care what other people think or want of her."
Fudge exclaims "You do have her! Why haven't you contacted the Ministry with the information that you'd found her?"
Dumbledore moves past them, saying something about verifying Bloom's well-being himself - as if he actually cares - and gets into the dining room to see Draco sitting next to Bloom, who's transfiguring a few napkins into a dancing pineapple, much to both her and Draco's delight. Then, it turns into a pair of Quidditch players flying around between them. Draco leans over to whisper something in Bloom's ear, which gets a snort of laughter from her before she waves her hand at the paper figures again and they change. Bloom looks at Draco, who's sitting right next to her by now, and says "Oh, I read about this in that book you told me about! This one spell…want to see? I won't burn much." Draco grins and nods, so Bloom sets the napkin on fire by touching it.
To Dumbledore's utter horror, it forms a small firedragon - she's figured it out, then. SHIT!
The small dragon circles for a minute before moving around Bloom's neck - which apparently tickles, as she laughs and brings her shoulders up to protect her neck. Draco pokes it, then yanks his hand back with a yelp, and Bloom says "Don't touch it, it's made of pure fire, silly! Let me see." He moves his hand over to let Bloom see, and she quietly says "Barely even burned, you were fast enough to keep from getting more than a little redness."
They start leaning closer, probably don't even realize they're doing so, and Dumbledore decides right then that enough is enough. He clears his throat, getting both teens' attention. He was expecting them to jump, he wasn't expecting Bloom to whip out her wand faster than he can track…or for the murderous glare she gets when she realizes it's him. He decides it'd be better to stay where he is when the tip of her wand starts spitting out fire sporadically. "Bloom, my girl, come to me and we'll get you back to your family safe-"
She immediately yells - roars, actually "NO!" The jet of fire that shoots out of Bloom's wand nearly singes Dumbledore's beard - from a good twenty feet away - and he figures it'd be wisest to calm her down before taking her back to the Dursleys. Especially since the contents of the entire table are starting to rattle noticeably.
Fudge gets in the room and immediately says "No, Albus, she'll be taken back to the Ministry, where she'll be trained by the finest we have. No telling when the next threat might come up, after all. Now, get over here, girl." The pompous tone of voice makes Bloom go still, which Draco's long since learned means the target of her anger had better be ready for a verbal explosion.
The first sign of her temper exploding is the bacon catching fire and burning to a crisp, the second is her body catching fire. The third would be how it's getting boiling hot in the room. When she finally speaks, it's like she's spitting out bits of fire.
"What the bloody hell makes either of you two think you get to decide how my life is lived? You," she points her wand at Dumbledore, resulting in another spurt of fire erupting from it and nearly catching his beard, "have been trying to control me my entire life, ever since that damned prophecy was given. When my parents died, you had their Will sealed and went against their express wishes by placing me where it was specifically stated I was to never go. With Lily's magic-hating sister, and her equally hate-filled whale of a husband! You let me be abused and worked until I would've died, all because you wanted me to be some bloody fucking humble, naïve, brainless sycophant of yours!"
Dumbledore snaps "Bloom, language!"
"ENGLISH!"
Draco snickers quietly, even as Bloom rises to stare the two men down better - she's fully caught fire, and her hair is…starting to float above her head! He can guess her eyes have turned completely orange to, and are possibly burning - he's right, her irises are two rings of fire at the moment. And it's scaring Fudge so bad he's shaking and sweating.
"And as for you," she rounds on Fudge now, who immediately freezes in his tracks and the trembling nearly triples, "your nothing but a spineless sop who's more worried about public appearances than actual facts! You think I don't know about the smear campaign you were planning, about how I'm the 'girl-who-lied' about Tom Riddle being back? About how I'm a bloody attention-seeking liar who'll do anything at all to get a little more glory and fame?"
Dumbledore freezes, and Fudge shakily says "Y-y-you have no proof about any-"
She slams a fist on the table, resulting in a lot of the food leaving the table and splattering both Fudge and Dumbledore, and roars "I'm a bloody Seer! I got a vision while I was out for three days straight about a few newspaper headlines!"
Fudge gulps, pinned under a furious gaze, and tries to backtrack with protests about the future being a changing thing and visions not always being accurate. Bloom snorts, and says "Spoken like someone who doesn't have to deal with the visions. AKA, completely ignorant of them. I'm not going anywhere with either of you, no matter what any of you try to make me. I'd bet my magic it didn't cross either of your minds to ask if I was alright, or what I want to do for once in my life."
Dumbledore carefully interrupts, saying "Now, Bloom, I'm sure you think your happier with the Malfoys, but-"
"Oh, really? And I wonder why that would be. Maybe because they feed me? Or is it because they give a damn enough to get me decent clothes instead of threadbare castoffs that are always at least three sizes too big - and boy's clothes. No, wait, maybe it's because they put me in an actual room instead of a broom cupboard under a staircase! Or how about the little detail that they haven't attempted to work me into exhaustion? How about the fact that my life hasn't been in danger once since I arrived, or that they've been nothing but kind to me?"
Dumbledore calmly adds "Or, it's because they have you under-"
Bloom barks out a humorless laugh, and says "A spell? Compulsion? Something along those lines? As if. In case you didn't hear, Barty Crouch Jr. - excuse me, Professor Moody - couldn't control me via the Imperious Curse last year, and neither could Tom Riddle's Horcrux Diary in year two. I'm too stubborn to die, and I'm far too stubborn to be controlled by anyone." The implied 'that includes you two' hangs in the air, and Draco spots his father's hair from around the doorway as Dumbledore starts trying to convince Madam Bones and her Aurors to simply take Bloom.
Bloom says "Your little weapon, your 'Chosen One' is through following your rules, Dumbledore. You just had to make sure I was the right one, didn't you? Make sure that I'm actually your Prophecy Girl? Had to test me to make sure that I'd survive 'against all odds?'" Dumbledore promptly goes the color of sour milk, and Bloom gets a cold, cutting version of a sneer on her face for the man.
Sirius walks in, Narcissa behind him, and demands to know exactly what's going on and why they want to take his Goddaughter away. Therein ensues a lot of yelling on Fudge's part, lots of suggestions from Dumbledore to place Bloom with her mother's relatives until they can sort the whole mess out - and then Bloom puts a halt to all of it at once by slamming her fist down on the table, accidentally cracking it just like she accidentally blew all the food in front of her and Draco onto Fudge and Dumbledore. She furiously says "Seeing as everyone that came in here before Sirius has some kind of plans for me…screw you all. I'm heading back where I was before. Good luck finding me a second time." She then demonstrates an ability much like Apparition - though much more violent-sounding and explosive - that leaves a scorch mark on the floor where she was standing and several people blinking in utter shock.
Madam Bones takes control of the situation, and turns to Sirius after placing Silencing Charms on Fudge and Dumbledore to get an explanation of everything - starting with who Bloom's Legal Magical Guardian is.
Sirius grins, making Dumbledore groan inwardly, and pulls out several papers, and starts into his explanation of how he got railroaded into Azkaban in the first place, how he was freed and then essentially jailed in St. Mungo's for a year via Dreamless Sleep and unlimited Calming Draughts until it was determined that he'd recovered from his unwarranted time in Azkaban by trained Mind Healers, and then how she decided it'd be safer to disappear for a while with nobody knowing where she was rather than head back to Lily's magic-hating sister and her family.
Madam Bones raises one eyebrow at that particular description, and asks "Your telling me that the Girl-Who-Lived - a magic child, celebrity, and the Savior of the Wizarding World, as everyone calls her - was placed in a home that was abusive? One that hated magic?"
"Above everything else. I met Vernon and Petunia once, it didn't go well. Petunia called all of us freaks, Vernon nearly burst a blood vessel and said we should get the 'freakishness' beaten out of us, and they stormed out and never had any more contact with Lily. I imagine that's only a bit of the treatment that Bloom received for ten years. You know what she said about her time there, when I first got the chance to talk to her and she learned Peter Pettigrew had been the one to betray her parents? Specifically, 'things happened.' We were in a rush, it's true, but I'd spent more than enough time with Dementors and Death Eaters for company to imagine some very dark things. Add to it the detail that her personality had done a complete one-eighty from when Lily and James were alive, and that her Boggart is Vernon Dursley, and I believe I've got a case for taking Bloom away from the Dursleys forever. And possibly going after the one who decided it'd be safest for her to end up there in the first place, seeing as she was never to go to them according to the Potters' Will."
Dumbledore gets a desperate expression on his face - the Blacks had quite a lot of influence, and even without the Will having been Sealed he's got a solid case for wrongful imprisonment. With the Will Sealed, and having been discovered, he's got enough evidence against him to make a case for interfering with Bloom's entire life, and conspiring to possibly kill her. Since she's somehow not a pseudo-Horcrux - he's not sure how, as from what he can piece together she should be - that wasn't part of his plan to stop Voldemort.
Fudge gestures that he wants to say something, and then immediately demands that Lucius and Narcissa be arrested and thrown into Azkaban for kidnapping the Girl-Who-Lived…and being Death Eaters.
Sirius rolls his eyes, and says "They didn't kidnap Bloom. They offered to let Bloom and I live with them, as Narcissa is my cousin, until I got Potter Hall fixed up. Which, by the way, is complete. As for the accusation that my cousin and her husband are Death Eaters, do you honestly think that I'd let my Goddaughter anywhere near a pair of Death Eaters? Especially since I fought on the opposite side of the war? Which Dumbledore here can verify, by the way."
Amelia softly says "Well, there's a very simple way to confirm or deny their status."
Lucius and Narcissa had always refused to show their arms before - as the Mark, while faded, was still visible - and do so now only because they had before. Sirius rolls his eyes, and says "Enough of this farce, already." He flicks his wand at Lucius' arm, revealing absolutely no markings whatsoever on his arm. Narcissa pushes her sleeve up to show the same - the evidence that Bloom literally burned the Mark away is already gone, as promised.
Madam Bones says "Well, these papers are all legal, binding, signed, and notarized. Dumbledore, Fudge, you both would do well to watch yourself. You may be the Minister, Fudge; and you may be the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and Chief Warlock, but interfering in private business like this won't do either of you any good. You may just make a political situation that won't show either of you in a good light. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, Lord Black, my deepest apologies."
The two Aurors snag Fudge and leave, and Dumbledore stays behind a moment to make a copy of the papers for school records. Sirius coldly says "If there's no other business you have here, Albus, I'll kindly ask you to leave. I've got to track down my Goddaughter and Heir, after all."
Dumbledore offers to help, and Lucius equally-coldly says "No, you've done quite enough already."
Draco, for his part, has long since slipped out to sprint to Bloom's room - deportment and pride be damned - for any kind of clues about her whereabouts. He left just about the moment after Bloom vanished - and he's in a near-total panic, to.
AN: Hey, everyone! As promised, Dumbledore finally finds Bloom - and figures out she knows the contents of the Prophecy. I couldn't do anything to him just yet...mainly because I need him alive when Hogwarts starts the school year. Anybody want to take a guess as to where Bloom 'went back to' when she left? Find out next chapter! As for how she blew everything off the table - I got another idea, but one that's got to wait until she gets to Magix to be revealed. Mainly because Wizarding Britain doesn't have the knowledge of spells to recognize it.
Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon! School starts in two weeks, but I'll update once more before then. Reviews are appreciated!