FULL SUMMARY:I n this story we follow Jackie McAllister, a witch born from muggle scientists that don't seem to understand her at all, even before they found out she was a freak; Maggie Tonks Lupin, daughter of esteemed war heroes and twin sister to a Metamorphmagus, always feeling like she's second best to everyone and Samantha Dolohov, who spent most of her life on the run from Aurors, now has to face a chance at a normal life and all that comes with it, including the hatred and fear that her name brings on.
Hope you guys enjoy reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Feedback is very much appreciated! 3
The summer air was hot in the quiet English neighborhood. It was somewhat late in the morning, nearly time for lunch, and the sun was already uncomfortable to be under. Windows lay open, becoming in some lucky fresh breeze, though of course, there was none. The blossomed trees in the park across the road lay still, content to just lay in the sun.
The stillness suddenly rustled with a spark and pop behind the lazy trees. A breeze soon followed, in a sort of unnatural way if one only had an eye keen enough to tell the difference. A woman, brown hair and brown eyes, stepped out from behind were she had sprung up from thin air. Her suit was elegant and made out of thin material for a perfect sunny day. The click of her red shoes on the concrete were in rhythm, steady and sure as they walked on the stepping stones and the small porch of one of the houses. She knocked three times, politely. After a few minutes, she knocked thrice more, a bit less polite. The door opened. Two people, a man and a woman emerged from behind it. The woman was dark skinned with short curly hair and the man had a light complexion and blonde hair.
"Hello?" The woman had an American accent and they both matched the description she was given, so she assumed it was the correct household.
"Good morning. My name is Christina Cartwell from the Department of Supervision and Protection of Underage Magic-Users in Peril." She gave out her business card but the man and woman just started at her flatly. "... or SPUMP for short. It can be quite a mouthful. May I come in?"
The couple started at each other now, trying to figure out what to say to the mysterious woman at their door. "It's alright, really. I assume you have many questions about your daughter. Jacquelyn, is it?" Christina said.
"Yes, Jackie is our daughter. How do you-" The man began. He had a British accent.
"How do I know her name? She has been under our observation ever since the swimming pool incident. It turned red did it not?"
"How-?" The woman began.
"Red is truly a quite jarring color. If only the rest of the pool goers hadn't been so frightened, they would have seen the whole pool had but only turned into strawberry juice. Quite delicious. Please, may I come in? It's very hot out here and I'm sure you have been looking for answers about Jackie for some time now. I can answer them all and more."
"Yes, come in." The mother said, coming to her senses. "Would you like some water?"
"That would be lovely, thank you." Christina answered, plopping herself on their chair. The father sat across as did the mother when she returned with the water.
"So where is Jackie at the moment?" Christina said.
"She's upstairs." The father said, eyeing his wife.
"Yes. Sleeping." She confirmed.
"Ah to be young again and sleep until noon, right?" Christina's voice was light, but her eyes missed no detail in the couple's tense interaction as they spoke of their daughter. Something was not right. Perhaps she had come to this house just in time.
"I wouldn't know, really. When I was a teen I woke up early in the summer to study." The father said with a polite smile. Christina glanced around the room, an awful lot of superior education degrees hung on the wall, moreso even than family pictures.
"So, might you have any questions about Jackie and her odd abilities?" Christina continued.
"Yes. Many of them. How do they work?" Her mother had Christina's full attention.
"Well, it's somewhat of a mystery until this day. No scholar has managed to explain where exactly magic comes from, but it is no doubt genetic. You either have it, or you don't."
"So there are people like her?" The mother asked, with a bit a relief, but mostly great interest.
"Yes indeed. Many more, living under your noses. We have our own Ministry that only most high ranking non-magic government officials know of. We exist all throughout the world in secret."
"I find all this very hard to believe." The father crossed his arms with a stern frown. "It feels like some sort of elaborate prank."
"Mr. McAllister, I assure you this is no prank." Christina pulled out her wand from an inner pocket inside her suit. "Usually, we are not allowed to perform magic in front of non-magic folk, but I have special clearance from the Ministry."
Christina inhaled calmly, concentrating and said quietly. " Expecto Patronum."
From the tip of her wand, a translucent light slipped out like mist, slowly transforming itself into the shape of a wildcat. It sauntered around the house with grace, observing its surroundings for any kind of danger. Jackie's parents sat with mouth agape, the man in shock and the woman with marveled awe.
"We can do things like this and much more, but Jackie must go to school. It has come to our attention at SPUMP that Jackie is still unaware of the letter she received recently inviting her to receive an education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm sure you had no idea what that meant at the time, but now you do. The time has come for her to know about who and what she is."
"That's what she is? A witch?" The father said, still not quite able to wrap his head around the whole situation.
"Yes." Christina waited for an answer as the couple looked at each other, silently communicating.
"How do we know this Magic School is giving her a proper education?" Mr. McAllister asked.
"I thought you might ask that." Christina smiled, and pulled from her pocket a two pieces of paper, handing them to the parents."I brought you the full curriculum, year by year and the list of school materials necessary for the first year."
Christina let the parents read the papers undisturbed as they discussed among themselves. As she sipped at her cool water, something caught her eye at the top of the staircase of the house. Her patronus stared at her, and as soon as it caught her attention, it walked hurriedly up the steps. Something was not right.
"May I use the restroom while you discuss?" Christina asked.
"Of course. Upstairs, second room on the left." Mrs. McAllister responded.
"Thank you." Christina walked up to meet her patronus who seemed to be waiting for her. The wildcat sat in front of one of the bedroom doors. It went inside and she followed suit.
The room was a pre-teen's room no doubt. Posters of Athletes were scattered on the walls mixed with stuffed animals and many sports equipment lying around. It was easy to see Jackie was very different from her parents in more ways than just being a witch. While the rest of the house was immaculately arranged, Jackie's room was bursting with personality. Unfortunately, Jackie herself was nowhere to be found.
Christina observed more closely. There were clothes on the floor, the closet was wide open, so were the drawers. One of them was even on the ground, dislodged from the wooden structure. Christina walked over to the window, which lay wide open and could see clearly a path down to the apple tree directly in front of the window. It was quite the stretch, but surely not a difficult jump for an athlete.
Christina's palms began to sweat and searched for some kind of note to confirm her fears. Surely, a piece of paper sat on top of Jackie's desk.
Mom and Dad,
I always knew I was different from you guys, but I guess there is a limit after all to just how different I can be. I'm not sure you even think of me as your daughter anymore. I feel like a test subject in one of your stupid researches which is all you talk about all the time. I won't be a guinea pig anymore. Don't try to find me.
- Jackie
Oh dear. Christina thought to herself. Things were worse than I expected. I should have gotten here sooner.
"Uncle Harry! Aunt Ginny!" Teddy exclaimed, nearly tripping over himself as he ran down the stairs of the Tonks house. His hair was bright pink, as it usually was whenever he was excited.
"Teddy!" Harry grabbed is godson in his arms and spun him around the room, making the boy's hair grow into deep magenta as he squealed. "How's my boy?"
"I'm great! I've been practicing changing my hair. Look, I'll make it blue now!" He concentrated hard. It turned yellow instead.
"That's incredible, Teddy." Harry ruffled his hair a bit and smiled from ear to ear, not bothering to tell the boy he didn't change it into the right color. "Where's your sister?"
"She's in our room reading I think." Teddy said. "I'll go get her!"
"Edward." Andromeda called from the kitchen. "Don't be rude. Give your Godmother and Godsister a hug."
"Oh! Sorry Auntie." He rushed and gave them both an awkward hug, since Ginny was holding Lilly, a child of barely a year, in her arms at the same time.
"Hi, Teddy." Ginny smiled.
"Maggie! Harry and Ginny are here!" He said, running up the stairs.
"I wonder if he'll ever run out of energy." Ginny said, making herself comfortable in the Tonks home. She sat Lilly down on the soft carpet in the living room so she could explore while Ginny herself sat on the couch.
"I doubt it. He's got his mother in him." Andromeda smiled a bit wistfully as she set down tea and biscuits for her guests.
"He sure does." Harry smiled. No words could measure how grateful he was for being able to care for his late friend's family as well as his own. It was everything he had ever wanted. His heart, after so many years yearning for family, finally felt complete.
"Hi!" His Goddaughter's voice shook him out of his thoughts. She was so silent, he hadn't even heard her come down the steps.
"Hey, Maggie!" Harry stood and walked over her to give her a warm hug. "How are you? Teddy says you've been reading a lot."
Maggie's face lit up a bit and she nodded.
"Maybe Ginny's right after all. She says you might be a Ravenclaw. Would you like that?" Harry asked, happy to have made her smile.
"I would rather be a Hufflepuff." Maggie said.
"Your mum was a Hufflepuff. Speaking of which, you look more like her each day." He ruffled her hair, and she smiled.
"Why did you come today?" She asked.
"Well, today's a very special day. Come join us on the couch!" Ginny said. "And come say hi to Lilly."
Once all reunited on the couch, Harry pulled out two envelopes from his pocket. "So I noticed no one checked the mail today…"
"No way!" Teddy jumped up from his seat and all but yanked it out of Harry's hand.
"Edward!" Andromeda snapped, but not quite able to hide the small smile from her face.
"Sorry, Nana." He took a breath to calm himself and opened.
"You knew the day it was coming. So you could surprise us." Maggie said, taking her envelope.
"Being a Hogwarts professor has its perks." Harry smiled.
"You knew about it too." Maggie said to her grandmother who nodded and smiled in response.
"Get dressed, children. We're going to Diagon Alley."
Samantha was already small for her age. As she looked up at all the people staring at her from their seats in the audience, she felt even smaller, yet not small enough. She wondered just how small she could make herself so that they wouldn't see her anymore. Her arm lay strapped down by the magic arm seat of the chair, stinging as the truth serum was injected into her veins. Every time they had given her the potion she had spit it out.
"Ms. Dolohov. Do you know why you are here today?" The judge asked, her voice echoing in the hall. Her voice was as cold as the black stone walls surrounding them. Neutral, yet unyielding.
"Aurors captured me." Sam answered, just barely a whisper. They had enchanted her voice so everyone could hear what she said even though she did not want to be heard.
"Yes. But do you know why they were chasing you and your family?" The judge at least, was patient. Her tone never changing.
"My parents fought a war an-" A flash from a camera on her left made her jump. "And they lost."
"You and your family managed to evade capture for nearly 11 years. How was this possible?"
Sam bit her lip, trying to fight the serum. She could not lie, but she could force herself to omit information. She had been well prepared by her parents, but her strength could only last so much. "Mother and father are animagus."
A murmur from the crowd. Samantha breathed hard, and she knew she had given up too much.
"And what animals do they turn into?"
"Moose and Owl." Samantha felt useless, her mouth opening on its own accord. Her arm stung more, and she couldn't help but cry. She saw some people writing the information down on their little notepads.
"The more you struggle, the more it hurts, Ms. Dolohov. Please, collaborate with us." The judge cleared her throat. "Now, what of their whereabouts? Do you have any idea where they could be now?"
Samantha felt her tears form a steady stream down her cheek. "Yes."
"Where, Ms. Dolohov?"
Samantha cried out in pain, banging her feet on the ground, shaking her head. She began to taste blood in her mouth from so hard she had been biting her lip not to speak. It was no use. "The Stadium. The muggle stadium. We've stayed there sometimes before, I think that's where they are."
"Excellent." The judge quickly nodded to the Aurors waiting in their posts. They exited the room quickly. "Thank you, Ms. Dolohov. We resume trial in a fortnight."
With a bang of her hammer, the judge stepped off her podium. The members of the audience shuffled out of their seats, going about their lives. Leaving Samantha to cry on her own.
"Sorry, kid." One of the Aurors come to collect her whispered softly to her. She looked him in the eye in such a way that made him flinch, if only a little. But all she could do was let herself be carried back into her cell, defeated.