October 26, 1998
"I asked Hermione about the books you wanted. She said that they're not at Hogwarts, and trust me, she'd know. But there are a few personal libraries that probably have them. She sent a list." Harry told Calandra.
He held out a scrap of parchment with five names on it.
Laibros, Marcell, Chaprese, Nott, and Malfoy.
Old wizarding families. Two of the names were unfamiliar to her, possibly from other countries on the continent. Marcell seemed to ring a bell, it might be English. Calandra looked down at the last names on the list. She definitely recognized those names.
"You want to go, don't you?" Harry just looked at her.
"I'll write them." She said laying the paper on the table. "I'm not even sure where some of them are."
"I'm going there day after tomorrow." he said pointing to the last name on the list. "I'm picking up a load of artifacts the ministry wants to investigate. You can come along if you'd like."
She looked curiously at him. "The Malfoys don't seem like the type to just open up their library to anyone."
"Narcissa Malfoy is more approachable these days now that her husband is in Azkaban. I specifically requested to be the one to go, I have a meeting with her."
Calandra's eyes shot up. "There's a story there."
He nodded. "Quite a long one, actually. But I'd say she'll let you look through the books. They've been very accommodating since their trials."
"How'd she escape Azkaban?" Calandra asked.
"I spoke at her trial. Her son's, too." He said. "So did Hermione."
"Even though she joined the dark side?" The question was heavy.
"We'd have died if not for them." He said simply.
Her brows shot up. She nodded.
"If you think she'll let me in, I'd like to go." She said finally.
"Be ready at seven on Wednesday." He said.
October 28, 1998
They walked through the gate at Malfoy Manor. Sprawling rosebushes flocked either side of the heavy iron bars and edged the path up to the estate. Calandra looked around. It hadn't changed all that much since she'd seen it last. The grounds were pretty much the same. Maybe a new wing had been added to the great stone building towards the back, she couldn't tell.
She saw a tall, thin figure walk from one of the small buildings at the rear of the manor up to the side of the behemoth. She looked over to Harry and saw his shoulders a bit tense.
"You've been here before?" she asked.
"Yeah, once. It wasn't very pleasant experience for me." He grimaced. "You?"
"Yeah," she said climbing the steps to the door. "Me either."
Harry knocked on the door and after a moment it swung open. Narcissa Malfoy stood before her in deep blue robes, diamonds at her ears. She faltered just a step when she noticed Calandra, but regained her composure and invited them in.
"I brought along a friend of mine who has a favor to ask." Harry said, looking at Narcissa pointedly.
"Of course." Narcissa murmured. "You know we're in full compliance with the ministry."
"It isn't ministry business." he said nodding towards Calandra.
She stepped forward and held out her hand.
"Mrs. Malfoy, I'm Calandra White. We went to school together, though you may not remember me, I was a few years behind you."
"Of course," Narcissa said, eyes widening in recognition at the name. "What can I do for you?" She looked between Calandra and Harry.
"I was wondering if I could use your library. I'm looking for some rare texts and the manor library is one of the most extensive collections of magical works in the world, I'm told."
Narcissa's let down her guard just a bit. It was obvious Calandra wasn't here to hex her or try to threaten her. Flattery didn't hurt either.
"Of course, I'll show you to it. I would like just a moment to speak with Mr. Potter, though. Would you wait for us in the corridor?" she swept a hand toward the main hallway.
"Yes, thank you." Calandra replied and walked down the hall.
Narcissa and Harry walked with her just a way then Narcissa guided him up a staircase to her right and into a small room. Calandra noticed she left the door open and could see a writing desk and a couple arm chairs from where she stood.
She looked around her. Marble floors stretched out before her. Tapestries hung on the walls in thick sheets of silk and velvet. White stone pillars dotted the hallway. She noticed a few doors open and walked closer. She found herself first looking in a room that was completely bare. There was absolutely nothing in it. Blank walls, stark white ceilings, and a bare stone floor; not even marble, just grey stone. It looked as if someone had gutted it down to its bare bones. She took a step forward and felt the frisson of wards as she stepped through.
Interesting.
She backed out of the room and walked a few steps further down the corridor and peeked inside another room. Memories flashed before her eyes as she took in the familiar pattern of the floor. Avery's hands on her. Sirius dancing with her under the chandelier. Her father's harsh words spat at her when she dismissed chances at a betrothal.
"You seem to think that you have more choice than you actually do in the matter." Her father bit out through clenched teeth.
She was silent. Staring at the sparks from the fireworks as they showered down.
"Do you think you have any other option in this world? With what you are?" her father's voice grated on her eardrums.
"If you cooperate with me, you can live in luxury for the rest of your life." Her father's grip on her arm tightened. She'd probably have bruises. "Are you so stupid that you don't realize what your lot in life would be if anyone found out what you are?"
The stars shone through the window. She tried to pick out a constellation, any constellation.
"Let me remind you. You'd be cast out. Nothing. No self-respecting person wants what you are."
"Can I help you?" a voice drawled.
Her head snapped up to a figure leaning against the bottom of the staircase. A boy, blonde, probably about nineteen raised an eyebrow at her. She locked eyes with him, and her heart clenched. Those damn grey eyes would follow her everywhere. She swallowed and barely shook her head.
"I'm waiting for Narcissa Malfoy. She's going to allow me the use of the manor's library."
His brow lowered. "I can call an elf to find her."
"No need. I know where she is." Calandra nodded towards the spot where Narcissa had led Harry. "She's meeting with Mr. Potter."
"She's meeting Harry Potter?" the boy questioned.
She nodded. "In the west sitting room, I think. The door is open if you want to join them."
He laughed a hollow laugh.
"No thanks," he said and stood up straight. "I'll show you the library if you'd like."
"Oh," she glanced towards the room the others had entered. "I wouldn't want to insult Mrs. Malfoy's hospitality. I can wait"
"Mother won't care." he shrugged.
She raised her eyebrows at him and swept her hand out, "Lead the way."
She followed him down the corridor and stopped as he pushed open two grand wooden doors and stepped aside for her to enter.
She walked in, looking around in amazement. Shelves of books lined every wall, up to the ceiling. Rolling ladders were scattered through the room, leaning against the shelves. Rows and rows of dark wood created a maze of books. A couple desks and chairs sat next to a glowing fireplace. Pillows lined a window seat.
"I can show you the legend." He stood behind her looking bored.
"The legend?" she echoed, walking over to a shelf and running a finger along the spine of a book.
"All the books are catalogued." He said moving to a large stone slab mounted on a pedestal. "You can search for the types of books you want."
He looked over at her and said a bit impatiently, "Well, what are you looking for?"
"Old texts. Egyptian, Indian, and Italian especially." She said.
He muttered a spell and waved his wand over the stone. Books glowed all around them. A hundred or more.
"That's a lot, what subject?" he asked.
She thought for a moment and said, "Magical sources, how magic is derived and transferred."
He nodded and cast his wand again.
"I'd also like to look at any books you have on magical paintings. Same countries of origins." she said quickly.
He looked a bit surprised but complied. A few more books glowed.
"Marvelous." she said a walking over to peer at the stone. There were runes carved into it in neat lines. "Where did you get it?"
"I made it." He said.
"Extraordinary." She breathed, then grinned at him. "You must've been a right swot in school. Top of your classes, I bet." She joked.
A corner of his lip turned up. "Something like that."
"You went to Hogwarts, yeah?"
He nodded.
"You should've convinced Madam Pince to let you catalogue the Library there with a legend like that. This is wonderful."
She turned to the closest shelf and grabbed a ladder. The boy shifted on his feet and she looked sharply at him.
"Are there curses on any of them?"
He furrowed his brows.
"Will they hex me if I'm not pureblood?" she asked bluntly.
He clenched his jaw and shook his head.
"No."
Calandra nodded and stepped up on the first rung of the ladder.
"You can accio them," he said. "Levitate them to you, whatever you'd like. There's no charms on them that prevent it."
"Oh." Calandra blinked in surprise.
She didn't have a wand, and no one really knew about how adept she was at wandless magic. She didn't particularly want anyone to know either, least of all the Malfoys. She knew Lucius was in Azkaban, but that didn't mean she wanted his family to know her secrets.
"I don't mind to get them like this. I don't have a wand."
His brows furrowed and he just stared at her. She climbed up and got two of the glowing books, then pushed off the bookshelf to roll the ladder a bit to the left and grabbed another. Just as she was reaching for the fourth book it lifted out of the bookshelf. She felt the books she was holding lift out of her hands. She looked around her and about twenty glowing books were levitating towards a table in the corner. When they stacked themselves neatly on the table, the boy lowered his wand.
"Thanks," she said sincerely as she climbed down the ladder.
He nodded and picked a piece of lint off of his shirt.
"Did I miss one?" he clocked the book in her hand and her focused stare at the cover.
She hmpfed and held it up. Albus Dumbledore gazed out of the cover of the book.
"No," She said staring at the book. "You didn't."
A familiar fire boiled her blood.
The boy stared at her as she looked back down at the book. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the spine. She slowly shook her head.
"I wanted to kill you." she said quietly, to the picture. "I used to plan out the different ways I would do it if I had the chance."
She frowned and threw the book down on the table. "I never got it."
She looked up and saw that the boy's face had gone white.
"Sorry," she said and pulled out a chair.
Calandra started flipping through a book. She frowned at the page she was reading and flipped to a different section. She marked a page she found interesting with a bookmark that was lying on the table and kept reading. She picked up another book out of the stack and looked at the table of contents. She'd come back to it. She was paging through a large volume about Egyptian Hieroglyphics when she finally looked up to find the boy studying her, his hands resting on the back of a chair.
"What?" she asked, holding the book up. "I'm being careful. I'm not going to nick them."
He shook his head and said, "I just thought you'd be on his side."
He jerked his head toward the book with Dumbledore on the front.
"Friends with Potter and all."
He scratched his arm.
"His side?" she mused. "Of the war?"
She shook her head.
"He kept me locked in a box for years. I didn't get the opportunity to fight in your war. It doesn't matter though; I saw enough of it the first go around to last a lifetime."
He was silent.
"I'd say you have too by the looks of it." she nodded to his hands.
He looked down and found them trembling a bit. He didn't look surprised. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"They say the healers have better stuff these days," she said, turning a page in her book. "I haven't tried it myself, so I couldn't say."
"You can guess which side of this my family was on," he said, a sneer in his voice. "I'm sure the healers would be less than enthusiastic if I showed up at St. Mungo's looking for help with torture tremors."
Calandra cast a long appraising look over him.
"How old where you?" she asked, voice steady, looking him in the eye.
"Care to elaborate?" he asked, sarcasm dripping in his voice.
He didn't fool her; he knew what she meant.
"When he branded you," she nodded toward his left arm, covered by his robes. "How old were you?"
He stared at the fire in the fireplace.
"Sixteen." he said, finally.
She scoffed and shook her head.
She gazed out the window and muttered, "Weren't even of age. Just a kid. And they put war right on your shoulders."
"I was old enough to make the choice." he said bitterly.
"Oh yeah?" she said leaning forward in her chair. "Some choice."
"Tell me something, then. When you took that mark, did you do it because you thought you were better than everyone else? That muggles deserved nothing but to be slaves to wizards? That muggleborns and half breeds and blood traitors deserved to die? By your hand? That anyone whose blood wasn't pure was beneath you?"
He didn't meet her gaze.
"I'm not asking if you've ever thought it before. I knew your father well enough to know the types of things I'm sure he drilled into your head. I've no doubt you tried to live up to all those expectations. I'm asking if they're the reason why you've got a skull on your arm?"
She watched him blink.
"Or did you do it because you were scared? Because you'd been told your whole life to uphold family honor and that this would keep you safe? Keep your family safe? That it would protect you and the people you cared about?"
He swallowed. The corners of his lips turned down and his eyes shown with pain and regret and confusion.
"You don't have to answer." she said softly. "It's written all over your face."
He blinked and shook his head.
"Doesn't matter." he said. "It's there. It's what I am. I'll always be a Death Eater to everyone."
"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters, love." She frowned when he shook his head again.
Calandra lay a hand on his arm and he flinched, but she didn't pull away.
"Which side you think I would've been on if I could fight in your war? Which side you think I was on way back when? The 'good side' right?" she asked softly, then her voice hardened. "But I'd kill him today if I saw him." Calandra tapped a knuckle on the face of the grey-haired wizard on the cover of the book. "I would."
"And I knew a Death Eater who risked his life to save me. To keep a member of The Order safe. At the time it seemed like such a small act of defiance in the face of that darkness, but it made all the difference."
His head shot up and grey eyes met blue eyes. Those eyes would be the death of her.
"You've got your whole life in front of you, kid. Don't let the darkness ruin it for you."
He looked away and she followed his gaze. A portrait of Lucious Malfoy leered down at them from over the fireplace.
He cleared his throat and said, "I'll let you get back to it. You can call for an elf if you need any assistance. I'll let mother know you're already in here."
He turned to leave, and Calandra called out.
"You're not him, you know."
He stopped and looked back at her. She jerked her head towards the portrait.
"There was a point in my life where I'd consider that an insult." He said, raising his eyebrows.
"You might look an awful lot like him, but you're not him."
"Everything about me seems to prove otherwise." he said sadly.
"Nah, you've got the Black family eyes." she said and winked.
"My father's eyes are grey, too."
"Yeah, but there's light behind yours." she replied.
He smiled to himself and walked out the doors.
October 28, 1998
The books written by the Italian masters were the most helpful. She pulled a quill and parchment from the drawer of the desk and copied down information. Calandra ran her fingers over the legend and called forth some specific texts on the different stories and magical myths about the veil. She even found a couple rare books about the Romano family and their paintings. The manor library really was quite extensive. She copied down different incantations to research and made notes of references in the Italian books.
She was searching through a battered old book of spells when a footnote about wards caught her eye. She flipped through another book with a similar reference and raised her eyebrows. She startled when she heard voices in the hallway. Calandra sent half the books flying back towards the shelves, tidying the table a bit. A moment later Harry entered the library with Narcissa Malfoy close behind.
"Sorry, it took us so long." he apologized walking over to the table. "Malfoy came in and told us he'd shown you the library, and then I lost track of time. Did you find anything you were looking for?"
"Yes," she said smiling.
"Your library is amazing." She added to Narcissa.
"Thank you, Draco spends lots of time in here. He's added to the collection quite a bit." Narcissa waved a hand around.
Calandra's mind snagged onto that sentence. Another celestial name. Another haughty wizard. Another set of grey eyes.
She gathered up her parchments and turned to Harry.
"We can leave if you've finished."
Harry nodded and waved a wand toward the books on the table, causing them to lift and re-shelve themselves. She tucked the parchments into her robes as Harry took Narcissa's hand.
"Thank you for meeting with me," he said shaking it politely. "I'll be sure to let the ministry know of our conversation."
Calandra stepped up and held out a hand saying, "Thank you so much for allowing me the use of your library. I very much appreciate it."
Narcissa took her hand and gazed at her.
"You're welcome. Feel free to come by again if the need arises." She said.
Calandra nodded and followed Harry out of the library. Narcissa followed them out and closed the doors. The three of them walked down the hallway, with Narcissa in the lead. Calandra watched the witch glance at her and take a breath.
"I understand that condolences are in order, Ms. White." Narcissa said. "I was very sorry to hear of your father's passing."
Calandra could have laughed. If there was one thing in the world she wasn't sorry about, it was that man dying. She took in the woman next to her. Narcissa was clearly trying to be civil and put a good foot forward, probably to bolster her reputation in front of Harry. But there was no malice in her words. Johnathon had done business with Lucius before Calandra was even out of school. Narcissa probably knew him fairly well. Maybe she was sorry. Maybe not. Pure blood and pure-bred manners through and through. Well, Calandra had had enough of that from her father.
"Don't be," she said. "He was a horrid old beast and the world's not missing anything with him gone. And please, call me Calandra."
Harry looked a bit taken aback but Calandra saw him smother a smile. Narcissa's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to apologize, and Calandra just couldn't help herself when she caught sight of a slim figure in a doorway along the corridor.
"Don't apologize," she said turning to Narcissa. "I feel I can speak freely with you about him. That's what family is for. After all, who could I confide in but a fellow Black?"
Calandra smiled when she heard a surprised chuckle from the doorway and swung the main door open wide. She turned and waved, then walked down the steps. Harry said goodbye and followed close behind her; mouth curved into a smile he was no longer trying to hide.
"Are you really?" he asked. "A Black?"
"I shouldn't think so." she said smiling. "We were never married. But sometimes the old magic in families like that recognizes someone as blood when their magic is bonded."
"Your magic was bonded to Sirius's?" Harry asked.
"I don't know." Calandra admitted. "But I could pass through Black family wards back there."
"Wow." Harry said. "That's interesting. Which wards did you pass through?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know what the room was. It was bare; there was nothing in it." Calandra said thinking back to the room. "But it was warded separately from the rest of the manor, and since you said Lucius is in Azkaban, that means that the wards are his wife's."
"Or his son's." Harry pointed out.
"Either way," she smiled. "Black family wards."
