Second in Command

It was a warm and normal summer day. September first, the first day of school for Hogwarts approached. The students who were to be first years had already received their Hogwarts letters. All but two, that is…

The house elf scurried through the Malfoy manor to deliver the mail to his master as fast as he could. He ran, then deposited the letters on Mr. Malfoy's lap, retreating with a muttered 'Here you go, master.'

"Calypso Avery?" Lucius Malfoy mused at the mail. Lounging in a living room of his mansion, he figured he had a vague recollection of the Averys having a second child. If they did, they never talked about her. "…Who?" He held a Hogwarts letter addressed to this girl. He set the rest of the letters on the couch beside him.

"Must we think of it now?" Narcissa Malfoy said, coming in, hands on the shoulders of a dirty, scraped girl, slightly shorter than Draco, with frizzy red hair that fell to her shoulders. She had black eyes and appeared to be the same age as Draco. He trotted in behind her.

Lucius set the mail on the table, forgotten. Not like this kind of thing happened every day. "Goodness, child…are you or are you not a pureblood?"

The girl cocked her head. "Um, I don't know," she said, puzzled. She appeared almost scared.

"Are you Calypso Avery?" Lucius said seriously.

"I—" the girl frowned. Then quailed a bit. "I'm Nellie. Th-that's all."

"Never mind. We will find out later."

He guided her to a few house elves who stood by.

"Tend to her, in case she's one of us," he said. The servants took her hands, and led her away.

Narcissa pulled Draco aside. "Now," she said. "I think we will keep her for a while until we find out who she is. She's our guest, so play nicely with her, ok?" Draco nodded, then went off to play by himself.

In the meantime, she busied herself scouring through letters from their pureblood friends. She looked closely at all the family trees. Lucius had said something about a 'Calypso Avery.' However, she could find no evidence of such a girl. She began to wonder if she had forgotten to mark her down when she was born. Or did she not exist?

Later, Lucius came in.

"We need to know—O I see you are going through them already," he said, and left her to it. He then went up to Draco's room, where he figured his son was. Draco was quietly on the floor, his little wizard figurines beating up the muggle ones. (Vicious, I know.) Lucius said, "The girl we found, Nellie, is going to play with you, ok?"

His son looked up. "Yes, father," Draco said softly. "Is she a pureblood?" A look of horror flickered across his face. "You-you wouldn't make me play with a halfblood, would you?"

"Calm down. We don't know yet, but we will soon, ok? Your mum and I are going to search through the records and letters for someone. Play nicely."

"Yes, father," Draco said. Then Nellie, in her old dress that was magically cleaned and dried, came shyly in. Lucius left.

"Um, hi," she mumbled, staring at the ground.

"Why were you all messy?" Draco said immediately.

"I-I got lost," she muttered. "And stuck in a tree, your mum got me out…"

"You and I are going to play," Draco said imperiously. He tossed her a polished stick from his toy chest. "That's your sword. Fight me. Let's see how well you can do, girly!" he sneered.

Nellie snapped to attention. Fighting was her kind of thing! Draco swung at her suddenly. She blocked. For a second he was utterly shocked. Then a defiant expression eclipsed his surprise and threw all his force into the next swing. She put her stick up, using the other hand to keep his in place.

"Oi!" Draco growled.

Stroke after stroke, he tried to pummel her but she deftly dodged or blocked all his attacks. He tried harder in increasing frustration. Finally, she disarmed him. He stared at the floor where his stick had gone. Then he glared at her.

"Yay, I won!" Nellie cheered. She skipped around the room.

"NO FAIR!" Draco whined. He crossed his arms and pouted. "I was supposed to win!"

"But it's a fair fight," Nellie said.

"WELL I'M A PUREBLOOD WIZARD!" Draco hollered.

"That's nice!" Nellie said indignantly. "You can't win all the time!"

"O YEA?" Draco sneered. "Well it doesn't matter! Who's your family, anyway?"

Not having heard, Nellie sniffed, "Well, it DOES matter—"

"NO IT DOESN'T!" Draco yowled.

Lucius and Narcissa could hear crashing and shouting as the fight grew in intensity. Lucius sighed. "I'll go," he muttered darkly as he left the room. He grimly went up to Draco's room. He opened the door to see Nellie and his son screaming at each other, red-faced and stubborn.

"WHAT IS THE NOISE?" Lucius roared. The pandemonium ceased. "Now," he growled. "Draco. What happened?"

"She beat me at sword fighting!" Draco wailed. "I'm the best! She's just a girl!"

"Now now, Draco," Lucius tried.

"I'm better than her! She can't beat me. She's not even a pureblood witch or anything. It's not FAIR!" Draco pouted.

"All I did was practice," Nellie said loudly and indignantly.

"I DID THAT TOO!" Draco howled shrilly.

"Draco," Lucius tried again. His son turned puppy eyes to him.

"O please, O PLEASE, tell her she's not as good as me," Draco pleaded.

"What?" Nellie shouted. "Oi, I beat you!"

"YOU FILTH!" Draco screamed at her. "YOU'RE A BLOOD TRAITOR!"

"I'M NOT EVEN ONE OF YOU BLOKES!" Nellie screamed back at him. "Am I?" she whispered uncertainly. She began to quiver with fear.

"Some witch YOU are!" Draco sneered. "Mum and Daddy know best and they only invite pureblood witches and wizards! They wouldn't invite some lowly blood traitor like you into our house!"

"Stop being stupid! I don't know what you're talking about!" Nellie howled in fear.

"STUPID?" the Malfoys screamed in rage. Glaring, Lucius drew his wand from his cane. Draco launched himself and physically pummeled her. They rolled on the floor. Draco bit and kicked. Nellie shrieked and clawed.

"YOU—" Lucius started, only to be stopped by his wife, who came in, pale, and whispered in his ear.

"Lucius—the Avery girl—the mail, we got a letter—an accurate description of the girl…"

"Come downstairs," Lucius abruptly said. The fighting on the floor ceased. "Both of you."

He led them all in a silent procession down the winding stairs. The children couldn't shake the odd feeling in the air…

They came to a sunroom on the ground floor. Lucius walked to the edge, took a deep breath, then said calmly, "Draco, I think you need to apologize."

"Why," Draco groaned.

"She's a pureblood witch," Lucius said softly.

"No, I'm not," Nellie squeaked, confused. "I'm a perfectly normal human!"

"No, you're not," Lucius said. "You're a pureblood. From one of the high families."

"I'm just odd!" Nellie cried. "Just a very odd human!"

"No," Narcissa said gently. "You are a witch."

"Witches aren't real!" Nellie cried.

"Who is she?" Draco said.

Narcissa whispered, pale, "I know exactly who she is."

The Malfoys had long since dressed up themselves and Calypso Avery, formerly Nellie. She appeared now like the height of wealthy trappings. She wriggled uncomfortably in the high-necked collar of her stiff, scratchy, prim black dress. Well, at least she had managed to talk them out of making her wear that skull necklace. They didn't even explain why they had done this, just that they needed to return her to someone. They all stood out in the front courtyard. Draco watched the lazy peacocks strut by. He wished he could chase them again.

"Now, Calypso," Narcissa said seriously. "We are going to apparaté. Hold on to my hand."

"Mum, I don't like the way it feels," Draco whimpered softly, clinging to his mother.

"It's ok, Draco. It will be for only a few seconds," Lucius said soothingly.

"What's apparaté?" Calypso squeaked. But Narcissa grabbed her hand, apparatéd, and Caly didn't get an answer.

She gasped for breath when it was over. The light did not come back. When she opened her eyes, there was a dark, looming cave entrance in a large hill that was almost a mountain. The mountain was black against the stormy grey sky. The entrance itself was tall and wide. Draco stared up and whimpered. The two trolls on each side, holding torches, rumbled ominously when they saw the purebloods.

"Mum, I don't like this," Draco whimpered in fear. He looked ready to cry.

"The Dark Lord's Hiding Place," Narcissa whispered. "Just as described in her letter."

"Do we have to go in," Draco cried softly.

"Yes," Lucius said, and he clutched his family's hands as though this was the last time he would ever. Dark whispers drifted from the cave as they slowly entered. The trolls let them pass as Lucius revealed his Dark Mark to them.

Cold, bitterly cold it was inside. It was so dark, no one could see anything inside. The whispers increased.

NOO, BELLA! Narcissa heard her own voice, younger, in her head. I WANT HIM! BELLA!

Well you can't have him! A cruel voice said. It was her older sister! He's mine! Father said I can have him!

I love Lucius! You know I do! Narcissa heard herself scream in her head.

Well, too bad! Her sister roared smugly, then laughed her shrill, high, and maniacal laugh.

I'm…not going to be working with you now, my lord, Lucius heard himself, weak and uncertain in his head.

O really, his master drawled. And why not?

I have a wife, my lord, and a baby son, Lucius pleaded. I can't find time to work with you now…

I am most displeased, you leave me now? the cold voice growled. Is this an excuse? I need you too, you know. I have problems of my own…

PLEASE! Lucius begged. PLEASE! Don't do this to meeee…

Haha, lousy pureblood, Draco heard. Thought you were a Malfoy!

O stop! My father is going to hear about this! He himself howled in his head, full of pain and fury.

She is too much work for you, a high, cold voice said in Caly's head.

No please, a male voice whispered.

She's our daughter, a female whimpered. Don't you—

Send her away, the cold voice interrupted carelessly.

NOOO! The other voices screamed, full of pain and agony.

The male cried, Must you do this to us?

MY BABY! The female wailed.

Please! The male begged. You must understand!—

ENOUGH! The cold voice roared, then wheezed and coughed as the parents quieted. Someone sobbing quietly could be heard. The cold voice continued in a raspy whisper, as though it were hard to speak, The girl is a nuisance! She takes up too much of your time. You work for ME. You help ME recover so I can come BACK. Do you understand?

The woman sobbed harder. I—I, the male tried, uncertain.

No excuses, the cold voice said, high and cold and commanding once again.

The screams reverberated in Caly's head. One was that of a little girl.

NO PLEASE! The woman gasped. My little baby—don't make me part—

Mumma! A child's voice howled. It was her own. What's gonna happen to me?

O my baby, the woman sobbed. O my baby Calypso…

Calypso.

Calypso!

Someone was calling her in real life. The voice…it was just like the woman in her dream…

Blearily, she forced her eyes open.

She was in a room with a torch high on the black stone wall. The concerned face of a red-headed woman hovered above her. "My baby," she whispered. Calypso found herself gently brought up off what felt like a bed into a tight hug. Her hair was being stroked. She had tried so hard to put all this away, to forget—but here was her mum again.

"Mum!" Caly gasped, bursting into tears. "Why did you give me away?"

"O Caly," the woman said gently. "We had no choice. We work for the Dark Lord. He was lost and battered, barely alive. He was hiding here. We had to take care of him. You were only two at the time, you see. We had to give you away when you were five." Caly turned pale. "But I'm never going to let that happen again," the woman said fiercely, clinging to Caly tighter.

"You're mumma, and your name is Svana," Caly whispered.

"Yes," Svana said, smiling as though she hadn't done so in a long time. "Daddy is Narcissus, and your brother is Griffith."

"Yea," Caly said happily. She buried her head on her mother's shoulder.

Caly knew someone else entered as robes swished.

"Daddy!" Caly guessed. Looking up, she was right; there stood the black haired man she remembered. He grinned widely, accepting her as she leapt off the bed and hurled herself at him.

"O Caly!" he whispered, clinging to her. Svana got off the bed and joined the embrace. "We never thought we would see you again—and then here you are! Right on the front doorstep!"

"O poor baby Caly," Svana said tenderly. "Sorry about the Dementors and trolls…they're only a guard system, to keep people away…I had to drive them off."

"Go mumma!" Caly cheered, bouncing onto the bed. Svana laughed. Caly turned to her dad. "Why are you working for the Dark Lord?"

"We can't find anyone and leave him for dead," Narcissus said. "We are the back-up deputies, that is, second in commands. We are the second in command right now, the Dark Lord's most trusted followers—that is until Bellatrix Lestrange comes back." Caly's eyes widened.

"Blimey," she whispered. "I don't like the sound of the Dark Lord, but can I stay with you?"

Her parents laughed. "Why of course," Narcissus said.