Hello, this chapter might be slightly shorter than the last. You'll be seeing Adhara, Draco and Hermione in this chapter. And as always JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, this is just fanfiction and I only own my OC's, so enjoy :)
Chapter Two, Letters from home
June 30th, 1991
"Oh isn't she just beautiful Rod?" A woman with black curly hair and bags under her eyes cooed down at a small baby looking no older than a few hours old that lay close to her chest sleeping peacefully.
"Yes love, she is," A man with chocolate brown hair, who was standing beside the bed where the woman and the baby were, was smiling, looking at the two in front of him. The image was blurry.
"She has your eyes, but my nose," The woman stated as she traced over her newborn daughter's features. "She's so much more perfect than my sisters don't you think?"
"Indeed, may I hold her," The woman handed the small baby over, he then started to coo words such as 'ma petite abeille'
"She'll be a perfect Slytherin won't she darling?"
"Of course she will, I've already got all of my proud dad speeches known of by heart, as well as the stay away from my daughter speech, that one is bound to come in handy,"
The woman had a weak smile on her face afterwards, she looked tired.
"What's her name?" The man the woman had called Rod asked as he went to stroke his daughter's features as his wife had done moments before, all the while staring down adoringly at the little human in his arms.
"I dunno, what do you think?"
"How about Bellatrix?"
The woman's face scrunched up. The man laughed.
"What? You don't like your own name," He chuckled.
"I do, just not for my daughter,"
"That's alright love, I'm sure Rodolphette will suffice,"
The couple burst out laughing.
The girl woke up suddenly, shooting up and breathing heavily, eyes wide as she looked around her bedroom.
Again?
Ever since she was young she had been having blurry dreams about a couple and a baby at least once a month, every time the dream was different, but with the same people.
The girl flopped back down on the bed with a sigh, she peered over at the small clock that was situated on her bedside locker, 7.31, good, she had just under half an hour left before mum and dad would call her and her brother to come down for breakfast.
The girl sighed again at the thought of her brother, Walsh would be going back to that school of his soon, although that school wasn't like any other school, it was a magical school.
Last year on her brothers birthday the Ives family got a visit from a woman who introduced herself as Professor Pomona Sprout and explained how she was a witch and how the girls brother was a wizard, at first the family didn't believe her, it wasn't until the woman took out a funny looking stick that she called a wand and performed a spell that made her fathers hair turn pink that they were convinced, Pomona Sprout went on to say that her brother, Walsh, would have to go to a special school for children like him. The professor also made them all vow to never tell anyone.
The girl was jealous of her brother, although she was almost glad sometimes that she was normal, almost. Walsh had told her stories about some of the 'criminals' in the wizarding world, who called themselves death eaters, who are they and why do they eat death? She found herself asking herself a lot, Walsh had also told her how much a lot of people hate the non-magical, who they liked to call Muggles and the magical born who was born to the non-magical. This made the girl worry an awful lot for her brother, but none of this took away from the fact that she still yearned to go with her brother so much, the girl didn't like being normal, she wasn't normal, yet people kept told that she was.
She had asked Ms Sprout if she was indeed too magical, but once she spoke the professor looked at her with wide eyes, full of confusion, fear and... recognition, also stiffening, this had confused the girl quite a bit, the professor finally cleared her throat and informed the child that it was very uncommon for there to be two muggle-born children with magic in the same family, She accepted this and sat down with her brother, who showed his sister the letter of his school supplies.
It was the 30th of June, there was only a month left before Walsh went ba-
Wait.
It was June 30th...
The girl whipped her head around to check the calendar on the back of the oak door, surely enough it was June 30th, then that meant it was her birthday! She was finally eleven.
Her bedroom door suddenly burst open and in came Walsh, there was a good five seconds of nothing but the sound of his bare feet pounding on the wooden floor before he shouted loud enough for all of Daisy's Lane to hear.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADHARA!"
June 30th, 1991 Lestrange Manor, Cornwall
Today was her birthday.
Bellatrix lay in bed, staring blankly up at her bedroom ceiling, Rodolphus had already woken up earlier and had probably left to go to Rab and Isadore's for a bit. He couldn't stand to be in the place where his daughter had been taken on the day of her birthday, it was just too much.
It had been just about eight years since that night, and Bellatrix and Rodolphus had practically done everything they could do, but nothing worked. Her mind wandered to what she had told Narcissa just hours after all of the children were taken.
Oh, my sweet Cissy, it's ok, we'll find them.
They however did not find them.
Losing her children was the last straw for Narcissa, falling into a deep depression, she lost all interest in pretty much everything for the first two years, it was up to Bellatrix to get her sister to eat, bathe and get exercise, Narcissa wouldn't listen to the house-elf. If it weren't for the tracking potion confirming that Hermione and Draco were alive each month Bellatrix wasn't sure how Narcissa would have coped, the fact her children were alive and there was the slightest chance that they would be returned to her was just enough to keep Narcissa going. It was quite the same for the other mothers who had lost their children, the difference was that they had their husbands, Narcissa did not. The fact that very few parents still had at least one of their children didn't help the ones who lost their own. It was torture to watch the Notts and the Macnair's with both their sons. The Selwyns had two out of three of their children, for that Narcissa envied them most, while the Rowles had only one out of three of their children, they had lost their two daughters, Hestia and Esme, it was kind of the same for the Carrows, who had lost their two eldest, Rosalind and Boyet, and were only left with their youngest, Titus. Oh, what a snobbish boy Titus has turned out to be.
Losing Adhara wasn't the only bad thing that had happened over the last thing, however. Dumbledore had found out about the plans to break the three out of Azkaban, of course, he had no idea who was in the dark lord's inner circle, and if he did have his suspicions, he had no proof. Once Dumbledore had found out he moved Lucius up to higher security and doubled the number of guards guarding Alecto's and Lucius' cells, and sadly enough, Bartemus Crouch Jr had sadly passed away.
Then her lord had come up with a plan, quite a marvellous plan it was indeed. He would let Dumbledore 'kill' him, to make everyone believe that Lord Voldemort had fallen at the hands of the great Albus Dumbledore, defeater of the great Gelert Grindlewald and now Lord Voldemort also, two of the darkest wizards in wizarding history. But then the Dark Lord will rise again, even stronger than before, then the people would turn against the headmaster of Hogwarts, thinking of him as a liar, allowing The Dark Lord and his followers to take over the wizarding world, they would start with Hogwarts and eventually move onto the Ministry, while at Hogwarts they would get their children back, whatever miserable fools that had taken them away would pay dearly, Bellatrix would just have to wait until the tie was right, and then her daughter would be in her arms once more.
Bellatrix was broken from her thoughts by footsteps in the hallway.
"Bella?" It was her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange.
Bellatrix didn't respond. This earned a sigh from her husband.
"Let's get out of here Bells, we should go out and celebrate or so-"
"Celebrate! What on earth should we be celebrating Rod?! Well? Our daughter being god damn kidnapped?! Hm? Or maybe her spending EIGHT MOTHER FUCKING years away from us, oh yes pop out the fire whiskey,"
"It's Adhara's birthday," Rodolphus responded.
"God damn Rod, don't you think I know that!?"
"No um... Bella?"
"What?"
"It's our daughter's eleventh birthday," Rodolphus spoke with a small grin, Bellatrix' features softened, "You do know what that means don't you since our daughter is no squib,"
"Oh," She whispered "Yes, I do," She then smiled, something she rarely did. Adhara would get her letter today, most likely to Hogwarts, for Pureblood children would almost always get a letter from the school in what country that the child was born in.
Adhara would go to Hogwarts. Adhara would go to Hogwarts.
The sad thing that angered the two Lestranges was that nobody in the wizarding world would know their daughter's true bloodline, Adhara had Lestrange and Black blood running through her veins, as well as some Rosier blood due to her grandmother on her mother's side, it was disgusting to think that one of the heiresses to two of the purest and noble houses in Britain would ever think she had any kind of filthy blood inside her. But alas how could she not think that now, it wasn't as if her captor would be stupid enough to give her away to purebloods, perhaps they didn't even give her away at all. The entire wizarding world wasn't aware that the suspected death eaters' children were captured, The Dark Lord had ordered for what happened on the night of the second of September to get out. So on the fourth of September, the Daily Profit got their best scoop yet:
Hungarian Horntail Attack Kills Fourteen Children At Lestrange Manor.
It was all over the paper for years afterwards. Many people believe differently however, Many people believed that the horntails didn't kill the children, their parents did. Everywhere the death eaters went whispers and murmurs were bound to follow. 'I heard one of the Lestrange twins head was hit against a statue before he went to sleep just to make sure he wouldn't wake up and witness the murder of his friends, but when he did, they killed him too,' 'Malfoy's wife has finally gone mad, so mad she killed her own children,' 'I always knew Rodolphus Lestrange's offspring would die eventually, I mean with parents like that, I'm surprised it wasn't killed sooner,' Unluckily the woman who said the last one said that when both Bellatrix and Rodolphus were right behind her, Bellatrix was more than happy to kill Dolores Umbridge, until her husband pulled her back, so Dolores was lucky enough to escape with a few fractured limbs and whatnot.
"Yes, we should, but don't you have to work" Bellatrix started to get up.
"I'm sure the ministry can do without me for a day,"
"Rod you're the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, I don't think-"
"It's fine Bella it's just one day, How about we go and visit your mother first? Since the owls are so overworked by her letters alone,"
"And why should we? What has that old hag ever done for me? For us?" The Lestrange bride sneered.
"Well, she did give birth to you for starters-"
"Rodolphus Corvus Lestrange you know what I'm talking about!"
Rodolphus huffed, "If you insist Bella, but one of these days-"
"How about France, let's go and see your parents Rod, inform them their granddaughter should be arriving at school very soon."
30th of June, Birmingham, West Midlands
Walsh trampled closer to finish his sentence, "YOU'RE FINALLY ELEVEN!"
Adhara blinked twice, she then rubbed her eyes and giggled softly. "Thanks, Walshy," She sniggered.
Walsh huffed, his eyes narrowed playfully, he ruffled his little sister's hair, "Oh my baby sister, eleven already,"
Adhara groaned, "Oh shut up, I'm eleven now, I'm not a baby anymore,"
It was then two more people entered the room, one man and one woman, both still in their nightclothes.
"Really you two? You couldn't wait just twenty more minutes?" The tall man with short bushy brown hair asked, the two children who were now sitting on the bed frowned, they immediately prepared their apologies, their father grinned, "because the pancakes are only half done," Jonathan Ives chuckled as he watched his children's eyes brighten.
"Come on you two, you can help us set the table!" Sarah Ives exclaimed, she smiled as she watched her two children scramble to the ground, "Oh and happy birthday my love," Then she kissed her only daughter on her forehead softly, Adhara beamed up at her with a toothy grin on her face.
Something you ought to know about Adhara Ives is that she adored pancakes, especially with honey and chocolate syrup, but she wasn't allowed it often, however, only on special occasions. Another thing you should know about Adhara Ives is that right now she's absolutely, positively, one hundred percent, stuffed.
She sat slumped in her chair at the kitchen table unable to eat another bite, feeling as if she would explode any second, but God those pancakes were delicious.
"Why don't you all go upstairs and get dressed?" Sarah Ives asked her husband and children, "I'll clean up down here, and then it's time for presents," Adhara jumped up excitedly, "Oh and Walsh, feed that owl of yours would you?"
Adhara rushed up the stairs to get dressed, she wanted to get back downstairs and open her presents as soon as possible. Mr and Mrs Ives had a knack for knowing what it was that their daughter wanted without her actually telling them, this made every birthday and Christmas that much more special. Last birthday they had gotten her some clothes and books, but each of the clothes were cool and the books interesting.
The youngest of the Ives got dressed in a pink GAP zip-up hoodie, a red and white striped t-shirt and blue jeans, she then crossed the 30th of June, and then galloped downstairs to the living room.
Adhara launched herself onto the couch in between her brother and mother.
"Do you and Dad not have work today Mum?" Walsh piped up.
"We'll be going tomorrow instead, we took today off," The older woman smiled at her two children, her smile returned.
"Where is dad anyways?" Adhara inquired.
"He's up in our bedroom, getting your presents," Adhara beamed up at her mother, who used her thumb to brush a loose strand of Adhara's long chocolate brown hair behind the girl's ear.
There was a knock on the door.
"It's only half eight," Sarah muttered before going off to answer the door. When Mrs Ives opened the door, she saw a tall, stern-looking witch with black hair drawn into a tight bun.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Ah yes, hello Mrs Ives, my name is Minerva McGonagall, it is a pleasure to meet yo-"
"Professor McGonagall?!" Walsh exclaimed as he ran from the sitting room into the hallway. Stopping dead in his tracks as he saw the professor.
"Hello Mr Ives, how are you, I hope you've got your homework done," The tall lady grinned, the boy nodded his head furiously. McGonagall turned her attention back to his mother, "As I was saying, It's a pleasure to meet you," She extended her hand to Sarah.
Mrs Ives took her hand gladly, "Sarah Ives, I do hope this isn't about my son's behaviour,"
McGonagall chuckled as her students' eyes widened, "No no Sarah- may I call you Sarah?" Mrs Ives nodded, "My business is not your son," Adhara's mother's eyes narrowed slightly, "May I come in,"
"Of course," Mrs Ives walked towards the sitting-room door and the professor followed.
Once McGonagall spotted the young girl with chocolate brown hair and blue eyes that were the exact replica of Rodolphus Lestranges, although nose, cheekbones and a jawline to match Bella's, Adhara was truly a perfect mixture of both of her birth parents, although it would take an absolute genius to conclude or to figure out who her real parents were. Minerva narrowed her eyes slightly at the girl only to internally scold herself quickly after doing so.
"Adhara dear, go upstairs with your brother, I just have to talk with his teacher for a while,"
The child looked at McGonagall curiously, was this woman a witch? But she nodded politely nonetheless. Minerva snapped out of her thoughts then.
"Oh no that is quite ok Mrs Ives, it is actually young Adhara here I had come to talk to," The woman and her daughter looked at the woman in slight confusion, while the boy just stood there dumbstruck, until a large grin spread across his face, finally he regained his voice.
"Oh Adhara we're going to have so much fun you'll see! I just can't wait till you see the castle, it's absolutely beautiful! And then-"
He was interrupted by a loud booming voice coming from the hallway.
"Sorry I took so long, forgot where I left one of em, but not to worry, I found it, anyways where's the birthday girl?" It was Jonathan Ives. Once he walked into the sitting-room he looked at the stranger in his living room and smiled politely setting down a box, "I wasn't aware we would have guests today dear,"
"Oh not to worry Mr Ives, I was just here to talk to you and your daughter, I'll be on my way then,"
"Alrighty so, why don't we all take a seat," They all did, The girl who looked so much like Rodolphus sat in between her 'parents' on the couch, while her brother, who was looking giddy as ever, sat on the wine armchair nearest to the fire, Minerva sat on the wooden chair across from the couch.
"You are all probably wondering who I am and why I am here," The elder witch started, "Well firstly, My name is Minerva McGonagall and I am the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, I'm also one of Walsh's teachers, and as for why I am here, well, I'll let you see that for yourselves," Minerva handed Adhara a letter.
Adhara looked at the front of the letter.
Ms
6 Daisy Lane
Birmingham
West Midlands
Adhara then showed it to her parents who were looking at each other in surprise as they had a feeling of what would happen next.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Open it!" Walsh piped up from the armchair, glancing at both of her parents, Adhara opened it, The girl was awestruck at what it said inside, It looked exactly like the letter her brother had gotten only a year prior,
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Ives,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Adhara stared down at the letter that was on her lap, her wish had come true, she was a witch, and she really wasn't as normal as everyone said she was.
"But, when I asked the woman who came last year if I was magical, she said it was rare for two children with non-magical parents in the same household to both be magical," She found herself saying.
"Yes, it is," McGonagall replied, Adhara nodded.
"Hold on," Mr Ives piped up, "Does this mean that none of our children will be going to a normal school?"
McGonagall grinned, "Yes sir, that's exactly what this means,"
"So Adhara's a witch?" Walsh smiled brightly at the question he just asked, both of his parents gasped.
"Walsh Joshua Ives, how DARE you call your sister that, she's a-a," Mrs Ives looked at Minerva to finish her sentence.
"A witch,"
"Yes, she's a wi- oh,"
McGonagall stood up and walked over to the couch where mini Rodolphus Lestrange sat, "Pleasure Ms Ives," She stuck out her hand to the girl, instead of taking her had however mini Rodolphus launched at the teacher, Minerva gasped, but Adhara had already clung to her.
"Thank you so much, Professor! You have no idea how much this means to me! You have no idea how much I've wished for this! I simply don't know how to thank you!" McGonagall didn't know how to react, if it wasn't for her knowing the child's unfortunate parentage she would never have thought that such a sweet little thing could share blood with death eaters.
"Adhara Anabel Ives! Get off the poor lady, you'll strangle her to death," Sarah shouted at her daughter. Suddenly Adhara's cheeks reddened.
"I- I, Um... I apologise, professor, I understand that that was very foolish of me, I don't know what came over me, it's just- thank you so very much," Adhara fought the urge to hug McGonagall again, she also fought the urge to launch into asking the older witch a load of questions, but she just about managed not to.
"You're very welcome Ms Ives, I hope to be seeing you next month at Hogwarts, I'll be leaving now since your parents already know the drill since your brother, speaking of," The witch turned her attention to Walsh, "Mr Ives, your letter should be arriving tomorrow," Walsh nodded.
"Oh and Professor McGonagall?" Adhara looked up at the transfiguration teacher, who then raised her eyebrow as a gesture of telling her to continue. "Is there soccer at Hogwarts?" Walsh laughed at this, and the professor grinned.
"No dear, we play Quidditch though, you might be interested in that," McGonagall knew full well that Adhara would take a liking for Quidditch, It was in the Lestrange blood, after all, Rodolphus is one of the best chasers Slytherin have ever had, while his brother, Rabastan, had probably been of the best keepers Ravenclaw ever had, each house head practically already had positions ready on their house team for the three Lestrange children, McGonagall sure did anyway. "I'll be going now, it's been a pleasure,"
With that Minerva McGonagall left with one main thought left in her head, Gods I hope she's in Gryffindor.
While Adhara only had one main thought on her mind, Best. Birthday. Ever.
June 5th, 1991, York, Yorkshire
Severus Snape walked up the steps of number twenty-two Vincents Place, a horrid looking neighbourhood with a large scowl on his face, he hated associating with muggles with every ounce of his being, the only good part of the whole thing is the look on the child's parents faces when they realize that they've been housing a little witch or wizard for eleven to twelve years. It was hilarious.
With one last sigh, Severus finally knocked on the front door. There was a crash on the other side, the door was opened by a small boy looking to be no older than the age of eleven, he wasn't very tall, he was a scrawny little thing too, the boy had messy white-blonde hair, deadly pale skin and greyish blue eyes, the spitting image of... No!
Snape shook his head furiously at the thought that had just struck him, he was one of the only ones who knew about the true events that had happened at Lestrange Manor, so it was quite possible that this was Lucius Malfoy's son, he was the spitting image, but no, such a weak little thing such as this could never be a pureblood.
"Erm, hello," The boy greeted the stranger at his front door.
"Is this the Muller household?" Snape asked in a low voice as he eyed the boy carefully.
"Yes," The boy said simply, Snape was about to respond, but then there was a yell from somewhere inside the house.
"Oo's there Dray," Came a drunken slur of a woman making the boy gulped.
"It's just a man mum," The boy with blonde hair responded. Severus raised an eyebrow.
"Is it a policeman," The drunken slur called back, "Cause if it is tell em I dunno nor do I care where your father is,"
The boy looked angry at this, but obeyed anyway, "Are you a policeman?"
"No," Snape replied with an irritated tone.
"It's not a policeman mother,"
"Well, what does he want then?!"
"I dunno I just opened the door!"
There was silence for a few seconds from the drunk or hungover woman. "You filthy little vermin how dare you speak to me in such a manner,"
"K I'm sorry then," The boy yelled back. Silence again. The boy huffed a small sorry to the man with black greasy hair.
"You're Dray Muller?" Snape asked as he went to pull a letter out from one of his pockets.
"That's me,"
"Do you mind if I come in?"
The boy's eyes filled with panic all of a sudden, Snape narrowed his eyes, Dray peered around the corner at something before responding.
"N-not here," He shuttered, "Mother would kill me if I let a stranger anywhere near her and Fathers-" Dray stopped himself suddenly, even though Severus thought it impossible he could have sworn the boy paled a bit more.
"Anywhere private will do Mr Muller, do you have an older brother or sister that I could speak to?" Snape was getting Impatient, he'd already been on the doorstep for at least five minutes.
"Y-yes I have an older brother, Tanner, but he's only older by a year and-"
"That'll do, now where to,"
"Oh alright! If this is really that important I'll go up and get my brother, just, wait down here for a sec will you?" The boy spoke, Snape nodded and the boy did a U-turn and dashed up the stairs.
He came back down with a boy who looked to be about twelve to thirteen with ginger hair and who looked as if he had just been awoken.
"The fuck is wrong with you dip shit," He muttered to Dray.
"This man wants to speak to you," Dray defended as he pointed to Snape who was at the door.
"Correction," Snape shouted in the door, "I came to speak to you Mr Dray Muller, I just need an elder sibling or someone sober to give a few entails to and give them to your mother when she's slightly more... awake,"
The two boys looked at the man that was on their doorstep confused.
"Fine then follow us, just try not to wake mother or trip over one of her beer bottles, we'll go to the shed" Dray replied as he walked towards the place where the drunken woman had been heard shouting earlier on.
Once Snape stepped inside, however, the smell of alcohol and rot hit him fast, his nose wrinkled in disgust. What disgusted him more however was the sight that greeted him in the kitchen, The woman, who Snape assumed to be Mrs Muller, was what it looked to be unconscious holding a half-empty bottle of beer in her hand, not to mention what Severus would assume to be at least fifty broken bottles surrounding her, if it wasn't for the fridge and the sink Snape would never have thought that this would have ever been a kitchen at all.
The boys walked out the back door as quiet as they could and Snape followed them. Tanner walked over to a little shed that looked to be half fallen and opened the door which squeaked loudly due to the rust.
"In here," Dray nodded towards the door, Snape's eyes narrowed once again, but obliged.
He had to bend down to get through the doorway, and when he did he saw two small beds on either side of the crumpled up floor, Tanner was about to sit down on one before Snape spoke up.
"Do you two sleep here,"
"No, we do sometimes, but that's only when she's in one of her drunken rages," Snape nodded at what Tanner said.
"I see... Oh and happy birthday Mr Muller,"
Dray narrowed his eyes. "My birthday is in three weeks,"
This wasn't going to be as easy as he would have thought
Hampstead, London, June 5th, 1991
"So you truly expect us to believe, that my daughter, is a- a-"
"A witch," Came the voice of Albus Dumbledore.
"But that's impossible, there's simply no way if this is your idea of a joke-"
"I can assure you, Mr Granger, this is no joke, your daughter is indeed a witch," Dumbledore replied to the rather flustered man, "Ah, Almost forgot about this," Dumbledore reached, "Probably should have started with this," he muttered, "Here you go Ms Granger," Dumbledore handed the girl with bushy hair a letter.
Hermione Jean Granger looked down at the envelope in her hands and read the front looking over each detail.
Ms.
1 Hamper Lane
Hampstead
London
Since the child had seen nothing suspicious about the outside of the letter, she carefully opened it making sure not to rip the fancy red stamp on the front.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Granger,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"Do you have any proof that this is genuine sir? I don't mean to come across as rude, but I hope you can see where I'm coming from," Albus let out a soft chuckle, this was like talking to a mini Narcissa. Hermione looked nothing like Lucius or Narcissa, but she definitely looked like Lucius' mother, Medusa Malfoy. Dumbledore can remember the late Mrs Malfoy quite well, A Ravenclaw bookworm with a love for books and studying, much like her granddaughter it seemed.
"Indeed I do Ms Granger," Dumbledore pulled out his wand and muttered a few words that Hermione didn't know the meaning of, this made Mrs Granger's favourite vase lift into the air.
The three grangers stared up at the vase in complete awe.
Dumbledore suddenly felt the urge to sneeze, he tried to resist, but it simply didn't work.
"A-a-achoo," And with that, the vase smashed to the ground.
Jean Granger shrieked and Hermione looked as if she wanted to burst out laughing.
Now there's Lucius Malfoy, Dumbledore inwardly mused before he was drawn back to the situation in front of him.
"My apologies Mrs Granger, not to worry not to worry, Reparo!" Albus waved his wand and all the vase pieces flew back together, Jean Granger took a few deep breaths with wide eyes looking as if she had just had a heart attack.
"So erm, how much is this... school?" Graham Granger asked blankly as if he had just seen a ghost.
"Oh the school itself is completely free," Hermione Granger's father sighed in relief, "However, you will have to pay for the books and everything else on the list," all the Grangers looked at the second sheet that was in Hermione's hands.
"A wand?! Where are we supposed to find one of those?!" Graham piped up.
"Diagon Alley."
"Where in the who?!"
"It's in London, don't worry, I'll be showing you myself next Wednesday, and you'll also have to exchange your money for wizarding money," Albus said calmly, ignoring Mr Granger's eyes widening.
"Wizarding money?!" Jean gasped.
"Yes, Knuts sickles and Galleons, but don't fret Mr Granger, we'll talk all about that next Wednesday, I'll be off now, thank you for having me"
"Wait Sir," Hermione shouted after him.
"Yes, my dear?"
"You said that kids usually get their letters on their birthday, but today is not my birthday, my birthday is September nineteenth, is it just because I'm, Mug- mu- erm..."
"MuggleBorns, Muggle is a nickname for the non-magical folk,"
"Yes, a Muggle-born, or perhaps I just heard you wrong,"
Albus lips pressed into a thin line, "No Ms. Granger you heard me correctly, the whole month of September is always the most eventful of all months, so none of the staff had much time to visit any muggle-borns I'm afraid,"
"Oh, well that's alright, I apologise for my lack of emotion, I'm waiting to wake up and for this all to be a dream to be quite honest, It just doesn't seem quite real yet," Hermione grinned up at the headmaster who smiled back at her and patted her shoulder.
"I understand Ms Granger, it is quite a lot to take in, especially at such a young age,"
"Thank you, professor, I'll be seeing you on the first of September,"
Yes, Dumbledore thought to himself, Medusa Malfoy indeed.
July 1st, 1991, 6 Daisy Lane, Birmingham
"I still can't believe you support Arsenal, and that you're wearing the jersey right now,"
"Arsenal's better than Liverpool," Adhara shot back at her brother.
Walsh scoffed, "You've got to be joking,"
"Well I'm not, Arsenal's in fourth place at the moment, whilst Liverpool is sixth,"
"Don't be daft Adhara, tis only a matter of time before Liverpool passes Arsenal out,"
Adhara decided to drop that conversation, Walsh was stubborn, even when proven wrong he kept on going, there was simply no point.
Adhara and Walsh sat on Walsh's bed looking through all of his old Hogwarts books from the year prior. They were all other fascinating in Adhara's eyes, there were four books, The Standard Book of Spells, A History of Magic, Magical Theory and A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, there was supposed to be another four, but Walsh had told her that they were accidentally blown up on the train back for the Summer Holidays by his two friends Hank Kavanagh and Cormac Mclaggen, Her parents had promised to buy her those ones, but she would have to use the ones that Walsh did own, Adhara didn't mind this.
"Can I see your wand please?" She asked her brother who was currently re-reading A History of Magic.
"Sure, just please don't try to do any spells, underage wizards and witches aren't allowed, I don't want my little sister to be sent to Azkaban before she can even start school," He ruffled through his trunk and pulled out his wand and handed it to Adhara who nodded in agreement.
"What kind of wand is it?"
"Holly wood, with a unicorn hair core, 10 ΒΌ inches," Walsh responded almost by instinct. Adhara nodded.
"Walsh, what house will I be in?"
"That depends on the sorting, it's not like in regular school, you're not just assigned a house because of the first letter of your name, it depends on your personality,"
"How do they know about your personality?" The girl was growing confused.
"It's a test,"
"Oh," She still didn't understand.
"There are four houses, there's Hufflepuff, for the loyal, patient and honest, there's Slytherin, for the ambitious, cunning and resourceful, there's Ravenclaw, for the intelligent, knowledgeable and witful, and then there's my house, Gryffindor, for the brave helpful and civil," Adharas brother explained.
"What house is McGonagall in?"
"She's the head of my house, she was in Gryffindor," Walsh grinned, "She's strict but also fair, you don't want to get on her bad side,"
"I think I got the last part," The girl laughed and her brother chuckled. "I think I might like to be in Gryffindor too, but I trust the staff's decision if I'm put elsewhere," Her brother nodded.
"You don't want to be put in Slytherin anyway," Walsh said with a tone of hatred.
"Why?"
"Cause most dark wizards and witches go there, everyone knows that that's the house You Know Who was in," Adhara furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the last part.
"Who's You Know Who?" She asked, her brother didn't lookup.
"The Dark Lord," Walsh shivered, but he continued reading.
"Who?"
"I can't say his name Adhara,"
"Oh please Walsh, for me," Adhara begged, Walsh, gulped, but no words came out.
"Could you maybe write it down?" Adhara suggested.
"I can't spell it, fine, come closer, I'll whisper it," Adhara came closer and Walsh put both his hands to her ear, "Voldemort," He whispered, h shuddered afterwards. "Please don't make me say it again,"
"What did- what did he do,"
"Horrible things, Adhara, some I can't tell you, they're too horrid, but well, he was one of the guys who hate muggle-borns, who hate us," Walsh paused as if to gather his thoughts but Adhara asked a question before he could continue.
"Was? Is he dead?"
Walsh nodded, "Yes, Dumbledore killed him,"
"Dumbledore? Is that the headmaster?"
Walsh nodded again, "But You Know Who is never really gone, not really," Adhara was confused again.
"How is he not?"
"Do you remember me telling you about Death Eaters Adhara?" Adhara nodded, "Yes well those are You Know Whos followers, they are, really, really bad people,"
"Ye but they're all in that prison you told me about, right?"
"Some of them, very, very few," Walsh was looking nervous now.
"But why?"
"I don't entirely know Adhara, I only know a few things,"
"Like what?" Adhara knew that if she kept on asking so many questions Walsh would eventually get annoyed, but she didn't care, she needed to know. Walsh knew this too.
He sighed before speaking again, "Cormac told me three of the worst that was sent to Azkaban," His sister nodded, as if telling him to continue, "Well there's Alecto Carrow, and Bartemus Crouch Jr, real bad so they are, don't ask me what they did, Cormac refused to tell me, but apparently their not as bad as Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, sent to Azkaban for the murder of twenty-seven muggles, cast You Know Whos mark in ta the sky and everything," Adhara's eyes widened, Twenty seven? But if you ask me the worst of them managed to escape capture,"
"Really? Like who?" Adhara wasn't fully sure if she wanted to know or not, but of course, her curiosity got the best of her once again.
Walsh gulped again, "The Dolohovs, Rowles, Macnairs, Notts, Parkinsons and-" The twelve-year-old paused before he said the last name, "The Lestranges, those aren't even half of them though, Lestranges and Dolohovs are probably the worst."
Adhara nodded thoughtfully, "Why? What did the Dolohov's and Lestranges do?"
"I can't say, too horrible, all I can say is that they're so horrid that they even murdered their own children," Walsh forced out with a frown.
"What?! They killed their children?! Why?!" Adhara was appalled, how could someone kill their own children.
"It's a bit ironic, isn't it? Their so obsessed with what they call 'pureblood' and then they kill their own children who had some of the 'purest' blood of all, Cormac said that nobody knows if they actually killed the kids or not, in the papers it said there was a dragon attack, but I think differently, I just know they killed them, Hank reckons that they were all jealous over the fact that the children were purer than they were,"
Adhara was frozen in shock. How could anyone ever kill a child? Let alone their own child, and what did all these death eaters do that even Walsh couldn't talk about. Walsh noticed her disgust.
"Listen, let's just go and play soccer or something, Ok? I think we've talked enough about that for today, go and get one of your new soccer balls"
Adhara nodded and hopped up off the bed, although still horrified. Now the girl was more scared than ever, these people already hated her and they never even met her or heard of her, but what would happen if they did meet her? If what Walsh said was true, which it most likely was, then they most likely would.
Adhara sighed as she grabbed her yellow soccer ball.
No, I'm going to go to Hogwarts, hopefully, be sorted into my brother's house, and I'm going to have loads of fun and make new friends who don't care about how pure my blood is, and if what Walsh says about Dumbledore killing Voldemort than I'll be safe no matter what. Adhara kept telling herself, she then ran downstairs with her new soccer ball and into the back garden. All was good, she couldn't wait to start Hogwarts.