Chapter 2

Once again Julia looked at the little Lucia with worried eyes. She had tried to remove the pendant around the child's neck again this morning, but as usual it had only resulted in pain and a rash on her hands, which she was now scratching. She shook her head, failing to see what exactly could have caused that to happen, but then again – her thoughts wandered back to the aristocratic looking woman who had come with the child. She had been a little weird… and with guilt – because Julia Potter usually tried not to think ill of what she generally viewed as her children – she thought that Lucia was a little weird as well. The now four-year old girl woke up crying from strange dreams, claimed that strange creatures lived and talked to her in the forest, they took the children to once a year, and had, the one time she had visited the matrons office, seen something that had made her scream and cry, in the fire.

Once again Julia thought with guilt, that she hoped the girl was taken away by the young couple interested in adopting one of the children, not for the child's own sake, but for hers. But it wasn't likely she thought, not with the pendant around her neck, or the strange penetrating glance the girl possessed. Not that she would actually tell the couple about the strange happenings that surrounded the girl. In her heart she hoped that if Lucia settled down with a new family, it would all pass. With her head she knew it wasn't very likely, but one must be allowed hope.

She shook way her worries as the couple approached her, guilty but hopeful smiles on their faces. 'It feels wrong, ' the woman admitted. 'Like shopping other people's children, ' she continued, now looking worried. 'Don't worry about it; you can be able to-' the Matron was interrupted as one of the older boys, Billy, chose the moment to pull at Lucia's long blond braids, making her scream and run to Julia for comfort. The girl buried her head in the skirts, for a while, before she shyly peeked out to look at the strange couple. The woman looked down at the little girl with a sweet smile. 'Hi, sweetheart, ' she muttered, her eyes becoming soft. Julia allowed hope to crawl into her heart. She picked up her sentence. 'You can give a child a better life. As proud as I may be of this orphanage it isn't the best place for a child to grow up, and any of the children would be happy with a new home. Now is there anyone who's caught your eye?' she asked politely, pushing Lucia back to the other children. 'Well… ' the man looked down at his wife with a loving smile. 'Maybe you would be more comfortable discussing this in my office?' Julia offered. They hurriedly nodded.

Back in the office the couple again looked each other in the eyes before the husband blurted out; 'That girl who came over to you before?' Julia's heart sang, and she had to control her voice before responding. 'Lucia? Well, she is a very sweet girl. But you do understand that adopting a child is not something you do light-heartedly? You have to really consider this, because, as I am sure you understand, you cannot return the child!'

'Yes, yes, of course, we understand!' the woman said. 'We saw her earlier, and she looked so lonely, and sweet. I immediately thought I wanted to help that child, to make life better for her!' Julia nodded. She had given as much warning as she intended too. 'Very well. Now there are some forms, I need you to fill out, before you can take her home.' She found the forms she needed and handed them over. 'If I may ask, do you have any other children? Biological? Adopted?'

'We have a biological son, but I became sterile some years back, and we always wanted a sister for James, so we decided to do something about it and adopt, ' the woman smiled.

'You do realise you cannot treat her any differently even though you didn't bear her?' She would be damned before a child she had had under supervision, would be treated badly. They both nodded eagerly, busy filling out forms. 'You said her name was Lucia?' the husband asked. She nodded. 'Lucia Iria Malfoy, and she was born the 31st of October 1984.' Again they nodded in unison, handing back the forms, which she carefully looked over, seeing if everything was done properly. Then she signed them and handed them back with a smile.

The idiot. The utter, imbecilic idiot. Narcissa was practically white with rage. She looked at the Ministry parchment once again, hardly believing what she read. Not only did her daughter have magical powers, albeit not very strong, but she was also a Seer.

She had done her research. Not all children showed signs of magic immediately after they were born, for some it took some time before the magic in their blood really came into function. Like the colour of their eyes, she mused. All children were born with blue eyes, but after a couple of days their eyes changed into the real colour. It was like that with magic as well.

And it said quite clearly on the paper that she showed clear signs of Seeing. Narcissa paced for several long minutes. Should she tell him? He would hurt her, she thought. Force her away from the life she knew know, forcing her to share any detail about her Visions with him. She would add to his prestige. And Narcissa would get her child back. But she would be unable to protect her. Tears came to her eyes, for in that moment she vowed to herself to protect the child within all of her ability, to keep her away from harm, but to do all that while seeing her child growing up in another family. A Muggle family. She also realised that the stupidest thing she had ever done was to give the child her husbands surname.