The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
Now it Hurts to Look Back
The chapter title is from the song:
Never Chase a Boy – Emily James.
Longbottom House
Harry cornered Lilly in the greenhouse, which was a little mean. Still, he needed to talk to her without anyone else listening in and in Longbottom House or Potter Manor, that was virtually impossible. The walls literally had ears, and they were waxy - in Longbottom House, they belonged to Augusta Longbottom.
And Harry didn't have enough fingers to count the amount of Potter portraits that Daphne had charmed into eavesdropping for her. They all reported the news back to her, which was how she knew everything about everyone all of the time.
Harry wondered if that was why she had taken the news about Thea and Zachary Smith so hard – because it was the one time she hadn't known.
"Lilly."
Lilly jumped in alarm and cursed, "Jesus Christ, Harry! Have you heard of fucking knocking?"
Harry smiled slightly, "You're sweary when you're scared. I wish I'd counted how many times you swore when we were up against that dragon in 2010."
Lilly shot him an exasperated look, "The Statute Saboteurs could be lurking anywhere, and Alfred Nott is back from the dead so forgive me for being a little jumpy when someone sneaks up on me in my own fucking greenhouse."
Harry gave Lilly her due there; he nodded, "Sorry, but I just wanted to talk privately."
Lilly quirked up an eyebrow, "These conversations don't usually end well, but go on."
"Have you heard of the Juno Project?"
Lilly narrowed her eyes at him, "Yes, I have, and if you're asking me about it then something is very wrong. The Juno Project was fucked up, and it was stopped in 1999 by Kingsley after he managed to force Beckett into line."
Harry nodded, "I know it was controversial, and from what I know of how Beckett ran St Mungo's, I'm not surprised."
Lilly looked at him cautiously, "How did you find out about it?"
"Rob mentioned it, so I looked into it a little," Harry replied, "It rehomed babies to the closest relative, didn't it?"
Lilly nodded, "Using maternity and paternity tests, yes. It was awful and completely impersonal. I looked at the files once, and I never wanted to again."
"So the files still exist then?" Harry asked hopefully, "They weren't destroyed?"
"No," Lilly replied shortly, "But why are you asking me about it?"
Harry sighed and leant against the potting table, "Because I've been looking into who Lydia was, and every time I think I get somewhere, I hit another brick wall. George told me that Lydia and Blanche Zabini were best friends, so I went to talk to Blanche, but she was out, and Lux spoke to me about it. Blanche knew Lydia was pregnant; she told her that her brother's friend had raped her. Blanche was there when the baby was born and when it was taken away by Snape, then a week later Blanche found Lydia dead in the same bathroom the baby had been born in."
Lilly frowned, "And you think the baby fell victim to the Juno Project? Because didn't Daphne say that the baby died?"
"That's what Lareina thinks, yes," Harry agreed, "But if that were the case, then there would still be a record of the baby's death in St Mungo's, wouldn't there?"
"Unless someone fiddled with the filing system, there ought to be," Lilly replied.
"Only I checked, and there wasn't," Harry said quickly, "So I looked at Lydia's file and spoke to Rob. They didn't investigate Lydia's suicide and her brother, Dominic, was an Auror who had a fight in the office with the investigating Auror. Then a few months later, on Lydia's birthday, he killed himself, and his best friend found his body."
"The same friend who raped Lydia?" Lilly asked in disbelief.
"I hope not," Harry admitted, "Because his best friend was Dorian Frost, and he was Nina's father."
Lilly's eyes widened, "Nina…."
"I know," Harry said with a sigh, "I have no idea how we would break that to her either. She's like family - "
"No, Harry," Lilly cut in sharply, "Nina is one of the names they used in the Juno Project. I told you that it was impersonal, remember? They used three names per gender to differentiate between the babies like you would with a John Doe or Jane Doe as an Auror."
Harry focused on Lilly with a slight frown and nodded.
"They called red-haired boys 'Rowan' and redhead girls 'Rowena'. Dark-haired boys were Kieran' and girls were 'Keira'. And fair-haired boys were 'Finn' while the girls were 'Nina'."
Harry shook his head, "But that has to be a coincidence, Lil. Nina was born in November 1996, not June."
"Unless somebody falsified her birth certificate," Lilly said, her eyes meeting Harry's as they both came to the same conclusion.
"Somebody like her father," Harry realised. He threw his hands up in the air, then ran them through his hair, "To cover up his crime."
"Nina was raised by her father," Lilly said with a nod, "But Stacey Frost wasn't her mother."
Harry shook his head and turned around. Lilly was expecting him to blow up or fly off the handle, but instead, he turned around and looked at her in disbelief.
"How could she go along with that? Imagine I brought a baby home, a baby I'd had with someone else and asked Daphne to pretend it was hers?" Harry said in disbelief, "I don't suppose Dorian's wife ever knew the nature of the conception but still. How could she just raise someone's else child?"
"Don't cast aspersions on her," Lilly warned Harry, "Nina always talks fondly of her mother. Regardless of anything else, Stacey Frost loved Nina as if she were her daughter and, given the circumstances, that's nothing short of a miracle."
Harry shook his head again as he tried to reconcile it all.
"Nina's my niece."
"And Lareina's granddaughter," Lilly added, her eyes meeting Harry's once more.
Harry thought Rob's wise words from earlier summed the situation up rather well.
"Fuck."
Little Court, Exmoor
Blaise and Ginny's Family Home
Draco felt nervous, even though he was standing on a doorstep that he had stood on many times, whether that had been to visit the man who lived within for whiskey's, or with Hermione to see a new arrival, or for a birthday.
But it was different today. He was here to ask for a favour, and not a very moral one either.
The door swung open, and Blaise Zabini raised an eyebrow, "A house call from the Minister for Magic? To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"More like, what have you done wrong?"
As she walked through the hall, Ginny said, "Do you want a cuppa, Draco?"
Draco forced a smile onto his face, "No thanks, Ginny. I think this may be a conversation worthy of good quality whiskey."
Blaise looked at Draco a little more carefully, "I see."
"You two would be better off downstairs then," Ginny said. She hovered in the doorway into the kitchen, "Less chance of not so little nosy buggers trying to listen in."
Blaise nodded at his wife and took a step back, "Come on in then, Draco."
Draco stepped into the hall and hung his coat up. Then he followed Blaise into his study where, like in every pureblooded house ever, if you pulled out a copy of Hogwarts: A History and pushed in a copy of The Pureblood Directory at the same time, the bookcase slid back to reveal a secret room or in this case, staircase.
"You could have changed the two books when you installed that," Draco pointed out.
Blaise smirked at Draco, "Traditions," he said before descending the staircase.
Draco would have chuckled in other circumstances. He followed Blaise downstairs into a small square room with only a desk, a drinks cabinet, and a comfortable armchair.
"I put this in when I built the house," Blaise explained, "I thought I may need a soundproof escape, what with Ginny being pregnant with Hope. I come down here when I have a particularly tough trial coming up."
Draco nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense. We have a whole load of hidden rooms in the castle. The kids found them all within two weeks, though."
"Well, your six are an inquisitive bunch," Blaise remarked as he pulled two whiskey glasses from the cabinet and pulled out a fine single malt.
"Yes," Draco agreed, "They are."
Blaise handed Draco a glass and motioned for him to sit in the armchair. Blaise himself leant against the desk and surveyed his old friend carefully as if he were a defendant in one of his trials.
Draco sat down and sighed, "Blaise, I came here because you are one of my oldest friends. You were my moral conscience, while Crabbe and Goyle were just…idiots."
Blaise raised an eyebrow, "I was your moral conscience? Surely I wasn't a very good one. You did become a Death Eater after all."
"Nothing could have stopped that, in hindsight," Draco said. He frowned into his whiskey glass.
"Still," Blaise pointed out, "Theo was your moral conscience, no?"
"No," Draco sighed, "He was more of a bad influence back then, to be honest."
Blaise sipped his whiskey, "Hm. What do you want, Draco? I don't think I've ever heard this many compliments from you in a single conversation."
Draco looked up at Blaise, "Honestly, I need a favour and… I don't want to do this the way my father would have done. I don't want to be like him, Blaise."
Blaise bowed his head, "Don't blackmail me, and we'll be on the right lines then."
"I would never blackmail anyone, let alone one of my friends," Draco promised, "But I would ask an old friend for a favour."
Blaise was very observant; he saw the torment in Draco's eyes. He could see how much it hurt his pride to have to do this – as Minister for Magic, to come to an old friend and essentially beg. He knew it must be important for Draco to do that.
"What is the favour?"
Draco pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Blaise, "I need a Juror to sign this tonight."
Blaise scanned the document, and his eyes darkened, "Draco….this is an Exploration Order; these are very rarely approved these days. Ever since the second war with Voldemort and the upheaval in the ministry that followed, they have been viewed as incredibly unethical."
"I know," Draco admitted.
Blaise frowned slightly, "But still, you would ask me to sign this? After everything you put me through during that war."
Draco looked up sharply, "You remember that?"
"Of course I do," Blaise replied calmly, "Daphne restored my memory and apologised to me a long time ago."
"Did she?" Draco asked irritably. He scoffed, "Nice of her to tell me that."
"Sisters seldom do as we wish them to," Blaise said with a smirk.
Draco rolled his eyes. He bit back even though he knew that Blaise had only said it to get a rise out of him.
"She's not my sister, but… I am sorry, Blaise. I didn't see the sense in restoring your memory. It was for Daphne's sake as well as your own."
Blaise shook his head, "I understood at the time, and I stopped being angry about it a long time ago. I merely find it ironic that after your blatant disregard for my mind, you now ask me to permit you to violate someone's else mind the same way."
"And I wouldn't if there were any other options, Blaise," Draco promised the other man, "Lotus Cauldwell is the only person who knows where Lazarus is and what his motives are. If we have any chance of stopping him, we need to know what she knows."
"And why tonight?" Blaise asked.
Draco ran a hand through his hair, "Because there's a prophecy."
Blaise rolled his eyes, "Of course there is. I wish the ministry would destroy them for good, you know? Prophecy's only ever complicate things."
"Tell me about it," Draco remarked dryly, "This particular one is about my family, and it's going to take place on Mabon, so time is of the essence."
"Why do I never get a nice evening to think about a decision?" Blaise asked dramatically, "Just once, I would like to be able to sip scotch all night and mull it over, but no – it always has to be on the spot."
"I'm sorry," Draco said with a sigh, "I had hoped the judge would make an exception and sign the warrant, given the circumstances and who the suspect is."
"Had Lotus Cauldwell given you a written confession before falling into the coma, Padma would have signed this," Blaise admitted, "But on circumstantial evidence, most of which is over a decade old…it's not that simple, Draco."
"I understand that," Draco admitted, "But if I tell you everything I know, and you still decide not to sign that warrant, then I will respect your decision. But I don't think you would be able to carry that on your conscience, Blaise."
Blaise sighed, "Go on, then."
"Lotus Cauldwell, and her husband, brought Alfred Nott back to life," Draco began, "He made a Horcrux, like Voldemort did, and sometime after 2008, he came back. Lotus has been kidnapping children for him for years; he experiments on them, making their magic unstable. Over half of them have died, the Saboteurs are an offshoot, the experiments that worked."
Blaise's calm composure did not flicker.
"Everything with Lucia Cross was Lotus's first attempt to thwart the Ministry, and now, it's happening again," Draco continued.
"We don't know why, but if the prophecy is right, then Alfred Nott wants to use a very dangerous item in the Department of Mysteries. We don't know what the children he has experimented on have to do with that, but we know it's all linked somehow."
Draco shook his head, "Lotus Cauldwell has the pieces we need to complete the puzzle. Without that knowledge, I honestly don't know if we will be able to apprehend Alfred or Septimus. And we have to do that, Blaise – not just for my sake or my family's sake. I think maybe nothing can be done to save us, but it's the only way to avenge those who died in the Diagon Alley attack that he orchestrated."
"Okay."
The short, sharp reply caught Draco by surprise. He frowned at his old friend, "Okay?"
Blaise bowed his head and picked up a quill from the desk, "Okay, I will sign this."
He dipped the quill in ink and neatly wrote his signature at the bottom of the page. Draco's heart skipped a beat as he watched Blaise fill in his title (Head Juror) and the date. For the first time in a long time, he had a little bit of hope.
"If you have enough courage in your convictions that you truly think this is the only way, then I trust you," Blaise said simply.
He stamped his seal onto the order with hot wax and looked up at Draco.
"As you said, after all, we are old friends," Blaise said with a small smile, "And old friends do each other favours without there being any need to bend the law. That is what makes you different from your father and me different from my mother."
Draco smiled slightly too as he took the warrant from Blaise.
"I think marrying headstrong Gryffindors changed us, Blaise."
Blaise chuckled at that, "Undoubtedly, Draco."
Potter Manor
Friday the 17th of September
Harry was pacing the floor of the drawing-room. Lilly, who was the only other person who knew the truth, was biting her nails and watching him anxiously.
Neville leant back in his chair and looked from Lilly to Harry.
"What do you two know?"
Daphne filled a glass of wine for herself, then poured a second one for Lilly.
"Stop biting your nails," She said when she handed it to her best friend, "And fill me in on whatever you discovered on your little Private Investigator journey."
Harry looked at Lilly in disbelief, "You told her?"
"I didn't mention a thing!" Lilly explained, "This has been the hardest hour of my life! She knows that I know something, and you know how good she is at getting the truth out of me."
Daphne smirked and perched on the edge of Lilly's chair, "No, Harry. You see, when you trot through the civilised wizarding world asking about my sister, I do find out about it."
Harry let out a breath and, not for the first time this month, wished he still drank firewhiskey.
"Lux told you, didn't she?"
Daphne bowed her head, "Yes, Lux did tell me."
"Why does everyone tell you everything?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Because she's our generation's Narcissa Malfoy," Neville chuckled, "She drinks tea, and wine, with everyone whose anyone and gets them to spill all of their deepest, darkest secrets."
"Aw, Neville," Daphne joked, "That's the nicest thing you've ever said about me."
Lilly raised an eyebrow, "So what you're saying is she's our generation's Queen Bitch?"
Daphne tutted and looked down at Lilly, "No need to be rude, mind your language, sweetie."
Lilly rolled her eyes and shot Daphne an exasperated look, "When did Lux tell you this?"
"Two days ago, when Harry first spoke to her," Daphne replied, she gave Harry an amused look, "How you ever passed as an Auror, I don't know. You're not very sleuth like."
Harry made a face, "I went to a lot of effort to not concern you with all of this. I even cornered Lilly in the greenhouse because I knew it was one of the only places you can't eavesdrop."
"No, I can't," Daphne agreed, "But the Venomous Tentacula did tell Neville."
Harry looked at Neville in disbelief, "You can speak to it?"
"Her, Harry, her!" Neville corrected.
"Oh, for the love of Merlin and all his fucking descendants," Harry cursed, "You're the Newt Scammander of plants, and you're my bloody best friend. Why didn't you tell me that you could speak plant?"
Lilly raised her wine glass, "For the record, I did not know he could do that either."
"It's not that absurd when we consider that you speak snake," Neville pointed out.
Harry sighed, "Yeah."
"Don't mention snakes, Neville," Daphne muttered, "You know he gets like this when you do."
"Harry, Dave died five years ago," Lilly said irritably, "You're going to have to get over him at some point."
"I am over it," Harry muttered, "I'm not over Neville speaking plant, though! Lilly, we've talked about a lot of things in the greenhouse. I thought it was sacred."
"Well, it wasn't," Neville said calmly.
"And Neville would like it to be noted that he would prefer if you two bitched about him to his face," Daphne added.
Lilly narrowed her eyes at Daphne, then looked at Neville, who was barely concealing a smile.
"Oh fuck off!"
"What?" Harry asked cluelessly.
"They're having us on," Lilly remarked, "Neville doesn't really speak plant. Daphne just set up a listening charm in the greenhouse."
Daphne smirked, "Correct."
"But now I want to know what the hell you two have talked about in the greenhouse," Neville said. He quirked an eyebrow up at Harry and Lilly.
"None of your business since apparently some things are still sacred," Lilly remarked, although she shot Neville an amused look.
Daphne rolled her eyes and said, "Anyway, I understand why you didn't tell me, and because of that, I am not annoyed."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
Lilly looked at her warily, then she glanced back at Harry, "Are we absolutely sure that the Statute Saboteurs don't have her under an imperius charm?"
Daphne sighed in exasperation and looked over at Harry, "For the record, Lux told me that you were very passionate about getting justice for Lydia."
Harry smiled a little at that.
"So," Daphne pressed him, "What did you find out?"
Harry took a deep breath, and Daphne cut in, "From the beginning."
He let the breath out, then nodded.
"I don't know if you know this, but when your great uncle Silas took in Lydia, he already had a son. He was adopted as a baby, and his name was Dominic. He was in sixth year when Lydia was born."
Daphne frowned and shook her head, "I didn't know that."
Harry nodded and continued, "Lydia was best friends with Blanche Zabini. She found out that she was pregnant not long after coming back to Hogwarts for her seventh year, and she told Blanche that Dominic's friend had raped her during the summer. Blanche was there for her throughout her pregnancy and when she gave birth in a bathroom at Hogwarts."
Daphne grimaced but nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"Snape took the baby away but didn't tell them where, and Lydia wasn't allowed to give it a name. A week later, Lydia killed herself in the same bathroom, and Blanche found her body," Harry said quietly, "The death and the birth were both hushed up. Dominic was an Auror, and he got into a fight with the investigating Auror about it. Then, a few months later, Dominic killed himself on Lydia's birthday."
Harry paused for a breath, "So I looked into his death, and I discovered that his body had been found by his best friend – Dorian Frost."
At that, Daphne looked up sharply, "Is that a relation of Nina's?"
Harry bowed his head, "It's her father. He went through Hogwarts with Dominic Cruickshank; they were best friends. When Lydia fell pregnant, he was in his 30's, and she was 17. He happened to spend the summer before Lydia's seventh year staying with Dominic because his wife, Anastasia, who went by Stacey, was in Russia visiting relatives."
Daphne swallowed as she realised where this was going.
"Now, Rob said nobody brought a baby into Domestics in June 1996 but that there had been a scheme at St Mungo's which used genetic charms to rehome babies with their closest relative. I asked Lilly about it, and we went into the hospital to look at the files. That was where Snape took the baby – there was a note about a newborn being admitted on the 1st of June, 1996 - a fair-haired, blue-eyed girl who was given the moniker 'Nina'."
Daphne brought her hand up to her mouth and shook her head.
"It's her, Daphne," Harry finished quietly.
Lilly nodded and chimed in, "Nina's medical file from her most recent pregnancy tests shows the same magical signature as the file on the newborn baby admitted to the hospital in June 1996, even though Nina's birth certificate says she was born on the 17th of November."
"It was falsified," Harry said quietly, "By Nina's father to cover up his crime. Dorian Frost was just an Auror, but Elijah Frost was much higher up in the DMLE than his son. I think Dominic worked that out and killed himself when he realised what his best friend had done to his sister."
Harry watched Daphne anxiously, but she showed no signs of breaking down – she rarely did.
Lilly reached up and grabbed Daphne's hand as she explained.
"Nina's file from the Juno Project shows that she spent two days in the hospital before being collected by Dorian Frost, who was marked as her father on the release form. Because she was a newborn, there was no birth certificate, so when he registered Nina's birth, he put Stacey down as Nina's mother, and they probably thought that nobody would ever discover the truth."
"We almost didn't," Harry admitted, "Because almost everyone associated with Dorian's crime is dead, including Dorian himself. Nina has no idea that the woman who raised her for the first six years of her life isn't her mother."
"And your mother has no idea that she has another granddaughter out there," Lilly finished as she looked up at Daphne.
Daphne nodded and drank deeply from her wine glass, "I'll find a convenient time to tell her. But let me do that in my own time. It's not going to be an easy conversation."
The others all nodded, and Neville spoke up for the first time.
"How are we going to tell Nina?"
"I have no idea," Daphne admitted.
"I would suggest we wait until she's not pregnant," Lilly put forward, "This is going to be a huge shock, and her reaction might be more extreme because of her hormones."
"Still, the baby isn't due until January," Daphne pointed out, "We can't keep this a secret until then."
"Then I suggest that when we do tell Nina, we do it carefully," Harry said simply.
The other three nodded, and the room fell silent once more.
St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies
Friday the 17th of September
"I can't believe he got someone to sign it."
Harry glanced sidelong at Owen, who was with him at the hospital, "I can. He and Blaise are old friends. When you go through the things we did when we were young…bonds like that don't fade over time."
Owen nodded. He stared through the glass pane into the room where Lotus Cauldwell lay. She had several tubes attached to help her breathe and eat. They were waiting for the Healer who would do the procedure to meet them and grant them access into the room.
"Of course it's you when it concerns a rarely executed Exploration Order."
Harry smiled and turned around, "Hey Caroline."
Caroline smiled back, "Hello, Harry. Owen Cauldwell, I presume?"
"Yes, ma'am," Owen replied with a nod.
Caroline smiled at his formality, "Are you the next of kin?"
"No," Owen replied, "No, I mean, she is my Aunt, but she hates me, so… I'm the Assistant Head Auror."
Harry smiled to himself at Owen's awkwardness; that was one thing that hadn't faded over the years.
The younger man cleared his throat, "Anyway, I have to witness you do the procedure, legally."
"Ah," Caroline said with an amused smile. She opened the door to Lotus's room and motioned for them to join her, "Well, it's not very pleasant to watch. There is a reason this is classed as unethical these days."
"Trust me; we wouldn't be here if it weren't necessary," Harry said quietly, "If Sadie were Lotus's next of kin, she could have signed a form to let us see into Lotus's head. But Lotus never changed her next of kin after Sorenson's death."
Caroline bowed her head, "That's understandable, all things considered. I don't suppose Clara Cauldwell knows about this yet?"
"She does," Harry said with a nod, "Draco told her when he told the rest of the family."
Caroline nodded and looked down at Lotus, "Well, the procedure is relatively simple. But I suspect she will fight me, so as I said, it will be unpleasant to watch."
"Best to just get it over and done with then, Caroline," Harry said with a slight nod.
Caroline turned around and blacked out the glass pane behind them. Then she locked the door and placed a silencing ward on the room.
"For the screaming," She added when Owen frowned.
"Screaming?" Owen muttered to Harry.
"Caroline doesn't tend to exaggerate," Harry said under his breath, "So if she says this is going to be unpleasant, it probably will be."
Owen looked mildly disturbed. But Caroline carried on regardless; she bound Lotus's arms and legs to the bed and then cast the spell – which was a complex version of Legilimens that was harder to fight off and which penetrated deeper into the mind.
Caroline's eyes glazed over, and Lotus's body began to shake as she tried to wave her arms and kick her legs.
Owen took a step back, but Harry crossed his arms over his chest and stayed where he was. Caroline delved deeper into Lotus's mind, and she thrashed more as she struggled to maintain control.
Then Caroline pushed some more, and she began to get somewhere because silvery strands started to exude from Lotus's head, all of them floating towards the pensieve next to the bed.
Lotus opened her mouth and let out an otherworldly scream. Owen jumped and covered his ears, and even Harry had to admit that it was louder than he had expected. He imagined that this would be what it would be like to hear a banshee scream, right before you lost your hearing or your life.
Caroline was nearly finished though; Harry could tell from the clump of memories that she had just pulled from Lotus's head. They slivered into the pensieve, and Caroline ended the spell.
She lost her footing slightly, and Harry stepped forward to grab her when she did.
Lotus's mouth fell shut, and her body stopped convulsing. Caroline let out a shaky breath and took a step away from the bed, "She has one of the strongest minds I have ever seen."
"She was a Lestrange," Harry said gently, "I imagine she was trained at a young age. Are you okay?"
Caroline nodded. She was steady on her feet now, but her eyes were still wide.
"Be careful, Harry."
That made Harry frown, "Why?"
"The things I saw in her mind while I was extracting the memories…." Caroline swallowed and shook her head, "This woman is cruel and manipulative. Whatever this is, it's not just any case."
"No, I know it isn't," Harry promised.
Caroline caught his eye, "Just remember what I taught you about self-preservation."
"I will," Harry said. He squeezed Caroline's arm.
"Thank you."
- TBC -
