In the time of the Order of the Phoenix, a mysterious transfer student from the United States of America comes to Hogwarts. With hair to rival Hermione's, and a tongue to rival Draco's, the suspicions and tensions rise in Professor Snape's classroom. And we thought Dolores Umbridge was the problem...
This story will be told in many different parts, in many different times. It will jump from the years at Hogwarts to the years after the war, and it'll be up to you to figure out the puzzle.
Hudson 50
"That her, Chief?"
He looked across the courtyard. Ilvermorny hadn't changed; the damn place was a time capsule where every child was safe in this magical world. Hudson wondered if even the MACUSA would ever be as safe as Ilvermorny. He still remembered getting sorted like it was yesterday. That big old Wampus cat statue's eyes glowed so bright you'd think it was going to come and snatch you up.
A raven flew down from the tower and landed in the courtyard, just in time for it to turn into a round-faced little girl in cranberry red and navy blue, just like all of the others. Her hair was a damn bird's nest, crammed into a fat ponytail, and her bangs were swept in front of her face to cover her eyes. She sure was tall, much taller than last year. And look at that: ruby red slippers, too.
"Yeah. That's her," said Chief Hudson. "Stands out like a sore thumb, just like her Mama…"
"She's just a kid," said Matthews.
Hudson inwardly groaned; somebody raised this dumbass. "Considering we're at a school," he deadpanned.
"I'm just sayin', Chief, it don't seem right that we're doing this to a kid." Matthews bit into his reuben sandwich, a bit of sauerkraut falling onto his tie. "I mean, this could be my kid someday, y'know? I guess I can't help but worry."
Hudson nodded in agreement, watching the throng of students come and go. The kid was walking with a purpose, that was for sure—she had the canter of a duelist, too. She quickly disappeared into the south door, likely down to the Dueling room. "Becoming a dad does that to you, Agent." Hudson had two girls of his own, already flown the nest and onto their own lives. Lily went off into government work in Montana, and Rose—of all things—was taking her sweet time travelling across this great nation on a damn road trip to find herself. He didn't understand it, but he could respect it.
"It's weird how time flies, ain't it, Chief? Feels like just yesterday we were all crammed into their house, eatin' red velvet cupcakes at her first birthday party…just weird. Last time I saw the kid, she was sitting in a high chair, covered in frosting."
"Well, 'fraid that's not true, Agent," said Hudson, standing. "Last time you saw Ella was at her Mama's funeral."
"Chief Hudson." A stately Witch with a streak of silver in her jet black hair came from the left. "It's been too long."
"Professor Fivehorses," he greeted, shaking her hand. "You haven't aged a day."
"You're sweet." She smiled. "Matthews. You haven't changed," she said, smiling at the stain of thousand island dressing on his white dress shirt. Matthews gave a laugh and threw the remainder his sandwich in a nearby waste bin. "How's Cheyenne?"
"She's great. Due any day now," said Matthews. "We're having a girl, y'know."
"Congratulations," she said. "What name will I be looking for in eleven years?"
Matthews sort of blushed. "Well," he said. "Seraphina. Seraphina Matthews. That's what we're naming her."
Hudson couldn't help but smile. "Good name, Agent," he said.
"Maybe we'll call her Pheeny for short," he said, nodding. Professor Fivehorses nodded as well with a grin.
The professor quirked an eyebrow and nodded pointedly at the place that their target had been. "She's ready, you know."
"Is she?" asked the Chief.
She nodded. "She is. She's dying to get out of here, I can tell. You can see it in her face. I doubt you'll have to convince her to get away from here, especially since her father remarried."
"I don't blame the poor kid," Matthews commented. "A wicked stepmother with two daughters? Classic tragedy, especially after her Mama's died."
"Her grades slip since Penelope's death?" asked Hudson.
The professor shook her head. "No. In fact, her scholastic record improved. She doubled her workload at school, joined more clubs…the she's a natural-born leader. Top of her class in Transifugartion, Potions, Charms…" She shook her head. "We'll be sad to see her go. Lots of people will be sad to see her go."
"She's got friends?" She laughed through her nose. "I take that as a yes?"
"She's popular," said the Professor. "You'd never know she was Zamora's. That boy was something else," she sighed. "To tell you the truth, I don't think I'd know she was Spelling's either. Neither of them were necessarily amiable people."
"What makes you say that?" asked Matthews.
Professor Fivehorses shrugged and looked over her students, a few meandering, a few walking purposefully to their next class. "When you mix a sociopathic narcissistic Wampus in with a histrionic Pukwudgie…" She then laughed through her nose. "We try not to be prejudiced here at Ilvermorny. It is the most democratic, open school in the world. We try very hard to approach our scholastic journeys with an open heart."
"That being said…?" asked the Chief.
"She's her father's daughter."
"Fuck," sighed the Chief. Professor Fivehorses gave him a look, but smiled and said nothing.
"'Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance,'" she quoted. "Give her the freedom to choose. She will surprise you. Explain why you need her. She'll help, even if it is breaking the law to talk to her this way." Hudson looked at her; she smiled. "I'll send her your way." Professor Fivehorses patted him on the shoulder and crossed the courtyard.
Chief Hudson sighed, rubbing the space between his eyes. "River Zamora… Dammit, I hate that guy. I hate lawyers. Assholes. All of 'em. Hated him in school, hate him still today. He was such a goddamn prick… Now I gotta convince his goddamn daughter…" He sighed through his nose and started walking. Matthews followed, shuffling the dossiers in his hands.
"So you still think this is a good idea, Chief?" whispered Matthews. "I mean, going to a student first without the consent of the parent or guardian—"
"I never thought it was a good idea," said Hudson. "But a prophecy's a prophecy. Let's just hope there's enough of her dad in her to want to make it right."
"Her dad? I thought you hated that guy."
"I do hate that guy, Agent. But it doesn't mean that devious sack of shit won't set everything on fire to keep everyone else warm."
"The hell's that mean, Chief?"
"It means, Agent,that if Ella Zamora is anything like her father then she will jump in, head-first, to set something right if she sees something that she deems as wrong. Let's just hope that she's got enough of her Mama in her that sees Death Eaters as wrong…"
"And set fire to everything else in the way? Proverbially, though, right, Chief?"
He sighed. "We'll see."
They fell silent as they climbed the stairs up Thunderbird tower. They found Professor Fivehorses's office and entered. The room was just as he remembered, almost frozen in time. "Damn," he sighed to himself. "Last time I was in here, I was serving detention in my fifth year. I transfigured Chip Raven into a tree frog."
"On accident?" Matthews asked.
"I didn't say that." They both laughed softly. "Let's see Ella's dossier again," he said. Matthews handed over a brown dossier. Chief Hudson paced and sat in one of the side armchairs, opening the file up. Pictures of Agent Spelling dotted the papers, as well as Ella's scholastic records, her birth certificate, and every other document about her…
"Ella Xanthippe Zamora. Age: 15. Date of birth: March 3, 1980. Hair: black. Eyes: brown. Born two months prematurely at St. Mungo's Hospital, she had a birth weight of one and a half ounces."
"Ounce and a half?" gasped Matthews, undoubtedly nervous about the birth of his own baby.
"Special case, Agent. Zamora was an animagus in utero. Took her first breath as a human baby and the second the doctor had her in her hands…she changed before she could be weighed. Took a hell of a toll on the mother, too, transforming in the womb and all…I can only imagine the pain she must have felt."
There was an uncomfortable pause. "Agent Spelling was tough. Feminine, but tough. Like a diamond. Or beef jerky in a ballgown. Y'know? I barely even remember her being pregnant, to tell you the truth. She didn't get big at all, did she, Chief?"
"She didn't even know she was pregnant for the first couple of months," said Chief Hudson, flipping through the papers. "She just thought she contracted a parasite from one of those damn creatures she used to take care of."
"Huh." A beat. "I guess that can happen. Who's managing the sanctuary now?"
"The Kowalskis. They lived up the hill."
There was a pause. "Like… Kowalksi's Bakery?"
"The same family. They've got a relation to the Scamander's, y'know."
"Damn, I love Kowalski's. Best kolaches in the city. Best krullers. Best coffee. Dammit, that's great. Same family, eh? Great news. The Sanctuary's in good hands. Say, Chief, you think that the kid'll want to run the sanctuary when she's graduated?"
Chief Hudson shook his head, flipping through the pages. "Doubt it. The kid's got a knack for potions; and skirting around the rules. Hmph. Cited for no less than 30 incidents of wandless magic, all underaged, over her summers... Damn, she's lucky her father's a lawyer…"
Matthews had sat himself down by the window, looking out over the forests of Mount Greylock. "They still keep the wands at school over the summer break?"
"It's supposed to prevent underaged magic," said the Chief. "It's about as effective as the No-Maj's prohibition on alcohol was supposed to prevent drinking." Matthews laughed. Chief Hudson smiled. "Didn't seem to prevent this kid at all, not that we should be surprised." He held up a page in her school records. "She's got a Wolfe wand."
"Shikoba Wolfe?" gasped Matthews.
"Yep. Sycamore wood, Thunderbird tail feather, eight inches precisely."
"I wonder how many kids have Wolfe wands? Pretty rare to get one… I always wanted one, y'know. They say they're the best, super strong. I've got a Jonker, myself. Not that I'd trade it. I like my wand. Missouri Dogwood, Wampus cat hair…"
"Wampus cores are favored by duelists," he commented. "Her dad's got a Wampus cored wand." He noted her dueling records, her awards; did the damn kid sleep at all? "Look at this: she's won the Golden Cauldron every year since she was six," said Hudson.
"Potion-making competitions?" Chief Hudson nodded. "I always hated the idea of that. Don't seem right, forcing kids that young to compete… And Potions are dangerous, especially for a six-year-old..."
"The kid's a champion," said Chief Hudson, looking at a picture of an eight-year-old Ella holding a golden cauldron, complete with frizzy black hair and her two front teeth missing. "She likes winning. Like her dad." He found her class schedule. "Every single one of her classes are E.G."
"Think she's tryin' to prove herself?"
"Nah," sighed the Chief. "I think she's trying to distract herself."
Tension rose. "What makes you say that?"
Hudson shook his head and sighed through his nose. Now wasn't the time for this kind of conversation. "You're gonna have a little girl, soon. You'll find out." Matthews tensed. "Complex creatures, little girls… Real complex." Screw it; he can have a bit of advice… "You know the thing about little girls is…" He sighed through his nose. "Everyone from the day they're born will be telling her how to act, how not to act, how to dress or how not to dress… She's gonna be exhausted and you can do nothing to protect her from the world. Everyone's gonna say "you should" or "you shouldn't", everyone's gonna base everything about her on how she looks. It'll make you sick to your goddamn stomach when some little shithead says to her that she'll never have to worry in her life because she's pretty. Or worse, what if she's not. She's never gonna be valued if she's not. Ever." He sighed through his nose. "I don't mean to scare you, Agent. Having a little girl's a blessing. Seriously." Matthews smiled, nervously. "Maybe you'll wanna take a walk, Agent. I have a feeling this might get…sensitive."
"Aw, c'mon, Chief—I wanna see what Spelling's kid grew up to be."
As if on cue, the door swung open and Professor Fivehorses appeared. "Gentlemen, sorry to keep you waiting," she said. "Ella Zamora, these men would like a word with you. They've come all the way from the MACUSA, just to see you."
In came a tall girl, dressed in perfectly pressed Ilvermorny robes and – damn, look at that – ruby red slippers, just like the ones in the Museum. Her eyes were big and brown, just like her Mama's. She smiled and entered the room, walking straight up to Chief Hudson and offering her hand.
"Miss Ella Zamora, pleased to meet you." Hudson couldn't help but laugh and smile. He shook her hand.
"Jacob Hudson. Pleasure's all mine." Damn, she had a good grip for a kid. She looked over to Matthews and walked straight up to him. He bent at the waist, smiled at her and held out his hand for a shake.
"Hiya doin', cutie-pie?" he sang-songed. "The name's Clark, Clark Matthews. Sure is terrific to see you."
"My name is Ella, thank you very much," she snapped with the kind of creepy, chilling grin that only little girls can give.
Unfazed, Matthews—though what possessed him to think this was a good idea—decided to continue. "Aw, c'mon Princess—let's see a smile outta ya—" And that's when it went to shit; Matthews decided to try and tickle the tummy of a 15-year-old-girl. Too fast to see, Zamora snatched his hand, flipped him over on his back like a damn sack of potatoes, and held Matthews in a leg-locked arm bar until he was screaming, just loud enough to cover up Hudson's hacking laughter.
"SAY MY NAME!" she shouted.
"ELLA! ELLA!" screeched Matthews, who was soon released. Zamora stood up, calmly brushed her skirt off, and sat in the big leather chair behind Professor Fivehorses's desk. She folded her hands on the desk top and waited with a grin. Professor Fivehorses smiled and looked to Hudson, completely poised.
"Have a nice chat," she said with a grin, closing the door behind her. Matthews shot up, quick to regain composure.
Hudson smiled and came over to the desk. He set the dossiers down and sat. "Matthews," he said, looking back. "Take a walk."
Matthews cleared his throat, brushing off his robes and trousers. "Yeah. Right." He hurriedly scurried out of the room and shut the door hard behind him.
Hudson turned back to Ella. "You'll have to forgive him. He doesn't have kids." He then noticed that the dossier was in her hands and open. She was looking through the pages, maintaining an oddly neutral expression. "Sleight of hand, eh?" She looked up through her eyebrows. "Rare skill for a Witch to have."
"You know a lot about my skills," she stated; there was definite tension in her voice.
"Well, let's see…" He leaned back in his chair. "Outside of school, you've taken ballet classes, krav maga, fencing, horseback riding… Lots of traditionally No-Maj activities."
She smiled.
"You've also doubled up on your Ilvermorny electives, I see. Thirsty for knowledge, hm?" She continued smiling and flipped through the pages of the dossier. She was keeping a straight face; most 15-year-old girls might have a bit of a freak-out if they'd found out they were being spied on by the government. "You also have a bit of a temper, I hear."
"'You hear', or you saw when I flipped your partner over like a sack of potatoes when he called me 'Princess'?" she deadpanned. Hudson quirked a brow and snickered through his nose.
"Yeah, they said you were funny, too." He smiled at her.
"How old are your kids?" asked Ella, closing the dossier and leaning back in the chair.
"Twenty-five and nineteen," he said.
"They're girls." A pause. "I can hear it in your voice." She grinned. "You never spied on them like this, though." The tossed the dossier to him. "Or at least you never kept a paper trail, if you did."
Hudson leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs. "What makes you say that?"
"If you did spy on them, you didn't want them to know. You're too smart for that." He grinned and nodded. Damn, this kid…
"You're pretty smart, too."
"Thank you, I am," said Ella, nodding. "But you know that. You've got my records. You know what I am and what I can do."
Hudson smiled and held up the dossier. "I have to say, Miss Zamora, you're a pretty impressive young lady. Champion Junior Potioneer, Captain of the Dueling Club since you were twelve, beating out classmates that were twice your size and older. Pretty good with languages, too, I hear. You took Parseltongue as an elective?" Ella tensed.
"I was curious," she said.
Hudson smiled. "I'm not here to arrest you," he said.
"I figured. Otherwise you'd have to, eventually, notify my father. And you hate my father."
He couldn't help but laugh. "Do I?"
"That's what you said, isn't it? Right as you were entering Thunderbird tower?" He frowned. "How do I know that? I'll tell you: I can talk to birds. And before you ask, no, there's no real 'bird language,' at least none that I'm aware of. I just…I can talk to birds. I've always been able to. My Mama figured it out when she heard me and Pancake talking."
Hudson frowned. "Did your Mama ever have a bird named Pancake?"
"No," said Ella. "But we had a herd of hippogriffs that we were rehabilitating from a circus that got shut down. Mama used to let me name the animals." She shrugged. "I was seven. Pancake got released back into the wild, back to Europe where she belongs. I heard she went off to England, and they renamed her Fleetwing." A beat. "Are you here to offer me a job? An internship? Maybe police work? Auror work?"
Damn, this kid was smart. Well, no use lying to her. Hudson nodded. "Something like that." He leaned forward. "What do you know about your Mama?"
"What a question…" she mentioned, shifting in her seat.
"You know she immigrated from England," began Hudson, which earned a nod of agreement from Ella. "What do you know about Hogwarts?"
"Other than the fact that the Triwizard Tournament is taking place there this year?" Ella searched his eyes; he felt a twinge in the back of his mind, a bit of occlumency, which shouldn't have come as a surprise considering who her mother was…but a 15-year-old witchling doing nonverbal magic, already? Damn. Agent Spelling wasn't kidding when she said her daughter was a prodigy, but that didn't mean he was about to let her in.
"You know, my cousin Fleur is the Beauxbatons champion. She's part Veela." Hudson nodded. "I'm not surprised she failed at the second task. She's always hated swimming. I don't think it was smart of her to use the bubblehead charm, though. I liked the Durmstrang wizard's idea, transfiguring yourself into an aquatic creature. It only makes sense, you know?" He smiled; she smiled. "You're not looking for history on the place, are you?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"I guess the better question would be," he said, "is: What did your Mama tell you about Hogwarts?"
Ella leaned forward, then leaned back again. She puffed her bangs up off her forehead, then adjusted her ponytail. She shook her head in thought, then shrugged. "She told me that the Spellings had been at Hogwarts for centuries," she began. "She said that she always regretted not graduating, if only because she disliked leaving things unfinished…" She twitched her nose in thought. "She told me about the ghosts, the Bloody Baron, who used to scare people for her… She told me about the Slytherin common room, the glowing green light that came from the lake, and the merpeople that lived there." She searched her mind for something relevant. "And she told me why they left." She must have seen something in Hudson's eyes, for she continued. "They were after my grandparents. The Death Eaters." Hudson motioned for her to continue. "They're bad people. Not necessarily like Scourers, but…still bad." A beat. "Did they want to kill them?"
"No," said Hudson. "They wanted them to join."
"And if they refused?"
"They would likely be killed," answered Hudson honestly.
"Like my Mama." Hudson tensed. He saw tears brimming in her eyes. She quickly swallowed them and smiled. "What's this have to do with me, now?"
He sighed. He sorted through his pile of dossiers and found the one he wanted. He handed it to her, which she reluctantly took. She slowly opened it and found profiles of students, teachers of interest, and fellow agents.
"Severus Snape," she said. "He's my Godfather."
"That's right," he said. He watched as she flipped through the pages, reading. She was a quick reader, like her father, rather focused, too. She didn't seem to be afraid of silence. She was also very calm under pressure. She hadn't reached for her wand once, which meant she knew she wasn't in any real danger, especially when she was sitting in the Head of Thunderbird House's office. The kid knew about power, about manipulation, psychology… Spelling was right about her; she was special.
"Sirius Black…" She listed off the names; she was on the section that talked about the Order of the Phoenix. "Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks…" Her expression was neutral, but her eyes were racing. "Dolores Umbridge?"
"There's plenty to learn about her," he said. "Keep going. We've got all day. In fact," he began, standing. "I'm gonna need a cup of coffee." He went to the coffee pot that Professor Fivehorses kept in her office and heated it up. "I'd offer you a cup, but I don't think you take any."
"I like it with cream and four sugars, please and thank you," she said without looking up. Hudson quirked an eyebrow in question.
"Your dad lets you drink coffee?"
"I feel like we're a little passed you caring about what my dad allows," she commented, continuing to read through the files. Hudson smiled and nodded, finding himself two mugs among the professor's things. He found a bag of dark-roasted beans and ground them in the grinder. Soon, the aroma of fantastic Columbian blend was wafting around the office. Hudson poured himself and his young companion a mug.
"Your Mama took lots of sugar, too," he commented, stirring the sugar and watching it dissolve. "But she preferred it black."
"Like her men?" He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "Like you?" She looked up and met his eyes. Did a fifteen-tear-old girl just make a black joke and a sex joke in one breath? "Were you sleeping with her?" Hudson couldn't help but feel the same ball-shrinking terror he felt when Rose was five and asked where babies came from. "I guess that's a 'no'." She looked back at the dossier. "Sorry," she said. "Just trying to piece some things together…"
He brought the mugs to the desk and set hers down in front of her, sipping his own. "You certainly aren't your average 15-year-old."
"I doubt you'd be talking to me if I was average…" She stopped at a particular page. "Harry Potter?" she asked.
"Harry Potter."
"He's the wizard that defeated Voldemort. The second Hogwarts champion… He snatched the Golden Egg from the dragon on a broomstick."
"So you know about him."
"Who doesn't?" She went back to reading. "Ronald Weasley… Her- Herm—"
"Hermione."
"Hermione. Hermione Granger." She stopped and leaned back when she looked at the profile on her, obvious, British counterpart.
"She's going to be the hardest one to deal with; professional meddler, that one." Zamora glanced up through her eyebrows. He hoped that she'd catch what he was throwing. "No extracurricular activities, it seems, but damn if her grades aren't impressive..."
"Not as impressive as mine," she snapped. Hudson pursed his lips. She went back to reading. Damn, she was competitive. This might be easier than he thought, but it was still going to be a delicate situation. "Draco Malfoy." She paused and ran her fingers over his picture. "Malfoy…" She whispered to herself. "Where do I know that name?"
"We're really going to need you to concentrate on him," he commented, sipping his coffee. "He is pretty damn critical to this operation."
"So this is a job offer," she said. She flipped back to the page that had Snape's information. "Severus Snape, Order of the Phoenix and Death Eater?" Hudson nodded. "He's a double agent." Hudson could almost see the gears in her mind shifting. She snapped the dossier shut and leaned back in the chair. "I think it's time you told me why you're here."
He nodded. "I think you're right," he agreed. She tossed the dossier on the desk and took her coffee mug, sipping. "You're not afraid I'm going to drug you?"
"You wouldn't drug me," she said. "That's not your style."
"But it's yours, isn't it?" The knuckles on Zamora's hands went white from gripping the mug. "You're all about the truth, seeking it, not caring about what you have to do to get it…" He sipped from his mug; he heard her breathing stifle. "Children don't often understand the weight of their actions, do they?"
"Who the hell are you?!" whispered Ella through gritted teeth.
He smiled. "Chief Jacob Hudson, American Branch of the Order of the Phoenix and the AWIB, American Wizarding Investigation Bureau. I've been a Spider and an Auror for the MACUSA for more years than I care to say, and your mother, Penelope, was the best damn agent I've ever seen."
Ella's shoulders were tense, and he could see her hands shaking from how the coffee was dripping and splashing around in the mug. She set it down on the desk and leaned forward. "Then you and I both know that Penelope is not my mother," she accused.
He set his mug down and gave her a very serious look. "You and I both know that she is your mother—she fed you, she clothed you, she raised you, she loved you."
"But she didn't give birth to me, did she?"
Hudson tensed and shifted. "A-Actually, she did…"
"What?"
He got visibly uncomfortable. "Listen, kid, I'm gonna be honest: I think you're a good kid, and I like you." He pulled out another dossier. "And I'm gonna warn you right now: this just is flat-out gross." She frowned. "This is also classified information. It is only under extreme circumstances that we do not destroy files like this. We've shredded most of the things about you, as per your mother's request in her will. She really didn't want you looking around for this, not even at the MACUSA…especially considering she learned that her own eight-year-old daughter would drug her with Veritaserum to learn the truth—"
"—I was just trying to figure out where babies came from!" she shrieked, standing in outrage. "I was just curious!" She paced. "I didn't know! I didn't know I was going to unveil everything about myself!" She sobbed, turning away. "That my real mother was…going to abort me."
He sighed and set the dossier pile down on the desk. Against his better judgement, he put his arm around Ella. She didn't flip him over, she just crumbled into a pile of tears in his arms, cried for about five minutes, then blew her nose in his tie. He was slightly annoyed for a moment, but then shrugged; being the father to two girls, he'd dealt with this kind of thing before. Sometimes, when a little girl is crying, you just need to let her cry. She wiped her eyes and sat down.
"Okay," she said, her nose and eyes considerably redder. "Okay. I'm calm now." She nodded to reassure him, then smiled a big toothy grin. "See? All better." She sniffled, and wiped her nose on her wrist. In that momentmoment, he was truly reminded that she was, in fact, just a kid. Poor kid.
"You sure you wanna know?" he asked. Ella nodded. "Because once you know the truth, there's no going back."
"You're not going to Obliviate me?"
"Do you want me to Obliviate you once this is all over? Because we do offer that option, if only for the protection of certain agents and Aurors..."
"But it'll answer my questions," she stated. "In exchange for…?" They locked eyes. "You need me for something, don't you? At Hogwarts?" Hudson said nothing. "If you show me the truth, if you tell me everything you know, then I'll do it. Whatever it is, I'll do it."
"You don't care 'whatever it is?'" he asked.
After a moment of thought, she shook her head. "I don't think you'd ask me to do something you didn't think I could handle."
"Damn," he said to himself. "You really are the brightest witch of your age." She smiled at that comment. He sat across from her again and picked up the dossier. "I want to make one thing clear: this stuff is classified. I mean it." She nodded. "Nobody can know about this, about you, about this study. Do you understand?" She nodded again. "And if I tell you everything, at least everything that I know, you're going to do as we say. Do we have a deal?"
She paused and frowned in thought. She sighed through her nose and looked at the dossier. "How long will this thing take?" she asked.
"The assignment we've got for you?" She nodded. "One year."
"Will it take me away from school?"
"It'll take you away from Ilvermorny, for at least that amount of time."
"Do I have to tell my dad?"
"That's up to you."
"So this isn't exactly 'legal', is it?"
"The American government needs you. Your country needs you. Do you think we have time to write a bill and pass a law into effect that states we can 'recruit' underaged Witches and Wizards for dangerous overseas intelligence operations? Do you think that'd pass in Congress?"
She took a moment to digest it all. "You have a loophole," she said. Damn.
"Snape." Hudson motioned to the dossier in front of her. "When you were baptized, your Mama was still working for us, same as he was. She made him your legal guardian. Severus Snape has consented to allow your involvement in this operation, as your legal guardian."
"Which somehow takes legal precedence above my father?"
"Internationally, it would."
"This is time-sensitive." He nodded. "And I can continue my life as normal once it's over?" He nodded again. "But…it's only information I'm gathering. I'm not…fighting anyone?"
"Specifically, we just need you to do what you seem to do best: listen and learn. You'll only be at Hogwarts. We won't send you into London. We won't send you in a situation that Snape can't bail you out of immediately. You're gonna be under his care, entirely, as well as the other members of the Order of the Phoenix in England. The only ones that will know will be Snape and the other Aurors. Nobody else is going to tell."
"At Hogwarts..." You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. But damn if this kid wasn't calm in a dangerous situation; if she did well, he'd offer her a job when she was no longer underage. "I'm just gathering intelligence. That's all." He nodded. "What's the catch?"
"No catch." She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "We need someone to go where a teacher can't. We need someone to go into the snake's den. We need a student to befriend this Malfoy kid and learn about the inner operations of the Death Eaters."
She opened to the page about Draco Malfoy and studied it. "He's a Death Eater?"
"His father is, but he's not, no." Hudson shook his head. "Not yet, at least…"
Ella gave a tiny laugh. "So…I'm a Honeypot?"
Hudson laughed. "Now where did you hear a word like that?"
She smiled. "I watch a lot of spy movies."
"In theaters?" She nodded. "You do know that your Mama was killed by Scourers, right?" She nodded. "You know that going around in No-Maj NYC is extremely dangerous for a young witch, don't you?"
She shrugged. "I like the movies. It gives me a peek into their lives, into No-Maj culture… It helps me blend in." A beat. "Maybe if my Mama had been more involved in their culture, she wouldn't have been found out…" Her voice cracked. "Ugh. Sorry. Not gonna cry again. Nope." She smiled. "Anyway, I'm to 'befriend' Draco Malfoy?"
"You're taking the case, then?"
"I just want to know the terms of the contract before I sign. I'm sure that this is an acceptable request."
"Damn, you are your father's daughter…"
"But I'm not."
Hudson sighed through his nose, frowning. He waved the dossier in his hand. "You want this or not?" She nodded. "Good. So listen." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk. "We need someone, someone like you, to attend Hogwarts as a student, wearing these—" he pulled a tiny black box out and opened it to reveal a large pair of princess cut diamond earrings "—all throughout the school year."
"Are those—?"
"—Your Mama's? As a matter of fact, they are." He pushed the box towards her. "When you put these on, we'll hear everything you hear, all on hidden radio transmission. We need information from and about two people: Dolores Umbridge and Draco Malfoy. We need you to earn the respect and admiration of the latter for him to open up and tell you everything, and enough annoyance of the former to get her watching you at every second. I hear you have a special penchant for annoying the piss out of certain teachers you don't like." She gave a laugh. "You need to get into her office, plant a bug, and get out, however you can. I don't care if you annoy her or befriend her. Just make sure that Draco Malfoy likes you." They exchanged a look. "If you do this successfully, you will be a hero." She frowned at the word 'hero.' "Well, you'll be helping your country a great deal. Is that better?" She nodded with a grin. "So? You ready to serve your country?"
There was a very long pause. Hudson didn't blame the kid at all for weighing the options. This was quite a lot to take in, especially for someone so young. The fact of the matter was that the Wizarding World was on the brink of war. If the MACUSA aided in the prevention of the second ascension of the Dark Lord Voldemort, then the British Ministry of Magic would lend aid in exterminating Scourers once and for all. If Albus Dumbledore was good on his word, then this could finally be the key to ending this scourge on the Wizarding World, once and for all...and Helene would finally have some satisfaction, herself.
Ella reached for the box. "If I put these on, you'll tell me everything?"
"I'll tell you everything, and I do mean everything, once you complete your mission—"
"—No. You'll tell me now." A beat. "Now or never. Tell me everything now and I promise I'll do this mission. And I won't tell my dad. Or anyone. Ever. That's the deal. Take it or leave it."
Hudson searched her eyes. They'd done their research on the kid, and frankly Penelope wouldn't ever shut up about her…as twisted as this little girl's mind was, and as devious as it was capable of being, Hudson knew: she was telling the truth. He slid the dossier forward and waited. She took it in her hand and closed her eyes.
"Okay," she whispered, and opened it. Hudson wondered if she would even know what it was she was looking at when she read through the file, but he was ready to answer as many questions as he could. For the first time, she was being more than a little expressive as she read. Finally, she looked up. "It's…a fertility study?"
Cringing, Hudson shifted in his chair and crossed and uncrossed his legs. He then nodded. "Have you ever heard of in vitro fertilization?" She nodded. "From the movies?" She smiled and nodded. "We have our own version. Sometimes, fertility potions just—for whatever reason—don't work. Sometimes, when an infertile witch wants to conceive, she has to go for a magical version of in vitro fertilization, in which we take a—ahem—fertilized egg and plant it inside the witch's uterus. It's a very delicate process. In the late 70s, we had a lot of trial and error, all done with your Mama heading it up." Ella frowned.
"I thought you said my Mama was an agent?"
"Yes, but she wasn't always a field agent. See, your Mama really was a Healer at St. Mungo's, as well as a Potioneer. The only thing was, she was also working for us… Are you following so far?" Ella nodded. "Now, what do you know about Scourers?" She tensed and grew visibly uncomfortable.
"I only know what they taught us in History…"
"All you need to know, kid," he said, "for the sake of this conversation, is that Scourers think that magical people are a stain on the world. They used to be Wizards, did you know that?" She nodded. "So you know about the history of the MACUSA?" She nodded. "Why we started?" She nodded again. "Good. Smart kid."
"Duh."
He laughed. "Alright. So, back in the late 60s, we found a way to detect magic in utero. This was especially useful for finding No-Maj-born witches and wizards and adding them to the directory, so that way we could keep a track on them later in life. It's for the good of the people that we do that. I'm sure you understand why." She nodded. "Good. Now can you guess why this would have anything to do with you?"
Ella licked her lips. "My biological parents were Scourers?" Hudson nodded. "And they were going to abort me because…?"
"Well, not just because you're a Witch, but because you're an Animagus. You were changing in utero, did you know that?" She cringed. "You're the latest in concrete evidence that we can detect Animagi pre-birth, which means we can tell, that much sooner, that Animagi and Metamorphagi traits are present."
She laughed, obviously a little uncomfortable. "I guess that makes me special," she joked.
"You are very special. Your Mama would want me to tell you that. She'd also want me to tell you that you're a miracle. In medical terms…you technically are." Ella couldn't help but smile.
"So…" Ella began. "Scourers conceived me. The MACUSA found out about me. And….they 'transferred' me, in fetus form, to…my Mama? Penelope?"
There was a pause. There was a lot missing from that story, and there were a lot of gross and messy details in that which, frankly, Hudson couldn't wait to forget, but… "Yeah, that's pretty much it." A pause.
"Okay, questions—"
"—I'm gonna warn you that I'm not a Healer, so I don't exactly know, but I'm gonna do my best to answer them—"
"—Who else knows about this?"
"Now that your Mama's dead? And the other agents and Healers that were on this kind of thing have been Obliviated? Just me. And now you."
"So my dad doesn't know?"
"Of course not," said Hudson, shaking his head. "Your Mama carried you, in her body. She gave birth to you. Your dad rubbed her feet when they got swollen. Your dad listened to your heartbeat. Your Mama had a baby shower, for God's sake. My wife and I bought your cradle for your Mama. They went to all the classes, read all the books… Your Mama even wrote a few books about magical pregnancies—never published, of course, but she's got recipes and little anecdotes and whatnot all up in your attic somewhere. I even asked her why she was doing it, and she said it was in case you needed to read it, someday." Ella frowned. "You weren't the easiest baby, you know."
"But my parents said I was an angel," she protested.
"Yyyyeah, that was a lie. You were a goddamn nightmare." Ella looked upset and rubbed her hands together. "Don't get me wrong, though. Your dad loved it."
"He loved me being a nightmare?"
"Oh, yeah. Detail-oriented masochistic psychopath he is? He loved every damn minute of it. He even monitored the temperatures of your Mama's breast milk for 'optimal feeding temperature.' Weirdo."
"I'm sorry—" At this point, Ella was visibly grossed-out "—did my dad tell you this?"
"Actually your Mama told me this. She personally thought it was psychotic and needed somebody to vent to."
"Well, I don't blame her because it is psychotic."
Hudson laughed heartily and sipped his coffee. "Do you have any other questions for me?"
She shook off any heebie jeebies she had. "Well," she began, "how did you find out that they were Scourers? I mean, I don't think they'd be at St. Mungo's getting a…what do you call it, alter-sound?"
"Ultrasound," said Hudson. "And, no. Here's where some more about your Mama comes in." He picked up another dossier and handed it to Ella. She opened it and smiled. "Your Mama was a genuine Seer, the real deal. She had The Sight. That's actually how she started working for the MACUSA. She came busting in our door at age 17 with a damn bloody nose, jabbering on about something we needed to hear." Ella frowned. "She had invented a potion—it's there, on page 13—that was designed to enhance a Seer's abilities and call it to action on command. Unfortunately, it can cause brain hemorrhaging...which she found out a little too late. She tried getting it to go to medical trials, but it was foreseen as too dangerous. It never made it."
"So…" Ella looked up at Hudson. "My Mama saw a prophecy? Of me? Of how I was born and how…?" Hudson nodded. "Everything? Did she know she was going to die?" Hudson nodded again, albeit hesitantly. "Then why didn't she do anything to prevent it?!"
"Ella," Hudson said calmly, "Your Mama was a very special lady. She knew enough about fate and time and seeing the future to know that you should not screw with it, not ever. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One tiny decision can ruin everything, for better or for worse, and sometimes catastrophically worse. The point is you can't fight fate. Ever."
"If you see something horrible and you think the ending is fixed already, you might as well be saying that you think that it's okay—and that's not right!"
"And if it's not right, you've got to put it right. Right?" She tensed. "Look. I understand that you're upset about all of this. It's a lot to take in. And you know what? It's not fair. But you also have to understand that being a Seer sometimes means telling it how it is. Your Mama knew she was going to die, but she was shown the visions of you, of you being her daughter, of finding you—and us—the way she did because you were meant to be born, in spite of every single force of nature being stacked against you." There was a very long pause. The kid shifted, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again in thought. "You were going to be aborted at 8 weeks because your Scourer clan parents decided that you were the goddamn Devil, and your Mama swooped in at the last minute and made it so that you lived. I don't know how to tell you this, but you really are the definition of a miracle. That's a big fate for a kid like you to rise up and meet. The fact of the matter is that you have a destiny to fulfill."
"So…" she began. "Everything really does happen for a reason?"
"Yeah," said Hudson plainly. "Everything really does happen for a reason."
"Whoa…"
"'Whoa,' indeed." He nodded. "Come one. You've got more questions. I can see it in your eyes. Let's get it all out there."
She thought for a long time. "So…they found out about my Animagi qualities at 8 weeks." Hudson nodded. "And my Mama…what, snuck in to that hospital?"
"She impersonated a No-Maj doctor using Polyjuice. She watched your No-Maj mother for a long time like that. From what I understand, it was quite the scene. Scourers are dangerous people; they also hold grudges." A beat. "When she decided to abort you, your Mama put her under anesthesia and did the spell to transfer you into her body. It worked."
"Obviously," said Ella. "So, how long did my Mama carry me?"
"Well, let's do the math. Eight weeks is how long?"
"Two months."
"Right, and when were you born?"
"March 3rd, but I was two months premature."
"So that means…?"
"So that means…Mama carried me for five months." Hudson nodded. "And I was kept alive…because of her. I fed off her. I grew off her." Ella smiled. "She gave birth to me. We share blood. Right?"
"Actually, yes, you do," said Hudson. "So, she's 95% your mother, biological and adoptive."
"But why would Mama say that I was adopted? Why would she say the stuff she did when I drugged her with the Veritaserum?"
"It's kind of a long story. See, technically, the law is a bit fuzzy on this kind of stuff. Since she didn't conceive you, but birthed you, she's…kind of a surrogate. And because a surrogate isn't the birth mother but not the biological mother… You're…kind of sort of adopted? But…for all intents and purposes, you're not. To tell you the truth, I think your Mama just said that because Veritaserum has effects on your conscience. She told me that it was because she just felt so guilty for not telling you all these years." A beat. "Do you understand?"
Frowning and smiling all at once, Ella nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I think I do." She sighed. "Phew. Wow. I just…it's kind of like a weight has been lifted. I mean, it's still a lot to take in, but… Mama is still...Mama, and my dad is still my dad. Right?"
Hudson smiled wide, nodding. "Right. Now turn to page 82." Ella opened the dossier to find a picture of her grandmother. "Helene Christophe, your grandmother. You know that fancy jewelry box she keeps on her mantle in that big beautiful penthouse of hers?" Confused but curious, Ella nodded. "That mantle is bound with blood magic. Only a real Christophe with real Christophe blood can open it. When a new one is born, they take a needle and prick the baby's finger, and add it to the lock on the box. This way, you'll always be able to open it in later life. Can you guess what happens when the blood doesn't react the way it's supposed to?"
Cringing, Ella said "I'm gonna guess they throw the baby into the sea…"
"Though I wouldn't put it passed your grandmother... Only once or twice has it happened, historically. The babies and mothers were just banished or disinherited, likely cursed. It's a pretty horrible fate. Blood magic like this was used to keep the lines real and pure, to keep the Christophe line alive. That's why you can cast the ever-elusive Cambius curse, exclusive to only those to Christophe blood."
"But…" She smiled. "Wait." She smiled wider. "My grandmother's a spy, isn't she?" Hudson nodded. "They're all spies?"
"Just the Christophes," he said. "Your grandmother's sister, Danae, thought, didn't quite have the stomach for it. She settled down pretty quick, got married… But your grandmother? She's still our top agent. She gathers intelligence all over Europe. There's not a spy or an Auror alive worth their salt that doesn't know the name Helene Christophe."
"That's why they were after her?" Ella asked. "The Death Eaters?"
This part was tricky, but she didn't need to know about her grandmother and her history with Tom Riddle…not yet, at least. "Yeah. Something like that."
"So…by blood, I am still a Christophe. I'm still a Spelling." She laughed. "Awesome." She then let out a big sigh of relief. "Um…is my…conception mother still alive?"
"Unfortunately, no. She had some…complications as a side-effect of the spell and died soon after." The weight of the situation seemed to hit the kid hard.
"Wait…you killed her." Hudson searched for the words to say, to make it sound better than what it was, but there were none. "You performed a medical operation on a pregnant woman without her consent and she died as a result." Unsure of what to say, Hudson tried to take her hand, but she quickly pulled it away. "What about my father? My…seed planter guy?"
Hudson was dreading this particular part of the conversation. He noticed that the sun had shifted and it was now beginning to set. Ella was still looking at him, though, and he wasn't about to welch out on a deal. But, damn, if this wasn't just about the worst news you could deliver to a kid…"Page 67," he finally said. Ella opened the dossier again. "Lucas White. He's the Scourer that found, tortured, and killed your mother." She looked up in shock. "I'm sorry, kid," he said, sincerely. "There's no polite way to put it."
The blood drained from her face and she dropped the dossier. Her hands started shaking violently and she began to look around, her cheeks turning a queer sort of sour-apple green. "Shit—" Hudson sprung into action and snatched Professor Fivehorse's wastebasket up, just in time for Ella to fill it up with vomit. She choked and heaved and shook; Hudson held her hair back as she collapsed into a mess of heaving tears on the floor.
"Kid, I'm sorry," he said, his gut feeling about has heavy as a damn bag of hammers. "Kid, I'm so sorry." He set the basket aside and sat with her on the floor, rocking her back and forth as she cried. A piece of him wanted to know what he could say to her to make it better, but what the hell can you say in a situation like this? Nothing's gonna make this shit better. Goddamn, the poor kid was only 15… He kept on thinking about his daughters, how he'd explain it to them were it the same situation; nothing came. He'd tried walking himself through this conversation months, weeks, days before…not a goddamn thing made it better. Shit. This poor kid. "Kid, it's okay," he soothed. "I had the same reaction when I found out, too. Exact same. Spewed corn chowder everywhere," he said in a desperate attempt to make her laugh. It didn't work.
Finally, her breathing calmed. She wiped her nose on his shirt again, but he wasn't about to complain. "Is he…um…" She gulped. "Is he dead, now?"
Hudson shook his head. "No. But he's in custody."
"I want him."
"What?"
"I want him. I want to see him." He looked down at her tear-streaked face, her wide brown eyes. "I want to look in his eye before I kill him."
"See, I can't let you do that—"
"—WHY?!" she shouted with the force of a bombarda charm. "WHY TELL ME THESE THINGS IF YOU WON'T LET ME ACT?! WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL OF THIS?!" She stood and pulled out her wand. "I WANT HIM AND I WANT HIM NOW!" Shit, this was serious now. Hudson slowly stood, keeping both his hands visible. "BRING – HIM – TO – ME!"
"Ella," he said calmly. "Ella. Listen." She lowered her wand slightly. "You want him? You can have him. But you can't – kill – him." She snapped her wand back up to his face. "It's our code. Auror's can't kill. We're heroes, kid. Heroes don't kill. We just catch the bad guys, okay? We're not executioners." Her jaw tightened. "Ella, I know you're mad. I'm mad, too. Your Mama wasn't just a great Auror, she was a great friend. We're all mad. There isn't a soul alive that wants to see that son of a bitch killed more than me. But you need to listen." She lowered her wand again. "We have work to do. By the time you're done with this mission, he'll be there waiting for you. You want five minutes with him? You can have your five minutes—but only if you complete this mission your country has assigned for you."
"Your word," she whispered, her grip on her wand tightening. "I want your word."
"You have it," he said, extending his right hand, keeping his left hand still up. "You have my word—you complete this mission, you can have your time with him. You can even be there for the execution, if you want. I'll be there, too, sitting right next to you." She lowered her wand to her side, her breathing becoming more calm. "Shake my hand, Ella." Finally, she nodded, put her wand away, and shook his hand. "Good," he said. "Are you ready, then? Are you ready to serve your country?"
"Whether I am or not," she said, "You've held up your end of the bargain so far… I'm not about to welch on a deal." She smiled weakly. "What do I tell my dad?"
"You can tell him everything I've told you, or… You can tell him that you've been accepted into the Foreign Exchange Program for Exceptional Young Witches. You'll be starting at Hogwarts for your fifth year, under the care of your legal guardian, Professor Severus Snape, and you'll stay with your grandmother over the summer, Madame Helene Christophe." She smiled. "You leave ten days after the school year is up here at Ilvermorny. Everything's taken care of for you: travel arrangements, your passport…and may I say, your grandmother is absolutely thrilled that you get to stay with her…in Monaco." Ella nodded and let out a deep breath. "Sounds a lot more glamorous than the truth, hm?" She nodded. "You ready?"
She smiled, let go of his hand, and saluted. "Agent Ella Zamora, reporting for duty, Chief."
Chief Hudson smiled, and saluted back. "Welcome to the service of the American Wizarding Investigation Bureau, Agent Zamora."
WOW this was an EXTREMELY emotional chapter for me to write. I'm not even kidding when I said I was sobbing like a fucking lunatic when I was writing this. But, hey, now we have some CONCRETE evidence of who Ella is and WHY she is in Hogwarts. This is the part where we REALLY piece together the puzzle and see that - shocker - Hermione was RIGHT. Why? Because she's Hermione, of course; she's always right. :3
This chapter hit me hard because it's dealing with some crazy fucked-up stuff. I mean...government abortions and womb transfers? Scourers? We get to see a bit more into Ella's psyche and get the REAL story behind her birth. That's quite a lot for a fifteen-year-old. Oh, and Chief Hudson is (in my head) played by Ernie Hudson...and, yeah, I totally planned that. Hah.
Anyway, enjoy. Thanks so much for your faithful reading and reviews, HeartofAspen, Pancakestack, and SabrinaJasmine!