IV

The last months of the year passed as blur. Between her occasional study sessions with Hermione, keeping Sophie out of trouble – she had got in more and more fights since her first detention, and Audrey just knew that Snape was near to making an intervention of his own, Audrey had her full plate of worries.

And course, there was that.

The thing that took her long enough to see.

Maybe it wasn't clearly to anyone but her – being who she was, and it had taken months until the realization damned into her. Audrey had never met any others half-breeds – her dad said France had some regions with a good number of half-veelas, but they never had gone there. She had been isolated from everyone because of that – not that she liked to complain. Of course, being often different sucked – and not being able to talk about it only made worse.

She had felt alone her whole life because where else was she going to find anyone who would understand the fear under the skin of people discovering and treating you different because of that?

But she had been having herbology in a boring Wednesday, her fingers all dirt of soil and mud when probably out of boredom her mind gave a click. She stopped everything she was doing, put her hand on the air and said to professor Sprout "I'm sorry, professor, but I think I'm not feeling well. Can I go to the Hospital Wing?"

The professor looked rather surprised. Normally Audrey would be a quiet student, doing her chores silently and passing as unseen as she could. Most professors liked very much because of that – she worked well, was smart and never gave them trouble. "Oh, sure, Miss Blanchard. Do you need any assistance?"

"No, no, professor! I don't want to disturb anyone. I think it's just something that I had eaten", and she slipped out of her class before the professor could even know what to do with her. But she never went to the Hospital Wing – oh no, Audrey stuffed her hands in her pockets, fighting the chilling winds of November and walked fast to Hagrid's house, where she could see him outside with a big dog that looked it could chop off her head.

"You are like me", she said, starting him, who turned to look at her a bit confuse. "You are a half-breed".

At it, the gatekeeper looked rather disturbed. "What are yer talkin' about, girl? Shouldn't yer be in class?", and turned away from her rather clumsy, the big dog watching her closely.

"My mother is a veela", she said before she could stop herself, and Hagrid stopped suddenly at her voice. "I'm a half-veela, and I've been hiding it my whole life because dad said it was dangerous, and I've never met anyone like me – like us – before. But you aren't like the others, are you? You are like me. One of your parents, or grandparents – I don't know how long this can be kept in bloodline – was something else. And they say to us to keep it as secret, and I'm so scared all the time, and I just…".

It was like she couldn't stop herself, and the words that she never had spoken aloud – about her mom and the fact that her dad would do anything to keep her as his own secret, and how people couldn't know because what a shame to have a half-breed as a daughter!

Not a total monster, but not human either. Something below it.

Hagrid looked at her like he was seeing a ghost, and for a second, she was sure he was going to scream and send her back to the castle crying. Or maybe thrown her in the Forest, so some complete beast could tear her apart.

It took a minute. Two, maybe, but he finally said, terrible slowly, "I think it's better if ya get inside. I'll make some tea".

Hagrid never talked to her about what he was, after all. But he listened as she talked endlessly about how scared she was all the time since she could remember asking her dad why a boy had fallen of his chair because her, and how she knew her inheritance would only get worse than would as she got.

"Yer are Ezra's daughter", Hagrid said. "I remember him. Used to walk by the corridors always with at least ten other kids. Never meet a kid as popular as he was".

Audrey smiled at that, while Hagrid put her some tea. "Yeah, sounds like him. Still have more friends than you think is possible. I'm sorry for barging at your door like that".

She patted Fang; whose big head was happily in her lap. He was a nice dog, even if a bit agitated when he had noted Cat scent all over her. "No problem, kid. But do yer think yer could…"

"Don't talk to anyone? Yes. Better if they don't know".

Hagrid looked rather sadly at her but didn't say anything else. When she had calmed herself enough, Hagrid sent her back to the castle, but he had the heart to invite her to come over anytime she wanted.

Audrey knew she wouldn't.

Why should she?


Audrey always liked Christmas. Her dad would spend the day mostly wasted since she could remember, but besides that, her Christmas were most fun. She would get lots of gifts, her nannies would let stay up until later and eat whatever she wanted, and her best friends would usually come over and play. Decembers were never very cold at home, either, so she could still play outside; but, despite her best efforts to remain positive, Blanchard's Christmas in this side of the ocean weren't as fun.

Evelyn had got her new dresses as a gift, and they were lovely but would be wasted since she had to use uniform at school and would probably outgrow them by the time the summer came around. Her grandpa had given her a nice pair of shoes and a beautiful jewellery box that had belonged to her aunt, Eloise. Audrey had received her dad's gifts too – new books, a new leather glove and a card promising to buy her a new broom when she came back in the summer. Sophie had bought her a box of sugar quills and a neat new colouring book.

She was happy with all of it. There wasn't anything else she wanted except some fun – because Blanchard House, despite being huge, was boring. Her grandmother liked to keep it in perfect state, always clean enough to shine, and Audrey was forbidden to do anything that could litter her precious home. Besides that, their grandparents spent their holidays in business meetings, fancy dinners, and boring evenings.

But she discovered a new favourite of hers – spending her days reading in her grandfather' office, while he slowly worked over sheets and documents from the family' business. Audrey discovered that she liked the little inputs he would give her about business, the tell-tales he would tell between a document and another, working endlessly in his little, homely office that smelled of candles and old parchment.

Charles Blanchard was at least ten years older than his wife and had already lost most of the movements of his legs due some gruesome accident in the First War. But Audrey discovered that she liked him very much – he was patient and lenient with her little quirks and would often agree to anything that she asked as long as it seemed safe and sound.

He also had been thrilled to hear that Audrey was in Slytherin – the first Blanchard since him to make into the snake's pit. "Some people would disregard us as a bunch of stupid, rich fellows who grab onto the old ways a bit too tight. But, despite the idiots that fill the Slytherin, I liked our house very much; no one see things like us, dear. We are strategists, always remember that".

She had been curled in one of his chairs like a cat, her head resting against the soft dark velvet while he spoke in his raspy voice, her hands busy with a new colouring book that Sophie had bought her as a Christmas gift. Then she remembered something she had heard Hermione asking Madam Pince in their last week at Hogwarts.

"Grandpa, do you know who Nicolas Flamel was? I read his name in the Library but never had heard of him before".

He hesitated for a second, takings his grey eyes – the same eyes that Audrey's dad had – from an awfully long piece of parchment. "Are you saying you never had heard of Nicolas Flamel? Don't they teach Alchemy at Hogwarts anymore?"

"Not at the first year", she shrugged. "They did back at your time?"

"Of course they did, but I suppose even then most of the wizards would regard it as an outdated branch of magic. I hadn't seen an alchemist for decades now, but Nicolas Flamel is the most famous one. He created the Philosopher' Stone, whose elixir could prolong someone's life for years. If you think I'm old, you should see Mr. Flamel, darling".

Audrey narrowed her eyes. What was Hermione Granger doing, trying to find who Nicolas Flamel was?

"Nice", she dismissed. What are the Gryffindors doing now? "Can I get some cookies?"

But her mind was far away from cookies.


Hermione Granger never had been one to trust easily. Maybe was because she always had been an odd child, more perceptive than was healthy and whose time were more waste on books and science than on games and dolls. But the fact was that Hermione Granger was as sceptical as an eleven-year-old could be.

But she always had been a good judge of character. As a girl and a muggleborn in a world that most oftener than not was rude to a muggleborn, she had quickly grasped who's she could trust and the ones she couldn't. Often, the ones she couldn't have a green tie tightly against their necks.

However, Audrey Blanchard was a completely different story. She was a bit weird, of course – but wasn't like Hermione wasn't – and she had this strange habit of smiling almost all the time, like the world was a joke that only her could understand. She was also the almost perfect stereotype of the girl who would pick on Hermione in the school – pretty and rich and clearly spoiled.

But the truth was that Audrey Blanchard, the girl with a muggle actress name, probably didn't care enough about almost anything, and therefore didn't care for anyone blood status. She was nice and friendly to anyone, an oddity in the middle of a snake' pit. Hermione would more often see her around reading her strange, useless books than consorting with other Slytherin friends.

But even if Audrey was all those things, what made Hermione accept her was the fact that Audrey never seemed one to ask many questions. She accepted things easily, never questioned them and never seemed extremely interested in anyone else's business.

If you wanted to tell her, fine. If not, she would quickly move onto the next thing that grabbed her attention – normally one of the ribbons that she liked to use in her hair, a new pop song she would murmur while studying (how the hell a supposed-pureblood-Slytherin knew Cyndi Lauper?) or a muggle teen fiction that was a bit inappropriate for their age.

That was Audrey. More like a breeze passing around people than anything else, always a bit disconnected of everything, like the real world couldn't hold her attention for much long.

What Hermione had – probably by her own choice – ignored was the fact that Audrey was smart. Hauntingly smart.

And, of course, from all the business she could get suddenly interested into, of course she would choose Hermione's.

She had been in her first week back at Hogwarts after the holidays when Audrey found her in the library. The girl had her blonde hair pulled in a tight ponytail with a nice velvet-green ribbon, in perfect coordination with her Slytherin colours, and, as always, was carrying one of her silly books.

Hermione had been with Ron and Harry trying to find something – anything – about Nicolas Flamel all over again, so unsuccessfully that could make anyone to loss their blind faith into books – except by Hermione, because she truly believed, by heart, that the Library had the answer to anything in the world.

But Audrey stopped beside them, balancing on her toes in the way she often did, and more than one time had made the boys compare her to an overgrow little bird. "Hello Audrey", Hermione said, while Ron stayed as silently as he could. He never had been very accepting of the girl, even though she always had been perfectly cordial to him.

"I know who Nicolas Flamel is".

Ron almost fell out of his chair, Hermione chocked, and Harry cursed.

Audrey smiled.


a/n: good news: i finished writing the first book!
thanks to everyone who left a cute review! i like to answer everyone; if you are a guest, i'll let a answer to you in the a/n.
guest: I don't speak Italian, but I grasped more or less what you meant. Anyway, I agree with you; I plan to get Audrey more and more involved into the cannon as old as she gets. It makes sense because Audrey is growing up as a young girl and as a witch, she needs first to find her own place in the world before trying to fight anything else, and she has a lot of inner issues to deal with.