Hey! New update! *cheers* So now it's time to go to the Ministry. James takes Callista and her girls to the Ministry, and they run into a face all too familiar to her. Who is this boy, and what is his connection to Teufel? And then we have the truth revealed to Callista. Please review! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If you don't know who does, you really shouldn't be reading Harry Potter fanfiction.
The girls were guided into the Ministry, looking around in nervousness and fear. The Aurors led them to the elevator. Most kept looking down at their feet, obviously afraid. Callista stood in front of all of the girls, her head held high, not afraid but not exactly comfortable in the Ministry building.
The elevator stopped at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the doors opened. The Aurors got out, but the girls were hesitant. James looked at Callista, who held her head up high and took a step out of the elevator. The others soon followed. She walked with even, confident steps, not scared in the slightiest.
James finally got a good look at the girls. There were about ten of them, not including Callista and Grace. Four of them couldn't even be thirteen yet, and the rest were around Callista's age. It made his heart break. How many girls had been taken like his daughter? How many families were waiting for their little girl to come home or had given up on them? His face was set in determination. These girls would all go home. He would make sure of it.
One of the younger girls started to cry, and Callista spoke soothingly to her. "Everything is going to be okay," she promised. "No one is going to hurt you now."
"Until Teufel catches up with us," one of the older girls mumbled, arms crossed over her scantily covered chest. Callista whipped around and glared at the girl. It was odd seeing such an expression on someone so seemingly sweet, but at the same time it did not seem out of place. An old Muggle expression Lily was fond of popped into his head: mother bear.
"You leave Teufel to me," Callista stated, her green eyes hard.
A wry chuckle came from behind, causing Callista to wipe around. "Somehow, I doubt you could take him in a fight, Cal."
James and Sirius watched as one of the Auror's best recruits, Damian Lawniczak, looking at Callista with a smirk. Damian Lawniczak was definitely not the average Auror recruit. From the ethnic part of Knockturn Alley, Damian had never gone to Hogwarts, his family not being able to afford the tuition. Instead, he studied on his own in between working a series of odd jobs, eventually saving enough money for the fee to take his OWLS and NEWTS at the Ministry. After achieving tremendous scores, he applied to the Auror Academy. James had seen many great fighters in his day, both during the First War and after, but this kid was something else. He didn't waste a movement, and unlike many of the recruits he seemed to know just what risks you could take and what you couldn't. The kid was skilled but quiet, never talking to the other recruits and rarely socializing outside of work.
Callista laughed humorlessly. "The great Auror has deigned to talk to us mere peasants," she mocked. "I feel honored."
Damian's eyes darkened. "What are you doing here, Cal?" he demanded, his expression suspicious.
Callista's smile sharpened. Inside, she was slightly hurt. Most of the guys in the neighborhood had always called her Cal, but her family, her close friends, called her Lista. Damian had called her Lista. "It seems that I'm out of a job. Know anyone who's hiring?"
Damian's eyes widened at the implication. He now noticed the other girls standing around, bags at their feet, still in their work clothes. Becks winked at him playfully, and a minute hadn't passed when a little blonde bullet came hurling at his legs.
Grace smiled up at him, her blue expressive eyes boring into him, and he felt his resolve to stay the cynical Auror trainee soften. He could never snub Grace. She looked too much like Lista had when she was little, and the thought made him touch the pocket where a beloved picture stayed. He smiled back, picking her up and swinging her around, causing the little girl to giggle. Callista smiled faintly as Damian set Grace down.
"The princess have a fan club yet?" he teased. Callista only shrugged indifferently, not wanting to go to the place he was heading. "Well, she will soon enough. God knows you did. Every boy in that neighbor followed you around like a lost puppy dog."
"You never did," Callista couldn't help but point out.
Damian shrugged. "But Jace did, and I followed him like a lost puppy dog."
Callista took a step back, almost as if she'd been punched. James furrowed his eyebrows, but Damian seemed to close off as well. "Funny," she muttered.
Damian took a step towards her. "What's that?" he challenged.
Callista's eyes gleamed, and James saw a hint of the fierceness he saw constantly in his own wife's eyes. It made him proud because it meant his daughter was strong despite the things she had gone through. "I said funny because I thought you'd forgotten you had any family. When was the last time you went home?"
"Been a while," Damian answered vaguely, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. Callista raised an eyebrow at the understatement. "How's Ma?" he asked tentatively.
She smiled sadly. "She's been better. Cooking a lot like usual, but she says she misses having sons to feed." Callista looked at him. "You should go see her. She already lost one son. Don't make her lose the other."
Damian nodded. Callista was unsure if she had convinced him, but at least she had tried. "So what are you going to do now?"
Callista shrugged. "Make sure my girls are taken care of, and then I'll go stay at Con's for a little while until I can find another job."
He couldn't help but ask, "What kind of job?"
Callista narrowed her eyes at him. "Whatever I can find," she answered.
Damian just stared at her. "You're better than that," he stated.
"Better than what?" she asked. "I have to work like everyone else. Might as well do something that I'm good at."
Damian narrowed his eyes. "And is that all you're good for? Fucking? Is that why you're so sure Teufel will leave you alone, because you know how hard he likes it?"
A couple of the girls gasped, partially because of the casual mention of Teufel and also at the insult to Callista. Most of the girls were very attached to her and took the statement as an attack on all of them. Becks in particular didn't look happy.
Callista didn't back down. "I do what I am asked, Damy, and that's all you need to know, though I can tell you I've never slept with him. I'll deal with Teufel because he will remember the favors I've done for him. He'll go easy on us."
Damian just didn't understand. "Why don't you just leave?" he asked. "Get the hell out of there, Lista," he pleaded more softly. He heard Jace's voice in his head: Take care of my girl, Damy. Make sure she's alright.
Callista shook her head. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"I won't leave my family."
"Lista," Damian said gently, as if he knew this was going to hurt, "they're gone. They've been dead for six years."
No, James Potter wanted to shout out, they live at Potter Manor and have been looking for you since you were six years old.
"I still have Con and Frankie and the rest of my friends. I can't leave them."
Damian sighed, knowing this argument was futile. James took the lapse in conversation to cut in. "We need to take everyone's statement," he announced. "Ms. Gerszewski?" James looked over at Sirius, who nodded, understanding what James was about to do.
Callista took a step towards James but not before turning to Damian. "If you go home, take the back way. Teufel put a hit out on you. None of our friends will take it, but some of the older members might."
While some of the Aurors looked shocked, Damian barely blinked. What did interest him was… "Why won't they take it?"
Callista stared at him. "You may have dropped your old friends, but they didn't drop you." She left Grace with Becks and followed Auror Potter to his office, head held high, Damian contemplating in the background. Maybe it was time to go home, eat some of his ma's cooking… Visit Jace's grave. Maybe.
James opened the door to his office, allowing Callista to enter and sit down before he got behind his desk and sat. He grabbed a new file and a witness statement sheet before looking at Callista. "Full name?" he asked, quill poised in his hand.
"Callista Rebekah Gerszewski," she stated calmly.
"Date of birth?"
"Sometime in July, 1980."
James stopped writing. "Sometime in July?"
Callista looked down at her feet. "When I came to live with my family, I couldn't remember a lot of things, my birthday being one of them."
"What happened to your parents?" James pressed, feeling the puzzle pieces falling together.
She shook her head. "I can't remember. I don't remember much except waking up on Ciocia's front step. My head hurt, and I was very hungry. Ciocia always said that she knew I had a family out there somewhere because I had the mark of a loved child. Sometimes in my dreams I'll get glimpses of memories and faces, but none of them ever make sense."
"Like what?" James prodded, knowing this ventured off what Callista would consider a proper interrogation but not caring in the least. It was possible Callista's memories were lingering, just needing to be pushed forward.
Callista was so lost in her memories she didn't mind the question. "I've seen a tree house in a beautiful backyard. I don't how I know, but I know I've been there before, and I know I loved it. Sometimes I hear names: Padfoot, Moony, Artie… They'll repeat over and over in my head, and I know that I know them, but I can't see their faces. Sometimes I'll see a couple whose faces I can't make out, but I can tell they're happy, and they have a little boy with them, whose face I can't see either. They'll be walking and then turn around like they're waiting for me to catch up, but no matter how hard I run, I can never seem to."
James felt his heart caught in his throat. He smiled softly. "Callista, do you want to know something?" The girl nodded curiously. "I used to have a daughter."
Callista's eyes grew sad. "Used to have, Auror Potter?" she asked sadly.
James nodded. "We lost her when she was a little girl," he said. "There was a raid on Diagon Alley, and she got separated from us."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's okay," James reassured her. "Do you want to see a picture?"
"Yes," Callista replied. James grabbed a framed photo and handed it to her. She studied it carefully. Auror Potter was standing next to a beautiful redhead who must be his wife. They looked happy, she noted, a little boy right in front of his dad, almost an exact replica. Next to the little boy, in front of the mom, was a little girl with golden blonde hair and green eyes.
Callista's heart was pounding out of her chest. That was her, she knew. She was in that picture. Auror Potter was her father. It seemed surreal to her, that this wonderful man, who arrested Madame and promised safety for her girls, who had acted as their savoir from hell, could be her father.
She looked up at Auror… her dad. Emotion was written all over his face: happiness, grief, and also thankfulness. "We've been looking for you for eleven years, Callie," he said brokenly. "We've never forgotten you."
Callie… "When I was little, I wouldn't let anyone call me Callie," she said softly. "It didn't feel right there." This made James smile. "But why can't I remember more?"
James's expression turned more serious. "During the raid, you got separated from your brother and took a nasty blow to the head. Memory loss could have happened."
"But what if it's irreversible?" she panicked. "What if I never remember?"
James stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetheart, I promise you we will work this out."
That was all it took for Callista to break. She got up and ran into James's arms like she did when she was a little girl. Tears were streaming down her face. She had spent so long being strong, trying to not let it bug her, but in truth Callista had always wanted to find her real family. She had wanted to find them when she lived with Ciocia and Jown and the Madame and Con and his grandfather and after they had died in the fire. She had wanted to find them when she had lost Jace and started to feel like she was losing Con. And now she had.
James just held his daughter, relishing the feeling of having his baby girl back in his arms. She was alive and whole and already so wonderful from what he had seen of her, and he couldn't wait to take her home and see the amazement on Lily's face and the joy on Arthur's. Merlin be damned if anyone ever tried to split his family up again.
