The blanket looked like it'd been made just yesterday. He handed it to her. She slowly ran her fingers over the fabric and a tear ran down her cheek. "She didn't want to tell you. She thought you might hate us for it if we had." He said motioning towards his wife, whose mouth had returned. Jade who finally looked up from the blanket, whipped her eyes and gave them both a stern stare. "I'm going to that school. If for nothing else, than to find my parents and why I didn't grow up with them." She said just before taking her new bird and baby blanket up to her room. "No you can't, you-" She heard Mrs. Evans's voice yell. "Just try to stop me!" Jade yelled down in a challenging tone, she knew Mrs. Evans would never challenge her in return.
~~~~August 31, 1991~~~~
Jade had sent her owl with her letter to the school the week before, and today Mr. Malfoy had sent her a letter via owl, telling her to use the portkey so they could get her a wand and supplies for school and he'd meet her there as soon as she did. She let out a nervous sigh, then wrote a letter to Mr & Mrs. Evans:
'Left for London, will be back later.
Jade.'
Then used a charm she'd read in the book Lucius gave her to stick it to the back of her door. She then dressed for the day and brushed her hair. With a nervously shaking hand, she picked up the portkey pen, closed her eyes, and whispered, 'London Bridges' to it. She then hesitantly opened her eyes and when she did she realized she was near a train station in an area with hardly anyone around to notice her she couldn't believe it. When Lucius finally found her, she was facing him but apparently hadn't noticed him yet. He noticed she was wearing something different from what he'd expected, most girls wore dresses or skirts while out and about. Not her, she wore a black Linkin Park t-shirt, Galaxy printed pants, and the same boots he'd seen her in when he met her and her 'parents'. The outfit was odd to him, but not distasteful in his opinion... maybe it was due to it all being in dark colors and he loved black, but he didn't care.
"Hello, Miss Evans." He greeted getting her to finally see him. "Oh. Hello Mr. Malfoy. Call me Jade, Miss Evans just doesn't suit me." She greeted him with a smile. "Jade then, this here is where you will come tomorrow to board the train to Hogwarts," Lucius stated getting straight to the point and pointed at the wall just behind her. She looked behind herself as he pointed. "Did you bring any money from the muggle world with you to pay for what you may need?" He asked, assuming she had but asked anyway. "Yeah." She said pulling out a white muggle wallet. "How much?" He asked as he led the way towards an apparation spot, not far off from where they were. "650$ My parents," She hesitated on the word 'parents' as she wasn't quite sure what to call them anymore but as far as she was aware he'd not heard their argument so she wasn't going to confide in him about it. "told me it should cover anything I'd need or want." She continued.
"They were correct. I'm going to take you Gringotts first to transfer your muggle currency for wizarding money, then we'll go see about getting you your wand." Lucius told her as he suddenly pulled her close for a side-long apparition. After they suddenly appeared in front of the bank, her stomach felt like it twisted and did summersaults... she was going to get sick! She pushed away from the blonde and threw up in a nearby trash bin. "Sorry, just didn't expect it." She mumbled as she whipped her mouth with a cloth he'd just handed her. "Don't be. It's quite natural for a first-time apparation. Just glad you decided to find a trash bin to do that in instead of my shoes like most mu- uh- muggle-borns would have." He said trying not to insult her as he seemed to like talking to her. "I'm a bit surprised you didn't do that after port keying." He said quirking an eyebrow briefly. "Now that you mention it, it felt vaguely familiar. Kinda like I'd done it before..." Jade said trailing off in thought.
"Anyway, you may want to were this." He said as he handed her a folded-up cloak from within a pocket in his cloak. "Why?" She asked with a curious stare. "Because there's a witch that you look like who you don't want to be mistaken for. Er, well not here at least." "But wouldn't you or even I, be able to tell them I'm not?" She asked as she put on the cloak as she'd been told. 'Wish my son listened that well.' He thought to himself. "Yes, but the goblins wouldn't listen and would call the Aurors upon sight of you." "Who is she? Why is she so important?" Jade asked before placing the hood over her head. "She's Bellatrix Lestrange let's just leave it at she did many bad things to many innocent people, who she thought took her only child from her home nearly ten years ago." He said leading her into the building.
'Now, don't take your hood off till they've taken some blood.' He warned her. She was about to ask why when he covered her mouth. 'Just don't, they're nasty vile creatures, worse than house elves.' He told her. She wanted to ask what a house-elf was but decided it was a question for another time as they approached the desk of the head goblin. Lucius then looked directly at the goblin's desk and loudly cleared his throat to get its attention. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy! How wonderful to see you, wanting to deposit more into your vaults?" The goblin asked with a greedy look in his eyes. "Not quite, Jade here needs to get set up for her first vault." The blonde said motioning towards the hooded woman next to him. "Remove your hood." The goblin said in a gruff voice. She hesitated slightly before shaking her head no. "She's not going to remove her hood till you make her a vault. It's for her safety. But trust me she'll do no harm here." Lucius told the goblin, who huffed and then motioned for them to follow him while also grabbing a piece of paper on his way through a narrow hall with vault doors all along the walls.
"Prick your finger, then press the blood in the square above your name." The goblin said handing her a dagger and the paper. She again did just as was told of her, then handed it back to the goblin. The goblin's eyes went wide as he now read her changed profile. "I've changed my mind, this is not the vault for you!" the goblin said almost sounding fearful. Jade looked from the goblin to Lucius with a look of wonder on her face, who just shrugged not knowing why he'd just done that. "This is your vault." The goblin told her. It was three times larger than the first vault they'd stopped in front of and had a solid black door on the outside, while the inside was filled top to bottom in Slytherin colors and filled to the brim with money.
Which confused her. '650$? this seems like millions maybe billions...' She thought to herself as Lucius spoke for her. "This cannot be correct, I was once married to a member of the Black family. This is one of their vaults." "Dumbledore doesn't want her knowing who she really is, this is the only way I'm allowed to hint towards who she is, Malfoy." The goblin informed them, but she was too surprised to even listen. By the end of their visit, she'd given the goblin her muggle money and he gave her 50 Gallions, 117 Sickles, and 200 Knuts. But before they left, the goblin asked; "Can you pull your hood down? I'd like to see if you look like her." She nodded, not really piecing that he'd been hinting at who her mother was, and removed her hood. Within seconds of removing her hood, every goblin in the place had surrounded her which made her feel a bit uneasy.
"Back up, back up! This is not Lestrange!" Shouted the goblin who'd taken her to the vaults. "Well, she certainly looks like her." Said a feminine voice at the doors of the bank. "Who are you?" Jade asked the witch. She was beautiful, with blonde hair, the same shade of blue eyes as her own, high cheekbones, and a thin figure. "Narcissa Black and you are?" "Jade Evans, Ma'am." She didn't know why, but she felt slightly intimidated by the woman. "Charming," Narcissa said with a faked smile and turned to face her ex-husband. "So what are you doing here Lucius?" She asked. Lucius looked at his ex-wife for a brief moment. "Last I heard Narcissa... we... were divorced." He said motioning back and forth between the two of them. "Well, yes but-" "Then I assume you understand I no longer have to tell you my dealings or with whom I associate." He told her as he realized the look she had given Jade was her thinking she was a muggle-born.
"We are leaving." He said motioning Jade out the door. "Next is Olivander's wand shop," Lucius told her as he led her away from the bank and into the busy streets of Wizarding London. "Well, the goblins didn't seem that bad," Jade said with a small smile. "I do believe that is cause they thought you were someone's daughter." He said, mumbling daughter. 'But that can't be, she's not a pureblood.' He thought with a growl to himself. "I thought so too, but since they didn't want to say who, I'll have to eventually see for myself if the chance ever arises." She said with a shrug as if it was an everyday thing. Jade decided it might be a good idea to pull out her list of required school items she'd been given with her first letter to the school. It read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Uniform-
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for daywear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
Set Books-
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment:
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal vials
1 telescope
1 set of brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
After they stepped in front of Olivander's Jade looked up at Lucius to ask about some items on the list. "Why do I need a telescope? I'll never use it." Lucius chuckled. "You will indeed use it, one of your classes requires it." He told her as they walked into the wand shop. "How might I help you, Mr. Malfoy?" asked an elderly man with short whitish-grey hair, who had a look of hate on his face towards the blonde. "Not me, Mr. Olivander. But maybe you might help her?" the man then looked at her with a changed expression of surprise and then an odd look of recognition. "What can I do for you, Miss?" He asked in a kind voice, but she didn't buy it for a second. "I just need a wand." She told the man in a stern-straight-to-the-point tone and a hard look in her eyes. She knew it was kinda rude, but she liked Lucius. He'd been nice to her, gave her the cloak and owl, and was even showing her around wizarding London though he didn't have to.
But this man, Mr. Olivander looked to him like the devil himself had just walked into his shop and demanded his wife. "Oh ok, let me see your hands." He said but she hesitated. "Why?"She asked clutching her left hand in her right, over her heart. "To read the lines on your palm, it's the best way to determine what core and wood should be in your wand." He told her. Jade looked to Mr. Malfoy, who nodded slightly. She let out a sigh and then opened her left hand for the man. He grabbed it somewhat roughly and turned it palm up and let out a gasp. "What?" She asked as she ripped her hand out of his grasp. "You have a very dark and mysterious past, but your future is filled with love and creativity..." He said as walked towards the back of his shop. When he came back, he came out with three boxes. One was red wrapped with a golden ribbon, the second was golden with a black ribbon, and the last was black with a silver ribbon.
He handed her the red box first. She opened the box. It had a wand made of slightly red-colored wood with green vines wrapping around the handle. "Pick it up and give it a wave, why don't you?" He said anxiously waiting to see which wand would choose her. Jade jumped a bit at how anxious he sounded and waved the wand toward the boxes behind him. Her eyes widened and she immediately put the wand back. "Perhaps not that wand, try this one," he said taking the wand in the red box and replacing it with the golden box. The wand in this box was sandy white with a curved handle. She then lifted it and waved it just like the last one, but this time it broke a vase next to Lucius. She in her anger slammed the wand on his desk. "Why don't you just give me a wand that's not likely to get me killed?!" She yelled at him. As she was yelling, neither Olivander nor Jade noticed a 13-inch Red Oak wand heading for her.
Lucius had however and stopped the yelling to point it out to her by turning her head towards it. Upon seeing that a wand was flying towards her she stopped yelling at Olivander and reached up and grabbed the wand. "Ah it seems, the pickiest of wands here has finally chosen a master for itself," Olivander said with a chuckle as he observed her reaction. She, however, didn't give him one. "Why's there an infinity symbol on the handle?" She asked. "I don't really know, but I believe it's there to represent immorality, as the wand is said to have originally belonged to Nicolas Flamel, who discovered the Philosopher's stone when this wand was created." "I see." She said as she paid for the wand and she and Lucius left the shop. "Where to next?" She asked eagerly. "Why don't we get you fitted for your school robes, hm?" "Sure." She said as her smile faded. Clothes shopping was always her least favorite pastime.
~Time skip-just after buying everything she'd need~
"Thanks, Mr. Malfoy for taking me around to get everything I needed for school," Jade said with a beaming smile at him. "I can't even believe I'm even saying this, but it also wasn't terrible shopping for clothes either." "You're welcome, don't forget to say 'American Horror' to go back to your home," Lucius said reminding her just as he disapparated. Jade smiled then pulled out the pen and whispered the words, by the time she'd returned home it was time to eat dinner. "Jade are you home yet?" Mrs. Evans yelled up the stairs. "Yes, mo- uh, oh I don't even know what to really call you. Your not really my mother so can't be calling you that now can I?" Jade said as she walked down the stairs. "Of course, you can still-" "No. I can't. It would be a lie and you know it! Plus if I ever meet my real parents, it wouldn't be right to them. To still be calling you my parents." She said a little more harshly than she planned, but it still needed to be said.
Mr. Evans had accepted she'd be calling him by his name months ago, however, Mrs. Evans refused to let things change. "I will be leaving for school, tomorrow morning. If you can't accept I'm not your daughter by the time of the holidays, then I will not visit for those either," she told her as she sat down to her last meal with them for a while. After she ate, she walked back up to her room to sleep.