AN: For those of you who didn't read Welcome to Hogwarts, all you need to know for this chapter is that Addie is Sirius' daughter.
As the night dragged on and the three boys, each lost in their own thoughts, attempted to fool the others into believing they were asleep. Draco laid motionless, head against the rough pillow Ron had provided for him, and feet moving casually along with the humming of the bugs outside the window. He knew that Harry and Ron were also awake, mulling over Addie's arrival, but Draco suspected that neither of them wanted to talk, especially not to him. Draco lay for several hours, long after light had finally crept in through the bedroom window and penetrated the silent darkness.
Ron was the first to get out of his bed and head down to the kitchen where Draco faintly heard him greet Hermione and Mrs. Weasley for breakfast. Draco wondered if Addie had also risen early for breakfast, but then smiled to himself at the thought of Addie rising early for anything. Harry was the next to make his way down to the kitchen where Draco was sure that more Weasley children had gathered. After some time had passed he decided that he too should go down to breakfast with the rest of the burrow, though he knew they hadn't missed him.
As he entered the kitchen he noticed that Sherri, Addie's mother, had also joined the Weasley's for breakfast. Addie was nowhere to be found. The conversation was relatively subdued and the mood tense.
She would have to come in to eat sometime.
Just as Mrs. Weasley had begun to take plates off the table, the door to the kitchen flew open revealing a disheveled Addie in the doorway.
"Sorry I'm late," She said without remorse.
"Now Addie, really," Her mother laughed, "Are you going to spend all your time in that tent?"
"Can we have this conversation some other time?" She asked, throwing her mother a sharp look.
"Alright dear, but I just can't understand why you—"
"Ouch!"
George Weasley jumped up from the table cradling his left hand and wincing.
"I just cut my finger!" He exclaimed displaying the bloody mess to the table.
Mrs. Weasley paused for a moment, and then turned to Addie whose eyes had narrowed in preparation for the mischievous smile that so often graced her face.
Addie looked at her quizzically for a moment and nodded in George's direction.
"Alright…" Mrs. Weasley sighed, "But only because the cut is so deep."
Addie quickly moved toward George and stuck out her hand.
"Give me your finger," She instructed.
"Why?" He asked, pulling his hand closer to his body.
"Just do it alright," She sighed.
"But I—"
Addie snatched his hand and put it in hers. She closed her eyes for a moment, her grip tightening around George's finger. Draco noticed that his ears had turned nearly scarlet by the time she'd let go. It took a moment for the table to register what had happened. Addie had Healed George's finger without even reciting a spell. The blood was gone and his hand looked just as it had before.
"Addie!" Hermione exclaimed. "How did you—?"
"What?" Addie laughed. "You don't know?"
"Know what?" She asked.
"Molly, you didn't tell them?" Sherri asked, turning to face Mrs. Weasley.
"It just—well—I just didn't want to bring it up!" She stuttered. "I'd better go check on Narcissa. She was feeling a bit under the weather last night."
Mrs. Weasley hurried from the room.
"I'm going to have a word with Molly," Sherri said venomously. "Now if it were one of her own children…"
Sherri left the sentence unfinished and stormed up the steps.
Addie turned to face the table, just as she had the night before, with wispy hairs falling into her eager eyes.
"Do you remember, Hermione, when I told you that I had a task of my own?" She asked casually, propping her feet up on the table.
"Yes, but I thought—"
"You thought I was bluffing," Addie raised an eyebrow. "That's fine, I understand, well, I wasn't bluffing. I'm a Touch Healer."
There was a sharp intake of breath from Ginny as the room remained speechless. Draco eyed Addie with increasing interest. He had remembered her almost unnatural interest in healing, but he'd never guess that it would have come from such a rare ability.
"A what, exactly?" Harry asked.
He's pitifully oblivious. Draco thought. Brought up by muggles…
Draco winced. He couldn't think like that anymore…
"Descendents of Sirens," Hermione said, in the same voice she used when answering a question at school, "Touch Healers, quite literally, can Heal with their touch. But they're extremely rare! Addie you must be the first one in ages, I mean, Sirens died out years ago, after the Veela wars and—"
"You have Siren blood in you," Draco said, almost automatically. "It's from the Black line."
Draco and Addie were both very distantly related. They both came from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Draco's mother had been Addie's father's cousin. Every since he'd learned to read he had been taught his lineage, a lineage which, on his mothers side, traced all the way back to the last Siren to procreate: Tiadonna Black.
Only a woman of great ambition and pure of heart could be a Siren, something that none of the three Black sisters had been, and they had been the only women born into the black family for ages. So the gift, Draco deduced, skipped his mother's family and transferred into the next female heir: Addie.
The whole table turned to face him, for once not out of hatred, but out of interest.
"And a Siren is what, exactly?" Harry asked.
Painfully oblivious…Draco thought.
"A Siren," Draco began before Hermione could open her mouth, "Is, to put it plainly, a particularly seductive sea nymph. They used to use their beautiful voices to lure sailors to their deaths. They are also the natural enemies of Veelas who are their land-dwelling counterparts. Addie, I would imagine, has been hiding from us a talent for song."
Addie smiled, "I can carry a tune."
"Well don't," He said, "Or all of the boys at this table will find themselves hopelessly smitten with you."
Addie's eyes narrowed.
"We wouldn't want that now would we?" She muttered, eyeing Harry and Ginny.
"So—what's the big deal?" Harry asked. "I mean it's great that you've got this power and all but why does the Order need you?"
"Because Harry," Addie began angrily, "With a fully capable Touch Healer on our side we won't lose nearly as many men. The only thing a fully trained Touch Healer can't cure is death, but major hexes, cuts, wounds, gashes, anything, even poisons I'll be able to reverse."
"So is that what you've been up to, then?" Ron asked. "Training?"
"I've been studying with Madam Pomfrey for the past year," Addie said proudly. "She's not a Touch Healer, but she's been teaching me about Healing and teaching me how to control my powers. I can't Heal really serious hexes yet, but I'm getting really good at reversing minor ones."
"But if you're a Touch Healer then shouldn't you just be able to do it on your own?" Ginny asked.
"Just because I have the power to do it doesn't mean I know how," Addie spat. "I needed training on learning how to concentrate my ability."
"How did you find out?" Draco asked. "I didn't think many people knew that the Black line went back to the last Siren."
"I figured it out after the Ministry," Addie replied, "You see, a Touch Healer's powers usually only show up in full by her sixteenth year, but what happened in the ministry was so taxing that mine arrived early."
She turned to the rest of the table, "Don't you remember that I was barely scratched? Even after all the fighting that had gone on?"
Hermione paused, "I did think it was a bit odd…"
"Well so did Dumbledore," She said. "He traced my lineage back and found that I had descended from a Siren, and after few short tests we moved on from there."
"So what you just touch something and it gets better?" Fred asked.
"Well, yes and no," She answered, "There are different levels. If I just lay my finger on a minor cut or a scratch or something it'll go away, but a deep cut like George's finger needs me to kind of squeeze it. Then there are jinxes and things where I kind of need to put both my hands on the person's chest and then there's—"
"The kiss," Draco interjected, "The Healing Kiss."
"Yes," Addie blushed uncharacteristically, "The Healing Kiss."
"What's that?" Ron asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"Well the most protection a Touch Healer can give is to give the ailing person a kiss. A kiss on a wound will Heal it instantly, and a kiss on the lips—"
"Lasting protection," Hermione said, "A Touch Healer's strongest magic."
Harry and George both shifted uncomfortably. Draco had also shared a kiss with Addie, and he wondered now if that 'lasting protection' was still in effect. It made sense to him now that Addie was a Touch Healer. She was exceptionally beautiful, a trait that Sirens were attributed with. She handled herself gracefully on a broomstick, and Sirens were winged beautiful women, accustomed to the air. And if she could sing, well, then it all fit.
"Which is exactly what I'm here to talk to you about!" A new voice exclaimed.
The teenagers turned to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway.
"I'm sorry to barge in like this, but I really must speak to Miss Addie," She said.
"What's up doc?" She asked, seeming pleased with the effect she'd had on the rest of the table.
"Did you, or did you not, kiss Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked. "We need to know."
Harry shifted uncomfortably, and Draco had a suspicion that he had taken Ginny's hand under the table.
Addie, once again, blushed uncharacteristically.
"Miss White this is not the time for you to become shy!" Professor McGonagall said. "As you've all just said, a Touch Healer's kiss is lasting protection, the Order needs to know if Harry has—er—acquired such protection."
It was now McGonagall's turn to flush.
"Yes," Addie said quickly, "He's got it. Are we finished?"
"Well—I suppose I just need to speak to Molly—"
"She's upstairs," Addie told her. "With my mom, and they're probably yelling at one another."
McGonagall turned, just as all the other adults had, and marched up the stairs.
"So…" Ginny began reluctantly, "Bill and Fleur's wedding…"
"She's coming to fit us for bride's maids today, isn't she?" Hermione asked.
"Lucky you," Ginny murmured. "I'm stuck as a flower girl like a little child."
"Well I'm an usher," Addie snorted.
"She should be here any minute now," Hermione said pensively, looking down at her watch.
There was a delicate knock at the door almost immediately after Hermione finished her sentence. Fred, George, and Ron all jumped up simultaneously to answer the knock, and all the girls turned up their noses indignantly. Draco remembered Fleur Delacour from Hogwarts in his fourth year. He remembered her stunning beauty and snobbish air, but that did not stop her from taking his breath away when she entered the room.
The air, which had become lighter since the magnificent woman's arrival, now grew thick once more with animosity. All eyes were drawn to Addie, who had stood from her place, hand grasping her wand. The two women stared at each other, hatred in each of their glares.
Have they met before? Draco thought. Impossible…
"Oh no," Hermione whispered to an anxious Ginny.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked, staring from Fleur to Addie as tension mounted.
"Don't you remember what Draco said?" Hermione whispered feverishly. "Sirens and Veela are natural enemies."