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A/N: Thank you all for the kind reviews. There's plenty more to come!
Draco left for the Ministry earlier that morning, curious to see if they found a familial match to Alice in the Azkaban criminal blood vault. If they did find a match it could bring them closer to understanding why someone would repress her magical gene when she was a child. The outcome for Alice herself was still uncertain. She would be tried at Wizengamot for violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and her sentence would either be the obliviation of her mind or perhaps she would be allowed to keep her knowledge under certain restrictions.
Blaise Zabini, dressed in his usual black attire, looked irritated as he sat at his desk reading the morning's Daily Prophet. The press continued to have a field day with the brief public statement he gave the afternoon before and he felt as if every article was making a mockery out of his department's role in the case with the muggle book writer. He had also learned this morning that about twenty boxes of the confiscated first press of McNally's book had gone missing. They traced the disappearance back to the lowly office assistant, Billy Beezlebub, who got bamboozled on his way to the Ministry's storage facility. Poor Beezlebub was taken in for questioning, but the thief cleverly wiped his mind of his identity, making the office assistant little help. The books were considered the property of the Ministry and as such, officers from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement were sent to retrieve them. Out of twenty boxes, only about half had been found, meaning that a substantial amount of McNally's book were already in public hands. The British wizarding world had taken considerable interest in the story, using it as a platform to discuss possible reforms to handling muggle/wizard relations. The Daily Prophet had leant its pages to whoever wanted a say in the matter. In the popular imagination, Alice McNally was either a muggle or a blood-traitor, each equally contemptible. Many muggle-borns, however, sympathized with the lack of respect given to muggles by wizarding folk. Hermione Weasley, in all her wisdom, had written several beautifully composed statements expressing a need for more acceptance and understanding of these differences. If anything, Alice McNally's story had reminded people of the prejudice still present in their society. Also, for the first time in awhile, a book from the muggle world had gained minor popularity, leading some witches and wizards to curiosities they never had before.
Upon Draco's arrival, Blaise accompanied him to retrieve the results from the testing outlet. Alone on the lift, Blaise questioned his friend's interest in Alice.
"You surprised me yesterday," he said, "offering your residence to a muggle."
"It seemed a preferable option," Draco replied dryly, hoping to quell his friend's obvious intent.
"I can understand the interest," Blaise toyed for reaction purposes, "she has great…" Blaise didn't have time to finish his sentence as the golden grill opened and several witches and wizards walked in. Draco could only clear his throat and hope the topic would be dropped from then on.
The results had been written on a piece of parchment and wax sealed in an envelope, allowing only the requester to open it. Draco undid the grey seal, revealing a paper written with the name, Percival Dumbledore, who was sentenced to Azkaban for attacking muggles. Blaise and Draco were silent.
"This would implicate either Albus or Aberforth Dumbledore is the grandfather," Draco said; the latter wizard being well-known, so well-know that both Blaise and Draco thought it unlikely that Albus could be the grandfather.
"If Aberforth is still alive, we need to bring him in for questioning and testing," Blaise added before they returned to the office on Level 2.
Aberforth Dumbledore was still the owner of the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade. His age had started to catch up to him though and he preferred spending more time with his goats than bartending. After receiving the official notice to immediately come in for questioning at the Ministry, he was more irritated about leaving his solitary confinement than being questioned. The letter assured him that the case did not concern his goats, which he considered a relief.
The wizened man with his wispy white hair and slightly disheveled dress looked a bit out of place among the smart looking office workers in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was greeted by Blaise Zabini, who explained to him why he was called in. Aberforth had not followed the papers that week so he was unaware of any of the events concerning Alice McNally. He said it was staggering impossibility that Albus or he ever had a daughter via a muggle, but he accepted the test either way.
While Draco went to the lab to run a direct descendent test, Blaise asked Aberforth to recall the year 1946, when Alice's mother was born. Stroking his white wiry beard, he could not recall anything unusual and accepted to take a memory potion for assistance. Still he could recall anything.
It was not long before Draco returned with the results. "Aberforth is not the grandfather," he said, watching Aberforth's face show a mild sense of relief that was immediately replaced with one of confusion.
Blaise chimed in, "That means, Albus Dumbledore was."
Aberforth contemplated the thought of his brother with a muggle woman. Impossible, or was it? He admitted to having a trying relationship with his brother, which grew worse after the death of their beloved sister, Ariana. Neither of them had any children, which he once admittedly regretted, though if Albus knew he had a daughter, would he not have cherished that?
"What happened to the daughter?" Aberforth asked curiously.
"She died when Alice McNally was a child." Blaise replied.
"Died?" Aberforth said surprised and saddened. "How?"
"We suspect her magical abilities developed later in life which led her to think she had mental problems. She was prescribed some muggle remedies and according to muggle police reports, she overdosed."
"That's too bad," Aberforth continued. "But you said her daughter is nothing more than a muggle too?"
"Not entirely," Draco interjected, "She's been put under an enchantment which made her magical abilities dormant from a young age. We are assuming it was done by your brother."
Aberforth proceeded to stroke his beard while thinking, "Ah, Albus would have been concerned about you-know-who. If she is alive today, then perhaps he made the right choice."
"If you cannot provide us with any other information," Blaise said, "Then you are free to go."
Aberforth looked curiously at Blaise, "What will become of her then?"
"She is being charged with violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and will be tried at Wizengamot," Blaise said.
"Merlin's beard that ridiculous," Aberforth said perturbed, "Obviously she knew nothing of the law before her run in with you."
"It's out of our hands," Blaise responded, not necessarily disagreeing. "We'll do our best to ensure she has a fair trial. That being said, you are her only living relative in the wizarding world. You may be called on to attend the proceedings."
"Well I suppose she is my grand niece after all." The old man made his adieus and left the Ministry looking a little more confused than when he came in. He would be at her trial; Albus would have wanted him there.
"This was unexpected," Blaise said to Draco after Aberforth left the room.
Draco nodded, though part of him had seen the relationship in her eyes, the same sparkling blue eyes. He thought back to Dumbledore's last moments on the Astronomy Tower, when he offered to help Draco. In those dark times, when Draco thought he had no options, he would have taken Dumbledore's offer. After looking into Dumbledore's eyes he believed it may be the only way out for him and his family. But it was not meant to be; Snape had showed up and finished the deed. There was no turning back after that.
"Last night I researched the enchantment Alice is under," Draco said, his eyes betraying his thoughts, "There's no way of lifting it. The spell has its own release mechanism that the enchanter decides upon casting. It will release at that point, or never."
"Interesting, not that I think the Ministry would want it lifted," Blaise considered the absurdity of the muggle suddenly gaining magical abilities. "Hopefully we can get her out of here without any harsh punishment, and with this new information, it should be possible. It's unlikely Dumbledore cast this spell for dark reasons."
"It would be highly unlikely. If she was a known connection to Dumbledore, Voldemort would have gone after her."
"Those were trying times," Blaise replied, thinking back to the end of his school days although he didn't linger. "The good news is it appears that our part in this case is closed, but I will need you to write the official testing reports."
"I can finish that today," Draco said.
"And…are you comfortable with lodging the muggle at your residence until the trial?" Blaise had to ask.
"That's fine. She's been no trouble." Draco realized he still felt slightly awkward expressing his acceptance of the task.
Blaise looked at his friend incriminatingly but let it pass. "Alright, but if it becomes trouble we could relocate her to the holding cell here; since it seems the press already assumes she's located off the premises."
"Good luck with them," said Draco mockingly, knowing the press would have a field day with this new bit of information.
"Another shining moment, I assure you," Blaise said in a deadpan voice that made Draco chuckle.
Blaise would prepare his second and final public statement that afternoon. Alice McNally, the muggle book writer, would become the enchanted muggle book writer with a famous wizard grandfather. Her trial had also been set by the Wizengamot Administration Office for the following Monday morning.
As expected this information set the wizarding media ablaze providing yet another tidbit of Albus Dumbledore's life that no one, not even Rita Skeeter knew. Of course, this piece of information excited no one more than the curly blonde-haired sensationalist, and she would push her way into the mix, hoping to get the scoop on Dumbledore's other, other life. She considered writing a second edition to her already bestselling biography, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, with a chapter on his previously unknown muggle relations.