Orion Black was not having a good day. He had been spending almost five hours going over the next Wizengamont meetings bills and information, only to be interrupted by his harpy of a wife as she complained about the unfairness of Lady Parkinson's new wardrobe; and how it "suited her whore personality. How that filth of a woman could ever have reigned in such a respectable man as Lord Parkinson, I will never know. Hopefully he will soon realise that she is not worth more than the dirt under his shoes" Orion had to stop himself from telling her that the only reason why she suddenly didn't like Lady Parkinson, was because said Lady had informed her how her latest dress made her look like a vulture in a wig; because he didn't want to go momentarily deaf again. His wife certainly had a large pair of lungs. And now, she was informing him that the Minister of Magic wanted to see them both, which really put an even bigger halt in his plans. So it was a very irritated Lord and Lady Black that flooed in to the Ministers office.
To their surprise, they found Lord and Lady Malfoy already sitting near Fudges desk, along with what appeared to be the head healer from St Mungos and the head of the department of magical law enforcement Amelia Bones. With his brows furrowed, Orion greeted the Minister, Lord and Ladies Malfoy and Bones and the healer, as he drew out a chair for Walburga to sit on. As Orion himself later sat, he exchanged a confused look with his good friend Abraxas, as Camille and Walburga spoke in hushed voices. A nervous cough drew their attention to the fidgeting Minister Fudge, as he gave them a twitching smile. He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief before he started to speak.
"I would like to thank you all for coming today… I trust that you all are feeling well?" Orion nearly rolled his eyes, his irritation slowly growing.
"Get to the point Fudge! Why have you called us here?" Walburga gave an impatient noise, as the others nodded in agreement. Fudge exchanged a nervous look with the healer, and gave him the go ahead.
"Lords and Ladies Malfoy and Black, today… a young girl was taken in to St Mungos from a muggle hospital. Now, following standard procedure and using a diagnostic charm, a fellow healer of mine realized that she was wearing a full bodied glamour. Feeling concerned, he removed it, and well… the results were quite shocking…" Orion, feeling confused, gave the healer and Fudge a glare.
"So? What does that have to do with us?" Abraxas nodded, and tapped his cane irritatingly in the floor.
"Well, according to the blood-test… well… she is the daughter of Iphigenia Malfoy and Sirius Black…" There was a disbelieved silence as the Lords and Ladies simply starred at Fudge, shock clear on their faces.
The silence was broken by Lady Black's screech of "WHAT?". The exclamation made everyone in the office jump in surprise, as Lady Black jumped to her feet, her face full of fury. "What is this for lies you spew Fudge? If this is some plot to take the Black and Malfoy fortunes by some heiress stealing plan, then I will curse you to hell and back!" Fudge shrieked, and tried to become one with his chair as Walburga drew her wand. Madam Bones and the healer had both jumped back at the sight of the wand, but at the threat Bones stepped forward.
"I can assure you Lady Black, that this is no plot to take neither the Malfoy nor the Black fortune. I can show you all the proof, if you will lower your wand from the Ministers head." Walburga gave her a suspicious look, before a look from Orion made her lower the wand with a huff.
"Very well, but if the 'proof' shows not to be true, then I'm hexing all three of you!" said Walburga as she sat herself back in her chair, crossing her arms as she gave Madam Bones a glare.
With an eye roll, Madam Bones opened the folder, and took out the blood test, and handed it to a frowning Lady Malfoy.
Lady Camille Malfoy was in shock. She had followed her husband Abraxas to the Minister of Magic's office, and while she had been surprised to see Orion and Walburga there as well, she didn't think much of it. But then the head healer from St Mungos informed them that not only had her daughter had a child, but a daughter with the one and only Sirius Black. While Walburga shrieked her displeasure and disbelieve, she herself were only sitting still, the implications spinning in her head. The thought of a granddaughter was something that made her want to smile and jump for joy, but what it would also imply made her feel sick. The very idea that her daughter, her beloved daughter who had died at the young age of twenty-one in July eight years ago, had an affair with Sirius Black and received a child out of wedlock; without even informing her own family… that was something that made her feel like someone was twisting a knife in her heart. She was vaguely aware of Abraxas clutching her hand, and Orion tapping his foot in irritation, but it wasn't until she found herself being handed a parchment that she forced her despair behind her walls. Taking the paper with a barely noticed shaking of her hand, she let herself read. By each sentence, she found herself grow paler, and the sudden need to both laugh for joy and cry for despair made her shake. When she was finished, she finally looked up, and meet the concerned blue eyes of her husband.
"Well Camille, what did it say?"
"What… It said…" taking a deep breath she started once again.
"What they are saying is true… According to this there is a girl born to both our children. We have a granddaughter…" Silence greeted her answer, and before she had time to blink, Orion Black had grabbed the parchment from her numb hands as he started to furiously read. Walburga was sitting with her mouth open in shock, her arms almost dangling at the sides. Her own husband, who had risen from his chair when she was reading, stumbled back into it, his face frozen in disbelief. It wasn't until Orion gave a chocked gasp, that the rest of them managed to snap out of their own shock. Orion was standing, his eyes unfocused as he mumbled over and over "granddaughter", "it can't be" and "her?". It wasn't until Walburga, her face twisting from shock and disbelief as she made her way to her husband's side, placed her hand on his arm that he finally snapped out of it. He turned his grey eyes, who mere seconds ago had been filled with disbelief and was now burning with fury, towards Fudge.
"According to this blood test, this girl really is the daughter of my son and Iphigenia Malfoy. But, what troubles me more than the fact that she has existed without our knowledge, is who she has been blood adopted as. How is it, that our newfound granddaughter, was blood adopted by James and Lily Potter; and has spent almost nine years as Hailey Lily Potter, the girl-who-lived?" That made Walburga and Abraxas, both who had not yet seen the blood test, give shouts of surprise. Camille, who had been slowly piecing together all the strange things her daughter had said and done the two years before her death, snapped her head up at Orion's inquiry. She had been so shocked about her daughter's affair and the apparent existent of a granddaughter, that she had completely overlooked who the girl was. It was with a jolt that she realised that her newfound granddaughter was the girl-who-lived, which slowly grew to horror, as she remembered who was responsible for the death of the Potter's… Her granddaughter had almost been killed by her own father! The revelation made her anger surge, but she reined it in, feeling that now was not the time. In the meantime, of her own silent revelation, Walburga had demanded the blood test parchment from her husband, reading out loud the results to Abraxas growing shock. When Walburga finally was done, starring at the parchment with her face for once completely filled with different emotions and Abraxas was slumped into his chair mumbling "it can't be true", Madam Bones cleared her throat and took a step forward.
"We don't know how that happened Lord Black. But I can assure you that I will personally look into this matter. I have already put some of my best aurors on the case. We will find out the truth." Madam Bones gave Orion a determent stare, as Fudge nervously nodded.
"Y-yes Lord Black. We will find out who did this." At Fudge's words Orion, who had given Madam Bones a firm nod, turned towards the cowering Minister and spoke, his voice harsh.
"I certainly hope so Cornelius. I would be extremely angry if I found out that you were in some way trying to stop or hinder the investigation, just so you could blackmail us in any way." Fudge, to Camille's surprise, seemed to pale even further as he dabbed his forehead with that damn handkerchief.
"O-of course not! I wouldn't dream of it Lord Black!" exclaimed Fudge, as he gave them all a shacking laugh. Abraxas, who had been quiet almost the entire time, slowly stood and banged his cane in the floor.
"Enough! We have done enough talking. I demand to see our granddaughter!" Walburga nodded as she moved so that she was standing between Abraxas and Orion, her mask firmly in place but Camille could see that underneath her mask Walburga was both excited and nervous.
Fudge, who had jumped in his chair at Abraxas bark, hurriedly stood.
"Yes! Of course! Eh, Healer Merriweather, if you would be so kind to take the Lords and Ladies Black and Malfoy to St Mungos? Madam Bones and I will stay behind to collect all necessary paperwork that you all need to sign to gain custody of her. You need to decide as well who she will be staying with as her parents, both adopted and real are… not capable to take her in." Fudge nervously smiled as he moved towards the door, trying to make a quick escape. But, his words made Abraxas stiffened as his eyes thinned.
"Of course. But if you don't mind me asking Cornelius, with whom have our granddaughter been staying with? Didn't healer Merriweather say that she had been taken from a muggle hospital?" Camille's own eyes narrowed as Fudge seemed to pale even further, as both Orion and Walburga spun around, their faces filled with contempt. Orion took a step forward.
"Yes Cornelius. Surely our granddaughter, the famous girl-who-lived, has been staying with people of our own kind. The very thought that someone of her standard, even before her real parentage came to light, living with… things like them is preposterous." Walburga scoffed, nodding along with her husband's words. But Abraxas gave Fudge a furious glare when he didn't answer. Orion, noticing the silence from Fudge as well, took another threatening step forward, his face slowly growing with anger.
"Well Fudge? Tell us!" exclaimed Orion when he kept opening and closing his mouth, without anything coming out. But it wasn't Fudge who finally spoke, it was Madam Bones.
"She has not been staying with a family of our 'own kind'. Miss Potter has been living with her moth… I mean her adoptive mothers muggle sister and her family. Their names are recorded as Vernon and Petunia Dursley. She lives with them in Privet Drive number 4, Surrey."