Chapter Four
A/N: Thank you so much to LilyPhoenix, , Lola, kittyhawk09 and Guest for helping me to improve and update the story.
It had only been a single night, and already Narcissa felt that she belonged at Hogwarts School. The magic of the place surrounded her, entering her body and soul with every breath she took, and made her feel as if she were at home, a feeling the young girl never thought she would experience again, after her home was razed to the ground by the so called Death Eaters. She felt that she was a part of the school, and that the school was a part of her.
Another place in her heart had been awarded to Minerva, who, over the short day she had known her, had won a special place in Narcissa's heart, and, although she did not yet know it, Narcissa had won a special place in the professor's.
The woman herself was currently stood in the Headmaster's office, alongside her former Transfiguration professor, Albus Dumbledore, who had been employed a few years previously to take over the position from Armando Dippet. The man was sat at his desk, a pair of half-moon spectacles balancing precariously on the bridge of his nose, as he leant further towards the woman, intently listening as his hands clasped together.
"And what do you wish to ask, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked, addressing his colleague. The woman sighed a little, as if considering what she would say, but then spoke.
"I wanted to ask you about a certain child." she began, pausing a little in her speech. At this point, Dumbledore was completely unaware that Narcissa was even at Hogwarts, let alone that she was under Minerva's care and protection. "She is a very important girl, and she has been through a terrible time of late. She's only young, and she has had far too much bad luck for someone of her age."
"So what do you wish to do about this?" he asked her, for once looking as if he truly did not know the answer to the question he posed to her, a rare thing for a man as talented as himself. "What is to be done about the girl?"
"That was what I came to ask you about, Albus." Minerva admitted, taking a deep breath to prepare her for the lengthy conversation she was about to partake in. "I've been named her guardian by the Ministry, for her own protection. Given that I am in residence here, that would mean that Narcissa would have to come and live at Hogwarts, with me. I need your permission for that to happen."
"Where is the girl now?" Dumbledore question, though this time with a glint in his eye, one that only appeared when he already knew the answer to a question, and only sought to ask it to be awkward. It was a habit of his that Minerva had learnt of over the years, and had been victim of on more than a few occasions during that time.
"She is already here." the Scot answered honestly, seeing no point in lying if the man before her more than likely knew the truth anyway. "She's asleep in my bedroom."
"Ah." was the only hint of response that the woman received, though the smile on the elder man's face told her that he was not annoyed, or indeed surprised, by this revelation in the least. "So, Minerva, why do you seek my permission on this matter if you already seem to have resolved it yourself?"
The question threw the woman a little, as she had been expecting at least a slight negative response from her employer. "Well, I didn't really want for you to find out from someone else. I suppose I wasn't really asking for permission, I was more… informing you of the situation."
"I had suspected that, yes. Excuse me, Narcissa?" the man asked, seeming extremely interested in the name.
"Yes." Minerva replied, a little unsure as to what had interested the man about her new adoptive daughter.
"The youngest Black girl? The daughter of the couple that died in the fire at their manor?" Albus continued, his interest heightened with every word he spoke. Only now did Minerva understand. Her employer had read the story in the Daily Prophet a few days ago. 'Well, of course he has.' Minerva told herself. 'Everyone knows what happened. Everyone except the girls themselves, it seems.'
"Yes. Given that she's so young, she hasn't been corrupted by the family's ideals of Pureblood supremacy, unlike her sisters, so the Ministry felt that it would be best for her to come somewhere with equal rights for all magical people, and there is no better place with those ideals than Hogwarts. That's why she was left with me." Minerva explained, going into depth for the sake of no more questions being posed towards her. Unfortunately, her tactics were not successful, as Dumbledore continued to speak.
"But if the children come to Hogwarts and see that she is a Black, surely they'll educate her about supremacy." he pointed out. This, luckily, was a point that the woman had been expecting to hear.
"Then she'll need to take another name. A fictional one, from a family that are hardly heard of." she answered immediately. When the Headmaster nodded his head at her, the woman continued. "My sister in law is from a family like that, from the Selwyns. No one has heard from that family in years, it's perfect. If I say that she is my niece, then no one will ask any questions about her. It's the best option, for us and for her."
"Are you certain about this?" Dumbledore asked, seeming a little sceptical about the idea.
"Absolutely." she replied, showing not a hint of the fear she was experiencing, at the prospect of being the only one responsible for the child. "In that case, I think that I'll call her Anastasia. Anastasia Selwyn."
She who would rise again.
A/N: Thank for reading so far, but please review!