Chapter 19, From Bad To Cursed

The Daddies did make an appearance as expected less than an hour after sunset. Severus and Mag even came along with them. This was a true demonstration of the severity of the situation, considering the fact that Severus was supposed to be dead. Rather than visiting the school through ordinary channels via first announcing their presence to the Headmistress, Kreacher merely apparated everyone into Hogwarts. Then, he and Regulus used their vampiric mind-reading ability to locate the children who happened to be in the library.

Guillermo had scored a pass to the restricted section from a distracted Flitwick, so they were all attempting to self soothe with books. To her annoyance, Hydra's mind wouldn't allow her to focus on the tome of ancient magic she was attempting to read. It kept anxiously fretting over how she would be able to take her OWLS, and why Delphini had done what she'd done. When the door to the library opened, they all pensively looked in that direction, half rising from their seats. The fact that Hydra, Loughness, Guillermo, James and Sortia all had the exact same reaction showed how on edge they were. When Regulus, Kreacher, Mag and Severus came into view around the nearest shelf of books, all the teenagers fell back into their chairs with sighs of relief.

"Are you alright," Severus asked, rushing to crush Sortia in a tight hug.

"I was," Sortia wheezed. "Just now, though, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing. Daddy!" She lifted her hands, attempting to push at his shoulders.

"Sorry," Severus said, but didn't let her go. "That monster was in your house, Baby. She could've hurt you."

"Why," Sortia demanded flatly. "I never spoke to her."

"Me neither," Loughness, who was being squeezed by Regulus, added cheerfully. "I'm fine, Daddy," he added. "See how great I look? Not even a hair out of place."

Kreacher grasped Hydra's shoulders, looking hard into her eyes, clearly checking to see if she was also fine. She opened her mouth to ask about her OWLS, but he quickly embraced her so she sighed and simply hugged him back. Only then did she truly realize how unsafe she'd felt all day. With her father's arms around her, she felt as if nothing could harm her. Sighing she dropped her head onto Kreacher's shoulder and tightened her arms around him for several long seconds.

"She's claiming to be Voldemort's daughter," Mag informed after giving James and Guillermo a quick once-over. "I promised both of your parents to look in on you, so if there is anything you need, let us know," she added distractedly.

"She's who," Guillermo squawked. His eyes were wide with shock, and James, seated at his side looked equally stunned. For his part, Loughness looked skeptical. Sortia appeared unimpressed as per usual, and Hydra was supremely annoyed by the entire involvement of Voldemort in this madness. She was tired of Voldemort, and he'd been long dead before she was even bloody born!

"So Delphini never mentioned that to anyone," Regulus asked. He'd released Loughness and now stood at Kreacher's side, a worried expression on his youthful face.

"None of us ever dealt with her, or even spoke to her," Hydra replied.

"Odd that, but it's true. I don't know why, but though she wasn't frightening or anything, none of us had the desire to go anywhere near her. It's difficult to explain," James said thoughtfully. Everyone else nodded in silent agreement.

"But you never heard it passed around as a rumor either," Mag asked. "The bit about her being Voldemort's daughter? She never bragged or anything?" Sortia shook her head as Severus reluctantly released her.

"She never attempted to approach any of you," Regulus pressed. As he spoke, his blue gaze traveled piercingly around to each young face. When everyone shook their heads, he let out a sigh of relief. "It's a concern because enough of your families had negative dealings with Voldemort. Whether or not he is truly her father, if she believes he is, and knows anything of his history, she could very well have it out for anyone who she believes crossed him."

"Never mind that he crossed all of them first," Kreacher muttered darkly, slipping a hand into Regulus's. When Regulus's gaze dropped to him, more emotion shown there than Hydra generally saw from him in a week. When he looked at Daddy Kreacher it was as if his very soul rose up to fill his eyes as they looked into Kreacher's own. Hydra didn't know how to feel about that much feeling. It was beautiful and uncomfortable and... perhaps a little dangerous.

"I told you it's a weird Voldemort cult thing," Sortia reminded her friends darkly. "Wasn't I just saying that earlier?"

"You were saying that earlier," James agreed sagely. Turning to the adults, he asked, "What's being done about her, then?"

"She's secured in Azkaban," Severus said. "Personally I don't believe she's Voldemort's child. He was anything and everything but sexual. Not to mention he wasn't the sort to want a child. He didn't like sharing. If he had a child, he'd be the type to eat it directly."

Kreacher snickered appreciatively. "The Ministry is having to look into it, though," Mag said. "They can't afford to ignore such claims without an investigation."

"So with her locked away, does that mean that I can take my OWLS in peace," Hydra asked eagerly.

"Yes, but Kreacher and I are popping in nightly to check into the minds of anyone and everyone we please just to make sure no one is keeping her secrets," Regulus said. "We will be certain that you are all safe here." She mentioned that there are more Maledictus women, but none of them are here. It is being looked into though it may have nothing to do with any of us if they aren't at the school."

"How could she be Voldemort's daughter, though," Hydra asked. "He wasn't a Maledictus. He could just talk to snakes, right?"

Severus nodded. "Correct. If she is not his daughter, she could believe she is or wish to be because of the serpent connection in general. One can only speculate at this point though," he reminded.

"We will, of course keep the children informed as we receive news from Kereston," Kreacher promised.

Guillermo sighed, slumping back into his chair. "Man, but it's been a long day!"

"And OWLS haven't even begun yet," Hydra said. Everyone exchanged a glance, and for some reason, there were lots of rolled eyes.

"What does it mean that there are other Maledictus women," James asked, a worried frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Are they going to keep biting people and killing them?"

"Let us hope not," Mag shuddered. "Delphini seemed to refer to them as some tribe. A culture if you will. Perhaps living on an island. We only got a vague report earlier, and we will keep you updated as we learn more. For now, that bit seems to have nothing to do with us."

"Well that's a relief," James said. "We certainly wouldn't want it to get in the way of Hydra's OWLS."

"We all have Owls," Hydra pointed out. "Well all of us save for Guillermo." Being a year older, Guillermo had taken his OWLS last year. He'd hardly even studied for them which had horrified Hydra.

"Oh no," Loughness assured firmly. "They are *Your* OWLS! You care about them enough for everyone."

As it happened, Hydra scored perfectly on all of her OWLS which meant she was literally floating on cloud nine when term finally ended and they got to go home. Her bubble was burst quickly, though, upon arriving at #12 Grimmauld Place, because Kereston had news. Delphini did appear to be Voldemort's daughter due to the fact that she had enough power to escape from Azkaban!

"We shall be taking over soon, and when we do, we shall be handling it far better than this sorry excuse for a Ministry," Kereston ranted. The small blonde paced up and down the length of the troll skin rug as they all sat in the library. The rug stretched out along the length of the now cold hearth. Idly Hydra wondered if Kereston would pace a groove in it, as she showed no signs of stopping or even slowing her angry strides.

"Voldemort always had impressive powers," Regulus murmured. As he spoke, he stared distractedly past Kereston into the cold space where a fire would burn in the winter. "Everyone was so impressed with his strength, but I wonder if it came from splitting his soul. Such a dreadful act brings weakness to a person's spirit and mind, but perhaps it affords power in other areas." He shuddered. "This girl, though, We have no idea where she gets her powers."

"We'll have elves, goblins, wizards and Acromantulas to help bring her down, though, so hopefully it won't matter," Kereston said grimly.

"That's the spirit, Girl." Walburga Black spoke from where she hovered behind Hydra's chair. "You're going to need it." In spite of the grim words, Hydra found comfort in her grandmother's presence.