Helios’s Awakening 11

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Helios’s Awakening

Part the Eleventh—
The text gon’ be evidence, this text is evidence, I tried to ration with you, no murders or passions of crime, but damn—
—“Kill Bill,” SZA

Narcissa wouldn’t let Helios see Draco.

For that matter, Andromeda wouldn’t let Draco see Helios.

As such, they had resorted to sending each other letters.

Helios, Draco wrote, I’m stuck here in my room.  Mother is afraid I will suddenly freeze so I have a house elf assigned to me at all times.  I’ve decided to just lay about in my pajamas in protest and not even come down for meals.  I dream of your hands and your mouth.  Mother says my feelings are all a potion, but if that were a truth, everyone would be in love with you, including the Weasel, which is not the case.  My feelings cannot be manufactured by a potion in your blood.

Of course, now that Sirius knew that Andromeda had used Wudud against Lucius, he had stayed for several days and railed against her.  “It’s illegal for a reason!  That is dark Middle Eastern magic!” he had practically screamed with Helios still in the room.  “What were you thinking?  He is your sister’s husband!”

With Sirius yelling, Regulus (who was home for Winter Hols) had found out.  He had stood in the doorway, just taking in his brother and his cousin, ushering Helios out of the room.  Helios had heard everything through the floorboards until someone had realized they were making a raucous and had cast a silencing spell—but it wasn’t soon enough.

Helios knew the truth of the matter.  He was the product, essentially, of rape.  Wizards called it ‘line theft,’ but he knew that was simply wizards being polite.

Sirius and Regulus knew the truth.

Helios was almost certain that Narcissa knew the basic facts.

If Narcissa knew, how long would it be before Draco knew that Helios was his half-brother as well as his cousin?

If either Helios or Draco mentioned it outside of their homes and were overhead, then it could get out.  If it got out, Helios could lose his mother as quickly as he had gained her.  She would be in Azkaban until he was fifty.

Among all the fighting, Helios did receive an owl from Nymphadora.  She wanted to come to Grimmauld Place, but Helios thought that would be a bad idea with all of the bad blood.  Sirius still hadn’t left, and he was technically on the run, never mind the main topic of conversation in the household.

Helios was uncertain how to approach his mother, so he asked Uncle Regulus.  He looked at the letter for several long moments before he said, “She must come here.  We’ll kick Sirius out for an afternoon.”

“Are you sure?”

“She’ll want to see the Tapestry.  She’s surely heard of it her entire life.  It’s the only reason why she would want to specifically come here and not somewhere in public.  She mentioned Grimmauld Place by name.  She didn’t say ‘your home.’  She said, ‘Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.’  I’ll go talk to Andromeda and Sirius once they take a breather.”

He shuffled the pages of the letter and left Helios in the kitchen.

By that evening, Helios was writing his response and inviting Nymphadora the day after next.  Sirius had elected to stay in the attic with Buckbeak, who he had installed there as Buckbeak was difficult to hide in Muggle areas.  He was, after all, a mythical creature.

Helios wished that Draco could be in the house. 

On the appointed day, Nymphadora came by cab and knocked on the door.

Kreacher answered but Helios was waiting for her in the entryway.

“It’s very dark,” Nymphadora noticed.

“Yes,” Helios agreed.  “We can’t get the house elf heads off the walls,” he pointed out.  “They seem to have a permanent sticking charm on them.  They’re a bit grizzly.”  He grimaced as they passed them. 

“That’s one word for them.”  Her blue-grey eyes were wide in horror.

Nymphadora had bubblegum pink hair that day.  She was dressed casually in jeans and a jumper, which made Helios feel overdressed in his casual robes. 

“We’re going to be in the Tapestry Room.  You do want to see the Tapestry, I assume?” Helios checked as he opened up the door. 

“I have heard about it.”

Regulus was sitting in a chair with a book between his fingers.  It was his usual pose and he was curious about Nymphadora.

“This is Uncle Regulus,” Helios introduced.  “He’s a professor at Hogwarts.”

She nodded to him, putting her hands in her pockets so she wouldn’t have to shake his hand.  Helios thought it was a little obvious.

Regulus took her in and nodded in return.  “Nice to see you, Miss Tonks,” he offered.  “I’ll just give you your privacy.”

Nymphadora didn’t say anything in response, just looked around.

Helios wondered if she wasn’t sure what to say or if she didn’t want to recognize any other members of the Back family.

“Mother’s getting married,” Helios told her as the tea poured itself.  “I’m not sure if you heard.”

“It was in The Daily Prophet.”  She was stirring sugar into her tea instead of letting the spoon do it for itself.  “Is he a Death Eater?”

“Theocritus?” Helios asked.  Why, yes, yes, he was.  Helios wasn’t going to admit it, though.  “He’s a pureblood.  He has two sons.  Theodred who’s more your age, and Theodore who’s in my year.”

“That must be nice for you then,” she commented airily.  “I don’t want anymore brothers.  I’m not sure what to do with you.  One is more than enough.”

“I’m sure you don’t have to meet them if you don’t want to.”

She breathed out through her nose.  “I don’t suppose Andromeda can force me.  I am an adult, after all, and I haven’t seen her since I was six.”  She set down her teacup.  “Helios, I don’t want to see a ratty old tapestry.”

“Okay—” Helios said carefully.  “Would you rather take tea in the kitchen?”

“I don’t care about tea.”

Helios looked down at his cup.  It was the fortifying potion, the old Black secret.  It was a cranberry color and Helios thought it would taste rather disgusting with sugar.  “Would you like a biscuit?”

She made a motion that she wouldn’t.

“The Dark Marks have reactivated.”

Helios was aware of that.  They had reactivated at the beginning of his fourth year, which was when the Dark Lord had apparently reappeared.  Andromeda had explained that that the Dark Lord had coerced him to put his name in the Goblet of Fire.  She hadn’t asked how, and he didn’t bother telling her he hadn’t put his name in at all.

It was the usual business where everyone just assumed that since his name had appeared, he must have put it in.

He was wondering how Nymphadora could possibly know about the Dark Marks.  He didn’t suppose there were many former Death Eaters in the Auror Department.

However, since Regulus had killed the Dark Lord nine days earlier, the Dark Marks had faded into just the faintest of lines.  Helios wondered if Nymphadora was at all aware of that.

“What do you want me to do about that?” he asked.

“You’re Harry Potter.”

His stomach sank.

“Dumbledore has reactivated the Order of the Phoenix, which is a secret organization that fights You-Know-Who.”

“He’s gone,” Helios interrupted.

“What?”

“Voldemort.  He’s gone.  Uncle Regulus killed him.”  He took another sip of his tea.

Nymphadora blinked and her nose changed shape ever so slightly.  Helios felt like flicking his eyes green in annoyance, but he didn’t want to give himself away.

“Helios, You-Know-Who is not gone.”  Helios wondered how she felt so sure of herself.

“Yes, yes, he is,” he argued back.

“No, he’s not.”

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Helios decided.  He didn’t want to ruin the only time he had with his sister.

She sat back and sighed.  “We really need you.”

Seemed like it was going to be ruined anyway.

“I’m fifteen.  I’m also not Harry Potter.”

“Dumbledore says—”

“Do you see a scar on my forehead?” he asked seriously, setting his tea to the side.  It seemed to have fortified him enough already.

She looked at him long and hard.  “Aren’t you wearing a glamour?”

“I invite you to try and take it off.”

Nymphadora stared at him for a long moment.  “You will let me point my wand at your forehead—”

“Yes, and take off the glamour that’s not there.”

She looked slightly uncomfortable. 

He rolled his eyes.  “Just do it.”

Nymphadora carefully took out her wand from her waistband and pointed it at his forehead.  “Are you sure—?”

“Very,” he answered.  “Do your worst.”

“Finite Incantem.”  She stared at his forehead, wand still lifted.

Helios was aware that nothing had happened.  He and he alone had the power to show his scar or not as a metamorphmagus, and it was very carefully hidden behind an unmarred forehead.  “Are you convinced, Dora?” he asked very seriously.

She looked gob smacked.  “You—you really aren’t Harry Potter.”  She swallowed.

“As I said.”  Of course, that was a lie.  He had lived as Harry Potter for fifteen or so years.  It had never been his name though.  Since he was seven, since the line on his spine had formed into words, he had thought of himself as Helios Perseus Black.

“But Dumbledore said—”

“Dumbledore is misinformed,” he told her just as seriously.  “I wish you luck with your Order of the—what was it?”

“Order of the Phoenix.”  She was looking worried now and biting her lip.  She seemed to be deciding something.  Then, decided, she picked up her wand from where it was hovering above the tea table.  “Obliviate!”

Helios couldn’t duck out of the way quickly enough.  The wand was already in her hand and already pointed at his shoulder.

Ten minutes later Andromeda entered the room and found Helios drinking his fortifying tea alone.  He finished his cup and held it out to the teapot to be refilled.

“Oh, hello, Mother,” he greeted.  “Is this cup yours?” he asked, referencing a second cup that was barely touched.  “I seem to be drinking tea with someone, but they’ve stepped out of the room.”

She stared at him.  Looking back out toward the hallway, she called for Kreacher.  “Where has our guest gone?”

“She left,” Kreacher grumbled.  “She’s a filthy halfblood who uses magic on little master.  Kreacher sees.  Kreacher knows.  Kreacher tries to stop, but Kreacher bes not quicks enough.”

Andromeda didn’t even dismiss the house elf before she rushed into the room and grasped Helios’s face and looked into his eyes.  “How do you feel, darling?” she asked carefully.  “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Drinking tea,” he answered as if it should be obvious.  “I have a headache behind my eyes.  I think I read too much by candlelight last night.”

“And before drinking tea?” she asked quite seriously.  “What do you remember?”

He thought about it for a long moment.  “I think I’m supposed to have a guest.  I can’t quite recall.”

“Christ’s blood,” she swore under her breath.  She looked into his blue-grey eyes and then released him.  Standing, she took a deep breath.  “You drink your tea, darling.  I’m going to send for Uncle Lucius.”

Helios thought for a moment and then he nodded.

Andromeda stood there for a moment before turning to Kreacher.  “Go,” she ordered.  “Look through Master Helios’s letters for any missives from Nymphadora Tonks.  Then look through letters to Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott to see if Nymphadora is mentioned.”  She looked over her shoulder at Helios who was tired of drinking tea and had set down his cup next to the nearly full second cup.

She exited.

Helios went up to his room not five minutes later and saw that Kreacher was looking through his post, using house elf magic.  It confused him, but he allowed it, knowing Kreacher was acting on orders from his mother.

Forty minutes later, Uncle Lucius arrived.

Helios hadn’t seen his father since he had left St. Mungo’s nearly a week earlier.  He wasn’t entirely sure how to act, what to say.  He had accidentally poisoned Draco just by kissing him too much.

Uncle Lucius, however, seemed to have no qualms in approaching Helios. He came up to him and grasped the side of his head and looked into his eyes.

“How much time is he missing?”  Lucius, however, was speaking to Andromeda and not to Helios.

“All morning as far as I can tell.”

“Helios, can you remember eating breakfast?”

What a strange thing to ask.  Helios thought back, but realized that he couldn’t actually remember breakfast.  “Er—no.  I did wake up.  I remember the sun coming in through the window.”

“That is something,” Uncle Lucius said, stepping away.  “Did you take your potion?”

Helios thought.  He couldn’t remember taking his antidote to counteract the Wudud potion.  He opened up his drawer and counted the number of bottles.  He turned back to Lucius.  “I must have?”  It came out as a question.

“Definitely an obliviation,” Lucius determined.  “Helios, you don’t remember that you were supposed to see your half-sister, do you?”

“I was?  I haven’t seen her since we had ice cream last summer.”

He swore under his breath.

Andromeda touched his arm and handed him a parchment.  Uncle Lucius scanned it quickly and he relaxed a little.  “We have proof you knew she was coming.  Theo Nott wrote to you about her coming here this morning.”  His eyes scanned the parchment.  “—yesterday.”  He folded the letter and put it in his breast pocket.  “Helios, I need you to tell me that you believe you’ve been assaulted.”

“Because I’ve been obliviated?”

“She’s taken at least a week of memories about her,” Andromeda told him, coming up to Helios and touching his wrist.  “We’ve planned this so that Sirius would be hidden up in the attic and I would be out of the way.”

Helios scrunched up his face.  “Why would she do that?”

“She obviously told you something that she wanted you to forget,” Uncle Lucius informed him.  “What, we couldn’t say.  It could be anything.  But you’re underage.  She would have needed a warrant to obliviate you, and that warrant would have needed to be presented to your mother or to me.  No warrant was given.  She has broken her oath with the people as an Auror.”

Helios felt a little anxious.  “But she won’t like me if she’s arrested.”

“Helios,” Lucius told him firmly, “she doesn’t like you if she’s obliviating you.  She’s using you for something.”

Andromeda bit her lip in worry.  “What if she used Legilimency to better obliviate him?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Lucius promised her.  “One hippogriff at a time.”

She was still clearly anxious.

Lucius turned to her and touched her wrist.  “It shouldn’t be admissible in court if she got it through illegal Legilimency.  Let us not borrow worry.”

Taking a deep breath, Andromeda nodded. 

Lucius turned back to Helios.  “Do I have your consent?”

Hesitantly, Helios nodded.

“Thank you,” Lucius told him.  He squeezed Helios on the shoulder and then exited the room. 

Andromeda watched him leave.

“You really do love him, don’t you?” Helios asked carefully, seeing the truth that had been before him all these months.  It was in his mother’s every movement, his mother’s trust in Lucius, how she turned to him, how she had given custody of Helios over to him so willingly.

She turned and looked at her son.  “I—”  She couldn’t seem to form an answer.

Helios already knew.  He nodded.

Now all they could do was wait.

Uncle Lucius returned four hours later, bringing Draco.  Andromeda looked at Draco accusingly, but Lucius didn’t even bother to answer her unspoken concerns. 

“They’ll stay in the Tapestry room,” Regulus decided as he came down the stairs.  “It can do no harm.  They can’t touch.  They know the risks.—What happened?”

“Nymphadora Tonks has been arrested,” Lucius told them all. 

Sirius had left earlier in the day, transformed into his animagus form, saying he would “be back”—which could mean anything.  Andromeda had told him about the obliviation and he had looked Helios over carefully before nodding.  “Regulus is practically wizard of the house,” he had declared.  “I leave it in his hands.”

He’d glared accusingly at Lucius before running down the street on four legs, barking.

Lucius, however, was now speaking.  “Helios needs to come in tomorrow to say what he remembers and for the aurors to record where the holes actually exist in his memory.  I can only tell them so much.  They need actual evidence.”

“But they are her coworkers,” Regulus checked.  “Surely they’ll be on her side.”

“Fudge is putting pressure on this case,” Lucius reassured, “and you’re a Hogwarts professor.  That counts for something in the Auror Department.  Amelia Bones is very close to Hogwarts.”

Helios breathed out through his nose. 

“I have two letters from you mentioning her visit,” Draco told Helios when they were finally alone.  “I’ve already turned them over.”

“I just can’t figure out what I’m not supposed to remember,” Helios complained, looking over at the tapestry.  “It was surely a family tea.  I must have wanted her over as my sister.”

“Maybe she said something about Ted Tonks?” Draco suggested, holding the rim his teacup with the tips of his fingers.  “Could be something related to her job.  Maybe she broke the law somehow.  Clearly she’s capable of it.”

“Hmm,” Helios thought, not even picking up his teacup.  He watched how Draco stretched his neck and wished he could reach out and touch him, but he knew his mother would be angry at him if she walked in.

Draco set down his cup.  “I can see you looking at me,” he smirked.

“You’re not angry at me?” he checked.  He’d asked in a letter, but Draco had never actually addressed the question in any of his responses.

Reaching out his hand, Helios took it and looked into Draco’s gorgeously blue-grey eyes. 

“It’s not your fault you were conceived with a potion,” Draco assured him.  “I just wonder who Aunt Dromeda did it to.”

“You mean, you don’t know?” Helios checked, unsure.

“No, should I?” Draco looked intrigued.

“No,” Helios put in immediately.  “I thought Uncle Lucius might have said, since he knew about the potion.”

“No, no,” Draco confirmed, “he hasn’t said a word.  I’m not entirely certain if he knows at all.”  He smirked at Helios.  “You’re so mysterious, Helios.  It’s what I love about you.”

Love.  Helios’s heart lodged in his throat and tears pricked his eyes.

Draco squeezed his hand harder and leaned forward and kissed the knuckles of his hand.  “We must be chaste like knights in love with fair maidens,” he rolled his eyes and grinned, “for three months, but it will be well worth the effort.  Our mothers will calm down by then.”

“Do you know Andromeda Tonks?” Helios asked sincerely, a smile escaping his lips.  “I think she can hold a grudge for over a decade.  She can definitely hold a secret for at least fifteen years.”

“As silent as a ghostless grave,” Draco agreed.  “Mother can hold a grudge.”

“It must be a Black trait.”

“With hearts as Black as ours—” Draco trailed off.

“Is that a family saying?”

“It is,” Draco agreed.  “There must be a second half, but it was so well known, no one’s finished the sentence for years, and now no one knows what it’s supposed to be.  At least, I’m not sure if anyone knows.”

“Heavens,” Helios complained.

Their goodbyes were chaste, but Lucius promised to come in the morning to collect Helios.  Andromeda stood with him and sat with him when the Malfoys were gone.  Regulus came into the room and they all sat around the kitchen table.

“If you are asked who your father is,” Regulus told him sternly, “you are to deny any direct knowledge.  If someone asks you if it’s Lucius Malfoy, you’re going to say it’s wishful thinking on your part because Lucius Malfoy stands in the place of a father to you.  You know it is wrong and you will apologize for such thoughts.”  Regulus looked over at Andromeda who nodded.

“Is that how we’re going to try to contain this?” Helios asked.

“Yes,” his mother answered.  “It’s all wishful thinking.  Lucius is like a father to you.  It’s only natural.”  She ran a hand through his hair.  “They can’t perform Legilimency on you unless they have direct evidence that a crime has been committed.”

“O-okay,” Helios agreed.  “I won’t let you down.”

“This is not your fault,” Regulus promised him.  “It’s our fault for allowing you contact with Nymphadora.”

“You should have at least been in public and, if not, had a chaperone,” Andromeda agreed.  “It was my fault for believing in her good nature.  She was such a sweet child.  Time must have changed her.”

Helios nodded.

He went to bed early.  He breathed in the night air, leaving the window open, Hedwig flying in and out.  She brought him a dead mouse.  Helios was sure to thank her profusely.

Lucius came bright and early and collected him.  Helios was wearing formal robes and he found himself in the long row of mirrors where Hermione Granger had been interrogated.

He, however, had Uncle Lucius with him and Madam Bones was the one to conduct the interview.

“Tell us the last thing you remember yesterday, Helios,” Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, asked.

“Getting up.”

“You don’t remember eating breakfast?”

“No.  And I don’t remember taking my daily antidote.  I counted the remaining bottles, so I know I took it.”

He looked at Madam Bones.  She was a middle aged witch with strawberry blonde hair kept up neatly in a bun and blue eyes.  She looked a great deal like her niece, Susan, who was his year in Hufflepuff.

“We have several letters where a visit from you half-sister, Nymphadora Tonks, is referenced for the third of January.  Do you remember your sister, Nymphadora, visiting you?”

“No.”

“Do you remember planning that visit?”

“No.”

“Do you remember writing these letters?”

Two letters were handed over to him.  They were definitely in his handwriting and were addressed to Draco.  One of them was very graphic with what he wanted to do with Draco.  He blushed, pushing them away.

“I definitely wrote them, but I don’t remember writing them at all, not even the intimate parts.”

“And is it correct,” Amelia Bones asked, “that your mother found you drinking tea in your living room with an extra teacup?”

“Yes.  There was tea poured in it,” he agreed.  “I thought it was for Mother.”

She nodded and took some notes.  “Did you have a headache?”

Helios thought about for it a moment.  “Slightly.  Behind the eyes.”

Her lips pinched and she began scribbling again.  “Thank you, Mr. Black.  We appreciate you coming in on such short notice.  We will keep your guardian, Mr. Malfoy, informed.  We don’t believe this will go to trial.  It’s a very clearcut case.”

Helios breathed out in relief.  “That’s good to hear.  What will happen to Dora?”

“She’ll be stripped of her position of Auror,” Madam Bones explained, gathering the letters together.  “She will face three years in Azkaban.  She will be barred from every working in the Ministry or with children again.”

“Only three years?” Lucius asked carefully.  “Do we even know what information she took?”

Amelia Bones paused and then set down her papers.  “Apparently, she was trying to recruit Mr. Black to a vigilante group that fights You-Know-Who.  This vigilante group is under the impression that he has returned.  Of course, officially he died on July thirty-first, nineteen eighty-one.”

Helios’s eyes widened.  “Are you sure?  About the recruitment?”

“Yes.  Unfortunately, we are quite sure.  It seems trivial, but this vigilante group believes we’re at war.”

“Why did she target Helios?” Lucius asked.

Madam Bones looked over at Helios.  “He has lived under the pseudonym ‘Harry Potter.’  It was believed that Harry Potter, having defeated You-Know-Who once, could do it again.”

Helios groaned.  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Stupid it may be, but she was quite convinced of it.  We are running down the other members of this organization to make sure they’re not targeting other underage wizards. All wizards are permitted the right to congregate, so we cannot arrest them for simply congregating, but we are checking for other illegal activity.”

“Is it the Order of the Phoenix?” Lucius checked, his voice careful.

Madam Bones looked surprised.  “Why, yes.”

“Dumbledore’s group.  You should perhaps look into the Headmaster.  He may not be entirely innocent of influencing students.”

She made a note.  “Thank you, Mr. Malfoy.—I believe that’s all for now.”  Standing, she waited for Helios and Lucius to likewise stand and shook both their hands.

As they walked out, Helios pondered what he had learned.  “So, my sister never wanted to see me.  She wanted me to defeat Voldemort for them.”

“Yes,” Uncle Lucius agreed.  “She is the worst sort of witch.  She abused your trust.”

Helios had to agree.  Instead of protecting family, she had wanted to use family for her own gain.  She wasn’t a Black, not really.  All of the Black had been bred out of her.  Maybe some of Draco’s theories about blood could have merit to them, as strange as they had originally sounded.