Helios’s Awakening 12

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Helios’s Awakening

Part the Twelfth—
Living in a world where no one’s innocent, Oh, but at least we try, Gotta live my truth not keep it bottled in, So I don’t lose my mind.
—Rain On Me, Lady Gaga feat. Ariana Grande

They came for Andromeda the night before Helios left for Hogwarts.  The house was completely still, Helios up in his room reading letters from Draco, when the door blew in and Aurors flooded the main floor.  The portrait of Walburga Black began to scream and Helios scrambled out of bed with his wand, but when he came out into the hallway Regulus ushered him back into his room.

“What is it?” Regulus’s voice demanded from the landing.  “You better have a warrant.”

Helios peaked out of his room and saw a dark-skinned auror step forward and offer a bright red piece of parchment with white ink. 

“It’s all there, Mr. Black.  We have an arrest warrant for Madam Tonks on a count of incest, a count of line theft, and a count of child endangerment.”

“Child endangerment?  Whose child is she supposed to have endangered?” Regulus demanded, reading over the warrant quickly.

“Helios Perseus Black.  We have his medical records.  We understand his blood is poisoned with Wudud.”

Opening his door loudly, Helios was not prepared for Regulus to whip out his wand and push him back inside, clearly reading his mind.  The door muffled shut, but he could still hear through the cracks.

“Helios Black is under the care of his uncle, Lucius Malfoy.”

“Yes, the other victim in this—crime,” the Auror agreed.  “We will be taking Helios Black into custody unless Lucius Malfoy can produce himself in the next half hour to claim his—shall I say it, or shall you?”

“—ward,” Regulus answered for him, not using the other word that could have been applied in the situation.  “It won’t be a problem.”  He turned and flicked open Helios’s door with his wand.  “Helios, pack your things.  You’re going to Malfoy Manor.”

“Where’s Mother?” he asked, a little fearful, now peeking out of the door.

“Downstairs,” Regulus answered, “if she hasn’t been taken away already.”  His blue-grey eyes shone in the darkness.  “Wait there.”  He flicked his wand and the door slammed shut again and locked.

Helios ran at it and tried to open it, but he couldn’t shove it open, even with his wand.  After slamming his shoulder against it for several moments, he slumped to the floor and opened his trunk and flew the last of his belongings in it.  He was already packed for the next day.

It must have been less than half an hour because Uncle Lucius came and claimed him. 

The house was completely silent with Kreacher snivelling in a corner.

Lucius was grim, lines in his forehead as he ushered Helios toward the floo.

“What’s happening?”

“It seems there’s been a complaint lodged against your mother,” Lucius answered as he took Hedwig’s cage under his arm.  “It seems Nymphadora has done her worst.—or possibly someone at St. Mungo’s has put two and seven together to make ten.”

Helios scrunched up his nose, but Lucius just hurried him forward.

Regulus was waiting in the kitchen.

“Do you have everything?” he asked solicitously.

“Yes,” Helios answered.  “If there’s anything else—er—Uncle Sirius can owl it next time he’s here.”

Regulus grimaced.  “I wouldn’t put it past him to have made the complaint anonymously.”

Lucius’s face went stony.  “Surely not.”

“Surely yes,” Regulus argued.  “He’s livid at Andromeda.  You haven’t heard his accusations the past several days.”

“Well,” Lucius decided, placing his hand on Helios’s shoulder.  “At least we can discredit him.  He’s a known fugitive.—Come, Helios.  Your aunt and cousin are awaiting you.”  He nodded to Regulus and then the two of them were gone in the floo.

“What’s happened?” Draco asked as soon as they arrived.

“Not a word,” Lucius murmured in Helios’s ear.

He looked up at his uncle incredulously.

“There have been some accusations about the circumstances of Helios’s birth,” Lucius told his son.  “You know he’s been taking an antidote.”  He gave Draco a look, clearly telling him not to pry.  “Andromeda has been taking in for questioning.”

“Does Mother know?” Draco asked carefully.

“I will tell her.  Get Helios settled in a spare bedroom.”  Draco opened his mouth, seemingly to object, but Lucius gave him another look.

Draco, as it turned out, didn’t listen.

He had the house elf bring Helios’s trunk to his room and Helios got changed into his Quidditch jersey and sleeping pants before getting into bed.

“Was it horrible?” Draco asked, taking Helios’s hand and kissing the back of it.

“They came with a warrant.”

“Who was it?”

“Who was what?  I don’t know the auror’s name.”

“Not that,” Draco insisted, crawling into bed and snuggling close.  “I meant, who betrayed you?  Do you know?”

“Nymphadora who had access to my memories?  Uncle Sirius?  Someone at St. Mungo’s?  It could have been anyone.  Now that it’s out—it’s out.”

“But your father could be anyone.”

That was the problem, it couldn’t be just anyone.  It was Uncle Lucius, and the Aurors knew that.  They had accused Andromeda not only of line theft, but of incest.  Helios shifted uncomfortably.

“They have an idea,” Draco realized as he shifted closer.  “Is it really horrible?”

“Anyone would be horrible,” Helios told him.  “Even if it’s Theocritus, he was married to his wife when I was born.”

“Was he though?” Draco asked, shifting closer.  “His wife died in childbirth and Theo was born in early September.  You were conceived in October.  Andromeda was married but he wasn’t.  There was no line theft, not really.  Would he really be all that bad?”

An idea began to form in the back of Helios’s mind.  “No,” he murmured.  “No, perhaps not.”

Could he tell the Aurors that Theocritus was his father?  Would Theocritus go along with that?  Would Lucius stand by and let another wizard take credit for his son?

It was certainly an interesting possibility.

Draco slung an arm around Helios’s waist and pulled him closer, kissing his clothed shoulder.  “You’re safe here, now.  There’s nothing you can do.”

“No, no I don’t suppose there is,” Helios agreed, still thinking, barely aware that Draco was snuggling closer.

“Did you take your potion?”

“Before I went to bed,” Helios promised absent-mindedly.

“Good,” Draco murmured, his nose in the crick of Helios’s neck.

Helios’s eyes were wide awake, staring in the dark.  He wasn’t sure he slept at all that night.  His mind just kept on going in circles.  Could Dora have seen it in his mind when she was obliviating him or was it someone at St. Mungo’s who had taken an oath to ‘Do No Harm’?

At some point he felt Draco shift in the night and Helios got up.  He went to his trunk and took out his parchment and lit a candle.  Sucking the tip of a quill he put pen to parchment and wrote a note to Theocritus.  If you don’t want Andromeda going to prison, he wrote, you will rightfully claim me as your third son—which we both know to be true.  It was an outright lie, but Helios had to doublespeak in case the letter was intercepted.

Hedwig was sleeping in her cage, her head under her wing, but Helios opened her cage and gently woke her up, stroking her feathers.  He sent the letter well before sunup—Helios’s Awakening.

Going back to the bed, Helios snuggled down into the covers, but he still didn’t sleep.  His eyes remained open, the shadows playing against the wall, haunting him.

When a house elf came to draw the curtains the next morning, Helios felt like the hours at had drifted by in barely a moment.  He turned in Draco’s arms and reached up to trace the sharp point of Draco’s cheekbones.  Helios still found it strange to think they had the same father.  They barely looked like each other.  They were both tall, they both had the blue-grey eyes of the Blacks, but apart from that they were completely dissimilar.  Draco had platinum blond hair that was straight.  Helios’s hair was a mass of black curls.  Draco’s features were pointed and aristocratic.  While Helios had a patrician nose and high cheekbones, his features could hardly be any more dissimilar than Draco’s.  They were both lean as Quidditch players, but they were built completely differently.  Draco had longer arms, longer fingers—elegant.  Helios looked good in the latest fashions but he was slightly more proportional.

Helios absently wondered if Andromeda had taken a potion to make Helios look the quintessential Black.  He wouldn’t put it past her.  She had, after all, taken Wudud to seduce her sister’s husband, even though Helios now believed without a doubt that she loved him—and he even was beginning to wonder if Lucius loved her in return.

Draco shifted in his arms and slowly opened his eyes.  He blinked once and then smiled slowly.  “It wasn’t a dream.”

“No,” Helios agreed.  “I’m here.”  He restrained from reaching out and kissing Draco.  He knew it was too soon.  He was still taking the antidote.

Draco reached up and brushed the back of his fingers against Helios’s face.  “We better get up before Mother finds you.”

Helios grimaced.  “That’s probably best.”

Helios was sluggish from lack of sleep, but he enjoyed watching Draco take off his sleep pants suggestively, and he loved wrapping Draco in his robes even more, letting his fingers skate over exposed skin before covering it up again.

They couldn’t be brothers, even if Uncle Lucius was his father.  There must be some mistake.  A love like this didn’t come around every day, Helios was certain.

They chased each other down to the breakfast nook where Aunt Narcissa was waiting for them patiently.  She was clearly displeased to see Helios, but she at least didn’t reproach him. 

The boys were wrapped up in a motor and their trunks loaded in the back and they were driven to Platform 9¾ with the fresh air in their faces.  The motor was like something out of an old book.  It had doors but no roof or windows and they were exposed to the elements.  It fortunately wasn’t snowing.  Draco snuck his hand into Helios’s under the fur where no one could see them, though Helios was certain Aunt Narcissa at least suspected them.

The Aurors were waiting for Helios on the platform. 

Uncle Lucius placed his hand comfortingly on Helios’s shoulder.  “This is really too much.  He’s going back to school.”

“He’s a material witness to a crime,” the auror with a braid that Helios had seen interviewing Hermione told him, handing over a red parchment with white writing.  “We really must take him in.”

Lucius took the parchment and read it.  “It doesn’t name the complainant.”

“It doesn’t have to.  Under Article 5b dash 627—”

“Yes, yes,” Lucius agreed testily, folding up the parchment and handing it back.  “We better come with you then.—Narcissa—”  He turned to his wife and shared a look.  “I leave Draco in your capable hands.”

His touch never left Helios’s shoulder.

Helios looked into Draco’s blue-grey gaze, begging him to say something, but at that point Narcissa came up behind Draco and placed her hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

“Come, Draco.  Time to get on the train.  Let the Aurors do their work.  Helios will come along later.”

Draco looked pleadingly at Helios, who shook his head, begging him not to make the situation worse.

“Well, now that’s settled,” the Auror said.  “Helios Black, if you will come with us.”

Lucius pressed down on Helios’s shoulder and Helios followed the Auror toward the floo and watched as his trunk and owl cage (Hedwig having not returned from delivering her letter) followed Draco onto the train.  They waited for a family to come through before the three of them—the auror, Uncle Lucius, and Helios—went through the floo to the Ministry of Magic.

It was just as Helios remembered. 

He was led through weighing his wand and then led to the Auror Department.  He learned the Auror’s name was Aldopha Urquhart whose partner was an Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, whom Helios recognized from his earlier visit to the Ministry of Magic.

“We need to interview Mr. Black alone,” Urquhart apologized to Uncle Lucius.  “You are the victim of the crime of incest and line theft.  You will be interviewed separately.  Mr. Black is a witness and the product of the crime.”

Lucius looked offended.  “I ask again—who is the complainant?  Otherwise, such insinuations are baseless.”

They were being led toward the hall of one way mirrors, which Helios recognized only too well. 

“I will remind you,” Auror Shacklebolt put in, his voice deep, “under Article 5b dash 627—”

“Yes, yes,” Uncle Lucius agreed for form.

Helios was led behind a mirror and asked to sit facing it.  Urquhart and Shacklebolt sat facing him.  Uncle Lucius was left on the other side, allowed to observe as his guardian. 

“Good, now that we’re alone,” Auror Urquhart began, pushing her braid behind her shoulder.

Helios had to fight not to roll his eyes.  He knew it wasn’t dignified.  His mother would be displeased with him for showing disdain, especially to someone in authority.

“We understand you are taking an antidote to Wudud, a Middle Eastern potion of infatuation,” Shacklebolt opened with, shuffling his papers.

“Wudud,” Helios told him, “is Arabic for ‘affection.’  It is incorrect to translate the word as ‘infatuation.’  It’s a common mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.”  Helios, since he had come back from St. Mungo’s, had scoured the Black library for any and all information on Wudud and love potions in general. 

“Wudud is in your blood,” Shacklebolt clarified, his dark eyes catching Helios’s.

“Yes,” Helios answered after a long pause.  “I was conceived while my father was,” he paused, “dosed,” he paused again, “on Wudud.  It’s been in my bloodstream ever since.”

“So you can confirm that your mother committed line theft during your conception.”

Helios blinked.  That was the obvious conclusion.  He had thought of that.  “How do you know my father didn’t take it willingly?  Maybe it was a—sex game?  Wudud enhances sex—especially for the wizard.”  He did everything he could not to blush.  He looked directly into Shacklebolt’s eyes and dared him to look away first.

Unfortunately, Shacklebolt didn’t scare so easily.

Perhaps Helios should have tried to stare down Urquhart.

“Is that what your mother did?”

Helios shrugged.  “You’ll have to ask her.”

“But you deny that it was line theft.”

“I deny that it was line theft,” Helios agreed firmly.  “I am not the product of line theft.  I have every confidence that my father has been aware of me since my conception—or shortly thereafter.”

“Who is your father?”

This was Urquhart.

“That is none of your business.  My parents are unwed.  It is anathema to speak of such things.”  Helios fixed his cuffs to have something to do.  It was a bit of a nervous habit now that he had clothes that fit him. 

“Are you saying you don’t know?”

Helios’s eyes flashed blue.  “Don’t be ridiculous.  I’m saying that we do not speak on it.”  He looked past the Aurors’s shoulders to the mirror and saw only his own reflection. He wondered if Madam Bones was standing with Uncle Lucius or if he had been taken away for questioning. 

“We have reason to believe your sire is Lucius Malfoy.”

Helios scoffed.

“He is your legal guardian.”

“He is my closest male relative in the female line, and my Uncle Regulus until this July was a suspected Death Eater and could not serve as my guardian.  My Uncle Sirius is a suspected Death Eater and is on the run.  Uncle Lucius is the obvious choice.”

Auror Shacklebolt was shifting through his parchments again.  Auror Urquhart must be the junior partner.  She was taking a backseat to the interview and was simply observing Helios. 

“He pays for your mother’s apartment—”

“She is his wife’s sister,” Helios agreed.  “It’s only natural.”

“He pays for your schooling and set up a trust in your name—”

“He is my guardian,” Helios explained.

“Why don’t you live with him then?” Auror Shacklebolt asked.  “If your mother is under his protection, is his sister-in-law, and you’re his ward, why are you not living with him?  Why do you have your own separate establishment?  Why is he keeping you separate—as if your mother is his mistress?”

“You suggested my mother raped him—ergo she can’t be his mistress,” Helios told him calmly.  “Uncle Regulus offered Aunt Andromeda Grimmauld Place.  As I am the Black heir it was thought I should live at the Black establishment.  I am not, after all, a Malfoy.”

A vein throbbed in Shacklebolt’s temple.

Helios was glad to see that he had annoyed the wizard.

“Perhaps Uncle Regulus is my father.”

The vein throbbed again.

Helios sat back and drummed the fingers of his left hand against the table, looking between Shacklebolt and Urquhart.

“Let me get this right,” Shacklebolt clarified, “you contend that the Wudud your parents used to conceive you was not line theft, but a sex game.”

“Potentially,” Helios agreed.  “I don’t find it necessary in my life, but I’m only fifteen.”  He forced himself not to roll his eyes again.  “I just take an antidote for Wudud so that in three months I can kiss my boyfriend again.”  He opened his hands wide as if to say, what more do you want from me?

“And while you do know who your father is, you will not confirm that it was Lucius Malfoy, and contend that you are not the product of incest, making Lucius Malfoy an impossibility for your father.”

“Yes.”

“Will you give you memories to prove this?”

“No.”  Helios stared into Shacklebolt’s dark eyes again.  “I’m pretty sure you need a warrant for that, and I’m almost positive you can’t get a warrant for a crime other than murder that is more than ten years ago.”

The vein in Shacklebolt’s temple throbbed a third time.  “Fifteen years,” he qualified.

“Well, I was conceived sixteen years ago,” Helios argued.

Shacklebolt and Urquhart shared a look.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“We will still be removing you from your mother’s custody on suspicion of child endangerment.”

Helios couldn’t help but grimace.  “I’ll be seventeen in a year and a half.  I can exchange letters with her until then.”

“If that’s how you feel,” Shacklebolt decided.  He collected all his papers and stood.  “Someone will be in here to have you sign a statement and then you will be free to go.”

Urquhart stayed in her seat.

Shacklebolt left and the lights dimmed. 

They sat in silence for several long minutes.  Finally, Helios asked, “Is Lavinia Urquhart a sister of yours?”

“Second cousin.”

“She’s in Slytherin.”

Urquhart didn’t really seem to care.  Helios guessed the cousins weren’t really that close.  Lavinia was a year ahead of him and Draco in Slytherin.  There was also an Urquhart a couple of years behind him in Hufflepuff, not that he was going to bring it up, given the reception he had already received. 

He’d have to bring it up to Lavinia Urquhart and see what the story was, if he ever got out of here before the Opening Feast.

A pretty witch with blonde curls came in with several pieces of parchment and placed them in front of Helios.

“If you could read through these, Mr. Black, and make sure that all the statements are factually correct.”  She cleared her throat.  Helios noticed she was wearing lavender perfume and was blushing slightly.  “I’ll just wait for your signature.”

Helios looked at her through the corner of his eye and took the parchments and found the entirety of the conversation with Auror Shacklebolt written out.  He carefully checked it and then accepted a quill and signed his name.

“Because you’re under seventeen, you can’t use a blood quill, but this will be just as good for now,” the pretty witch told him.

Helios didn’t like the sound of a ‘blood quill’ but signed his name, almost signing ‘Harry Potter,’ but catching himself at the last moment.  He handed the parchments over and stood.  The pretty witch collected the parchments and Urquhart stood and led him back out where she took him out to the main level where he was told to wait.

Lucius didn’t come for him for another hour and a half.

“Were they asking you questions, too?” Helios asked carefully, noticing a bandage on the back of Uncle Lucius’s left hand.

“Yes,” he agreed a little testily.  “When I wouldn’t answer, they just kept on asking.  I hope it wasn’t too trying for you.”

“No,” he assured his uncle.  “They couldn’t prove anything.”

“No, they can’t prove anything,” Lucius agreed, placing his hand on Helios’s shoulder.  “Andromeda has lost all custody of you.  You’ll be moving into the Manor much to your aunt’s displeasure.  I am sorry for it.”

“I don’t mind,” Helios promised.  “I can still write Mother?”

Lucius’s face softened ever so slightly.  “You may always write Andromeda.  She is your mother.  You simply are not allowed to see her until your seventeenth birthday.”  He sounded annoyed again.  “They are archaic laws.—Now, let’s get you to Scotland.”

They took the floo out to Hogwarts, specifically to Professor Snape’s office, which had nearly as many books in it as Spinner’s End. 

“What’s all this I hear from Narcissa?”

“Someone has made allegations against Madam Tonks regarding Helios’s conception.  The statute of limitations has run out, however, so without any real evidence, they can do nothing other than make themselves vexing.”

“Hmm,” Snape hummed.  He looked over Helios.

“I read your medical report.  It certainly explains a few things.”

“Pardon, sir?” Helios asked.

“Miss Granger’s infatuation with you now that you’re coming into sexual maturation.  Miss Weasley.  Miss Vane, to name a few in Gryffindor.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I could name a few in Slytherin and Ravenclaw.  Mr. Malfoy is not alone in his affections, though he was perhaps the first to notice your charms.”  His face was stern.  “You certainly have the Black good looks.”

Lucius was looking Helios over speculatively.  “I had no idea Helios had so many admirers.”

“I have given out many detentions for doodles in the sides of essays,” Snape confirmed.  “It is most—interesting.”

Helios blinked.

“Well,” Snape decided.  “You better be off to the dormitory or the library before dinner.  I won’t have you dawdling.  You’ll just have to change after your trunk arrives.  Most unfortunate.  I need to speak to your uncle.”

Helios nodded. 

Lucius turned to him and placed a warm hand on his shoulder.  “I shall write.”  Helios knew that was the closest he would receive to affection from the man that was his father.  He knew it would be well over a year before he would see his mother.

“Has Andromeda been released from the DMLE?”

“I saw to it before I picked you up,” Lucius assured him.  “Perhaps you should go write to her.  I’m sure your clever owl is about.”

Not saying anything else, Helios made his way to the Slytherin dormitory to see if he had left any monogrammed stationary there.  After writing to his mother (and going to the owlery since Hedwig had only just arrived from a long flight), the carriages were arriving, and he made his way to the Great Hall where he found Draco, Blaise, and Theo.  He caught a glimpse of Lavinia Urquhart and made a mental note to find her later to speak about the mutual acquaintance of her cousin.

Draco immediately grabbed him round the neck and pulled him into a one-armed hug.  “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again,” he breathed into his curly hair.  “What did they do?”

“Asked stupid questions.  Uncle Lucius promised he saw to it that Mother was released, but she’s lost full custody of me.”

“Stupid people,” Draco agreed.  “Can’t do anything right.  Do we know who it was?”

“St. Mungo’s, it sounded like,” Helios shared as food appeared before them on the table and he reached out to serve himself steak pie.  “I’m sure, if they questioned Dora, she didn’t help.”  He grimaced.  “It sounded like Mungo’s knew all about the Wudud and that was their angle.  Some healer reported to them.  That’s the last time I go to them for help.”

Draco shivered.  He reached out and grabbed the pumpkin juice and poured them each a glass. 

“What’s all this about?” Theo asked, looking between the cousins.

Helios looked at him speculatively.  What were the chances Theocritus would actually claim him as his son?  Would it change the custody arrangement at all?  What were the chances Andromeda could talk Theocritus into it?

“The Ministry is prying into private matters.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they started asking your father questions next.”

Draco looked over at him speculatively.

Theo didn’t look remotely surprised.  “The wedding is at Easter,” he told the table, “it was decided the day before last.”

Andromeda hadn’t told Helios yet, but there hadn’t been time.  He wasn’t in the least surprised.  He had until then to convince Theocritus to claim him, otherwise he’d have to change direction and perhaps even convince his mother that she should cancel the engagement.  However, the wedding would also solve the problem of Theodred.  If they were brothers, they could never be lovers.  It would legally be incest.

He wondered if the custody arrangement would prevent him from attending the wedding.  He had to keep himself from grimacing.

He thought of Draco.  They were brothers—no.  No, they were not.  Not in any way that mattered.

No, they were more than that.  They were two stars in the sky that shined brilliantly.