magnolia09

The Dark Lord’s Daughter

Part the Ninth

The papers were full of it.  Harry felt inundated.  Within a day, owls were arriving from allies in Slytherin and Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff offering their support.  The Death Eaters were watchful of him and Harry was overly aware of his change of circumstances.

Lord Malfoy came the third day and took Harry aside.  He was cool and calm as always, a walking stick in his hand.  “Nephew,” he said, “the Ministry wishes to interview you.  It’s best to let them.  They have agreed that you need not surrender to them at this point.”

Harry looked up from the book on water magic he was reading.  “How did you manage that?”

“It was my condition for producing you.  I am your mother’s advocate and therefore your guardian in your mother’s absence.”

Harry breathed out through his teeth.  “I don’t like it.”

“No,” Lord Malfoy agreed.  “But we need to be seen as cooperating.”

Harry set aside the book and drummed his fingers along the arm of the divan.  “Can’t I just stay here?”

Lord Malfoy paused and took a seat across from him.  “If you stay here, Harrogate, you’ll never leave here.  You’ll be as trapped as Lady Maia.”

As much as Harry loved his mother, he didn’t want to be stuck at Riddle House for the rest of his life.  Nodding, he murmured, “I’ll just find Magnolia.”

Magnolia was in the back garden on a picnic blanket, lazily dozing in the sunlight.  Harry crawled down beside her in order to gain her attention.  “I’m sleeping,” she complained.

“I need to leave with Uncle Lucius.  The Ministry wants me for questioning.  I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Her eyes popped open and she sat up.  “But you will come home.”

“Uncle Lucius says so,” Harry promised, taking her hand in his.  “I’ll try to be home for dinner.”

She sighed and looked over his shoulder.  “If you must, you must,” she finally gave in.  Her ocean blue eyes looked at him imploringly.  “I trust Uncle Lucius.  You’ll be safe with him.”

Harry hummed in the back of his throat. 

Magnolia walked him back to the floo, where Lord Malfoy was waiting for him.  “Where are you going?” she asked.

“The Ministry for Magic,” Lord Malfoy told his niece.  “The Auror Department, more specifically.  It’s better we surrender for questioning than have them try to resort to a raid of Little Hangleton.”  The idea clearly didn’t amuse him. 

Magnolia’s lips thinned.  “Watch them try.  They’ve yet to succeed.”

“Harrogate has to leave sometime,” Lord Malfoy reminded her.  “He cannot stay here forever.  He has his studies to consider—as do you.”

Harry breathed out through his nose and halted the conversation by pressing his cheek against Magnolia’s in a sign of farewell.  “I’ll be home soon,” he promised, realizing that Godric’s Hollow was no longer home.  “Uncle Lucius will see to it.”

He was the first to enter the floo, falling down into the green flames and then walking out on the other side.  He’d been to the Ministry before, but he hadn’t been expecting everyone to go silent at the sight of him.  Lord Malfoy soon appeared behind him, and pressed a hand to his back, moving him forward so their wands could be weighed.

The lifts were full of wizards and witches, all packed together and none of them speaking, little paper aeroplanes buzzing above their heads.

Harry had, of course, been to the Auror Department before given the fact that his dad was, in fact, an auror.  However, he’d never been a suspect before.  He’d never been taken to an interrogation room.  He’d never had his wand confiscated.

“Hi, Kingsley,” Harry greeted when Kingsley Shacklebolt came into the room holding a stack of files.  “Is it you then that gets to question me?”

“Yes,” Kingsley agreed, taking a seat across from him.  “This is a bad business, Harry.”

“A bad business for Jonathan Potter, you mean,” Lord Malfoy corrected.  “He threatened to rape my niece, Lady Magnolia Riddle, in front of five witnesses.”

Kingsley paused.  Then, diplomatically, he asked, “Why don’t you tell us what happened, Harry?”

Harry gave a detailed statement and then, to everyone’s surprise, offered a copy of his memories.  “You don’t believe me about the rape.  I’ll offer you the memory so you can see exactly what he said so there’s no ambiguity.  He threatened to cut off my intended’s middle finger and rape her once she no longer wore a vined ring.”  His ocean blue eyes flashed. 

Kingsley hesitated.

“Are you really going to deny memory evidence?” Lord Malfoy asked sternly, his ice blue eyes flashing.  “You will deny my nephew basic due process?”

“No,” Kingsley said carefully.  “One moment.”  He left and was gone for almost half an hour.

“What story were they spinning?” Harry asked Lord Malfoy.  “What were they saying about me?”

“Something to make themselves look the victims,” Lord Malfoy posited darkly.  “I don’t doubt Lily Potter has something to do with this.  We should get to your little Gryffindor to back up your story.”

“Magnolia already wrote to her.  We threatened to release Ginny from the ‘spell’ we put her under if she didn’t support my claims.”

It was then that Kingsley Shacklebolt came in with a bowl with runes on it and was followed by a stern looking witch who looked like she had a headache.

“Madam Bones,” Lord Malfoy greeted, standing and offering her a hand.  “Thank you for taking this seriously.”

“Your Mr. Potter’s version of events match another witness’s.  I’m here to verify the memory.  If what Mr. Potter says is true, then we will dismiss all charges.—Well, young man.  Do you know how to remove a memory?”

“Yes,” Harry said carefully, putting Lord Malfoy’s wand up to his temple and thinking of coming down the stairs of the Cottage at Godric’s Hollow all the way until he and Magnolia ran out the back door.  He took the wand and placed the tip into the bowl and a silvery substance liquidated into the bottom.

Kingsley Shacklebolt put his head into the bowl and, a moment later, so did Madam Bones.  Lord Malfoy did as well.  Harry was the only one left sitting at the interrogation table.

It was interesting to watch the shadow of a memory play out on their faces, but then they were pulling away and Madam Bones was replicating the memory and putting it in a vial.

“You can take the memory back,” she informed Harry.  It turned out returning a memory was like shoving a memory into his temple, but Harry would never give up his memories permanently for the world.  He must have had a look on his face because Lord Malfoy put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

Madam Bones placed the tip of her wand up to her mouth in order to give dictation.  “As to this matter, I formally drop all charges against Harrogate Gaunt Potter in the case # 45D67 of assault and attempted murder of Jonathan Evans Potter.  I open case #45D82 against Jonathan Potter in the attempted rape of Magnolia Riddle.  So end the proceedings.”  She swept from the room.

Harry looked at Lord Malfoy.  “I’m free?”

“You’re free,” Lord Malfoy agreed, taking back his wand.  “Your half-brother won’t be best pleased.”

“Jonathan is never best pleased,” Harry answered darkly as he walked out of the room and out of the office, his wand having been given back to him.  He noticed that several Aurors were catching glances of him, and there was some commotion to his left.

Two Aurors were hauling out a pale and sickly looking Jonathan Potter, his messy auburn hair the only splotch of color against his face.  In his neck was a voice box, much like a Muggle would have if he couldn’t speak, and Harry stared at him in shock.

“I’ll get back at you, freak!” Jonathan cried, or rather intoned out of the voice box, his lips unmoving.  “You are a no good nothing like your whore of a mother!”

Harry began to lunge forward, intent on strangling Jonathan, but Lord Malfoy pulled him back, whispering in his ear, “Don’t give him the satisfaction.”

Harry breathed in deeply through his nose and tried to take in steadying breaths.  “He should be so lucky the worst I do is hit his ugly face.”

Lord Malfoy held him steady and they watched as Jonathan was taken away.  The crowd began to thin and Harry became aware that his dad was there in the hallway with them, staring at Harry sadly.

Harry looked at Lord Malfoy, who held out his hand, and they followed James Potter back to his cubicle.

“You didn’t defend us, did you, Dad?” Harry checked.  “I know Granger did because she doesn’t lie, but you defended Jonathan, didn’t you?”

“He’s my son—” James began, but Harry cut him off.

“I’m your son.  I’m your flesh and blood.  I’m the only living son of the woman you love.  Not Jonathan!”

“He never would have—”

“Are you sure?” Harry demanded.  “Are you really sure?”  He looked at his father, who was his exact copy exact for his eyes, and couldn’t believe how different they were from each other.  “Sometimes I wonder if you loved Mother at all.”

“Don’t say that—” James begged, standing from behind his desk.  “I love your mother more than life itself.”

“You just live with another woman and treat her children better than you ever treated me.”

Heavy silence hung between them.  It was, after all, nothing more than the truth.  Ocean blue eyes met a hazel gaze, and Harry realized there was nothing more to be said between father and son.  He sighed.  “What happened to Jonathan’s voice?”

“He’s too sick for the healing magic to take effect.”

It seemed like that ball of yarn was doing its job, then, Harry thought to himself.  Jonathan might be dead before the year was out, but now that he was arrested he might actually get better since he wouldn’t be in proximity to the yarn. 

Lord Malfoy carefully sat forward, “I think I should take Harrogate home.  I promised Magnolia, you understand.  She will be most anxious.”

“Magnolia, of course,” James agreed, staring down at the photographs on his desk.  “I do so look forward to calling her my daughter-in-law.”  The words sounded formal, as if James didn’t really mean them, but Harry accepted them in the spirit in which they were given.

He turned to Lord Malfoy and they quietly left.

The word must have made it throughout the Ministry because whispers followed them all the way to the floo.  Harry remembered to hold his head high. 

Magnolia was overjoyed with the results and, indeed, just as they were finishing dessert she received an owl stating the charges against Jonathan and how she would have to give evidence at trial later that Autumn, which she would gladly do.

Harry was also going to have to be present in order to verify his memory evidence.

If Harry thought this wasn’t going to make The Daily Prophet, he was very much mistaken.  There was another two page spread, one half dedicated to Jonathan and the other dedicated to Harry, the intricacies of the case described along with their profiles.

“Half-blood, attempted rape, Gryffindor, bully, Boy Who Lived,” Magnolia read out when she was looking over Jonathan’s profile.  “Auror, status pending investigation.”  She looked Jonathan’s photograph up and down.  “He looks healthy here.  Oh, look!  They have an insert of James and Lily.”

Harry abandoned his tea to slide closer to Magnolia and look over her shoulder.  There, in the corner, was a photograph of James and Lily Potter on their Muggle wedding day.  “Auror and Mrs. Potter were married in an illegal Muggle ceremony in 1977 following a brief courtship at Hogwarts,” Harry read in disbelief.  “They have one other child, a daughter, Violet Margaret, born August 1980.—Where do they get their information?”

“Where do you think?” Magnolia asked.  “Father has people everywhere, including in The Daily Prophet.—Let’s see what your corresponding information says.”  She flipped the paper over to Harry’s spread where he was standing tall in his wedding single photograph that had been taken the previous January.  “Pureblood, charges of assault and attempted murder immediately dropped upon questioning, Slytherin, descendant of Salazar Slytherin,” she grabbed his hand and interlinked their fingers, “champion of first and second years.”  Her eyes scanned down.  “Ah, here it is!”

She pointed to a small picture in the corner.

Harry picked up the paper and looked at a small picture of his parents clearly having tea at The Wicked Stepmother.  “Auror Potter and Lady Maia Gaunt,” he read, “were believed to have been married in a secret wizarding ceremony, possibly the Rite of the Pomegranate, the Winter of 1979/1980.  They have one son, Harrogate Gaunt Potter, who will take the name ‘Gaunt’ upon his majority.”

Harry set down the paper.  “They couldn’t have.  The ring wouldn’t have reacted so badly if they had been married.”

“If they are believed to have been married,” Magnolia pointed out, “you’re not illegitimate, Harrogate.”

Harry stared down at the paper.  “No, I suppose I’m not.—It makes Violet illegitimate.”

“One of you has to be,” Magnolia coaxed gently.  “You’re born within three weeks of each other.”

Yes, yes, they were, and that had never sat well with Harry.  If his mother, Lady Maia, had been the love of James’s life, what business did he have being with Lily three short weeks after James returned from his failed elopement?

There had, for several years, been a niggling feeling in the back of Harry’s mind.  “Violet is almost an exact copy of Lily.”

“Yes,” Magnolia agreed.  “Except for her hair.  And her green eyes are almost black.”

“What if she was revenge?”

“Who could she possibly be revenge with?” Magnolia questioned carefully, understanding what a delicate conversation they were having. 

“Eileen Snape had strawberry blonde hair.  No one would think it looking at Professor Snape, but even if Violet had been born with black hair, it could have been explained away.—I don’t think her eyes are actually green, no matter what Lily says.”

“Your stepmother and the professor?” Magnolia breathed.

“She was out with him when the Dark Lord came to Godric’s Hollow and Jonathan was left with that scar.”  He shrugged.  “Lily and Snape had a falling out in fifth year.  That’s when Lily started to notice Dad.  Snape wasn’t even at the wedding.  When Dad ran away with Mother, however, Lily started seeing Snape again.  She wanted her ‘friends’ about her.  Who says she didn’t want revenge on Dad?  She’s not wearing a vined ring.  Neither is Snape.  Surely you’ve noticed.”

“Everyone in Slytherin has noticed.”  Magnolia looked down at The Prophet and thought.  “Does he treat Violet any differently?”

“No different than Jonathan,” Harry admitted.  “I’m the one he treats differently.”

“He treats you differently because you’re a Gaunt and he’s known you’re the Dark Lord’s great-nephew from the beginning.—Do you think he knows about Violet?”

“Maybe Lily didn’t tell him?”  And that was certainly a possibility.  Not wanting her child to be treated any differently, Lily would have hidden her in plain sight.  James hadn’t had that option with him.  He couldn’t pass Harry off as Lily’s child—and Harry was glad for that.

“We need a heritage potion.”

“How do we get her to take a heritage potion?” Harry wondered.

“It’s simple,” Magnolia told him, “we cast aspersions on her until she has to take it.”

Harry and Draco had Phrixus side apparate them down to Godric’s Hollow.  Harry knew Violet’s habits, so it was easy enough to find her in the local pub alone with her diary.

“Still afraid Jonathan will read that even though he’s in prison?” Harry asked, sliding in next to her.

His little sister looked up with black eyes and stared at him in horror.  Yes, now Harry thought about it, it was quite obvious that Violet was Snape’s daughter.  The eyes were quite telling.  They were never dark green at all.

“Have you ever thought about it?”

“What?” she asked, full of bravado she clearly didn’t feel.

“Well,” Draco said as he slid into the booth across from them.  “Jonathan has James Potter’s eyes.  Harrogate here as the Gaunt eyes like his mother.  You—you have your father’s eyes.”

She started.

“It’s so obvious,” Harry agreed, looking over at Draco.  “We see those eyes every day in Slytherin House.  I can’t believe we didn’t put wand and potion together sooner.”

“We took Lily Potter at her word,” Draco parried back.  “She said Violet was a Potter, so we believed that Violet was a Potter.—Violet’s not a Potter name.  It’s not a name of—”

“No,” Harry agreed, shaking his head.  “All figures in Greek history with the occasional Roman thrown in.  Violet is not a figure in Greek history.”

Violet slammed her hand down on the table.  “What are you talking about?” she demanded, looking between Harry and Draco.

“Oh,” Draco greeted, as if he had just noticed her being there.  “The Princes.  They tend to give their children names from Greek mythology.”

“Of course, he’s not strictly a Prince,” Harry noted.  “His mother was a Prince.”

“Eileen Prince, yes,” Draco agreed.  He turned his ice blue eyes on Violet.  “What would he have named you?”

“Antigone?”  Harry suggested.  “The incestuous daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta?—maybe not, come to think of it.”

“Lysithea, lover of Zeus and a small moon of Jupiter?—a celestial object is certainly something to be proud of.”

“Megaera?” Draco posited.  “One of the Furies.  As ill-tempered as the Princes can be, but nonetheless regal.”

Harry laughed.  “That’s mean!  Violet is anything but shrewish.”

“Who knew when she was a baby?”

“Pandora?  No explanation needed there.”

“Niobe who turned to stone?”

“Urania, the goddess of astronomy and astrology?”

“Thisbe, the original prototype for Romeo and Juliet?”

“Okay!”  Violet held out her hands and made a silencing motion.  “Whose mother is a Prince?”

Harry and Draco shared a look.  “Goodbye, little sister!” he said, getting up.

She looked at him incredulously. 

“We really should be going.”

“You can’t just—”

“Can’t we?” Draco asked, looking down his nose at her. 

Harry looked up and down the row and saw Marcus Flint was having a pint at the bar.  He wondered if he had much to do now that Jonathan was in custody.

Of course, Violet wouldn’t let it lie.  She sent Harry an owl demanding to know what he and Draco had been talking about.  Harry showed the owl to Magnolia who was more than pleased.  “Invite her to Malfoy Manor.  We’ll do the potion there.”

“What will it serve Severus Snape if he has a half-blood daughter?” Harry questioned her.

“It will not serve him,” Magnolia agreed.  “But it will serve your mother and father.  Right now the shade of Violet exists between them.  She is an impediment to their relationship.  Jonathan always will be, but Violet can help weaken the relationship between Lily and James even more.”

Harry sighed.

The blood magic was set for the last days of hols.

Draco’s Uncle Roman was drafted into helping them as he actually had experience with blood magic.  Magnolia had read several books, but she hadn’t actually practiced it.  To be honest, it made Harry a bit nervous.

Violet looked out of place at Malfoy Manor in her jeans and t-shirt, but at least her hair was pulled out of the way in a high ponytail.  Roman had borrowed a bowl from the kitchen along with a knife and he cut the inside of Violet’s elbow before letting her blood pool in the bowl.  When a good amount had filled the bottom, Roman healed her with magic, he put out a piece of heritage parchment and told her to roll her wand in the blood and then evenly over the parchment.

Strangely, when he spoke to Violet he was mainly looking at Harry.

“That’s barbaric.  I’m not even sure I believe any of this,” Violet complained.

“You want to know, don’t you?” Harry asked.  “Lily always said your eyes were dark green, but we both know that’s not true.”

“No,” she agreed.  “It’s not true.”  Violet carefully dipped her wand in her own blood and began to roll it on the heritage parchment. 

It took an age as it was slow going but when the parchment was almost completely covered, Roman tapped it with his wand and the blood coalesced into letters and words.

Violet gasped and immediately Harry was running up behind her.

Violet’s name was at the bottom.  “Violet Margaret.”

A line ran up from her name.  It broke off to the right, reading, “Lily June Evans.”  To the left it read “Severus Tobias Snape.”  Above Snape’s name it ran up to two names, “Tobias Snape” and “Eileen Prince.”  Lily’s parents were listed as a “Rose Helen Smythe” and “Stephen Evans.” 

“Well, that proves that,” Harry murmured into Violet’s ear.  “We’re not related.”

Silent tears were running down Violet’s face and she was curling in on herself, but Harry turned her around and pulled her against him.  For nearly sixteen years she had been his little sister, and she was in pain.  She had been lied to and her entire world was falling apart.  Compassion was not a weakness.

The parchment was being pulled away and Harry was vaguely aware of Roman tying it to an owl’s leg.  It must be going to Snape, if it were going anywhere.  It would be too cynical for it to go directly to The Daily Prophet.  He looked over to Roman, his ocean blue eyes strangely connecting to a curious violet gaze.

When a house elf claimed them for dinner, Violet was still crying on his shoulder, and Harry honestly didn’t know what to do. 

Roman made a motion to him and was gone a few minutes before Lady Malfoy appeared with a Calming Potion. 

“There, dear,” she soothed Violet.  “You are most welcome here.  Severus is a dear friend.”  Lady Malfoy soothed the loose strands of hair away from Violet’s face.  “All will be well.  I’ve sent Severus an owl so he should be here soon, but let’s get some soup into you.”

Harry breathed out of his nose and followed the women into the dining room, where he gladly took a seat near Draco.  They shared a look but they were soon chattering.  Violet sat in her chair quietly, eating little food, but looking about her with wide dark eyes. 

Near the dessert course, a house elf came and spoke to Lord Malfoy who got up from the table, calling Harry with him.

They went to Lord Malfoy’s study where a distressed looking Severus Snape was waiting.  “How did this happen?” he asked in confusion. 

“I’m not entirely certain,” Lord Malfoy told him, pouring a glass of firewhiskey.  “Harrogate?  How did this happen?”

“It looked better if Violet was illegitimate if the rumors of my parents were to be believed—” He explained carefully.  Both men looked at him in confusion.  “It looks even better if she’s not my father’s child.  You have to admit, her eyes are black, not dark green.”

“Yes, I had noticed,” Snape agreed, looking down at the heritage parchment.  “So, in your Slytherin way, you goaded her into this, and proved that your father was never untrue to Lady Maia Gaunt.”

“Yes,” Harry agreed.

“Violet is very confused at the moment,” Lord Malfoy told him.  “She’s a little out to sea.”

“Of course she is,” Snape agreed.  “She just learnt her mother has been having an affair since before she was born.”

Harry looked up in shock.  “It’s still going on?”

“Don’t be a fool, Potter.  It doesn’t suit you.”

Harry glared at him.  “Forgive me for thinking the adults around me acted with honor.  The more I learn of my family, the more I don’t understand James and Lily’s marriage.”

“Neither do I,” Snape agreed, his black eyes flashing.—“I did not know that Violet was mine.  Lily swore to me she wasn’t.”

“You didn’t name her, then,” Lord Malfoy checked.

“Of course not,” Snape sneered.  “Violet?  Can you imagine anything more unoriginal?”  He scoffed.  “I should like to see her and I should like to take her home with me.”

Lord Malfoy paused and nodded.  He called a house elf and all three of them waited.  Violet was produced and she was a bundle of nerves.

“Violet,” Snape greeted.  “Today has been a day of revelations for both of us.” 

“You didn’t know?” she asked, her voice small.

“No,” he told her outright.  “Your mother never told me.  She lied and said you belonged to James Potter and I didn’t think to question her, even after you were born with strawberry blonde hair and dark eyes.—I—Those were different times.”

“Dad had Harry.  Mum had me.”  She took a deep breath.  “What’s going to happen to my name?”

“That’s going to be discussed,” Snape told her carefully.  “You are going to be consulted on every major decision that has to do with your life.”

Harry glanced at Snape.  He didn’t believe this for a second.  Lily, by keeping Violet a secret, was guilty of line theft.  Furthermore, by giving Violet her husband’s name, she was further guilty of magical conspiracy and child kidnapping. 

What would Jonathan say when he heard of all this?

What would Magnolia say?