Indago:3

Chapter Eleven

Now…


“But Dad! We’re going to be such fops!”

“What the hell does that mean?” Draco asked, looking up from his paperwork.

“Bran means that our entry into the Hogwarts’ social stratum will be problematic due to Dad being there,” Azeas explained from his corner with his nose in a book.

“Ah.” Draco went back to his paperwork.

“Bran, it’s not as if I’ll be following you around and wiping your chin,” Harry said. “And it’s only for half the year. Hagrid will be back from his recuperation and I’ll come back home.”

“Now, what happened again?” Draco asked as he lowered his reading glasses.

Harry sighed. “He was in the pen when a male Terrisaur caught sight of a female and attacked Hagrid, thinking he was competition.”

“Do I want to know what a Terrisaur is?”

Harry smiled at his husband. “Probably not. Just know that it is a half-head taller than Hagrid and they were thankfully able to remove its spines from Hagrid’s neck and back. But it will take a while for the poison to work its way through his system so he can stand up without falling down.”

“And this was while he was on holiday, correct?” Draco clarified. “They do not have these creatures in residence at the school?”

“No, they don’t. He was on holiday,” Harry answered calmly. He’d already gone over this with Draco but it wasn’t strange that Draco wasn’t actually listening if he was working. Harry had long ago gotten used to the pattern of retelling and re-answering a second time.

“You know, Bran, you have it easy!” Maia grumbled from her place on the settee where she was playing a game of cards and stones by herself. “You don’t even have Care of Magical Creatures. You won’t even see Dad except at meals and things. I have to go to class with him as my teacher!”

Harry chuckled. “Don’t worry, Maia. I won’t embarrass you. I’ll only hug you. No kisses.”

Maia tightened her lips and went back to her game.

“But, Dad! I’ll still have my Dad at school! People will think I’m a complete infant!” Bran complained as he stomped around in their sitting room.

“Ah. Done,” Draco suddenly declared as he shut his ledger and stacked his papers. “I’m all yours, love. Did I show you the little cottage I rented us in Hogsmeade? Small, but it should be cosy without the children in it with us.”

Maia and Bran both stared at him in horror. Harry was nearly unable to hold his laughter in at their faces.

“Father… please say that you aren’t…”

“You can’t mean…”

Draco grinned at his terror-stricken children. “You didn’t think I’d actually rattle around in this house by my lonesome, did you? When have I ever let your dad sleep away from me for longer than a few nights?”

“No!” Maia and Bran gasped.

“Yes,” Draco answered.

“This isn’t fair! I was supposed to finally be away from home!” Bran moaned.

“This is my last year! I wanted it to be spectacular!” Maia objected.

“This will be great!” Harry said happily. “I get to see my sons’ first year in school and my daughter’s last.”

Bran and Maia groaned in horror, Azeas turned the page in his book, and Draco and Harry grinned at each other in happy parental glee over their children’s discomfort.



“Hello, Maia!”

“Hi, Maia!”

“Welcome back, Maia!”

“Maia! Slytherin rules!”

Maia waved back and smiled at all the other students filing into the Great Hall. She and her closest friends made their way to the Slytherin table and sat down to wait for the Sorting ceremony and the feast.

“Circe! Can you believe she actually coloured her hair like that?” Maizy whispered while pointing at a Hufflepuff who had matched her hair colour to her eye colour, which happened to be blue.

Maia looked over and then smiled slightly. “It’s a pretty shade. But it doesn’t really match her skin tone, does it?”

“Maia? May I have your picture for the school paper?”

Maia looked over at a redheaded girl holding a camera. “We have a paper?” she asked with a delicate frown.

“Um, yeah. This year we, my friends and I, got permission to create one. Professor McGonagall is supervising us.” The girl smiled and raised her camera a bit. “May we have your picture? I think we also would like an interview if that’s all right?”

“Oh, that is very nice of you. Yes, that would be all right.” Maia smiled her Perfect Smile, as her dad called it. “Where would you like to take my picture?”

“Oh, um, if you could just sit there, that would be all right.” The girl raised the camera to her face as Maia quickly primped and posed. A flash and the girl gave her thanks and ran back to her other newspaper friends.

“There’s another, Maia,” Siebel said as Maia turned back around. “I think everyone broke open their piggy banks to buy that barrette you wore last year.” A Ravenclaw sixth year walked past on her way to her table wearing the pretty diamond dragon barrette.

“That’s a knock off,” Maia replied. “But still pretty.”

“Don’t you get tired of people copying what you wear and what you say? They are such sheep!” Maizy said, all the while forgetting the earrings she wore, which were exactly the same ones Maia wore on the first day of school the previous year.

“Not at all. I set an excellent example,” Maia answered. “It would be a shame if it weren’t followed.”

“Please be seated.”

Everyone became quiet and still at the Headmaster’s words. Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled as he looked out over the young faces. Maia looked up at the Head Table and saw her dad sitting unobtrusively next to her Sev. The Sorting Ceremony began as the first years were ushered inside. Maia watched her brothers walk down the aisle and wait with the others as names were called. Finally, it was their turn.

“Azeas Malfoy.”

Azeas walked forward and Maia immediately watched the head table. Her dad was smiling and leaning forward in anticipation. Her Sev was very still and his eyes were taking in everything, more so than usual at the Welcoming Feast. As the hat was placed on her brother’s dark head, she could feel the intense anticipation of nearly everyone in the room. It was almost as bad as when she had been up there.

“Ravenclaw!” the hat sung out and the designated house’s table clapped and cheered as Azeas calmly got down from the stool and moved to join his new compatriots. Maia watched her dad clap, and smiled at the satisfied smirk on her Sev’s face. It was the same smirk he had had when she had been sorted into Slytherin. She wondered what her father and grandfather would say to a non-Slytherin Malfoy. She also wondered if Azeas was the first in the family and whether or not her grandfather would blame her dad or not.

“Bran Malfoy.”

Bran walked up and sat down on the stool with a cool smile. He’s trying so hard to be posh, Maia thought in disdain. Grandfather always instructed them that, “You do not act with class, you are class”.

“Gryffindor!”

Maia immediately looked at the head table again at the hat’s pronouncement. Her dad was clapping and laughing while smiling encouragingly at an unsure Bran. Her Sev was smirking again, but this time with a definite evil air about him. She wondered if he would tease her Father about having a Gryffindor son. And again, she wondered if her dad would be blamed by her grandfather.

When all the first years were seated, the headmaster stated, “I would like to welcome all our new students to Hogwarts and issue a warm welcome back to all our fine returning students. Some of you may know, but our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Hagrid, was injured this summer and must take a bit of time to heal. But no worries, for he is on the mend and in good spirits. In the interim, we will have a substitute teacher. Mr. Potter-Malfoy?” Dumbledore turned and gestured toward Harry, who stood, showing himself for the first time, and smiled. “Mr. Harry Potter-Malfoy will be taking over Care of Magical Creatures until the Christmas Holiday.”

The student body was very excited by this news and all began talking and trying to get a better look at the new teacher.

“Oh sweet Venus! Harry Potter is here!”

“I can’t believe I can’t take that class yet!”

“Why doesn’t he do Defence against the Dark Arts? He’d be blindingly good at it!”

Maia kept her calm and seemed to be merely politely interested in the Headmaster’s speech. Her friends, though, were not so graceful.

“Maia! You didn’t say your dad was coming this year!” Maizy exclaimed and seemed to be primping herself.

“Please, Maia, can you get him alone so we can shake his hand?” Seibel asked in a rush. “My brother will be so envious!”

Maia was saved from insulting her friends when the Headmaster spoke again. “Now, we have a few more new faces. There will be three new transfer students joining us this year. I am told that they may be recognized by a few of you.” Dumbledore looked to the side and the anteroom door opened, allowing three figures to emerge. The buzz began in the front of the room and washed towards the back in waves.

“Oh Merlin, is it true?” Siebel asked while straining in her seat to see the as yet unclear people. “Is it really Seanchai?”

“The band?” Maia asked as she also tried to see a bit better.

The three figures moved towards the front and lined up, facing the student body.

“It is! It is Seanchai!” Siebel gasped.

Students were standing by that time while others were kneeling on the benches to get a better look. Maia would not climb the furniture but did stand and push her way to the front of the crowd in the aisle until she could clearly see the three people. She immediately recognized them from various music posters.

Seanchai was an Irish band made up of all family members who played a mixture of traditional and rock music. They were a raucous bunch and their music portrayed it. They had made a great deal of commotion in their world due to being a successful crossover band that had fame in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds.

Maia quickly assessed each band member, trying to figure out whether or not it would look good to make them her friends. As she came to the last person, she nearly gasped when she found the drummer staring right at her. Their eyes locked and Maia felt something strange run right down her spine. Unconsciously, she began biting her lips and straightening her skirt. The drummer’s eyes never left her and a soft quirk to the lips and a wink was the only acknowledgement while Dumbledore introduced and welcomed the newcomers.

The shouting and clapping of the students broke the spell Maia felt she had been put under. She hid her blush and quickly moved back to her friends.

“Back to your seats now,” Dumbledore ordered. The students obeyed, excitement still in the air. “I know it is very exciting to have new students,” he said, deliberately misunderstanding the hubbub. “Now, let’s have them sorted, yes?”

The Sorting Hat was brought out again. The banjo player, Allen O’Neill, was sorted into Gryffindor. Donal O’Neill was sorted into Hufflepuff. Maia held her breath as the drummer went last.

“Kellas O’Neill,” Professor McGonagall called out. The drummer moved forward and put the hat on.

“Gryffindor!” the hat yelled out.

Kellas stood up and smiled. “Well now, I’d have rather been in Slytherin with me love, but I suppose this’ll be fine,” she said in a low voice with a heavy accent. Her blue eyes gazed right into Maia’s and seemed to speak directly to her. Maia blushed and looked away as Dumbledore tried to settle the students down while the question of who the ‘love’ was raced through the hall.

The rest of the feast was a blur for Maia and she was more than relieved to make it into the cool quiet of the Slytherin dungeons.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quiet for long.

“Oh, Merlin!” Siebel exclaimed as she fell on her bed. “Kellas is so hot! I mean, she is just brill, isn’t she? She wears that black dragon-hide jacket everywhere. How do you think she’ll look in our uniform?”

“Donal is better looking!” Maizy sighed. “But a Hufflepuff. I suppose that means he’ll be a loyal boyfriend.”

“I think Kellas just has a thing for Slytherins. She can’t possibly have someone here!” Siebel sat up with a calculating look in her eye. “If someone was holding out on us and dating a music star, I’ll kill them!”

“Harry Potter and Donal O’Neill in our school and both are cracking,” Maizy sighed.

“You both are being ridiculous!” Maia snapped. “These are new students and yet they were allowed to show off in such a way. It’s pathetic and you two fell for the dramatics!”

Maizy and Siebel both looked at each other and carried on with getting ready for bed without another word.



Harry stood in Snape’s room and stared into the fire, his arms wrapped about himself. At least the shaking had stopped.

“Do you want a drink?” Snape asked as he tipped his own glass of brandy back.

“No.” Harry looked at Snape with wide eyes. “What are we going to do? She looked right at her!”

“I’ll have her removed from the school.”

Harry went back to staring at the fire.

“Speak. Do not hold it in,” Snape ordered with a frown.

“It’s been years. I… It was a shock, is all,” Harry murmured. “What is going to happen? Maia… Maia’s never…” Harry shook his head.

“We knew this was a possibility,” Snape answered as he moved closer, comforting Harry with his proximity and scent. “A far-fetched one, but still a possibility. Kellas O’Neill is an Indago and obviously knew that and hid the fact from the world.”

“Not just an Indago!” Harry said with feeling and wide eyes. “A Supero! And she’s not reining in her scent!”

“No, which is probably due to her not knowing how. But she was not flustered or impressed when she smelled us. She knows. She knows and was quite aware of your… surprised reaction to her as she walked by.”

“Surprised?” Harry snorted. “It scared the bleeding hell out of me! But...” He took a deep breath. “I’m all right now. It’s Maia I’m worried about. We need to tell Draco.”

Snape swallowed the rest of his drink. “We will, but not yet. I will deal with this quietly. Draco would come, wand blazing. Let me handle this.”

Harry nodded and rested his head on Snape’s shoulder. “She’s not going to go quietly, is she?” he asked quietly.

“Probably not.”