Renaissance

A/N: Standard disclaimers apply. It gets a little bumpy in this one. Have patience.
Betas:Mamacita-san and refuz2luz, with my thanks
Warnings: Character assassination and rape mentions (nothing graphic), and ANGST!

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6.

An hour later the meeting was over; ad as the last of the students left the room, Harry turned to Draco. “That went well,” he began.

The blond triarii nodded pensively. “As I said, they mostly needed to be reassured. It’s important to be watchful, vigilant, but if we can go on about our daily lives then we’ve taken terror, the greatest weapon this killer has against us, from their arsenal.”

“Hmm. Well, I think these children and their families will feel safer after tonight’s meeting. You did well with them, Malfoy. And Anna!” Harry shook his head. “Sie was amazing. Sie’s a born leader.”

“She, Potter,” Draco corrected offering a small quirk of his mouth at the compliment. “Anna is… gaining confidence in herself as triarii, but she’s fighting long-term conditioning that makes referring to herself as such…difficult. Using gendered pronouns is something that she’s not been able to break from without…serious consequences. I trust you’ll respect that.”

Harry’s heart twinged at the reticence, the grief and helplessness, he heard in Draco’s voice. “I will. Of course,” Harry answered softly, desperately wanting to bring the troubled triarii into his arms. Whatever pain Anna was trying to overcome from her past obviously hurt hir deeply as well. Harry was wondering how to approach the reticent blond with some offer of comfort or support when the Bloody Baron rose through the floor, startling them both.

“Mer. Malfoy,” the ghost called in his eerie disembodied voice as Draco redonned his over-robe. “Come quickly! Anna is being attacked in the second floor corridor!”

Worry and fear shone a furious light in Draco’s grey eyes. Robes billowing behind hir, sie bounded from the room. Even during the war Harry had never seen anyone move so fast. He, Paul, and Soren barely kept pace with the former Seeker, sprinting through the corridors like great cats on the hunt. For a split second as they rounded the corner on the lower floor Harry felt a slight pity for the three boys taunting and hitting, kicking and spitting; they had no idea what they were in for. He hoped they enjoyed their last moments breathing, because the rage marring Draco’s face announced their fate as dead men walking.

“IMPEDIMENTA! EXPELLIARMUS!” the mage thundered, hir voice echoing through the hall. The boys’ wands were ripped from their grips as they all launched through the air and smacked wetly into the stone walls. The spells’ wake rippled, leaving the faint scent of scorched ozone behind. Paul and Soren hurried to check Anna’s downed attackers as a frantic vamar fell to hir knees beside a battered little girl.

Long pointed fingers, paler for the shock, lifted the bloodstained locks with infinite care and tender patience away from the tiny face covered in bruises. “Anna? Petal, can you hear me?” The anguished mage whispered endearments and reassurance as sie gently lifted the child into hir arms. “I’m here angel, and Poppy will have you right as rain in no time. Everything will be all right, my darling.”

Harry’s heart broke as he watched a single tear slide from beneath Draco’s closed eyes. “Draco, come,” he directed, prepared for the jolt as he slipped his arms around the slighter mage’s shoulders, pleasantly surprised to feel a near-gentle thrum of energy between them soothing and strengthening rather than the demanding shock of before. “Anna needs to get to the Infirmary. Come.” He guided the triarii and tossed a look over his shoulder at Paul and Soren, who nodded that they had the assailants well in hand.

They moved quickly to the Infirmary, Harry hollering for Madam Pomfrey as soon as they’d crossed the threshold. The matron came bustling into the ward and directed the triarii to lay the whimpering child on the nearest bed. “Oh, Merlin, what’s happened?” she demanded of Harry, seeing the blond parent only had eyes for hir stricken child.

“She was attacked by some students in the hall.”

The matron tutted and gently pulled Draco away. “Mer. Malfoy...Draco, you must sit back, please. Please,” she pleaded with the teary-eyed mage curled gingerly over the injured child.

“C’mon, Draco, let Madam Pomfrey work. Anna will be fine, but she needs treatment,” Harry said softly, pulling the triarii back by hir shoulders. “You have to let Madam Pomfrey help her.” He turned the mage into his chest and nodded at the Healer, who was busy collecting potions and shooting spells toward the young girl.

The silence was heavy and Harry could feel wetness seeping into his robes from the distraught Draco’s silent tears. He knew that implacable fury and a demand for vengeance would follow, but for now shock and sadness rolled off the blond in stomach-turning waves.

The spell-light surrounding Anna faded and Madam Pomfrey frowned, turning to the anxious adults. “She’s sustained very serious injuries, I’m afraid. Diagnostics indicate she was hit with both a Confundus and an Impedimenta jinx, then physically assaulted. She has broken ribs, a serious concussion, internal swelling, and a punctured lung. She’s a very damaged little girl right now. I’ve done what I can and I’ll be checking on her throughout the night for the concussion, but right now she needs undisturbed rest so her body can adjust to the healing magic.”

She turned to the anguished triarii. “I’m so sorry, Draco. I know this is difficult for you, but I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave while Anna’s condition stabilises. You can return in an hour or so if you promise to be unobtrusive, but for now why don’t you go on to see the Headmistress or down to the kitchens for some tea? I gather you’re in shock yourself.”

Wisps that had come loose from hir braid tossed violently as the bound hair whipped back and forth. “I can’t,” Draco said brokenly. “I left her and this is what happened.” Red-rimmed eyes pleaded with the matron. “Please, Poppy. Don’t make me go. I—”

To Harry’s utter surprise, since in all the years he’d known her she’d never once offered hugs to her patients, Madam Pomfrey reached out and drew the tearful triarii into her arms. “It’s all right, Draco,” she crooned. “Nothing will harm Anna here. I’ll look out for her. Now, please. Have some tea and try to calm yourself. You can see her later, I promise.”

“Poppy—” Draco began.

“I promise,” she said softly, then her face and voice turned stony. “Find who did this, Draco. Find them and make sure they’re punished. Never in all my years here have I seen a student attacked in such a vicious and cowardly way. Don’t let them hurt anyone else.”

With renewed purpose Draco drew back and nodded. From her ample pockets Madam Pomfrey retrieved a handkerchief and wetted it in a nearby basin, clucking like a hen with one chick as she tenderly wiped Draco’s face. “There now,” she smiled. “That’s much better. I want those ruffians to quail in fear, shake in their boots when they see you. Hurt our Anna, will they?” The nurse scowled. “I’d go and hex them myself but Anna needs me here, and I’m quite sure you’ll handle things just fine, Draco.”

Her charge was enough to rekindle the blond’s fury, and an unholy light of revenge shone from hir eyes. “That I will,” sie answered hoarsely. “Care for my girl?”

“Of course.” Madam Pomfrey patted hir cheek.

With a last look to hir sleeping child and peck for the matron’s cheek, Draco swept from the Infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey rushed out, catching the Auror by the sleeve as he hurried to catch up to the blond. “Sie’s like my own child, Harry. Keep hir safe, and don’t let hir rough them up too badly.”

There wasn’t really time, but his curiosity demanded an answer. Harry looked at her with his question in his eyes.

“The war,” she answered quickly. “Draco was warded out of Hogwarts except for the Infirmary. And with Severus busy spying there was no one else to make the many potions we needed. The whiny spoilt brat disappeared, grew into a kind and conscientious mage. We’ve grown close, so much so that I couldn’t imagine my life without hir. And then sie brought Anna into our lives too. They’ve become my family, Harry. Take care of them,” she explained and released him to go chasing after the mage bent on revenge while she tended to hir battered child.

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With the added lead time Harry didn’t catch up to Draco until they’d reached the gargoyle guardian of the Headmistress’ office steps. It moved out of their way without the password, and silently they made their way up. The face sie wore now was one with which Harry was quite familiar: cold determination, glacial fury—he’d seen it several times during the war, just before Malfoy unleashed vicious and decimating attacks on cadres of Death Eaters. This, however, was personal in a way that going after Death Eaters wasn’t. For Minerva’s sake he hoped Draco would consider leaving enough of the boys to bury in matchboxes; either way, though, the paperwork was going to be a mess.

The mage smartly rapped twice on the door, which opened on a tense scene. Paul and Soren held the four bound boys at wandpoint while their irate and indignant parents railed at the Headmistress.

“This is ridiculous! We’re summoned from our home, beside ourselves with worry that something horrible has happened to our son, and what do we find when we arrive here? Vincent bound and gagged like some criminal. Held by those thugs who you say don’t answer to you! My son’s been assaulted and I demand something be done about it!” a portly, red-faced wizard hollered at the Headmistress.

She ignored him and waved her newest guests into the room. Harry took a position near the door while Draco sat hirself on an armchair removed from the clustered irate parents of hir child’s assailants and the boys themselves.

The Headmistress steepled her fingers. “Please do sit down, Mr. Green. Now that Mer. Malfoy has arrived we may begin. I have here—” she held up a sheaf of parchments— “Madame Pomfrey’s report on Anna Malfoy-Black’s condition.”

She frowned when Harry gasped audibly from behind Draco’s chair. “Miss Malfoy-Black has sustained serious injuries and will be in the infirmary recovering for at least the next three days. Your sons—” she fixed glares on the parents of the delinquent boys— “were apprehended while viciously attacking Miss Malfoy-Black, and this is the reason I have called you here this evening. Despite the late hour, as Mrs. Willoughby noted,” she glared further at a pinched-faced woman who shrank back in her chair. “such acts are inexcusable and these boys must be made to answer. As it is, they are facing serious charges.”

The portly wizard who was blustering when Harry and Draco had come in paled. “Um, surely this is all some sort of misunderstanding, Headmistress McGonagall. My Vincent is a very good boy. He would never hurt a fellow student unprovoked. Most likely the boys were roughhousing, as they are wont to do at this age. The girl must’ve stepped in and got caught by a stray blow. Perhaps these…gentlemen,” he sneered at Paul and Soren. “overreacted.”

“I assure you that is not the case, Mr. Green,” Paul spoke up.

“One moment please, Mr. Anderson. I would prefer to wait for the other Auror representative to arrive before full statements are given.”

“The Aurors? What? For such a minor tussle?” objected another parent.

Draco stood and glared. “That minor tussle resulted in a punctured lung, you—”

Before sie could verbally vivisect the offending wizard, the fire whooshed and Tonks tumbled out of the green flames. “Sorry. Always have a bit of trouble with Floo travel,” she excused, brushing the soot from her navy Auror robes.

The Headmistress frowned at Tonks’ jovial manner. “Auror Tonks,” she said, sternly recalling the metamorphmagus to her duty. “these are Augustus and Marjory Green,” she introduced the blustering blowhard and his quiet wife. “Elaine Willoughby, Daniel and Kaye Easton, and Ralph and Mary Drew. Their sons Vincent, Spencer, John, and Adam attacked a fellow student this evening and we need you to take their statements and remand them into custody.”

“Custody! Now see here, McGonagall!” Ralph Drew cried. “They’re just boys! No need to involve the law. They’ll apologise to the girl. Let ‘em serve a detention and have done with all this.”

Draco perked a brow and stared the anxious man back into his seat. “Let me assure you, Mr. Drew, you should be relieved that the Aurors responded so quickly. Incarceration is the least of your son’s worries. If it were up to me I would quite happily disembowel them and owl you their rotting entrails.” Sie smirked. “As a law abiding citizen, however, I plan to bring the full strength of the law to bear against them, so SIT DOWN AND SHUT IT!”

Drew gaped and his wife raised a shaking finger in Draco’s direction. “You—you—I read about you! You’re one of those filthy murdering Death Eaters!” She turned to the Headmistress. “How could you even let this child into school with decent children? She was probably casting those Dark curses on our son and his friends. It was self-defence! You can’t—”

“Enough! Let us hear what the boys have to say for themselves. We will have the truth of this altercation. And all of you will remain silent during the questioning or I will have you removed from this office.” McGonagall glared at the parents. “Auror Tonks, if you please?” the Headmistress directed the Auror.

Tonks pulled out her Signatus and set it to record and transcribe as she approached the bound boys. She ended the silencing spell and cast with Veritas, a much gentler way of ensuring truthful interrogations than Veritaserum and approved for use on minors.

She set the Signatus on the small table in front of the boys and began the interrogation. “Let the record show, that on the seventh of October, Senior Auror, first class, Nymphadora Tonks was summoned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by Headmistress Minerva McGonagall to take statements regarding an incident of felonious assault which took place earlier in the evening. Statements to be witnessed by the parents of the four alleged assailants, two agents of Anderson Security Systems, Draco Malfoy, vamar of the attack’s victim, and Auror, first class, Harry Potter.” Harry focussed on looking blank-faced and menacing as the boys and their parents turned awed eyes in his direction. Tonks cleared her throat. “Please state your names and ages.” She began, pointing at the boy furthest from her left.

“Vincent Green, sixteen,” answered the boy, chest puffed out proudly.

“John Easton, sixteen.”

“Spencer Willoughby, fifteen.”

“Adam Drew, fif—fifteen,” the last boy managed, his voice cracking.

Tonks nodded and scrolled down her Signatus’ screen. “Describe the incident in question.”

Vincent, obviously the leader, tossed his head confidently. “We were just walking down the hall a-and—” he struggled as his voice seemed suddenly trapped in his throat.

Tonks raised a brow and cast a chastising glance his way. “The Veritas spell won’t allow you to lie, Mr. Green. Maybe you’d like to try again?”

The boy scowled. “Fine! We overheard that Anna chit and a bunch of her weirdo friends talking about a meeting for those triarii students when we were in the Library. So we waited around ‘til the meeting was over to teach one of them a lesson. It didn’t matter which one. Freaks like them shouldn’t be around normal kids. We don’t want them here.”

Mrs. Green gasped but said nothing as her son shot a hateful glare her way. “They’re freaks, Mum! Unnatural! They shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t have to go to school with them. Who knows what they get up to when no one’s watching them? They probably molest all the littler kids! We have to protect ourselves!”

Tonks sighed impatiently. “I didn’t ask you for your thoughts on the triarii, Mr. Green. Tell me what happened tonight.”

The boy shrugged. “We waited around but they all came out of the meetings in groups. We were going to leave but that Anna girl came out by herself and headed toward the dungeons, so we followed her a ways then roughed her up.”

“How exactly did you ‘rough her up’, Mr. Green? Did you hex her?”

“I tripped her, and hit her with an Impedimenta and John cast Confundus so she wouldn’t be sure who we were. Then we hit her with our fists. Adam spit on her and said her kind wasn’t wanted at Hogwarts, and John kicked her and told her we were going to drag her down to Hogsmeade and leave her for the bloke killing all the freaks in alleyways,” he finished dispassionately as the spell took full effect.

Harry felt the anger and heartbreak gathering into a deadly storm as Draco imagined hir child’s pain and her fear at the thought of being left for the killer. He stroked the soft fabric over the mage’s shoulder, willing hir to calm, surprised when the thrumming energy between them seemed to soften with echoes of sympathy. Draco looked up and Harry met hir grey eyes, still shimmering with rage and hurt but it seemed controlled now, banked somehow. There was something else too in those smouldering molten pools, gratitude maybe, Harry thought, and he squeezed the slender shoulder beneath his palm once more.

Tonks had finished the interview and the Headmistress looked at each boy sternly and somewhat sadly. “We have an accounting of the evening’s events. I am truly dismayed by your behaviour, Messrs. Green, Easton, Willoughby, and Drew. That you would plot violence with such premeditation and maliciousness here at Hogwarts which is meant to be a safe haven for our students is greatly disturbing, and what is worse is that you have acted on such hatred and wilful ignorance. You are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” A quelling glare forestalled comments from the boys’ parents. “Your wands will be snapped and you will be remanded to the custody of the Auror service, as I am assuming Mer. Malfoy wishes to press charges?” She looked to Draco, who nodded.

“I do indeed. And I want these miserable excuses for wizards tried before the Wizengamot as adults.”

“But—but that’d mean Azkaban if they’re convicted!” Mrs. Willoughby wailed, wringing her hands in her handkerchief.

Draco smiled cruelly. “Why yes, it would. Be thankful that’s the worst the law allows and that the Dementors are gone.” Grey eyes hardened to flint. “I may not be able to claim lex talionis under Ministry law, but magic itself will grant me justice.” In a flash hir wand was out and pointed at the boys. “Retributio!” sie cried, and they were enveloped in a translucent gold mist. The four glowed for a moment, then the mist settled on them, sinking into their skin.

“My son!” Marjory Green screeched. She shot from her seat and turned toward her boy, then Draco, torn by whether she should console or confront first. “What have you done?” she demanded, rushing to her son’s side.

“Sie has cast Retributus,” the Headmistress answered darkly. “An old spell that proffers justice for evil done. Its effects vary but are lasting, and there is no counter. It’s sometimes called the Conscience Giver. Every harmful action they commit will haunt them with the pain of their target. Every bigoted notion will cause your sons to see their intolerance from the perspective of those they revile.” She sighed. “Mer. Malfoy—”

Draco turned up hir nose. “I am well within my rights, Headmistress.”

She nodded stiffly. “That is true. Still—”

“She-he-uh-sie hexed our sons! Why isn’t someone doing something?” Kaye Easton cried.

Her husband put his arm over her shoulder. “There’s nothing they can do, honey,” he said sadly. “John and the others hurt hir daughter. Retributus is an old Wizarding tradition. Sie’s within hir rights; sie could have called down a blood feud on us, or worse.”

Mrs. Easton was not consoled. “I’ve never heard of this Retributus thing,” she spat. “Sie can cite some ancient law nobody even remembers and curse our son and no one will do anything? God, sometimes I wish I’d never learned I was a witch!” She started to cry.
Harry looked on, torn between his continuing anger and regret. He’d never heard of Retributus either. He assumed it was one of those types of things taught in Wizard-born families, along with learning about age-old feuds and strategic marriages. His ignorance and that of Mrs. Eaton were another example of the failings of Albus Dumbledore’s experiment. At least if they’d been taught about Retributus she might have known to expect it, as her husband obviously had.

And he was still confused about Anna. How was it that she could be a Black? He pushed aside his questions for the moment and approached Tonks, directing his comments to the families. “Your sons are hereby remanded to the custody of the Ministry. We will take them to holding cells until the time of their hearing before the Wizengamot. You will be allowed to see them after they’ve been through processing. They may also meet with counsel at that time. I recommend that each of you return to your homes now; you’ve busy days ahead.” Brusquely Harry pulled each of the boys to their feet as Tonks brought out a specialised mass-transit Portkey. He turned to Paul and Soren. “Aurors will return later to continue the security detail for Mer. Malfoy. In the meantime I’m sure you’ll keep things well in hand, gentleman. Thank you.”

The agents nodded and Harry fought off the wave of possessiveness that washed over him as Paul placed a supportive hand on Draco’s shoulder. A familiar eye could see that the smaller mage was weary and heartsore, but still sie stood strong and straight and powerful, not for a moment allowing the families of hir child’s attackers to think hir vulnerable. With a final look into those shifting grey eyes and a nod for the Headmistress, Harry was whisked away by the Portkey.

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Processing the youngsters didn’t take long as fear of the consequences of their actions burned away their bravado. Harry was hopeful that more involved questioning would lead them to others who posed a potential danger to their fellow students, and maybe more devious influences beyond the school who were using the youths as tools for their dirty work. As much as he wanted to wring some answers out of them, he was more desperate to return to Hogwarts—to Anna, who’d already charmed her way into his heart, and to Draco, who was much more than Harry had ever given the mage credit for and hungered to learn more about.

He called his entire team in for a briefing. He assigned the questioning to Seamus, knowing his affable demeanour would make the boys more comfortable in the formidable interrogation room and encourage them to speak freely. Hetty and Tonks were scheduled to the security detail for Saturday, but Harry was relatively certain Draco wouldn’t be moving from the Infirmary until Anna was released so there was no need to assign them to guard hir at the festival. Harry’s presence would be enough while the young magnate was at Hogwarts.

Because it was late, they quickly reviewed and Tonks offered to return to Hogwarts for the night to give Harry a chance to rest. He wasn’t keen on the idea, but it made sense that he be rested and alert while Draco’s safety was in his hands. He returned to his office with Ron and Hermione at his back; when he’d taken a seat behind his desk the bushy-haired witch got busy casting privacy spells.

“I take it that whatever you found out about Anna is something sensitive?” Harry asked wryly as the spells settled and Hermione perched nervously on a chair.

“It’s…well, information about Anna is hard to come by, Harry.”

He frowned. “Does this have something to do with Anna being a Black?”

Her brown eyes widened. “What do you know, Harry?”

He shrugged. “Nothing really. Minerva gave Anna’s full name during the meeting in her office: Anna Malfoy-Black. I don’t understand how that’s possible unless Draco changed hir name. Is there something more...serious about it?”

Ron snorted, but it was a disturbingly strangled sound. “Oh it’s serious all right,” he murmured, scrubbing one of his large hands over his face.

Harry pinned his friends with a “spill everything” look.

Hermione wrung her hands. “Oh, Harry. It’s…well it’s very disturbing. I wouldn’t believe it except there’s no other plausible explanation. Unless something very unusual is revealed in her adoption records, I’m afraid the truth of it is just horrible!”

“Mione, what is it?” Harry snapped, losing patience.

“Well, we couldn’t get to the whole file. It’s been sealed by the Department of Child Welfare and Family Services since there’s an ongoing adoption.”

“Wait, an ongoing adoption? But—”

Hermione sighed. “That’s what we thought too, Harry, but here’s the thing. From what it says in her antenatal medical report, Anna’s birth was the result of the rape of a minor.”

Harry paled. “You’re not saying…”

Hermione pulled out her copy of the files. “Sie was born a few weeks late at Hogwarts on April 12 and immediately placed for adoption. The names of hir adoptive parents are in the sealed file so we’ll have to wait until Monday to look at those, but evidently Anna is triarii and manifested early at seven. Hir adoptive parents wanted hir to undergo Muggle corrective surgery, but Anna is allergic or resistant to all forms of Muggle anaesthesia and the surgery couldn’t proceed. The adoption was dissolved and returned the child to the custody of DCWFS. Sie was bounced around to various orphanages and finally settled at Heritage House. Malfoy filed an adoption petition just a few months after returning from America.”

“Right, and she may be triarii, but so you know, it’s full female terminology for Anna, Hermione. Still none of that explains—” Harry interrupted impatiently.

Hermione held out a parchment to Harry sadly. “Harry, we counted back the months and…well…you have to remember that he’d been on the run, was still a bit unstable from being in Azkaban......”

“And Malfoy’d just been running off at the mouth about Cedric and Voldemort and you getting what you deserved, just being a right little shite, and he was upset for having to send you off to those damned Dursleys again,” Ron added.

Harry turned the parchment over, dread and bile rising in his throat as he learned the truth for himself. Anastacia Narcisse Malfoy-Black, the birth certificate read, and listed her birth weight and length. The date and time followed, and there just above Madam Pomfrey’s signature as attending Healer, printed on one line, were the names of Anna’s parents: Draco Lucien Malfoy and Sirius Nigellus Black. Harry’s stomach turned to lead.

“Wizarding birth certificates don’t distinguish between mothers or birthing parents. It’s considered obvious, and in the case of triarii parents or male bearers there’s a small star placed by their names. See?” Hermione babbled nervously, pointing to a superscript mark behind Draco’s name.

Draco had been fourteen. Harry was going to be sick.

He scrabbled for the rubbish bin beside his desk and heaved, Ron and Hermione sitting by helplessly as the memory of their best friend’s beloved godfather was destroyed.

“Damn Malfoy,” Ron muttered as Harry hacked over the bin.

The younger man wiped his wet, snotty face on his sleeve and glared at his ginger friend. “Damn Malfoy? MALFOY? Sie was a brat, Ron, and a bully, but tell me, how does that justify being held down and forced against hir will?” Harry demanded angrily.

Hermione avoided her friend’s angry and betrayed eyes. “It doesn’t,” she said softly. “But we weren’t there, Harry. We don’t know how it might have been. We’d hexed Crabbe, Goyle, and hir unconscious, remember? Or maybe Malfoy seduced Sirius. Or....”

Harry shot an incredulous look at his friend. “Right, Hermione. A fourteen-year-old, hexed insensate, wakes up covered in boils and decides to seduce a perfect stranger? No. We—I—just have to face it. I-I mean, I knew, right?” Harry sniffed as his eyes refilled with tears. “I knew how cruel Sirius could be. I-I saw how he used Remus to nearly kill Snape and was never even sorry for it. There—there was a darkness in him. I-I just wanted a family, someone to love me, so much I ignored it.” Harry hung his head. “Everything I inherited from Sirius is Anna’s by right. I-I should—”

“You should nothing!” Ron said angrily. “He was your godfather, Harry, and he loved you and wanted to take care of you. The newest Malfoy brat has her rich Daddy to buy her whatever she wants.”

“Maybe I don’t want it, Ron!” Harry yelled. “Maybe I don’t want to go home and look around my house and be reminded that everything I thought about Sirius was a lie! Maybe I don’t WANT a RAPIST’S legacy!”

“Oh Harry,” Hermione sighed sympathetically. “It wasn’t all a lie. You can’t discount everything Sirius was because of a moment of madness.”

“A moment of madness? Am I the only one here who’s thinking clearly about this? Sirius raped—RAPED—a fourteen-year-old child. A CHILD! A child who was forced to have a child and to give that baby up to obviously unfit parents. Have either of you stopped to consider what it must’ve been like for Malfoy? And then thinking that baby you gave up is safe and loved by some family somewhere only to find her living at an orphanage, then having to wade through the Ministry’s morass to be able to claim legal rights to a child who’s yours by blood?”

Harry scrubbed his hands over his face. “Merlin, how the hell am I going to face hir now?”

“Face who, Harry?” Hermione asked softly.

“Draco, Anna, either of them. How can I look them in the eye knowing it was my fault? The only reason Sirius was around was because of me, Hermione. If he hadn’t been there looking out for me…if I hadn’t complained to him about Draco....”

She shook her head. “The past is past, Harry. There are a million what-if’s that could have made things turn out differently. This doesn’t really change anything. We know now that Anna’s other parent is…a non-issue in this investigation. That’s what really matters. It’s not like you and Malfoy are friends where you might have to talk about this someday. We—we just do our jobs, Harry. We find the killer and then none of us ever have to see or think about Malfoy again.”

But Harry knew that wasn’t true. Already the blond mage and hir child were important to him. He knew he wanted them in his life. Wanted to be important to them, to care for them. Reddened eyes met those of his friends and he nodded, but really Ron and Hermione didn’t understand. He cast a quick glance at his clock. Yet another hard day, and it seemed he was heading back to Hogwarts tonight after all.


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Triarii-specific Terminology:
Vamar: Parent, usually shortened to vama, or vam
Veru: Triarii spouse


Chapter 5 Review Responses
Thank you all for the reviews! They are greatly appreciated!!


thrnbrooke: You’ll just have to wait for Remus to explain Resonance, but no worries it’s coming along next!

Justmine25: Gotta love Remus! Anna’s a lucky little child, I’m sure he makes a great godfather. Thanks for waiting!

Rakel: Ah, and you thought the last one had some surprises! Thank you so much for your kind compliments. And I love the questions. Fortunately, Remus will answer what’s happening between Harry and Draco in the next chapter. And Ron…well you’ll have to wait and see!

Whitmore: Thank you! And no I didn’t add them, I’ve gotten pretty accustomed to the pronouns by now. I still slip up occasionally (thank goodness for awesome Betas!) but it’s amazing to me how “naturally” I use them now, obviously those who’ve been pushing for the use of gender neutral pronouns just chose the wrong vehicle, instead of math books like Michael Spivak’s Joy of TeX they should’ve recruited fanfic writers!

applesauce_N_soysauce: Okay, did it twist enough for you? Glad you’re sticking around, and yes, there’s more on the way!

isadmalfoy: No problem, I’m just happy you’re reading and reviewing at all! Hope this was soon enough for you *g*