Chapter 5

Hermione looked up at the wizard sitting next to her on the sofa. I can't believe I was flirting with Lucius Malfoy! She looked toward her fireplace at the Headmaster, who appeared to be uncertain of his welcome. Just as he started to move toward the sofa to join Lucius and Hermione, the fireplace blazed.

"'Mione? I need you to come to Draco's quarters. Celeste is here. If you know where the Headmaster is, please call him as well. And if someone is available to contact the Aurors, I would appreciate it," Ginny's voice had the flat, unresonant sound of someone trying to stay calm in the face of horror, scaring the wits out of the three in the room.

Hermione quickly found her voice. "I'll be right there, Ginny. The Headmaster will be with me. And the Aurors and whatever international authority necessary will be contacted as well."

Lucius looked furious and worried, imagining the most horrible things he could think of having happened to his daughter; maybe she had been bitten by a werewolf or turned into a vampire or worse, raped or tortured. He whispered furiously at Hermione and Severus, "Tell me what is wrong as soon as possible. I will be contacting the authorities."

Hermione nodded at him as she threw some Floo powder into the flames and called out, "Professor Malfoy's quarters!" She stepped through and looked around frantically. Her eyes alighted on a beautiful girl with strawberry-blonde curls and stunning sea-foam green eyes surrounded by dark lashes. Unfortunately the girl also had a black eye and what appeared to be her jaw magically wired shut.

Draco and Harry were weaving all sorts of detection spells over the child, so she looked at Ginny. "What in the world happened?" Hermione asked, making sure the Floo was left open, so Lucius could hear the response.

"Her aunt showed up and said that they could no longer 'stomach' having the 'abomination' in their home. She then said that such a child should have never been under the family's protection much less the heir to her sister. That was when Harry hit her with a truth-telling spell. Turns out she and her children were set to inherit Belinda's portion of the Bonaventura money until Celeste was born. Since she was magical, she not only inherits Belinda's portion but will have access to the magical portion of the family's treasures. She was jealous and so has been telling Celeste what a horror her father was and how he tried to have her killed. Unfortunately for Aunty, Belinda had left her daughter a letter telling her how Lucius always did love her and wanted the best for her. She also hinted at a secret held only by Malfoy daughters. Celeste made the mistake of saying she was looking forward to meeting the man her mother had loved, when she got punched by one of her cousins, then her uncle, who broke her jaw. They tried to cover it up with a glamour." Ginny's voice had gotten higher and higher pitched. She was furious.

"So, this jaw-wiring effect is due to a mis-cast glamour?" Severus was appalled.

"Not quite," answered Harry. "It looks like they were trying to silence her as well, and this happened."

Seconds later, Lucius rushed through the Floo, followed by Andromeda Tonks, who was the current Head Healer at St. Mungo's, and Remus Lupin, the current head of the DMLE.

He knelt on the ground by his daughter and stroked her hair, the look on his face conveying his need to make her better. Celeste looked at him and, seeing the same expression her mother had worn every time she had been hurt, threw her arms around Lucius's neck and sobbed silently.

Andromeda came close and waved her wand over the girl, a slightly different diagnostic than what Harry and Draco had done. "You boys were right, but this was a medical Silencing Spell, which with the glamour, combined into this atrocity. Don't worry, I can fix it." She waved her wand again, saying, "Finite Incantatum Medicianalis!" The jaw-wiring spell cancelled out. Andromeda then pointed the wand directly at Celeste and said, "Revelare Tuum Verum Se!"

Everyone's eyes went wide in horror. The girl's hair had been chopped roughly, about three inches from her scalp. The black eye was not the only bruise, and she was showing signs of malnutrition.

Remus started to document everything as well as he could, which became very hard for him to do through the tears in his eyes after Harry knelt down next to Lucius.

"Hi, Celeste. My name's Harry."

Celeste stared at him a bit, then reached out to brush his fringe out of his eyes. "Your scar is very faint," she said in a rough whisper.

"Yes, I can just be myself now, and not be defined by a mark on my head. Your aunt wasn't happy to take care of you, was she?"

The girl just stared, unwilling to reveal the depths of the abuse she had lived through.

"My aunt wasn't either. Albus Dumbledore, thinking he knew better than everyone else, left me on her doorstep like an unwanted puppy. He had dosed me with a sleeping potion, to make sure I didn't leave, but I could have frozen. It was November. She had been jealous of my mother's magic and blamed me for living when her sister died. She used me as a house-elf, she starved me, let her son beat me and her husband lock me into my room for days at a time. She never took me to the doctor. So, I know a little about being stuck with people who would rather be raising a rabid monkey... Don't worry, little one. Even if no one else were to want you and want to raise you, I would. But your daddy there has been looking forward to meeting you and so has your brother. Could you tell us what happened so we can make sure they can never mistreat another child?"

Celeste looked at the man in front of her, who had so matter-of-factly recited his childhood of horror, and then at the others in the room, most of whom were dabbing at the tears in their eyes and nodded. "Aunt Raquel said I was an abomination. After Mama died, she told the other relatives she was caring for me, but... She would only feed me one cup of milk and some bread for breakfast every day. She didn't always feed me lunch or dinner. She said I shouldn't have had magic, then her children would inherit everything, and she could purge the family of the taint of magic. She lied about Papa. She said he had raped Mama and I was the result. She said he never loved me." The little girl took a deep breath. "For a long time I believed her, and I didn't want to see Papa, because if he loved me, why would he have left me there? But Mama had letters, and I found them recently. She said Papa had put money in the bank for me, but she wanted to keep Aunty away from my money, so she told them there wasn't any. And she said he was always proud of having a daughter. So when I got the letter from Hogwarts, explaining that Papa's family would take care of my schooling, I knew what Aunty said just wasn't true. When I called her a liar, she let my cousins and my uncle beat me. Then she paid a hedge-witch to cover it up and sent me here," Celeste replied, crying. She turned back toward her father, who enveloped her in his arms.

"You are not an abomination, you are a treasure, mi tesoro," Lucius whispered to the little girl in his arms. "Are you willing to come home with me so we can get you all healed up? I will be able to introduce you to everyone properly, as well."

Celeste nodded into his shoulder.

Lucius picked up his precious burden and walked toward the Floo. "Draco, you, Miss Weasley and Harry give Mr. Lupin all the information you can. As the head of the DMLE, he can make some connections to Law Enforcement in Italy. I need her relatives punished." He started to pick up the Floo powder when he turned to Andromeda. "Healer Tonks, I apologize for asking, but did you find any of Narcissa's magic at work here?"

"No, Mr. Malfoy, I did not. Why do you trust me to tell you if I did? She is my sister, and you are the reason I did not get to see her for so many years."

"Because Celeste is an innocent child, and I would hope that your better nature would see that and not my blood."

Andromeda nodded bitterly. She had risen to her position as Head Healer for St. Mungo's following the war. She knew what Lucius said was true. And he had made a point, at least twice that she knew of, of protecting Nymphadora from Bellatrix, even casting a tripping hex at her during the final Battle so that she survived. She remembered hearing that story from both Dora and Molly Weasley and being so surprised she made them put the memories into a Pensieve to watch them. She wasn't happy that the man had found happiness away from Narcissa, but then again, she knew her sister. "She needs a general healing draught, a class-three nutritive potion and bruise paste. Follow that with one week of class-two nutritive potions at breakfast for one week, then two weeks of a class-one, she should be fully recovered after that. I've already cast the primary healing spells, and I will come check on her tomorrow afternoon."

"Very good, Healer. I appreciate your time more than you know," Lucius said over his shoulder as he entered the Floo. "Malfoy Manor!"

Hermione and Severus had listened to the list of things the girl needed and headed off to get them. "Severus, I will get the healing draught and bruise paste from the infirmary. Do you have the nutritive potions?"

"Yes, they are in my quarters. I never know which students will require some at the beginning of the school year. I will meet you at Malfoy Manor," he said as he walked off.

Harry laughed bitterly. "Why couldn't Albus have been half so conscientious about his students?"

"Because it didn't meet his plans, Harry. You couldn't be healthy and strong. You wouldn't have been willing to throw yourself under a bus if you had been." Hermione's voice was full of rancor. "I will see you all at Malfoy Manor." She hurried off to the infirmary.