2004

"You're exhausted."

Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding World, the Young Man who Lived Twice, the Chosen One, stared over at his husband from across the breakfast table. "You're only now noticing that?" he asked, a rueful expression on his face.

Severus Snape, ex-Death Eater, former Headmaster of Hogwarts, and expert potions master smiled over at the man he loved. "It's been six months since the twins were born," he said gently to him.

"Yes, and Kreacher is looking after them splendidly," Harry responded.

Severus nodded. "He is, I won't deny that," he responded. "I still think it's too soon to take them to Godric's Hollow. Perhaps next year..."

Harry sighed; it had been six years since he'd defeated Voldemort, and it would be twenty-three years since his parents had been murdered. "You're right," he said at last, nodding his head. "I suppose we could wait until Leo and Marigold are talking."

Severus smirked, reaching across the table and taking Harry by the hand. "Perhaps you can take a little break from all the cases you've been working on?"

Harry bit his lip; he'd slowed down considerably in the unraveling of mysteries he'd taken on since Voldemort's death, and kept to the research side of things while he was pregnant. Now, however, with Kreacher helping out with childcare, Harry knew entirely well that he needed to get out of the house. "Call it my hero complex," he muttered, "but I think something's going to happen, and I need to figure it out."

"Harry—"

"Hey, I didn't complain when you spent at least a quarter of our honeymoon looking for elusive potions ingredients," Harry reminded him cheekily.

Severus sighed; after the Battle of Hogwarts, he had been recuperating in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, due to his attack by Nagini. Once he was well enough, he was shocked to discover that Harry had shown his memories not just to Minerva, but to Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was now Minister of Magic. Due to this, there had been no trial, and a mere fine of one-thousand Galleons for his improper use of magic—using the Killing Curse against Albus Dumbledore, even though the former Headmaster of Hogwarts had asked him to kill him.

After this, he had traveled around Europe for three years, only returning when Minerva informed him of Harry's depressed state. Upon his return, Harry had confessed to him that he was in love with him and Severus, in shock, agreed to begin dating the twenty-one-year-old wizard. The rest, as they say, is history, as they were married less than a year after that, lived in a beautiful estate in Somerset, and had twins—Leo Arthur Potter-Snape, and Marigold Hermione Potter-Snape, with Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom being a set of godparents for his children, as well as running a lucrative, owl-order potions business.

"You must be thinking very hard," Harry observed.

Severus scoffed. "Nearly always, I'll have you know," he responded in a mock-pompous tone, though his eyes sparkled with love for his husband. "I just know entirely well that Scorpius and Rose are too big for Leo and Marigold to play with."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "We're not due to visit Wiltshire, or Cornwall, for a few weeks," he observed. "What brought that on?"

Severus rolled his shoulders. "Luna came to see me last week," he admitted; he liked the young woman, even though she was a bit strange. "She and Neville have been married three years and there's still no sign of a baby. I'm patenting a potion for her."

Harry nodded. "Ah. So, you're permitted to solve mysteries, and I'm not?"

"If you can still manage to sleep at night, then I suppose one or two, to begin with, won't hurt anything," Severus allowed.

"Perhaps it's the air at Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "Neville's had the younger years for Herbology for two years now, since Professor Sprout entered semi-retirement, and Luna's running around in the Forbidden Forest as Hagrid's teaching assistant..."

"I've told them to get away, but the first opportunity they can do so is the Christmas holidays, and you know they always take work trips," Severus said.

Harry nodded. "I do," he replied. "Perhaps we can surprise them with a little something. Neville hates to be rude, and Luna's always appreciative..."

"Sound reasoning," Severus allowed, when a tapping on the window pane in their breakfast parlor caught his attention. Turning, he spotted the barn owl belonging to Ginny Weasley, and immediately got to his feet to let her in. "Angelia?" he asked, as the bird ruffled her wings, her dark eyes filled with kindness as she fluttered towards Harry, a letter in her beak.

Harry smiled, offering the bird some bacon, which she accepted with gusto, as Harry reached out to take the letter, recognizing Ginny Malfoy's handwriting on the envelope. He broke the seal and skimmed its contents, raising his eyebrows. "In all her work as a child advocate, I'm surprised she's missed this..."

"What is it?" Severus asked, inclining his head.

Harry was very proud of Ginny, who had founded Malfoy Consortia shortly after her marriage to Draco, wherein they applied for better rights for Muggle individuals who were suffering in some way, shape or form, and mostly dealt with children. "There's a village in Sussex with a children's home," he explained, once he realized he'd never answered his husband. "Ginny says that her contact there witnessed accidental magic from one of the children."

Severus raised his eyebrows; of course, things like this were heard of, but the fact that a magical child had slipped through the cracks... "What do we know about the child?"

"She's six," Harry said, reading the details, "very intelligent, stubborn, polite... Her name is Araminta," he continued.

Severus considered that for a moment. "I had a student called Araminta in my early years of teaching, before you came to Hogwarts... She was a member of the Avery family..."

"A Slytherin?" Harry asked, looking up.

"Surprisingly, no," Severus told him, "she was the only member of the family to ever sort into Ravenclaw. Her twin sister, Alexandra, on the other hand, was a Slytherin, as was their elder brother, Ashton."

Harry considered this for a moment before looking at the letter again. "Well, according to Ginny, there's no last name recorded for Araminta," he said. "Apparently, according to the head of the children's home, she was found on the steps leading to the servants' quarters of a place called Streat Palace back in April 1998..."

"That is located in Sussex," Severus responded quickly, noting Harry's smile at the notion that he readily knew where it was. "The Yaxley estate was located there..."

Harry pursed his lips. "With Corbin and his son, Cornell, being sentenced to the Kiss not too long after the Battle of Hogwarts, I suspect, like a great many of Sacred Twenty-Eight estates, it's been languishing this entire time?"

"Yes, given that it's considered traditional in Pureblood circles to hand over estates directly to the next male heir of the line, and Corbin Yaxley and Myrline Bulstrode only had a daughter, Ciara, after Cornell," Severus explained. "She married Dominic Flint and had two children with him, but..."

"They were sentenced to the Kiss as well," Harry mused. "Dominic... He was Marcus's older brother, wasn't he?" he asked, remembering that Marcus was considered too stupid to be an effective Death Eater, and so had gotten off with five years of probation, as well as custody of his elder brothers' children, Julian and Domita, alongside his wife, Gemma Farley.

Severus smirked, recalling well assigning Marcus detention in the aftermath of him standing by whilst Draco had called Hermione a Mudblood during his husbands' second-year—as Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, he really should have known better, house rivalry aside. "Let us hope that Gemma is the one doing most of the parenting, although she must have her hands full with their little ones, Ambrose and Merriwether," he mused, recalling the antipathy he had felt when their children's names were announced in The Daily Prophet.

Harry pulled a face; he hadn't been a fan of the names either. "Well, in any case, this little girl Araminta is definitely a witch," he concluded. "The member of staff that Ginny put in place for that district has successfully Obliviated the Muggles, but someone needs to get in there fast. She can't stay there, Severus," he said plainly, looking up at his husband.

Severus gripped the backside of his chair. "Someone will need to discover her true identity, and ascertain, if she is a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, if she is..."

"What? Dark?" Harry sputtered. "She's a child, Severus! We cannot go blaming children for decisions their parents have made!"

"Nevertheless, Kingsley's crackdowns on wixen with Death Eater connections, even a whisper or a rumor, is what is keeping the Wizarding World safe, Harry," Severus responded patiently; he wasn't about to tell his husband that he was wrong, but he also knew that they had to be practical about this. "Are you ready to leave now?"

Harry blinked. "What?"

Severus smirked as he snapped his fingers, their autumn cloaks flying into the parlor from the front hall. "You didn't honestly think I was going to let you go on your own, do you?" he asked, before calling out, "Kreacher?"

The old house-elf popped into being, and bowed. "Master Severus has summoned Kreacher?" he asked, his voice rough with age.

"Harry and I have to go out for a while," Severus said. "Ginny has sent us a rather urgent letter from a Muggle children's home; a young witch was found to be living there."

Kreacher nodded; he deeply respected Draco, adored Ginny, and positively doted on little Scorpius. "Kreacher will watch young Master Leo and young Mistress Marigold," he said, and bowed to his masters. "Will you be bringing the young witch here, Master Severus?" he queried, obviously needing to know if he needed to straighten up one of the empty bedrooms, or prepare some special food in the event of a house guest.

"We need to meet her first, Kreacher," Harry answered patiently, taking his coat from Severus and wrapping it around him. "We need to judge whether or not she would be appropriate to be brought into our care—"

"And if it would even be safe to do so," Severus said, his tone firm.

Kreacher nodded. "Kreacher will be prepared regardless," he said, before popping away, likely to the nursery.

Harry huffed as he dragged Severus out of the parlor and towards the side door of their house, as he was the one who was still gripping the letter with the Apparition coordinates, expertly written down by Ginny. "We can't go in automatically assuming she's dangerous, Severus," he tossed over his shoulder.

Severus knew he had to remain understanding with the younger man. "And we cannot afford to assume that she is not, Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes, but nevertheless held onto his husband as they reached the center of their garden, and Apparated away.

~ᚷ~

Araminta Lena, called Ara, as she had no surname, scowled at the notion that she was unjustly confined to a side room of the children's home she'd been at since she was born. The windows here had some kind of fogged glass on them, so she couldn't look outside. She did her best to look at the pile of books which had been left for her to look at—The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, The Boxcar Children—and all she could think of was the fact that each consisted of orphaned children getting a happy ending. But, she wondered, where was hers?

Chief Matron Hildegarde Seymoure was a positively beastly sort of woman; well, that wasn't entirely true. She was kind and courteous to the other staff, as well as the other children living in the home. However, she seemed to positively hate Ara, who had no idea why. Her dark eyes seemed to squint in a miniscule glare towards her whenever there was anyone else around, the coldness in her voice when directed at her seemingly lost on the other staff members. It drove Ara positively mad, and she had no idea what she had done to make the chief matron so angry with her.

"Ara?"

Ara turned at the voice; it was vaguely familiar, and belonged to the pretty young woman with the red hair, who had called herself Mrs. Malfoy. Ara, meanwhile, had found the book in the pile from her, called Matilda, and actually liked that one; she was about a quarter of the way through it by the time Mrs. Malfoy came to check on her. "Hi," Ara said, her voice soft.

Mrs. Malfoy stepped into the room, her warm smile radiating upwards and into her brown eyes, nothing like Chief Matron Hildegarde Seymoure. "Hello," she said. "I have two friends here who want to meet you. Would that be all right?"

Ara nodded, clutching the book to her chest; if they were friends of Mrs. Malfoy's, then they must be nice people. "All right," she said softly.

Mrs. Malfoy hesitated, looking at Ara's posture. "Do you like that book?"

Ara nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she replied.

"Please, you don't have to call me that," Mrs. Malfoy said quickly, "Ginny is just fine. As for the book, you may keep it, if you like."

Ara worried her lower lip, tugging slightly at her pale brown hair; a nervous habit. "The chief matron won't let me," she said at last. "She... She doesn't like me much."

Ginny looked like she wanted to say more, but she snapped her mouth closed, and gestured into the hallway. "Why don't you come in now?"

Ara pressed herself back against the wall as two gentlemen walked into the room behind Ginny; one was only a bit taller than Ginny, with green eyes, while the other resembled a bird of prey and was dressed all in black.

"Ara," Ginny said gently, obviously understanding that the young girl was wary around strangers, or, perhaps, men in general, "this is Harry," she continued, nodding towards the man with green eyes, "and his husband, Severus," she went on, indicating the taller man.

Harry smiled at Ara, leading her to immediately fell more at ease. "Hello, Ara. It's lovely to meet you," he said, crossing the room and sitting in a chair nearby, so as he was more on her level. "I heard something about you."

Ara blinked, wondering if the chief matron had said something bad about her. "What did you hear?" she asked, inwardly chastising herself for permitting her voice to tremble.

"I heard that you broke all the vases in the chief matron's office, without lifting a finger," he told her, his voice quiet.

Ara swallowed; she couldn't understand why the young man sitting opposite her wasn't angry, as the chief matron had been, telling her that a freak like her would never be adopted. "Are you going to take me to prison?" she whispered.

Severus, meanwhile, seemed to swoop forward at that. "Who told you that?"

Ara looked up at him; he spoke sharply, so, perhaps, he was angry with her. "The chief matron said that it was...des-truc-tion of prop-er-ty," she said quietly, sounding out the difficult words, as the cruel chief matron had. "She said that little girls like me, who can do things like that, are evil, and should be put in jail."

Harry shook his head at her. "Ara, there is nothing wrong with you," he told her, his tone gentle and reassuring. "You see, there are people who can do things, when they're especially scared or angry, at a young age, and they can't control it."

Ara blinked. "They can?"

Harry gave her a small smile. "They can," he confirmed. "When I was a little boy, and made to go to a normal school, I had some bullies coming after me; I got frightened."

Ara leaned forward. "What did you do?"

"I shut my eyes, wanting to get away from there. The next thing I knew, I was on the school roof, looking down at them," he explained.

"You're different?" Ara whispered, her tone breathless.

"We all are," Severus confirmed. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before catching sight of a glass bauble on the desk across the room. With a mere raise of his eyebrows, it shattered into several dozen pieces.

Ara drew back at the unexpectedness of the action. "The chief matron—she'll—she'll—!" she sputtered, growing afraid.

Harry looked over at the now-broken bauble, before he lifted his hand, leading all the pieces to return to their proper place, and the bauble mended itself. "That's better, isn't it?" he asked, as he turned to Ara again.

Ara nodded, though the movement was stilted, for she was still in shock.

Severus, meanwhile, had turned to look at Ginny. "What do we know about this matron?" he asked her; though his voice was pitched low, Ara still heard from perfectly well.

"She had all the correct references and qualifications when I myself began with the various organizations and met with the people in charge," Ginny said, shaking her head. "But now I'm beginning to think she is either a Squib or, in Harry's case of his aunt, has unfounded jealousy of a sibling who was magical."

Severus's lips set in a thin line, his eyes glittering. "Indeed... With your permission, I would like to speak with her," he informed Ginny.

Ginny, meanwhile, slowly began to smile. "Yes, I believe that that would be wise," she replied, and turned to Ara. "Will you be all right with Harry for a few moments?"

Ara nodded; although she liked Ginny, she very much liked Harry as well. "Yes, thank you, Ginny," she said softly.

"Polite little thing, isn't she?" Severus asked as he and Ginny walked out of the small office room and went down the hallway.

Ara turned to regard Harry again. "Is Mr. Severus going to hurt Chief Matron Seymoure?" she asked softly.

"No, dear," Harry reassured her. "I'm very sorry that she was unkind to you. People who are in charge of children's homes like this should always approach children with compassion and understanding, and I'm very sorry she did not."

Ara gave him a small smile. "It's all right," she said quietly. "It only gets very bad on choosing day."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What is 'choosing day'?" he asked.

Ara smiled broadly at that; she liked it very much when adults actually listened to her. "Well, it's the day when grown-ups come here looking to foster or adopt children," she explained, feeling quite knowledgeable now. "The chief matron gets everyone all tidied up, and they get new clothes 'ponsored by the gover'ment," she continued, watching as Harry seeming to be chewing on his lower lip, but couldn't fathom why that was.

"Do you ever get new clothes?" Harry wanted to know.

Ara immediately shook her head. "No. These are hand-me-downs," she explained, lowering her gaze onto the clothes she wore that day—a faded jumper, pulled hastily over a stained blouse, along with ill-fitting leggings with holes in the knees (covered by said jumper), as well as shoes a size too big with generous scuffs on the toe caps and worn soles. "The chief matron says I won't need any, because she doesn't let the grown-ups see me."

Harry's eyes seemed to widen at Ara's words. "So, you haven't...? The chief matron just puts you somewhere during the choosing day?"

Ara nodded. "Mostly in here, but her favorite spot is the cleaning cupboard," she said, shaking her head. "I don't like it there."

Harry, by this time, was gripping onto the arms of his chair. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, it smells like chem-ic-als," Ara explained quickly, "and there's no windows, like in here, but the chief matron doesn't even let me have a light on, so I have to sit in the dark. It's only when I've been bad before a choosing day, though. If I've been all right, then she lets me come in here and read the books..."

"How are you bad?" Harry questioned, almost as if he couldn't believe Ara could do anything that would warrant such a punishment.

"When I break things...with magic," she answered, whispering the final word, almost as if it was an expletive. "The chief matron says she won't let anyone take me home, because they wouldn't want me anyway."

Harry shook his head. "It was wrong of her to say that," he told her, his voice firm. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Ara."

Ara gave Harry a little smile as she shrugged again. "It's all right. I like you," she told him. "I don't get to like people, because the chief matron doesn't let them stay long. She sends them to other children's homes if I make friends," she explained, noticing that Harry was about to question her about that.

Harry dragged a hand down his face; he looked very tired. "Well, I know that Ginny won't stand for any of this," he said softly.

"What's your house like?" Ara asked. "I'll bet it's nice. You and Mr. Severus are nice, so you would have a nice house..."

"That's very kind of you to say," Harry answered quietly. "Well... It's a big house, an old house, and Severus and I live there with our twins, Leo and Marigold."

Ara's eyes widened. "You have babies?"

"Yes; wizards, that's me and Severus, can have babies together," he explained, "just like a wizard and a witch, or a man and a woman, would."

Ara cocked her head to one side. "Am I a witch, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, Ara, you are a witch," he confirmed. "We also have something called a house-elf living with us. In the Wizarding World, we have different creatures. We have special cats and dogs, called Kneazles and Crups, or animals you would find in children's stories, like unicorns or fairies."

Ara felt delighted at the prospect. "Well, maybe when I go to school, I can learn about them," she said wistfully.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Why would you wait that long?"

At this, Ara wrapped her arms around herself, although the book from Ginny was still cradled protectively against her chest. "Well, even if Ginny can help, the chief matron said nobody would want me..."

Harry shook his head at that, got to his feet, and left the room, leaving Ara to stare at the carpet and sigh, wondering if, not for the first time, the chief matron was right.

~ᚷ~

Harry hurried out of the tiny office that Ara had been kept in and detected his husband's magical signature, knowing entirely well that he had performed Legilimency on this Hildegarde Seymoure person. She was absolutely despicable, and seemed to be Petunia Dursley and Agatha Trunchbull all rolled into one. Of course, there was likely some Dolores Umbridge in there as well, though it was in the reverse, given that this woman was not magical.

"Severus!" Harry cried out in relief, running into his husband's arms.

"Ginny's Obliviating her and sacking her as we speak," Severus replied, his tone just on the edge of control. "What a horrible, horrible woman..." He pulled his husband back, gazing down into his eyes. "You want to take her home, don't you? Ara."

Harry sighed, nodding his head. "The way she makes it sound, Severus..." He bit his lip. "It reminds me too much of the Dursleys. We need to take her home..."

"And we will," Severus said quietly. "Ginny sent off a Patronus to Hermione during my...erm, interview with Seymoure," he explained. "Hermione will act as our barrister."

There was a crack and, a moment later, Hermione Granger-Weasley stepped around the corner, dressed in a fashionable pantsuit. "Thankfully Molly's got Rose for the day," she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked.

"Where else? Minding the shop in Diagon," she responded, shaking her head. "I knew that the Aurors weren't for him long-term, but it's nice that he and George can be business partners now, especially now that Angelina's working for St. Mungo's. Little Fred's over at the Burrow today as well."

"Good; glad to see that Rose has some company," Severus said, stepping forward and kissing Hermione on the cheek. "Now, did Ginny explain?"

"Oh, she did," Hermione said, nodding her head and opening her briefcase, showcasing plenty of paperwork for them to go through. "I got the forms together for an emergency foster placement per the Magical Children Safe Haven Act of 1989," she went on. "I've already signed it, of course, and Kingsley did as well. Now all that remains is Ginny's signature, acting as temporary chief matron of this children's home, and yours and Harry's signatures, as you both will be her official guardians." Hermione looked around, almost as if she expected to find someone else there. "Where is the girl?"

Harry smacked himself in the forehead. "I may have left her in the office..."

"Harry! Did she confide in you about anything?" Hermione demanded, grabbing ahold of Harry's arm and pulling him down the corridor.

Harry nearly tripped on his feet as he was yanked after her. "W-well, she mentioned all the things the chief matron did, and how the damnable woman went on about her never getting adopted—"

"And you just left her alone?" Hermione screeched, shaking her head at him, and coming to a full stop once she caught sight of Severus's gesture, leading her to believe they'd arrived at the pitiful shoebox that was the office the girl was being kept in. Hermione slowly pushed open the door, her brown eyes melting when she caught sight of Ara for the first time. "And you must be Ara," she said gently, stepping forward. "My name is Hermione Granger-Weasley; I'm friends with Harry, Severus, and Ginny, and I'm here to help you."

Ara straightened up. "You are?" she asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied, and smiled at the book she held. "That was a favorite of mine growing up," she told her. "I always fancied myself a bit like Matilda."

Ara blinked, her eyes wide. "You're a witch, too?" she whispered.

Hermione grinned, reaching into her blazer and drawing out her wand, focusing on the very same bauble that Severus and Harry had previously broken and restored. "Wingardium Leviosa," she said, enunciating the pair of words perfectly, and, with a swish and flick of her wand, the bauble rose a few feet into the air.

Ara watched, fascinated, until the bauble was lowered carefully, back down onto the table. "I love magic," she whispered, her eyes gleaming.

Hermione stepped a bit closer, lowering herself so that she was eye-level to Ara. "Remember when I said I was here to help you?"

Ara nodded.

"Well, you see, I'm a barrister," Hermione explained. "That means that I go and speak to people in charge for people like Harry and Severus. Now, Harry and Severus have just told me something very exciting about you. Do you want to know what it is?"

Ara's eyes widened further. "What is it?" she whispered.

Hermione smiled at the childlike wonderment. "They've told me that they would like it very much if you would go home with them," she said softly.

Harry took a tentative step forward at that. "We would foster you to begin with, Ara, because that's what is called for in situations like this," he continued.

"And then," Severus went on, "once the people in charge have spoken to Hermione, we would adopt you."

Ara's lower lip trembled. "You... You want me?" she whispered.

"They do," Hermione assured her.

Ara's brow puckered; she was obviously deep in thought. "What do the people in charge do, Hermione?" she asked. "Why can't Harry and Mr. Severus adopt me now?"

Hermione smiled; she already thought the world of Ara, and knew that this little girl would do Harry and Severus a world of good. "Well, the people in charge have lots of other things to decide in their jobs, and many of these things came before ours," she explained. "Sort of like a queue for getting something to eat."

Ara nodded. "Oh. Is there anything else?"

"Well," Hermione said, sitting across from Ara, "they also would need to see if you had any blood relatives. Such as if you have grandparents, or aunts and uncles. Not that Harry and Severus couldn't look after you, but the law states that family members have to be found and ruled out."

"Ruled out?" Ara asked.

Hermione's lips twitched. "It means that they have to look at your family members—their jobs, how much money they have, or if they've done bad things, like...stolen something," she said quickly, not wanting to scar Ara for life with a plethora of descriptions of potentially graphic or violent crimes. "Sometimes family members don't know that they have a relative, and they want that relative to live with them."

"But... But what if I want to live with Harry and Mr. Severus?" Ara wanted to know, her eyes widening with panic.

Hermione smiled. "That's what I'm here for, Ara. I have to speak for you and what you want, and then the people in charge will decide what they think is best. The people in charge will listen to what you want when they make their decision, Ara, I promise."

Ara looked up at Harry and Severus, her eyes appearing impossibly large. "May we go home now?" she asked softly.

Hermione smiled, walking over to the desk and laying out the pieces of parchment. "We just need to sign this," she said, looking up as Ginny entered the room. "Oh, there you are. Did the cretin give you any trouble?"

"I may have assisted her in packing her belongings whilst she was recovering from the Obliviate," Ginny informed her sister-in-law with a grin. "I'll stand in as chief matron for the interim, until I can call and schedule an interview on Monday. The deputy matrons can take over for the weekend, once I've got everything settled down. But, as for the cretin herself, she is officially off the property for good. The wards have been updated not to grant her further admittance, and we'll put in her file that she's not to work with children again. I don't care if it was just Ara she was caught abusing; she's been here for fifteen years. I won't have her in this environment ever again."

"So ordered," Hermione said, shaking her head. "Good riddance. Severus," she said, turning to him; as the senior of the group, he would be required to sign before Harry. "Would you mind awfully casting Magia Prosapia on Ara?"

Severus smiled at Hermione. "Not at all," he responded, turning to Ara, and removing his wand from his suit. "Now, Ara," he said, coming to stand in front of her, "I'm not going to hurt you. I am merely going to wave my wand, and a yellow-green color will come out of it and go around you. Then, once it has ascertained who your father and mother's family is, it will glow with the colors upon their family crests, one for each side."

Ara nodded her head. "All right."

"Do you understand?" Severus asked, pointing his wand at her.

Ara smiled a little, watching as Ginny and Hermione in turn signed the paperwork, much to her excitement. "I think so."

"Very well," Severus responded, vaguely aware of Harry, Hermione, and Ginny standing back, as he aimed his wand. "Magia Prosapia!" he declared, the yellow-green light shooting forth from the tip of his wand, and going around Ara, just as he said it would.

Ara stood, motionless, as the spell flew around her, sensing her bloodline, and seemed to consider it for a few moments. Then, one side of her body shone scarlet and ivory, and the other crimson and gold. Her eyes widened at the expanse of colors, as she felt the varying gazes upon her from throughout the small office room.

"Dear Merlin," Hermione whispered, and Ginny shot her a look.

"What is it?" Harry asked; he was only really aware of the family crests of Potter, Prince, and the Weasley family. "What's wrong?"

Ginny waited for the spell to die down before she stepped forward, offering Ara her hand. "Why don't we go and have a cup of tea?" she asked, and steered her out of the room.

"Harry," Severus said, his voice calm, once he caught Hermione's eye, "it seems as though Ara here is a Pureblood."

"Oh," Harry said, shocked at the revelation. "All right. So are her families Sacred Twenty-Eight, then?" he asked.

Hermione pursed her lips. "It appears as though Ara's paternal side is the Yaxley family, while the maternal is Avery," she said softly.

"Corbin Yaxley's wife died the same day as their daughter-in-law, surprisingly, although it was understood that she had given birth to a son, whom the family named Corvus," Severus informed Harry quietly. "Alexandra Avery was her name while at Hogwarts; she sorted into Slytherin, as all her family had done before her, though she was very quiet..."

"I remember her—she was really quiet," Hermione said quietly. "Her twin sister, Araminta, was Head Girl during our third-year. She was best friends with Penelope Clearwater, and Penelope and Percy had broken up by that time, so she did it as a favor to Penelope who, understandably, didn't want to be around Percy."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "But... Araminta Avery was a Ravenclaw..."

"And was disowned from her family because of it, quite like Andromeda Tonks," Severus said softly, shaking his head. "I would have helped Alexandra, had she asked for it. There were, of course, rumors, which were likely founded, that Araminta was sent a Howler once her sorting became common knowledge, and that she was beaten upon her arrival back at the Avery estate in Sussex. This was not considered out of the ordinary, and it is likely that Andromeda, as well as Sirius Black, were beaten for such infractions. Andromeda for marrying a Muggleborn, and Black for sorting into Gryffindor."

"We can't hold her family background against her, Severus," Harry said firmly. "Did either of you sense any darkness within her?"

"I certainly didn't, and I can feel magic; surface-level, at the very least," Hermione said quietly, turning to look at the former Head of Slytherin. "What about you, Severus?"

"No, I didn't feel any darkness," Severus responded; as the most experienced wizard, he could feel wixen's magic beneath the surface, all the way to their magical core if he so desired, which is part of what Magia Prosapia entailed. "Of course, this means that Alexandra's death, as well as that of her purported son, will have to be investigated."

Hermione nodded. "Of course. Once we sign, if, that is, the both of you still want to, I'll bring the information to Kingsley. He'll likely want to meet Ara as quickly as possible..."

"I still want to sign," Harry said quickly, approaching the desk, before he looked over his shoulder at his husband. "Severus?"

Severus nodded his head, taking the quill Hermione had on offer. "We're not turning our back on her now, Harry. Not ever," he said, his tone resolute, before he dipped the nib in ink and signed his name at the bottom of the parchment.