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     "WHY THE HELL IS HE HERE?!", HARRY HARSHLY ASKED. victoria simply breathed out as she led draco towards the boy, who was still slightly on guard.

     "he's here to help", victoria vaguely answered.

     "he....what?"

     "you heard her potter! I'm here to assist you two, though I'm not really sure what shady business you two are doing", the boy lowly grumbled.

     "victoria, are you sure about th—"

"he'll be fine as long as I'm here harry", victoria cut in as she then took a seat on the floor of the astronomy tower since she was already tired from standing.

     throughout the two to three months that victoria's been hospitalized, the girl's been slowly gaining her strength back, meaning that victoria wasn't exactly fit.

     "we should head to wool's orphanage tonight. it's a good place to start, considering that's where he begun his life", victoria said as harry just nodded in agreement.

     draco did not question who the "he" was, as one of the promises he made to victoria was that he would not question such things throughout the entire trip.

     "how are we going to get there?"

     victoria whistled as her firebolt flew over to the three. harry simply mirrored the girl's actions as victoria prompted draco to ride with her.

     "ready?", victoria asked.

     both boys gave their confirmations as the three headed off towards the muggle world, much to draco's displeasure as he soon realized that they had traveled through platform 9 and 3/4.

     "why are we here in the muggle realm late at—"

     "remember draco, no questions regarding the mission. and technically, it's the early morning of a wonderful saturday", victoria smiled.

     "we ought to change into something more appropriate too", victoria commented as she dragged the two boys towards a nearby clothing store.

"welcome", the store manager tiredly greeted. perhaps working 24/7 was not her choice, but victoria didn't exactly care.

"can you get these two a suit please?", victoria requested as she already headed towards the women's section, not giving harry or draco another's moment of discussion.

     after victoria had payed with muggle currency—something she had stored up for emergencies—the two boys were in matching black pants with a white button up, a black vest, and a complementing tie.

     victoria's heels struck the cold wet ground as the three neared the orphanage. the girl picked out a black satin slip dress with matching satin gloves as she entered the the orphanage with harry and draco.

by now, it was at least half past seven in the morning, hence the three were able to enter the orphanage without problem.

     "good morning, you are mrs. cole I presume?", victoria smiled, going over to shake the old woman's hand.

     it was safe to assume that it was the same woman from dumbledore's memories, but obviously, she had aged quite a bit.

     "oh good morning dear. you three are..."

     "I'm victoria noir and these two are my brothers harry and draco", victoria lied, to which draco had subtly scowled at the mentioning of being related to harry.

     "I see. now are you looking to adopt or—"

     "indeed. I was...hoping to find a child since...", victoria whispered the rest of the sentence into the old woman's ear, hoping to gain herself some pity.

"oh I'm so sorry my dear. come right this way. we have plenty of children that are just waiting for a loving home", mrs. cole said.

as the old woman led the trio towards the breakfast room, draco leaned in close.

"what'd you say to her?"

"that I'm unable to conceive a child, hence why my husband divorced me", victoria lowly responded, making draco raise a brow.

"children, you all have visitors!", mrs. cole announced, making all the kids perk up and smile.

harry and draco immediately stiffened as they were not child experts. none knew what to exactly do, as the two sixteen year-olds just watched victoria approach them with a soft aura.

     "good morning to you all. my name's victoria. this is harry and the other one is draco", victoria once again introduced.

     "are they your boyfriends?", a bold little girl asked, making draco advert looking at the girl's general direction while harry choked on his spit.

     victoria simply chuckled. "no, they're my brothers. say, what's your name little one?"

     "I'm jessie and I'm turning five this year", the girl grinned.

     "and I'm sam! I'm already five", the boy proudly boasted.

     "m-my name is...tyler", a shy boy chimed in while the others started introducing themselves one by one.

     "I see...and what is that you all like to do here?", victoria questioned as she sat beside jessie and tyler.

     "w-well I-I like to collect different leaves and write about them in my notebook", tyler smiled, fumbling with his slightly ragged shirt.

"sam and I like to go exploring. we especially enjoy visiting the seaside cave!", jessie answered.

"seaside cave you say? tell me more about it", victoria inquired, smiling as she motioned for harry and draco to join them.

"well we heard from mrs. cole that during her prime years, there was a boy a bit older than us that terrorized two kids there", jessie whispered, making the trio intrigued.

"really? what was the boy's name, do you know?", harry asked, to which sam had replied this time.

"I think...I think it's like timothy or something", sam mumbled, to which that had earned him a slight slap from jessie.

"it's tom you idiot!"

"ohhhh right right! tom riddle. mrs. cole's quite uneasy about him whenever his name is mentioned", sam informed.

that had made draco utterly confused. 'tom riddle? who in carnation is tom riddle?!'

"ah, well thank you for all that. we'll come back soon alright? is it alright if we take a look around?", victoria questioned.

     "oh of course! please, have a look around", mrs. cole suddenly answered as she came back from helping another kid.

     victoria stood up along with draco and harry as the rest of the children just waved to them.

     "so what's happening next?", draco lowly asked.

     "we'll be taking a visit to seaside cave. perhaps tom might've hidden a little surprise there for us", victoria smiled, walking around as she pretended to be interested in the nearly empty orphanage.

     that is, until a certain room had caught her attention.

     'room 27. the same one that he had resided in...'

the two boys just watched as the girl knocked on the door, earning a faint, "come in".

victoria's eyes skimmed the neat room that had mountains of books and parchment stacked on top of the wobbly desk. there on the chair sat a pale boy who had fair platinum blonde hair quite like draco's.

"draco, you didn't tell me you had a son", victoria teased, to which the boy had immediately denied such a deed.

victoria lightly chuckled as she inched closer to the boy who's eyes were closed and had bandages wrapped around them.

"who are you?", the boy asked. his voice was pristine, clear, and innocent, something victoria very much appreciated.

"I'm victoria. and you are?"

"my name's oliver. I don't have a last name though", the boy calmly answered.

     "I noticed you weren't at breakfast today oliver. why's that?", victoria questioned.

     "because I cannot see, the other kids like to make fun of me", the boy replied. "but you're not actually interested in that are you? I sense that you and your friends are here for alternative reasons".

     harry, who was beside draco, was quite baffled at how the little boy had known. not even the kids who could see could tell that they weren't actual siblings. or perhaps they did, but chose to ignore it.

     "can you sense or can you read minds?", victoria asked, making harry clear his throat as a warning.

     the boy stayed silent for a moment.

     "I can't read your mind anymore", oliver mumbled, making victoria smile.

     "oliver, how would you like if you took my last name?", victoria offered, making the boy slightly skeptical.

     "I promise you a lifetime of wealth, safety, comfortability", victoria persuaded, to which the boy had meekly nodded his head.

     draco slightly furrowed his brows, as he did not reckon this was a bright idea, but did not voice his opinion anyways.

"well then oliver, I promise to come back a year later. you trust me don't you?"

oliver simply nodded as the trio left the orphanage, heading towards the seaside cave.

"you're not actually going to adopt him are you?", draco asked.

"why not? the boy's a natural legilimens".

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a/n: hello my lovely readers!! thank you all SO SO MUCH for still reading this story that I literally don't know what's even going on.

if you enjoyed though, please comment, share, and vote! it'd mean a lot.

this chapter's a bit longer since I've been quite slow on updating. I know it's quite different from the plot, but I quite enjoyed writing this chapter.

anyways, enough of me rambling. see you all soon!! xoxo