Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Lost Daughter
Chapter 14: A Case In Motion
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[AN] Sorry last chapter lacked its usual amount of length and spice. Got more of a filling chapter in store for you today.
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Rose was quiet walking back from Ancient Runes, her last class of the day. She knew she had patrols at 10 tonight but was wondering what else she could do to fill up her time. Of course, she could study. After all O.W.L.s were only 8 months away and it was never too early to start preparing. However, with all the time she'd been spending with Amia, she was starting to allow herself time for things to just come up. Her schedule was definitely different now that she had a steady friend and she didn't really mind that, seeing as her grades were still top notch. Giving herself time for recreation had proven to be quite the good thing.
She was just coming upon the entrance to the staircase when she heard a chorus of voices coming out from the dungeons. A 6th year Gryffindor boy caught her eye and made her stop. Mia also had potions this hour- at least they could walk back together.
The search for her friend ended quickly. Rose was quick to spot Mia standing ahead of the other students near the boys loo on the other side of the corridor. Truthfully, it was the person she was standing with and talking animatedly to who she spotted first.
Rose froze as she watched Mia laugh at something Scorpius said. The two looked like comfortable friends, especially him. It didn't seem to phase Scorpius Malfoy at all that he was talking to a Gryffindor. That must of meant something special for Amia…
Rose didn't know how long she had been staring for, but it must've been long enough for one of the last Slytherins making their way past to shout out a comment about her Weasley heritage.
Rose didn't pay any attention to the rude girl, but the call did catch Mia's attention. She jerked her head around Scorpius and grinned when she saw her friend standing by the edge of the hall.
Rose, not even realizing that Amia was staring straight at her, jolted when the older girl waved her over. However, when Scorpius turned around and looked at her with his steely blue, knee-buckling eyes, she completely panicked.
In a flash, she spun on her heel and hooked a right into the room containing the grand staircase. She jumped on it and ran up the stairs two at a time, too scared to look back.
…
Turns out, leaving time to hang out with Mia wasn't necessary after all. Once Rose had ran the entire distance to her room and hid herself in her bed, her head buried under her pillow, for a good hour, she had decided to simply resort to one of her original forms of time-filling.
Studying. Quietly, in the corner of the common room that had come to be her own since no one ever went around it because she was always there… studying.
So naturally, the redhead didn't look up as the portrait hole opened and a random Gryffindor walked in. When the random Gryffindor walked over and dropped her book bag on the table in front of Rose, she jumped about a foot.
"What up Rose?" asked Mia, sitting down in the seat opposite her.
"Mia! Hi…"
She raised a concerned eyebrow, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's okay," Rose replied, shaking her head quickly, "I just wasn't paying attention."
"You alright?" Mia asked after observing the girl for a couple seconds.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" Rose responded immediately.
Mia narrowed her eyes, "You've been acting kind of off today. What was up with you in the corridor earlier?"
"Nothing. I just had to get to class."
"Oh. You seemed like you were shocked or something and then you just ran away."
"I didn't run away, I just didn't want to interrupt you with him."
Amia's face contorted into a frown as she leaned back in her seat, "With him? You mean
Scorpius?"
"Yeah," Rose nodded bleakly, looking back to her reading.
"But I waved you over. It's not like you would have been interrupting us."
"Oh. Right."
Rose didn't look up from her book and continued to act like she was reading. Amia didn't buy the façade she was trying to put up one bit, but was confused why Rose wouldn't just tell her if something was up. Why was she trying to hide something from her? After a couple minutes of examining the younger girl, she could only come up with one conclusion.
And it definitely made sense.
"You like him, don't you?" Amia asked her with a small grin.
The fifth year's first reaction proved to Mia that her theory was correct. Rose snapped her head up and slammed
her book close. With wide eyes and a disgruntled expression, she started to shake her head, "What?! I- No! I
don't! He- he's…"
Amia folded her arms across her chest smugly, "Oh, so you really like him."
"No! I…" The determined frown of denial on her face slowly faded. Suddenly, Rose was staring at Amia,
desperately anxious. She leaned forward, her tone now merely above a whisper, "Mia you can't say anything
about this. If anyone were to find out, then they'd tell someone else and then eventually the whole school would
know. If my family found out about that... They'd probably disown me."
Amia frowned in all seriousness, "I'm sure they'd get over it Rose."
She shook her head sadly, "You don't understand. Weasley's and Malfoy's have been enemies for
decades. It's a big deal. My dad would murder me."
"Rose that's bullshit," Mia burst after frowning in disgust for a couple long seconds. She'd never
heard of a more unworthy prejudice. She couldn't believe that someone as innocent as Rose was actually scared of
such bullshit.
Rose shrugged, "It's just the way it is."
"So just like that, you're not going to act on your feelings for someone because your family is prejudice
against a last name?"
"It's not that they're prejudice, it's just the Malfoy's have always been followers of the
dark. Weasley's stand for the light…" Rose tried explaining more gently.
"I thought you didn't play into the whole Gryffindors are good and Slytherins are bad thing?"
"I don't! It's just… It's complicated. Plus it's not like he likes me back. The whole thing is
pointless."
"It's not pointless," Mia said again with just as much conviction as before, "I think if you like
him you should talk to him. Regardless of what you think your Dad would say. You can't let other people dictate
your life Rose."
Rose let her words sink in before shaking her head hopelessly, "I wouldn't even know how to talk to him.
Even though I don't believe in the House divide, I'm sure he's been taught to live that way."
"You'll never know if you don't talk to him," Amia encouraged, "Plus, you saw me talking to
him. It wasn't a big deal then."
This time, it was Rose who scoffed, "Yeah, but you're you and I'm me. I'm sure any bloke would be
eager to talk to you."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're American and you're gorgeous, but overall interesting. On the other hand, I'm quiet and I
actually enjoy school, but mainly I'm just another ginger haired Weasley to litter the halls of Hogwarts. I mean,
you heard that Slytherin girl earlier."
Amia frowned remembering what she'd heard someone shout about the Weasley's after Potions. Obviously there was still evidence of a House divide, but that didn't mean she or Rose had to fall for it.
"Anyone ever tell you that your self confidence sucks?"
She only shrugged, "It's the truth."
"Wow. You're never going to get what you want with that attitude," Mia said, shaking her head.
"It's the only attitude I've ever had," Rose returned with another helpless shrug.
Amia narrowed her eyes in determination before shaking her head, "Not anymore. It's time to spread your
wings Rose Weasley."
Rose frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Keep your schedule clear this weekend, okay?"
"Why? Mia?" Rose asked, growing even more confused as the California girl stood up and grabbed her
bag.
Mia shot Rose a sly grin, "I'll talk to you later," she said before turning and hurrying back out of the portrait hole.
…
After dinner, a good amount of Gryffindor house was lounging around the common room, finishing homework, reading magazines, and talking to friends. Rose was writing out a draft of her Ancient Runes essay on a couch in front of the fire while Mia was sprawled on the other side, her feet up on the table and her eyes roaming around the cosy room.
After coming back from her secretive exit that afternoon, Rose had tried several times to ask Amia what she was planning. Refusing to tell her anything every time she asked eventually brought a lull to their conversation, leaving them in their current state of amicable silence.
As her eyes roamed, a bright coloured flyer lying underneath one of Rose's books caught Amia's eyes.
"What's that?" she asked, nodding off in its direction.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing the flyer, "I need to post this on the bulletin board."
"Can I see?"
"Yeah."
Amia took it from her and quietly read over the announcement. When she was done she looked up with a questioning face, "Hogsmeade weekend? What's that?"
"All third years and up are allowed to head out to Hogsmeade for Saturday. Fifth years and up are allowed to go Friday nights and Saturdays now," Rose explained excitedly.
Mia nodded, turning back to the flyer, "Sounds pretty cool."
"Yeah they're always good weekends. There's loads of good shops. The town is really cool. I can't wait for the first weekend in a couple weeks."
The way Rose spoke about it struck up an idea in Mia's mind. A slow grin started to form on her face as she started to think about the idea.
"Rose!"
Both Rose and Amia turned to see Hugo, muddy and sweaty as all hell, tramping up to them. "Guess what?" he asked, plopping down in between them, "I did great at practice! Totally wowed James!"
"Awesome…" Rose muttered, lifting her eyebrows, totally unimpressed.
Her look and tone didn't phase her brother, "And guess what! Today when James released the bludgers for the scrimmage, one of `em zoomed right at me! I thought it was confounded because it really had it out for me, but I saddled up and slammed that bugger to the other side of the pitch! It never had a chance!"
"Again, awesome."
Hugo scoffed, "Where's mum? I'd rather talk to someone who can be happy for me right now."
Rose rolled her eyes, "I don't know, but speaking of Mum, we need to talk about what to get her for her birthday. It's this Saturday, remember?"
"I remember," Hugo said, clearly offended that his sister had implied differently.
"Well what are you thinking about getting her? I was going to write a letter to Nana to see if she'll send the gifts to us."
Hugo thought long and hard for a couple seconds, "Um, we could get her some ear rings or something…"
Rose frowned, "Her ears aren't pierced."
"Or, well what about a book? She'd like that."
"We got her books last year…"
"Well I don't know! Why am I the only one coming up with ideas?"
Rose glared at him, "You're so juvenile Hugo."
"Better than shrewd and stuck up!"
"I'm not stuck up!"
Amia sat there not really listening to the two siblings squabble. Her thoughts had shifted courses after hearing about Hermione's upcoming birthday. She hadn't told Amia in class that she was about to have a birthday… maybe it had slipped her professor's mind. Nevertheless, now that she knew, it only seemed right to get her something. After all, Hermione had done a lot for her before they had even really gotten to know each other. She'd put her neck on the line a couple times for her, so a birthday present was definitely a good way to show her her thanks.
Rose and Hugo continued to fight while Amia was bombarded with ideas over what to get their mother.
…
Harry sighed as he watched the Head Auror answer questions from reporters from behind a window in the press room. He was at a complete lost over this new case. Just as they were beginning to get more and more confused about Martin McQue's case, who had no improvement in his condition at the hospital, another incident happened. This time it was Paul Simon who had his magic drained. It was a similar fashion as before; Paul, a very reputable wizard within the Magical Cooperation department had just gotten home from work when it appears someone came through the back door and took him out from behind. At St. Mungo's they estimated about 90% of his magic was gone.
But how this magic was taken, where, and why were the remaining mystery that the aurors were going crazy trying to solve. No one had any idea of any possibilities, and until the victims woke up or a culprit was caught, it was likely to stay that way.
Naturally, in the meantime when the Daily Prophet got hold of the news, press started flooding the ministry. It was now an open riot in the news room Harry was looking into, and for good reason. This was the first serious incident where the authorities had no leads on anything in about seventeen years. The press would automatically jump on it. Harry just felt bad for his Head of Department, Gawain Robards, the bloke responsible for dealing with that open riot.
"Hello Harry."
Harry turned around in surprise- he thought he had been alone in the observation room. However, his surprise turned into a smile when he saw Luna Lovegood standing next to him. Even at 35, she looked as dreamy and innocent as she did 20 years ago. He came forward to give his old friend a hug.
"Luna! It's good to see you."
"You as well. You're looking refreshed. You're spirit is a lot more optimistic," Luna noted, stepping back to observe him in full.
Harry too looked down at himself with a miffed expression, "Er, thanks. You here for the Quibbler? The press conference is in there, you know."
"I know. I thought I'd come see you instead."
"Oh?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. Even though Luna had taken over her father's position as lead reporter at the Quibbler, she never called upon her friendship with Harry to get any special favours. He wondered if today would be the first to break that tradition.
"Yes. What are you doing about these cases, Harry?"
Harry noticed that she hadn't even picked up the notepad she was holding to indicate that she'd be taking any notes. Wondering if she was asking just for her own knowledge, he started to slowly answer, "Well… we're searching the crime scenes and the surrounding areas. Looking for any signs of a duplication; anything that would indicate the same person was at both homes. Then of course we have healers monitoring the victims at St. Mungo's. We're hoping that they'll wake up soon so we can start to question them. See if they have any of the same enemies or if there's any connections there. Also we're cross-referencing their signatures with other cases to see if anyone's been able to utilize their magic… even though that'd be impossible. Really, that step is just to assure the public that we're doing everything we can. I don't agree to it-"
"Why not?"
Harry gave Luna a strange look, "Because it's a waste of time. Their magic can't be reused."
"I'm confused," Luna said, her eyes wide with the mysticism of her thoughts, "I thought you knew that the magic was stolen."
"Stolen?" Harry repeated.
"Yes. Why else do you think it's happen twice? This criminal is trying to stockpile it."
"Luna," Harry said, shaking his head unbelievingly, "Magic can't be stolen. It just can't be."
"You think that way because it's never been done before. And why would it need to be? If every wizard and witch had their own magic to manipulate? But this case is different, Harry. Someone is stealing magic- powerful magic- and if they've done it twice, my guess is that they'll do it again."
Harry stood there completely aghast with Luna's theory. On one hand, it was completely crazy. All throughout school they had taught them that one wizard's signature was his own and only his own. Two signatures couldn't be mixed. Before this, Harry had put his faith in that. But now… what if Luna was right? What if whoever was doing this had found a loophole in that theory? Or what if they were doing this not for the purpose of reusing it themselves… what if they were trying to create something with it? Like a weapon?
"But… Magic is as powerful as the witch or wizard makes it-"
"And when you got a bit of Tom Riddle's magic put in you, that made you a complete nibbimbley head at magic, did it?"
Harry was silenced again. No one had said that name in front of him in over sixteen years. The rush of cold that ran up his spine was only a faint reminder of his past. Unknowingly, his hand raised and he brushed his fingertips over the old scar that used to control so much of his life as a child.
What was most chilling of all was that she was right. Yes, he had inherited good magical blood through his father's Peverell ancestry. But he also had certain advantages that were privy to Riddle's horcrux.
But who could be in the stealing magic business and where it even came from was beyond him. How could you even steal someone's magic? Or leave no traces of your own while doing so?
"I see you have a lot of work to get to, so I'll leave you to it. It was good seeing you Harry. I hope you remain optimistic."
Too enamoured with confusion and questions, Harry couldn't even move to wave back as the blonde waved at him before elegantly sliding out of the small room.
…
Mia really wish she had her favourite ray bans to put on to guard her from the shining California sun. She'd missed it dreadfully- living somewhere in the north of the UK really didn't mean a lot of direct sunlight- but right now it was definitely a bit much, giving the fact she'd just apparated from a place where it was completely dark out.
Shielding her eyes, and trying to be as stealth as possible, she jumped out from the nook that the infinity pool in their backyard provided, and climbed up onto the pool deck of her house. She knew her mother was probably still asleep and her sister should've been at school, but it was the neighbours seeing her that worried her most. Because of that she ran across the grass as fast as she could to the pool house. As soon as she had made it, she pulled out her wand and tapped it against the door handle. The lock clicked and the door popped open, letting Mia slip inside.
She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she was inside. Her relief was immediately washed over with nostalgia as she opened her eyes and took in her room which she hadn't been in in a few weeks.
Everything was just the way she left it (thanks to the charm she'd put on her door). Her bed was still a little messy and unkempt, just the way she liked it, a couple of her favourite books were still propped open, and even the CD drawer on her stereo was still open. It was almost like she had never left- which was exactly what she'd hoped to feel when she finally came home.
She was smiling by the time she'd made her rounds with the room. There was only one last place to refresh herself of: her picture board. Slowly, she walked over to her bed and glanced at the pictures pinned above it. They were a collection of pictures from throughout her childhood up until last summer. A lot of them were of her and Alex. But a good amount of them also had TJ in them. She bit her lip as she reached for one of the pictures pinned showing its backside. When she turned it over, she saw the face that had been clouding her mind for the past two days.
It was her favourite picture of them. They were sitting on the beach, with his blanket wrapped around them after one of the first nights they had finally kissed. His wild black hair and gray eyes contrasted perfectly to her honey coloured hair and intense green ones. People had always told them they had looked like a perfect couple. Just remembering how safe she felt in his pictured embrace made her question her current attitude towards their status.
But she felt good knowing she'd at least explained herself better in the response to TJ's letter. At least she had written him back. She'd probably beaten her owl here, come to think about it. Still biting her lip, she walked over to her window and peered out to the upper level of the house next door. She could just go talk to him- he was just right there…
No. She wasn't back to this god awful household for her own sake- she was here on a mission. A Hermione mission.
She slipped the picture into her back pocket before turning around and going over to her jewellery box. She opened it and smiled faintly as the music started to play- it had been one of many of the great gifts she received from her father before he took off. It didn't take her long to pick out what she was looking for since she could spot the emblem a mile away. It was even red and gold to match the house colour she and her kids were in. She pulled the necklace out and let it dangle in front of her so she could admire it appropriately.
Amia had been given her St. Christopher's necklace a long time ago, before she first took up swimming in the ocean. St. Christopher was a muggle patriarch that represented courage. It is said that if you wear the necklace, you will also gain the courage of St. Christopher and protection from him whenever in deep waters.
Right now, she couldn't think of a more courageous person than her Transfiguration professor. Hopefully she would like her birthday gift.
Mia didn't linger long in her room. She pretty much closed her jewellery box and headed straight for the door. She didn't hurry across the lawn to the nook by the pool like earlier, figuring there was no need to now since her mission was completed. But oh boy, had she been wrong.
Amia was walking innocently when suddenly a firm hand clamped down on her shoulder and spun her around.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here, young lady?" asked Kirsten Cooper in a very strained and clipped tone. Her glowing skin and perfectly shaped and coloured hair made it seem like she had just gotten back from the spa. It was quite comical to see it twisted into such an angry expression.
Mia didn't feel like laughing at that moment though. She shrugged out of her mother's iron clad grip, "This is my house too in case you've forgotten."
"You're supposed to be at school! What the hell are you doing in Newport Beach?!"
This time Mia did grin for her mother's benefit, "It's not school hours in England anymore."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kirsten screeched, growing more and more impatient.
"Exactly what it means. Now if you'll excuse me…"
"You've been kicked out again, haven't you?" Kirsten burst, stopping Mia from leaving.
Amia rolled her eyes, "Wouldn't that just be a dream come true."
Kirsten scoffed, "I knew sending you to that place wasn't going to do you any good. That man assured me it was a good school, but I knew right from the start that it wouldn't sort you out. You couldn't excel at anything even if you wanted to. If one school rejects you the others would be bound to follow- I always knew it. You think you can use your tricks and scheming to get you out of anything!"
Amia stood there silently staring into her mother's fuming eyes. And this was exactly why she wanted nothing to do with her family. Because her family really wanted nothing to do with her.
"You have food in your teeth," Amia muttered before disapparating right in front of Kirsten.
A second or two passed.
She blinked once before swiping her tongue repeatedly over her teeth.
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I hoped you guys enjoyed this longer chapter and more of you can review because of it.
Next chapter: Hermione has a good birthday with her kids (all of them) and Amia convinces Rose to have a little fun. ;]
Until then, please leave a review on your way out!
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