Chapter 1
▪︎▪︎The Rookwood Residence, Britain, November 1981▪︎▪︎
Unspeakable Augustus Rookwood was having to re-evaluate and re-orientate his position in the world he was now facing.
Up until a few weeks ago he had been one of the many followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort had amassed and together they had all been working towards several important goals - the separation of the muggle world from the wizarding one completely, the decriminalisation of major aspects of dark magic use, the improved intergration of muggle raised students, the improvement of childrens welfare in both legislative and practical aspects and more equal terms for the many creatures that had been oppressed by the so called 'light' faction of wizards.
In his opinion there had been no greater cause to lend his support and no greater leader to follow, or at least that had been the case until two years ago when a spy had bought forth news that a prophecy had been spoken of the Dark Lords downfall. It would potentially have been less of a concern had the prophecy not been revealed in front of the opposition leader, Albus Dumbledore, that night had changed the course of the war.
It had been unfortunate that only part of the prophesy had been heard, but it had been sufficient to identify the likely threat to the Dark Lord and his goals and thus the removal of such a threat had become the Dark Lords priority.
The threat was identified as one of two children, neither had yet reached a year old at the time, the son of the Potter's, a young powerful couple and the son of the Longbottom's all of whom had joined Dumbledore's order of the Pheonix straight out of school. Many of the Dark Lords followers disagreed with the Dark Lords desire to kill a child, but the Dark Lord had long ago become increasingly unstable and irrational, only those that had been with him at the very beginning were willing to voice their doubts, not that it had made any difference.
The Potter amd Longbottom family's were hidden by Albus Dumbledore himself, under the Fidelius charm. The Dark Lord had determined that the child of the prophecy was bound to be the child most like himself, the halfblood, and so when Peter Pettigrew, James Potter's school friend and Secret Keeper, the only one able to reveal their hidden location, had revealed said location in return for his own safety, the Dark Lord Voldemort had seen it as a confirmation that his supposition had been correct, an act of divine intervention as it were.
He had gifted Pettigrew with the Dark Mark then and there to ensure the mans future loyalty and as a reward for bringing such valuable information to the cause.
It was what had led their leader, on Samhain night, "the most auspicious of nights for such a deed" as he had said, the Dark Lord Voldemort, leader of the Dark faction, had descended upon Godrics Hollow with the intention of killing the prophecy child, the boy would be long dead before he could grow and become a true threat to his plans.
The Dark Lord had made short work of killing the boys parents and yet when faced with a 15 month old Harry Potter something had gone terribly wrong. Somehow the boy survived the Killing Curse where his parents had not, nor had any other being before that night and the Dark Lord Voldemort had been vanquished.
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Defeater of the previous Dark Lord, Grindlewald, and the Wizarding Ministry made several statements to the press regarding what had taken place that night, that the Dark Lord Voldemort had slain the young Potter couple however, for some reason the killing curse he had directed at their son Harry and had apparently rebounded and killed Voldermort himself instead. Harry Potter was declared the-boy-who-lived, Vanquisher of the Dark Lord Voldemort.
Over night any suspected followers of Voldermort and any 'suspicious' Dark Wizards were declared 'Wanted for questioning' by the victorious light and their leader Dumbledore with the backing of the Ministry. In reality many of Augustus' brothers and sisters in arms had been rounded up, arrested and shipped off to Azkaban if they had the Dark Mark, its presence in acting as all the evidence that the 'light' required to convict and sentence many. There were few trials held for those with enough political sway or money and non that would be deamed legal by a fair justice system.
Thankfully Rookwood had long ago taken great pains to ensure that the mark on his arm, the one that linked him to his Lord, was not visible to all. Work as an Unspeakable had it's benefits, the least of which was the access to knowledge that was deemed unsuitable for public consumption and it was where he had found a series of blood runes and a paste, that was regularly applied, would prevent it's detection from even the rarest of revealing spells. It was this that had saved him from being a suspect when other Death Eaters, as Lord Voldemort's followers were named, were rounded up by the dozen and put through farcical trials. He would be no good to their Lord if he gave away his position as a spy within the Ministry and he knew that his Lord would return.
▪︎▪︎St Maria's Home for Girls, London. December 1981▪︎▪︎
It was a cold, damp day nearly a week after Yule, that Rookwood had been sent to a run down little children's home in a poor area of muggle London as part of his role on the Wizarding Accident Response Team, more commonly refered to as WART. It was an emergency response team made up of an Auror from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or DMLE, a Mediwitch, an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries, the DoM, and an Obliviator from the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. WART's were dispatched to incidents where magic has been exposed to muggles, surprisingly they most frequently attended incidents that were caused by wizarding adults who should know better rather than pre-Hogwarts accidental magic caused by children.
Augustus was thankful that the Unspeakables operated a rota for who would be stuck on the team, as not one of them would choose it as a permanent job, it was a waste of their considerable talents.
The report recieved that day was centered around a young girl, aged around 6 years old, who had had a rather impressive bout of accidental magic.
He resented this aspect of this work the most, because it shouldn't be an issue in the first place. It was instances like this that had led to him fervently agreeing with his Lord that wizarding children should not be left in the muggle world. The children had no control over the accidental magic they exhibited and it was made more prevalent for those who were in unstable homes, it therefore left the wizarding world at a greater risk of exposure with every incident. Muggles had proven time and time again how dangerous they could be, how they would single out and destroy anything deemed to be 'different' from themselves.
This attitude seemed to infect the muggle raised children who often went on to find it difficult to assimilate to Wizarding culture when they finally received their Hogwarts letter at the age of 11, much too late in his opinion, and they were more discriminatory towards creatures and beings and Wizarding beliefs and festivals. It was because of a sudden influx of muggleborn students and the attitudes that they held that had led Dumbledore to begin advocating to change the wizarding world in order to make the newcomers more comfortable, rather than educating them in Wizarding culture, which is what had happened the previous generations.
Stamping down his annoyance Rookwood looked over the scene before him. A young girl, the victim, or culprit depending on your view point, was sat off to the side, hunched over, on a small bench and obviously dressed inappropriately for the chilly weather of December, especially with the light drizzle that day.
He could see from where he was stood that she had a swollen hand that was being taken care of by their Mediwitch.
His job would be to work with the reversal squsd member to undo the accidental magic that the girl had wrought upon two of the other children. He approached them slowly, taking in what evidence he could see to help determine what had likely happened before he continued with a more in depth assessment. In this instance it turned out that a rather nasty curse had been inflicted upon them, it had created pustules which errupted with a tar like excretion that smelled of putrified meat and burnt the surrounding skin, thereby creating more pustules and which had begun a never ending cycle of pain and misery for the two children. He would have to see if he could recreate it at a later date when he had the time, being an Unspeakable came with many perks and his lab was one of them. The Mediwitch was unable to treat them until the curse was removed, it was a little more complex than the usual accidental magic he dealt with and he did so like a challenge.
Several hours later the children were healed and the muggles were all obliviated, the Mediwitch had expressed concerns about the young girls welfare and was resolved to speak with the Head of Childrens Welfare, which consisted of only one member of staff, an elderly witch by the name of Madam Kaja Orpington, a muggleborn witch born before the turn of the century. Dumbledore believed that children should stay with their families, regardless of the suitability of the environment, and had lobbied to downsize the 'little needed' department, despite the increase in abuse cases amongst those raised in the muggle world, not that the man acknowledged the truth of the matter of course.
The girl, Calla Evans he learnt, had been at the home for only four months and this was the third call out for WART. She had apparently been well cared for until her grandparents had died leaving her in the care of an aunt who had refused to house her and her 'freakishness', now the poor girl was stuck in a group home that was allowing the other children to bully and harrass her. It had been unclear where the childs parents were, the staff had recieved no information about them and they were therefore, assumed to be deceased.
Rookwood had concidered adopting many times over the years however, having no spouse and no desire for one to share the responsibility had always been a negative point in ita favour against taking such an action, his work collegues would laughingly say he was married to his work and they weren't wrong. Unfortunately an inclination towards marriage was typically required in pureblood society in order to beget an heir and though his family wasn't in the Sacred-28 and certainly didn't hold a place on the Wizengamot, they were moderately wealthy, of good name and had a proud history of contributing significantly to the wizarding world that he wished to continue. Knowing that he would turn 45 years old at his next birthday and still had no heir was contributing to the resurgence in these thoughts he knew.
This little girl, he thought to himself, was brimming with untrained power and had delivered such a malicious curse, he would need to look up what she had previously done to know wether or not her inclination was towards darker magics, but even so could she become his heir? The report from the Matron had said she wasn't well liked (which was no surprise given that she was surrounded by muggles), read a great deal and spoke little. She sounded ideal for his purposes.
"She has the features of a pureblood line, though I can't place which one, except her eyes, there are no British purebloods with those eyes", Mediwitch Tavers mused.
"What was her name did you say?", Auror Thompson asked.
"Evans, Calla Evans", she answered.
"The only Evans I knew of at Hogwarts was the one that became Lily Potter. She and James Potter were both Griff's a few years below me", Auror Thompson, told her though he thought it unlikely that they were from the same family, Evans was a common enough name after all.
"Well that girl is no Potter and I think we would know if the boy-who-lived had a sister. Besides the paper reported that they were not long married and this girl is 6 years old", the Mediwitch said, refuting that the girl could belong to the same Evans.
Rookwood looked over and the child, who was still sat alone, and considered her features. Tavers was correct, she did have the look of one of their pureblood families, therefore she was likely to be a halfblood at the very least. He, unlike some of his Sacred-28 pureblood brethren, did not subscribe to 'purity in the bloodlines', there was too much evidence with the Unspeakables that inbreeding was having a negative impact on the family lines and the Dark Lord had been a well known as a halfblood in the early days, though it was often now forgotten. He had been one of the most powerful wizards in 200 years at least. He would perhaps consider adopting the child and would try to find out more about her parentage before making any deision.
"We should obliviate her before leaving, she could accidentally mention what happened to the muggles here if we don't and there will be no harm in explaining about magic again should children's services pick up her case" Rookwood suggested, knowing that the team would agree, they always did, no matter how much it rankled them to leave a magical child alone in the muggle world.
Two days later Calla sat alone, as usual, at breakfast, quietly eating the porridge that was served every morning. She planned to spend the remainder of the morning huddled in the reading nook looking though the books, she was hoping that if she stayed out of sight that the other girls forget her for a little while, it rarely worked, especially on wet days like this when they couldn't go outside to play.
A little before lunch time Miss Jenny, one of the volunteers, approached Calla with a message, "Calla, you are wanted in the Matrons office, now. Come with me". Calla gave a little pout and got up to follow ignoring the quiet taunts of the children who had overgeard and assumed she was in trouble. She wouldn't be getting lunch today if the meeting was now, if you weren't sat at table on time for meals, you didn't eat. It was one of the many rules that she had learnt since coming to this place. She missed her grandparents terribly.
She followed Miss Jenny quietly, hoping she wasn't in trouble again, she couldn't remember doing anything wrong but the other girls often told lies to get her into trouble. They stopped in front of the flimsy white office door and the helper tapped on it.
"Enter", came the austere voice of Matron Barbara Trimble, Calla had noticed that her voice changed when there were visitors, it was somehow nicer, even if she spoke like the queen, not the usual harsh tone and rough way she spoke normally.
"Matron Trimble, I have Calla as requested".
Calla was ushered into the room, the Matron wasn't alone so she stood near the door warily waiting to be told what to do. There was a man in the room sat opposite Matron who had brown hair and blue eyes that she hadn't seen before.
"Come further in girl", the Matron said tersely, though with the accent she was using it seemed to come out as 'gell'. Calla walking in nervously and stood in front of the small desk and waited silently, she had been taught quickly at the home that children should only speak when spoken too, otherwise meals were restricted or they were made to stand in the corner until the staff felt you had learned your lesson, it could be hours sometimes.
"Calla", the Matron said with a warmth she reserved only for when guests were around. "This gentleman is Mr Rookwood, he has expressed an interested in adopting you".
"Hello Mr Rookwood", she said shyly, she was in equal parts scared to be adopted and scared not to be. What if this man took her and it was worse than living in the home?
"Good Morning Miss Evans, perhaps you will accompany for a small walk around the courtyard so we might speak?", he asked politely.
"Excellent notion Mr Rookwood", she smiled at the man, "I'm sure Calla can show you the way, off you go girl", she said pleasantly but with a stern look of warning directed at the girl in question, a reminder not to misbehave.
The man, Mr Rookwood walked silently beside her until they were out of earshot of the others.
"You are a witch Calla, do you know this?", he asked directly.
"Grandma said not to tell anyone", she whispered with wide eyes.
"It is of no consequence, I am wizard you see. Was your grandmother a witch or perhaps your grandfather wizard?", he asked wanting to learn more of the childs ancestry if he could.
Calla was unsure of some of the words he had used but had at least understood the mans question, "No but grandma said mum was and so was my dad, but not my aunt"
"Do you know the names of your mother and father then?", he asked, glad that he would be able to identify her parentage prior to commiting to adopt her.
"Yes, Grandma gave me a picture of them and one of my baby brother", she said with a small sad smile.
"Would you mind showing me your pictures?" Rookwood asked feeling certain that the mystery of the young girls parentage would be easily determined now, it was very likely that her parents had died in the war if she was raised by her muggle grandparents.
She nodded and told him, "They are in my room, shall I get them?", uncertainty seemed to wash over her as she hovered for a moment.
"Yes child, go and get your pictures. I will await your return here, on this bench", he encouraged, gesturing to a small stone bench at the side of the play area. He watched as she ran off, concidering once again if he was making the right choice in adopting, he wasn't really very good with children, having had no previous experience, and it was taking all of his patience to try and communicate with this one, he supposed that was why one hired tutors and nanny elves though.
Just two minutes later and the young girl returned with an envelope, she stood in front of him awaiting instructions.
He gestured to the bench, "Why don't you take a seat and show me what you have?".
She sat down leaving as much distance between the two of them as she could and carefully opened the envelope and took a small pile of pictures out gingerly, clearly not wanting to damage the only evidence of the family she had once had.
She licked her lips and showed him the first picture, not offering to let him hold it he noticed. It was a picture of Calla and an older looking couple, it looked like it hadn't been taken above a year ago.
"This is my Grandma and Grandpa and me", she said, tears gathered in her eyes rapidly and began to fall, he handed her a folded handkerchief whilst eyeing the photograph, he didn't recognise the features of either person though that was less surprising since she said they were not magical.
"They look very kind", he said, simply for something to say, he had no idea how to address the child's grieving, but he knew their death had been in around August of that year from what the Matron had said.
"My Aunt and Uncle, they put me here" she said showing him the next of her pictures.
She smiled a sad little smile at the next one, "My baby brother, he is living with mum and her husband. I haven't seen him yet".
Rookwood recognised this couple all too well, Lily and James Potter and what must be Harry Potter their son. The couple had been killed months ago now and it appeared that the child had yet to be told. She would have been placed here at least two months before the Potters perished. He didn't know yet if that was as a result of them being in hiding or if this child, who was obviously not a Potter and had been born long before the Potters even married, had been abandoned prior to that.
His thoughts were interrupted by the young girl next to him thrusting another unmoving photograph under his nose, "My mum and dad going to Hogwarts"
Rookwood looked at what was unmistakably a young Lily Potter, Evans back then he supposed, and a young gangly teen with dark, lank hair and dark eyes, both wearing their Hogwarts uniform. The boy had features that were strikingly like that of the Prince family and somewhat familiar, the young girl sat beside him certainly had some of her fathers features though thankfully not all.
"What was your fathers name?", he asked curiosity flaring, the girl was born when the Potter's were still at school, or perhaps they had just left. She was clearly the half sister of Harry Potter, he wondered if anyone knew this. He doubted it, Dumbledore had reported to the Wizengamot that Harry Potter was safely ensconced away with family, his mothers love offering special protection while he was with blood relatives. Maybe the very aunt and uncle who had so cruelly disgarded this young girl. The girl in question turned the picture over and showed him the back where clear, neat hand writing was seen, it said :
'Lily and Severus Snape, First day of School, back garden at Bluebell Crescent, 1st September 1971'
That was a name he recognised all too well, Severus Snape was a Potions Master, the youngest to have achieved his mastery, in Europe certainly and possibly further afield. He had become a Death Eater and had been the one to overhear the prophecy that had led to the Potters' demise. He looked at the young girl sat besides him again and recognised now the obvious features that told of her being of 'Prince' blood.
It had been rumoured amoungst the ranks that Snape had become a spy at Hogwarts earlier this year, though it was unclear whether his loyalties lay with Albus Dumbledore or the Dark Lord Voldemort. He was currently acting as the Professor of Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House.
"Did you ever meet your father?", he asked.
"No, I heard Mom say Dad didn't want me", she said her head bowed towards the ground.
"You lived with your grandparents but not your mother?", he asked and she nodded in confirmation.
"Did you ever live with your mother?", the girl shook her head
"Do you know why not?", he asked, but he had a feeling he knew the answer.
She gave a little shrug and said quietly, "I heard Grandpa say it was because she loved money and was a shellfish"
"I think you may mean selfish", he said absently, considering this new information.
'Lily Potter the Gold Digger', what a headline that would have made he thought sardonically, not that anything could be said against the Saint who protected her 'only' child and continued to do so even from beyond the grave, at least according to the Daily Prophet.
It occured to him that for a child so young that she apparently had a very good memory and she certainly appeared quite intelligent from whatbhe could yell during their short interaction, though that was to be expected given how gifted each of her respective parents were. She would make a formidable witch one day with the right training and influence.
He stared at the envelope in the girls hand while he concidered wether or not he was indeed finally ready to take an heir, or in this case an heiress, and the responsibility that it would inevitably entail. She seemed biddable enough, she had two parents who were not related to one anothe, both of whom were highly intelligent and powerful, on of whixh had come from an old wizarding line well know to be gifted in Spell Crafting and Potions.
It seemed that he had made his decision.
"Child, I would like to offer you a new home with me, where I can teach you magic and your place in our world?", he asked her, trying to be mindful to keep the language he used simple.
Calla sat still and stared at her shoes. "I would live with you?", she asked glancing up at the man, who nodded and told her she would.
"Do you have a wife?", she asked shyly.
"I do not and I'm unlikely to have one. I would be your sole parent and I have little family left", he answered feeling both frustrated and impressed by the childa questions, though he was hoping she had no more.
"You will teach me Magic? You have a Job and a house?"
"Yes you will be taught Magic and yes I have both a Job and a home", he answered shortly.
"What jobs do Wizards have?", she asked momentarily forgetting the purpose for her questions. She had wanted to know if leaving with this man would be better or worse than staying at the home.
"I'm an Unspeakable. Though there are many jobs available which I'm sure we can converse about at a later date", he said, now impatiently.
She had understood virtually no of what the man had said but rationalised to her self that if it was magic things and magic language she wouldn't know it yet.
"Do you hit children or shout at them? My Grandma said only bad people do that?", she was now starting at him as if she could winkle the truth from his mind, and then he felt the smallest of nudges at his occlumency barriers.
She was a natural Legillimens, or mind reader for the more simple minded wizard. It certainly explained her memory.
Her father would have had to been most accomplished at protecting his mind, with the art of Occlumency, from Legillimency attacks to be effective as a spy he was certain. It was well known that Dumbledore was almost as powerful and proficient a Legillimens as the Dark Lord had been.
He opened is own mental barriers just a little and allowed her to read the truth of his words, "No I don't harm children or make them go without food or basic necessities. As for shouting, I may well do if you have misbehaved".
She saw the truth, he wouldn't hurt her but he might shout. She didnt know what a basic nessy was but she wouldnt go without it at least. Maybe it was a Wizard thing too.
She nodded her head rapidly, she desperately wanted to leave this nasty place, "Ok, I will live with you".
He gave her a small smile and waited for her to put her photographs back in the envelope, glad that she had made the choice so it wouldn't a forced adoption, which he had no qualms about doing if the need had arisen, and he was pleased that she had ceased her questioning.
They started walking back towards the home so that the child could pack and the paperwork could be completed, truthfully he would be expediting the process by slipping the Matron a little monetary incentive.
"Does this mean you will be my dad now or will you be like grandpa?"
The muscle in his jaw twitched and he was thankful that they had reached the Matrons office before he had to answer.