After long hours of flying and trying to keep Jude in balance, he finally reached the Grimmauld’s Plaace. Reacting to his presence, the seemingly innocent old-looking row of apartments began to diverge and divide, revealing another extra row in between (A/N: Those who have watched the movie, which I’m sure you did, you get the picture). Aaron went up to knock the door, hushing the whimpering Jude in his arms.
“Well, if it isn’t my dear ol’ friend Aaron Turunen!”
Aaron smiled as he was hugged by the person he had hoped to answer the door: Sirius Black, one o fhis most favourite family friends. Before his parents were killed, Sirius, Remus and Moody were the closest magic family he had when his parents discovered him displaying magical powers as soon as he learnt how to walk and talk. They would come often to educate Mr. and Mrs. Turunen on the world of magic while Sirius played magic games with him to help him familiarize. It was after his parents were killed by Lucius and Sirius accused of being a Death Eater and murderer of Harry Potter’s parents that Moody did all the necessary procedures to adopt him as his nephew so that he could continue to prepare and train him for the wizard life. Aaron never believed that Sirius would do the crimes he was accused of, and had kept mum about him hiding out and on the run (after being informed so by his Uncle Moody), and would often visit him whenever he had the chance. Now, seeing him again after a couple of years studying feverishly for NEWTS and finally graduated, it was like meeting a long lost friend.
“Good to see you too, Siri,” Aaron said as he hugged him back with one hand, while trying to carrying Jude on his back with the other.
“And this must be the famous girl we’re talking about, eh?” Sirius asked as he noticed Jude nuzzled on Aaron.
“Yes, she is.”
“Well, well, if it isn’t Aaron,” Remus appeared from behind and hugged Aaron as well.
“Remy!” Aaron exclaimed, calling him by his pet name. “Good to see you too.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, ol’ friend! Come in, come in!” Sirius said as he invited Aaron in. “Take her upstairs to the master bedroom before joining us at the dining room.”
Aaron nodded and headed upstairs. He lay Jude on the Victorian canopy bed in the master bedroom and watched as the whining Jude settled back to sleep before heading back downstairs to the said dining room. There, as expected, were a few of the big shots of the Order of the Phoenix, including Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.
“Ah, Mr. Turunen,” Albus said, his eyes twinkling with delight at upon seeing the Muggle-born prodigy. “Glad you could join us.”
“Thanks,” Aaron said as he took a seat among the Order, next to his favourite teacher Severus.
“We have briefly heard from Dumbledore about your predicament,” Severus noted. “So what exactly happened in your encounter?”
Aaron began to tell the story: from the Dementor attacks to Jude being possessed by the Dark Lord and ended at the part where he tried to ward him off her.
“Really now?” Sirius asked, impressed. “You actually had an encounter with the Dark Lord? I wish I could see that.”
“Aye. I wish my uncle was there.”
“So what did Voldemort say to you?” Albus asked.
“He said ‘She’s my Athena…’ or something like that.”
Almost immediately the whole room became tense, with everyone looking at each other in worry. Even the famous expressionless Severus Snape began to frown a little at upon hearing Aaron’s statement. A torrent of whispers and nods of agreement ensued.
“He’s really serious now…”
“Aye…this could be a problem…”
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill her,” Severus said, giving Aaron a sideways look.
“I couldn’t…” Aaron replied, blushing. “I just managed to ward Voldemort off.”
“You did the right thing, Aaron,” Sirius said. “She is, after all, collateral damage. A means to Voldemort’s goal.”
“Aye,” Remus agreed. “He probably just did that to make you angry.”
“But Athena is definitely going to be a problem,” Albus said worriedly, scratching his overly-bearded chin.
“Who is this Athena, sir?” Aaron asked, curious.
“Athena is one of the oldest goddess in ancient times,” Sirius replied. “We believe Voldemort named Judith ‘Athena’ to give her a majestic and grandeur feeling.”
“Which means,” Albus suggested, “he must be getting weaker with age despite his army getting stronger, and needs an heir to lead his army in his place.”
“Athena was a goddess of war and wisdom of some sort,” Remus added. “It could mean something.”
“Voldemort must’ve counted on Ms. Light to lead his army once she becomes of age,” Albus said, “and seeing Harry Potter getting stronger by the minute, he might be getting impatient.”
“What is our solution then?” Severus asked. “We can’t kill her, that’s for sure.”
“I’d rather you did.”
Everyone looked up to see Jude standing weakly against the door of the dining room, looking like she had just cried a bundle. They all got up as she entered.
“Judith…” Aaron started but stopped when Jude gave him a sad, guilty look.
“No, don’t do that. I’m not worth it.”
“What are you saying?” Aaron asked as he went to her, resulting to Jude shrinking away from him.
“I’m saying that I’m not worth you guys getting up for,” she replied as she picked a seat far away in the corner of the room and sat. “I’m a murderer’s daughter. I should be dead.”
“Now that’s not true, lass,” Sirius said, a little taken aback by the way this little 13-year-old girl viewed herself at such an age.
“Just because you’re the Dark Lord’s child, doesn’t make you the same as him,” Remus joined in the consoling.
“I feel I do.”
“There, there now, child,” Albus said as he came to her and patted her head. “No need to blame yourself over something you didn’t do.”
“Dumbledore is right,” Severus said. “You’re just putting more weight on your shoulders.”
“Aye, they’re right, Judith,” Aaron said as he helped Jude up and took her back to the bedroom, excusing himself from the Order meeting. Once in the bedroom, Jude began to pour tears she had been holding back when she was with the Order.
“Why are you all so nice to me?”
“Because you’re a Hogwarts student, that’s why,” Aaron said as he stroke Jude’s back to calm her down.
“Don’t you believe in ‘Crimes of the father must be paid with the blood of the child’? Don’t you believe in retribution?”
“Not like that.”
“What should I do? I’m a marked woman. No one will forgive me for what my father had done…”
“Listen to me…” Aaron sighed, feeling half-tired-half-guilty at seeing Jude bearing the world’s unnecessary weight on her shoulders. “It’s not your fault. None of those things that happened in the past were your doing.”
“I know, but the public won’t let up. You saw those Dementors. The Ministry is out there to get me! I’ll never be fit to be in society again! Have you ever thought about that?” Jude ranted and raved in panic, worry and in tears, then reached out to hug him, saying, “They will lock me up in Azkaban and throw away the key, and I’ll never see you again…”
“Get a grip,” Aaron said in his usual authoritative voice whenever normal words cannot get through Jude’s thick skull. “I don’t think they were after you. I highly doubt that they’ll go all out to bring in Dementors just to arrest a little 13-year-old girl like you.”
“Then who were they after if it wasn’t me?”
“I don’t know…” Aaron admitted. “I’m still trying to figure out what the hell are they doing at our apartment in the first place.”
Their conversation was cut short by Sirius knocking and calling from behind the door, “Everything alright in there, kids?”
“We’re good, Siri,” Aaron replied.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Jude replied as well, then turned to Aaron and forced a smile, saying, “You should go back to your meeting. I’ll be fine. I won’t be all wussy anymore.”
“Good. Start acting normal, like you used to be.”
“You mean like this?” Jude grinned naughtily and gave Aaron a peck on the cheek, rendering Aaron into a human stop sign. Seeing Aaron speechless for a moment there, she stuck out her tongue, made a cute face through her blushes and said, “It was meant for Snape actually, but you’re such a nice guy and all…”
“T-Thanks…” Aaron stammered, his face redder than the reddest tomato.
“Sorry to intrude your little get-together,” Sirius said as he popped his head through the door, making them both jump, “but we’d better be discussing matters right now.”
“Coming down now. Wanna come along, Judith?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Jude shook her head. “I’ll just rest here for the moment.”
“Okay,” Aaron patted Jude’s head before going downstairs together with Sirius.
“So…” Sirius said after a moment’s silence, grinning mischievously from ear to ear, “the future Mrs. Turunen, I see?”
“Siri,” Aaron blushed, “she was just being nice.”
“Sure…” Sirius replied, raising his eyebrow cunningly, obviously not buying his excuse as they head back into the dining room.
“How is Ms. Light now, Turunen?” Albus asked as soon as they came in.
“She’s taking it easy now,” Aaron replied. “My little talk with her seems to ease her down about her heritage.”
“Sounds like she likes you and vice versa,” Severus noted, giving him a suspiciouslook.
“Professor!” Aaron exclaimed, blushing even redder than he already was, with Sirius guffawing with laughter at the background.
“Now, now,” Remus said, fighting back a smile. “No time to tease the boy.”
“Alright, alright, settle down, everyone,” Albus snickered a little before gesturing everyone to take their seats. “We’ve got bigger issues at hand, as to how are we going to tackle the problem of Voldemort reaching to Ms. Light.”
“We should consider locating her to an area where Voldemort would never expect us to hide her,” Sirius pointed out.
“Aye,” Remus agreed. “Some place he doesn’t know about.”
“But anywhere else is a threat,” Aaron said. “My home has already been invaded. Bugger those Dementors…”
“This is troubling,” Severus agreed.
“I’m stumped,” Sirius shrugged.
“For now, I think we should consider harbouring her in Hogwarts,” Albus suggested. “She cannot stay in her Muggle home anymore since her Muggle maybe prone to danger. If Hogwarts had worked well to protect Harry, it should work the same for Ms. Light.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. They knew there had been many chances where Voldemort could’ve just storm into Hogwarts along with his Death Eaters in plain sight to kill Harry once and for all, but Harry had managed to survive and lived long enough to go through 4 years of school terms. The protection Hogwarts gave Harry was undeniable, along with a little backup from the Ministry. To leave Jude there in Hogwarts’ good hands would be the best option they got.
“Something does puzzle me though,” Sirius said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
“What is it?” Aaron asked, curious.
“Yes, Sirius. Do enlighten us,” Albus was interested as well.
“Well…” Sirius cleared his throat. “If Judith is a year younger than Harry, she must’ve been conceived after the incident when Voldemort tried to kill Harry. But he was rendered weak after that. How is it possible then, that he had conceived Judith? And who is her mother? We know nothing about it.”
“Maybe it could’ve been the use of a potion,” Aaron assumed.
“Or through body possession,” Severus said. “The Dark Lord had taught us before the art of body possession and had said that there are cases where body possession, when having sexual intercourses, may be able to impregnate a person with their own seed instead of the seed of the body they possessed.”
“Who knows?” Albus said. “Maybe the only way to find out is to ask Ms. Light’s Muggle parents, the one who raised her. Turunen, I assume you know the Light family?”
“Somewhat,” Aaron replied. “I helped Mrs. Light with the groceries one time, and then Judith had invited me to her home a few times for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Then it’s settled. While I make the necessary firecalls to Hogwarts and the Ministry, you and Severus will go visit the Light family. Ask them questions about how they came to adopt Ms. Light.”
“Aye, sir,” Aaron said, with Severus nodding as a reply.
“You may go now, but don’t tell Ms. Light where you’re going. We’ll try to keep her in the dark for the moment. It’s crucial that she is not to be troubled by this matter any further.”
“Yes, sir.”
While Aaron and Severus went off towards the Muggle word, Jude was still in her room contemplating things. She had just made a resolve to be strong and take heed of Aaron’s words, embracing the fact that nothing that happened in the past was of any concern to her when she heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and revealed Sirius’ house elf Kreacher, walking in with a tray of lavish food fit for a princess. He set it on the bed and bowed,” Here you are, Mistress Light. You must be hungry after such ordeal.”
“Umm…Thanks,” Jude said, trying to remember the last time she saw a house elf. “The food looks nice.”
“Kreacher does his best to make the best of thing for you, my Mistress,” Kreacher said as he twiddled his thumbs and fidgeted nervously in his bed sheet shirt—a sorry excuse for clothing.
“Uh, why do you keep calling me that?”
“Kreacher knows Mistress Light’s family very well.”
“Really now?” Jude lit up, intrigued. She squatted in front of Kreacher and asked, “How do you know…”
“Kreacher! You will not bother our guest!”
It was Sirius, standing at the door giving Kreacher a warning look while Remus smiled awkwardly at Jude behind Sirius. Kreacher grumbled under his breath and left the room. After making sure Kreacher did not continue linger around peeking and spying at them, he and Remus sat on the bed, with Jude between them.
“Sorry about that. He’s all about grandeur and such. Can’t seem to get into his thick skull that grandeur and titles and status and all that hullabaloo whatnot is a thing of the past, aye, Moony?”
“Aye,” Remus agreed. “He never seemed to stop mumbling about it even while he’s working.”
“Was my bloodline…really as grand as the house elf said?” Jude asked. “Was my father, at one time, great?”
“Aye, he was,” Remus nodded. “He was a prodigy in the Slytherin House.”
“That explains me entering Slytherin…”
“Harry almost did, but he didn’t want to be in it.”
“Voldemort was, at one time, a great wizard,” Sirius said. “But he craved power, and that led to his life of crime, macabre and horror. Harry was right not to choose Slytherin. Slytherin had always been the root of all evil.”
“Problem is…I did,” Jude admitted, blushing a little. “I chose to be a Slytherin. I’ve always wanted to…because of Prof. Snape.”
“Ah, the age-old student-teacher crush,” Sirius grinned, ruffling her hair. “I’ve seen plenty during my time in Hogwarts, one of them being Lily Evans in particular, having this silly crush over that DADA teacher when she was in her 5th year. Remember that, Moony?”
“Lily Evans? You mean Harry’s mother?”
“Absolutely,” Remus chuckled. “James was so jealous, he gave her a silent treatment for 3 months solid. Anyway, didn’t Aaron almost enter Slytherin as well?”
“Aye,” Sirius nodded. “So I’ve herad. But he, too, chose not to. He said Slytherin was just too creepy and sneaky for his taste.”
“Now that is so Aaron,” Jude laughed.
“It doesn’t suit him at all, Aaron as a Slytherin,” Remus grinned. “He made a great Gryffindor.”
“That he did, Moony love. That he did,” Sirius smiled and reached over to peck Remus on the cheek. Jude giggled at the romantic sight; she had seen plenty of that display, both straight and non-straight ones, especially between Dean and Seamus in Gryffindor and some of the boy-boy and girl-girl in her own house. Remus blushed a bit.
“Paddy, not in front of the kids.”
“She’s old enough to understand.”
“But still…”
“Uh, where’s Aaron?” Jude asked, breaking the mushy lovie-dovie mood after realizing Aaron had not come up to visit her.
“He went out to get some more food for dinner,” Remus lied, remembering Albus’ advice to keep her in the dark about the Order’s businesses.
“That’s right,” Sirius chipped in. “That damn Kreacher emptied out the entire larder just to feed you, and we’re running out.”
“Well, he should’ve brought me along,” Jude pouted. “He sucks at grocery shopping.”
If only she knew the real reason he left.
