A tiny elf greeted her at the door with wider eyes than was usual for its species. Surely, she and her mother were not all that peculiar-looking, even if Margaret McKee’s clothes were torn on her bottom and arm…and perhaps there were some smudges of soot on her face. A quick, upward glance told her Ardra’s state of shame and apprehension. They were not meant to be there; of that, she was sure.

“Hello, elf,� McKee said with what she hoped sounded like the voice of a cultured, well-bred woman. In truth, she knew she was anything but. The apple-red face of the woman told her what people on the street did not – she was illegitimate and totally unwanted in wizarding society. Someday, she decided she would do something about that.

“I will be Dobby, Misses,� the stout creature muttered quickly, bowing so low, his ears scraped the ancient, wooden floors inside the doorway. McKee giggles awkwardly until Ardra gave her a sharp look.

“Do not laugh, Maggie. He doesn’t like it. Stand up straighter. Oh, heavens, I wish you wouldn’t have glued yourself to the chair before we left! We had no time to fix it and now you look so –“

“That’s why I did it, Mummy.�

Ardra paused, thumped her head against the heel of her palm in exasperation and said, “Sometimes I wonder if you are my child at all.�

McKee tweaked her nose, unsure of what to say or how to react to such a statement. Dobby watched this exchange with a pensive, slack grin. When the older woman returned to face him, though, his reserved obedience regained his features. “Dobby will take Misses inside and get Master for them.�

The green mass with bubbly eyes led them through the narrow doorway and McKee’s eyes went wild. They passed by an odd tapestry that had a strange tree with writing on it. Turning a corner, her eyes fell on each portrait in turn. They were evenly spaced, and soon, she began to hum a song with the beat of her echoing steps and crescendos with each glowering portrait.

They came to a sort of sitting room, but it didn’t look anything like the one at the orphanage. The furniture all had high, straight back, and there were books lining one wall. Reading Room, thought McKee. The room also had one other thing her own sitting room did not. A tall, lanky woman with beautiful hair waving down her back. She didn’t seem terribly happy to see them. In fact, her hands were shaking, she had her fists clenched so tightly over one another. Her eyes were squeezed into blue slits and her feet seemed rooted to the floors in a clench elderly trees would admire. McKee thought her very pretty, but clearly, Ardra did not. In a feat of likeness, her mother adopted a ramrod tall stance, a challenging dare clear.

“Dobby presents Mistress,� Dobby said with another bow. This one, however, seemed stiffer and more formal than the last.

“Narcissa,� was all Ardra said. The atmosphere grew thick and difficult to breathe. McKee glanced back and forth between the two, trying to understand how her normally happy, skipping, carefree mother could transform so quickly into someone that resembled herself so much.

“And you need no introduction at all, because thieves like you have no name but Dirt, you nasty, Mudblood girl!� the woman screeches with her shoulders slumped forward and an accusing finger jabbed harshly.

“She called you Mudblood…Mum, you stole?� McKee’s heartbeat rose. Her mother had sent her to do her duties with Shalank, the evil groundskeeper, the moment she stole a coin purse from some stupid girl, but her own mother was doing the same thing without any penalty?

Ardra never looked down as she grumbled, “Some people believe who your parents are mean everything. Some people think that if something is given to someone willingly, and they do not like that, that they have somehow stolen something. Some people, like Narcissa Malfoy, here,� Ardra finally met her daughter’s eyes, but no sight entered the mother’s mind through the enveloping memories, “Cannot understand that they never possessed that which they pined for.�

“Is a marriage not possession?� she screamed, her voice piercing, causing the men in the surrounding portraits to cover their ears and run.

“Lucius is a victim of your family, and of circumstance!� her own mother’s rich vibrations met the air discomfortingly.

“Lucius has not been a victim of anything in his life! You do not even know him if you do not know this, creton!�

“You be quiet!� McKee glowered at the veela-like mistress.

“Langlock!� The spell hit McKee straight on and so hard, the little girl fell down and nearly vomited from the shock of having her tongue forcefully stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“How dare you touch Lucius’ daughter!� Ardra’s wand was out, and pointed directly at Narcissa’s chest.

“I will dare to do anything to save my marriage from a slag like yourself,� Narcissa droned quietly. McKee watched as her rail of a body relaxed into itself, and she noticed the woman had an actual slump as she walked. It was something she had not expected from a woman who lived in such a nice house.

“I trust I’m not interrupting anything important,� floated a smooth voice from the doorway.

Narcissa’s face went ashen. “Lucius, darling! A..Ardra,� it sounded like a belch, “has come to visit you with her bastard five-year-old. I thought Dobby should lead them out rather than disturb you; I thought it best to avoid ruining your appetite.�

He waved his wife’s comments off with his arm, his eyes falling on the round-faced, brown-haired woman of his past. “Good morning, Ardra.� McKee swore she saw a sparkle in the man’s eye. “Why would you feel the need to see me? I thought I made it clear…�

Her mother stepped toward Lucius, a painful grimace of rosey cheeks and tightly focused eyes sitting on her features. “Yes, Lucius, but I thought you should meet your daughter.�

“Why would I want that? I have a wife; I have a son.�

Ardra’s face transformed into a caricature of itself. Her eyes and lips fell into long lines. Her eyebrows danced a bit to far up her forehead. A red rim highlighted her irises and a pool of water reflected in the quiet firelight. “You have a daughter. Your daughter…our daughter? Don’t you care? How could you not?�

Suddenly, McKee was the center of attention in a room she wanted to disappear from immediately. The blond woman stared hatefully, obviously cursing the little girl’s existence. Her mother seemed to be trying to Imperius her into saying or doing something brilliant and talented. Lucius, she couldn’t look at with more than a flicker of a glimpse. His penetrating stare made her uncomfortable. She felt like her lunch was coming back up again.

“Ardra, my blood would look me in the eye without the pathetic look of that Pettigrew.�

“Who?...No, she’s yours! How could she be anyone else’s? You are the only one I’ve touched in years, and I know the night it happened,� she said with assurance in her rising tone.

“Do not talk about animal coupling in front of my wife.�

“But…what? You never loved her! You told me that! You said she was just a token-“

“Do not say another false word.� Thankfully, his gaze returned to the dark-haired woman to continue the conversation McKee didn’t understand. What happened? What night? Love? Mum loves someone? “I have performed the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, and I have no desire to kill myself over you.�

“You can’t have!�

“It’s time to stop living in the past. You have duped me. I will not let your childishness get in the way of my life again.�

“We had a child!� McKee noticed, around her mother, Narcissa was glowing with a twinkling smile. It looked a bit like a leer, even on her pretty face. “How is that childishness? How is that living in the past?�

“What is it you thought to accomplish by coming here? Do you want money?�

Ardra gasped, scandalized. “No I do not ‘want your money’! I thought you would want to meet the girl you created. She looks just like you-“

“She looks like she was dragged through pig droppings on the way through the fire.� McKee glowered at the man. She was quiet sure now that she didn’t like him, especially as Ardra now had tears flowing freely down her blotchy face. He happened to capture McKee in the precise moment of her determined hatred, and unwillingly, the corner of his mouth twisted upward.

“We had a bit of trouble on the way,� her mother blushed ashamedly, with a scornful frown thrown at her daughter. “She’s hotheaded and she fights all the other children.�

“What do I care, Ardra?�

“She doesn’t have to be a part of your life! She represents the love we share! I know you still love me. We can be together, and you’ll never have to see her if you do not want to!�

Somewhere in her chest, a pain flared. Did her mum just say she didn’t want her? It didn’t seem so. Still, she felt horrible and betrayed by her mother for a reason she couldn’t understand.

“You’ve come here to ply me with not seeing a daughter I didn’t create?�

“I’m not plying! I’m letting you do what you really want to do!�

“Enough!� screamed Narcissa from the forgotten part of the room. “Get out of my home! You’ve defiled the floors. The elves will need to scrub them for a month!� Ardra’s eyes pleaded with Lucius, sure he would come to her defense, but he merely crossed his arms and stared out the window in the back of the room.

“Lucius?�

“Get out!� Narcissa raised her wand at the bewildered mother.

“Expelliarmus,� Lucius incanted lazily.

“Filthy. Horrible. Scarlet woman!� Her white hair flew out behind her as she launched herself toward the woman, her arms outstretched. “If I ever see you again, I will pull out your innards and wrap them around your nasty little girl’s neck!� shrieked Narcissa, just before Ardra and McKee were shoved unceremoniously out of the room and around the corner.

“Dobby will see the Misses out. Yes. Dobby must not upset Mistress.� The little elf shuffled along behind them, his hands pushed firmly on the backs of Ardra’s knees. McKee hustled along just to keep up with his little green legs. The door opened on its own accord and the green hands pulled back. “Goodbye, Misses!� and the door slammed shut so violently, a tremor shook the ground beneath their feet.

“Mum…?�

“Not now. I do not want to hear a word at all.�

McKee looked back at the grand house for which she had such high hopes. Something bright white in the sunshine caught her eye, and she pulled back on her mother’s hand. Ardra pulled back with a quick jerk, mumbling something about ungrateful children. The white, flapping thing came right to her anyway, and McKee captured it in her tiny hand. It was a note, with a neat, tidy scrawl moving across it in straight lines.

Pocketing the note, which had turned back into normal parchment, she eyed her mother, determined to make the woman teach her how to write at once.

She would learn more about this man.