Harry Potter and the Daughter of Romulus

Chapter 1: The Daughter of Romulus

Harry Potter skipped a stone across the Hogwarts lake's surface. So many emotions swirled within his veins. The loss of Sirius, the relief of the O.W.L.s results, the grief of Lupin, and most of all, the confusion over Ginny and Dean. There was no solace to these thoughts, but stones were as close as he'd get to solace.

Suddenly, he noticed the slender figure of Ginny Weasley next to him. Ginny and Harry had remained close friends after the incident in the Department of Mysteries. Yesterday, Ginny's best friend Saffron Dorinez (the resident Gryffindor gossip queen) had even said Ginny had left Dean Thomas, her boyfriend, for Harry. Harry had laughed, saying, "Ginny Weasley's my friend!", knowing that he'd never think of her like that.

And Ginny knowing that she still thought of him like that. It killed her to be leading Dean to the eventual letdown: "Uh, yeah, Dean?...We need to see other people...Why? Oh, because I've loved Harry Potter since I was ten." Oh, that'd go over well. "It's not you, it's him." But she could never tell Harry. Harry was her friend, and only her friend. As for Saffron's rumour? She had asked Saffron to start it.

Harry and Ginny said nothing to each other, for nothing needed to be said. It was each other's calming essences that brought the temporary comfort each had sought for so long.

~

"The Ministry have found out."

"The Ministry?"

"Yes. That Black was hiding our cover and our people so well. But now he's gone! Thanks to you!"

"But, Lord, I was faithful until the end. Did I not plan on killing the Boy if he didn't hand over that Prophecy."

"Yes, that's true. But it wasn't there to begin with! Really, Bella, you need to work on reading people."

"I don't read people like a book!"

"You should. Now we have to resort to something else. In the Department of Mysteries was another prophecy made by some other crackpot. Dolohov grabbed this one by mistake. It's the Rise of the Body. When the Body has the daughter of the past werewolf, the Daughter of Romulus, then the Body shall rise and all against it shall perish."

"We know no Romulus."

"Romulus Lupin?"

"He's dead."

"But he was alive long enough to fertilize his wife, even if he died before the child was born--."

"Oh, you make the woman sound like grass!"

"Silence! The child is his, and it's a daughter. The Daughter of Romulus. Seize her, Bella, and all failures of yours will be forgotten."

"It's as good as done, Lord."

A high-pitched maniacal laugh was heard. "Emily Lupin is ours."

~

"EMILY!" Remus Lupin called his niece. "EM!"

Emily Lupin ran to her dear Uncle Remus. Her Uncle Remus was marvellous, the most beautiful man ever. His daughter Damaris (or Mary, as the family called her) was just as fabulous, and so was her husband of almost a year, Oliver. Uncle Remus would make everything better, and if not him, then Cousin Mary.

Emily loved her Uncle Remus. Nothing more could be said.

Too much had happened to Emily. Before she was born, her father had died, and her mother had abandoned her shortly after her birth. Then, she had been adopted by Stacy Blakeson, one of the infamous Blakeson daughters, and was led to believe she was a normal little witch. Emily was a pure-minded girl, raised in a home with three other women: Faye Blakeson, the esteemed Blakeson matriarch; Stacy; and her cousin Mary. Mary was the daughter of Stacy's sister Kirsten and "Kirsten's husband" Remus.

In her third year, when a thirty-seven-year-old man named "R.J. Lupin" came to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, Mary and Emily found out that he was related to both of them. It was more of a shock to Emily, seeing as she wasn't even half a Blakeson, like Mary was. When Uncle Remus had asked them if they'd like to change their names, Mary didn't want to change her last name from Blakeson to Lupin, but Emily wanted nothing more. Whenever she told any magical folk that she was Emily Blakeson, they'd scrunch up their noses, expecting her to be a rich Blakeson snob.

Emily still talked to Stacy occasionally, but stuck to Uncle Remus and Cousin Mary, her real family.

"Uncle Remus!" she called back. Emily looked had him. She knew he was still a little down about Sirius. Siri had been her "other uncle". Suddenly, a tall, all-around dark woman appeared in front of Uncle Remus. She looked as if she had been poured out from the inside, and her expression showed evidence that this had happened.

She turned to Uncle Remus, and said, "Remus. Give me the daughter of Romulus or I'll kill you."

"Uncle Remus!" Emily yelled. She couldn't bear the thought of him dying for her. "Don't."

"But, Em," he protested. "She's evil."

"Evil?" a look of horror appeared on the woman's face. "Oh, we all have our own ways of phrasing it. I prefer...'legally crooked.' What's your name, girl?"

"E-Emily. Emily Lupin."

"EMILY! I knew Rod and I were close. My name's Bellatrix Lestrange."

"You killed Siri!" Emily yelled at her.

"You mean my dear cousin, right? If so, then, yes, I did."

"Mrs Lestrange, with all due respect, I kind of hate you."

Bellatrix laughed, and cupped Emily's chin and smiled. "Oh, hate's a strong word, don't you think? And none of this 'Mrs Lestrange' shit. Call me Bella."

"But why?"

"Because Bella's my name...," Bella said.

"No," Emily rolled her eyes. "Why do you need me?"

Bella grabbed a fistful of Floo powder and turned to look at Emily. "You're the Daughter of Romulus. And without you, the Body shall not rise."