Saying goodbye to Dora and the boy who introduced himself as Cedric Diggory, Hailey and Hermione returned to their defence class for the final period of their double. Professor Quirrell’s stutter was even worse during the second period of DADA, as some of the others called it. The class itself was even worse, with how timid the professor seemed, as the students devolved into talking and laughing amongst themselves, completely ignoring Quirrell. 

As they sat down at their table for an early dinner, Hailey and Hermione were discussing their final class for the day – Herbology, when a student appeared suddenly. In his hand was a parchment of some kind. 

“Potter, right?” The young man asked as he thrust a piece of paper in her face. “This is for you.” The boy turned and walked away without waiting for a response and without glancing back. 

Hailey looked down at the paper, realising it was a letter. The handwriting was in loopy, elegant writing. 

To Miss Hailey Potter,

Please come and see me after dinner tonight. The entrance to my office is behind a giant eagle statue. Just ask a prefect or teacher to show you where. 

Eagerly awaiting our meeting,

Albus Dumbledore. 

P.S My current favourite sweet is Sherbet Lemon. 

“That was fast,” Hermione said. Hailey had held it so they both could read the letter. “What do you think he meant by his favourite sweet? Some kind of code?”

Hermione jumped as Dora pushed her way in between her and Hailey. “What was fast? What code?” She asked eagerly, glancing at Hailey and Hermione, whipping her suddenly green hair back and forth. 

Silently, Hailey handed her sister the letter. 

After reading it, Dora glanced up at the staff table briefly – noting Dumbledore’s empty seat, before looking down at the letter once more. “You’re right. That was fast. Hardly surprising though.” She placed the letter down and patted Hailey’s hand. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“You would do that?” Hailey asked with a surprised look on her face. 

Dora smiled at her. “Of course I would!” She smirked, “I asked, didn’t I? Of course I’d come along to help out my baby sister.”

Hailey pouted at being called baby, but tried not to blush too hard at the sincerity in her sister's voice. 

A short while later, Hailey found herself following Dora to Dumbledore’s office. She was nervous about meeting him for the first time, and nervous about how she felt when she had heard his name. 

“Sherbet. Lemon,” Dora said slowly, making sure to clearly enunciate the words. The eagle statue she had been facing started rising as it spun around. “On you get, Hailey. Jumping on the top lets you ride it up without having to walk,” Dora prompted, nudging her forward between her shoulder blades. 

Hailey was just about to knock on the closed door, when it opened quietly on its own. “Enter!” Dumbledore said, loud enough to be heard, but no louder. His voice was warm but held the hint of a command expected to be obeyed. 

Stepping through the door, Hailey felt awash in magical energy as the entire room was permeated with magic. Every surface had some kind of magical artefact that spun, honked, puffed green smoke, or otherwise did something else strange and magical. 

“Ah, there you are, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Hailey. It is Hailey that you prefer, is it not?” The wizened old man said, smiling at Hailey with a gentle smile, his half moon glasses sitting over his crooked nose. “Oh! And Miss Tonks. Welcome, my dear.” Dumbledore frowned. “I wasn’t aware I had a meeting with you tonight, as well. No matter, if you’ll just wait outside, I can see you briefly after my chat with Hailey here, if you’d like?”

Hailey attempted to hide her surprise at Dumbledore’s seeming acceptance of her name and gender. It was not at all what she had expected of him. 

Dora shook her head, but before she could reply, Hailey spoke up. “Sir, I asked her to be here with me.” She smiled at the girl in question. “She’s like a sister to me, and I was nervous about this meeting.”

Dumbledore’s eyes flicked between them for a moment, his expression unreadable, before a puzzled smile formed. “Most unusual, I would not have thought you’d have had enough time to get to know Miss Tonks in the not even two days you’ve been at Hogwarts.” He gestured at two seats in front of his desk. “Please, sit. Would you like a sweet? They can be a pleasant addition to a conversation.”

By his expression, Hailey could tell that Dumbledore knew more than he was letting on. Declining the offer for a sweet, and not seeing any need to hide it as she was sure he’d find out sooner or later anyway, Hailey explained all about how she ended up living with the Tonks family. 

“I see,” The headmaster said, putting his hands together with his pointer fingers pointing out and towards his chin as he contemplated her. Suddenly, he pulled out an incredibly long wand and waved it at Hailey. She suddenly felt nauseated as the magic he cast flowed into her, and vanished as her body absorbed the magic. Thankfully the feeling of being sick passed as quickly as it had come, but it left her feeling like she had a bad taste in her mouth. 

Flinching, Hailey took a step back. “Sir! Please don’t just cast magic at me without asking first.” She was aware of the hypocrisy of her statement, having cast Dora’s own tickle hex at her, but she had a tentative agreement about that with her sister. She was the one who taught her the spell, after all. 

If Hailey hadn’t been annoyed at Dumbledore’s actions regarding whatever spell he tried to use on her, she would’ve found his dumbfounded expression amusing. As it was, she caught Dora attempting to stop herself from snickering. 

Dumbledore’s expression morphed from dumbfounded to curious. “Interesting… what happened?”

Hailey shrugged. “Ever since entering the magical world, I’ve been able to absorb the magic of anything I touch, or spells cast at me.”

Suddenly the headmaster stood up, and strode around his desk. Stepping up close, Dumbledore grabbed her head and turned it sideways, inspecting her ears thoroughly. Hailey jerked out of his hands, highly uncomfortable with being handled like that without permission, or warning. As she blinked back tears, Dora stepped forward, putting herself in between Hailey and the headmaster. 

“Sir! Please don’t do that. Can’t you see she’s upset?”

Dumbledore looked down at them in surprise, blinking slightly. It appeared he had forgotten they were there for a second. “My apologies.” He bowed slightly towards Hailey, then Dora. “I will ask next time, I promise.”

Hailey briefly considered taking her complaint further, but didn’t think that she’d be listened to. From what she’d heard, the headmaster held a lot of sway in the wizarding world. Sighing, she nodded once, trying to let it go, but vowing to never forget.  

Thinking about it, she wasn’t surprised that he would notice her ears. They were pointy, well, pointier than human’s ears usually are, although not majorly so. She had been surprised that no one had commented on them just yet. 

“Will you allow me to cast a detection spell on you, Hailey? I promise, it’s non-intrusive and won’t harm you in any way. It is merely to discover something that may save your life one day.” 

Glancing fearfully at Dora, Hailey nodded, giving her permission, and braced herself for the feeling of Dumbledore's magic again. She shuddered as it passed over her, once again leaving that feeling like having a bad taste in her mouth, despite her not eating it this time. 

Dumbledore’s eyes flashed as his face morphed into an angry glare before he hid it behind a sad look. “What did you do to the wards I put on you as a child? They should still be there, whole and untouched.”

“What wards? What did they do?” Hailey asked with a frown. 

“They were designed to keep you safe from Voldemort’s followers,” Dumbledore replied, looking down at her with an expression she couldn’t quite identify, disappointment, she thought. 

Hailey flinched at hearing it said for the first time – she needed no clarification of who it was he meant, pain and terror echoing through her, half remembered torments by the wielder of the name. The Tonkses had refused to speak his name, not that Hailey had wanted to push them, she had noticed that they were clearly uncomfortable. 

Suddenly annoyed at Dumbledore’s expression and questioning her like it was her fault, she rolled her eyes – Dora taught her how to do it well. “I probably ate it, just like I ate your spell earlier. It seems that my body needs magic in order to work properly, magic that I wasn’t getting with the Dursleys,” she said, glowering at him. She only just barely managed to not put any snark in her reply. 

The old man frowned at her. “This means that you aren’t protected, and haven’t been for some time. That’s not good. You are in great danger, Hailey.”

“Aren’t you supposed to protect me?”

Dumbledore nodded. “And I will.”

She cocked her head to the side. “But you didn’t even know my wards had failed?” She stated it like a question. 

At least the headmaster had the good graces to look a little embarrassed. Unless it was all an act on his part. She hadn’t imagined the feeling she got about his manipulative side in his name, nor his arrogance. 

“Yes, well, don’t worry, I’ll have a chat with the Dursleys, I’m sure any issues you’ve had with them can be cleared up easily enough.”

Hailey’s mind stalled as her heart froze for a moment, before her pulse kicked up. “What do you mean? I’m never going back to them,” she responded, shaking her head. 

She clenched her hands together under the table, hoping to stop them from shaking. Dora placed a comforting hand on top of hers, squeezing gently. “Mum and Dad are more than happy to have her live with us, sir. She’s absolutely no problem.”

Dumbledore removed his glasses, cleaning them on his brightly coloured robes before he put them on and sighed. “I’m sorry, but Hailey should be with her family, her real family.”

Standing up, Hailey glared at the headmaster. “Dora and Andi and Ted, are my real family!” She hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “I chose them, and they chose me. The Dursleys treated me like a slave, the Tonkses treated me like a daughter.”

“So, that’s it then? The Dursleys make you do chores and so they’re evil? I don’t believe it,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head disbelievingly. 

“They kept her locked up in a Merlin damned tiny cupboard under the stairs!” Dora yelled suddenly, her eyes turning a crimson colour as she stood up. 

The old man, no, the old fool, looked shocked, at what, Hailey wasn’t sure. She was hoping it was at the treatment she had suffered – the worst of which she hadn’t shared with anyone, and not that Dora had yelled at him. 

“Surely as some kind of punishment, right?” Dumbledore asked, clearly searching for something to exonerate his position. 

Hailey shook her head sadly and stood up straight, with her heart pounding in her chest. “No. That was my bedroom. Dudley got the spare for his toys. I am only going to say this once, so listen well. I. Will. Never. Go. Back. To. The. Dursleys. Never. Now, if that is all, sir? It is late and I would like to go to bed. I have class in the morning.”

With a nod of his head, Dumbledore dismissed them. She could see his cheeks were a little rosy, but his face was pale as she turned around. Dora was following close behind, giving her encouragement to keep walking as her insides threatened to become outsides. 

It wasn’t until they had left the eagle far behind, that Hailey noticed she was shivering. Spinning around, Hailey hugged her sister tightly as she burst into tears, overwhelmed with the emotionally charged moment. Great big sobs wracked her body as she clung to Dora as if she was a lifeline. Dora holding her and just being there made all the difference in the world to Hailey. 

“Do you know, if it wasn’t for Andi and Alastor, I wouldn't have eaten for several days?” Hailey mumbled into Dora’s tear stained shoulder. Something about the moment encouraged her to open up a little about what she had had to endure at the hands of those monsters. Dora had been there when she had to face Dumbledore. Not only had she been there, but she had defended her. 

Dora hissed as she tightened her hold on Hailey. “I’m so sorry that you had to deal with that. And if I have my way, you never will again. If we have to, we’ll make a break for it. Maybe settle in Australia or something. How does that sound?”

Hailey couldn’t help but let out a little giggle at the thought of Dora wearing one of those wide brimmed hats with corks dangling off of them. “That sounds amazing,” she sniffled, the occasional giggle punctuating the silence that fell between them.