Family Bonds
The old Wizarding families of the world had horribly tangled family trees. It was like an ecosystem really; every family connected, every family relying on each other. The major families were always marrying one another. Parts of families in different countries kept in touch by marrying each other. It's like royal houses-you know what one family is known for and what one familyıs tendencies are. The Mayfairs always marry their cousins. The Malfoys always married the dark wizarding, blood purist families.
I thought about the families as I flew to London. It was from my Mayfair side that I got my auburn hair, still cut long as it had been when I was a girl. I shifted in my comfortable first class seat-only the best for a Malfoy, after all. I eventually fell asleep over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I awoke in London with a horrible crick in the neck. Even after so many years, I still had to fight the urge to numb the pain with a spell. I gave up magic along time ago. Growing up listening to my cousin, Carlotta.
It was Carlotta who convinced me to marry a muggle and settle on exploring the world of the mind, not of magic. When I realized I was pregnant, Ira and I moved to a hellmouth. With the powers of the hellmouth swirling about, the Malfoy cousins wouldn't be able to find my girl. I'd never told them I was pregnant and, until recently, they didn't know. With her Mayfair blood and its unusual magic, my daughter wouldn't have the flashy magic outbreaks other wizarding children would have. She would lead a normal muggle life.
It was only recently that I realized how extreme my move to the hellmouth was. I could have moved to Louisiana and been among my Mayfair kin and not have worried about my child falling into the dark. It was a long trip to Azkaban, and I collected my thoughts and wondered about where I went wrong.
I was never a motherly sort, my Malfoy genes shining through in that arena.
So, after my girl turned twelve, I started to go on business trips and vacations. I got caught up in running from my own demons and my studies of the human mind. I neglected my firstborn and was hardly even fit for the title of mother.
I got off the boat and walked with all dignity of the proud Mayfair I was.
Even with the cold hard wind searing my face and the sand making it hard to walk, I still had the commanding presence that the Malfoys were known for. I missed all the signs that my little girl was dabbling with spells and the like. I was too caught up in my own self and keeping my family away.
My blood ran cold when I stepped on to the dull gray steps leading down a long dark hallway. It would have been better for me to have my girl be among family, knowing and enjoying the love, acceptance, and fun of the Mayfairs and the Malfoys. She would have found love and would have been grounded. At least if she had made contacts in the Malfoy family, she would have had a chance to get Lucius to storm the British Ministry in her defense. In the Mayfairs, Rowan has already been making appeals to the American Minister. She always had the families whether she knew it or not.
One of the hooded guards opened the door. Walking in, I shouldn't have been so surprised to see the condition my baby was in. But Mayfair blood ran strong in me, and it screamed at her that a family member in pain was unnatural. My little pixie's once shining and fine red hair was scraggly and unkempt. Dressed in rags unfit to clean the lowliest Malfoy's boots. Her head was in her hands. The aura of pain, shame, and grief surrounded her. She lifted her head up. I looked in her haunted, black, magic-shot eyes and all I could say was, "Oh, Willow."