Denying Draco

Prologue

'The ministry obliviate 500 muggles!' Poppy Dumbledore gasped, before letting out a light chuckle as she turned the page in The Daily Prophet newspaper in front of her on her bedroom desk. 'Another prisoner escapes from Azkaban...boring. Oh, Harry Potter - Disturbed And Dangerous...'

Poppy read on about the famous boy who lived in the dull and gloomy light of her room at her little cottage home in Tinworth, a small village on the south west coast of England that was of half-magical dwelling; residing there was a small Wizarding community that lived in secret alongside the muggles. Poppy had lived her whole life in Tinworth and at seventeen years of age, she was used to spending her days with the few muggle friends she had made in the village aswell as one or two older witches, but with all of the teenage magical folk being students at Hogwarts most of the year, and the fact that she was not, it meant she rarely saw them. Poppy knew nothing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry besides what she read in books or the newspaper or was told from her family. She had been homeschooled all her life, as much as she had begged her parents to allow her to attend the school, it was always met with a firm no.

Poppy made sure to stay up to date on the Wizarding world which helped her still feel connected to it and a lot less alone. She had been surrounded by magic all of her life, however, she still knew there was a whole world outside of Tinworth that she was missing out on.

Books were a huge part of her life. Without them, she would not have learnt half the knowledge she knew about magic. As part of her home-schooling, her parents taught most of what they could and she also had several Professors who visited daily to teach her the subjects she needed to learn to be properly educated, prepared for the future and to pass the OWL and NEWT examinations. Being a keen and quick learner, she had passed her OWLs with flying colours, and now at seventeen, she was studying for the NEWTs which would once again, be taken from the comfort of her home. All of this was made possible for Poppy due to one very significant family connection of hers.

'Uncle Albus,' she whispered, as she turned the page of the paper and smiled as she witnessed the face of her great, great uncle, quickly disturbed by a tap on the door.

'Poppy?' Her mother, Arvilla Dumbledore, popped her head around the bedroom door with a stern smile. 'Potions, please.'

'Coming, Mum,' Poppy said, closing the newspaper as she got to her feet and followed her mother down to the large study room in their home where she was schooled.

'Professor. Slughorn tells me you're doing exceedingly well in your Potions classes,' Arvilla told her, with a proud smile.

Poppy forced on a smile in return and nodded. 'I do enjoy Potions...although, Professor. Slughorn does like to chatter on an awful lot.'

'It is very kind of all of the Professors to take up their time to come to our home and provide these homeschool classes for you,' Arvilla replied, sharply. 'If your Professor is talking to you, you ought to pay close attention to every word. Horace is a very wise man.'

'It is only because Albus Dumbledore is my great, great uncle that they do so,' Poppy murmured. 'Things would be so much easier if I could just-.'

'Poppy...' her mother interjected, firmly. 'Do not begin this conversation again.'

'It doesn't matter now anyway,' Poppy hummed. 'I'm seventeen; my education is almost over.'

'And you have had seven great years of receiving excellent schooling from tremendous teachers, teachers from Hogwarts itself, and you should be grateful to Uncle Albus that he could arrange this for you at all,' Arvilla said, as they reached the study room and she ushered her inside. 'Now, enjoy your class.'