Even to those closest to her, Althea was as much a mystery then as she is now. As a girl, she was driven by her ambition and thirst for knowledge to a place very few could follow, and she didn't hesitate to leave them behind. But now, after living a...
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"SCARRING, LEFT FOREARM."
Althea wasn't sure how long it was that she sat there with her nephew, listening, petrified as Harry told her all that had happened to him. It shocked her - of course it shocked her to find out that her nephew was Voldemort's number one target, just as it shocked her to know that he had gone up against the dark wizard four different times, the first one being when he was hardly a year old, somehow ending a war Althea thought was still going on. She wasn't surprised that Voldemort was back, but she was horrified that Harry had been there to witness it. But what struck her the most in all of Harry's story was how alone he had been throughout it all, how alone he still felt. She wanted to change that immediately.
"Harry, if it's alright, I'd like you to meet someone."
Hesitantly, Harry agreed, and moments later the two walked together downstairs to the dining room. She felt as though she were young again; as though the boy beside her was not her nephew but her brother; as though the muffled voices they heard were that of her parents instead of the Order; as though the only thing she had to fear was how she was going to keep in contact with her friends while at Hogwarts; as though there wasn't a war right outside their door. She took a deep breath in to calm herself, which only caused Harry to look at her worriedly. She sent him a reassuring smile, and pushed open the door.
"Mum!" Regulus exclaimed with a bright smile, running into his mother's arms as if it was the first time he had seen her in years. Althea suddenly felt terribly for leaving him for as long as she did with so many strangers in a world he had hardly been exposed to. But he had a smile on his face.
She looked up to where her son had run to her, and found a red-haired woman who held a striking resemblance to a number of the children that had been in Harry's room, as well as a proud woman whose hair was oddly shrinking from that of long blonde curls, to a short, bubblegum-pink bob. A Metamorphmagus, Althea assumed, though she had never met one before. She smiled at the pair of them, and mouthed a quick 'thank-you', to which they nodded.
Beside them was a tall man with red hair, about the same age as the first woman, and likely the father of the children in Harry's room. He had the same kind face as his wife, and as he stood beside her, Althea marked them as a loving couple, likely having been together for a long time. On the other side of the room, eyeing Althea and Harry carefully, stood Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, a space between them where James should have been. She looked away.
Althea let go of her son and turned to her nephew. "Harry, I'd like you to meet your cousin, Regulus."
Though Harry couldn't miss the way Sirius flinched at the name, he smiled down at the small boy. He had a family, a real family.
Regulus seemed to be just as excited, his face brightening in a way that Althea hadn't seen in a while. "I have a cousin?" he asked excitedly, looking up into Harry's bright green eyes. "I've never had a cousin before!"
Harry knelt down to his young cousin's height, smiling shyly. "You do now," he said to him. Everyone in the room was captivated by the scene in front of them, Molly Weasley nearly coming to tears at the smile on Harry's face, knowing that there, in that moment, Harry was getting everything he had ever wanted: a family.
The feeling didn't last long.
There were screams amongst the group, mainly from Regulus and Sirius, as Althea was thrown across the room like a rag doll, landing harshly in a kitchen chair. She found herself unable to move as dish rags took life and restrained her wrists and ankles. She watched as her little boy began to cry, Harry holding him back from her in shock. Wands were taken out and aimed at the figure in the doorway, but three words changed that immediately.
"Scarring, left forearm."
Suddenly everyone, the loving couple, the Metamorphmagus who had kept her son entertained, even the two best friends of her brother, had their wands aimed at her, looking at her as if she were Voldemort himself. Even Harry began to let go of her quietly crying son.
In entered a man unlike any she'd ever seen before, and though it took her a moment, she was able to place a name to the face: Alastor Moody, the famous Auror, his wild, magical eye so distinctly fixated on her. Behind him entered a tall, dark-skinned wizard Althea didn't know, as well as a small balding man.
"Check her," said the second man.
It was Remus, the man closest to her besides Sirius, too shocked to do anything, that pulled on her left shirt sleeve, revealing the one thing she wanted to forget more than anything else in the world. She couldn't, of course; it was a part of her - had been since she was sixteen.
"That's not the Dark Mark," said Harry, the relief evident in his voice. Tonks had been the first to lower her wand, and slowly, the others followed, until it was once again just Sirius with his wand at the ready, but with one confused look from Harry, he put it away.
The awkwardness in the room seemed to intensify as Althea looked around at all the people who had been so welcoming to her only moments ago, yet had turned on her so quickly - in front of her son and nephew, on top of it all. The mood switched, however, as another figure entered the room.
Althea looked up, her wrists still restrained to the chair, and found one of the most respected and powerful wizards of their time: Albus Dumbledore. His blue, all-knowing eyes set on her immediately. "Ah, Miss Potter. I must say, I'm surprised to see you," he said, his voice dream-like as he practically floated over to her, his gaze traveling from the woman's face, to her arm.
"It's Mrs. Kumar, now," Althea responded harshly, her eyes like daggers as she stared back at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore grinned at her. "My mistake, Mrs. Kumar. I'm curious to know what's brought you back to England. I'm also curious to know what's happened to your arm."
Everyone, Harry included, inched forward to see what they could of the woman's scar. As hard as they attempted to catch a glance, she tried just as hard to hide the words carved into her arm, as she had tried to do for years. "The bad people did that to Mum," Regulus spoke up, stealing the attention away from his mother. "The same ones that took Neela."
A silence was sparked by Regulus's words, everyone in the room looking at either the mother or the son, shocked, confused, or empathetic expressions on their faces. Althea caught Molly Weasley's eye, and it seemed that she was the only one that knew what her son insinuated, the only one truly capable of understanding the greatest fear a mother could have.
Remus watched his best friend stare, heartbroken, at the woman they once knew, but he couldn't exactly place the reason for his sorrow. "Who's Neela?" he asked, so Sirius wouldn't have to.
Althea turned to look up at Remus, tears beginning to form in her eyes despite the straight face she kept as she tugged on her restraints. "Neela is my daughter," she spoke with an even tone, turning to meet the gaze of Dumbledore, effortlessly forcing him out of her mind as he attempted to invade it. "She's the reason I'm here."
