InsaneJournal

Carina's return; Ministry & Château de Saule Noir [DA, CSB, RB, HA, MBN, AS, HJ]
WHO: Dominic, Carina, Regulus, Hannah, Narcissa, Aurora, Hestia
WHERE: Ministry; Château de Saule Noir
WHEN: Friday, 31 December, 1999 – Saturday, 1 January, 2000
SUMMARY: Carina's return and revelations of held secrets. PARTIAL LOG/IN-PROGRESS THREAD.
RATING: PG-13


To say the night had been tense would be a great understatement. Dominic had passed many agonizing hours waiting as news of one attack or another came in. Already there were news of civilian deaths, though thankfully no news of deaths to Aurors or Auror trainees yet. He knew that Hestia would take those particularly hard not being there, and he also knew that Hannah would go to pieces if Macmillan were harmed. Like it or not, he had to hope the boy survived this war which had never really ended, had to hope that if things were to end with him and Hannah, it would be on her terms.

Headed downstairs to be briefed by Shacklebolt, his head turned to the side for the briefest of moments when he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eyes. Someone, or something, tumbled out, in a little dark bundle. A child, he decided when he saw the fair haired girl move. And not just any child but….

“Carina Sarcelles…” his voice was shocked but he rushed to the girl. How clever she was, even so young, to be able to get herself, or find someone to get her, to safety, because he knew that whoever had taken her would not have let her go so easily. No, there would have been ransom demands, or, as Hestia had predicted, children turning up in little pieces, not a seemingly unharmed child turning up alive and well with no consequence other than countless torturous hours of anxiety on all sides. “You’re safe. You’re safe, you’re here in the Ministry with the Minister himself. What’s happened to you, hmm?”

He knelt there on the floor next to her, brushing some of her blonde hair out of her face so that he could see her a bit better, inspect her for any obvious damage. “Did they hurt you? Are you alright?”

The last two days and few hours had not been fun for Carina Sarcelles Black. First, her relatives had stolen her away from her Papa and relatives she liked, then they had been mean to her. Especially Not-Oncle Roddy. They had made her wear the same clothes over and over because they didn't have anything for her, even if they had used cleaning charms, and they had ignored her to play their own games with maps and big, scary, mean looking men, then left her alone with one of those big, stupid men and gone off to have fun. Or something.

But she had showed them, she really had.. The moment the man left with her had gone off to talk to people who had shown up – no one ever talked in front of her, but it didn't mean she hadn't heard anyhow – she had decided enough was enough. She was going home. Her father had shown her a long time ago how to use a Floo fireplace. The name of Tante Cissa's house had been told to her before, many times, but when she had the little jar in her hands, she had heard voices. Thinking she would be caught and stopped, she had chosen the next best thing. After all, she knew even though this was England and not France, there was still a Ministry. The Ministry was a safe place to be, Papa had always said. Even if he had never gone to the one in England, as far as she knew.

As the Death eaters came back into the room, Carina was already making her escape. She heard their shouts before the Floo magic grabbed her, and so as she tumbled out of the fireplace into the Ministry, despite the disorientation, she was smiling smugly. And someone was already coming to her and even knew her name!

Quite frankly, though, Carina Sarcelles was tired of adults, as they never listened and apparently only responded to direct orders instead of pleases and thank yous and other good manners. So that was what she intended to give. Even to the Minister. Even if he was being nice. He wasn't her family, her good family, and so he might be pretending.

"My clothes are dirty," she informed him, imperiously holding out the skirt of her robes, "and are the same ones I had when they took me, I've been wearing them for two whole days. I want my Papa, I want my Tante Cissa, I want to go home, I want new clothes and I want it all right now. Right now!" She stamped her foot, glaring fiercely up at Dominic.

Dominic was a bit shocked when Carina started to speak to him in such assertive tones, but he tried his best to not let it show. For all he knew the people who had been holding her had been rabid mindless beasts who could only be communicated with in shouted tones and stamping feet. Smiling at her, he shook his head gently, trying to figure out what to do with her. Were it any other night he would have one of the Aurors question her briefly and then take her home, but every Auror who could be spared was out stopping the attacks. However, if he let the kidnap victim that many of the Aurors had been searching for go home without a formal questioning he would look a fool, which wouldn't' bode well for him when it came to Bellatrix and Rodolphus. Decisions decisions...

“Your Papa has plenty of clean clothes for you, I'm certain of it, Carina.” Decision made, he motioned for her to come closer to where he was kneeling directly in front of the Floo. “We'll call him and ask him to bring you something clean on his way here, how's that?”

Not waiting for her response, he turned, pulling her gently to him with one arm. He Floo called Black manor, not overly surprised to see Aiden Sarcelles' face on the other side of it.

Regulus, however, was quite surprised to see the Minister standing there with his arm around his daughter. “Carina!” He exclaimed, pushing his face as close as he could to the fireplace to see her better. “Carina, my baby, are you alright?”

Dominic nodded. “She's just fine, Mr. Sarcelles. She is here at the Ministry with me, why don't you grab a change of clothing for her and come to see her, I'll see to it that she gets something warm to eat while we wait.” Dominic smiled at the man, who looked for all intents and purposes as though he was the personification of relief. “She's just fine, sir, likely a little tired and hungry and out of sorts, but a little time to calm down and recover and she'll be good as new.”

Well, all right. Calling would work, but only if her father came immediately, otherwise Carina intended to pitch a fit. And then their his face was and she started babbling incoherently, tears already starting.

Narcissa, for her part, reacted quickly despite the relief that surged through her making her want to dash right in to the Floo. "Go, I will get clothing for Carina and be along right after you," she said to Regulus, reaching for the jar of Floo powder, which she offered to him.

Back on the ministry side, Carina had quickly turned mutinous at Dominic's suggestion. "I am not going anywhere," she said, "I am waiting for my Papa-"

"Dad, I- Carina?"

"HANNAH!" With a piercing shriek, Carina took off, launching herself, fireplace soot and all, at Hannah, babbling madly in a mix of English and French about her horrible ordeal and the horrible people she had been made to deal with.

Hannah, who had come downstairs with a message from one of his senior staff, scooped Carina up as she launched herself at her, tears of laughing joy replacing the shock as she tried her best to follow the chatter of the no-doubt frightened girl. Yet, she quickly realized Carina was far from frightened. No, she was very disgusted. Then the names being thrown about sunk in and it was as though a ice cold finger had moved up along her spine. "Who?" she asked, even as she cast a terrified look to her father.

"Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange!" Carina repeated, as if Hannah were being particularly daft, then continued right along with her explanation of the masked, bad people and the unmasked, but still bad and often stupid people, she had seen and heard and eavesdropped on.

"And some of them are going to Hogsmeade! But they said I couldn't go because they were going very early in the morning! And I wanted candy!"

Dominic's mouth fell open when he heard Carina say who had had her. Damn. Double and triple damn. All of the work that he had been trying to do in order to make things easier for him and his family might well be for nothing when the Lestranges found out just who turned their prized prisoner over.

Get it together, Abbott, you're not that low are you? She's just a little girl, a little girl who belongs with her father just like Hannah belongs with you. She's not some bargaining chip and you're damned sure going to make certain that she goes back to her father where she belongs and not even consider doing something stupid. Things aren't that desperate yet.

His jaw set in a hard line he turned back to the Floo, waiting on his arrival. He needed to get this child out of here, quickly, so it looked less incriminating on his part. Perhaps if she was with her father quickly it wouldn't look as bad to the Lestranges. On the other hand, they were pretty unreasonable, there would likely be no less bad with them, just the traitor who had turned their little captive over to her father. Damn damn damn indeed.

Regulus required very little persuasion to get him to go into the Floo. He wanted to have his little girl in his arms again, nothing else mattered. He'd hold her as he walked her the entire way to Diagon Alley if he had to and buy her new things, but Narcissa was there and Narcissa would bring her a change of clothing. One thing was for certain, Carina wasn't going to get out of his sight for a very long, long time.

He stepped quickly out of the Floo in the Ministry, walking toward her in a stride that was just short of a run. He held his arms open wide as he approached Carina, who was still with Hannah. “Come here, Carina.” His eyes were wide and too bright but he didn't cry, no, he had to make certain that Carina was all right first, get her home and safe. “Come here, baby.”

Regulus hadn't even needed to tell Carina to come here. The moment she spotted him moving toward her, she stopped abruptly in her frenzied telling of her tale and shrieked his name. A moment later, Carina all but threw herself out of Hannah's arms into his, crying now openly. "Oh, Papa, Papa, Papa, it was so awful and they were so mean and I don't like them and I don't want to be related to them and I want to go home and I missed you, can we please go, please?" she sobbed, clinging to him with all the strength her small body possessed, her words rushed and in spots incomprehensible.

But Hannah hadn't missed the way Carina had referred to the Lestranges as her 'Tante and 'not-Oncle', though she had heard Carina use those terms for Lady Malfoy and Mr Lestrange. The poor thing, she likely thought because those two were related to people she accepted as family, they were family as well. Eyes welling at the thought of what poor Carina had likely had to deal with, she moved away from Aiden and Carina to give them a moment, going to stand next to Dominic.

"They should go, Dad, go back home where she's safe," she whispered urgently, suddenly afraid for Carina and all of them. The Lestranges wouldn't be happy she had escaped, what if they wanted to attack the Ministry next? "Hestia can go question her there, can't she? She doesn't need to do it here, what if they heard Carina say this was where she wanted to go when she got in the Floo? Maybe you shouldn't be here either."

Regulus pressed several kisses into her hair. She felt familiar in his arms, and yet this whole thing was like some dream. A wonderful, awful dream all at once because Carina was here but she had been through hell to get here. She had met the relatives he had most hoped that she would never meet and in addition to that, she would someday learn that she had been in their custody while they attacked others. He knew that the last few hours had been awful in particular for him, wondering where his little girl was while the rest of the world fell to pieces.

“I'm taking her home.” he said firmly, knowing that he should likely take a bit more respectful of a tone with the minister but not caring. His Carina deserved to be where she felt safest just now, and he knew that that was with him and and Narcissa and Allyssa. She deserved that stability after days of turbulence. “You may send over an Auror or two to ask her a few questions after I've had a chance to get her calmed down and make her feel safe again, but for now she's coming home.” He raised an eyebrow at Dominic. He might be nothing as far as these people were concerned, just some wealthy man from France who had appeared almost out of the blue one day, but he was a Black on the inside and he knew what it meant to not take no for an answer. It was clear that he wasn't asking permission to bring his daughter home, but telling that it would be so.

Dominic could tell it too, so he nodded. “Of course.” He said, clearing his throat. “Take her home and in a short while I'll send over one of my best Aurors to question her. Normally I would not demand that the interview happen so swiftly, you understand, but before you came Miss Sarcelles mentioned an attack on Hogsmeade. Lives depend on us finding out if she knows anything else.”

With a curt nod, Regulus walked swiftly to the Floo, unwilling or unable even now to release her. They would Floo home together, and his Carina would not stray from his sight for a long, LONG time if he had anything to say about it.

Dominic turned, looking at Hannah. She too had a point, someone may well be coming to attack the ministry. If someone had heard where she was going to Floo too, they might have tried to follow her. She and Hestia needed to be out of here. He was the minister and as such he had to stay. That's what the people expected officials to do, to stay at the helm, at the ministry in times of crisis, provide leadership and help them. He couldn't very well go scurrying off to seek safety, but he'd be damned if he let Hannah and Hestia stay.

“Hestia should question Carina.” He said, nodding in approval at his own idea. “It will be something useful that she can do, and I think it will help her feel a bit more optimistic to see that Miss Sarcelles is alive and well. I think that you, too, should go with her, because both of the girls know you from the wedding your presence will be a calming one and it will also allow Hestia to have someone she can rely on to confer what she hears. The word of two witnesses speaks much more loudly than one, even if one of them is an Auror.”

He leaned in, kissing her forehead. “Why don't you go see if Hestia agrees to it, hmm? The sooner we get you two out there the sooner the talks can be over and the sooner Carina Sarcelles can get a sound night's sleep in her own bed.”

As far as the discussions going on around her went, Carina could have cared less what the others were doing. She had her Papa now and had no intention of going anywhere without him, and as he was here now, it meant Tante Cissa and home and a different outfit and Allyssa and Oncle Bastan and her room and her toys and everything would be soon to come. She had even ceased chattering for a moment in favour of holding tightly to him and sobbing out her relief, which was great.
She didn't even care they were going through the Floo again, nor how much dirtier it would make her, because they were home and everything would be fine.

And then she spotted Narcissa and her wailing recitations restarted.

On her way to the Ministry with a small case of essentials in hand after alerting the volunteers that Carina had been found, Narcissa was surprised, though happy, to see them exit the fireplace.

"Oh, my darling, do not cry, you are home now and everything will be just fine, my precious one," she all but cooed to the small girl, her voice that soft and coaxing as she rested her hand on Carina's back. Though Carina clung still to Regulus, she had given her full attention to Narcissa, for a reason she soon understand.

"Who?" she questioned, even as the truth of Carina's declaration reverberated in her mind.

"Tante Bella and Not-Oncle Roddy!" Carina wailed. Honestly, did not one listen to her? "They were awful, Tante Cissa, simply awful, and he used his magic on my mouth so I couldn't open it!"

The world turned red at that and Narcissa had to let go of Carina to avoid squeezing her too hard as the waves of unadulterated rage swept over her.

Back at the Ministry, Hannah had not been and still was not pleased with Dominic's idea, as it left him here in the Ministry. She could plead and cajole, but in her adult wisdom, knew there was a better way of going about this.

"I'm telling Hestia there's a chance they know Carina came here," she warned seriously, then pressed the parchment she had brought him into his hand and moved off quickly before he could try to give her some official Ministerial order or something. Hestia would have found out anyhow soon enough!

Dominic sighed, going to alert everyone to the new information he knew about Hogsmeade. They would send out enforcements, and that would be a start. Damn the Lestranges though. This was their mess, their war, and he was still in it because he had been a foolish child who got himself marked before he knew what he was into. Were he not careful he'd get himself killed, he was taking a big enough risk as it was turning over information. It was like trying to cross a very long bridge and intentionally setting fire to one side of it, it just wasn't something that was a particularly well thought out idea, no matter your reasoning.

Regulus nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he saw Narcissa's anger as well. The thought that they used magic on his Carina, that they let her get dirty and likely didn't feed her the proper things or even do the indulgent parental things that she was used to like reading her stories before bed or taking care of her every need. However, the time for that was later, later when Carina felt safe again and slept. “Do they know, sweetheart?” he asked softly, not wanting to ask the question earlier when they were in the presence of the minister and his daughter. “Do they know about your real last name and who your Papa really is?” He held his breath, anticipating the answer and hoping, praying, that it was no.

Carina nodded, tears still falling. "You said it could only be talked about to family and she's Tante Cissa's sister! And Not-Oncle Roddy-" she had yet to reveal the "not" was because of how angry she was with him "-said it was a surprise for her and I should tell her the secret, so I did! And then they got angry and he yelled at me!"

Narcissa looked at the clock and then at Regulus. "Allyssa is asleep for the night and Rabastan will be here in the morning," she related to him in a stiff, unnatural tone for her, leashed fury, "and Aurora is in the next room should you need help cleaning Carina up. I may not be back until morning." Kissing Carina's cheek, she started to move away, until Carina began to wail harder.

"No, no, Tante Cissa, stay, stay please, Tante Cissa."

In the face of that, how could Narcissa leave? No, it would have to wait until Carina was settled.

Regulus shook his head as well. No, if anyone got the satisfaction of murdering darling Bellatrix and that stubborn Frenchman of hers, it would be him, and only him. They had taken his little girl, nearly turned Regulus into a mad man in the process and made him doubt his skills as a father all at once. Such things were things that he deserved to avenge on his own. Thankfully Cissy yielded to little Carina's requests.

“NEITHER of them are your family anymore, my pet. Not Rodolphus and not Bellatrix, I would refuse to be in a family with anyone who took my sweet little girl from me.” He insisted, holding her closer. “They're both awful people and we'll stop them eventually, but for now you don't need to worry about a thing. You need to relax and enjoy being home and play.”

He looked over at Narcissa, unsure of what to do with her now that she was here. He had often admired Narcissa for her skills as a mother, and he wasn't sure how to parent this little girl just now. Did he insist that she get rest? Eat? Take a bath? Play? Tell them all that had happened? There was so much that had likely been neglected in her absence, things she needed, things he needed to do for her, and it seemed that none of them seemed the obvious thing to go first.

Well, that settled that, as far as Carina was concerned. If she never saw her mean Not-Oncle Roddy and No-Longer-Tante Bella, it would be too soon! However, there seemed to be a far larger problem, one that made her worry for her father because of how angry Not-Oncle Roddy had seemed every time he and No-Longer-Tante Bella had discussed her father. What if they wanted to come be mean to him too?

"But they know now! If they are not our family anymore, then they shouldn't know who you really are, we need to make them forget!" she cried, burying her face in his shoulder.

In the door, Aurora froze, stopped from coming into the room to tell them an Auror Jones had just arrived by Apparition to question Carina. Who he really was? What did that mean?

Unaware anyone had entered, as she had told those gathered they would bring Carina in once she had been assured of her safety, Narcissa continued on as if they were alone, voice soft but not soft enough to not be heard by anyone in the room.

"Shh, we shall make them forget," she said, in that same soft almost-coo, "you did nothing wrong, precious one, nothing whatsoever, and everyone here will be find, I promise you. Now, I know you wish to take a bath very much, do you not, and then have your own pyjamas on and have all the ice cream you want, hmm?" It was not as though it would become a habit, after all.

Carina perked up. "All the ice cream I want?" she said gleefully, a bright smile flashing into place beneath her tears. "Yes, yes!" And then she spotted Aurora over Narcissa's shoulder. "Professeur! Professeur Sinistra! I came home, I escaped all by myself!"

Regulus laughed quietly at Carina's eagerness. “Yes, my girl, all the ice cream you want. A warm bath and your most fuzzy pajamas and all the ice cream you can eat without getting ill.” However, when she announced herself to Aurora, his head swiveled to see the professor. How much had she heard? Did she know that he was something out of the ordinary? Did she know what he had once been? Did she....

Trusting that she had not heard TOO much, he tried to clear his mind of worrying about the future and instead gave her a relieved smile. “Aurora...I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you myself, but I think that you'd prefer to hear it from the lady of the hour anyway. I'd like to thank you for being here to greet our little Carina when she returned.” Unable to be distracted from his daughter and her miraculous appearance even now, he pressed his lips to her hair. “We always knew you'd be back, precious girl. I always knew that my sweet baby would find a way home, or that I would find a way to you. No one can keep us apart for long.”

Aurora smiled at Aiden, the look vaguely guilty for having heard something she clearly should not hear. "An Auror is here, Hestia Jones, to see Carina." She hesitated, looking at the adults, not knowing what of this they would want Carina to overhear. It was not troubling, but the directions were of a sensitive nature.

Narcissa waved to the door. "Aiden, you should get Carina into a bath, call a house elf on your way up and it can be ready before you both need to wait long. I will be up in a minute with some very special bubble bath for Carina and she can take her bath then." That said, she moved closer to Aurora, allowing the other woman to lower her voice.

"She said she understands if Carina needs to be tended to before she is questioned, but she requested that someone inspect Carina for injuries before she takes a bath, and that she be allowed to question Carina before Carina tells what happened to many people, as it could alter the facts because she is so young," Aurora said carefully, voice soft.

Nodding, Narcissa thanked Aurora and slipped from the room to go locate Hestia and bring her upstairs. Aurora turned, unable to keep from looking at Aiden, question in her eyes that she did not mean to be there.

Regulus saw the question in her eyes, and he didn't know how to respond to it. Should he tell her, trusting the same loyalty and quiet strength that had led to her being with them throughout this ordeal would allow her to look beyond his past? Should he hold his tongue to preserve their relationship for fear of it ruining things? Should he...

He shook his head. Nothing could be done just now, not with things so up in the air and little Carina still dirty and with the Auror waiting to ask her questions. Perhaps she wouldn't look so badly on him, considering that Sirius was who he was. Being a Black wasn't necessarily a damning thing, even if he had been marked and thought dead.

“A bath.” He said, taking his eyes from Aurora for a moment to look down at Carina. “A bath it is, Carina. Let's get that house elf to fix a nice warm bath and we'll borrow some of Tante Cissa's bubbles for you.” He looked back at Aurora. “Perhaps while you speak with the nice Auror I'll have a chat with your professeur about your next lesson.” Perhaps he'd even tell her about who he was...or perhaps he'd just thank her again. Time would tell.

Realizing he had sensed something, given how he was studying her, Aurora had averted her eyes from him when he shook his head. She had not meant for him to sense anything of what she was feeling, for if he had some great secret, it was his. She could not allow the past two days of stress-enforced closeness play any part in this, he had no obligation to tell her anything, and her traitorous feelings had no cause to make her want to know what it was.

Closing her eyes at the thought of a bath with lovely bubbles, rather than the bath with only plain water she had after refusing any help from either Lestrange and in fact locking the door against them while she bathed, Carina's eyes popped open at his next statement. "You're not going away are you, Papa?" she asked, blue eyes already welling with the next volley of tears should he say anything about parting from her. "You can stay with me while the Auror talks to me, yes? Please, Papa, please?"

Though part of her wanted to know what Aiden truly wished to discuss, another part of Aurora was relieved by Carina's insistence they stay close enough that talk would be impossible, or so she thought. He would not feel obligated to clarify, or perhaps even lie, about what he guessed she had overhead, if indeed he thought she had overheard anything of importance.

Regulus was a bit surprised that Aurora was not jumping to figure out what he had hinted at revealing. It would be enough to get the best of most, make them so eager to figure out what he was hiding that they lost all sense of themselves. It was just another mark of what set Aurora apart from the rest, this strange, unreadable woman that he had grown so used to.

“No, dearest.” He shuffled Carina a bit in his arms, so that he could brush his thumb over her cheeks, trying to soothe her. “Papa's not leaving, not for anything. Why I just got you back, I wouldn't go. I'll never leave you again until you're ready for it.” He sent Aurora a quick look over Carina's head, mouthing 'later' to her. He was determined now, he knew that he had to tell her. Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange were about the least reliable people on the face of the earth. If THEY knew who he really was, then the rest of the world was soon to follow, and he wouldn't have Aurora think herself a fool. No, she couldn't read about this in the Venom Quill's rubbish journal or see a legitimate story in the newspaper about it. He couldn't even let her overhear it as gossip. Aurora had been a trusted friend even before she helped him through this, but now..now the word 'friend' seemed so insignificant but he didn't know what to replace it with...he just knew that he couldn't let her find out from someone else.

"Okay," Carina said, settled by the reassurance. "She can ask me things during my bath then, I want to stay in the bubbles forever."

Chuckling softly at that, Aurora followed the two out of the room, though her gaze continued to move toward Aiden speculatively when she thought she would go unnoticed, Carina's chattering filling any silences that would have existed otherwise.

Upstairs, Narcissa spoke to Hestia after she motioned the Abbott girl to a sitting room off Regulus' bedroom. "Though I know you need to know if Carina is injured, I can assure you she is not."

"With all due respect, Lady Malfoy, the Lestranges kidnapped a child, for reasons that truly are not all that clear unless they subscribe to the beliefs of the 'Venom Quill'. You have no idea what they-"

"That was not what I meant, Auror Jones," Narcissa interrupted firmly. "What I was attempting to communicate was that if Carina were injured, all within her line of sight would have heard in exuberant detail, even if it were no more than a bump on the knee gotten when Flooing to the Ministry."

"Every injury, Lady Malfoy?" Hestia questioned quietly, her tone grave and her expression businesslike, though her worry was clear. "No matter how private?"

Narcissa stopped at that, posture stiff as she turned to Hestia. Though she noted the look on the Auror's eyes, it was her words that gained her focus, a steely response in a cold tone issued forth a moment later.

"Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange are many things, but they are not child molesters, Auror Jones," she said with biting sharpness.

"That doesn't mean she was with the two of them alone for the last two days," Hestia said, bristling at the icy reaction she was receiving.

Regulus heard Hestia's words when he neared his bedroom, but he ignored them for the moment. Right now what was important was getting Carina settled and happy again. Quietly he carried her into his bathroom, wanting to speak to the Auror before she questioned his little girl. Narcissa could help Carina in the bath, but he wanted to make it clear (even though he imagined Jones already knew) that he wouldn't allow Carina to get anymore upset tonight, and that her questions needed to be as gentle and as brief as possible. He could take a pretty educated guess what Hestia had meant by her last comment—the very thing he had feared for days. However, any fool could see that other than being scared out of her mind, his little girl was going to be just fine. She had always run to him when she was
Dani: unhappy or hurt, as all girl should run to their fathers, and he refused to believe that were something like that wrong with her an Auror would be able to see it before he did.

“Carina's just fine, aren't you, love?” His tone was firm, making it clear where he stood just as he had when he was talking to the minister and he said that he was taking her home. As her father it was his job to set boundaries and keep her safe and happy, and even if he had not done such a good job of that recently, he was going to start now. “In fact, she was just headed off to have the warmest, most relaxing bubble bath in the world. Dearest, would you like to have your Tante Cissa help you with your bath? Papa will be right here where you can see him the whole time, we'll even leave the door open, if you'd like.”

The moment she heard voices, Hestia turned, interrupting anything else Narcissa Malfoy might say. Despite putting a smile on her face for the little girl, her gaze was keen, studying her for any obvious injuries as well as for indicators of trauma that would be unseen. Yet, despite the way she was clinging to her father, Hestia was surprised to find her looking virtually untouched. Clean, save for the fireplace soot, bright-eyed and alert rather than wary and fearsome. And then the girl opened her mouth and Hestia's worries slipped further away at the familiar spunk.

"You'll stand right there, Papa?" Carina asked, pointing to a spot near the middle of the room where she could see him from in the bathroom. "Right there the whole time. The whole time. Professeur Sinistra too." The last was more statement than questioned and then she looked at the Auror.

"And you can come in too, but after I get in," she decided, studying Hestia. After all, she had never been mean and Hannah liked her, plus Narcissa and her father and Aurora were here.

"That's fine with me," Hestia said gently. "When we're all done, Hannah's waiting for you in the room next to your father's bedroom, she wanted to see you again and I brought her along." It had been as much for Dominic's fussing as it had been Hannah's, as well as to have someone with her that Carina was comfortable with and she trusted should it prove necessary to use Hannah in an official capacity. With another smile, she backed out of the bathroom to give Carina privacy.

In the bedroom, Aurora stood and felt awkward, even if she did not look awkward. It was Aiden's private domain and though she had had chances to see the girls' rooms, she had never seen his. Perhaps she should go wait elsewhere anyhow – but what if that upset Carina?

Regulus chuckled, obediently standing in his spot. Though Aurora hid her awkwardness well, he guessed that some might be there. After all, were the situations reversed and he were standing in the middle of her bedroom, he might fell a little ill at ease. “Remember, Professeur we have to stay right here in sight of our little dictator.” The most doting of fathers, his words were said with humor and love rather than anything negative toward his daughter. He failed to see how anyone could see the girl as bossy, when he adored her assertiveness, the way she took charge.

He looked at the Auror for a moment. “I now that you know Carina from the wedding.” he said in a low voice, not wanting his daughter to overhear. “But I would appreciate it, as her father, if your questions could be both gentle and brief. She's been through a lot what with being kidnapped in broad daylight and being away for so long and bringing herself to the ministry.” His look darkened when he said that. While he was proud of her, so proud, for doing that herself, he still could not believe he had not found her. Later he would have to talk with Carina about that, that he HAD tried, lest the girl think she had been on her own the entire time. “I need your word that you won't upset her.”

"I will do my best, Mr Sarcelles, but I can't promise anything," Hestia said carefully. "The very nature of even my most carefully-worded and kindly asked questions may be upsetting. Your daughter was kidnapped by notoriously violent and mentally disturbed Death Eaters, perhaps exposed to others of the same ilk, and I need to know everything she does as quickly as possible, both for her safety and for the safety of others. This isn't just about whys and whens, Mr Sarcelles. Carina is in the position to save even more lives tonight than she already has with her information about Hogsmeade."

Were information of such a nature not in play right now, Hestia would have had her leisure to question Carina, but the fact remained there was no time.

He knew that she was right, but he didn't have to like it. Selfishly he wanted to say that the most important thing was Carina getting the rest and pampering that she both needed and deserved, but as a father who had come so close to losing his daughter, he understood the Auror's need to ensure no one else suffered a similar fate.

“I understand.” he said after a moment. “I trust you, that your words will accomplish what needs to be while using as much caution and care as possible. If you find out the location of the bastards who did this to her, I'd like to know that as well. As an Auror I know you must abide by the law and wait for justice to take its course, but as a father I believe in a very different sort of justice for someone who dares to take MY child from me.”

Hestia paused briefly before speaking. "That might be something you wish to voice to someone else," she said softly. Though she knew if the Lestranges turned up dead, no one, herself at the top of the list, would much care who had done it, but as an upholder of the law, she would need to hand over evidence and Aiden Sarcelles all but stating his intent to kill them would be one of those things that would require her to wrestle with her conscience. Best to turn a deaf ear now.

"Auror Jones, Auror Jones!" a bright voice called from within the bathroom, the sound followed by much water splashing. "You can come in now."

Nodding to Aiden Sarcelles, Hestia entered the bathroom.

Better that she blame him for any 'untimely' demise on the part of his darling cousin and her husband, than Narcissa, who he was certain had something planned as well. He had been the one to lose Carina, and he would be the one who punished them for taking what was his. Besides, he wasn't frightened. No one would mourn the Lestranges save for family, and they had safely alienated all of them by taking Carina.

Impulsively summoning two chairs for him and Aurora, he motioned for her to sit down first. “Aurora...” he said quietly, meaning his words for her alone. “May I talk to you while Carina is speaking to the Auror? Speak to you privately about something important?”

With Carina's chattering and splashing as a backdrop to the setting, Aurora sat in the chair he has summoned for him, not meeting his eyes entirely. Did she want to know what he intended to say? Even if the secret was one Carina was allowed to know, was it something she herself should know? She should absolve him of the need to explain, dismiss from her mind the things she had hear before they could grow to pressing, significant curiosity.

"Aiden, if this is about earlier..." she began.

“Yes...” He said quietly. “It's about earlier. There's something that I should tell you.” The pause came almost without his own choosing, knowing that pushing ahead was like jumping off of a cliff, once he was half finished with it he couldn't go backward, make her forget anything he said. If he were going to turn back, now would be the time, before he got in too far. However, he knew that she deserved to know, with the Lestranges knowing she likely WOULD know in addition to the rest of the countryside.

“Aurora, I AM Aiden Sarcelles, but I'm someone else as well.” He swallowed deeply, listening to Carina splash and chatter. “Carina's known it for some time, Narcissa knows, and, evidentially, now so do Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange."

Of all the things he might have said, this was one that surprised and confused Aurora the most. She listened to Carina telling Hestia about her ordeal, unfocused for a moment, then returned her attention to Aiden. What could be so significant that it had been hidden by who it had, yet necessary to tell her? She assumed it was necessary, why else would he speak of it?

"Someone else?" What could that possibly even mean? How could he be himself yet also not? "What do you mean?" She raised her head then, meeting his gaze, consternation warring with curiosity. For as much as she suddenly felt his answer would change something, she wanted to know.

Regulus didn't want to spring it on her now, didn't want to force her to deal with this now, but there was little choice. Bella knew. Rodolphus knew. His voice quiet so that Hestia couldn't hear (though he doubted that it would be for any good anyhow, knowing his cousin she'd likely reveal his disguise in the most painful way possible) 'Aiden' told the story of Regulus Black. He told the tale of a young man so intrigued by power and privilege and his parent's approval that he joined a cause without knowing all it entailed. As the story went on it told of the cowardice of the young man, who was little more than a boy, when he learned the price of his new life, how he had begged to get out of the cause he pledged his life to and then later was beaten so badly his attackers thought him dead.

Finishing, he spoke of how he found a sympathetic benefactor in France, how he built his life there and became the man that she had known all along, stressing that he was still 'Aiden' because he had never stopped being Regulus AIDEN Black, it was just a matter of a name, and a shadowy past that he had invented for Aiden Sarcelles.

Eyes searching her face, he waited on something, anything, to tell him what she was thinking. “Aurora?”He cleared his throat nervously. “Aurora, what are you thinking?

Though she listened raptly, Aurora sensed what he was saying long before he spoke the words. There seemed little other reason for him to talk about a member of the black family, a man she never met due to their age difference, if ti was not leading toward an explanation of what he had meant about being someone else. Even still, the idea shocked her, her gaze on him because she simply could not look away. A dead man, yet he was not, a Death Eater, yet he was not, Aiden Sarcelles, yet also Regulus Black. It was only when his story came to an end that she could finally look away, seeking some composure after the telling of the tale.

"I... well, I really don't know," she whispered, finally looking back up. "I never dreamed that what I overheard Carina implying would... well, that this would be the secret. To think you had to become a different man, away from your family, just to live..."

After it had sunk in a bit more, she would understand he had likely guessed those thoughts all ready and the answers he sought were far more personal. For right now, it was requiring a focused effort to sort this entire story.

“I know...” Regulus said softly. “I know it's a lot to take in. It was a lot for me, for Narcissa, even for poor Carina to take in. They WOULD have killed me had I not escaped, they thought they had.” He sighed, realizing the other thing that Bella and her husband knowing would mean. “They'd still like to, I imagine.” He looked away from her, studying his hands, his shoes, everything other than her before glancing to the bathroom where Carina was once more. He let the soft sounds of the warm water splashing and her voice soothe him for a minute before he continued. “I know it may seem a bit too personal, and I know that it's pretty shocking, but you deserved to hear it from me, to know the truth before you found out in a method that was less than ideal. I can't trust Bellatrix to keep my secrets."

Aurora blinked, for she had not gotten that far yet in sorting out all he had said, to the considerations of now. It was something she realized was painful to even consider, that there were still those who sought to harm him. Beyond that, she saw no sense in keeping the secret, but it seemed it soon might be taken out of his hands.

"So you – the both of you are in danger now?" That it was possible the Lestranges would wish to finish what Death Eaters were to have done years ago made her feel cold inside suddenly and she shivered. They, who seemed so intent on the idea of blood, would come kill one of their own? Of course, they had already kidnapped a child, there seemed little they would not do now.

"They knew, then, who Carina was? That was why they took her?" she questioned quietly, raising her gaze to his yet again, this time lingering rather than looking away. It was hard to resist the urge to look at him now.

“No.” Regulus said, the soft volume of his voice doing little to mask the annoyance and bitterness he still felt for his cousin for taking her. “As much as I can piece together, Carina told them and they were as shocked as you are now. Likely they just wanted some information from Cissy....” It was easy to slip into the old familial name he had for Narcissa now that she knew, he felt as though he were on a much closer level with her, as though he could tell her anything...not that there was much more to tell. “They objected to someone they didn't know living with Cissa and casting doubt on her and so they decided to get information by any means necessary.”

Any means necessary. The words spread that cold, fearful feeling inside Aurora. No wonder he had done all he could to hide himself, even from family who clearly cared. It explained a great deal about Narcissa Black Malfoy's actions, to be certain, the uncommon side of such a cold woman that had only been seen in brief in interactions with the girls and much more lately during the period Carina had been gone.

"But this house, Narcissa has said before it was her family's, will they be able to come here and confront you?" Though there was concern for Carina, she had to believe now that the Lestranges knew this, Carina was no longer any form of target. But then, what if they took her back to exact revenge? "And Carina? And what about the others who live here?"

So many considerations, so many dangers, so many changes for others to be badly hurt. For someone unused to worrying about anyone at all, save her mother in an expected way of a loving child, this was overwhelming.

“I don't know.” Feeling frustrated at his lack of information, Regulus raked a hand through his hair. “I think we're safe here, Narcissa has no doubt prepared for everything short of a meteor hitting the manor, though I plan to check the warding myself tonight while Carina's sleeping to make certain that it won't let Bellatrix through.” He didn't want to reveal even now that the sisters had maintained contact, didn't want to cast that incriminating light on his cousin. “I'm certain there are ways to keep her safe, but I do worry. If news of who I really am breaks to their henchmen Rodolphus and Bellatrix have a variable army of people following their orders, and they'd like nothing more than to come after the coward.”

His explanation did little to assuage the fear Aurora felt for him, for Carina. Despite her best efforts at maintaining professional distance, they had both found their way into her affections. With Carina, there had been no other way, but with him she had fought it, fought the vulnerability caring would bring, the recklessness that would come when caring turned to love. She was already attracted, even infatuated with the man, but the last two days had put those emotions under pressure and intensified them. Now, she was helpless to stop the worry.

"What will you do? Live inside these walls for the foreseeable future?" she questioned. That was no life for a child and it was certainly no life for a grown man.

“I'd go back to France if that would help, but Merlin knows that the trouble would just follow me there.” He was musing aloud, not really expecting her to offer him any suggestions in the situation that seemed impossible to find a solution to. “I'd go into hiding again under a different name but that wouldn't help either, and Carina's had enough of hiding, she deserves a chance to be herself for a little bit.” He sighed heavily, not liking the feeling of helplessness that he had hoped would recede once Carina made her way home but had somehow lingered. “There's nothing we can do other than carry on with our lives and make certain that we're a bit more cautious. Perhaps we'll hire a few guards, particularly for Carina.” Or perhaps he would hunt his cousin down like the vermin that she was and kill her and her despicable husband. Either way, he wouldn't see his girl taken again.

Aurora had little to offer in the way of suggestions, but what she did have to offer, she did so with complete sincerity. "Other than the families of the children I tutor, no one likely knows I own a house or where it is located," she said quietly, aware of the brief lulls in Carina's chatter that made speaking softly necessary. "If you need someplace close to go to, I'd allow you to ward however you wished now just in case. They wouldn't suspect you would go there, I can't imagine. It's not this Manor," she gestured around the room, "but Carina has liked it there in the past."

Gaping at her for a moment, Regulus wasn't sure at first how to respond. Did she honestly know what she was offering? True, he had committed no crime, but he likely would have been better off were it the Aurors and Order mad at him rather than the Death Eaters. At least the Order played more or less by the rules, and would lock him in Azkaban rather than torturing and killing him and those close to him. By offering to bring him into her home she was bringing that danger on herself, and for that, even if he didn't consider anything else (and there was quite a lot to consider, their talks, the way she had been there, the way that she made Carina glow to name a few) he loved her.

But he wouldn't risk her, not until there was no other chance. Her gift was not something he could take lightly, one which would have been too great were it only for him and not for Carina's safety as well.

“Thank you.” he said sincerely. “That means a good deal to me, and no doubt to Carina. If we need it, and I pray that we are safe to live without forcing you to harbor us, I would be honored to accept your offer.”

"Aiden... Regulus... I have no idea what to call you now," Aurora finished lamely, momentarily stalled. It had been a hard one battle for him, no doubt, trying to get her to call him Aiden, something that had just happened when Carina was taken and then worry and lack of sleep had quieted her resolve, letting her continue to use it, to the point where it would now be ridiculous to take it back.

But he had two names now, and she was not even certain what was appropriate anymore, not in a social sense, but in a safety sense. The new social dynamic between them would take far longer to determine, to see if this stress-caused sense of closeness faded now that Carina was home.