Evan followed the path up to the house that sat along the dark street. The lampposts had been lit yet Evan's features were left hidden, just the way he liked it. The scratch along his cheekbone stung and his lip swelled, but they were only collateral damage to reach his true goal. The Aurors had ambushed him and his team and he had been the only one to escape. He knew they were tracking him and could appear at any moment, but he couldn't disappoint the Dark Lord. He had been so taken with her and had demanded that Evan bring her to him.
He didn't look over his shoulder as he swaggered up to the porch and walked in without knocking. He didn't fear death and would fight to the very end, as long as the child got into the hands of the Dark Lord. Only then, could the Aurors come and do with him as they please.
"Get out of here, Evan," Jesse's voice stopped him climbing the staircase that he hadn't taken his gaze off. The house was dark with the lights being extinguished by Jesse. She knew he was coming and attempted to make the house seem like it was empty. But Evan knew better.
"Where's the child?" he ignored her and looked at her with his clear blue eyes.
Jesse Yaxley had only been a girl he had gone to Hogwarts with in his youth. They had a relationship that he had successfully been able to feign interest in right up until Jesse said she was pregnant. She had been a perfect target with her pureblood status. Her brother had been keen on following You Know Who also, making her useful and worthy of bearing a Rosier's child. With her black irises and dark brown hair, she was actually quite beautiful. But Evan didn't have time for such things and was only devoted to serving the Dark Lord.
"Her name is Blair! She is not an object!" Jesse fought, clutching her wand tightly in her hand as she seethed at the man. She couldn't believe that she had once loved him once. He had been so sweet to her while at school, but he had changed dramatically since then. She knew her brother and Evan had gotten along well, but that wasn't a good thing. They both had gotten themselves mixed in with Death Eaters and were now wanted by the Ministry for many offences. She refused to do the same and had attempted to hide in the Muggle world while the war raged on. But deep down, she knew her attempts were futile. Evan was intelligent and would be able to find her no matter what country, state or world she tried to hide in.
"Don't waste your purity, Jesse," Evan calmly said, but his tone was dull like concrete. "It would be a shame to waste your blood over this."
"You will not drag her into your mess, Evan!" Jesse pointed her wand at his chest while continuing her bravery. She had been sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts but held many Gryffindor qualities. But she'd never admit that she asked the Sorting Hat to place her in the house of burgundy and gold.
"She has a life ahead of her! A good life! And when this war is over and you're rotting in Azkaban, she will be good and not the slightest bit like you!"
Baby Blair laid in her crib upstairs listening to the loud argument. The sound of her mother's voice calmed her regardless of it's harsh tone, but the man who replied to her cries was someone she didn't recognise. Blair stayed quiet, making no gurgling noises or baby nonsense, and was able to hear a sudden cry of foreign words and the sound of a loud thud. It went silent once more, before footsteps began climbing the stairs and echo through the hallway.
Evan pushed open the door and stalked towards the crib, seeing the child laying on her back and staring up at him with eyes that had been passed down to her from her mother. He felt nothing but anticipation for the baby girl. She was not his child; she was his prize. His presentation to the Dark Lord. The only significance that tied the two together was the thin black strands of hair on Blair's head and the pure blood that ran through her veins.
The Dark Lord wanted a generation that would grow up in a pureblood-only world. One that only had the most talented of witches and wizards practicing magic. When Evan admitted that he had impregnated Jesse Yaxley, the Dark Lord actually showed amazement. Many thought he couldn't show any human emotions as he had convinced his following that he was somehow immortal. He asked questions about the child and talked about having a pure line of children that will make the Wizarding world their own. He wanted to nurture Evan's child and lead him/her in the direction of glory and power. The child would be the start of Lord Voldemort's Aryan race.
Blair didn't cry or gurgle when Evan lifted her out of the crib. She stared up at his bruised and bloody face as he left the room and descended back down the stairs to the bottom floor. The body of Jesse Yaxley lay on the floor motionless and distant-eyed. She didn't cry or wail when she saw her mother's still body.
She certainly didn't cry when Evan opened the front door and stepped out on to porch, where seven men and women were waiting for him with their wands out. The man froze and stared at the faces of Aurors that he had seen only minutes ago. A young Mad-Eye Moody stared at him from the middle, him being the leader of his unit and responsible for the capturing and detaining of Evan Rosier. His face had minimal amounts of scars and was yet to have a portion of his nose taken from him. But he stood as tall and sturdy as ever, in his prime and already one of the most respected Aurors in the Ministry of Magic.
"Put down the child, Rosier," Mad-Eye instructed, his magical eye glancing at the baby that stared back at him in wonder.
Evan said nothing as he pointed his wand at the man and immediately dismembered his nose to what it is in current time. The chunk of flesh was left on the neatly cut grass as Mad-Eye wailed and cursed, clutching his face as blood began to cake his hands. The Auror next to him took him aside and left the others to deal with Rosier, who was outnumbered and had no chance against them.
The final blow had been delivered by a woman with blonde hair that was tied back in a neat ponytail. Greta Goldstein had no choice but to use a powerful Reductor curse that caused Evan Rosier to freeze and grumble into dust, the porch littered with his remains. Another Auror used the levitation spell before Blair could hit the floor and suffer a nasty crack to the back of her fragile skull. Baby Blair stayed voiceless throughout the situation and even settled down for a nap in Greta Goldstein's arms. It was hours past her bedtime and had been woken abruptly by the voices of her now deceased parents downstairs.
"Not even a tear," an Auror noted, seeing Blair's eyes sliding shut with her small head against Greta's shoulder.
"Take Yaxley's body back to the Ministry," Greta informed her co-worker. "There will be a lot of paperwork waiting for me now that Moody's out of the game."
The Auror did as he was told and entered into the house, retrieving the limp body that didn't deserve it's fate. Greta carried Blair without complaint and brought her to her supervisor, asking what she should do with the child. Blair was then admitted into Wool's Orphanage with barely any idea of who she was, who her parents were, and what sort of a life was waiting for her.
---
"How's she doing?"
"Alright. She woke up once and had a sob, but she was out like a light again in five minutes."
"How did the meeting go?"
"They weren't surprised, but they're worried. They agreed that she needs to start being more careful and have someone with her when she leaves the shop. But they think that Fletcher got the message that she didn't want to be recruited. They think that they'll want to eliminate her instead."
George sighed after his explanation and collapsed down on to the sofa, pulling his bow-tie from around his neck and throwing it over the armrest. He had been able to get Blair back to the shop in one piece with the shopping bags and all. But as soon as their feet touched the floor, Blair basically crumbled into a crying mess. George picked her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to the flat. Fred grabbed the bags and waited until she had cried herself asleep before asking what in the hell had happened.
It had been hard to comfort Blair. She sobbed into George's shoulder for at least twenty minutes before going oddly quiet, letting him tuck her under the duvet and leaving the room in a hurry. He needed to tell the Order what had happened. Fred noticed that Jasper wasn't walking around and meowing to be fed and had nearly shed a tear when George told him where the feline was.
"Son of a bitch!" Fred yelled and George shushed him angrily, jabbing his thumb towards the hallway where Blair had only just fallen asleep. Fred grumbled and put his head into his hands, calling Fletcher Potts every curse word that was in the Wizarding and Muggle world.
George went to The Burrow where the Order of the Phoenix was waiting for them. Molly had been immensely worried and asked him to bring Blair over when she was feeling up to it. She knew how much she loved her cat and could imagine that it felt like losing a family member. The meeting went until eleven at night and Fred was sagging against the back cushions of the sofa when George got back. Fred jumped awake when he was shoved harshly and blinked at his twin who looked exhausted and irritated from how the night had gone. But he had gathered his senses quickly and was asking what had happened at the meeting before he had even wiped the sleep out of his eyes.
"I'mgoing to go to bed," George forced his backside off of the sofa and headed forthe hallway. "We should close the shop tomorrow. Potts could come back."
"Good call," Fred replied. "I don't think I'd be able to hold my fist back from slamming into his face if I saw him."
They turned the lights off and headed to their bedrooms, mumbling a good night to each other. George was met with a dark room and quietly closed the door behind him, slipping his shoes off and undressing sluggishly. He could see the lump that was curled up under the duvet on the furthest side of the bed and was able to see the long black hair that stuck over the top once his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Blair didn't move when George pulled back the covers and slipped in next to her, making him think that he was going to spend the night cuddling himself for the first time since moving into the flat.
But a rustle of the sheets and a pair of thin arms wrapping around him middle made him drop the idea. Blair sniffled once before burying her face into his bare shoulder, her warmth spreading through his cold skin like a river. George didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her small frame and sigh into her hair. It was dark and peaceful, yet he knew that Blair was suffering in the midst of it.
"You never told me how you got Jasper," he whispered. Even though her beloved pet had just been killed, he thought it would be good to keep Blair thinking of the good times rather than thinking nonstop about the current bad patch.
"H-Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley when I was e-eleven," her voice was shaky and crackily from the tears that had been leaking out of her eyes since getting back to the flat. "I went into Magical Menagerie to buy an owl. But I couldn't bring myself to leave the cages that had the kittens. There were so many and they were all so cute. But Jasper was the only one who wasn't mewling and staring up at me in anticipation. The saleslady said that he always sat in the corner while the other kittens played. He was like the mother cat and watched over the rest, breaking up fights and making sure they were all asleep before curling up himself. I had to get him a-and... and I-I-"
George shushed her and ran his fingers through her hair, letting her sob into his chest. She clutched him tightly and whimpered quietly. Others may think that Blair was being dramatic for bawling over a pet cat, but they wouldn't know what Blair has gone through with only Jasper by her side. Blair spent most of her life in an orphanage where she was despised and oppressed for who she was. During school terms, she would sit in her dorm room by herself with Jasper next to her by candle light. When she was sad or having a hard time, Jasper would be there for her. He wouldn't judge and loved Blair no matter who her father was or for what she was capable of. Jasper had been the closest thing she had to a family. The Weasleys eventually came along and gave her a family, but she never forgot Jasper. She would never forget him no matter how old she got.