𝐉𝐈𝐆𝐒𝐀𝐖

Chapter 5

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Chapter Five:

The Inquiry of the Death Eater

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Dumbledore studied the woman intently. "Please state your first and last name for the record," he said.

The hooded woman sighed heavily, glancing at the group around Bill for a long moment before speaking. "My name is Contessa Lestrange," she admitted.

Bill's group seemed to explode in a furor and were all whispering furiously to each other. Out of all the people around Bill, only Morpheus remained calm, staring at Contessa shrewdly.

Harry's mind whirled to the Black Family Tree he had seen last year, to something he had not even really paid much attention to. Between Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange had been a line leading down to the name of Contessa Lestrange.

Contessa pulled her hood back and turned to Harry, who had stood up and was pointing his wand at her. He didn't remember pulling it out. Lupin was grabbing his other arm, but Harry ignored it. He only had eyes for Contessa, for the daughter of the woman who killed his godfather. The anger that he had allowed to surge up inside of him for Bellatrix returned full force. The sadness was just behind it and he tried to shove it back down, but it stubbornly refused.

Contessa looked a lot like her mother, yet didn't. There were certainly prettier girls than her in the room. Her face was rather harsh and devoid of any friendliness. She had her mother's long, black hair and pale skin. Her eyes were gray, but shaped differently than her mother's. Instead of the cruel smiles Bellatrix would have given him, though, Contessa instead looked at Harry quite neutrally.

"Either use it or put it away," she finally said.

Harry slowly lowered his wand. He sank back down next to Lupin, trembling. His emotions had fled him again and he felt his anger and grief as though they were a million miles away from him. Most of him felt numb again. Dumbledore was watching him sadly before he turned back to Contessa.

"--lying little bitch--" Harry heard Rufus saying to the others near him, his bird's voice carrying over to where Harry sat. He heard snatches of their muttering while Dumbledore spoke. Something about undiluted Bobotuber pus exchanged for lotion and sabotage of their tests while in school.

"You work for St. Mungo's, don't you?" Dumbledore asked her.

Contessa nodded. "Not anymore," she said shortly, turning away from Harry to stare at her hands. Bill, Rufus, and Tonks were watching her very intently. Harry reckoned they felt about her like he felt about Draco.

"Well, Miss Lestrange, I wish to have the truth out of you. I have not had a chance to fully question you and there are details even Professor Snape is unaware of. He rescued you and young Master Malfoy from the shores of the lake near Hogwarts. Please explain how you got there."

Contessa worked her jaw for a moment before speaking. "Well, we ran away, didn't we? From the Dark Lord. It was Lily Potter, really, who did it all. She saved our lives. If hadn't been for her, we'd be dead or worse. What does it matter how we got here? We're just here."

Dumbledore frowned. "I'm afraid, Miss Lestrange, that it does matter. And we're all quite keen to hear your explanation of things. Particularly why you attribute your salvation to a dead woman," he said.