𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

prologue (ii).

"𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄?" Raya crossed her arms at the sight of Dumbledore. "Were you ever going to tell me that Regulus Black is my father?"

"Say what now?"

Raya turned her head, seeing a young witch with bright purple hair, looking absolutely dumbfounded. A few other people stood behind Dumbledore — Order members — but Raya forced herself to ignore them.

"I asked you a question," her voice was steely calm as she stared at Dumbledore.

He met her gaze, not an ounce of guilt in his eyes, "I wasn't. In the very unlikely case you figured it out, I wasn't going to deny it either."

"Yeah, and that makes the whole thing better," she scoffed.

"Don't talk to Dumbledore like that," the witch took a step forward.

A crack sounded, and Kreacher appeared in the entrance hall, "Don't talk to my Mistress like that!"

"And who the hell are you?" she made a face, stepping back.

"Kreacher, the Black family house elf." Raya swallowed, "My house elf, I suppose."

"Kreacher is at your service, Mistress," he bowed deeply.

"Seriously, Dumbledore?" the girl said. "When you said Sirius lent us a place, I understood. But this is her house. She's Regulus' daughter! He was a high ranked soldier in the Dark Lord's army. You expect us to use her house?"

"You will not speak about Master Regulus like that!" Kreacher said, stepping forward with his tiny fists raised.

"Kreacher, stop," Raya commanded. "Why don't you go take a break? See if anything needs repainting?"

Kreacher bowed, muttering curses to the young witch as she left.

"Now, Nymphadora," Dumbledore said, causing the girl to scowl slightly. "I thought you'd understand better than most not to judge someone based on the actions of their parents. After all, your mother turned out very different from her parents."

Nymphadora pursed her lips, but didn't argue.

"That's why you asked for my opinion," Raya realized. "When we entered the house, you said you were asking my opinion. But really, you were asking my permission. It didn't matter what Sirius said. You could only use this place if I agreed."

"I should've known you'd figure it all out," Dumbledore smiled. "Severus warned me you were smart enough."

Even when he was completely in the wrong, he managed to have a twinkle in his eye. It disturbed Raya.

"I knew I recognized that flying," a voice muttered in realization.

Raya only now took notice of the rest of the people behind Dumbledore. Nymphadora, Remus, Moody and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. All great Dumbledore fans.

"Hi Remus," she waved, even though she was quite annoyed with everyone.

"Can I ask you to show them their rooms Miss Newbrooke... or is it Miss Black?" Dumbledore tilted his head at her.

Raya had a feeling this was a test, but she couldn't care less. "I don't care. As long as you tell me straight up what's happening, instead of freaking tricking me into doing your dirty work, you can call me whatever the Hades you want."

Dumbledore — not expecting that answer — nodded, a little stunned. "Yes, alright. I'll see you all with more information later."

He left the house, and Raya turned, leading the others inside.