Of Shadow, Shine, and Shades

Ch.21 Surprise!

"Wake up, it's morning. We have things to do, Zahra." Caelum sat next to her daughter on her bed and put his hand on her arm. Morning sun was shining through the curtains, lighting spots of furniture and carpet in the room and the world had not seemed like a better place in a while. All of his plans were going well, Dumbledore was panicking about losing the Defence teacher so early on in the year and there was a governor meeting scheduled for this morning.

Most importantly of all, Zahra had almost recovered.

Watching his daughter lie in the bed his heart was gripped by the familiar uncertainty as week ago when he had returned from imprisoning Voldemort and found her comatose in her bed with Lucretia hovering about and casting useless diagnostic spells. He had snatched her in his arms and left for Grimmauld for much needed privacy.

He might have been Lucretia's Head of Family but the woman was a Macmillan by blood. One mistake could leak to outsiders through her. She would only keep this silent because all blame would fall on her if they found out his daughter was attacked while under her roof.

Finally alone he had had to repeat the blood adoption ceremony to strengthen the severely weakened familial bond they shared and then zap her with magic for three agonizing times until she returned to the world of living and conscious. Only to fall asleep right away, completely exhausted.

That night went on Caelum's list of worst nights ever. He had not dared to disturb her in fear of interfering with her elven magic's process of healing whatever hole the Genie magic had left when it had exited and, even so, feared that her magic would remain unstable. Her magic was now a unique mixture of human and elven magic with traces of the Genie magic much like Caelum's magic was a mix of his and the Emerald's magic now.

But that night was now behind them and Zahra had woken up the next morning only feeling weak but nothing worse. This week she had been magically restrained to her bed and Caelum had been running all over the place at her slightest whims. He was glad to do it if it meant she was feeling better and any ties to the nightmare that was her previous life were now broken. She was free from the slavery of her past. Now she needed to start living for her future.

"Mmmhh..." the girl mumbled against her pillow and Caelum chuckled.

"Get up. You need to pack. It's Sunday and if everything goes as planned we will need to be moving soon. Your clothes - the hundreds you had me buy this summer - are not going to end up in the trunks on their own."

His answer was an annoyed grumble but he knew from experience the girl would be up in minutes and left her to her privacy. "Kreacher." The elf popped next to him and bowed slightly. "Make sure she is up in half an hour."

The elf bowed slightly more reluctantly than before and popped away. He and Zahra still did not get along that well but there was very little that Caelum could do about it without giving them both direct orders. On the other hand the elf and Harry got along quite well.

The mage only had time for a cup of coffee that he spent with conversing Citala for a moment. His familiars both had been swept along with his crazy life for the past few months and he was grateful that at least the hawk wasn't taking her seclusion in England too harshly. Syl was better off anyway since he had Harry and Caelum both as options for conversation.

On that note, the man still had not figured out the secrets that Syl had or how Citala had known to find him. Both of them were far too smart even on a magical scale. But he knew their loyalties lied with him.

He knew they supported him... but could not be certain of other persons' stance. He knew today would be a trying day and he would have to be at his best to steer the governors in the direction he wanted them to go. The situation with the Defence post was sudden and he doubted everyone could make the meeting. That it was organized at Lucius' house yet again was unexpected enough. Though Malfoy always opened the doors to his mansion readily enough, it was all about the advantage. The blond aristocrat was always on his home ground and it intimidated the rest of the governors.