Harry Potter: The Witty Wizard

Sirius suddenly sat forward in anticipation. "I take it she's a close resemblance?"

Ted handed him a candid photograph taken from some distance away. It was a head and shoulders shot.

The young girl looked approximately twelve years old, had the black hair of the Blacks and a mix of the facial features of the Malfoys and Blacks combined. He couldn't quite pick up her eye colour but it appeared to be the pale blue that often arose in the Malfoys, with the cheek structure of the Blacks. She appeared to be smiling at someone.

"She looks happy," mused Sirius.

"From all reports, she is," replied Ted. "Her current name is Charlotte Claire Wilkins. Her first two names are as a result of the initials found on the baby blanket in which she was wrapped. She was raised with the nickname 'Charlie', but prefers 'CeeCee' because of the initials. Her adoptive parents... yes, her record shows she was adopted by a muggle couple... have kept both the clothes she was wearing when found and the blanket and apparently have shown her the initials, which were embroidered into the blanket.

"Her parents adopted her through the Department for Child Protection - DCP - of the Western Australian muggle state government. Their reports have the child being found abandoned just inside the main doors of the... Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Saint Mary's Cathedral, in the city of Perth.

"The date ties in with what we know of the disappearance of the Malfoy girl-child.

"Her foundling name was 'Mary', named after the cathedral in which she was found, and months of frantic searching for the baby's parents were undertaken by the muggle authorities. It was a very public media story of the time, which helps to explain how the organisation I contracted to find her apparently did so as quick as they did. She still has a case number with the Western Australian Police - muggle aurors - as such cases are never closed unless the birth mother, at least, is found or her whereabouts are known.

"The Wilkins came by her as they were listed with the DCP as emergency foster parents for infants with special needs. They are: Stephen Anthony Wilkins, a senior office worker within their Department of Transport; and Dorothy Anna Wilkins née Grimes, a housewife who was also once a paediatric nurse. Both muggles, of course.

"After two years of her being in their care, they applied for and were granted permanent foster care of her. After five years, they applied for and were granted adoption.

"The Wilkins already had two other children at the time. A boy, Patrick Harold, now nineteen and studying engineering at the University of Western Australia; and another girl, now seventeen and in her final weeks of muggle high school. She has plans on attending university, like her older brother, but studying nursing, like her mother."

"Wait... wait..." said Sirius. "If she's healthy, has magic and obviously appears to be of both Malfoy and Black blood... why, in Merlin's name, did Malfoy dump her halfway around the world?"

"That's what confused us and made us think she wasn't the one... until we saw the muggle medical records," replied Tonks. "She was found to have been born with cataracts in both eyes, rendering her almost completely blind, and was also discovered to be almost completely deaf. Both were genetic defects, so wizarding healers couldn't do anything for her.

"However, the muggles could. As a result of the muggle public campaign to find her parents they also let it be known she had cataracts that rendered her blind and that she had a hearing defect in both ears. From that a massive... outpouring... of sympathy was directed towards the infant girl from the local muggle community; even across the country. A lot of people sent in financial donations towards her care.

"At that time, muggle Australia had just re-entered into a universal health care scheme called Medicare. That meant all muggle Australians were now eligible for free basic health care.

"However, that would not have been enough. So, in stepped a... consortium, if you like... of highly qualified specialist healers. An eye-specialist, who was one of the country's leading experts on corrective eye surgery, travelled over from the other side of the country to lend his expertise. He quickly determined the problem and, within hours, she was operated upon at their Royal Perth Hospital. The operation was successful in that the cataracts were removed. She's apparently never had a problem with her sight since, except for the need to wear prescription sunglasses in bright light.

"As for her hearing, another birth defect and yet another surgical procedure rectified that. It was something to do with her ear drums being underdeveloped; as in, they hadn't formed properly while she was still a foetus. She underwent a... Tym-pano-plasty... to repair both ear drums. Something about a graft being used to repair them. Later tests have shown she has about ninety-five percent of her hearing back."

"Damn!" said Sirius. "The muggles have gotten that good?"

"That was over ten years ago, Sirius," replied Ted. "They've gotten even better since."

Sirius distractedly nodded. "If she was born blind and somewhat deaf, and our Healers couldn't fix it, then it's no wonder Malfoy would want to get rid of her."

"Plus, it adds to the likelihood this young girl is the missing Malfoy Heir Secondary," added Ted. "Now, we just have to prove it."

"And we have to decide what to do with this information, once it's confirmed," said Sirius. "I really don't want Malfoy finding out about it. There's no telling what he'd do."

"An almost as big problem is what to tell Andi," said Ted. "This girl, if we're right, is her biological niece. If she finds out about her, there's a strong likelihood she'll immediately head down there to get her."

"You're not permitted to tell her," Sirius immediately stated. "Only you and I are to know anything about this until I deem it right for her to be made known to anyone else."

"Thank you," said a relieved Ted. "The client confidentiality clauses will now protect me from her finding out from me. But, I certainly hope you're not even going to think about doing that until at least one of us talks to the girl and her parents, first."

"No," said Sirius. He thought for a few moments longer and asked, "You firmly believe she's happy where she is?"

"Yes," Ted instantly replied. "However, I still wish to go ahead with confirming her true identity. All we need is a drop of her blood."

"And, how are you going to get that?" asked Sirius.

"That I'm leaving up to the experts," he replied.

"So long as these experts don't also learn who she is, I've got no problem with that," said Sirius.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

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With shopping complete - and Hermione stunned with the amount of food Harry bought - the two teens were walking back from the shop while talking between them.

Cassidy had even used the opportunity to purchase some items for herself.

"Harry, I want to speak with you about how much you're spending on groceries," said Hermione.

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