Private message to Lana Sandoval

[alt_rachel]

There are some significant downsides to strict blood purity, aren't there? You seem to have done well enough with the fertility -- did Rod mention Bella's miscarriages to you? -- but the squib risk must be keeping you up nights, especially given your own family history.

Oh, yes. Honoria told me. She told me about Inés -- the other older sister she should have had, if your family hadn't abandoned her in Spain. And the six others, the ones from your father's first wife, Valeria. Poor Valeria. I'd say Inés proved rather decisively that those six squibs weren't just her fault.

At least since they were left behind in Spain, your sister and half-siblings weren't handed over to the likes of Rookwood and Amycus Carrow for experimentation.

Does Rod know about the Sandoval squibs?

Unless you're one of the lucky parents whose baby shows magic early, you could be in for a long wait to know for sure. The minute I hear your baby's been born, I'll be able to check in the Hogwarts Book and see if there's a new Lestrange baby listed. No listing, no magic. I don't know how many people on your side knew about the Hogwarts Book -- Lucius did, and probably Antonin, since he was Headmaster. Of course, they never saw the real one, since the Order had the real one hidden for years. That's how we got hold of the muggleborn babies before your lot did.

It's back in the Head's office now, as it should be. I'm sure Vector would let me take a look, if I asked politely.

You might recall stories about Filius Flitwick being killed by Savitha Desai, because he crept into the Hogwarts Castle. That's what he was there to do: he created the false copy of the Hogwarts Book.

Comments

[alt_rachel]

Your parents must have given up on Inés well before Hogwarts age. Most children show their magic by five, but not all.

She could be in the Hogwarts Book! I mean, she wouldn't have been in there at birth, since she was born in Spain, but you were added when you immigrated, and she'd have been too. If she wasn't a squib after all.

I wonder if she's in there?

[alt_lana]

You have no
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[alt_lana]

How dare you even ?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[alt_lana]

And don't waste the effort.


She's not there. She's not

[alt_rachel]

Did you ever read Children of Magical Families: Statistics and Outcomes? I found it on the library shelves. It's from before the Protectorate days, an American researcher who did studies on magical families. He was trying to identify what causes squibs.

He found that two percent of magical children don't show their magic until they are fully ten years old. Ten! How old was Inés, when your family abandoned her?

Honoria doesn't remember her, of course, since she was gone before Honoria was born. But I suppose you would. She was your baby sister. Until one day she wasn't.

[alt_rachel]

So I checked the dates, and based on Inés's birth date, which is inscribed inside one of your mother's rings, she would've been just barely four years old.

Half of all magical children haven't shown their magic yet at five. There are tests -- I'm sure your parents had them done -- but they're unreliable at best.

Go on, tell me again it would be a waste of time to look for her.

[alt_rachel]

8 October 1977.

Emerald ring.

Did you ever look at that inscription? Was it your Uncle Eduardo who told you about the 'family tragedy' or did your father tell you?

That picture in your grandmother's dressing room -- is it really your father's first wife, or was that a tale you and Orion made up to scare Honoria with?