Prologue

July 1998

Theodore Nott looked around his father's office, which was now his office, he supposed. In the weeks following the defeat of the Dark Lord, his father and many of the other Death Eaters had been thrown in Azkaban prison awaiting trial with the Wizengamot. Theo thanked Merlin that the Dark Lord wasn't interested in the sons of his followers joining his Death Eater ranks until they had finished school, because that meant that he was not likewise arrested. Only Draco had had the dubious privilege of taking the mark. Like most of the Death Eaters, his father had officially been condemned to life imprisonment yesterday.

That left Theo the head of his household, small as it was being only himself. His mother had died when he was an infant. He had no siblings and no aunts, uncles, or cousins, at least not of the surname Nott, and his grandparents were long deceased. His father was quite a bit older than his mother, and so many of his relations had died already.

Thankfully the Ministry had not seen fit to confiscate all of his family's assets as part of the elder Nott's sentence. Unfortunately, Theo had no knowledge of his family's businesses or property holdings beyond a few generalities. His father either hadn't seen fit to introduce him to the business side of things following the return of the Dark Lord or he hadn't the time, which brought Theo to the office. If he had any hope of learning about his family's resources, it would be here in the office.

He decided to begin with the desk as the most logical place. The surface was covered with numerous papers which, as far as Theo could tell, had no sense of organization to them. He scooped up a stack, cleared a space on the desk, and began sorting them as he read through them. As he went through them, he realized that he held quite extensive lands in neighboring Somerset, and the primary source of income was through the sale of wool and cheeses to both Muggles and Wizards, though they also had shipping interests out of Bristol Port. Theo had to shake his head at that: his father was a Pure-blood supremacist who hated Muggles and yet he still did business with them. Many of the papers were memos from his father's estate manager, Donald Evensby, so now Theo had a contact from whom to learn more.

He finished with the papers on the desktop and then moved to the drawers. The last drawer, however, was locked. Not seeing a key, he tried a simple Alohamora. Nothing happened so he tried progressively stronger unlocking spells, only to meet in failure each time.

He sat back and thought for a few minutes. Perhaps his father had put a blood ward on it. Theo grabbed the letter opener off the desk and drew a cut on his thumb, then pressed it to the drawer. He heard a click. Success!

He opened the drawer to find that its only content was a slim journal. He opened the book to the first page and began to read.

September 19, 1979

Today I did the most heartbreaking thing a mother can do: I left my newborn daughter at a Muggle orphanage to be raised by complete strangers. I did this because I cannot assure her safety with her own father in the house. May the Gods forgive me for not being able to protect my child.

C. C. Nott

Stunned at the words he had just read, Theo let the book fall from his hands. The drawer had not been locked by his father. It had been locked by his mother. And somewhere out there, he had a sister.