Lucius watched the conversation over what turned out to be a lovely breakfast unfold with feigned disinterest. Through his son, he knew some of what Hadrian had been subjected to by James at home. What he hadn’t expected was the outburst from the young man who appeared to be the twin of his son’s other mate. If he remembered correctly, the oldest had called him Bricriu. What Bricriu had described was just short of torture. But he suspected that the boy bore his own scars from his sadistic uncle, and not just mental ones. The way he carried himself around his twin spoke volumes about just what he had to endure. It seemed that none of the children had had any sort of paternal affection since their mother died. It also seemed that Vi was more of a mother to the young prince than she had had.
Strange, he thought. The loss of a mother should have affected her life far more than it seems to.
“Lord Malfoy, to answer your unspoken question my grandmother was able to take over the role of my mother until her death when I was 11,” Vi’s voice startled him.
He was certain he had his occulmancy shields in place.
“I’m a natural legilimens and an empath so normal occulmancy shields do not work on me,” she explained unprompted. But I can teach you how to shield yourself from me particular brand of legilimancy.”
“Why have you not offered to teach us?” Bricriu demanded.
“We already know how,” the young prince shrugged.
“Besides, do you really think Ryoshi would let you learn anything from me that could benefit me and not him?” Vi countered evenly. “The man craves absolute power. But you know what they say about absolute power.”
“What do they say about absolute power, Ms. Oda?” Lucius asked setting his chopsticks gently back on their rest.
“I believe you already know, sir. But I will remind you anyway. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Look at what happened to Germany and Japan at the end of the last war. Look at what happened to Russia under Stalin. Millions of people suffered and those in power didn’t care. Hell, Hitler approved of the extermination of Jews, gypsies, gays, and the mentally handicapped. He had death camps constructed for that purpose alone.”
“You seem to know a great deal about muggle history,” Lucius commented.
“And why shouldn’t I?” Vi countered heatedly. “Do you think that just because it didn’t widely affect wizards as a whole that we should just ignore the wider world and what happens in it? You are sorely mistaken if you think that wizards were not involved in that war. That they were not sent to ghettos, work camps and death camps. Do you know how many people died from the Holocaust?”
Lucius shook his head.
“6 million people died. Do you know how many of them were wizards?”
Lucius shook his head again.
“2 million. One third of all who died were wizards. Do you know what happened to Japan after they decided to attack the United States?”
No one said anything. Only her siblings continued eating.
“They dropped something called an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Do you know how many died in those bombings?”
Again, no one answered.
“355,000 people died in the two bombings. Most of them were civilians and at least one fourth of them were wizards. 88,750 were wizards. So do NOT say that the events of the muggle world do not affect our own. Because there are 2,088,750 wizards alone who prove that they do. Let’s not forget that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and I for one would very much like to not repeat history.”
“That figure leaves out all the wizards who died on the battlefield,” the oldest prince said quietly. “That is why every Japanese wizard learns world history, not just the history of the wizarding world.”
Lucius, having grown up in a rigid pureblood family, had never been taught about anything involving the muggle world. Which is why he was so shocked to learn that wizards had fought and died with muggles in a war. He was even more shocked to learn that some wizards had even been killed in these death camps.
“How do you know about these camps?” It was Regulus who broke the silence that had descended on them.
“I’ve been to one,” Vi answered slowly. “It was in Poland. Father sent me in his place because he was caught up with the wizarding government and couldn’t get free in time.”
“Do you know what it was called?” Regulus spoke again.
Vi hesitated.
“Treblinka,” she answered at length but her voice was soft. “Auschwitz-Birkenau I and II. Kraków-Płaszów.”
Each place she spoke of, her eyes became further and further away. It was almost as if she were remembering being in each of these places.
“No more questions please,” the young prince, he believed they called him Hiro, pleaded.
His eyes never left his sister. Neither did Hadrian or Draco’s he noticed belatedly.
“Little one, it’s time to come back,” the elder prince, Lucius thought he’d heard someone call him Bastian, said reaching across the table to take her hand.
Lucius was startled by the gentleness in the boy’s voice and gestures towards his sister. His own family dynamic did not permit for shows like this, especially in front of guests. He supposed he’d seen other families have dynamics similar to this but the siblings always seemed to be at each other’s throats. His own siblings were no exception to this. Sallette and Aristella were twins but were complete opposites. They found ways to fight about just about everything and frankly, it grated on his nerves. The fact that the four Oda siblings had a relationship like they did was rather shocking to him. It seemed that while there was tension between Vi and Bricriu, they managed to get along far better than Etta and Ella ever could. Lucius could understand the tension between the twins of the Oda family, however. They’d been separated at the age of 3 right after their mother died giving birth to their little brother. Neither was raised with the love they sorely needed after such a traumatic event. Both had suffered at the hands of their uncle, albeit in different ways. Yet they both bore the scars from the man. Their father, it seemed, was grooming Vi to become the ambassador after him. He seemed to think that she would be the best candidate for the position as it looked like he would eventually become emperor instead of his older brother. Lucius laughed to himself at the thought of Vi meeting Etta and Ella. He figured it would be rather entertaining to watch her give them a verbal dressing down, something they sorely needed.
“Take care of her, please,” the quiet plea from Hiro had Lucius looking back at his son and his mates.
Vi’s eyes were still very far away and it looked like she was crying. Bastian grimaced and tightened his grip on her hand.
“Imotō, it’s time to come back,” he told her gently tugging on her hand. “Let the dead there rest.”
Lucius stared at Bastian in shock.
Could she see the dead in those places? He thought. No it must be that she connected to the emotions of the place and relived the last moments of each and every person who died there.
Vi turned her head to him. The look in her eyes was the most tortured expression he’d ever seen in anyone’s eyes. Her eyes had cleared some but still seemed far away.
“Mr. Malfoy, of all the people I’ve met in my life only you have deduced exactly what I experienced at those camps.”
Lucius’s eyes widened in shock.
“Well if they do not know you are an empath then it makes sense that they would not know what you experienced there,” Lucius told her gently.
A sad smile formed on her lips.
“Many are able to tell that I am one after seeing my reaction at places like this,” Vi said. “They do not understand what that really means for me.”
“Empathy is a very powerful type of magic,” Lucius answered. “But it has terrible consequences for those able to use it. Those who are able to use empathic magic feel the pain of others multiplied by astronomical numbers. It is why empathic magic users are so very rare. Many cannot handle the multiplied pain of others and kill themselves. Few can handle the pain of one person multiplied 100 times much less thousands of people multiplied 100 times. The fact you are strong enough to handle that amount of pain makes you stronger than the strongest person I know. I am sorry you have to feel all of that all the time. It cannot be easy and that is what makes you stronger than your uncle.”
Lucius then did something he never thought he would do. He reached out and took the hand her brother was not holding.
“I am proud to call you family. Draco and Hadrian could not have asked for a better match. But I warn you, Hadrian is very impulsive despite being sorted into Slytherin.”
Vi laughed at that.
“I am proud to call someone like you daughter,” he told her giving her hand one last gentle squeeze.
Based on everything he had learned about her from Vi herself as well as her siblings, Lucius figured she needed a father who actually cared about her. He could tell that little bit of fatherly affection had succeeded in bringing her back to the present. When he released her hand and sat back he realized that everyone was staring at him in shock. He cleared his throat awkwardly.
“I think we ought to have more breakfasts like this in the future,” he said to the room at large. “It is certainly one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in a while. Where did you learn to cook?”
Vi smiled, “my mother taught me what she could when I was younger, though I don’t remember much of it. But I remember the emotions I felt coming off of her. While I don’t remember her voice or her touch or her face, I remember her emotions. As you saw I can recall emotions from certain places if they are strong enough. The emotions act like memories and I’m able to relive them. Her voice is only what I imagine she sounded like since I don’t remember what it actually sounded like.”
“Fascinating!” Regulus exclaimed. “I wonder if you’d be able to extract them and put them in something similar to a pensieve for others to see.”
“As far as I know, because there are so few empaths it hasn’t been possible,” Vi told him.
“Perhaps, if you were up to it, your brother could let you see one of his memories of her,” Lucius suggested.
“Father you mean to tell me we have a pensieve?” Draco asked.
Lucius nodded not looking at his son.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea today,” Bastian began.
“I wasn’t saying it had to be today,” Lucius interrupted. “I was offering it for another day when the emotions of the day haven’t been so high and rung everything out of her.”