Order Only Private Message to Miss Greengrass

[alt_poppy]

My dear, I'm afraid that the sample Miss Lestrange contributed for us has not proven a match, but as you know, that rules nothing out. Had it indicated a family connection, we could have taken that as proof, but the reverse is not true. The negative result may only mean that her mother's influence outweighs or dilutes the markers of her Lestrange heritage.

If you wish, I will contact Rodolphus Lestrange and ask if he would be willing to contribute a sample to corroborate his claims. I could also, of course, enquire of Healer Fletcher about the results he obtained for Professor Lestrange, but I'll wait for your decision before I proceed with either of them.

Comments

[alt_daphne]

I can contact Mr Lestrange myself, if you'd rather not draw the attention of a council wizard. He's already meddled in my life, so I have no compuctions about meddling in his. In an entirely polite fashion, of course.

I should think Healer Fletcher may not be forthcoming, since he's proven himself to be secretive in the past. Have you reason to believe he would be honest with you?

Though, if I don't share any 'markers' with Hydra I would think that the odds of me being a Lestrange are somewhat small, surely?

Thank you, again, for your discretion on this matter.

[alt_poppy]

If you are willing to contact Mr Lestrange yourself, I agree that would be the most direct course. As for Fletcher, one never knows what a collegial approach might yield, but if you're able to obtain a sample from Lestrange, then there will be no need to approach him.

I'm sorry not to have been more clear about the testing: it's not that your sample and Hydra's share nothing in common, but that the test didn't produce anything approaching certainty.

You could still quite well be cousins, but testing cousins rarely yields the sort of match that resolves doubt, because in this case, the Lestrange connection is mingled in her with her mother's Black line and in your case with the Montague line through your mother.

When paternity testing relies on a comparison of cousins, things can be greatly muddied by the intermingling of our older families: similarities are to be expected and cannot be taken as proof, because at one degree or another, you are almost certainly Hydra's cousin, whether Rabastan Lestrange is your father or not.

[alt_daphne]

If purebloods are so intertwined as that then I probably share a connection with Rodolphus Lestrange whether he's my Uncle or not, so his sample may not be conclusive, either. Perhaps he has something of Ra - of his brother's. That's the only way to confirm for certain that I'm not his child.

I'll ask him.

[alt_daphne]

I've written to him. He says he'll send you a sample that actually belonged to his brother.

I suppose it makes sense that he would have access to such things.