"Mondegreen.  You may call me Ophelia, if you'd prefer.  And if you are referring to the fact that Lila does not remember Violet's entire existence...yes, that was quite a surprise to discover at breakfast this morning.  I've not found any historical evidence of spells with such power or specificity.

"It's really quite concerning, especially considering that I detected nothing."

"Mom?  You know magic too?  Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Me neither.  I didn't find any golem flaws in Violet up to six weeks' compounding equivalent, and I didn't find any traces of memory-spell sloppiness in Lila's mind.  I have to admit, I don't have any clear idea what to check next.  I could check Violet for memory spells, but at that point I could just as well check myself - and I did."

"I was planning to do so this year, once you'd acquired your drivers' licenses; magic is a dangerous tool.  I disagree with the Masquerade, but I do think that it should not be given to anyone who cannot be trusted with a car.  Leaving aside that I find the present metrics for who is trusted with that rather poorly designed, I'd nonetheless be a hypocrite."

"...That is very concerning, Aeslin.  ...We should test for larger intervals, perhaps, but...Somehow, I suspect we will find nothing."

"Are you secretly working as a sorceress?  Have you been casting spells on me - on us - in secret?  Do we have some nonhuman ancestors too?"

"Perhaps - but -"

Aeslin ignores Lila's bubbling questions.

"How good magic detection do you have?  I didn't notice any wards when I entered, but then I wasn't watching for them - could someone circumvent them?  Because I have to say, an expertly-done memory spell on Lila is more boring but still much more likely than an expert golemcrafter coupled with an unknown mass memory spell!"

"You didn't notice my taste in art?  ...I believed my wards rather unimpeachable, but as the burgeoning field of computer security teaches, there is no security that has no flaw.  There are only flaws that have not yet been found.  Clearly someone, somehow, has, here; the breach definitely occurred overnight.  I will check the wardstone over this evening.  Hopefully there will be some useful information.

"I do do magical consulting, Lila, but my day job is in fact a real job that I really do.  I have not been secretly enspelling you, save for wards.  Yes, you're at least half-elven."

"Do you have any enemies you think might've been responsible for this?  Or even any idea why?"

"I think the Masquerade is needlessly causing trouble for all involved parties.  Other than that?  No."

"So if someone was researching spells to preserve the Masquerade - say, a mass memory spell - they might decide your family's a good test subject?"

"If - if so, what'll they try next?"

"They'll try to see how well it worked."

"...Whoever decided that that was a good idea will regret it.  No-one hurts my family."

Lila hugs her mom.

"Now that I do know, can I come with you when you check the wardstone?"

"Yes, you both should.  Though first we'll need to get out of the room, here."

"Uh, should I be going?  I'd love to help, especially with investigations..."

"...You may as well stay.  If you were going to do something, you already would have."

"Where's the wardstone?  What's it supposed to guard against?"

"It's the anchor-point to the wards, that guards against everything I can think of, Lila."

"Hmm... you've got to allow magic inside, and visitors - unless you lock the whole place down at night?  And 'hostile intent' isn't the easiest concept to check for..."

(Lila is waiting eagerly for her mother to lead the way)

"I don't have to do either of those things, necessarily; you're right that I had not locked the place down as thoroughly against visitors as I could have, though.  Allowing my daughters to have friends over without my incipient hovering had a bit more priority, before.  Regardless, now that it's come up, I can show them how the keying process works when it's on maximum paranoia.  It's actually built alongside a comparable electronic security system."

Ophelia continues not leading the way to anywhere at all!

"Hostile intent?  No.  Hostile armament, however...Well, I give my analysis spellwork quite some credit."

"Maybe that's the problem."  She taps her wand.  "I could make this some really hostile armament if I wanted to."

"No, you really couldn't.  If I hadn't had the wards stand down, that wand would have melted in your hands."