[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Nott the Truth

Ermalene awoke early the next morning after a very well rounded rest to find Hermione Granger shaking her awake. “Good morning,” Hermione said in a very motherish tone. She smiled at Ermalene, “Time to get up and come down to breakfast. We’ve got a lot to talk with you on.” She turned and did the same to Astarte as Ermalene sat up slowly, blinking awake, trying to remind herself exactly what had gone on the night before. “I’ll expect you both downstairs in twenty minutes or I’ll be back to check on you,” Hermione said, and disappeared from the dormitory.

Ermalene looked over at Astarte, who was sitting up, stretching and yawning.

It was funny how uncannily alike the two girls looked, Ermalene marvelled, staring over at her new found sister and smiling awkwardly. Seventeen years she’d gone on thinking she was alone in the world and seventeen years Astarte had gone on thinking very nearly the same thing up there in the Great North Woods. Now, here they were, both of them awkward, unsure how to get on with this newly discovered relationship they shared.

“You’re lucky,” Astarte commented, breaking the silence between them. “Your hair is naturally straight and stays looking mostly good when you sleep.” She waved her hands at her shaggy mane of curls. “Mine looks atrocious.”

“I always wanted darker hair growing up,” Ermalene shared, “Everyone in my adoptive family had dark hair and it made me stand out, being all pale and blonde and everything.”

“I would’ve liked to have stood out from my mum,” Astarte said. “I’d explain it but, well, you met her. I reckon you’d want to stand out from her, too. I didn’t want her to really be my mother once I realized how evil she was. I didn’t want to have the potential to go evil, too.”

Ermalene said, “Just because she’s done evil doesn’t mean you will. Evil isn’t inherited, it’s practiced.” These were words that the Notts had frequently told Ermalene over the years growing up and she felt a twinge of guilt in her gut when she said them because, she realized quite suddenly, she never had sent that owl telling them where she’d gone.

Astarte and Ermalene got up then and got dressed in fresh pairs of clothes that Hermione had left folded at the foot of their beds. They went downstairs, nearly getting lost as the stairs moved about and took a wrong turn at one point down a corridor only to be rerouted by a confused looking Xenophilius, who had drifted along by them muttering to himself.

Downstairs, the girls found Professor Longbottom, Louis Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Hagrid, and Headmistress Vector all seated at the Gryffindor table.

“Where is our father?” Astarte asked briskly as the girls sat down at the table as well.
“Asleep,” Headmistress Vector answered, “As he should be. He’s been through a great deal and I kept him awake rather late into the night so that we all could get a better picture of what exactly has gone on. He’s taken to bed under a sleeping potion administered by Miss Sanator until he’s been able to fully regain his strength.”

Ermalene took a piece of french toast from the serving platter and poured maple syrup over it. “How is Andy?” she asked.

“We got him up to the hospital wing,” replied Neville, “Miss Sanator and I are going to be monitoring the mandrake I potted last night; he was very close to being ready to start making the juice. It’ll be next week before he’s awake again.” He sighed, “Andy will remain petrified until the mandrake juice is ready and then Miss Sanator can administer the spells and potions needed to heal from the dark magic contained in the sectumsempra spell.”

Louis looked positively sick at the words.

Ermalene hung her head. She missed Andy’s smiling face and laughter already. She couldn’t imagine going a week without hearing and seeing him. She’d been absolutely terrified when the sectumsempra had struck him, imagining a lifetime without those cheerful eyes of his. There wasn’t really a word for what she was feeling about Andy, she just knew it was quite strong and rather disagreed with the idea of him not being there.

“Now, we have some very important things to go over,” declared Headmistress Vector. “First of all, Miss. Talon, I sent an owl to your parents in the United States, but they have failed to contact me back. Can you think of any reason why this might be?”

Ermalene shook her head.

The headmistress frowned severely. She looked at Harry, “Honestly, Potter, I regret to say that I believe you may have been right.”

“Right?” Ermalene asked, “Right about what?”

Harry cleared his throat, “Well, when we left the ministry, I had one of the new interns there start looking for information about your file at the orphanage and your parentage. He didn’t discover anything about Lysander, but he did find something about -- well, about your mother, Felicity Cooper.”

Ermalene’s eyes widened.

“She was a young witch when she had you, dating Lysander all throughout their time here at Hogwarts,” he started. “In fact, she was still a student at the school when she was pregnant. She had you at the beginning of summer term. Lysander went missing during Christmas break that year, right after she had told him about the pregnancy, we found out last night. When Felicity didn’t return after the holidays, nobody thought much of it. Thought she was off mourning her sweetheart, but really she’d begun showing and her mother didn’t think it proper for her to return to school in her condition, so she missed half of her sixth year.”

“She was in Hufflepuff,” Vector cut in, “I remember them both quite well, sneaking off between Ravenclaw tower and the Hufflepuff common room down by the kitchens. Always could be found somewhere behind a suit of armor or a statue or some abandoned classroom…” She shook her head. “Peeves loved to find them and tease. He’d fly down the hallways shouting that they were kissing and embarrass them right out of their little hiding places. I hardly ever had to intervene.” She paused, “Although it seems the witch that pushes the sweets trolley on the Hogwarts Express should have.” She turned red in the face at the thought of it.

Ermalene couldn’t help but laugh at the thought that she’d been conceived on board the Hogwarts Express.

Harry took a deep breath, and the graveness of his face stopped Ermalene from laughing. “Anyways, after she’d had you, she left school completely. Didn’t attend her seventh year at all. And just after Christmas, it appears she was - was -” Harry looked at Hermione and Ron, as though seeking support or strength to finish the sentence.

“She was murdered,” Ron said.

Hermione elbowed him, “Really, Ronald! Have some tact!”

“Murdered?” Ermalene asked quietly. “I knew she’d died - the tapestry said -- but murdered?”

Harry nodded. “The job was in the Daily Prophet and muggle papers alike. Felicity Cooper appeared to have been murdered by a muggle, because of how it’d been done, in her sleep at her home, her daughter simply had vanished without a single explanation. It was generally assumed you’d been stolen by the muggle who killed Felicity Cooper.”

Ermalene covered her mouth. “That’s why everyone thought I was muggle born, I bet. My mother always said they’d tried to adopt a muggle but --”

Harry held up his hand, “I - I’m afraid I think it might go much more, er, deeper than that, Ermalene.”

“What?”

“There was never any record of you at that orphanage. Or any orphanage for that matter. Ever. My intern was able to hack into the system from the ministry and pull up the file that you witnessed that muggle woman delete and it was an empty file, nothing but the spell that stupefied her.” Harry was getting red in the face, “It seems that -- well, that perhaps the Notts may have been the ones who -- who kidnapped you.”

A ringing silence filled the room.

“But you said whoever stole me killed Felicity Cooper.”

Harry nodded.

“My - you think - you think my parents, the Notts, I mean --?” Ermalene couldn’t fathom it, couldn’t wrap her mind around it. “But… they’re good people.”

“Perhaps not as good as you believe,” Harry said. “Haven’t you ever wondered why they never have returned to England in all these years? Not even to see family?”

Ermalene had often wondered it. She nodded.

“Because they’ve been wanted here by the aurors,” Harry said, “By every auror office in Europe, they’re wanted.” He cleared his throat, “They were accused of setting a Dark Mark when they were at University, and several nasty pranks on muggles that resulted in injuries or violations of the statute of secrecy and various other laws. They evaded arrest by moving to the United States where the ministry and the aurors officers have no jurisdiction. I’m not going to lie, when you first came to my office and I realized who you were I was a bit hopeful that they’d come along with you and would turn up at some point so that I could -- well, so that I could arrest them.”

Ermalene felt as though she’d been slapped across the face.

“It seems,” Harry said, “That perhaps they - they might’ve found out where you’d gone and, in fear of the past being dug up, they… they might’ve gone into hiding.” He looked at her apologetically. “I’ve sent aurors to the house in the States to be sure, but… we can’t seem to reach them, so…”

“So they’ve abandoned me,” Ermalene said.

Harry’s face was pained at the words, but he had nothing to say to fix them, either.

“However,” Hermione injected, trying to make it better, “Lysander said he would very much love it if you and Astarte both moved into a house with him so that the three of you might get to know one another better. Once he’s feeling well again, of course,” she added.

“What about school?” Ermalene asked, “Going all the way to Flamel Academy is a long commute and --”

“You and Astarte would attend seventh year here, at Hogwarts,” cut in Headmistress Vector. “We’ve already discussed it, dear.”

Astarte and Ermalene shared wide-eyed looks of astonishment. Finish off school at Hogwarts? It was a dream come true to Ermalene and even for Astarte, who had done nothing but dream of attending a real school all of her life.

“What about Andy, though?” Ermalene suddenly asked.

“What about him?” Vector questioned.

“Well, Andy and I are best friends,” Ermalene explained, “And the kids at school are… well, they’re rather cruel to Andy sometimes, and to me. We sort of protect one another. And it would be an awful school year for him without me. And personally, I can’t even picture what school would be like without Andy!”

Louis cleared his throat, “Well, my mum and dad have expressed interest in allowing Andrew to stay with them so that he could finish his seventh year at Hogwarts,” he said. “My mum never was much a fan of him transferring to Flamel Academy.”

Ermalene blinked back her excitement, “So -- so all three of us? Here? Hogwarts next year? Really?”

“An’ yer can be visitin’ the gamekeeper’s cabin any time yeh want some rock cakes!” Hagrid announced, “Be happy ter have some tea with yeh.” He leaned closer to Ron, “Maybe with sommat a bit stronger fer me, if yer know what I mean.” Hagrid smiled.

“It sounds positively brilliant!” said Ermalene and the widest smile ever crossed her face as she turned to Astarte, “We can be real sisters,” she said, “We’ll share a home and probably a house here at the school. I can show you all the beauty trick I’ve learned in Teen Witch.”

“We’ll be best friends,” Astarte agreed happily.

Ermalene ate the rest of her breakfast with glee, her entire world having changed quite literally overnight.