On the first of November at a quarter to seven Harry had left the common room and walked swiftly to Elizabeth’s office. She was talking to Remus in her fire at the time.
“Come in Harry, I was just having a quick chat with Remus,” she said as she beckoned him in and pointed to the fire where his other guardian’s head was floating.
“Hello there Harry. How are you?” he inquired.
“I’m ok thanks. What about you?”
“Getting there, it’s the full moon in a couple of days so I’m winding down. How’s the Occlumency going?”
“Much better. Professor Dumbledore explains it better than Snape did.”
“Good I’m glad. I’m afraid I’m going to have to go Molly’s calling me. I’ll write to you soon, I hope the DA meeting goes alright.”
“Take care Remus.”
“You too Harry. Goodbye Ellie.”
“Bye Moony,” Ellie replied and with a small pop his guardian’s head disappeared.
“Right then Harry shall we do this?”
“I suppose.”
“Don’t sound so enthusiastic!” she reprimanded but smiled at him. They chatted a little one the way down to the classroom and silence fell as they entered. Ellie settled herself into a chair in the corner allowing Harry to have the floor. He noticed that the numbers had significantly increased but was please to see that there were only a handful of Slytherin students none of which was Draco Malfoy.
“Thanks for coming everyone. Those of you who were members last year will know that this is a different room and you’ll notice that there’s going to be a few differences in the way that we run the DA this year. That’s because it doesn’t have to be a secret anymore because that evil old witch Umbridge is gone,” this received a very large cheer.
“Also because Professor Dumbledore is going to be helping me out. We’ve gone through some ideas that hopefully are going to compliment the stuff you’ll be learning in Defence Against the Dark Arts. The stuff we’re going to be doing is a bit more advanced that’s why the Professor will be here to supervise in case there’s any curses we can’t lift. I suppose the best thing to do would be to go over some of the things that we learned last year. Can the class divide into two groups, those who were here last year and those who weren’t?” people divided off with the former members of the DA on the left side and the new people on the right side.
“Okay that’s great. Hermione do you want to take the continuing DA members through the stuff we did last year and I’ll take the new people,” he signalled them to the back of the room and had them all sit down. He then took them through some of the spells that the others already knew and then after half an hour decided to bring everyone back into the centre of the room.
“Would somebody that was here last year like to stand up and conjure a patronus?” Hermione stood up and Harry moved to one side to give her space, she glanced at Ron before calling ‘Expecto Patronum’ a second later a misty silver otter burst out of her wand and waded around her. Harry had several other people do the same and then helped the newer people to practice. When the hour ended he told everyone that he would see them next week, as soon as it was just himself, Ron, Hermione and Ginny he asked Ellie what she thought.
“Granddad needn’t have worried, you’re doing fine on your own,” she beamed.
The week before the Hogsmeade weekend passed fairly quickly and before he knew it he and Ginny were walking down the path from the castle to the village hand in hand. Hermione and Ron were walking in a very similar manner in front of them. During the week Harry and Ginny had spent as much time together as possible and held hands as often as they could. Many people had congratulated them on becoming a couple but Dean had only glared at them.
Once they made it down into the village the decided to stop by Honeydukes first, it was here that Harry had decided to buy Ginny a box full of a variety of their best-selling sweets. Ron felt that he should really buy Hermione something as well and so ended up buying her an enormous chocolate lollipop. Ron had wanted to go into Zonko’s but Harry reminded him that his two elder brothers had started up a joke shop so there was no need to go and spend his money in their rivals shop. Ron had eventually agreed but not before grumbling on about it for almost twenty minutes. The girls wanted to look at the robes in Gladrags so they were dragged off towards the small shop that was near the top of the high street. After Hermione and Ginny had ooh’d and aah’d at half the robes in there they eventually left. They decided to go up to the Three Broomsticks before heading back to the castle. It was just as they were leaving there that they heard the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy behind them along with his goons Crabbe and Goyle.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Do my eyes deceive me? The littlest Weasel and Scar Head are all loved up. Suppose you must be pretty happy Weaselbee,” he said turning to Ron. “You’re family must be desperate to get their hands on some galleons and I daresay the Potter vault is overflowing, what with all those inheritances he keeps getting. Maybe you should start killing off relatives too you might make yourself some money,” he sneered. Harry felt Ron’s fists clenching rhythmically.
“Go to Hell Malfoy,” Harry took a half step in front of Ron.
“Oh but that’s right isn’t it, poor little parentless Potter wants to be part of the family don’t you?”
“Like Ellie said to that scum of the earth you call father in Diagon Alley. Better a Weasley than a Malfoy. They’re worth ten of you,” Hermione hissed back at him.
“Um, how is your bodyguard these days Potter? Is she still having a breakdown over her mummy and daddy? Having an identity crisis is she?”
“Malfoy go and talk gibberish elsewhere,” Ginny was clinging to Harry’s arm tightly and Hermione was doing the same thing to Ron.
“You mean you don’t know?” Malfoy began to laugh manically. “Did you hear that boys? They don’t know. Here I was thinking that you were all the best of friends and she hasn’t even told you yet. I’m not surprised though, I don’t suppose I’d own up to it either. And to think the Mudblood’s supposed to be smart, I’m amazed you didn’t go and look her up straight away, considering she’s that muggle loving old fool’s granddaughter. Father knew straight away of course, but still to think you four aren’t in on the secret. Especially you Potter, I’d have thought you would have been the first person to know…” he continued to smirk at his own superiority.
“Well if we ever need someone to talk out their backside we’ll know who to come to,” Ron snapped.
“Just you wait Weasel. You’ll see that Dumbledore for who she really is, you all will. The fallout should be very interesting. I’d be furious of course, maybe Potter will make things better for all of us and hex her into oblivion that’s what I’d do.”
“Well I’m not you am I. Now if you don’t mind Malfoy we’ve got better things to do than stand around listening to you talking complete nonsense. You get more sense out of a Sphinx and they talk in riddles. Have a nice afternoon Draco,” Harry spun around pulling Ron with him and they walked away up the high street and off towards the castle.
“What do you think he was talking about?” Hermione asked after a long while.
“Haven’t got a clue. I hate it when Malfoy knows something we don’t,” Ron replied.
“You saw the way he was back there, he’s dying to cause trouble. We won’t have to wait long to find out,” Harry’s brain was trying to work through everything that Draco had said.
“He kept ranting on about Elizabeth, you don’t think that he’s going to do something terrible to her do you?” Ellie was without doubt Hermione’s favourite teacher, she had a balance between theory and practical that worked perfectly for Hermione.
“Don’t worry ‘Mione. There’s nothing that Draco can throw at Ellie that she can’t take, besides she has the power to take points off him for being an arrogant git,” Ron smiled emptily. Everyone was thinking the same thing; whatever Malfoy had up his sleeve wasn’t going to be good.
They didn’t have to wait long until they found out what Draco was planning. On Tuesday morning they had Defence Against the Dark Arts, Ellie was in the middle of her question and answer session when Draco put up his hand.
“Yes Mr. Malfoy?” Ellie asked begrudgingly.
“Professor I was wondering if I could ask a question unrelated to today’s lesson?” his voice was dripping with insincerity.
“If it’s quick.”
“Well my father has been telling me how to look my family tree up through all the records of Wizarding births, marriages and deaths.”
“How very nice for you, although I would have thought that such a…well established family as the Malfoys would already have their own family tree documented somewhere. I know that we Dumbledore’s have,” she was icy cool with him.
“Well yes but I thought I’d like to do it all myself, it’s all very interesting to me.”
“How very gallant of you. It’s nice to meet someone who appreciates history,” her voice was as insincere as his.
“Thank you. Father advised me that it would be good to start by trying to find the records of some of my friends and teachers that way I would understand them better and it would make things easier for me when trying to find my family’s.”
“Did he really?” her voice was rather oddly high pitched.
“Yes, so I started small with myself and some friends of mine. Then I moved on to people like Professors Snape, McGonagall and you. The only problem was that I couldn’t find the records for any Elizabeth Dumbledore.”
“That is because my full name isn’t Elizabeth Dumbledore,” she answered him very shortly.
“What is it then? I’ d like to look you up,” he smirked at her from the back of the room.
“My full name is none of your business Mr. Malfoy. Now if we could please return to the topics covered in today’s lesson,” unless Harry was much mistaken she was very, very nervous.
“What the hell was that all about?” Ron exclaimed as they later left the class.
“I don’t know but Malfoy is up to something very fishy,” Hermione had that look she always wore when her brain went into overdrive and she almost always ended up in the library with her nose stuck in a book. Needless to say Hermione didn’t show up at lunchtime. Harry and Ron went up to the tower to check that she hadn’t gone back there whilst they were at lunch and then set off for the library. Sure enough they found Hermione there at a desk surrounded by a half a dozen books, reading the pages zealously.
“You all right Hermione?” Harry asked her cautiously as he and Ron sat down at the desk beside her.
“Fine thank you,” she answered sharply.
“What is it that you’re doing?” Ron tentatively asked.
“Reading.”
“I’m not that thick. I can see that. What’re you reading?”
“The record of Wizard births from 1978.”
“Ok, why are you reading that exactly?”
“Well all that nonsense with Draco and Elizabeth got me thinking. Did you see how nervous she was when he asked about her name?” Hermione finally tore herself away from the page.
“Yeah, she looked totally panicked. I think he hit a raw nerve,” Harry was trying to read Hermione’s book upside down.
“Well after Ancient Runes I asked Professor Reddo where I would be able to find a record of wizard births. He told me that they had the books here in the library, so I thought I would come and have a look. We already know that she’s just finished school, so she must have been born the same year as Fred and George which is 1978. On the way here I bumped into Professor McGonagall, I told her that I was thinking of getting Elizabeth a birthday present but I didn’t know when her birthday was. She told me that Elizabeth was born on the fifteenth of January. So I’ve been looking through the records for January 1978,” she finished and drew a long breath.
“All these are for January 1978?” Ron stared open mouthed at all the books before him.
“Well they do record every wizard or witch born in Britain and Ireland and each entry has a page to itself. I’ve got to the fifteenth but I haven’t found any Elizabeth’s yet,” she continued to scan the pages for a long time. Harry was just about to tell Ron that they had to go and get their stuff for Care of Magical Creatures when Hermione suddenly called out, “Good Lord!” Madame Pince immediately hurried over.
“Ms. Granger may I remind you that this is a Library! Any more noise and I will be forced to take points from your house,” she then scuttled back over to her desk and continued to shoot Hermione dirty looks.
“I take it you’ve found something?” Ron squinted trying to get a better look at the page Hermione was gawping at.
“This can’t be right. It cannot be right,” she read and re-read the page several times.
“Why what’s the matter? She’s not a Malfoy or anything is she?” a horrible thought struck Harry what if she was a disowned Malfoy? What if Dumbldore was letting her use his name out of kindness so that nobody would know where she came from? Maybe that’s why they’d never heard of her before.
“ ‘Course she’s not a Malfoy. What does it say ‘Mione?” Ron tried to snatch the book away from her.
“Born on the fifteenth of January 1978 at four fourteen p.m. was Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter.”
“Potter!” Harry was fairly certain that he had stopped breathing and it felt like his heart had stopped too. Surely she didn’t mean Potter as in his Potter.
“Potter. Her mother is listed as Jane Alexandra Potter nee Dumbledore and her father is down as Andrew Thomas Potter. Harry, Elizabeth is related to you,” Hermione and Ron were looking at him with faces of bemusement; clearly neither of them could believe it either. But the little cogs in Harry’s brain were slipping into place.
“That man stood next to your father, he’s your Uncle Andrew and that’s his wife Jane, she’s holding their daughter Elizabeth. They were killed 6 months before your parents…You don’t remember you’re grandfather sitting in his favourite chair rocking you gently from side to side while your grandmother stood over the two of you singing Over the Rainbow, or how we used to laugh when you both fell asleep…. You don’t remember your cousin chasing you and Neville Longbottom around the back garden not long after the two of you had learned to walk…”
Ellie’s voice was swimming around in his head, how did he not see it? She had been spelling it out for him and he still hadn’t seen it. They way she had talked about his uncle Andrew, he should have known. Now that he was thinking clearly she was the spitting image of the woman in the photo, all except her nose. Hadn’t Mrs. Weasley said that it was her father’s nose? It was the same nose that his Uncle Andrew had, the same nose that his father had, in fact it was the same nose that resided in the middle of his own face. These weren’t the first thoughts that came to his head though.
“She lied to me,” before he could stop himself he was storming out of the library towards her office.
A/N: We don’t actually know what the Ancient Runes teacher is actually called so I picked Professor Reddo because reddo means translator in Latin. Just wanted everyone to know that there was method in my madness!
Thanks for reading.
The next chapter is Home Truths.