Harry had gotten a look at Hermione’s copy and understood why so many parents had cause for concern. The front page had a large picture of the four Death Eaters standing over a helpless Kevin, though the article made him out to be anything but helpless:
Harry stared with shock that, not only that someone had gotten this story so fast, but that they made Kevin out to be a Dark wizard when he was trying to save them all. One look at the byline, though, and it all made sense. Rita Skeeter was obviously back on the payroll of the Daily Prophet. “She telling like it was his doing,” he said. “But he was trying to stop them.”
Hermione slammed the paper down onto the table. “Do you think she really cares, Harry? This is the woman who kept saying you had mental problems and I was a filthy little heartbreaker.”
Ron and Ginny came running into the Great Hall. “Sorry, mate,” Ron said. “Couldn’t find Kevin anywhere.”
“Or Sara,” Ginny added.
Harry sighed. Neither of the professors had been seen since last night, and it scared Harry a little. Even the housedogs had vanished. “You don’t think that they were really taken into custody, do you?”
Ron shook his head. “No way. Even if they believed for a second that Kevin was in on the attack, why take Sara? She’s just his wife.”
“They may have thought they were working together,” Hermione said. “But I can’t believe that. You all saw how Professor Hall was leading them last night. Moody, Lupin, Shacklebolt, they were all standing with him, not against him.”
“Still,” Harry replied. “It would be nice to hear the story from them as to just what the hell is going on.”
Breakfast ended and all the students started congregating in the main corridor. They were about to be led down to Hogsmeade station when Professor McGonagall walked up to them. “You four grab your things and follow me.” She led them through the castle to her office. “I have bent sent instructions that the four of you will travel by floo powder to a location that has been set up for your protection. Ministry officials will be waiting to receive you when you arrive.”
They lined up in front of her fireplace, Ron first. He took some floo powder from a clay jar, threw it into the hearth and called out the name Professor McGonagall had told him. Ginny went next, then Hermione, and then it was Harry’s turn. He took some powder and called out, “Godric’s Hollow!” Throwing the powder into the hearth, he vanished into the flames.
***************************************************
Harry stepped out of a fireplace into a pair of arms that wrapped around him tightly. “Harry, dear. It’s good to see you again.” The arms belonged to Mrs. Weasley, a short, plump woman with a heart as big as Hogwarts itself. She held on to Harry for a full minute before he was allowed to go any further into the house he had been sent to.
When he finally managed to get past Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, a tall balding wizard, confronted him. He grabbed Harry’s hand and pumped it vigorously. “Glad to see you again, Harry. Been well?”
Harry nodded. “It’s good to see you again too, sir.” As he looked around the living room, he saw Fred and George sitting on a sofa with their oldest brother, Bill. He still had his ponytail that seemed to drive his mother mad and his stylish dragon fang earring. Charlie, the second oldest, was there as well. He was talking with Ginny and Ron. He heard noises outside the room and saw the last person he expected to see walking down a set of stairs.
Percy Weasley.
Harry’s breath caught in his throat at seeing him in the house. Percy had abandoned his relationship with his family over a year and a half ago when he had sided with the Ministry of Magic in their refusal to admit to Voldemort’s return. For an entire year, Percy had neither spoken to his parents nor had any contact with them. Now though, with Fudge out of office and the Ministry of Magic openly accepting the return of the Dark Lord, Percy and his family had apparently made peace with one another.
Mr. Weasley clapped his hands together. “Well, now that we all are here, let’s have some lunch, shall we?” They all went into the spacious dining room where Mrs. Weasley had prepared a feast for them all. Taking seats around the long table, Mr. Weasley could see the concerned looks on the young students faces. “I know that the lot of you have questions, and you will get them all answered, but later. For now, we eat and let ourselves rest.”
They all nodded. Though the meal was hardly eaten in silence, no one made any comments about the attack or the accusations made in the Daily Prophet this morning. Finally, though, Harry had to speak. “Mr. Weasley, where are Kevin and Sara? Have they been taken by the Ministry?”
Mr. Weasley looked down at his plate for a moment. “They were, but they were released. They are both upstairs at the moment.”
Harry jumped to his feet, but was quickly pushed back down by Bill, who had conveniently decided to walk behind his chair at that moment. “Don’t Harry,” he said. “Neither of them are in any state to talk right now. Let them rest and then you can talk to them.” Harry was not pleased, but he did not try to get up again.
Lunch was soon finished and they all went back to the living room. Harry took a seat near the hearth of the fire, allowing others to enjoy the comfort of the sofa and the two armchairs. Ginny took a seat beside him, while Mr. Weasley sat in one of the armchairs. When everyone had a seat, he took a deep breath. “I know that a lot has happened, so let me try to explain as best I can. The attack last night was something that none of us thought was possible. We thought we had taken all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the students at Hogwarts, but I guess we missed something.
“No one except those in the Order knew of the existence of the four generals, and only one member knew what they looked like, Kevin. The generals did an excellent job at making sure they neither drew attention to themselves nor were seen by Kevin himself. The fact that Harry told him about meeting Griff was the first time we knew that security had been breached. After that, we used the Aurors less and less since that was how they were getting into the castle.”
He took a breath, knowing that there were questions coming. Hermione was the first to speak. “How did they apparate into the castle? It’s impossible.”
Mr. Weasley shook his head. “No, it isn’t. If you take away the charms and spells that protect the castle, it is very possible to apparate inside the grounds. That is exactly what they did.”
The room grew quiet for a moment. “What’s the story with Kevin?” Harry asked. “Is he really Voldemort’s…son?”
“No, I’m not.”
The whole room turned to the doorway to find Kevin, bruised and beaten, leaning against the door post. Sara was keeping close to him with an arm around his waist. “I’m not his son and he is not my father…but he is responsible for what I am today.” Sara helped him over to the armchair that Mr. Weasley quickly vacated. Taking one of Kevin’s arms, he lowered him into the chair. “Thank you, Arthur.”
“What happened to you?” Ron asked, horrified at what he saw.
Kevin leaned back gently. Molly took out her wand and conjured a chair for Sara to sit in. “It was those blasted Ministry interrogators,” she said as she helped Sara into the chair. Sara had recently started to show her pregnancy and required a bit of help every now and then. “They know that Dumbledore would never knowingly employ a Death Eater at Hogwarts, nor would allow one to continue after he was found out to still be in service. The fact that Kevin still has a position should be more than enough for those brutes to have let him go earlier then they did.”
“Shouldn’t you go to St. Mungo’s?”
Kevin shook his head. “I’ll be fine. It’s not as bad as it looks; besides I doubt I would get priority treatment. I haven’t exactly been the most popular person since last night.” He shifted in his chair. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing I’m concerned about is that all of you got here safely. Hogwarts was an insane asylum after what happened. Aurors and teachers running around, not sure what had happened. We had to find all the students that had been captured around the castle and retrieve them. After the smoke had cleared, I was taken to the Ministry of Magic for questioning. They soon found out exactly who I was and that’s when this happened.” He drew his hand over his face and torso.
Harry leaned in towards Kevin. “Are you really the son of Voldemort?”
“I said I wasn’t,” he answered. “But at the same time, I guess you could say I am. Let me explain. During Voldemort’s rise to power, he was obsessed with the day that he might be killed or just died. While he was trying to find a means of becoming immortal, he also thought about taking on an heir. He wanted someone young, whom he could mold to his own twisted desires. He chose five women who were all pregnant as the ones to bear his offspring.
“Now I know you are all saying, ‘They were already pregnant. How could they be his children?’ It is possible for a powerful wizard to transfer a bit of his own power, and even himself, to the unborn child. Four of the women accepted this willingly, one didn’t. That woman was my mother.
“The four women who were willing each were of the bloodline to the four greatest witches and wizards in a thousand years, the founders of Hogwarts. That’s why each of their children has a name that resembles something about the house. Now, though, they shared a bloodline of one of them and now Slytherin. Sylvain is especially powerful since his blood is purely that of Salazar Slytherin, which makes him the most dangerous of the four.
“As for my mother, it was something that even Voldemort didn’t expect. Remarkably, she shared blood with Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. With the addition of Slytherin, I now had the lineage of all four wizards. I was to be Voldemort’s heir when he discovered what had happened, and he gave me a name that would fit with the rise of the next Dark Lord, Tom.”
“His own name?” Harry asked. “But he got rid of it because it was given to him by his Muggle father.”
“Exactly,” Kevin replied. “He told me that, when I was powerful enough, I could cast off the name as he did and take a true name for myself. Instead, I threw it off and chose the name of my own father.” Sara leaned over and placed a hand on his arm.
“How did you escape?”
Kevin took a few breaths. “When I was seven, my mother managed to smuggle me out and brought me to Dumbledore.” He brought a hand up to his eyes. “She was killed soon after that while trying to through Voldemort off my trail. My father had died while trying to rescue us three years before that, so I had no one to take me in, until Lily and James brought me to this house.”
Harry, who had been looking down at the floor until this point, looked up. “What did you say?”
“You heard me, Harry. This is the house that your parents lived in and where you were born. It was supposed to be a present from Sirius, he was the one who had it restored, with a little help from some well wishers.” The mention of his godfather caused Harry to look back down at the floor. “Dumbledore told him that rebuilding the house that your parents were murdered in might cause some harsh feelings, but Sirius felt that you should have something of your past.”
Harry looked back up. “No, I’m glad that he did.” He stood up and started walking around the room.
Molly got to her feet. “Well, I think that’s enough for right now. Why don’t we all go unpack and get settled, shall we?” She ushered her family from the living room.
Kevin stayed in his chair, watching Harry walk a bit more. When the others had left, he motioned for Harry to sit in the chair across from him. “Have you told them about the prophecy, Harry?”
The boy shook his head. “I never found a good time.”
“It’s your choice whether you do or not,” Kevin said. “But you know that it might help you a little bit if they knew.”
Harry nodded. “You’re right. I do need to tell them.”