Chapter 5- The First Letter
Dear Olivia,
You know me. I shan’t deny it. We have met before, frequently. Extremely frequently, actually. My name is Nymphadora Tonks. I am the person you thought was your mother for the past eleven years.
I know you well enough to know that you don’t understand what I have just told you. Let me explain: Eleven years ago, you were found by a Ministry of Magic official. A few hours with you were enough to convince him of three things. These are 1) that you were a witch, 2) that your power has been surpassed by only two others in the history of wizard kind, and 3) that you were by no means meant to be left alone in some Muggle orphanage.
And so, the task to care for you fell to me: a clumsy Auror (dark wizard catcher) with nothing else to do since the fall of Lord Voldemort. Surely, you’ve heard of him. But anyway, my orders were to protect you: to keep you away from magic until you were old enough to understand, but close enough you were never endangered.
But why, you ask? Why were you kept impervious to magic? And why was I there? Your guess is as good as mine. I only know that the Ministry has messed it up before- twice. They weren’t in a hurry to do it again. As to who your real parents are, I haven’t got a clue. The only thing I’ve discovered about the name “Abdiknot” is that there are no male wizards with that surname, so it must come from your mother’s side. I’m sorry that this is all the help I can give you.
And now, you say, this must be a lie. This can’t be true. You refuse to believe it. I’m sorry for the rude awakening, dear, but every word I’ve written here is true. Would I lie to you?
I’ve just realized something. I’ve lied to you every day for the past eleven years. I am so, so sorry that this is the way things had to be. I hope you can understand. I hope you can forgive me. I will completely understand if you hate me forever. But I want you to know that I never had any intentions of caring for you, of ever doing anything other than what I was ordered to do by the Ministry of Magic, and that those intentions were demolished more than ten years ago. You really are the most powerful witch I’ve ever met.
You are, of course, still welcome here in Islington during the holidays, and over the summer, but I will understand if you would rather not come.
Yours most sincerely,
Nymphadora Tonks (but you can call me whatever you like)
Cora put down the letter gingerly, as though afraid it might explode. This was an absurd thought, as it wasn’t a Howler, but given the circumstances she believed anything like this letter extremely volatile.
“Liv?”
Olivia looked up from the marmalade so fast her hair whipped around and hit her full in the face. Pulling a hair elastic similar to the one Geena her on the first night of term out of her pocket, she tied it absently around her hair, ignoring the now familiar red flash. “Well?” she demanded, in a high-pitched voice that was not hers. “What does it say?”
“Er, well, it, er, goes on to say that-“ began Cora, but Olivia cut her off.
“It wouldn’t,” she persisted, in the same high, slightly hysterical voice, “have anything whatsoever to do with the fact that- oh, let’s think- maybe the woman I lived with and trusted as my mother for eleven years isn’t actually related to me in any way at all?” The look on her face told Cora quite plainly what the answer was supposed to be. But Cora couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Actually…that’s exactly what it does say.”
Olivia stared at Cora in disbelief for a full ten seconds, then burst into tears.
“Oh, Olivia…” Cora wanted to comfort her friend, to tell her that everything would turn out all right. But she couldn’t. Cora had never comforted anyone before. Instead, her mother had soothed her, when Cora had scraped her knee or when Matt had lit her broomstick on fire, and now that it was her turn Cora found that she didn’t quite know how.
Olivia had now abandoned all restraint and was now sobbing uncontrollably into Cora’s shoulder. Ignoring the strange looks they were drawing from other students, Cora poured Olivia another glass of orange juice (as her previous glass was now full of marmalade) and leaned back in her chair. “I think we’re…going to be a bit late for Herbology.”
As it turned out, they were not late for Herbology. They missed it entirely. This was due to the fact that they- along with Drew MacDounagh, for some reason- spent the entire period outside Professor Spinnet’s office. (Professor Slughorn had passed their seats at the Gryffindor table at about the same time Olivia had started crying, and suggested they speak to their head of house as soon as possible.) Apparently, Olivia had not been the only first year Gryffindor to receive bad news over breakfast that morning.
Cora waited while Olivia talked to Professor Spinnet. It was now lunchtime, so she didn’t feel guilty about missing lessons. Besides, Herbology was Olivia’s best subject, and Cora wasn’t bad either. To her surprise, a smile cracked over Olivia’s face when the door opened, something that had not happened since the two of them had joked about their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher some three hours previously.
“Thank you, Professor!” Olivia called through the doorway, and practically skipped past Cora and down the marble staircase towards the Great Hall. Bewildered again, Cora shot a quizzical look at the only person in the vicinity- Drew MacDounagh. Drew raised an eyebrow at her, apparently as confused, if not more so. But Drew hadn’t read the letter, Cora thought, so that didn’t make any sense or explain anything. Cora decided to wonder about Drew’s odd behavior later, and hurried downstairs after Olivia. Herbology was one thing, but being late for Charms was punishable by law (or at least by detention).
That night in the common room, Olivia and Cora sat by a window, making up the work they had missed that morning. Every so often, a faint smile would flit across Olivia’s face. As Cora found no joy whatsoever in writing a two foot essay on the dangers of Devil’s Snare, she was bewildered yet again. Eventually she decided to break the silence that had fallen thick over their corner, as if Professor McGonagall had somehow materialized in their midst.
“Olivia?” The name made the person in question jump slightly, as though startled.
“Mhm?” Olivia looked as though she was leaving the world of her homework very reluctantly. Maybe Devil’s Snare was fascinating.
“Are you, er, feeling all right?”
“Yes. Should I not be?” Now it was Olivia’s turn to sound bewildered.
Cora backtracked. “It’s just…I think I’ve missed something.”
“About the Devil’s Snare? It hates sunlight. And you should never put it in a pot, because it could strangle you. The most famous case of this was in 1996, when-”
“Olivia! I don’t care about the plant!”
“Oh.” Olivia looked slightly crestfallen. Cora tried backtracking again, as it hadn’t worked the first time.
“What I meant was, are you all right about that letter? Have I missed something in the middle? Because this morning, you were just sobbing . Then you talked to Spinnet (at least I thought you did) and then you were floating. I mean, I know you weren’t actually floating until Charms, because I couldn’t aim that Wingardium Leviosa spell if my life depended on it… and now we’re sitting here and apparently everything’s just fine. I mean, you’re rattling off everything I never wanted to know about Devil’s Snare. So, I have to say it again: have I missed something?”
Olivia giggled. Cora stared at her. Usually, after a monologue like that, the audience (her mother, normally) had to take an aspirin and lie down for twenty minutes or so. This mode of reaction was completely new to her.
“Well, I did talk to Professor Spinnet. She told me two things, mostly. First, she said that everything in the letter was completely true, which made me feel bad again. But then she said that the two people who have more power than I do and the two people who were left to grow up in Muggle society were the same.”
“Really?” asked Cora, incredulous. “That’s a major coincidence.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. So, I said ‘Professor, that’s a pretty fishy coincidence’ and she said ‘No, Olivia, it’s not a coincidence at all.’
“So then she explained a bit more, and I still didn’t get it.Really. I honestly had no idea what she was talink about. She said something about Voldemort and something else about Harry Potter, but I didn't have a clue what she meant. And apparently, she understood that she was making my mind go in repetitive circles. She said to me ‘Olivia, this discussion is not getting us anywhere,’.”
Cora rolled her eyes. The discussion about the discussion wasn’t getting them anywhere either. Olivia pretended she hadn’t noticed, and kept talking.
“She said that I should write back to this…this ‘Tonks’ person, and tell her how that letter she sent me made me feel. Then I should go back to Islington for Christmas, and see what happens.”
Cora nodded. “I think you should, too.”
“Oh, I’m going to!” The mischievous smile crept back across Olivia’s face. “She said something else as well.”
“What?”
“That if I needed something to take my mind off things, I should try out for the Quidditch team.”
“The Quidditch team? Liv, do you know how to play Quidditch at all?”
Olivia thought about that. “No.”
There was a pause. Cora obviously thought Olivia wasn’t going to say anything else, and turned back to her Herbology essay. Suddenly, Olivia spoke again. “But…I think I will.”
“Will what?”
“Try out for the Quidditch team. After all, how hard could it be?”
A/N: Well, this chapter was longer! I hope you are all proud of me: a longer chapter in a shorter amount of time! As always, reviews are appreciated. Be sure to check out my beta, Lurid’s, awesome stories: Malicious Intentions and The Potters and the Blacks, a Family Torn Apart…, as well as the awesome banner I made for her! (you didn’t know I could make banners! I can! If you want one, email me.) Also thanks to my friend Niko, who bought me the iTunes gift card I used to buy the songs I listened to incessantly while writing this. She rocks! Please review! Please?
3/12/06- This chapter has been edited per request by many reviewers. hopefully it makes more sense now.