Rhapsody of a Veela

Part 31 - Past, Present, Future

                                                                         January 1996

You found yourself knocking on the door to Dumbledore's office. It was late in the evening, curfew had just begun and yet you had to go see him, despite risking being caught by prefects or Slytherins. As you knocked on the door, you saw the black opal of the promise ring Fred had given you glimmer in the candlelight.

"Come in" his voice from the inside called out, and when he saw you enter he did not look surprised at all to see you.

"Ah, Miss Y/n, how may I help you this evening?"

You quickly sat down in the chair in front of his desk, ignoring all the sights to see in the circular room. Wondering if he had any answers to give at this time.

"Professor Dumbledor, I uh.. I just had a question realy..."

"Of course, hopefully I have an answer you will be content with"

You fidgeted around your seat, nervously, your eye catching the large phoenix watching you carefully from its open cage.

"Did anyone ever know, that he.. that.. Tom Riddle had a daughter before the aurors caught me?"

Dumbledore studied you carefully, deep in thoughts he seemed to ponder about it himself. It was clear to you, that he had been expecting you to ask these sort of questions at some point.

"Only a few people ever knew about your existence. Tom Riddle himself of course, his closest followers, the Minister of Magic and a select few high-ranking members of the Ministry... I, and prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix came to learn of this after the Dark Lord first disappeared" Dumbledore began explaining, with a wistful look on his face.

You did not even blink as he continued, just listening closely and intently while having to remind yourself to breathe.

"As I expect you to understand by now Miss Y/n, this knowledge was strictly forbidden on both sides of the war...you were in great danger should your existence have become common knowledge among all of the Dark Lords followers, or among the general wizarding population itself.."

You could not help it, tears were already forming in your eyes.

"But what about my mother.. who was she?" you asked franticly, afraid that Dumbledore would decide that you knew enough of the story already.

"Little is known of her I'm afraid, but there is not a doubt in my mind that she cared for you deeply" Dumbledore answered solemnly,

"She had escaped with you, and after the Dark Lord disappeared, his closest followers were I expect.. distraught by their lack of leadership... So they hunted her down in eastern Europe... When they found her, they tortured her to try and force her to reveal where she had you hidden"

A single tear fell across your cheek,

"She refused of course, and so they killed her. Now this is where the trail of your whereabouts ends I'm afraid...until you were discovered at the muggle orphanage after the.. incident.."

You had to take a deep breath to continue, wiping the tears away.

"Those people... who tried to kidnap me that day.. they were death eaters weren't they?"

Dumbledore smiled wistfully, "Yes. You are very clever Miss Y/n... in the end they had somehow discovered your location...it is good you were able to defend yourself, otherwise we would not be sitting here this evening I'm afraid"