Summer's Eve

⚡️51⚡️

A/N Fun fact, Cordelia James is actually my character from Hogwarts Legacy.

"This memory is from one Miss Cordelia James," Dumbledore told me. "Cordelia James?" Harry wondered. "Cordelia was Joy's great great grandmother, the first benefactor of Arylwren's abilities. Born 1875 and died 1900," Dumbledore told him.

Dumbledore poured the memory into the Pensieve. "Shall we?"

We all went inside and found ourselves in Hogwarts over a hundred years ago. Cordelia James walked down the halls and I noticed she looked a lot like me. Her eyes were a deep violet. I noticed her in the DADA tower. She entered a room where a Slytherin boy was sitting.

"Della?"

"Don't worry, Ominis, I wasn't trying to sneak up on you," Cordelia reassured him. I got a closer look at her uniform. She was a Slytherin too.

"Are we...sure turning Sebastian in was the right thing to do?" she asked him. "He was too far gone," Ominis told her. "Too invested in dark magic. I'm glad he did not pull you into that void, Della."

"Me too," she sighed. "So, I got your owl, what was it you wanted to show me?"

"Sebastian had it, from the restricted section, he was trying to understand your powers," he told me. "Who knows if he'll tell..."

"Let me worry about that," Cordelia put her hand over his. She opened the book and flicked through it. "I don't understand it much myself, you said you were cursed."

"My entire bloodline is cursed Ominis," Cordelia told him. "In my whole family tree, only Muggles have been born. I'm the first chosen descendant of Arylwren, gifted with rare magic but cursed to die young."

"You mean..." Ominis looked scared. I saw in his eyes that his vision was impaired but anyone could see the love in his eyes.

"Yes, including me," she sighed. "I may be able to do things no other witch can do but..."

Cordelia had come across the spell that cursed Arylwren and read it over. Ominis used his wand to help him navigate. "There was a counter curse."

"The curse itself was for no magic to pass through the bloodline and for the descendants to die young but Arylwren fought it and cast a counter curse, which is why I have my powers," Cordelia read through it. "She said if all three descendants burdened was struck down by dark magic, the curse would break."

Cordelia raised her hands instinctively. A sapphire hue flowed from her hands. "Arylwren said whoever was to inherit her power would die young. With the amount that's happened, with poachers, goblins...."

"Cordelia.." Ominis held her hand. "It's going to be alright. I won't let anyone hurt you. We'll fight off this curse as long as we can."

"Ominis Gaunt..."

I nearly gasped once I learned his full name. I looked at the book myself and read the passages about the curse on the three descendants.

Cordelia was the first.

Mum was the second.

I was the last.

The wren's offspring will never have magic flow through their veins ever again, bar three. The Creator, surrounded by sapphire. The Bringer of Death, surrounded by gold will then birth the Saviour, surrounded by scarlet. Once the Saviour is struck down with the dark magic, the blood curse will break and magic will flow through the descendants veins once again.

I pulled myself out of the Pensieve and both myself and Harry looked extremely disturbed. "I believe you two have a lot of questions," Dumbledore sighed. "Gaunt? Was he...?"

"Ominis was considered a blood-traitor by his family and was disowned," Dumbledore told us. "But Marvolo was his older brother."

"What?" I frowned. "Ominis took Cordelia's name in marriage and they had a son, Arthur," Dumbledore told me. "Arthur then fathered a daughter named Zelda in 1927. Arthur was a Squib, as the curse prevented him from harnessing magic. Zelda was a Muggle and married another Muggle named Tobias Jones. They had two beautiful daughters, Alivia and Tatiana."

"But...how could Tia be magical if my mother inherited those abilities, making her the Bringer of Death?" I asked Dumbledore. Dumbledore grimaced. "Tatiana knows about this. She's not biologically a Jones. She was an orphan after her true parents died in a car accident. She was only two weeks old but Zelda and Tobias adopted her, raising her as their own."

"Whoa...did Mum know?" I asked Dumbledore. "No," Dumbledore shook his head. "Tatiana found out once she was attempting to gain custody of you. It's not something she likes known."

"Can we go back to fact that Voldemort's great uncle is your great great grandfather?" Harry pointed out. That ton of bricks hit me hard. "OH MY GOD!" I gasped.

"Yes, you and Tom Riddle are related, distantly though," Dumbledore told me.

"Professor?" I looked up at Dumbledore. "I'm supposed to take him down but I'm also destined to die young? How can I be destined to live and to die? It literally says if I die, the curse on my blood breaks. So I'm destined to save the world...but die too?"

"I understand this is difficult to take in," Dumbledore told me. "It's a lot....for one day," I sighed. I looked at the table to see Gaunt's ring missing. "Where'd it go?"

"Another story for another day, get some rest," Dumbledore dismissed us and we left his office.

***

"Joy?" Harry noticed my silence on the way back. "You okay?"

"Of course," I laughed cynically. "Why wouldn't I be? It's not like I'm cursed or anything. I have to kill the darkest wizard but hey! I'm gonna die anyway! I'm doing my mum's stupid death mission and all for what?!"

Harry let me rant angrily, he knew I needed to get it off my chest. "Why is it all on me?!" I crumbled to the floor sobbing. "I'm supposed to save everyone and I can't even save myself from this stupid ancient curse!"

Harry knelt down beside me and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm not going to let you die."

"That's what Ominis said to Cordelia....she died anyway. That's what my dad said to my mum. And she fucking died anyway! We're all expected to step in and do everything for this stupid ungrateful world that shows none of us respect. Cordelia died. Mum died and I'm next!"

I sobbed into Harry's hoodie, soaking it with my tears. "I don't want to die. I've barely begun living, I'm sixteen years old and I'm expected to save the world! How did you cope?"

Harry held my face in his hands. "I'm not leaving you when the going gets tough, I'm standing by you so you don't have to do this alone. You don't have to carry all this burden, Joy. I'll help you hunt down what your mum was hunting. I'll help you find a way to break this curse and stay alive because I don't want to lose my soulmate."

He wiped my tears away. "I love you."

"I know."