"Mum? Dad? Can I ask you bout something?" Molly and Arthur perked at their eldest daughter's voice.
"Of course, Rose! Come sit with us!" Molly scooted on the couch, patting the seat beside her, and Rose took a seat while Arthur set his book down to give her his full attention.
"Now, what's on your mind, my Ebony Darling?" He smiled, using her special nickname.
"That's actually what I wanted to talk about." She admitted, toying with the end of her black hair, and their smiles faded. They didn't know if they were ready for this one. "Mum, Dad, please be honest with me. I'm old enough now. Am I truly your daughter?" Molly let out a sigh, and Rose noticed right away as tears formed in her eyes while Rose unfolded the photos from her pocket. "Someone gave these to me at school. They look like me." She handed over the photo of Sirius, Marlene, and their baby, the photo of baby Harry and the baby girl, and the photo of the two infants with James Potter and Sirius Black to her mother and father, who examined them, Arthur adjusting his reading glasses and Molly wiping her eyes.
"Oh, Rosie." Molly practically choked on her name. "Who gave these to you?" Rose started sweating. She couldn't tell her parents that she had been speaking to a potential murderer!
"Harry found them." A half truth would do. "Hagrid gave him this scrapbook that had photos of his parents and all of their friends. And that baby looks a lot like me." She got up and went to the wall where dozens of photos covered it, plucking the photo of her and Ron as infants in baskets hung. "See? It's why I asked for this photo." Molly clutched her heart, looking to Arthur, who sighed sadly, nodding his head, before leaning forward and holding out his hand. Rose took it, feeling him squeeze it tightly as though he were afraid she'd run from him, and she sat down again.
"Rosie, my darling girl." He murmured, and Molly began really crying. "I'm so sorry we've kept this from you. But, you are correct. You are not our biological child." Rosie felt a weight lift from her shoulders, and boulders roll through her stomach. "We found you on our doorstep one night before you were even a year old."
"We didn't see who had left you there." Molly cried, placing her hands on Rose's shoulders, squeezing them tight. "We were so angry for you! Who could've abandoned such a perfect little girl so easily?" Rose leaned in so Molly could wrap her whole arm around her, holding her close as her other hand went to cradle her head, hiding her daughter's own tears. She knew it. All these years, everyone had been right. "We felt as though we had been blessed when you appeared for us. You know we love the boys, but we felt so blessed to finally have our little girl. And we never ever wanted you to feel out of place, you were the perfect match to balance out Ron." Rose sat up to face both of them easier.
"So, what was my name? Is my birthday even the same?" Surely, it was just sheer coincidence that Sirius Black had a daughter about her age, right?
Her heart sank as Arthur stood and went to the sealed drawer where they held important documents, pulling out a small envelope marked "I'm sorry Jamie" and handed it to Rose. "This was with you in the basket we found."
"We had changed your name so it matched Ron's, to sell the idea you were twin easier." Molly admitted as she tore into the letter. "People had already grown skeptical when we appeared in society with a second infant, and a daughter with such dark hair no less! We convinced everyone we knew that we had simply never suspected we were pregnant with twins until you popped out after Ron. You're a little younger than he is." Rose scoured the papers in the envelope as her mother spoke. "The letter we had been given simply told us your name, when you were born, and that your father had no means to care for you, and hoped you would fair better with us." Arthur nodded, holding up said letter.
Inside of her envelope was a document of her birth, with her name on it and date of birth. Jamie Marlene Black, born June 6th, 1980. Just as Sirius had said. Signed on the parents' lines, was Sirius Black and Marlene Black. She shook as she read the names, dropping the document and grabbing at one of the the other papers in the envelope, a letter. "Rose? What is it, love?" Molly asked, Rose feeling the tears she hadn't realized had reformed sliding down her cheeks. Her mother's voice, soothing as it had been for every fever, bump, scrape, and nightmare now burned her ears as she scanned the letter, Molly picking up the document and reading it, gasping and covering her mouth. "Arthur!" Arthur darted over, reading the document and his face going pale.
"Oh dear." He muttered, running his fingers through his hair as he clenched the document, reading it over and over and over again. "This can't be!"
"Rosie?" Molly murmured, looking to whom she hoped still considered herself her daughter as she read the letter, stone faced aside from the tears running down and sliding off her chin, wetting her lap. "Rose my darling?" Rose looked away from the letter and looked to Molly, scared of what would happen with her next words.
"Mum?" Molly sighed with relief, so happy that she felt comfortable enough to still call her that. "Mum!" Rose started crying for real, wrapping her arms around Molly, who held her close, cradling her head and letting the girl she raised release everything out. "Mummy!" She cried, as if she said it enough, this nightmare like all the others that word had chased away would go away too. "Mummy! I don't want him! I don't want to be Jamie! I want to be your daughter!"
"Oh my Ebony Darling!" Arthur hurried over, and Rose grabbed on to him too, Arthur pulling her onto his lap like she was still a little girl.
"Daddy!" She sobbed, choking on her words. "You're my Daddy!"
"Of course, sweetheart!" He insisted, rocking her back and forth, Molly unable to hold in her own tears at the sight of her distraught child. "You'll always be my little girl!" She pulled out of his shoulder so she could see his face. "I don't care if you popped from your mother's womb or fell from the sky! You are my Rosella, and you'll always be my Rosella!"
"No one can change that, darling." Molly insisted. "And just to be clear, none if this new information changes anything." She waved the document away. "As far as I'm concerned, that Sirius Black put himself through a world of hurt in two ways, getting himself locked away and not having the privilege we were handed to raise you!" Rose sniffled, wiping her eyes.
"So, you're not upset that I'm... that he's..."
"What's going on?" Ron came shuffling in, rubbing his eyes. "I heard you lot crying." Molly started crying again and Arthur sighed while Rose took a shaky breath.
"Ron, come sit with us, son." Arthur patted the empty space on the couch next to him. Ron sat down with them, and Molly handed him the document. "We have something to tell you."
YOU ARE READING
WARNING: SPOILERS!!! ~A Watty's 2019 Submission!
AcakI debated this for a while, and decided to do it. These are chapters or small bits that I want to put into my stories in the future! I type them all the time, and decided to let you guys see them early! But I you don't want to see any of them, then...
