A Letter 2 Years Late

Chapter 5 - The Newspaper Clipping

"Morning Rose." I said as I slid to the floor and sat beside her.

"Mm? Oh hi Tressa. Looks like Karen didn't have to wake you up this time." Rose said with a giggle.

"Oh haha very funny. So wasn't there a newspaper clipping you wanted to show me? I didn't wake up early and got lost looking for the library for nothing you know." I said in friendly sarcastic way. If that's even possible.

"Is that really the reason you woke up early?" Rose asked raising an eyebrow. "It's right here." she got up and walked down not too far and turned to a row of newspapers. She searched around and brought it back and took her seat beside me.

"Here, take a look."

I scanned the newspaper. The heading said 'Followers: Defeated or on the run?' underneath was a wanted ad of former Death Eaters. There was a pretty big list of names, but the newspaper was torn at the bottom so I couldn't read all the names. What if my parent's names were on that list? I decided to read the text to see what Rose was talking about. Obviously the bottom was ripped off so she didn't see the name Bae in the wanted area. I held my breath and read through the article. Then I finally found what she read:

Though Voldemort has been defeated by none other than our famous chosen one, Harry Potter, Voldemort's followers still live amongst us. "It may be over but we still need to keep these people in Azkaban. The damage that Voldemort and his Death Eaters have done is too great for us to allow the former followers to run beside us." says Melissa Bae, an Auror from the Ministry of Magic.

My mom? Probably. By the looks of the name I would guess so. I continued to read the article:

But it's not all that easy for the ministry. Some say that they were under the imperious curse, while other are confident enough to say that they were and still are Death Eaters. But the question is, 'How do we sort the liars from the honest ones?' And though it seems things at the Ministry couldn't be worse, rumor has it that an auror from the Ministry of Magic is under suspicion for being a former Death Eater. With the leak during Voldemorts time, it could be true but weren't all followers in the minister already executed?

An auror? If Melissa Bae was my mom... and an auror... does that mean she, along with all the other aurors, were under suspicion?

"Tressa, is Melissa Bae your mum?" Came Rose's voice. I looked up at her, not able to read her expression.

I try to figure out what I'm going to say, as I realize that I still haven't told anyone that I was adopted. I decided to go along with the truth, since I wasn't such a fantastic liar anyway.

"Maybe? I have no idea..." I stared at the newspaper, millions of questions running through my mind. Rose got up and lift her bag over her shoulder. She stares at me, her intelligent eyes seeming to look at my very soul, making me shiver.

"Well come on, it's time for breakfast and I actually want to eat this time." I laughed and got up to put the newspaper on the shelf I saw Rose take it down from. I could tell that Rose was full of questions, but I was extremely relieved that she was giving me some time to think, the sweet thing. Then I grabbed my bag and followed her out the library, still wondering if that newspaper was telling me more than I could read.

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I was sitting in potions attempting to memorize how the schedule worked around here. I had charms, history, herbology and transfigurations on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, then potions, astronomy, care of magical creatures and defence against the dark arts on the other days of the week.

Suddenly, Professor Forester came up to me and slammed a flask down in front of me. Swirling around inside was a colorless liquid that looked a lot like regular water.