Disclaimer: Stephen is mine, the rest is the property of J.K Rowlings. I just borrowed them for a while.
Part 1
"NYPD, Special Investigations, Stephen Douglas speaking."
"Steve? It's Sheriff Mackenzie."
"Sheriff?"
"Yes, Son. I won't beat around the bush. I got sad news. Your parents were killed a few hours ago in a car crash. We've been having freezing rain all week. They were coming back from a church function, your Dad lost control of his truck. It flipped into a ditch and hit a tree. As far as we can tell, they were both killed on impact."
"Oh." Was all Stephen could think to say. He had not been close to his parents, and had not spoken to them since Christmas.
"I am really sorry, Son."
"Its okay….I'm I'm okay." Stephen took a deep breath. "I'll be up there as soon as I can."
"Stop by the station, I'll have someone go with you."
"Okay. Thank you for calling me."
"Just doing my sad duty, Son. I am truly sorry about your parents. They were good folks." With that, he hung up.
Stephen listened to the hung line for several seconds before he hung up his phone. His mind was blank. As a fellow police officer, he had himself delivered similar unpleasant news too often. However, he had never thought he would receive it himself. Furthermore, he had not believed that the death of his parents would hit him so hard. Their relationship had been strained since his early teens.
The officer passed his hand through his short permanently greasy hair, and started to go through a mental list of what he had to do, starting with requesting time off.
Two days later, Stephen was sitting at the kitchen table in his parent's house. It was pilled with all sorts of papers. A grey filling cabinet was sitting by the table, drawers ajar. He was searching for a few things. The first was a will from either parent. Secondly, he was looking far any insurance information on them and the house. Thirdly, he kept a list of people he should contact about the funeral. Finally, he was looking for anything that would indicate if they had any funeral arrangements. He was putting off calling the local funeral parlour just a bit longer.
In the last drawer of the cabinet, Stephen found a locked grey metal box. A wave of his wand and an unlocking spell had it open in seconds. He carefully pulled out the brown and white envelopes. The top one had the address of a local law firm, which contained the deed to the land and house, along with a will. However, what caught his attention was the letter on the bottom with a British address.
He opened the envelope and discovered a birth certificate.
Child name's: Stephen John
Mother's name: Lily Evans Mother's date of birth: 1960,January,30
Father's name: undisclosed
Birthday: 1977, August, 26
Place of birth: St James Memorial hospital, London, England
It was his birth certificate!
Stephen always thought he was the biological child of Martha and David Douglas. He knew that his mother had been in her forties when she had 'had' him. Or at least he had thought! He had come from a small family. He had only known his paternal grand-mother, who had died when he was twelve. His father had been an only child, and his mother had never spoken of her family.
The next document was adoption papers listing his parents as the adopting parents. Stephen looked through the box for more information but there was nothing else. He let out a breath he had not realised that he had been holding and ran his hands through his hair. He rubbed his greasy fingers together; he hated his hair and had always wondered where it came from. Now he knew it had not been from his parents, Martha or David. He decided to clear his mind by taking a shower to wash his hair for the second time that day. For the umpteenth time he thought about investing into Head and Shoulder stocks.