The Untold Story Of Rachelle Bleaker
"Who's Rachelle Black?" Harry asked.
After much nagging and anticipation Sirius had taken him to Godric's Hollow graveyard the other day for the very first time. As Harry, with a heavy heart full of grief, laid flowers at his parent's gravestone; Sirius had wondered off. Harry soon found him, his black tail between his paws staring intently at a plain solid stone in the row behind the Potters'. Harry tilted his head in confusion as he took in the scene, the gravestone that had caught his godfather's attention was one of the blandest, poorest ones in the entire graveyard. It had nothing other than the words "Rachelle Black" etched onto it's front. To add to his confusion Harry noticed that there was a hint of a tear within Sirius' canine eyes, even though he'd tried to hide it from him. They returned to Grimauld place a little while later but Sirius refused to talk about it, and no method of questioning from Harry seemed to change his mind. So this time Harry was using a different approach, he was asking Remus Lupin instead.
"Rachelle? … Oh!" There was a tone of realisation in Remus' voice. "You'd better ask your godfather about that one Harry."
Harry protested that he already had. Remus simply encouraged Harry to ask again, assuring him that it was not his place to say. With a nudge Harry entered the room where Sirius was sat in an old rather threadbare armchair in front of an enticingly warm looking fire. Sirius remained silent. He had just heard every word that Harry and Lupin had exchanged but he just couldn't. He knew that there would never come a time were he would be able to break his vow and talk about her. He'd hadn't been able to talk about her since her death some thirteen-years-ago. He just couldn't. His heart wouldn't let him. Though if only it would, he knew just what he would say ...
To start off Harry, first of all you have to know something that I don't believe anyone has ever told you before. In fact it's something that very few people even know. You see, your mother had an identical twin sister. Her name was Rose. As you'd expect from being her identical twin, little Rose was a witch too, a very very powerful witch actually. She came into her powers at only a few months old, which as I'm sure you are aware is very rare, very young, no matter what your blood status may be. Of course, your grandparents were prepared to do anything for both of their daughters; but Ministry rules were different then, they were old fashioned and ruthless. Since your mother was expected to come into power at some point too it was determined that two witches, especially with one being as powerful as Rose was appearing to be, could not possibly be raised by muggles. Your grandparents were forced to let Rose be adopted into a wizarding family, while your mother could remain with them. Rose was adopted by the Bleakers, a family so old that it was said to date back to Merlin himself. David Bleaker and his wife Vera were the last two of their family, and their pressure to continue the Bleaker line must have been unbearable. You see, they were one of the first families to believe that magical purity was of greater value and were muggle haters of the greatest kind. Yet, they couldn't have a child of their own. They were so desperate to continue their lineage and prove their worth that they secretly adopted Rose without a single question about her biological family. I'm guessing that they automatically assumed a baby that young with magical power so blatantly evident simply had to have blood of the purest kind, and was simply meant to belong to them. They took her into their home and with magic they changed her auburn hair to the Bleaker's trademark jet-black. No one dared question the Bleakers when they returned from their two year long holiday abroad with their new daughter. Not a soul knew who she really was and I believe that even the Bleakers themselves had convinced themselves enough to believe she really was theirs. They'd re-named her Rachelle, and laid so many expectations on her tiny little shoulders.
Time, as it does, passed by; and we all began Hogwarts. Rachelle became a Slytherin and befriended my darling cousin Bellatrix, us Marauders and your mother were of course Griffindors. We spent the majority of our Hogwarts years many miles, an entire world, apart. We simply wanted nothing to do with each other, we were just so different. Rachelle's mass of black curls transformed her look entirely from Lily's sleek auburn hair, it was that and the fact that the two of them were almost never seen together that completely hid the fact that they were actually identical twins.
One day, near the beginning of our last year at Hogwarts, I'd managed to get Rachelle and I both into detention over a potion exploding incident that caused her cauldron to begin to melt too. I admit, it was my fault, I had a pretty clear idea of what adding the newt's eye to that particular potion would do … Well … I was bored. Rachelle cornered me in the corridor afterwards, yelling at me and completely over reacting over a little bit of detention, I found the whole thing highly amusing. Then she simply looked at me as I laughed at her. She looked at me in a way that silenced my laughter and raised my eyebrow. Then she kissed me. I could hardly breathe for shock. I had no idea that Rachelle had even so much as acknowledged my existence before then.
"You tell anyone ..." She barked, staring at me with daggers in her eyes. "and I mean anyone … and you'll be jinxed into an oblivion!"
With a swish of her cloak she was gone, and I was left numb with shock and confusion. I mean it was Bleaker, one of the crowd with that snake and skull tattoo on their arm, not that we fully knew what that meant quite yet.
It was quite some time later, only a few months away from our Newt exams when Professor Dumbledore had the idea to hold a magical/muggle inter-cooperation day, which meant that your grandparents and other parents of muggle-borns had an invitation to Hogwarts, just for the one day. It was a one-time exclusive idea of Dumbledore's that made him incredibly unpopular with the ministry. Your grandparents arrived at Hogwarts and one of the first pupils they came across just happened to be Rachelle. As only a mother can do, your grandmother actually noticed the similarity straight away and thought it was Lily. She began to shout at her for changing her hair, but Rachelle was disgusted. In her mind those muggles had no right to even speak to her let alone address her in that manner. She told them in a pretty colourful choice of words and a harsh tone that she was not Lily Evans but was in fact Rachelle Bleaker and stormed off in a huff. Your grandparents had been told that their long-lost daughter was adopted by a family known as the Bleakers, so suddenly two and two began to add up. When Rachelle was called up to Dumbledore's office later that day along with Lily and their biological parents the truth came out. Rachelle's world came crashing down. She was repulsed by the blood within her own veins and began a spiral of self-hatred. Even to this day I find it impossible to understand how she must have felt at that moment of finding out. To go from being a high and mighty pure blood, detesting muggles and anything to do with them, to all of a sudden being someone that you believe with all your heart and soul that you should hate, how do you even begin to comprehend such a thing?
Rachelle had managed to convince those who knew to keep it a secret. She was determined to remain a Bleaker whatever it took to do so. Your mother however was so thrilled to have another sister, especially one that she could share the beauty of magic with. She kept Rachelle's secret sure, but she was determined to show her twin that she needn't keep such a thing to herself and that she should be who she was born to be. In an effort to show her what her life was like, what Rachelle's could be, Lily managed to convince her to trade places for an evening. I imagine that Rachelle only agreed in an attempt to keep Lily quiet, to try and silence her and begin to forget about it all and move on with her life. That day however, Lily donned Rachelle's black curls and Slytherin robes and headed off to the dungeons to spend the evening with Bellatrix. Rachelle, looking just like her twin, headed to the Griffindor common room to spend time with us. Now you have to understand that this was the point in your parents' relationship where they were practically dating but it wasn't quite official yet. However, as we know from that weird moment after I got her in detention, Rachelle seemed to have some sort of infatuation for me. We all found "Lily's" behaviour odd that evening. She hardly paid your father any attention, yet wouldn't leave me alone. When James asked her if she wanted to watch him at quidditch practice like Lily usually did she declined in order to finish a game of wizarding chess with me. I just shrugged my shoulders not knowing what else to do and he stormed off to the pitch clearly in a foul mood. It was just the two of us left in the common room after that and the game of wizarding chess was over in seconds. We both stood up at the same time and I had every intent of getting her down to the pitch, Rachelle however had other ideas and suddenly kissed me for the second time. The way she kissed me was the same way she had before and how she stared into my eyes, well ... I just knew in that instant who she really was. Though I didn't have a time to utter a single word as your father returned through the portrait hole at that very moment having forgotten his quidditch gloves. He stormed right back out without saying anything, his actions speaking loud enough for him.
"I don't care how or why right now Bleaker." I yelled. "Just get Lily and meet me at the pitch NOW! I am NOT loosing my best friend over you!"
Rachelle didn't question how I knew, she didn't say anything but simply followed my order. Soon there were two identical red-headed girls heading toward the pitch. The one in Slytherin robes stormed off into the middle of the quidditch pitch and yelled at James to get down. In true splendour James catapulted his broom to the ground and finished at a graceful stop just in front of your mother. Lily introduced her twin as 'Rose Evans', a girl who was taken away and put into care. One who had stayed in care until she was of age and could find her family and upon finding them came to Hogwarts just to be with her sister. Your father bought the story. He kissed her, and it was from that very moment on that they were official. Of course though, I knew the truth.
"So what you going to do now Bleaker?" I said with a grin. "Lead this double life?"
Even though I meant it as a half-hearted joke when I looked her in the eye I saw the pain behind it all and I wished I could take it back.
"Just call me Rose!" She said with a feeble laugh.
This time it was me who kissed her and the two of us wandered around the grounds until darkness fell and she poured her heart out to me explaining everything in detail. Leading a double life as Rachelle and Rose was not going to be easy but Rachelle was utterly determined not to loose her reputation, her family and all that she had gained.
The full moon was only a few days after that. This obviously meant that Rose was no where to be found and that Rachelle was spending the evening with her best friend Bellatrix. Apparently my dear cousin had been intrigued by our monthly activities for quite a while and she had spoken to Snape about it. Now I don't believe I have to remind you how Snape knew, you know that's not one of my proudest moments … but good old Snivelus warned my cousin to stay away from the Whomping Willow. Bella being Bella of course didn't see it as a warning but as an invitation to do exactly the opposite. Both her and Rachelle headed down the tunnel that night under the full moon. Lupin with his keen werewolf hearing had caught the sound of them heading down and started to make his way toward the tunnel in excitement. Your father and I managed to hold him back as they fled back out. With his antlers James threw Lupin back into the shrieking shack, I let my four paws go as fast as they would take me after the two girls. I caught up with them as they were hurtling toward the main entrance. I changed back into my human form and skidded to a halt in front of them.
"Did either of you get hurt?" I demanded breathlessly.
They both adamantly claimed they did not. I stressed the importance of them telling the truth, but I knew they understood. I never dreamt that either of them would lie about something so serious.
"Oh," I called before heading back. "in case you were planning on running to Dumbledore right now … he already knows."
I made it sound like Dumbledore knew about our animagi transformations as well as Lupin's lunar secret. I just hoped that that, along with the fact that I knew I was actually talking to my new girlfriend, would actually keep our secret safe.
One long complicated month passed by. Rachelle's secret … and ours … were both somehow kept. Though I suspected that keeping Rachelle's double life under wraps was due to a mixture of her amazing ability at memory spells and the fact that everyone seemed to be having too bad a case of exam revision stress to pay her much attention. The moments I had spent with her over the past weeks were amazing, she was as sweet as the rose she was named after when she was by my side. We had discovered the the room of requirement was the perfect place to cosy up in front of a fire and test each other on exam questions. It was a place in which we could just be ourselves and we'd began spending a lot of time there just the two of us. It was bliss. However, it was when the full moon rose again that everything became so much more difficult. Rachelle was nowhere in sight but the right of us were busy in the Griffindor common room revising and had totally lost track of the time. We'd just made it into the tunnel under the tree when Lupin began to transform, usually we gave ourselves nearly an hour to spare so we were counting our blessings. Though we had breathed a sigh of relief too quickly as suddenly, just as we were about to start ushering Lupin down the tunnel into the shack, we heard a werewolf howl from just outside. There is no stopping a werewolf when it hears a call of its own kind, there is still a scar on my arm from when he trampled over me as he hurtled out of the tunnel that night which proves that fact. We rushed out after him, and saw him charge after a small red werewolf just inside the forbidden forest. A stag, dog and rat are certainly no match for a werewolf fight. Lupin slashed his claws across the other werewolf's face, and it yelped loudly in pain then fled away. We held Lupin back but there was no going down to the shrieking shack that night, it was too dangerous. Instead we kept him confined in the depths of the forest.
The next day we visited Lupin in the hospital wing just as we always did on the day after the full moon. We'd all had our suspicions about the night before but the bed next to Lupin's confirmed it. Lying there fast asleep, with a claw mark scarred across her right cheek in three pink lines, was Rachelle. Madam Pomfrey had tried to heal it as best as she could but there is still no cure for werewolf marks. Lupin was racked with guilt, James and Pettigrew simply saw Bleaker lying there as a result of her own stupidity. I saw the girl I cared for more than any other, my whole messy ridiculous relationship; lying there asleep, injured, tormented and without cure.
The exams approached ever so quickly, but before they were to begin was the night of our senior ball. Rachelle Bleaker would still be in the hospital wing and would not be attending, Rose Evans however was as fit and well as she would ever be and was to be my date. Rachelle and I met in the room of requirement before the ball and I saw her in her dress for the first time. Her hair was tied into an elegant braided knot which showed off her beautiful face, make-up had done miracles to hide that scar. Her dress was off the shoulder, completely black and covered in layers of lace, her long sleeved gloves matched it perfectly. She looked elegant, and beautiful, but in that dark figure-hugging dress, her red hair didn't stop her from looking like Rachelle Bleaker, and she knew that. I took the bright red rose corsage I'd bought her and performed a complicated piece of magic to it. As a result when I tied the flower over her satin glove it changed her entire dress to the same bright scarlet as its petals. It softened the effect of the dress, yet it complemented her beautifully. Suddenly Rachelle Bleaker had disappeared and Rose Evans stood before me. It's amazing what difference a change of colour can actually do.
The great hall was transformed into a splendid ballroom for the night. We drank. We danced. All thoughts of the upcoming exams were completely forgotten. It would have been the greatest night ever if the truth could have been concealed. As Rachelle and I danced and talked, happier than we had been in a long time, Bellatrix heard her. She heard Rachelle before she saw her and recognised the voice of her best friend.
"Rach, you came!" She'd exclaimed as she turned around.
Then she saw her. As much as Rachelle tried to plead with her Bella couldn't keep it in. Within moments the whole of the great hall knew that Rachelle Bleaker and Rose Evans were one of the same. Rachelle couldn't handle it. As far as she was concerned her life was over. She tore of her corsage changing her dress back to black, and her hair was now back to its wild ebony curls. The anger and frustration exploded out of her. She upturned the tables, tore apart the decorations and as she stormed out left a fire burning in her wake. She had completely destroyed the ball in an incredibly dramatic fashion. In amongst all the confusion there was lots of yelling, lots of tears. A few had taken upon themselves to extinguish the fire but there was no saving the rest of the night for anyone. I picked up the red rose that had been on Rachelle's wrist moments before and began to head for the door.
"Your not going after her are you?" Your father asked in shock as he grabbed my shoulder to stop me. "You know who she is right?"
I pulled his hand away and told him that I had always known before making my swift exit.
I was pretty certain where Rachelle would go. I imagined I'd find her crying her heart out in front of the fireplace the room of requirement always created for us. It was true that I found her crying in our mysterious hideout, but there was no fireplace, no plush sofa, like there always was. Rachelle's black dress lay on the floor at the foot of a large wooden bed. She lay there just in her underwear with her now red curls covering her face as she sobbed into the pillow. I threw the corsage onto the dress changing it back to red.
"I'll just … go." I said in hardly a whisper.
She raised her head and told me to stay. Her tears must have wiped away the make-up covering the scar across her face, yet she had never looked so beautiful. I don't really need to tell you what happened next do I? Lets just say I hadn't ever felt that emotionally close to anyone before that night, and waking up by her side the next morning was pure bliss.
The days after took all the courage and strength Rachelle could master. Word got out faster than anyone could anticipate and Rachelle had a howler from the Bleakers that very afternoon. Her adoptive father told her in the angriest most cruel voice I have ever heard that all her stuff back home had been destroyed and she was never to return. This was a time when you-know-who was slowly rising to power so I imagine the Bleakers believed that they couldn't afford to show any weakness, though even so how someone could simply abandon their daughter is not something I even want to understand. After the exams were over and we all disembarked the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross, Rachelle went to Spinners End with Lily to live with her and their biological parents.
Your father and I visited them that summer. Under your grandparents care and our guidance Rachelle had began to thrive. Even your father began to take a liking for her, seeing the new woman she had become. As time took its toll the world started to become a dark and frightening place under Voldemort's rise. With her tattoo as a painful reminder and in this world full of fear I knew Rachelle well enough to understand that she still felt a strong sense of longing to be a part of it's darkness. I could almost tell what sort of mood Rachelle was in by the way she wore her hair. In the increasingly rare moments where she was trying to cling onto her old life it was dark and a mass of curls, when she was trying her her hardest to fit in and accept her new fate it was sleek and auburn just like your mothers. Though when she was what I can only describe as 'herself', the same girl I'd spent hours in the room of requirement with, who I'd fallen in love with; her hair was a perfect vision of soft red curls neatly framing her face. It was the look I liked best and was the one she seemed to wear more and more.
Eventually we all got jobs with the ministry, your parents moved in together and so did Rachelle and I. When your parents got engaged and started wedding planning it seemed clear that we would soon follow suit. Sure enough, as best-man I held more than just the bride and groom's rings in my pocket. Life was perfect, or at least, it would have been. When your parents found out they were expecting you, the happy news was crashed as they also found out about the prophecy. The world was full of enough death right then, without knowing one of our own was marked. It threw us all into a frenzy, determined to protect you.
Though of course, you were not the only unborn child that needed protection, Alice Longbottom had recently found out she was pregnant too. And then there was our own child. Rachelle had discovered about her own pregnancy just after we'd heard of the prophecy, but we knew our little one due at the very start of August was a part of it too. After all everything magical happens in threes and those who knew about the prophecy wondered where the third child was. We chose not to tell anyone else, not even your parents. We had to keep our little one safe, so the less people who knew the better; but he wasn't safe. A few months on Voldemort was determined to rid himself of any connection to those who were prophesied to kill him. When the skull and snake burned hotly on Rachelle's arm I begged her not to go.
"I have to!" She reasoned. "He'll know I have something to hide if I don't. He'll find me, you know he will!"
So she left, trying to save herself and our child. My anxiety had never reached such a high, though I was well within reason. When Rachelle returned in a mass of tears and full of pain some hours later the only thing I could get out of her were the words 'truth serum' and the fact that my baby was gone.
It was her Bleaker-enforced pure blasé 'I'm more powerful than you!' attitude that made me promise not to utter a word about her pregnancy. She didn't want to seem weak. When you were born it was a miracle, I was so sure you'd meet a similar end to my own son. Rachelle could not bring herself to hold you, which drove your father mad.
"He's your nephew for heavens sake Bleaker!" He yelled. "Don't you have a heart?"
This caused her to storm out of the room in tears, leaving me with no choice but to explain that it should have been her own child she was holding.
We went into overdrive protecting you now that you were here. Rachelle helped sure, the Fidelius Charm with me as secret keeper was her idea, though of course I convinced your parents to change it to Pettigrew. Rachelle went into a spiral of depression knowing that she had been so close to her perfect life and having it snatched away from her, after all she had been though already, loosing the baby had hit her hard. It made her resent everything that she had been brought up to believe, made her despise even her own surname. She was the only one who was actually suspicious of Pettigrew, having known herself what the draw to evil was like she had seen it within him. Even so when she sarcastically suggested to Pettigrew that he was pathetic enough to hand your parents over during a heated argument with him, she didn't realise she'd actually be giving him the idea.
When Pettigrew had disappeared and she realised what she had done it became the greatest regret of her entire life, but she'd realised it too late. Her own invisibility cloak was pathetic compared to your fathers, but it would do. She threw it over herself and headed to Godric's Hollow. Your father was already dead at the moment she arrived, but she heard your mother's scream from upstairs. She headed up the stairs as silently as possible, hearing your mother plead for your life. Her main priority, as she stood in the bedroom concealed under the cloak, was saving you. You see, your mother's sacrifice alone was not quite enough to invoke the spell that saved your life that night. That particular spell is a brand of ancient blood magic requiring the blood of the sacrifice to be spilt onto the one that they were saving, though Rachelle knew that just the smallest drop of blood would do. Silently, still hidden under the cloak she used her wand to prick your mother's finger and levitate the tiniest drop of her blood onto your forehead. She couldn't have done anything to save her sister, she knew that. The spell that ended Lily's life was cast so quickly. Then he turned to you. All Rachelle could do was watch. Even though she knew full well that it would work, seeing you so small and innocent being struck with that green spell had made her doubt herself. Yet you cried and Voldemort had fled before Rachelle could even clearly take in what had just happened. That moment she held you for the first time and tried to soothe your crying.
When she heard Hagrid arriving and the roar of my motorbike outside she placed you back on the bed. Throwing the cloak back over herself she left you screaming, about to be saved, as she appeared just outside right my side. Knowing you were safe, we just had to go after Pettigrew, I was prepared to murder him myself for what he had done! When we found him Pettigrew had already planned his escape. Those twelve muggles never stood a chance. He disappeared leaving behind his severed finger and Rachelle and I to be sent to Azkaban without even a trial.
I knew I could cope with Azkaban, but I begged for Rachelle's sake. I knew that to her Azkaban would be a death sentence. You see, a werewolf's body is a slave to the moon, all they have is their soul. All a dementor feeds off are souls. I don't know how long it took for her to die, it may have been weeks, a few months at most … but watching her deteriorate as we were cooped up in our joint cell felt like years. I managed to tell her that I loved her just one last time before she was gone, before she fell into an eternal sleep in my arms. I knew from that very moment on that I'd never be the same. Even though I was still behind bars, as her next of kin I was asked what name was to be put on her gravestone. Rose Evans was of course out of the question, she was no pristine perfect rose with flourishing petals. Yet she was not the ugly thorn that the name Bleaker suggested either. No, I knew what to put. We were never wed, true, but I promised myself that in death Rachelle would finally come to accept who she really was. She was the girl with flowing curls of gorgeous red hair and shinning bright green eyes. She was my Rachelle. She was Rachelle Black.