Adair paced outside of the entrance to Dumbledore's office, twisting her fingers, tears beginning to form in her dark eyes. She felt like she was going to throw up. Why in the world would the headmaster want to see her? Sure, her grades so far hadn't been great, but Merlin's beard, this was only the first month back and they weren't bad enough to warrant a call to the headmaster's office, were they? Oh Merlin, what if she got kicked out of Hogwarts? Her parents might be Muggles, but they were so proud of their magical daughter, they would be heartbroken if she got thrown out of school.

She couldn't think of anything else she had done that would get her in this much trouble. She looked back at the note she had received this morning in the Great Hall. It certainly didn't give her any hints as to what this was all about.

Miss Adair Robinson

Would you please do me the honor of stopping by my office around 7 o'clock this evening?

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

P.S I enjoy treacle fudge.

The postscript is what confused her the most. Was he demanding some kind of offering? It didn't seem like something Professor Dumbledore would do, but then again, it's not like Adair knew him personally or anything. He had only spoken to her once, at the very beginning of her second year. She had been practicing Transfiguration in the hallway one day when he had walked by muttering something to himself. When he saw her, he had stopped, smiled, and said,

"Ah little Adair Robinson. Hard at work I see? Good, good. Always remember, three newts in the hand is worth 12 cornish pixies in a patch of mandrakes. Good day."

She still had no idea what he was talking about.

Suddenly Adair stopped and shook her head to get herself focused back on the present. She turned around to face the gargoyle. What she wouldn't give to be back in the Gryffindor common room right now with the other sixth years, perhaps playing a game of chess with Neville or Exploding Snap with Seamus. However, this had to be done.

"Excuse me" she said, timidly, to the gargoyle, "I need to get in and see Professor Dumbledore. I have a note here and..."

"Password?" The gargoyle interrupted, sounding bored

"Well...I don't know the password. All I have this note. Oh, and by the way, right here it says, 'I enjoy treacle fudge.' Does that mean I was supposed.."

But she stopped speaking because the gargoyle had suddenly jumped aside at the mention of treacle fudge. Adair chuckled for a second, but then sobered when she remembered why she was here .

She stepped through the entrance into the headmaster's office.

Adair was overwhelmed at her first sight of Dumbledore's office. Strange magical trinkets covered ever surface of the large, majestic room, and hundreds of portraits hung on the walls, their inhabitants bustling around whispering to each other. However, when they saw Adair, they all fell silent.

"Adair, welcome!" Adair jumped as Professor Dumbledore walked out of the shadows. The headmaster's voice calm voice had sounded strangely loud in the silent room.

"Please do sit down. Would you like some tea? Pumpkin juice?"

"Uh, tea please," said Adair quietly as she sat down in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Very good." said Dumbledore, and he hummed as he prepared her drink

Adair watched him for a few moments until the the tension got to be so great that she blurted,"Professor, am I in trouble or something?"

"Oh no, goodness no, Adair, is that what you thought? My dear, I apologize profusely for any kind stress I have put you through. No actually, I have brought you here to... My goodness, I was going to give you a few minutes to get comfortable, but... well I suppose I will just tell you now, since you have gotten to point so quickly."

He placed her tea on the desk in front of her. He then smiled and brought his hands together, pointing upward, with the tips pressed together in what Adair thought of as his signature gesture. He then took a deep breath and sighed, looking thoughtfully off into the distance for a moment.

"Adair, I am going to tell you a story. I think than now you are finally old enough to handle it. Now, you may not understand at first why I am telling you this, but I must beg you not to interrupt, for I promise everything will soon become clear."

Adair nodded hesitantly.

Dumbledore looked at her intently for a few seconds then began to speak.

"About 60 years ago, an boy who would grow up to become a very dark and dangerous wizard attended this very school and was sorted into the house of Slytherin. This boy's name was Tom Riddle. He was a half-blood who had grown up in a muggle orphanage, and he certainly resented his background. He longed to be a pure- blood."

"He conducted many disturbing magical experiments even during his time at school, but he also had a fairly normal student experience. He had quite a few friends as well as a couple of girlfriends. One of these girls, a fellow Slytherin named Ramona Simmons, meant more to him than any of the others. They were an unlikely pair, to say the least, for Ramona did not agree with Tom's obsession with blood purity. In fact, she was strongly opposed to any kind of discrimination based on blood status. But she was a powerful witch with many qualities that Tom admired, such as cunning and bravery, not to mention she was a pure-blood. I think that she was one of the few people Tom ever viewed as an equal."

"She was attracted to his power and his mystery. She was not ignorant of his dark tendencies, and I'm sure that if she was honest with herself, the danger that he emanated was what had captured her interest in the first place. But she had no idea of the depths of his evil."

By this point, Adair was thoroughly confused, but she kept silent, trusting that Dumbledore would keep his promise and explain everything soon.

"Soon enough, Tom and Ramona left Hogwarts to go out into the real world. Their paths diverged for quite a few years. In the interval, Tom continued farther and farther down the path of dark magic, while Ramona went on to start a promising career in the Ministry of Magic. Then, in around 1950, they met again when Ramona wandered into Borgin and Burkes, a shop where Tom was working."

"Unpredictably, the two rekindled their relationship. I say unpredictably, Adair, because by this time Tom had distanced himself from all of his old friends and virtually cut himself off from meaningful human relationships."

"Their affair did not last long. Ramona soon realized how the darkness had grown in Tom and she became afraid. She ran away from him, vowing not to have anything to do with him ever again. However, she soon found out that she was pregnant, and it was his child."

Dumbledore paused for a minute, lost in thought. Adair silently urged him to keep going. The story transfixed her. Something about it felt so familiar, like it was a fairy tale she had heard as a little girl but had since forgotten.

Dumbledore suddenly started again.

"Ramona gave birth to the baby girl in secret, and named her Lavinia. She fell in love with the little girl the minute she laid eyes on her and became determined to keep her safe from all harm. She sensed that if Tom ever found out he had a daughter, Lavinia would be in grave danger. So she changed her name, quit her job at the Ministry, and took the girl away to raise her in a quiet little cottage in northern England. "

"Many years passed and Ramona raised her beloved Lavinia in the best way she could. However, no matter how many times the little girl asked, she would not tell her who her father was. Ramona kept a close watch for any mention of Tom, but by the time Lavinia was eleven, Ramona had not heard even a whisper, and she felt safe enough to send Lavinia to Hogwarts."

Here Dumbledore smiled.

"Lavinia was a good student, though not exceptional. I remember she had a strong aptitude for charms. She was in Hufflepuff, in case you were wondering."

"Well anyway, in Lavinia's seventh year, there started to be rumors of a powerful dark wizard who was gathering followers in Britain. Ramona was worried, but she allowed her daughter to finish her education at Hogwarts and get a job at the Ministry.

"However, there came a time when Ramona could no longer ignore the signs. He had changed his physical appearance, but his distinctive style of magic could not be disguised; this terrifying new wizard was the boy that she had once admired so much, the man who was Lavinia's father, Tom Riddle."

Dumbledore paused, "As I am sure you have guessed by now, Adair, the wizard was Voldemort."

Adair looked at the headmaster with wide eyes. Why was he telling her this? This seemed like it should be highly classified ministry intel. You-Know-Who has a daughter? The implications of this realization seemed enormous. Adair almost wanted to believe that the headmaster was making all of this up, that it was all some kind of prank. But even in her excited state, Adair could not convince herself that a great man like Albus Dumbledore would go to all this trouble to play a practical joke on one sixteen year old girl. However, she could no longer contain her questions.

"So what happened to Lavinia, Professor? Did Ramona ever tell her who her father is? How do you know all of this, Professor? Did You-Know-Who ever find out about his daugther? Did he.."

Dumbledore held up his hand, smiling weakly. "Slow down Adair, I am getting to all that. I am going to speed up our story now, as it is getting late."

"Ramona did not tell Lavinia who her father was. She thought it was for the best, for Lavinia's safety and the fact that she could not bear to ruin her daughter's happiness. Lavinia was doing quite well at the Ministry, rising quickly through the ranks in the Department for Magical Transportation."

"However, Ramona began to fight against Voldemort herself, unbeknownst to her daughter. She joined an organization that I myself started, The Order of the Phoenix. She was an invaluable asset, because she had such insight on the man before he became Lord Voldemort. We became very close in this time, and Ramona confided her story in me. That, Adair, is how I found out about 'all of this.'"

He smiled, but Adair blushed, embarrassed by her outburst. She had always had a problem controlling her impulses.

"Anyway, many years passed, with Voldemort gaining more and more power. I'm sure you have heard stories of it."

Adair had. Of course her parents, being Muggles, hadn't even known about the war but she had heard plenty of stories from her friends at school who had parents that had fought in the war.

"It was a dark time, but life went on. Lavinia married a man she had met in the Ministry and they settled down together. However, disaster soon struck. Ramona was killed by one of Voldemort's death eaters while she was on a mission for the Order. Lavinia was devastated, of course, but she did not know the whole story. She thought that her mother was just another random murder by Voldemort's followers. I debated about telling her about her true history, but it was one of Ramona's last wishes that it be kept a secret, so I honored her request, against my better judgement."

"Lavinia soon found out she was pregnant. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Her life would have continued happily enough, but there was spy for Voldemort in the midst of the Order. I do not know how he found out what Ramona confided in me, but the sad truth is that he relayed this information to his master, expecting to be rewarded handsomely, I am sure. However, I am told that Voldemort's fury at the realization that he had had a daughter for almost thirty years and not been any the wiser was terrible to behold. You must understand that Voldemort is determined to know everything, and I believe he was shocked and a little scared to find out that Ramona had kept such a secret from him for years."

"Naturally, as soon as I found out that Voldemort knew about Lavinia I moved to protect her and her baby. I also told her what had been kept from her her whole life, the identity of her father. She took it rather well, considering. She agreed with me that for the safety of the child, she must give her daughter to someone else raise as their own. Believe me, this was not easy for her, but she did it because her love for her daughter was so strong."

Adair felt tears running down her cheeks that she could not explain. She was holding her breath, sitting on the edge of her seat and clenching her hands around the armrests. She felt that if Dumbledore were to stop telling the story now, she would scream.

As Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak again, his face became very grave and his eyes drilled into Adair's with a look of intense sadness.

"I was not able to save Lavinia and her husband. I placed her under the strongest protection charms I could think of, but at the time,Voldemort's spy was still operating in the Order, and Voldemort was able to discover their location."

At this Dumbledore went silent and stared down at his hands. It seemed to Adair that he was waiting for her to ask it. Adair took a deep breath and said, quietly,

"Professor, what happened to Lavinia's daughter?"

Dumbledore looked up, his icy blue eyes staring directly into hers. And suddenly, Adair knew exactly what he was about to say.

"Well, my dear, she grew up, and here she sits before me."