AN: Thanks to everyone that reviewed, please keep doing so. There will be Hermione/Rags romance happening very soon, also more magic, Quidditch and some other stuff; you'll just have to read to find out.
Hermione, Harry, Ginny and indeed the small army of Gryffindor's that they had enlisted to help them, searching through Hogwarts castle for one person is extremely difficult, throw in when that person isn't appearing on the Marauder's Map then things go from just about difficult to impossible. It was now approaching lunch time and no one had seen the big Norwegian, not for lack of looking on anybody's part, so it was with heavy hearts that the three members of what everyone seemed to call 'The Foursome' headed to the Great Hall for lunch, still wondering what had happened to their absent friend.
The fact that the three of them entered without Rags did not go unnoticed by the rest of the school, certainly from the Slytherin table there were mutterings about where he had gone, none of them too pleasant. With Rags' rising popularity among the Gryffindor's his opinion among the Slytherin's had fallen on par roughly with Hermione and Ron, before the split, which goes without saying that it was a step below Harry, so saying he wasn't liked over there was putting it mildly. Lunch was eaten in relative silence, the only topic that they really wanted to discuss was Rags' unexplained absence, and the three of them were not entirely comfortable discussing that in the Great Hall where anyone could overhear them.
So it was quite a surprise when McGonagall made her way over to the trio and told them that the Headmaster expected the three of them in his office after lunch was over and that the password to get to said office was 'Werthers Original', which made Hermione smile, as it appeared that the Headmaster had discovered muggle sweets over the summer break. So it was with no small amount of confusion that the trio made their way to the entrance to the office of the Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hidden offcourse behind its gargoyle statue. It was Ginny who stepped confidently up and said "Werthers Original" and the statue sprang aside and admitted the students to the escalating stair that lead to the office's door.
Albus Dumbledore was not the only person sitting in his office; Hermione noticed first that there was another person sitting in one of the darker corners, the same person that they had spent the entire morning and the beginning of the afternoon looking for.
"Mr Potter, Ms Weasley, Ms Granger thank you for coming, please have a seat" the trio took the offered three seats in front of the large desk. Albus noticed that the expressions on the three students in front of him were uniform, in that they had no idea what was going in, especially what could be involving their friend, who had moved from his position in the corner and was standing next to the large fireplace close to the desk.
"The reason that I have asked the three of you here today is to do with Mr Valerian here, he came to me with this request, one that I am happy to grant but will insist in remaining here for the duration, so Ragnar I believe that you have the floor." Dumbledore sat down and indicated that Rags should say his piece.
Rags looked at the three people he felt privileged enough to call his friends, took a deep breath and began to speak. "Well I'm not going to tiptoe around this issue, so I am going to come right out and say it" he turned away from them at that point and Hermione knew that whatever was on his mind was eating him up inside.
"Rags" she said "whatever it is you can tell us, we're not going to hate you or anything, I mean honestly it can't be that bad, right?" She glanced at the Headmaster and was shocked at the expression on his face, it was calm and serene, like it usually was but the twinkle that was usually present in his eyes, was gone. She turned to face Rags' back when she heard the sharp mocking chuckle escape his lips.
"You may not be so quick to say such things once I am finished" he took another breath, not as deep as the first but it was probably less used to build his courage than to calm his nerves. "I have unfortunately not been completely honest with you, about who I am… about what I am."
Hearing this Harry stiffened in his chair 'What could be so bad that he had been hiding it from his friends all this time?' he wondered to himself, unfortunately the nasty voice inside his head went on to point out the fact that he had been keeping what really happened with the prophecy from his friends too.
What came next shocked everyone to the core, except the old headmaster who was still sitting behind his desk letting the young people in front of him sort everything out. "I have not been completely truthful about who my father was… is" the voice that was speaking to them from the young man with his back to them could have frozen helium; it was one of the darkest voices anyone in the room had ever heard. "It is my unfortunate lot in life that I must tell you now my darkest secret, one I have not been able to tell until now; I said my father is a Dark Wizard, a practitioner of the Dark Arts. All of that is true none of that is a lie, but what my father is not the issue, but rather whom."
He paused them, not for dramatic effect but rather for the time to summon the courage to take the final plunge and reveal the secret that he had bourn from childhood "My father is the one that gave you your scar Harry" he heard the collective gasp and the scraping of chairs being violently moved by someone standing up quickly "my father is Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort."
You could cut the silence in the room with a knife, Rags turned around saying "I wanted to tell you but…" he stopped in mid sentence as he saw the three wands levelled at him, he glanced at his three friends and saw three different expressions on each of their faces.
Ginny wore an expression of controlled shock, as though she didn't want to believe what she had just heard, but was forced to do so. Harry's expression was one of barely held rage and anger, not a pleasant expression to be on the receiving end of to be sure. What he saw on Hermione's face broke him she wore an expression of fear, as though she feared him or what he might do. She saw him break, something left his stormy eyes, they became dull lifeless, and filled with pain.
"I see, well its no more than I deserve" the voice that spoke matched the eyes; there was nothing in it, no emotion, only pain. "If you'll excuse me Headmaster, there is someone else I need to have a word with" he didn't wait for a reply just slowly turned, walked to the office door, and left.
--
"PUT THOSE WANDS AWAY THIS INSTANT" the bellow was so unlike anything that they had heard from the Headmaster that it almost caused the three students remaining in the room. They all hurriedly put away their wands before turning to look at the Headmaster, who continued in a less loud, if equally angry voice "What, may I ask, do you think you were doing?"
Harry, still far to angry to be thinking clearly at the moment decided to answer the question for the group, also Hermione and Ginny appeared to be a little too shocked to be doing much talking at the moment. "Sir you heard him, he just said that he was Voldemort's son. Who knows how many things that he told him about Hogwarts, about you, about Hermione and Ginny and about me" the perceived betrayal was clear in Harry's voice as he regarded his mentor from the other side of the desk.
Albus Dumbledore regarded his favourite pupil over the rim of his half-moon spectacles and said in a very quiet voice "Contrary to your previous statement Mr Potter not everything that goes on in this school and involving Tom Riddle is to do with you" the three students gasped. Harry opened his mouth to reply but Dumbledore beat him to it "I'm sorry Harry but you are not thinking clearly, everything that Mr Valerian said in this room is true, he is the son of the man who calls himself Lord Voldemort. But I ask you, did you once suspect that he was Riddle's son?"
Harry was thoughtful for a moment then replied "Well aside from a slight resemblance, that was only really noticeable after he told us who he was" at Hermione and Ginny's confused looks Harry said "I saw Voldemort at a similar age in the diary you had Ginny" Ginny shuddered slightly and all three of them looked back to the Headmaster.
The old man looked at them with a level look in his normally twinkling eyes "Indeed Harry you are right in that respect, he does bear a slight resemblance to Tom, but he bears a greater likeness to his Valerian ancestors, the ones he knows very little about, and the ones that he refuses to talk about."
Hermione jumped in then "Excuse me Sir, bur Rags never told s anything about his ancestors, except offcourse that his mother was dead."
This produced a surprised look on the Headmaster's face "He told you his mother was dead, that's not right, as far as I know his mother is still alive somewhere. But she is the relative that he will not discuss with me; I suppose he finds it easier to think that she is dead."
This had the unfortunate side effect of angering Harry again, as he never knew his parents and would have given anything to know them to hear that someone preferred to think of their still alive parents as dead was something he couldn't take lying down "He thinks of his mother as being dead, that proves that he lied to us about that, couldn't that mean that he lied about something else sir?"
Dumbledore looked at Harry and said "Possible, but I think that Mr Valerian deserves the benefit of the doubt on this matter, as his personal family life is his alone. Now leaving this topic behind us there is something that I believe that you should know, something that you would have known had you not pulled your wands on a friend, and that you have no idea the things that he has seen, done, had done to him and been forced to endure so try to keep your anger in check Mr Potter" the last part was said in a very cold angry voice, that made Hermione and Ginny shrink in their seats a little, and some of the anger leave Harry.
"It was this morning just before I would have made my way down to breakfast when a very obviously agitated Ragnar Valerian knocked on my door. He told me everything that he told you a few minutes ago and requested that I made a time available so that he could telly you all in person, we will get to why he didn't tell you earlier when I have finished. He said that he already knew what the outcome of this talk would be, but would not be able to forgive himself, if he didn't tell you the truth."
At his audience's shocked expression a small smile graced his lips and he said "No Ragnar Valerian is not a seer, Tom Riddle has never had, nor I believe never will have that power, so he was unable to pass it to his son. He said to me
'Headmaster I know what will happen, they will probably hate me, but now that I am able to tell them, I cannot in good conscience deceive them anymore' "I replied by saying"
'They may surprise you Mr Valerian they are some of the best people that I have had the pleasure of knowing'
"Sad to say that this is one of the times that I was wrong in such a spectacular fashion, let me put this plainly, he knew not guessed or surmised, he knew that by telling you three his darkest secret that he would loose your friendship, he understood this not because of some special power, but because he believes that it is what he deserves."
It was then the full force of everything Rags had said and done came crashing down on the three students Hermione and Ginny had tears in their eyes and Harry looked like he wanted to be sick, but found the fortitude to ask "Sir why didn't he tell us earlier?"
Dumbledore shook his head sadly and said "It is something that I was only able to find out when Ragnar himself gave me a memory, on the condition that I would only view it once then destroy it. The incident took place shortly after Tom was able to assume the small lesser form that you, Harry, encountered at the Graveyard, the one that looked somewhat like a demonic infant." Harry nodded his understanding and Dumbledore continued "Even in this form Tom had control over a significant amount of his former power, not nearly all of it, but enough to still be able to access his magical core, and as such he forced Ragnar to go through an 'Unbreakable Vow'. This is an oath from one magical user to another, binding them to the oath on the pain of death; Ragnar's oath was to never reveal the identity of his father. I believe that Tom made Ragnar take this oath when it became apparent that he would soon wield enough power to possibly escape from where he and his sister were being kept."
Seeing the more than slightly afraid look on Hermione's face Dumbledore said "What is the matter Ms Granger?"
Hermione said "Headmaster does this mean that Rags is going to die?"
Dumbledore was not a vindictive man but nevertheless he felt he had to make the three realise what they had done to their friend. "Why do you care Ms Granger?" Hermione started, shocked and was about to give an angry reply, that would probably have cost her, her prized prefects badge until the Headmaster cut her off "Because, unless my eyes deceived me you pointed your own wand at him not that long ago, that doesn't seem like the actions of someone who cares for another." Seeing the pain and the shock in her eyes he continued "But no, he won't die, not from the oath he took anyway, Tom forgot one thing in his desperation to keep his secret, an Unbreakable Vow between and adult and a minor, is null and void at the time that the child reaches his or her majority."
He saw the looks on all their faces and said "Yes today was Ragnar's seventeenth birthday; sadly it appears that it was not very different from all the others in his life."
--
While all of this was going on Ragnar Valerian was sitting on the ledge of the tallest tower of Hogwarts the chill winds didn't faze him neither did the dizzying drop only about a foot in front of him, and sighed. He knew what was going to happen when he told the others the truth about his family, but that still hadn't kept a tiny part of him hoping, or more accurately praying, that it wouldn't be the case, but as usual his hopes had been dashed against reality.
He glanced down as he felt something rumble and shake in the vicinity of his midsection; he quickly reached into the large pouch-like pocket of his jumper, he quickly reached inside and pulled out his black BlahdressEgg, the egg was shaking quite rapidly, and small cracks were appearing on its surface, when all of a sudden it shattered and resting in a piece of the shell left in his hand was a black bird about the size of his hand.
"Hello there" he said softly, not quite knowing how to treat the creature, fortunately the bird seemed to take the initiative and gently lowered hits head to the palm on his right hand. There was a short stab of pain, enough to make most any other seventeen year old yelp out loud, Rags barely flinched, he was accustomed to much more severe pain than this.
"Ragnar" a voice seemed to whisper from everywhere at once, it was so disconcerting that Rags nearly fell of the ledge he was sitting on. He looked around for anyone else who may have been on the top of the tower with him, but could see no one, "Ragnar" the voice said again, and this time he was able to identify it as distinctly masculine, his eyebrows rose and he glanced down at the bird in his hand and got a "Cheep" in greeting, and he wasn't sure but he was fairly certain that if birds could grin then this one would be giving him the grin of the century, something to put even Gilderoy Lockheart to shame. Unfortunately the only word to come out of Ragnar's mouth at this surprising turn of events was "Huh", so he settled for stroking the birds jet black chest feathers with his index finger, which seemed to please the little creature no end, as it was happily 'chirping' away in his hand.
"Well I suppose that I need to go down and see Hagrid now, I have no idea what I'm going to do with you so I'm going to need some help" the little creature bobbed his head in agreement and Ragnar continued "You understand me don't you?"
Again the bird bobbed his head, "Ok we'll work on the speaking thing later, first let's get down to Hagrid's and take things from there." With that Ragnar Valerian got up and headed down to his favourite professor's home/office, his previous melancholy temporarily pushed to the back of his mind thanks to his new little friend.
A/N: ANGST, THERE IS ANGST IN THIS CHAPTER (GASP), lol first time at writing angst what do you think? Sorry that it has taken me so long to update but I have been really busy Uni has just gone back so everything has been really hectic and weird the last couple of weeks, it includes plot bunnies running away, crazy translational relatives and two weddings, I think you get the idea now lol. Thanks for sticking with it Read and Review TBK
