Chapter Ten: Persephone and Arya
"You already know about it? Did your mother tell you?" I asked, feeling somewhat let down. She knew about my mother knowing her mother and she never said anything. Jocie sat on the edge of her bed, sighing exasperatedly. She nodded.
"My mum told me just after you arrived. I wanted to tell you, I really did. But I never could manage to bring it up. It's just too dreadful, what happened to your mother. How she died, you know?" She said, avoiding my eyes as much as possible. I nodded thinking of Vanora and what she did to my mother and wondering what she could be doing now. "When mother found out that Arya had committed suicide, she was almost driven mad with pain and regret. She really did want to make it up to your mother about their argument."
"What? She didn't commit suicide!" I stared at her, shocked by how she thought my mother died. Jocie only blinked and stared, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Um…I'll be back. I'm going to get my mother." She left the room, leaving me to my thoughts. Vanora Prisset murdered my mother. She didn't commit suicide. I might not have known my mother, but I knew from her journal that she would never leave me like that. She wouldn't abandon her baby like that. Why don't they know that she was murdered? Jocie came back in with her mother and the both of them sat on the edge of Jocie's bed, looking at me.
"Sit down Alexia. I don't want you to faint." She waited. I sat down gingerly on my own bed, crossing my legs and still refusing to believe my mother killed herself. "Alexia, your mother did commit suicide. It was a shock to everyone when we all found out too. But she did do it. I don't know why she did and I guess we'll never find out. But, Alexia, she did kill herself."
"She didn't. She wouldn't kill herself. I know it." I spoke up, my voice breaking slightly. I felt like everything was crushing down on me. Like everything I knew was a lie, but I knew it wasn't. I had done the research. I went to the hospital and I had found out what had become of my mother. There was no way that she killed herself. Persephone just sat there, taking me in, a pitying look in her eyes.
"Alexia, you must understand me, okay? I was there when Dumbledore told Lily and James what had happened. I was there. Someone had told Dumbledore what had happened to Arya, what she had done, and he told everyone who was close to her. I was there Alexia. I know what I'm talking about." I shook my head. It was not true, it was not true.
"My mother was murdered! By the woman who raised me. I know it. I went to the hospital and they told me what had happened to her." Persephone and Jocie looked taken aback by my confession, but I could tell they still didn't believe that my mum had been murdered. They were still adamant to believe that she had committed suicide. "I read about her friendship with Vanora in her diary. I read about how evil Vanora really was. She had been trying to make my mother become what she was. A death eater. A follower of Lord Voldemort."
The both of them flinched at the name, but I barely registered them doing so. I continued. "But my mum wouldn't have anything to do with it and chose to leave Vanora and never see her again. But it was clearly not something that could be thrown away easily. Two months after I was born, Vanora killed my mother."
It was only then that I realised that Vanora was probably never going to let me go without a fight. She was probably trying as best she could to hunt me down and probably kill me or something. A shiver ran down my spine, but I tried to ignore the possibility of me being killed by my mother's murderer all because I escaped. I turned back to the two sitting across from me, noting that they were both looking shocked by my revelation. But then Persephone's expression changed to disbelief once again and I knew I had to find some other way to convince her that what I was saying was the truth. "I can show you my mother's journal. I have it here with me."
I knelt down beside the bed and dragged my bag out from where I had resorted to hiding it. I rummaged through the bag, pulling out the leather bound journal that belonged to my mother and rifled through the pages unceremoniously, looking for the entry about Vanora's real identity. Once I found the entry I shoved it into Persephone's hands and waited with bated breath for her to finish reading the passage. Her face paled and changed to green as she read my mother's words. Jocie, noticing this too, tried to lean over to read what was written, but her mother pushed her away none too gently. Personally, I couldn't blame her. The vision I got from reading the passage was too gruesome to explain. I still couldn't really get it out of my brain.
Jocie pouted and crossed her arms across her chest after the fifth time she had tried to read my mother's last journal entry. I gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Trust me; you don't want to read it. It's horrible."
Persephone finished reading the entry, but remained silent for a moment or two to think about it all. After awhile she spoke up once again. "How do you know she was murdered though? It doesn't say anything along the lines of 'Vanora's going to kill me' or anything like that."
"I went to the hospital to check on their records from the day I was born and they told me that she was murdered." I stated, eyeing them both to see whether they believed me or not. They were both silent, too ensconced on the edge of the bed and deep in thought. After awhile, though, Persephone blinked and stood up, her eyebrows still furrowed in confusion. She made her way over to the door, handing the journal back to me as she went.
"I'm not saying I believe you about this just yet, but until there is more evidence, I'll consider it. However, in the meantime, Dumbledore should be told. You don't mind if I tell him, do you?" She inquired, stopping in the doorway. I nodded half-heartedly, wondering what Dumbledore would say about it. She shut the door behind her as she left. Jocie and I sat in silence for a couple of minutes before she shook herself out of her stupor and smiled widely.
"Well, enough of that now. It's your birthday! What do you want to do? Oh, we should name your pygmy puff!" She said, her voice raised a little too high. I blinked and turned to stare at the purple puff ball still sitting on my shoulder. I had quite forgotten about everything that had happened before we returned to Bumbledon. I lifted the small creature from my shoulder and held it in my hands, wondering what I should name it. "What would you like to name it?"
"Oh, um, I don't know. Can you think of anything to name it?" I asked, still staring at the puff ball in my lap.
"I can't name your pet!" She laughed.
"I know you can't. I'm just asking for ideas. I have no idea what to call it. Heck, I don't even know what gender it is!" I said, joining in on her laughter. Jocie was clutching her side and leaning haphazardly off the side of her bed, facing down. After awhile we both calmed down enough and Jocie proceeded to rattle off a bunch of names from the tip of her tongue.
"Well there's Pip, Luce, Carrie, Dumbo, Flit, Ebenezer, Algusta, Domingo, Dorie, um…Loony Boon!" I stared at her incredulously, wondering what kind of a person would name their pet 'Loony Boon'. She only smiled and screwed up her face in concentration. She was probably trying to think of some more, but I figured, after listening to her attempts at finding a name, that I would figure it out on my own. It's not that I don't appreciate the list of names she rattled off for me, but I don't think I could bare to call my pet 'Loony Boon', 'Algusta' or 'Domingo'.
"It's okay; I'll find something…something unisex, in case it's a boy." Jocie just rolled her eyes and took the pygmy puff from me. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Relax, I'm just taking it to Arden. He's talented with magical creatures. He'll know how to determine what gender it is, I hope." She explained, turning toward the door. However, before she could open it herself, someone had pushed it open already, causing the edge to hit Jocie before she could step back. I snorted, trying to disguise my laughter by coughing. I think they probably saw through it though. When I looked up again, I found Dumbledore standing in the doorway, looking on amusedly. Jocie was clutching her now bleeding nose with her free hand and glaring at me.
"My apologies Miss Hanson; bad timing on my part. Your mother should be able to see to that immediately." Dumbledore held the door open so she could escape through it, leaving me and Dumbledore alone in the room. I stared at him anxiously, remembering why Persephone had called on him. He stood by the door for a moment before making to step through it once again. "If you would come with me, Alexia, we can discuss your mother's unfortunate demise. I would also like you to bring her journal as well, if you would."
I nodded, standing up and retrieving the journal from where I had dumped it on the bed. I followed Professor Dumbledore down the stairs and into the living room where he sat on the lounge and beckoned me to sit across from him. I followed suit and waited for him to begin. "Persephone told me that you think your mother was murdered and that she didn't commit suicide like we were all told?"
"Yes, sir. I went to the hospital and they told me how she died." I flipped through the pages of the journal to find the page Persephone had read before and held it out to him. "And then there is this."
He took it gingerly and read through the passage quietly. When he finished reading the entry, he handed the book to me and sat thinking over everything. "If that's the case, why would whoever told us about her death, lie about it? I'm going to have to think about this, Alexia. When I find out what happened, I'll let you know. I'd better go now. Oh, and happy birthday, Alexia."
We both stood up and left the room, going our separate ways in the hall. After saying a quick goodbye to the headmaster, I climbed the stairs two at a time, trying to get what was discussed out of my head. I met Jocie at the top of the stairs. She was smiling widely, despite what just happened, and was carrying my pygmy puff. "Did everything go okay? Does he believe you?"
"I don't know, it's all a bit confusing at the moment. He said he's going to look things up about it though. What were you doing anyway?" I asked, following her into her bedroom and jumping back onto my bed. She handed me the puffball and returned to her original sitting position.
"I went to ask Arden about the pygmy puff. He's pretty sure it's a boy, though he wasn't very certain about it." I nodded, remembering our conversation from before. What should I name him?