CHAPTER 26
I'm nervous as I walk into Gryffindor Tower, trying to figure out how I'm going to confess everything I've hid from my friends. After all, what kind of friend hides secrets like the ones I've kept? I wish Kira were with me. She has the power to make me feel relaxed when I'm faced with situations like these, one of the main reasons why I want her to join me in my venture to the Chamber of Secrets.
When I told her about the voice I'd been hearing, and my planning to go down to the Chamber, she was surprised and wanted to talk me out of it, but after hearing how important it was to me to face this voice, she reluctantly agreed. She told me it would be dangerous, something I'd already known and prepared myself for, and then insisted that she come with me, since she felt it was her responsibility to look after my careless and stubborn arse, especially after we'd kissed. I didn't mind it, though, since I know Kira is clever and tactful and often times knows what she's doing. I figured she'd make a good attribute to my troupe.
I know I'm going to feel better once I tell them everything, but I'm afraid to approach it. Plus, it's a bit of a sensitive topic for me. To be honest, I'm going to be incredibly pissed if they don't see the reasoning as to why I've kept it a secret for so long. They've got to understand. They're my friends.
I approach the Fat Lady portrait, staring at her with a blank face. I'm still not prepared for how I'm going to tell my friends. I don't know how long I've stood here, but I guess it's long enough for the Fat Lady to question whether I'm going to say the password or continue to stare at her beautiful self. With an arched eyebrow and roll of my eyes, I snap at her the password and she swings her portrait open, muttering how rude and incompetent I am for a Gryffindor.
When the common room comes to view, I immediately find the Potter and Weasley clans sitting around the fireplace, along with Duncan and Rowena. I sigh unevenly, and when Rose spots me and waves, drawing the others' attention towards me as well, I smile weakly and return the wave.
"Come join us, Aiden," says Rowena.
"Oh! Tell us how your 'date' with Kira went," Rose suggests. Rowena's smile falters and she gives Rose a look, but everyone else seems to ignore it.
"You're back rather late," James says. "Must have been a good day." He gives me a smirk as he hangs his legs off of the arm of one of the scarlet armchairs.
I scratch the back of my head as I walk towards them. "Yeah, it was a good day."
"You don't sound very sure of that," mentions Duncan. "Did something happen?"
"It's not that," I assure. "I had a great time with Kira. She's great."
"Yes, we get that she's great," Rowena sighs.
"Did you kiss her?" asks Rose, giddily. I arch an eyebrow at her. Lily giggles and I blush.
"He did!" Lily exclaims. "What was it like? How long did it last?"
"You're starting to sound like Rose," Hugo says, rolling his eyes. "Stop asking so many questions and let the bloke breathe for crying out loud."
"Um," I start, unsure of how I want to describe my kiss. Then I'm unsure whether I want to share it with them at all. Kissing Kira was precious to me, and I feel like if I tell them what it was like, some of its preciousness will dissipate, and I don't want that.
"Guys, seriously," Albus sighs, rolling his eyes. "Why must you insist of him telling you everything? Can't a bloke keep some things to himself?"
This is why I appreciate Albus as a good friend.
"We weren't just intimate with each other," I add. "We talked a lot too."
"You were intimate?" Rose exclaims.
"Uh, yeah, a bit. Anyway, I was going to say—"
"You must tell us what happened!" squeals Lily. I roll my eyes.
"The two of you, won't you just shut it? You can gossip about that later," sighs Duncan.
"I dunno, I'd like to hear some juicy details," James says with a smirk. I narrow my eyes at him.
"You know what? I think I'll just go up to my room. I'll talk about this later," I growl.
In addition to my friends being incredibly supportive, they're incredibly pushy and annoying too.
I stomp towards the staircase and head to the boys' dormitories. I've been asked too many questions and interrupted too many times today within the past ten minutes I've been back. All I want now is to relish the time I've spent with Kira in my memory, and to forget all the bad stuff I encountered as well.
I toss myself onto my bed, front first, and bury my face into my comforter. I groan as I think what a day I've had, especially with the secret of Draco coming loose. I'm not sorry I confided in Kira my secret, especially after we kissed, but now I had to tell my friends, and they weren't giving me the chance to. Something like this is really important for them to hear. I just wish they would let me talk for once instead of piling all of these questions about Kira and me as a couple. As much as I really like her, that's not exactly what's on the top of my thoughts at the moment.
There's a knock on the door, suddenly, and I grunt a come in. I slightly turn my head to see who's there and realize it's Duncan and Albus, and then I wonder why they even knocked in the first place. After all, this is their room too.
"Why did you guys knock?" I ask, sitting upright.
"We thought you might need privacy, so we wanted to get an okay from you to come in first," says Duncan sheepishly.
"Sorry about down there," says Albus. "My family's a bit …" He sighs.
"It's fine, I guess," I say with a shrug.
"So what were you going to say down there?" asks Duncan.
My heart pounds in my chest. Finally I can tell them, although I wish I could tell everyone all at once. Duncan and Albus are two of my closer friends, though, but Rowena and Rose … and the others as well … I'll just feel bad if word gets out that I tell Duncan and Albus before them, and I'm sure they'll wonder why I didn't tell them first either.
Well, I've already told Kira anyway. Would it really hurt to tell them too? I trust Duncan and Albus; they're not exactly the type to blab their mouths off—unlike some people.
I take a heavy breath. "It's a strong topic," I say slowly, and Duncan and Albus exchange looks, knitting their eyebrows together in puzzlement.
"What do you mean?" asks Duncan.
"I mean that I have a really big secret to tell you guys," I clarify, and then clear my throat. "I've been lying about myself."
"What? What are you talking about, Aiden?" Albus asks.
"What do you mean lying about yourself?" Duncan questions with emphasis.
"I am a half-blood," I start.
"We knew that, though," says Albus.
"You weren't supposed to, though," I say. "My father, he …" I sigh.
"It's okay mate. You can tell us," Duncan says gently. He half-smiles and shrugs, and Albus nods for me to continue.
"My father is Draco Malfoy," I say in one breath, and the two of them widen their eyes.
"What?" Albus asks in disbelief.
"He's Draco Malfoy," I repeat, sighing.
"But … if your father is Draco Malfoy, then that would mean that—" I cut Duncan off in midsentence.
"Scorpius Malfoy is my brother, yes."
"So … why did you hide that from us?" asks Duncan.
"Because I was supposed to. Draco was having an affair with my mother and accidentally got her pregnant. His family doesn't know about me."
"So, Scorpius doesn't know about you being related to him," Albus mentions, and I nod.
"Right."
"So, then the Parselmouth ability … It has to come from Draco. He's where you get your magic blood," says Duncan.
"That's what I keep saying, but everyone insists it wasn't from him," I tell him.
"Well, as far as the world knows, the Malfoys don't have any descendants from Salazar Slytherin, that's why no one thinks you get it from him," Albus explains.
"But what about the Blacks?" I ask him. "The Black family … Weren't they an entire clan of Slytherin worshippers?"
"Yes, at least most of them were," says Albus, "but as far as their concerned, they have no hint of Slytherin's blood. None of them descend from him."
"Well, he had to get it somewhere," says Duncan. "I mean, it only makes sense that it's from Draco. Isn't your mother a Muggle?"
"Yeah."
"There. See? It has to be from his dad's side."
"But remember what he told us a while ago? That it could be a similar case to my dad's?" Albus reminds us.
"That's true, they were mentioning that," I remember.
"That's why the ministry has sent Aurors out searching for another Dark wizard. Maybe someone tried attacking Aiden when he was a kid."
"But the story," Duncan says, "the story of your father and his parents. The only reason he has Voldemort's powers was because your grandmother protected with her love, and she died because of that."
"I know the story, Dun," Albus says with an eye roll.
"Did anyone die in your family that you know of?" asks Duncan.
"Uh … not really."
"It has to be someone from Draco's family. It has to be," Duncan insists.
"There's no possible way, though," Albus argues. "The Malfoys are in no relation to Slytherin at all, not by blood."
"Well I couldn't have gotten it from my mum," I input.
"This is indeed a mystery. You, my friend, are a mystery," Albus sighs. I roll my eyes but I can't suppress my grin.
"I still think Draco has a part of this," Duncan mutters under his breath.
"So, this was the big news, huh?" says Albus and I nod.
"I didn't even tell you the worst part. I didn't even learn I was a love child until this summer. For all my life my mother told me my father was dead before I was born. And then, when Draco pops back into my life, he says I belong at this school, but the only reason he kept me from coming was so that I couldn't run into his other kid."
"Wow …" is all Albus can say.
"I've always thought the Malfoys were real prats, but bloody hell—Draco's taken it to a whole new level. I guess you have a really good reason for hating his and Scorpius' guts, huh?" Duncan says.
"I would actually hope you guys wouldn't say anything to the others," I add quickly. "I want to be the one that tells them this."
"Mate, why would we tell everyone else your business?" Albus asks. I half-smile.
"Because they're your family," I answer.
"So what? This is a big thing for you. It's only right for you to tell them, not for us."
I grin. I knew I could trust them.
"There's actually something else I wanted to ask," I say. "I'd like to talk to your father, Al."
"Why?" he asks curiously.
"Because I want to go down into the Chamber of Secrets."
The two of them stare at me blankly.
"You what?" Duncan asks.
"Do you realize how dangerous that idea is? Especially to open it after its been closed for over twenty years? Aiden, no," Albus says bluntly.
"I'm going, guys," I tell them firmly. "I won't be going alone, but I have to face whomever keeps talking to me in Parseltongue. They're telling me to go down into the Chamber."
"Which would be the exact reason why you should not follow it down there. Aiden, that is really dangerous," Duncan says.
"Not as dangerous if I take you guys with me," I tell them.
"You want us to go with you?" asks Albus, shocked.
"You two and Kira Pucey, plus Rowena and Rose. All of you guys are incredibly brilliant, and with your father's help and prior knowledge, we can get down there and defeat whatever is there."
"You know that there's a menace down there?" asks Duncan.
"If it's talking to me in Parseltongue and it's wanting to kill Muggle-borns, then yeah, I believe there is a menace."
"Shouldn't we tell a teacher?" asks Albus. "It's the smart thing to do."
"You're beginning to sound like Rowena," I say bluntly. "No, I don't think we should. That sounds stupid, yes, but it's asking for me, and the teacher won't let us go down there."
"If you get us killed, I'm coming back to kill you," Albus sighs.
"But … I'll already be dead too …" I say.
"You know what I mean."
"So, can you get me an appointment with your dad, Al?" I ask. He sighs heavily.
"Fine. Does this mean you'll be breaking the news to Rowena and Rose soon?"
"Very soon. At least after they stop asking me about my date with Kira," I groan.
"Oh, speaking of that—" Duncan teases, but I cut him off.
"Not now. I'm relishing the memory in my mind right now. Least to say, it was a very blissful date, other than my run-ins with Scorpius."
"Now I really feel bad for you," Duncan says.
"But overall it was great."
"Does Kira know everything too?" asks Albus.
"Yes. After I kissed her, I confided in her about everything."
"Well, that's something …" Duncan mutters.
"And she was fine with it?" Albus asks.
"Yes," I say with a nod.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Albus says. "You've got a big head if you think you're going to do all nice and fine in the Chamber, but at least you've got some clever wizards joining you." He smirks, which makes me grin. More relief has just lifted off of my shoulders since I've told my closest friends my story. They don't hate me for keeping it from them, but they understand completely. Makes things so much easier for me.
"So, should we discuss what's going to happen in the Chamber, then?" asks Albus. I narrow my eyebrows and firmly nod. So the hunt begins.