Past Blood: Clarissa Enzo
"Clarissa," the ghost of Morfin Gaunt breathed.
Eva neared her grandmother. She tried to grip Aurelia's wrist, to tug at it and pull Aurelia away, but her fingers went through the young Italian.
The ghost's smile revealed rotten gums and missing teeth. One of his eyes locked on Aurelia. He reached out to her but his own fingers slid through her sun-tanned skin like Eva's. However, Aurelia shivered went he tried to touch her.
"You're wrong," Aurelia finally said. "I'm not my mother." She scanned him from his dirt-colored hair to his dirt-covered shoes. "Those robes, they look like Azkaban prison robes."
Morfin laughed, it looked like he gagged on the air in his lungs as he did. He then swiveled his good eye and held up his arms, as if he had just noticed his wardrobe too.
Eva remember the picture of Harleen in the Daily Prophet, she wore the same too-thin robe with a number branded over the right breast. "Grandmum, what are you doing?" She whispered desperately, albeit uselessly. "This guy could be dangerous! Grandpa, do –"
She saw her young grandfather turn nearly as pale as the ghost of Morfin. He ran his head through those short black locks of his. His lips quivered, mouthing words.
"Oh, who is he? A lover? A new lover?" Morfin spoke in Parseltongue before he switched his stare to Dermid. Dermid became perfectly straight. He scowled at the ghost but Eva could hear chattering teeth behind those sealed lips. "A Muggle?" Morfin's grin turned wolfish, hungry. His own palms brushed his right side. "What could I do with a muggle, I haven't played with one in so long…"
"If you want your wand then you're out of luck, Baboo. They would have taken it when you went to prison." Aurelia spat. For all she spoke, she moved in front of Dermid and blocked Morfin's view.
"A-Aurelia?" Dermid sputtered. "What are you telling him? What language is that?"
"He doesn't know." Morfin sing-sang, still in Parseltongue. Eva rubbed her ears to erase that sour sound. "Poor little Muggle doesn't speak snakey. But you do, Clarissa, when did you learn?"
"I'm not –"
"Aurelia!"
"Dermid, shush!" Aurelia spoke English. She turned to him. "You want to know so much? You want to solve this stupid mystery and get on with your life without me? Fine! He's speaking Parseltongue!" Dermid took a step away from Aurelia. "That's right! He and I, we're Parselmouths! So why don't you leave us Dark Wizards be?!" Her voice cracked at the last few words. In her dark brown eyes water built. "Go on! Go!"
Dermid sucked in a breath. He began to walk forward, outside of the forest. "Grandpa," Eva said as he passed her. "Don't, she didn't mean it."
Dermid slowed as he reached Aurelia, looked at her face, and then trekked onward.
Aurelia held her head down as Morfin's laughs echoed in the empty Forest.
"Clarissa you're still so cruel." He said between laughs. "You still toss us away."
"Us?" Eva and Aurelia spoke at the same time. Aurelia's eye streamed tears but her eyes borrowed holes through the ghost.
"You gave this to my mother, to Clarissa, as a gift or…" Aurelia grit her teeth, seemingly afraid to let the other words out. "…as payment?"
"You looked good with it on," Morfin moved towards her again, but this time he merely traced Aurelia's cheek. "I remember, the Dementors didn't suck it out of me. They tried, they tried, they tried – but I remember. I remember you." His nails, long and jagged, would have punctured her flesh if he were corporeal.
"So you and her," Aurelia's cheeks bloomed pink, then her whole face resembled a ripe pear.
"You remember too, don't you?" Morfin attempted to pull her close, he clawed her shoulders. "You skin is still so smooth," He licked his lips. "If only I could peal it off you like your clothes."
"Oh no," Aurelia muttered. She shook her head and curtained her good eye with her hair. "No, no, no. My birth father can't be someone this disgusting!"
"Birth father?" Eva gasped. She stared at the man and then her grandmother. They shared hardly anything, not skin tone, not face shape, not eye color.
"My eye." Aurelia felt up her the patch on her face. "I've seen my baby pictures, I was crossed eyed." She snorted without mirth. "So Mister Enzo's took it, not just to test my blood, but to remove anything that reminded him of the cad who knocked up his whore of a daughter." Aurelia gave out more hoarse, miserable laughs. "I can't believe it, she tried to marry me off to my own cousin just for her own sick amusement! You two deserve each other! "
"Not just that," Eva murmured, her voice almost drowned by her pounding heart. "If Morfin is Tom Riddle's Uncle then you are Voldemort's cousin." Her breaths came quicker, shallower. She had to speak between breaths. "You're an Heir of Slytherin, so's Uncle Manny…and me."
Eva cradled her head. She remember Ernie's words: "Parselmouth is the mark of a Dark Wizard." She remembered the panic of Second Year when Justin hollered at Harry for simply talking down a snake. She had clung to the idea that it was just a coincidence, as her grandmother, and her uncle, and even her mother told her. Her grandmother, maybe her uncle too, had lied to her for so many years…
"Clarissa," Morfin called again, making Eva snap her head up. Aurelia's laughs had dissolved into hiccupped weeping. "Rissy, I'll nail you to the door if you don't quiet down. Quiet down Rissy," he reached for his non-existent wand again. "Quiet, quiet." He hissed his words and his mouth twisted into a snarl. Eva could have shivered but her own shock and dread washed away the brief wave for fear she felt. Besides she knew her grandmother would be safe, Morfin wouldn't hurt his – Eva nearly blanched at the thought – "lover" would he?
"Shut it!" Dermid cried. This time Aurelia snapped up her own head. Her dark eyes rose just in time to see Dermid raise his wand and point at the ghost. "Don't touch her!"
"Not a Muggle," Morfin grumbled. "I wanted to get him, him and the rest of Tom Riddle's ilk."
"Tom Riddle, I recognized that." Dermid whipped his head to Aurelia while his wand was still pointed to Morfin. "I don't know the rest though. Ask him what he knows about that Riddle bloke, and the ring please."
Aurelia didn't speak at first, despite the Ravenclaw's request. When she did she muttered: "Why? Why did you come back?" Her eye narrowed in the next second. "To solve the mystery I'm sure." She grumbled.
Dermid gestured at her. "Just ask him already."
Aurelia hunched her shoulders but turned back to her birth father. "This ring, why did you give it to Clarissa?"
"Pretty little trinket," He slurred in response. "You're the only one who hurts me, Clarissa. You're the only one."
"What?" Aurelia blinked. "I thought you were lovers, why would you want her to hurt you?"
"Little Hangleton, where we first met." Morfin was fading, both in voice and in body. "Visit me again, Clarissa."
The image of Morfin Gaunt faded. The Forbidden Forest muted itself and left thick silent between Aurelia and Dermid.
Eva, on the other hand, collapsed to her knees. The new knowledge swirled in her mind and dizzied her. "How am I going to tell everyone, anyone?" She turned to Aurelia and, for the first time she could remember, glared at her grandmother. "I wish you never told me."
"Are you going to tell anyone?" Aurelia spat out at Dermid. "You must want to, everyone will be dazzled by your investigative work."
"Aurelia…" He moved closer to her. Aurelia held up her wand.
"You were right all along, I am a snake. Worse than that, I'm Dark Wizard just like my crook of a father probably was." She blubbered out her words.
"Aurelia, I'm sorry." Dermid said. He walked faster. Aurelia held up her wand but it was shaking in her grip. "Aurelia, I'm not afraid of you."
"Why not?" She screeched. "My bloodline is filled with liars and monsters and most likely inbreeding. I'm disgusting!"
Dermid gently pushed down her brandished wand, Aurelia gave him no resistance. She also didn't resist when he embraced her.
"I'm an idiot." Dermid said. "And I'm in love with you."
A/N: I'll be honest, this chapter has scared me the most. Part of the reason I write fanfiction is to test seemingly bad premises. If you look at my other fic, Tangled in Fate, you'll see it was inspired by "Can a HP/Anime crossover turn out good?" since I was tired of reading fics where the written was horrible. (No offense to anyone here who has one of those, I've just notice most don't end up/are badly written/have too many Sues and Stus.) Here I was trying for "Can a Voldemort's relative fic be well written?" I hope you all think so, and that you'll continue to read and review.
