"Is it possible that your mother was also working with Grindelwald?" It wasn't the first time Mr. Forest asked the question. The longer they were unable to find his mum, the more Mr. Forest asked questions. Tom didn't think his mum would work with a man like that. Especially not if she knew he was going to hurt Nana and Papa. But what did he really know about her? Dumbledore too had seemed like a good person, yet he'd been taken in by the dark wizard.

"My mum was helping stop him," Tom said. It wasn't the first time he'd defended her, but his answers were coming less quickly. She met with Dumbledore all the time. She left the house to do things that she didn't talk about with anybody else. What if?

"I've done some research into your background my lad. Quite a stunning lineage you possess, you realize that?" Mr. Forest looked out from the high balcony they stood on at the mountains spread out before them. Mist swirled around the peaks and obscured parts of the trees. It was cold where they were now.

"What do you mean? I know my dad. He's just a muggle. Mum told me a bit about her sister but...it didn't seem all that special."

"Did you know that speaking to snakes is a rare gift even amongst wizards?" Mr. Forest turned his icy eyes back to look at Tom, and he shifted under the gaze.

"Somewhat. I think it's a family trait. Mum can do it too." This information actually seemed to surprise Mr. Forest, which was something Tom had never seen before.

"Curious, considering she has no relation to you at all whatsoever," Mr. Forest said next. Tom's hand twitched as he held himself back from the furious magic that wanted to pour out of him.

"She's my mum!"

"She's a random woman with no background who adopted you on a whim! She was never even your aunt!" Forest's eyes were blazing now. Tom recoiled, scrutinizing him, desperately searching for a hint of a lie somewhere on his face. There wasn't one. He took several steps back. It wasn't possible. His mum...she was family. She'd always been there.

Not always, a little voice said in the back of his mind. In the beginning you were alone. Why wasn't she there then?

"What lineage do you mean then? If she's not...if she...then who am I?"

"A descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of the most powerful Wizards of all time. He too could speak to snakes, you know," Mr. Forest said, his eyes still boring ahead so intensely that Tom wondered if he was picking apart his soul.

"Mum does too! She has to be related to me!"

"That was rather a surprise, but it changes nothing. That woman is not related to you. In fact, there is no trace of her even existing before 1927," Mr. Forest replied. 1927. The year mum adopted him. She couldn't possibly have just come into existence like that though, so someone had to be lying. Was it Mr. Forest or his mum?

How much did he really know about the person he respected the most in the world? The person who was everything a mother should be to him? He narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the man in front of him.

Whatever he didn't know about mum, he knew even less about Forest.

He said nothing in response to Mr. Forest's latest statement. Perhaps it was time to come up with a plan. He had to get away from Mr. Forest. It was necessary in order to figure out what the truth was. He needed perspective.