Chapter 39

After Dorian left Snape's office he made his way out of the dungeons and out of the castle before heading off towards the edge of the schools grounds where he wouldn't be subject to the anti-apparation wards. Once he was clear of the wards he apparated back to his tent along Hadrian's wall to get some rest, he would need a clear head to go through with his plan and he needed at least a couple of hours sleep before spending time with Penny and the rest of her family, no doubt he would be bombarded with questions between having tea parties with Ava.

Snape finished another couple of glasses of firewhiskey mulling over the name Dorian had said, he knew it was familiar but couldn't understand why, he had heard the name before but couldn't remember what significance it had, if any. In the morning Snape was glad that it was a weekend and he didn't have to teach any of his dunderheaded students with the question he hadn't been able to get out of his head. A question that led to a night of fitful, sleep. Snape found himself in the library going through books that were so old they may well have been petrified two years prior if the sound the pages made as he flipped through the yellowed volumes was any indicator. Snape was just about to give up when a bushy haired girl that he found thoroughly annoying albeit the only student he held any genuine hope for peaked around the mountain of books he had stacked around himself.

"Doing some research Professor?" Hermione asked curiously having rarely seen any faculty member inside the library aside from Madam Pince the Librarian and occasionally Professor Flitwick when he had a tutoring session set up with certain study groups.

"No, I'm looking for my watch." Snape sneered sarcastically at the bushy haired Gryffindor girl.

"Books about magical lineage wouldn't be where I'd start looking for a watch but you're the professor." Hermione said, trying to sound respectful while getting the point across that Snape was her least favorite teacher, though an argument could be made for Professor Trelawney. Hermione was just about to leave when she glanced down a book that was near the top of the farthest stack Snape had set up.

"It's funny, I never knew Merlin had a last name til I read that book." Hermione said slipping the ancient tome from the stack with practiced ease and flipped through til she found the page she was looking for.

"Emrys sounds strange doesn't it. Even for a druid." Hermione said only for Snape to quickly snatch the book from her hands only for his eyes to scan the page quickly.

"Merlin Emrys.." Snape said softly and slumped back down in his chair looking equal parts relieved and concerned.

"Are you alright Professor?" Hermione asked looking at Snape a bit worried.

"Yes Miss Granger, in fact ten points to Gryffindor, fifteen if you put these books back." Snape said before leaving quickly, his robes flowing behind him as he moved as fast as he could without full on running and drawing attention to himself.

Hermione shook her head a bit confused but there was an added five house points riding on the books getting placed back so she got to work returning them to their proper place.

Snape made his way to McGonagall's quarters and all but beat the door down when the Transfiguration Professor answered the door, clearly angry that someone would beat on her door in such a manner.

"What is it Severus?" She asked curtly.

"Did you know?" Snape asked.

"Know what?" McGonagall asked, genuinely confused.

"That Dorian is related to Merlin?" Snape asked only to be dragged inside as McGonagall looked into the hallway to make certain no one else had heard before joining her colleague.

"Yes, Mr. St. James told me quite a while ago he was descended from Merlin, along with others. I thought it was a horrible attempt at humor at first until he showed me the proof, after reading the research in his ancestor's journal's along with an artifact that I know for certain belonged to Merlin that only worked for Mr. St. James.. How did you find out." McGonagall asked curiously.

"He said a last name, a last name that sounded familiar and as much as it infuriates me to say it that bookworm Granger was the one who informed me she had found it in a book and the names were the same.." Snape said before looking at McGonagall.

"You said Merlin and others… Who else is he a descendant of?" Snape asked.

"That would be for Mr. St. James to tell you as his family lineage is his business Severus, I'm sure you can appreciate keeping one's family a secret." McGonagall said knowing that Snape kept his family a secret as well.

"I'll have to ask him.. Fuck, if Dumbledore finds out.." Snape said thinking about what the old man would attempt to have Dorian do.

"If Albus finds out then that could go one of two ways. He could leave it alone or it could end in a fight, either way we have no real control over the situation because I really don't fancy the idea of trying to change Albus' mind or getting between either of them when wands are drawn." McGonagall said honestly. Snape could only go wide eyed at the thought of the massive damage that would occur if they had a duel and he nodded his head in silent agreement that he didn't like the idea of getting between those two either.

"Now Severus, if you don't mind I would ask you to leave so I might get ready to go for some breakfast." McGonagall said, standing in her robe. Snape wasn't aware of what time it was and seeing McGonagall in her robe he left quickly and without another word.

Dorian arrived just after breakfast, not wanting to interrupt or intrude on the Walker's having breakfast. When he knocked on the front door he waited a moment only for Callum to answer and go white as a ghost before slamming the door in his face.

"Penny asked me to come over." Dorian said

"You- You can't be real." Callum said through the door only for Rosalind to come over and talk with her husband, Dorian could hear their muffled conversation, how Callum was looking at a ghost, that Dorian was at the door and Rosalind laughed and after a moment of laughter she apologized to her husband for never explaining that ghosts were real and so was Dorian and opened the door.

"It's good to see you again Dorian." Rosalind said before slapping Dorian as hard as she could, leaving a nice red handprint on the side of his face.

"I'm not good at Divination but something tells me I'm going to get hit at least once more before I leave here today." Dorian said with a smirk as Rosalind stepped aside, inviting him in.

Dorian sat in a chair in the sitting room as Rosalind, Callum and Penny sat on couches, Ava sat in Penny's lap, curious about the strange guy in their house.

"Who's this Mummy?" the little girl asked curiously.

"That's an old friend of mine sweetheart, you've actually met him before. John, from your birthday party." Penny said.

"Not-uh, he doesn't look like John." Ava said looking at Dorian who simply smiled and waved his hands in front of his face a few times before looking at his empty hands and pulled out his wand, holding it vertically with his free hand covering the tip of his wand he moved his hands and wand down over his face, obscuring his face momentarily with his free hand only to transfigure his face back into that of 'John' before moving his hands and wand in the opposite direction and returning his face back to normal making the young girl giggle at his 'magic trick' before running over and jumping on the couch next to Dorian.

"Would you care to explain what happened that day?" Rosalind asked only for Dorian to look at Ava.

"Ava darling, go play; we'll be along in a moment." Penny said only for the girl to cross her arms and huff.

"I want a tea party." Ava stated, full on pouty lips and puppy dog eyes directed at Dorian.

"Of course Princess but first I need to catch up with you Mum and grandparents over some really boring stuff but I promise as soon as I'm done we can have a tea party." Dorian said with a smile which caused Ava to smile and hop off the couch before running from the room to get everything ready.

"Well lets start at the beginning.." Dorian said before running them through everything he had done from the time he had left early for Paris, the attempted on his life that resulted in the death of a werewolf that was burnt and used as his corpse to fake his death, what he did afterwards, even being at Hogwarts with Penny the following year and every country he visited after that.

"Bullshit." Penny said, her eyes welling up with tears.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Dorian asked.

"Aside from faking your death?" Callum chimed in.

"Did I ever tell any of you I was dead?" Dorian asked cheekily, knowing they couldn't dispute that point, he had never lied to them.

"You weren't at Hogwarts, even you would have been caught." Rosalind said, equally disbelieving of his claim.

Dorian looked at Penny and sighed before his features started to change once again, his ears got a bit longer, his nose shrunk and his teeth got larger and his whole body started to shrink until a tan rabbit stood on the couch where Dorian had been sitting only for the rabbit to hop off, bound across the floor and onto Penny's lap, standing on hind legs and touching it's forehead to hers for a moment only to hop off, run a couple of circles on the floor before diving into the pillows on the couch it had previously been on before transforming back into Dorian.

Penny was shocked, so shocked she couldn't move as she watched Dorian transfigure himself into a tan rabbit, not just any tan rabbit but the tan rabbit that had been her best friend and closest confidante during her sixth year and had made a couple of appearances before then. She didn't bother to wipe the tears streaking her face, she just looked across at Dorian.

"We checked with the Ministry, you aren't a registered animagus." Rosalind stated.

"I don't need to be." Dorian said with a shrug.

"That's illegal." Penny choked out.

"Not for me, I'm descended from a druid and Druid's through an ancient loophole don't need to register their form, something about their power and religion being drawn from the earth around them I don't remember." Dorian said just as Ava came back in the room and placed her hands on her hips and tapped a foot impatiently.

"Why is no one playing with me?" She asked in a huff only for Dorian to chuckle a bit.

"Let's get this tea party started Princess." Dorian said with a smile as Ava squealed with joy, grabbing Dorian's hand and leading him to the back garden and to her table, fully set up with several stuffed guests, including the farting Erumpent. Dorian noticed that all the stuffed animals had tiara's and there were two empty seats and on the table next to his cup he too had a tiara that he didn't hesitate to don as he sat at the undersized table.

Penny watched through the kitchen window as Dorian had a tea party with her daughter and even smiled when she noticed that he was wearing a tiara.

"Still like him don't you?" Rosalind asked, having walked up behind Penny and saw Dorian and Ava having a tea party in the garden and noticed Penny's smile in her reflection from the window.

"He's still an ass." Penny said defensively but couldn't hide her cheeks turning a bit red.

"He always was an ass, but that doesn't mean that he didn't have a soft spot for you and from what I can tell he has a soft spot for Ava as well." Rosalind said honestly as Dorian then stood and picked up Ava and started dancing with her around the garden while singing softly. Through the closed window they could only hear he was singing something but not exactly what he was singing until Rosalind opened the window and she and Penny both strained their ears only for Penny to start singing along. She knew the song, it was on one of the vinyl records he had gotten her for Christmas, the same song he would sing in the hallways as he walked through Hogwarts.

As the day slipped by with Dorian and Ava having a seemingly endless tea party and dancing, as it approached dinner time Dorian was about to leave until Ava cried and begged Penny, Rosalind, Callum and Dorian to stay for dinner as she had been having fun. After receiving a shrug from Penny, and Rosalind and therefore Callum as Rosalind more or less said what happened in the house Dorian agreed to stay for dinner and after another hour or so he was sitting in the living room with everyone, Ava sat on his lap hugging him as she was fighting off sleep until he started humming that song again, effectively putting the little girl to sleep so Penny could get her to bed before he left, thanking everyone for allowing him to come over and spend time with them again. As Dorian left their property he apparated to an alleyway near St. Mungos before pulling out hit leather long coat and jade Oni mask once again and donned the items before slipping inside of the hospital and making his way through the darkened halls to the intensive care unit and found Gilderoy Lockhart talking to himself in a mirror. Dorian flicked his wand at the door to the room and let himself inside, Lockhart was so wrapped up in talking to his reflection he didn't notice the new arrival until Dorian walked right up behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck and applied pressure. Lockhart tried to scream, tried to hit the man attacking him, even tried to scratch him a couple of times but with each passing second his attempts to defend himself grew weaker and weaker until he slipped into unconsciousness. Dorian slowly released Lockhart and let the man slip to the ground unharmed and asleep before he drew his wand and aimed it at the mans forehead before silently casting Legilemens.

Instantly Dorian found himself in what appeared to be a museum however all the artwork and statues were of Gilderoy Lockhart himself which caused Dorian to scoff.

"What an asshole." he muttered to himself as he walked through the museum. As he walked around he was wary of potential mental traps set up inside the museum but he honestly wasn't surprised when he didn't find any, Dorian shook his head at how easy it was to break into this mans mind with no defenses in place it was not even a challenge. Dorian heard a man screaming in a back room and as he got closer he heard the man begging to be let out. Dorian figured it was Lockhart, trapped in his own mind, his memories, everything that made him the man that he was just out of reach. It would almost be sad if it hadn't been so funny. Dorian noticed that the different pieces of 'art' all had dates and locations, he spent some time walking through looking at the dates on each portrait until he found one close to the date of his attack in Paris. The portraits didn't move unlike most all magical portraits, instead it was completely stationary. Dorian slowly reached out an uneasy hand to touch the portrait when he felt himself getting sucked into it which alarmed him for a moment until he found himself in a memory, much like if he had dunked his head into a penseive.

Dorian now found himself standing on the streets of Paris where he saw Lockhart and Dumbledore having a meal and a glass of wine in a restaurant, Lockhart looked younger but just as pompous. Dorian entered the restaurant and walked right up to their table to overhear their conversation.

"I am asking a favor Gilderoy, there is a student who is in Paris as we speak. I just received a letter from MACUSA to bring this student to the ministry for a meeting to potentially bring him back to the states." Dumbledore said honestly.

"And whats the big deal?" Lockhart asked curiously.

"The big deal Gilderoy is that this boy has great magical potential and power, so much so that if he stray down the wrong path I fear he may never get back on the correct one and we could have another Dark Lord, though he is much more resourceful that 'You know who'. The big deal is why he ran away and came to England in the first place." Dumbledore said trying to get his point across without getting to the point itself.

"So what should I do about it? If you don't remember, my talents lie mostly with memory charms though I do hope to work on my combat skills a bit." Lockhart said.

"I have been informed that he has a sister who will be attending Ilvermorny soon. I have no love for this student but as I said, if he turns dark and his sister is anything like him and he turns her dark as well… What we went through with 'You know who' will seem like a charming fairy tale.. I am also fairly certain that she has already been in contact with him. All I am asking of you is that you erase his memory of ever having correspondence with his sister, just erase her existence from his memory." Dumbledore asked, finally coming right out and saying it since Lockhart was too dense to understand subtlety.

"I see… Well IF, and that is a big if. If I am able to do this since he is apparently strong enough to worry you, you will owe me a favor to be collected whenever I so choose." Lockhart said with a charming smile.

"Deal." Dumbledore said before raising his own wine glass and clinking it together with Lockhart's to solidify their deal before they went over the details, stating Dorian's name, the address, what he looked like etc.

Dorian followed Lockhart through the memory until he noticed him standing on the far end of the street, almost around the corner of his old estate in Paris. Lockhart watched as everyone broke into his house, he watched as they were blown through the window. He watched as they set fire to his place before running away like a coward only to run into Dorian, soot covered and smoking from escaping out the back door. Lockhart drew his wand and instantly cast a spell immobilizing Dorian before casting a series of charms that Dorian only half recognized, figuring they were complex memory charms. When he was done Dorian watched as his younger self dropped to the his knees, dazed, his eyes were glassy and he held a letter in one hand. Lockhart took the letter and cast one final spell on Dorian who stood up, eyes welling with tears and took off the dragonhide boots he had been wearing and ran back inside the burning house much to Lockhart's and Dorian's own horror only for a tan rabbit to come bounding out a few seconds later. Lockhart didn't stick around and the memory ended.

Dorian once again found himself in the museum looking at the portrait that held the memory he had just witnessed. Dorian collapsed and sat on the floor in front of the portrait, staring at it dumbly for a long while, processing what had happened to him. It took a while before he had a plausible theory. On some subconscious level Dorian had to know he was having his memory wiped from both his and his twins memory, that they had a sister. Someone didn't want him to know that. That someone decided that he wasn't supposed to know he had someone else, that he wasn't good enough to have an actual family.. If he wasn't good enough to have an actual family, in his teenage mind then it made sense that if he wasn't good enough for a biological sister then he wasn't good enough for anyone, that he was an imposition, a burden on everyone around him. His teenage mind decided it would be better if everyone believed him to be dead. Memories are tricky things however, the memories themselves could be erased, but not the feelings that came with them. Only his sister had been erased from his memory, not everyone else which was why he still stuck around for a year after his 'death' for Penny. Why he skipped over a couple of states when he was back in the U.S.A on his world trip as he worked his way back to the UK. Dorian processed all of this and soon he started hearing Lockharts screams from the locked room once again before growing angry and marching up to the door ready to rip the door to pieces and destroy the man but when he got to the door his twin decided to speak up.

"I'm all for violence, you are well aware of this but this is not right."

"He fucking deserves it!"

"No, he deserves worse. I can't think of anything worse than being locked inside your own head with no knowledge of who you are, who you were and no means of escape. Kill him if you want, make it so painful the hell you send him too will seem like heaven by the time you're done but just know, in the end, you'll have done him a favor and released him from his burden."

Dorian stood there for a moment, processing what his twin had just said and smirked.

"Remind me never to piss you off, you're scary when you put thought into things."

"Oh fuck right off haha."

Dorian smiled as he leaned in and knocked on the door. Causing Lockhart to stop screaming, mid sentence and pleadingly ask if anyone was there, to please let him out.

"I won't let you out. You are a cunt and as bad as this is you deserve worse. I just cant think of anything I could do to punish you harsher than what you are already going through. You're going to grow old and die in here you worthless prick. Just know, when that day comes, when you finally die. I'm going to piss on your grave." Dorian said before turning on heel and walking away, making sure his footsteps could be heard by Lockhart as they grew quieter with each step putting more distance between them. He laughed as he heard Lockhart beating on the door and begging to be let out.

Dorian exited Lockhart's mind and looked down at the still unconscious Lockhart on the floor of his room and kicked the man ad hard as he could in the ribs, breaking a couple of them if the loud cracks were to be believed. Dorian exited the room as quietly as he had entered only to walk right into one of the mediwitch's doing her rounds and checking on patients. The woman opened her mouth to scream only for Dorian to clasp a hand over her mouth and grab her arm so she couldn't reach for her wand.

"I'm leaving, no noise for two minutes while I do or I'll come back and Lockhart will have more than broken ribs by the time I decide to leave again. Blink twice if you understand." Dorian said, both he and his twin talking at the same time to make his voice creepy only to be further distorted and made even creepier as the words had to exit the jade mask. The Mediwitch was hyperventilating but she blinked twice deliberately to let the masked intruder know she understood. Dorian slowly removed his hand from her mouth and rushed past her, full on sprinting down the hall and around a corner only to dive out of an open window near the stairwell. Dorian focused for a split second and flew to a nearby rooftop before touching down and apparating back to his tent.

As he entered he removed the mask and longcoat and sat down thinking about what he saw in Lockharts memories.

"There are a few options. Option one is he has the letter somewhere at one of his houses. Option two is he gave it to Dumbledore as proof that he did it. Option three is he destroyed it."

"No.. Dumbledore has it. Lockhart would have hung onto it as a bargaining chip to cash in on his favor. Dumbledore would have taken it then to avoid anything being used as blackmail."

"How do you know Dumbledore didn't burn it?"

"He's a psychopath.. He'll have kept his trophy."

"Sure that has to hurt, calling him a psychopath given that it's coming from us."

"No you can fuck right off haha."

Dorian lay in bed for a while, waiting for sleep that couldn't come. As the sun started to rise Dorian apparated to Hogsmeade and walked to Hogwarts with his old leather messenger bag, once again carrying it with him before he arrived at the black lake and stepped just inside the treeline where no one would be able to see him before changing into some basketball shorts, running shoes and muscle shirt. Dorian levitated his messenger bag high into the tree and rested it on a branch so he could work out. Dorian started slowly jogging around the lake as he had years prior. The brisk air felt good on his skin and the smell of the trees and the lake seemed to clear his mind until he heard someone jogging beside him. Dorian opened his eyes and looked at who had joined him only to see Victor Krum.

"Is great jogging weather. Better for running. Keep up old man." Krum said before breaking into a run.

Dorian smiled and let Krum get a decent lead before he broke into a run as well, blowing past Krum much to the Bulgarian Bon Bon's surprise. Once Dorian had as much of a Lead on Victor as he had given him he turned around and started running backwards.

"It is great for running. Keep up youngster." Dorian called out before turning around once again and running, leaving Victor well behind him for a while before slowing down, allowing Krum to catch up and run beside him.

Krum was shocked that someone had outran him so easily and he knew that his running partner was going slow for his sake, Victor could help but look at the man and noticed the rabbit silhouette tattooed between his shoulder blades.

"You 'ave tattoos?" Krum asked.

Dorian grabbed the hem of his muscle shirt and peeled it off, tucking it into the side of his basketball shorts, allowing Victor to see the death prayer on his left ribcage.

"Yup yup." Dorian said simply.

"Those are for criminals. You are an auror?" Krum asked.

"Not only for criminals. As for my status as an auror? I honestly don't know what I am." Dorian said honestly since he was not officially an auror since he had never gone through the training, he had only gotten the postion because Dumbledore pulled strings.. Dumbledore, they would be having a very interesting conversation with him soon.

Hermione sat on one of the roots of the dead tree along the shore of the black lake, reading as always but stealing glances at Victor, curious about the man running beside him but mostly she was looking at Victor, most of the boys were wondering how to ask a girl to the upcoming Yule Ball but she was thinking about how to ask the greatest Seeker in the world to the Yule Ball.

"You should just ask him." a voice said,causing Hermione to jump slightly, she had been so wrapped up in her book and her own thoughts she hadn't noticed the female auror had joined her at the tree.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about.." Hermione said, trying to hide her nervousness.

"You're checking out Krum right? You should just ask him to the Yule Ball, he's been looking at you quite a bit in the Great Hall and for all the time he spends in the Library, I don't think he can read that well." Penny said with a smirk.

"And what about you? I've noticed you looking at your partner quite a bit. He is handsome, too old for me obviously but you." Hermione said.

"I am not that old." Penny said with a laugh before looking across the lake at Dorian.

"Are you going to ask him to the Yule Ball?" Hermione asked teasingly but also somewhat curious.

"You don't know why I've been looking at him do you?" Penny asked.

Hermione simply shook her head no.

"Up until recently.. Everyone thought he was dead. England, France. We all thought he was dead." Penny said honestly.

"Why?" Hermione asked curiously.

"That's a long story but we were on summer Holiday before our sixth year.. He faked his death and only recently let it be known that he was alive." Penny said, realizing she had said far too much.

"You liked him back then didn't you?" Hermione asked but Penny didn't respond.

"You still like him now too right?" Hermione added only to get a look from Penny.

"You should ask him." Hermione said with a smile.

"I'll ask him when you ask out Krum." Penny said with a smirk, knowing that the bookish girl didn't have it in her to actually ask Krum out regardless of the amount of encouragement she received from others.

Penny raised two fingers to her lips and blew a loud whistle that could be across the lake where Dorian and Krum were at. Dorian looked over and saw Penny and watched as she tapped the back of her wrist and kicked it into high gear again, running as fast as his legs would carry him and once again leaving Krum in his dust.

As Dorian approached Hermione got her first good look at the male auror and noticed he didn't have a shirt on and he had tattoos. Tattoo's were a bit taboo in the magical world but she couldn't deny that he looked good and from the look she saw on the female auror's face, she could try to deny it all she wanted, but the female auror thought he looked good too.

"You done playing around? We have work to do." Penny said trying to sound serious but her eyes kept moving all over Dorian, checking him out.

"Alright, let me grab my shit and then we'll go be babysitters." Dorian said before walking into the treeline once again and exiting a few moments later, dressed in some cargo pants and a t-shirt.

"No suit today?" Penny asked teasingly.

"Only if you ask nicely." Dorian said with a smirk, teasing Penny who felt her cheeks flush before she turned and told Dorian to 'Come on'.

Hermione couldn't help but smile as she watched the two aurors walk away towards the castle only to look back out at the lake to try to spot Krum who was now walking around the lake and doing so stretches with a parade of girls behind him but she couldn't help but smile a bit when Krum looked right at her and smiled.

Authors Note: I know I missed last weeks update. I am sorry for that but shit happened and yeah.. Anyway, hope you enjoy the update.