Who are Aurelius's family on his mother's side? Muggles or wizarding folk? Were they residents of Godric's Hollow? How did his parents meet that fateful summer and how did their baby end up on the liner to America with his aunt? What happened to his mother? Why did everyone think that prophecy was referring to the French pureblood Lestrange family if the Dumbledores are British?
Paris
11 Novembre 1900, Paris
Dear Aurelius
If you are reading this, you would have reached your seventeenth birthday and Tonton Nicky remembered to send this to you as promised. It will also mean that you will have achieved some magical proficiency not to be regulated to the ranks of almost-squib like your Tante Misty. Your family in the Americas must have informed you by now that you were adopted. I pray that they have treated you with kindness over the years. Pardon, I believe you must be dying to know about your blood family. We never told the wizarding family who took you in the whole truth. It will be safer that way, Lea said. They are strong enough to protect us both, but I have no intention of staying, as much as it hurts. I am scared that if I do stay, your grandfather might find us. Somehow, I know that I will not be there to watch you go to Ilvermorny. I do not know what this means for us as your great-grandmere was said to be a Seer and she did not pass it down to any of us. I have been dreaming of frost-withered roses and a deep, dark silence.
Your grandfather was not a nice man. He was very proud of our pure blood. Our family is very old with ties to the French nobility since the ancien regime. Our father is a powerful dark wizard, a Monseigneur d'sang. although he takes care to appear respectable to his peers. His pride would never allow him to forgive us for defying him, that was why we must leave France. Lea always had to protect us, being older and so much like him in her power. He aways favoured her but this time I think he will not forgive her either. With luck the hold of the Monseigneurs would have been broken by the time you read this.
Perhaps it would be safest if you remain in the new country. Should you decide to return, do not tarry in the Old World. If you decide to, stay away from our family. Live your life well and be watchful. Lea always said the blackest souls wear the most charming smiles, like Father.
If she could, your maman would have kept you close. But she was so very young, and so was your father. Your father's family was of magical lineage too, but not so pure, not good enough for Father. Your mother's name is Apollonia, but she preferred Polly. She is my twin, but she was much prettier and smarter than me. Her hair was as dark as a raven's wing and her dark eyes sparkling. One of her admirers called them gypsy eyes. Another wrote a poem comparing her complexion to milk and roses and her voice as the chimes of heaven's bells. There were so many who courted her in Beauxbatons, but she had eyes for only one.
Her wand was of rowan wood, just like mine, but she could do spells I can never dream of achieving. She could even cast a Patronus. It was a bird at first, then it changed to a goat. I can even get that spell right. Above all, she had the kindest and gentlest heart, which Lea says is very rare in our family.
Your father lived in the village we visited that summer. We started that golden summer as children, the three of us, just sixteen heading on seventeen. Lea had already graduated and was there to mind us. We were only together during the holidays. Father sent her to Durmstrang because she was a such a good duellist that her talent was wasted in Beauxbatons. Your maman was sent to the countryside to recover from an illness.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if they never crossed paths, but they did. I never saw my sister so happy. He made her smile. He was so painfully shy and gauche, and he smelled of goat. Your mother started inviting him over for tea. He would ask if he could bring some of the cakes back for his little sister, who was sick at home.
Lea hated him. She could be so unkind in her words and deeds. It was a wonder he kept coming to visit. Lea once cast a hex on the kitchen door so that Abe turned into a frog the moment he stepped through, but your mother just picked him up and kissed him to undo the spell. Sometimes, Lea challenged him to duels on the lawn. I think she went easy on him because Polly was watching.
Abe also had an older brother. His brother Albus was so handsome, with auburn hair and blue eyes. We saw him walking in the street with a friend one day and Lea immediately Disapparated us with such speed and force, it was a wonder no one was splinched. Lea warned us that boy was dangerous to know, and it is best we do not speak with him.
Abe's sister died, and his brother went away after a big fight. Lea also got an owl from Father ordering our return to London. While Lea went off to send her owl back, Polly went out to say adieu to Abe. A few months later in London, Polly started feeling unwell and we knew. We wrote to your father, but he did not write back. At least not while we were still in London. Father wanted us two to find husbands from the pureblood English elites at the Yule Ball, but your mother's condition would be obvious by then. He was furious over the scandal. We were sent home to Paris.
I ran into your father in Paris in the winter of 1899. He asked to speak with your mother. Lea must have already told Father about Abe, being of the Monseigneurs herself and bound by the rules to obey. They both seemed to be expecting him. I was sent off to my room like a child so they could speak in private. I watched Abe leave first, then closely followed by Lea. A half-hour later, Lea returned with blood on her wand and cuffs. We watched from the gallery as she told Father it was done. I believe Father ordered Lea to kill Abe, and that she did so. Our sister made a sound of such sorrow, I think it woke Lea up.
Doubt the sun and moon first before you dare doubt your mother's love.
Your mother is not the first witch to find herself in a delicate condition after a dalliance. Most such children are quietly given away at birth to suitable wizard families, but there are forbidden potions to rid one of an unwanted child before it can be born. Father obtained such a potion and ordered her to drink it. She refused and he used a Imperius Curse. She cried even as she had to sip from that dreadful vial, and I could not stop it. I knew she was fighting so hard. Then Lea stormed in and set Father's trousers on fire.
Lea ordered us both out. I never could get the hang of Apparating and your mother was too shaky, so we just ran. We ran to Tante Nellie's to hide with only the clothes we were wearing. She was very old, they say more than 500, and very wise with regards to potions. The poison from that sip Polly took was already in her blood and that it would kill the baby in her womb within days. The only thing holding it back was your mother's magic and strong will for you to live. Tante Nellie knew of a potion that could block the poison from reaching the child when coupled with the mother's magic, with luck long enough to for the infant to be born, but at the cost of the mother's strength, and possibly her life.
Your mother chose to take Tante Nellie's potion, knowing it would likely kill her.
We hid in a No-Magique convent, one of those who cared for the poor and sick. It was a horrible place – miserably cold and damp. Not all the nuns were kind. We could not use any magic, even in secret. I never had much magic to begin with, and your mother was already using all she had for you. Tante said such places are often protected by strong magics such that Father might just burst into flames for all his evil deeds the minute he tried to cross the threshold. They whisper that Monseigneurs practiced very dark magics, using blood and death. Lea will not tell us what went on at their meetings, it is all very secret. At the very least, Father would never think of looking for us in a convent in the middle of the alps. Nellie handed us a portkey in the form of a rosary, just in case.
If No-Magique convents were ever protected by charms of power, the one we were at had long used its magic up. Father and Lea showed up just after you were born – such a tiny little thing you were then. Father just lifted his wand – I am not sure how I should describe it – but there was this aura of wrongness, like a curse about to happen. Lea must have sensed it too because she blasted Father with a spell, yelling that he had promised to let the child, you, live.
Father retorted that he would let you live, but at the same time he will curse you with a life of misery such that you wish for death. Your mother was still very weak, but she stirred enough to pass me both you and the portkey while Father and Lea were busy duelling. I found myself in a cemetery in Paris with you, but your mother was nowhere to be seen.
I took you to Tonton Nicky's workshop because he has so many powerful protections on it to protect the artefacts he collects. Both Tonton and Tante Nellie checked you over to be sure Father's curse did not take. Lea had acted fast enough.
Lea called me out later to speak later that night. She was wounded, her wand-arm bleeding and her clothes lightly singed. The convent had burned to the ground and your mother was gone. It sounded like she had been crying, which is impossible as Lea never cries. She instructed me to take you far away to safety but not to tell her where to. And that we must never contact each other again. I do not know if Father would give up so easily, but Lea swore she would raise such hell for him he would be too busy to look for us.
Over the following days, letters were sent to various Magical newspapers exposing Monseigneurs and ruining his chances of wresting power in the ministry. There are whispers about our disappearance and Father had killed us for shaming the family. Maybe the quarrel between Lea and Father has been simmering for some time and it has now exploded like fiendfyre. Your Tante Lea had always been a bit fey, and dangerous when provoked. She has gone up against Father and the other Monseigneurs and will have hell to pay. There is a storm building in the upper circles of the French magical community, so Tonton Nicky informs us. Lesser wizards and witches best keep their heads down. Maybe the dust will have settled by the time this letter reaches you. Or maybe Paris will be consumed by flames by then.
I know we will have to leave Tonton's soon, now arrangements have been made. Tonton Nicky has taken on a new apprentice – Albus Dumbledore, the young man Lea warned us was dangerous. I do not know what to believe. Tonton seems to trust him. He seems kind, like his brother Aberforth – your father. There is such an air of sorrow about him. Is it for his family?
He does not come to the house where we are at (Tonton's charms), but I can glimpse him from the window as he works if the workshop windows are left open. Does he know about his likely-dead brother, the nephew who sleeps beside me? If I were to tell him, will he turn you away? Will he accept the blood you both share and the duty it demands? He is a young man, with so much ambition and potential. A baby would be an unwelcome burden at this point of his life. Maybe Tonton feels the same, that is why he has not mentioned anything to his apprentice. Or maybe we still fear Father's reach. Your Uncle Albus is not much older than your father and they do not have a powerful family to turn to.
Could Lea's warning about Albus Dumbledore be wrong? I will not disobey my big sister or doubt her words. This I leave to you to judge. After all, I am a silly almost-squib who could barely wave a wand without dropping it.
We will leave while the weather holds on the road to Cherbourg and pass for No-Magiques. I am almost a squib, and you are too young for any magic to show. Tonton Nicky still thinks it is the 1700's at times. He arranged a horse-cart instead of a train to Cherbourg. A distant cousin of ours arranged to get us the liner tickets for the crossing, though it will not be for another few months. I have never been on an ocean liner before or crossed so wide a water.
I pray that we will make it to the New World and a new start.
Artemisia Rosier
You may doubt the sun and the moon, but never doubt your mother's love.
Tonton forgot to renew the charms. Misty almost dropped the plates in her panic at the sound of the door opening. She had no wand in hand, having left it at their mansion when she fled. Not that it was any real use. Her wand is like a piece of wood much of the time without her sister's help.
"Master Flamel, where do you want the dragon hearth-rocks?" Dumbledore called out into the kitchen as he struggled with a crate, pushing the door open with his back.
Do not see us… She prayed as she scooted to the basket to pick up Aurelius. The baby fussed slightly as she held him to close to her bosom. She slid into a space between the stove and the woodpile. Her heart was pounding like scared hare's. The infant whimpered against her blouse as if distressed.
Reach deep. Reach deep inside for the power…
A lazy summer day, before Lea left for Durmstrang.
"Expecto Patronus!" Lea shouted the incantation and flicked her wand. A glowing white lioness pranced around them before dissipating. Polly executed the spell flawlessly – a bird darting about before disappearing.
"Your turn," a cool hand over her small one. The wand shivered in her hand – as unwieldy as ever. A difficult spell, almost unthinkable for one so young, but Lea would not accept low expectations.
"Deep, reach deep… think of Maman, her smile," Lea coaxed, resting her cheek against hers. A thin shimmering mist at the tip of her wand, just for a heartbeat or two. The barest spark of magic, no Patronus.
Do not see us…
The kitchen was dark. Dumbledore blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dim interior after the sunlit yard. He looked past the young woman and infant hiding in the shadows. With a shrug, he placed the heavy crate by the door. There is a shimmering of magic in the air in the kitchen but perhaps this was to be expected for an alchemist's residence?
After giving one last look around, he turned and closed the door. Misty let out a breath she had not even know she was holding.
Author's Notes:
I am laying on the hints a little heavy about some of the characters and what the letter writer has missed. Not quite sure of the religious norms where the wizarding world is concerned since the magic in the universe covers such a vast range of cultures and belief systems, perhaps the wizards practice the religion specific to the greater Muggle society they are in, even if just as lip-service to avoid discovery in less tolerant times?
The upper-class French wizarding circles in the late 19th century seem to act with impunity with regards to the use of Imperius curses, and probably others. The possibility of some club specializing in the dark arts cannot be ruled out.
