To Find a Home Chapter 5: Her Father's Eyes
"My father's wand? But why would my father have a wand? Was he a wizard?" Delilah was shocked & couldn't seem to get anything out properly.
Dumbledore's eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. "Yes, Delilah, your father was a wizard. Your eyes have the same light in them as his did...I'll never forget the day he graduated from Hogwarts. He promised me then, as he walked out the door, that he would find a way to defeat dark wizards without stooping to their level." Dumbledore sighed, seeming a bit lost in his own recollection.
"I'm sorry. I don't understand. He went to Hogwarts? Please tell me about him. How did he die? No one ever told me. I never even got to see him again...not even at the funeral. All we had was a picture hanging at the front of the room." Delilah had a million questions in her mind, but that was the one that had truly bothered her. How had he died? Why was there no body...no proof that he was gone.
"Oh. Yes, of course. Your mother never told you, then? I suppose I can understand. By the time he died, your father had removed himself from wizarding society so deeply that few remembered him. He said it was important for his research that he be forgotten, so he could work in peace. You see, your father devoted his life to finding counterspells & such to protect against the workings of dark wizards. You see, he had lost some family members to attacks made by that sort, & he didn't want to see it happen to anyone else."
"Yes," Delilah interrupted, "but how did he die? Please, I really want to know."
"We thought he had been forgotten & well hidden. He only had contact with the head of research at the Ministry of Magic & with me. No one else had even heard his name in more than ten years. But someone must have remembered the vow he made while he was still here. None of us realized that the death eaters were hunting for him."
"Death eaters? What's a death eater?" Delilah's nose was crinkled up. It certainly didn't sound like anything she'd want to meet.
"A death eater is a dark wizard or witch, one of a group who follow Lord Voldemort, the most powerful & ruthless dark wizard in recent memory. The last thing he needed was your father finishing any part of his research. And he was very close to some important breakthroughs. He had managed to revive a fly that had been killed with one of the less serious curses used by the death eaters. I had just received a note from him about it that morning." Dumbledore sighed & his bushy eyebrows sagged a bit as he looked at Delilah. "I wish I had looked at that note a little closer. After I heard what had happened, I sat & stared at that note for a couple of hours, until it hit me that the paper was a totally different sort from what your father used. A couple of spells later, I discovered that the letter was a copy. His owl had been intercepted! That must be how they found him. The very day he wrote that letter to me a group of death eaters broke into his laboratory. Apparently, your father tried to counter the curse that one of them cast at him & the two spells must have mixed somehow. Both men died instantly; both turned into stone frogs." Dumbledore dabbed at the corner of his eye with a handkerchief.
Delilah sat looking at him in a mix of disbelief & horror. "A stone frog? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard! My father was turned into a stone frog?" She was angry...the old man had led her on, telling her this stupid story. She glared at him, her hands curled into fists at her sides, debating how many punches she could get in before he restrained her.
Dumbledore dug into his pocket & pulled out a large frog statue. It looked like marble & was as large as Dumbledore's hand. "Child, I am serious. Your mother didn't want to see it, so I have kept it for you. I thought you might want it. No one has been allowed to work any spells of any sort on him. We used the other fellow for tests & such, but left your father alone out of respect. I know it sounds like an outlandish story, but it is true." Dumbledore stood there, still holding the wand in one hand & the stone frog in the other.
"No. That is not my father! This is crazy!"
"At least take the wand, Delilah. It was his. He would want you to have it."
Delilah reached forward gingerly & took the wand from him, avoiding even looking at the frog. When she waved the wand, small sparks shot out of it. She stared at it, then waved it again, with the same effect.
"Wonderful! See, it knows you. Wands choose whom they will work best for, after all. I had hoped that your father's wand would respond to you." His face lost a little of his sadness. "I'll keep this in my office until you decide you want it." Dumbledore tucked the frog back into a pocket within his robes.
Behind her, Delilah heard someone clear their throat. "Ah, good. Here's Arnold to take you to your common room." Delilah looked & saw that the Slytherin prefect was standing at the entrance to the Great Hall. "If you have any more questions, feel free to come talk to me. I'm usually easy to find."
Delilah nodded numbly & walked over to where Arnold was waiting for her. The journey to the Slytherin tower went by almost unnoticed; her legs worked automatically. Her mind was racing. She still couldn't believe the story Dumbledore had told her. But why would he lie to her? She had heard nothing but praise for him from everyone she spoke to. She gripped her father's wand in her hand & wished there were some way it could talk to her & tell her the truth of that night.