SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1D/C: I don't own anything...
A/N: SIXTEEN REVIEWS!!! OMG!!! 16 REVIEWS!! ::J-chan cries, and her alter-ego Jedi (pronounced Jed-E) comes to talk about the story.::
Jedi: Forgive my alter-ego, she's in the process of a nervous breakdown from all the reviews. She wishes for me to tell you this, You are going to cry in this chapter.
Family Portrait
Chapter Four: The Truth
J-chan
Perhaps if I had not fallen out of my chair at the sight of my name, then maybe Harry would not have noticed exactly what I saw. 'Course, when I fell, Harry came running to my side, asking me exactly what did I see. I couldn't speak. I couldn't even breath. Even though I had just thought the same thing moments ago, finding out that it was the truth hurt more than anything.
How? Why? When? Where? All of these questions rushed around my brain. I was paralyzed. How? How could he be my grandson? I never married! I never had any kids...
Then came a picture into my mind. A picture of Faith Potter, a woman I had talked to probably once in my life, and I was drunk as a fool at the time. I was the one who caused her to die...to die giving birth. It all made since. It fit together–why Harry looked like me, why he was a Seeker, how he was good in Defense...
"Rich? Richard, what's wrong?" He asked, and I looked up at him, stunned. They say the truth hurts. They mean it. Man, I don't think my back's ever gotten any better...
"Let me see your finger, Potter." I said, and he looked at me as if I was mad. But he did as he was told, as all good little boys should. I examined his left index finger with great care and perversion, and there it was. I put his finger back, and then gazed at my own. Even though the scar was no longer there, the painful memory was. And it was the same. The same lightning bolt shape, the same color...and my name, on his family tree.
"What's going on, Richard?" He asked once more, and I lifted my head up. For the first time, my hazel eyes met my grandson's green eyes, both pairs of eyes shaded by overly large, geeky glasses. But I had an understanding that he didn't, for I knew what it meant.
"Nothing, Harry. Nothing at all." I said, standing up. I made one of the first mistakes then. I rolled up my sleeves.
"What's that?" He asked, and I could have fainted. How could I have been so dumb as to reveal my mark to him? I pulled my sleeve back down, but it was too late.
"Was that..." He began, edging closer to where I was. His eyes were a whirlwind of emotion. I couldn't tell which emotion was best to describe it: hatred, anger, shock, compassion....And yet I froze. Under the boy's hateful gaze, I felt powerless. Powerless not because of Harry's power, but because of what he was to me. "The Dark Mark?" He asked, and I turned and looked at him. I could answer him. I just starred.
"It is, isn't? Are you..." He paused, lost for words. "A Death Eater?" He finally chocked out, and I shook my head. No point lying to him.
"Are you going to run to Dumbledore?" I asked. I imagine my voice was shaking, just as my body was. He looked at me with utmost confusion.
"No! I mean, yes! I don't know...What are you doing at Hogwarts?" He asked, scared, frightened, and above all things, lost. I think the main reason he is is because I was being so honest.
"My original goal was to kill you, but I can't do that anymore." I put on a sick smile, and Harry appeared to be in mortal shock. I sat him down, though he didn't seem to be very fond of me anymore. Hell, would you?
"W-Why?" Harry said, shaking his head nervously. I stood still, watching his nervousness. I think he was for sure I was going to kill him right then and there. His face was red, and his eyes were bloodshot. Noble of him, to face death with open arms. Not that I was going to kill him...
"I was right, Harry. You do have family left." I said, handing him the parchment with his family tree on it. He looked at it carefully, never taking his eyes off of me for more than three seconds. Then he saw it.
"You!!!" He screamed, much like how I imagined he would. The redness in his cheeks that was once from tears were now from pure anger, in the depth of his heart.
"HOW DARE YOU!! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU'RE A DEATH EATER! YOU'RE A..." He stopped, and he shoved his head on his knees. Tears ran down his thin face, fogging up his glasses.
"Healarous." I muttered a spell, healing his finger. The lightning blot was no more, and the splinter was demolished. He looked up at me, scared, worried...and something else. Something else I didn't know yet. I bent down on my knees, wrapping the boy in a large hug.
"I can't kill you, Harry. Not anymore. Trust me, if I would have known..." He jumped slightly when I began to talk again, and he looked me straight in the eye.
"You mean...you didn't know?" He asked, wiping his eyes gently.
"No. I didn't. I knew Faith, me and her were in the same year, same house together. I met her about ten years after that, in a pub..." He looked at me with understanding. He smiled a strange smile of compassion.
"It's her fault, really. She never told anyone she was pregnant, much less tell anyone who the father was. Her brother did a good job raising James, though..." Now was my turn to cry. "Though I wish I would have known. If I had..." I closed my eyes. It would do no good if Harry saw me cry. "Then I wouldn't have been a Death Eater." I answered, and then he jumped up.
"Hey! If you were once a Death Eater, then you know a lot about Voldermort..." He said, and I was lost. "What are you getting at, Harry?"
"What I mean is, you could help us stop Voldermort! You know all his secrets and stuff like that..." I stopped Harry by grabbing his wrist.
"Harry, sit down." I said, and he did as he was told. I sat him beside me, wrapping my arm around my grandson.(You don't know how weird that sounds...)
"I said I wasn't going to kill you. I never said I was going to stop being a Death Eater." He looked at me like I was crazy, and then replied: "Why? What does being a Death Eater do for you?" He asked, compassionately.
"For me, it's not really power or money. It's more of a debt. You see, Harry, I went to school fifty years ago. Fifty years ago, Tom...er, Voldermort went to school then too. And, Harry, try to understand this, he was my best friend. After school we remained friends, and I was one of the first people to follow him when he became the Dark Lord. Try to see through my point of view, Harry. If Ron went to become the next Dark Lord, you'd follow him, wouldn't you?" Harry had a look on his face, a look of depression.
"Your right. I would. So I can't blame you..." He stopped short, taking in a deep breath. "But I'm not going to just let you stay a Death Eater. As long as I'm your grandson, I'm going to be trying to stop you. If you stay on the side with Voldermort, I will always be your enemy. But I will also be your grandson..."