A/N: Sorry this is so late. In about two weeks, I'll have more time to update. I've been so busy, it's not funny. Buried in the ground with work. Anyway, the new chapter's here, so review and I'll do my best to get 11 up asap. This chapter tends to focus on Eve quite a bit, but we'll get to see Emmanuel's side of things in the next chapter, I assure you.
Oh, and a shout-out to all my overseas friends, who seem to be going through some remarkably important events at the moment. Congratulations!
Chapter 10- The Wizard Behind the Name
Emmanuel stared at the carved wooden board in front of him. He was standing in the trophy room, scanning the school honour roll and list of lives lost at Hogwarts. His Father's name was on both of them, with many others he didn't know.
Rubeus Hagrid......Argus Filch.......Cedric Diggory......Harry Potter.......Harry Potter?
Emmanuel mused silently over Potter. Emmanuel was a barely over two years old when the boy was killed while defeating the Dark Lord. That year he had been discovered to be the Heir of Gryffindor and according to an old legend, it was he who had to do battle and defeat Voldemort, who was the heir of Slytherin.
As far as he knew, the others could've been victims of Voldemort. Perhaps even his Father? Emmanuel didn't know the exact circumstances surrounding his Father's death. All he knew was that he'd died just after his Mother had discovered that she was pregnant with him and Eve and that at his death, he was considered to be a great hero. At least that's what his Mother had told him.
Emmanuel stared at the name on the Honour roll, remembering the man he'd seen when he'd blacked out. He looked almost nervous, not at all like a hero who went around doing heroic deeds.
Wilton L. Quirrell. Who was the wizard behind the name?
"Who were you?" Emmanuel wondered aloud.
"Emmanuel?"
Emmanuel jumped, looking to where the voice had come from. It was Seth, and judging by his expression, he looked almost broken.
"Sit down, Emmanuel. I've something to tell you."
****************************
"Atticus?!"
Eve grinned as Catherine jumped into her fiancee's arms, looking extremely surprised. Sure, they'd seen each other only a few hours ago, but it was as if they were meeting each other after a decade's absence.
"What in the name of Merlin are you two doing here?" she asked, showing them in.
"It's a long story, but to be brief, I'm here to pick up some supplies for my classes here. Young Eve is accompanying me."
Eve was nearly blown away by Catherine's apartment, which she evidently shared with Atticus. It was all shades of red. The curtains that hung over the windows were identical to those that Atticus had in his classroom. The furniture, walls, carpet.....all red.
There was some things that she'd never seen either. In the corner, there stood an extremely battered looking cello, to it's side, an odd-looking machine that was emitting music. Eve found herself approaching, examining it.
"That's a CD player," said Atticus explained. Then, from a nearby shelf, he showed her a flat circular object. "and this is a CD."
He proceeded to demonstrate how the machine worked and by the end of the evening, Eve had been introduced to muggle music and knew the basics.
As she was changing CDs from a gorgeous muggle woman on the cover ('Like a Virgin?! Madonna?' 'Professor Rimmer gave me that one. I'll explain later, Eve.') to some rather foreign-sounding music. ('It's called Sitar music, Eve.'), Eve happened to glance up at the wall and noticed a picture of cousin Tony, dressed in an extremely fancy-looking muggle suit.
"What's he doing up there?" she asked, pointing up at Tony, who was smiling widely and brandishing a microphone.
"Oh, I did some photography work for Tony when he'd just opened his club up. Took lots of pictures and stuff for him. Have you been to his club?"
"No."
"Oh Atticus, we have to take her while she's here!"
"I was planning to. Let's make a real night out of it then."
"Do you think they'll let her in?"
"Come, Darling, this is a relative of his! Of course they'll let her in!"
"Alright, then."
At that moment, Eve found a yawn escaping her.
"You're tired Eve," stated Catherine matter-of-factedly as Eve nodded silently. "You can have the spare room, it should be made up. Will you be right with your trunk?"
"Yes." Eve said quickly, and bidding them both goodnight, slipped into the dark room. Before falling asleep, she took out the necklace, photo and parchment, looking at them a long time before settling into bed.
Why did her Father have to be a Dark Wizard? Eve wished it wasn't true.
****************************
"He's locked himself in there," said Nicodemus hopelessly, trying once again to open to the door to his dormitory. "he's not letting anybody in."
Severus Snape's evening could not get any worse. Half an hour before, he found an extremely upset and sobbing Celly at his door, who'd told him that Eve had found out about her Father's incident with the Philosopher's stone. Minutes later, Mara Parkinson came knocking, claming that that the girl had slapped her. After promising her that he'd have a word with the Ravenclaw, Seth arrived at his door, asking advice for how to break the truth to Emmanuel, which he'd promised to do for Eve. Severus nearly brushed him off, but instead found himself giving grudging advice to the nervous boy and sending him off to do the deed.
The moment Seth was gone, Severa had burst in, claiming that Atticus and Eve were off to London for a trip. This only made matters worse. Celly's tears flowed even more fiercely than before and Severus found himself explaining the whole story to Severa, who gave half an hour of her time to comfort the distraught woman and then was sent off on his orders to look after the Slytherins.
Severa was followed by the young Nicodemus Boot, one of the twins' friends, who announced that since he couldn't find Professor Dinsdale, he'd come 'on the behalf of Seth Chista-uh....., well, Seth the Slytherin. He says that Emmanuel Quirrell's locked himself in the Ravenclaw dormitory.'
When Snape had finally gotten there, he found Boot and James Astor sitting near the door, and the prefect Sebastian trying to coax him out. Nic had just explained the situation for him a little.
"Open the French windows, Mr Sterling." he'd ordered, sweeping back into the commonroom, James and Nic trailing him. They watched, somewhat fascinated as the Potions master had gracefully stepped onto the sill.
There was a collective gasp when he jumped out of the window, and suddenly a louder gasp from James as a large black raven flew up and past the window.
****************************
Emmanuel didn't know what to think. Why wasn't he crying?
Your Father would not want you to cry, his Mother's voice echoed through his head. What's that to you? his mind yelled. Your Father was a Dark Wizard! He probably brought misery to everyone. Why shouldn't you cry too?
Emmanuel found his eyes wandering to the book on his bedside table. It was his Father's book. He picked it up, staring at it. He wanted to shred all the pages out of it and set it alight.
But somehow, that didn't seem the right thing to do. Instead, he opened the dormitory window and flung the book out, not bothering to watch it's trajectory.
To his surprise, seconds later, it came fluttering back into his room, landing with a gentle thud on the floor. Following it came a large black raven, who perched itself on the window sill.
"You're one of the messenger birds, aren't you?" said Emmanuel absently. "Stupid creature."
Emmanuel found his voice rising. "Don't you understand?!" he picked up the book, brandishing it at the bird angrily. "I don't want this! I don't want this book, I.....don't want to be a Quirrell. I hate them! I hate my Father!"
He sank onto his bed, putting his head in his hands. "Did you know that my Father was a Death Eater who tried to steal the Philosopher's stone and kill Harry Potter, the Heir of Gryffindor?" his voice took on a sceptical tone. "I bet everyone knew. Yes, they all smiled at Eve and I and told us what a great wizard he was. Liars! Only Mara Parkinson gave any doubt to it. Good for her then, yeah, bet she'll be happy now."
Emmanuel looked up at the bird, who was still perched there. "I hate him. I hate him for all that he did. I hate my Mother for lying to me and Eve. I hate them all! Do you hear that? I hate them!"
He bowed his head as tears stung his eyes. For all the hatred, his Mother's words still told him not to cry. He looked up at the bird again. Odd. There was something about this bird. He seemed different from the other Ravens that were used for messaging among his housemates. Then the answer hit Emmanuel. The eyes! They were black, not the eerie yellow that the others Ravens had.
"You have the strangest eyes..." Emmanuel said to the bird, not expecting an answer.
When the bird flew in and suddenly transformed into a tall dark figure, Emmanuel nearly fainted.
"Professor Snape?!" he gasped, looking up at the figure standing above him.
His expression was serious, but the raised eyebrow indicated a vague element of surprise mixed in there. "Your Mother never told you that I was an animagus?"
Emmanuel glared out of the window. "Another secret Mum never told me."
Snape sighed, wondering how he would go about this. He was about as compatible in these situations as as Seth was.
"There are a number of things I have to say to you, Emmanuel. No, don't interrupt me child. You must hear this."
There was silence, and Snape smiled inwardly at the boy's obedience. Remembering the situation at hand, he sat down heavily on the bed next to him.
"You have heard several half-truths this afternoon, Emmanuel. Yes, your Father did serve Lord Voldemort for a time, and did try to steal the Philosophers stone and kill Harry Potter. But there are some other things you need to know, Emmanuel. Those things are true, but there are other truths about your Father that you haven't heard." he sighed tiredly. "I am, perhaps, not the right person to be telling you this. Your Mother would, but it seems she's not quite in the right state of mind to do it, so I want you to listen to me. I'm going to tell you alot of important things that you musn't forget. This, Emmanuel, is truth about your Father."
****************************
Muggle London at night, Eve decided, was far more interesting than Muggle London in daylight. The city seemed to thrive with a different life. Checking the hidden pockets of her dress robes to check if the necklace, photo and parchment were there, she continued quickly down the streets, flanked by Atticus and Catherine.
"Atticus, we've been walking for ages....." Eve whined as they turned another corner and the older wizard merely raised an eyebrow at her in the manner of his Uncle as they stopped in front of a mural that depicted several women in vampy dresses and men in muggle suits.
Atticus stopped in front of one picture of a woman, who had platinum blonde hair and lips as red as blood.
"Marilyn," he whispered.
Immediately, a soft, seductive voice filtered through the cold night air.
"Hey Sugar! In need of a good time?" she asked, pouting at him.
"Nah, I just need to get in."
"Are you sure-"
"Go picking on Frankie or Dean," cut in Catherine, "my fiancee and I are here for a good time together."
She pouted again, and a door materialised. Eve followed Atticus and Catherine through and into the club.
Eve was awestruck. It looked nothing like the Leaky Cauldron or any of the other Wizarding establishments. This one almost seemed fashionable! It was dimly lit and reeked of perfumed smoke. Young witches and wizards sat around at tables, drinking. There was a bar at the back, and a stage at the front, and the walls were covered with black and white photos with signatures scrawled on them. Eve recognised some of the faces......the Wyrd Sisters, Alina and the Amazons, Celestina Warbeck, Bertie Bott.....
It was on the club stage that Eve spotted Tony. He was seated at the piano, playing in the same muggle suit he wore in Catherine's photo. There was a woman singing at the microphone, wearing a a black sequinned gown.
"I could cry salty tears....." she sang. "where have I been all these years? Little wow, tell me now. How long has this been going on?"
Eve couldn't understand why Atticus looked so shocked when he saw her. Her singing wasn't bad or anything, in fact, Eve was quite enjoying it. When the song ended, she smiled at the audience.
"Thankyou for making me feel so welcome. I haven't sung anywhere out of Rome, so I'm honoured to be here tonight. Now, how about a hand for my pianist Tony, hmm?"
The witches and wizards applauded enthusiastically for Tony, who bowed.
"Thankyou, thankyou. You're too kind. I and Mrs Jordan here will be back in a half an hour or so, so be prepared for another sizzling set of muggle tunes!"
Tony smiled, rubbing his hands together and upon noticing Atticus, Catherine and Eve, came down from the small stage, offering his hand to the woman with him. Eve couldn't help but notice Atticus still-shocked expression.
"I-Iphigenia? From the meeting earlier this year, right?" Atticus managed to sputter as Tony greeted them warmly. "I didn't know you sang or anything...."
"What you don't know is a lot, Atticus." she replied, as he kissed her hand. "Who are your friends?"
"Oh Iphigenia, this is my fiancee Catherine and one of my students, Eve Quirrell. Eve, Catherine, this is Iphigenia Jordan. She's a historian who has been working on a project in relation to the school lately."
Iphigenia's eyes widened at the mention of the name 'Quirrell'. "So you're Wilton's daughter. Funny, I thought you had a brother too."
Eve tried to restrain the bitterness and resentment she felt at the sound of her Father's name. "Yes," she said, forcing a smile. "that's Emmanuel, but he's back at Hogwarts. I'm here with Professor Dinsdale to get school supplies."
"Atticus, I don't think it's such a good idea bringing her here...." Tony murmured
"I don't see any dark wizards here at the moment." he replied quickly. "Besides, Eve needs to talk to you."
Tony sat down at the nearest empty table, crossing his legs and gesturing for one of the dark-red clad waiters to get him a drink. Eve also noticed him take a small box from inside of his jacket and remove a white stick from it. He put the stick between his lips, got his want out and lit it. She watched, fascinated as Tony breathed out a pale cloud of smoke, holding it between two of his fingers.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's called a cigerette Eve, and I'd advise you not to try it, as it took me only one and I got addicted. Not the best thing for your health dear. Your Mother would kill me if she knew."
Eve snorted at the mention of her Mother. "I don't care what Mum thinks anymore." she said quietly, crossing her arms.
Tony raised an eyebrow at the 11 year-old. Eve responded by producing her finds and showing them to him. His calm look became a frown.
"She knows, Tony, and she's decided that she wants to find answers from you."
"Me? Well......I suppose. Alright, let's go upstairs to my office then shall we?"
When the mousy-looking waiter approached with his drink, Tony took it from the tray as he turned to leave. "Creevey, make sure things remain in order here while I'm upstairs. And if young Dragon comes, call me immediately."
"Yes Sir." he replied, and went to answer the call of a customer.
Tony's office was in deep contrast to the dark purples and reds of the main area of the club. It was painted in shades of black, grey and white, and the starkness made Eve slightly uncomfortable as she sat down with the other three.
"May I see those objects again?" he asked.
Eve put the three things on the table. Firstly, Tony picked up the necklace, running his fingers down the beads and cross.
"These are what you call rosary beads. It's a part of one of the Christian denominations.....Catholicism, I think it's called. When they pray, Catholic muggles or wizards sometimes hold these. I'm not sure what exactly, but it's something to do with praying to their higher power."
"Yeah, but what's it got to do with Dad?"
"Your Father was a Catholic, and I think that those might've been his beads. He never used them later in life, but he kept them just the same. He was a Catholic by his Mother, who was a muggleborn witch."
Eve nodded, and gave Tony the photo. He smiled.
"Ah, I remember your Mother showing me this. That was indeed a memorable day for your Father. I recall her saying that in his first class, his pet Iguana got out of his cage and ran rampant through the classroom," Tony paused, laughing softly. "and the poor little buggar ended up breaking his toe."
"So Dad taught DADA?"
"Yes, and quite well. Very well-versed in History of Magic and Astronomy too for that matter. Really, your Father could've taught or done anything he wanted in life, he was that brilliant."
Eve couldn't help but think of the irony that a DADA teacher had become a Death Eater and said so. Tony, Atticus and Iphigenia's eyes grew wide at the phrase 'Death Eater'.
"Death Eater? Merlin, no. Your Father wasn't a Death Eater. He was a host of the Dark Lord." Tony shuddered.
"Host?"
Atticus cleared his throat. "Well, you should know that after Lord Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter, he lost his physical presence. He retreated to the forests in Albania and from accounts documented, it seems he took over the other physical bodies of other living things, such as small animals. Your Father was unfortunate enough to have been caught in his path and he was taken over by the Dark Lord."
Atticus paused, looking uncertain for a moment.
"I'll take it up." said Iphigenia quickly, turning to Eve. "Your Father came back to Hogwarts afterwards. I was one of his third year students. We didn't know it then, but he was under Voldemort's command. He was after immortality, and he knew that Dumbledore had the Philosopher's Stone. So he used your Father to get to the stone and when he failed in retrieving the stone, he was left for dead by the Dark Lord."
There was a palpable silence as Eve took this news in. Tony finally spoke.
"You must understand this, Eve. Your Father was not a bad person. He was forced to do all this. I didn't know a more moral wizard than your Father. The problem was that he wasn't able to stand up for himself. Merlin's beard, he was the school doormat. People always walking on-"
The waiter that Tony had spoken to burst in, looking slightly pale.
"He's here Sir." the young man stammered.
"Ah." replied Tony, standing. "Time to greet an important customer. Iphigenia, you would remember Master Malfoy wouldn't you?"
Iphigenia grimaced. "More than I'd like to."
"So I guess you won't be coming to greet him with me then?"
She crossed her arms. "Certainly not."
"Right then," Tony sighed, adjusting his bow tie."just remember that you're singing in about fifteen minutes, ok?"
"Yes, yes. Now go down and greet your beloved patron."
Eve couldn't resist asking "Who's Master Malfoy?"
"Draco Malfoy," Iphigenia replied, practically spitting the name. "I went to school with him. A spoiled little Slytherin brat. His Father was a Death Eater under Voldemort and it was alleged that he was one too. When Voldemort was defeated for the second time, Malfoy's parents were killed by Professor Snape and Draco himself was dragged off to Azkaban for a couple of days. He was tried by the Ministry, but they couldn't find any evidence that he was an actual Death Eater so they let him go."
Eve looked out of the glass door of the office, to where Tony was greeting a shorter, younger-looking man with pale blonde hair. Without warning, he immediately turned and looked Eve straight in the eye. Eve jerked back in shock, looking away quickly. She didn't like the look of him. There was something almost terrible and fascinating about the way he looked at her.
So Eve was understandably jolted when he came striding towards the office, Tony following him, looking very nervous.
End of Chapter
Oh, and a shout-out to all my overseas friends, who seem to be going through some remarkably important events at the moment. Congratulations!
Chapter 10- The Wizard Behind the Name
Emmanuel stared at the carved wooden board in front of him. He was standing in the trophy room, scanning the school honour roll and list of lives lost at Hogwarts. His Father's name was on both of them, with many others he didn't know.
Rubeus Hagrid......Argus Filch.......Cedric Diggory......Harry Potter.......Harry Potter?
Emmanuel mused silently over Potter. Emmanuel was a barely over two years old when the boy was killed while defeating the Dark Lord. That year he had been discovered to be the Heir of Gryffindor and according to an old legend, it was he who had to do battle and defeat Voldemort, who was the heir of Slytherin.
As far as he knew, the others could've been victims of Voldemort. Perhaps even his Father? Emmanuel didn't know the exact circumstances surrounding his Father's death. All he knew was that he'd died just after his Mother had discovered that she was pregnant with him and Eve and that at his death, he was considered to be a great hero. At least that's what his Mother had told him.
Emmanuel stared at the name on the Honour roll, remembering the man he'd seen when he'd blacked out. He looked almost nervous, not at all like a hero who went around doing heroic deeds.
Wilton L. Quirrell. Who was the wizard behind the name?
"Who were you?" Emmanuel wondered aloud.
"Emmanuel?"
Emmanuel jumped, looking to where the voice had come from. It was Seth, and judging by his expression, he looked almost broken.
"Sit down, Emmanuel. I've something to tell you."
****************************
"Atticus?!"
Eve grinned as Catherine jumped into her fiancee's arms, looking extremely surprised. Sure, they'd seen each other only a few hours ago, but it was as if they were meeting each other after a decade's absence.
"What in the name of Merlin are you two doing here?" she asked, showing them in.
"It's a long story, but to be brief, I'm here to pick up some supplies for my classes here. Young Eve is accompanying me."
Eve was nearly blown away by Catherine's apartment, which she evidently shared with Atticus. It was all shades of red. The curtains that hung over the windows were identical to those that Atticus had in his classroom. The furniture, walls, carpet.....all red.
There was some things that she'd never seen either. In the corner, there stood an extremely battered looking cello, to it's side, an odd-looking machine that was emitting music. Eve found herself approaching, examining it.
"That's a CD player," said Atticus explained. Then, from a nearby shelf, he showed her a flat circular object. "and this is a CD."
He proceeded to demonstrate how the machine worked and by the end of the evening, Eve had been introduced to muggle music and knew the basics.
As she was changing CDs from a gorgeous muggle woman on the cover ('Like a Virgin?! Madonna?' 'Professor Rimmer gave me that one. I'll explain later, Eve.') to some rather foreign-sounding music. ('It's called Sitar music, Eve.'), Eve happened to glance up at the wall and noticed a picture of cousin Tony, dressed in an extremely fancy-looking muggle suit.
"What's he doing up there?" she asked, pointing up at Tony, who was smiling widely and brandishing a microphone.
"Oh, I did some photography work for Tony when he'd just opened his club up. Took lots of pictures and stuff for him. Have you been to his club?"
"No."
"Oh Atticus, we have to take her while she's here!"
"I was planning to. Let's make a real night out of it then."
"Do you think they'll let her in?"
"Come, Darling, this is a relative of his! Of course they'll let her in!"
"Alright, then."
At that moment, Eve found a yawn escaping her.
"You're tired Eve," stated Catherine matter-of-factedly as Eve nodded silently. "You can have the spare room, it should be made up. Will you be right with your trunk?"
"Yes." Eve said quickly, and bidding them both goodnight, slipped into the dark room. Before falling asleep, she took out the necklace, photo and parchment, looking at them a long time before settling into bed.
Why did her Father have to be a Dark Wizard? Eve wished it wasn't true.
****************************
"He's locked himself in there," said Nicodemus hopelessly, trying once again to open to the door to his dormitory. "he's not letting anybody in."
Severus Snape's evening could not get any worse. Half an hour before, he found an extremely upset and sobbing Celly at his door, who'd told him that Eve had found out about her Father's incident with the Philosopher's stone. Minutes later, Mara Parkinson came knocking, claming that that the girl had slapped her. After promising her that he'd have a word with the Ravenclaw, Seth arrived at his door, asking advice for how to break the truth to Emmanuel, which he'd promised to do for Eve. Severus nearly brushed him off, but instead found himself giving grudging advice to the nervous boy and sending him off to do the deed.
The moment Seth was gone, Severa had burst in, claiming that Atticus and Eve were off to London for a trip. This only made matters worse. Celly's tears flowed even more fiercely than before and Severus found himself explaining the whole story to Severa, who gave half an hour of her time to comfort the distraught woman and then was sent off on his orders to look after the Slytherins.
Severa was followed by the young Nicodemus Boot, one of the twins' friends, who announced that since he couldn't find Professor Dinsdale, he'd come 'on the behalf of Seth Chista-uh....., well, Seth the Slytherin. He says that Emmanuel Quirrell's locked himself in the Ravenclaw dormitory.'
When Snape had finally gotten there, he found Boot and James Astor sitting near the door, and the prefect Sebastian trying to coax him out. Nic had just explained the situation for him a little.
"Open the French windows, Mr Sterling." he'd ordered, sweeping back into the commonroom, James and Nic trailing him. They watched, somewhat fascinated as the Potions master had gracefully stepped onto the sill.
There was a collective gasp when he jumped out of the window, and suddenly a louder gasp from James as a large black raven flew up and past the window.
****************************
Emmanuel didn't know what to think. Why wasn't he crying?
Your Father would not want you to cry, his Mother's voice echoed through his head. What's that to you? his mind yelled. Your Father was a Dark Wizard! He probably brought misery to everyone. Why shouldn't you cry too?
Emmanuel found his eyes wandering to the book on his bedside table. It was his Father's book. He picked it up, staring at it. He wanted to shred all the pages out of it and set it alight.
But somehow, that didn't seem the right thing to do. Instead, he opened the dormitory window and flung the book out, not bothering to watch it's trajectory.
To his surprise, seconds later, it came fluttering back into his room, landing with a gentle thud on the floor. Following it came a large black raven, who perched itself on the window sill.
"You're one of the messenger birds, aren't you?" said Emmanuel absently. "Stupid creature."
Emmanuel found his voice rising. "Don't you understand?!" he picked up the book, brandishing it at the bird angrily. "I don't want this! I don't want this book, I.....don't want to be a Quirrell. I hate them! I hate my Father!"
He sank onto his bed, putting his head in his hands. "Did you know that my Father was a Death Eater who tried to steal the Philosopher's stone and kill Harry Potter, the Heir of Gryffindor?" his voice took on a sceptical tone. "I bet everyone knew. Yes, they all smiled at Eve and I and told us what a great wizard he was. Liars! Only Mara Parkinson gave any doubt to it. Good for her then, yeah, bet she'll be happy now."
Emmanuel looked up at the bird, who was still perched there. "I hate him. I hate him for all that he did. I hate my Mother for lying to me and Eve. I hate them all! Do you hear that? I hate them!"
He bowed his head as tears stung his eyes. For all the hatred, his Mother's words still told him not to cry. He looked up at the bird again. Odd. There was something about this bird. He seemed different from the other Ravens that were used for messaging among his housemates. Then the answer hit Emmanuel. The eyes! They were black, not the eerie yellow that the others Ravens had.
"You have the strangest eyes..." Emmanuel said to the bird, not expecting an answer.
When the bird flew in and suddenly transformed into a tall dark figure, Emmanuel nearly fainted.
"Professor Snape?!" he gasped, looking up at the figure standing above him.
His expression was serious, but the raised eyebrow indicated a vague element of surprise mixed in there. "Your Mother never told you that I was an animagus?"
Emmanuel glared out of the window. "Another secret Mum never told me."
Snape sighed, wondering how he would go about this. He was about as compatible in these situations as as Seth was.
"There are a number of things I have to say to you, Emmanuel. No, don't interrupt me child. You must hear this."
There was silence, and Snape smiled inwardly at the boy's obedience. Remembering the situation at hand, he sat down heavily on the bed next to him.
"You have heard several half-truths this afternoon, Emmanuel. Yes, your Father did serve Lord Voldemort for a time, and did try to steal the Philosophers stone and kill Harry Potter. But there are some other things you need to know, Emmanuel. Those things are true, but there are other truths about your Father that you haven't heard." he sighed tiredly. "I am, perhaps, not the right person to be telling you this. Your Mother would, but it seems she's not quite in the right state of mind to do it, so I want you to listen to me. I'm going to tell you alot of important things that you musn't forget. This, Emmanuel, is truth about your Father."
****************************
Muggle London at night, Eve decided, was far more interesting than Muggle London in daylight. The city seemed to thrive with a different life. Checking the hidden pockets of her dress robes to check if the necklace, photo and parchment were there, she continued quickly down the streets, flanked by Atticus and Catherine.
"Atticus, we've been walking for ages....." Eve whined as they turned another corner and the older wizard merely raised an eyebrow at her in the manner of his Uncle as they stopped in front of a mural that depicted several women in vampy dresses and men in muggle suits.
Atticus stopped in front of one picture of a woman, who had platinum blonde hair and lips as red as blood.
"Marilyn," he whispered.
Immediately, a soft, seductive voice filtered through the cold night air.
"Hey Sugar! In need of a good time?" she asked, pouting at him.
"Nah, I just need to get in."
"Are you sure-"
"Go picking on Frankie or Dean," cut in Catherine, "my fiancee and I are here for a good time together."
She pouted again, and a door materialised. Eve followed Atticus and Catherine through and into the club.
Eve was awestruck. It looked nothing like the Leaky Cauldron or any of the other Wizarding establishments. This one almost seemed fashionable! It was dimly lit and reeked of perfumed smoke. Young witches and wizards sat around at tables, drinking. There was a bar at the back, and a stage at the front, and the walls were covered with black and white photos with signatures scrawled on them. Eve recognised some of the faces......the Wyrd Sisters, Alina and the Amazons, Celestina Warbeck, Bertie Bott.....
It was on the club stage that Eve spotted Tony. He was seated at the piano, playing in the same muggle suit he wore in Catherine's photo. There was a woman singing at the microphone, wearing a a black sequinned gown.
"I could cry salty tears....." she sang. "where have I been all these years? Little wow, tell me now. How long has this been going on?"
Eve couldn't understand why Atticus looked so shocked when he saw her. Her singing wasn't bad or anything, in fact, Eve was quite enjoying it. When the song ended, she smiled at the audience.
"Thankyou for making me feel so welcome. I haven't sung anywhere out of Rome, so I'm honoured to be here tonight. Now, how about a hand for my pianist Tony, hmm?"
The witches and wizards applauded enthusiastically for Tony, who bowed.
"Thankyou, thankyou. You're too kind. I and Mrs Jordan here will be back in a half an hour or so, so be prepared for another sizzling set of muggle tunes!"
Tony smiled, rubbing his hands together and upon noticing Atticus, Catherine and Eve, came down from the small stage, offering his hand to the woman with him. Eve couldn't help but notice Atticus still-shocked expression.
"I-Iphigenia? From the meeting earlier this year, right?" Atticus managed to sputter as Tony greeted them warmly. "I didn't know you sang or anything...."
"What you don't know is a lot, Atticus." she replied, as he kissed her hand. "Who are your friends?"
"Oh Iphigenia, this is my fiancee Catherine and one of my students, Eve Quirrell. Eve, Catherine, this is Iphigenia Jordan. She's a historian who has been working on a project in relation to the school lately."
Iphigenia's eyes widened at the mention of the name 'Quirrell'. "So you're Wilton's daughter. Funny, I thought you had a brother too."
Eve tried to restrain the bitterness and resentment she felt at the sound of her Father's name. "Yes," she said, forcing a smile. "that's Emmanuel, but he's back at Hogwarts. I'm here with Professor Dinsdale to get school supplies."
"Atticus, I don't think it's such a good idea bringing her here...." Tony murmured
"I don't see any dark wizards here at the moment." he replied quickly. "Besides, Eve needs to talk to you."
Tony sat down at the nearest empty table, crossing his legs and gesturing for one of the dark-red clad waiters to get him a drink. Eve also noticed him take a small box from inside of his jacket and remove a white stick from it. He put the stick between his lips, got his want out and lit it. She watched, fascinated as Tony breathed out a pale cloud of smoke, holding it between two of his fingers.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's called a cigerette Eve, and I'd advise you not to try it, as it took me only one and I got addicted. Not the best thing for your health dear. Your Mother would kill me if she knew."
Eve snorted at the mention of her Mother. "I don't care what Mum thinks anymore." she said quietly, crossing her arms.
Tony raised an eyebrow at the 11 year-old. Eve responded by producing her finds and showing them to him. His calm look became a frown.
"She knows, Tony, and she's decided that she wants to find answers from you."
"Me? Well......I suppose. Alright, let's go upstairs to my office then shall we?"
When the mousy-looking waiter approached with his drink, Tony took it from the tray as he turned to leave. "Creevey, make sure things remain in order here while I'm upstairs. And if young Dragon comes, call me immediately."
"Yes Sir." he replied, and went to answer the call of a customer.
Tony's office was in deep contrast to the dark purples and reds of the main area of the club. It was painted in shades of black, grey and white, and the starkness made Eve slightly uncomfortable as she sat down with the other three.
"May I see those objects again?" he asked.
Eve put the three things on the table. Firstly, Tony picked up the necklace, running his fingers down the beads and cross.
"These are what you call rosary beads. It's a part of one of the Christian denominations.....Catholicism, I think it's called. When they pray, Catholic muggles or wizards sometimes hold these. I'm not sure what exactly, but it's something to do with praying to their higher power."
"Yeah, but what's it got to do with Dad?"
"Your Father was a Catholic, and I think that those might've been his beads. He never used them later in life, but he kept them just the same. He was a Catholic by his Mother, who was a muggleborn witch."
Eve nodded, and gave Tony the photo. He smiled.
"Ah, I remember your Mother showing me this. That was indeed a memorable day for your Father. I recall her saying that in his first class, his pet Iguana got out of his cage and ran rampant through the classroom," Tony paused, laughing softly. "and the poor little buggar ended up breaking his toe."
"So Dad taught DADA?"
"Yes, and quite well. Very well-versed in History of Magic and Astronomy too for that matter. Really, your Father could've taught or done anything he wanted in life, he was that brilliant."
Eve couldn't help but think of the irony that a DADA teacher had become a Death Eater and said so. Tony, Atticus and Iphigenia's eyes grew wide at the phrase 'Death Eater'.
"Death Eater? Merlin, no. Your Father wasn't a Death Eater. He was a host of the Dark Lord." Tony shuddered.
"Host?"
Atticus cleared his throat. "Well, you should know that after Lord Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter, he lost his physical presence. He retreated to the forests in Albania and from accounts documented, it seems he took over the other physical bodies of other living things, such as small animals. Your Father was unfortunate enough to have been caught in his path and he was taken over by the Dark Lord."
Atticus paused, looking uncertain for a moment.
"I'll take it up." said Iphigenia quickly, turning to Eve. "Your Father came back to Hogwarts afterwards. I was one of his third year students. We didn't know it then, but he was under Voldemort's command. He was after immortality, and he knew that Dumbledore had the Philosopher's Stone. So he used your Father to get to the stone and when he failed in retrieving the stone, he was left for dead by the Dark Lord."
There was a palpable silence as Eve took this news in. Tony finally spoke.
"You must understand this, Eve. Your Father was not a bad person. He was forced to do all this. I didn't know a more moral wizard than your Father. The problem was that he wasn't able to stand up for himself. Merlin's beard, he was the school doormat. People always walking on-"
The waiter that Tony had spoken to burst in, looking slightly pale.
"He's here Sir." the young man stammered.
"Ah." replied Tony, standing. "Time to greet an important customer. Iphigenia, you would remember Master Malfoy wouldn't you?"
Iphigenia grimaced. "More than I'd like to."
"So I guess you won't be coming to greet him with me then?"
She crossed her arms. "Certainly not."
"Right then," Tony sighed, adjusting his bow tie."just remember that you're singing in about fifteen minutes, ok?"
"Yes, yes. Now go down and greet your beloved patron."
Eve couldn't resist asking "Who's Master Malfoy?"
"Draco Malfoy," Iphigenia replied, practically spitting the name. "I went to school with him. A spoiled little Slytherin brat. His Father was a Death Eater under Voldemort and it was alleged that he was one too. When Voldemort was defeated for the second time, Malfoy's parents were killed by Professor Snape and Draco himself was dragged off to Azkaban for a couple of days. He was tried by the Ministry, but they couldn't find any evidence that he was an actual Death Eater so they let him go."
Eve looked out of the glass door of the office, to where Tony was greeting a shorter, younger-looking man with pale blonde hair. Without warning, he immediately turned and looked Eve straight in the eye. Eve jerked back in shock, looking away quickly. She didn't like the look of him. There was something almost terrible and fascinating about the way he looked at her.
So Eve was understandably jolted when he came striding towards the office, Tony following him, looking very nervous.
End of Chapter