Episode Eleven

Part One

"Mom, what are you saying?" Gwen asked sincerely.

"I'm saying that this real world you were living in, where you go to college and have a younger brother and sister, I'm saying it's not real." Mrs. LeFey replied.

"How could that be?"

"Honey, you took your father's death so hard. I just couldn't bear it. So I created a world for you where he was still alive. Of course you were still living and breathing here, but you mostly just went through the motions, living almost fully in a dream world."

"But I thought that this was the dream world."

"I'm afraid not honey."

"So, dad really is dead and Harry's real and…" Gwen stopped. She was at an utter loss for words.

"Everything here is real. College was just a dream."

"And the books?" Gwen squeezed out in a barely audible whisper.

"You mean the Rowling books? That was a nice touch. I made her up and she wrote about current events in our world. I thought you'd best be up to date."

"I think my brain is going to explode."

"Sweetie, I meant well."

"I know mom. I know. It's just a lot to take in."

"Your Professor McGonagall began to suspect something was amiss when you started getting full marks on all your tests. If you were so capable all along then why were you so distracted? Minerva and I go a ways back."

"Did you explain it to her?"

"Not at first, but she understood why. I couldn't let it get out that I was still alive."

"How do you mean?"

"Gwen honey, it's a very long story and you look like you haven't eaten in days. Why don't we sit down over a cup of tea and I'll tell you the whole thing?"

"Sure." Gwen sighed. She just wanted answers and her brain was swarming. If everything her mother was telling her was indeed true then her mother was the most powerful witch alive. Possibly even more powerful than Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard known to date. But that meant that her mother wasn't a muggle and that Gwen was more pureblood than she had first thought.

She watched as her mother took a seat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for Gwen to join her. "It's so strange sitting here." Her mother said.

Gwen took a seat across from her mother and a plate of chicken and potatoes appeared before her. The house elves must have read her mind. She began to eat quickly, forgetting for a moment that her mother was sitting across from her.

Beorc cleared her throat. "So, you really want me to explain everything?"

"Yes." She thought this moment would never come. "Yes I do."

Part Two

Beorc took a deep breath. Where to start? Perhaps the beginning said a tiny voice inside her head.

"Well, I erased most of your memory of what happened in your early childhood and specifically anything you knew about me. Obviously I'm a witch."

"A powerful witch." Gwen said, halfway between awe and anger.

"Yes. Your grandparents were as well. They died in Azkaban."

"My grandparents?"

"Only on my side. You're father's entire family was quite unique. His great-great-grandmother was a faerie and his great-great-grandfather fell in love with her. He cast a spell over her so that they could be together. That's where your fey blood comes from. But all of his family were wizards, and very good wizards at that. All the baddies were on my side." Beorc said with a rare sense of humor.

"I'm assuming my grandparents were death eaters then?" Gwen asked soberly.

"Yes. Right in the thick of it with Lord Voldemort. They were with him before he gained power."

"And you?"

"Well, I was a Slytherin. But I'm not evil. No matter what anyone might tell you to the contrary." Beorc paused to gather her thoughts.

"And?"

"And your father kept me from turning along with everyone else when Voldemort came to power. My parents were pressuring me all the time, but I avoided them as best I could. Your father and I were married in secret and escaped England for a time. For ten years we kept moving about to keep our location unknown. Voldemort was so strong, if he wanted to find you he would. We decided eventually that we shouldn't run anymore and returned to England. That's when you were born, a year before Voldemort fell."

Gwen was looking at her hands. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and noticed that the few other people staying at Hogwarts for holiday were straggling in for lunch, including Harry and Ron. They all noticed the strange woman sitting with her and sat far enough away so as not to hear, but kept glancing over eagerly.

Part Three

"I asked Professor McGonagall to be your godmother when you were born."

"McGonagall is my godmother?"

For the first time all day Beorc smiled. "Yes. She was absolutely thrilled. She had always been my favorite teacher and since she never had children herself, I just felt that it was the right thing to do. And I trusted her. It was such a strange time. Even though it was terrifying to be alive then, people were uniting underneath it regardless of differences. She always told me that I had been her best student and she even over-looked the fact that I was one of those power hungry Slytherins. I knew that if anything ever happened to us that she would care for you well and that you'd always be protected."

And suddenly it clicked. Of course McGonagall would take a special interest in her if she was her godchild. Every question she had about that particular issue had been put to bed. But there were still so many questions to be answered.

"You grew up in a wizarding family and though it was rough for that first year when Voldemort disappeared everything was that much better. Your father and I thrived and you grew up so quickly. We didn't tell you about your grandparents because we didn't want you to go around with that hanging over your head. When they died we had them buried there and I haven't thought on them since."

Beorc gave her daughter a moment. She needed a moment herself to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry that they died." Gwen said softly.

"You shouldn't be. They were awful people." Beorc's face hardened slightly. "Besides, it's in the past and they're gone. They can't spread any more evil."

Gwen watched her mother closely. She saw the sadness in her eyes; the circles of regret and worry deep and black underneath. She placed her hand on top of her mother's and saw how suddenly she didn't seem quite so sad as she had been moments before.

"You're an amazing kid Gwen. I'm sorry to have underestimated you."

"I think I underestimated myself."

"Well, when your father died I hardly knew what to do with myself. It was terrible really. No one knew that the death eaters were still about. Your father and I wanted a vacation. So we left you with your Aunt Ann and your father's brother George. We spent eight glorious days together but it was a short lived glory. The death eaters hadn't been active for years and suddenly a group of them had us cornered. They killed your father and attempted to kill me. It was almost too easy to fake my death."

"Why would you want to?"

"Because if the death eaters were still around they would want me dead anyway. It was most likely that my own parents had signed a warrant for my death as a last wish from Azkaban. In the end it just worked out. I altered my appearance and changed my name. When it was safe enough to return home I took you back and erased everything. I made the dream world for you and off you went. One year before we received your acceptance letter to Hogwarts."

Part Four

"But what about everything in the dream world?" Gwen asked.

"You mean your friends?"

Gwen was a bit taken aback at how well her mother really knew her. Of course she was thinking about her friends Gabby, Chris and Graves. Especially Graves. She was so afraid that they weren't real.

Her mother gazed at her sadly. "I'm afraid that they aren't really your friends."

Gwen felt a giant sob rising in her chest and she concentrated so much on it that she scarcely heard her mother's next words. "However they do exist."

"They…" She could hardly get the words out.

"Yes. They live in this world. Corwin Graves is a seventh year student in Slytherin."

"A Slytherin?"

"Not all Slytherins are bad." Her mother said pointedly.

"What about Gabby and Chris?"

"Gabrielle is a fifth year Ravenclaw and Christopher is a sixth year Hufflepuff. I thought it was best if you were exposed to people from every house, and I picked the most well rounded students. I cast a rather complicated spell and made them a couple of doppelgangers for your dream world. The rest was all from my imagination and what knowledge I have of the world here outside of Hogwarts."

"What about the age difference? In the college dream I'm 23 years old."

"Yes. That was on purpose. I wanted you to believe so fully in that world, so I made it impossible for you to be a Hogwart's student. You were ten when I put you into the dream. But I adjusted your age so that you were sixteen. You were too old to be accepted, to old to even suspect that you could be enrolled. You'd always been mature for your age anyway."

"And Yggdrasil?" Gwen said, suddenly reminded of her trance.

"Yggdrasil was a clue for you. Three worlds on one tree, three worlds for you. None was more real than any other, however the dream world was only real for you. And of course it's related to the runes seeing how my parents named me after the rune for birth. I figured eventually the clue would lead you back to me, but I see Mr. Potter did that for you."

"Yes. He's really amazing."

"Indeed." Beorc said with a raised eyebrow. Gwen's relationship with Harry Potter worried her some. Having her daughter so entangled with him could prove dangerous for all three of them.