Chapter 8

Year 2023 Common Era

"Graduation was entertaining, though!"

"For you, maybe. I had Michael break up with me, remember?"

"Oh, but you knew that was going to happen."

"Yeah, but it was still a big deal! I didn't see you with a steady boyfriend, for nearly two whole years!"

"No, because I was interested in more important things."

"Like that Keneazle of yours?"

"No, like getting good OWLs and NEWTs."

"Oh, and I didn't get those?"

"Of course you did. But I have to have some excuse for being single for such a long time, don't I?"

"Of course not! There's nothing more powerful than a single woman!"

"Oh, Li, you make me laugh!"

"Of course I do, Ri: without me, you'd be a right dark girlie!"

"That was a pathetic accent, Li."

"I know, wasn't it?"

"Pathetic."

"Completely!"

"Even I could do better."

"Go on, then."

"Never!"

"Oh, here we go, mighty Ri, adventurer, but never giving in to doing an exotic accent…"

"You call Scotland exotic?"

"More exotic than England."

"Have you seen the wizarding community in Scotland? Not a more backward group in the entire world!"

"Ah, but that just makes them more exotic! Exotic merely means different, and if they're backward, that definitely makes them different, doesn't it?"

"Can't refute that."

"Know you can't."

"Course you know I can't, that's why you said it."

"Yup."

"Impossible."

"But love me?"

"'Course."

"Love, too."

"Know."

The girls were sitting back to back on Lianna's bed, Lianna doing her nail polish, Adrienne drawing spirals on a sheet of parchment with her quill. Their conversations often dwindled into half-words that only the two of them could decode. As if in response to the earlier comment, a small, grey ball of fluff stalked into the room, tail held high.

"Coming up, Mist?" Adrienne questioned her pet. A responsive miaow accompanied a thud on the bed as the Keneazle launched up onto the high bed. Lianna frowned in concentration to keep her nail polish from spilling over onto her skin. It was a game for her- if she did spill it on her skin, she could simply charm if off; but the thrill of staying within the lines of her nail amused her for endless hours. The grey pseudo-cat sniffed disdainfully at the girl's polish, before barging onto Adrienne's lap and taking up residence.

"Comfortable?" Adrienne asked her creature pointedly, but the creature merely looked up at her owner with her large green eyes and miaowed 'yes'.

"Impossible," Adrienne repeated, but with a smile on her face.

Mist had been a present for Adrienne's sixteenth birthday; Lianna had received a coat she'd been eyeing off for months. Hermione was quite an avid gift-giver, and good at it. Despite living at opposite ends of the castle, she kept close track of both twins' interests and likes, even keeping abreast of Lianna's roaring social and romantic life.

"Wonder what mama's going to buy us for our birthday?" Lianna mused out loud. Adrienne scratched her Keneazle's ears, making her purr contentedly, filling the whole room with sound. For a small creature, she was quite loud when her mind was put to it.

"Don't know, Li. What would you want?"

"Don't know, Ri. It's all a bit mysterious, isn't it? I mean, she wouldn't even give us a hint!"

Adrienne considered this. There was obviously good reason to not give details, although Adrienne couldn't think of much that would require this level of secrecy. Not even any of the other teachers had any ideas, and they were usually good for finding out what their presents were: Adrienne had already bought a castle for her Keneazle before her mother gave it to her.

But this birthday, the teachers didn't even know.

"Suppose she'll tell us today, won't she?"

Lianna nodded at the rhetorical question. She finished her nail polishing, laying aside the little bottle of paint. "Charm my nails?"

Adrienne picked up her wand and aimed back over her head. Lianna moved her fingers into a direct line. "Evapatora," and the polish was completely dry. Lianna then picked up her own wand and cleaned up her nails, though they were rather neat already.

"Ready to face the world again?"

"Maybe. Midyear holidays are so much fun."

"We get to see mama, if nothing else. Shall we, then?"

"If we want to get our presents, guess we'd better."

"Only reason?"

"Never! I love mama!"

"I know," Adrienne laughed, putting down her quill and parchment, picking up the grey fluff-ball and placing it on her shoulder. They both got up: Adrienne carefully, so as not to dislodge Mist; Lianna careful, so as not to damage her nails. They walked out to the main room of their apartments, looking for their mother.

Hermione had aged gracefully. Her hair was beginning to grey at the temples, and her skin was becoming paler, but she was happier than ever, and that showed through most of all. Being the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had never been so easy, as most people refused to even believe that wizards such as these existed any more. Hermione was convinced that this ignorance would, however, allow another Dark Lord to rise, so she took careful pains to instil in her students the knowledge of what would happen if one such rose again. She hoped she was encouraging wisdom.

Today, however, she was nowhere to be found. Instead, on the table, was a letter, addressed to the twins. Twin quizzical looks met the envelope, and Lianna's hand snatched it up. After handling it for a moment, however, she handed it to Adrienne.

"You read it. It has bad vibes." Lianna's face was genuinely worried, however, so Adrienne grasped the letter.

"Feels like a normal 'dear John' letter to me," Adrienne joked, but Lianna's face didn't warm into a smile. Apprehension entered into Ri's heart, and before her nerve failed her, she tore open the letter and began to read it.

After her eyes had taken in the words, she handed it over to her sister, who handled it as though it were cold and slimy. Lianna had, grasped in her hand, the secret their mother had been living with- and, Adrienne realised, everyone else had known- for eighteen years. This was why nobody had ever asked why their mother was single. This was why Hermione had avoided the issue consistently over the years.

Lianna, shaking now, handed the letter back to Adrienne; pointing at a postscript that had appeared once she had read the letter.

'Girls: my present to you, this birthday, is the knowledge of who your fathers are, if you desire to know. There is a key in the envelope to a vault at Gringott's with the money for a paternity spell. If you don't desire to know, the money is yours to do with as you please. I don't know who they are, and I'm not sure I want to know, as I'm sure you now understand. I will be absent today, but know that I love you very much, as I always have, no matter who they are. All my love, Mama.'

And sure enough, in the envelope was a key, burnished bronze and tiny, with the letter Delta inscribed into its top. Lianna looked up at Adrienne, eyes wide with terror.

"What do we do now?" Her voice was tiny and scratchy; her deep blue eyes close to tears.

"We go." Adrienne stated emphatically. She grasped the key and placed it in her pocket. "I've never really wanted to know who my father is, but now that I can know, I will. If nothing, it will allow me to look him up and curse him for doing that to our mother." If her sister was consumed by apprehension, Adrienne was consumed by fury. The anger did help, however, allowing Lianna some measure of comfort that the knowledge would not be completely bad.

"Let's do it then," Lianna said murkily, and grabbed her sister's hand as they began to walk towards the gate. Mist, still clutching at Adrienne's shoulder, purred again.

~*~

Gringott's was busy, as ever. The noise was reassuring, making Adrienne sure that life would go on, even if her father were evil, or dead; both of which were likely. The goblin behind the desk looked at the girls strangely- although maybe that had something to do with the Keneazle still perched on her shoulder. The cart ride was nauseating, as always, but the girls arrived intact. The amount of money in the vault seemed ridiculously large. They scooped out every last Knut, and then took the hectic trip back up the roller coaster ride. Once they were back up at the desk, Adrienne asked to have the vault closed, and she returned the key.

"This is your key." The goblin replied abruptly, giving the key back to the girl. Adrienne looked suspiciously at the Delta key, before shrugging- much to the consternation of Mist- and putting the key back in her pocket.

"Thankyou," she said to the goblin, and the twins left Gringott's.

It didn't take them long to locate Knockturn Alley, the only place the Paternity spell was performed. It did take them a little while, however, to find the right store- nothing was as well signposted in Knockturn Alley as it was back on Diagon Alley- for obvious reasons.

Finally, they found a store- grey and leering- and they stepped inside. It smelled of mint and rosemary, and a metallic tinge that couldn't be mistaken for anything but blood.

"Pleasant," Lianna whispered. Adrienne agreed.

The attendant chose that moment to push through the doorway. He was short and bowed, his face scarred and pitted as though he had lived through a plague. His eyes were disturbingly green in his sunken eye sockets, however- unnaturally so. Adrienne wondered what drug he took to have this side effect. It was none she had heard of- of course, she had lived at Hogwarts for most of her life, and a more sheltered position didn't exist. All she really knew of the outside world was what she'd learned in her books, and they weren't particularly helpful, either.  Even the restricted section was out of date, now.

"We do Paternity. If that's not what you're looking for, go somewhere else. That's all we do." The little man was obviously used to being asked for darker things than fathers.

"Well, that's what we want. Costs?" Adrienne was as abrupt as she dared to be- the little man with his wispy brown hair and pitted skin made the balls of her feet itch.

"Fifty Galleons each. And a drop of blood for the pot." Adrienne looked a little astonished at the price, but their mother had more than compensated. There was plenty of money in the bag.

"I'll pay up front." Adrienne did realise that this wasn't particularly intelligent, but the amount of money in her pocket was burning out, and she wanted to get rid of it. The large stack of gold coins she pulled out of her moneybag made the man's green eyes even brighter, more eager, but she steeled herself against the desire to turn and run in the other direction. Wouldn't do to back out at this stage. She had to be strong, if only for Lianna's sake- she stood trembling to her right. The little man scooped the coins off the counter with one swipe, pushing them into a register.

"Come through then." He motioned them through the counter, and led the girls back into the rooms of the shopfront. Mist was tense, as Adrienne was, but their collective resolve was enough.

The little man sat them down in a dim room, lit only by one lamp above a couch that the girls sat on. The entire room stank of blood and smoke.

The man took out a small knife and motioned for Adrienne to hold her hand out. With a small quiver, Adrienne did so. Lianna cowered beside her sister, shrinking back into the couch, away from the almost phosphorate shine of the man's eyes.

The blade dipped into Adrienne's skin in the centre of her palm with a sting of pain. Blood welled around the wound, forming a pool in her palm. "Into the pot," the man insisted, and Adrienne moved where he motioned, mesmerised with the sight of dark red blood in the pool of her hand. In the darkness, Adrienne began to make out the form of a cauldron. It was dirty, encrusted with something black around the rim and staining the inside; it made something inside her recoil. She tipped her hand over, draining the viscous liquid into the pot. Dark flames lit under it, and it began to boil. The man, his eyes now brighter than ever, dipped a quill into the cauldron. It dribbled dark liquid back into the pot, and when it had finished, he placed it to paper and said a few silent words. The quill perked up and began to scrawl along the page.

Adrienne turned away, longing not to see the lines and names forming on the page. She felt dirty: shamed that this was what it took to find out her parentage, shamed that her parent had never claimed her. Feelings of guilt, loss, fear and disgust at the dark ritual she had to entertain to find out the person who was responsible for her life swamped her.

Then reason stepped in, bringing indignation with it. This man had defiled her mother. This man had taken away her life. This man was part of the despair that had been tangled around her mother for far too long. This man would pay, if not for her own life, then for her mother's loss of innocence.

Before she could look back at the paper, the man threw silver blotting sand onto the sheet, obscuring the words. This he hastily shook off, and rolled the paper tightly, binding it with a crimson ribbon.

"Your family lines right back to Muggle heritage. It's a long list." He seemed amused at this, but no information escaped his tight-sealed lips. He then turned to Lianna, who had been cowering in the couch whilst watching with interest. The man's eyes beckoned her up, and she rose. Adrienne clutched her paternity with ambivalence.

Lianna's hand was opened, and her blood also went into the pot. She too couldn't stand the sight of her materialising paternity; instead staring unseeingly at her sister. Adrienne couldn't hear her sister's thoughts, but could see the emotions flitting across her sister's open face. Finally, the blotting sand flew on, then slid off again, and the parchment was tightly bound. The small man plucked the quill out of the air and tucked it into a fold of his robes. The glow of his eyes had outdistanced the glow of the lamps, and Mist, still bunched on Adrienne's shoulder, began to make small growling noises under her breath.

"Thankyou, sir." Adrienne had not forgotten her manners, despite her fear of just who her truth-bringer was.

"No," he said chillingly, quietly, "thank you." And he turned and became part of the darkness of the back rooms again.

"Scared, Ri," Lianna quivered.

"Leaving now, Li. It's alright." And Adrienne put her arm over her sister's shoulder, guiding her out of the dark shop, out of the dark alley, and back into the bright glow of Diagon Alley.

"Ice cream." Adrienne decided, and took her sister to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They ate the ice cream sundaes with tantalising slowness, willing away the dangers of knowledge and praying for wisdom.

Ice cream was silent, and despite the noise of the street, a bubble of quiet surrounded the two.

"Still scared, Ri," Lianna murmured into her ice cream.

"Me too, Li. Let's not open them until we're home, okay?"

"Okay. Then it'll just be us, and we won't have to worry about these people seeing our fathers in us."

"Right in one. We'll still have to see if our fathers are in us…"

"But we're different. We've known each other too long to be put off my little things like that. We're our own people. Besides, nothing can be worse than that time you ate mama's cauldron slop," Lianna giggled.

"Hey! You promised not to tell!"

"Mama's not here… but you did smell rather bad. I'm surprised more people didn't notice."

"They were probably just too polite. I never did it again, though."

"Well, I guess you learned that the silver round-bottomed cooking pot isn't for cooking, exactly."

"There's that, too."

The reminiscing took them back to a time when life was simpler, and they soon forgot about the rolls of parchment, tight in their pockets.

~*~

It was dark when they arrived back at Hogwarts.

"Wonder where mama's sleeping tonight? She won't come back here until we've made our decisions and got our knowledge or ignorance."

"Interesting way of putting it, Li. I don't know. I just hope that some man doesn't come along and abduct her on a horse and run away into the night."

Lianna laughed delightedly at the picture, "Can you seriously picture mama being abducted?" She squealed.

"Nope, but it's bound to happen some time!"

"Ooh, so you think mama's got a secret boyfriend?"

"No, but I think it's possible…" Then both girls dissolved into giggles at the thought of their mother in the arms of a man- any man.

"Nobody's silly enough to take her!"

"Come now, Li, that's a bit harsh."

"But she's so prickly! Don't look at me like that, Ri, you know that she's more stubborn than a rock."

"Yes, but it's not nice to say so, Li, not about our own mother like that." But Adrienne's smile broke the words, even as she spoke them, and soon the girls were giggling through the wall into their family apartment.

Once they were there, their task loomed before them. Lianna's face grew pale and drawn again, and she looked at her sister, "You or me, first?"

Adrienne, now at the moment of truth, couldn't think of anything worse than the knowledge that resided in her pocket.

"You," she whispered, slumping down at the kitchen table. Lianna pulled out her scroll resolutely, then, sitting opposite her sister, handed her the scroll.

"You read it."

Adrienne took the scroll, quickly trading her own. Lianna held her twin's scroll, waiting for her paternity to be revealed. Adrienne undid the ribbon, unrolling the parchment on the table. She could see the most ancient names and dates right at the top of the page, and she could see why the little man had been amused.

"Your family is ancient, Li. Your progenitor Muggles were born in the year 583." Lianna's face paled more, "BC."

"That's old," was all she could manage, choked.

"Right down through the ages… We could look up some of these names in Hogwarts: A History."

"Oh, Ri, don't even mention that awful book. I can't believe mama ever made us read that."

"It is quite interesting, though. This only traces immediate paternity. It doesn't even have brothers and sisters, only the producing offspring. Here… Oh, Li," Adrienne looked up at her sister. "Malfoy."

Lianna's pale face went slightly green, then an angry flush spread up into her pale cheeks. "Which one?" She demanded.

"Draco," Adrienne choked out, grabbing her sister's hand as the petite girl dissolved into horrified tears.

"Could be worse," the muffled, soggy words came, "could be his father." Adrienne strongly agreed. Lianna's face reappeared, red and swollen around the eyes, tears spilling unchecked down her cheeks.

"Your turn, sis."

"I know."

Lianna disentangled her hand from her sister's, and slid the ribbon from the page, unrolling.

"Your family's just as old. 584 BC. Oh, I hope this is just a coincidental name… oh, oh, sis…" Lianna was unable to speak the words. She lifted the page to her sister, and she immediately understood why.

Snape. Right there, on the page. Unable to lie. Unable to hide from the truth. Adrienne felt something pinch her heart, and she grabbed her sister's hand to anchor herself through the wave of terrified emotion that swept her up.

"So," Lianna joked through her teary face, "Seeing my father in me yet?" Adrienne smiled at her sister wistfully, grabbed her sister's elfin chin, turned her face this way and that.

"Oh, wait, from this angle you look kind of like a fish… Oh! No, that's not right. Here we go: nice ferret face!" Lianna wrenched her head out of her sister's grip, laughing.

"Let me see…" she said, grabbing Adrienne's chin in her hand. She screwed up her face in mock disgust, quickly letting go and wiping her fingers on her robes, "Adrienne! When did you let your skin get into such condition? I'm appalled!" And then Adrienne was laughing too, hysteria rolling through them both until they began to cry.

"Can't believe it, Li. Can't."

~*~

A/N: Ok, so maybe a little cliché of me. Oh well, I enjoy the storyline, even if I'm a little tacky with the details. Thankyou so much to my reviewers, you guys are awesome! And yes, I was a little transparent in who the fathers were, but I never really meant to keep that a secret for long. The real adventure begins now…

*kitten ^_~