Author's Note: This story begins during the Second year at Hogwarts, during the Chamber of Secrets and will continue as time goes on. This is my first Harry Potter fanfic and along with my friend, ElfFlame, we are writing a series of four stories, which begins with ElfFlame's story- True Revenge. All four of these stories are interrelated and for the best understanding of the characters as we see them, they should be read in conjunction to each other. As always, I own none of this wonderful world that JK Rowling has created.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
Arsinoe3: Severus is such an understanding sweetie, isn't he? I'm having lots of fun with him in this story, and it's only going to keep getting better. Thank you for such a good review.
Tavingtonrose: I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Here's another chapter for you to hopefully enjoy!
Oxi-Nu: I'm sorry, but the cliffhanger couldn't be helped. I hope this makes up for it though.
I've put a lot of time, thought, and effort not only into this story, but into Adriana's life as well, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Revelations
"I was born in London, in the year 1663, to Attis and Callidora Orendes. My parents were immigrants from Greece. I grew up speaking Greek inside my home, and English outside of it. My father was a merchant, my mother kept house. I had two older brothers, Galen, and Thanos, and two older sisters, Enora, and Leda. Since there weren't that many Catholic Greeks then, we were a very close-knit family. Galen became a merchant like my father. Thanos joined the priesthood, he was the pride of my mother's heart. Enora and Leda had arranged marriages to suitable men when they turned 16, as all proper Greek girls did at that time.
"Everybody in my family were Muggles. We knew nothing about the wizarding world, and most of my family thought that anything to do with magic was evil. When I turned 11, I received my letter from Hogwarts. At first I was terrified. Nobody else in my family had ever had anything like this happen to them. Plus, it was a difficult time in England to be a witch. Witches and wizards lived in fear for their lives, and the lives of their loved ones. And being the devout Catholic family we were, witchcraft was thought of as an abomination not to be tolerated or acknowledged.
"My mother was a very cautious and religious woman. She hardly left the house, spoke no English, and lived in constant fear for her and her children's souls. She wanted to send me to a convent, hoping to forget about the letter. She wanted to have Thanos exorcise the demons within my soul, but he didn't want the Church to find out about me, it would damage his career. She prayed and went to Mass daily, praying for my salvation from eternal damnation if I chose to become a witch.
"My father was less pious. He was always a wheeler and a dealer, a very successful businessman. So he was less upset and helped me to look at the idea in a different way. Instead of seeing magic as a curse from the Devil, I came to see it as a gift from God.
"It was my father who escorted me to Diagon Alley to purchase my supplies. While I loved him to death, he did make a couple of scenes haggling over the prices of some of my books and robes. I remember a few other children laughing and pointing at him, he spoke good English, but he did have a thick accent.
"The day I left for Hogwarts, my mother kissed me goodbye and informed me she'd be praying for my soul the entire time. My father took me back to Diagon Alley and watched as I drove away in the carriages Hogwarts sent for us to get to the school. It was a brilliant ride, they soared high in the air! The only bad part about it was we had to leave at night, so nobody would see all the carriages in the air and become alarmed.
"When we arrived, we took the traditional boat ride across the lake to the castle, though we saw in in the daylight. It was much as it is still, the feast on the first day, the sorting ceremony, nothing has changed. I was sorted into Gryffindor. I remember looking at all the other students in my house and thinking I looked nothing like any of them. I was so nervous that we'd have nothing in common with each other.
"I learned to change certain things to avoid being teased. I made the mistake of crossing myself before blessing my food the first morning there, and saw from the glares and whisperings, it wouldn't do to show my religious beliefs. So I learned to hide those things from others. I tucked my crucifix under my robes, so nobody would see it, but I always wore it.
"I also saw how my language differed from the others. My other friends, back home spoke English mixed with Greek, so there were words I'd use that seemed natural to me, but nobody around me at school knew what I was saying. I had to think about everything I said before I opened my mouth.
"I made a few friends slowly. My roommates grew nicer as the weeks passed and we were able to get to know each other better. There were less girls at the school then, so we all tried to stay close to one another, look out for each other. We also had all of our classes together, boys and girls were segregated for the most part. We ate meals together, but classes were separate. We had separate common rooms as well. Girls weren't trained in Quidditch either, so our evenings and weekends were spent with each other, talking, studying, playing together. So, even though we were in separate houses, the girls from the entire school came together, for support and comfort, for we were all far from our homes, and living in a world not really made for us.
"Over time, I settled into a familiar pattern of classes, homework, and socializing. I missed my family terribly though. I received letters from my father almost weekly, for he embraced what I was. He even bought the family an owl to help us stay in touch. I never got a letter from my mother though. Not a word did we have between each other for the entire school year. Not even when I came home for Christmas. Each time I looked at her, she crossed herself as though I was going to perform some evil upon her. It made me feel terrible.
"But soon the holidays were over and I was back at school. I was learning so many new things each day, and I loved it. My best classes were Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. I was far from perfect, but my professors were kind, patient, and didn't judge me when I made a mistake, and I found I grew well under that sort of tutelage.
"And then it was over, my first year was over and done with. I returned home for the summer holiday. I had a hard time explaining to my friends where I had gone, for they didn't go to school any more. For the first time, there was a rift between us, for they could tell I wasn't being truthful with them.
"Things weren't too much better with my mother either. We still didn't speak to each other that much, we tended to communicate through my father. I spent most of the holiday with Galen and my father at their shop. The holiday passed quickly and pleasantly, and then it was back to school.
"The year passed just like the first, and so on, until my fifth year. OWLS were difficult, as they should be, and I don't even remember how I fared, for all of that went out the window when I returned home for the holiday and had a talk with my father. He'd found a boy for me to marry. He'd been looking for some time for just the right boy in order to make a good connection to the upper class, and had found a pureblood family with a son at Hogwarts. I knew he had to be fairly wealthy, for his family was neither Greek nor Catholic. My father would never allow me to marry somebody like that unless he stood to gain a lot from it. Our parents had made the arrangements, and told us after everything was set. This was not uncommon, most of the sixth and seventh year girls were betrothed in this time period. I'd just gotten so wrapped up in my education, I'd completely forgotten about this aspect of my future.
"His name was Geoffrey Howarth, we were in the same year, but he was a Ravenclaw, and I'd never met him. Our parents arranged a meeting for us over the holiday. My father and I traveled to his home in the outskirts of London to see him. It was an awkward meeting to say the least, what with our
parents being present and the idea that we were to be married in two years time.
"When the school year began, we tried to find time at meals to get better acquainted with one another. He was a handsome boy, with pale white skin, sandy brown hair, and deep brown eyes. He was shy around me, though very kind. I felt safe with him. By the time we left Hogwarts at the end of our seventh year, we had gotten to know one another pretty well, though we'd never done more than hold hands a couple of times.
"I'd done very well in school, but had more important things to think about, like running a household, and becoming a wife. We were married in August and moved into a small cottage on Geoffrey's family's property. I can remember that first night together, neither of us knew what we were doing. Girls were not educated about their wifely duties back then except for the fact that we were supposed to just lie there silently, and let our husbands do what they wanted to us. We mostly learned by experience on our wedding night. But it's amazing what bodies seem to know instinctively. All I remember was that it involved blood and a lot of pain, and it didn't make me want to do it ever again. But each time grew less painful, until there was no pain, only pleasure.
"I became pregnant almost immediately, yet miscarried after a few weeks. A few months later, I became pregnant again, successfully. I gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Eleanor, when I was 18 years old. Geoffrey and I were very happy together, not necessarily in love, but loving towards one another. We were a happy family for a year, until Geoffrey died in a horseback riding accident. I was devastated, what was to become of me and my daughter?
"Not wanting to live with Geoffrey's family, I moved back to my father's home in London. I was trying to cope with the loss of my husband, and raise a child, when I received another letter from Hogwarts. This letter was asking me to take the position of potions mistress at the school, as the professor had retired the year earlier, and they were needing a new one. I thought the headmaster was only asking me this out of pity for my situation, but I accepted the position anyway.
"I returned to the school, having left Eleanor in the care of my parents. I was so nervous to be teaching so many students, some of whom were only a couple of years younger than myself. I loved it though; I loved the students, we had so much fun experimenting with different potions. We learned from one another.
"The years passed, and I continued to teach at Hogwarts, I visited home and my daughter during the Christmas and summer holidays. I always felt guilty that I couldn't spend more time with Eleanor, she was growing up so fast, and I was missing it all. My parents loved having her around, especially my mother. We'd had a strained relationship for such a long time that I think she liked the idea of having another child around to pass on all the Greek and Catholic ideals that were so important to her.
"Ten years passed, and I was still teaching at Hogwarts. Eleanor was 11, yet received no letter. As disappointed as I was that I would not be able to see her more often, I didn't feel any shame or embarrassment that she was a squib, for magic is not to be given to all people, and perhaps her talents lay elsewhere.
"I remember one day during my tenth year of teaching, a student had mixed several different potions together to see what would happen. As he brought a vial of the mixture over to my table, he tripped and spilled the potion all over me. He felt terrible, having ruined my clothes, but I assured him there was no harm done, and sent him on his way to his next class. I thought nothing more about that little accident, and completely forgot it for a very long time.
"The years flew by pleasantly, until Eleanor turned 16. She sent me a letter informing me she was entering a convent. My mother had done a good job of making up for my choice to become a witch. So Eleanor became a nun. She was happy, so I was happy for her. She actually was a very successful nun, and ended up becoming Mother Superior of her convent.
"Five years later, when I was 39, two very important things happened in my life. I began to realize that I didn't look any older than I did ten years ago. I had no wrinkles, no gray hairs, nothing that made me look aged. I wasn't too alarmed, I enjoyed it actually! But the other incident wasn't as pleasant.
"Eleanor had always been particularly over-zealous in her Catholicism, and I came to regret that. She decided that to save my soul, she had to inform the Church of my witch status. She told them about Hogwarts, and its location. There was an uproar in the wizarding world, as protective charms had to be set up to hide not only the school and its inhabitants, but the entire wizarding world, from the Church. At the same time, there was an uproar in not only the Muggle world, but the Catholic community as well. I was excommunicated from the Church, it was devastating. And then I was summoned by the Ministry of Magic to answer for my daughter's actions. I never blamed the Church for what happened. I blamed my daughter, and cut myself off from her after that. It was mutually decided that I needed to end my employment at Hogwarts. I was also encouraged to leave the wizarding world entirely, for a while, until the fervour died down.
"I left for America as soon as I could book passage on a ship sailing there. It took a month to get there, and when I arrived, I realized I'd made a huge mistake. I had no relations here, and this was not exactly a place where witchcraft was accepted any more so than back home. They were fond of burning women at the stake if they suspected them to be a witch. I didn't stay long before returning to England. I moved to a small village along the coast, quite close to where I live now, but further south. I blended into my surroundings, and continued to practice spells and charms in the privacy of my home. Since I was starting my life over again, I took my maiden name back, to distance myself from all the problems of my past.
"As more years passed, I still hadn't aged anymore than I had since I was 30. I realized something was wrong with me. What had happened? As I wracked my brains for what could possibly be stunting the aging process, a memory emerged from far within the recesses of my mind. The day the boy spilled all those potions on me. That was the only thing I could think of that may have cause this. I didn't know which potions he'd mixed together, and no clue how to reverse the effect. Would I stay like this forever? Would I live until I was old and die looking so young? There was no way of knowing until more time passed.
"Time passed, I continued to practice spells and potions, until I realized I had lived far too long among the people of my village to not have aged and stay unnoticed. So I moved away, to a new village, new people. I did this every decade or so. It's difficult to not grow too fond of the people you live among, knowing you'll have to leave them one day.
"So it just kept going like that, living, moving, practicing, and so on and so on, until I thought I'd go mad. Even though I never saw them anymore, I missed my parents, well, my father at least, who had died several years ago. I was completely cut off from my family, or whoever was still alive. Eleanor was still alive, but I hadn't spoken to her since the incident. It was a strange feeling to know that I was older than my daughter, yet she would appear to be older than me. The thought of watching her grow old and eventually die of old age was too much to bear, and so I didn't try to contact her. She died in 1771, she was 90. It's still painful to think about the fact that I never forgave her before she died. Now I was completely alone in the world, there was nobody that I knew in my younger days that was still alive. And I wasn't ready to go back to the Magical world, I didn't think I'd ever be ready for that, so I embraced my Muggle lifestyle with pride.
"I devoted my life to finding the cure to my affliction. I studied every book I could find, both magical and Muggle, yet none of them gave me any leads. I dabbled in the Dark Arts. I traveled the globe studying different forms of magic like voodoo, and shamanism, looking for a cure, with no luck. Along the way I did sell many of my potions and created quite a fortune for myself.
"I didn't realize how much power I was gaining until one day when I lost my wand. I needed it to lift a heavy bucket from the floor up to the kitchen table, but I had no idea where my wand was, and I couldn't apparate to Diagon Alley for a new one, because I had no wand. I tore my house apart looking for it, but never did find it. So I decided to experiment. I stood in front of the bucket and concentrated very hard. Speaking aloud, I said in a clear voice, "Wingardium Leviosa". I didn't think anything would happen, and was shocked when the bucket floated up off the ground. It got about halfway to the table before crashing back to the floor and spilling all over the place, but I hadn't used my wand!
"I continued to practice this, until I could do most spells without my wand. It's really a matter of convenience more than anything, I don't have to worry about where I put my wand. That's all the advantage it really gives you. I started with small things, like you learn in the first year at school, but without the wand. I would concentrate and say the spell and it would happen.
"As the years went on and I continued to practice, I was able to think the spell in my mind instead of say it out loud. After a while I didn't even have to think the spell itself, only what I wanted to happen, and it would.
"Another aspect of the accident that stunted my aging, was that I had strong protective shielding. It probably didn't help with all the studying I did on those sorts of defensive spells over the decades either, now that I think about it. I don't even think about it all anymore, it's such a part of who I am. It isn't that important. It's really boring actually.
"More time passed, I can't even remember the years anymore, 1700 something, 1800 something, it all runs together after a while. Then one day, my life changed yet again, forever. I was in a general store in London, looking at all the barrels of sweets, when a handsome man walked over and stood next to me. He was looking at the sweets too, trying to find something good to eat. He was very handsome, with long red hair, and a red goatee. He picked up a piece of candy and looked at it as though he'd never seen one before. "Fascinating," I remember him saying that.
"I looked at him, smiled and said, "You know, they call those 'lemon drops' in the States." He looked down at me and smiled back. He ended up buying some, and they became his favourite sweet, and they still are to this day. We started to talk and really hit it off. If you haven't guessed already, it was Albus. There was no dating back then, but we courted for a while, and got to know one another better. It took a long time for us to reveal our magical status to one another. But we laughed so hard when we realized we were the same!
"We grew from friends to lovers after that. I didn't tell him how advanced at magic I was for some time, but he knew, he knows everything. We stayed together for about 40 years, though we never married. I wanted to get married, but he didn't. I loved him more than any other man I'd ever been with before. There had been other men in my life over the years, the ones in France and India, were the most memorable, but they never amounted to much. Albus was different. I didn't have to hide who or what I really was.
"We had a child together. I knew by then that I controlled if I got pregnant or not, because there had been other pregnancies when I had wanted them, but I'd miscarried each time. We had a boy, Brian, he was beautiful, but he was stillborn. He never lived to see the world. We were heart-broken, it's what eventually drove us apart. Albus was growing older and I wasn't, he was always wiser than me, and I don't think he could handle being the mature one anymore.
"So we went our separate ways, I to the Muggle world, he to the wizarding world, but we stayed in touch. We sent letters to each other constantly, keeping up with our lives. Several years passed, and then the Great War came. I experienced it first-hand, and narrated to Albus the details of the war. Nobody thought a war this horrific would ever happen again in the Muggle world, but there I was, living through it. And then it was over. Almost two decades passed before the next World War began, and Albus and I saw each other a few more times. We had an on-again, off-again relationship during that time.
"The Second World War was difficult as well. I was living in London during the bombings. There were several nights spent in bomb shelters underground with complete strangers. I learned to live on ration tickets and what I could grow in my victory garden. There was a period of about 5 months when all I had to eat were onions. Fried onions, stewed onions, baked onions; onions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I haven't been able to eat an onion since. I could go into much more detail about those war experiences, but I won't, it's not a thing I like to speak of.
"The war ended the same year Albus defeated Grindelwald. We both had a lot to celebrate, and did so. You remember the fire dress I wore a couple of years ago at the Masque? I wore that the night we, well, you know. It was after that point that Albus insisted I reenter the wizarding world. I started with small things like going back to Diagon Alley, or Knockturn Alley. After a while I visited him at Hogwarts. It's amazing how after such a long time, not much had really changed. Although there were more female students, they shared classes and common rooms and could play Quidditch, but otherwise, it was the same as when I attended and taught there.
"This lasted for a couple of decades until the rise of Voldemort. Muggles were being harassed and killed, nobody was safe. Albus was worried about me, and what the Death Eaters would do to me if they found out about my powers. He shipped me off to the States to ride out the trouble until it was over, so I missed all the fun the first time around.
"When the troubles blew over, Albus told me I could come back, so I did. I found the property I live on now and moved there. I went back and forth between the two worlds off and on for almost two more decades, until one day, at a trinket shop, I met a man who would take my life in a whole new direction.
"And that's it really, that's all there is to know about me. I've been very bitter for most of my life, but started to come out of it around the time I met Albus, and for that I've been eternally grateful to him.
"I know I haven't been truthful to you Severus, and I'll understand if you can't forgive me. I've learned the hard way to keep those things to myself, and it's hard to see who I can and can't trust."
Severus gazed at Adriana. He didn't know how anybody could have lived a life like that and stayed as sane and happy as she seemed. Without speaking, he grabbed Adriana's hand, and drew her over to him. Standing up, he hugged her tightly, kissed the top of her head, and held her while she started to cry onto his shoulder.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
Arsinoe3: Severus is such an understanding sweetie, isn't he? I'm having lots of fun with him in this story, and it's only going to keep getting better. Thank you for such a good review.
Tavingtonrose: I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Here's another chapter for you to hopefully enjoy!
Oxi-Nu: I'm sorry, but the cliffhanger couldn't be helped. I hope this makes up for it though.
I've put a lot of time, thought, and effort not only into this story, but into Adriana's life as well, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Revelations
"I was born in London, in the year 1663, to Attis and Callidora Orendes. My parents were immigrants from Greece. I grew up speaking Greek inside my home, and English outside of it. My father was a merchant, my mother kept house. I had two older brothers, Galen, and Thanos, and two older sisters, Enora, and Leda. Since there weren't that many Catholic Greeks then, we were a very close-knit family. Galen became a merchant like my father. Thanos joined the priesthood, he was the pride of my mother's heart. Enora and Leda had arranged marriages to suitable men when they turned 16, as all proper Greek girls did at that time.
"Everybody in my family were Muggles. We knew nothing about the wizarding world, and most of my family thought that anything to do with magic was evil. When I turned 11, I received my letter from Hogwarts. At first I was terrified. Nobody else in my family had ever had anything like this happen to them. Plus, it was a difficult time in England to be a witch. Witches and wizards lived in fear for their lives, and the lives of their loved ones. And being the devout Catholic family we were, witchcraft was thought of as an abomination not to be tolerated or acknowledged.
"My mother was a very cautious and religious woman. She hardly left the house, spoke no English, and lived in constant fear for her and her children's souls. She wanted to send me to a convent, hoping to forget about the letter. She wanted to have Thanos exorcise the demons within my soul, but he didn't want the Church to find out about me, it would damage his career. She prayed and went to Mass daily, praying for my salvation from eternal damnation if I chose to become a witch.
"My father was less pious. He was always a wheeler and a dealer, a very successful businessman. So he was less upset and helped me to look at the idea in a different way. Instead of seeing magic as a curse from the Devil, I came to see it as a gift from God.
"It was my father who escorted me to Diagon Alley to purchase my supplies. While I loved him to death, he did make a couple of scenes haggling over the prices of some of my books and robes. I remember a few other children laughing and pointing at him, he spoke good English, but he did have a thick accent.
"The day I left for Hogwarts, my mother kissed me goodbye and informed me she'd be praying for my soul the entire time. My father took me back to Diagon Alley and watched as I drove away in the carriages Hogwarts sent for us to get to the school. It was a brilliant ride, they soared high in the air! The only bad part about it was we had to leave at night, so nobody would see all the carriages in the air and become alarmed.
"When we arrived, we took the traditional boat ride across the lake to the castle, though we saw in in the daylight. It was much as it is still, the feast on the first day, the sorting ceremony, nothing has changed. I was sorted into Gryffindor. I remember looking at all the other students in my house and thinking I looked nothing like any of them. I was so nervous that we'd have nothing in common with each other.
"I learned to change certain things to avoid being teased. I made the mistake of crossing myself before blessing my food the first morning there, and saw from the glares and whisperings, it wouldn't do to show my religious beliefs. So I learned to hide those things from others. I tucked my crucifix under my robes, so nobody would see it, but I always wore it.
"I also saw how my language differed from the others. My other friends, back home spoke English mixed with Greek, so there were words I'd use that seemed natural to me, but nobody around me at school knew what I was saying. I had to think about everything I said before I opened my mouth.
"I made a few friends slowly. My roommates grew nicer as the weeks passed and we were able to get to know each other better. There were less girls at the school then, so we all tried to stay close to one another, look out for each other. We also had all of our classes together, boys and girls were segregated for the most part. We ate meals together, but classes were separate. We had separate common rooms as well. Girls weren't trained in Quidditch either, so our evenings and weekends were spent with each other, talking, studying, playing together. So, even though we were in separate houses, the girls from the entire school came together, for support and comfort, for we were all far from our homes, and living in a world not really made for us.
"Over time, I settled into a familiar pattern of classes, homework, and socializing. I missed my family terribly though. I received letters from my father almost weekly, for he embraced what I was. He even bought the family an owl to help us stay in touch. I never got a letter from my mother though. Not a word did we have between each other for the entire school year. Not even when I came home for Christmas. Each time I looked at her, she crossed herself as though I was going to perform some evil upon her. It made me feel terrible.
"But soon the holidays were over and I was back at school. I was learning so many new things each day, and I loved it. My best classes were Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. I was far from perfect, but my professors were kind, patient, and didn't judge me when I made a mistake, and I found I grew well under that sort of tutelage.
"And then it was over, my first year was over and done with. I returned home for the summer holiday. I had a hard time explaining to my friends where I had gone, for they didn't go to school any more. For the first time, there was a rift between us, for they could tell I wasn't being truthful with them.
"Things weren't too much better with my mother either. We still didn't speak to each other that much, we tended to communicate through my father. I spent most of the holiday with Galen and my father at their shop. The holiday passed quickly and pleasantly, and then it was back to school.
"The year passed just like the first, and so on, until my fifth year. OWLS were difficult, as they should be, and I don't even remember how I fared, for all of that went out the window when I returned home for the holiday and had a talk with my father. He'd found a boy for me to marry. He'd been looking for some time for just the right boy in order to make a good connection to the upper class, and had found a pureblood family with a son at Hogwarts. I knew he had to be fairly wealthy, for his family was neither Greek nor Catholic. My father would never allow me to marry somebody like that unless he stood to gain a lot from it. Our parents had made the arrangements, and told us after everything was set. This was not uncommon, most of the sixth and seventh year girls were betrothed in this time period. I'd just gotten so wrapped up in my education, I'd completely forgotten about this aspect of my future.
"His name was Geoffrey Howarth, we were in the same year, but he was a Ravenclaw, and I'd never met him. Our parents arranged a meeting for us over the holiday. My father and I traveled to his home in the outskirts of London to see him. It was an awkward meeting to say the least, what with our
parents being present and the idea that we were to be married in two years time.
"When the school year began, we tried to find time at meals to get better acquainted with one another. He was a handsome boy, with pale white skin, sandy brown hair, and deep brown eyes. He was shy around me, though very kind. I felt safe with him. By the time we left Hogwarts at the end of our seventh year, we had gotten to know one another pretty well, though we'd never done more than hold hands a couple of times.
"I'd done very well in school, but had more important things to think about, like running a household, and becoming a wife. We were married in August and moved into a small cottage on Geoffrey's family's property. I can remember that first night together, neither of us knew what we were doing. Girls were not educated about their wifely duties back then except for the fact that we were supposed to just lie there silently, and let our husbands do what they wanted to us. We mostly learned by experience on our wedding night. But it's amazing what bodies seem to know instinctively. All I remember was that it involved blood and a lot of pain, and it didn't make me want to do it ever again. But each time grew less painful, until there was no pain, only pleasure.
"I became pregnant almost immediately, yet miscarried after a few weeks. A few months later, I became pregnant again, successfully. I gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Eleanor, when I was 18 years old. Geoffrey and I were very happy together, not necessarily in love, but loving towards one another. We were a happy family for a year, until Geoffrey died in a horseback riding accident. I was devastated, what was to become of me and my daughter?
"Not wanting to live with Geoffrey's family, I moved back to my father's home in London. I was trying to cope with the loss of my husband, and raise a child, when I received another letter from Hogwarts. This letter was asking me to take the position of potions mistress at the school, as the professor had retired the year earlier, and they were needing a new one. I thought the headmaster was only asking me this out of pity for my situation, but I accepted the position anyway.
"I returned to the school, having left Eleanor in the care of my parents. I was so nervous to be teaching so many students, some of whom were only a couple of years younger than myself. I loved it though; I loved the students, we had so much fun experimenting with different potions. We learned from one another.
"The years passed, and I continued to teach at Hogwarts, I visited home and my daughter during the Christmas and summer holidays. I always felt guilty that I couldn't spend more time with Eleanor, she was growing up so fast, and I was missing it all. My parents loved having her around, especially my mother. We'd had a strained relationship for such a long time that I think she liked the idea of having another child around to pass on all the Greek and Catholic ideals that were so important to her.
"Ten years passed, and I was still teaching at Hogwarts. Eleanor was 11, yet received no letter. As disappointed as I was that I would not be able to see her more often, I didn't feel any shame or embarrassment that she was a squib, for magic is not to be given to all people, and perhaps her talents lay elsewhere.
"I remember one day during my tenth year of teaching, a student had mixed several different potions together to see what would happen. As he brought a vial of the mixture over to my table, he tripped and spilled the potion all over me. He felt terrible, having ruined my clothes, but I assured him there was no harm done, and sent him on his way to his next class. I thought nothing more about that little accident, and completely forgot it for a very long time.
"The years flew by pleasantly, until Eleanor turned 16. She sent me a letter informing me she was entering a convent. My mother had done a good job of making up for my choice to become a witch. So Eleanor became a nun. She was happy, so I was happy for her. She actually was a very successful nun, and ended up becoming Mother Superior of her convent.
"Five years later, when I was 39, two very important things happened in my life. I began to realize that I didn't look any older than I did ten years ago. I had no wrinkles, no gray hairs, nothing that made me look aged. I wasn't too alarmed, I enjoyed it actually! But the other incident wasn't as pleasant.
"Eleanor had always been particularly over-zealous in her Catholicism, and I came to regret that. She decided that to save my soul, she had to inform the Church of my witch status. She told them about Hogwarts, and its location. There was an uproar in the wizarding world, as protective charms had to be set up to hide not only the school and its inhabitants, but the entire wizarding world, from the Church. At the same time, there was an uproar in not only the Muggle world, but the Catholic community as well. I was excommunicated from the Church, it was devastating. And then I was summoned by the Ministry of Magic to answer for my daughter's actions. I never blamed the Church for what happened. I blamed my daughter, and cut myself off from her after that. It was mutually decided that I needed to end my employment at Hogwarts. I was also encouraged to leave the wizarding world entirely, for a while, until the fervour died down.
"I left for America as soon as I could book passage on a ship sailing there. It took a month to get there, and when I arrived, I realized I'd made a huge mistake. I had no relations here, and this was not exactly a place where witchcraft was accepted any more so than back home. They were fond of burning women at the stake if they suspected them to be a witch. I didn't stay long before returning to England. I moved to a small village along the coast, quite close to where I live now, but further south. I blended into my surroundings, and continued to practice spells and charms in the privacy of my home. Since I was starting my life over again, I took my maiden name back, to distance myself from all the problems of my past.
"As more years passed, I still hadn't aged anymore than I had since I was 30. I realized something was wrong with me. What had happened? As I wracked my brains for what could possibly be stunting the aging process, a memory emerged from far within the recesses of my mind. The day the boy spilled all those potions on me. That was the only thing I could think of that may have cause this. I didn't know which potions he'd mixed together, and no clue how to reverse the effect. Would I stay like this forever? Would I live until I was old and die looking so young? There was no way of knowing until more time passed.
"Time passed, I continued to practice spells and potions, until I realized I had lived far too long among the people of my village to not have aged and stay unnoticed. So I moved away, to a new village, new people. I did this every decade or so. It's difficult to not grow too fond of the people you live among, knowing you'll have to leave them one day.
"So it just kept going like that, living, moving, practicing, and so on and so on, until I thought I'd go mad. Even though I never saw them anymore, I missed my parents, well, my father at least, who had died several years ago. I was completely cut off from my family, or whoever was still alive. Eleanor was still alive, but I hadn't spoken to her since the incident. It was a strange feeling to know that I was older than my daughter, yet she would appear to be older than me. The thought of watching her grow old and eventually die of old age was too much to bear, and so I didn't try to contact her. She died in 1771, she was 90. It's still painful to think about the fact that I never forgave her before she died. Now I was completely alone in the world, there was nobody that I knew in my younger days that was still alive. And I wasn't ready to go back to the Magical world, I didn't think I'd ever be ready for that, so I embraced my Muggle lifestyle with pride.
"I devoted my life to finding the cure to my affliction. I studied every book I could find, both magical and Muggle, yet none of them gave me any leads. I dabbled in the Dark Arts. I traveled the globe studying different forms of magic like voodoo, and shamanism, looking for a cure, with no luck. Along the way I did sell many of my potions and created quite a fortune for myself.
"I didn't realize how much power I was gaining until one day when I lost my wand. I needed it to lift a heavy bucket from the floor up to the kitchen table, but I had no idea where my wand was, and I couldn't apparate to Diagon Alley for a new one, because I had no wand. I tore my house apart looking for it, but never did find it. So I decided to experiment. I stood in front of the bucket and concentrated very hard. Speaking aloud, I said in a clear voice, "Wingardium Leviosa". I didn't think anything would happen, and was shocked when the bucket floated up off the ground. It got about halfway to the table before crashing back to the floor and spilling all over the place, but I hadn't used my wand!
"I continued to practice this, until I could do most spells without my wand. It's really a matter of convenience more than anything, I don't have to worry about where I put my wand. That's all the advantage it really gives you. I started with small things, like you learn in the first year at school, but without the wand. I would concentrate and say the spell and it would happen.
"As the years went on and I continued to practice, I was able to think the spell in my mind instead of say it out loud. After a while I didn't even have to think the spell itself, only what I wanted to happen, and it would.
"Another aspect of the accident that stunted my aging, was that I had strong protective shielding. It probably didn't help with all the studying I did on those sorts of defensive spells over the decades either, now that I think about it. I don't even think about it all anymore, it's such a part of who I am. It isn't that important. It's really boring actually.
"More time passed, I can't even remember the years anymore, 1700 something, 1800 something, it all runs together after a while. Then one day, my life changed yet again, forever. I was in a general store in London, looking at all the barrels of sweets, when a handsome man walked over and stood next to me. He was looking at the sweets too, trying to find something good to eat. He was very handsome, with long red hair, and a red goatee. He picked up a piece of candy and looked at it as though he'd never seen one before. "Fascinating," I remember him saying that.
"I looked at him, smiled and said, "You know, they call those 'lemon drops' in the States." He looked down at me and smiled back. He ended up buying some, and they became his favourite sweet, and they still are to this day. We started to talk and really hit it off. If you haven't guessed already, it was Albus. There was no dating back then, but we courted for a while, and got to know one another better. It took a long time for us to reveal our magical status to one another. But we laughed so hard when we realized we were the same!
"We grew from friends to lovers after that. I didn't tell him how advanced at magic I was for some time, but he knew, he knows everything. We stayed together for about 40 years, though we never married. I wanted to get married, but he didn't. I loved him more than any other man I'd ever been with before. There had been other men in my life over the years, the ones in France and India, were the most memorable, but they never amounted to much. Albus was different. I didn't have to hide who or what I really was.
"We had a child together. I knew by then that I controlled if I got pregnant or not, because there had been other pregnancies when I had wanted them, but I'd miscarried each time. We had a boy, Brian, he was beautiful, but he was stillborn. He never lived to see the world. We were heart-broken, it's what eventually drove us apart. Albus was growing older and I wasn't, he was always wiser than me, and I don't think he could handle being the mature one anymore.
"So we went our separate ways, I to the Muggle world, he to the wizarding world, but we stayed in touch. We sent letters to each other constantly, keeping up with our lives. Several years passed, and then the Great War came. I experienced it first-hand, and narrated to Albus the details of the war. Nobody thought a war this horrific would ever happen again in the Muggle world, but there I was, living through it. And then it was over. Almost two decades passed before the next World War began, and Albus and I saw each other a few more times. We had an on-again, off-again relationship during that time.
"The Second World War was difficult as well. I was living in London during the bombings. There were several nights spent in bomb shelters underground with complete strangers. I learned to live on ration tickets and what I could grow in my victory garden. There was a period of about 5 months when all I had to eat were onions. Fried onions, stewed onions, baked onions; onions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I haven't been able to eat an onion since. I could go into much more detail about those war experiences, but I won't, it's not a thing I like to speak of.
"The war ended the same year Albus defeated Grindelwald. We both had a lot to celebrate, and did so. You remember the fire dress I wore a couple of years ago at the Masque? I wore that the night we, well, you know. It was after that point that Albus insisted I reenter the wizarding world. I started with small things like going back to Diagon Alley, or Knockturn Alley. After a while I visited him at Hogwarts. It's amazing how after such a long time, not much had really changed. Although there were more female students, they shared classes and common rooms and could play Quidditch, but otherwise, it was the same as when I attended and taught there.
"This lasted for a couple of decades until the rise of Voldemort. Muggles were being harassed and killed, nobody was safe. Albus was worried about me, and what the Death Eaters would do to me if they found out about my powers. He shipped me off to the States to ride out the trouble until it was over, so I missed all the fun the first time around.
"When the troubles blew over, Albus told me I could come back, so I did. I found the property I live on now and moved there. I went back and forth between the two worlds off and on for almost two more decades, until one day, at a trinket shop, I met a man who would take my life in a whole new direction.
"And that's it really, that's all there is to know about me. I've been very bitter for most of my life, but started to come out of it around the time I met Albus, and for that I've been eternally grateful to him.
"I know I haven't been truthful to you Severus, and I'll understand if you can't forgive me. I've learned the hard way to keep those things to myself, and it's hard to see who I can and can't trust."
Severus gazed at Adriana. He didn't know how anybody could have lived a life like that and stayed as sane and happy as she seemed. Without speaking, he grabbed Adriana's hand, and drew her over to him. Standing up, he hugged her tightly, kissed the top of her head, and held her while she started to cry onto his shoulder.