Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Web of Lies: Revelations.

The next morning, Alec received, much to his surprise, a letter. It was delivered by a small grey owl and was written in a neat penmanship that he had never seen before. Curiously, he opened it, aware that several people were looking at him questioningly. Till now, he had not received any letters since his grandfather could call him to his office at any time he needed to tell him something. His eyes quickly scanned the letter, and he had to do a huge effort to not drop the letter in shock. This was something he hadn't been expecting. Quickly, he glanced to Dumbledore, and by the slight twinkle in the man's eyes, he knew that he had known about this. Frowning, he turned to the letter, reading it more carefully.

Dearest Alec,

Uncle Albus tells me you are doing well at Hogwarts. We were very proud to hear you were sorted in Ravenclaw and are happy to know that you've managed to make a few friends.

I'm very sorry we parted on such bad terms; we didn't mean to hurt you, Alec, but your father was steadily getting worse, and we thought it better for you to be away in case he passed away. I know you didn't want to go stay with Uncle Albus, but please, believe me when I say that it was for the best and that we only had your best interests in mind. I'm very glad to say that your father is doing much better now, maybe you will be able to spend your Christmas holiday with us, if you want, but I prefer not to make promises I don't know I will be able to keep.

I hope you are over your anger and that you will reply to this letter; if not, I guess I can understand.

I hope to hear from you soon,

Love,

Mom.

PS: Could you look up the incantation for the invisible script spell? I would ask Uncle Albus, but I've heard he's very busy right now.

Slowly, Alec folded the letter and pushed it into his bag. He guessed that the woman who had written that letter was related to Dumbledore, and that she had written him to help his cover. For a moment, he puzzled over the spell she had asked about; maybe there was a hidden text in the letter? He would have to check once he was alone. And he would have to go speak with the headmaster; he didn't like being put in such situations without knowing about it beforehand.

"Alec?"

The teen looked over to Lan, who was for once sitting in front of him instead of at his side. "Yes?"

"Who was the letter from?"

For a second, Alec debated whether he should answer that question, knowing that, as usual, the attention of the table was centred on him. Finally, deciding that the letter was useless if he didn't say who it was from, he answered. "My mother."

Lan exchanged a curious look with Mike, the second year sitting at her side. "You must be happy to hear from her."

Alec looked at her intently, knowing that he would be questioned from all sides if he didn't stop it now. "Please, drop it. We had a fight; I don't want to talk about it."

Without another word, he stood up and left the Great Hall. Mike frowned and turned to the girl. "Way to go, Lan."

The witch looked at him annoyed. "How was I supposed to know it was a touchy subject?"

The teen rolled his eyes. "Maybe because of the fact that it's nearly Halloween and he hasn't received a letter before?"

She cuffed him on the head and stood up, gathering her own things. "If I hadn't asked, one of you would have, or don't you think that I don't see that everyone immediately shuts up every time I speak to Alec?"

Leaving a flustered table behind, she hurried out the Hall, trying to catch up with the elusive teen, but to no avail. He had once again disappeared.

Harry quickly made his way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. His grandfather would still be at breakfast so there was no sense to go to his office now, so he went to the bathroom to see if he had guessed right and there was a hidden message on the parchment. Once he was there and he had made sure that there was no one around, he put a hand over the parchment and muttered the charm he had read in one of his grandfather's books.

He was relieved to see the words forming in front of him, reassuring him that he was going to get some kind of explanation before going to class.

Dear Harry,

I apologise for sending such a letter without even introducing myself first. While I hope that Uncle Albus has told you about this arrangement, I know him too well to place much faith in that thought.

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am Amanda Dumbledore and Albus is my uncle-in-law as I am married to his nephew, Chris. We have both been very close to Albus, much closer than anyone in the family, so it was not very surprising when he came to us for help. There are few things that can give you away right now, but Albus' family is not one of them. If something happened to him, we would be warned and had we not known about you things would be revealed. This is why Albus decided to tell us about you. This way, no matter what happens to him, Chris and I will be able to protect you.

You may wonder about the rest of the family, but don't worry about it. Chris and I deal with dangerous creatures all over the world, and we hardly have any contact with anyone except for Albus. My parents died long ago, as did Chris' mother; the only one left that might reveal things is Aberforth, Chris's father, but he has long since earned the reputation of an eccentric and no one would place much faith in his words. Chris had also a sister, but she lives far away, and it's been a long time since they had any contact with each other.

As you see, it has all been taken care of. I know it might be overwhelming right now, but don't worry, you don't need to do anything about this besides accept the occasional letter Chris and I will send. As you read in the other letter, Chris has been ill due to a snakebite he got in Australia. Uncle Albus thought that might be the perfect reason for us to send you to live with him. As I said in the letter, we're supposed to be on bad terms; this way you won't have much trouble keeping in touch with us, as no one will expect you to send a reply. Of course, I might as well warn you that you probably will have an argument about this with Uncle Albus, probably in a place were a lot of people can hear you. You know how he is about deceiving others.

Well, I think this is all you need to know right now; I'm sorry if I shocked you too much. I hope to get to know you once everything is over, maybe even before.

Take care,

Amanda.

To say that Harry was surprised would have been an understatement. Of course, he could understand that Dumbledore had done what he considered best, and this way the charade was much more solid, but nevertheless, he was annoyed. Not because of the letter, more because he hadn't been told what Dumbledore was going to do. Sighing, he folded the parchment, making sure the hidden text had disappeared and headed to class, knowing that he would be distracted for the rest of the day

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my beta reader, Vinnie.