Harry reached Dumbledore's door a few seconds before his friends who were gasping for breath, leaning on the walls as they slowly climbed the last few steps and it was increasingly annoying sensing Harry was mentally tapping his foot impatiently.
When they were nearly there, Harry knocked and opened the door.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry called.
There was no answer and Harry and was wondering where their old headmaster was when he was supposed to be looking in his books.
Harry went over to the desk and sat down on one of the chairs. Hermione and Ron followed suit.
Fawkes the phoenix flew down from where he must have been perched near the office's high roof and landed softly on the arm of Hermione's chair. She stroked his red/gold head distractedly as the trio awaited Dumbledore's return.
They sat for what was probably half an hour in silence and jumped when there was a loud whoosh from the fireplace and Professor Dumbledore stepped out of green flames that had just materialized.
"Ah," he said in surprise. "Did you find anything?" he asked, sweeping down onto his chair.
"Yes." Hermione replied glancing anxiously at Harry. He was staring into space, his body relaxed, lost in his own thoughts.
Hermione passed the book to Dumbledore. He took it from her, lay it down on his desk and opened it at the marked page. He examined the picture and read the passage next to it. He let out a long sigh.
This, Harry noticed, and looked up at his great defender.
"Harry;" Dumbledore began. "I'm so sorry. Your father… forbade me tell you. He believed it was for your own protection."
"How do they relate to each other?" he demanded.
Dumbledore didn't speak straight away, choosing his words carefully. "They were cousins." He told Harry.
"But if my family were good wizards, my parents, my grandparents; what made her so evil?"
"In the beginning she wasn't evil. Let me explain." He told Harry. "It was a complicated family tie that made them cousins," he said. "Your grandfather had a brother called Chris and when he married he had a baby. Your father's aunt, Rose's mother who they named Charlotte. When she was older she had a daughter who she and her husband christened Rose.
They thought she would be an ordinary witch like everyone in your family had been. She was a year older than James and he was fine, had ordinary wizard powers. She started Hogwarts, still normal as she could be, a little odd but that was ok. Then a few years later, she was taking her OWLs at fifteen, your father preparing for them at fourteen. Then… the more she learnt, the more powers she craved. She desired them so strongly some of them came to her. Throwing electricity balls, turning herself invisible by will, and shooting force out her hand, like you can Harry." He added. "She became so… power hungry I had no choice but to expel her. The powers she now possessed were so strong she was not only a threat to others but to herself. She could not control them all the time." He paused, looking at the young adult wizards before him. He continued. "Your family, when she was home, were shocked at her new powers. They were afraid. Afraid of her; afraid of her powers; afraid of what she might become.
They tracked down a practitioner who might've been able to help her control the powers. But, one visit, she got angry when she thought he was pushing to fast. She lost control. She killed him."
The trio were sat forward in their seats, listening intently to his story, Harry absorbing the part of his family's history, covered up for decades.
"Chris and his wife, were in shock, now terrified of their daughter."
"What happened?" Harry asked in a hollow voice. "To her and her parents?"
He knew the answer before Dumbledore replied.
"She killed them."
This is my favourite chapter! Family history! I didn't know I could write so much detail in such a short space of time!