Authors note is at the bottom this time. You're all gonna hate me for the cliffhanger in the last subject and the release of this chapter.
Present Day
"What the hell? That's so messed up!" Victoria "Vicki" Hartwell yelled loudly as she threw her grandmother's diary across the room.
Vicki had been reading her grandmother's diary for the majority of the previous night and had picked it up again in the morning to continue the story. It was an interesting read and she was devouring the words on the pages and sinking her teeth into the story her grandmother had to tell.
She took comfort in her grandmother's insecurities. Her grandmother was quite different to her – in fact Vicki related more to the new rival that had just been introduced in the journal – Mary Figglestill. Vicki like Mary was a dark haired Ravenclaw who had been made Head Girl for the upcoming school year, and like Mary, Vicki excelled in difficult academic subjects and was well known for being intelligent. The only obvious thing that Vicki felt she shared with her grandmother were blue eyes and pale skin.
But she felt her grandmother's insecurities, especially in the last chapter of the story. In the previous school year Vicki had lost the love of her life to a beautiful and exotic foe, Fleur Delacour, who made Roger Davies forget all about little Vicky. The irony was that her grandmother seemed to think having Veela blood was not enough and that Riddle's eyes would wander onto the more esteemed Mary Figglestill. In Vicki's case it was the complete opposite, Roger left her because Fleur was more closely related to a Veela and had more of their fair features.
Not that Vicki dwelled on it anymore, in all honesty she and Fleur had patched things up at the end of the previous school year – it was Vicki who had pushed Bill and Fleur together. Fleur had done her a tremendous favour in forcing Roger out of the way so Vicki could pay attention to poor Fred Weasley who had fallen head over heels for her, so Vicki returned the favour when she noticed Fleur eyeing Bill before the third task.
It was because of her boyfriend, Fred Weasley that Vicki was now in disbelief. Cedrella Weasley (nee Black) was the first cousin of Victoria "Tori" Hartwell (nee Black). Fred Weasley was the grandson of Cedrella Weasley. Victoria "Vicki" Hartwell was the granddaughter of Tori Hartwell. Vicki worked out that meant that she and Fred were third cousins, or second cousins once removed, or some other distant form of being related.
It didn't matter to Vicki. No matter how the word 'cousin' was relevant, she was apparently related to the boy she was in love with, and it was making her dry retch. She already knew they were both distantly related to the House of Black but she always silently assumed it was so distant any form of relation was long gone. The fact their grandparents were cousins did not settle well with her.
Vicki wanted to keep reading and was attempting to as she was desperate to know the rest of the story. Would anything happen between Riddle and Figglestill? What was going on with Newt Scamander – would Tori accept his dance? Surely her great grand-mother's (Tori's mother) advice was poor advice – she was convinced that Newt held feelings for her grandmother but then Vicki remembered she had a glimpse of what happens at the end based on when she met Newt and he reluctantly handed the diary over – he held strong feelings for Tori. Vicki figured Tori held feelings for Newt as well, why would she get so protective and jealous over a simple conversation she witnessed he had with Figglestill.
But she had the put the diary down to get answers. None of that mattered at the moment, she had to get answers.
She flew out the door and into the kitchen where her mother was eating a quick breakfast before work – her mother worked as a medical receptionist and as it was nearly eight in the morning she would be leaving the house soon.
"What do you know about Dad's family?" Vicki barked at her mother, not wanting to waste any time by coming up with a cover story on why she was curious about her father's heritage.
Maureen Smith (previously Hartwell before the divorce) blinked in confusion, but answered her daughter's question without asking why.
"Not too much, as an orphan there wasn't too much available to Max about his parents. You know he was raised by your Great Uncle William…" Maureen began.
"The squib." Vicki said out loud. It had never been hidden from her that her grandparents died when her father was very young, or that her father's uncle William (who was a squib) had raised him. This is why Max had insisted that Vicki be raised in the muggle world – he had been raised in the muggle world himself and knew how handy it was to have real knowledge of both the magic and non-magic community.
But now it was difference. She was slowly unravelling her grandmother's story and putting the pieces together – working out what puzzle pieces were relevant to her own life. It was a strange feeling, although the story she was reading was completely new to her, it was a story she knew very well, and knew how it would end. An uncomfortable feeling ran through her as she realised they weren't characters in a book but real relatives, and it distracted her for a moment until she remembered her current dilemma. Her boyfriend was her cousin.
"Yes." Maureen curtly responded, not too impressed that her daughter's curiousity about her paternal heritage had come just as she needed to get to work.
"I want to know about the Blacks though. Is there any chance that his mother – my namesake – Victoria. Was she perhaps adopted? Maybe her father was adopted, or maybe her Veela mother had a lovechild with another man? Is there any chance that girl was not a Black – and therefore I'm in no way related to the House of Black?" Vicki asked.
Maureen let out a loud chuckle, amused by her daughter's questioning.
"Unfortunately you are related. I can understand why you wouldn't want to be related to that bunch of inbred hatred-filled filth. When Sirius Black was first at large your father went and got a magic-form of DNA testing done, I think it's called heritage examining. He was hoping there would be no heritage links between Sirius and himself to not jeopardise his career with the ministry. He was out of luck however, the test came back that he was clearly Sirius' second cousin – Victoria and Sirius' mother were cousins and it was confirmed by blood." Maureen explained to her daughter sympathetically.
"Great. Inbred filth, that's what I clearly am." Vicki moped, sitting down in her chair heavily.
"Aww, honey. You are nothing like the Blacks, your father and I have made sure to raise you correctly." Maureen said losing interest as she got up from the table and made her way to the sink to wash her plate.
"Well I'm on the right path. If I'm definitely related to the Black family that means Fred is my third cousin by blood, so yes, I am on my way to creating inbred filth." Vicki whined loudly.
Maureen swore loudly in shock at her daughter's dilemma and dropped the plate she was cleaning with her hands – after finding love with a muggle man (Vicki's ex-primary school teacher) she found herself automatically doing things without magic that most witches or wizards would pick up their wand for without hesitation – even though her muggle partner Alfred knew about her magic.
Vicki on the other hand had only turned seventeen a few months ago and was still excited that she was now allowed to use magic outside of school. She automatically pulled her wand out of her pink pyjama pants and lazily mumbled 'Reparo' to fix the broken plate, and then 'Wingardium Leviosa' to levitate the now repaired plate into the dish rack so it could continue to dry.
"Well um, it wouldn't be the end of the world if you were related, right? The magic community are a dying breed, anyone with history relating to an old wizarding family are related. I wouldn't be surprised if two out of every three witches or wizards could trace their family history back to the Blacks." Maureen said to her daughter, trying to reassure her.
Instead it made Vicki more hysterical, who groaned loudly and buried her face into her arms onto the kitchen table.
"Sorry Vicki. Usually your teenage silly little dramas make me laugh, roll my eyes and mutter that you're making things too complicated, but this is quite the pickle. I'll leave you to it." Maureen said to her daughter, half mockingly half sympathetically, giving her daughter a kiss on the head as she apparated away quickly.
Vicki dragged herself into a quick shower and found herself pulling on the first skirt and shirt she could find, applying minimal makeup in a very quick patchy job before apparating quickly to the only place she could find answers.
Arriving in the middle of 12 Grimmauld Place, it only took moments for her to be tackled in a gigantic hug by her boyfriend….or cousin?
"Hey cutie." Fred greeted her, his hair tousled and eyes still puffy, it was evident he had only just gotten up as he had a toothbrush in his hand, minty fresh breath and was still clad in his pyjamas.
"Hey!" Vicki said in a faux enthusiastic manner, untangling herself from her boyfriend's hug from behind. Usually she would melt into such a hug and would be lip locked in a very big public display of affection with him.
But not today. Luckily Vicki was clever and a quick thinker, so she would be able to quickly occupy Fred as she searched for answers and not make him realise how distant she was attempting to be.
"Why are you here so early? I was going to use the public telephone down the road and phone you to make plans for today. We're going back to school fairly soon, I was hoping for a one on one day with you. I was also wanting to know what Dumbledore wanted with you, if you were comfortable in telling me of course." Fred said to her innocently.
Vicki sighed and touched his face with her right hand, wanting to give some sort of affection to her boyfriend. The poor boy was in the complete dark about the possible dilemma that would tear them apart. Vicki almost envied his blissful ignorance until she remembered they were most likely cousins, and jumped away before speaking up.
"I left something in your room the other day. You know that bracelet you sent me for my birthday back in March? Yeah, I took that off the other day when we got a bit hot and heavy on your bed. You know how much that bracelet means to me, could you possibly go and try to find it?" Vicki asked Fred innocently, burying her hand into her pocket and taking the bracelet off with one hand, only removing her hand once the bracelet was off and secure in her skirt pocket.
"Say no more, your wish is my command." Fred joked, giving his girlfriend a quick peck on the lips before he turned around and made his way back to his makeshift room he was sharing with George.
Due to the Weasleys being one of the driving forces behind the revival of the Order of the Phoenix, it was unsafe for their safety for them to return to the Burrow this summer. Therefore they had taken up residence at the former Black ancestral home. Vicki was sat down at the start of summer alongside all the Weasley children (bar Ron, who seemed to already know) and was informed by Dumbledore about the truth about Sirius Black. He never murdered all of those people nor gave away James and Lily Potter's secrets to Voldemort. He was wrongly convicted and wanted to live a peaceful life in hiding.
The Weasleys insisted that Vicki also spend her entire summer at 12 Grimmauld Place, but Vicki turned them down – much to Molly's dismay, who absolutely adored the girl. Vicki felt she was safe enough at her parents' place and wanted to enjoy her last summer as a student. She also had lots of muggle friends from her time at primary school and couldn't bear to be cooped up in 12 Grimmauld Place the entire summer, being cut off from the world.
She still stopped in nearly every day to see everyone and help clean the place up and do her fair share of work. She also had met two of her new two favourite people in this house: Sirius Black and Nymphadora Tonks – both of which she was technically related to. Vicki joked inside her head that she had a special ability, the second she liked someone she would find out she was related to them. It was fine with Black and Tonks, but certainly not Fred. She felt like she was dying inside, no matter how many jokes crossed her mind.
She made her way into the dining room as she wanted to see Sirius. She wasn't sure how much he knew about the Black family, especially as he was disowned when he was sixteen. But he was her best bet, even if he didn't know too much about the family he was the one who knew the most about the house which could possibly reveal the information on whether Vicki was related to Fred or not.
She saw Sirius sitting alone reading the Daily Prophet. She chewed her lip, not sure whether she should interrupt or not. Luckily for her Sirius looked up, feeling her presence. He could sense she wanted to speak to him so he indicated for her to sit down. Harry was his favourite guest in 12 Grimmauld Place, being both his godson and his only reminder of his best friend, James. But Vicki Hartwell, his second cousin once removed, was easily his second favourite. He didn't count her as family as he had disowned his family history the same way they disowned him, and Vicki always loudly aligned herself as part of her paternal grandfather's family, the Hartwell family. But like Tonks he felt a special bond with her, in a different life if their family weren't the way they were, Sirius felt that Tonks, Vicki and himself would be a trio of cousins who were very close and would always be up to no good. However unfortunately in this lifetime they would be Sirius Black, who hated his heritage with a passion, Nymphadora Tonks with the interesting and quirky muggle born father and Victoria Hartwell with the cool suave father. Vicki and Tonks luckily had other families to belong to, but poor Sirius was stuck being a Black and only a Black.
Vicki took a seat next to Sirius and immediately began to speak up.
"I've recently uncovered some documents in relation to my grandmother, Victoria. It's an interesting read, but I've stumbled across something really concerning to me." Vicki stated to Sirius.
"Oh dear, must be pretty bad considering how deranged the entire Black family were." Sirius half-joked, putting his paper down and discarding it to give Vicki his full attention.
"Yep," Vicki said as she popped the 'p' for dramatic effect before continuing on "Victoria considered Cedrella Weasley one of her favourite cousins."
Sirius shot Vicki an odd look as he didn't understand what she was trying to say, not processing what Vicki's statement really meant. Vicki understood what this confused look was so she further elaborated.
"If Cedrella and Victoria were cousins, this would make Fred my third cousin. My boyfriend is my third cousin." Vicki stated out loud.
Sirius looked at Vicki intensely. He didn't have the same shocked reaction that Maureen her mother had, but he stayed silent, knowing if he spoke up it wouldn't be words that she wanted to hear.
"So I came here hoping to find some answers…something, anything that would show that I'm not actually related to Fred." Vicki added on.
"I see. I'd love to be able to tell you in complete honesty that I knew some fact that would mean you're not related, but unfortunately I can't. I purposely shielded myself from the Black family so I don't know anything about the family tree. You're welcome to search the house for something but I doubt you'd find anything. Both Cedrella Weasley and Victoria Hartwell were burned off the family tree for marrying blood traitors, any trace of them is most likely long gone from this house." Sirius responded to Vicki.
Vicki sighed and had the same action she did at home in front of her mother, she buried her face into her arms at the table. She was worried she would never find the truth and would have to just assume she was related to Fred. It hurt her greatly, she loved Fred and was absolutely crazy about him – feeling a much stronger bond to Fred than she ever had with Roger. But even if they were third cousins it was too close for comfort, she would have to tell him the truth.
"What on earth have you done to upset her?" Molly Weasley hissed towards Sirius as she walked into the dining room suddenly.
Molly Weasley and Sirius Black didn't see eye to eye on most topics, and had been getting under each other's skin for the entirety of the summer. Molly also thought very highly of Vicki, she often told Fred that girl was the best thing to come into his life as he seemed more motivated after he met her, even his marks at school were improving. Therefore to see an upset looking Vicki in the dining hall and an amused looking Sirius look at her, she denoted that Sirius had been the one to upset her.
Vicki looked up to see Molly standing over her, shooting her a sympathetic look with a plate of fried breakfast in her hand.
"I heard you apparate here, as it's early I assumed you wouldn't have had breakfast so I cooked this up for you. Now, tell me what's wrong. What has Sirius said to you?" Molly asked Vicki, putting the plate in front of Vicki and taking a seat opposite the young girl.
"I haven't done anything." Sirius said in defence, putting his hands up, causing Molly to shoot him a filthy look.
"He's right, he hasn't done anything. I've uncovered some historical documents about the Black family, and I didn't realise how closely related Arthur's mother, and my grandmother were. Fred and I are third cousins, and that's really unsettling to me." Vicki groaned. She did hesitate in her explanation to begin with as she wasn't sure whether it was an appropriate topic to bring up with her boyfriend's mother, but found herself gushing her wirds by the end.
Molly had the strangest reaction to this news yet. Unlike Maureen who went into shock or Sirius who went silent, she began to laugh heartily.
Vicki cracked a smile at her boyfriend's mother. She was still feeling anxious and upset but the laughter was contagious. Even though Vicki thought the whole situation was deranged she started to see the humour in it. Vicki would soon learn that Molly was laughing for a different reason.
"It certainly sounds terrible doesn't it? Luckily for you there was no blood relation between Victoria and Cedrella, therefore there's no blood relation between you and Fred." Molly giggled loudly.
Vicki raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend's mother. She didn't want to challenge her statement, not wanting to be disrespectful. But she was wondering whether Molly was telling the truth, or just telling her what she wanted to hear.
"Cedrella was secretly a lovechild – a child born out of wedlock. Her mother Lysandra had an affair with a member of the Macnair family and fell pregnant. Lysandra's husband Arcturus hid the affair and claimed Cedrella as his own. Obviously quite the scandal in 1919. There is a lot more to the story and I hope I don't offend you but unfortunately I cannot tell you – it's not my story to tell, as its Arthur's family history. But you can be assured that there is definitely no relation between you and Fred." Molly warmly explained to Vicki.
Vicki listened to Molly intently and studied her face. Molly was one of the most trusted people she knew, Vicki knew Molly in this case was certainly telling the truth. It was a huge weight off her shoulders, Fred and Vicki had not come to many roadblocks in their relationship as it seemed to everyone around them that they were perfect for each other. This was the only hurdle she had to face so far in their relations and it had now gone away as quickly as it had come.
Seeing Vicki's visible happiness, Molly continued talking.
"Fred approached Arthur with the same concerns after you stayed in their tent last year at the World Cup, well before the two of you became an item. Fred had found out you were distantly related to the Black family and interrogated Arthur about it. We thought Fred just was curious whether a school friend could possibly be related or not, but it turns out he was just as fearful as you are now that the girl he liked was a relative." Molly stated in an amused tone.
Vicki's eyes widened as guilt suddenly consumed her. Not wanting to worry Fred she went above his head and searched for the answers elsewhere – through Sirius, and then eventually through Molly when she overheard the conversation. Yet if she did the correct thing and spoke about her problems with her boyfriend she would have had a resolution a lot faster.
"Well I'm glad that sometimes problems can be solved that quickly and things go back to being rosy so quickly, Merlin knows we need these easy solutions when dark times approach," Vicki said, eyeing both Molly and Sirius and watching them both bow their heads at her statement "But now that's cleared up I really don't ever want to think about it again. Can we keep this between the three of us and not mention to Fred I panicked that we were possibly related?"
Molly and Sirius curtly agreed before the topic was changed for good. Just as Vicki was finishing up her breakfast Ginny came to the dining table, Hermione following her.
"Oh good, Phelgm isn't here. As she didn't stay over last night I was scared she'd instead be here this morning." Ginny loudly exclaimed.
Vicki had to bite back her laughter by shoving an entire fried egg into her mouth. She felt terrible for finding Ginny's nickname for Fleur amusing as she and Fleur had put aside their differences, but she found the whole situation hilarious – Ginny now was the one who didn't like Fleur and had made up a rude nickname. It was a quality of Fred and George that had rubbed off onto their little sister.
"Ginerva Weasley! I have told you countless times to stop calling her that." Molly scolded her daughter, against her better judgment as she too hadn't taken a big liking to Fleur. But then after the scolding Molly realised what Ginny was saying "What do you mean she didn't stay over last night? I know she did, she left in the morning. Wasn't she in the room with you girls last night?"
The Weasleys had a very strict rule on not having members of the opposite sex share rooms under their roof unless they were married. This was also one of the reasons why Vicki insisted on staying at home rather than staying at 12 Grimmauld Place over summer – she saw no reason to sacrifice her comfortable bed if it meant she couldn't share a bed with her boyfriend and instead had to share a room with a few girls. Even though Bill was well into his twenties and had long since moved out of home, he wasn't allowed to share a room with Fleur when he stayed with his parents as they were not married.
"Nope, she certainly wasn't in our room at all last night – I even got up in the middle of the night to sneak to the loo, she made no appearance at any point." Ginny wickedly grinned.
Hermione looked uncomfortable behind the younger girl, hoping she wouldn't be dragged into the drama that Ginny was trying to stir up. Hermione quickly muttered she would see if Harry and Ron were awake before she quickly scampered off.
Molly wasn't too far behind her, not bothering to respond to Ginny and angrily saying she was about to raise hell with Bill before storming out of the dining room.
"It's always so glorious to see Mum that level of angry at someone else for once." George grinned brightly, entering into the dining hall.
Vicki jumped up from her seat anticipating that his twin brother would be right behind him. She was correct as moments later a now more-awake and fully dressed Fred Weasley made his way into the dining room.
Vicki ran towards her boyfriend, George quickly jumping out of the way as she giggled happily and jumped into his arms. They had a quick snog but stopped when they heard Ginny pretend to dry retch. Not looking embarrassed at all they broke apart and Fred put an arm around her shoulder. Vicki mentioned to Fred that she had found her bracelet in her pocket after all.
Then they were all silent – Sirius had gone back to the Daily Prophet and Fred, George, Vicki and Ginny were quiet as they heard Molly's shouts towards her eldest son Bill echo throughout the entire house. Vicki had no idea her content feeling would be very short lived, as moments later her Headmaster Professor Dumbledore would make an appearance, for the second time in two days.
"Hello all." Dumbledore said gently as he entered, acting oblivious to all the weird looks the occupants of the room were shooting him.
"Your company is always welcome here, but may I ask why you're here once more?" Sirius asked, once again putting his newspaper down and providing his full attention to Dumbledore.
"Important business will be held here very soon. A body has been found this morning that the ministry will no doubt be attempting to cover up. The family has been notified of course but have been given no answers. Max Hartwell will be joining us soon, accompanied by Nymphadora and Alistair." Dumbledore politely stated.
"Jesus Christ!" Vicki yelled loudly in a panic – using a muggle explorative rather than the usual 'Merlin!' the magic community used – as terror ran through her body and did not give her time to process her thoughts "Do I have any reason to worry? Why is my father coming here?"
Although Vicki had been exposed to the Order of the Phoenix by Dumbledore, her parents were not privy to all of the information given to Vicki. Maureen Smith had almost abandoned the magic community, whilst her father Maxwell Hartwell had lived a life where he had been left alone by dark magic and had never had a reason to fight. Max knew very little about the Order of the Phoenix, he only knew they had reformed after the events of the Triwizard Tournament and his daughter was helping the order clear out their headquarters – Max assumed it was partly because she wanted to follow her boyfriend, but also because Vicki lost her very close friend Cedric Diggory to dark wizards not too long ago.
Therefore Vicki panicked at Dumbledore's words. Her father had no reason to come to the house unless the body was of some relevance to her father, and therefore to her as well. It was a very common occurrence, but Vicki's analysis would be correct.
Before Dumbledore could respond to Vicki the doorbell rang. They all embraced themselves as they knew what happened when the doorbell rang – the portrait of Walburga Black was awoken and the curtains opened to her screams.
"Filth! Utter horrible filth. Dirty mudbloods, dirty half-breed filth, blood traitor disgusting animals!" The screeches ran loud from the hallway.
The portrait had been carrying on all summer, only ever screaming out insults about the people currently residing in the house – referring to them as either mudbloods, half-bloods or blood traitors. All of the residents had long gotten used to her terrible insults, it was the screaming and loud noises that drove them all insane. It wasn't known whether the portrait only held Walburga's most extreme views or was just so hate filled of what had taken over her home she could only scream insults, but it was the same things regurgitated each time.
However for the first time this summer, she would scream something different. When Vicki got up and ran to the hallway, she saw her father who looked around at the surroundings with a curious look, eyeing the portrait of Walburga Black nervously. Alistair Moody was directly behind him alongside Nymphadora Tonks who had obviously accompanied Max Hartwell. This was when new phrases were screamed by the horrible woman.
"Hartwell scum! Get OUT. Disgusting family made up of filthy halfbreeds and blood traitors. Children of impurity, continuing to live on like the cockroaches you are. Slimy disgusting filth, how dare your disgusting bloodline live on after that WHORE Victoria and that DIRTY blood traitor Andrew Hartwell were wiped out. FILTH." The portrait screamed, finding as many ways to use its favourite word 'filth' as possible – but using brand new insults.
Fred immediately latched onto his girlfriend in an effort to comfort her. Fred had no idea about the politics that Vicki had uncovered within the last twenty four hours but he knew that Vicki was named after her grandmother, and that they had died very young. He knew it was Vicki's grandparents that Mrs Black was referring to, and that it wasn't a very nice thing for her to hear.
The new insults that Walburga were screaming had stirred up the curiousity of the entire house. Molly Weasley who was still red in the face from yelling at her eldest son for sneaking his girlfriend in overnight had come running over, Bill not far behind her. Sirius, George and Ginny had followed Vicki alongside Fred when she had run out of the dining room. Harry, Ron and Hermione were also at the top of the staircase, their mouths open in shock at the situation unfolding in front of their eyes. The only one not present was Sirius – but this was untrue as a large black dog stood in the hallway. Max Hartwell was not on the need to know basis yet that Sirius Black was amongst their midst as an innocent man.
Dumbledore ushered Vicki, Max, Moody, Tonks and Molly into the dining room, informing the other children they were not permitted to enter. Fred and George complained loudly that they were of age and it was unfair that Vicki was allowed in, but when Dumbledore said it was a Hartwell family matter they both backed down out of respect for Vicki. Vicki gave her boyfriend a quick peck on the lips and said she would catch up with him later before she shut the dining room door behind her.
She pulled out her wand and used a muffling spell on the draft under the door.
"This is to stop them from using those extendable ears. I doubt they will, but just in case. It's all good and well when they're being cheeky and wanting to learn information they've been excluded from, but not when it comes to my family." Vicki explained, taking a seat next to her father.
They all sat in silence for a few moments. As she was the one most in the dark about why her father had visited and what body had been found, she was the one to first speak up.
"What's up with that portrait today, anyway? I thought it was only capable of using the words 'Mudblood' 'Filth' 'Blood Traitor' and 'Half-breed' and had no real conscious thought. I've been in front of that portrait many times over the past few weeks and it's never once referred to me by my surname. But the second my father enters it seemed to go off about the both of us." Vicki asked suddenly, aiming her question towards Dumbledore as she felt he would have the most answers.
"The very same reason the victim's family of the body discovered in the early hours of this morning have contacted your father. Max is so very similar looking to his father. One look at him and Walburga's portrait could see Andrew Hartwell and all of the negative emotions that his presence would stir up – including emotions about Andrew's wife, Victoria." Dumbledore explained.
Dumbledore's words were definitely true. Max was only a toddler when he was orphaned however many photographs were left behind of Andrew Hartwell and his wife. Max had inherited his father's dark hair, facial structure and bright blue eyes. In turn Vicki had also inherited these features – her mother Maureen always loudly complained Vicki looked nothing like her and resembled her father strikingly. Vicki wasn't being insecure when she believed she didn't look like the half-Veela beauty Victoria Hartwell the first – it was due to the fact she had inherited her grandfather's genes instead. Both Vicki and her father Max were living reminders of the family patriarch – Andrew.
"So I've received this letter purely because I look like my father? Let me tell you, I was having a normal day when I first went into work. Then I received that letter and shortly after Arthur Weasley ushered Tonks and Moody into my office before I set off for here with Tonks and Moody. That letter said the victim was in love with my father at school and therefore I may know something of her disappearance." Max began to explain.
"Yes, I assumed the letter would say something along those lines." Dumbledore said in a calm matter.
Max banged his fists onto the table. He was very confused as he was only being given bits of information and not the entire story as a whole. His confusion was causing anger and in turn the rage was causing him to lash out.
"Why? Why would I possibly know anything? My own parents died when I was young, it's not like my dear old father had the chance to pass any anecdotes from school onto me. Besides I know this is a famous case, she was missing for over fifty years. Why am I being dragged into this, and I bloody hope my seventeen year old daughter isn't getting involved." Max angrily growled.
"Can you blame them? If their loved one has been missing for fifty years, if her body was discovered today it's finally some closure for them, but they probably still have lots of unanswered questions they want the answers to so they can lay both their loved one and this mystery to rest." Vicki piped up, the only one who was brave enough to challenge Max in these circumstances.
"Victoria, you have no idea what you're talking about. How would I know anything about this mystery? My parents died when I was young." Max croaked out, being so angry with his daughter he used her full name, but the fire in his soul dying by the end of his statement. He tried to never show it, but it really affected him that he was unfairly orphaned at such a young age. The letter he received was stirring up these emotions inside him, and he wasn't happy.
"If the family knew about the love this person had for my grandfather, and knew of your existence as their child, they clearly know of my grandparents' fate. They are either very desperate for information or suspect there is information available if they are contacting you, both of which I don't fault them for writing to you." Vicki piped up.
There was still tension in the air as the room fell silent. No one – not even Dumbledore wanted to interrupt the very difficult conversation the father and daughter were having. Molly put her hand on her son's girlfriend's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before dropping it, wanting to offer some reassurance to the girl.
Finally Max backed down as he processed the information his daughter was giving him. He could sympathise with the family that had reached out to him. After all, he was an orphan due to a mystery disappearance – his two parents never returned home one day and had not been seen since – both presumed to be dead a long time ago. He had no right to get angry at these people wanting information, when he himself was also searching for answers.
"The fact of the matter is however, I have no knowledge or information about the girl that went missing fifty years ago. I've still got the little possessions I was given of my parents, there's no love letters or personal records from their time at Hogwarts. I have no knowledge on who on earth Mary Figgestill is." Max stated loudly.
Vicki's eyes widened as she looked towards Dumbledore – who was already looking right at Vicki expecting this reaction. She inhaled a deep breath as she was genuinely shocked. She felt a bit bad as she was almost annoyed at the 'spoiler' that had been unleashed on her. All she knew about Mary was that at the first Slug Club party in her grandmother's seventh year at school this Mary girl seemed to somehow charm Newt Scamander and had an intimate dance with Tom Riddle, even though she was Andrew Hartwell's date. At the time this caused her grandmother to become very jealous.
But now it was revealed that sometime after this event Mary went missing, only for her body to have been discovered this very morning? The timing should have creeped out Vicki as it was a very large coincidence that this happened the same time she was given Tori Black's diary, but instead sinister thoughts were swimming around in her head.
What if Tori was the one who made Mary disappear? Did spending time with Tom Riddle cause darkness to grow within her – and the ugly jealousy that started rearing its head in the entry she was reading grow into cold blooded murder?
It nearly made Vicki laugh when she realised an hour ago she was worried her boyfriend was her third cousin – it was such a big deal only a short time ago but now she had to worry about disappearances, dead bodies and possibly now being related to a murderer.
"I suppose I better explain the life and disappearance of Mary Figglestill. Even if some of us have not yet finished their research." Dumbledore spoke up, directing the last line towards Vicki.
"Mary Figglestill was a very bright muggle born student. She studied very hard and in her seventh year Armando Dippet chose her to be Head Girl – alongside Thomas Marvolo Riddle as Head Boy." Dumbledore began.
Most of the room had a reaction. Molly and Tonks flinched at this revelation, whilst Moody let out a loud growl. Vicki snapped her eyes to her father who seemed to be deep in thought, Vicki assumed he was trying to remember where he had heard that name before.
"So this is connected to You-Know-Who?" Molly gasped.
"I believe so. It was well known that Andrew Hartwell had a certain fondness for Victoria Black who at the time did not return those feelings. Andrew then began to court Mary. Mary was deeply in love with Andrew and was perhaps a little sore that Andrew had always had his eye on Victoria. Right before Christmas holidays that year Victoria and Mary got into a bit of an altercation. During those holidays, Mary Figglestill disappeared and there were no traces found of her until she washed up along a shore this morning, her body perfectly preserved." Dumbledore explained.
"Was my mother a murderer?" Max asked Dumbledore, the only one capable of speaking up after the horror that Dumbledore unleashed. Vicki had a million questions swimming around in her head but was unable to speak.
"No. Victoria Black was never a suspect. There was only ever a very small window in which she disappeared, and Victoria was at a wedding and had a rock solid alibi. Every single person who had ever known your grandmother could attest that she was a sweet girl not capable of murder. Whoever caused her to disappear was hoping Andrew would be framed for the crime – as it's the boyfriend who is always the main suspect in these cases. Unfortunately for that person Andrew was with Mary's parents at that time and could not have been the one to cause her to disappear. The case quickly went cold, it was assumed a muggle not known to Mary must have been to blame and committed the atrocity in a random attack." Dumbledore stated in detail.
Those around the room were visibly affected by the morbid story Dumbledore was telling. Molly and Tonks looked shaken, and Moody had long since abandoned anger as an emotion and was muttering to himself and shaking his head. Max was in deep shock and no emotion was to be on his face. Vicki had a range of emotions going through her head. She felt sick, she felt anger, she felt depressed and she felt anxious. It was almost getting too much for her to handle, but she wanted to keep pressing on with questions and theories.
"That's where you think Riddle came in. He didn't like my grandfather – right? He made Mary disappear so my grandfather would get the blame." Vicki piped up.
"Well, yes and no. He certainly did detest your grandfather and one of the intentions was for the crime to be pinned onto your grandfather. I believe he had other intentions too. I think it had something to do with his fond feelings for your grandmother. However I think that's enough story telling for today. It does not do well to discuss theories with no evidence to back them, and I feel emotions are getting the best of us." Dumbledore humbly exclaimed.
Usually Vicki was one who needed answers and needed them straight away. But the dark conversation and revelations had taken its toll on her. It had brought back all the painful memories of Cedric Diggory's recent death. Vicki was seated at the front of the third task and saw his cold body arrive back with Harry. She had torn her eyes away and quickly ushered students out of the area alongside her fellow Ravenclaw prefect and ex-boyfriend Roger Davies. But she'd never forget the lifeless form of her best friend, and talks of disappearances and dead bodies washing on a shore forced Cedric's death into her mind, and she began to shake.
"I…I need to go." Vicki stuttered, as she began to slowly make her way back to the door.
"I'll escort you out – I think your father needs some details filled in, and I'll leave him with the capable hands of those in this room." Dumbledore said kindly.
No one bothered to speak out and both Dumbledore and Vicki got up from their seats.
They both left the room and didn't speak up until they shut the door and took a few steps out.
"I should have a million questions for you, but I don't. I only have two. They're not even related to my grandmother's story, just two about the current task at hand." Vicki spoke up.
"I'll answer them, if I can." Dumbledore said politely.
"What's going to happen with my father? Surely you won't be obliviating him. It appears the truth has purposely been kept for him so long, I just wanted to know how much will now be shared with him." Vicki asked Dumbledore.
"He will be filled in with what he needs to know. If his involvement in putting Mary Figglestill to rest will help with the healing process for her family, I think it's a good thing and he should know what he needs to know," Dumbledore answered but then had a question of his own "In your humble opinion, do you think he should know about your task at hand?"
Vicki bit her lip as she submerged herself deep into thought. It seemed wrong to her that Victoria Black's story was being shared with her, her granddaughter but was being kept from her son. Vicki figured that surely her father had just as much of a right, if not more of a right to know Vicki was in possession of his mother's diary and was reading and analysing the diary closely.
But part of her felt it would not be a good idea for her father to know. Vicki trusted Dumbledore immensely and knew there was a reason the diary was given to her and not her father. Vicki also wanted to protect her family. She wanted to protect her father from the truth – surely it was nicer to live in ignorance of his parent's disappearance than learn both of his parents had meddled in the Dark Lord's affairs. Vicki also now felt foolish for feeling this way, but she felt a small connection to her grandmother after reading her most private thoughts. Vicki knew it would only ever be one sided as it was just words on a page and her grandmother was long gone but she was able to now feel a fondness for a relative she had never met. This feeling made her want to protect her grandmother's memory and hide the fact she fraternised with the most famous dark wizard of all time.
"Can I get back to you on that? My answer might change depending on how the story ends." Vicki weakly smiled, trying to remain cheerful when so much darkness was surrounding her at present.
"Wanting to know all of the facts before making a decision, very wise Miss Hartwell, you are a true Ravenclaw." Professor Dumbledore smiled at her, and it was the first time that day she had seen the twinkling in his eyes when he smiled.
Vicki beamed with pride as his statement cheered her up a little. Vicki was very house proud and was one of the proudest Ravenclaw students currently at Hogwarts. When she was initially sorted the hat desperately wanted to put her in Gryffindor like all of her Hartwell ancestors, but she spent minutes arguing with the hat, listing compelling reasons on why she belonged in Ravenclaw. The hat eventually gave up and muttered she clearly was best suited for the Ravenclaw house.
"One more question. It's been made pretty evident that Operation 'Diary of Victoria Black' isn't something I should be broadcasting to the world. I've kept it top secret, even from both of my parents. Can I please open up to Fred if he swears to secrecy? I need at least one person I can talk about this with to offset the dark feelings. Who better than my fun-filled boyfriend?" Vicki asked Dumbledore sweetly, trying to pose the question as an argument.
"Yes. I permit you to speak about your task with Fred Weasley but I must kindly ask you to speak about it with no one else – well, unless that person is written about in the diary." Dumbledore responded.
Vicki laughed thinking he was joking, but he did not chuckle alongside her. Most of those people in the diary were now quite old and Vicki had no way of ever stumbling across any of her grandmother's peers. But it quickly became evident that Dumbledore was being serious. Vicki dropped the laugher and sent him a small smile. Vicki doubted she would come across any of her grandmother's school friends written about in the diary, but accepted this was perhaps advice Dumbledore was giving her, and she would take it if given the chance.
"Right, well. Thank you. I'm sure you've got your work cut out for you today – that tends to happen when a former student washes up fifty years later after being marked as missing – and that's only referring to your headmaster duties, being part of the Order means there's even more for you to do. I won't keep you." Vicki winked towards Dumbledore.
Dumbledore bid Vicki a quick farewell before he shuffled back into the room that contained Molly, Tonks, Moody and her father. There was an eerie silence in the hallway, Walburga Black's portrait was dormant once more with the curtains closed. Vicki took no hesitation in jumping up the stairs two at a time in search for her boyfriend.
She now had lots to share with him and he would help take some of the darkness away. She would then be able to pick that diary up and finish her grandmother's story.
Told you that you'd hate me ;) I however can promise less Riddle and more Newt in just a few chapters (and definitely some one-on-one Newt chemistry in the next chapter) so you'll soon love me again.
This is the longest chapter I have EVER written for a story, but it didn't feel right breaking it up. So therefore it's practically four updates in one.
In response to the reviews...
AnadoraBlack - muahahaha now you have to wait longer to see if Tori accepts the dance ;) at least if she doesn't there's more Newt for us?! I'm glad you're picking up the subtle clues about Riddle, this isn't a happy story where Riddle is an out of character jerk who becomes good, it's going to get fairly dark - this chapter is now bringing out how dark it can get.
Guest - thank you so much for your lovely review - I really appreciation it and it's nice to see someone analysising the story in such detail! Hopefully you don't hate me for this chapter haha. As stated above also I'm glad you've picked up the clues about Riddle also.