Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.
Chapter 16: Heritage Revelations
After Ragnarok leaves, Chris orbs Aisling and himself to the doorway of the Gryffindor House Common Room at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Gryffindor House Common Room
Somewhere in Scotland
November 04, 2031
7:00 pm
After Chris sweet-talks the Fat Lady into letting Aisling and him into the Gryffindor common room, which is silent since the students are in the Great Hall eating dinner, Aisling plops down onto the large red velvet recliner in front of the fireplace and scoots over to make room for Chris.
When Chris and she are situated, Aisling opens the diary to the page marked with a green ribbon and reads:
21 July 2031
Dear Diary,
I have just received a premonition of my death. Therefore, I am writing the story of my birth down here, so that it will not be forgotten.
~****~
Legend has it that Lord Alasdair O'Neil put a spell on the 0'Neil family signet ring. If anyone who is not the heir to the O'Neil family touches it, it said that the ring burns his or her hand. A hunter picked the ring up once and it burned his hand to a crisp. People didn't believe it at first until others tried and their hands also suffered terrible burns. It became a sort of game. Little boys would dare other boys to touch it. However, nobody could touch it without getting burned. Nobody knew who the heir to the O'Neil family was since as far as anyone knew, Margaret and Alasdair never had a child.
However, everyone is very wrong. I am Margaret and Alasdair's daughter. When Margaret was a teenager, she got pregnant and thought that she could not properly take care of a baby. So, she gave me to Kelly, her older sister, who had many children. She told her sister that my name was Laura and to take care of me as if I was her own daughter. When Alasdair asked about me, Margaret said that I was dead.
The years passed, but Margaret and Alasdair were never blessed with another child. Upon her deathbed, Margaret told Alasdair that I was alive and that she had given me to her sister. Alasdair was furious. He left home and went to visit Kelly. He saw how happy I was as I played peek-a-boo with Kelly's youngest daughter, Lindsay. So, he left me there and spent the rest of his life traveling around the world and writing novels about his travels.
In the meantime, I grew up. One day, I discovered that I could move things with my mind and asked Kelly about it. Instead of answering, Kelly flipped through an old phone directory until she found Aisling's, Alasdair's sister's, phone number. She dialed the number and waited for Aisling to pick up the phone. Aisling had changed her last name from O'Neil to Calloway when she moved to America, so she was surprised to get a call from Ireland.
"Hi, Aisling!" This is Margaret's sister, Kelly. You probably do not remember me," Kelly says.
"You are Alasdair's sister-in-law," Aisling says.
"Laura says that she can move things with her mind. She is asking me about it, but I don't know anything. Will you please take her under your wing and teach her?" Kelly asks.
"I will be there to fetch her shortly," Aisling says.
Aisling travels to Ireland. When she arrives at Kelly's house, I answer the door.
"Who are you?" I ask.
Just as Aisling is about to answer, Kelly enters the room.
"How was your trip?" Kelly asks Aisling.
"Very nice," Aisling says in clipped tones.
"I'm here for Laura," Aisling says.
"Laura, go pack your things," Kelly orders.
I protest.
"Now!" Kelly says.
I quickly go upstairs to my room and pack. I look around my room and say bye to my room before I close the door. I go downstairs with my suitcase that is filled with clothes, makeup, and books and find the mean lady sitting ram-rod straight in a dining room chair, conversing with my 'mother' over tea.
"Are you ready?" Kelly asks when she sees me.
"Yes, ma'am," I say.
"You are going with Miss Calloway to America," Kelly says.
I didn't know it, then, but that was the turning point in my life. I went with Miss Calloway to America to learn about the magical world. At first, Miss Calloway and I did not get along, but as the years passed, I discovered that Miss Calloway isn't as mean she wants people to believe she is.
When I got married to Mark, Aisling told me that she is my aunt by my father's side of the family and that her real last name is O'Neil. I was angry with Aisling for not telling me the truth, but I eventually forgave her. When Mark and I had our first child, I named her Aisling to show Miss Aisling Calloway that I didn't have any hard feelings toward her.
Love,
Laura
After Chris and Aisling read the entry, Chris notices a piece of paper tucked into the binding of the diary. He pulls the paper out and Aisling and he read:
My darling Aisling,
I wish to be buried in the O'Neil family cemetery next to my biological mother. While you are there, take the O'Neil family signet ring from mum's headstone and push it down on the cover of the brown book with gold-gilded pages to open the book.
If you happen to see my father there, tell him that I love him and that I don't resent him for not being a part of my life.
Love,
Mum
"Then, we must go to Ireland," Chris says after Aisling folds up the piece of paper, tucks it back into the binding of the diary and closes the diary.
Afterwards, Chris orbs Aisling and himself to the lobby of Gringotts Bank, where Aisling and Chris tell the rest of the Halliwells, Emily and Mark that Laura wishes to be buried in Ireland.
O'Neil Family Burial Grounds
Dublin, Ireland
November 05, 2031
7:00 am
Sunlight illuminates patches of grass next to the headstone of Margaret O'Neil. A red rose hangs over Margaret's headstone. The O'Neil family signet band, which belongs to the head of the O'Neil family, sits next to the red rose on Margaret's headstone because Alasdair placed it there the first time he came to visit her grave after her death. It is a gold band with an emerald in the center of it. A gold rose, the coat of arms of the O'Neil family, is imprinted on the emerald.
A minister performs the ceremony and Mark, Aisling, Emily and the Halliwells attend the funeral. Next, Laura's casket is lowered in the ground and dirt placed over it. Then, a headstone is placed next to the grave.
The inscription on the headstone reads:
Here lies Laura Colleen O'Neil O'Keeffe
Beloved mother, wife, teacher and daughter.
May happiness abound wherever she may be.
1978-2031
When the funeral ends, Aisling takes the O'Neil family signet ring from the top of Margaret's headstone, slips it onto the ring finger of her left hand and leaves with Mark, Emily and the Halliwells. After Mark, Aisling, Emily and Halliwells leave, Alasdair approaches Laura's grave and pays his respects to the daughter he never really knew and his beloved wife.
Halliwell Manor Attic
1329 Prescott Street
San Francisco, CA, USA
November 05, 2031
12:30 pm
Shelves containing boxes of old toys and books line the walls. The window seat that is in front of the window houses a box of potions, a set of crystals, a cauldron and a map of San Francisco. A pedestal stands in the center of the room. The Halliwell family's Book of Shadows rests on the pedestal. Aisling walks over to the pedestal and places the brown book over the Halliwell family's Book of Shadows. Then, she pushes the ring on her finger into the cover of the book and watches the brown book transform into a green book with a gold rose on it. Astonished, she opens the book to the first page and chants:
Let the Magical Powers
Of the O'Neil family line
That is rightfully mine
Return to Me
A cyclone encircles Aisling. The boxes on the shelves fly off the shelf and swirl around her. The windows bang open and closed, but Aisling keeps on chanting. Then, a gold ball of light appears in the room and enters Aisling's body. In mid-chant, Aisling slumps down to the ground.
When she wakes up, she sees Chris standing over her.
"What happened?" Aisling asks.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Chris replies.
"One moment, I am saying the words in the O'Neil family Book of Shadows so that I could get my powers and the next moment I find myself on the floor with a throbbing headache," Aisling says as she massages her head.
"This should help," Chris says as he hands Aisling a vial of headache relief potion.
Aisling gratefully drinks the potion.