Chapter 63: Real Identity
"What's that??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie who were beside her.
"Huh?? The guys playing with the gigantic Giant??" Stefanie replied. The Marauders were now swimming in the lake playing with Giant. It was their first Saturday since school reopened. They had gathered outdoors by the lake to get some sun and fresh air. Ever since Sirius' squid was released into the lake five days ago, barely anyone dared to go near the lake because Giant, for the first time, looked dangerously huge.
"I meant that." Lily pointed to the far end of the lake where something that looked like an underwater carriage submerged on the lake surface and moved towards Hogwarts. An old man with white hair walked out from the carriage, holding a powerful looking trident instead of a wand.
"Probably Dumbledore's friend. He looked old enough." Stefanie commented.
"Anyway how's everything between you and Professor Plain??" Lily turned to Arabella who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation.
"Huh??" Arabella got out from her daze. "Nothing much. A little mother-daughter talk I supposed."
"You know you can tell us." Stefanie touched Arabella's hand gently.
"Thanks." Arabella said. "I just don't know how she could block the part about her being my mother. I should be able to see it. But I didn't."
"Why don't you ask her??" Lily suggested.
"I did. But she said time will tell." The Marauders came out of the water dripping wet and headed towards the three girls who were sitting underneath the tree throughout.
"Done with your swimming??" Stefanie asked.
"Not yet. Going to continue after this." With that, James hauled Lily up to his right shoulder, Sirius picked Arabella up and rest on his shoulder while Remus carried Stefanie in front.
"What are you trying to do??" Lily struggled. "Put me down!!"
"Don't worry." James said. "I'll let you down soon enough."
"What are you trying to do??" Arabella shouted into Sirius' ear.
"Remind me to put on the Anti-Noise charm next time when I carry you." Sirius said as he jerked Arabella a little and she screamed.
"Don't do that." Stefanie warned Remus.
"It's too late." Remus grinned. The three guys threw the girls into the lake at the shoreline.
"AAHHH!!" The girls screamed and picked themselves up and chased after the Marauders in the water and splashing them. Giant joined in the fun by lifting them up one by one.
"Miss Evans, Dumbledore would like to have a word with you in his office after dinner." Professor McGonagall told Lily when she walked passed the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore was absent from the staff table for dinner for that evening.
"What happened??" Stefanie asked.
"I don't know." Lily said in a worried tone.
"Do you think it have anything to do with the visitor today??" Arabella spoke.
"Tell me please." Lily begged.
"You will know soon enough." Arabella smiled, flashing one of her rare smiles lately.
"Twisties." Lily said to the gargoyle. It began to turn and move upwards and stopped in front of Dumbledore's office.
"Come right in." Dumbledore called out before Lily even knocked the door.
"Professor, you wanted to see me??" Lily asked politely. She was surprised that there was a stranger in the room with Dumbledore.
"Take a seat, Lily." Dumbledore said fatherly. Lily sat down at the chair next to the white-haired stranger. "This is King Triton from the Undersea City of Atlantica."
"Er.. Nice to meet you, King Triton." Lily said respectfully, not knowing how to behave in front of someone who was called a king.
"Hi Lily, it had been a long time." King Triton said, inspecting Lily, making her feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Sir, do I know you??" Lily asked in bewilderment. Strangely, she felt a sense of familiarity with this stranger.
"Yes, I'm your father."
"Huh??" Lily was shocked at what the stranger had just said. She turned towards Professor Dumbledore. "Professor, what is this all about??"
"Lily, listen to his explanation." Professor Dumbledore just smiled.
"Let me start right from the beginning." King Triton explained. "Sixteen years ago, at the Undersea City, where you were born. You were the first mermaid in the merpeople lineage to be born with legs. We knew you were different from us, but did not understand how different you were. So in order to protect you from evil, your mother and I brought you to shore. Perhaps it was fate or destiny, we apparated to this muggle hospital Gleneagles, and overheard some muggle doctors talking about a baby girl who was in critical condition in the hospital. We followed them and went to this strange room with many muggle devices. The very tiny baby girl who was lying in the container looked just like you with the same bright red hair. Your mother and I did a very selfish thing; we switched the two of you. Then we altered those muggles' memory and left you there all alone with all the strangers."
Lily was astonished to hear all those. It all sounded so far-fetched and unbelievable. She was so shocked that she was unable to speak. I'm a mermaid?? Unbelievable.
"We brought the baby girl home and charmed her to make her look like a mermaid. She took your title of Princess Ariel and we doted on her as if she was our own daughter. But unfortunately she was weak and sickly and died at a tender age of ten." King Triton spoke will bitterness. "Then your mother passed away not long after. In her deathbed, she wanted me to find you, no matter how long it takes, and I need to find you. Since then, I tried every possible mean to find you. From the hospital to Hogwarts, and finally last month, I had news of you."
"B-but that's not possible." Lily stammered.
"Why not??"
"I mean, how could I be your daughter??"
"I think you are. You look exactly like your mother." King Triton took out a seashell shaped locket and opened it. A very pretty lady with red hair and green fishtail floated out.
"I-I don't know-" Lily gasped. The lady looked just like herself except for the green colored fish tail. She was wearing a very pretty star shaped pendant with two orbital rings framing the silver star-shaped pendant in the center. "How could that be possible??"
"You're born special. In your very own way." King Triton said. "Your mother had told me that I need to find you, to deliver this pendant to you by your sixteenth birthday."
"Erm.. I don't know what to say." Lily was speechless.
"Can I just wear this for you?? I know I hasn't play my part as a father to you." King Triton said with a tone of sadness. Lily held up her hair for him to put the pendant on. "This is not any normal pendent, it can protect you."
"I won't. Thank you. It's beautiful." The silver pendent glistened in the dimmed lighting in Dumbledore's office.
"I have heard about Mr. and Mrs. Evans death and I'm truly sorry about it. If you don't mind, I would welcome you to join us in the Undersea City of Atlantica anytime you like. It's your home, Princess Ariel"
"Oh my god!!" Stefanie exclaimed. "You're a princess!!"
"That's really brilliant. It's a gorgeous necklace." Arabella gushed.
"I don't know. It came to me as a shock." Lily admitted. The three girls were hiding the Room of Requirement that they stumbled across it unknowingly. The Marauders knew about the room and had told them about it before as well.
"Princess Ariel, a mermaid, though incredible but it's the truth." Stefanie said good-naturedly. The girls needed a cozy room for three where they can be away from the other people.
"He told me I could go via the lake in Hogwarts. The Merpeople there knows the direction to the Undersea City of Atlantica."
"Sounds so cool."
"I really don't know what to say." Lily confessed. "The whole thing seems so magical and fascinating. I believe it, but felt a little hard in accepting the facts."
"I understand how you feel." Arabella disclosed. "Don't forget that my mother just acknowledged me a couple of days ago. And I've known her for the last five years not knowing her true identity."
"It's getting quite late, I believe." Stefanie said. The three girls had been in the room after dinner. They had completed all their homework for the week and had a free weekend ahead.
"Can we just stay here for the whole weekend until Monday??" Lily asked. "I don't feel like facing anyone. I need time to digest and some peace would definitely help."
"Well, we need food to last us throughout." Stefanie said. Instantly a table for three appeared before them, served with the food they desired to eat most.
"I'm starting to really love this room." Arabella said, eating her Sweden meatballs.
"So do I." Lily agreed and helped herself with the creamy chicken linguine.
"Where have you all gone for the whole weekend??" Joey asked Lily, Arabella and Stefanie as they walked into the dormitory on Sunday night.
"We were hiding at one of the rooms in the castle." Lily casually said.
"Did something happen??" Samantha asked with a tinge of concern in her voice.
"Nothing much actually, just that we needed some peace." Arabella said. "It's not because of you or Joey, please don't be mistaken. It's just that things had happened and we just needed a place to sort things out."
"Alright. I hope everything is fine now." Samantha said smiling.
"Thanks for understanding." Stefanie said gratefully. The three of them had always appreciated their roommates for that, understanding and not much of questioning.
"Can I borrow your Charms homework for reference?? I don't think my essay on camouflagy charm was good enough." Joey said humbly. She was nearly always second or third the level for most of the subjects along with Samantha.
"Sure, it's on the desk. Help yourself." Lily pointed at her desk where a small mountain of parchments stood with her quills and ink.
"The next person who will find his identity will be Sirius." Arabella said suddenly as the three girls were walking together for their first lesson on Monday after breakfast.
"Sirius??" Stefanie repeated. "What do you mean by his identity??"
"He is related to you, but he is not your twin. He's your cousin."
"But our – my parents never told us anything."
"That's because even they themselves do not know anything about it."
"What do you mean??"
"Leave it for Sirius to tell the story."
"Ok, at least when will that happen??"
"Before the end of this year."
"Who will be the one to tell him??"
"Your father."
"Why??"
"It's your family kind of thing. I believe you never met anyone from your father's side of the family line."
"Now that you mentioned it. Wonder why??"
"Because he was disowned from the family." Arabella said grimly. "He will only tell Sirius the day before he go out fighting against Voldemort."
"I wonder how Sirius will digest the facts that he's going to hear soon enough." Stefanie commented. The Marauders were now lying on the grass beneath their favorite beech tree on the edge of the lake. Severus Snape was wondering aimlessly around the lake not too far away from them.
"Oh no!!" Lily shrieked. "The guys are going to do something with Snape again."
"History will repeat itself." Arabella said breezily. Snape's pathetic life was definitely not one of her major concern at the moment.
"What history you mean??" Lily asked.
"Don't tell me is the one after our OWL last year??" Stefanie asked. The setting was rather similar with that day to some extent.
"Look, our dear old Snivellus is here again." Sirius grinned cheekily.
"He still dares to come here after what we did to him last year." Remus said, shaking his head.
"Why don't we do it again??" Peter suggested.
"Good idea." James said as he stood up and set off across the grass towards Severus' direction.
"Wait for me." Sirius called out to James. Remus and Peter followed them as well, just in case James and Sirius might play too far.
"Yo, Snivellus." James called out to Severus. He turned and gave the Marauders a cold look, as though he had been expecting an attack.
"What do you want??" Severus asked coolly.
"Surprise that you still dare to come here after what happened last year." Sirius said, literally barking with laughter as he remembered what had happened.
"Expelliar-" Severus shouted but unfortunately too slow. James had already knocked him off his feet and sent his wand flying off to some bush since he was able to do wandless magic.
"You-" Severus stared at James with an expression of purest loathing. "Just you – wait!!"
"Wait for what??" James said laughing. Severus was cursing and swearing at James but nothing happened because he wand was a good four meters away from him.
"Scourgify!!" Sirius said and blue soapy bubbles streamed out of nowhere and the froth was covering Severus' body bit by bit.
"Leave him alone!!" A female voice shouted.
"Oh, not again." James muttered.
"Yes, not again. Stop your childish act now." Lily said crossly.
"Hey, we're just having fun." Sirius spoke.
"Ok, after this." The next moment, Severus was hanging upside-down in the air with his robes falling over his head to reveal his pale skinny legs and a pair of well-worn brown underpants.
"Stop it!!" Lily repeated impatiently.
"Count you lucky to have Lily her to save you again and again." James let Severus down and the next moment he was back standing on his feet again.
"It's time to buy some new underpants." Sirius called out to the retreating Severus who had obviously ignored his remark.
"Can't you guys stop bully the poor Severus again??" Lily said irritably.
"We do need entertainment sometime, you know." James said, sounding a little too high and mighty.
"And your entertainment is based on other's embarrassment??"
"It's not our fault that Severus existed for us to do that to him."
"Since when and how is it his fault?? He didn't do anything to you."
"He called you the m-word and another thing is we simply can't stand his presence."
"I'm not bothered by it and you're so concerned, huh??"
"It's not that I'm concern or what. He's just unpopular."
"People can't help being unpopular in case you didn't know that."
"Do you know how conceited and arrogant you're getting these days??"
"I'm not. I just have confident in myself."
"Too much confidence until you're so stuck-up."
"It's not my fault that I'm popular since you already said some people can't help being unpopular."
"Well, and the more you shouldn't dwell on his unpopularity."
"I'm just making him more recognized than the way he already is."
"You know what?? I hate you now, egomaniac!!" Lily turned on her heel and walked away without turning back.
"What did I do to offend her??" James said furiously as he turned and walked away in the opposite direction of Lily.
"I wonder how did both of them ever get married in the first place." Remus said shaking his head.
"First it was you and Sirius, and now Lily and James." Stefanie commented.
"Life is short!! I need to do a lot of things before I get sent to Azkaban for twelve years." Sirius said as if torturing Severus was a must to do.
"Yeah!! And after you're sent there, you become a fugitive for two years and die." Arabella said, getting rather pissed with Sirius for his haughty attitude.
"Ok, so I'm going to have a horrible life. The more I should live it now."
"You probably wouldn't be as happy in the near future."
"Why not??"
"Because you will learn facts that you don't want to believe."
"Like what??"
"It will be for you to find out."
"Why don't you just tell me directly and not be so wishy washy??"
"I'm in no position of telling you that."
"What you mean??"
"I don't know how to explain."
"Do you know how silly you're sounding??"
"Who are you calling silly??"
"Did you hear me talking to anyone now??"
"You think you're smart, is it??"
"I don't think I'm that smart, but since you said so, I can't deny that fact."
"Stop being so big headed, idiot."
"So now I'm the idiot??"
"You're such an idiot!!" Arabella and Sirius were shouting insults and bickering rather seriously in front of the lake. Most of the students had shunned the quarreling duo because they knew that both of them would start hexing people if they were interrupted.
"Do you think we should just leave or stop them??" Stefanie asked Remus and Peter who were eyeing both of them.
"I think we should spend some quality time together." Remus whispered to Stefanie, which made her blush. Then he turned to Peter. "Pete, do you mind if you head back to the tower first??" Peter nodded and turned back towards the castle.
"Egomaniac!!"
"Bimbo!!"
"Big-head!!"
"Fatso!!"
"Idiot!!"
"Loser!!"
"I predict that they're going to get violent soon." Stefanie told Remus. There was no need for whispering because there was no way Arabella or Sirius to lose concentration of each other whenever they were in the midst of an argument.
"Let's go in. We can always go to the Room of Requirement or something." Remus grinned. He held out his hand for Stefanie to grab.
"Crazy!!"
"Mad!!"
"Ugly!!"
"Pimply!!"
"Let's go." Remus and Stefanie left the squabbling two and returned to the castle.
Why did I fancy him in the first place?? That arrogant, stuck-up, conceited, snobbish jerk!! Make my blood boils. Torturing Severus as if he was a rag doll. I hate him. Lily thought angrily as she walked across the grass towards the castle. There's nothing better than a good afternoon sleep. Too many things had happened and so many things are going to happen.
What on earth is she thinking about?? Shouting at me for no reason!! It wasn't like this is the first time we're disturbing Snape for fun. She had joined us several times before and now she's trying to be nice and everything. Yeah, to keep her Prefect badge. That must be the case. James thought angrily as he marched towards Hagrid's hut. I need some peace. James stopped and turned away. There was no way I can get some inner peace with Hagrid and Fangs. Where can I go?? James stood rooted to the ground for a moment. Yes, the Room of Requirement.