A few days after receiving Carrigan's letter I came downstairs to find the Headmaster of Hogwarts sitting in my kitchen drinking tea with Gabriel Quintin. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment because the Professor had come at such an awkward time. I had let Gabriel stay the night, which made the situation appear that we were intimate. Plus, I was still in my pajamas consisting of shorts and a tank top. When I saw the old man in the kitchen I detoured to the front closet and pulled out Gabriel's pull over he had worn into the house last night. I pulled it on and as I walked down the hall to the kitchen I realized wearing Gabriel's clothes only made the situation look worse. I sighed and tried to relax. I was an adult. I could ask Gabriel to spend the night if I wished.

"Good morning Miss Coleman," Albus Dumbledore said as I walked into the room. He wore long emerald green robes today that made his light blue eyes stand out brightly. He smiled at me and bowed his head in greeting. "Forgive me for calling on you so early."

"It's alright," I said looking at Gabriel with a shy glance. I forced a smile at Dumbledore and crossed my arms over my chest. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm assuming Carrigan wrote to you," he said.

"Yes, about punching Divinity Jasper in the face," I nodded. "That's why you're here, because of Divinity?"

Dumbledore frowned. "Your niece is the second reason I am here. The first is Sirius Black. He broke into Hogwarts on Halloween and destroyed the portrait of the Fat Lady. It is evident that he was trying to get into Gryffindor Tower. We're not sure if he was looking for Harry or Carrigan."

I touched my throat and sank down into a chair with a soft sigh. "Carrigan didn't mention that in her letter."

"I'm surprised she didn't," Dumbledore said then sipped his tea.

"Dumbledore was just telling me that they didn't find Black on the grounds," Gabriel said as he poured me a cup of tea. I took it and drank it quickly, wishing desperately that there was something much stronger in it. "Cadence," Gabriel said my name softly. I looked up at him with sad eyes. "She probably didn't say anything because she didn't want you to worry."

I nodded and leaned back in my chair, still frowning. Dumbledore was studying me with curious eyes.

"Do you think he knows about Carrigan?"

"Not from me," I said looking to Gabriel. "Did that come up while you were fighting?"

Gabriel frowned and looked at his tea cup. I reached out, touching his arm.

"Gabriel?" I questioned. "What didn't you tell me?"

"He said he knew about our daughter," Gabriel said. My heart fell into my stomach. "That's why he didn't believe me when I told him I didn't know what it was like to be with you."

"Why didn't you tell me this a month ago when it happened?" I asked with annoyance on my tongue.

"I didn't think it was of importance," Gabriel shrugged. "I thought it might be safer for him to assume Carrigan is my child. Maybe then he'd stay away from her."

I slapped my hand against my head and sighed loudly.

"Well now I'm really surprised he didn't kill me," I whispered looking back up at Dumbledore. "You think he's after Harry then?"

"I think his intentions are still unclear," Dumbledore replied. He had a similar answer to my questions at the beginning of term when I came to speak to him about Carrigan's griffin Hector. "There are a lot of unanswered questions concerning what happened that night. When Gabriel arrested him, for example, he insisted he was innocent despite just blowing up half a street of people. Either we are missing a very important part of the story of the Potters death, or Sirius Black is a mentally ill mad man."

"I'm going with mentally ill mad man," Gabriel responded.

"Cadence?" Dumbledore said my name softly with half a smile. "You disagree?"

"I think that Sirius is out of control and we need to stop him before he actual hurts someone. We've gotten lucky so far," I responded. "I thought by now he'd kill half the city."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Yes, this is probably true."

"How do you think he got into Hogwarts?" Gabriel asked.

"I'm not sure," Dumbledore said. "But I have a few theories."

"Does one of them involve Remus Lupin?"

"No," I responded. "Remus wouldn't do that. We checked him out over the summer Gabriel."

Gabriel gave me a disappointed look. It was a look that I had seen numerous times in my youth, when he was responsible for my training and safety. He gave me that look when I made the stupid decision to trust anyone—including him. At this point in my life, Gabriel was really the only person I could trust. I trusted him with my life and Carrigan's…no other person had earned that right.

"I don't believe Remus is responsible," said Dumbledore before Gabriel could tell me I was being stupid and that I shouldn't trust anyone. He didn't have to say it verbally though. His eyes said every word with that harsh look. He made me feel like a child again—perhaps the reason I was so childish was because he treated me like such.

"And you're not the first to suggest it," Dumbledore added. "Snape also seemed cautious of your old school friend."

"Snape?" I questioned. I rolled my eyes as a dark demeanor fell over me. "Now that is a man you shouldn't trust, Professor."

"I find that I can trust Snape," responded Dumbledore shortly. There was a cross tone in his words, but his eyes remained pleasant and calm. I sighed and sat back in my chair, disappointed that Dumbledore would defend Severus Snape who was responsible for exposing my true identity as Voldemort's daughter to the entire school at the end of my sixth year. Also, Severus Snape was a Death Eater—he claimed to have switched sides after James and Lily's death, but I didn't buy it. He was just trying to save himself from the prosecution of Death Eaters that occurred after my Father's demise.

"What of Divinity?" Gabriel asked changing the subject.

I sighed. I hadn't believed Carrigan's letter when I read it at first. I had to reread the name of the girl she had punched over and over again because there was no way that Divinity Jasper was attended Hogwarts.

Divinity Jasper was actually my niece Haiden Drake who had been kidnapped by Death Eaters when she was two. I had met her once, when she was five, but she looked as if she were eight. Her Father was my half-brother Braven Drake, and her Mother was said to be a mythical goddess. I didn't know or fully understand Divinity's story—I was mystified by her when I met her. She was a magically gifted child—with pure blood of Voldemort in her, and magical blood of a goddess.

"Divinity is attended Hogwarts in her second year," Dumbledore said very slowly.

"I don't understand," I said shaking my head. "How is that even possible? She'd be eighteen now."

"She looks like she is twelve," Dumbledore shrugged sadly. "Divinity is a mystery to all of us. I fear that Voldemort experimented with age spells and potions on her to ensure her survival even if he was gone. She has been raised as a Death Eater, she believes in Dark Magic and is a very powerful witch."

"I'd say so," Gabriel nodded. "Do you know if someone has been training her?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "The Jaspers do not allow me to have a particular interest in their family. Whatever Divinity is living I promise you that Marcus Jasper loves her very much, but despite that love he knows who his master is. Voldemort had very dark intentions for Divinity."

"It sounds like she is being abused and neglected," I said harshly.

"Perhaps," Dumbledore whispered. "But we do not know enough to get involved in the situation. Divinity does not complain of abuse, nor does she show signs of it. She is simply a happy, rather vicious, child, but no more so then the Malfoy's boy Draco."

I frowned deeply. "I don't like it," I said shaking my head. "I feel as helpless now as I did when she was first taken. How can I sit here and not save her?"

Gabriel sighed loudly. "We went over this then, Cadence. Divinity isn't Haiden. Your niece is dead. Divinity now controls her, and she is a completely different child."

I turned away from him, giving him an ugly glare. I stood up and picked up the tea cups, not caring if Dumbledore and Gabriel weren't done with them. I went to the sink and began to clean them.

"What should I tell Carrigan?" I asked.

"I don't think you should tell her anything," Dumbledore said standing up. "But you are her Mother and that is ultimately your decision."

I didn't look at him but nodded. I kept my eyes fixated on the sink in front of me that was full of dirty dishes. I hadn't done the dishes in weeks. I was never one to keep a clean house—Gabriel always did.

"Well, I must be off," Dumbledore said as he pulled on his cloak. "I have a meeting at the Ministry in a few minutes. Thank you for the tea, and forgiving me for stopping by so early."

I glanced at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it said six twenty one. I turned and bowed my head to Dumbledore.

"Of course," I said. "Thank you for coming by. I appreciate it."

"I'll walk you out," Gabriel said motioning for Dumbledore to exit the kitchen first. I leaned against the counter as the two men walked out, then turned and went back to washing the dishes. I was frustrated with the situation regarding Divinity. I didn't understand how those two men expected me to stand by and just let her continue to live as a Death Eater. She had a right to know the truth of her lineage, and that there were good people who still loved her out there.

"Cadence," Gabriel said coming up behind me. I sighed. I hadn't heard him creep up on me. "I know what you're thinking and you have to let it go."

"I never understood how you just gave up on her," I said shaking my head.

"I was her teacher, I knew when she was lost," he whispered as he leaned against me. I turned and pushed him away.

"You were my teacher," I snapped. "Why didn't you give up on me?"

Gabriel frowned at me with a dark green stare. When I had went to bed those eyes were dark brown, now seeing them green tore a hole in my heart. I thought of Lily Potter, my best friend, who had green eyes like me.

"You were never lost," he whispered stroking my hair behind my ear.

I slapped his hand away from me and tried to move away from him but he had me caught between the counter and his massive muscular body. "Gabriel," I sighed with agitation. "Let me free."

Gabriel stepped back and bowed his head to me. I rolled my eyes and walked away from him, heading back upstairs to my bedroom. As I marched up the stairs I heard him follow me.

"I would never give up on you," Gabriel yelled up the stairs as I made my way into my bedroom. I stopped and looked down the staircase at him.

"That's my point," I yelled back at him. "Maybe Divinity needs someone who won't give up on her!"

I walked into the bedroom and slammed the door so violently that the doorframe cracked. I sighed with frustration and picked my wand up off the bedside table, flicking it at the door to repair the damage I had just done. As soon as the wood was fixed Gabriel entered the bedroom without knocking, which only made me more upset with him.

"Gabriel, I don't want to fight," I snapped. "Get out of my room."

"No," he said shaking his head. "You want to fight. You pick fights with me all the time—let's fight, Cadence."

I could only glare at him as I put my hands on my hips. No, I really didn't want to fight with Gabriel. No agreement was going to come from this argument. I thought he and Dumbledore had given up on Divinity prematurely. I thought that we should still be fighting for her—I thought that Gabriel would get that.

"What if it were Carrigan?" I asked. "What if it were her who was missing?"

"We would find her," Gabriel said. "Divinity isn't Carrigan, and she isn't you Cadence. You forget what she is and what she stands for. Divinity is beyond this life, beyond good and evil."

"But obviously she is evil if she has been raised that way," I snapped.

"Cadence," Gabriel sighed with his own frustration. I could see that he felt like he was talking to a wall; I felt the same way. "You can't save her. No matter what happens, Divinity will be fine. Her Mother will protect her. She may be manipulated for the purposes of your Father, but she will rise above them. You have to trust in her power."

"She's a child!"

"She's eighteen," Gabriel responded. "And more adult then you ever have been."

I picked up an oil lamp from the bedside table and chucked it across the room at Gabriel. He dodged it, allowing it to smash against the bedroom wall into messy pieces of oil covered glass. Gabriel looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not a child Gabriel!" I screamed. "You insist on treating me like one maybe that's why I act like one! I never was this childish with Sirius! Maybe that's why I let him screw me!"

The moment the words left my mouth I regretted them. I stood up straight and crossed my arms over my chest as Gabriel smiled and nodded. He ran his hand through his long hair and turned, leaving the room without another word. I sighed as tears filled my eyes. I wiped them quickly and sat down on the bed. I wasn't going to go after him. I wasn't going to apologize. He had to realize he couldn't treat me like this; like I was a dumb little girl that he needed to protect.

I looked at the bedroom door, as if hoping he'd come back through it. My eyes fell on the spilled oil and broken glass. The vase had shattered when the lamp impacted it. White roses littered the floor soaking up water and oil which refused to mix. I swung my hand at the destruction and it rewound, putting all of its pieces back together. The vase returned to the dresser with the white roses in it, and the lamp zipped across the room returning to its position on the bedside table. It looked like the incident had never happened. Oil and water were separable; Gabriel and I weren't like oil and water—we would never be rid of each other; we would mold, melt and change the other. The pieces of our hearts were one whether we liked it or not. Fate twisted us together and destiny punished us.