Chapter 37 – Ancestry Revealed? Part 2

The two landed hard on the ground after a rough ride and immediately Lillian rounded on Harry her eyes blazing.

"What did you mean when you said that!"

"Whoa easy there," said Harry laughing. "There's spit flying from your mouth."

"Explain NOW!" she yelled.

"Where are we?" said Harry instead looking around.

They were surrounded by a thick white fog and couldn't see anything more than a foot away. There was no wind blowing and no sound either. It felt like they were in the middle of nothingness and they would have believed they were floating too if they weren't able to the feel the hard ground beneath their feet.

Lillian conjured a ball of fire in her hand to look ahead. "We seem to be standing on a footpath," she said.

Harry took a step forward and the fog seemed to part gently revealing more of the path.

Slowly they started moving forward and the fog kept moving away with every step they took.

"What did you mean when you said you know how I can speak Parseltongue?" asked Lillian again. This time quietly and calmly.

"Your mother died the same night as my parent's right?"

"Yes, what does that have to with this?"

"The car accident happened very close to the house in which my parents were killed and where Voldemort was defeated."

"Huh?"

Harry then explained all that he had discovered after talking to her father and Sirius to a very confused Lillian. And after Harry had finished his explanation Lillian was at a loss for words.

"So do you think it's possible?" Harry asked her observing her closely.

"I, I don't know," she said. "It all seems a little surreal to me."

"I know it sounds kind of outlandish but if you think about it, it does make sense."

Lillian shook her head and gave a small laugh. "I don't want to believe it even though it sounds very possible," admitted Lillian. "I feel kind of dirty knowing I became a witch because of Voldemort's magic."

Harry shrugged. "I don't think of it like that," said Harry. "Just think of it magic and nothing else. Think of it was a gift of magic."

Lillian rolled her eyes. "That's sounds super lame Harry."

"If it makes you feel better that doesn't matter," he said smiling.

"I guess this is another thing we have in common," she said.

"I hope there's nothing… WOW!" Harry's sentence was left incomplete as they came across to huge wrought iron gates. There was a large intricately designed 'M' in the center of each gate.

One was hanging off a single rusted hinge and the other was half open. It was a picture one associated with classic haunted houses.

"These must be bigger than the gates at Hogwarts," commented Lillian.

Harry tried to push one of the gates open wider but instead it came crashing down with a loud clang and broke into two pieces.

Harry and Lillian looked at each other amused. "Wonder how old they must be to break by your touch," said Lillian.

"Really old," said a grinning Harry. He could feel the excitement building in him. "Come on, the house must he just ahead."

And sure enough about 10 meters further the fog suddenly cleared and before them stood a small castle which seemed to be at the end of its life. It looked to have about four to five floors and if compared to Hogwarts it was maybe smaller than a quarter of the school. The moon hung above it making its haunted look more profound.

The castle wall was broken in several places and out of the four towers it seemed to have had only one was intact.

"Think they'll be any scary ghosts in there?" asked Lillian.

"Let's find out," muttered Harry lighting the end of his wand.

The front door of the castle was lying in pieces and when Lillian directed her ball of fire inside they both jumped back and held on to each other in shock!

Lying right beyond the broken pieces of the door was a skeleton with almost worn out clothes and it had a sword stuck through its head.

Almost immediately the shock wore of and they let go of each other and pretended it didn't happen.

"You know, I thought your ancestral house or rather castle would be the right word would be something grand!" said Lillian disappointedly, "Not some place which looked like it was about to fall apart and had corpses all over."

"I thought so too," said Harry dryly. He really didn't know what to make of the place.

CRUNCH.

"Urgh," said Lillian, "I think I just stepped on a skull!"

"Those might be my ancestors you know," said Harry. "Don't crush them!"

"Yes boss," she said, amused.

They now proceeded slowly and cautiously through the entrance way and came across a few more skeletons. Some had their skull parted from them and others seemed to have their ribs crushed.

"Aren't there any torch brackets here?" said Harry, shining his light on the walls.

"Found some," said Lillian and lit one with her fire. As soon she lit one, the other brackets starting flickering to life illuminating their way forward.

Now that there was some light, they felt like they were in the sewers but thankfully without the smell. There were patches of moss growing on the walls lots of broken rotting furniture everywhere.

They carefully maneuvered themselves around the corpses and saw the corridor widen ahead of them. It was a huge hall and had more bodies lying all over. Some were decapitated and some were missing several limbs.

The walls were most black indicating that a fire might have raged through the room. There was a lot of broken glass around which seemed to be once part of a beautiful chandelier. Also there a lot of pottery and curios lying around which looked like one touch would turn them to dust. At one corner of the room there was a large table which was surprisingly intact.

"Either all these people killed each other or there was someone who had a very serious issue with your ancestors," said Lillian.

"Let's keep looking," said Harry.

"Look for what!"

"Anything that will give us a clue to tell us what happened here."

"A massacre is what happened here," grumbled Lillian.

They entered the next room which seemed to be a burnt down library. They found some stairs leading upstairs and decided to explore the higher landings first but they were broken midway.

"So how do we go up now?" asked Lillian.

Harry just rolled his eyes and placed his hand at the foot of the staircase. Slowly the floor and the stairs started to freeze and not before long, in place of the broken stairs there was now a staircase made of ice.

There was smoke rising from the ice and added with the dim lights from the torches it gave the stairs a very enchanted look.

"Careful not to melt them," Harry told the fire elemental as the made their way up.

"Show off," muttered Lillian rolling her eyes.

The next floor was massive too and it had at little over 10 rooms.

There was one room which seemed to be a weapons room, another was just a large empty room, another room where there was just ash and after careful examination it seemed they had once been portraits.

The next floor and the two floors above that also seemed to pretty much the same, the only difference being there were lesser bodies the higher they went.

"Harry let's just get out of here," whispered Lillian. "All we've come across are about 50 skeletons, all who seem to have been killed very creatively.

"There's got to be something," said Harry frowning.

"Well there's nothing! This is the last room and there's nothing! We've probably been searching for an hour or two and in another three people will start waking at your real home!"

Harry ignored her. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "There were more rooms we didn't search and I'm pretty sure there's a basement too or dungeons as a matter of fact."

Sighing Lillian followed him down. She didn't complain more because she knew Harry was just trying to find out more about his family and the reason why there were so many dead bodies here. She couldn't imagine how Harry might be feeling right now.

Once downstairs they found the kitchen and another staircase which seemed to be going down.

Harry turned it into ice as it looked like it would collapse if even one foot was placed on it.

When they went downstairs they were shocked at what they found. There were no bodies down there but there were numerous metal handcuffs hanging from the wall at regular intervals and the floor seemed to be stained with dry blood too. There were no bodies but they knew what kind of a room this was.

The mystery that was the castle suddenly seemed to becoming clearer to the two.

"It seems like there used to be slaves here," said Lillian carefully observing Harry.

"And it looks like they revolted and killed every one of their masters," said Harry grimly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Harry with a laugh. It was true; he wasn't feeling bad at all! "If my ancestors were such kind of people, I'm glad they're dead."

"That's not why I'm sorry," said Lillian. "I'm sorry because I know this was not what you were expecting to find and as a matter of fact neither was I."

Harry gave her a half hearted smile. "Come on," he said. "I spotted a couple of other doors leading out from the entrance hall."

The last room they came across was another huge dome shaped room which seemed to be like a ball room for hosting big occasions.

"I guess that's it," said Harry with a sigh. "But now I know why this place was kept such a secret by my family."

"What do you mean?"

Harry then told her about Sirius and his mission in Paris and how they found the portkey in the Mona Lisa.

When Harry finished his story Lillian burst out laughing. "I knew you two were lying that day," she said. "And if we hadn't gone to that world you would have never found this house too!"

"Makes you think all of it was preplanned doesn't it?" said Harry.

"I don't believe in fate or destiny," said Lillian firmly to Harry but Harry's attention was elsewhere.

"Harry?"

"Do hear that?" he said softly.

"Hear what?"

"Listen!"

She did and then she heard it. It was the sound wind makes when blowing through a small space. A shrill whistling sound, but it was very low and easy to miss.

They started walking silently trying to find the source. They found it next to the entrance of the ball room right next to the door.

"This is it!" thought Harry excitedly.

Heart pounding Harry placed his hands on that section of the wall and pushed.

Harry exchanged a glance with Lillian when the wall moved back and started shifting sideways revealing a well lit corridor in front of them.

There were two doors on either side of the corridor and what seemed to be a large portrait at the end of the corridor.

Harry could hardly keep his excitement contained as he walked towards the portrait. Lillian held his hand in anticipation and Harry didn't complain.

The portrait was of an extremely beautiful woman wearing a green gown. She was sitting on a gold chair with her hands folded on her lap looking at a mirror in front of her. She wore a kind smile and she looked innocent, elegant and captivating.

But her reflection in the mirror was different. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and her lips were thinner. The smile she had in it was one of sadistic pleasure which made her seem both beautiful anddangerous.

"I haven't had visitors in decades."

The two elementals jumped back in fear again and this time fell on their back sides. They certainly weren't expecting the portrait to talk on them after finding nothing magical in the house.

The lady stood up and looked at them interestedly. "You're just children," she said. Her voice was sweet, melodious and enchanting.

Having regained their composure the two stood up and moved closer to the portrait.

"Who are you?" asked Harry.

"I was the lady of this house," replied the woman. "And my name is Vivian."

"I'm Harry and this is Lillian," said Harry and Lillian just waved weakly.

"My granddaughter was named Lillian," said Vivian, "But she was much more stunning than you," she added.

Harry's eyebrows shot up and Lillian's eyes narrowed.

"That's, err very interesting," said Harry, "But could you tell us what happened to everyone in this house?"

Vivian looked at Harry closely, "You are my descendent," she said, a delighted smile growing on her face. "I'm glad that my blood still lives on."

"So could you tell me the history of our family?" asked Harry hesitantly.

"What do you want to know?" she asked leaning back in her chair. Harry was finding it very hard not to stare at her.

"Let's start with you," said Lillian. She was starting to dislike the portrait and had a burning itch to burn it down.

"Was I talking to you little girl?" said Vivian coldly.

"Let's start with you," said Harry hurriedly not wanting any unnecessary interruptions. "I mean were you born in this house or did you get married to someone in it?"

Vivian laughed. "I told you I was the lady of the house. I was one who started this family before they were exterminated."

"Exterminated by whom?" asked Harry, eager to know the truth. He conjured a chair for him and for Lillian to sit knowing that this would probably take a while.

Vivian raised an eyebrow. "That was good spell work," she commented.

"Thank you."

"Well since you're the first visitor I've had in decades I'll tell you the story about the rise and fall of the house of the McDougan's."

"McDougan's?"

"That is your last name, is it not?" asked Vivian sitting back in her chair.

"It's Potter," replied Harry.

"So she changed her name after all," she muttered in disgust.

Harry didn't interrupt. Both he and Lillian looked at her with rapt attention. They could sense that this was going to be interesting.

"I was born an orphan," began Vivian. "My father had died in battle and my mother in child birth. Till the age of 4, my aunt took care of me until Queen Morgana came and decided to take me under her tutelage."

Lillian gasped out loud. "Are you the same Vivian who enchanted Merlin?!"

Vivian laughed, "Looks like my name hasn't been forgotten!"

"Holy Christ," said Harry in shock. "According to history, you went on an expedition with him to learn magic and came back alone."

"Let me tell the story dear Harry," she purred softly. "Now as I was saying, Morgana took me under her wing and started teaching me all about magic. She had several children studying under her and her plan was to build an army strong enough to overthrow King Arthur.

I was the most brilliant, the strongest and the most beautiful of her students," she added with pride. "But I had an ambition, an ambition to become the strongest of witches and wizards. Queen Morgana's silly dream was not about to get in my way."

Vivian flicked her long black her behind and gazed at the two with cold blue eyes. It was amazing how life like the portrait was.

"Morgana knew that if she had to destroy Arthur, she needed to get rid of Merlin. So when I was seventeen she decided to send me to get Merlin away from Arthur.

Merlin had a weak spot for young beautiful girls like me and with a ring which Morgana had given me, Merlin soon became by pet," she said with a giggle.

"It was very amusing to watch a man of his stature reduced to following a young gorgeous girl and obeying her every word."

Harry and Lillian were completely captivated by her voice and story.

"Merlin wanted to marry me and make love to me but I told him I would do so only if he taught me everything he knew about magic.

So Merlin, I and a few maids travelled up north to the mountains where over the next three years he began to teach me all he knew." She paused for a moment and observed Harry and Lillian's expressions.

Looking satisfied she continued. "This castle you are in was conjured by him you know," said Vivian.

"The night Merlin declared he had taught me everything he knew, he threw a grand party to celebrate the completion of my education and that was the night he also decided to ask my hand in marriage.

It was very romantic," she said lowering her voice. "He went down on one knee and presented me with the most beautiful ring you could possibly imagine."

Vivian sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Poor Merlin, I do wish he lived."

"How did you kill him?" whispered Harry.

"I almost forgot the best part," said Vivian smiling. "When he proposed, I of course said yes to honor our agreement. It was pointless to give him poison or try to kill him with magical prowess because he had enough skill to detect any poisons and enough experience to block any attacks. So I had to improvise. I put the poison in my mouth and had the antidote put in my wine and then I kissed him," she whispered.

"A long passionate kiss which lasted long enough for me to slowly slip the poison from my mouth to his mouth without him realizing it. And then I took a sip of my wine and watched him choke to his death."

Her voice had gone so low that Harry and Lillian had to lean forward to hear her.

"It was unfortunate," she said, her voice reaching normal volumes again. "But it had to be done."

"Why?" asked Lillian. "Why do you have to kill him?"

"The enchantment on the ring which made him fall madly in love with me would have never gone and I didn't want an old love sick man begging me to make love to him where ever I went," she said sharply.

"And then what?" asked Harry. He wanted to know everything!

"With the knowledge I had? I could do whatever I wanted! But first I decided I wanted a child. A child who would ensure that my legacy grew on and I would never be forgotten.

But whom to chose as the father?" she said. "At first I thought Arthur would be the perfect person to father my child but I decided against it as he didn't have any magic in him. So I chose Sir Lancelot, a knight in Arthur's court."

Vivian sighed. "I can still feel the touch of his mouth upon my breast and the wonderful feeling I experienced when he buried himself in me."

Harry and Lillian were determined not to look at each other at this point. Both had turned red and knew looking at each other would just be extremely awkward.

"He was handsome; he was strong and had great magical strength which sadly he never knew off. With his qualities I knew my child would be a god amongst wizards and witches."

"Did you enchant him too?" asked Lillian.

"No I did not," replied Vivian. "No man would ever say no to me. All I had to do was walk into his room and ask him to make love to me and we made wonderful love. I must confess I've had a lot of men but none compared to Lancelot, he certainly knew how to please a woman. Not even King Arthur could match him in that area."

"You slept with King Arthur!" gasped Lillian and Harry simply stared at the portrait with his mouth open.

"Well Arthur I had to enchant. He was very loyal to his wife.
Even though I had no interest in him, it seemed very appealing to me to sleep with a king," she said smirking.

"Was his wife loyal to him?" asked Harry with interest.

"Lancelot was a very charming man too," replied Vivian answering their question.

Harry and Lillian finally looked at each other. Both had an expression of awe.

"Wait what happened after that!" asked Harry.

"When my son was born, Arthur had died and the kingdom had fallen into chaos. Morgana tried to take over the land but it was easy for me to kill her and stop her march."

"You killed Morgana too!"

"She was getting in my way," replied Vivian coldly without a hint of remorse. "Slowly I took over most of the kingdom and it was a time where witches and wizards ruled comfortably over the non magical folk.

My son grew up just as I expected him to and soon our family grew just as our power over the land grew. This portrait of mine was made when I was 26 and I died when I was around thirty five I think."

"You died? How?"

"My portrait contains the memories of all I had done prior to that so I do not know. But from what my children told me, it was some sort of illness which they could not cure no matter how hard they tried."

"So the evil queen died," commented Lillian.

Vivian narrowed her eyes. "I was not an evil queen but I was a queen alright," she said. "I let the people live peacefully as long as the obeyed my laws."

"So what about the slaves?"

"Those who disobeyed were punished accordingly," she said coolly.

"That's just cruel," said Harry in disgust. "So what, then the slaves revolted and killed everyone?"

"Of course not," said Vivian laughing "As if they could do such a thing!"

"My son continued my rule and he made sure that my name was said with reverence throughout the land. But then he died too and there were none like him or me to keep our legacy going. The family grew too corrupt and too power hungry.

The only thing that was going for them was that every time someone took the name McDougan, they would remember my son and me and would bow down respectfully so no one ever opposed them."

"But then came that man," she said with a sigh. "I don't know how he found this castle but when he did he left none alive but one. I do not know what my descendents did to him but what he did was an act of revenge."

"Who was he?" asked Harry.

"He said his name was Salazar Slytherin," said Vivian. "And he left a sixteen year old girl by the name of Alice McDougan alive and I think she was the one who led him here. It would appear that she changed her name to Alice Potter after she left this house."

Both elemental's mind had stopped working at the mention of name Salazar Slytherin.

"Slytherin was the one who killed everyone in this castle?" asked Harry with a quiver in his voice.

"I sure they deserved it," said Vivian cruelly. "After my first son died I did not care if this bloodline lived or died. But now I am glad it did because you look like a boy with immense power. Perhaps you could restore my legacy."

Harry laughed. "I doubt people would like to know that I am descended from the woman who was responsible for the death of Merlin."

"So Slytherin was responsible for killing all your ancestors huh," said Lillian. "I wonder why he left the girl alive though."

"Vivian said she could have led him here," muttered Harry. "Maybe she hated her family and wanted to escape. Just like Sirius wanted to escape his family."

"And when she did she changed her name to Potter she might have started a new life for herself," replied Lillian thoughtfully. "But I would have never have imagined that your families history could be so twisted!"

"Wait a minute," said Harry turning back to the portrait. "What happened to Merlin's body?"

This time the picture of Vivian in the mirror turned towards them. "Why he's resting right beyond this portrait," she said cruelly.

"No way," whispered Harry.

"I didn't want to burn or bury his body so I enchanted his body and placed it in a coffin in this very house as a reminder to my family of my great achievement!"

"C-can we see it," asked Lillian. She had held on to Harry's hand again holding it tightly.

The Vivian in the mirror smiled and smoothly the entire portrait swung aside revealing a dimly lit room with a single coffin inside.

Each step they took felt a mile had been crossed and they stopped at the entrance. Harry tightened his grip around Lillian's hand and the stepped inside together.

There he was, the great wizard called Merlin. Once student under the youngest brother who fought the creature known as evil. The greatest wizard known to wizard kind.

You would think he was simply resting in that coffin which was made of stone.

His face was oddly wrinkle free and he had long white hair with a beard which was about half a foot long. He looked nothing like anyone would have imagined him to be. He seemed both young and old and he was dressed in black robes.

Harry and Lillian felt overwhelmed to be in the presence of such a man. Harry extended his hand and lightly touched the man's face.

"He's warm," he said in surprise.

"I never thought I would be seeing the body of Merlin," whispered Lillian. "I would have never imagined it in my entire lifetime."

They gazed at the body for a few more minutes in wonder and waited for their heart rates to go back to normal.

"Shall we go?" asked Harry after a while.

Lillian nodded. But before she left she conjured a red rose and placed it between his hands. Harry too conjured a white rose and placed it next to the red.

Both didn't want to turn their backs on a man like him so they walked out backwards and as soon as they were out the portrait shut the entrance.

"Beautiful and sad isn't it," said Vivian.

Harry nodded. "I guess we'll be going now," he said.

"Do come and visit sometime," said Vivian. "Even a portrait needs some company every decade or so."

"I will try too," said Harry wearily. "Also what is there behind those doors?"

"Treasure," replied Vivian. "We were a rich family. Slytherin destroyed everything in the castle but he was never able to find this room."

"Then how did you know it was him who destroyed everything?" asked Lillian.

"I had another portrait in the portrait room upstairs but that was burnt by him silly girl."

Lillian opened her mouth ready to respond with fury but Harry pulled her away.

"Oh Harry," called out Vivian.

"What?"

"How does it feel to know you're descended from the woman who had the power to kill Merlin?"

Harry paused to think. "It feels oddly brilliant," he admitted. "Others might be horrified but it feels amazing to know there is such a legacy in my blood."

"I'm glad," whispered Vivian and with that said she returned to her original position in the portrait.

"Want to see the treasure room before we leave?" he asked Lillian who was still glaring at the portrait.

"I just want to burn that damn evil bitch," replied Lillian. "Who does she think she is? Calling me a silly girl."

Harry started chuckling.

"Why are you all smiles scarhead," she snapped.

Harry just rolled his eyes and opened the door to the treasure room.

It was nothing special. There were just humungous piles of gold everywhere and lots of plates and goblets made of gold too.

The other room was also filled with gold but had several beautiful swords and shields.

Harry thought of sending it to Gringotts but then decided against it. They had been safe here for centuries and nobody could come here except for him.

"Shall we leave now?" asked Lillian.

Harry nodded and the pair left the small castle and headed out to the broken gates.

It was at that point Harry realized they didn't have a way to go back to Grimmauld place.

"Err… Freckles?"

"Ya?"

"This is a one way portkey. We don't have a way back."

Lillian's mouth dropped open. "Then how are we supposed to get back you moron!"

"Let me think," said Harry but inside he had no answers he hadn't learnt how to apparate nor how to create a portkey. How the hell were they supposed to get back!

"Hold it," said Lillian suddenly. "I think I can take us back."

"Really! How?"

"My elemental ability. I can transport myself with fire and I think I can take you along too!" she said excitedly.

"If you haven't forgotten, I'm a water elemental. Fire doesn't do anything good for me."

"It'll be alright," said Lillian impatiently. "When we were at the Flamel's, Nicolas taught me how to teleport myself and he made me practice taking him along too!"

Harry looked doubtful, "You sure you won't burn me?"

"Of course not," replied Lillian. "The first few times I burnt myself and Nick but then I got the hang of it and I've had a lot of practice since then."

Harry still looked doubtful.

"We don't have a choice you know," said Lillian. "You don't have a way back. I do and it's almost five in the morning. We have to get back now!"

"Where are you going to teleport us?"

"Your room obviously," she said. "No one in the right mind would be there now."

"You sure you can take us?"

"YES!"

"Alright then," said Harry with a sigh. "What do I do?"

"Just hug me."

"Hug you!"

"YES!" she said exasperatedly.

Slowly Harry went forward and awkwardly placed his arms around her.

"You have to hug me tighter or I might not do it right," said Lillian in a small voice. She was suddenly feeling really weird about this too.

So Harry wrapped his arms around her tighter.

"You know having your tits pressed up against my chest was not exactly what I had in mind," he said uncomfortably.

Lillian glared at him. Their faces were just a few inches apart.

"Having your thing pressed up against me was not what I had in mind either but we don't have a choice do we," she said angrily.

"No we don't," said Harry with a gasp. He was suddenly finding it difficult to breath. "Can we please go now?"

"Let me concentrate," said a blushing Lillian.

A fire enveloped the two and Harry was glad to see it wasn't burning him and then just like that there was flash of fire and their surroundings disappeared temporarily and when Harry opened his eyes they were standing in his room in Grimmauld place.

He immediately let go of Lillian and took at least 5 steps away from her.

"We are never doing that again," he said letting out a sigh of relief.

"I feel weird," murmured Lillian and then just fell forward.

Harry sprung into action and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Hey Freckles," he called in concern, "You alright?"

Her eyes fluttered open and then shut again.

Harry rapped her twice on her face to get her to wake up. "Freckles! Lillian!"

This time she opened her eyes and slowly got to her feet. "I feel dizzy and exhausted."

"It must have been a really long distance for you to be this tired."

"I guess," she muttered and then promptly fell asleep on his bed.

"Freckles! Freckles wake up! Lillian, Mary!" he said loudly while shaking her too but she didn't wake up. She was out cold.

"Damn it!"