Chapter 6: The one where everything changes

Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

Chapter 5

Linus had let go of the old man's hand like he had got burnt. He whipped around so quickly and grabbed my hand, practically dragging me out the door. His face was red with anger, and mine was pulled in confusion.

"Lenzo lets go. Move", the last part was directed at me as I was rooted to the spot. Didn't that man with the wicked beard just claim to be our great grandfather or something like that, or did I hear wrong?

Why in the world was Linus dragging us away from the one thing we all wanted since I was three years old, a parent… and the grander the better I say.

I looked at Lenzo, who was also walking toward the door, his usual bored look on his face. Were these two seeing something that I was not? "Lenzo…"

"Not now Ky, we'll explain later."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that Mr Lorenzo Percival Petrizio Thornton."

I'm pretty sure that Lenzo didn't tell him his name. Actually, I know that Lenzo actually hated his name, thought the whole thing was pretentious. He was only too happy that I couldn't pronounce his name correctly and called him Lenzo when I was a baby and the thing just stuck.

"I know what you did, and that was very sneaky Old Man. So, you flipped through my head a bit and saw a few memories, think you can pull the wool over our eyes."

Oh no, when Linus starts talking like an old person, you know the shit has hit the fan. I looked at Lenzo and he seemed to recover from the slight confusion that marred his face a few seconds ago, only Linus would have known that the man went through his mind. A mean feat considering I never managed to break through his mental block before. We all could do it, but it was very draining and extremely difficult, and I only did it once before and that was on Nessie, so actually I can't even say for sure if I did do it as she's dumb as a doorknob, no offence to the doorknob. I know Linus was good at it, but he didn't do it often because he always had headaches afterwards, and I know Lenzo only ever used it to pick up really attractive women. I heard him trying to convince Li to do it once, saying they were worth the headaches.

I never met anybody else with powers. Well, that was because I never had any friends. I never went to school; Linus and Lenzo spent all the extra money from their scholarships and jobs on personal tutors and lessons for me. I know they tried to make it up by spending as much time as possible with me. And it's not like they kept me locked up in the house. I went out, just not without them. I think because they were older than me, they managed to control 'it', something I had problems doing even in public. It was so bad that when I was six, if I just looked at the television remote it would come floating towards me.

I understood why I couldn't go to school, but understanding didn't make things easier.

Our parents died when I was a baby, and through our 'gifts' alone Li and Len were able to keep us out of the foster system. A year after their death, at the age of fourteen, Li graduated high school. He was brilliant, and received a generous scholarship that covered his tuition at MIT with enough to spare for my personal tutors and nannies. Len graduated two years later, and just like Li had achieved a generous scholarship. I still feel guilty about them spending all that money on me. That's why I studied hard so I could stop being a burden and start contributing as well. They didn't want me to rush, saying that I should savour being a kid. I might have been able to go to a real school if I worked harder on controlling my powers.

I just think they didn't want their little sister going through her first year of college at fourteen. To try and compensate for the isolation, they let me do a lot of extracurricular activities – Aikido, Tae-Kwando, Sul Ki Do, a plethora of self-taught language lessons, archery for a while, the list was endless. As long as it could be taught at home, under their supervision.

"Believe me Mr Thornton, the last thing I want to do is fool you in anyway. Or take any sort of advantage of you. And I don't take the comment I just made lightly at all." He turned and looked at me, "Miss Thornton, may I please have your locket, just for a second."

I didn't ask how he knew about the locket; he probably saw a memory of when Linus gave it to me. It was on my fifth birthday, and he said it was our grandmother's and she wanted me to have it. It was my most prized possession, especially since it was from a grandparent I never met, as she died about a year before I was born. I tugged my hand out of Li's grip, and he let go of it reluctantly.

I walked across the room, away from where we were framed at the door. I pulled out the locket. Considering it was gold metal it never felt cold; it always felt like it radiated heat. I looped it off my head, looking at it once before giving it to him. It wasn't anything that Nessie would wear, it wasn't fancy or gaudy. It just had a single tiny ruby at the tips of the oval, and it had this lined impression on both sides, which I had never figured out what it was.

"Don't try opening it, I've been trying for nine years, and it doesn't budge."

I handed it over to him, our eyes met, and he gave me a smile. I glanced to my right and caught Scarhead's eye, he was giving me a strange look. I didn't know what to make of it. The other two were gaping at me, so were the rest of the people that we had forgotten were in the room. Shouldn't they have excused themselves?

I heard a chuckle, "Nothing is ever private here at Hogwarts."

I smiled at the strange name. Weird things always amused me. And this man was definitely weird. He then muttered something under his breath that I was sure was Latin. I looked down at the locket just as he had been doing, and my breath caught. The impression on the front was moving, until it was blank, except for the tiny rubies at the oval tips. Then with a little click, it popped open, and I heard the most beautiful, pure sound that seemed to touch my soul, but it was so quiet I had to lean in to hear it better.

Something heavy sat on my shoulders and I heard Lenzo shout out my name, but I didn't respond to either. I was too busy staring at the greying, old, moving picture of Linus and me in the locket.

Upon closer inspection I could tell it wasn't me, nor was it Linus. For one thing, the lady looked older, but not by much, maybe two or three years. Plus, she had very bright green eyes, much like Scarhead's, nothing like mine. And her face was thinner, and her hair was in a bun, something I assure you I have never worn before. But not even I could deny the resemblance.

Linus' look alike on the other hand looked quite like how he did now, except instead of the neat business hair cut he wore, this picture showed a man with chin length, wavy, brighter auburn hair. Plus, the skin was fairer, lacking any sign of a tan. And this man had facial hair, not a lot, just looked like stubble, but I have never seen Linus with even stubble before, he preferred being clean shaven. He also looked younger than Linus. As I was staring at the Linus look alike, he started winking up at me, whilst my look alike was smiling. Her smile was so wide. She looked really happy. The light caught something moist on the picture frame, and Mr Dumbledore must have seen it as well because he cleared his throat and said,

"Would everyone except Mr Thornton" he looked at Linus, "leave the room for a second. I believe there is something we need to discuss."

"I thought nothing was private." I looked up at him, sad at being left out.

"Of course not, when it's up to me. But the dead's wishes must always be respected. The fact that your great grandmother put a memory in a locket that she knew very well only I would be able to open, and that she gave it to your brother, I think it would be quite a dishonour to her to make things public without watching the memory first."

He didn't have to explain things to me, he could have just shooed me out, it was his castle after all, but I really appreciated the honesty. So, I didn't say another word and followed the others out the door.

LINUS's POV

I don't know what the old man was playing at. I could even sense that he had an immense power, it emanated from him. Plus, he looked at so many memories of mine, in just the few seconds that I shook his hand. I knew he was trying to get inside my mind this whole time, but I thought my mental block was doing alright. I guess that's what you get for letting your guard down.

"Don't be so tense Mr Thornton. I'm not going to break into your fortress again, no need to be so guarded."

"If you were not trying to break in again, how do you know that I tightened my security?"

"For the very same reason I encroached on your privacy in the first place. I must apologise for that. I don't usually do that unless completely necessary. And I found the situation at hand quite necessary."

"And what made the situation so necessary?"

"Well, you would too, you nosy little boy. How would you react if the younger version of yourself just waltzed right into your office, trying to suffocate one of your staff members, and with no wand too, mind you?"

That voice wasn't the old codger that spoke, but instead it came from behind him. I was pretty sure everybody left the office and all that was behind him was a portrait of some old man in the same ridiculous get up as the rest of the cult, and he was looking right at me. My initial thought was that it was just that feeling you got, the one where the eyes of a portrait follow you. But then I looked at the rest of the portraits, and they were many, and they all seemed to be stirring from their slumber. How could that be possible though? Was it computer generated? But why on earth would he want that. And that still didn't explain how the man in the portrait spoke to me.

Looking around the office now, I couldn't see a thing I recognised. And I'm pretty sure, and I must be mistaken, but the bird that left on Ky's shoulder seemed to be a phoenix. But that's impossible, right? This whole situation was weird, and I just wanted to get Lenzo and Ky out of here in one piece. It seemed like this man knew how to use his powers and harnessed it much better than I could. If this was some weird cult for people with the wonky gene, as Ky liked to call it, I'll have nothing of it.

For one thing this place was too dangerous. I was just going to humour this man for a few minutes till he let us out. It must be pure coincidence that I looked like a younger version of him. I read somewhere that there were at least seven people in this world that has a similar face to your own. Trust Ky to go find one of my seven. Or at least the ancient version of one of my seven.

The whole time I sat here thinking, the man just sat staring at Ky's locket. I looked around, I felt like I was a delinquent in the principal's office. He finally got up, opened a cabinet, and got out what seemed to be an ancient basin.

I looked up at him and he gave me one of those annoying smiles. It patronised me to no end. Why was he always smiling like everything was ok when it evidently was not. He poured something out of the locket into the basin. Maybe if we ran for it, and if Lenzo carried Ky, we would make it. Who am I kidding; if I thought that was an option then we would have left ages ago.

"Mr Thornton," and he had this amused look in his eye whenever he said my name, "Would you please stick your finger into the basin for me."

I looked at him as if he was mental, which he probably was. He might as well have asked me to put my finger in a wall socket. But when I looked down into the basin, I saw a blurry picture of Nonna, she was speaking but it was as if the reception was bad, and I couldn't hear her.

I leaned into the basin, and after the old man stuck his finger in and disappeared, I decided to do the same. If he was willing to go into this basin world, I'm sure there would be a way out. But I mostly did it just to see Nonna again.

After a tug on my naval I was back standing on my feet. The old codger was standing next to me. I looked around and gasped, Nonna was sitting in the lounge of our old cabin house. I ran straight to her but just as I was about to touch her,

"I'm sorry Mr Thornton but what you're seeing is just a memory of your grandmother."

And as if to prove him right she started speaking.

"Hello Albus."

She stopped to smile at this. I knew that smile. How many times had I been on the receiving end of that smile. Her black hair tied up in a bun, her face, even with the wrinkles, told a story of beauty and wisdom. And her apple green eyes, never missing the spark.

"If you're viewing this it must mean you've found out my little secret. Or should I say, deception. I guess Quilinus indeed had a daughter, just like I foresaw. Don't give me that look; I didn't break your heart. If anything, I saved it. I would have broken you Albus, the women in my family always break things. Remember how I broke your broom that one time you offered to teach me how to fly. It's your own fault really, what with how diabolic I was on the ground, you should have known better. It was that night wasn't it…"

Thank god she didn't go on, and just got a faraway, distant look in her eye. She snapped out of it and continued,

"I'll never forget the look on your face, when you were telling me how you just couldn't wait to go on your trip around the world. No, you weren't excited about seeing Mt Everest or the Taj Mahal or the Northern lights, like any normal person, you were ecstatic to just absorb everything about magic you could find. Can you remember, Albus, when we were that young, that free, and that ignorant to think all there was to life was who knew the most?" A look of pain flashed across her face at that statement, and she paused.

She swallowed, and continued, "I don't think there was anything more captivating in this world than watching you be brilliant. I could just sit and watch you tinker with a spell, or toy with a potion. It was a week before my 17th birthday, I all but begged my father to let me stay awhile extra with my aunt, just so I could spend time with you on your last days before heading back to Hogwarts for your final term. I remember how the moon twinkled in your eyes, and the look on your face as you were going on and on about dragon blood and how you think it could be used as an oven cleaner, but your mother didn't want to let you experiment. I remember laughing at you; you were always so preciously weird. I remember how you suggested that you had a little bit of dragon blood left, and if my aunt was asleep, we should go and try it out at my house. That was the most insane pick-up line I had ever heard. I kissed you right there. That night was, for two people who knew too much of it but never really lived it, the most magical night of my life. I had found out about the pregnancy a month after that. I knew if I told you, you would have cancelled your trip; put your whole life on hold. Done right by me and the baby. I couldn't bear to be the reason you didn't rise to the brilliance you were destined for. How could I live with myself? So, when you came back after your final exams, a week away from leaving for your grand voyage, you found me there, with my bags packed. I fed you some story about how my father found me an eligible suitor in Italy, and we were to be married in a few weeks. How I lied and told you I loved you but not enough to defy my father. That was the last time we ever kissed. Do you remember what the last words I told you were?"

I looked at the old man, whose eyes were twinkling, and I don't think it was the usual twinkle I saw before, and he said the next sentence the same time as grandma.

"Bring me back some Sherbet Lemons."

"They were my favourite sweets, and you'd always buy them for me during the summer holiday. I left for the United States the next day. Left my father who was livid, I had destroyed the name of Tiberion in his eyes and he was only too glad to see me go. I bought a cottage in the woods in Vermont, changed my surname just to be safe and sent a letter to my aunt about how happy I was with my Italian husband, knowing she'd tell your mother and the message would get to you. Yet I still cried every day for the first few months at the thought that you didn't even look for me. To fight for me."

The old man began to open his mouth, as if to protest this but grandma continued.

"Of course, it was years later when I found out what had happened, I was heartbroken. I cannot even tell you how sorry I was Albus. It took all my strength not to get up and run to you when I found out. But Castor, your son, was ten years old. He looked so much like you; I knew if you saw him, you'd know in an instant that he was yours. Just like anybody who had saw him would have known. And I knew you were gaining enemies at the time and call it a mother's selfishness, but I didn't want my child to be threatened on the basis of him being his father's son. Plus, I left so as not to stand in the way of your brilliance, coming back would defeat all the years of sacrifice. So, I decided the best course to take was to bind Castor's magic, I didn't want him going to school in America, and I knew if he knew he was magical, he would definitely want to learn how to control it. He was too much his father's son in those aspects. I figured if he went to Salem Academy, and the combination of my genes and yours, he probably would make quite a name for himself. A name so powerful that it might even travel over the sea to Britain. And with all names came faces, and I'm sure as you can tell by Linus, the Dumbledore gene ran really strong in our family. Soon Castor had a son, who had a son, who had a son. That was Octavian, Quilinus and Lorenzo's father. Unfortunately, I do not think I would be able to meet my third grandson, who Patrizia is carrying right now. I realise that Octavian is the last of the sons that I can bind magically, for I will be dead soon. I had a vision of you meeting Quilinus' daughter, that's why I left the memory in the locket you made me for my sixteenth birthday. I knew you'd be the only one to open it, after all, you and I created the spell that closed it. I only wish that you do not hate me too much, and I ask not for forgiveness, for I know I do not deserve it. But know this Albus, even a hundred years later, not a day goes by when I don't think of you. I love you, and I am deeply sorry."

There were tear stains on her cheeks at this time, and with a tug of my navel, Nonna disappeared.

A/N: So, this is my first fanfic, and I don't know if I'm doing an OK job, constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.