Book 1: Of Thorns & Roses

32: What A Wonderful Sin

Dumbledore's face revealed nothing, absolutely nothing. A placid face that stared back at my paled face, like he was oblivious to what I had just seen.

I was seeing red. For the secrets. The lies. The crumbling soul that labeled its name as Grier. I would rather be chained to Hell for eternity than join Voldemort's posse. All I could see were his white, greasy hands grazing my mother's shoulder in disguised hatred and a taunt for the future.

The scar still thumped against my body as if it were a bird trapped in a cage. As if he were closing in to take control of me.

At last Dumbledore spoke, "Your mother was an extraordinary woman, Grier. You remind me of her." I swore I could see silver lining his eyes as he watched my every move. "That night, your mother did something both selfish and selfless... She did it to save herself, but also to save her growing family."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "She knew that no matter what, Voldemort would come after you, so she took her chance to flee. She summoned the power of the world beneath her feet and fled: to you. It was all for you."A sigh released itself. "She went to Hogwarts, which I'm sure you gathered, and was placed into the house of Slytherin. A cunning witch she was, but extremely intelligent. Not a soul knows how she summoned those flames that night."

"But why did she keep it from me?" I held back the tears that were threatening to spill over in a rage of defeat and confusion.

"She didn't want you coming here for fear that he would find you," his voice trailed off into oblivion. I tuned him out because I had failed her.

My body was shaking with anger, "Was my father not aware of this?" So many questions. So many more than before.

A shake of the head, "She didn't want a soul to know that she was once a Death Eater, prancing alongside Voldemort and others."

"Then why?"

"For love." He said, using her own words to answer. And he knew it.

A vulgar taste expanded across my tastebuds, "She truly loved that hideous wrench of a man?"

A slight nod, "Love blinds people from what they are unwilling to acknowledge. When she met him, he disguised himself as his less hideous self... Tom Riddle. When he revealed himself in his true form she wasn't repulsed because that is the power of love, my dear."

His words echoed through my head like a loudspeaker through an empty stadium, never ceasing to relent. "I swear to Merlin himself, if Voldemort is my real father I will dig a hole to Hell itself," I said.

You could say I have a flare for the dramatics, yes. Was it necessary now? Also, yes.

A grumpling laugh erupted from the headmaster's lips, "Oh sweet girl, no he isn't. I can assure you that much."

Relaxing my shoulders, I said, "Well, thank you headmaster for this..." there was a long pause as I found the right word, "talk."

I began to turn around before he answered, "Grier, when you have lived long enough, you begin to see the same eyes in different people."

I waited for his next words, "I see Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, Godrick Gryffindor, and Rowena Ravenclaw in those turquoise eyes. A lover who views the world with kindness. A girl whose very words tremble with ambition. A warrior who, know matter what, fights for the right, honorable cause. And a student who never fails to captivate the world with her intelligence." A small, powerful smile crept across his face, "So never cease to amaze me Grier Langston."

He glided towards me as his robes billowed behind him in a phantom wind. Bringing my hand to face palm up, he released a gold locket, with a red gem settled in the middle, into my grasp, "It was your mothers." Tears slid down my red cheeks as my fingers wrapped around the warm metal, "Make her proud, my dear."