UNKNOWN | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 4)

[ 34 ]

After the last vision that Aine had found herself stumbling upon, she couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day. It had messed her training up ever since and there were just so many questions running wild in her mind, all needing answers desperately. 

Time seems to pass relatively quick when she was busy pondering the connection between the Dark Lord and her mother and Aine had become quiet even as she was preparing lunch with Mrs Weasley. Which others found odd as the girl would usually be in high spirits, humming away a short melody as she skips around the kitchen. No one knew the reason behind her silence nor could they invade her mind as the girl had her thoughts barricaded strongly. No one dared to ask her, knowing that it must have been something important that she was even found dazing away blankly as she chops up the ingredients. They wanted to give her space and time to sort out her thoughts, and hopefully, in time. She will tell them all when she was ready.

"Aine dear, would you mind getting your father upstairs? The tart is almost done," Mrs Weasley asks her, popping her bubble of thoughts. 

Aine puts on a smile, nodding. She peels away her apron and headed to the door when she heard Mrs Weasley add on, "I think he's with Dumbledore in the office!"

The girl gave the mother Weasley a thumbs up before skipping out of the kitchen and running up the stairs. She was met with Kreacher again, dragging a thick cloth bag across the corridor when she passed by him. She gave him a polite smile as a greeting but the house elf simply glares at her, mumbling something grouchily under his breath as he clumps past the girl. 

Once Aine was out of Kreacher's sight, she quickly picks up the pace and headed to the office. But her tracks had slowed down when she approached the room, she could hear voices being raised through the slightly ajar door and her steps came to an abrupt halt when she was nearly outside. She could recognize the voices in the room: her father's and Dumbledore's. There was no doubt some tension in the room judging from how serious their tones sounded. 

She ponders, whether to come back to get her father later instead. It felt like she shouldn't intrude on their conversation, or rather shouldn't be there in the first place. She decided to head back downstairs but just as she turned her heels, her curiosity got the better of her when she heard a strange line from inside.

"She deserves to know the truth, Elliot. You know that above everyone else that it shouldn't be kept from her..." It was Dumbledore.

There came a sigh from her father and Aine leans against the wall outside, listening intensively. 

"How? Where do I start? There are so many things I have to tell her but how can I? Every day the truth scares me and I can't... I can't even think about how much it could affect her!" Elliot replies, his voice trembling and Aine's eyes softened. She has never heard her father being so emotional in his words before, nor so fragile. Even when he was angry, he would always speak with such calmness in him. "I cannot lose her again, Dumbledore. I really can't..." her father spoke in a strained whisper, yet it was loud enough for Aine to hear. She could hear the heartbreak in his voice.

Aine's brows knitted together as she stares blankly at her reflection in the faded mirror ahead. She couldn't understand a single thing from their conversation except for the fact that she probably stop listening sneakily. It felt wrong and she was slowly feeling guilty when she thinks about the possibility of the conversation being something she shouldn't be hearing.

"From the beginning, El. Right from the start..." said Dumbledore. "There is still time..." he added.

There was a wave of silence between them both and Aine paused, was this the part where she should pretend to knock on the door to step in? However, she heard Dumbledore continue his words of wisdom. "Revealing the truth is always a difficult task, especially if it has been concealed for years. But Elliot, it is the truth that will also set us free. She deserves to know and I'm sure that no matter what, in time— She will come to understand why you did what you had to do all those years ago."