Too Far Gone (Don't Save Me Book 4)

Chapter 40: Questions

A/N: this chapter is dialogue heavy but gives information about reader's past

I'll tell you whatever you want to know.

I took a seat next to him, looking down at the photo. "How long did you keep me before..." I trailed off, unsure of how to word it. Before abandoning me? Before leaving with my uncle? Before dropping me off and never looking back.

"We kept you for a month."

"Was Tori your biological sister?"

"Yes. We grew up in the orphanage together and I knew she would take care of you."

"Did you know my uncle?"

"I'd never met him. Tori and I fell out of contact after Hogwarts but she didn't hesitate when I showed up with you."

"Is my mother... is she still alive?"

He shook his head. "She passed a few years after you graduated Hogwarts. She was on the wrong end of another witch's wand and it killed her."

I wasn't sure what to say. He'd said it so matter-of-factly, as if it was of no consequence to him whether she was alive or dead. Then again, it probably didn't matter to him.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"How long have you known?"

"Known what?"

"That I was your daughter?"
He smiled softly. "I had my suspicions when I met you, but I didn't know for certain until the article came out in the Daily Prophet. I could never bring myself to read past the first few lines but your uncle's face caught my attention. I recognized him from when I dropped you off at your aunt's. He was much more deranged looking then but it was still him all the same. I realized then what I'd done and after that moment... I found it hard to face you."

"Until you needed my blood," I scoffed.

"I needed your blood so I could return to you... so I could repair the damage I'd done to you."

I bit my tongue, fighting the urge to yell at him for his lies. He didn't return for a father-daughter reunion. We both knew he only wanted power.

"You have more questions, daughter... I can see them swimming in your eyes... ask me anything."

I hesitated as the prophecy flashed in my mind. Did he know of it? I looked up, finding him already staring at me, waiting expectantly for me to say more. I had millions of questions but none of them seemed right to ask.

He titled his head curiously, waiting for me to speak.

"Why didn't you reach out sooner? If you knew back then, why... Why would you wait all this time? Why would you let me go my entire life believing my father was a horrible man who wanted nothing to do with me?"

"I couldn't face you... not after what I'd done." He looked up. "You truly thought that of me?"

"It's all I knew of you... my uncle constantly berated me... told me I would end up like you one day. He told me he would 'be damned if I ended up like my father,'" I quoted, shivering slightly at the memory of those words as they were always accompanied by a harsh beating.

He gently lifted my chin. "It's okay, you know... if you want nothing to do with me. After all you've suffered I can't blame you if you want to run from here and never look back."

I shook my head. "My family's here."

He sighed, sitting back. "The Malfoys and Severus, you mean?"

"All of you."

He seemed taken back by this but was unable to say anything more as a frantic knock caught our attention.

"Come in," my father called, seeming annoyed at the interruption.

Severus burst in the room, his eyes searching frantically before finally settling on me and Tom. "I-I'm sorry, my Lord... but Y/n and I have been called back to Hogwarts urgently. Mcgonagall sent a patronus and... if we're to keep our cover... we must leave."

Tom nodded. "Of course."

I stood, handing him the album but he shook his head. "You keep that."

I thanked him before taking Severus's hand and leaving the manor.