Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 61

Alexandra's heart sank in her chest. She tore her eyes away and threw her glance at the man and woman laying on the cold floor motionlessly.

     The starlings...

     She then remembered what Dumbledore had told her. It all added up. Henry and Adeline Starling were murdered about sixteen years ago... in a small village called Castle Combe... it was December... they were killed in their own house...

It was at that moment when Alexandra found out that after all this time, it was her grandfather who had murdered her parents. Although as it seemed, this man was probably never her grandfather to begin with, because neither of them had recognized Marcellus's face.

But there were many pieces missing that made Alexandra's mind ache. How did she end up with him, raised in his household? If his real name was Blackwood and she wasn't related to him, then how come she knew him as 'Starling'? How was it even possible? She was too confused to process what was going on.

The tears were rushing down her eyes mercilessly. Alexandra had just witnessed her parents die right before her eyes, to the hands of the man who had claimed to be her grandfather for sixteen years.

She walked toward the two bodies that laid lifelessly on the cold floor. Alexandra had barely seen any pictures of her parents, but even though the lights were dim, when she bent down, she recognized them in her heart and through her soul. Her father had the same raven black hair. Her mother had the same shape of lips and nose as hers.

"Come along. We must leave." Alexandra heard Marcellus call onto the other two Death Eaters, and so the three started to make their way toward the door.

But just then, they came to a halt when the sound of someone crying came from upstairs. It was a baby.

"Mr. Blackwood... did the Starlings have a — a child?" one of the Death Eaters asked Marcellus.

"Not that I was aware of," said Marcellus thoughtfully, his eyebrows furrowing. "They've been on the run for that past two years after turning down the Dark Lord's offer. We had no information of them until quite recently."

The three cloaked men stood frozen on their spot for a few seconds as the sound of the baby crying from upstairs rang through the whole house.

"Wait here for me," said Marcellus with authority, his cold blue eyes fixed on the staircase that could lead him upstairs as he walked forward.

"But, Mr. Blackwood —"

"I said wait!" Marcellus snapped hoarsely and so the Death Eater threw down his head and took a step back fearfully.

And so with that, Marcellus started walking upstairs, onto the second floor of the small house. Alexandra was now sobbing uncontrollably, but she wiped her tears away with her shaky hands and followed the old man upstairs.

The sounds of the cries grew louder to her ears as Alexandra walked behind Marcellus. Once he reached the second floor, he hesitantly pushed the door to the baby's room open, peering inside.

"Lumos," he whispered, the tip of his wand lighting up.

Alexandra stopped at the doorway, watching him as Marcellus took slow steps toward the cradle, in which a little girl was crying. She couldn't have been more than one year old.

"Oh, Lord..." Marcellus whispered under his breath, his eyes fixed on the little baby in shock. The guilt and remorse was obvious in his tone.

When he looked around the room, his eyes caught sight of a teddy bear on the shelf nearby, with a note beside it which read,

To little Alexandra
Lots of love