It was half past ten, when the house telephone rang. I got up and ran down the stairs to get it before it stopped ringing. I picked it up and greeted, "Hello this is the Snape's residence."
"Severus?" a female voice asked. My heart stopped. It had to be Hermione.
"Hermione, why are you calling me this late at night for?" I asked her trying to sound unattached. She sighed.
"Severus, I need you to come over. There's something you need to see. Bring your mother," she said. The line went dead then. If anything she was making this call while the Weasleys were asleep. I went upstairs to my mother's bedroom and woke her up. She seemed concerned.
"What is it, Severus?" she asked me. I sighed.
"You need to get up and get dressed. Hermione needs to see us," I told her. She was out of bed at the mention of Hermione. She quickly got dressed and we were bounding down the stairs. I apparated us to the Burrow. Hermione was standing on the front porch and she came running to us. She jumped into my arms and kissed my cheek. She noticed my mother and quickly pulled away from me.
"Follow me," she said. We followed her to the front porch of the house. and sitting on the porch swing was a few journals. "This was in the attic." She showed me a photograph of a couple. I gasped as I noticed the fact that the people looked just like us. It was strange.
"Hermione, who are these people?" I asked as I handed it to my mother. Hermione seemed hesitant to tell me. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know them personally, but the man's name is John Riddle. The woman is Elizabeth Crows," she said as she picked up a journal. "According to these journals, when she turned fifteen years old and she began to see John as more than a friend, she got sick. With what, it doesn't say, but apparently, it was something that I am assuming killed them both. Look at the back." I huddled around my mother as she flipped the photograph over.
John Riddle and Elizabeth Crows Together Forever even in death
My mother covered her mouth with her hand. "I know this couple," she said. Hermione looked confused.
"How though? This stuff is dated back two centuries ago," Hermione asked. My mother shook her head.
"Hermione, didn't you notice the date on here? It says that it is from over fifty years ago. I know the woman very well actually. I used to go visit her in St. Mungo's after she went mad," my mother replied.
"But that's impossible," Hermione said. "Then where did all this stuff come from?" She seemed scared. I sighed. It was time to tell her the truth. My mother must have read my mind, because she elbowed me in the ribs and gave me a glare. "So, this diease has existed for more than two hundred years and nobody has bothered to find a cure for it?" My mother sighed and sat on the porch swing.
"Hermione, this isn't a diease. It's a curse. A curse that has killed so many people," my mother said sadly. Hermione seemed to be trying to piece this together.
"You mean you know more about this?" she asked. My mother nodded her head.
"Like I said, I used to talk to this woman after she went mad."
"Where's John then?"
"He's dead."
"But why is he dead and Elizabeth isn't?"
My mother sighed. "I don't know. It seems that she was driven to insanity and she killed him. Instead of sending her to Azkaban, her punishment would be carried out through solitary confinement at St. Mungo's."
"Is she still alive?"
"I believe so, but it has been so many years since I last spoke to her." Hermione snatched the photo away from my mother and tucked it into her pocket.
"The family is going hiking tomorrow for a few hours," she said. "You both need to come over around noon tomorrow. I want to figure out why the Weasleys have all this stuff in their attic." I nodded my head. I looked to my mother and she nodded her head as well. We left then. My mother walked down to where we apparated us to. I was following her when Hermione grabbed my arm. She grabbed my cheeks and brought my face down to hers and kissed me.
