Shut Up, Padfoot!

7

I saw light coming through my eyelids. I instinctively lifted my arm to my eyes. I groan in annoyance.

Where am I?

Oh I'm in the infirmary. I know because of the bright light. In the dormitories we don't open the curtains because we hate the light. We're basically vampires. I arched my back up, sitting up shortly after.

"Typical infirmary."

I then continued to mutter curses. I pat the bed to find anything around me that would be hidden, eyes squinting with exhaustion.

I woke up alone this time. It's disappointing to think about but if I keep passing out like this, then what's the use in people keep worrying? It'll become routine and I'm sure they won't care.

I heard a throat clear.

I give a murderous look to the person.

"Oh! How scary."

Uh oh.

It was Professor Dumbledore.

"Woops, sorry," I blurt.

He chuckled, waving it off. I fall back onto my back, groaning when I felt a headache from trying to remember.

"What happened yesterday?" I ask him.

"Don't remember?" he mused.

I give him a confused stare. I brought the blanket closer around my body to maintain the warmth that was increasing at an unbearably slow pace.

"Mhmm I don't," I replied.

"You don't know but you screamed out 'I killed them' in the middle of dinner. Afterward, you lost conciousness," he explained.

"Oh my Merlin," I sigh.

I pulled the covers over my head in embarrassment. He chuckled warmly and I heard him take a seat in the chair next to the bed.

"Has anyone stopped by to visit me?" I ask hopefully, my voice muffled under the covers.

"Just Mr. Black. He had some matters to attend to so he couldn't stay too long," he answered.

Tugging the covers back down, I stared at him. "Why are you here though?"

"It didn't seem like a regular fit of rebellion," he replied.

I scoffed, looking at the ceiling. My fingers curled around the sheets and I sighed. It definitely wasn't some normal thing. And it definitely felt real.

"I thought it was a dream or I passed out again," I admit.

He remained quiet as he allowed me to explain. I repeated to him what happened in that weird other dimension. He listened quietly, a dark look on his face. I grew a little nervous as I spoke. Do some of these things seem familiar to him?

Did the name 'Tom Riddle' bring memories?

I finished up, saying, "And he said he killed my parents."

He didn't speak for a while. I didn't either. I just let him consider what I said and snuggled more into my mattress. His eyes flickered from his fingers to the ground a lot of the time.

I'm worried. Why is he so quiet? Did this seem really important? Was this nightmare an actual thing that happened?

"What's wrong?" I nervously ask, concerned about the whole thing.

"You should know the truth about the night you came home from the hospital after your birth," he confessed.

Dumbledore made eye contact with me, and I furrowed my brows in confusion. "What do you mean? Are you saying that what Tom Riddle said was true?" I accused.

"Yes. That night, he did kill your parents," he confirmed.

I sat in silence, absolutely astounded. For fifteen years, I've been told my parents were killed by some wacko that escaped a psychiatric ward. But to find out the truth that someone else killed her is too much to handle.

"You are someone with great power. And back then, the Ministry and the school didn't know how to contain it. Especially when you were so young and it was uncontrollable," he told.

"And despite the fact Rosanna was in a psychiatric ward, she knew how to contain these powerful beings. She lived through two witches, three, including you.

"I came to her as a last option. I thought we could control your powers, but in the end, we couldn't have you hurting those around you. Your parents, Rosanna, and I arranged to have you taken home, and the spell would take place there."

"And it worked?" I breathed out, stunned.

"Yes. It did. It came to at price, though. Your parents died protecting you and Rosanna. She still lives, but she's dying of old age..."

"They died.. protecting me from Tom Riddle? What did he need from them so badly that he had to kill two innocent people?" I argued.

"Your power."

I opened my mouth to say something back, but I had nothing to say. I closed it again. This is too much to take in. There's no way any of that could be true. My parents did nothing wrong.

"You're lying.. I don't have any power, and my parents were innocent people," I protested.

"Your parents are very different people than what others say about them. They have a dark past, and they have tried their hardest to repent for their sins in order to birth you," he told.

"Repent for their sins? What does that even mean? What did they do?" I demand.

"They wound up in dark magic.. But that's all in the past. They cleared their names, and they lived a fruitful life until the end," he reassured.

I sat in astonishment. The fact that he can say this so easily as if their deaths didn't mean anything to him... I bit my lip, my eyes welling with tears.

"Did you go to their funeral?" I ask all of a sudden.

"What?"

"Did you go to their funeral?" I repeat.

"I-"

"Please answer honestly," I plead.

"No, I did not."

I leaned back into my pillows. I pulled my covers around me tighter and turned on my side, my back facing him.

"I'd like to be alone now. Thank you for telling me this, but I'd like you to leave," I beg.

I heard his feet shuffle around, and the chair was set into a different area. He walked around the foot of my bed and I watched his back disappear from behind the curtain.

-Lana
iris pic