Elysia Dumbledore [A Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter Two ~ Ottery St. Catchpole

My day slipped past me like sand through split fingers, and soon I found myself alone at a long dining table with Dumbledore, a last supper of sorts. Spearing the steamed vegetables on my plate, I listened intentively to my father talk about his trips to Romania to study dragons blood.

"Oh, and Elysia, I have a surprize of sorts for you." he said finally, drawing from my silence.

"Oh yes?" I said, jokingly using a posh accent.

"Now that you're entering the...world, I suppose, I have decided that perhaps... You'd like to adopt my last name? It would mean that you were protceted in ways... and..." he said, losing his momentum as he continued on in talking.

I didn't mention one the fact that he was probably only offering this to draw attention away from my last name.

"Ahh..." I said, feigning nonchalance as my hearts beat began to increase.

"Well, I understand if you don't want to use it..." he mumbled, his face visibly dejected.

"OF COURSE I'LL USE YOUR LASTNAME!" I squealed, practically flipping my plate and it's contents over as I folded my father in a tight hug.

We had become increasingly close over the summer, but this was the ultimate gesture. Not only was I going to be able to abandon my awful last name 'Riddle', which followed me like a bad hex, but it also meant that my father was willing for the world to know about me.

"Of course, you will have to introduce yourself as my neice." he added hastily, his eyes avoiding mine discreetly.

That's when my heart slowed down and my feet came back to earth.

He didn't want anybody to know about me. I suppose they would question him about my mother, and rumours would spring up like weeds, and his reputation could be dashed. That didn't stop the internal grumbling in my mind, though.

"Right... Right, of course..." I murmured, placing my watering eyes on to my meal.

Whilst my father, or rather Uncle continued on in a pleasant one-sided conversation, I tried my hardest not to cry. It felt as though there was a cannon ball in my throat, and if I opened my mouth to say so much as a 'Yes, thank-you' it would explode, and my tears would go with it.

Every few seconds, while Dumbledore's eyes strayed from my own, I quickly blew on to each eye to keep them from dampening too much. This worked well enough for the entire meal, or at least until dessert was served, where I took the oppurtunity to run away from the table, unexcused.

Somewhere between the great hall and the Ravenclaw common room, I saw a red, bushy tail and quickly grasped the body attached. Not bothering to go to my dorm, I sat in the middle of a foreign hallway and sobbed in to the fur of my companion, Leon.

Oh, Elle, come on... I've spent all day on that fur..

"But- I-I-I-... I'm h-his daughter... a-and... a-and..." I sobbed, before the thickening tears clogged my throat completely.

I just wanted to drown my sorrow in the crimson fur below me. Thrusting my face further in to his neck, I continued in wailing muffled sobs trhoughout the school. Leon tried to intercept a few times, but soon realised that it was useless.

You know that he can't say that your his daughter. Everybody would think that your O.W.L.'s were cheated, and you'd be a direct target from his enemies. But if you his neice, you're protected by his name, and you won't lose repsect.

"That isn't t-the point! What i-if Voldemort o-offers to name me as h-his daughter... and I a-accept?" I stammered, my tears wearing away slowly.

Than you are not the Elysia that I know.