The Divine Bloodline |H.P.|

|6| A Del Vecchio Winter Break

She had heard the door slam shut three days ago after she mentioned Harry. Allegra knew it was the door to the study because that was her Uncle's sanctuary. It was where he spent most of his time when he wasn't at the Ministry, sleeping, eating, or watching over her. Even then he sometimes ate and slept in there.

Allegra was forbidden to go into this room. That was a rule that had been around for as long as she could remember. She once asked her Uncle why, and he simply said there was no reason for her to go in there. But she couldn't help but wonder what was so special about it if it was her Uncle's retreat, yet forbidden to her.

She glanced down the hall in both directions. Part of her told her to walk away because Mitzy or her Uncle would apparate out of thin air. The other half of her screamed, do it. See what the hell he's hiding in there. There's no one around to see.

The latter won.

With one last fleeting glance around the hall, Allegra grabbed the bronze doorknob and gently pushed it open. She quickly stepped in and shut the door behind her.

She first saw what she had always seen when she knocked: rows of ceiling height windows with satin drapes pushed aside. A long wooden table was pressed against it filled with trinkets such as a wizarding camera, a moving miniature solar system, a pair of Urim and Thummin stones, and a bell jar. She walked closer to the objects and wanted to laugh at the two shiny badges that read Prefect and Head Boy.

He was probably the 70s version of Percy, she thought amusedly before absorbing more of the room. The large mahogany desk had picture frames, scattered papers, an ink pot, quills, an hourglass, an empty bottle of fire whiskey, and a crystal glass. The walls surrounding the desk were floor to ceiling bookshelves. What really caught her attention was the portrait above the fireplace.

Allegra had seen pictures of her mother before, yes, and knew she was a very beautiful woman. This picture was a great reminder of that. And her Uncle looked too handsome for his own good.

This was clearly a pair who had stopped people in their tracks.

In the photo, her mom looked like she was in her late teens and her Uncle in his early twenties. Allegra had seen pictures of her in her youth before, but something about this one captivated her. Perhaps it was because Isabella Del Vecchio was standing next to her older brother.

I can't imagine you having any flaws, she thought, leaning back against the desk and staring at the picture. You look too perfect to have to deal with feeling everything so deeply and force yourself not to react. To be scared you can invade someone's mind at any given time. Even more so control their feelings...

She shivered and stretched her arm back, accidently knocking down the hourglass. Her jaw dropped when at the same time the sand time piece fell, a handleless drawer blending in on the side of the desk popped open.

Cautiously yet eagerly, Allegra bent down and glanced over the drawer. It was filled with dozens of weathered looking books, and she recognized one of them; a very worn black leather journal. The one her Uncle had let her read years ago so that she could understand the basics of what was happening to her: what she was feeling, how to cope with it, and explicitly why she had to wear the bracelet. She only read a few pages. That didn't mean she didn't want to read more, but at the time she let it go when her Uncle said not to worry about it yet.