Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 62

***

Alexandra was pulled out of the Pensieve, finding herself back in his grandfather's office with Edna by her side. Her cheeks were soaked with tears and her eyes burned.

"Miss Starling...?" Edna started saying softly, but Alexandra couldn't even hear her as a loud ringing was going in her ears.

"He was never my grandfather..." Alexandra whispered in horror, her face pale and her eyes red from all the tears.

All that was too much to find out all in a mere few minutes. Marcellus Blackwood was a Slytherin boy, going to school at the same time as Tom Riddle. He was one of the Dark Lord's first and most fateful followers.

Sixteen years before, Marcellus was ordered by Lord Voldemort to kill Henry and Adeline Starling, both from a Pureblood family. The Dark Lord had asked them to joined him, because he knew that Henry Starling was Rowena Ravenclaw's descendant and therefore valued his bloodline, but they had turned him down, ending dead in their own house.

Alexandra felt conflicted. Marcellus was the man who had witnessed her parents die before his eyes. But on the other hand, he had tried to keep her alive even after the Dark Lord had asked him to kill her; whether it was the guilt or any other reason.

He then had changed his name to 'Marcellus Starling' and raised Alexandra as his granddaughter. But he had lied to Alexandra her whole life, saying that her parents had died of Dragon Pox when she was a baby. Meanwhile he was the one who had taken part in their murder.

"That's why the Dark Lord wanted me to join his forces," Alexandra whispered, avoiding Edna's concerned eyes. "It was because I'm the last heir of Rowena Ravenclaw, however that's possible..."

Alexandra then sank down and sat down on the floor, her teardrops still escaping her eyes mercilessly and her heart beating rapidly.

"The Dark Lord killed my parents because they refused to join him... And that's why Grandpa had warned me on my seventeenth birthday with his letter... Because he knew that it was time for me to join them, and he knew that that if I refused to do it, I would end up dead... just like my parents."

"Oh, my little Miss Starling..." Edna was now crying too, sobbing as she spoke. "I am so sorry that I was bound to keep this from you. I really am."

Alexandra finally looked back at her as they were both now sitting down on the office's cold floor.

"Sixteen years ago, near the end of December, I was at this mansion, cooking dinner," Edna started explaining. "But then, when Mr. Blackwood opened the door and walked in, I was surprised to see a little girl in his arms."

Alexandra listened to Edna carefully as she went on, holding herself back from crying audibly and whimpering.

"So he handed this baby to me, saying that her name was Alexandra Starling, and my God... if it wasn't the most adorable and beautiful creature I had ever seen in my life."

Edna chuckled as she tried to wipe her tears away, sniffing. Alexandra felt a hint of a smile creep through her face at those words.

"He then told me the whole story, but ordered me to never speak of it and to always refer to him as Mr. Starling from then on," Edna explained. "Oh, Miss Starling... I know you must hate him now, after what you saw —"

"He was there when my parents died. He didn't even flinch," Alexandra said heavily. "I don't understand. Why would he try to save me, if human life meant this low to him."

"You were just a baby, after all," Edna said softly. "You may hate him and think of him as a heartless monster, but he cared for you. He couldn't possibly get himself to let an innocent child die, so he brought you in. But each time he started to get closer to you, he would try to distant himself from you, because he was afraid of getting attached, for he knew that he had to give you up once you turned seventeen. He thought that if he didn't show tenderness toward you, it would make it all easier."

"But why would they kill him?" Alexander nearly shouted, frustrated that she didn't know why she hated him so much for what he had done, and yet sad that he had died earlier tonight.

"He had tried to raise you up as a Slytherin who believed in Pureblood supremacy, but at this stage, it was obvious that you wanted nothing to do with it," said Edna quietly, throwing her gaze down. "So he's been trying to protect you for some while."

"How?" Alexandra whispered.

"For one, on the Christmas that you had run away, he heard that the Death Eaters had gone after Mike Williams, seeing as he was a Muggle-born. Your grandfather made a guess that you had gone to stay with your friend Mike, so he came after you and stopped the Death Eaters from harming you two." Alexandra could clearly remember that night.

Edna kept referring to Marcellus Blackwood as her grandfather, but even though now Alexandra knew that it wasn't true, she still didn't try to correct her as Edna went on.

"In your fifth year, when your grandfather knew that he only had around two years left until you had to join the Dark Lord, he tried to come up with a plan," Edna continued. "He spoke with young Mr. Avery, who as understanding goes to your school, to try and come up with a way to lure you in."

It suddenly hit her. Regulus had confessed before that Avery had asked him to get closer to her, and Regulus had agreed.

"But... Regulus told me my grandfather had nothing to do with it," said Alexandra, sounding confused.

"Well, that's because young Regulus didn't know it was your grandfather's idea. He thought that it was just Avery's idea, under He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's orders."

Alexandra went silent, running a hand through her raven black hair miserably, and Edna sighed heavily.

"A few months back on Christmas, your grandfather was sure that all his plans and last attempts to get you to want to become a Death Eater voluntarily had failed," said Edna, looking troubled as she frowned. "So a few weeks back, he went to see the Dark Lord. He told him that there was no way you would join on your own will."

     Alexandra was surprised to know that Marcellus had tried to stand up for her all her life, when she thought he was just a heartless man.

      "The Dark Lord told him that then you had to join by force, but your grandfather refused," Edna continued, now sobbing once more. "So tonight — just a few hours back — they — they broke in — five of them — and th-they killed him... as a warning for you."