Candescent

“A three headed dog you say?” I asked Hermione as we walked along the edge of the Black Lake.

“Yeah,” she replied. “It was so freaky. Malfoy and his friends had apparently tricked Harry and Ron into something. It was either be expelled or run and we ended up facing a dog. Only...”

“Only what?”

She looked at me as if she were trying to determine if I could be trusted with the information.

“Only it was guarding something. Underneath the terror I felt, I still had a quick look around. And I saw the trapdoor on which the dog stood.”

“So, the Third Floor is closed off because of that thing. But it’s also because of what it’s guarding.” Hermione nodded in agreement. “But what’s it guarding?” I continued. “What could be that important?”

“I don’t know,” Hermione said.

“Neither do I,” I replied. “But I’m going to find out.”

“How?”

“I think it’s time I found out what’s going on around here.”

“Do you want any help?” Hermione said eagerly.

“No,” I said. “I need to do this myself.”

“All right. See you then.”

“’Bye,” I replied as she walked back towards the castle. I however walked back the way we came.

Something that was hidden. Something that needed protecting. Something that someone had tried to steal from Gringotts...

I let my mind wander back to the newspaper article I had read the other day. Someone had tried to break into Gringotts but the vault had been emptied. But was Hogwarts really that much safer than Gringotts? What if whoever had tried to break into Gringotts tried Hogwarts....

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and began to walk back to the castle. But as I walked into the dungeons I realised who I needed to speak to.

“Handore!” I yelled out to Xavior Handore, the Slytherin Prefect. “Where’s Dumbledore’s office?”

“You don’t know yet?”

“I don’t tend to retaliate to teachers as much as everybody else does. No detentions...yet. So do you know?”

“Head up towards the Western tower and you’ll come to this corridor with no paintings. Head towards the Gargoyle and pray that you meet a teacher along the way because nobody ever knows the password.”

“Thanks,” I replied, already walking away.

The journey towards Dumbledore’s office took a grand total of an hour and I’m pretty sure I didn’t get lost at all. But the castle was very big. When I stood in front of the stone gargoyle all I could think was.

“God that thing is ugly,” I said to myself.

“That’s lovely.”

I spun around to see Professor Dumbledore walking up behind me.

“Alyssa Tyler,” Professor Dumbledore said. “What brings you here on this fine day?”

“Um...” All right, I hadn't thought this far ahead. “I have some questions that I’m hoping you have the answers to.”

“Oh? And what kind of questions might these be?”

“The kind that I can't answer myself - because I never knew my parents. You had my mother's wand. You knew her, and no doubt my father too. I have questions about them...but also some things a little closer to home. Something hidden here.”

“Alyssa, Hogwarts hides many things. And so did your parents. They hid you very well.”
“So much so that nobody ever knew I existed.”

“Well of course I did.”

“That much is obvious Professor. But the real question I have to ask concerns my family as a whole...and my true identity.”

“Perhaps we should go inside,” Dumbledore said. “Beans,” he added to the Gargoyle.

I followed him up the winding staircase until we stood in a very large office. Then I asked the question.

“Am I a Potter?”

There was a pause in which all you could hear was the sound of birds chirping outside.

“But how did you discover...”

“It's not hard when you piece it all together. Both orphans. Same eyes. Same scar. I'm just better at hiding it. But what I want to know is, why were we separated and why was I left in the dark.”

“It was too dangerous for you to be together. If Voldemort ever regained power-”

“Who's Voldemort?”

Dumbledore looked astonished. “Surely your friends have told you about Voldemort?”

“Wait, You-Know-Who?”

“Yes, but I think calling something by it's name decreases fear of it, don't you.”

“If you say so sir.”

“Harry was no more enlightened than you were. On his 11th birthday he discovered he was a wizard. Your rather unpleasant aunt and uncle raised him.”

“So he had family?” I asked anger twitching inside me.

“You have to understand Alyssa; Voldemort knew that Harry was still alive. If he ever came back, he would come after him. So when Sirius Black took you and gave Harry to Hagrid, I went after him to take you somewhere Voldemort couldn't find you. But as far as I know, Voldemort never wanted to kill you. He was always after Harry.”

“What, so he didn’t try and kill me?”

“No,” Dumbledore said. “He tried to kill you. But as far as I can determine, your death wasn’t planned. I suppose after killing your parents he saw no purpose in leaving you alive. He tried to kill you, but the curse rebounded.”

My mouth dropped. “So Harry’s not even famous for the right reasons!”

“Well…no.”

“That sucks so badly. Why couldn’t I be in his position?”

“Because nobody ever knew you existed.”

“But-I-Bu-” I sighed. That was so annoying. “Why did my parents hide me?”

“Even I don’t know the answer to that Alyssa.”

“Is that even my name?”

“No,” Dumbledore replied. “Your adoptive mother gave it to you. I don’t know your real name either. I learnt of you soon after you were born…but I don’t think I was meant to.”

I took a step back. I needed to think, about everything.

“Um…I have to go.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore responded. “You know the way back to your common room?”

“Yeah,” I said vaguely, beginning to walk out of the office. But at the door, I stopped and asked one more question completely not related to family roots.

“Sir, what’s on the third floor?”

“You honestly don’t expect me to tell you that Alyssa.”

And I guess that answer would have to do for now. But I was definitely going to find what was there.