Begotten

Moriah didn’t tell anyone about the short lesson on her family history. Draco, Sheila, and Harry had all asked what Dumbledore had wanted with her, but she just told them that it was a warning to work harder in her classes (a lie considering she had close to perfect marks in everything but Potions).

She thought about it often, what the Headmaster had said—bad blood, Morfin, another Gaunt out there somewhere. So she did have a family member, however distant they may have been. It would have been comforting had the rest of the Gaunts not been completely bonkers.

Luckily, Christmas break arrived, and Moriah’s excitement about the holiday distracted her from her loose family ties. She would be staying at Hogwarts for the break, though Ms. Drummond had written her, telling her that she was always welcome back at the orphanage.

Only a handful of other students were staying, three of which were the Gryffindor trio. There were a handful of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws but not a Slytherin in sight aside from Moriah.

The blonde spent whatever time she could with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, playing games of Exploding Snap and Wizard’s chest (which she was spectacularly bad at), but she also kept her distance whenever she saw that they were discussing something that looked to be one of their little secrets.

When she wasn’t with them, she spent her time wandering the corridors, exploring what she didn’t yet know about the castle, and sitting in the Slytherin common room in front of the fire either reading a good book or working on any homework that the professors gave them for the holidays.

On Christmas morning, she woke to sun shining right in her face. She was wrapped in the green duvet and groaned at the idea of getting out of bed, but the idea of presents was enough to make her swing her legs over the mattress, leaving Klaus happily snoozing on her pillow. She put on a pair of thick socks and brought a blanket with her, wrapping it around her shoulders, then paced into the common room where a large tree was set up, lights shining on every little branch and decorated with silver ornaments.

Underneath was a small pile of presents that the blonde happily tore into—boxes and boxes of sweets with no cards attached (she assumed they were just common gifts from the school) and a nice hardback cover of Dracula from Ms. Drummond.

The last two presents were the most surprising. One was a small black box with a silver bow and the other was in a tiny red bag.

She untied the box first, opening it and gaping at a pair earrings. There was a green stone set in the middle surrounded by tiny opals. Moriah had never even owned anything so nice. She couldn’t imagine who would send her these.

Picking up a little card, her eyes widened even more. Written in familiar scrawl was a small note.

Happy Christmas, Moriah.

Mother helped me pick these out. Hope you like them.

Draco

Moriah stared at the card for a while longer. She considered herself to be friends with Malfoy, but only just. Despite being in the same house, the two didn’t really have a lot in common. However, as much as he talked bad about other students, he was nothing but friendly to her. Still, a Christmas present? She hadn’t even thought to get him anything.

Setting the earrings aside and trying not to dwell on her feelings of guilt, she grabbed the other package and grabbed the card sticking out from the top of it. This one was written in thin, slanted handwriting.

This is one of your remaining family heirlooms.

I think you might enjoy it.

A.D.

Dumbledore. Frowning, Moriah took the decorative paper out of the bag and pulled out an old bracelet encrusted with black jewels. Turning it in her hand, she realized that it was a small snake with an emerald as an eye.

Suddenly, it uncoiled and began to slither. With a start, the girl dropped it on the carpeted floor before scrambling to pick it back up again. She grabbed it quickly, letting it wrap around her finger and grinned.

“Hello, there.”

The tiny snake seemed to raise its glittering head at her and nodded.

Moriah stared at it open mouthed. It must have been some kind of charm.

The snake bracelet eventually curled around her wrist, looking as if it had always belonged there.



That night, Moriah found herself wandering the hallways once again. Technically, students weren’t supposed to be out of bed so late, but since it was during break, there weren’t as many staff members patrolling.

The snake was still around her wrist, and every once in a while, Moriah could feel it tighten or turn, readjusting itself.

As she turned a corner, she ran directly into something, but as she stumbled backwards, she couldn’t see anything in her way… Until a head appeared out of nowhere.

“Moriah!”

“Harry? What are you doing? How are you…?”

He looked to pull some sort of cloak off of himself and explained shortly, “Invisibility cloak, got it for Christmas.”

She nodded, wondering if she’d ever get used to the magical world.

“Out for a midnight stroll?” She asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, can’t sleep. You?”

“Same. I was working on that Potions essay, but I couldn’t take it anymore.”

The two began walking, chatting quietly. Harry told her all the things he had gotten for Christmas—the cloak, countless sweets, and a sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Moriah told him about the earrings from Draco, earning a laugh from Harry, and showed him the bracelet.

“Cool! It almost looks like it’s looking at me.”

“It can move. I think it’s charmed to. Dumbledore sent it to me, actually. Supposed to be some kind of family treasure.”

They seemed to walk forever, not even looking where they were going, and when Moriah finally looked around she realized: “I don’t even know where we are.”

“Neither do I. What’s in here, I wonder,” Harry asked, pushing a door open. The blonde laughed at how impulsive the boy was. Gryffindors were supposed to be rather reckless and Harry was definitely the epitome of that.

They entered a stone room, void of anything but tall pillars and what looked to be a fancy full-sized mirror at the center of it.

“You’re going to get yourself into trouble one of these days, Harry Potter, just walking into rooms like this.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” he mumbled, but he seemed to be talking more to himself, already walking toward the mirror until he stood stock-still in front of it.

Moriah watched him, tilting her head. It was strange to think that such a small boy in baggy clothes and smudged glasses was a legend. She wondered what it would be like to be so famous for something he couldn’t even remember doing, or to know that the monster who had tried to murder him as a baby might still be out there.

She saw him reach out toward the mirror and stepped forward. “Harry—“

He turned to look at her, a sudden smile appearing on his face. “I-it’s my parents, in the mirror. They’re with me in the mirror! Come look!”

But when Moriah approached, all she saw was the messy-haired boy, smiling at his own reflection.

“Harry, I don’t—I don’t see anything but you.”

He frowned at her then stepped aside. “Maybe if you look into it by yourself…”

She doubted that she’d see his parents if she looked into the mirror but decided to humor him and stood in front of the mirror.

As she suspected, Moriah didn’t see the Potters, but she wasn’t just staring at herself. On either side of her were two flickering figures. Squinting, she tried to make them out. They quickly switched between adult-sized people to children, and as she leaned forward, she realized that the smaller figures were Harry and Draco.

The two adults were harder to make out. Moriah caught glimpses of a lanky woman with bulging eyes and a built man with a dark mustache, but they flickered in and out of sight to fast for the girl to discover anything else.

Could those be her parents? Grigorey Priel and Mrs. Gaunt?

“Do you see them? Do you see my parents?” Harry asked excitedly, coming up to stand behind her.

The image of her friends and possible parents swam out of sight and Moriah shook her head. “I don’t know what I saw.” The blonde stepped back and shook her head. “Come on, we should go. We don’t even know what this does.”

She began making her way back to the door, but Harry waved her off. “You go. I want to stay.”

“Harry…”

He sat down cross-legged in front of the mirror, staring up at it, and Moriah, having witnessed his resolve, left without saying anything else. She was too unnerved at her own reflection to argue.

Silent save for her footsteps, the Slytherin found her way back to a familiar part of the castle, then made her way down to the dungeons. She said the password to the common room and entered, mind stuck on the flickering figures only to nearly have a heart attack when she saw Professor Snape sitting on one of the couches in front of the fire.

“Out of bed at this hour? Tsk, tsk.”