Melanie Rosen: Year 3 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 14 Theories

Chapter 14

 Theories

 “So Saunders said dementors make you relive a terrible memory from your past?” Harry asked, as our group walked back to the Gryffindor common room that night.

I nodded and asked, “What did Lupin say?”

“We didn’t get that far,” Harry replied. “Just as we started to talk about the dementors Snape came in to give Lupin some sort of potion for his illness.”

“And he drank it?” Ron asked, bewildered. “Is he mad?”

I looked at him and laughed. “You don’t think Snape would actually poison another teacher, do you?”

“Well, everyone knows he’ll do anything to get that job, and it’s pretty clear he doesn’t exactly like Lupin very much,” Ron pointed out.

Hermione chimed in with, “Well, even if he were trying to poison Lupin, which I seriously doubt, there is no way he would do it in front of Harry.” She then turned back to me and asked. “So, do you know what your memory was?”

I shook my head. “No, I just know that whoever Andre was, he was somehow connected with my family.” I drew in a quick breath as a thought popped in my mind. “Maybe…”

My voice trailed off.

“Maybe what?” Harry offered.

“Well,” I paused to consider my theory and then said, “I did find Andre’s ring in my suitcase so that means it came from my aunt and uncle’s home. I was thinking maybe Uncle Richard wasn’t the first person my Aunt Becky was married to.”

“You think this Andre guy was married to your aunt?” Ron asked.

I shrugged and nodded. “It would kind of make sense. First she married him and then he died and some time after that she got remarried.”

“I don’t see why your aunt would keep him a secret from you,” Hermione pointed out.

“Well, I guess I never really asked her about him,” I said. “Maybe I can try asking her when I go there for Christmas.”

I honestly could not imagine Aunt Becky married to anyone other than Uncle Richard. But, I supposed everything could have been different then. Still, I didn’t understand why if Aunt Becky had a first husband why she would never even mention him to me.

Harry then asked, “What if the ring wasn’t your aunt’s but instead she had kept it for someone else, maybe a family member?”

It took me a few seconds to pick up on what he was saying. I then gawked at him in shock.

“You mean my mother?” I asked, and then quickly shook my head. “No, there is no way she would ever date a wizard. Trust me, Mum hates everything to do with magic.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that,” Ron muttered. “Wait, if he was involved with your mum, does that mean he could be your…”

“Father,” I finished for him, feeling dazed. I took in a deep breath and mumbled, “Yeah, I guess it could. If he was part of my past, it would make sense why I heard someone screaming his name.” I glanced at Ron, trying to make sense of this. “And I suppose it would also make sense on why Mum hates the magical world and was so desperate to keep me away from him. She was probably afraid I would be killed like Andre was.”

“I still don’t see why your mum would keep this a secret from you,” Hermione commented.

I sighed. “I do. She originally didn’t want me to find out I was a witch at all. If my aunt didn’t come to get me, I likely wouldn’t even be at Hogwarts now or know what it is.”

“Wouldn’t your aunt tell you the truth about Andre if he was actually your… er, father?” Harry asked.

I shook my head. “Not if she promised Mum she wouldn’t. Believe me, my mother can be pretty manipulative when she wants to be.”

As we neared our common room, I thought more on this theory. It seemed unreal the possibility that the man I thought was my dad for my entire life may not even be my real father. I hoped this was not the case but it made the most sense. If Andre was indeed my biological father it would explain why I heard his name on the train with the dementor.

Once we arrived we found a large group of Gryffindors hovered just outside the entrance.

“What’s going on?” I asked, as the four of us tried to peer over our classmates’ heads.

“The Fat Lady, she’s gone!” Ginny Weasley exclaimed to us.

As Percy Weasley pushed his way through the crowd, declaring he’s head boy, I turned over to Harry and asked, “Does she do this kind of thing often?”

“Randomly disappear when we need to go in?” Ron offered for him. “No, she’s never done that.”

Soon after that, we learned that Sirius Black tried to break into the common room and when the Fat Lady refused to let him in without a password he attacked her.

The Gryffindors were then led to the Great Hall, and were soon joined by the other three houses. Professor Dumbledore announced that we were to spend the night here so the school could be searched for Sirius Black. I already knew I would have trouble sleeping while thoughts of Andre, who could possibly be my father, roamed my mind. Now I was supposed to try to sleep while a murderer wondered about the castle?

Needless to say, I rested wide-awake. I lay on my side with my eyes closed so the teachers would think I was asleep.

I heard Madame Saunders was asked to round up a few dementors to assist in finding Sirius Black. I began to think these foul creatures were no longer doing us any good. Black managed to get past them twice now, first out of Azkaban and now inside Hogwarts. I wondered how he managed to do that, seeing as I could not even be around a dementor without fainting.

After a while I could hear Snape and Dumbledore talking. Our potions professor informed the headmaster that the school has been searched yet Black was nowhere to be found.  Professor Dumbledore did not sound all that surprised.

“You do remember what we spoke about at the beginning of the term,” Snape said to him, “that perhaps Black may get some inside assistance when trying to break into this school. I was particularly concerned when you appointed…”

“There is not a single person in this castle I believe would help Sirius Black,” Dumbledore interrupted.

As Percy approached to tell Dumbledore something, I thought about Snape’s theory. It did make sense that Black could have inside help to get this far despite all the security measures taken. I began to wonder who in their right mind would assist a criminal but then remembered there were two people in this castle that were once close to Black. One currently taught us how to defend ourselves against madmen like Sirius Black. The other ran the prison that was supposed to keep this escaped criminal locked up. My mind focused on Coraline Saunders, the woman who loved him once. She was the main person that controlled the dementors and the only one who did so in Azkaban. It was possible that she could have had them look the other way as Black slipped by. My heart dropped as I realized the woman who was brought to Hogwarts to keep us safe from Sirius Black could very well be the person that helped him escape in the first place.