Her Father's Child

Amaris stood on the cold stone steps to her house. She glared at the knocker, as if challenging it to glare back. She kicked open the door and walked in. The sound of the door slamming shut echoed throughout the marble halls. Amaris took off her coat and threw it aside. The servants would get it later.

She hated being back for Christmas. Amaris scuffed her way into the living room. Ginny was in there, reading. Amaris slouched down in a chair across from her and didn't say a word.

Ginny looked up from her book, and attempted a weak smile. "Amaris, how are you? I haven't heard from you, you don't write."

Amaris didn't respond and looked straight into the fire.

"Your father is coming home tonight," Ginny said.

Amaris tensed up. She sat rigidly in the chair. She didn't want to see her father. She hadn't seen him in years, even though they lived in the same house. Draco had never found time for her.

"We're going to eat Christmas dinner together," continued Ginny.

Amaris stood and walked up to her room. She was going to stay in her room for the entire holiday. The house-elves could bring her food, she had control over them. Amaris was determined not to see her father or leave her room until holiday was over.

Family dinners meant yelling, hitting, and her parents breaking things. Amaris had learned that a long time ago. She knew Draco and Ginny only saw each other at the formal dinners Draco held for "business clients" as he put it. They didn't even sleep in the same wing of the manor.

Their marriage was a mockery of love. Ginny had never loved Draco, and she never would. Draco could never love Ginny. Amaris knew there was something deeper then dislike for each other that made them fight so much.

Around six thirty a house-elf came up to Amaris's room.

"Mrs. Malfoy says you are to come downstairs to eat dinner, miss," it said.

"You can tell her I'm not coming."

"She said she will have none of that, miss," the house-elf said, shaking her head.

"Or what is she going to do?" sneered Amaris.

"NOT SEND YOU BACK TO HOGWARTS, THAT'S WHAT!" Ginny yelled up the stairs.

Amaris swore under her breath as she went into the dining room. The table was elegantly set for three. Ginny was seated on the left hand side from the head of the table. Amaris took the head spot, where she always ate.

"Your father will be home shortly," Ginny informed her daughter.

Amaris shrugged.

Ginny took a sip of her wine. Hours passed. Ginny was drinking more and more wine. Soon it was midnight. Amaris was sitting up staright, glaring at her drunken mother from across the table.

Amaris stood up. Ginny threw out a hand to stop her.

"No!" Ginny slurred.

Amaris sat back down agitatedly.

"Your father isn't here," Ginny shook her head miserably. "Amaris, you want to know something?"

"Not really."

Ginny hiccupped. "I'll tell you. Draco's not your real father."

Amaris stared at her mother, shaking with anger. Ginny took the brandy bottle off the table.

"Yeah," she continued. "It's someone else. Draco knows, I know. And you're so pathetic, you never figured it out." Ginny let out a drunken laugh.

Amaris heard the door open the saw Draco standing in the doorway. Draco stopped and looked at Ginny, who was clutching a brandy bottle, and at Amaris, who was shaking with rage.

"What the devil is going on?" Draco demanded.

"It's all right, Dad," said Amaris coldly. "I know about mum's little secret."

Draco's face drained as he watched Amaris.

She glared at Draco with hate in her eyes. "I knew you weren't mum's first choice, but this was a bit drastic, don't you think?"

Draco still said nothing, watching Amaris closely.

"Were you even planning on telling me?" Amaris demanded. "I think I deserve to know who my father is!"

"We were never going to tell you," Draco said, sounding nothing short of murderous. "We didn't see the point."

"DIDN'T SEE THE POINT?" Amaris shrieked, bursting out of the room.

Draco caught Amaris by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "How could you understand? You're just a child! We were trying to put the mistake behind us!"

"I'm the mistake, then?"

Draco released his hold of her. He backed away and stormed out of the room. Amaris flashed a twisted smile. She had hurt him. Good.

Ginny walked into the room, swaying. "Where'd Draco go he missed the pudding?"

Amaris stalked out of the house. She couldn't bear to look at her mother. She didn't want to think of anything. Who might her real father be? What if she was part Muggle?

She wandered around the grounds of the manor until daylight broke. She went back in the house to find her father was gone, and her mother sleeping slumped over against the wall. Amaris scowled at her and went up to the attic. Maybe there she could find some clue to who her biological father was.

The attic was dusty and hot, he air thick with unspoken memories perhaps forgotten all together. Amaris searched for hours through trunks and shelves, but turned up nothing. Amaris stomped to the doorway, and hit her head hard on the frame. A small black book dropped onto the floor. She bent over to pick it up. It was bound with spell-o tape and looked very worn, with a huge hole through the middle. On the back were the words, Tom Marvolo Riddle in gold stitching.

"Tom Riddle," Amaris breathed. That was the once powerful Lord Voldemort's name. She knew her family had been great Dark Wizard supporters, but she didn't know they kept some of his possessions.

She opened up the journal randomly and read.

July 18

Harry came to my house today, he asked me if we could find a time to go out and talk in private. I don't know what he wants, since he's engaged to Luna now.

Amaris looked at the bottom of the page. There was her mother's sloppy signature. This was her old diary. What did "he's engaged to Luna now" mean? Was Harry engaged to Ginny ever? Why wasn't Draco mentioned?

She shut the book and tucked it into her pocket. She knew when she went back to Hogwarts that day she had to find Evelyn Potter. Maybe she could tell her something about Harry's past.