Armilla

Chapter 14

I slept badly that night, tossing and turning as I faced dream after dream. Everything of course, related to my mother. In my dreams, the room the ring was in kept vanishing and appearing again in different parts of the castle, and Snape kept slipping in puddles in the Potions classroom, giving me detention each time.

Perhaps the strangest of all was the dream that featured Dumbledore. I can only assume that the muggle movie I saw a few years back, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Merle's friend Matilda had worked in Muggle Relations and loved to see movies) influenced the dream.

Dumbledore was doing an impression of Dr Evil (not a good one - for all his advanced magical ability, Dumbledore is not a character actor) and was sitting in a swivel chair in his office. He rose to his feet and said (in exactly the same tone of Dr Evil in the movie) "Armilla, I am your father."

"Really?" I said.

"No, not really. I can't back that up." He then sat down again on the swivel chair and made it go round and round, squealing "Wheeeeeeeee!"

Weird. Very weird.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

I only saw Snape briefly in the morning when he came in to give me breakfast and my healing potions (the number of which had significantly reduced now). He barely spoke two words to me, except to say that he would be back at lunchtime. I would have concluded that the man was by no means a morning person, but I was not really convinced that any part of the day brought out the best in him.

I was quite glad that he only stayed for a short amount of time because I wanted to get off to see my mother as early as I could. I did race through my breakfast though to avoid any more trouble.

I practically ran all the way to the ring room (that's what my mind named it - highly creative, huh?) in my eagerness to see Hazel. I touched the puddle-like substance inside the ring, and like before, my mother's face came into view. When she saw me, her face lit up.

"Hello, my child."

"Hi." I honestly didn't know what to call my mother. I had never called anyone Mum, including Merle. Hazel seemed to pick up what I was thinking.

"You don't have to call me Mother if you do not wish too, but it would be lovely if you did. Before I died you had just started to call me Ma." She smiled at the thought, obviously reliving happier times of her life.

I smiled at her, completely enchanted by the thought that this woman had brought me into the world. It seemed like we had just met.

A darker thought crossed my mind, and I closed my eyes, reliving my dreams from the night before.

"Something is troubling you, Lucia?" asked my mother. "Is there any way I can help you?"

I stared at her. What I wanted to know involved opening up a subject that I knew would be painful for her. But I had to know. As if reading my thoughts, my mother saved me from asking the question myself.

"You want to know about your father."

"Yes," I whispered, dropping my eyes to my feet. I could nearly feel her eyes fixed determinedly on mine. I looked back at her again.

"Do not feel bad asking me about him," she said. "As his daughter, you have every right to know about him. You have come this far without any knowledge of your family. I will do my best to get you acquainted with your family history. That is, if you have time." She raised an eyebrow. "Will your teacher be back soon?"

"Not for a few hours," I said quickly. "Tell me everything...Mother."

Mother smiled, showing a set of perfect white teeth. She took a deep breath and began.

"I came from an elite wizarding family. The Merrigans had always been a strictly pureblood family. Of course, they were extremely old fashioned and they rather viewed themselves as a notch above everyone else. Arranged marriages were essential. There was never any choice as to whom you were to be wed. The perfect recipe was two pureblood families with plenty of money. If you dishonoured your family - the consequences were dire.

I was the only child in my family and heiress to the Merrigan fortune. My mother died when I was very young and my father, who never remarried, was most anxious to see me marry into another Pureblood family. It would be an understatement to say that my father was an authoritarian. In his own little world, he was King. But he was a good man behind it all. Though strict about only breeding purebloods, he wasn't a supporter of muggle killings. He just thought the wizarding and muggle worlds should never be associated.

As soon as I finished my education at Hogwarts, where I was a Ravenclaw student, my father made plans for my marriage. His health was failing quickly and he became obsessed to see me married before he passed. And so it came to be that I married Aurelius while I was still in my late teens.

On the outside, Aurelius was always a picture of goodness, donating money and hosting many dinner parties for Ministry members. But our home life was something quite different. He was ten years older than me and that seemed to make all the difference to him. He was in charge. There were many unhappy times, especially in those first few years. After my father died, Aurelius' behaviour became even worse. He became obsessed about producing an heir. Someone he could mould into a likeness of himself."

I shivered. I was suddenly thankful that I had never known my father. The thought of him awaiting my birth so he could mould me sent shivers running down my spine. I wondered how different I would be today if I had been raised by him and not by Merle.

"He was a Death Eater wasn't he?" I blurted out.

Mother looked nonchalant.

"Yes," she said, simply. "Your father was very much fascinated by the Dark Arts, and being a Death Eater suited his beliefs and...tastes."

She scowled for a second and then continued. "Your father certainly mixed with the wrong crowd, and I wasn't the only one who suffered for it," she said sadly.

"Not the only one?" I said, nonplussed.

"Yes," she said. "Your father and I-"

"MISS KEMP! What are you doing down here?"

Damn it! Damn. Damn. Damn. What a time to interrupt. Oh, was I going to be in trouble now...

I looked around at Snape, who was standing in the doorway, seething with rage.

"Answer wisely, Miss Kemp," he spat. "You are in deep trouble. How dare you come down here and-"

He broke off as the ring in front of me caught his attention. He strode forward and came to stand next to me. He gazed into the ring at my mother. His face, which he was so famous for always keeping indifferent, showed a hint of disbelief.

Mother was gazing up at him, their eyes never breaking contact.

"Hello, Severus," she said softly.

Snape continued staring, as if he was in a trance. Then something seemed to stir in those dark eyes and he blinked.

"Mother," he said.