Something About Harry: The Lilia Watt Files

Chapter 10: The Terrible Secret

"Lilia, I don't know if you can hear me, but..." I heard someone saying. My limbs ached, and I felt awfully cold. I shivered violently, and tried to open my eyes.

"She's awake," the same voice whispered.

"What?" someone else said loudly. I groaned. The noise made my head hurt.

"Shh!" a third person said.

"Ow," I croaked, trying to move, and tears ran involuntarily from my half-open eyes.

"Lilia," said the first voice again. It sounded tired.

I shivered again, and someone held my hand. It was so warm and comforting.

"Noooo," whispered a fourth voice, and pulled my hand away from the other's grasp, and I was cold again. I was completely disoriented.

When I was finally able to get my eyes open, the voices belonged to Harry, Ginny, Madam Pomfrey, and Dumbledore, respectively. Their images swam blurrily.

"Oh, Lilia, I thought I'd killed you," said Ginny worriedly, hugging me, though speaking no quieter than before. I groaned again.

"Lower your voice, Ginny, please," Madam Pomfrey said, standing in the doorway.

I turned and looked at Harry, who was sitting up on the bed next to mine. "What happened?" I asked. "All I remember is green light."

"Voldemort tried to kill you," he said quietly. "But it didn't work." His eyes looked somewhat sunken, and he was very pale. There was a small, curved cut on his neck, and a single drop of blood trickling from it. I started to breath very quickly.

"But...why didn't I die?" My head began to spin again.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Miss Weasley, perhaps you could excuse us? I need to talk to Lilia and Harry alone." Ginny stood, and looked at me again before leaving quickly.

"Wh - how?"

Harry somehow understood, and he spoke slowly and in almost a monotone. "When Avada Kedavra didn't work, Voldemort was hit very badly with the spell. The man with the knife became distracted, and I got the dagger away from him, and threatened to kill him...he let me go. Somehow, Dumbledore found us."

I blinked and tried desperately to understand. I looked at Professor Dumbledore for help.

Dumbledore sighed and looked at the two of us, and sat down on the edge of my bed. "Lilia, please be sure you can handle whatever I tell you. You and Harry have both been through quite an ordeal."

I was so confused, but I wanted to know why it had happened, what Voldemort meant when he said he'd killed my mother. My mother! I sat bolt upright.

"Professor, what about my mother? Is she alright? He said he'd killed her, Voldemort said -" and I fell back upon the cold hospital pillows, shaking away the fog around my head.

"Please, Lilia, be calm. You'll hurt yourself." Dumbledore sighed again.

"Miss Aura Watt is fine. You mother, however, is, I'm afraid, no longer with us."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Dumbledore said, "Please. Let me tell you everything before you say anything.

Aura Watt is not your mother. Amelia is, and Voldemort is responsible for her death, though indirectly. We wanted to keep everything quiet from you, until you should find out for youself."

He paused, and I interrupted, "And what of my father?"

"Voldemort found you because of your father. The glowing you and Harry experience makes you both easier to locate and more vulnerable."

I was becoming muddled and impatient. "How exactly is this because of my father?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "Because, Lilia, Voldemort is your father."

I took in a sharp breath. No, no! It couldn't be, it just couldn't!

Dumbledore didn't speak for a few moments as I just lay there in shock and wrestled with my thoughts.

"Your mother did not love him, if that's what you're thinking. She was raped. She wanted to ensure that you would be born pure, and had spells performed. After your birth, the drained evil was left in her body, and she died. And still, a little part of him was left in you, which is why he could not kill you. Like Harry's mother's love, it lives in your very skin."

I just stared, aghast.

"I'm so sorry you had to find out this way, Lilia," Dumbledore said solemnly, and he left the room, knowing I needed a moment alone.

I began to cry silently, my aching body shaking with tears.

"Oh, Lilia," Harry whispered again. He sat down beside me, and wrapped his arms around me, his robe still covered in gravel dust. I cried, my sobs muffled against Harry's neck as he held me, and my tears mingling with his blood.

I don't know how long I wept. I even cried myself to sleep that night. I shed tears until there were no more left.