As a child, Felix used to spend most of his afternoons after school (he was still attending a primary school in downtown London) at his grandmother's place, where his parents would then stop off at around six to take him back home.

The Hufflepuff conserved a great memory of those times: his granny would make him lunch and give him a big glass of milk with his favourite biscuits as a snack, and would let him watch cartoons on the tv – but only until four, because that was when her soap-operas started, and she never wanted to miss any episode.

Felix didn't mind, because he would just take it as the clue to get started on his schoolwork; but even if he didn't have any, he very much preferred to go play with the other kids of the neighbourhood in the park near by than to stay home with her and endure the tv shows: the boy had never been the type to like such programmes.

But as the situation around him kept evolving, his mind couldn't help but think for a moment about his granny, and of how much she would've liked that soap-opera, had it been broadcasted on channel three and (he sighed imperceptibly) had she still been alive.

"But why would their lives be in danger?" it had been Seungmin to break the awkward silence that Minho's mother had created. The young Slytherin sounded very sceptical, and that was probably due to the fact that his best friend, upon receiving the news, had not taken them extremely well.

That had in fact been another very awkward moment for the small group, but Felix had to admit that the Slytherin's reaction had not been fully unjustified. After Jisung had also left to follow him, in any case, the woman had started to sob so badly that she had left everyone with an uncomfortable feeling of guilt – perhaps all the guilt Minho, on the other hand, was not feeling.

At the end (when Felix was still pondering what he'd better do), it had been Changbin to go over the woman, and pet her softly on her shoulders. To Hyunjin's silent question (that Felix had noticed only because he was sitting right beside him), the Ravenclaw had simply scrolled his shoulders and whispered "She seems innocent" back.

But then Minho had returned, and she had begged him to at least listen to her reasons. And one of those seemed to be that she'd abandoned the two for the pure intention of keeping them safe – and alive.

"There is something that I have omitted, but that is crucial to understand where I'm coming from" the woman's answer came somewhat late – but came nevertheless. "You have to know that I have never got to meet my true parents – the first memories I have, in fact, are with my foster ones. And they are from a very old and 'pure'," a snicker "or at least this is what they like to call themselves, wizarding family. You will have guessed it already: they have all been Slytherins. Growing up, they never uttered a single word about my blood parents, but from the way they acted it seemed as if they were sure that I not only was a witch, but also that, once at Hogwarts, I would be sorted into Slytherin. Well – only one of these beliefs proved to be true, because I ended up in Gryffindor. Oh Lord, were they shocked – and furious! But I had not done anything, had I?

"During Hogwarts, I started to become more and more interested in my true parents' identity, and of why everything had seemed to crumble when the hat had decided that I'd've been better off in Gryffindor. With these thoughts in mind, I knew however that the answers were going to be scarce, if not inexistent. So I decided to ask the weak ring of the family first: I had grown used to calling him 'uncle', and after the infamous Battle of Hogwarts (an almost taboo-topic within the family!) he was murmured to have grown sickly – which was true. I mean – he seemed scared of his own shadow!

"From him, I discovered that my mum had been killed traitorously, and so had my dad: who was of muggle origins, and came from a small village in northern Derbyshire. He refused to say more, but the information I had got was satisfying enough. I travelled there during summer – obviously telling my foster family that I was going to my friend's place, – and roaming around the village I found out that my dad's parents still lived there, and were a very elderly couple. I went to visit them, and told them who I was. I figured that if their son had really married a witch, they would believe me – and they did, actually! I was surprised, but it probably was only because they were old and a bit confused. What I managed to understand, however, was what my parents had told them about my mother's parents: that her mother would visit her father from time to time, and that she always looked very... how did they describe her...?" after a moment's thinking, the woman exclaimed, pointing her finger: "ah, yes – trashy and smelly. And they also added that the only gracious thing about her was her necklace: a silver chain with a big, emerald stone emblazoned in the middle. In the end, my grandfather had apparently ran away to stay with her, and had come back after a while: my grandmother wasn't with him, but my mother was.

"In any case, they told me that my grandfather had decided to stay live there in that village, and so my mother had grown up there, and then had eventually met my father. They gave birth to me, but only a few months later, they both died. 'A heart attack, without a doubt', they said, but I knew the wizarding world too well to believe it had been that, and not the killing curse. The reasons behind that were too obscure though, so I thanked them, returned home and went back to Hogwarts as if nothing had happened.

"I never really tried to find out more after that: I think I simply came to the conclusion that the least I knew, the better. My life was not completely horrid after all; my foster parents might be cold and not the most welcoming, but treated me well and had even allowed me to move to Edinburgh – although I think they believed I'd eventually come back. And in fact, a few weeks after giving birth" her gaze, yet again, landed on her son, "I started to notice that something was off: he had risked getting injured so many times that it was hard to believe it a coincidence", that had left Felix confused on who the 'he' was referred to, but in the end he'd settled with her husband: Minho was still too young to risk getting injured! "And I had also received a few visits from clients a book shop would never normally have. The suspicion of us being spied on quickly became a certainty; and one night, after your father came home with an arm that looked definitely broken, I ran away with the terror that, if I had stayed with you, the following day his arm wouldn't be the only thing to get broken.

"Not knowing where to go – so naïvely! – I went back home, to my foster parents. I should've known that it had been them behind all that, but I was so scared that the idea didn't even cross my mind. When they had me explain where I had been and what I had done, they became furious!" once again, big tear drops were running down her cheeks. Felix wished he had a handkerchief to wipe them away with. "They told me how I had dishonoured not only them, but my real family by marrying a muggle, that... that my abilities as a witch were starting to disappear for not practicing enough, and they even accused me of having been sorted into Gryffindor. My shock was so big and my anger so wide that I screamed, at the top of my lungs, that I could not disrespect my own family if I didn't even know them to begin with.

"I remember my foster mother telling my foster dad 'tell her, it's unlikely that she'll ever set foot out of here anyway'. And so they explained me everything about my origins, and of why they had decided to foster me.

"My grandmother – according to them – was not particularly brilliant. Not only that, but she was dirty (which corresponded perfectly to the description of my other grandparents!) and incredibly unfaithful: my grandfather, in fact, had only been her first lover. Despite all that, in any case, she was not a no one – she came from the pure line of Salazar Slytherin!"

Felix's jaw dropped: Minho, the nice guy who was so good at Quidditch and always nice to everybody (the one that had helped Jisung and him to not get caught!), heir to Salazar Slytherin? The others' reactions were mostly similar to his – apart from Changbin (who whistled in admiration) and Seungmin (who gave the friend two thumbs up as to encourage him).

The woman went on: "The same woman – my grandmother! – had then met another muggle, Tom Riddle: she was none other than Lord Voldemort's mother!" this time, with no exception, all the guys who were sitting there turned in unison to look at the Slytherin – who, for once, had abandoned his typical pocker face.

"Lord Voldemort? My great-uncle?", he asked, and for a moment looked like he might laugh.

His mother, on the other hand, was dead serious: "Indeed. And it won't be hard to believe, once I tell you how my parents actually died.

"As every single person in the wizarding world, Tom Riddle – might as well call him his real name – didn't know that his mother had been in another relation; didn't know that he had a sister. He found out – as he himself had care to mention to my foster family – when he visited Marvolo, his grandfather, and in the ruin that was his home found a small journal: it had been his mother's (my grandmother's), and she had written everything about her first lover – his name, where he lived...

"I can't know what he actually thought when he found out that he had a sister. But I believe that the frustration of not knowing any better, and perhaps the irritation of knowing that he was not the only heir left, were enough for him to come over to my father's village, and had someone reveal where they were. Riddle therefore visited my mother, – his sister – who had just given birth to me. Before the poor woman knew, she was dead. And, for good measure, Riddle killed my father too. I believe he would've killed his parents as well, but maybe he didn't know – or didn't care, who knows. The only one he left alive was me, his little grand-daughter.

"He handed me to my foster parents – as they proudly told me – because they were some of the wealthiest and most protected of his followers. They said me that he was going to make me a leader, in time, and help him. Briefly, he thought I'd make for a good Death Eater in the future. He even made my foster parents swear they'd always keep me with them! – which I am actually thankful for, because he died when I was still very little".

"That" commented Chan, who'd stayed quiet all that time, "is the most complicated story I have heard in awhile – but it does make perfect sense!"

Felix nodded in agreement, and so did the others (Jeongin absent-mindedly though: his small head kept banging up and down and his mouth formed a perfect 'o': it looked like the story had particularly intrigued him).

"There's one thing that's still missing though" stated Woojin, and everyone looked towards him, confused: what was it that was 'still missing'?. The Hufflepuff looked at the woman, and said matter-of-factly: "Well, you told us everything. But your foster family – who were they?"

To the students' surprise, she simply broke into chuckles. Getting up, she reached for the Maester's hood (the ladder was still motionless, laying in the middle of the circle), and while swiftly removing it – revealing the scalp of the man – she answered, almost cheerfully: "Why, I thought you'd guessed it! The Malfoys, obviously!"

~🤍~
today's chapter was so long ooof

but HEY at least we know ever (or almost everything) now~

were you surprised? did you like the way things turned? :)

look forward to thursday </3

Vic🌙.