Chapter Seven: Meeting the Ancestors

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"Why do beautiful songs make you sad?'Β 

'Because they aren't true.'

Β 'Never?'Β 

'Nothing is beautiful and true.'
― Jonathan Safran Foer

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I wake up the next morning to someone shaking me awake. "VAL!!!" I hear, and I wake up groggy.

"Abigail! What time is it!" I groan, but Abigail slams a pillow in my face.

"Valentine, we need breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day!!" She demands, and I sit up to give her a deadpanned look.

"Seriously?!" I demand, and she shrugs.

"It's true." She squeals and I groan again, stuffing my head in the pillow again.

"Val, I swear to god! I need to introduce you to everyone!!" She whines, and I groan.

"Fine! Fine!" I demand still wanting to sleep some more. I get up and change into my robes, pulling my hair into my usual ponytail, letting a couple of bangs frame my face. My wand is placed nicely into my ponytail.

"Yay!" Abigail squeals and links her hand in mine. "To the food!" She shrieks. I smile at her goodheartedly.

We walk to the Great Hall, and my eyes sweep the tables.

I half expected to see Harry and Ettie leap up at me from the Gryffindor table.

But they didn't.

No one did.

Luna wasn't sitting at the Slytherin table perched with Ginny waiting for me. Neville wasn't waving at me frantically from beside Fred and George's sides. Percy wasn't scowling at everything and everyone.

I felt a shake on my sleeve, and I look up to see Abigail looking at me in concern. "Are you alright? You look ready to cry?" She asks, and I shake my head, taking those thoughts and memories away.

"I'm fine," I say and smile at my new friend. "Absolutely fine." I grin, and I follow her to the Hufflepuff table.

I notice everyone who was awake was staring at us... more specifically at me.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I hiss. Abigail looks up from her massive plate of food. Well, I guess I now knew where Cedric inherited his huge appetite from.

"Oh. It's the first time we've had a transfer. You're an oddity. Plus, everyone knows you're a Dumbledore." She adds and then points at me with a carrot.

My eyes widen, and my lips spread into an amused smile at the non-threatening object in her hand. "How are you two related exactly?" She asks, and I shove some pancakes in my mouth. Swallowing hard, I look at her.

"Cousins," I answer and stand to grab the syrup a couple of feet away.

I douse my whole plate of pancakes in syrup till it was like a soup. "That is disgusting," Abigail tells me, making me stick my tongue out at her.

"Well, no one is mocking your huge plate of everything." I tease back, and she crinkles her nose at me in distaste.

Someone plops down beside me, and both Abigail and I look up to see the Ravenclaw that had been in Albus's office yesterday asking about the Transfiguration homework. It was the girl that looked so much like Luna.

"Pandora?" Abigail asks, and I gape. This was Luna's great-great-grandmother. Her mother was named after the girl that stood in front of me right now.

"Hello, Abigail." The girl replies, eyeing the oatmeal that had appeared in front of her hungrily.

"How many times have I told you just to call me Abby." She mumbles, and I look at Pandora with a confused look.

"Oh, hello, Valentine Dumbledore. I am Pandora Lovegood. Everyone just calls me Pan. You may do so as well." She says. Her tone and posture were extraordinarily proper, and I realize how much she even sounded like her great-great-granddaughter.

"Pleasure," I tell her. She grins at me, white teeth sparkling.

"Charmed." She replies, making me smile back at the witty Ravenclaw.

"Val is a Hufflepuff! She's my friend! You can't steal her away to be part of your so-called genius gang." Abby demands in a sarcastic tone looking pouty, and Pan lets out a prim laugh.

"Oh, don't be silly, dear." I realized she had a much heavier British accent than us. "I just wanted to get to know the girl. Is there a fault in that?" She asks, eyes wide and mischievous. "I heard you are taking Arithmancy and The Study of Ancient Runes?!" She demands in excitement. I almost choke on my pancake soup.

Abby sighs in regret. "Here we go." She mutters.

I look between the two girls in confusion, as I pounded my chest. Abby hands me a glass of water, and I gulp it down.

"Thank you." I wheeze grateful, making her send me a forced smile. "Am I missing something here?" I ask, pointing between the two girls and they glare at each other before both of them look at me with forced smiles.

"No, but of course not. Nothing is the matter, dear. I was just engaging in some friendly conversation." Pandora tells me, nibbling on her oatmeal like one of those princesses on muggle televisions.

"Nope. Nothing is wrong. Pan here just has a tendency of stealing friends away." Abby looked extremely salty.

"It's no one's fault but theirs and that of the friend. They must not have been very close friends in the first place." She defends in a tight tone.

I shake my head in bewilderment. "Um, alright. How do you know my schedule?" I ask Pan, and she grins up at me.

"I know everyone's schedule. I am the Headmaster's assistant." She says in a duh tone.

"More like Headmaster's pet," Abby grumbles, making Pan glare at her. Blue and gray clash into a glaring match and I'm caught in the middle.

"Okay, so you made my schedule?" I ask, and she nods.

"Precisely." She grins.

"Pan! Abby! Stop harassing the girl." A guy demands and a Gryffindor lands in the spot to Abby's left. Wow, all we needed was a Slytherin, and it'd be just like old times.... er future times.

"Hello, Claude." The two of them chimed. I look between the three in amusement. Claude had warm hazel eyes and a dozen freckles that took his cheeks hostage. His red hair was flicked to one side, and his eyes glinted with mischievousness.

"You, my darling, must be the infamous Valentine Dumbledore the whole school can't shut up about." He grins at me, and his smile makes me send him one of my own smiles back. "Claude Zabini at your service, madam." He says in a posh voice, mimicking Pan. He gets a glare in return, making Abby grin at the action.

The Zabini name was usually associated with Slytherins, but I couldn't judge considering my heritage and the fact that I'd been in Slytherin myself.

"The one and only," I reply to Claude, making him grin at me. He was nothing like the arrogant Blaise that I'd punched in the face second year.

The thought makes a smile spread on my face.

"You've been everything anyone could talk about ever since you stared down Tom Riddle. I was there. You looked ready to duel the man right then and there." Claude laughs out, not noticing how my hold on my fork had tightened at the mention of the murderous villain.

"You did what?!" Abby shrieks, laughing in glee.

"Oh, you just keep getting better and better." She chortles, and I point my fork in her direction.

"Always here for your vast entertainment Abs." I grin, and she smiles back.

"Did he do something to harm you?" Pan asks me, concerned, and I purse my lips.

"Not me. Just someone I love." I admit being as vague as I could. He does try to kill me two times in the future, kills my sister and parents and leaves my niece and nephew parentless.

I stab the pancake on my plate, stuffing the delicious sweet treat into my mouth. "Well, I myself would've loved to have seen that." Abby sighs and Claude nods in delight.

"It was wicked." He agrees. I smile at the enthusiastic guy.

"Well, I guess it would've made a good essay topic." Pan agrees and then Claude scoffs.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear." All four of us whirl our heads to stare at the incoming Tom Riddle and his gang of Slytherins.

It wasn't just myself who had whirled around to stare at the handsome male specimen that had walked in. Every girl in the hallway had her eyes trained the unsuspecting Slytherin.

Lord Voldemort.

That kid grew into the man that killed my parents. My mom. My dad. My sister. My brother-in-law. He'd scarred Ettie and Harry. He killed Adele's parents as well. He caused the death of Dumbledore's own daughter...not that I was ever going to tell my cousin that he had a one night stand with a random witch, getting her pregnant.

I scoff, looking back at my pancakes. The thought of telling Dumbledore he was a literal man-whore made me lose my appetite, and I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Whatever is the matter, Val? Have you lost your appetite?" Pan asks me, and I smile at her.

"Val? I wanna call you Val? Can I call you Val? Please?!" Claude asks me, and I grin at him.

"Of course, you can, Claude," I say in amusement.

"Ha! I can call Valentine Val." He chortles. I had the urge to pinch his cheeks like some great aunt. The thought makes me miss Harry and Ettie even more.

"Nothing, just the thought of catching my cousin in bed with another woman, sprung into my head, and I lost it," I admit and Abby looks horrified.

"Your cousin Professor Dumbledore?!" She squeaks, going red, and I nod, trying hard not to laugh.

All three wore utterly terrified expressions, and they all drop their culinary at the same time, making a loud clang. I burst out laughing at their expressions.

"Hilarious Val." Claude shivers in disgust.

"I do believe this is what people call traumatized." Pan declares, looking like she smelt something utterly horrid.

Abby's face was just frozen into one of pure horror.

"Oh, that was priceless. I should've snapped a picture of all your expressions." I tell them, making them all glare at me.

"What?! Oh, come on! That was funny! I can't just be the only one that gets traumatized. I need to share it. Sharing is caring!" I defend my actions and Claude gives my hand a pat.

"Not in this case, love." He shivers again, and I laugh.

I turn my head up, grinning in amusement with my new friends only to catch the eye of Tom Riddle.

He'd been staring at me, I realized. My smile drops slowly, and I raise an eyebrow at the handsome lad.

His stunning black orbs clash with my own sky blue ones.He keeps staring, searching my eyes for something. I realize he was searching for any ounce of black magic in me.

I let a sly smirk spread on my face and give him a mocking wink.

"The sadness will last forever."
― Vincent van Gogh

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