Harry Potter & The Heirs of the Damned-Chapter 6

Severus and Aaron rode side by side as they flew past buildings and skyscrapers and under bridges to penetrate into the Muggle world. A few times they flew past a couple of ferries carrying tourists on a cruise, but they were moving too fast to be caught a second glance. A flock of birds squawked at upon seeing two men flying on brooms at top speed, and there were times when people thought they saw them swooping past the window of their 32nd floor office or any other high-floored building, but overall, they were able to fly around, ignored and unnoticed.

“How far till we get to the Lights?” Severus asked, dodging a radar pole.

“Only a few more miles, professor,” Aaron replied as he ducked past a company flag.

“Well then, Turunen, while we’re at it, enlighten me. How does a smart prodigy like you end up associating with the likes of the flirtatious dunderhead Ms. Light?”

“We’ve been friends since I first met het during my 5th year.”

“Really now? Do pray tell.”

“Well, it all started when…”

--:--

Aaron was in the Great Hall, studying for his potions exam. OWLS was coming around the corner and he had to make sure that he aced this subject. He wouldn’t want his favourite teacher to be disappointed if he did not pass; he had high hopes for him after all, as quoted “Do me proud, Turunen” by him when he went for Potions Class that morning in front of many awed students. Many spread rumours about him behind his back about reasons why Severus liked him so much, some of them not pleasing to the ear (‘he must’ve slept with that old bat’ or ‘he must’ve bribed him with something’ or ‘Snape must’ve have a pedophile fetish’ or ‘Snape must’ve been bewitched by him’, etc, etc) but he alone knew better.

“Wart of trolls…” he muttered as he dropped the ingredients into the cauldron. The best way to study is to do the experiments by himself, and since doing it in the common room where smells can gather and choke the life out of his fellow housemates, and using the Potions classroom was not an option as it was always occupied for other students for classes, he decided the only spacious and least occupied place would be the Great Hall.

“Oh drat,” Aaron grumbled as he tried to look for the list of ingredients he had just taken down for his reference. “Where is it?”

“This yours?”

He looked down and found the source of the voice belonged to a little girl with long brown locks the colour of milk chocolate running down to her waist and eyes as red as a ruby rose. Her nose and areas around her eyes were puffy and red from crying as she held up his list of ingredients she picked up at the bottom of the end of the table, and her built looked like she was a little child in grown-up attire, what with one of her sleeve totally covering her whole arm and hand, leaving the collar slanting to one side, revealing her shoulder. A closer look and he saw that she was wearing a huge big-ass T-shirt with an old-school anime character he didn’t recognize printed on the front that ran all the way down to the middle of her knees, and she was wearing baggy socks that lopped lazily over her black buckle shoes. He could tell that except her shoes, she was wearing nothing but hand-me-downs.

“Thank you,” Aaron smiled as he took the list from her. He noticed again her crying face and asked, “Something wrong, little girl?”

“I got lost. I got separated from Mommy…”

“C’mere,” Aaron said as he gestured her to sit on his lap to calm her down and stop her from crying again. She gladly did so and saw the bubbling cauldron before her.

“Watcha making?”

“It’s something for my Potions exam.”

“You a student here?”

“5th year Gryffindor.”

“Mommy says I’m gonna be a student here next year,” the little girl announced, then pouted, “I don’t wanna. People here are creepy.”

So she’s only 10 years old now. No wonder she looks so tiny, he thought, then smiled and assured her, “Don’t worry. It’s nice here. I’m sure you’ll like it once you get used to it.”

“We got a letter from an owl yesterday saying that I’m chosen to be a student here for next year’s intake. Mommy’s here with the big fuzzy giant to discuss about this with the Headmaster.”

“You mean Rubeus Hagrid? Oh, that guy’s harmless. You might even get to be friends with him and his wonderful pets,” Aaron said, sweat-dropping as he muttered to himself, “That is, if dragons and three-headed big-ass dogs are your thing.”

“Do you know why I’m chosen? Coz I don’t.”

“It’s because you have potential.”

“My friends say people with magic are bad. They curse people and make people sick and die. I don’t wanna be someone like that.”

“That’s not true. I’m a Muggle-born, just like you, and you see how nice I am, and how nice Hagrid was.”

“But Mommy said I’m not a Muggle or a Muggle-born,” the little girl said.

“Oh?” Aaron asked, surprised.

“She said I’m actually adopted, and that I’m actually a pure-born witch. She said I’ll find my real family, but I don’t wanna. I like being a Muggle.”

“We are who we are, lass,” Aaron shrugged. “There’s no avoiding it, Ms…?”

“Light,” the little girl smiled and shook his hand. “Judith Cecelia Light. You can call me Jude.”

“I’m Aaron Turunen.”

“Pleased to meet you, Aaron Turunen.”

Soon, after watching Aaron completing his potion, Mrs. Light—Jude’s mom—finally found her after being led by the ever twinkling old Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Aaron greeted them both and brought Jude hand in hand to her.

“Sweetheart, you got me worried! I’ve been looking all over for you, you know.”

“Sowwy, Mommy…” Jude replied in a cute voice.

“I see you met your future junior,” Albus approached Aaron, smiling from ear to ear.

“Huh? Oh yeah,” Aaron was lost for a moment watching Jude apologizing cutely to her mother. “I think she’ll be a great student.”

“She would be, if only she can get over the fact that she’s no longer the Muggle she thinks she is,” Albus grinned, speaking a tone lower than Mrs. Light’s earshot. He then turned to Mrs. Light and said, “This is Aaron Turunen, one of our school’s pride and joy. With proper training and guidance, and a little help from friends like him, I’m sure your daughter will be just as successful.”

“I do hope so,” Mrs. Light replied, nodding gratefully. “Although I myself am gonna have to get used to this new environment.”

“Well then, our gamekeeper Hagrid will send you off to the station, Mrs. Light. Have a safe journey. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.”

“Thank you very much, Headmaster. Come along now, sweetheart.”

“Bye bye, Aaron Turunen!” Jude said as she waved goodbye to him. “See you next year!”

“Bye. Same here.”

As they watched Jude and her mother be led out of Hogwarts by Hagrid, Albus rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, “Pretty little girl, isn’t she? Her eyes are really blood red though, really reminds me of someone. Can’t put my finger in it.”

“Hmm…” Aaron looked at Albus for a moment and also contemplated the question.

He had to admit, she did remind him of someone as well…

--:--

“Then I suppose the phrase ‘And the rest is history’ should suffice?” Severus said as Aaron ended his tale.

“Yeah, it should,” Aaron grinned, then saw the suburban community where Jude lived and the beautiful peach-pink roof of Jude’s home and said, “Here we are!”

Aaron quickly landed somewhere at the backyard to avoid prying eyes and walked to the front door. Severus followed suite. Aaron pressed the doorbell and called out, “Hello? Anybody home?”

“Coming!”

Moments later, the door was answered by a boy with strawberry-blonde hair and striking green eyes framed by a pair of slightly tinted glasses. He was about a couple of inches taller than Aaron and had that sort of look on his face that gave everyone the impression that he looked much more mature than his actual age, when in fact he was only a few months older than Aaron. He was standing there with only his long pants on, revealing his slightly muscular built.

“Oh my goodness, Aaron!” the boy exclaimed as he hugged him. “Where have you been for so long?! The last time I saw you was on New Year’s Eve a year ago when you celebrated the countdown with us!”

“I’ve been away for a while, exams and all that,” Aaron replied. “Sorry to intrude, but I need to speak with everyone here.”

“Well, come in! Come in! Let’s not be strangers!” the boy said as he let Aaron and Severus in. he noticed the cold, expressionless professor and whispered to Aaron, “Who’s that creepy old bat?”

“The name is Prof. Severus Snape, Hogwarts Potions Master,” the said ‘old bat’ replied as he gave him an almost angry look, making him jump, obviously hearing every word.

“Oh, err, hi!” the boy greeted nervously, holding out his hand to shake. “The name’s Jonathan Cameron Light. You can call me Joe. Eldest brother in the family.”

Severus just shook his hand briefly and said, “Joe, we must know about your sister. Was she adopted?”

“Well, yes, of course. How did you…”

“Aaron!!!”

Aaron was suddenly glomped by another boy who was a few years younger than Joe, with flaming red hair and green eyes a shade darker than Joe. He had this sort of naughty look on his face that reminded Severus of a male version of Jude.

“Who’s that?” the boy asked as he pointed at Severus while still glomping Aaron.

“That’s Severus Snape from the magic world,” Joe replied as he pried him off Aaron.

“Howdy! Jason Christian Light at your service.”

“Please, we need to know immediately,” Severus insisted, seemingly not in a mood for anymore further introductions.

“Well, Mother and Daddy are both at work,” Joe replied, leading them to the living room while Jason did his usual family drill of preparing tea for the guests, “and we were quite young at that time, so we can’t really tell you much.”

“But we can say that Jude is definitely not of our blood,” Jason chided in, bringing in the tea.

“How did your family come across her?” Aaron asked.

“I was 5 years old and Jason was 3 when Mother brought baby Jude home,” Joe explained. “She said the mother died when she helped deliver the child and didn’t know what to do with her.”

“Your mother is a midwife?” Severus raised an eyebrow.

“Yup, and Daddy’s a travelling businessman.”

“Mother tried to locate Jude’s real father through the police, newspapers, TV, radio, everywhere possible, but we couldn’t find him anywhere,” Jason said. “So we assumed it was one of those knocked-up cases. Mother got kinda attached to Jude during our quest to search for her father, and finally after exhausting all forms of media, she finally went through all the paperwork and stuff to legally adopt her.”

“Like I said,” Joe shrugged, “the mother died soon after Jude was born. There was no information or leads whatsoever to Jude’s lineage.”

“Did your mother keep records of who the mother was?” Severus asked.

“I think she did, but only very brief ones though. I’ll drive you to the clinic she works in if you like.”

“That would be good,” Aaron replied. “Severus and I will follow you.”

Everyone soon got into Joe’s Toyota and drove off to Mrs. Light’s maternity clinic downtown. Aaron made sure to bring the brooms along just in case they needed to take off immediately on the spot.

“Here we are. Forever Baby Maternity Clinic.”

They soon found themselves getting out of the car after a half-an-hour drive and standing in front of a small single storey building that bore the sign FOREVER BABY MATERNITY CLINIC against the roof. Women with protruding bellies came in and out of the clinic, with the occasional husband accompanying their pregnant wives. Joe led them inside and asked the receptionist to call for their mother, who in turn directed them to her office.

“Boys! Aaron! Prof. Snape!” Mrs. Light exclaimed as she saw the crowd coming in. “What a pleasant surprise! What brings you all here?”

“We need the records of Judith’s real mother,” Aaron said, going straight to the point.

“What? Why? I’m afraid it’s kinda bit of a patient-doctor confidentiality here.”

“Your adopted daughter is in trouble,” Severus said in his usual cold tone when he wanted to get a message through you loud and clear, “and we need to know it now, Mrs. Light.”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Mrs. Light wavered seeing the urgency of the situation and the fact that Jude was involved. She went to her file drawer and searched through her files to see if there were any records of Jude’s mother’s delivery. She managed to find it and passed it to Aaron.

“Here. I only managed to get her name and age. Nothing else.”

Aaron took a look at the name and showed it to Severus, “Here it is, sir.”

Severus craned his neck to see a small passport-sized photo of a young woman barely in her 20’s—maybe younger—with brown locks just like Jude’s and silver eyes. Behind her picture were the paper that bore only the name Tanya Lucius and her age of 19 in the personal information section.

“Her birth was a little premature,” Mrs. Light explained. “She’s about a month early, but Jude survived and pulled through. She didn’t. I had to make do with a photo of her that I got from her pocket. She lost a lot of blood and she was suffering from chronic malnutrition, which led to her death. We did everything we could to resuscitate her but in vain. There was something rather disturbing about her last words before she died though…”

“What were they?” Aaron asked.

“She said ‘Don’t let him get my Althea’ or something like that. I didn’t know what it meant at the moment.”

“Athena…” Aaron muttered.

“That’s what you heard the Dark Lord called her,” Severus pointed out. Aaron nodded in reply.

“May I know what’s going on? Is there something wrong with my Jude?” Mrs. Light asked, starting to worry as she realized the situation was getting tense.

“You guys found something about Jude’s real family perhaps?” Joe asked hopefully. “The father, maybe?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Aaron replied. “Her father is after her and we need to know why.”

“Is he a dangerous man?” Jason asked worriedly. “It sounded like her mother didn’t want him to have her.”

“Aye, it’s true.” Aaron nodded.

“He could do the most unimaginable things to any living being he desires to destroy,” Severus added.

“Unimaginable?” Joe exclaimed in disbelief. “Try telling that to Jude when she killed out neighbour’s dog with just a glare when she was 5! No one believed me when I told them what I saw she did—not even you, Mother—and she conveniently forgot about it. When you guys came in with the letter to accept her to your magic school, my suspicions were confirmed that she wasn’t normal.”

“Guess violence kinda runs in her family,” Jason said, being the most outspoken member of the Light family.

“Boys! That’s not a very nice thing to say about your sister!” Mrs. Light scolded, then tuned to Aaron and apologized, “Forgive them, Aaron. They seem to have the unfortunate luck of being as much of a blabbermouth as their father.”

“It’s alright,” Aaron replied with a fake smile, when in truth he wished he’d able to cast a permanent silencing charm on them to shut them up about badmouthing his best friend.

“Anything else out of the ordinary?” Severus asked, trying to bring them back into topic and avoid disputes.

“Well, she did claim that a lizard was telling her that her father would come pick her up sooner or later,” Joe said. “Her real father, I mean. It happened the day after you guys sent her the enrolment letter and after Mother told her that she was adopted.”

“Parseltongue…” Aaron recognized that ability anywhere. Harry had displayed that ability before during his 2nd year when ex-DADA teacher Gilderoy Lockhart—bloke of all blokes—initiated the Dueling Club, and he—a 6th year back then—was there to witness it happen when Draco summoned a snake and was about to attack Justin Finch-Fletchly. It wasn’t something he could easily forget. Come to think of it, he did have a brief memory of Jude telling him that she clearly heard in plain English that Harry told the snake to stop when everyone else heard him talking in a totally different language. Severus couldn’t agree more as he was there as well when it all happened.

“This is strange…”

“Parseltongue? What’s that?” Joe asked.

“It’s the ability to speak to reptiles…” Aaron started to explain when he suddenly felt a sharp burning pain from the scar on his neck. He winced and doubled over, the scar searing through him like someone pressing a hot rod onto his neck.

“You OK, Aaron?” Jason asked worriedly.

“Turunen!” Severus went to him and tried to help him up.

“My scar…” Aaron wheezed, barely able to talk.

Mrs. Light quickly got a cooling pad from the first-aid kit and pressed it against the scar and fed him some painkillers while Severus helped him sit on the chair, “Hurting again, Aaron? You used to hurt sometimes when you came to visit Jude here during the school hols.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Light,” Aaron sighed in relief as he eased into the coolness of the cooling pad and waited for the painkillers to kick in. “You’re a saint.”

“I have discovered, through autopsy records from the morgue, that Jude’s mother had a lot of bruises, cuts and bumps throughout her body, and some bones in her body had been broken and did not heal properly. The state of her vagina indicated that her pregnancy was due to rape.”

“Dear God…” Severus breathed his words out, unable to believe that the Dark Lord was that brutal. He could only imagine how he did it and what the woman had been through as she carried Jude to term.

“If Jude is really sought after by her father, and her father is as dangerous as you claim him to be, I fear the worse. Please protect her for us.”

“Please do,” Joe and Jason said in unison.

“We will, Mrs. Light,” Aaron said as he got up, rubbing his neck. “I promise.

He would never let his best friend lost even a single hair on her head, and he would make sure of it even if it costs him his life.