Secrets She Kept » Harry Potter

Part 43

Millie had to prepare herself for travelling alone to the busy city known as Sydney. She had arranged to stay with her older brother George, during his semester break from university. She wished Dudley had allowed her to drive his car rather than take the large bus. It was a two-hour trip and she kept thinking of how much more comfortable it would have been driving herself. The seats were extremely comfortable on the bus but there was no air conditioning, only one window that could be opened for ventilation. Dudley didn't want Millie to drive as she wasn't too confident driving, she had only just passed her learners. So when she arrived at the bus station in Sydney, she took a taxi into town.

The first thing she noticed about Sydney was how different the buildings looked compared to home. They seemed so tall, with huge glass windows and steel beams supporting the roof. Everywhere you looked there were people; walking down the street or sitting on benches enjoying their lunch. Everyone was dressed smartly, wearing suits and dresses. A lady was sweeping leaves out of the road while another man was fixing a signpost. She felt a little lost as she searched for her brother's flat in the outer suburbs. When she finally found it, the building was quite small and dingy.

Upon knocking on the door Millie found George opening the door immediately. He was dressed casually in jeans and a polo shirt. His hair was short and spiky, due to a recent haircut. "Hi, I'm so glad you're finally here." He said hugging her and then ushering her inside.

"Thanks, for inviting me here." She replied, placing her bags on the floor.

"No worries, come on in." He told her.

They went into the living room where they sat on the sofa. There was a small TV on the wall showing sports highlights which George watched intently as if he was watching live, but distracted from the TV to focus on his sister who was a guest in his home. "My flatmates won't be home until much later." He explained.

"I see," Millie replied. Then she started to explain about her long trip on the bus and how Dudley didn't trust her to drive herself. "I've never crashed, so he should trust me," she added.

George listened carefully, nodding his head occasionally, while he watched the rugby game. When she finished talking, George turned off the TV and stood up. "You must be exhausted after your journey. Let me show you where you're staying. I'll get some food ready for you."

He led her down the corridor and into an even smaller room. It was furnished with a single bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. George had put clean covers on the bed, he had loaned her his room for the weekend she was staying. "This is my bedroom. You can use this one." He showed her where the bathroom was. "It's close by."

"Thank you, George, " Millie replied appreciatively. He'd made the room feel like a real home.

She unpacked her clothes and toiletries. While she was doing this, George was preparing a meal in the kitchen. As soon as she was done, he served them both dinner and they ate sitting side by side on the small sofa. He sighed. "I suppose we should talk about the letter." He brought up, he had the letter packed away on his desk.

" You mean the bullshit lies that probably came as a prank from the Ministry?" She wondered. Perhaps they were making up lies in order to scare her once more. That's what she had decided. "Who suddenly explains who their father is after they die?" She was angry at her mother for keeping it from her.

" You know it's not a prank, " George told her. "We need to find out the truth about this."

"Why? What difference does it make? I don't care who my dad is." She said firmly.

"Because you're we're his kids and we deserve to know the truth ." He told her.

"What's so important about knowing anyway?" Millie asked.

"Well it might explain why you have magic powers, " George suggested.

Millie flinched at his words. Knowing the contents of the letters had changed much of Millie's views on the subject. "So, mum lied to us and kept our father a secret because she wanted to keep us safe. There isn't more to explain George." She stated harshly.

"But there is," he told her. "Come on. I'll tell you everything."

Millie remained unconvinced. "You're just trying to convince yourself that we can have a happy family. We're orphans Georg e." She stopped him from saying anything else. "I'll think about it, but right now I want to relax." She stood up to leave for the bedroom.

" Mills, the truth has been kept from us for so long. We deserve a bit of justice." George pleaded.

"Justice? Are you serious?" Millie turned back to face him. "You mean you want to go through the courts to get access to any inheritance? You read the letter, he didn't even know we were his kids before he died !" She was shocked by his suggestion.

"Just hear me out, Mills," George told her. "It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. The fact remains that we know who he is now, so why not learn what we can about him ."

Millie crossed her arms, puffing with anger. Her twin had put him up to this. "I suspect Beckham has found all he could about him then." She told him angrily.

"There may be things we are unaware of. There is more than him being known as a traitor in the war." He mentioned. "Harry shed some light on him. Severus Snape had known our mum since she was a little girl. He grew up in the same small town and he attended Hogwarts with our aunt Lily ."

"Th at has nothing but boredom for me to know." Millie retorts to her brother.

"Well, let me tell you what you know." George tried to persuade her.

"Fine." Millie gave in. George took a deep breath and began, "Severus Snape was some random guy mum decided to have an affair with during the war which made us targets if the bad guys knew about us. Not to mention he was a headmaster at Hogwarts the year I attended, there wasn't much to want to know more."

George sighed. "One thing about this is that I'm not the product of a one-night stand, I actually have full siblings in this world." He admits .

Millie's anger receded slightly. She had no idea how long George had felt so alone in this world as he knew his mother didn't remember who his father was from a drunken night out. " You were never alone George, we were your siblings then and now. Nothing has changed."

George looked up. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He admitted. "Anyway, that's not the point. I want to know who my father was."

"Then you enjoy researching with Beckham ." Millie shrugged. She was done talking about that topic. There was no need to know much about the mystery man that was her father, she had spent so long not knowing who he was not to miss a father figure. She just wanted to move on in life, he was dead.

George and Beckham had been in close contact with each other over the topic, exchanging letters when they could between their studies. Not much was available on record surrounding Severus Snape, only accounts from a range of different people and most of the stories weren't pleasant. Yet there was something that needed to be mentioned. "Severus Snape's mother is still alive," George informed his sister who was still bored sitting on the couch, scrolling through her social media. Millie looked up, slightly interested in the topic. She hadn't ever met any of her grandparents on her mother's side, only visiting their graves. "Eileen Prince, she resides in the south of England now."

"Does she suddenly want to know who her grandchildren are?" Millie wondered.

George shrugged. "I don't think that type of conversation happened, she was never known as a kind woman." He explains. "I suppose the relation is out there if we wish to pursue meeting her one day. It's unknown about her husband though, he was a Muggle."

Millie thought for a moment. "So we're only quarter-bloods." She suggested which made her brother laugh, shaking his head.

"In wizarding law, no matter how much percentage you have you are considered a half-blood. Only Muggle-Borns are known to have non-magical bloodlines and then pureblood for those that have attempted to keep their bloodlines one hundred percent pure." He explains in depth. "So we are still considered half-blood." Millie liked the sound of quarter-blood more, it meant a lesser chance of being tied to the magical world.