So I'm hoping this chapter explains A LOT from the first & second book! Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Ten: The Missing Link

I arrived at Dumbledore's office before breakfast. I wanted to get out of Hogwarts fast and before I bumped into anyone. I was still heartbroken of what happened last night. Harry officially was going to hate me forever. Jake was never going to forgive me. I got the impression that he liked me and if that were true...well then it was ruined now. And this all went down to Draco. He set me up. Why did he want to ruin my life so badly? When I got to Dumbledore's office, he was a bit shocked at how early I was. "Ms. Nyx, I assumed you would have wanted to have some breakfast with your friends before you go," he said to me.

"No thank you sir," I said. What friends?  Dumbledore allowed me to use the Floo network. When I arrived at home there was a six hour time difference, so it was still midnight there. Silvius came home from the hospital yesterday. I didn't want to wake Silvius after hearing about the condition he was in, so I went up to my cold little room in the top of the tower.

When I entered, it was the exact same way I left it. Barely any furniture yet still a complete mess. I dropped my bag down on the floor and fell down onto my mattress. I wasn't tired, but I felt like just laying here forever. Strangely though I did fall asleep and when I woke up it was already noon time. I guess I had a lot of sleep to catch up on from pulling all nighters to finish homework assignments at Hogwarts.

I stood up and looked outside. It was snowing here as well. I walked down the steps to the main hall and when I did I heard a scream. It was Elvira and she jumped when she saw me. Her dark black hair was pulled up in a tight black ponytail making her look even more evil than usual. "What?" I asked her.

"What are you doing here? Your year isn't finished yet," she said in a bitter tone.

"I came to see Silvius, not you," I stated and she gave me a small glare before walking away. I guess Silvius didn't let anyone know I was coming. I peered into the living room but I did not see a Christmas tree or any sign of decoration. My parents were never too big on the holidays. I stepped into the living room just to see who was around. Avelina, my mother, and an older boy I've never seen before were sitting together. My mother looked up at me with a shocked expression.

"You're home," she stated although it was more like a question. Her cold eyes stared at me in surprise. Yeah Mom, always nice to see you too.

"I came to see Silvius," I said to her. "Don't worry though I'll be gone at the end of the week." I glanced over at Avelina and the strange boy. I assumed it was her boyfriend. Avelina was very similar to my mother, she never spoke much and never expressed any emotion. Dane and she were very much alike and although they were my siblings, I honestly felt as though I knew nothing about them.

"Damien Reeves," the boy next to her said introducing himself yet making no gesture. I could tell he would fit in well around here. At least he was polite enough to say anything at all.

"I'm Scarlett, Avelina's sister," I said to him. That was weird to say. Usually I just told everyone I was an only child when I introduced myself, at least that's what I did at Hogwarts.

"I didn't know you had another sister," he said turning to Avelina, guess they must have done the same to me. I excused myself from the three and backed out of the room. I didn't want any trouble while I was here. I would just be polite and make it through the week and then hopefully go back to Hogwarts with a clear head. Unfortunately there was a lot of explaining I had to do when I got back.

I went to go walk upstairs, but when I got to the steps Dane and Elvira were standing in library entrance way. "See, I told you she was here I'm not crazy now am I?" Elvira said looking at Dane with a smirk.

"You never come home in mid year of school," he stated, yet I knew he was curious as to why.

"Well, home is hardly the word but I came to see Silvius," I said truthfully. This was no home, I didn't feel welcomed a bit and had no memories here I would ever want to keep. In all honesty I couldn't wait to get out of this house. Three more years until I was seventeen. I could make it...just three more summers.

"Well he's sleeping now. He got back from the hospital around four this morning," Elvira said without looking away from her finger nails.

"Okay then," I said stepping between them and into the library. "I'll just keep myself busy until he wakes up." Dane took his book and moved to the other side of the library with an annoyed look on his face as though he didn't want to be bothered.

I walked up and down the aisles, hoping to possibly find a book that would jump out at me. It was highly unlikely but maybe I would see something new. I stopped when I realized Elvira was following me once more. She was trying to be inconspicuous about it but was failing miserably at that. "Can I help you?" I asked turning to her. As much as I didn't like her and she didn't like me, for some reason we were always the ones talking. It was usually arguing or bragging, but I just didn't get it.

We were the closest in age, but still it didn't make sense to me how she always seemed to be around me. I knew she hated me so I guess she was just nosey. "I was just wondering why you bothered leaving that fairy tale school of yours. You talk too highly of it, why come back now?" she questioned.

"I already told you, I came back to see Silvius," I said once more in an annoyed tone. Why was she always drilling me with questions? I was telling the truth, it was the plan all along to come home after the Yule Ball. I turned to look at her and she didn't look convinced, what more did she want from me.

"I don't believe that is all," she said walking down the aisle and looking through the books herself.

"Well I'm telling the truth," I said again. "I found out about it a few days ago and for the record I'm glad to have a bit of a break from that school." I should not have said that...it had just opened up a whole new jar of questions for her. She turned to me with her icy eyes full of questions and I sighed at myself. I was starting to turn into Eowyn, not stopping when I should.

"And why is that?" she asked with her arms crossed and she looked interested into hearing what I was saying.

"Look, why are you always asking me questions. It's not like we're friends or anything."

"Of course not, but I'm bored so go on." Despite the large size of our family's home, it felt like a prison sometimes.

"Fine, but then you have to tell me what happened on the night of the Quidditch World tournament." I smirked while crossing my arms. If she was going to play this game then so would I.

"Fine," she agreed. She must have been really bored to have wanted to actually have a conversation with me.

"I don't know why you care and I'm not going to use names but," I began telling the story of the Yule Ball. It was not because I wanted to tell her of all people, but because I wanted to get it off my chest. It was a way for me to hear the story coming from myself. Maybe this is what I needed to do. It was practice for telling Eowyn and Dasha next week. Plus it wasn't like I had to worry about her not liking me after this, Elvira already hated me. "A friend of mine got into a fight with me and stopped trusting me." That friend was Harry. "Then, another friend of mine, I guess must have had a small crush on me, asked me to the ball last night." That friend was Jake. "Everything was going fine...until another person, who I was not so much friends with, kissed me and I thought we were alone so I didn't do anything to stop it. But the first two friends were there and saw it, so now they both hate me." I can't believe I just actually told my sister a problem going on in my life. Elvira looked at me with a blank expression before saying anything.

"So the first friend is Harry Potter, gross by the way." She raised her eyebrows in disgust. "Second friend is that tan older boy...Josh or Jack or whatever from the Quidditch World Cup and the last 'not so friend' is Draco Malfoy, right?" Elvira said looking at me with a proud grin on her face. I stood there with a shocked look on mine. How did she possibly put that together...I guess she may be smarter than she looked. "For the record, I don't understand why any of those boys talk to you. Especially that Malfoy boy, he seemed as though he would have better taste in girls. Plus he was pretty good looking." There we go again. I shook my head and turned back towards the books. "Well at least you have good taste in guys I guess. Draco's a pureblood and comes from a family like ours."

"I don't like him and besides, can't you see I want more than anything to get away from a family like this. It was just a spur in the moment and...wait, now it's your turn!" I said turning to her. "You promised to tell me what happened at the Quidditch World Cup." She better not have been lying.

"Alright," she started. "You were gone so our parents were furious. After the game we left and mother took us all back to one of her friend's house, but in the paper there were apparently riots that night. Father never came back after that and we haven't seen him since. I suppose he's staying in England for work." She shrugged and then began walking away.

"What?" I said very confused. Desmond never came back after that? How strange and the fact that my mother took them all away before the riots confused me as well. Did she know they were going to happen all along?

"You heard me. Now you're boring me so I'm going to see what's going on with Avelina's new boyfriend. Silvius has been awake this whole time by the way," she added this last comment with a smirk of her own. Wow thanks Elvira, she was just trying to annoy me. I feel as though Draco and she would be best friends if she went to Hogwarts.

I turned quickly out of the library and headed up the stairs to Silvius's room. When I reached his room I slowly opened the door. I looked at him as he lay in his bed with his leg raised and wrapped completely in bandages. It was horrifying and it looked extremely painful. Though a small smile rose on his face and his blue eyes were warm. Finally, someone to make me feel better. "Carlie." he greeted. I walked over and sat next to his bed on the chair that was placed there.

"Hey, Silvius," I greeted while looking at his leg. "I can't believe...you're not even completely healed yet." Usually once you came out of the hospital the patients were back to normal.

"I know, but this is a thousand times better than how I looked. Trust me. I'm healing faster than they thought possible," he said with another smile. A thousand times worse...I didn't even want to ask. "So tell me, how has Hogwarts been?"

I told him almost everything. I didn't tell him the same version I told Elvira, because that's not something you wanted to tell your older brother. I just told him how I've been losing friends a lot lately and he couldn't see how that was possible. I guess it was pretty easy for me to turn people against me. He even asked about Jake, which made a small pain in my heart go off and I responded with a simple 'fine'. Then he asked if that Malfoy kid has been leaving me alone like I wanted. That made me feel even worse. So I decided to flip and ask him how school had been going. He actually liked sixth year aside from the whole splinching thing and he had a girlfriend at the moment, Cecile. I could tell he was getting tired though so I told him I'd leave him to sleep and come back later.

Being home was not as relaxing as it must be for all the other students. The week was almost over though and I hated sitting around here bored, but I was glad to have seen Silvius. He came to me when I was injured when no one else in my family did. What kind of family would I be if I had not came and seen him. I couldn't stop thinking about how father wasn't here and especially since the World Cup. I thought of everything Draco had said to me throughout the school year. 'Father told me that he loved seeing your father, being back together with the rest of their crowd.' 'Black really is your color Carlie, as it is your Father's.'

Everything Draco said has been building up in my mind, did my father work for You Know Who? It was not possible. Despite the fact that Desmond was a terrible person and a horrible father, he wasn't a murderer. I was not living under the roof of a murderer. Some people are just awful, it does not make them killers. Yet, he had been disappearing a lot since my first year at Hogwarts. A knock at the door disrupted my thoughts. I was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a few of my old letters out of boredom.

My mother appeared in front of me. She was dressed proper and looking far more elegant than before. "Elvira! Dane! Avelina! Hurry, come down here now," she called loudly. I heard the footsteps rush down the stairs and my siblings were equally dressed. Something had to be going on. "You." She glared down at me. "Get out of here. Go upstairs to your room, and don't come out." I scowled, why? "Now!" she commanded.

I passed by my other siblings who were smirking in delight. "Mother has an old friend coming from her school years. She's too embarrassed to have her meet you I guess," Dane whispered. I shook my head and took off up the stairs. I was shocked at the fact that I was slightly hurt that my mother was embarrassed to introduce me. They all just pretend as if I don't even exist.

A house elf had appeared in my room to let me know that dinner was over and my mother's friend had left. There were leftovers for me downstairs. Starving, I walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen only to see my mother. She made no eye contact with me and pretended as if I wasn't in the room. "So, your friend came over?" I said bitterly. No response. "The one you didn't want to meet me." Her head turned a little bit but she kept her eyes out the window. "Any reason?" I added.

"None of your business," she snapped.

"None of my business?" I snapped back, fuming with anger suddenly. "It's entirely my business! What is the hell wrong with me, why have you always hid me from your friends and pretended as if I didn't exist? You owe me an explanation for all these years." I felt the heat buildup in my face.

"Like I said," Rosalis snapped turning towards me. "It is none of your nosy business."

"I have done nothing! Surely I was a hyper child, but so was Silvius. So are many children and parents deal with it. So it must be something else, something you want to hide." Her face was showing a sign of anger as well. "I didn't ask to be born to this family! I would never have picked you two as parents. I must have been born under one unlucky star because I don't know how I ended up here. But, what, what possibly makes me so different!" I yelled.

"Shut it!" she yelled. "I said shut it! It is none of your nosy business!"

"Tell me!" I commanded in anger. "I wondered all these years! Why do you all hate me? I never chose to be here, you are the last person I would ever choose to be my mother. I hate you." I felt my eyes burn up a bit and at that moment her hand collided with the right side of my face. My cheek burned.

"GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN," she yelled. I sharply turned on my heel and rushed out of the room. I hated her, hated all of them, except for Silvius. They're terrible people who deserve only the worst to happen to them.

Turning into the entrance hall I almost collided with someone. I looked up to see Elvira standing there with a smirk on her face. She was eavesdropping again. I was not in the mood. I pushed past her to rush towards the stairs. "I have an idea as to why," she said loud enough for me to hear. "I have a clue as to why." She repeated once she caught my attention. I stopped with my hand gripping the stairway.

I turned to stare at her icy eyes. I did not believe her. She was lying as usual and was probably going to respond with some stupid comment. "I am not lying if that is what you believe. You don't think the rest of us were curious as to why mother and father were so disgraced by you and why they treated you different than the rest?" She smirked walking towards me. I shook my head. "So of course I did a little snooping, finding a few reasons why that might be.

"What then?" I snapped.

"Well, if you're going to be so snappy I won't waste my time."

"What do you know?" I asked more patiently, though it killed me. She nodded at me as to follow her. I followed behind her up the stairs. This better not be a set up. Following her we stopped at the fourth floor and walked over a door at the very dead end of a hall.

"What is this room?" I asked her.

"Don't ask questions just follow me," Elvira stated and then stopped in front of the door. She removed a small pin from her black hair and unlocked the door. Sneaky, she was. Every second spent with her, I realized how devious she really was. As the door clicked open she stepped in and I followed after her. "Lumos." she whispered and her wand lit up. "I recommend you do the same, this room is quite packed." It was such a minor spell, it would never be detected. My wand lit up and she was right, this room was packed with boxes and such. It was a mess. "As I said, I did a lot snooping over the years. This room has given me the most clues. What I have learned from all the information in this room, is that you were born fourteen years ago...and father was not around fourteen years ago." She smirked at me as she stopped.

"What are you trying to say?" I responded.

"Well, from these documents I found it shows that father was not around, for almost a year. These are his work notes. He had only stopped by home once or twice during the year you were born."

"What does this have to do with me then? If I wasn't even born."

"Exactly. How were you born if father wasn't around?" Where was she going with this...? I watched as Elvira walked around the room. "Then I had come to this a picture dated the year you were born of mother and a familiar looking man. Then I had found another one and another one, and another. Then the face clicked in my head. I realized what made this man so familiar." I glanced at her questionably. "He looks just like you." We stared at each other, she was smirking and my eyes widened. No...it couldn't be. "See, the reason I think they hate you, is because you are not father's child at all."

She held up a picture of mother and the man. For once, mother was smiling but that is not what caught my attention. This man looked exactly like me, it was undeniable. We had the exact same shade of blonde hair, the same large dark brown eyes, the same nose, and the same light tan skin color. I felt as though I couldn't even breathe. I continued glancing at the picture and took it from Elvira's hand. "And, I have even more. If you noticed the small pin on his coat in the picture." I glanced at it and realized it was the logo of the Fitchburg Finches. "I did a little research and found out it matched up to the Quidditch team from here in Salem. I went to a few matches and all the current players never matched up to that face. Kindly, at the end of one game I asked a very handsome player if they had any records of previous players."

If I wasn't frozen in shock right now, I probably would have congratulated her on her ability of snooping. She took it too a whole new level to put this together. "He took me to the records room, where almost a hundred pictures were hung of previous players. He said there were many more, yet these were the best player's they have had. After looking for a few moments, it was hard to miss that face once more. His name was Zael Chamberlyn. He was killed shortly after you were born. For your sake he was pureblood. That is all I know." This is much more than I was able to take in. I suddenly felt dizzy, I couldn't believe this and the fact that my possible father  was dead. How could my damn mother keep this from me if it were true?

I sat down on one of the boxes and tried to wrap my head around what she was telling me. "Don't think of this as me helping you either," she added as she walked towards the door. "It was me just showing you why you don't belong here. You never heard this from me." This was the only time I felt thankful for her, her snooping just explained why I was treated so badly. She closed the door behind her and I took a deep breathe. This explained so much. I removed the picture from the frame and split it down the middle throwing the piece with my moving mother on the floor. I rolled up the small piece of the picture that had my biological father and put it in my pocket. I didn't know what to do next.