The Relative Truth

See Chapter 1 for disclaimer

Chapter 2

During the remainder of the Summer Holiday, when he was not gallivanting about the grounds with his owl, Hedwig, or the grounds keeper’s mutt, Fang, Harry acquainted himself with his texts. He often would come to me with questions on one topic or another, whenever something particularly confused him or sparked his interest. I would explain to him what I could and referenced him to the correct books the few times that I could not, whether it be from a lack of time or a lack of knowledge. Harry proved himself to have a quick and inquisitive mind and caught on rapidly to the basic spells and potions he would learn that year. By the time the term began, he was as knowledgeable as, if not more so than, his peers who would have grown up with magic. His natural aptitude for potions had me irrationally please; why should I care if the child was good at potions? I suppose it was his passion that drew me; he truly loved learning everything he could about the world he was born into. By the end of the summer, I was taken aback to realize that, at some point, I had come to care deeply for the scrawny eleven year old child who had invaded my dungeons.

When the arrival day came, Asphodeline was thrilled to be meeting her future classmates. She put on one of her nicest new outfits and eagerly waited in the entrance hall for the other first years. Although I told Harry he could wait with me in the Great Hall, the child was adamant that he proceed like the rest of the new students. I admit I was a bit surprised when, at the Sorting Ceremony, the boy was sorted into my house. Given who his father and mother were, as well as who he actually is, I had imagined Harry would have been a Gryffindor. However, in retrospect, I realized that he had not shown any of the brashness or daring that I remember of his father and godfather. I was, needless to say, pleased that the boy was placed in Slytherin. Partly, it was the ultimate revenge, though I would like to think I was beyond such pettiness, to have Harry as one of my own students, to cultivate and mould. However, I had also grown quite fond of the shy but clever child and found myself very protective of him. I do not think I could have endured it, had he been placed in a different house. The only true difficulty came with housing arrangements. Obviously we could not room the boy with his male classmates, he would never understand why. However, it was equally obvious that he could not live with the first-year girls. The only logical option we had was to keep the child in his summer chambers.

While Albus discussed housing with Harry in his office, I explained Asphodeline Evans’ special circumstances to the other students of my House. By the time I had finished, many of the older students, both male and female were already prepared to take the child underwing and protect her in any way that they could. I left the Slytherin Common Room with my students believing that the young girl they had met at dinner was an orphan, abused by her only living relatives, and emotionally incapable of living with the others in the dorms. It was the epitome of a Slytherin explanation, full of half-truths and not-quite lies. I am certain that my students, many of whom were also life-long Slytherins, suspected that there was more to it, but they knew better than to ask.

It has been astoundingly easy for Harry, as Asphodeline, to get along with his classmates. He is quiet and considerate to everyone. Not surprisingly, Draco Malfoy was the first to extend his hand in friendship to the boy. Malfoys have always had an appreciation for the aesthetically pleasing, and Harry is nothing if not beautiful. Together the two students were the brightest in their class. It was astounding how quickly Harry picked up all of his subjects, especially flying. There was one particular incident with Mr. Neville Longbottom’s Rememball that secured his place as Seeker on the House Quidditch team, something unheard of for a first year. Miss Pansy Parkinson stole the tiny glass object one day and prepared to toss it away, simply to torment the Gryffindor. In a spectacular dive and display of natural skill, Harry snatched the Rememball out of the sky. Even Minerva, who had been the one to see the move from the vantage point of her tower office, had been unable to deny the right of the child to begin training at once. Terence Higgs, our Seventh Year seeker was more than happy to begin training his replacement immediately.

As is the nature of younger students, Asphodeline was nearly oblivious to events that did not concern her directly. In a way, it was for the best and Albus saw to it that she remained that way for as long as possible. In her first year, she was blissfully ignorant of the danger that lurked so close to home. The Headmaster had made the mistake of hiring Quirrel as the Defence Professor for the school term. At the time we did not know of the man’s true allegiances, but I had my suspicions. Luckily, I kept my close watch on the man and he did not achieve his goal of securing the Philosopher’s Stone. In the process, I unfortunately revealed my position to Voldemort, but the small loss was worth it to keep the enemy from finding Harry and gainimmoimmortality.

In Harry’s second year there was a debacle with the Chamber of Secrets, Salazar Slytherin’s private rooms. Somehow the fool of a Defence Professor Albus hired, Gilderoy Lockhart, managed to acquire a dark arts artefact, the Journal Pensive of Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Miss Ginevra Weasley later confessed that he had confiscated it from her one day in class. With all of the messages being written and the petrifying of various students and animals, it could have been very bad for Harry. I had heard him speaking to garden snakes in the greenhouses, and, had anyone else known of it, he would have been marked as the Heir of Slytherin immediately. Of course, I once again managed to avert disaster. I followed Lockhart, possessed by the diary, and destroyed the artefact before Voldemort could finish feeding off the man’s soul to complete his rebirth. I slew the basilisk the traditional way, by forcing it to look at its own reflection. Viderse, to see oneself. Quite a handy charm that is, a favourite of vain wizards and witches everywhere and the bane of the basilisk. The saddest part of the whole ordeal is that no one knew of my part. Our Headmaster is quite skilled at keeping certain events from becoming public knowledge. We were lucky in that Lockhart did not remember a minute of his possession. He was admitted into Saint Mungo’s to recover and Albus went on search for another new Defence Professor.

Finally, after two consecutive failures, a half decent, competent teacher was found. Remus J. Lupin, one of the four Marauders and the only one I could mildly tolerate was hired. His only fault was his lycanthropy, but, for the sake of the boy in my care, I would attempt to forget about the past and do my best to make sure that Lupin, unlike Quirrel and Lockhart, made it through more than one year. Why he was not just hired in the first place was, and still is, beyond me, but he has lasted longer than any of the DADA Professors of the last decade. Aside from attempting to keep Lupin’s disease from the general public, the year was rather uneventful. That is, of course, with the exception of the Dementors prowling for ten escaped Death Eaters and the, thankfully, infrequent visits from Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black. Unfortunately, Asphodeline, as with everything else, was kept ignorant of the truth of the matter. Black came by once in a while, just to check on the child and to make sure I was doing no lasting harm, I am sure. To Lin, though, he was just a big, overly friendly, stray dog. I’ll admit that it was a bit satisfying to see the disappointment on Sirius’ face when he had to leave Harry, dresses and all. I may have made my peace with Remus, but I still cannot stand the mutt.

The next year was much better, as far as dangers to Lin went. Hogwarts hosted Drumstang and Beaubaxton, two other prominent magic schools, in the TriWizard tournament. Lin, like the rest of the school, cheered on Hogwart’s champion, Cedric Diggory. The Hufflepuff boy was a marvellous competitor and won the school the Cup, being the only to successfully navigate the Maze that was the final task. Harry looked resplendent in his dress robes at the gala, verily the Slytherin Princess, as he had been dubbed. Many young men from all three schools, including Diggory and the Drumstang champion, Viktor Krum sought dances with my Lin. I will not admit that I was jealous, that would have been inappropriate, given Harry’s age and my position. However, I will gladly say that I watched closely as one by one the partners rotated, I could not help being protective of the beautiful young man whom I had grown to love. I only relaxed my vigilance when Draco and Blaise took their turns. I knew neither would hurt the student, though it was still frustrating to watch them dance with her while I could not.

For four years Harry’s true identity went unnoticed by those who would cause him harm as well as his classmates. Asphodeline formed firm friendships with her fellow Slytherins, Draco and Blaise Zabini being her closest companions. With little effort, my three favourite students have excelled in all their course and come out with the highest marks every year. Even Minerva had to admit that Asphodeline was a most enchanting young woman. My student won the hearts of all of the professors and students alike. Despite everything from Quidditch to puberty, no one of the student body discovered Harry’s secret. Over half way through his school career and I assumed we were home free.

It was a grave error on my part.