Chapter 12: The Truth

"Scared? You hid her because you were scared of her?" Sirius said waving the photo of Ivy and William still gripped in his hand in front of James' face

"Not of her" James said snatching the photo and stroking it "Never of her, for her"

"Why were you scared for her?" the headmaster asked

"Ivy Calla wasn't the first child to be born into our family with the active gene, Phineas Potter was too, he was the child of Luciana Potter and her vampire husband Alistair they adored him but the world had many prejudices and just before his tenth birthday he was murdered brutally, the family were devastated and Alistair ran fearing that if he remained people would try to kill Luciana for being with him, however he left Luciana with one last gift another son thankfully the gene was dormant no one thought the son was Alistair's, my family line is descended from that second son, when I realised Ivy was born with the gene active I panicked our world is still so cruel and twisted towards people like Ivy, I was scared they would kill her or cause her to hate herself because of the hatred they would show her, I hid her in the town house to keep her from our world, from that hatred I had Caitlyn, a relative from a squib line look after her, she knew of the gene the fear that it would cause the death of another child" James explained

"Why didn't you tell me? I had a right to know" William asked in a small voice

"I couldn't you were too young to know what would happen if you let it slip, what would have happened if people like the Lestranges, or Umbridge found out about her, I was going to tell you the first Christmas after you started Hogwarts" James shivered when he remembered how the Lestranges were imprisoned for murdering almost 30 werewolf children horrifically.

"What about us?" Remus asked looking at his old friend, James sighed

"I wanted to tell you, I was going to but Lily convinced me that I should hold off until William knew, that it was unfair if you two knew but William didn't" James replied tiredly leaning back on a chair closing his eyes, Lily whimpered as Remus and Sirius turned to glare at her, James' eyes shot open as he heard his wife

"You!" he snarled "You obliviated me because I visited out daughter, what the hell is wrong with you?"

oOo

Ivy stared at her wall as she took everything her brother said in, she had not been expecting him to call and say that their father had been obliviated, that he had his memory of her stolen

"Are you okay?" Emmett asked from where he was stood in the corner of her room

"No, I don't know, I don't know what to think" Ivy said sounding lost

"You don't have to, not right away" he soothed

"No, you don't understand he used to visit every week even when he was busy and every month he would take me out and do something a normal family would do, and he used to tell me that the reason I couldn't be with him the rest of the time was because it wasn't safe not because they didn't love me like I thought and I believed him I believed that he, at least, didn't hate me that he cared, but when he stopped coming I grew resentful I hated him, he wasn't like Lily I knew she never cared and gave up trying to make her when I was 5 but he… I adored him and he suddenly left, I believed that he grew bored or never cared for me, I hated him for so long"

"Shh" Emmett whispered pulling her into a hug "No one will blame you for thinking that anyone would you were a child"

Ivy pulled away and brought the box from under her bed out, she pulled out the piece of black material that Emmett had noticed last time

"It's his cloak he left it there the last time he visited, I used it was a blanket for the first few months, while I was still hopeful, but I stopped when I realised he wasn't coming back, I never could throw it away" Ivy said stroking the material

"That's understandable, a part of you was not wanting to let go of the man you had known" Emmett soothed as he pulled her onto his lap

"You know most of the books I have he bought me, all of the magical ones, he even copied texts from the Potter library" Ivy continued staring at her vast collection of books "He used to say that I was a Ravenclaw through and through even if I didn't have magic, he's the one who bought me the book on flowers even read through the entire thing with me "

"I am glad for that" Emmett commented smiling

"You know when I was four we went out on a shopping trip during out monthly trips, I fell in love with this old hand held harp in an antique shop, it was a lot of money to spend on the whim of a child so he said that if I wanted he would pay for my lessons and if I passed my grade two he would buy it for me, I agreed and pushed myself in the lessons, I adored playing and didn't mind the work and practise. When I was 8 I finally managed to pass my grade two, and true to his word he bought it for me. After he left I continued playing but I never touched that harp again, after he refused to see me off I stopped playing all together" Ivy carried on sadly, unwrapping the cloak to reveal an old hand-held harp, it truly was beautiful, Ivy's hand reached out to touch the strings gently, a clash of out of tune notes assaulted their ears causing the two to laugh, Emmett moved the cloak and harp out of her hands and onto her bedside table before laying down so that her head was resting on his chest, his arm still wrapped under her waist

"Go to sleep" he soothed knowing she had an emotionally exhausting day

"Love you" she murmured as she snuggled closer

"Love you too" he replied as she fell into a slumber

oOo

Ivy twitched anxiously as she waited with the Cullens for her brother to arrive, she wasn't sure if she was ready, she wasn't sure if she could see him again she didn't get a chance to back out as she heard the crack as they apparated outside the house to give her warning before they came in, when she heard the door open she looked up, she saw the panic clear on her father's face.

"Daddy" she whispered brokenly, using the name from all those years ago

"Oh Bambi" James cried rushing over to her wrapping her into a bear hug whispering apologise for leaving over and over while soothing her own apologise for blaming him away, "Hey Prongslet what are you still doing over there? This is a family hug" he added tugging his son's arm so he collapsed into the pile as well.

Emmett smiled as he watched his girlfriend, his mate, reunite with her father, he hoped he would have another reason to smile by tomorrow but for now this is about family. The bouquet of a single red rose in full bloom, a sprig of Myrtle and a vine of ivy tied together was of no consequence right now

I love you

Marriage

Wedded Bliss

And if there happened to be an emerald engagement ring right in the centre of the bow, well that was for another time