Chapter 823 - Start of Winter Holidays Ⅲ (1/2)

The door leading to Reginald Prince's study had been pointedly left partially open. Rowan quickly took the hint and did not even bother to knock. She simply entered their grandfather's study and shut the door behind her. The enchanted bookcase against the walls is enchanted to house thousands of books without breaking nor stretching. The usual ȧssortment of potions across his various worktables is rather neat and tidy with a hint of dust indicating that Reginald had not recently experimented with potions as he had in the past.

The hidden door in the study leading to Reginald's personal study is firmly locked behind. There is no loose parchment on his desk nor tome indicating if their grandfather was studying nor reading his usual correspondence. The fire burns brightly in the fireplace, but the study did not feel warm at all.

Reginald who is sitting behind his desk merely beckons his granddaughter to come closer and sit down. Rowan obediently sits down and waits for her grandfather to speak first. ”Shall we lay our cards on the table, Rowan?” Reginald coldly said not sounding at all like her grandfather, but rather the terrifying wizard that he in fact is.

Rowan's spine becomes rigid at her grandfather's harsh tone, but her face remains carefully blank.. ”I warned you before grandfather that I am bound in my own manner. Did you believe me to be joking?” She flatly countered with a cool glance of her own.

Reginald's lips twitch for a moment as if hiding a smile or a frown in irritation at his granddaughter's tone of voice. ”Be as that may be, there are topics that can no longer be put off.”

”Then ask your questions grandfather,” Rowan replied, before pointedly leveling to gaze him in the eye. ”Grandfather, you would do will remember my previous words for I can only answer that which can be answered.”

”I heard the most interesting of tales from a little owl,” Reginald taciturnly said as he leaned back in his chair to coldly stare down his nose at his granddaughter. ”Apparently, in your first year, Rowan, you dissuaded Lucius Malfoy from holding meetings in the Slytherin common room that was in favor of the Dark Lord. Most importantly the revelation of the Dark Lord's identity as Tom Marvolo Riddle, a half-blood conceived from a love potion used by the pureblood witch named Merope Gaunt on a muggle named, Tom Riddle.”

Reginald's lips curl in ice-cold anger at seeing no trace of guilt nor shame on his granddaughter's face. ”To further the insult, it would seem a great many purebloods learned of the situation via Abraxas, who had been told as much by his only child, Lucius Malfoy. It is this same detail that led Abraxas to lead a pureblood faction to break away from favoring the Dark Lord know as Lord Voldemort his follower's called Death Eaters, but all others as the half-blood, Tom Marvolo Riddle.”

Reginald's attentively waited for an emotional response from his granddaughter, but her face remains still as stone. His dark eyes further darken to dark frigid pools of apathy. ”Yet despite this treasure trove of information,” Reginald deliberately paused to emphasize his following words, ”why is that my granddaughter still failed to mention such important information before or after your grandmother's death?”

Rowan finally lets out a tired sigh and raises her midnight indigo-colored eyes to meet the stern gaze of her grandfather. ”Would have my words been of any use?” She drily explicated. ”At that time, Grandfather, you ignored my concerns to an extent for grandmother's sake. We both know that grandmother had no dėsɨrė for the family to meddle in such things.”

Reginald's eyes widen in old pain and anger at being spoken to in such a manner. Rowan mercilessly continues not giving her grandfather any room to speak. ”Supposing that my concerns had not been ignored neither you nor I could have prevented the attack on Malfoy Manor.”

Reginald opens his mouth to protest, but Rowan ruthlessly cuts him off. ”I know grandfather that you will argue that spies could have been inserted into Riddle's circle. However, that would be impossible as the half-blood, who you so much disdain is an unrivaled legilimens. It is a talent rare and hard to come by that is more than a match for even that of Professor Dumbledore. After all, Riddle committed his first murder while at Hogwarts right under Dumbledore's nose and still managed to hide his secret from one of the greatest wizards of all time.”