Chapter 15 – Gaunt
It happened at the end of September. We were having breakfast in the great hall when Quincy's owl arrived with a big parchment tied to its legs. I already knew what it was but acted uninterested, only glancing at it once, but deep inside, I wanted to tear it from her hands and read it right there and then.
"Good boy." She whispered, patting the owl before it flew off. She pocketed the letter and continued eating her toast, not even looking at me. I had to wait for it until the afternoon, right after our potions class, after we had settled down in the North Tower.
"Let me unseal it first!" Quincy said, looking at my impatient face, getting the parchment out, and tapping it with her wand. "Or you won't see it! Revelio!"
"You can cast such an advanced spell?" I asked with surprise, watching her open up the letter.
"It is not that hard. Plus, its effectiveness depends on your skills. I can teach it to you later, here!" She said, giving the letter to me. It was multiple pages long, and it took me fifteen minutes to go through it before passing it back to her. "So?" She asked, seeing my thoughtful expression while she also skimmed through it.
"It is interesting... Your family is truly ancient and well-connected."
"You wanted to say we married into almost all kinds of wizarding families." She added with a not-so-proud tone. "I am also expected to be married off and my first son to be sent home to continue the lineage. Haaahh..."
"Harsh."
"Let's drop it."
"You brought it up." I shrugged but quickly changed the subject back to what we were after. "Anyway, there were people who married into the Gaunt family in ancient days, going by this information. Whoever wrote it seems really proud of the fact!"
"It's my grandmother's handwriting." She said coldly, which was enough for me to know, not ask about it further. "The Gaunts... why did I never hear about them? Were they a prominent family?"