Beorc took a deep breath. Where to start? Perhaps the beginning said a tiny voice inside her head.
"Well, I erased most of your memory of what happened in your early childhood and specifically anything you knew about me. Obviously I'm a witch."
"A powerful witch." Gwen said, halfway between awe and anger.
"Yes. Your grandparents were as well. They died in Azkaban."
"My grandparents?"
"Only on my side. You're father's parents were quite unique. His great-grandmother was a fairy and his great-grandfather fell in love with her and cast a spell over her so that they could be together. That's where your fey blood comes from. But all of his family were wizards, and very good wizards at that. All the baddies were on my side." Beorc said with a rare sense of humor.
"I'm assuming my grandparents were deatheaters then?" Gwen asked soberly.
"Yes. Right in the thick of it with Lord Voldemort. They were with him before he gained power."
"And you?"
"Well, I was a Slytherin. But I'm not evil. No matter what anyone might tell you to the contrary." Beorc paused to gather her thoughts.
"And?"
"And your father kept me from turning along with everyone else when Voldemort came to power. My parents were pressuring me all the time, but I avoided them as best I could. Your father and I were married in secret and escaped England for a time. For ten year we kept moving about to keep our location unknown. Voldemort was so strong, if he wanted to find you he would. We decided eventually that we shouldn't run anymore and returned to England. That's when you were born, a year before Voldemort fell."
Gwen was looking at her hands. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and noticed that the few other people staying at Hogwarts for holiday were straggling in for lunch, including Harry and Ron. They all noticed the strange woman sitting with her and sat far enough away so as not to hear, but kept glancing over eagerly.