Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Severus Snape was sitting, lost in thought, in the corner armchair in Room Six of the Room of Requirement's Grand Hotel. After Hermione had fallen asleep on Draco's shoulder three hours previously, he and Draco had talked about the events of the night for another hour. Retelling the happenings of Christmas Eve had taken a lot out of them both, especially Draco. After they had talked, Draco had fallen asleep at the foot of the bed on top of the covers so as not to disturb Hermione, who was tucked in at the head of the bed.

That night was implanted in his mind as one of the hardest, emotionally, in all Severus' years of spying. While he had never enjoyed torturing defenceless Muggles, he had done what was required of him in order to remain a spy. The screams of the lives lost at his hands haunted his dreams at night, but the fact was that he could handle them. Surprisingly enough, Severus had never encountered a situation where his path crossed that of one of his students. He had never been forced to participate in or even watch the torture of a Hogwarts student, though he knew that such things happened. On Christmas Eve, however, Severus had been asked to destroy the life of not only one of his students but the most brilliant girl to attend Hogwarts in a century. Upon discovering the plan, he had known he couldn't participate. He had to keep his spying and his teaching separate. Otherwise, he'd never live with himself.

Severus didn't know what it was about this girl, Hermione Granger, that inspired loyalty in the coldest of Slytherins. Unlike the two of them, she possessed some modicum of common sense. While she accompanied them on many of their harebrained schemes, she always tried to follow the rules. She was innocent in many ways, but why would that affect him? It was possible, he supposed, that her loyalty to her friends and to the light inspired others. Loyalty was a Gryffindor trait

that most Slytherins shied away from, but nonetheless, Hermione inspired it in both himself and Draco. Severus knew that if it had been any other Muggle-born the Dark Lord had chosen to kill that night, Draco would not have risked as much as he had for Hermione. While Severus firmly believed that Draco would have turned against the Dark Lord no matter what happened, he knew Draco would not have risked his life for just anyone.

On Christmas Eve, when he had carried the girl to Grimmauld Place, he had had the chance to view another side of her...one he never saw as her professor. As her professor, Severus saw an annoying know-it-all waving her overeager hand in the air and hoping to be called on. He saw her essays, which made him cringe as they were always longer than regulation. He would never admit, not even to Dumbledore, that he was secretly pleased by her essays, which provided unique insight; some of her points he had not considered himself. But as the bastard he was, he had to find something to criticize in her work. Generally, his comments on her papers were things like, Write bigger. I will not continue to squint just to finish your paper. When she had started to write bigger, Severus had no choice but to start taking off points for things like misplaced commas. As her potions were always perfect, he tried to ignore her in class. He only ever spoke to her when he was berating Potter or Weasley and she just happened to get in the way.

But that night, when he had carried her unconscious form into Grimmauld Place, she wasn't the perfect know-it-all who excelled at everything she tried. Instead, she was fragile Hermione Granger, who was weak and scared. Severus had known that night that Hermione was going to need a lot of support if she was going to get past her parents' deaths; he had only hoped that her friends would be enough. Severus knew even then that he and Draco would have to do whatever they could to make Hermione feel more at ease, even though their actions had to be done from afar.

Though their actions were small, Severus hoped they offered some small amount of comfort. On Draco's part, Severus noticed that when they got back from Christmas holidays, Draco no longer baited the Golden Trio. Though the blonde was now on the side of the light, Severus knew there was still quite a bit of animosity between Potter and Draco. Yet to spare Hermione any more distress, Draco had not approached the three Gryffindors. As for Severus, as soon as he had heard from Albus that Hermione's grades were slipping, he had started assigning less work. It wasn't much less...he only cancelled one out of four essays a week...but he hoped it helped in some way. He also started assigning easier potions during class. They were mostly review potions that most students had not done well on in their O.W.L.s. Of course, Hermione had passed her O.W.L.s with flying colours, so to her, the potions were quite easy.

Much to his surprise, Severus noticed that the more attention he paid to her, the more he discovered about her that he liked. She was so different from all the other dunderheads he was forced to teach. Hermione, as a Muggle-born, understood that her magic was a gift. As such, she didn't take her education for granted like all the privileged purebloods. With her head in her books, she didn't get involved in petty matters like most teenagers. Aside from her short-lived relationship with the Weasley boy, Hermione had always made learning her top priority. Her eagerness to learn was a trait Severus found most admirable, if not endearing. When she was younger, Severus had always thought she was just showing off to her peers by flaunting her knowledge. It was only now that he found her thirst for information to be endearing. People like the Weasleys, having grown up with magic, never took their education seriously, figuring that magic would always be there. But Hermione, having only discovered her magic at the age of eleven, studied hard and never took anything for granted. His musings were interrupted as there was a sharp, insistent knock at the door. As he got up to answer the door, Draco began to stir at the foot of the bed.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, sitting up groggily. Severus ignored him and opened the door to a distraught looking Headmaster.

Severus had only seen that incredibly troubled look on the Headmaster's face twice in all his years of knowing him: when the Dark Lord had returned in Potter's fourth year and just before the Battle of Hogsmeade.

"Severus," said the old man solemnly," would you please wake Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger and then accompany them to my office?" Upon making his request, the Headmaster walked away without another word.

Draco was now on the other side of the bed, gently nudging Hermione awake. Her eyes immediately shot wide open with comprehension as she recognized the two men.

"What's happening?" she asked, jumping out of bed.

"We are to report to the Headmaster's office immediately," Severus answered, helping the girl wrap up in her outer robe. Severus and Draco watched as Hermione switched into panic mode.

"But I haven't decided between you two! We didn't even talk about the law! I can't possibly..."

Hermione had been waving her hands frantically in the air until Draco grabbed one of them in his own, stilling her movement and her words.

"Don't worry," he said comfortingly. "It will be okay." He squeezed her hand for even more assurance, and she smiled, albeit weakly. Silently, the three of them left Draco's room and headed to the Headmaster's office, Draco still holding Hermione's hand.

Draco's hand in hers gave Hermione all the comfort she could have asked for. However, he immediately removed his hand from hers when they spotted his mother sitting in front if the fireplace.

"Mother!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He ran over to kneel in front of where she was sitting, and Hermione noticed his mother's distressed expression; it matched the one Dumbledore wore.

"Draco, dear, please sit down," said Narcissa, wearily. Hermione noted there were dark circles under Narcissa's eyes, as if the woman hadn't slept in days. The dark circles did not diminish the porcelain beauty Narcissa carried, but the flaw to her face certainly marred her beauty in a way Hermione had not suspected was possible for a Malfoy. While Hermione had certainly disliked Lucius, she had never really gotten to know Draco's mum. The one time she had met Narcissa was at the Quidditch World Cup with Harry and Ron, and Narcissa hadn't said a word.

"Severus, Hermione, you two should sit down as well," urged Dumbledore. The three of them sat down in the chairs provided and looked between Narcissa and Dumbledore.

"Now," began the Headmaster, "this very evening, just after I dismissed Hermione, Narcissa came to me with a revelation that will change each of your lives very drastically. Narcissa, would you tell them your revelation?"

"Yes, Albus," she responded in a measured tone. Hermione saw Narcissa take a deep breath and then close her pale blue eyes before she began.

"Eighteen years ago, I was pregnant with Draco. I will spare you the details, but know that I have distinct recollections of giving birth. I must say, however, that I have always had a strong feeling that something else happened the night Draco was born...something I can't remember. It's a feeling I have never been able to explain, but I have always known that Draco's birth had more meaning than I have accredited it."

"Well, thanks for that," Draco muttered sarcastically. Narcissa ignored him and continued.

"Ever since the Battle of Hogsmeade, when Lucius died, missing memories of my pregnancy and giving birth have been appearing at the oddest times. At first I assumed that Lucius had placed a Memory Charm on me long ago, but if that were the case, the memories would have all returned the moment he died. Instead, they have been returning slowly and sporadically."

Here Narcissa paused, giving the other three time to process the information. Hermione wracked her brain for anything she had read of that would cause memories to spontaneously reappear but thought of nothing. Draco was the first to respond.

"What happened in your recovered memories, mother?" He moved into a kneeling position in front of his mother and grasped her hands in much the same way he had done with Hermione earlier in the evening. With Draco's encouragement, Narcissa went on with her story.

"Draco, I wasn't pregnant with only you. I was pregnant with twins." At this statement, Draco's jaw dropped.

"So I had a brother or sister?" asked Draco, astonished. "Did my twin die?"

From Hermione's position, she could see Narcissa stiffen and move her hand to lie atop Draco's head.

"No, my son. Please go and sit down with Hermione and Severus. You all need to hear this." Draco heeded his mother's words and went to sit on Hermione's right; Severus was on her left. Once he was seated, Narcissa continued again.

"As more and more memories started coming back, I understood much more clearly. Draco, two hours after you were born, I gave birth to your sister."

Hermione's mouth gaped in what she was sure was an unflattering expression, but as understanding dawned, she couldn't care less. Slowly, Hermione turned back to Narcissa.

"But w-why?" she stammered.

"Hermione, have you ever read a book on fairies?" Narcissa had a small, knowing smile on her face.

"Only a few," answered Hermione.

"Well, have you ever heard of the Sidhee?" pressed Narcissa.

Hermione searched through the vast knowledge in her mind to determine if she had ever read anything on the Sidhee. Finally, she responded.

"The Sidhee are fairies who live in the hills of Scotland. In its lifetime, a Sidhee must align itself to a human or otherwise be cursed in the afterlife. In the past, they've scouted witches and wizards to align to because we are more understanding than Muggles. Once a human is aligned to a Sidhee, they agree to obey the Sidhee in all they do. The Sidhee can see into the future and even change the past. So if the Sidhee offers to change the past to something that will ultimately benefit the human, the human has no choice but to obey."

Hermione looked up after her speech to find Narcissa holding back a laugh, Dumbledore's eyes twinkling, Draco smiling, and Severus giving her what she interpreted as an amused look.

"A very fine answer, indeed," responded Narcissa, issuing a faint laugh. Hermione blushed at everyone's enjoyment at her expense.

"Don't be embarrassed, Hermione," said Dumbledore. "It's nice to know that the bookworm who can read and recite texts still exists in you."

"So what do the Sidhee have to do with Draco's twin?" asked Hermione, her natural curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well, Hermione," answered Narcissa, "the night my two children were born, the Sidhee that aligned itself to me when I was a teenager appeared before me. She came into my birthing chamber despite my protests that it was improper. She then blessed each twin and proceeded to give me a message. In wizarding language, her message would be the equivalent of a prophecy, but a Sidhee's message is much more straightforward. She said, and these are her words exactly, 'the two which lie before you now hold power beyond measure in their fingertips. As war will surely rage, loyalties may waver. Together, their bond will form an immunity which will only be bestowed when all the forces of nature deem in right.'

"I thought that was it, but then she spoke again. She said, 'Narcissa Malfoy, your daughter is vastly powerful in a great many ways. Though she will live to someday fulfil her destiny with her brother, she has another fate that must first come to pass. Narcissa, for this to occur, your daughter cannot remain in your care. You must give her up and allow her to be raised by someone else. She will return to you, but before then, she must fulfil her initial purpose.'

"I couldn't understand why the Sidhee would want to take my beautiful daughter away from me, but I had agreed to obey the Sidhee in everything. I had no choice; I had to give up my baby girl.

"The Sidhee then Apparated me to a Muggle hospital and told me to pick a family to raise my little girl. After observing all my options, I settled on giving her to a Muggle couple who'd suffered the miscarriage of their own little girl."

"Who were the Muggles, Mother?" asked Draco, who looked thoroughly bewildered.

Narcissa, never letting her gaze leave Hermione's, wiped a tear off her cheek and whispered her answer.

"Michael and Jean Granger."

Hermione had known it was coming; she had figured it out when she remembered Draco had said he came of age last September. But knowing beforehand didn't save Hermione Granger the shock of realizing that she was actually a Malfoy: Draco Malfoy's twin sister. Hermione heard nothing more as the world around her faded to black, and she passed out.

AN: Thanks so much to my wonderful beta sequana for helping me get through this chapter.