A Snake In the Lion's Den

Malfoy Manor was decorated for Christmas. Long wreaths were draped around the mantles of all the fireplaces and a huge Christmas tree with snow covered branches, decorated in silver and blue, stood proudly in the corner of the family parlour. It was elegant yet still festive. When Draco Malfoy fell out of the fireplace, still hyped on the positive energy from the Yule Ball last night, he expected to be greeted by large smiles and warm hugs, but when his father couldn't even look him in the eye and his mother gave him a watery smile, his mood soured.

"I'll take my trunk up today, don't bother summoning a house-elf." He needed to get away, to re-compose himself after such an unhappy greeting. "Maybe I should've stayed at school this year, then maybe I'd still get the joy of seeing Potter's face when I told him of the bet I'd made on the next task." Draco grumbled to himself as he lugged his trunk up the stairs. He stopped himself as he saw his grandfather's portrait staring at him, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Mumbling is unbecoming of a Malfoy, my dear boy."

"I know Grandfather, I just expected to have a normal Christmas with my parents, yet everything seems so… Downcast. It's not very festive at all."

"My dear boy, all will become clear, until then don't be too hard on your parents, it is hard enough without you adding to their stresses."

"Of course Grandfather. I can't make any promises though, I don't always react well to bad news."

"You must try. I cannot say for certain this is bad news, more a bit of a shock. Your parents will tell you soon. Be patient my dear boy." Draco gave his Grandfather a smile before continuing to his room in much better spirits than before. Unknown to all outside the Pureblood circles Abraxus Malfoy was a loving grandfather, easily being his grandson's favourite person to converse with when in a bad mood.

Although Christmas was the day before Draco had returned home, the Malfoy family had decided to save their festivities until New Years. Draco was quite pleased with that decision, he didn't know if he could pretend to be happy around his parents, not without knowing what really happened to make his parents so reclusive. He hadn't seen either of them in a couple of days but had heard his mother's sobs during the night. They were painful to listen to and Draco felt the need to go comfort her, but didn't think he could. He needed to escape the Manor, he didn't think he could bare this anymore.

The 29th of December dawned and Draco heard his mother leave her chambers for the first time, and head down the stairs to the kitchen, something she did less now that Draco had grown up. Draco wanting desperately for this issue to be resolved before their Christmas in two days, followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the large table, much to the house-elves' disgust.

"Good Morning Draco. Is a hot chocolate alright?" Narcissa Malfoy seemed to be perfectly happy, despite the fact that she had been crying just an hour previously.

"Hot chocolate would be lovely Mother,"

"What have I told you about calling me Mother, whilst we are at home? You can drop the Pureblood mask now, darling." Draco allowed himself to relax, his shoulders slumping and the mask of indifference disappearing. He knew his posture was awful, but he didn't care anymore, he needed answers more than ever. Narcissa seeing the thoughtful yet pained look on her son's face, placed the mugs of hot chocolate on the table in front of them, feeling guilt surge through her.

"I'm guessing you're curious, darling, we've hidden it from you for long enough. I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, cause we'd be giving you more stress than needed, but recently something has come to light that we cannot keep from you anymore." Narcissa began, holding her mug between her hands, staring into the frothy drink rather than regarding her son.

"Mum?" The silence was beginning to worry Draco, it had been five minutes since Narcissa had stopped talking, he knew this would probably take a while, but even so, he was anxious.

"Sorry. When I was told that you were going to be a little boy, I was ecstatic, we would have an heir and I always wanted a little boy to be my little prince. However when the Healer told us we would be having twins, I didn't think I could get any happier. Your father was incredibly happy as well, he didn't really like the idea of having to burden you with the Malfoy family problems, but having a sibling that you could share it all with seemed more favourable for everyone." Narcissa stopped for a little bit, taking a sip from her hot chocolate. Draco did the same, wanting to ask so many different questions, but not wanting to interrupt.

"You had a little brother, born thirteen minutes after you, you were both the centre of my world. The Healer seemed to think that there might be a little rivalry between you, that your brother would grow up to resent you as you would hold the title he had just missed out on. As very small children however, you were closer than any siblings I had ever seen. We had two nurseries set up, one for each of you, the first night we brought you home you slept in your individual nurseries, for your dad and I, it was the worst night's sleep we ever got. The two of you refused to sleep and screamed the house down, after many failed attempts I sent your dad back to bed before I picked up your brother and moved into your room and sat in the chair near your crib. As soon as you saw your little brother in my arms, you lifted your own arms, trying to reach for him. I put him down in the crib next to you, and suddenly both of you stopped crying. You both slept peacefully for the rest of the night. The next morning we moved you both into your nursery, there was not many sleepless nights after that for any of us." Narcissa smiled, this one wasn't forced, but nostalgic. Draco himself couldn't help but smile slightly, although his was slowly lost when his mind was clouded over by sad thoughts. He had a best friend once. Someone he could've trusted and shared everything with, not the friends he had now, who he had to be careful what he said around. Draco longed for the security he would've had if there was another Malfoy at school to back him up, if he had a purpose other than being the perfect Malfoy heir: to protect his little brother.

"During the day, we couldn't tell you apart very easily, you both seemed to do the same thing at the same time, it was like one brain controlling two little bodies. It was amazing to see, yet slightly disturbing." Both Malfoys laughed at that, it was a warm and loving sound and filled the kitchen easily. "It took us quite a while to tell the difference between the two of you. Your brother had slightly bluer eyes and darker hair than you, but you could only see the difference in certain lights. However you seemed to favour more academic toys, whilst your brother seemed to always be a little ball of energy, often getting hurt by performing little stunts. For your first birthday, your Uncle Severus bought you both little brooms, you enjoyed using yours, but we never seemed to be able to get your brother off of his. Not long after your first birthday, we were awoken by crying coming from the nursery. I immediately went to see what was wrong," Narcissa's eyes were beginning to tear up again and Draco felt his heart leap into his throat. "When I got there, you were in your crib, screaming, the window was wide open and your brother's crib was empty." Narcissa stopped and let out a large sob, similar to what Draco had heard most nights. Draco felt sick. "We searched everywhere, for so long, had the aurors looking. At Halloween, the Dark Lord was killed and we were thought of as criminals, so they gave up helping us, presumed we had killed our little boy for dark magic. Those that still held us in their graces believed he would have to be dead by now. I still refused to believe it. When your Hogwarts letter came, your brother's wasn't with it. That's when I stopped hoping." Dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, Narcissa finally turned to look at Draco, her heart breaking even more when she saw his expression, a tear was sliding down his pale face, he looked more heartbroken than anyone she had ever seen, including her husband when they lost all hope. She knew that her boys would have been very close even now, and it destroyed her to know that her son had lost a life of happiness that could never be returned.

"What was his name?"

"Caelum Regulus Malfoy." Narcissa turned her chair, scraping the legs slightly on the ground, so she was closer to her son, before putting her arm around him and allowing him to bury his head into her shoulder. Draco felt rather ashamed at the reaction he had shown, he had never known his brother, yet he felt as if he had just been told one of his parents had died, someone he was incredibly close to. No matter how much he tried he couldn't help the tears falling from his eyes and the shaky breaths pushing past his lips. Kissing the top of his head, Narcissa tightened her arms as she felt the tears seep through her cardigan.

"It's not so much a sad story after all," she whispered into his hair.

"How? You just told me I have a dead twin, how can that be a happy story?" Draco mumbled letting out a cold laugh at the end.

"I never said he was dead, darling, that's why I am telling you about this now: we've found him!" Draco's head shot up, looking his mother dead in the eyes, he realised she was telling the truth. "Your father received an owl from Dumbledore a couple of months ago, telling him that while undergoing medical checks at the beginning of the year, they had noticed a glamour on one of the boys. The glamour was starting to deteriorate after having not been reapplied for a while. Madame Pomfrey took a blood sample and performed a DNA test on him. The results came back as Caelum."

"Does he know?" The prospect of getting to meet his brother was exciting to Draco, but it would be overwhelming for the both of them if his brother didn't know.

"No. Dumbledore thinks we should wait until summer to tell him, it will give us all time to adjust before Caelum starts Hogwarts in September as a true Malfoy."

"Am I allowed to know who my brother is or do I find out at the same time?"

"I don't think it will be a problem as long as you continue to act normally around him, so not to rouse suspicion."

"I will, promise, just tell me who!" Narcissa smiled as her son began to get excited. She had hoped he would react favourably, but she wasn't sure, her son could be terribly conceited and spoilt sometimes.

"Your brother is under the guise of Harry Potter."