A/N: Written for Chaser 1, prompt: Hansel and Gretel. Word Count: 1197 (ffn)
He doesn't know he once had a sister.
He doesn't know she had white-blonde hair like him, and blue eyes like their mother.
He doesn't know that her name was Carina, or that not so long ago the two of them had been walking in a forest.
He doesn't know that later the next day, he emerged from that forest alone.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Wake up, Draco," whispered his mother gently. He slowly opened his eyes and saw his father nudging Carina awake in the room across from his.
Draco rubbed his eyes and pulled himself up. "G'morning, Mum."
"Good morning, Draco. Now come down for breakfast as soon as you get ready, we have a surprise for you." Narcissa smiled.
Which was weird, because her voice sounded sad.
The two children got ready and headed downstairs, racing each other down as they did every morning. Usually their mum would warn, "Careful!" but today she stayed silent.
As the house-elves walked over to the table with breakfast, Draco and Carina took turns guessing what the surprise might be.
"A zoo?"
"Hogsmeade?"
"A family vacation?"
"New books?" suggested Carina. Draco made a face.
To this, Narcissa smiled grimly and Lucius scolded the children and told them to eat their food. Giggling, they did.
A mere ten minutes later, the kids stood patiently at the door waiting for their mother and father to get prepared. They stepped outside, linked arms, and vanished.
They appeared at a bookshop, to Carina's content and to Draco's dismay.
"Ten minutes," Narcissa said, and Carina nodded disappointedly. Draco looked relieved when he realized that this was not the surprise after all, but a stop.
The second Carina left, Narcissa's face changed completely.
And seven-year-old Draco realized something was wrong.
"Draco," she whispered desperately. "Can you make Mum and Dad a promise?"
Carina exited the bookshop and Narcissa's face changed back again. Lucius feigned interest in the books his daughter bought.
But Draco knew now.
He knew that the surprise was neither a zoo, or Hogsmeade, or a family vacation.
In fact, it wasn't much of a surprise at all. At least, not a good one.
He wished he didn't wake up that morning.
They appeared at the forest, and Draco felt like running away, like hiding, like crying out so loud his lungs collapse. But he had promised.
He was determined to protect his sister from the mean old man who lived in the woods.
"What's going on–?" Carina started. She turned around at her parents, staring at her blankly, and then to Draco.
He looked scared.
She had never seen her big brother look scared before. Nervous, yes. Angry, very.
Scared?
Not in a million years.
Their dad didn't say a single word. Perhaps to ease the pain.
Their mother didn't either. Perhaps she couldn't.
Either way, both stayed blank-faced. Like ghosts. Like shadows of who they once were.
"I don't understand."
Draco looked at his sister, who stared at the spots where their parents had just vanished.
He refused to tell her that he didn't understand either.
"Mum said that Grandpa Abraxas threatened her. He said that if she gave him a granddaughter, he'd ruin her."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, apparently when I was born, they were only expecting me, not you. I was born nine minutes before you, and Grandpa and Bellatrix were there. It didn't cross their mind that there might be another baby, so they left. And so mum and dad kept your identity secret from him, as well as Auntie Bella."
"What does Grandpa Abraxas have against girls?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't know. He thinks they tarnish our name."
"But mum and dad always said Grandpa liked the drawings I made for him!"
"They lied, duh," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "They told him I drew them."
"Is that why mum always schedules playdates for me on the days Grandpa and Auntie come over?"
Draco nodded.
Carina was furious. She was upset. She felt betrayed.
But most of all, she was heartbroken.
"Why would mum and dad leave us here?"
Draco swallowed. "They really were only supposed to leave you here, but they wanted me to take care of you." He added, "They do love you, you know. It's just because of Grandpa and Auntie."
Carina nodded. But Draco knew she still didn't believe him.
"I hate Grandpa," she muttered. "I hatehatehate Grandpa Abraxas! And Auntie Bellatrix!"
Draco bit his tongue. He thought of all those times Grandpa complimented him on the paintings he didn't paint, and Auntie Bellatrix on the cookies he didn't bake. "I do, too," he said, despite all the affection they had given him. It had only come to him now how unfair it was that he got all the attention while his sister got none.
I do, too.
They began to walk aimlessly, wandless, through clumps of trees under a darkening sky. They sat down on a patch of grass when their legs would walk no more and decided that they were thirsty and hungry. "Let's go search for some food and water."
They stood up and walked for around an hour until they encountered a round puddle that stopped at their knees and was as big as the tables beside their beds. Carina pointed it out and Draco stuck out his tongue.
"Ew, that's gross! I'm not drinking that." They continued to walk.
By now, it was pitch black. Their throats were dry and their stomachs empty. "We should've drank that water from the puddle," Carina said bitterly.
"Do you want to go back?" Draco asked sarcastically. His stomach rumbled, and as if on cue, straight ahead was a cozy house with smoke wafting up from the chimney.
The children ran towards it and knocked on the door without thinking twice.
An old man with a crooked nose opened the door and smiled.
They had already eaten the food the nice old man had given them before Draco stopped to think of who this nice old man might be.
It was too late when he realized that this nice old man was in fact the mean old man his parents had warned him about.
Because by then, his sister had been killed by a flick of a wand and a green light, and had been reduced to ashes, which the man proceeded to sprinkle over his soup.
And then he ran.
And then he found his way out of the forest.
And then he crumbled on the ground and howled like a wolf at the moon.
He doesn't know he once had a sister.
He doesn't know she had white-blonde hair like him, and blue eyes like their mother.
He doesn't know that her name was Carina, or that not so long ago the two of them had been walking in a forest.
He doesn't know that later the next day, he emerged from that forest alone.