Yay! Over one hundred reviews. I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful that you're reading this. SOrry I didn't update over the weekend, I had family visiting. Lets just say it was pretty stressful.

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13 reviews! I love getting thirteen reviews - partly because it's lots of reviews, partly because it's such a great number.

And it's onto Chapter Ten

Finally, Ginny and Luna split up. Luna went back to her Common Room, whilst Ginny joined her friends at the Gryffindor table. Ron turned to look at his sister.

"You know her best. Did she ever say anything about any of this?"

Ginny remained silent.

Her silence prompted the others to turn to her.

"Well?"

"Okay! She was always saying how one day her past would come out in the papers. Then, when she knew this morning that it would, she told me everything."

"What did she say? Is the Prophet right?" The babble of voices broke out around her.

"She's my friend. I'll respect her confidence, thank you very much."

"I'm your brother! Plus she's a Malfoy, how much of a friend could she be."

"Don't! Eva is nothing like her father, you shouldn't just judge her for her last name. Besides, didn't you read the damn article? How much is she really likely to be like the people who didn't want her?"

"So it's true!"

Infuriated, Ginny turned on her heel and stormed from the Hall. She didn't notice Hermione shoot a withering glance at Ron and follow, or someone silently detaching themselves from the Slytherin table and sliding out of the Hall.

Hermione jogged to catch up with the youngest Weasley.

"Ron was just being Ron. He doesn't really know Eva-"

"Then he shouldn't make judgements on her. Don't defend him Hermione. You don't think he was right any more than I do."

"No, I don't."

"He wouldn't talk like that if he knew what kind of state she'll be in."

"Have you seen her?"

"Not since she read the article. She seemed pretty close to tears when I left though."

"But she never cries. Even when that Petrificus Totalus 'accidentally' hit her while she was walking down the stairs and she rolled down three flights, or when that Doxy 'found' its way into her school bag and nearly bit her fingers off."

Eva's weeks at Hogwarts had been littered with incidents like this. She'd got to know Madame Pomfrey pretty well by this time, and her friends were right. She hadn't once shed a tear. Her facial composure was incredible, and had stunned many people who had made the mistake of being irritating during one of her often bad moods. Her speech was a lot less controlled, as those unfortunates had discovered. Sadly, on the occasion that a Professor was drawn to the quarrel, her adversary was usually the one in tears - Eva's insults were as cutting as her brother's and, too proud to tell the Professor how the argument has started, she was often the one to be blamed.

Suddenly the boy who had been following the two Gryffindors spoke up. "Eva won't cry, especially not in front of people."

The girls turned and were stunned to see who had spoken.

He elaborated.

"Eva's been taught that crying is a sign of weakness. She's learned by now not to go round bawling like a baby."

He spoke in a dismissive tone, and his face seemed to show little worry for his sister.

Angered by this, and by what she had read, Hermione snapped at him. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I want you to get my sister, so I can see her."

"So you can bully her? No way."

He crossed the steps between them in a flash. His eyes suddenly turned into grey clouds, a far cry from the usual hardness, and his tone vibrated with emotion.

"I would never, ever, deliberately cause harm to Eva. She's the best thing to come out of our family in centuries. I want to know if she's okay!"

He suddenly released Hermione's arm and stepped away, sneering.

"Just tell her I want to see her. Believe what you want, I'm just not leaving her to the mercy of a Mudblood and a blood traitor." His eyes were hard again and he looked at both girls with equal contempt.

Ginny's eyes narrowed, but Hermione just nodded.

"We'll tell her."

Her shoulders shaking, Eva lay on her bed. She was too wrapped up in herself to notice Ginny and Hermione come in.

When the girls each laid a hand on her shoulder, she started and tried to sniff back her tears and wipe her eyes, but Ginny stopped her.

"It does you good to let it out. You should talk about it again too, when you can bear to."

"I know. Just, not yet, okay."

"When you're ready, we'll be listening." Hermione comforted.

"But for now, there's someone else who wants to talk."

"Wh-where?" She tried to sit up and look round

"Well, he can't really come inside the Common Room, let alone our dorm."

"Draco."

It wasn't a question.

Ginny frowned. "You don't have to see him, if you don't want to."

"No, I want to. You wouldn't understand, but he's always been different to me. I know he's a real bastard here, but he was never like that when he was teaching me. There's two sides of him, the one that school and our family see, and the one he is when he's on his own. And even though that side is disappearing, he still shows it sometimes when he's around me. And it's a caring side, it really is. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him. He insisted that I be brought out as soon as he got home. He knew that the Ministry would be there soon, and he wanted me to be found. He wanted me to have the best chances I could, no matter how it reflected on our name."

She stood, fixing her red eyes with a glamour charm perfected over many years of practice, and went down to her brother. Out of respect for their privacy, Ginny and Hermione didn't follow, though they couldn't stop themselves talking about what Eva had said.

Displays of emotion weren't really the style of this pair of siblings, so Draco's one-armed hug expressed more comfort than most bear hugs.

He said nothing, waiting for her to start.

Finally she glanced up. "Reactions?"

"Pretty much shock. Curiosity. Confusion along the less bright ones."

"And pity. Big heapings of pity."

"You can't avoid it. And they can't help feeling like that. They actually think it makes you feel better."

"Idiots."

"No arguments here."

"Oh, stop being such a snob!"

"But then what reason would I have to smirk," he teased.

"You could try smiling, might not kill you."

"But it'd hurt my face. Besides, everyone would have heart attacks and drop dead of shock."

"You could be the Dark side's new secret weapon," she joked.

He didn't respond, and the smile slid from her face.

"What is it? For Merlin's sake, Draco, what in hell happened over the weeks that I was away this summer?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Sure, and I'm a Hippogriff."

"Mmm, I thought your hair was getting a little feathery, but I didn't want to mention it."

She laughed and shoved him.

The bell for the end of breakfast rang.

"I'd better go. Wouldn't want a load of Potty-Head Gryffindors noticing a Slytherin outside their Common Room."

"Prat."

"Shrimp"

"Arrogant, stuck-up Slytherin."

"Know-it-all little Gryffindor."

"Oh, just go! And, Draco!"

He turned around just as he reached the end of the corridor.

"Look after yourself."

"I'll make sure I eat three meals a day, now stop worrying about me."

She watched him go. 'How can I do that?' she thought.'You've lost weight, you've got dark shadows under your eyes. You look like you're being trailed by a Pogrebin, and you won't ever let anyone in. I'm your sister and you've done so much for me. Let me help you, Draco, please, before you do something drastic.'

Review!

Hope the Draco bits were alright. I'm glad you all liked finding out the truth in the previous chapters.

Remember, you keep reviewing and I keep updating.

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