When I awoke my vision came to me immediately and I felt stronger than I had before. I looked around and saw I wasn't in the common room, but what appeared to be the Slytherin boy's dormitory. I was lying on a four poster green bed and the room appeared empty except for a blonde boy knelt next to my bed. Not having noticed I was awake yet, Draco Malfoy was using his wand to purify and cool the water in a small silver bowl. He had his school shirt sleeves rolled up, his emerald tie loose, and sweat glistened on his brow as he dipped an old handkerchief into the bowl of water then dabbing at the holes in my chest, which stung with every touch, then moving to mop my brow. As he moved to do so he noticed I was awake and he jumped back, straightened up and tried to un-crease his shirt and make himself more presentable. I pulled myself in sitting position as he did so.

"Did the spell work?" I croaked before Draco handed me a goblet of water.

"Yes," He replied simply before opening his mouth to say something else but obviously thinking better of it.

"What?" Draco approached me knelt down and very softly said,

"Don't morph. Don't move at all whilst I hand you this mirror. Make every effort not to morph." Confused I nodded my understanding then took the mirror and held it in front of me. I was back to my original human form, the blonde girl that Draco had first met in the bookshop. He stepped around me till he was by the headboard of the bed, almost directly behind me. Carefully he bent down and brushed my hair away from my face. He stroked the nape of my neck until he felt puckered red skin.

"Haylen who gave you these burns?"

I gasped and hastened to cover the burns with my hands but as I did so I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. Bruises were emerging on my face, knuckles, arms, skin. They did not come with pain but the pain of seeing memories I had buried was enough. I glared down at my stomach and saw a purple footprint bruise staring up at me. I leapt off the bed to face Draco.

"What spell did you cast on me?" I demanded with the growl of a tigress.

"Haylen-"

"What. Spell." I repeated to him, my eyes flashing. Draco sighed heavily before replying,

"The Carlicus spell. Heals every wound that has ever been hidden or inflicted on the victim. It was the only spell I knew that would heal the trident wounds." I stared at him before looking in the mirror again. My skin was turning black and blue and up and down my arms I could see the scabs I'd desperately hidden when I was younger.

"Get out." I said this in a tone so low and soft Draco almost didn't hear. He opened his mouth to protest then hung his head and walked towards the door. He didn't turn around although deep down I knew I wanted him to.

"Forgive me." He muttered, and then shut the door behind him.

Two months past and it was soon the Christmas holidays. I had seen Malfoy many times since he had rescued me from the merpeople but we never spoke. A quick interrogation from Blaise revealed that after Malfoy had gone upstairs he claimed not to be able to sleep and instead had wandered down to the common room. After spying me floating outside the window surrounded by red Malfoy had called for Blaise before smashing the glass, collecting me and resealing the glass. Blaise had been instructed to begin healing me whilst Malfoy cleaned up the common room and stopped anyone from walking in on them. I sneered when Blaise told me this, thinking that Malfoy would rather be the cleaner than the healer but Blaise quickly pointed out that he is by far a better healer than Malfoy is. After Blaise had left Malfoy to cast the Carlicus spell, I had spent five days in their 2nd year boy's dormitory. Considering only Blaise, Goyle, Crabbe and Malfoy slept there it had been easy to hide they were keeping a girl in their room. My dorm mates had been told I was staying at the Gryffindor dorm for a while due to illness and the Weasley's had been told I was sick and staying in my room.

I boarded the train in silence and sat with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville. Things were still frosty with Ron but I had grown closer to Hermione and Harry in the past two months and I wasn't going to allow a dispute with him get between our friendship, especially as I wasn't going to see Hermione over the holidays. As the train pulled to a close I rushed to the exit and jumped off to hug Arthur and Molly. Everyone bundled into the car and we made our way to the Burrow.

I fell asleep in the car and when I woke it was Christmas day. I stretched and took in my surroundings, noticing that Ginny had already gone down to breakfast. I yanked my dressing gown out of my suitcase and pulled it on whilst running out of the bedroom and down the stairs two steps at a time. I found everyone sitting in the living room in front of the fire. I paused in the doorway and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I stretched my arms upwards and yawned then found a red headed twin under each arm, lifting me into the warm living room.

"Come on," said Fred.

"We've been waiting for-" said George.

"Ages!" They chorused together. The rest of the room turned to see what the twins had brought in with them and smiled and waved greetings.

"We've opened our presents already," grinned Ginny.

"Thanks for my poster," mumbled Ron. I smiled at him and began to open my presents. I got a snake charm for my bracelet from Harry, a silk scarf from Ginny, various sweets from Fred and George which I vowed never to eat, a handmade lime green jumper from Molly, a book from Hermione, a little gadget that tidies your desk for you from Percy, a broom kit from Ron, a small bag of dragon scales from Charlie and a makeup kit from Bill, both had been sent by owl. I thanked everyone and hugged them all.

"That's not everything!" I turned to Molly, confused as to what she was referring. Molly leaned forward and lifted a clothed cage from behind the Christmas tree. "Now the cage is ours but the note that came with it claimed that the owl was yours..." Molly handed me the cage and my eyes widened. I pulled off the cover and inside was an ebony hawk owl. I took the note off of the top of the cage and read it.

iHer name is Natalya and she is yours to keep. Forgive me. /i

Guilt struck my stomach. I had treated him awfully when he had saved my life and healed my wounds. He had looked after me and I pushed him away.

"Who's it from?" questioned Ron. I glanced at him,

"One of my Slytherin mates. She's fed up of me borrowing her owl." Ginny and Harry exchanged looks but said nothing. I had a feeling they both knew who my "Slytherin mate" was.

"Bloody snobs," Ron muttered and I scowled.

"Well this snob is going to write a thank-you letter using my new owl," I waggled my fingers at him teasingly and hugged everyone again.

"Haylen I didn't mean-" I heard Ron protest but I was already out of the room and on my way upstairs. I wandered into mine and Ginny's joint room and absent mindedly looked through the things in my suitcase. I picked up the leather bag I used for shopping in Hogsmeade and fiddled through it to see if I'd left any coins in the pocket. As I stuck my fingers into the satin pocket I felt matt photo paper rub my fingertips. I pulled out the photos I'd grabbed before I left the Keyes household. I sifted through them. There was one of my Mother and Father on their wedding day. One of Mother as a little girl and one of Father in his suit. There were none of me. I was about to stuff them back into my bag when I realised I'd missed one. It was a wizarding picture of me as a child, waving happily at the camera. I was sat next to a boy with deep grey eyes and platinum blonde hair. I scribbled a note onto a piece of paper,

iYou do not need to be forgiven, you need to forgive me. I found this amongst my old belongings. How did I know you when I was little? How old were we? Why don't I remember any of this? Please Draco, help me./i

I attached the note to Natalya and watched her fly away as I felt the prison of my parents grasp my heart again.