Author's Note: Sorry about the long delay! Been moving and had a hectic schedule. But hopefully I'll work on it a bit more.
Disclaimer: I could never own Harry Potter in a million years, it's all JK Rowling :D
Broken Frames
Chapter Nine - Sibling's Vows
Sariah hadn't touched the note her elder half-brother had casually slipped into her hand until the morning of the first Quidditch match of the season between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Draco had come down with a slight flu, and had taken the match off, choosing to work on his assignment (under strict orders from Sariah to not over-exert himself) whilst the Snape daughter had decided to attend the game. She fingered the folded bit of parchment, and opened it, quickly recognising her brother's messy scrawl. It read:
Sariah,
I noticed you've been a bit sick lately.
Is anything wrong?
I still think it is bad that you're going to
marry Malfoy.
Is there anyway we can work towards being
proper siblings?
Harry.
She sighed to herself, and proceeded to dress in jeans and a button down white shirt, a dark green sweater thrown over the top. A slight bump was rising low in her hips, and she cast a Glamour Charm upon her clothes, giving her a seemingly normal appearance. Around her neck went a Slytherin scarf, and Draco's cloak was over the top of the outfit. Sariah then pulled on some combat boots, loosely tying the laces before exiting the private chambers and heading to the Great Hall alone.
The Gryffindors were exiting when the Slytherin princess slyly entered. Potter flashed her a slight hidden smile, and Sariah returned it gently, grabbing some toast and an apple from the Slytherin table. She really didn't feel up to eating with everyone else, and proceeded to half-follow the Gryffindor team to the pitch.
It was slowly filling up as Sariah slid into the stands, and took a seat near the top. She herself liked a good game of Quidditch, and with Draco out sick, she really didn't know who to support. Due to her green and silver scarf, Sariah immerged herself in a sea of the same color. Many Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had also taken sides for the match, and as the pitch filled, and the teams came out, screams and roars echoed from the crowd.
Sariah watched Potter's hand get crushed by the Slytherin captain, and watched as the team mounted and kicked off, signalling the beginning of the match.
Her eyes followed both the Snitch and Potter. Sariah had always had an eye for the minute details, making her an alright Seeker when she actually tried. And then the commentary began.
"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help…"
The Slytherin's jeered and clapped alongside Zacharias Smith, a particularly annoyingly nasty Hufflepuff. "Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Urquhart streaking down the pitch and… Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose…"
Half an hour of the game quickly passed, and Sariah noticed that Potter still hadn't noticed the Snitch that kept flickering past her own bottle green eyes. "Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," said Smith loftily, "they've generally got a bit more muscle-"
"Hit a Bludger at him!" yelled Potter to his Beater, and Sariah let a small laugh escape her lips. The beater, Coote, aimed a Bludger at the Slytherin's Seeker, Harper, and the Slytherin girl smirked inside. After all, Harper was a bit of an idiot. Harper then collided deliberately into Potter.
"Foul!" yelled Sariah leaping to her feet and waving a fist in the air.
Madam Hooch didn't turn around fast enough to see, and Sariah watched as Potter sped off to ram Harper back.
"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" said Smith through the magical megaphone he was holding. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"
Sariah's eyes spied the Snitch, and she watched as Potter accelerated off towards it. She was on her feet, her eyes chasing Potter who was behind Harper. She watched as Harper outstretched his hand, and then saw Potter yell something at him, causing Harper to do a double take. He fumbled the Snitch, it slipped through his fingers and shot past it. Potter swiped for it, and Sariah cheered as his hands enclosed around the golden ball.
"YES!" yelled Potter, hurtling back to the ground, hand in the air. The pitch roared in approval, drowning the sound of the whistle that signalled the end of the game. Sariah laughed as she watched the Weaslette fly past her cheering team and collide into the commentators podium.
With a laugh, Sariah walked from the stands and back towards the castle, through the throng of cheering and chattering students. She was walking past Potter, who was alone as he walked towards the castle. "Harry," she said softly, tapping him on a shoulder.
"Hey Sariah. Did you see the match?" he asked, grinning slightly in his Gryffindor robes.
"Yeah, it was good," she replied with a slight smile. "Can we go for a short walk?" she added quietly.
"Sure," said Harry, and he strode beside Sariah as she led him off to the edge of the Black Lake. Sariah needed someone to trust. Even with the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry, plus the Potter/Snape thing, Harry was still her big brother. It was a simple mistake that had placed her in the same year as him… Technically, despite the eleven months between the siblings, she was meant to be in the year below… It was a very fine line.
"So, what's up, Sariah?" asked Harry, staring at his sister with a puzzled look as she paused on the edge of the lake, sitting down upon a rock. She patted the rock beside her, and Harry joined her.
"I need someone to trust… you know the choices I have made, Harry. They cause me to be on the opposite side of my own brother… The choices made by one evil man caused us to be separate for our whole life… But I expect Mother would have never allowed us to meet either…" said Sariah. She was rambling.
"What are you talking about Sariah?" asked Harry, a look of concern in his eyes. He really was a caring person… a perfect choice for a brother.
"I need you to promise me you will not reveal both things I'm about to tell and show you," she said quietly.
Harry stared at Sariah for a moment, and with a slow motion, he nodded his head. Sariah removed Draco's cloak, followed by her Slytherin scarf and the green sweater. Standing there in her white button down and jeans, she lifted her sleeve.
On her forearm sat the Dark Mark, writhing on her arm in its disgusting way. Harry recoiled for a moment, before leaning his hand forward and placing a light finger on it. Pain soared through Sariah's body, and she winced for a moment, causing Harry to remove his finger.
"Sorry… must be cause of my connection to Voldemort," said Harry softly.
"That's one of the two things I need to show you, Harry," she whispered, and her eyes slowly drifted from the shared ones belonging to her elder brother. Harry gazed at Sariah as she silently took out her wand and waved it around her stomach, making her tiny baby bump prod out from her body.
Harry's mouth went wide and he gasped. "Is it Malfoy's?" he asked instantly.
Sariah looked down.
"Is it Malfoy's, Sariah?" he asked again, and she nodded gently. Harry's face twisted, but he remained calm as he stared at his little sister. They never got the chance to grow up as real siblings… maybe Sariah would have even been a Gryffindor, had their mother survived and actually loved the black haired little girl.
"Do you need any help?" he asked.
Sariah was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained herself and fixed her clothes back up. She smiled slightly at Harry. "I have my father, Draco and Dumbledore assisting me. All I ask, Harry, is that you keep my secret, so that if any of the other people helping me fail me, I will have somewhere safe for my child to go," said Sariah quietly.
"You will always have me," said Harry.
"Harry, will you make the Unbreakable Vow?" Sariah asked, her voice soft as she eyed her brother. This time it was he who froze for a moment, before letting his face fall into an almost graceful nod.
"Meet me in the Room of Requirement tonight," said Sariah, and with that she walked off, leaving her brother to his thoughts. She returned to her private common room, to think things over. Her mind wandered back to the night her father had revealed that she shared blood with Harry Potter.
She was fifteen, fifteen years old. Severus loved her immensely, but he knew he had to reveal the truth soon. She was getting to an age when she was curious about her mother. He's already given her a photo of Lily Evans in her youth, long shimmery red hair and bottle green eyes, laughing at Severus as he took the photo.
His daughter had grown into quite a beauty, she had long black hair, past her waist, and those same bottle green eyes. She looked remarkably like her mother, but shared his hooked nose. He loved her more than anything; she was all he had left of Lily.
"Sariah," called Severus from his study at their home in Cokeworth. Until she was eleven, she had lived at the castle all of the year. Once she turned eleven, Severus wanted his daughter to have a real Hogwarts experience, moving them to the home in Cokeworth for the holidays.
The young girl came into his office, her face rosy cheeked from whatever excitable activity she was doing. Sariah was always into something, and she loved books with a passion. She sat down on one of the chairs near her father's desk. "Yes, Daddy?" she said, her eyes lit up as she stared at her father.
He picked up a photo frame off his desk, and held it out to Sariah. She took it carefully, staring at a young red haired woman. She held a little boy, and was smiling at someone beyond the camera. Severus had taken it from Lily's home, it was the last photo taken of her before she had been killed.
"Is this my mother?" asked Sariah. She knew of her mother, but the photo she had was a younger one. Lily Evans Potter was twenty one yeqrs old when she died by Voldemort's hand.
"That is Lily the year she died," said Severus.
"And the baby she's holding?" she said, and her hands began to shake. She'd always thought her mother was killed because she was a Muggle in a relationship with a Death Eater. At least, this was what Severus had told her.
"That's her son, your older brother, Harry James Potter," said Severus.
"WHAT! You told me that my mother was killed for being with you. You never said that she was Lily Evans Potter, the mother of that blasted Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived," snapped Sariah, her normally quiet voice loud with anger.
"I was protecting you, until it was the right moment for you to discover the truth," said Severus.
"Some right moment, Severus! What else are you hiding? Did my mother even love me?"
Severus opened his desk, and removed a small wad of letters. He handed them to Sariah, who noticed they were all addressed to Severus from Lily. She opened the top one and began to read:
"Severus,
Thank you for sending me those photos of Sariah. She's getting so beautiful, and her resemblance to Harry is minor but it's there. They share my eyes, you know. Harry's getting so big, and sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I allowed them to meet. James wants to have another child, but I don't think I could knowing that I've already abandoned one child. I couldn't even look at her when she was born… if I did, I'd never have been able to give her to you, Severus. I'm glad you're taking care of her so well. I love her beautiful black hair, she's so much like you.
Thank you Severus, I really did love you at one point, and we have a beautiful daughter together. But we were not meant to be.
Always,
Lily."
Sariah stood up, tears in her eyes. "Leave me," she said, glaring at her father. She'd always had a commanding prescence, even as a baby. Severus took one look at her, and sighed getting up.
"Lily did love you, Sariah Eileen. But she never was a real mother to you, the way she was to your half-brother," said Severus, before he left his daughter to read through her mother's letters, sobbing as she cried for someone she had never known.
On the floor laid the picture of Lily and Harry, the glass smashed within the broken frame.
That night in the Room of Requirement, Sariah met with Harry and Hermione. She refused to allow Draco to know anything of their meeting, and she had made Harry swear his friends would not reveal her secret. She also needed a Bonder, which she requested in Hermione Granger. Despite being a Slytherin, Sariah was not biased about blood purity. Her own mother was a Muggle born so it really didn't faze Sariah. Ron wasn't there, because he's had yet another fight with Hermione and Harry didn't want any conflict.
"I still can't believe you're going through with this, Harry," echoed the voice of Hermione Granger as Sariah heard them approach her. She was in the Room of Hidden Things, but nowhere near Draco's task. She saw the bushy hair of Hermione appear as they rounded a corner and found Sariah.
She was standing, in slacks and a white button down paired with boots. Her wand hoister was on her thigh, as she gave Harry a small smile.
"Hey Sariah," said Harry, smiling back. He'd been wondering all day what it would've been like if he and his sister had grown up together. Would she have been a Gryffindor? Would she have survived Voldemort's attack? Would there have been an attack at all? The what if's were constantly in the back of his mind.
"Hello," said Sariah simply.
"As agreed," said her brother, and Sariah nodded, waving her hand and revealing her baby bump.
"Wow, you weren't kidding. And it's Malfoys?" said Hermione.
"Yes, it is my fiancée's child," said Sariah.
Harry growled for a moment, before covering his scowl with a slight strained smile. "Well, let's do this," he said, standing before Sariah as she stood there in all her pregnant glory. She held out her left arm, the one with the Dark Mark (which was covered), and Harry grasped it. Hermione drew her wand.
Sariah then spoke. "Will you, Harry James Potter, protect the secret of my pregnancy?"
"I will," said Harry.
A thin flame issued from Hermione's wand and wove around their arms like a red-hot wire.
"And will you, within the best of your ability, not reveal my secret to anyone except Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger?"
"I will."
A second flame followed the first, entwining around their hands, interlinking with the first to make a fiery chain.
"And will you, in the event of both mine and Draco's deaths, disappearances or inability due to the Dark Lord's desires, take care of our child after its birth and hide its location from the Dark Lord?"
Harry hesitated for a moment, before speaking. "I will," he said, and a final tongue of flame enclosed around their hands, linking onto the chain which blazed for a moment before vanishing into their skin.
"Thank you," said Sariah, her face holding a wide smile.