A/N: so here's chapter 14 for you guys, and I just want to say thank you for all the amazing reviews I got for the last chapter, a lot of people hinted that it may be their favourite so far, and that's good cause it means the story is getting better as it goes along! Anyway keep them coming please :D now enjoy the story!

Chapter Fourteen

'What connection? I didn't know you had a connection to him. What are you talking about Alyssa?'

Alyssa huffed and turned to her mother again.

'If this backfires I'm blaming you!'

Aurora simply gestured to Harry, as if telling Alyssa to hurry up and start explaining.

'Ok Harry, what I'm going to tell is the truth, but it is also complicated. So I would appreciate if you would not interrupt me until I finish, ok?'

Harry hesitated, but finally acquiesced. Alyssa then turned to face Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

'That goes for you three as well.' They all nodded in acceptance of her terms, and Alyssa realised that there was no getting out of it now.

'As you all know, a prophecy was told to Lily at my birth that caused her and James to give me up. They gave me to Sirius, who then gave me to Dumbledore, who then gave me to Aurora and Telechus Black. For the first three years of my life, they raised me in their manor, treating me as if I were their own daughter.

And for the most part they could see that I was content. However, when I turned three, they realised that there was something lacking. I had never spoken in those three years. A normal baby will start to talk between twelve and eighteen months, but I didn't. Aurora and Telechus believed that it was because I had no one even close to my age to be with. They lived alone with a few house elves to take care of the domestic side of things; it wasn't the best environment for a growing child.

So they made a drastic decision. They wanted to me to have at least a few years of a normal childhood, and so they, anonymously, gave me up to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. They took me in and raised me until I was eight years old. By then, Aurora and Telechus realised that they may have made a mistake, in that I was being brought up by a wholly Slytherin family. They did not want that for me, as they wanted me to be like I am now, able to appreciate all the houses for their virtues and in spite of their faults.

So, when I was eight, they took me back, and I disappeared out of the Malfoy's lives as quickly as I had appeared. The rest you pretty much know. I spent the next ten years of my life in the manor extending my education, and gaining as much knowledge as I could, so that one day I could enter the world and add something towards the healing process. That is what I am trying to do here, with these lessons. Of course it would be easier if I knew that I had your full support. But yeah, that's it. That's the truth.'

To say that the room was stunned, could be classified as the understatement of the century. Nobody spoke, nobody moved; nobody even so much as uttered a breath for about ten minutes. Then, all hell broke loose.

Questions were fired at her from left, right and centre. Alyssa couldn't even hear what they were saying; they were all talking too loudly. Every time she tried to answer one question, another five would come out of no where. Eventually she just had to out her hands up and say;

'ENOUGH!'

The questions ceased as quickly as they had started, with everyone looking at her expectantly.

'Now I understand that you have queries and I am perfectly fine with answering them as best I can. But you can't be stupid enough to actually think that I can hear anything other then a loud buzzing when you're all shouting at me at the same time.

'So, and I can't believe that I have to resort to this, but you can ask a question by putting your hand up; that should keep noise down to a minimum. In case you've forgotten there are children sleeping upstairs!'

Harry's hand was the first to go up, and Alyssa pointed at him to talk.

'So let me get this straight. For five years of your early life, you were raised in Malfoy Manor, as the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and the sister of Draco Malfoy.'

'Well no, not exactly. Although they treated me like a part of the family, they never treated me like their own child, the way that Aurora and Telechus did. Rather, it was as if they knew that I was the child of some branch of the family, and they treated me accordingly, like a cousin or some other distant relative. Draco and I were brought up to think of each other as friends, rather then siblings.'

Harry let this sink in, as Alyssa pointed at Ron to ask a question.

'But why did they take you in? I mean if you were just a random three year old dropped on their doorstep, why not just shift you off to an orphanage or something?'

'I wasn't just dumped on them with nothing to my name. I arrived to them with a note; saying that I was the infant child of some very distant cousins of Narcissa's who had tragically died. It said that they had wished for Narcissa and Lucius to have me. I am also aware of the fact that there were complications with Draco's birth that resulted in Narcissa not being able to have anymore children. She had been almost destroyed by that news as she had desperately wanted a daughter as well as a son, so she wasn't going to just turn that chance away.'

The room was silent again as they took in that new piece of information. It seemed like the ice queen wasn't so cold after all.

'So, what was it like, living with the Malfoy's?' the question came from Hermione, and Alyssa was pleased to hear that her tone of voice was inquisitive rather then judgemental.

'It was wonderful actually. I know you all have your preconceptions, and I also know that they are completely justified. But you've got to understand that I cannot share those feelings because I knew them at a time where there was no such thing as Slytherin and Gryffindor, or Voldemort or anything else. We were just children growing up, we didn't realise what we would grow up to become.'

'You say 'them'. Who are them?'

'Oh, well that's Draco, Pansy and Blaise. We all grew up together. They thought that all four of us were all 'only' child's, so the parents kind of lumped us together hoping that we'd all bond. Which we did, immensely. The little I can remember of those years was a feeling of great contentment, knowing that I had friends, people who cared about me.'

'Well they can't have cared about you very much, they can't remember you!'

'It's because they don't know who I am, that I know they cared about me. You've got to understand that when my parents took me back when I was eight, Lucius and Narcissa thought I had been kidnapped. They searched for a long time trying to find me, spending hundreds of galleons on it. In the end they had to give up. Draco, Pansy and Blaise had to be told something, and since it was too painful for the Malfoy's to think that I was out there alive, maybe being hurt, they told them that I

was dead.'

'I still don't see how that explains the fact that they don't recognise you.'

'It's really very simple, Harry. Eight years old is still very young to process something like death, so they didn't process it. They just trained their minds to block out all the memories so that they wouldn't have to feel the pain. I suspect that a light memory charm may have been used as well, since I understand that Lucius and Narcissa forbade even the thinking of me.

But on the whole it was done to the bond that we had made over the five years we were together. The four of us were as close as a group could be, we trusted each other completely. And although you're probably not going to want to hear this, Draco and I were the closest, considering we lived together as well. That's why forming a friendship with him now has been so easy. He was my best friend and my confidant, and that is how I know that the Draco Malfoy that you all know isn't the real him. The real him is who he was when he was seven years old.'

There was a pause in the questions for a moment, as everyone adjusted to what they had been told. The idea that the twin sister of Harry Potter had been partially brought up by the Malfoy's was a lot to take in, so it took some time to process.

'I'm sorry, but I am just having a little bit of trouble reconciling your Draco Malfoy with ours. How do you know that the real him isn't the one that he is at school?' This was the first time Ginny has spoken all evening, and she had asked the one question that Alyssa couldn't answer.

'I can't answer that. Not, because I don't know the answer, it's just that it is not my place to tell it, it's his.'

Everyone could tell that the explanation was drawing to a close, but there was still something on Harry's mind that he had to ask.

'Why didn't you tell me before? You never even mentioned it.'

'Before when, Harry? We have only known each other for a week, remember. And if I had had it my way you wouldn't have found out until much later.'

'Why?'

'I wanted to cement our relationship first. I thought that if you knew the whole story from the get-go then you would be less inclined to accept me.'

'That's stupid.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'This is going to take some time to get used to, you know.'

'I understand that, but you four must understand that what I have said tonight never leaves this room. Draco and the other two can't know until I think it's the right time to tell them.'

'We understand you can trust us.' Ron said walking over and patting Alyssa on the shoulder. He had been incredibly subdued throughout the entire evening, and Alyssa silently thanked him for not putting up a fuss.

Ron had really grown up that past year, and now knew when to keep his nose out of something that didn't strictly involve him. Ron could be quite wise at moments, and he realised that this whole predicament was one that Harry and Alyssa would have to come to terms with themselves, and that they would be able to do that easier without the interference of the rest of them.

So walking towards the staircases leading up to the dorms, he motioned for Hermione and Ginny to do the same, leaving Alyssa, Harry and Aurora as the only three people in the common room.

Harry was quiet for a while, and Alyssa theorised that he was trying to come to term with everything she had told him. Alyssa felt extremely sorry for bringing all this on Harry. He must have come back to Hogwarts thinking that he would finally have a year where there wouldn't be any complications, and then this. It's like someone just waltzed in and said; 'oh by the way you have a sister, and on top of that she used to live with the guy whose humiliated you for six years, enjoy.'

Not exactly the easiest circumstances to deal with.

But Alyssa understood the importance of the time Harry took to sort through his thoughts and so she turned back to her mother and began conversing quietly about trivialities, like what new books she'd read and whether her father had managed to blow up the kitchen again.

Finally though, the anxiety became too much, and Alyssa also lapsed into silence, waiting for Harry to say something. It was several more minutes before Harry spoke again.

'That's everything right? That's the whole story; you're not keeping anything else a secret?'

'Of course I'm keeping some secrets Harry, it's unhealthy for one person to know absolutely everything about another person.'

'Fine. But you've told me everything about you and Malfoy?'

'Yes.'

'No.'

'What?'

Alyssa looked at her mother sardonically, as if challenging her to come up with something that she had left out.

'I think you'll find, mother, that I have covered everything.' Alyssa said through clenched teeth.

'Not quite dear. You seem to have forgotten a certain 'arrangement' that was made between you and Draco?'

Alyssa sighed realising that her mother was right. She hadn't been going to tell Harry about it, but since Aurora had now told him that there was something that he didn't know, he wasn't going to rest until her found out what it was.

'What arrangement?'

'Basically Harry, I wasn't going to tell you this as it doesn't apply to me anymore, but since at some point Draco's going to find out about who I am, and consequently his parents will find out, I guess it's going to be brought up sometime.

You see, the thing is, when Lucius and Narcissa adopted me, they truly did believe that I was some distant relation of the Black family. Now, knowing what purebloods are like about staying pure, when I was about seven, old enough to understand, Narcissa expressed to me that she would very much like; that is it was going to happen whether I liked it or not, for Draco and I to one day be married. To each other.'

Harry looked at her as if she had just told him that she was going to fly to the moon on the back of a hippogriff.

'Well that is certainly not going to happen, ever!' he said with as much conviction as he could muster.

'I agree, if I decide to marry Draco it shall be on my terms not anyone else's!' Alyssa saw Harry's eyes bulge out of his head. The thought of his sister being any level of intimate with Malfoy was just plain unthinkable.

It. Could. Not. Happen.

Alyssa had really only said that to tease him. She'd never even had a boyfriend; marriage was not something she was currently seriously contemplating. However, as far as the boyfriend thing went, she could do worse then Draco Malfoy. But nothing serious could happen between them until she told him, and Pansy and Blaise, the truth; and she just wasn't ready to do that yet. But apparently fate was conspiring against her.

'Well I believe that that just about covers everything that Alyssa has to say, but now I need to reveal something of my own.'

The attention of the two teenagers was immediately riveted on the elder woman. Her tone had grown serious and she was looking at Alyssa with apprehension, as if there was a possibility that she may not take this new piece of new well.

'Alyssa, I am afraid that you are going to have to tell Draco and the others the truth much sooner then you would have liked. The thing is darling, when we took you back ten years ago; it devastated Lucius and Narcissa, to the brink of madness. In fact, and I hate to say this, but it may have contributed to how openly they both once again embraced the dark arts after Voldemort's fall.

Anyway, after seeing the effects of your 'kidnapping' Dumbledore made us make a promise to him; that if you were ever to openly reveal who you were to Harry, then we had to tell Lucius and Narcissa the whole story as well. What I am trying to say is that the reason your father is not here right now is because he is at Malfoy Manor explaining things to them. I also believe that you have a period of about two weeks perhaps, in which to tell Draco before his parents insist on storming the castle to see you.'

The world fell away. Alyssa couldn't hear anything, see anything she couldn't feel anything. Well that's not strictly true, she did feel as if a giant, gaping hole had just appeared in the floor beneath her. She felt as if she was falling, falling, falling waiting to hit the bottom.

And boy did she hit the bottom fast.

She felt as if she wanted to scream, cry and throw-up all at the same time. This was not how things were meant to happen. She had come to Hogwarts with the full intention of revealing who she was to Harry and then spending the rest of the year with no interference from the outside world.

Then, once they had graduated, she would reveal everything, including the truth about her Malfoy upbringing. She had never planned on that particular piece of information being revealed whilst she was at school, and the idea of having to tell people now was terrifying to say the least.

Alyssa started to hyperventilate, something she hadn't done since she was a very young child, and she could feel herself loosing control of her powers.

Aurora immediately took action. She conjured up a vial of what appeared to be a calming potion and practically forced it down Alyssa's throat.

'Now, now dear. Try to calm down; you know that things can easily heat up when you lose control a bit.'

'Calm down? Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down? My plans for this whole year have been turned on their heads, and I now have to deal with the consequences while you get to go back to Manor! How is that a calming idea?'

'Well, just think of it as character building. If you can do this Alyssa, then I'm sure you can do anything. Now I really must be off, Telechus shall be awaiting my arrival back home.'

Aurora stood and wrapped her travelling cloak around her shoulders. Harry stood to say goodbye, but Alyssa simply sat frozen on the sofa, unable to move or think.

Aurora simply kissed her on the top of her head and said:

'Remember, darling. Two weeks.' With that she stepped into the fireplace and disappeared.

'What are you going to do?'

Alyssa was brought out of her thoughts by Harry's question. She smiled at him sadly, and stretched her arms above her head in an attempt to clear her mind.

'I'm not entirely sure. But in light of this information I feel that it would be in everyone's best interests if I told Draco sooner rather then later.'

'Just how soon are we talking here?'

'Tomorrow I'll tell Pansy and Blaise, then they can tell me when they think would be the best time to tell Draco. It's Monday, or rather Tuesday now, so that gives me about four days to figure out what I'm going to say. But whether I'm ready or not, Draco Malfoy will know everything by the end of the week.'