Chapter 16 – Here's To Us

Note: Chapter Title from Haelstorm's song 'Here's To Us'

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

Now that that's out of the way, let's begin…

Last time,

"Anything for you, that's what siblings are for, right?"

"I'm going to talk to Draco after dinner, come with me?" She whisper-asks, he nods, she smiles.

Now,

"Malfoy!" Harry calls as he and Hermione jog out of the hall.

Draco turns around, walking back down the few steps he'd climbed, "Potter?"

"Mind if we have a word?"

Draco frowns but follows the two into an empty classroom. "What's this about?" He asks.

Harry turns to Hermione who looks nervous and fiddles with a piece of parchment.

"I discovered something over the holidays, something I think you should see too," She explains, he crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at her, she just hands the parchment over to him. He unfolds it and looks over it for a solid minute. Then he starts walking out of the room, Harry grabs his arm to stop him walking away.

"Release me, now."

"Where are you going?"

"To ask my Father how exactly it is I have a sister who was born to a different Mother yet within the time of his marriage." Hermione looks aghast, she finally finds her family and it turns out she was an accident? Born from an affair? No wonder she ended up in foster care.

Harry frowns, "That hadn't occurred to us. Look, Hermione hasn't decided whether or not to tell Lord Malfoy, and I think it should be her decision to make," He explains.

Draco turns around quick enough to wrench his arm free and faces Hermione. "What do you mean you haven't decided yet? You're his daughter, he should know you exist. More importantly, he's your Father, you should know your Father."

"It's not that simple, Malfoy!" Hermione tells him.

"Draco."

Hermione looks startled, "What?"

"You're my sister, you can call me Draco," He reiterates, she smiles shyly and nods. "Now why isn't it that simple?"

"Because…" She trails off, flushing slightly.

Draco frowns. He checks the hallway before closing the door, casting a silencing charm, and pulling a chair over to sit on in front of the one Hermione had sat on when he tried to leave. "Uncle Remus calls me Little Dragon because Draco means dragon and I was a short kid. I used to think it made me sound fierce and now I hate it being said in public because it's embarrassing, but I don't mind it in private because it reminds me that he cares about me, that he's stuck around my whole life even though I've been a bit of a dick in recent years. Ever since the Death Eaters started trying to find him the only time I've been able to see him was when he was here and I hate it." Hermione and Harry exchange confused looks, Draco continues, "I'm the one who put the page about Basilisks in your bag in second year. I was trying to stop it before something happened that Father would never forgive himself for. It was just after Mother died, I don't know what he was thinking, but that summer I told him what I had done and told him to get help or he'd lose me too, then went and stayed with Uncle Remus and Uncle Sev for the night." By this point, the other two were watching him in a sort of morbid fascination, though both were beginning to suspect why he was doing this. "Also, I've been having dreams for as long as I can remember about a girl I love more than anything. Not in a romantic way, but in a sort of familial way. It developed into me seeing her during the day as well, it happens in episodes and leaves me very vulnerable. It wasn't until earlier this year that I realised the girl is you. I didn't know why, now I guess I do. I think it has something to do with my being an Empath."

"You're an Empath?" Harry asks, Draco nods, looking vulnerable.

Hermione bites her lip but nods, "I've been bounced around so much throughout my life, I'm afraid he'll reject me too."

"Why would he reject you?"

She sighs, "I was raised by muggles and currently live with them, I'm a Lesbian, I have a police record and terrible school records, I'm sneaky, I lie, I'm more trouble than I'm worth, I hang out with sketchy people, I get in trouble by pulling stupid stunts, and I'm just not good with people. Hell, I was a drug addict until 5 months ago."

"Hey, you've done so well since then!" Harry reminds her. She nods, smiling gratefully at him.

Draco thinks it through and nods, looking thoughtful as he takes her hands and leans forward to look in her eyes. "I'm Gay, Harry's mentioned homophobia in the Muggle world, but it's really not a thing in the wizarding one. Your previous school records may not be great but your time here has been exemplary. We're a family of Slytherins, he's not going to look down on you for being sneaky or a good liar, he'll praise you for it, and he spends a lot of time with the sketchiest people in existence, save for maybe Dumbledore. As for getting in trouble for pulling stupid stunts, he's been friends with Remus Lupin and Severus Snape since they were kids. More importantly, he's allowed Harry to live with us, I think his penchant for dealing with reckless people doing stupid things is pretty good." Harry huffs and rolls his eyes but doesn't disagree. "He's terrible with people. He can do the whole pureblood elegance thing but being an empath, which is hereditary by the way, he's where I got it from, makes it very difficult to deal with people. Oh and, as far as police records go, you really ought to ask Uncle Remus about his own record some time. Plus, he's been dealing with Uncle Remus' alcoholism for literally longer than we've all been alive. I mean, I'm sure he'll be glad it's not an issue anymore but, I'm just saying, he's not going to look down on you for an addiction."

Hermione calms down with everything he ticks off her list of perceived flaws, by the end she's even smiling slightly. Then she frowns again, "And the raised by muggles thing?"

Draco looks to be thinking intensely for a moment, "Come with me, both of you."

"Where to?"

"To see Father, don't worry, we won't tell him if you don't want to. I'm going to project a type of shielding around the both of you so that he can't sense your emotions, but if it's there too long he'll notice. The important thing is to look as impassive as possible so the difference isn't obvious, more than anything, no matter what I say, don't look surprised, okay?" Draco asks as he drags the two along with him, Harry and Hermione shrug at each other.

"Okay," Hermione says.

They reach Lucius' office, Draco knocks on the door before walking in.

"Draco, Harry, Miss Willows, what can I do for you?" Lucius asks, looking away from his work.

"Father, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, Harry and Mio finally convinced me to."

Lucius raises as eyebrow as he gestures for them to take a seat, immediately putting his work away to give his son his full attention, "Go on," He directs.

Draco takes a deep breath, wondering how intelligent this course of action is and wondering if he's been spending too much time with Gryffindors. "I think I'm in love," He begins slowly, Lucius looks unsurprised, "With a muggleborn."

His Father freezes, even his hair seems to stop moving with the breeze from the open window. After a solid thirty seconds he clears his throat as he pulls his work out again, "I'd like to meet his parents, ensure certain situations with muggles that we've seen before aren't occurring," Lucius tells his son, all present know he means Harry's relatives. "They aren't ever coming to our house," He adds, giving Draco a stern look, "You know how I feel about exposing Muggles to magic, even if they are already aware of it."

Draco nods, "That's it?"

Lucius raises an eyebrow at him, "Were you expecting something else?"

Draco frowns, not faking anymore, "I mean, I was expecting you to ask for a name but, no complaints I suppose."

Lucius huffs suddenly, "There is something else, actually," He tells him, digging around in a desk draw for a moment before handing a piece of paper over. A quick glance shows it's a questionnaire of sorts, Draco looks at his Father in confusion. "Remus gave one to Severus when you began Hogwarts and gave Severus a copy to give to me at the beginning of the term. He knew neither of us would interrogate you because unlike him we do not feel the need to endlessly pry, so he made a pre-planned interrogation that he wants sent to him as soon as something of this sort happens."

Draco sighs shaking his head, "You know, I'm not even surprised."

"Sir, while we're here, would you mind looking at something I'm working on for charms class? I want to make sure I've done it right before we do it during the lesson," Hermione suddenly blurts out.

Lucius seems surprised but nods. "Of course." She subtly takes the family tree from Draco's hand before handing it over.

He taps the page with his wand, nodding that the spell has been done correctly. Lucius then unfolds it and looks at it, reading for a few seconds before he looks up in surprise, "Is this why you insisted on having Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape review your ability to handle a Boggart?" Hermione nods, Lucius' face softens, "You've nothing to be afraid of, I'm only sorry I didn't know."

"Professor Snape said she'd kept it a secret for my safety and for yours, that Voldemort might try to go after us, go after you, if he knew about your…encounter, with Mum."

Lucius clears his throat as he links his hands together on the desk before him, "Yes, he very likely would, he loved your Mother very much."

"Then why did he do everything he's done? He must have known he'd lose her," Hermione asks.

Lucius frowns, "Albus hasn't…told you, he hasn't told you?! You could have died, both of you could have!" He cries in outrage, all three teenagers look very confused, he sighs, "The first war against the Dark Lord began in 1970. Did none of you question how on earth that can be when Tom Riddle is three years younger than I am?"

"To be honest, I've never actually bothered looking into the history of Voldemort. I mean he tried to kill me, I didn't really need more than that to plant myself firmly against him. Little did I know…" Harry says, muttering the last part as he looks at the family tree.

"The original Dark Lord was a man named Roana Gaunt, Tom's Uncle on his Mother's side. For a number of reasons, none of which I am going in to for fear of losing my head, Tom didn't know who his Uncle was, much less the…career he'd chosen to pursue. As it turns out, Gaunt was possessed by some Non-Human Spiritous Apparition, we don't know what it is or how it is doing so, but after Remus killed Gaunt, it possessed Tom."

"But he died when I was a baby, does that mean it's not him and it's just the apparition?" Harry asks.

Lucius shakes his head, "No, it is him. I don't really know how, I imagine the other side would know more, but I don't care to pry into it. It's a recipe for trouble, one I recommend you all avoid."

Draco nods his agreement, Harry and Hermione exchange thoughtful looks, Draco sighs, "You aren't letting this go, are you?"

"I did warn you I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

"I want to know what's possessing my Father and why."

"You're both going to get me killed." The two look at him in surprise, he rolls his eyes, "I'm hardly going to leave you to do this yourselves. We ought to bring Pans and Zi into it."

"If the me from a year ago could see me now I would so be getting hexed," Harry mutters, "We should involve Ron and Ginny too."

"Yes but, involve them in what? I doubt we're going to find what we need in the library," Hermione points out.

Draco frowns, "Uncle Remus might know something, he obviously knew your Father, I doubt he hasn't looked into it, if only to see if he could be saved."

"Hagrid and my Father went to school together, he might know something," Harry adds.

"Do you really think he'll tell you though?"

"Not purposely but yes," Harry replies.

Draco sighs, "Blasted giant."

"Half-giant," Hermione corrects, Draco glares at her, she lifts her chin and glares back, he rolls his eyes but backs down.

"That Lovegood girl knows about all sorts, she might know of something that can do this," He tells them, they nod.

"What about Professor Binns? Or one of the other ghosts, maybe Peeves? He ought to know something, right?" Hermione asks.

Draco snorts, "You really think Peeves will help?"

She shakes her head, smirking smugly, "Us? No, but I know who he will help."

"Oh my god…" Harry suddenly says, eyes wide.

"Harry?" Draco asks.

Harry grins manically, "Oh I have a fantastically insane idea. But about something entirely different. I have to go. You two go recruit the others, Hermione, you go to Hagrid, get Ron and Blaise to speak to Luna, Draco, find Ginny and go to Remus, I need Pansy to come with me. We'll meet in the kitchens afterwards, agreed?"

"Have you forgotten that you are all meant to be in class right now?" Lucius asks, the other three having forgotten he was there at all.

"Actually, we all have a free period," Hermione tells him, Lucius raises an eyebrow at her, clearly disbelieving, she nods her head. "Luna is the only one who doesn't, she's in Herbology with Neville. Luckily, Sprout doesn't mind people sitting in on her lessons, provided they do the same work as everyone else. As I recall, while hating it all, Ron is actually pretty good at Herbology, and Blaise was one of Sprout's favourite students, so neither will be in trouble for disrupting the class by asking Luna some questions," Hermione assures him, he looks as though he'd be sighing were he anyone else.

"Where the blasted hell is the kitchen?" Draco asks, Lucius clears his throat pointedly. "Where in Merlin's name is the kitchen?" Draco amends, looking a second away from rolling his eyes.

"Ginny knows where, just remind her to tickle it don't jab at it. Girl does not have a gentle bone in her body, honestly," Harry explains with a fond shake of the head.

"You two go on ahead, I'll head to Hagrid's in a moment," Hermione tells them. Draco and Harry exchange glances before looking between their sister and Lucius, then they look to each other again.

"All right," Harry says at last, the two leave.

"Hang on, how am I getting to Uncle Remus'?" Draco asks as they close the door.

"There's a secret tunnel underneath a statue, leads straight into the basement of Honeydukes. Gin knows the way." Draco nods, they both sit on the floor, waiting for their shared sister to emerge.

"So um…about…all this," Hermione begins, waving her hand at the family tree still on his desk. He looks up at her, giving her his full attention. She sighs, "I-I don't really know where to go from here."

Lucius nods, "It is an odd situation. What happens from here is up to you but, I would like to know my daughter, to know who you are and how you've grown."

Hermione feels tears filling her eyes and refuses to allow them to fall, "I'd like that too. It's just, the Willows, they've been so nice to me and…I don't want to lose them. It hasn't been long but despite having just lost the Grangers, I actually thought maybe this home will work out."

Lucius smiles gently, "Perhaps you should write to your parents, tell them what you know and find out what they think?"

Hermione looks at him in shock, "You-You'd be okay with that?"

"They're your family, I will never try to come between that," He promises.

She nods, looking calmer, "Thank you, for…everything I guess. I was pretty nervous about telling you and I have a whole history of some stuff that made this difficult, but you've been really brilliant about it all so um, thanks," She says awkwardly.

He nods, "I'm glad to know about you, Hermione." She smiles, quite a blindingly beautiful genuine one. Lucius can see she has her Mother's smile, just as she has her Mother's eyes. It's quite odd really, Del had green eyes, just as both her children do, yet Harry's are quite obviously of Lily Evans' genetics, which is confusing for two reasons. The first being, he's not related to her how is that possible, the second being, why is it so obviously hers? Is there a spell or something? Why would anyone do that? The answer becomes clear…Dumbledore.

"I'm glad to know about you too," She responds, bringing his focus back to the present. He nods and smiles at her as she leaves, her family tree still on the desk before him.

"Hey, you okay?" Harry asks as she closes the door.

She turns to see the two rising from the floor and smiles, nodding, "Yeah, I am. Thank you, Draco, for what you did."

He gives an elegant smile, linking her arm with his. "Anytime, Mio."

"You know he still thinks you're in love with a Muggle-born, right?" Harry asks after they've been walking for a few moments.

"Fuck me," Draco mutters as he facepalms.

"I beg your pardon, Mr Malfoy?"

Draco's head snaps up to see Minerva looking at him disapprovingly, his eyes widen, "I uh, Professor…" He trails off.

"Professor, I assure you, that was a perfectly understandable reaction even if it wasn't a good one," Hermione tells her teacher, trying to look trustworthy.

"And what is it you were reacting to?" Minerva asks expectantly.

Draco winces, "My Father thinks I'm in love with a Muggle-born." She looks at him, equal parts incredulous and pissed off. "I didn't mean for that to come out the way it sounded," He immediately says, she doesn't look impressed.

"It was part of a prank, but the second part failed. See there were these feather time bombs but the timing was wrong, it was meant to go off but it didn't so now he thinks Draco meant it," Harry suddenly blurts out, wincing at his own words.

Minerva just sighs, shaking her head, "I'm warning you now, if you three are teaming up for such practical jokes, I will not have another Marauder situation on my hands, am. I. Clear?"

"Well of course not, we could never live up to that name, we're more like…the Junior Marauders or Marauders 2nd Gen, Marauders Legatee or progeny…"

"Quiverful?" Hermione offers, he looks confused, "Large number of offspring," She explains.

"Wow, actually that's a pretty good name," Harry tells them, looking impressed, "Only works if we get Neville involved as well, and Ginny. Don't think it's really Ron's sort of thing but hey, I've been wrong before." Minerva sighs, shaking her head and just walking away.

"You realise we now have to actually prank Professor Malfoy with feathers, right? Make it look like it went off but at the wrong time," Hermione says.

Harry sighs, "Ginny has a giant bag of Orange Feathers, I'll get her help."

"Why does she have a giant- you know what, I don't want to know," Draco decides, "Let's just go, before either of you come up with any other clever ideas to get us –"

"Killed?" Harry asks, "Or worse, expelled?!"

"HARRISON JAMES RIDDLE-POTTER-BLACK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY?! BECAUSE YOU AREN'T FUNNY! YOU'RE AN ANNOYING LITTLE SHI- DON'T YOU RUN AWAY FROM ME!" Hermione screams as she chases him down a corridor, Draco looking confused but jogging after them.

"What is going on?" Ron asks as Harry opens the portrait to the Gryffindor common room and sprints in, closely followed by Hermione. Draco leans against the open portrait way, staying firmly on the outside, he looks around in surprise.

"So this is what hell looks like," He comments, the entire common room looks at him in shock. Draco Malfoy is standing outside the Gryffindor common room…the fuck?!

"Hey, we can test our hypothesis!" Dean says happily.

Seamus nods enthusiastically, "Malfoy, come step in here," Seamus calls.

Draco raises an eyebrow, "Why would I do that?"

"We want to know what happens when we dare a Slytherin to do something, we think the particular something will have them warring against themselves until they just break down," Dean explains.

"Why would I volunteer to this?"

"Please?" Seamus asks, Draco scowls. "One dare, come on, scared, Malfoy?"

Draco's face twitches slightly, "Dare me from here," Draco replies challengingly, the two seem oddly pleased with that and speak in sync when they answer.

"We dare you to sit on the couch," They tell him, pointing to the one by the fire place. The occupants of the room keep looking between Dean, Seamus, and Draco as a stand off begins. The former two looking challenging as Draco doesn't move a muscle except for the occasional face twitch.

To refuse is to back down, Slytherins are ambitious for a reason, when a challenge is set, they just can't leave it alone. But no way in hell he is setting foot in the Gryffindor common room, No. Way. Thus the freezing, he can't do it, he can't not do it.

"Erm, Draco?" Harry asks, walking back over and waving a hand in front of his face, he just keeps staring at the beforementioned couch, a grimace slowly appearing on his face.

"What did you two do to him?" Pavarti Patil asks, Dean and Seamus just look amused and smug.

"Draco, forget the dare, you don't have to do it," Hermione tells him, he looks horrified at her, then back to the couch, a strange whine sound coming from his throat.

"How dare you suggest a Slytherin would back down from a challenge?" Seamus asks.

Dean chuckles, "Yet how dare we entertain the thought of one entering the Gryffindor common room and sitting on the couch in front of the fire, such a familiar setting, like sitting with family, a Gryffindor family."

"Oh, so you think he's a coward and won't do it?" Seamus asks.

Dean snorts, "Not at all, but I think his Slytherin pride is stronger than you give it credit for." The two continue back and forth like this, Draco just seems to be breaking apart at the seams. Then he stops, he stands up straighter, and steps inside the room, he cringes more with every step, but he's started now, he can't stop. He's scrunched his eyes mostly shut, only open enough to see. Keeping his hands close to his sides so as not to touch anything.

"Oh for god's sake, Malfoy, are you that much of a coward?" Ginny demands from a corner of the room. Draco glares at her and stalks over to the couch, sitting down in an elegant huff, she smirks, "So were you guys here for a reason?" She asks.

Harry nods, "Yes, actually, Ron, Ginny, come with us," He requests, "Come on, Malfoy, we're leaving." Draco practically bolts out of the room, leaving a laughing common room behind, yet he's laughing too. That had been fun, exhilarating even. He's never been one to break the rules, to not do as he's told, well, apart from that time he aided a fugitive. He uses the boundaries to get other people in trouble, not risk it himself, it's certainly a rush.

"What's going on?" Ginny asks curiously when she bores of laughing at Draco.

"We need your help with something, well, they do. I'll go on ahead," Hermione says, waving goodbye and heading off to Hagrid's.

"Weaslette, you and I are going to see Uncle Remus," Draco informs her, she shrugs and starts walking down the stairs. Draco chuckles, "Doesn't question a thing," He mutters as he follows after her.

"And what are we doing?" Ron asks Harry.

"We are heading to the Slytherin Common Room, but first, I need to fill you in on something." Ron frowns but follows Harry as he walks into a nearby secret passageway.

"What's going on?"

"I can't explain everything, but I will be later tonight. For now, there is more to the issues with Dumbledore than Hermione is aware. A lot more going on than just that as well, so I need you to trust me." Ron's frown deepens as he nods. "I need you and Blaise to go question Luna, she's in Herbology. Find out if she knows of anything that can possess someone fully but also corrupt someone's mind. They need to be able to intertwine themselves with a soul so that even after death and possessing someone or something else, the host remains a part of them. And I need to know if it's reversible."

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into, Mate?"

Harry sighs, "You've no idea, my friend. But like I said, I'll explain later."

Ron nods, "Later then, let's just get to the Slytherin Common Room and grab the arsehole."

The two head down to the dungeons, walking up to the wall behind which the Slytherin Common Room lies.

"Harry," Ron suddenly says, grabbing his friend's arm and stopping him from saying the password Hermione had given him, "Do you think the door would respond to a Parselmouth?"

Harry looks a little surprised, "I hadn't thought of that, Open." A door opens, but not the one they'd been looking for.

"Bloody hell," Ron says after poking his head through the door way, he walks in, closely followed by Harry. It seems like an observation room of some kind, they can see into the common room, but no one in the common room can see them.

"…so…Salazar Slytherin was a pervert?" Harry asks warily.

Ron frowns, "I wish I could laugh but I'm honestly thinking so."

"There's a door there," Harry points out, gesturing to the door knob beside Ron. Harry shuts the door to the passageway as Ron opens that door, the two walk directly into the common room causing a first year to scream when the chair she was sitting on moved and the entire common room to look over.

"Well, we know where that goes now," Harry comments, Ron nods.

"What are you two doing here?" Knott asks, Ron opens his mouth to respond but Harry shakes his head at him.

"Professor Malfoy wants to see you two," Harry tells Blaise and Pansy who had been sitting on the couch. The two seem confused but go with the Gryffindors without a fuss.

"So what's really going on, Potter?" Blaise asks once the door shuts behind them, continuing to follow the two down the hallway.

"Riddle-Potter-Black."

"What?" Blaise asks, pretending to be confused.

Harry sighs, "My name, it's Riddle-Potter-Black, not Potter."

"Well which do you want to use?" Pansy asks him.

Harry smirks, "I quite like the idea of forcing everyone to say all three."

"Definitely a Black," The two Slytherins say in sync, Harry and Ron look at them in confusion.

"Dray's mother used to tell us stories about her family, the ones she was close to anyway. All the younger ones seemed to enjoy making things unnecessarily difficult for people. Her younger sister and oldest cousin especially."

"I have no idea who either of them are," Ron admits, looking to Harry who seems sad.

"Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius," He explains. He shakes off his melancholy, he'd promised Bellatrix he'd make it all worth it in the end, which means getting this done not feeling sorry for himself. "All right, Zabini, Hermione is Draco's sister, in telling their Father this, some other things were revealed, things we're trying to get an explanation for. He and Ginny have gone to see Remus to try and get some answers, Mio's gone to Hagrid, I need you and Ron to go question Luna."

Blaise looks suspicious, "About what?"

"Ron knows what to ask."

Ron rolls his eyes, "Hear the careful wording there? Coz I know what to ask, but I dunno what this is about any more than you do." He then turns to Harry. "Don't forget, you promised you'd explain everything tonight."

"I know."

Ron turns, heading down the corridor, Blaise mouths his question to Harry, 'Everything?' Harry nods, Blaise frowns, looking at Ron's retreating figure for a moment before looking back, 'Mio?'

Harry nods again, 'Ginny too.' Blaise's frown deepens for a moment before he nods, and for some reason, Harry genuinely believes that Blaise approves this course of action. Blaise follows Ron whilst Pansy turns to face Harry.

"So what are we doing, oh wise one?"

Harry looks amused, "What a brilliant segue." Pansy raises an eyebrow at him. "Open." Harry leads Pansy back into the corridor he and Ron had walked through and shuts the door behind him.

"How long have you known about this place?!" Pansy demands, feeling violated.

Harry shakes his head, "Only about five minutes, I swear. I told you I have another task for you, I wasn't expecting it to be time sensitive, but I got an idea and it links. However, in telling you this, I need to tell you some details about Dumbledore's side of the war, are you prepared to hear that?" Pansy nods. "Good, because you didn't really have a choice."

"Figures."

"A year ago, Remus' house was raided, only he wasn't home, but Sirius was. Lord Malfoy found him but didn't rat him out, instead he gave him a warning. That's how Remus knew they were after him, and that's how we found out what my Father wants, that's how we got this," He explains, handing over a piece of Parchment, onto which he'd copied the section of the diary of Salazar Slytherin that Lucius had given Sirius, now written in its original Latin along with the English translation. "I brought this with me in the hope that the answers would just sort of appear like they usually do," He adds.

Pansy looks amused by him but also enraptured by the page she holds, "And have they?"

"I found the rest of the diary, I need you to translate it." Pansy looks thoughtful, nodding as she reads over the diary entries. "There may be some written Parseltongue around the place so, don't just pass scribbles off as scribbles. Anyway, that's not what we're doing right now."

"Then what are we doing right now?"

"That diary belongs to Salazar Slytherin," Harry tells her.

Her eyes widen, "I knew those names seemed familiar," She mutters to herself, looking at the names of his children, "Blaise read it out, a foreword in a book, wondering who they were."

Harry grins, "I love your eidetic memory. Ron, Mio, and I all thought they were familiar, none of us had placed it yet though. Do you know which book?"

Pansy frowns, shaking her head, "No, I never saw it, my Father, Sev, and I were teaching Sevrin to play chess so I didn't look up when Blaise said it."

"Perhaps Blaise will remember," Harry comments, not even questioning who Sevrin is. "Anyway, Slytherin doesn't seem the type to leave written evidence of who he's running from lying around, not even in his own secret chamber, so I don't think we'll find out from the rest of the diary."

"Then what do you suggest?" She asks, looking heavily invested.

He smiles in a rather self-satisfied way, "The Bloody Baron."

"…The Bloody Baron? Oh!" Her eyes widen, "The Bloody Baron! He was around in the time of the founders, he's Slytherin's ghost, he might know something!"

"Exactly, so, any idea how to find him?"

Pansy smirks, nodding, "Oh, yes. Yes. I. Do."