Author's announcement: I have been updating almost constantly pretty much ever since I started posting. But before you panic and think that you have to reread everything, let me tell you what to read again if you're interested in the edits:

Chapter 2, the beginning part with Snape has a couple major edits for clarity. Also at the end of chapter 2 when Bella gets her wand there's a little bit.

Chapter 7, in the last part with the Malfoys has some more added for clarity and awesomeness.

Other edits so small I'll just tell you: Draco's wand core is phoenix, Bella's core is basilisk horn, and Neville is a Hufflepuff

Broken Family

Snape put down his tea. Narcissa shakily set hers on the table. "This can't get worse, can it," Lucius whispered. They grimly agreed. Snape left. Narcissa couldn't stop crying. They couldn't sleep that night. They didn't know what to do. When they came back to the living room in which they had heard the horrid news, there were the two green couches facing each other by the hearth, the table in between exactly as they had left it…

"Stone cold, I expect," Lucius said solemnly, staring at the tea. Nothing made him happy now. Not while knowing his daughter, his sweet butterfly Malfoy, was a half blood.

"It's my fault," Narcissa sobbed. She curled up against her husband. "I was the one who wanted to take her in!"

"We didn't know," Lucius said, patting her back. "No one knew."

Narcissa sobbed harder. "O, however shall we tell th-them?" she wailed.

Lucius's face darkened. He had been brooding over the same thing… "Can it be in a letter?"

"We have to t-tell them in p-p-person," she whispered, quivering in grief. "We need to be flex-flexible. They need to underst-t-tand."

"Should we still invite her for Christmas?"

"No one else k-knows…aside from Snape," she said, grim and pale. "We don't have a ch-choice."

Draco spent the rest of the weeks until Christmas with the usual activities: making fun of Harry, annoying the teachers, boasting, especially about his sister, making fun of Harry, trying to cheat on his homework, writing to his parents, and making fun of Harry. (Unfortunately, Bella did not stand up for Harry against Draco, since it was much easier to not. Also, she didn't want to lose the bit of love she was getting from him.) Thankfully Harry could stand up for himself.

Sometime in those weeks, they were both at the Slytherin table, side by side, Crabbe and Goyle on either side like bodyguards.

"Christmas is coming up," Bella said.

Draco nodded. "Yea, then we get to go home for two weeks."

"Away from all these people. Home with Mum and Dad!"

"Mum is still proud how you were brave, like her," Draco said. The twinge of jealousy on his face disappeared in a second. "I got you a present," he said thoughtfully. "No wait, two…"

She squealed and clung to him in a hug.

"You know," he continued. "were you really scared to death?"

"Who wouldn't be?" she whispered back. "It was a troll!"

"Any other seventh year, or even just Professor Snape could have taken down that troll."

"O," she said softly. "I-I didn't think of that."

He beamed. "You're awesome." He put his arm around her and kissed her head. She nearly fainted in pleasure.

The closer Christmas got, the happier Bella became. She told Snape about Draco making fun of Neville. ("I'll be spending Christmas with my lovely mum, dad, and sister. They're awesome; they love me a whole ton. O that's right, you don't have a family. Oops." Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.) Caly and Mafalda often stepped in against Draco. They became less and less popular with the Slytherins.

So when the day to leave came around, they all hugged. Harry didn't want to go back to the Dursleys so he was going to stay. Caly and Bella said they would send presents to each other. Mafalda and Mae were exchanging last minute potion stories. Draco dragged Caly and Bella on the train as soon as the door opened. They filed into a compartment together, and were soon joined by Griffith.

"Oi," he said. "I bet Mum and Dad are gonna let us come over for Christmas."

Bella clapped her hands. "Just like always!"

"Don't worry," Griffith cooed, tickling her. "I got ya somethin', pretty!" She giggled.

Anyway, they all had fun on the train, all telling Caly of their Christmas traditions. Griffith would get Bella a blanket every other year, even though he came every year. (She still had all of them.) It was Bella's custom to write/draw a short book for everyone she knew. Caly's Muggle grandparents would come visit every year. Mae, wanting to be part of the conversation, hopped in and said Lily always surprised her and uncle with hugs that day when they least expected it. Bella sat on Griffith's lap to make space. Draco said he usually only gave one present to Bella because it used to be that he wasn't nice, but this year was going to be different.

Chatting excitedly, promising to bother their parents to let them all be together that Christmas, they got off the train after it landed. Laughing, laughing, Caly and Griffith separated from the group with last hugs and raced to their parents, who, overjoyed to see them again, embraced them tightly.

The older Malfoys stood, grim and silent.

Sensing something was wrong, their children slowed from their saunter, joy melting away like candle wax.

"Whatever it is," Bella said shakily up to them. "It's gonna be ok."

Her parents exchanged a look that very clearly said 'if only.'

"Shall we tell them now?" Lucius muttered.

Narcissa paled. "No," she whispered.

Draco and Bella glanced fearfully at each other. "Tell us what?" Bella squeaked hesitantly. Narcissa turned her face, so they didn't see her cry.

"Come," Lucius said. Gently taking them by the hands, he couldn't help frowning sadly down at Bella.

"What did I do?" she whimpered.

"Nothing…"

"Daddy?"

"Bella, I don't want to talk about it."

In silence, they slowly made their way out of the platform, outside the station. Bella twisted slightly in her father's unusually tight grip.

"Daddy," she said. "That's tight!"

Eyes glazed over in some kind of pain, he didn't seem to notice. It was now more obvious Narcissa was crying. Bella gently took her hand and clutched it tight.

"It's gonna be ok," she whispered to her mum. Narcissa smiled faintly. It dropped into a frown.

"We're going to find a way…"

"Mum, did anyone die?" Draco asked softly.

"No," Narcissa sighed, "But—Bella—Bella—" such pain crossed her face that Bella had to hug her. Lucius, wordlessly, took them off to a hidden spot, where he disapparated with his family. They appeared on the doorstep of their manor.

"I'll tell them," he said solemnly, in response to his wife's sobs.

"Must we?" she pleaded. "No one else knows!"

They opened the door. a house elf came timidly up. "Sir," she squeaked. "You'a gotta lotts of mail…from the purebloods, sir…"

Lucius grew pale. Shakily, he took the wad of letters from the house elf. Judging from the slightly less tidy than normal scrawl on the fronts, he could tell the fellow purebloods weren't happy.

"What's this?" Narcissa said, frowning.

"Can I know?" Draco piped up.

Narcissa sighed. "Let's deal with the mail first," she said, pained face telling she would do anything to put off something she had on her mind.

"From the Averys," Lucius muttered at the first letter, opening it slowly. "Dear traitors, Don't think we're coming over for Christmas. We knew you must not have known. But how is it you raised a—" but he couldn't read more.

"We're not bad guys," Bella squeaked indignantly. "Why would they say that?"

Lucius was mouthing the rest. "They know," he whispered in a strained voice.

Narcissa gasped, then wailed. "O just tell our children then, just tell them!"

Hands quivering, Lucius clumsily folded the letter. He dropped it and the rest of them on the floor, as though he did not want to see any more.

He took Bella by the shoulder. Sighing heavily, he managed, "Bella, you're—you're—you know you're adopted, right…"

Bella muttered to herself, then gasped hard. "NO!" she screamed. Lucius glanced at Narcissa helplessly. "NO NO NO don't give me away!" Bella begged. She clung to her father. She cried into his robes. Draco was pale and whimpering.

"She's not—she's not—" he said in horror. "Not a—not a—" He shuddered. He whispered, "H-halfblood?"

Lucius nodded slowly, painfully. "What's going to happen to me now?" Bella whimpered.

"We already thought about that," Narcissa said softly. "You're going to live with Mrs. Bane."

"Who's that?" Draco said defensively.

"The assistant healer of Madam Pomphrey at Hogwarts," Narcissa sniffed. "She was the one who offered first. She's also a halfblood."

"Oh," Bella said softly.

"She's coming over for Christmas, we arranged it just in case—in case th-they found out," Lucius said grimly.

"Am I still going to be able to visit you?" Bella begged.

"In secret," Lucius said. "They can't know."

"The purebloods?"

"Right." Lucius knelt in front of her. "You might not be able to be friends with Caly and Griffith anymore. Or Mafalda. It's up to their parents now."

Sniffling, she buried her head in his shoulder. She lifted it, letting Draco dry her eyes on his sleeve.

"You might be a half blood, but we still love you," Narcissa said gently.

"You're still my Mumma," Bella said defiantly. She hugged Narcissa tight. She let go and turned to Lucius. "You're still Dadda." She hugged him tight. Draco jumped in.

"I don't care if you're a half blood," Draco said firmly. "If they like you, I do too."

Despite the ugly rearing of truth, Draco seemed to be holding himself well. The night they found out, Narcissa found him out in the kitchen late at night. He looked like he had been crying. Sniffling, he had told his mother that he didn't want her to live with someone else. This did nothing to change him being nice to her. Even his parents noticed, which was saying something since he was always nice to her in front of his parents just for show.

Despite the ugly rearing of truth, Bella, with the courage with which she faced all those sicknesses throughout her childhood, all those times she almost died…found it in herself to make presents for those she always did, with a few new people, as though nothing had happened.

She made or got something for all the Snapes. Well of course she did; they were the people who most often visited in her childhood. She made Mae a 'best friend' necklace, and a handmade book called 'Snapes make awesome friends.' She got Lily a pic of Bella and Draco, with the words 'cutie-wootie first years' on the back. Snape got a 'thanks for being an awesome teacher' card, along with a book she wrote and drew herself, called 'Happy Potions.'

She even made Crabbe and Goyle books, with simple words, where they and the group (Draco, Pansy, Theodore Knott) learned to be nice to the rest of the first years, and everybody was happy, the end. She even made a book for Mrs. Bane, saying they were going to be friends.

All these she showed to her old family. What she made the Averys and Malfoys, she didn't show.

The next few days were spent preparing for Bella to move, since she wanted to pack sooner so she wouldn't be scrambling. They arranged last minute details, such as setting off part of their fortune in Greengotts Mrs. Bane's vault for Bella. (She looked at them skeptically and said, 'If that's all for me, would you really trust me with that?' Everybody laughed.) Some things she gave to her family, like some of her favorite books she gave to Draco, to her dad she gave things she had gained in a way that made him proud (so you remember, Daddy) and nicest, longest necklace to her mum.

On Christmas Eve, Draco made a big show as he put the presents he made under their tree, loudly and grandly proclaiming who's present was who's and how many he got for everybody. Bella, grinning from ear to ear, was definitely pleased to hear that her name was mentioned more than once this year.

"To bed," Narcissa said. "Tomorrow's a big day!"

"Yay!" Bella cheered.

"Remember the thick blankets," Lucius said.

"O Dadda I—" she started, but stopped when he cringed. "S-sorry, Mr. Malfoy. I don't forget." He cringed again. "Sorry!" she gasped.

"J-just call me anything," he sighed. "Either one hurts…"

"We're gonna find something that doesn't," she said determinedly. He smiled faintly.

Narcissa shooed them. "To bed!"

"O right!" Bella giggled.

"Oi," Draco said, putting his arm around her as they went up the stairs to bed. "Wonder what Dragon Claws will get us this year?"

"I always wondered how he's able to carry around all that stuff. And fly that far," Bella said. "I mean, he goes all over the world! In one night!"

Draco laughed. "O Bella, so practical and silly. Welp, good night Bella!"

"Night!"

Author's Question: Things have certainly changed now-taken a sudden and dizzying spin! Everything is shaken How do you think things might play through?