Chapter Seven: Honesty Hour

Alyona felt like she finally had a best friend. She felt like she could trust him. Growing up she had always known the secret of her family, her parents had been very transparent with her since day one. Even though they we open with her, they made it clear that the information they shared with her and her brothers must be kept between them. They drilled it into her mind as often as possible, due to them being paranoid that one of their children might not think it was a big deal and spill the truth.

"Okay…I'll tell you. Alyona reluctantly said. She looked around, there were way too many students in the great hall. "Let's go somewhere private." She added. Draco nodded and the two of them left the feast and headed to the Slytherin common room. The common room was currently empty due to everyone being at the feast. The two of them sat on the couch and continued their conversation.

"My family told me never to tell anyone this, if the wrong people found out it would be very bad for all of us. but…I can trust you right? I can trust you not to tell anyone?" She asked him. Draco nodded "I promise, Alyona." He told her. Alyona looked at him for a moment longer, then she spoke.

"My last name…isn't…Beckett" she said quietly.

Draco looked at her confused. "Well, what is it then?" He asked. Alyona gave him one more scared look. "It's… Blossom" she said. Draco didn't react for a second, but then it hit him. He looked utterly shocked at this information. For a moment he couldn't even find his words. "Please say something" She begged him. She couldn't handle the suspense. Draco finally spoke "When you say 'blossom'…do you mean THE Blossoms? As in the missing pure blood family?" He asked her. Alyona stared at him "Yes, them" she said.

Draco had so many questions. Alyona did her best to fill him in on what she was told had happened to the blossoms all those centuries ago.

The Blossom family was without a doubt one of the most wealthy and influential wizarding families in all of England. They were right up there with the Malfoys, The Gaunts, and the rest of the high status pure blood magical families. They were trend setters, fashion icons, leaders in the community and a household name amongst everyone in the wizarding world. You never spotted them without some sort of pink article of clothing. It was their family's signature. They were also some of the kindest people you'd ever meet.

They built their wealth off of the people that loved and adored them. The family networked with fashion houses, government officials and many other businesses and organizations. They had a hand in everything. The Blossoms always made it a point to show their gratitude towards the community by hosting charity events and and donating to much worth causes at the time. The Blossom family had always been indifferent to muggles, but After 1692 when the statute of secrecy was implemented the Blossoms grew disappointed at all of the anti muggle talk from the other high standing wizarding families. The Blossoms felt as if the other wealthy Magical families were being hypocritical about talking down on muggles and non pure bloods when most of them had muggle blood somewhere in their families past, even if it was distant.

Alyona's ancestors at the time got into a massive argument with another one of the pure blood families at a dinner event and it ended with the Blossoms deciding to cut ties with the rest of the sacred twenty-eight to live amongst muggles due to the fact that the muggle world was simpler and far away from the drama that the other wealthy families were starting. They left Blossom manor in the middle of the night without a trace. Each generation of parents taught their children the importance of being kind and open to all types of people.

Despite being completely okay with muggles and the muggle world, they still kept to marrying and having children with pure blood wizards and witches so as to kept their family safe and as far away as possible from the possibility of muggle persecution, not with the other families the sacred 28 but with pure bloods outside of the listed families in order to keep their family's true name a secret.

Over the many years of integration into muggle society as well as keeping a low profile in the magical world, the Blossoms would send each new generation to Hogwarts under the surname "Beckett" in order to protect their identity while their children continued to learn and harness their magic along side of the rest of the young and upcoming witches and wizards. They had achieved perfect harmony. Harmony that was almost destroyed by a spiteful Mr. Parkinson during the meeting.

"My god" Draco said. He was in complete disbelief. Alyona was doing everything she could to keep her composure but she was absolutely freaking out on the inside. "How do you feel?" She asked him. "I feel…grateful" Draco said. "Grateful that you trust me enough to tell me something so personal." Alyona chuckled a bit at that statement. "Well, you didn't give me much a choice did you? I would have lost a friend today if I didn't tell you." Draco smiled at her and put a hand on her leg. "You're shaking, I can tell you're scared about people finding out. But I assure you that your secret is safe with me. I wouldn't put you in danger like that, ever." He said.

"Thank you" she said. Alyona leaned in for a hug. She was so grateful that he would keep her secret. Deep down she knew she would tell him eventually, she just didn't realize it would be so soon.

Draco accepted the hug without any hesitation. He had never been this close with someone. Sure he had Crabbe and Goyle but even they were only there because they knew being in his company would make them untouchable.

Draco also enjoyed telling them what to do and where to go. He preferred to be in constant control. But with Alyona it was different. He didn't see her as a follower of his. He saw her as someone that he could spend time with and talk to. He didn't have the same desire to brag and belittle her like he did with every one else. Alyona was special. He didn't want to fully divulge those feelings to her yet because he wasn't use to being vulnerable with anyone, ever.

Three weeks had gone by and more students had been found petrified. Draco had been walking Alyona to and from her classes as often as he could in order to make sure she was safe.

This went on for many weeks as they had not caught the person responsible for opening the chamber of secrets.

One Friday night in the library, whilst Alyona was studying for a test, Draco had come to sit with her. "Hey there, what are you up to?" He asked. "I'm just studying, what's up" she asked him. "I just wanted to talk a little bit more about your uh, family situation." He said. Alyona looked around to see if anyone was close by. She leaned in close to him so she could whisper

"I already told you everything, why are you bringing this up again?" She said worriedly.

"Calm down, calm down" Draco said. He continued "Ive just been thinking about how your stance on blood purity should be different." He said with a smile. "What? Why would it change? I'm still the same person." She replied back to him sounding rather annoyed. "

"I don't understand why you are so against keeping away from anyone who isn't pure blood when you yourself are a legacy? Don't you want to keep your family lineage pure?" He asked her. Alyona looked up from her book once more. "I'm not against pure blooded people, it's just not what's super important to me." She said. Draco wasn't done trying to convince her otherwise. "Look it's cute that you want to be this ray of sunshine that loves everyone and doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but you're better than this. You deserve to be around people of a similar statues as you. You shouldn't be consorting with the dirty folk." Alyona was getting more and more furious with him. How could he say such things. But he normally was so kind and caring towards her, how could she give that up. "Well, I guess that makes sense." She said in a pleasant tone. "Really, you're starting to get it?" He asked. "Ya, I mean I'm not going to be mean to anyone for no reason, but your blood purity argument might have some weight to it." Alyona told him.

This was music to Draco's ears "Good girl, I knew I'd get you to come around." He said gleefully. "How long have you been studying for?It's almost lunch time" He asked her. "Only for about forty minutes" she said. "Ah, that's plenty for now, let's go get a bite to eat and I'll help you with the rest of your studies later. Sound good?" He asked. "Sure, sounds good" she said with a smile. She packed up and they headed off.

Alyona was upset that she didn't get to Draco first with the whole blood purity speech. She was hoping to convince him that all wizards were wizards and that all magic is the same no matter what type of blood you have. But it seemed that would have to wait. She was going to have to wait for the right moment. Maybe when he won a Quidditch game or maybe when he aced his next test. She didn't know when, but she did know that living a life of pretending to hate non pure bloods was going to be difficult for her. She had to change Draco's mind before he ended up becoming completely set in his ways. She had hoped she had enough time before that happened…