Chapter warning: a bit depressing, all around

Combing through family ancestry records was, to put it mildly, a pain.

Searching for information about people who had been so determined to hide it was even worse.

Her entire conversation with Pheora might have answered some questions, but it had opened another can of worms too.

Apparently, Marina and her twin had been born early – that was why her Dad hadn't been there for it and on a mission for the Order instead. Her mother had had no idea she'd been carrying twins. Wizards didn't do sonograms, since their potions and spells ensured the fetus' health. Maybe they should reconsider that.

The mediwitch had handed Marina to her happy mother – and hadn't even mention the second baby that had come out with her. Because said mediwitch had been cursed a few years before and unable to have children of her own. Married to the son of a Death Eater, Castor Wilkes, she had obviously had no scruples in taking what she wanted any more than her husband would have.

Marina wasn't completely sure just how Jezebeth Wilkes – yes, that was her real name – had pulled it off, but then again it had been during the war. Everyone had been preoccupied.

Her mother had only found out about it because of another mediwitch who had witnessed it all and had gathered all her courage and contacted Rose – almost six months later. Her bravery in crossing a known death eater had cost the poor witch her life.

Unfortunately, there had been nothing anyone could do at that point. The Order and the Ministry had been busy fighting a war, and her mother couldn't very well storm the cowards' mansion on her own. Plus, Jezebeth had apparently never spent a day alone after that. And telling Sirius Black that someone had stolen his daughter would have been sure way to get all the Marauders killed. They wouldn't have listened to reason.

The Wilkes had raised Marina's twin as their own, obviously very well aware of her mother's true bloodline (they wouldn't have taken a half-blood) and brought her up under pure-blood principles. They'd named her Titania.

After Castor had been killed during the war, Jezebeth had all but become a recluse with only her stolen daughter for company. And from everything Pheora had said, after keeping tabs for years, Titania took very much after her 'adoptive parents'.

Hence here Marina was, sitting in the school library, pretending to prepare for the Third Task and just about pulling her hair out.

She had a twin sister – identical on top of things – that had been stolen basically out of her mother's womb and raised by some of the worst Death Eaters around. By all accounts, she was one herself. But well aware of Marina's fame, she'd barely ever left the mansion and when she did, then only in disguise. No one without the Sight had ever seen her face – except her thieving mother, of course.

What was worse: according to her mother's and Pheora's research, Voldemort himself had given his blessing, so to speak. Probably in the hopes that Titania would inherit their ancestor's gifts as much as Marina had.

Twins didn't always share the same magical abilities – as the Patils demonstrated – but others, like Fred and George, did.

Her stomach turned at the mere notion of the Death Eaters having a Seer in their ranks, never mind such a strong one. If Titania mastered her powers – if she had them – she'd be able to predict the aurors' every move.

And even if she didn't possess the Sight: she looked just like Marina and no one knew it. Drop her in front of aurors and they'd all hesitate. Even a second of that could get them killed.

Hell, what better way to lure Harry anywhere than to use her carbon copy? If there had been an opening, she was sure they would have tried already.

Two days since Hogsmeade and she was no closer to figuring anything out. There was a part of her, admittedly a petty part, that wished her mother would never have written that second letter. That she'd never have found out. She'd spent years telling people to stop treating her like a child because her abilities had made sure she hadn't been one in a long time – yet here she was, sorely tempted to roll up in a ball and cry her eyes out. She knew she was worrying her friends silly, but she couldn't tell anyone. If the Wilkes got wind that she knew...

And just how in the name of everything holy was she supposed to tell her Dad that he had another daughter who just happened to be a Death Eater in the making?

Her lynx form was her only escape. Barely anyone could keep up when she roamed the grounds as her feline self. Hermione's cat was smaller and didn't have limbs as powerful as a lynx. Running away of course only made them worry more.

Marina was pretty sure she had scared some of the local animal life in the Forbidden Forest, wailing all her feelings as loud as she could. She'd given Hagrid a shock too.

She felt like she'd landed in a parallel universe – she liked muggle sci-fi books, don't judge – or something similarly unrealistic. How had her life turned into this poor excuse of a melodrama?

Either way, she couldn't keep this up much longer. But what to tell the others? She could barely believe the truth herself, yet she'd seen Titania. After Pheora had left, still apologising profoundly for something that wasn't her fault, she'd taken her Scrying Mirror and willed herself to find her sister. There was no doubt about it: Titania was her carbon copy – except, she looked... harsher. Colder. Kind of like Narcissa had forced herself to look all these years. At first sight, no one would be able to tell that she wasn't Marina; until they saw her eyes. Because, in a twist of fate, she had inherited their father's grey eyes. As far as she'd been able to tell, that was the only difference between them. That and the bad attitude.

Marina had a vivid imagination – it came with the territory – but no matter how many different ways she could come up with to have that conversation, it never went over well.

Especially since some part of her was the sentimental idiot she'd been accused of being and actually wanted to save her sister.

As if that were possible at this point. Titania had never known her real family.

And now Marina had to hope she never would.

Three weeks later...

"She ran off again?" Angelina asked and Marina heard a thump. She assumed her friend had tossed her Quidditch gloves onto the ground. Feline ears were sensitive. All their friends knew they were animagi now – there was no point keeping the secret after Amelia had registered them.

"As if she had dementors on her tail," Carmen confirmed with a sigh. "She sleeping?"

"Not that I know of," Ange grumbled. "You think it's the Tournament that has her this rattled?"

"No. If it was the Third Task, she'd be talking to us. This is something else. Worse, if possible."

"You told us she saw the champions facing manticores, griffins, a sphinx... how could it get worse?"

"I don't know," her best friend replied, sounding completely frustrated. "She won't talk to me."

Marina winced in her hiding place. Hurting her friend had so not been the plan but... she still didn't know what to do.

"Harry didn't have any luck either?" Sam questioned, sounding worried.

"No. Neither did Remus or Sirius for that matter. She already looked awful when she went home for the full moon – she looks worse now."

Guilt would do that to you. Marina hadn't said a word to her father and felt awful. But if she'd told him, he'd be the one being miserable right now.

"And your brother?"

"She's ignoring his letters," Carmen responded indignantly – but even as a lynx Marina's empathy worked. Her friend was very angry with her – and had every right to be.

Shutting him out was hurting David more than anyone else. Which was the last thing she wanted.

It was getting worse every day and she was still as confused as she'd been day one. Telling them held its risks, not telling them did too. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

She certainly wasn't acting like a Gryffindor lately.

Harry POV

"It's been almost two months and she's still not talking to anyone," Hermione stated with a small whine in her voice.

"Well, she is at least answering David's letters again," Susan put in mildly, twirling her wand.

"She's still not telling him what's bothering her," Angelina grumbled, crankier than Harry had ever seen her – even after losing a match.

"We happened to overhear old Mad-Eye yesterday-," Fred put in and everyone snorted.

"- and apparently she's even losing her edge in class. She can barely cast anymore," George fininshed his brother's sentence grimly.

"She's spending more time in fur than in skin lately," Carmen mumbled, sounding every bit as exhausted as she looked. "I've never seen her like this."

"After the last three years, what could possibly have her running this scared?" Samantha asked.

"Not scared," Viktor spoke up for the first time. "Worried."

"She's always worried," Elvira shook her head next to him. "This is worse."

"Per'aps she is not afraid for 'erself," Fleur said, finishing her braid.

"Everyone she knows can take care of themselves," Ron argued. "And besides, she only gets this worried about Harry."

"And Sirius," Harry added quietly, causing everyone to freeze.

No one wanted to even imagine something happening to Padfoot. Not only had his godfather... father been through by far enough, but they all knew they'd lose Marina along with him.

"He's one of the best Aurors they have," Katie said with a slight tremble in her voice. "She knows he can take on just about everything."

He still wasn't quite sure how Padfoot had done it, and so fast too, but everybody had grown very fond of him. There was just something about his father that no one seemed to be able to resist. Plus, he'd gotten Molly off the twins' back over their career plans – as long as their grades stayed up to par, their mother wouldn't berate them anymore – since she wanted them to have qualifications. (Padfoot was a genius that way).

But as much as everbody loved Sirius, no one could even imagine what Marina would go through if anything went wrong.

"There are different ways to get hurt," someone said from the door and they all winced, caught. Carmen turned around, siting on the ground as she was, and looked at her brother.

"What are you doing here?" she asked David and sounded... cautious.

"Took the day off and got Dumbledore's permission to come on the grounds," he replied – without really answering her question. "Elias is at the lake."

"We don't know where she is," Carmen told him with a sigh and stood, getting ready to go see her boyfriend.

"You might not. Starlight does," David pointed out and nodded in the direction of Marina's cat.

"She'll turn when she sees you coming," Hermione said hesitantly. "She really doesn't want to talk."

"She won't see me coming," David assured her somewhat grimly. "I guess it's a good thing she never asked what I turn into."

"What makes you think you can get her to talk?" Jolene questioned. "After two months of this?"

"Because she left this at my place," he answered and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment. "Marina would never be that careless unless she wanted me to find it."

Harry had seen enough of that handwriting to know who the letter was from. He'd read journals full of it, after all. His insides churned, thinking about the last message she'd received like that.

What the blazes had Rose dumped on her from the grave now?

Marina knew it was only a matter of time now. Leaving her mother's letter at David's place had been the coward's way out, but she was desperate. She had hardly slept in two months, let alone eaten, and after the last full moon she had looked worse than Remus – that was saying something. But turning so much without eating or sleeping took its toll, no matter how much magical reserves she had.

Her empathy had started going haywire again last week, causing her to break down like she had when she had first developed it. Except now she was about three times as powerful and couldn't afford to lose control.

Her father had spent weeks now, going from person to person and trying to find out what was wrong with her. His worry had made him decidedly cranky and he'd looked almost as dangerous as he had those first weeks after he'd been released from Azkaban.

When Remus had finally confessed to her that Crouch Jr had escaped yet again – with a little help from Bellatrix and no resistance whatsoever from the Dementors after David and Elias had handed him over at the gate – she had known her time had run out. No one could afford to be worried about her anymore.

As if the truth wouldn't make them worry.

So she'd left the sermon her mother had written at David's place, since she still couldn't quite bring herself to say it. By now he would have done his own research and know that her sister was, for all intents and purposes, a Death Eater. All that was missing was the Mark.

But, dear Merlin and Morgaine, she still didn't know how to tell her father. She didn't know if she could do it. For all that he scared most people, finding out he'd lost another child...

"Meow!"

Marina flinched, startled. Heavens above, even her cat was annoyed with her.

Starlight was the only who could have found her so fast. She'd run across half the grounds and was almost off Hogwarts property.

"I know I didn't forget to feed you," she mumbled as the feline stalked closer, her fur standing on end. "So why are you even grumpier than usual?"

She hissed in reply.

"I know they're all mad at me," Marina groaned. "So am I for that matter. Being human is harder than it looks, Starlight."

Only then did she notice that her cat hadn't come alone. A muggle would probably have run screaming but she was used to a lot scarier than a fox.

Albeit a fully grown and pretty big fox. Its fur was amber, which was pretty rare, and the canine stood at about 20 inches high. But she'd never heard of a fox that big. It was at least 40 inches long plus another 22 of fluffy tail.

Then her brain caught up with her. No wild fox was that big, but animagi were generally bigger than their natural counterparts.

He hadn't moved a muscle since she'd spotted him. Since that Christmas she'd seen Talib's other form she'd practiced that particula facet of her Sight, so she focused her Inner Eye on the fox.

Something told her she already knew who it was, but she couldn't risk being wrong and tip someone else of to his animal form.

But her Sight proved her hunch true.

"You can turn now, David," she mumbled and closed her eyes. She wasn't ready for this conversation, long overdue as it was.

Marina didn't hear him move, but the next moment he was sitting next to her on the ground with Starlight in his lap.

"Rose should never have unloaded this on you," he said quietly, his voice hard. He was definitely not happy at all with her mother.

"There is no one else. She didn't know if Dad would survive the war. Besides, can you imagine what he would have done if she'd told him back in '78?"

"He would have gotten his daughter back."

"More like he would have died trying," she countered. "Along with James and Remus. They wouldn't have let him do this alone."

"So she decided to let you deal with it?" he grumbled, unimpressed.

She winced. Well, it wasn't like she hadn't mentally cursed her mother a few times for this.

"By the time she found out she had another daughter, the Wilkes had turned their house into a fortress. There was nothing she could do. I just wish she'd never let me know."

"No one has seen Titania Wilkes in six years."

"Since I came to Hogwarts and my face was all over the Prophet's front page. Everyone would know if she'd shown her face – my guess is she was around, just disguised."

"Until they decide how to use her."

She didn't know whether to be relieved she obviously wasn't the only one reaching those conclusions, or depressed about all of it.

Starlight looked from David to her and back when they stayed silent for a few minutes.

If it was possible she would be saying Get on with it right now.

"I'm sorry, David," she finally said. "I just... couldn't deal with it. Still can't."

He reached over and took her hand.

"You could have talked to me."

"I can barely look in the mirror anymore without seeing her. I scryed for her, you know. She looks exactly like me. Just... like me as a Death Eater, I suppose."

There, she'd said it. For the first time she'd admitted it out loud.

"Well, then she looks nothing like you," David said adamantly, if biased.

"If Ted and Dromeda hadn't taken me in... that could have been me."

Given the circumstances, Titania had never really stood a chance.

"Harry was abused his whole life until the letter came," David said and she flinched. Usually no one actually said that out loud, especially in front of her. "And he didn't become a bully or a sociopath."

"No, he didn't. Just an eavesdropper," she added and David looked at her, confused.

"Raven in the tree, two o'clock." It could have been any raven, of course, but the kite right next to it was a bit of a give-away. And, she guessed, the falcon on the branch over them was Elias.

Starlight would have reacted to animagi she didn't know.

"How did they-?"

"The Map. We're still on Hogwarts grounds."

Busted, the three birds flew down from where they'd been perched and landed a few feet in front of them. Then they turned back human.

Harry had barely lost all his feathers before he was kneeling on her other side and all but crushing her free hand. He was even paler than usual, his green eyes reflecting the uncertainty she'd been feeling for two months.

"Big brother is right, you know," Carmen said and sat down in front of her. "You would never have become a Death Eater, no matter who raised you."

Obviously, she'd decided she could still be mad at her later, after dealing with this mess.

"I'm not so sure."

"Twins aren't always the same," Elias argued, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Besides, look at Andromeda," Harry said and bumped her shoulder. "She was raised by blood purists – and she ran away and eloped with a muggle-born."

Marina blinked. That was... an excellent point. And even Narcissa didn't turn out like her parents had wanted her to. Oh, she was more of a purist but she'd never argued for killing muggle-borns.

"Fair enough," she conceded and squeezed his hand. "But believe it or not, that wasn't my main concern in all this."

"Then what was?" Elias asked her. But his girlfriend went ghostly pale in a matter of seconds when it dawned on her.

"Dear Merlin and Morgaine," she whispered, terrified. "Sirius."