A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy:))

Chapter 129: New Year's eve

Everything went smooth until Christmas, Draco and Harry's refusal to talk to each other and, for the most part, even be in the same room, preventing any fights from breaking; meaning they never talked about what happened in that bathroom. And the adults didn't bring it up either.

But on Christmas Eve's night, they were forced to sit in the kitchen, along with everyone else in the house, for the traditional dinner. My brother sat between Ron and Hermione, and my soulmate as far away from him as he could, and I put myself next to him.

"You will have to talk at some point, you know that, right?"

"But not now. We will tell them on New Year's eve if you want, but I won't talk to him. For the time being, at least. I know what I almost did would have been terrible, but..."

"I get it. I won't force you to have a conversation. But let's enjoy our holiday for now. And keep the painful memories away. We've had enough of them for this year."

"Agreed."

And he did keep his promise. We had a wonderful time. I taught him muggle games during the following days, we shared childhood memories laying in a nest of blankets on his bed at night, when everyone was asleep and up on the roof during the day. It was...peaceful. And that was something we didn't have these days at Hogwarts.

"Are you sure that you want to do this Selene?" Hermione held my hands tight into her own, as the three of us sat on a bed in our room.

"I'm sure guys, come on. I can't hide from him my whole life, he's my brother for Merlin's sake; and then there's your brother as well Gin. If they don't understand...well, we'll see when we get there. But I am absolutely sure. What about you two though? You really are okay with all of this? Draco and I?"

"I've known for five years now, you think I wouldn't have told you if it was bothering me? And Mione is the most open minded person I know, why wouldn't she be ok with it?"

"Just making sure."

"We're here for you. No matter what." She eyed my left arm, and I could tell, from the pained look on her face, that she wasn't lying. They had been indeed, shocked when they learned about the Dark Mark, but if both of them had managed to get through that, why wouldn't they tell the truth about this?"

Soon enough, New Year's eve came, and we were all getting ready for our little party. After putting on my emerald dress and some flats, I left Ginny and Hermione alone and headed for Draco's room. After a couple of knocks at the door, he told me to come in. He was standing in front of the mirror, buttoning up his black shirt.

"Ready for the big announcement?"

"You make it sound like something good."

"Who knows? Maybe it will be. Considering more than half of them don't know about my Mark yet."

"Well, at least we'll go through it together. "

"True. Now, let's go. I want to get to the cake before Ron has a chance to swallow it whole."

"That boy's stomach is never ending, isn't it?"

"Certainly seems to be." I chuckled, grabbing his hand and dragging him down the stairs to the living room.

Not everyone had arrived yet, Tonks and Remus were on their way, Sev and Minnie weren't coming, and Ginny was still upstairs, braiding her hair.

"Wow, Mrs Weasley, you surely outdid yourself with the cake this year." I gaped at the four tier cake sitting high on the living room table, decorated with angels and stars, draped in red and green fondant.

"Thanks Selene dear. I certainly hope you will all like it. This is a special occasion after all, isn't it?" she looked meaningfully at me and I smiled weakly.

"It is. I just want to get it over with. And hope not have a fallout with my brother. Or with others..."

"You won't."

After we were all there, we started celebrating: Sirius had found an old pick-up and vinyl records in the attic and brought it down, helped by the twins. We all took turns choosing songs and danced a lot that night; after none of us could stand anymore, and after we had discarded our shoes, with or without heels, everyone sat at the kitchen table and ate as much as we could, under the careful eyes of Mrs Weasley and Mrs Malfoy.

The end of the night came far too early and both of us were nearly shaking. Personally, I felt like I was disillusioning myself every time someone talked to me, because of the cold trails going down my body.

"Ok then, it's now or never I guess." I whispered to Draco at around eleven. He squeezed my hand slightly.

"Let's do this." We got up.

"Since in less than an hour we are going to begin a new year of our lives, I do have something to say that some of you know, and some don't. But please hear me out, and know that regardless of these things, I am still the same person that you all know." All the heads in the room were turned to us. Apart from two of them, everyone thought they knew everything that I wanted to say. I took a deep breath and started.

"Harry, Ron...Draco is my soulmate. And, you were partially right at the beginning of the year. He had to take Voldemort's mark, in order to protect his mother. And as soon as it was etched into his arm, it appeared on my skin as well." More eyes widened around the room as I pulled my left sleeve up.

"The scars. Should I?"

"If we already started, why not do that as well? Go for it."

I took my glamours down and heard gasps.

"That is very rare." Tonks told me.

"We know. And not that easy to keep glamoured unfortunately."

"How long have you known about this?" my brother asked with a tremble in his voice.

"Know what?"

"That he's your soulmate."

"Since first year." my heart was beating faster now, looking at his expression change between betrayal and anger.

"Harry, you have to understand th-"

"No." he said quietly, but his voice was heard loud in the silent room. Ron didn't seem like he would dare say anything at the moment, shocked into silence.

"What?"

"I won't understand. You are my sister, Selene! How could you lie to me? And something as big as this? "

I didn't know what to say to him, but thankfully, Draco spared me.

"Listen here, Potter: judging by the way you have been acting towards Slytherins since your first year at Hogwarts and how you never listen before you speak, I'm surprised she even chose Gryffindor as her house. And frankly, if you'd just sit and think a little, you'd realise that telling you has always been out of question. It's obvious that you need some time." he sneered and guided me towards the stairs.

"Don't listen to him."he said, as soon as the door was closed behind him and we were sat on the bed. "you did the right thing, waiting until you were ready. It was your secret to share and he had no right to react like that." He wiped off the small tears that had already made their way down my cheeks.

"Just hold me. We can talk later." I leant forward and laid my head on his chest and he put his arms around me.

THIRD PERSON POV:

As the clock struck twelve and they entered a new year, Draco happily followed the muggle tradition that Selene had told him about. Cupping her face in his hands, he pressed their lips together and both of them felt their hearts melt the moment their breaths became one and they forgot about the people downstairs and about the imminent war, and for a moment, the two of them were the only ones in the world.