A/N-- Hey, I forgot to post who got it right! OOOHHH I'm bad…. Anywho, Goddess_of_laughter got it right! And I'm sorry I didn't send you the chapter G_O_L, but you didn't give me your e-mail address
Disclaimer-- I own nothing… Harry Potter is the property of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.
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Harry walked back to the Gryffindor Common rooms wondering how any of this was going to work out. Draco Malfoy, my brother? This was strange, twisted, and messed up. This is messed up! his head screamed as he murmured the password (Bubotuber Puss) and climbed through the portrait hole.
Ron and Hermione were waiting impatiently in the Common room by the fire. "Where have you been?" Ron asked irritably.
Harry grinned. Suddenly, it all seemed very humorous to him. "Talking to my brother," and he dashed up to the boy's dormitory as Ron and Hermione exchanged confused and worried glances.
"You think he's gone mad?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded.
Harry laughed as he plopped down onto his bed. And just a few minutes ago I thought this was a complete disaster!
Ron ran through the door and walked over to Harry's bed, where Harry was still laughing hysterically. Ron gave him a worried glance and leaned on the bedpost. "Harry, could you answer a question for me?" Ron asked slowly, as if he thought Harry was only five years old.
"Sure, why not?" Harry said, sitting up with a grin on his face.
"What brother?" Ron narrowed his eyes. "Ever since I've know you, and that's been about five or six years now, you've always been an only child. You've never had a brother."
"That was before even he knew about this." Harry said softly. "And don't say that he was only pulling my leg, I can assure you that he would never even joke about something like this."
"Who's he?" Ron asked, sitting down on the bed next to Harry.
Harry took a quick look around the room to make absolutely sure that everyone else was sound asleep. "OK, I'll tell you. But, promise me you'll tell no one. Not even Hermione. I want to tell her myself, just to see the look on her face. Besides, she'll freak and say you're a lying little scum bag that's trying to give her a heart attack at her young age." Ron nodded, grinning and drawing an x across his chest with one hand. Harry stifled a laugh, gave the dorm one more quick glance, and continued. "Now, don't freak on me and start screaming like a maniac, OK?" Ron nodded. "My brother is… don't freak… Draco--"
"What!" Ron gasped, falling hard to the floor. He climbed back up and held onto the bedpost for support, his eyes wide as saucers. "Y-your k-kidding me r-right? Ron stuttered. He nearly fell again when Harry casually shook his head. "Y-you c-can't be s-serious!" Harry nodded. "I d-don't believe th-this!"
"Believe it, Ron. Why would I joke about this?"
Ron was silent for a few moments, catching his breath and gathering his wits back together. When he'd calmed himself to his personal satisfaction, he shrugged. "But, Harry. Draco? Seriously, now. You expect me to--"
"Ron! I'm not kidding! It's the truth! It must be!"
"He always has been a lying git, though… Harry, I think he's pulling your leg."
"He looked too damn serious!"
"Maybe you should contact Sirius and ask him?"
"Good idea! I will. Seriously!"
"Maybe we should quit saying serious so much?"
"Seriously?" The two of them busted out laughing and soon found themselves asleep.
* * * * *
Draco slumped back to the Slytherin common rooms asking himself the same questions that had been troubling him since the month before when the truth about his past had fallen upon him like a heavy boulder. Some of them had been answered up in the North Tower that night, but the most troublesome one was still left to haunt him as he walked through the corridors as stealthy as a lion on a hunt. What will happen if word gets out that I'm a Potter? The question had whizzed through his head on so many occasions, and now was the perfect time for it to resurface again and float around unanswered in Draco's already troubled mind.
Draco found himself whispering the password to the Slytherin Commons before he even realized he was down in the dungeons. He walked through the entrance and shook his head. Stop loosing yourself in your thoughts so much, Draco. he told himself. You're begging to scare yourself. Draco hurried up to his dorm and, quiet as a mouse, crept into the dark room. His bed happened to be the first on by the door to the right, so he didn't have to pass anybody and chance waking someone up.
He quickly changed into his nightclothes and slipped under the warm and welcoming covers of his four-poster bed. He was just about to close his eyes and welcome a well-dissevered rest when Crabbe and Goyle pulled his curtains apart.
"You're late." Crabbe grunted, sitting down on the bed as Draco bolted up, angry at being disturbed. "Where have you been?"
"Who are you? My mother?" Draco snapped.
Goyle smiled maliciously and leaned against the bedpost. "You're hiding something."
Draco narrowed his eyes. "So what if I am? What's it to you? Why should you care? It's really none of your business. Why do you insist on talking when I'm obviously very tired and would like to sleep? Go back to bed, good morning, good evening, and good night!" Draco said this all quickly and turned his back on the two, closing his eyes and hoping they'd go away like normal.
"Is that how you really feel?" Crabbe asked, sounding a bit hurt. "You just shun us away whenever because you think all we ever do is take orders from you? We're not just two big, brainless goons for you to push around. We have feelings, too."
Draco sighed. "I never said that."
"You meant to though." Crabbe got up. "Didn't you?"
Draco shook his head, sighing again. There was an eerie silence that sent a chill up Draco's spine, but he tried to shake it off.
Crabbe broke the silence. "What happened?"
"You really want to know?" Draco asked, sitting up. Crabbe and Goyle nodded. "Promise you'll tell no one. Not a soul." They nodded again. Please, don't freak. Draco pleaded silently. "Last month, I found out… I'm not who everybody thinks I am."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Crabbe asked.
Oh God, stay calm! For Pete's sake, don't freak! Draco was shaking now and he closed his eyes to block out the disgusted and shocked stares he just knew they would give him. "I'm a… I'm a… Potter."
