Chapter 6

When Theo caught up with Hermione, he found her sitting on the ground on the third floor of the castle, knees pulled into her chest. He walked towards her gingerly, and when she didn't attack, he sat on the opposite side of the hallway across her, crossing his legs.

"Did you know that muggles have a story of a three headed dog as part of their mythology?" She asked quietly, looking up at him.

Theo shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"I faced one when I was 11. Right in there," she said gesturing at a door next to her.

Theo's eyes widened. He had heard stories of what she had gotten up to their first year, but he wasn't sure how much of it was true. He had not heard about the three headed dog.

"We were trying to save the sorcerer's stone. So we went in, and faced him. Fluffy. Harry lulled him to sleep with a flute that Hagrid gave him. After Fluffy went to sleep, we fell into a pit of Devil's Snare. I remembered that they hated heat, but wasn't sure how we could get heat in. Then Ronald reminded me that I was a witch, so I pulled out my wand, and started a fire.

"The next room was a bunch of keys flying around, and we had to find the right one for the door to let us in the next room." Hermione continued. "Harry's a brilliant seeker, so of course he found the right key, and the door opened up to a giant chess game. Ron plays chess all the time, so he took the lead on that. But he had to sacrifice himself, so Harry and I had to go on without him. The next room was all potions and a riddle. I had to figure out which one would make it so that Harry could go on to the next room, and which one would kill us."

Theo looked at her awestruck. He knew that Potter had made it to the stone, but he had no idea all the traps they'd overcome. How many She had overcome.

"Obviously, Harry got the stone away from Voldemort," She said, ignoring his flinch at the dark wizards name. "After all of that, everyone was just so amazed that three kids managed to break through all these challenges. It didn't matter that I was muggleborn. I was just a kid. A really, really clever girl. And I felt accepted for the first time in my life."

She sniffled, and paused for a moment. "When I was a kid, I never fit in. I always had my head in a book, I didn't care about all the television shows the other kids watched, I didn't listen to the same music as them, plus, I was always small. And there were always weird things happening around me. Things that no one could explain. But then I came here, and I did all those things my first year, and I felt accepted. I was finally where I was supposed to be. And then I came back to school for second year, and Malfoy started calling me a mudblood."

Theo looked down at his lap, shame filling himself as he remembered when Draco called her that for the first time. He hadn't agreed, but he hadn't stopped Draco either.

"From that day on, I realized that even though my friends didn't think any differently of me, the world did. That I was going to have to prove myself. Work twice as hard as all the purebloods to prove that I did belong in this world." She paused and rolled her left sleeve up, and showed Theo her forearm.

Theo let out an audible gasp when he saw the word carved into her arm. Mudblood.

"Who?" He asked in a strangled voice. "Who did that to you?"

Hermione looked at her own arm. "Bellatrix. She wanted to make sure I knew what I was. So she carved it into my arm."

Theo crawled over to where she was sitting, and lifted his hand to her arm. He traced the scarred word with his finger, scared that if he pressed to hard, it would break open and start bleeding again. "Does it still hurt?"

Hermione watched his hand trace the scar tissue. "Not as much as it used to. It's tight, but I just don't like people seeing it. It's why I wear long sleeves all the time now."

Theo nodded in understanding. "Draco does this same thing, only for him, it's his dark mark."

Hermione looked up at him. "I spent the last five years of my life trying to run away from this word, only to have it become a literal part of me. And now I find out that it never really was who I was."

Theo met her eyes. "So you do believe me then."

Hermione nodded. "When you asked if there was something strange about my birth. I wasn't supposed to be alive. When my mum gave birth, there was something wrong with my heart. But I'm guessing that I never had a heart problem. Probably whatever baby your," She paused, "our parents buried had the heart problem. I was always alright."

Theo moved his hand down from her scar, and placed his palm over hers. "I'm sorry, Hermione. For all of it."

Hermione laced her fingers in his. "Why did they give me away?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know." Theo said. "I was always told you died just after being born. The only person who could answer that died when we were eight."

Hermione nodded. "You do realize that all of this is still hypothetical at this point. We still need to prove that I'm actually your sister. I don't know how you would prove familial relationships in the magical world. In the muggle world, there are blood tests that we could do to determine whether or not we're related."

Theo chuckled. "I have a simpler way."

"Oh? What is-"

"Oi!"

Theo jumped at the loud interruption and tore his gaze away from Hermione to see Ginny Weasley walking toward the pair, wand out, and pointed directly at Theo.

"I thought she told you to stay away from her." She said in a threatening voice.

Hermione let go of Theo's hand, and scrambled to her feet, rushing towards Ginny. "It's okay Gin."

Ginny looked away from Theo, to look at Hermione. After a minute of seemingly wordless communication, Ginny lowered her wand slowly. "So what, you've decided to be his sister?" Ginny asked her quietly.

Hermione looked back at Theo. "I've decided to not let fear guide my choice. I want to know the truth. If I'm not, then I'll go on with my life as normal. If I am," she paused, thinking about her next words carefully. "If I am, then we'll figure it all out. Together."

Theo stood up, and walked over to the two witches. "Like I was saying, I think I have an easier way to prove you're my sister."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest. "Does it involve you pointing your wand at her?" She asked waspishly.

"No." Theo answered quickly. "When our mum died, she left behind a house elf. I've never been able to get her to follow any orders. Dad couldn't either. Apparently she didn't pass to either of us. She went to my sister."

Ginny was trying her best to hide her laughter, while Hermione stared at Theo in horror. "A house elf? I can't own a house elf!"

Theo looked completely lost. "But if she is yours, she'll be completely loyal to you, and take care of you, and…" He trailed off as Hermione shook her head violently.

At that point Ginny lost it, and bent over laughing. "You own a fucking house elf, Mione!"

Hermione turned to glare at Ginny. "This isn't funny!" She exclaimed, stomping her foot.

"Am I missing something?" Theo asked in complete confusion, looking at the witches.

Ginny sobered up just a bit, and explained. "Mione here founded a little organization called Spew, a few years ago."

Hermione huffed in frustration. "It's not spew! It's S.P.E.W! The Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare!"

Theo looked at Ginny out of the corner of his eye, unsure how to respond to this. Noticing him looking at her, she turned and looked at him dead in the eye, challenging him silently to respond to Hermione without offending her.

"Well," Theo started. "If you own her, then you can make sure that she is well cared for. But the way we'll know if you are really the same Hermione, is if you call for her."

Ginny turned to Theo. "How do you know that Hermione does own this elf?" she asked.

"She was born first. All of my mother's possessions went to her firstborn." Theo said simply.

Hermione looked down at her feet. "I'm older than you?"

"You were born four minutes before me." He answered. "Her name is Mipsy, for whenever you're ready by the way."

Hermione looked back up at Theo. "Mipsy?"

With a small crack, Mipsy appeared. The little elf looked around at the three people standing in the hallway, and then at Theo and Hermione standing together. She clapped her hands together, tears filling her large eyes. "Mistress?"

"Well, welcome to pureblood life Mione." Ginny said, stunned.