I've Been Living A Lie

~* Hey, wow! I have 42 reviews! OMG! So excitable! Thank you so much guys I love you all! Sorry I haven't updated sooner, but I had to go to an unexpected family reunion. Special thanks goes to Hermione Malfoy, October Potter-Snape, sas, @)Charmed~One~}--, Draco's Sexy Dulce a.k.a Kaye, Li- Chan, Angel125, Jaein, me (did you actually read my story in the end? Lol!), Armitage Blade, dopey, and Katrina Wellson. I'm so glad you all like my story! Here's the next chapter, and really sorry that the last one wasn't long. . . by the way, "Joel and Loren" are my friends, and they are really close friends too. Yeah anyway, I just wanted to put them in my fic! *~

Chapter 7 ~ Revelations

During the next few days, nothing much exciting happened, except for Ron getting a detention with Snape.

'Hey Ron!' Harry called out from the other side of the common room. He had just walked down the boys staircase to talk to Hermione. Ron gave him a death stare, and plopped down next to Hermione on the couch.

Ron looked at the book Hermione was reading: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Harry sauntered over and gingerly sat down next to Ron.

'What did he make you do?' Harry asked calmly.

'Oh, just helping him make some awful Potions to get rid of warts, and some more about curing achne or something like that. I tried not to pay attention to the slimy git.' Ron said.

'Do you know what the potion was? I mean, did Snape tell you?' Hermione asked. She hadn't been listening properly to Ron and Harry's conversation.

'No Hermione,' Ron spat sarcastically. 'Of corse he didn't tell me what it was.'

'Well maybe you shouldn't have reacted to the Slytherin's the way you did. Malfoy was in the hospital wing for the rest of the day.' Harry said. 'Though, that's not a bad thing.' He added.

In the Potions lesson responsible for Ron's detentions with Snape, the Slytherins had been wearing "Weasley Is Our King" Badges, and this time, they had a picture of Ron on themNot only this, but when they pressed a small, green button on the badges, a scene of Ron fumbling the Quaffle appeared on the badge. Ron had gone over to Malfoy and poured his Shrinking Potion all over the smirking Slytherin, which by the way, worked perfectly. By the time Crabbe and Goyle had carried the shrinking Malfoy to the hospital wing, he was the size of Barbie, and still going.

'It was worth it.' Ron said blankly.

'Well Ron, I certainly hope you learned your lesson.' Hermione said, between reading chapters in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

'Yeah.' Ron mumbled under his breath, 'I learned that Snape smells like a Dementor.' He said this so that only himself and Harry could hear it. They burst out laughing causing Hermione to give them stern looks.

'You should at least start on your Transfiguration homework, it's due in two days.' Hermione said.

By this time, it was well past midnight, and the only people left in the common room were Hermione, Harry, Ron, Dean, Ginny, Miranda and her friend Chloe. Ginny and Dean were still dating from last year, and Ron wasn't happy about this. He glowered at Dean as the couple were playing a game of exploding snap, Ginny seemed to take one everywhere she went these days. Miranda and Chloe were sitting on the other side of the common room to Hermione, Harry and Ron, and they were talking in hushed voices. Harry looked at the two Gryffindor girls, and shook his head.

'I wonder what they're talking about.' He asked. 'Oh, and Hermione, I need to talk to you later.' He added casually. If Hermione was shocked, she certainly hid it well behind her large book.

'Sure thing.' She muttered, with her nose buried in the pages.

Dean and Ginny kissed goodnight, all the while with Ron giving Dean a mean look, and they went to bed.

'I'm going to bed.' Ron grumbled, and got up. Hermione and Harry both knew he was going to keep an eye on Dean, but they each said nothing.

Pretty soon, Chloe had also given in to sleep, and gone off to bed, leaving Hermione, Harry and Miranda, who kept casting them evil looks. She eventually came over and sat on her usual spot on the rug.

'What do you want Miranda?' Harry asked, impatiently, wanting her to go to bed so he could talk to Hermione.

'Well, Harry, since you asked, I want to talk to you and Hermione.' Miranda said.

'Oh, what about Miranda?' Hermione asked soothingly. She had a soft spot for the small girl now that she knew that Miranda was a connection to her past.

'Well. . . you know how, oh, never mind.' Miranda got up and went up the girls staircase. Harry looked at Hermione, puzzled.

'She'll talk when she's good and ready.' Hermione said simply. Meanwhile, Harry was thinking of a way to tell Hermione what was on his mind.

'So Hermione, I've been meaning to talk to you about something important.' Harry said, rather uncomfortably. Hermione gave a scared look. What if he knew that they were unidentical twins? What if he was mad at her for not telling him! A million crazy thoughts like these were running through Hermione's head, so she didn't notice that Harry had slid closer to her on the couch. When she DID notice, her eyes widened considerably.

'What is it Harry?' Hermione shifted uncomfortably.

'Well,' Harry began, sliding his arm around Hermione's shoulders. 'I was just thinking, in the past few weeks, I've become, well, rather attracted to you.' Harry said. Hermione jumped up off the couch in alarm. Harry continued as Hermione spluttered, trying to get words to form in her mouth. 'Anyway, I was just wondering, if you and me would ever have a chance together?' Harry stopped. Hermione felt weak.

'H-H-Harry, um, you d-d-don't u-u-understand.' Hermione stuttered. Harry looked surprised. He was sure Hermione had noticed him a lot more this year than normally.

'What? I keep seeing you looking at me strangely, and you act as if you like me, so what's the big deal?' Harry said, now standing.

'You'd better sit d-d-down Harry.' Hermione said, tears trickling down her cheek. Harry did as he was told and sat down. Hermione sat on the couch next to him.

'What Hermione? What's wrong?' Harry demanded. She looked at her brother with sadness in her eyes.

Here goes nothing, Hermione thought.

'Harry, you know how I accidentally let it slip that I was adopted the other night?' Harry nodded. ' Well, I found out who my birth parents were.'

'Were? Does that mean they're dead?' Harry asked. Hermione nodded sadly, and continued.

'Well, the Orphanage that I was in before the Grangers adopted me told me something else, something of great interest.'

'What?' Harry asked.

'That I have an unidentical twin brother.' Hermione said softly, as though someone was eavesdropping and could hear her. A look of realisation dawned on Harry, but he still asked,

'Who?'

Hermione started to cry again.

'You Harry. My parents were Lily and James Potter, and you are my unidentical twin brother.'

Harry felt shocked. No WONDER he felt a connection to Hermione. He hugged her.

'I guess I didn't like you in that way, I loved you because you're my sister.' Harry felt weird saying those words, he had never known any real family before, and he was surprised now to finally know that one of his best friends was really his sister. Hermione sniffed.

'Dumbledore must have taken you to the Dursleys because you would be safe there with your Aunt around, and he must have thought dumping two magical children on the muggles would be too much, so he took me, the one in less danger, to the Orphanage.' Hermione said.

'I don't understand though, I mean, if you were there, how come Voldemort didn't try to kill you either?' Harry's eyes suddenly misted over.

'The Prophecy.' Hermione said, reading Harry's mind.

'What if that's you, and not me?' Harry wondered. 'We have to speck to Dumbledore.'

Hermione nodded in agreement. Then, as if taking back what she had just agreed to;

'No! We can't. My parents said that I wasn't supposed to know about you, they weren't supposed to tell me about my unidentical twin brother. Dumbledore'll be furious!' Hermione said abruptly.

'Fine, we won't talk about this to Dumbledore, yet. But I would like to know why he never told us, and about the Prophecy. . .' Harry trailed off.

'I never thought of that before, you know Harry. The Prophecy never crossed my mind until just now. I don't know.' Hermione ended, feeling rather stupid and wishing she had said nothing.

'Hermione,' Harry started. Hermione knew this tone of voice well, and her heart sank. She had been hoping Harry wouldn't ask her.

'I was just wondering Hermione, we've been back at school for a while, and you chose not to tell me? Why were you keeping this from me?' Harry finished. Hermione's eyes filled with un-cried tears once again.

'I'm, I'm sorry Harry, I was trying to tell you, but I thought, because of Sirius, and, the, things that happened last year, I guessed, I thought you wouldn't be able to handle it all. And I'm sorry! When I found out my - the Grangers had been hiding it from me all those years, I was furious. I knew - I thought you'd be the same, but I just, I couldn't tell you. Well, not then anyway. I needed the perfect time to tell you. . . I'm, I'm sorry.' Hermione's tears had now streamed down her face. She buried her head in her hand, and Harry wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

'Shhhhhh,' Harry said soothingly, 'It's okay Hermione, I understand. You should go to bed, I mean, I'm going to go get some sleep, I'm just saying you should get some rest.' Harry stuttered, not knowing whether he was making sense or not. Hermione nodded, hugged Harry once more, and trudged up the girls staircase.

~***~

Harry continued to stare into the fire long after Hermione left. He was waiting to see Sirius, as he normally did when he was in situations such as this, however, his Godfather's head never appeared in the golden flames. He hadn't noticed the sunlight streaming through the windows, and he most certainly had not noticed the common room filling with the Gryffindor's. Ron came over and plonked down next to Harry.

'Harry, you look like you haven't had any sleep.' Ron yawned. Harry looked at him surprised that it was morning already. Harry was silently thankful that it was a Saturday, and he could go back to sleep after Quidditch. Ron was already in his Quidditch Robes, with his broom at ready.

'Ron, I'm just going to go change.' Harry mumbled, stifling a yawn, and walked up to the boys dormitories.

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~* I hope that was long enough for you guys. Made up for the short one! Thanks once again to all my reviewers, and I'll keep you posted !! *~

~Gryffindor Gal~