Chapter 26

Draco was suffering from severe shock. First off, he had discovered that he had a sister. Secondly, she had been right under his nose for the last month. Thirdly, she was insane.

No, insane was not the correct term. She was psychotic. She talked to herself, ran around in medieval princess dresses, and had the worst habit of calling him 'brother dearest,' when he felt neither dear, or like her brother.

Hermione was not in the least bit understanding.

"You wanted to find her," she had replied primly when he complained. "You pay the price."

And indeed, he was paying the price. She was older than him by a few months, but tagged along after them like a puppy, constantly finding interest in the most benign and boring things. Honestly, how fascinating was Knut?

The most annoying aspect of his half-sister was her tendency to suddenly stop and start rattling off a random prophecy that could have merit, for someone on the other side of the world.

The stupid prophecies had nothing to do with them, or anyone they knew. The latest vision was about an aborigine in Australia, who, according to Pandora, was going to experience religious nirvana. Never mind that he wasn't Buddhist, he was going to achieve something that only muggles attempted.

It was absolutely infuriating.


"Hey Mum," Ginny yelled one morning as Mrs. Weasley was frying bacon. "Isn't it-"

"Harry's birthday?" Pandora finished Ginny's question, and then continued. "Who's Harry?"
"Look, Pan," Ginny said. "Stop reading my mind. It's cool that you can do it and all, but I do like to finish my sentences."

Pan blushed. "Sorry."

"Harry's my best friend, besides Draco," Hermione explained.

"What's his last name?" Pan asked, adjusting her moose headband. Sometimes it was a bit disconcerting to see a seventeen-year- old girl running around with giant moose antlers coming out of her head, but somehow, they had all gotten use to it.

"Potter," Ginny replied, dousing her strawberries in cream. "The One and Only Harry Potter."

"Oh, the boy who must not be named?"

"No, that's the man who must not be named, Harry is the Boy Who Lived," Ginny corrected her. "Not commonly confused, but you have an excuse.'"

"Oh," Pan said with a non-committal shrug. "How many people has he killed?"
Draco grinned, in spite of himself. "Oh loads of people."

"Harry hasn't killed anyone," Hermione said angrily, shoving Draco. "Draco's just be facetious."

"I know," Pan replied, grinning. "I was joking too."

Everyone except Draco laughed.

"Wasn't funny," he muttered.

"As if you were much funnier," Pan replied, flicking a piece of burned up bread crust at him. "Little brother."

Draco glared at her, and turned back to his bacon with a definite set to his jaw.

"Yes, Harry's coming today," Mrs. Weasley said, returning to the original subject. "Mr. Weasley and a few other aurors are going to go pick him up this morning. And no, you can't go, Ginny."

Ginny's face fell, and she scowled mightily at no one in particular.


Hermione sat on the bed, staring out the window into the blue sky, wondering if everything was right in her small world, and what was going on really. Draco entered, and saw her spacing out.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"Oh, I don't know," she replied tiredly. "It's so strange. I feel kind of left out, I don't know why. And I admit, even though I like Pan a lot, I don't really like sharing my powers with her."

Draco was silent for a long moment. "I understand. I like her too; but I had liked being an only child. It's strange to suddenly have two siblings, and both of them being rather insane."

"I know," Hermione laughed. "Remember? Gaelen's my brother. He's absolutely nuts. Did I tell you about the time he set the patio on fire? He was trying to blow up my cousin."

"Blow up your cousin?" Draco laughed. "What did the cousin do?"
"Well, you've heard about Harry's cousin Dudley, right? Well, Everett's kinda like that. He eats all the time, and he's rather scary. Well, not scary in the sense that I was worried that he'll beat me up. I was more worried that he'd sit on me!"

Draco snickered. "Well, at least your brother didn't put you in jail!"

"Ha," Hermione said. "That didn't count, because Luc didn't know that you were related!"

"That's stupid," Draco replied. "He so knew."

"No, he didn't," she shot back. "He was totally innocent, and only doing what he thought was right!"

Suddenly, the door swung open, and Hermione found herself looking at Harry Potter.

"Harry!" she shrieked. She launched herself at him, and nearly dragged him down.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry said with a laugh. "How's your girlfriend?"

He made a face. "She and I are over."

"Ah," she replied lightly. "What happened?"

Harry grinned and shoved her slightly. "Artistic differences, sound familiar?"

Hermione smiled. "Yeah, sounds familiar."

It was strange having Harry around, Draco admitted to himself. It was like having his arm back, after missing it for some time. He was shocked that he had actually missed Potter, his former worst enemy. He was also surprised to find out that Harry had missed him as well.

After Hermione ran to go get Harry a drink, Harry turned to Draco.

"Hey," he said lightly. "How are you?"

"Great!" Draco replied enthusiastically. "And you?"

Harry shrugged. "Getting better."

"Good," Draco said, satisfied. "You'll have to meet my sister."

"Sister?"

"Well, technically, she's a half-sister, and she might be a bit insane, but overall, she's sweet. You'll meet her at dinner," Draco explained. "Her mother was my aunt."

"Wait-"

"Yeah," Draco said quickly. "But she and her twin were separated at birth. She was raised by Dumbledore, and my half-brother was raised in France. He's the one that got us but in jail. Supposedly he's more insane than his sister, but I don't know. She's pretty… eccentric."

"Heck," Harry laughed. "She was raised by Dumbledore, how could she not be?"

"I didn't think of that," Draco allowed grudgingly. "Maybe it's just that."

"I'm sure she's fine," Harry assured him. "Dumbledore wouldn't let her be really insane, that's his job!"


A/N: Please review:) I'm out of school tommorow! Yes...!