Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Hermione moaned softly as the pain came back into focus. Fortunately, the pain was quite dull compared to the sharpness from… well it might have been yesterday, but in some part of her mind she realized that she had no idea how long she had been unconscious.
Timidly, Hermione opened her eyes, waiting for the light to blind her. Luckily for her, the lights were quite low, giving of just enough light for her to see the other people in the room. She was quite surprised when she saw that in addition to Harry and Ron, who she had fully expected to see there, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy were also there.
"wha…" Hermione croaked, belatedly realizing that her throat was very dry. In an instant everyone in the room was staring at her as Madame Pomfrey bustled over to the bed with a glass of water in her hands.
"shh, child wait till you've had something to drink, then everyone will explain what's happened to you," She said soothingly. She put the glass to Hermione's lips, effectively blocking the Malfoy's from Hermione's view, which prevented her from seeing the worried expression on Narcissa's face.
Dutifully, Hermione swallowed the water and then several potions before she was allowed to lay back down. As the pain that she had been feeling dulled ever further, she returned her attention to the other occupants of the room.
"Not to be rude or anything, but what are the three of you doing here?" Hermione asked quietly, fixing Lucius with her gaze.
"'Mione, are you sure you feel up to talking?" Ron asked softly, eyes filled with worry.
"I told you boy, that you are not to call her that name again!" Lucius said quietly, but not without a little venom in his voice.
Hermione was incredibly surprised by this reaction, and did not understand at all. "'Mione is just a nickname, short for Hermione which is in fact my name, if you don't remember, sir."
Lucius fixed his eyes on her, but he was not the one who answered, Narcissa was. "Dear, Hermione is not your name. Your name is Cyrna." Hermione's eyes flew wide open. That was the name she had heard right before the pain had hit her.
"Cyrna Elizabetha Malfoy" she whispered to herself, though everyone in the room heard it.
"That's right." Lucius said, his voice much softer. "That is your name, and I'm afraid we have a bit of explaining to do." He paused, exchanging a look with his wife before continuing. "You see, Draco here is not an only child. In fact, her had a twin sister. The problem was, the girl was born before him, which would have made her the heir. In pureblood families, its considered a kind of disgrace to have a son that is not the heir… in fact many families get rid of their daughters if they have a son soon after. I, we did not want to lose our daughter, but my father was a traditionalist. He would not accept her. Not when there was Draco… so he took her from us, casting an adoption spell that could only be broken with his death, and sent her to live with a muggle family that he knew, though I'm not sure what the relationship between them was." Lucius stopped at this point, looking, well sadness and anger were the only emotions that Hermione could see on his face.
Narcissa continued where he had left off, "My father-in-law died yesterday morning, and at that moment the adoption charm on our daughter fell off. She changed to look like the daughter she should have been to us, which I'm told is quite painful, and she was immediately recognized by a close friend of the family, who called us to run a paternity charm. It was all confirmed, and I'm happy to say that the paperwork was completed to bring her back to us. She is our daughter again, and I can only regret that I'm just now going to get to know her… I always wanted a little girl. I was heartbroken when I lost her, but my wretched father-in-law never told me who she had been placed with. I had no clue at all my darling, that you were mine until yesterday. I know this must be hard but I love you so much my Cyrna," Narcissa's eyes were filled with tears as she finished speaking, waiting for her daughter to tell her how much she hated them.
'Hmm… perhaps I should start thinking of my self as Cyrna now… I always knew that I was adopted, thank Merlin my par- the Grangers told me that, and I can see in their faces how much they really care about me.' Cyrna looked closely at them before replying, " I knew the Grangers adopted me. They were very upfront with the fact that I was not theirs after I started showing signs of magic. They only told me that my parents were magical though… partly why I was always so defensive about being called a MudBlood," she shot a smirk at Draco. "It'll take some time… but I think that eventually we could be a real family." Her parents stared at her in shock for a moment before her mother came over and threw her arms around her.
"Thank-you my darling" She whispered in her daughter's ear. "You'll never know how much this means to me."
Cyrna turned to look at Harry and Ron, both of whom were sitting looking rather shell shocked. Smirking at the expressions on their faces she said, "Well boys, how much do you hate me now that I'm a Malfoy? I should warn the two of you that it is Hogwarts policy to resort any student on whom an adoption charm has been lifted during their time at the school… I can't guarantee that the sorting hat will place me in Gryffindor again." Cyrna kept smirking, but deep down she was worried that the boys really wouldn't accept this.
Harry smirked back at her. "Well, I suppose if you get resorted into Slytherin, as I dare say you might based on that lovely Malfoy smirk gracing your face, than I could always ask for a resorting and join you. It is, after all, where the hat wanted me to be in the first place." Every face in the room was now staring at Harry in shock. Lucius was the first to recover.
"You're kidding right? There's no way you could convince the hat not to sort you were it wanted you. That hat is spelled not to listen to the children so that it can put them where they will get the attention they need." he said shock and disbelief plainly evident in his voice.
"well," Harry said embarrassedly, "I, um, actually did convince the hat not to pt me in Slytherin… I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to." Ron, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between his two 'friends'.
"I don't know either of you at all do I? And now you're both going to leave me behind for Slytherin," Ron said, voice filled with disgust. "I can't believe that I was friends with the likes of you!" Ron ran out of the room, and Cyrna audibly sighed.
"Don't worry, he'll come around eventually," Harry said softly. "I know this can't be easy but I do know what its like to have a bit of your past thrown in your face… " he hinted. Cyrna realized he was right, finding out that one was a vampire was quite a bit more shocking than this.
"Mr. Potter," Lucius began, "would you mind leaving me and my family for a while, we need some time to discuss the twins' birthday arrangements, as they both turn 16 tomorrow."
Harry smiled easily, his eyes ghosting over Draco, 'Hmm.. I wonder what that is about…" Cyrna wondered, as Harry came over to her and gave her a brief hug and headed out of the hospital wing.
With Harry gone, Cyrna returned her attention to her parents and Draco. Comprehension dawned on her. She had a brother, a twin, and that brother happened to be the one who had constantly teased her and tortured her friends. She saw no malice in his eyes now, but she had to wonder if this revelation could truly change everything. Draco had been a lot nicer to them after Voldemort's defeat. Perhaps his attitude had been an act to convince the Slytherins that he was on their side… an article that he had read in the newspaper right after the last battle suddenly slammed itself into the forefront of her mind. Thanks to information revealed by Lucius Malfoy… her memory trailed off. Her family had been spying! For some reason, her heart felt much lighter at this realization. Cyrna smiled to herself before realizing that her father was trying to get her attention.
"Cyrna," he began. "I mentioned to Harry before he left that you and Draco will be turning 16 tomorrow, and while there is going to be a party for both of you here at the school, there is something that we must reveal to you about your heritage before we can celebrate properly." Lucius looked distinctly worried, and Narcissa was not looking much better. Draco was the only one in the room who managed to keep his features schooled, and Cyrna gathered that he already knew what they were about to say.
"My heritage?" Cyrna was completely baffled by this. Not that she would ever admit that.. She did, after all, have her reputation as a know-it-all to uphold.
"Yes. You see, many pureblood families have intermarried with magical creatures. It keeps the levels of magic in the children high, and lowers any tendency towards having a squib in the family." Lucius answered calmly.
Cyrna knew this, how else would Harry have been part vampire? And he had come into his inheritance this year… on his 16th birthday. Oh my! Cyrna's eyes immediately widened. "Do you mean to tell me that the Malfoy's have some sort creature blood?"
"Well, yes" Narcissa replied, "for many generation the Malfoy's have been part veela. In fact, Lucius' mother was a full veela. Which means that you and Draco are both over half veela, as I do have a bit of veela on my side of the family." Cyrna simply stared as she digested this piece of information. Not only did she have a completely knew family all in one day, but now she was finding out that she wasn't technically a full-blooded human. She might have been shocked, but somehow she knew that this made sense. It also explained why she felt so strongly that Ron was wrong for her. She had heard other girls in her year talking about guys, and she knew for a fact that most of them would go out with any guy who was even remotely good looking. But looks had never really mattered to her, at least not enough to get her to go out with Ron, though she did admit that he was rather cute. For some reason she just knew that he wasn't the one for her.
"I guess, I can believe that… Mother," Cyrna said, blushing at the term. She wasn't sure yet what she was supposed to call them, but when she looked at Narcissa's joy-filled face, she guessed that Mother was ok.
"Cyrna, what do you know about Veela?" her father asked patiently.
"Father, not exactly the best question to ask, she'll bloody know everything about them and spout of a complete history!" Draco replied smugly.
"Draco! Language!" Narcissa admonished.
Cyrna shot Draco a scathing glare before answering her father, "Well, I know that veela exert a charm that they can use to attract people, and that they can control to a certain extent. Most people would do anything a veela told them to when under the influence of the charm, but its main purpose is to attract the veela's mate. The one that they are destined to be with. Its said that the veela can never be happy unless they are with that one person, and if they are unable to find them within a few months of their inheritance, it is likely that the veela in question will die." Cyrna looked between her two parents, who were looking fondly at each other. "So, I guess that means that the two of you are mates?" she asked shyly.
"Yes," Lucius answered, returning his gaze to her. "You know a sufficient amount about veela, but suffice it to say that as you will be coming into your inheritance tomorrow, you shall find out that there are some important things about the transformation that you've left out. And, of course, you will have a mate as well. The veela is able to smell their mate, and while each veela will smell something different, it is said that what they smell will seem like heaven to them. IF they are truly your mate, you will know. I can't completely explain it, but there is an overwhelming sense that being with that person is right."
Cyrna smiled, she had already experienced some of those feelings, though they had all been negative as to the presence of her mate. She was going to have to do a bit of research to discover her mate's identity, something that she was indeed looking forward to. A frown crossed her face as she realized her father had mentioned something about a transformation.
"A transformation? I thought veela's looked human?" She asked worriedly.
"Oh they do," her mother assured her. "most of the time, but I'm sure you've seen full fledged veela turn into bird-like creatures before? Well, part veela grow wings only." Cyrna was immediately relieved. Wings she could handle.
"Well," Lucius began, glancing at his watch, "it is growing rather late, and tomorrow shall be a very busy day. You and Draco were born at 9 at night, so that is when the transformation shall take place. Tomorrow morning I shall arrange a resorting for you and Harry, should he still desire one, to take place at breakfast. Your party will commence at dinner time, though you and Draco will be brought to the family chambers that Narcissa and I are staying in at the moment at around 8:30 to prepare you for the transformation." Lucius leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you, my daughter, and I can only hope that we can be a true family soon." After Narcissa had likewise hugged her daughter, the two swept from the room, leaving Draco behind.
"So…" Draco began uncertainly. "I never knew you were my sister you know." He looked rather sheepish. "I wouldn't have treated you like that if I had known… and I swear if you ever tell anyone this I'll hex you good, twin sister or no, but I guess I was jealous." Draco glared at her, as if daring her to make fun of him for feeling such a human emotion, when she said nothing he continued. "I don't know… its just Ha-Potter refused to be my friend, and then all of a sudden you were never apart from him or Weasley, and then on top of that you beat me in every sodding class! I just… wanted what you had, I guess."
"Draco, I won't pretend that it'll be easy… but you really have been a lot better since Voldemort was vanquished, and well, I think I can get over getting called a couple names. Besides, I got my revenge in third year, when I punched you," Cyrna said, smirking wickedly.
"Ah, what a Malfoy thing to say!" Draco said, almost proudly. "Maybe you won't be as big an embarrassment to the family as I thought that you would," smirking back at her.
"Well, I suppose that I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast! And don't you dare get resorted back into Gryffindor. Malfoy's don't do red and gold." Draco shuddered comically, and Cyrna laughed as he left the room.
"I guess we'll find out tomorrow won't we?" she asked herself quietly as she drifted off into a deep sleep.