7500 hits exactly. Awesome!
Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had a longing to start a bunch of new stories, as you can plainly see… : P But anyway, here's an update, finally.
Chapter Ten
The Only One
Hermione lingered behind the couch for some time after that. Malfoy had disappeared again, as had Pansy and Erkki. No one would let her outside, and besides, she thought now that she ought to stay a while longer, to try and figure out what she could do to help the situation with Ginny.
She lay on the floor for a long while, until the sun had set again and the living room was dark and shadowy. It wasn't until then that she heard a bang from upstairs.
Hermione walked silently to the door and peered around it, into the entrance hall.
She could just see the outline of Pansy, marching down the stairs and to the door. It looked like she had something large in her hands. If she'd still been a human, Hermione wouldn't have seen it was a suitcase in the dark. Pansy yanked open the door, walked out, and slammed it behind her.
Hermione stayed in that spot for a long while, trying to understand exactly what she'd just seen. Pansy with a suitcase… where was she going?
Wait a minute, Hermione thought. Is she walking out on Malfoy?
Hermione padded out of the doorway and went up the staircase into the upstairs hall. As far as she could see, every door was firmly closed… She continued on, and saw one that was open a bit. She squeezed in and remembered that this was the office, seeing the desk there.
She wasted no time hopping up to where she had seen the book before. She was sure it was where it had been, but it wasn't there.
"What?" someone said form the other side of the room. Hermione jumped. Why do I always have to get surprised when I'm up here?
She looked over and saw Malfoy sitting in the chair over in the corner. The book was right in his hands. Hermione stared at him, trying to figure out how she'd get to have a look at it.
He just looked at her, then back down at the book. It seemed like a lifetime of silence, until he finally spoke again.
"You know what? Just stay here if you want. I don't bloody care."
He tossed the book up on the desk next to her and turned the chair so that he was facing the wall. Hermione was puzzled for a second, and then she turned her attention back to the book.
She went to it and placed a paw on the side of the front cover, struggling to open it. Finally she was able to lift it up. The first thing she saw was a slightly old looking picture of two little kids. Both had white-blonde hair. The boy looked a bit older than the little girl.
Hermione looked over at Malfoy to make sure he was distracted. He was still facing the wall, probably thinking. She used one of her claws to go to the next page. On the left side was the same picture that had been in Xanthe's house. But, where there had been a scorch mark, there was the crest of Gryffindor. And where some of the golden letters had been, it said, 'Xanthe Roberts, 7th Year'.
On the right side, a part of the Malfoy family tree was pasted. Hermione traced along the lines and found Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. But instead of one line indicating their son, there were two: one for Draco Malfoy, and one for Xanthe Malfoy, a year younger.
If cats could gasp, Hermione most certainly would, but instead she just let out a surprised sort of meow. So that was it! Xanthe was his sister!
But if he'd had a sister… Wouldn't she have seen her at Hogwarts? No, she was a Gryffindor… None of the Malfoys would want everyone to know she was a Gryffindor; it would put them all to shame. That's why in the picture she was Xanthe Roberts. They changed her name so no one would see she was a Malfoy.
That was the entire reason Malfoy hated her. She was an outcast. Hermione remembered what Malfoy said in their first year, about everyone in his family being a Slytherin… But he didn't know his little sister would be joining the ones he hated the most…
And that was why Xanthe had looked familiar… Now that she thought about it, Hermione had seen her at meetings of the Order. She was always in the back, she never talked much.
Hermione would have looked through the book more, but all the sudden a hand reached out and slammed it shut. She looked up and saw Malfoy.
"I thought I put that so it wasn't open…" he said. He walked toward the door and held it open. "Come on, then, cat, you can't be in here. Go on."