Disclaimer: I own nothing, just borrowing the world and characters thought up by J.K. Rowling and using some creative license to make some adjustments. Lorelei and Seraphina are mine.
Warnings: Language
Italics are character's internal thoughts and/or flashbacks.
A/N: Thank you for reading and for those of you who are following. :-)
Harry sighed, leaning his elbow against the table at dinner, once again merely pushing his food around his plate. Hermione and Ron sat across from him, both wearing equal expressions of concern. Ginny sat to his left, Neville to his right, though both appeared to not really notice Harry's sullen attitude. It wasn't that Neville didn't care, he most certainly would, if he wasn't busy making puppy eyes at Luna at the Ravenclaw table. The same could be said for Ginny, though Ron was very displeased to know his little sister's blush and small wink was directed at a Slytherin. Blaise Zabini to be exact. Why his sister was crushing on the Slytherin Chaser was beyond him, but he didn't say anything. At least not since Ginny threatened to hex him into the next millennium.
"Harry, did you start your Charms essay?" Hermione asked trying to lure Harry from his depression. The boy merely shrugged, eyes focused on his half eaten food.
"Come on, mate. It's been months. Talk to us, please." Ron pleaded, pushing his own plate of food away. The move drawing wide eyes from Hermione, Ginny and Neville. Ron loved food and he never left his plate with food still on it.
"What do you want me to say, Ron?" Harry slammed his fork down. "That I'm angry that Dumbledore kept this huge secret from me? That I'm angry with my father for being a right arsehole? That I'm missing a sister I never even knew I had up until 4 months ago? What?"
By the end of Harry's rant, most of the Great Hall had fallen silent, all eyes on the boy who lived. Harry shook his head and pushed away from the table, storming out of the Great Hall without a glance back. He didn't have to turn around to know that everyone was staring at him. He could feel their eyes the entire way out.
Harry raced through the halls towards the Room of Requirement with shocking speed. He needed to find peace and quiet, something he wouldn't have inside the Gryffindor common room. He was tired of all the looks and the whispers behind his back. He knew what everyone was saying about him, that he let everyone down, that he had failed.
Finally at the 7th floor, Harry paced in front of the wall he knew the door to be.
I need a place for peace and relaxation to clear my mind.
I need a place for peace and relaxation to clear my mind.
I need a place for peace and relaxation to clear my mind.
Harry sighed relief when the door appeared. His hand immediately gripped the handle and pushed in, stumbling when a firm body pushed against his back, forcing him into the room.
Harry groaned against the stone floor, pushing up to his feet. "What the –"
"Huh, this place does exist." Draco's voice was full of awe.
"Draco, what the hell are you doing?" Harry questioned, dusting off his pants and turning to face his former nemesis. Draco looked at him with a small smile, a slight blush creeping up his attractive face. Wait, what the fuck? Since when has Draco been attractive?
"I saw you storm out of the Great Hall and I wanted to make sure you were okay." Draco smiled softly, moving to sit on the oversized black velvet couch that was provided by the room. It was then Harry realized the room had become a warm sitting room with 2 oversized couches, a fireplace, a warm rug, a coffee table and a tray of tea, biscuits and water.
"Yeah, it's just…ugh this is so fucked up." Harry groaned, slumping down on the opposite couch across from Draco and running his hands over his face. "I didn't even know I had a sister. How can I miss someone I never knew?"
"I grieve my sister." Draco admitted softly, drawing Harry's shocked gaze. "My mum was pregnant before me, but gave birth to a stillborn girl, Ara Druella Malfoy."
Harry sat back on the couch, arms dropping at his side. "I'm sorry, Draco. I didn't know."
Draco shook his head, turning to look at the fire. The warm light bathed his beautiful face, highlighting his sharp cheekbones and angular features. Somehow though the warm light softened them. "It was 2 years before me. I think that's why mother and father spoiled me so much. Because they were just so grateful to have a living child."
"What do you miss about her?" Harry asked softly, feeling a stronger connection to the Slytherin boy. He actually understood Harry's sadness.
"I don't really know. I guess the idea of having a sibling. Share inside jokes, sneak sweets under our parents noses. Simple things really." Draco shrugged.
"You don't think it's stupid that I miss her?" Harry asked leaning forward, his green eyes glistening with tears.
Draco turned to face Harry, his own eyes reflecting his pain. "No, Harry, I don't think it's stupid."
Severus sat in the Headmistress' office, slowly sipping a nightcap in silence. He enjoyed his peaceful evenings with the Headmistress, though he would never admit it. Not even under threat of the cruciatus curse. Minerva made for a good drinking buddy. She could hold her liquor, typically had the expensive stuff and much like Severus, she usually did not feel the need to fill the silence with banal chatter.
"Severus, what is bothering you?" Minerva suddenly asked, drawing furrowed brows from the surly man.
"What do you mean?" Severus' tone was flat.
"Your mind is constantly elsewhere. Even more so than usual so I know it can't be Voldemort, what is it?" Minerva raised a brow, taking a sip of her vintage Ogden's Firewhiskey.
Severus let out a deep sigh, rubbing his exhausted eyes with his free hand. He had a strong love-hate relationship with how easily Minerva could read him. It was nice having someone who could understand by just once glance. It was also misery when that person was a strong willed Gryffindor who had the tendency to mother him.
"My search for Sera's daughter is not going well." Severus softly admitted.
"You're still looking?" Minerva's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Of course!" Severus snapped. "Sera was a good friend of mine and I'm the one who helped her flee. I can only imagine what she thought when I didn't return."
"Severus, it was not your fault." Minerva softly reminded him, her eyes drifting up to the sleeping portrait of her predecessor. She knew Dumbledore was not sleeping, but merely faking it, taking the cowardly way out as opposed to facing Severus and the man's harsh words.
"I promised I would help her, Minerva! I swore to Sera that I would return and help her and I didn't. She was left alone and look what happened? She ended up killing herself and leaving her daughter Merlin knows where." Severus downed his drink in one large swig, slamming the glass on Minerva's desk before rising and pacing. It was becoming a very frequent habit of his. Pacing to prevent himself from hexing someone or something into oblivion.
"Severus, you had your memory blocked. There was nothing you could do. It was not your fault that Miss Serpens took her own life. You mustn't blame yourself for this." Minerva delicately scolded the man.
Severus stopped his pacing with his back to Minerva, shoulders slumping slightly. The logical part of his mind told him it wasn't his fault. It reminded him constantly that he could not help the charm that was placed upon him. It did not help the guilt he felt in his heart though. Seraphina Serpens had been the first friend he made in Slytherin. Despite being of a noble pure-blood family, she had accepted the half-blood boy and developed a strong friendship with him. She was the only friend who never turned her back on him or allowed him to push her away. He couldn't even say that about Lily Evans, the woman who at one point owned his heart.
"I can't stop. Not until I find her." Severus painfully whispered before storming from Minerva's office, slamming the door behind him.
"I hope you are proud of yourself, Albus." Minerva sneered at the now awake portrait.
"There is much Severus does not understand about Miss Serpens." Dumbledore responded flatly, his eyes focused on the door Severus had gone through.
"What does that mean?" Minerva approached the painting, crossing her arms and pursing her lips.
"He cannot find Miss Serpens' daughter because she does not live." Minerva gasped at Dumbledore's admission, her wrinkled hand covering her mouth.
"How can you know that?"
Dumbledore turned to face Minerva, his normally very bright eyes looking old and dull, clouded by painful knowledge.
"Because I was there when Miss Serpens threw her daughter from the very cliff she then jumped from." Dumbledore smiled sadly at the elder witch before quietly exiting his portrait.