Hello all! And happy National Star Wars Day! :D I hope you will forgive me for this chapter (as I don't like it very much, though you might disagree... but I couldn't find a way to make it any better and keep it the way I wanted to.) Oh well, thanks for reading and thanks more to Moon Lantern, wolfgirl442, MaimOrSeriouslyInjure, DragonSlayer2187 and lilyevans12681998 for reviewing the last chapter! (It's up to 42! So excited!) And also thanks to all who have favorited or followed so far! (24 and 19, respectively. Thanks! :D)

Now that that's all over with, enjoy! ( I hope... :)

Chapter 17: Dreams and Reality

I was sitting tense on the edge of my bed. Madam Pomfrey had informed only a few minutes earlier that Professor Dumbledore had decided I would be able to meet my brother. My muscles were still sore from what Madam Pomfrey had called 'magical exhaustion', but she had given me a potion to speed up my recovery, told me to stay in bed and rest (even putting a spell over my curtains to keep me from leaving), and left Elssa the house elf to watch me and make sure I didn't attempt any magic, not that I even knew how.

"Miss Leah?" Elssa said quietly, watching my agitated bouncing on the bed worriedly. "Please be careful and don't be falling down."

She looked away shyly when I glanced towards her. Realizing I was almost falling off the bed, I slid back on and attempted to keep still. I settled for fiddling with a loose thread on my sleeve.

"Am I allowed to meet him yet?" I asked for perhaps the thirtieth time.

"Not until Professor Headmaster Dumbledore is coming," Elssa said again. She cocked her head as though listening to something I couldn't hear. "He shoulds be coming in just a few moments Miss Leah ma'am. And then I will be bringing you up to his office again."

I was about to ask how she knew, but at that moment the Hospital Wing doors opened and Elssa suddenly had her small hand wrapped around my wrist and apparated us up to Dumbledore's office.

The unexpected apparition made me extremely nauseous and I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to keep my lunch down. "What- what was t-that for?" I gasped out, still struggling to control my roiling insides.

"Elssa was told to be making sure Miss Leah didn't use any of her owns magic, Miss. And Professor Dumbledore was telling Elssa when exactly to be bringing you up to his office so no one would be being suspicious," she said, suddenly looking wary. "Miss Leah isn't angry, is she? I is being very sorry Miss Leah!"

I couldn't get out any more words because of my stomach, and Elssa's eyes filled with tears and she began to sob. "Elssa is being a bad elf! Elssa is sorry Miss Leah! Elssa is being very sorry!" She began to pound her fists into her head in anger.

My nausea finally started to subside and I comforted the small elf, assuring her that it was fine and I understood. "Are you still supposed to stay with me?" I asked, once she had gathered herself.

"Yes Miss Leah. I is to be watching you until Professor Dumbledore comes in a few minutes with Miss Leah's brother."

I nodded absently, suddenly worried about the meeting with my brother. I had been looking forward to meeting the only remaining member of my family face to face since I had heard about him, but I now wondered if he was looking forward to meeting me. Was Dumbledore telling him about me? Did he already know who I was, that I was his twin sister? Would I live up to his expectations?

I sank down into the same chair I had sat in just earlier that morning, though it felt like ages had passed. My muscles were starting to ache again, so I rubbed out my arms as Madam Pomfrey had told me to do. Apparently it got the rampant magic that had somehow gotten stuck moving again. "It is similar to lack of blood flow that made your legs or arms 'fall asleep' or the build up of lactic acid after exercise," she had said while digging her fingers into a spot behind my neck that was particularly painful. "You need to exercise, massage them or stretch them to get the right balance of magic in your body again."

The door to the office creaked open and I stood up quickly, spinning around and nearly falling over as I did. I found myself looking at my brother who looked very nervous, followed closely by Professor Dumbledore.

Green found green as Harry and I made eye contact. Harry was frozen in the doorway, looking relieved, surprised and amazed all at the same time. Professor Dumbledore swept past him and took his place at the desk behind me from what I could hear, but my gaze was fixed solely on the black-haired boy before me. I examined his eyes, nose, ears, hair and face, wanting to take in everything I could. I could tell that he was doing the same.

"You look-"

"I've wanted-"

We both spoke at the same time, then stopped. He flushed a light pink and I could tell from the heat that my cheeks were reddening as well. I nodded and gave a little gesture for him to speak.

He bit his lip, seemingly hesitant to say anything. "You-you're my sister?"

I nodded, turning my eyes to the ground and bringing my hand up to mess with the loose thread on my sleeve once more. My questions came back – namely, would I live up to his expectations?

He paused and I looked up, wondering if he was going to say anything else. He didn't, but continued to stare at every inch of my face, as if lost in a daze. He took a step closer, allowing the door to close silently behind him. "You look just like- just like our mum."

Tears came to my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. "Do I?"

He said I looked like my mum. Would I be able to meet her? My dad? I suddenly wondered where they were. Wouldn't they know I was missing? Wouldn't Dumbledore had told them they had found me? Why hadn't they picked me up from the orphanage? Did they even want me?

I pushed that last thought away forcefully, but more and more questions came up into my head that I hadn't been thinking about before. I was so preoccupied that I nearly missed his next words as he nodded his head in earnest.

"Yeah, I've known it for a while, I just didn't know who you were…" He looked down suddenly, as though ashamed.

"How did you know?" I asked, confused. "I didn't even know you existed until two or three days ago."

"Well," he began, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, not meeting my eyes. "I've been having dreams about… about you since August, actually."

August... l was captured by the Death Eaters in August! I unconsciously took a step back. My throat was dry. "Does that mean you- you saw-"

He nodded, wincing at my small gasp. I gulped shakily. I hadn't wanted anyone to know the exact details of my torture. Ever. It was like an invasion of my privacy. Of my deepest, darkest secrets.

"But how did you see it?" I asked, needing to know. He might be my twin, but I still didn't necessarily want him to know every detail of my life. How could he have seen into Voldemort's fortress? I myself had seen the strict security measures observed even by his highest-ranking Death Eaters

Harry looked behind me (toward Dumbledore, I realized) anxiously, as if asking permission. I turned to see the Headmaster's response. Dumbledore nodded, though the twinkle I had noticed in his blue eyes before was dimmed slightly.

I turned back to Harry, a question in my eyes. He still looked uncomfortable, even though Dumbledore had apparently given him allowance to tell me whatever it was.

"I-I have a sort of connection with Voldemort-" he started, hurriedly continuing when he saw the look on my face. "It was because of what happened when we were little, because when Voldemort tried to kill me he made a connection between us and it lets me see into his mind when he's feeling really angry."

I was silent, trying to digest the information, before realizing something. "Hang on- Voldemort tried to kill you when you were little?" I all but shouted. I whipped around to stare at Professor Dumbledore, who seemed to be avoiding eye contact. "Why didn't you say anything about this?"

"He didn't tell you about it?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No. What happened?" I asked, practically forgetting the Headmaster in my desire to know why a madman would target a child.

He told me the story, painful as I knew it must have been for him to tell it. It felt as though a fist was clenching tighter and tighter as he continued and I sunk yet again into the hard wooden chair. The Headmaster had kept this from me? I had been entertaining notions of finally meeting my parents, of having a mum and dad and brother – a family, all my own.

And my parents had been dead for fourteen years. Killed by a lunatic who had then kidnapped me.

"Leah?" Harry questioned, taking a few steps toward me. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head, my breath coming in short bursts. He came closer and, when I didn't say anything to the contrary, placed a hand on my shoulder. I relaxed by a fraction, but still felt waves of anger toward the Headmaster.

"Leah?" Harry asked again, sounding very worried.

I stood up abruptly, holding back tears that desperately wanted to fall. I gave Harry a tight hug, and in doing so realized how much taller he was than me. I then glared at the Headmaster furiously and opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but thought better of it as I felt the somewhat-familiar feeling of magic prickling under my skin, causing my muscles to get more sore with each passing moment. A few more moments and I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself. I released Harry and stormed out the door, down the spiral staircase and off to who-knows-where in the castle.

Harry gazed after her, open-mouthed for a moment, then rounded on the headmaster. "Why in the world didn't you tell her?" he yelled furiously, disregarding the older man's attempts to speak. "You say she only just found out about me two days ago and you didn't even tell her that her-that our parents are dead?!"

His temper was boiling over now, and he was having difficulty controlling himself. His wand was out and pointing at the Headmaster shakily before he knew what he was doing, and he took a step back in surprise, breathing hard.

"Um-well, sorry about that…" Harry said, lowering his wand slowly. He turned his head to look toward the door. "I'm-I'm going to try and find her. You might want to get Snape though," his mouth crinkled into the smallest of frowns, not entirely comfortable with the man's strange behavior over the last twenty four hours. "He seems to understand her at least."

And one Albus Dumbledore found himself in a conspicuously empty office.

Teenage angst! :P Hehe... poor Leah and Harry. I don't feel sorry for Dumbledore, but this is not going to become a bashing of him. I honestly think that with all that was going on, he totally forgot about not telling her...

Though that is quite a large oversight to make.

Well, tell me how you liked it! (Or didn't like it.) And why! (Or why not.) (And can anyone come up with a better name for this chapter... right now it's too cliche, but I'm too tired to think of something better... sleep deprivation is irritating. :P)

REVIEW! :D

Oh, and I might not make my deadline next week. :( I have two AP exams to study for that are coming up (Chem and US Gov and Politics) and those, along with regular school that's still going on, is almost definitely going to hold me back a bit. :( I will try to post ASAP after that though! :)

May the Fourth (or what's left of it at least) be with you! :D