Severus paused briefly, wondering where he should start. With how upset he knew she was, he was lucky that she had decided to hear him out. He decided that starting at the very beginning was the best idea, so he opened his mouth and proceeded to do something he had only done twice in his life: he told her everything about him. He started with how horrible his childhood was: his father was an abusive drunk and his mother didn't care enough to do anything about it. He was a loner that no one liked until he met Lily. When he left for Hogwarts Lily was his only friend and he had expected that it would stay that way. Luckily for him, his expectation was wrong, because right after his sorting he sat down next to one Narcissa Black.

Right from the start, Narcissa was his friend. She was a bit older than he was but that never mattered to her. They bonded at the Slytherin table on that first day after she defended him against some boys who had already started to make fun of him. He fell in love with her that day, not like he loved Lily, but like one loved a sister. They stayed close until she graduated Hogwarts. The years that followed Narcissa leaving Hogwarts were bad for him. Not only was Narcissa gone, but he had pushed Lily away when he called her a mudblood. He was all alone. He told Hermione how Narcissa would send him sweets and letters in order to cheer him up.

"You have to understand, Narcissa never cared about blood purity. She hated the way that her family was and the fact that both Andromeda and Sirius were disowned. She wanted to stand up to her family, but in the end she just didn't have it in her. So she did what was expected of her and married Lucius. It just about killed her when she learned that Black died. The mutt was always her favorite, even if she couldn't show it."

He finally looked up at Hermione then and saw that she was staring at him with a look of shock on her face. He could tell she was dying to ask questions. He merely held up his hand, silently asking her to keep quiet for now.

He went on. He skipped the part about when he joined the Death Eaters as she already knew that. What she didn't know, however, was that Narcissa had begged both himself and Lucius to reconsider. He was too angry at the world by that point and he, regrettably, did not listen. Lucius was forced by his father, regardless of what Narcissa wanted. He saw Hermione's shock increase at the thought that Lucius had not wanted to be a Death Eater.

"Are you trying to tell me that Lucius Malfoy doesn't care about how pure one's blood is?" she couldn't help but blurt out.

"I didn't say that. He did hold those beliefs, but he did not agree with Voldemort's methods. He did not think that killing off all muggles and muggleborns was a good idea."

"And what does he think now?"

"That's something you'd have to ask him."

She glared at him after he wouldn't answer that question. He just glared back and went on with his tale. Narcissa had been getting increasingly nervous about her husband's and his, her honorary brother's, activities as Death Eaters. There were reports in the Daily Prophet constantly and the wizarding world was entering a dark time. It was then that she found out she was pregnant.

"She came to see me, you know. After she had told Lucius she showed up on my doorstep with tears silently streaming down her face. As soon as I asked her what was wrong, she burst out sobbing. She told me she was pregnant. I admitted to being confused over her caterwauling as I knew she had desperately wanted children. She acknowledged that she was ecstatic at the fact that she was pregnant and with twins."

He paused there to look up at the sound of something crashing to the floor. Hermione had conjured a glass of water at some point during his story, and it had just slipped out of her hand.

"Twins?" she whispered.

"Yes, twins."

"That didn't even occur to me. I just assumed I was older than him. I guess that means today is not my birthday."

"Your real birthday is June 5th."

"Well, that's certainly something to think about. If Narcissa was so happy to be pregnant, why was she so upset?"

"I don't think that part of the story is best coming from me, but I can tell you that she had begged Lucius to leave the Death Eaters again and he refused, stating it was more dangerous to leave than to stay. She was extremely worried for the safety of her family."

He heard Hermione sigh heavily. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why are you telling me all of this? What do you want from me?"

"The only thing I want from you is for you to be happy. I told you this because Narcissa is not who you think she is. If she was, she wouldn't have bothered saving your dunderheaded friend. I don't expect you to go running into anyone's arms; I just want you to think about having a conversation with her. That's it."

"No promises, but I'll think about it. And I certainly make no promises about Lucius or Draco, even if he is my twin."

"Thank you. I must take my leave now, I'll see you soon, goddaughter," he said with a smirk.

"Whatever you say, Uncle Sev," she replied with amusement. He gave her a small smile before turning and walking out of her room. As soon as he was gone, Hermione dropped her head into her hands. The discussion with Severus was a lot for her to take in. There was no way she was just going to jump right into being a Malfoy and pretend everything was just peachy. It wasn't, and quite frankly, she wasn't sure if it ever would be. If it ever was, it was going to take a long time for her to get to that point. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad with Narcissa, but it was hard for her to imagine having a father/daughter relationship with Lucius Malfoy.

With another sigh she got up and decided to go see Harry. She found him in the kitchen, reading the Daily Prophet. He looked up as she walked in and he was barely able to suppress being startled. It was going to take a bit of time for him to get used to her new look. She plopped down in the chair next to him and gave him what he called her 'why me?' look. He dragged his chair over to be closer to her, flung his arm around her shoulders, and gave her a squeeze.

"It's going to be okay. You know I'm here for you, right? I don't care who you are related to or that you now look like the ferret."

She snorted at that and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Harry. I'm not sure what I would do without you."

"Have a nice chat with the bat?"

"Harry, really! Would it kill you to be nice?"

"Just kidding with you. But really, everything all right?"

"He's my godfather, you know."

"Yeah? I can't say I'm all that surprised considering he is Malfoy's as well."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do here, Harry."

"For once, don't think about what you are supposed to do. Think about what you want to do."

She looked up at him with a smile.

"When did you get so smart?"

"Don't know. You must have finally rubbed off on me," he said with a laugh. "You can think about it while we eat. I made your favorite and you must be hungry."

She nodded and he got up to grab the food he had under warming charms. They were quiet as they ate, both lost in their own thoughts. Soon after, Harry got up from the table, making an excuse about prior plans. He always knew when she needed to be alone. She got up as well and decided to go to the library. It was, predictably, her favorite room in the house. It was also the most comfortable room in the house, so they hadn't changed much about it. She picked a book off a shelf and sunk down into her favorite leather chair. It was old and worn and the most comfortable chair one would ever sit in. It was situated right across from the fireplace so that you could feel the heat from the fire on your skin. She especially loved it because it was Sirius's favorite chair and she always thought warmly of him whenever she sat in it. As she opened the book to begin reading, a realization had her quickly closing it again. Sirius had been her birth mother's cousin! While the two of them had their issues, she had always felt as though he was an uncle or something of the sort to her. It saddened her that he hadn't lived to realize that she was related to him as she had a feeling he would have gotten a kick out of it. A sense of loss that she hadn't felt in awhile washed over her. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face once more. She cried for Sirius, her adoptive parents, her lost relationships, and even the Malfoys. She turned to stare into the fire and cried herself back to sleep.

As Severus left Grimmauld Place he considered going back to see Narcissa but decided against it. Instead, he would return home and send her an owl. He knew that Narcissa liked to be alone when she was really upset. It seemed her daughter had inherited that from her. When he got home, he sat down to write out the letter.

Narcissa,

I spoke with Cassiopeia. I have not told her everything as I believe some things she should hear from you. I truly think that she'll come around, at least towards you. Have patience and I'll see you soon.

Severus

The thought of giving Narcissa at least some hint of just who her daughter was crossed his mind. He ultimately decided against it, believing she should hear it from Hermione. He was really unsure of how she was going to take it. Devastated was his first guess.

One Week Later

Harry stood outside of Hermione's door, debating whether to knock or leave her alone. She had been acting like a zombie ever since finding out her true heritage, and he was worried about her. Not that he could blame her. Merlin knew he'd be tempted to use the Killing Curse on himself if he found out Malfoy was his brother. She had barely been eating, looked like she was hardly sleeping, and was scarcely uttering more than two words to him at a time. He raised his hand and knocked on her door. After waiting a minute and getting no response, he went to knock again when her door flung open.

He walked into her room and saw her sitting at her window, staring outside. Surrounding her, all over the floor, her desk, her bed, were what must have been hundreds of balled up pieces of parchment. With a raised eyebrow, he reached down and picked up a piece of paper. Un-crumpling it, he saw that it was the beginning of a letter to Narcissa. He assumed that was the content of the rest of the letters as well. Looking up from the letter, he glanced over to Hermione. She turned to face him and he was almost staggered at the look on her face. Anger, hurt, confusion, extreme sadness. Without a word, he strode over to her and hauled her up into a hug. She clung to him as though she was afraid that he was going to disappear forever.

"I don't know how to do this, Harry."

"Do what?"

"Write this letter. What do I say? How do I say it? I'm not even sure how I feel anymore. I think I've cried more this week than I ever have in my whole life. That's not me, Harry! I'm not that type of person!"

"Hermione. Calm down a little bit. I think it's only natural for you to feel and act a little differently than you normally would. This was a huge bombshell that was dropped on you. You don't need to do anything you don't want to do."

"I don't know if I want a relationship with them, ever. Yet after what Severus told me, I feel as though I at least owe Narcissa a sit down. I just don't want to give her false hope that one meeting means I'm going to jump right into being her daughter."

"I wouldn't worry about that at the moment. This is about you right now. If you want to talk with her, do it. Don't worry about what is or isn't going to happen afterward."

"If I decide to write her, are you okay if I invite her here? There is no way I'm stepping foot in Malfoy Manor anytime in the near future and I don't think going out in public would be a good idea."

"Of course. Anything for you, you know that."

"Thanks, Harry. You are the best. I hope you know that no matter who my birth brother is, you will always be my brother in my heart."

He kissed her forehead and released her from his arms.

"I know. Love you."

"Love you too."

He walked out of her room, leaving her to complete her letter. Hermione went over to her desk and grabbed a new piece of parchment. Dipping her eagle quill into some ink, she wrote out her note.

Narcissa,

I'm still not quite sure what to say to you. I am, however, open to hearing what you have to say to me. Please join me for lunch tomorrow at 12:30. At precisely this time, a portkey will appear that will bring you to where I am. Be advised, this portkey will be warded to bring you and only you. I will see you tomorrow.

Cassiopeia Malfoy

She wasn't certain about how she should sign her name, but she didn't want anyone else knowing who she was yet. It was probably safer to sign it with her birth name. She sealed her letter with the Potter family seal and sent it on its way with her owl, Isis. It would be interesting to see what tomorrow would bring.

A/N: Edited 10/2014 with my awesome beta, erbkaiser. Please read and review!