A/N: Thank you all so much for your continued support and all your kind words.

Chapter Three

It was almost midnight, and Theo was pacing in front of the fireplace in the common room. It had been nearly a week since he'd found out that his sister was alive and living a life out in the world somewhere, and Theo was nowhere near figuring out anything about her. He was livid with himself, and his friends, if you could call them that, were being absolutely useless. Draco was more concerned about the bloody marriage contract. The fucker couldn't stop moaning about how he was stuck marrying some girl he didn't even know. Theo had nearly kicked him three days before.

"What if she's terrible looking?" Draco had asked.

Theo stopped in the hall outside of charms. "What?"

"Your sister? What if she's a cow? I mean, it would be a bit difficult to get past, you know?"

Theo glared at Draco. Even though he knew nothing about his sister, even her name, he still felt oddly protective of her. "Draco, you are my best mate, but I suggest you rethink your line of questions, before I cause you serious harm that would make your aunt's crucios look like child's play."

Draco hadn't made one comment about her potential appearance since.

Pansy on the other hand, had done nothing but laugh at the two boys for the first two days, then asked nothing but completely useless questions. In fact, Theo was pretty sure that Pansy had been egging Draco on with the questions about her appearance.

"Keep pacing like that, and the elves are going to have to replace the carpet." Pansy said, not actually looking at Theo, turning the page on her romance novel, while she sat on the couch.

Theo stopped pacing and glared at her. "You know, you could offer a suggestion that is helpful. Asking me questions about her personality when we don't even know her bloody name isn't helping any of this!" He resumed pacing, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Pansy earmarked the page she was on, and shut her book. "Who was born first?"

"What?" Theo stopped dead in his tracks.

"Who. Was. Born. First?" Pansy asked, enunciating every word as though she were speaking to a person who didn't speak English.

Theo shook his head. "Does it matter?"

Pansy shrugged. "It might. The Nott line is patrilineal, so anything from the Nott line would have passed to you automatically, but did your mother have anything when she married your dad? If she was born first, it might have passed to her if she didn't have a will."

Theo was dumbstruck. "I- I can't remember. Dad wasn't in the room, only Mum and…"

"Remember something?" Pansy asked smugly.

Theo snapped his fingers. "Mipsy, my mum's elf. She was there. She was the one who told dad that I was alright but that my sister had died just after being born."

Pansy relaxed back into the sofa, draping both her arms across the back. "So there is someone who might know something. Now all you have to do is ask the elf. You know, the one who has never followed a single bloody order from you in your whole life." She finished with a smirk.

Theo looked aghast. "You think that she might not be my elf? That she might belong to my…"

"Sister?" Pansy chuckled. "It would explain quite a bit of her behavior."

Theo blanched. "That would mean she knew. And she lied to us."

Pansy nodded her head. "Maybe it was her orders. She might just have been following them."

Theo looked at her for a long minute, then, "Mipsy?"

A small crack sounded through the room. "Master Theo called?"

Theo looked at Mipsy, and then back at Pansy, suddenly at a loss for words. How could he possibly think that Mipsy might have lied to him. She'd cared for his mother when she'd been a prisoner in her own home. When his mother had died, she'd raised Theo up to be the man Emily wanted him to become. He'd trusted her his whole life, and now he was thinking that Mipsy might have lied for his whole life.

"I don't know why you're looking at me." Pansy snapped at him. "I can't answer your questions."

Mipsy tilted her head. "What does Master Theo want?"

Theo swallowed nervously, then stood up straight. "Mipsy, who was born first? Me or my sister?"

Mipsy looked down at the ground. "Master's birth order doesn't matter. It will only upset him."

Theo looked at Pansy, who had leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees, face in her palms, interest clearly piqued.

"Mipsy." Theo began slowly. "Who do you belong to?"

Mipsy looked up at Theo, tears brimming in her eyes. "I belongs to my mistress."

"Your mistress has been dead for ten years. Which means you should belong to me." Theo said in a low voice.

Mipsy shook her head, her ears flapping. "I do not belong to you Master Theo. I belong to my mistress." Tears had begun to fall, her voice shaking as she responded to Theo.

Theo was at a loss for words.

"The baby girl. Theo's sister. Is she your mistress?" Pansy asked gently.

Mipsy looked from both Theo and Pansy, and she let out a wail, and immediately ran towards the marble fireplace.

Theo sprang into action and grabbed the little elf before she could begin punishing herself.

"Mipsy!" He shouted, struggling to hold her. "Please, for the love of Merlin, don't punish yourself."

"Mistress Emily said to hide her! She said she wouldn't be safe! And then she told Mipsy to never tell!" Mipsy cried. "Mipsy has failed if you knows about her!"

Theo looked up at Pansy, a helpless look on his face. Pansy shrugged her shoulders, and shook her head silently, just as bewildered as Theo. "What did Mistress Emily order you to do?" She asked tentatively.

This only seemed to set Mipsy off more.

"Alright, alright, alright! You don't have to tell us! Just please stop crying!" Theo said exasperatedly.

It took a couple of minutes but Mipsy eventually calmed down, her cries minimized to just the occasional hiccup. After she seemed to have calmed down enough, Theo took his arms from around her, and let them hang at his sides.

"Mipsy, did my mother order you to hide my sister? If she did, you didn't fail. My father never bothered to cancel the marriage contract between her and Draco. He must have believed you when she said she was dead." Theo said gently.

Mipsy nodded her head silently. Theo closed his eyes and pinched his nose between his fingers. He could feel a migraine coming on. If his mother had ordered Mipsy to take his sister away, he could do nothing to force Mipsy to reveal where she was.

"So you can't tell us where you put her, correct?" Pansy asked Mipsy.

Mipsy nodded again.

Pansy nodded her head thoughtfully. "Theo's father never named the baby girl. Did your mistress?"

Mipsy nodded once again.

"What was her name? Can you at least tell us that?"

Theo's eyes flew open, and he looked at Mipsy, hopeful for the first time all week.

Mipsy's voice quivered. "Mistress Emily named her Hermione. She insisted on her being named Hermione."

Theo's jaw dropped. It wasn't the most common name in the world, especially in their world. Finding someone with that name would have been next to impossible, but Theo had a sinking feeling that his search might be over within a few hours.

While all the color had drained from Pansy's face, she at least could manage words still. "Thank you Mipsy. That's all."

The elf bowed her head and then left with a pop.

Pansy turned to look at Theo, horror in her eyes. "Please tell me that your sister isn't-"

"Theo's sister isn't who?" Draco asked. He'd been in the library for most of the night, and neither of the pair had heard him come back in. "Did you find something out?" He looked back and forth between the two.

"We think," Pansy started, then trailed off, looking at Theo for help.

Theo stood up from where he'd been kneeling to deal with Mipsy. "It appears, my sister was born first, and inherited Mipsy from my mother."

Draco looked at the duo, stunned. "You're kidding me."

Theo shook his head. "That's not all."

"It isn't?"

Pansy shook her head. "Not by a dragon's breath."

Theo sighed, and threw Pansy a look to indicate she was not making the situation easier for him. "It would seem, that my mother named her, and Mipsy must have made sure that my mum got what she wanted. Apparently her name is Hermione."

Draco felt his stomach drop to the floor. "You're kidding, right?"

When neither Slytherin responded to the contrary, he ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Well, what are the chances of it being," he swallowed, his mouth seemingly having dried up, "of it being Granger?"

Pansy snorted. "Right, because there are so many witches named Hermione."

Theo dropped to the ground again, face in his hands, and groaned, saying something that neither Pansy or Draco could understand.

"You're going to have to speak up Theodore." Pansy said in a sing songy voice.

Theo lifted his head from his hands. "She hates us." He looked up at Draco. "She hates you! And for good reason! And- fuck! She's betrothed to you, and was tortured in your bloody house, and dear Merlin, she's not going to accept any of this. And she'll have a whole team of Weasley's ready to kill us both."

Draco shook his head. "We could just not tell her."

Pansy snorted. "Good luck with that. You realize that even if you don't tell her now, if she goes and tries to get married, and she is in fact your sister, the contract will stop any and all marriage plans?"

Draco and Theo both looked at Pansy. "Mind if I buy a ticket to the show for when you idiots tell her that she's not actually a muggleborn, and she's actually from two of the longest lines in pureplood culture? Because I want to witness whatever she does to you."

Theo felt a shudder go down his spine. He could just tell that this was going to go absolutely terribly for him.