It was a quiet morning as Draco and Amethyst headed downstairs. They grabbed a bit of breakfast before heading into Diagon Alley. Amethyst did more of her shopping alone. She had noticed Draco seemed distant but she didn't press. If he wanted to talk about what was troubling him, he would. They did head into Ollivander's together, but, unfortunately, the result was the same as it had been.

"If you bring me high quality materials, I should be able to make you one. I've never had someone struggle so much with finding a wand. You must be very unique." Ollivander said to Amethyst as they left the shop.

"Highly doubt that." Amethyst muttered after Draco closed the door. "The Owl Emporium is the last shop I want to go to." She headed toward the shop not expecting Draco to go with her.

"I've called for my driver to meet us in front of the Leaky Cauldron in two hours, but there's no rush." Draco said. Even his voice sounded off.

"Okay." She replied in kind and continued to the Owl Emporium. They didn't speak again until they entered the shop. "I received word that there was an injured Barn Owl or two." Amethyst said to the shop owner.

"Yes, since we sent that first letter, Ms. Abbott, we've received a second one. One male and one female by the looks of it. Only about a year old each, I'd say." The shop owner placed two owl cages on the counter. One owl was darker in color. She had golden brown, tan, and dark grey feathers on her head, back, and wings. The other owl was much lighter in color with cream, light brown, and pale grey feathers on his head, back, and wings.

"I'll take both." Amethyst said. The female owl had one of her wings splinted to her body and the male owl had a leg splinted to his body. "How much?"

"Consider them a gift from Hagrid, Ms. Abbott." The shop owner covered each cage and handed them to Amethyst. They were pushed outside before Amethyst had a chance to protest. Draco took one for the caged from her as they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to pack and grab lunch before heading Godric's Hollow. They walked in silence but it wasn't a comfortable silence.

"…" Amethyst opened her mouth to say something but quickly rethought that when she looked at Draco. He was already now several steps in front of her as though he really didn't want to be seen with her. She didn't understand it. They sat down at a table in the busy section of the Leaky Cauldron and ordered a couple of sandwiches. The silence continued as Amethyst refused to break it. She was reminded of Draco's sixth year at Hogwarts. The year he became a Death Eater and accepted the task of killing Dumbledore. He had been distant then too. Just like he was being now. Her eyes burned with unshed, angry tears. She stood up from the table and headed upstairs to grab her bag. He was still sitting at the table when she returned. Not once had he even looked in her direction, not even now as she slammed her bag on the table. "I'll take the bus, don't bother…" She hissed before storming out of the pub. She was struggling to hold the tears at bay.

"My driver is here." Draco came up beside her.

"I said don't bother." She hissed again and started to walk away from him. He grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards the car. The driver loaded their stuff while Draco gently forced her into the back. She slid over to the other side and pressed herself as close to the door as possible.

"What's the address?" Draco asked. He looked over at her. Her hair was damp from the mist outside and it was concealing her face from him. "What's the address?" He repeated but still received no answer from her. He pulled out his phone and looked up her father's registered address in Godric's Hollow. He relayed it to his driver and then they were off. He was being an idiot, he knew that, but he didn't really know how else to be at the moment. The ride to Godric's Hollow was silent, but Draco thought he heard a few shaky breaths and a couple muffled sobs from Amethyst.

"You don't have to stay." Amethyst finally spoke. Her voice was hoarse and cold. He knew she was angry at him. That's what he had wanted so he couldn't understand the desire to change that.

"I said I would, so I will." Draco replied. He wasn't going to change anything. He wanted her angry with him - it would be better that way. She deserved better than him.

"Whatever." She muttered and then fell silent again. After a couple of hours, they pulled up outside Amethyst's house. She hurried into the house as Draco followed behind with their stuff.

"Amethyst, I…" Draco started to say but she turned on him.

"You what?" Anger burned in her eyes but there was something else there too. It flickered only for a moment but that was long enough for Draco's heart to sink. Hurt. The one thing he hadn't wanted to do; the one thing he swore not to do, he'd done. He'd hurt her. She stood there with her arms folded across her chest waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry." It was all he could say. Nothing else came to him and he knew it wasn't going to be enough this time.

"Right." She sounded defeated. She set the two owl cages on the coffee table. She checked to make sure they had traveled okay and placed food and water in each cage. She was rebuilding the walls around herself; she was going to guard her heart from breaking any further. "You can take the room at the top of the stairs." She said without looking at him. She headed towards a door off the entryway. Once inside her bedroom, the floodgates opened and the tears rushed down her cheeks.

"…" Draco stood outside her bedroom door listening to the muffled sobs. He made his feet move towards the stairs. He had to fight the urge to comfort her… not that he thought she'd let him. He climbed the stairs slowly and opened the door at the top. It had been her father's room from the looks of it. There were pictures of a woman who looked a lot like Amethyst, that he figured it had to be her mother. There were no pictures of Amethyst anywhere. He sat on the bed and replayed the morning over in his head. He had woken that morning determined to make Amethyst hate him, to prove that she was better off without him; that she deserved better. He knew she could feel the distance he was putting between them. He hated himself. She had given him an out. He didn't have to stay and, in truth, he probably shouldn't. He just couldn't make himself leave. Even though he was creating this distance, the last thing he wanted was to be away from her. Voices downstairs pulled him from his thoughts and he headed back down stairs cautiously.

"Aunt Violet, this is Draco…" Amethyst started to introduce him as he entered the parlor.

"I know very well who he is." The older woman standing next to Amethyst glared at Draco. "He looks like his father." Her expression softened a bit and Draco noticed the same violet eyes Amethyst had. "But I hear you are so very different from him these days. I was sorry to hear about your wife."

"Thank you. I hope you don't mind that I'm here." Draco nodded slightly to her. He glanced at Amethyst who was staring into the distance, not seeming aware of what was going on.

"Not at all." The woman looked between Draco and her niece. She sensed something was going on but didn't bring it up. "My brother changed after his wife died. He wasn't at all the same person I knew." Draco had thought she might have been married to an Abbott, but this meant Amethyst's eyes came from her dad's family. There were some differences though. Now that Violet was more in the light, he could see that her eyes were a muddy violet, rather than the bright, clear violet of her niece's eyes. "Amethyst, there is a lot that you don't know. About your father, but also about your mother." She motioned for them to sit. Amethyst sat on one end of the couch, Draco sat on the other, and Violet took the arm chair.

"What?" Amethyst was mindlessly stroking Orion who was curled on her lap.

"The family believed it best to keep certain things about your parents from you until there came a time we couldn't any longer." Violet figured Amethyst would be upset by this. "I guess that time has come."

"Aunt Violet, what's going on?" Amethyst tensed. Draco nearly had to sit on his hands to keep himself from reaching for her hand. Amethyst continued to pet Orion to keep herself from reaching for the man sitting next to her. Her aunt explained about their happy childhood and how her father was always laughing and making other's laugh. He had been sorted into Hufflepuff at Hogwarts and things were going well. He'd joined the Ministry after finishing school, but that hadn't lasted very long. He, then, decided to travel across Europe for a while.

"That's when he met your mother. She had been living in Scotland with her parents. They dated only a couple months before they got engaged and only a couple more before they married." Violet took a deep breath and looked deep into her niece's eyes. What she was about to admit would change Amethyst's whole knowledge about her lineage. "I know you were told that your mother was a muggle."

"Yes, Dad told me when I was old enough to understand." Amethyst confirmed but with some confusion.

"We knew differently, however, your father had reason to lie and we had reason to continue with that lie. Those reasons only grew more serious when Voldemort returned." Violet pulled something out of her purse. "This document is your real birth certificate. Your mother was Illyana Karkaroff. Her father was Boris Karkaroff and her mother was Rachel Avery. Pure-bloods. Rachel belonged to one of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' and Boris was related to Igor Karkaroff." Violet looked between Draco and Amethyst.

"My mother was a pure-blood witch?" Amethyst asked. She was looking over her birth certificate and trying to wrap her mind around everything.

"Did Boris attend Durmstrang Institute?" Draco asked.

"Yes. Both he and Rachel were fascinated by the Dark Arts. Many of us, my brother included, believed them to be supporters of the Dark Lord. I don't think either were Death Eaters though." Violet explained. "When Illyana became pregnant, her parents were furious. Her father disowned her. Your parents were already married by then and I think her family only tolerated Alexander because he was also from one of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight.' Illyana turned her back on the Dark Arts lifestyle that her parents loved. It was even more important when she found out that she was having a baby; she didn't want her child raised in that environment." She glanced at Draco and could tell he was thinking about his own childhood.

"If my mother was a witch, why wasn't I told?" Amethyst asked. She wasn't sure if she was angry that she had been lied to.

"To protect you." Violet said simply. "Alexander made his in-laws believe, at least for a while, that both mother and child died in childbirth. Somehow they realized the truth, but by then they couldn't prove that you were their granddaughter. You were registered as a half-blood, born to a muggle mother who died in childbirth."

"What's the full truth about her death?" Amethyst stood and walked over to the window.

"Blood curse." Violet knew this bit of information would cause a reaction from both.

"What?" Draco and Amethyst said at the same time. Draco looked at Amethyst as panic coursed through him.

"Carried through the Avery line. I received a letter a couple of years ago from Rachel. Boris had died and she wanted her granddaughter to know the truth. However, I didn't receive the letter until after Alexander died. I know I should have told you sooner, there's no excuse." Violet walked over to her niece. "It has not carried to you."

"How do you know?" Amethyst shook her head and looked at her aunt.

"Rachel was detailed about the curse. She explained that it only appeared in the family every tenth generation. She also said that if you had it, the signs would have presented when you were a child. You had a very strong and healthy childhood." Violet explained.

"Did Dad know?" Amethyst wondered.

"No. Your mother never told him about the curse. He believed she died from childbirth. He was a different man after that. He blamed you, but also himself for her death. I think he blamed himself mostly."

"But he tried to have me killed and then gave me a cursed want…" Amethyst scoffed.

"He was desperate. He owed a lot of people a lot of money. I'm not saying he was justified - never could be - but he wasn't thinking straight. After his wife's death, he shut out anything that reminded him of her… especially you. He practically stayed drunk after Illyana died." Violet shook her head and squeezed Amethyst's hands.

"The best thing he did was to bring me here to be raised by you and Uncle Tim. Well, I guess, also making it seem I was a half-blood." Amethyst smiled weakly at her aunt.

"It's getting late. We can talk more tomorrow. There's a cottage pi's in the fridge if you want to heat it up for supper. Tim made is specially for you." Violet kissed her niece on the forehead, said good night to Draco, and then left.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked after a few minutes.

"I'm… I'm not sure." Amethyst answered. "It's a lot to digest. I feel like my whole world had just been turned upside down. Pure-blood. Grandparents who embraced the Dark Arts. Blood curse. I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

"It is a lot to process. I'll heat up the cottage pie. You should eat something." Draco said as he headed for the kitchen. Amethyst hadn't eaten much for lunch so she didn't argue.

"Sorry to call so late, Ginny." She called Ginny. "Is Harry with you?" She could hear movement on the other end.

"You're on speaker. What's going on?" Harry's voice sounded worried.

"What do either of you know about a Boris Karkaroff? Or a Rachel Avery?" Amethyst wondered if the Ministry had any record of them in connection to the Death Eaters or Voldemort.

"Boris Karkaroff? He was a cousin of Death Eater Igor Karkaroff. I don't think he has any records directly tying him to Voldemort or the Death Eaters, but I haven't done much research on him." Harry answered.

"Rachel Avery is from the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' Avery family. She married Boris around the same time my Dad's parents did, I think." Ginny explained. "What's going on?"

"Does she have any direct connections to Voldemort or the Death Eaters?" Amethyst asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Not that I'm aware of. Amethyst, what is going on?" Harry repeated the question.

"Have either of you heard of a Illyana Karkaroff?" She still wasn't ready to explain.

"She was Boris and Rachel's only child. No one really knows what happened to her." Ginny explained and Amethyst could hear the worry in her voice. "Is everything okay?"

"I just learned that everything I thought I knew about my maternal family is a lie. Illyana Karkaroff was my mother. Boris and Rachel were my grandparents." She explained to them what her aunt had told her. She also said that she saw her real brith certificate. "I don't know what or how to feel right now."

"That's understandable. We'll be at Hogwarts this week if you want to talk more. We're actually heading there tomorrow. We've got some lectured and have been invited to the Halloween feast." Ginny could tell Amethyst was struggling.

"Thanks, you two. I'll see you at Hogwarts, then. Night." She hung up after they said good night. Just then, Draco entered the room.

"It's ready." It took everything in him to keep from pulling her into his arms. That all collapsed the moment she walked past him.

"Wha…" She was startled by the motion. The last thing she expected was Draco pulling her into a hug… an embrace. She only tensed for a second before wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his chest. She allowed his sent and warmth to soothe her and, for a moment, everything else was forgotten. They stood like that for a while, neither wanting to break away first. She moved and he only held her tighter. She could feel his cheek pressed against the top of her head.

"We should probably eat before it gets cold." He said, but neither made any attempt at moving. "I really am sorry for the way I acted this morning. I do have an explanation, but now may not be the right time. I was a jerk and I am truly sorry."

"Yeah, you were a jerk. And you're probably right… I don't think I can comprehend anymore truths of explanations right now." She pulled back slightly to look at him. She could see the sincerity in his pale grey eyes. "We should eat." They finally separated and headed into the kitchen.

"Are violet eyes an Abbott trait?" Draco asked as they ate.

"Yes. But even in the family they aren't common. My aunt and I are the only two we know of. Even then, my aunt's are muddier than mine; she has more of a brown base. Mine have always been more of a true violet… an amethyst." She explained. "At some point, Dad said it was because my mother had blue eyes - as did he." She pushed a couple of carrots around her plate absentmindedly.

"What are you thinking?" Draco asked softly.

"If my grandparents had direct connections to Death Eaters or Voldemort." She said honestly.

"My father only ever mentioned Igor Karkaroff. I think Mum may have mentioned a Rachel but I don't think she ever said a last name. They don't change who you are. You are still Amethyst Abbott. Hufflepuff and way too understanding at times. You are everything good because you were raised by good people. If nothing else, at least your father got that part right." He said.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?" He asked.

"That I was struggling with that." She said sheepishly. Even now it sounded ridiculous.

"I could see it in your eyes earlier. Family does influence you, but you are still the person you are because of the choices you make." He explained. "I should know… my parents are horrible and it took a lot for me to realize that I didn't have to follow them."

"Why did you act the way you did this morning?" She changed the subject, but wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Because you deserve better." Draco stood up and carried the dishes to the sink, just to give him something to do. "I laid in bed last night thinking about everything I've done and said. About being so eager to be somebody that I agreed to kill Dumbledore even though I didn't have the heart to go through with it. I wouldn't have and I know if Snape hadn't shown up when he did, I'd be dead. I did and said horrible things to a lot of people, including you. There's no way I could ever be worthy of your love or you. Even worthy of your friendship."

"Fool of a man." Her voice was soft and tender. She wasn't angry. "That's all in the past. The past can be forgiven. I think it's pretty clear that a lot of people have forgiven you. You wouldn't have been invited to Hogwarts if McGonagall hadn't forgiven you. Harry wouldn't allow Albus and Scorpius to remain friends if he hadn't forgiven you. You would not be standing in this kitchen right now if I hadn't forgiven you." She stood in front of him as he leaned against the counter. "You have to forgive yourself now. I know that's not an easy thing to do, but for yourself it must be done. If you want to move past everything you have to forgive yourself." She laid a hand over his heart. She brushed stray hair out of his face with her other hand and then looked into his pale grey eyes that glistened with unshed tears. "I love you, Draco Malfoy. Take whatever time you need, and if you find that you really don't feel the same, then that's okay. If you find that you do feel the same… well, you know where to find me." She leaned in and lightly kissed him before heading to her room for the night. After a few minutes of standing in the kitchen trying to process what just happened, Draco headed upstairs.

"'You have to forgive yourself now.'" Her words echoed in his mind as he laid in bed. "'A lot of people have forgiven you…'" He couldn't deny that. These past weeks have proven that much. He was just drifting off to sleep when he head commotion downstairs followed by a hair-raising scream. He grabbed his wand and ran downstairs to Amethyst's room.

"Draco, look out!" She yelled as he burst through the door.

"Petrificus totalus!" Draco pointed his wand at the intruder and used a full body-bind curse. "Are you okay?" He turned to Amethyst with his wand still pointed at the intruder. She moved to stand behind him as they tried to identify the intruder. Orion was growling and hissing from the bed. "Dimitri Karkaroff?" He recognized the man on the floor through his father's circle of friends.