~Everything's Not What It Seems~

Alex and Justin are siblings sent to Hogwarts to learn about magic just like their father. There they meet new friends, fall in love, and find out that truly everything is not what it seems.

Disclaimer: J.K Rowling and Disney Channel own the right to all these character. I am only borrowing them :)

"Malfoy." Alex greeted Draco, walking towards him with a smirk.

"I don't think I've ever seen you look at me so friendly." Draco noted as she looked around her. "Nor have I seen you without your band of morons."

"There's still time for you to piss me off." She said, folding her arms over her chest, now questioning why she was entertaining a conversation with Draco Malfoy in the first place. "Shouldn't you be off stealing candy from a baby?"

"Why would I do that?" Draco's face scrunched up in confusion.

"It's what evil people do."

"I'm hardly evil." He rolled his eyes but Alex could see a strange look pass over him. One that she was all too familiar with. "I'd better get going." He turned and started to walk off but something urged Alex to follow him. "You okay, Malfoy?

"What's it to you, Russo?" He sneered as he continued to walk on ahead of her. She picked up her speed so she could match his pace. She didn't know why, but for some reason she didn't want to leave the conversation as it was.

"You just seem... upset." She replied, a frown appearing on her lips. Why did she even care?

"Shouldn't that thrill you? You can report back to Potter and his followers." Draco almost spat the second part, reminding Alex of the animosity between the two.

"I'm not exactly talking to Harry at the moment." She replied as Draco started to slow down.

He turned to her with a scowl. "Why won't you leave me be?"

"Beats me." She shrugged. "And I'd like to remind you. You found me, not the other way around." She gave him a pointed look as they continued to walk down the street. "So... you gonna tell me where you were headed?"

"Nowhere! I just needed some air." He explained, releasing a long, frustrated breath. He ran a hand through his hair.

"You wanna talk about it, Malfoy?" Alex asked him, surprising herself. A look of surprise also passed through Draco's face, but it was quickly replaced with a sneer.

"Why are you even concerned?" Draco demanded, stopping in his tracks and turning to her with an angry expression. "We aren't exactly friends!"

"No... but that expression on your face looks familiar. Like one I dawned my first year at Hogwarts. I really needed someone to talk to back then." She shrugged.

"What makes you think I want to talk to anyone, let alone you?" He scowled, looking at her in disgust.

"Stop being a jerk, Malfoy." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I haven't entirely forgiven you for the altercation between us in Snape's class."

"Like I've forgiven you for the prank?" Draco said, folding his arms over his chest.

Alex couldn't help smiling thinking back to her slime prank. She quickly hid her smile as she noticed the patience on Draco wearing thing. "Sorry, it was a joke!"

"Hilarious." He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Just leave me alone, Russo."

Draco turned away from her and charged in the opposite direction. Alex stood and watched him as he moved farther and farther away, debating whether to let him go or follow him. She should let him go. But as she watched Draco slip into a dark alley, she made up her mind and followed him. She glanced up and down the street, ensuring no one had seen her, before slipping into the alley after Draco. As she took a few steps, at first she thought she went the wrong way. There was no one in the alley. It wasn't until she saw a foot sticking out behind a stack of crates that she was sure it was Draco. Bingo.

"You're insufferable." Draco said when he spotted Alex approaching him. He was seated on the back steps of a shop, intentionally hiding behind the stacks of wooden crates that were piled against the shop's brick wall.

"Or I'm just determined." She shrugged, dropping down in the vacant space beside him. "You aren't exactly telling me to go away. I guess misery loves company."

"What makes you think I'm miserable? I'm a Malfoy."

"You're hiding in a random, dark alley by yourself. You tell me." Alex looked at him pointedly.

Malfoy didn't respond immediatly, but she could see the crack in his demeanor. "Even if I was miserable, why would I tell you?" He sneered.

"Tell me this Draco, who would you talk to about this?" Alex turned to him fully, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at him expectantly.

Draco looked back at her silently, anger flaring in his eyes. She stared back at him, challenging him to answer her. But she knew an answer would never come, because he had no one. After a few minutes of staring at each other in silence, Draco gave up. He broke eye contact and turned away from her, dropping his head in his hands. Alex heard him mumble something, but she could have sworn she heard him wrong.

"Pardon?"

Draco lifted his face from hands. "I'm not repeating myself! I can't believe I'm even telling you this."

"Wait, you're shitting me right?" Alex asked as Draco looked at her in confusion. "This isn't a joke?"

"Why would I joke about this!" Draco snarled.

Despite Alex's nature, she felt for Draco. "So... they're literally making you do it? Like not even giving you a choice?"

Draco sighed, running a hand down his face. "I'm a Malfoy... and through my mother, a Black. Both very much supporters of the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord expected his pure blood supporters to marry and produce more pure bloods to support him. I'll be old enough and as my father would do anything to appease the Dark Lord... I don't have much of a choice."

"I- I'm sorry, Draco."

Draco shrugged, attempting to hide any emotion that attempted to creep onto his face. She knew Draco was a snob when it came to blood status, but she never though about whether he even wanted to be a Death Eater. He probably wanted as little to do with all this as she did... as they all did.

"How'd you find out?"

"My mother... she was talking to my father about my lunatic aunt... I can't really say much else. But the topic came up of my aunt being present for my initiation."

"They didn't even ask you? Alex asked, despite already knowing the answer to the question. She'd heard a bit about Draco's dad from Harry and her dad. Alex was positive she didn't like the man.

Draco nodded, a frown dawning his lips. "When I confronted my mother about it, she only told me this was the way it had to be. That I had no choice and that my father knows what's best for me."

"That sucks Draco. I can't even imagine what you're going through. Not having a choice on the matter." Alex replied in sympathy.

"My father spoke so nonchalantly of it." The anger returned on Draco's face as he clenched his hands into fists. "As if he wasn't condemning me to something that would change my life entirely."

"That really sucks." Alex said, unsure what else she couldn't possibly say. Here Draco was, being forced to join nothing short of a pure blood supremacy cult, and Alex was a upset that her dad wouldn't let her join the Order to get revenge for her boyfriend.

Draco just shrugged, turning his head so he could look at the wall opposite them. "I guess you're lucky your father got disowned by the Black family. No family values to hold up."

Alex did a double take, frowning when she noticed a smug look had appeared on Draco's face. He knew. Draco turned his head to look at her directly, amusement playing in his eyes.

"How did you know?"

"I found out last summer when I visited my grandmum and grandad's estate. The Black estate. I snuck away for some air in a room that is normally kept locked and there was a tapestry on the walls-"

"The family tree." Alex nodded, recalling a call she had with her dad stating they had one in his home.

"I was very surprised to find two very familiar but also unfamiliar names under right under Sirius Black. Alex and Justin Black. Faces burned out. But I was positive of my suspicious that it was the two of you."

"Malfoy, you can't tell anyone-" She started to say. She was cut off by Draco holding out his hand to her dismissively.

"Consider it a secret between us..." Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "In exchange for keeping my secret. To other pure bloods, becoming a Death Eater is an honor. No one can know I think anything less."

"I would have never told anyone." She looked at him seriously. "It's not like anyone would believe me anyway. Hate to break it to you, but people kind of think you're evil."

Draco turned his head back to stare at the wall. The two sat in silence, unsure where to let the conversation go from there. Alex let her mind wander to this new revelation. She couldn't believe Draco knew this whole time about them being related. The two barely interacted during fourth year, with Alex mostly busy dealing with her anxiety with the impending tournament. She wondered why he hadn't revealed the truth to anyone. And why Draco hadn't revealed he knew this truth about her and Justin.

After a few wordless minutes, Draco broke the silence. "If it's any consolation, I am sorry you have to hide your lineage. And for Diggory." He said, genuinely.

Alex took a deep breath, the sting of hearing his name threatening to let the tears escape. She managed to reply to Draco, her voice wavering. "Thanks, Draco."

"Perhaps you were correct." Draco turned his head to look at her with a bitter smile. "Misery really does love company."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Goodness Alex, where the bloody hell have you been!?" Alex heard Remus say as she walked back down Diagon Alley nearly three hours later. She looked ahead to see him standing at the end of the street, a look of relief on his face.

Draco and Alex had remained in the Alley the entire time, mostly silent, but occasionally speaking to the other about Hogwarts or Draco about his mother while Alex spoke of her father. She realized Draco wasn't a terrible person, he was actually easy to talk to when he let down that angry, entitled exterior. Alex concluded that Draco's animosity towards Harry and his friends was due to loneliness. While she knew Draco had friends, she didn't think his friendships were good ones. His friends were his followers, not his equals, and when push came to shove, he couldn't rely on them to be loyal or sympathetic. She remembered Hermione's telling of their first encounter with Draco Malfoy and wondered if the true reason for their hatred was because Draco was hurt by Harry's rejection of offered friendship, and since then had been taking his anger out on the three, and any others who they befriended. Alex and Justin included.

"Alex!" Remus repeated himself as she approached him. He had an exhausted look on his face as his eyes looked up and down, inspecting her to make sure she was in one piece.

Alex crossed her arms over her chest, her mind immediately going on the defense. "What?"

The exhausted look on his face was immediately replaced by disappointment, as he shook his head at her. "Alex, we've all been worried sick. Your father wanted to risk being caught by dementors to look for you. And here you are, strolling down Diagon Alley as if nothing is a bother."

Anger flared inside of Alex at this. Nothing was a bother? She looked up at him, anger burning in her eyes. "Except something is a bother!" Surprise washed over his face at the outburst as Alex continued. "In case you forgot. No, in case you all forgot, my boyfriend died! He's dead! And this whole summer, everyone has been expecting me to get over it and move on!"

Remus looked at her in sympathy, reaching to place a hand on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged it off as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Alex... no one expects you to heal overnight. Your father lost your mother nearly fourteen years ago and he still misses her every single day." When he said this, Alex's defenses dropped slightly. She forgot her dad had been through this. Was he still in pain? Would she always be in pain?

"So you're saying it'll still hurt like this in fourteen years?" She asked in panic. She didn't think she could live the rest of this year with this pain, let alone several years ahead.

"Of course not." Remus replied, placing his hand on her shoulder again to giving it a gentle squeeze. He became visibly relieved that she didn't shrug him off this time. "The pain will get easier to bare and overtime it won't consume you to the level it consumes you now. But understand this Alex, by no means are you obligated to move on according to the expectations of your father, your friends, myself, or anyone else. We want to see you overcome this, but at your own speed."

"I'm sorry, Lupin." Alex said as she dived into his chest and wrapped her arms around her godfather. Lupin was surprising only momentarily before he wrapped his arms around her. reciprocating the embrace.

"No one is mad at you, Alex. We were just worried for your safety. Next time if you need a moment alone, just tell us." He pulled away slightly and looked down at her with a soft smile. "I promise we don't want to keep you under lock and key. We only want to keep you safe."

"That's not what it felt like over the summer." Alex replied. While she couldn't deny, she preferred staying in her bed most of the day... even when she wanted to go for a walk, she could see the hesitant look on his and Tonk's faces.

"To be fair, you had suffered an enormous loss. We only wanted to be present when you needed us." Remus explained as he pulled out of their embrace. He kept an arm wrapped around Alex shoulders. "And Alex?"

"Yes?"

"I beg you to not disappear like this again. I'm not capable of convincing your father a third time."

"I'll try but I can't make any promises." Alex joked as he started to lead Alex in the direction of Gambol and Japes.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alex sat on her bed, staring down at her bare feet as she tried to listen in to the whispering downstairs between her dad and Remus. When they'd arrived back at the Black Manor, he instructed her to go to her room until he talked to her dad. Alex happily obliged, relieved to evade her dad for the time being. She seemed to just keep disappointing them.

"Alex?"

Alex looked up, her eyes falling on the door where Sirius was standing. He gave her a small smile as he closed the door behind him and walked over to her.

"Hey, dad." She said as he took a seat beside her on the bed.

"Do you feel better?"

"Huh?" Alex looked at him in surprise.

"Did sneaking off on your own make you feel better?" He asked with an expectant look.

"Oh." She said in surprise. She certainly was not expecting her dad to ask her that. Alex expected a lecture... a long one. "I mean, I guess it was nice to be out... by myself for a while." She said, deciding it was best not to mention her surprisingly bearable run-in with Draco.

"That's good to hear." He nodded to himself.

"Dad... I know you're mad at me for leaving." She said with a defeated sigh. "And I'm sorry I just left like that... I just needed some space."

"Alex, it's not that I'm mad." Sirius started before reaching for Alex hands and squeezing it. "You and your brother are my world. The only reason I have to exist. So many years ago I couldn't protect your mother but I'll be damned if I don't protect our children. I don't want you to think you are confined to your room because you are in danger. I just need you to tell me what you need to make this all better."

"Dad-" She started to say but stopped herself, taking a deep breath before continuing. She was dangerously close to doing exactly what she has been avoiding all summer. "There's nothing you can do to make this better. I lost- I lost-" She tried to get his name out but each time her throat closed up, stopping her. She shook her head, accepting she still couldn't say his name. "I lost someone I love. I don't know that there is anything anyone can do to make this better."

"Alex-" He hesitated, turning his body to fully face her. "Tell me the truth. Do you really believe that Harry and Justin are at fault?"

"I do." Sirius started to protest but Alex quickly put her hand up and continued. "I'm not having this discussion with you because you aren't changing my mind on this. No one can change my mind on this."

"But Alex, Justin is your brother and Harry is your closest friend. You all should be sticking together now more than ever." Sirius said, an almost desperate look on his face.

"Things change. I'm sorry dad, you're not changing my mind on this."

"As am I." He dropped his head in disappointment. "Dumbledore sends news. Justin won't be coming here so you will not be seeing him until you are back in Hogwarts."

"That's probably for the best." She replied, her face emotionless.

Sirius sighed as he stood up. He turned to Alex with a sad smile. "I may not agree with your thoughts, but I hope you know, regardless, I love you, Alex."

"I love you too, dad." She smiled back. Sirius leaned down and planted a quick kiss on her head before leaving the room.

Update! I don't know where I'm going with this lol.