I don't think I have ever been so anxious to go back to Hogwarts.

I used Floo Network to reach the school as I certainly did not have the patience to sit through the entire train ride to the castle. Upon reaching, I busied myself in setting up my office after the break, but my thoughts were still all over the place.

I couldn't wait to see Draco.

He had been right in saying that I would have many questions once I saw the photographs. I wanted to know the whole truth and all those questions that I needed to ask from him swirled in my head.

Why was I abandoned if I belonged to such a known Pureblood family? Why did no one other than the Weasleys come to rescue me from that dreaded asylum? And why were the Malfoys so intent on keeping the truth of my existence a secret?

I had thought a lot about everything I knew about myself and everything I had overheard from others. I had also thought about the different way both Narcissa and Draco reacted around me which was opposite to the cold hostility that Lucius Malfoy had each time we encountered each other.

Combined with all that Dobby had told me without smashing his head to smithereens, there was a lot of confusion that I wanted to clear up.

I knew the first day back from the break would pass by with no chance of getting to see Draco. I also had a fixed schedule that I couldn't change so there was no knowing when I would receive all the answers I badly needed to hear.

Time passed in a painstaking wait, and finally, on the third day after coming back from the Christmas Break, Draco sent a message through Dobby.

He had asked me to come to the Room of Requirement whenever I was free and as I had no class scheduled for the day due to Quidditch practice sessions, I left for the seventh floor as soon as I could.

When I reached, Draco wasn't there but shortly after he turned up as well. He didn't say anything until we stepped into the Room of Requirement and I saw that the room had taken the form of a place that was unknown to me but at the same time, strangely familiar.

As if I had been to that room sometime in the past and forgotten about it.

It looked like a study with a huge collection of books and a working space. I knew Draco must have wished for it to be there because each time I accessed the RoR by myself, it either took the form of the Marauder's Lair or the Dumbledore Army's meeting place.

"This is what the library at Malfoy Manor looks like," he told me, assessing that I was wondering why the place felt familiar, "we used to play here often when we were not out in the garden."

Hearing him mention the garden reminded me of that memory I had used to create my first corporeal Patronus. 

"So it's true... I am your sister?" It came out more as a question than a statement and I watched him nod his head slowly.

His grey eyes looked sad, just the way I had seen him back when he had told me about losing a loved one and being able to see them every single day without the conviction of getting them back.

"Draco... Why didn't you tell me before?" The words were getting choked as it was too overwhelming to just accept that.

"Would you have listened?" He replied with a question instead, taking a soft sigh before elaborating, "I couldn't tell you because Mother told me not to. There are so many things I still can't tell you."

"Why was I left at the asylum? Why did you guys never come to take me back? Why the Weasleys... Why...?" 

Before I could sink under the overwhelming questions, he gently made me sit down on the comfy plush chair by the hearth. 

"Kat, you are much better living with the Weasleys right now than you could ever be with us at the Manor," he mumbled, his voice strained as if it hurt him to talk like that about his family, "mostly the reason we never told you was because we saw how happy you were and we didn't want to ruin it."

"We as in...?"

"My mother and I," he explained, his grey eyes full of guilt and sorrow, "and if Father finds out about this, then both of us will have to face his anger. He certainly doesn't want you back."

I recalled Dobby and Narcissa had something similar to me earlier as well. Dobby had said that his Master was never fond of me and wanted me gone from their family, that was why he abandoned me. Narcissa had mentioned that my mother, meaning herself, missed me a lot but when I asked her about my father, she had changed the topic.

What exactly was going on? Why was everything so damn confusing?

"Then why did you tell me now?" I asked, unable to comprehend much from his cryptic answers, "What difference will it make? So what if I know now that I am your sister... I am not going to leave my family and accept yours."

"I know," he retrieved his gaze, looking down at his hands that were clasped tightly together, "I think I just wanted to have this burden off my heart. I wanted you to know because I wanted Thia back. Not by accepting our family nor by coming back to the Manor, no. I wanted my sister to be there for me. I wanted you to understand."

I held my throbbing head in my hands. I could understand how hard it must be for him to see me every day yet keep the secret of our relation. But I still didn't understand the whole reason behind abandoning me and then letting another family take me in.

Something was still off about the truth he wanted me to know.

"Why can't you just tell me everything from the beginning and let me decide for myself what I should do about this?" I spoke, looking up to see him sitting in front of me. 

"Because I can't. I can't reveal a lot to you or else it will put all of us in danger."

"I won't say a word to anyone, I promise."

But he looked resolute as if he was keeping a deadly secret for everyone's sake.

"I don't have any choice," he remarked and his voice broke with the desperation of a lost boy yearning to find the light in all his darkness. "All I can tell you is that a prophecy was made about you even before you were born and Father didn't want it to come true. He thought the best course of action would be to send you away from the wizarding world. But that didn't work as the Weasleys brought you here."

"What kind of prophecy?"

"I don't know the details either. Mother knows but she is sworn to secrecy too."

Another prophecy... One that could potentially harm Lucius Malfoy or else why would he take such pains to separate his daughter from the family?

"Can I talk to your mother about it?" It still felt strange to call her Narcissa knowing now that she was my biological mother. Everything felt strange...

"I would rather you don't try and talk to her at all," his voice suddenly became afraid, as if he was worried about what could happen to her, "Thia... I can call you Thia, right?"

I nodded absently because I was more intent on knowing what he was going to say before that.

"Mother and I don't have any choice but to follow orders," his words had become cryptic again but his eyes were pleading with me to try to understand what he wanted to say, "These are not good times, especially for us. I have to do things I don't want to, Mother has to do things she would never do otherwise... We don't have a choice. But I want you to tell me if you ever have any vision about us. Please... I beg you..."

Those darn visions... Somehow everything comes full circle to my ability to see into the future.

"How do you know I have visions?" I asked.

"You are a Seer," much to my surprise, he told me as if he had known all along. "You have been having visions back when you lived with us too. It has something to do with that Prophecy."

It was all too much to take in just a single day. I needed time to process everything all over again.

"So please, if you see anything involving us, tell me. Please."

He looked so distraught that I didn't have the heart to say no. I nodded my head and watched his eyes flicker in slight relief.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me."

I stood up from the chair and he didn't stop me from leaving because there was nothing left to say. But then I recalled the brief vision I had had about him and the fact that Harry suspected he had become a Death Eater.

I turned to face him, my hands reaching out to clasp his which took him by surprise. He wasn't expecting that but his grip tightened shortly after.

"Draco, I will tell you if I get any vision about you or your family but in return I want you to make me a promise."

His eyes widened in surprise as he said, "Of course, anything you want."

"Promise me that you will not join the Death Eaters." My voice was a hushed whisper I spoke and I felt his hands go deathly cold in my grip and his face drain of all its color, "promise me that you will not stand with the dark side."

His lips quivered in fear as he mumbled, "But it's too late..."

At that response, I felt my own blood start to freeze as well because his reply pointed to another revelation that I wasn't ready for.

"Like I said, Thia, I don't have a choice. I never did."

***