Before leaving for the kitchen, Emma quickly scribbled a note for her parents letting them know where she was staying, and borrowed Harry's owl to deliver it.

Hearts jamming into their chests, Emma and Harry descended the stairs and walked over toward the kitchen where Sirius was sitting with Mrs. Weasley, Tonks and Moody. The Weasley children must have been in their bedrooms. It seemed Sirius had been in a much more joyful mood ever since finding out that The Weasley's, Emma, Harry and Hermione were spending Christmas with him. If anyone had met him for the first time without any knowledge of his accused actions, they'd never have thought he was a mass murderer. Just look at that happy face...

Harry rapped on the wall beside the door, which was already opened, to make his and Emma's presence known. Moody and Tonks were just leaving. 

"Sirius?" Harry said, obviously trying to sound less urgent than the situation really was. Emma pursed her lips from beside him, holding her arms behind her back. As she thought more of not being told about who she really was, the more angrier and demanding she could see herself becoming...

"What is it, Harry, dear?" said Mrs. Weasley worriedly. 

"I was just - we were just wondering if we could have a quick word with Sirius," Harry said anxiously. 

"Alone," Emma added politely. 

Smiling understandingly, Mrs. Weasley walked out of the kitchen and moved toward the stairs. Sirius stood from his seat, looking confusedly between the two who were staring quite fiercely at the older man. 

"Oh, no, Sirius," said Emma quickly, pulling out a seat to drop herself into, "you might want to sit back down."

Puzzled, Sirius slowly sat back down at the table, opposite Harry and Emma. 

"Is it true?" said Harry quietly, holding his red leather album on his lap, his fingers drumming against it nervously. 

"Is what true?"

"Harry and I, is it true we're twins?" Emma blurted, her eyes quite demanding. She was already able to feel the anger rising from the depths of her throat, and she wanted to let out an unbelievably loud scream. When Sirius was quiet, clearly in shock that Emma and Harry had found out, Emma spoke more angrily. "Is it true?" she growled. "Tell us the truth."

"Yes, yes it's true," Sirius said in a sad manner, lowering his eyes for a moment, as though ashamed of what the twins would think of him. 

Harry and Emma shared a worried glance. 

"How did you two find out?"

"Fred and George's Extendible Ears," Harry admitted, and he let Sirius in on what the Weasley children, himself and Emma used them for at St. Mungo's. He left the part of Voldemort possessing him out of it for now, and it was obvious he wanted to talk privately about it at a different time.

Sirius sighed, leaning back against the chair and rubbing his mouth thoughtfully. "I never wanted the two of you to have to find out in such a way." 

"Just tell us something," Emma pleaded, making Sirius look up at her. "Why were Harry and I separated? Why couldn't we stay together?"

"The answer to that is a long one," said Sirius, his eyes softening from the desperation on Emma and Harry's faces. "And I'm positive that it's not my story to tell, Dumbledore will want to explain a few things. I suppose we could save it for tomorrow after we all get some sleep. You're both very tired, you've had a long day. And just finding out something as big as this isn't helping either of -"

"No, tomorrow can wait, Sirius," Emma interrupted, and she could tell Harry was thinking the same. "We'd like to know now. Just tell us what you can."

"Emma, the world had no clue of your existence," Sirius said immediately, and it was thought that he was growing sick and tired of Emma and Harry's tone used against him. "At least after James and Lily's deaths. Harry was the only known survivor."

Emma could feel the crease forming in between her eyebrows, and she felt her mouth go dry. What exactly did he mean by the world had no idea about her existence? Emma had so many theories and none of them were any good...

"What?" Emma and Harry said loudly, Emma adding a quiet, "what does that even mean? Did I die or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Sirius ushered their questions away. "If the wizarding world either knew about you, they believed you to be dead but Dumbledore made sure to keep your existence as quiet as possible. But you didn't die. Harry, you're already aware of how your mother cast herself between Voldemort and yourself. She cast herself between Voldemort and the two of you, and it did leave you both untouchable afterwards but the rebounding spell was strong on you, Emma, and you were knocked unconscious. Voldemort had no intentions on staying after this and had no time to see that you were actually alive."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Harry cried. "She was just knocked unconscious, that didn't mean -"

"It meant, Harry, that Voldemort believed that she was dead," Sirius continued. "Hagrid said she looked like death, and the reason -"

"Hagrid?" Harry cut in again, his voice sounding betrayed and hurt. "Hagrid knew about...oh, right...of course he did...so I suppose all the teachers know about us then?"

"Harry, would you please stop interrupting right when it gets good?" Emma said. 

"Voldemort knew you were still alive and well, Harry," Sirius said sternly, his voice strong and bold, "there was still hope that Emma could be hidden if under a false name. But there was no hope for you, Harry. Neither one of you could know about the others existence, people would find out unintentionally. One of you might've accidentally blurted something out that could've lead to the truth, and it was too risky. And as for the teachers, only a few of them know. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid..."

"I just don't understand why I'm a Slytherin then," said Emma. "We're siblings, aren't we? We're twins, why aren't we in the same House? All the Weasley's are."

"Being sorted doesn't depend on who you're related to, it depends on you entirely, as a person. Siblings can in fact be sorted into different houses. My brother was a Slytherin while I was a Gryffindor," Sirius explained calmly. 

"I suppose Dumbledore planned me being sorted into Slytherin. The hat barely even touched my head. And I'm sure if he really didn't want Harry and me finding out about each other, what would be simpler than sorting us into opposing Houses?" Emma grumbled, feeling quite disappointed that her sorting was most likely false. 

"It's just..." Harry started, "...it hurts that after all this time, Emma was always in the dark while I was always in the spotlight."

Sirius nodded sadly, his arm reaching over so he could pat Harry on the shoulder apologetically. 

"Does she even have a scar?" he went on, eyeing his twin accusingly. 

"No," she snipped. "If so, I've never seen it, which means you'll probably never see it," she looked toward Sirius who looked disappointed that he'd just explained everything. "You said I was living under a false name. That obviously means I'm Emma Potter, doesn't it? And my middle name must be Lily?"

"No," Sirius shook his head. Emma and Harry both frowned simultaneously. "Your real name is Emma Lily Evans. Nobody alive today has the answer as to why you aren't a Potter, Emma. We just presume that since they had twins of both genders, they decided to name their son after his father and their daughter after her mother."

"Emma Lily Evans," Emma whispered under her breath. "Oh, well...how wonderful. James Potter, Lily Potter, Harry Potter, Emma Evans. Now I feel left out."

"Then explain this," Harry demanded, slamming his photo album on the table and opening it up to the page where he was in the arms of James and Lily. 

"I'd like to know the meaning of this as well," Emma added, watching as Sirius tilted the album around so he could see. 

"Ah," he said, slightly amused. "You'll have to go to Dumbledore about that. Get him to reverse the enchantment."

"Enchantment?" Emma gasped. "Oh, that man..."

"I can't, he's been avoiding me all year!" Harry cried. 

Sirius ignored Harry and stood from his seat, yawning as he tucked in his chair. "Up you get, you two. And not a word to anyone about this."

"Fred, George, Ron and Ginny already know," Emma reminded him, referring to Fred and George's Extendible Ears. 

"Right," Sirius said. "Not a word to anyone at school. Especially you, Emma."

"Especially me?"

"You don't want to know how many students in your House have Death Eaters for parents," he said seriously, ushering her and Harry out of the kitchen and shutting the door behind them. "I mean it. Not a word. Not even to your closest friends."

And before Emma turned away from Sirius to head for the stairs, she thought she caught sight of Kreacher the house elf disappearing down into the basement with a look of triumph on his old, worn out face. 

___

A/N: I understand it sounds silly at the moment, but if you've read the fifth book you'll remember that Harry has no idea about the prophecy etc and he hasn't had his 'chat' with good ol' Dumblydore.