Emerald (Lazuli Book #2) Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Eighteen - Truth

I've been planning this chapter for so long!

Ever since I started work on Lazuli, I've been thinking about this scene and finally, I get to reveal the truth! I've been so excited for this, even if it was a difficult one to write and get perfect.

I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The train rolled into Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 and 3/4 suddenly appearing and the hoards of waiting parents and family stood on the platform. I squeeze Draco's hand nervously as I catch sight of my mother, her hair as red and her clothes are unfashionable as ever. For the hundrenth time, I rest my head on his shoulder and shut my eyes, wishing that I could stay with him, that I didn't have to endure these two weeks of Christmas without him.

"I'll write to you everyday" he says as he lifts my trunk down for me. "I'll find a way to get the letters past my aunt, I promise"

Draco had no choice but to return to Malfoy Manor for the holidays. If it had been possible, I'd have offered him a bed at our house. If it had been Ron, or Ginny, or any of my other siblings who asked our parents if a friend who was in difficult circumstances at home could stay for the holidays, they'd allow it in a heartbeat. I mean, they were taking Harry in for Christmas.

Draco stroked my cheek and kissed me softly as the train rolled to a stop. Outside on the platform, his own mother hadn't come to pick him up from the station - there was only Benson, the Malfoy family butler, stood in his crisp grey uniform waiting patiently for Draco.

I saw Ron and Harry emerge from their cabin a little further down the corridor. Harry shot Draco a glare, but dragged Ron away, who was already striding towards us aggressively. I made a mental note to thank Harry for that later.

Draco lifted my heavy trunk of the train for me, Benson was immediately there to collect Draco's and politely say hello to me. I could feel my mother's hateful eyes on me as Draco sighed and hugged me tight, saying goodbye for the final time. It was only two weeks, but they would feel like years. Draco didn't care who was watching, pressing a passionate kiss onto my lips before he was forced to follow Benson away. I watched him go, his blond hair disappearing into the crowd of students and parents all exchanging loving greetings. There would be no loving greetings for either of us.

I picked up my trunk and hauled it over to where my siblings, my mother and Harry were all waiting. She didn't acknowledge my presence as Ron took my trunk from me and lifted it onto the trolley. I smiled at him gratefully, a gesture he returned.

Mum chatted to Hermione's parents for a while, who she got along well with despite the fact that they were muggles and fairly conservative ones at that. Mr and Mrs Granger smiled politely at me, although I doubted they even knew or wanted to know my name. Even muggle parents knew that Slytherin was considered bad, and not to be associated with.

We said goodbye to Hermione, with her promising to visit at least once in the holidays, and watched as she left with her parents, who as always cast a suspicious glare at the wall through which you had to run at in order to leave the platform. Now that the platform was clearing out except for a few stragglers, Mum led the four of us away. Ron and Harry pushed the two luggage carts and I listened as Mum chatted to Ginny, Ron and Harry about how Fred and George couldn't wait to see the three of them and hear about what had been happening at Hogwarts in the year after they'd left. I didn't comment when she didn't say that my brothers wanted to me too.

Mum didn't speak to me the entire journey home, I sat in the back of the car squashed between Ron and Ginny, not making a sound. When we finally pulled up to the Burrow it was dark outside, and I struggled with my trunk which Mum had left in the dirt as she transfigured the other three's into the house.

"Need some help with that?"

I spun around immediately, hair stuck to my sweating forehead, and gasped with delight when I saw who was stood in front of me.

Charlie was the favourite of all my brothers, and I hadn't seen him in months, not since he'd rushed home after hearing about my kidnapping and the attack at the hands of the Dark Lord himself. He was tall, like Ron, and lean like the twins. He had the typical Weasley red hair, cut short so that it was out of the way that the dragon's spat. His blue eyes danced with amusement as I threw myself at him and squeezed him tight. "What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed ecstatically, squealing as he lifted me up and spun me through the air, like he did when I was young.

"I got a few days off for Christmas - one of the other guys volunteered to take over my shifts so that I could come back and spend Christmas with my favourite sibling!"

I flushed with delight at Charlie's compliment.

Charlie had been in Gryffindor at school, just like all the others. He was popular, sporty and clever, making him one of the more successful Weasley's and my mother's golden boy. He had a high-paying job that he loved, and he got to see parts of the world whilst he was at it. Charlie really did have it all.

He pulled his wand out of his pocket and flicked it at my trunk, levitating it into the air without a word. He simultaneously wrapped an arm around my shoulder and whispered into my ear "how bad has it been?"

I shrugged. "Ron and Ginny both talk to me, so do the twins - Ron even gave me a hug the other day, which is unheard of. As for Mum, she never replies to my letters and she hasn't spoken to me once since I got off the train. All she's done is left my trunk in the mud and made sniddy remarks about me to Hermione's parents."

Charlie sighed. "It will take a lot for her to come around - she's always been very stuck in her beliefs. But she will eventually 'Liet, wait and see." I smile as Charlie uses his old pet name for me, Liet. He was the only person I'd ever let abbreviate my name as a child, and he still did it sometimes to cheer me up.

We reached the house, and Charlie deposited my trunk at the foot of the stairs along with the rest of my siblings and Harry's. The moment Ginny and Ron saw him, they cheered and ran at him, giving him no choice but to release me and hug them too. I stood there awkwardly as Fred and George appeared from the kitchen, Fred giving me a quick squeeze whilst George transfigured my trunk up to my room. I thanked him and followed them to the dinner table, where Mum was already serving food and Dad was sat reading the paper. I greeted my father, only to receive a small smile in return, and took a seat beside where Charlie had sat. Harry sat on my other side with a grin.

I listened half-heartedly as Mum told Ginny about the plans for Christmas and that Remus and Tonks were coming for Christmas dinner in two days, tomorrow being Christmas Eve. I listened with a little more interest when Charlie told us about a girl he'd met in Romania, a beautiful half-blood witch by the name of Petra. Mum clapped her hands with delight, Fred and George whistled teasingly, and the attention turned to Ron and Lavender, who Mum had no idea existed until Ginny told her, earning a hateful glare from Ron.

"Lavender!" Mum squealed. "What a pretty name! What house is she in, Ronald?"

"Gryffindor, with us," Ron said quietly. Mum clapped her hands again.

"And what about your Dean, Ginevra?"

"He's a Gryffindor too Mum."

Mum fanned herself with her hands and tears of happiness sprung to her eyes. "My, my children, happy with their chosen partners! Bill has Fleur, Charlie has Petra, George has Angelina, Ron has Lavender and Ginny has Dean! Even our Percy has that Audrey girl that he's brought to dinner a few times. Now only our Fred needs to find a girlfriend, and all my children will be happy!"

I tensed and in doing so, dropped my knife. She didn't even consider me her child now?

"What about Juliet, Mum?"

I looked at Charlie in surprise, who was frowning at our Mother. "She's got a boyfriend too, you know."

Mum stared at Charlie, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. She stared from Charlie to me, before stuttering in reply "Juliet knows how I feel about him."

"Charlie leave it" I whisper to him, my shoulders heaving as I struggled to force my anger down. Charlie had always been the most protective out of us all, and he never would allow my siblings to bully me, even as children.

"No! I won't leave it! I'm sick of everybody in this family treating Juliet like she's dirt, like she doesn't belong here! So what, she was put in Slytherin! That hasn't changed her personality, or who she is! You treat her as if she's a monster, Mum, just because she had a deal of bad luck. Frankly, I'm sick of it! She doesn't deserve the way you treat her."

The table was deadly silent. Nobody ate, nobody said a word. I stared at my plate in horror - Charlie had said all the things that I thought, had been thinking for the past 6 years, and it didn't seem to bother him. He stared coolly at Mum, watching as her skin changed from pale ivory to a fuming red. "Charles Weasley, I won't have you talking to me in that way..." She screamed. Charlie didn't even flinch. "Why? You talk to Juliet like that! Wait, you don't talk to her at all! The only time you do is when you're making some sniddy remark about Draco Malfoy!"

Mum threw her hands to her ears as if Draco's name were poison. A lump rose to my throat and tears filled my eyes as I looked up at her through my eyelashes. "Don't you dare say that name in this house, Charles." She snarled.

"Why?" Charlie shouted back. "If he makes her happy, then who cares what his father and aunt are? Juliet says that Draco is different, and he saved her life when she was kidnapped at Malfoy Manor. Without him, she'd be a Death Eater right now, or worse!"

"She already is one! I knew this would happen, right from the start!" Mum screamed.

Everybody fell silent.

"Molly..." Dad started, warning in his tone.

My blood ran cold, what did she mean, right from the start? The start of me becoming a Slytherin? The start of me dating Draco?

I looked up at her, and from her eyes, I knew that she meant something a lot more serious and deeper than that.

"What do you mean?" I asked her in a feeble whisper. Her eyes bulged, her skin fading instantly from bright red to a pale, nervous grey. Dad glowered at her across the table, his hand in a fist. All of my siblings, even Charlie were silent.

"What do you mean, Mum?" I said, a little more forcefully.

"Children, leave the table please." Dad said, looking at Ron, Ginny, Harry, the twins and Charlie. I shook as they all stood up reluctantly, Ron last of all, who looked from his parents to me in confusion. "Go Ron, you can finish your dinner in a moment," Dad told him, as if that's what he was worried about. Ron shoot me an apologetic glance before following everybody else upstairs.

Dad looked at me, his own skin terribly pale. "Juliet, what your mother meant was..."

"Don't call me that, Arthur. We both know I'm not that girl's mother."

I gasped.

My heart felt as if it had been ripped into a thousand pieces. My body shook with shock, anger, betrayal as I looked to my mother, the woman I'd always believed had carried me and given birth to me, the one that had raised me and called me her own. The woman I'd loved, had trusted and had hated myself for letting her down.

Across the table, Dad stood up and came to sit beside me. For the first time in years, he placed a wary arm around my shoulder. "We should have told you the truth years ago - it was wrong of us to lie to you for all this time. But you have to understand, we've always thought of you as our daughter, and how are you supposed to tell a child something like this?"

Tears, unwanted, traitorous tears, escaped from my eyes. I forced myself not to make a sound, to listen. I couldn't look at my mother, the cold, cruel woman who was fanning herself with her hand like she was the one that should be upset here and I was simply making a fuss. "Tell me" I squeaked, begging Dad with my eyes. He glanced up at Mum, who was making no effort to comfort or apologize to me, before beginning.

"We'd just had Ron - Mum went to St Mungo's to give birth, and I stayed at home with the children. We told them that they could meet their new little brother when we brought him home. That was when Dumbledore came to Mum." He ignored the glares 'Mum' shot at him when he called her by the title I always believed she was. "I came to London because Mum got the hospital to phone me, and it was there that Dumbledore asked us to take you.

"You were the daughter of a Death Eater that had turned good and betrayed Voldemort, and was killed for it. Your biological mother was pregnant with you at the time of his death, and she already had a son with him. Dumbledore took the woman and the child into hiding and it was there that she gave birth to you. Dumbledore didn't think it was safe to leave you with your real mother, and she begged him to take you and give you to a family that would keep you safe. We were chosen, since we could pass you and Ron off as twins."