The next day was Christmas Day. It was completely unlike any Christmas I'd ever had before, and yet I enjoyed every second. From the moment I woke up - curled up with Draco's arms protectively wrapped around me - my heart was in a flutter of joy and pure happiness. Finally, I knew the truth about myself. I knew who I was, I no longer felt like an outsider.
A pile of presents sat at the foot of the bed, courtesy of Draco of course. I'd added a few that I'd collected for Draco beneath the small singing tree that Damon had set up whilst we were out yesterday, but had hardly been expecting anything in return. Draco had already given me so much - he'd taken me to my mother.
Like an over-excited toddler, I giggled and dragged him out of bed, handing him the first of his presents. I watched nervously as he opened it up and took out the wrist watch I'd bought, enchanted so that it never ran out of power or time. That watch would never stop, the shop-keeper had promised me. Draco clearly loved it, his eyes growing wide with amazement as he slipped the leather band around his wrist, stroking the golden face in admiration. "It's too much Juliet" he said, kissing me gently. "What, so you're allowed to spoil me, but I can't treat you?"
Draco nuzzled his head into my neck. "Having Christmas with you, and only you, is the greatest gift you could ever give me."
We opened the rest of our presents - Draco gave me a pair of gorgeous ankle boots among over things - but the best present of all came in a tiny velvet pouch, carefully saved until last when Draco pulled me to my feet and pressed the pouch into my fingers gently. "What is it?" I asked, taking out the small golden key and holding it up to the light curiously.
Draco blushed, "it's the key to the tree-house. I had the lock fitted before we left for Christmas break, and this key made to match it. It has our initials, see" he proudly traced the entwined 'D' and 'J' and raised the key and my hand to his lips. "I want to spend every day for the rest of my life with you. I want you to love me and only me. And in return I swear to do the same. I swear to always be faithful and to love you no matter what happens and who comes between us. I love you, whether you're Juliet Weasley or Andromeda Black. You are my life, and this tree-house is just the first step in our lives together."
We spent the rest of the day laughing and acting like the care-free teenagers we should be. After breakfast we went out into Diagon Alley, which was all but deserted, and built a snowman the muggle way, with our bare hands. Afterwards Draco bought me some roasted chestnuts and we went into the muggle part of London, watching one of the peculiar events they called 'parades.' They had men dressed up as Father Christmas waving at the little muggle children, throwing sweets from the floats and singing Christmas carols. We went ice skating on a beautiful ice-rink by the river - as usual, Draco was a natural even though he'd never done it before - and then returned back to the Leaky Cauldron, where we laid on the bed and stuffed ourselves with cookies and butter beer. The pub was nearly empty - Damon had gone to spend Christmas Day with his Aunt and Uncle plus their two children, his cousin's Caspar and Mila. So we basically had the whole pub to ourselves.
"Love" Draco said as we were lying on the bed, clutching our bloated bellies from eating far too many cookies. "Hmm," I said, stroking his soft hair and shutting my eyes. "I just realised - we're cousins."
My eyes flew open and I stared at him. Draco was smirking in amusement. Deciding to play along with it, I sat upright and gasped. "You're right! My father was cousins with your mother! That makes us..." I counted on my fingers for effect "third cousins!"
Draco chuckled. "Draco, how can you laugh about this! What we're doing... it's basically incest!" I jumped to my feet, grimacing as my stomach twinged, and pretended to be shocked. Draco's smile faded and he crept towards me. "I don't know if I can be with you, knowing that we're related by blood!" I smirked as I turned away, as expected, Draco grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "Juliet Weasley," he snarled playfully, "you are my girlfriend, cousin or not. I wouldn't care if you were my sister - i'm in love with you no matter what."
He clearly expected me to kiss him and thank him for his sweetness. Instead I grimaced and made retching noises. "If I was your sister? That's gross, Draco." He shrugged his shoulders gently before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me towards him.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked, resting his head on my bloated stomach. I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know - what else is there to do?"
He moved his head away and raised his eyebrows suggestively at me, earning a playful slap on the shoulder.
"We could go and see your mother?" he suggested, pulling me down onto his lap, where he curled my hair around his fingers. I sighed deeply, I'd been thinking about my adoptive family all day, "which one?" I said dramatically. Draco shrugged his shoulders and kissed my neck. "You should go and tell them you're ok, Juliet. They must be worried - you ran out so suddenly."
I looked at him in surprise - it was unlike Draco to take my family's opinions into account. "We could just go down to my brother's shop..."
He shook his head. "No, you know they won't be there. It's Christmas Day love, it's supposed to be spent with your family. I don't mind, honestly. You can just pop in for an hour - I'm sure that your sister will want to know everything - and I'll still be here when you get back. I know you want to, sweetheart, I can read you like a book."
I sighed and placed my head on his shoulder. "What if I'm barred at the door? What if she turns me away and tells me never to come back, seeing as I'm not really a Weasley at all?"
Draco stroked my head and thought for a moment. "She won't. She'll be curious - she'll want to know whose baby she took in all those years ago. Perhaps leave the part about your father being Regulus Black until you leave - she might be a little less receptive to that fact."
He pushed me to my feet and went to my trunk, taking out a fluffy jumper and a fresh pair of jeans. "Go and put these on" he said, pointing towards the bathroom door, "I'll wait here." He kissed my cheek and pushed me gently in the direction of the bathroom.
Once inside, I did as I was told, numbness coming from my disbelief. Draco was trying to persuade me to go and see my family? He hated every one of them - I knew for a fact that he thought them to be blood traitors. So why was he so eager to get me out?
I knew better than to ask questions where Draco was concerned. Most of the time I didn't get a proper answer, and when I did, I almost always would have rather not known. So like a good girl I changed and brushed my hair and teeth, applying a little blusher and lipgloss to make my pale face seem more alive and healthy. Despite all the lies she'd told, I didn't want my family to worry about me.
As I pushed open the door, I saw that Draco had already packed my wand and an unopened pack of cookies into my handbag for me. "I thought your siblings might like them" he said helpfully, helping me into my thick coat. It wasn't like Draco to be so helpful, but I'm too nervous to even speak, let alone question his motives. He squeezed my hand and pressed his forehead against mine. "Are you sure about this?" he whispered. I nodded weakly, my muscles seeming to act on their own accord because my head was screaming no, I wasn't sure.
My legs also moved on their own as I was dragged slowly out of the room and Draco led me down the stairs. It was dark now - I knew that I'd have to be quick if I wanted to catch everyone before they all left - and that seemed to speed up my legs a little. I couldn't live with myself if I missed seeing Charlie before he went back to Romania.
Draco placed me in the fireplace and kissed me tenderly. "You'll be fine, and I'll be waiting with a surprise for when you get back." He helped me scoop a handful of Floo Powder into my palm, and I stood up straight, trying to look confident when really I was shaking with fear. Confidence is, as any actor would tell you, the hardest thing to portray after all.
"The Burrow" I said clearly, smiling weakly at Draco as I dropped the powder. Familiar green flames - the same fire that had brought me here - licked at my hands and face, although they did not scorch me. Travelling by the Floo Network always makes me appreciate magic and it's beauty, how wonderful it is that I can literally travel by fire. Draco disappears into a mirage of green, and then I am flying through the Floo Network at a wondrous pace, my face flying out behind me. I would be able to get into the house - whilst my blood may be a mixture of Regulus and Cecelia, I am still a Weasley. I was christened a Weasley, raised a Weasley, taught a Weasley, punished a Weasley. I have loved, cried, laughed and dreamed, all as a Weasley. And no amount of Black blood in my veins could ever change that.
My feet touched down in the Burrow's dusty fireplace, and within a second the green was gone and I was looking around the familiar kitchen. It was identical to how it looked every Christmas - the plates on the table practically licked clean, empty glasses and bottles of Butterbeer and Elderflower wine, the lengths of ribbon from some of Fred and George's Never-Ending Streamers strewn about the place. It was hauntingly familiar and yet at the same time I'd never felt so much like an outsider looking in. Last year, we'd spent Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place, and it had been overshadowed by the dark circumstances and Dad's attack. The year before that however was the happiest Christmas I'd had in a long time - Mum had invited the Diggory's over, Cedric and I had spent the entire afternoon outside, taking turns in his new broom and tossing the quaffle he'd also received between each other. We'd laughed and had been so carelessly happy. And not even 6 months later, he was dead, murdered even, and my best friend was gone.
What would Ced have said about all of this?
That was a stupid question - Cedric would never have let me run alone, like my siblings did. He'd have followed me into that fireplace and would have done exactly the same as Draco - taken me to meet Cecelia and then made me come back here. The only difference being that Cedric would have never let me come back here alone.
My feet moved on their own accord out of the fireplace, and I tied back my long hair, into a chignon at the nape of my neck. "Hello?" I called weakly out into the empty kitchen. Where was everybody?
Suddenly, a roar came from outside. I reached for my wand instinctively and tossed my bag down on the side, cantering towards the noise. My heart rose to my throat as I found my parents, Remus and Tonks on the doorstep of the house, staring in shock and fear as a giant ball of fire tore down from the sky and crashed into the grass in front of the house, surrounding it in a circle. "Juliet?" Mum asked, her voice quivering in surprise. "What have you done girl? You've brought them here!" she wailed.
"Oh shut up Molly - it's not the girls fault!" Remus barked in retaliation.
"Oh yes, then what's she doing here?!"
Molly raised a shaking hand in front of them, pointing towards a familiar ominous swirl of black smoke that crashed onto the ground in front of the flames. My heart rose to my throat as Bellatrix Lestrange emerged from the darkness, just as frightful and evil-looking as usual, beaming at me cruelly with her crooked teeth.
"Well look who it is!" she screeched in a hysterically high pitch. I pointed my wand at her. "I heard you've got a secret, something that the Dark Lord is definitely very interested in... Andromeda" she pursed her lips as she spoke my true name. Mum recoiled beside me. "What's she talking about, what does she mean the Dark Lord is interested?"
Behind us, Ron, Harry, Charlie and Ginny tumbled down, wands pointed. "You've come to tell them haven't you, who your real mummy and daddy are" Bellatrix cackled sarcastically. "I remember Regulus - or should I say your father. My cousin was handsome, we always got along - he was just as cruel as I am. But he was weak in the end, just like you."
Dad pushed Harry backwards as he tried to force his way past. I placed my foot out from the porch, Remus reaching for my arm in warning. "Juliet..." Ron warned.
"Do you think I'm afraid of you?" I snarled at her, raising my wand higher threateningly. "You sicken me, and if anybody is weak, then it's you. Filthy bitch." To make my point, I sent a curse flying her way, which she only just managed to dodge. Her pale face went red with rage as she sent another flame directly at me. With lightening-quick reflexes, I blocked it and sent it back at her. She turned and ran, the flame singeing the ends of her hair as she tore through the wall of fire. In my anger, I followed her, with Harry close behind me.
We tore into the wheat which reached high above our heads, Bellatrix lost from sight. Our only sign as to where in the maze she was being the rustling of wheat just ahead of us, and the evil singing. "I killed Sirius Black, and I'm going to kill Draco.
"You coming to get me, Andromeda? Andromeda Black! You're just as useless as your father, you'll never find me!"
Up ahead, I saw the shape of a woman crash from the wheat to the left and took my chance, not hesitating as I roared and flung myself at her, grabbing her ankles and taking her down. The figure screamed - high pitched and in pain. I jumped up the moment I realised it was Ginny.
"Ginny! Get back to the house, now!" I hissed, dragging her to her feet and pushing her back in the direction I'd came from. Harry was gone now.
"No way" she replied, grabbing my free hand and tugging me after her. "Come on!"
We ran for 10 straight minutes, in circles perhaps, jumping and spinning at every sound. Eventually we came to a lake I knew to be about half a mile away from the house, and I pulled Ginny to a stop. "Wait here" I whispered, my ears twitching at the sound of rustling behind us. "Harry?" Ginny whimpered, raising her wand over my shoulder. I spun around to see what she was looking at and gasped. It was most definitely not Harry - this dark figure all in black was too tall, too muscular to be him. I pushed my little sister behind me, pressing her back against mine as I faced the bulking figure.
"You're a pretty one" the man snarled.
"I know you" I retorted, "you're Fenrir Greyback."
The werewolf bowed sarcastically. "Lady Black," he hissed with a hateful smirk on his ugly face. "Your father always acted as if he were a Lord, a Prince even. You must know how useful, and also how dangerous, the Black name is."
I raised my wand towards his head. "Well, I'd rather be a Black than a mangy mutt like yourself."
The wolf roared in anger, and behind us came splashing as Harry ran through the water to my side. "Stupefy" we shouted simultaneously, sending two bursts of white light towards him. Greyback blocked them before disappearing into black smoke - a handy escape.
The wind whistled through the wheat as the three of us pressed our backs together defensively. All was silent for a few moments, eerily so, as we all breathed heavily and scanned the moving wheat for any sign of our attackers.
"The Dark Lord wishes for me to convey a message..."
I winced as Bellatrix's voice filled my head. "Li?" Harry exclaimed, grabbing my elbow to support me as I clutched my head in pain. "He will give you one final chance to join him, Andromeda. If you do, you will be rewarded and your father's sins forgotten, and no harm shall befall you or Draco. But if you don't..."
Her evil cackle filled the air and the barrage of spells flung at us began. We blocked them quickly - in the way we'd learned last year in Dumbledore's Army - and soon Remus and Tonks were there too, helping us. Defending us.
A hiss filled the air and the spells stopped, three clouds of black smoke shooting upwards as Bellatrix, Greyback and their third accomplice shot upwards. Then came Dad, breaking through the wheat and grabbing Ginny and I, hugging us tightly. "My girls, my girls..." he sighed, squeezing us.
We barely had time to enjoy the momentary lapse in the attack, because across the field, a giant flame shot up into the air, and a woman screamed. Mum.
"Get back to the house, quickly!" Remus shouted. He grabbed Tonks' hand and tore off in the direction of the fire, Dad and Ginny close behind them. Harry clutched my elbow and propelled me forward, my calves burning from all the running. But we couldn't stop.
It didn't take us long at all to get back - we could see our destination this time, the burning house looming high upwards into the sky, like a sickening candle placed beside the bed of a dying person. Thankfully, Mum, Ron, Fred, George and Charlie were all out, staring numbly as our home burned. This kind of fire was different to any other - it was created purely from the venom, the evil, the anger that lived in Bellatrix Lestrange's soul. We had no choice but to stand there and watch as everything we owned was destroyed.
Remus and Tonks got us away eventually, we headed to the home of the only other wizarding family in the area - the Diggorys. It felt wrong entering Cedric's house without him being there, to drink the warm cup of tea his mother brewed for me without him beside me. Amos tended to Ginny's leg which had been cut in the fighting, and we sat in the Diggory's living room after they went to bed, staring numbly at the fire. Tomorrow we would start sorting through the ash and finding whatever we could. But tonight, we had no choice but to wait.
"Where have you been?" Charlie asked me quietly. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, which had come loose in the running. "The Leaky Cauldron, with Draco."
"And why did you come back tonight?"
"Because Draco persuaded me to."
Charlie inhaled. "Li, I know you don't want to hear this, but what if Bellatrix Lestrange knew where you were tonight because Draco told her..."
I shook my head. "He would never betray me like that." Charlie looked at me pleadingly. "Li, I know it's hard to belief but it is suspicious. He sounds like he was eager to get you away. Maybe he met up with his mother, told her, and she passed it on to Bellatrix."
"He wouldn't had time! He would have had about 20 seconds!"
"Juliet you know time can be distorted in the Floo Network..."
"Draco wouldn't do that!" I slammed my fist onto the coffee table. Everybody hushed and look up at me. My cheeks flared red, and my eyes flickered towards a photograph of Cedric on his parent's fireplace. He was smiling - he looked so happy, so alive even.
"I know you probably all think that Draco would betray me, but he wouldn't. He would die to protect me, just as I would for him. He took me to meet my real mother, and she told me the truth, something that you could never do" I shot a scornful glare at Mum, who was staring at the floor.
"My real father was Regulus Black, the Death Eater."
"Sirius' brother" Harry whispered. I nodded at him.
"Yes, Sirius' brother. He was a Death Eater, but before he died he turned against the Dark Lord, he discovered the secret that keeps the Dark Lord alive, and he tried to destroy it. He died in doing so. But before he did, he did some sort of spell, and transplanted the information into my brain. So that his knowledge would live on, through me. That's why the Dark Lord wants me dead, because I know his secret."
You could have heard a pin drop, the room was so quiet.
"What is it?" Remus asked hopefully.
I shook my head. "I don't know. There's some sort of magical lock on it - I'll only be able to access it when I hear a certain word or phrase apparently, the name of the secret."
There was a downhearted sigh in the room. "Well, we're closer than we were before" Ron said hopefully. "Not really Ron" I retorted grumpily.
Ginny patted my shoulder comfortingly. "Well, you always have been and always will be my sister," she whispered. "Thank you Gin" I wrapped my arms tightly around her slim body - she was wearing only a thin dressing gown over her pyjamas, and so I removed my thick jacket and placed it over her shoulders to maintain a bit of modesty. My top - although long-sleeved - was thin, and the dark mark was clearly visible. But Ginny and everybody else - except my mother - pretended not to notice. That was the greatest kindness they could have given me.
"I'd better be getting back, Draco will be worried." I stood up and hugged each family member one by one. Fred and George squeezed me tightly, "pop into the shop at some point so we know you're ok" they said, before passing me on to Charlie.
As he hugged me, he whispered quietly into my ear so that nobody else could hear. "I don't care whether you call yourself Andromeda or Juliet. You are my sister. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Ever. And I want you to be careful around Draco from now on, just do it for me. I'm a big brother worrying."
He ruffled my hair and kissed the tip of my nose. "Goodbye Liet," he whispered, the name he used to call me as children. I left his arms and hugged Harry, Ron, Ginny and Dad, thanking Remus and Tonks for their help and then stopping in front of my mother. Still, she couldn't bring herself to look at me. "Goodbye Molly..." I hissed her name, intending it to sting. She winced too. Good.
I entered the Diggory's fireplace and took my Floo Powder, giving them all one last smile before dropping to powder and announcing "The Leaky Cauldron."
In a puff of green, I was gone.