Chapter 24: Expect the unexpected
When Lucy arrived in the common room she quickly said the password then stepped inside. She peered around the corner to find Shona and George there. She frowned. She was hoping for Fred to be there too but he wasn't.
"Hey, Shona, George." Lucy nodded to each of them as she approached them.
"Alright, Lucky? How'd the studying with Cedric go?" Shona asked.
"Good, I guess. But there were too many awkward silences for my liking," she frowned. "Say, where's Fred?"
"Upstairs in the boy's dormitories, he seemed a bit depressed so we left him to it." George replied with a shrug.
"Am I late?" Lucy cringed.
"Just a little bit, why don't you go up to the boy's dormitories Lee Jordan will let you in."
"Am I even allowed up there?"
"Of course, it's only the boy's that aren't allowed in the girl's dormitories."
"Oh, alright..."
Lucy straightened up the strap on her bag then approached the stairs and headed up to the boys dormitories. When she found Lee Jordan, Fred and George's dorm she knocked on the door quietly, in fear Lee Jordan would just laugh at her.
But a moment later Lee Jordan was at the door. "Alright, Snape?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you. Is Fred there?" Lucy said hopefully.
"Yeah, he's here. I'll get him for you..." Lee Jordan disappeared and returned with Fred. Fred stepped out of the dormitory and his eyes went wide as he saw Lucy but he smiled. She forced a smile and he took her hand.
"Alright?" Fred asked.
"I'm good, yourself?"
"Great...Great..."
"So where are we going then?"
"How about our secret room? Nobody really knows about it."
"Our?" Lucy frowned.
"It's ours if you want it to be," Fred smiled. Holding out Lucy's book she had thrown in the water earlier. She took it with thanks and the two headed down to the common room.
"When are you two getting married?" George joked.
"Am I invited?" Shona added.
"I'm fourteen years old!" Lucy snapped.
"Your point?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and Fred led her out of the common room and down to the secret room. They entered the room and Lucy headed straight towards the mirror of erised.
She still saw the same thing.
"What's up, Lucky?" Fred asked.
"I wonder what it's like to have a perfect life..." She sighed, turning to face him. "To have your real family that loves you and everything you want in life."
"You wish Snape was really your dad, don't you?"
"I wish more than ever."
"Well," he put his arm around her. "He doesn't have to be your real father for you to know that he loves you."
"That's true but, Fred?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you see in the mirror of erised?"
"I see...Er..."
"Tell me," she smiled, giving him a playful punch.
"Us two." He gulped. "At the Yule ball...Together."
He looked at Lucy, worried to see her reaction but instead she was smiling. "Is that the thing that would make your life complete?"
"Yeah..."
"May your wish be granted." She grinned. "I accept your invitation to the Yule ball."
"Really!"
"Use veritiserum if you don't believe me."
"Is that a new sweet at honeydukes?"
"You wish..." She tutted.
* * *
The very next day, after lessons, Fred met Lucy outside Charms. She frowned as he gave one of his usual grins to her.
"What?" She asked.
"I have an idea," he smiled.
"About what?" Shona asked, standing by Lucy.
"Well, I might be stupid and everything, but what if you and Snape got a blood test? I mean, just to confirm you two aren't related and Snape can still say he loves you all the same."
"Hey! She might finally be happy after that!"
"But what's the point if I know I'm not related to him?" Lucy raised an eyebrow.
"The point is just so Snape can say he truly loves you no matter what. Go grab him and you two can go to the hospital wing while me, George and Shona will be in the Transfiguration courtyard and after hours we'll be in the Gryffindor common room. OK?"
"Well, alright. I suppose the idea isn't too bad but I'm sure we can try it out all the same."
"Alright! See you later!"
Fred and Shona ran off to the Transfiguration courtyard, while Lucy headed straight down to the dungeons. She knocked on the door nervously and Snape opened it, he seemed in a better mood than usual even though he wasn't smiling.
"Yes, Lucy?" He asked.
"Can I come in?" She replied.
"Of course, you have the liberty to do so." He said a little shocked at her question but he knew something was wrong.
She stepped inside but didn't sit down. She waited for Snape to close the door then she faced him. "You remember I while ago I told you about the one thing I wanted?"
Snape frowned but then nodded.
"Well, I know it isn't true but Fred suggested that us two go get a blood test from Madam Pomfrey just to confirm it's not true. I know we're not related but I just want to get it proved as it's bothering me so much."
"Alright then. As there's no way on the face of this earth we're related. Besides, I met you in a park, how could we be related?"
"You're right, I see where you're coming from, but I just need it confirmed."
"Come on then, lets go."
As the two headed down to the hospital wing Snape thought that this really bothered Lucy. And of course it did. A girl who's parents never loved her and had to live on the streets for five years wasn't the ideal 'perfect life.'
When they arrived they explained the situation to Madam Pomfrey. But she seemed a little humoured by this.
"Are you sure about this, Lucy? After all, there's no possible way that you can be related to Professor Snape. He adopted you, remember?" Madam Pomfrey laughed slightly.
"Call me mad but I need to confirm it, it's bothering me too much." Lucy sighed and held out her finger. "Please get it over with, I'm fed up of seeing my own blood."
Madam Pomfrey nodded slowly and took blood samples from Lucy and Snape. She told them to wait outside and they obeyed. Lucy waited impatiently while Snape wasn't bothered at all.
"This really does bother you, doesn't it?" Snape asked.
"It does, I've seen it too much in the mirror of erised and I'm not having the stupid mirror keeping me up all night," she replied as she paced frantically.
"But we look nothing alike, there's nothing possibly the same about us."
"Looks aren't everything."
"We're too different to be related."
"Your observations aren't enough to prove the point. The point is that it gets confirmed by DNA."
"I suppose..." Snape looked away from Lucy and sighed. There were too many complications for them to be related, it would make things worse after all. It was better off if they were just good friends.
It felt like forever that they waited outside the hospital wing but Lucy and Snape didn't want to talk to each other as Lucy was too nervous and Snape was too concerned. They ignored every passer by that gave them odd looks.
But just then Shona came over to the two of them. "Alright, Lucky?"
"Fine," Lucy said as she continued to pace, not even bothered by Shona's comments.
"So, how's it going? Are you two not related?"
"We don't know, Madam Pomfrey hasn't called us in yet," Snape replied as he watched Lucy impatiently pace.
"It doesn't take long for a blood test though, does it?"
"Well obviously this one does..."
Just when Lucy thought she was going to lose the will to live, Madam Pomfrey invited them back in. Her face was vacant and didn't show one bit of emotion. Snape and Lucy looked at each other and he gave her 'I told you so' look. She turned away from him but didn't care as at least the point had been proven.
The three of them walked inside and Madam Pomfrey picked up a clip board then looked at the two of them. She still had that bored look about her which still proved Snape totally right.
"Severus, Lucy," she nodded to each of them. "I have the results."
"I've been proved wrong, obviously," Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Please let me finish, Miss Snape...As I was saying I have the results and - "
"We're not related, there's no way we can be," Snape butted in quickly.
"Exactly, we're nothing alike. I should have known, it's just another one of my stupid dreams," Lucy smiled sadly.
"Well at least we can get on with life knowing that we're - "
"Related."
The three of them stared at Madam Pomfrey in horror. Snape especially. Shona looked from Snape to Lucy and back again.
"Knew it! I just knew it! That's why Lucy's been so stroppy! Thank god! My life finally makes sense again!" Shona grinned.
"Do be quiet, Shona." Lucy shook her head, she really didn't know what to think at the moment. Snape was speechless and they both were very confused.
"Who's the mother!" Snape demanded, almost yelling at the woman.
"Lily Evans."
"No..."
"I'm sorry but yes..."
"Hey! My mum told be about her! She told me that you always used to follow her around!" Shona butted in as Snape went paler than he should be.
"To be honest with you this doesn't sound good at all," Lucy looked away from both of them. It was already clear that she had always been unwanted all her life. It was clear that nobody had ever wanted her and now she knew why. She was an absolute mistake.
"But why...?" Snape questioned himself as though wanting to ask the question but something inside him told him not to.
"I really don't want to explain to a grown man how it all works," Shona shuddered.
"McGuire, now is really not the time. I'm in enough mess as it is - "
"You liar." Lucy spat all of a sudden, they looked at her and saw anger that they had never seen before.
"Pardon?" Snape frowned.
"You complete idiot, you - there are too many words to describe you right now. Some I would not even utter. You have made my life absolute hell."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Stop putting on an act like you don't know we're related! You left me as soon as you found out about me! THIS IS WHY I GOT PUT WITH COMPLETE STRANGERS WHO HAVE NEVER LOOKED AFTER ME! AND YOU HAD THE NERVE TO GO AND DO THAT?!"
"Lucy, I - "
"Save it. This time you've gone too far."
She walked out of the hospital wing, she didn't know where she was going. She was too angry to know. As long as it wasn't the dungeons or the hospital wing. As long as it was completely away from Snape and everybody else, entirely. The man who had saved her from it all turned out to be a complete liar. How he could live with himself she would never know, it was clear he didn't have a heart.
She headed to the Gryffindor common room and yelled the password at the fat lady. She ignored Fred and George and went straight to the bed she should be in, the one given to her because she was a Gryffindor student.
She laid on the bed and clung to the covers for dear life as though they were her only friend. Her heart was still racing in anger but she finally gave in and sobbed into the sheets where nobody could see her.
From the bottom of the stairs she could hear Fred's voice beckoning her to come out. Despite the fact she wanted to ignore it, it was getting on her nerves too much to leave it. She opened the door and headed downstairs to where he was.
She sat down on the chair and the twins sat either side of her, each one put an arm around her.
"I'm guessing the results were bad." Fred said, running his fingers through her hair.
"Actually me and him are related," she sighed not even wanting to say his name.
"Why aren't you happy then? It's what you really wanted," George frowned.
"I would be perfectly happy if he hadn't abandoned me when I was days old, how could he do that?" Lucy looked at Fred then and George. "It's obvious he has no heart."
"We're going to have to agree on that one." Fred snorted. "I know it hurts you but you don't need him! You can go looking for your mum! Do you know her name?"
"Lily Evans," Lucy shrugged.
"Ah..." George muttered.
"Oh..." Fred concluded.
"What?" Lucy frowned.
"You see, Lucy, your mum is sort of...dead." George cringed.
"How do you know about my mum?"
"Well truth be told, everyone knows, I'll give you a clue Evans is her maiden name and her surname, before she died, was Potter."
"So that means..."
"You and Harry are half-brother and half-sister," Fred nodded.
"But how does that work out then? Mine and Harry's birthday's are pretty close..."
"It can happen you know it's not impossible."
Lucy sighed then choked back tears. "It's nice to know my mother is dead though..."
"We'll look after you, you don't need that git of a dad. And if you really need to you can come stay with us, there's plenty of room in the burrow!"
"Fred's right! I'm sure Ginny will let you take the spare bed in her room, she wouldn't mind."
"Thanks guys," she smiled.
"You're welcome!" They chorused.
"And don't get near Snape he'll be begging forgiveness and he'll tail you around school but completely ignore him as he's made your life hell!" Fred said.
"It wasn't my intention to talk to him after what's happened."
"That's the spirit! So, you staying here now?"
"Might as well. There's no where else for me to go."
She opened her bag up and pulled out a book whilst the twins peered over her shoulder to have a look. And before long they were all asleep, Lucy's head on Fred's shoulder and the twins' hands were around either of hers.
But there wasn't the all clear of nightmares for Lucy.
She had the same dream she had had at the burrow when she had slept in Ginny's room before.
She was looking up at two complete strangers, again, one a women who was in her mid thirties and a man who was a little bit older, they were both looking at her, the women was looking in awe but the man was looking in disgust.
"Isn't she adorable?" The women asked the man
"No because she's not mine! She's a mistake! Send her off to my brother!"
"But dear! She is my daughter as well as - "
"Don't speak the name! If she's related to him it's even worse! If she's not going off to my brother send her to him because she is his!"
"He won't know how to deal with her!"
"Well then the decision is to send her to my brother or him your choice but she's not staying here" there was a pause. "Get rid of her"