Smile Like You Mean It

Here it is people! The great unveiling!

Hope you like it!

Aera xxx


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Chapter 23 - Death of the Past - Birth of the Future

Aera was already in the Tower when Draco stumbled in, gasping for breath and slightly pink in the face. The clocks were striking the last of their tolls and she grasped him by the hand, pulling him forward.

"Where have you been? I've been here for fifteen minutes!"

"Sorry . . . Was . . . held up . . ." Draco stuttered, trying to refill his lungs.

"Never mind that now," Aera said quickly. "Here, I've got an Extendable Ear. You can stand at the bottom of the stairs and listen in to what's being said. Hurry up, they're probably already on their way."

Draco rolled his eyes, too breathless to speak. He took the weird string thing and gave Aera a quick peck on the cheek before heading back down the way he had come. He'd have to hide in an alcove until the Idiotic Trio passed, but he had to admit the Ear was a clever solution to their problem.

Aera watched nervously as Draco left again. She couldn't help feeling scared of what she was about to do, after all, she wasn't sure how Harry would react.

She took a deep breath. She wasn't going to let herself get wound up. This was what she wanted, right?

Before she could properly analyse that thought, she heard footsteps on the stone steps. Gathering herself together, she went to sit on one of the desks. As she settled into a more comfortable position, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered. Butterflies head-butted against her stomach and she quietly prayed that they would disappear.

"Hey Aera. Wassup?" Ron said, making his way over to lean beside her. She smiled at him, not trusting herself to speak just yet.

"Hey Aera." Harry spoke quietly, warily. It seemed that he was nearly as nervous as she was about what was coming next.

Hermione didn't greet Aera at all, merely giving her a short nod whilst taking a small clear bottle out of her pocket. Harry eyed it cautiously, then looked at Aera.

"You can still back out, you know. I wouldn't blame you."

Hermione let out a humph of disapproval. She clearly wanted answers and wanted them now. Harry frowned at her. "No, Mione, she should be given a choice about this. If that potion is even slightly wrong it could really hurt her. I won't make her take it."

Hermione shrugged and held the bottle out to Aera anyway, eyebrows raised as if to say 'Well? Are you brave enough?'

Suddenly the nerves were gone. She knew she wanted to tell Harry who she was, and Hermione's rude attitude was just another challenge. She'd show her.

She grasped the bottle tightly around the neck and flicked off the cork. Before putting it to her lips she glanced at the doorway. There, barely discernible against the flecked colour of the stone was the end of an orange string. Draco was listening.

Holding the vial up she tipped her head back and let three drops fall into her open mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the three others watching carefully. She closed her mouth and swallowed. There was no taste, nothing but a slight wetness to suggest she had taken anything out of the ordinary.

"Aera?"

Her head snapped up at the sound of her name. Complete calm had come over her. She wouldn't lie, couldn't lie. There was something amazingly comforting about that.

"Yes." The word slipped out of her mouth without her even realising it. It just felt right to answer.

Harry shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Do you feel alright?"

Aera smiled. Of course she did. "Yes."

"Ok, well we're going to start with asking you questions. And . . . Aera? I'm sorry about this."

Hermione folded her arms, looking intense. Ron leaned forward, eager for the answer to all the secrecy. Harry only looked guilty, and somewhat reluctant to start. When he finally spoke, it was in barely more than a whisper.

"Who are you?"

The words rose in Aera's throat without effort. She had come here to speak the truth and suddenly there was no stopping it. It didn't pour from her mouth. More like it flowed in an easy to understand, somewhat monotonous stream.

"I am Aera Potter, daughter of James and Lily Potter, twin sister of Harry Potter. Student at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft."

Shocked silence followed. For a long moment Aera thought the surprise was too much. She wanted to ask if they were alright but the words didn't seem to come out. She watched their faces, waiting for their expressions to change from ones of blank shock into something else.

Ron was the first to recover. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Aera replied though she was sure the question had been rhetorical.

"Why didn't you come to Hogwarts when you turned eleven like the rest of us?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Dumbledore wouldn't let me." Aera replied in the same even tone.

Harry began shaking his head, disbelief and longing rolling off him in waves. "You're telling the truth. But you can't be telling the truth. I don't have any family except the Dursleys. Dumbledore would have told me. Hermione?"

Hermione didn't turn to face him, her eyes still fixed on Aera. "The only way the potion can be tricked is if a person believes, like, really believes, that something is the truth and it isn't. They can't lie, so she'd have to be absolutely sure of herself."

"So it could be that. She could have been tricked." Harry said. But the expression of longing remained as if he couldn't quite let go to this one, tiny hope.

"Maybe we should hear more? I mean, after all, she hasn't really explained anything." Ron put in. He seemed the most lucid of the three, still eager to hear my secrets.

Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry appeared even more reluctant than before now. It was Hermione who continued asking the questions. Aera sat there quietly, waiting for her voice to find itself.

"What did Dumbledore tell you about yourself and Harry?"

Aera felt relief as the words started to flow from me again. She was finally able to start convincing Harry that what she said was really true, not just that she thought it was. "I knew of Dumbledore from a very young age. He had sent me to live in an orphanage after my parents died, though he sent Harry to live with our only other relatives, the Dursleys. He told me that I was a witch, who my parents were and that my brother still lived.
"He also told me about a wizard called Voldemort-" Hermione and Ron twitched in response to hearing the name spoken aloud but Aera didn't pause. "That this wizard was the darkest and most dangerous of men. That it had been he who had killed Harry and mine's parents. Dumbledore explained about a prophecy that had been made that said 'neither could live whilst the other survived'. Voldemort had hunted Harry down, knowing only that the Potter's had parented a child, not realising that they had parented two. So when he finally broke into the house, he didn't even look for me. I was with my father, who was killed first. He never saw me. It was Harry who he cursed. I was left untouched."

Harry lifted a hand to touch the scar that was forever seared across his forehead. It was an unconscious movement but three pairs of eyes followed it.

"Dumbledore split us up. It took a long time for me to realise just why he did that. And made me furious when he did. I was the reserve. Dumbledore would groom Harry to be a self-sacrificing fighter whilst I was kept hidden so that, if Harry failed, I would live to take his place."

Silence followed this. Aera felt a momentary indecision, wondering if she should continue. There was plenty more she could add. But she waited, waited for a reaction.

Harry's face twisted into an ugly scowl. Even if he didn't yet believe Aera, the idea that someone could be that coldly calculating put him on edge. Ron's face was similar. It seemed that he already believed her, but was waiting for someone else to be the first to admit it.

Hermione was nodding slowly. Of course, she would force herself to picture a difficult choice like that from all different angles before deciding.

"Why did Dumbledore change his mind? Why did he let you come to Hogwarts?"

"Harry had faced Voldemort a number of times and failed to win in a fight, though he had not lost either. Dumbledore figured that I was the missing link, the element that would tip the scales in Harry's favour. He still wants me to remain hidden for if things turn out for the worst, but perhaps my presence, my friendship with Harry would be enough to shift things slightly."

"Dumbledore wanted you to keep this from me." Harry growled. Aera looked at him in surprise and read the fury in his face. She knew she should have been ready for that but she wasn't. After all, she had been so consumed with her worries of what Harry's reaction would be to the revelation that she was his sister that she hadn't stopped to wonder what the other parts of her story would reveal.

"Yes. He knows how bad you are at Occlumency and decided that if you were to face Voldemort you wouldn't be able to hide your thoughts of me." Aera continued. "I was taught how to deceive, to keep secrets. He didn't count on you guys being so perceptive."

Harry walked up to Aera, fear in his eyes. She wondered dimly what he was so scared of. After all, she was hardly a threat.

"Is this all true, Aera? You're my sister?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. Your twin sister."

He gazed into her eyes for a long moment and the other two drifted out of focus. For that one instant Aera felt that she could read every thought passing through her brother's mind. Suspicion was gone. The fear of being wrong faded from his eyes and was replaced with a fierce, burning hope. His lips curved into the most perfect smile she had ever seen and she found her expression reflecting his.

"Give her the antidote, Mione. I want to talk to Aera without the Veritaserum forcing her to answer." said Harry and Aera felt her heart swell with emotion.

He believes me!

Suddenly the reality came crashing inwards. She had a brother. She had a family and now they were free to share in that most wonderful of bonds.

"Wait."

They both turned at the sound of Hermione's voice, confusion evident on Harry's face. He gave his friend a questioning look.

"I want to ask one more question." Hermione explained. She moved forward to join Harry in front of Aera. "Is there anything more we should know about you? Anything you are trying to hide?"

Fear and guilt ripped through Aera. This was exactly the sort of question she had been hoping wouldn't arise. She could already feel the words rising in her throat, ready to reveal all; her relationship with Draco, the things she had told him, the trust she had put in him.

"Having a little Gryffindor get-together, are we?"

The snide tone cut through the silence like butter. Aera felt relief pour through her. Draco hadn't let her down. He must have raced up the stairs to interrupt on time and he now stood leaning arrogantly against the stones of the archway.

It was Harry who moved first. His hand slipped into Hermione's robe pocket and pulled out a vial of bright blue. Wrenching the cork off he passed it to Aera who took a quick swig. The words that had threatened to spill over faded on her lips and she relaxed. It was over. Her brother, wanting to avoid her revealing everything to his enemy, had given her exactly what she desired. She was free of the compulsion to speak the truth. She saw the scowl on Hermione's face, but it was a frown of disappointment only.

"Oh fuck off ferret." Ron snarled, taking a step towards the platinum Slytherin.

"Drop it, Ron." said Harry. "We're leaving anyway."

Aera slipped off the desk and linked arms with Harry. She felt the need to be close to him, to be sure that everything that had just happened wasn't about to fade like some magical dream.

Draco hadn't moved. "You know, I should really stop being surprised by the weird things you lot get up to but I have to say, interrogations held in the Astronomy Tower are queer, even for you."

"Butt out, Malfoy." Harry said off-handedly. It seemed that even his animosity for Draco couldn't dim the euphoria he felt in that moment. He took a step towards the exit, towing Aera along. "And get out of the way."

"Why certainly, Sir." Malfoy said mockingly, taking a step away from the arch and bending gracefully into a taunting bow. "Don't fall down the steps on your way out." He paused, straightening up and pretended to rethink his words. "Then again, maybe do. Rid the world of your irritating self."

Hermione and Ron were quick to follow Harry and Aera, leaving Draco standing alone in the tower. None of them saw the frustrated look on his handsome features.


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"I have a sister."

"Shut up already, mate!" Ron moaned, turning to thump Harry in the arm. "We know!"

Harry's face was lit up in a grin, his eyes fixed on Aera who was staring back with a similar expression. "But I have a sister!"

Hermione let out a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Harry. You said. Now can we please get over it?"

Aera laughed in delight. The reaction had been all she had hoped for and more. They were sitting in the common room, somewhat separated from the other students so they wouldn't be overheard. Harry was sitting opposite her, so close that their knees were touching, unable to look away from her. She could well imagine what was going through his head. It would be a mixture of the emotions she had felt when Dumbledore had first told her about Harry and when she had first laid eyes on him. Without the heartache and frustration of having to keep her identity a secret of course.

"Does she look like me?"

Hermione said 'yes' at the same time as Ron muttered 'no'. Harry looked around at them in surprise. Hermione shrugged in concession.

"Well, kind of. Once you know what you're looking for. It's there, in the line of the jaw and the colour of the hair."

Ron snorted. "Sorry mate, but if you were a girl there is no way you'd be as hot as Aera."

Aera felt her face heat up, but knew the remark was made in fun. Surprisingly, Hermione laughed good-naturedly. Harry grinned in response. It seemed that Hermione's disliking mistrust of Aera had been put behind them.

"I can't believe Dumbledore kept this from you." Ron remarked, still evaluating the differences between the twins.

Harry's face darkened and Aera felt a mirroring anger. It was Harry who spoke. "He'll answer for it, at some point. I can't say I agree with his reasons. It's one thing for him to use me, another for him to use my sister."

Aera leaned forward and shoved Harry hard. "Now you sound like him! Like I'm not tough enough. I'm here for a reason, don't forget."

Harry held up in hands in peace, his face relaxing into a grin again. Aera felt her own irritation fade.

"I didn't mean it like that. Seriously! I doubt anyone would ever consider you soft."

Hermione nodded vehemently in agreement and Aera winced as she remembered her angry retort to the bushy-haired girl a few weeks ago. Clearly the memory was on Hermione's mind, though thankfully the event appeared to be forgiven.

Aera was distracted by someone coming in through the portrait doorway. The vibrant red hair gave Ginny away immediately. Harry turned to see what Aera was looking at and his face perked up. It was obvious that he was being less cautious about showing his interest for Ron's younger sister than usual.

Aera was also delighted to see Ginny. It had been a while since the two of them had hung out. She considered inviting Ginny to join them and was about to stand when Harry beat her to it. He got up, stepping past Aera's legs and waving to get the other girl's attention.

Suddenly caution came rising up from within Aera and she looked down at her feet. She hadn't thought to tell Harry or the others that she had told Ginny about who she was. What if Ginny let on?

Harry was pulling a laughing Ginny along by the hand when Aera looked up. The excitement on his face was clear but Ginny's face was a picture of amused confusion. Hidden to the other two by Harry, Aera saw the girl wink at her. So, Ginny was pretending not to know.

"Ok, Gin. Sit down." said Harry, pushing her towards the sofa that Ron was draped over. He moved slightly so that she had more room and she looked up at Harry with an expression of perfect innocence. "You've got to promise not to whisper a word of this to anyone, ok?"

"Harry," Hermione cautioned, "Do you think this is a good idea?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh come, Mione. Ginny's one of us. She knows how to keep a secret. And Aera doesn't mind, do you?"

Aera shrugged, trying to keep a straight face. She hadn't missed how Ginny's face had lit up at Harry inclusion of her.

"I promise. I won't breathe a word to anyone. What's up?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Aera is my twin sister."

Ginny's act was flawless. Her face went still, then her eyes widened and she stared from Harry to Aera and back again. All of a sudden, making everyone jump, she let out a screech. The whole common turned to see what the commotion was, but seeing the bright haired girl, turned away again. They were used to Ginny's excitable nature.

Ginny leapt out of her seat and wrapped her arms around Harry. "Oh Harry! I'm so happy for you!" she whispered.

Aera felt a flicker of bemusement. Though it was hidden to everyone else, she could see how cleverly Ginny had worked this out. Hiding the fact that she already knew the big secret, she had been able to create a very clear and subtle invitation to Harry. To him it would appear that she was over the moon because Aera was no longer a threat, that she was in no way interested in Harry's romantic affections. It was an obvious, yet elusive, way of showing Harry what Ginny's feelings were for him.

"I'm happy too." Harry whispered, looking down at the girl in his arms. She looked up at him and started to blush, a picture of girlish innocence. There was surprise in Harry's eyes, as if he hadn't quite realised what this happy, carefree young lady meant to him.

Ron humphed loudly and Ginny twisted out of Harry's arms to settled back down on the couch, her eyes looking at the floor. She glanced up through her lashes at Aera and gave a wicked smirk. Clearly a lot of planning had been put into this.

They talked for a while about Aera's past, what this meant for the future. At some point Ron got up to go to the bathroom and Harry settled into his seat beside Ginny. Ron made no comment when he returned, save to glare at Ginny for a split second. Hermione talked on happily about this and that, all the while transferring notes from parchment into notebooks.

It was a perfect picture, the five of them sitting together, secrets out in the open. Aera felt more at home than she ever had at Hogwarts, her hand held tightly by Harry who seemed unable to let go. It was only when the large bell began to toll midnight that they moved to their dormitories, realising how late it was.

Settled in her own bed, curtains pulled tightly closed, Aera reflected on how well everything had gone. She allowed herself a small congratulatory smile. She'd done it! Her twin knew who she was and he was happy about it. Nothing could have gone better.

Draco's face rose in her mind and she felt the smile drift from her lips. Somehow she wished she could have been honest about that part, but it was unimaginable for Harry to just put aside his past prejudices. That part of things would come out eventually.

Until then, Draco and herself would just have to exercise caution.


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So, what did you think? Please please please don't forget to review! I need my feedback!

Love you all

Aera
xxxxx