Harry Potter and the Black Secret

Chapter Six

Relationships

"Kriss, can I ask you something?" said Draco as he sat with Kristine on one of the many couches in the Astronomy Tower. His arm was around her shoulders and her head was resting on his. They had been like this for about half and hour now, just relaxing. Enjoying each other's presence.

"Well, technically you just did, but sure," Kristine replied. "What is it?"

"I was in the library today, after leaving you. I was trying to find something that I read a long time ago. I was wondering is you'd mind if I did spell. On us. I want to know if what I think is happening is actually happening."

"Can you be a little more vague than that?"

"No, sorry. That's about as vague as it gets. So, can I? I promise it won't hurt or anything. You'll only feel something if it works."

"You're not going to tell me what you're up to are you?"

"Nope."

"Okay, go ahead. I trust you."

Draco hid a smile. He couldn't remember being this happy. Some part of him already knew what the spell was going to tell him.

"Right," he directed, "Stand over here."

He led Kristine over to the window and stood her in front of it, then pulled out a folded piece of parchment from his pocket. Kristine suspected that he had ripped it out of the library book to which he had referred earlier. She wasn't in the least bit surprised. She may have seen a different side of Draco yesterday, but he was still Draco Malfoy, and that knowledge pleased her.

He unfolded the parchment and inside was wrapped a small charm on a gold chain. The charm was in the shape of a heart, and it was eloquently engraved with what looked like entangled vines, but she couldn't be sure from this distance.

"Give me your hand," Draco said.

"Please," Kristine replied teasing.

"That would just sound stupid, like I was going to read you future or something 'Give me your hand please and I will predict your death'," he said in a mocking tone.

Kristine looked away dramatically from his gaze.

"Oh all right!" he conceded, "Give me your hand, PLEASE."

"Of course," she said, as he took he outstretched palm and slid the gold chain around her wrist, sliding his in next to hers.

The chain hung loosely, locking them together like a delicate manacle.

Draco began to read from the parchment.

"Sacred Souls,

In you we trust,

Reveal our love,

For know we must."

As the incantation finished, the charm began to glow and spin fiercely on its chain. It split in two, revealing itself to be a locket. Bright red light poured from inside, forcing Draco and Kristine to look away from its dazzling brightness. Suddenly, two long shards of red light found their way out of the locket, and each penetrated a hand. One through Draco's palm. One through Kristine's.

Kristine starred in shock at would Draco had done, but before she could say anything, Draco was chanting again.

"Valentine, I call upon thee,

Diana goddess, bind thy daughter to me,

Should our hearts be joined in love,

Let that love be known,

And eternally let it grow."

At the end of this chant, the two shards of light twisted themselves together at each end, forming a loop that held Kristine and Draco's hands together.

Draco seemed to be waiting in deep anticipation for something to happen. He was holding his breath, his gaze never leaving the adjoined hands. Then it happened.

With a sudden loud flash of light, centred at the locket and spreading throughout the whole room and leaking out the tower. Kristine felt warm. She could feel herself being connected to Draco, and him becoming a part of her. It wasn't intrusion, it was completion. Like a part of her had been missing and now she had found it. They were one.

The as quickly as the explosion occurred, it was gone, and they were left in the Astronomy Tower, charm bracelet around their wrists.

Kristine and Draco watched in amazement as the heart broke on its hinge in two. The chain connecting them split as they moved their hands apart. Two charms on two chains. Existing on their own, yet only complete when put together.

"Draco," Kristine said quietly, surprised to find herself out of breath, "What was that?"

He silently handed her the parchment, which he had been reading moments earlier. She took it and looked down at the incantation, and then at its usage. One word stood out on the page, gleaming brightly in her eyes, and she felt a smile spread across her lips, and tears welling up behind her eyes.

Soulmates.

*

Kristine never did figure out what exactly happened during the next couple of weeks. Time didn't appear to have any real meaning any more. She got up in the morning, attended lessons during the day and went to bed at night. No day really stood out as anything special.

There were, however, those brief moments that she would remember forever. Nothing significant, just a look, a smile, a mutual understanding of silence. Every single one of these moments was due to Draco Malfoy.

Kristine and Draco acted out the play of loathing between them when around other students, only exchanging smiles when they could be certain that no one was looking. They met at night in secret, and parted ways in the early hours of the morning. It was the perfect affair. The whole world seemed to fall apart when they were together, and nothing existed but each other, and the here and now.

It was exactly 16 days after that dreadful afternoon in the Headmasters office when Kristine fell hard back into reality. She and Harry had been enjoying one of those rare, sunny Saturday, autumn afternoons. They had been sitting on the grass in front of the lake talking, laughing and attempting to complete their Charms essay, when a large, jet black dog came up between them, making both students jump.

"Snuffles!" Harry exclaimed, partly in shock, partly in delight.

"You know this dog?" Kristine asked puzzled.

Harry suddenly got rather uncomfortable, not quite meeting Kristine's gaze.

"Umm...yeah..." Harry began awkwardly, but he didn't need to explain further. 'Snuffles' took hold of Harry's cloak with his incredibly strong jaw and proceeded to pull him persuasively toward the castle, looking back every few seconds, to make sure that Kristine was following them.

It wasn't until the trio reached the empty staff room that Kristine finally understood what was going on.

The large black dog pushed open the large oak door with his nose and padded into the centre of the well-furnished room. Harry and Kristine followed him in, Harry promptly closing the door behind them. Then right before Kristine's eyes, the dog transformed into a man. He was crouched on the floor; head down just as the animal had been. He had shoulder length black hair that covered most of his face, and was dressed head to toe in black. The man lifted his head. It was Sirius Black.

Kristine gasped against her will.

Harry immediately leaped forward to pull his godfather to his feet. Kristine could do nothing but stare in disbelief. He was an animagnus? Her father? Kristine felt a strange surge of pride. She suddenly caught herself and scolded the emotion. She barely knew this man, biological father or not.

Sirius, now standing with Harry near his side, caught Kristine's gaze. 'He has such deep eyes' she thought, and then she spotted something else residing within his soul. Pain. Sorrow. Regret. It was the same look she had failed to recognise on their first meeting. Kristine found herself softening to the man slightly; after all, Harry seemed to trust him.

Sirius contemplated just one thought when he looked into her eyes. 'She looks so much like her mother'. Sirius suddenly felt a pang of sorrow. Here he was, standing in a room with a boy who was the spitting image of his best friend and a girl who had all the qualities of his wife. The two most important people in his life, both of whom he had lost, left only with their children. 'No' he snapped at himself. Not left 'only' with their children. Just left with their children. His children now.

Finally, after several minutes, it was Sirius who broke the awkward silence that filled the room.

"How are you?" he asked softly, his care for her clear even if his voice was gruff and low, as if it hadn't been used for a while.

The question was directed at Kristine.

"I'm okay" she replied quietly. What else could she say? Suddenly she knew. She didn't feel embarrassed or awkward any more. She felt comfortable telling this to him.

"I miss her."

Kristine could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes. She had put of dealing with the loss for long enough. She had cried only once, on that memorable night with Draco Malfoy. Now, with the presence of her Father, someone she had wanted to meet all her life, the emotion drained out of her once more. Not pain and anger as before, put pure grief at the loss of the single person whom she had the strongest bond. Her mother was gone, and she was never coming back.

Sirius took a step towards her, before holding back, not sure what he should do. This was his daughter. Someone he loved, even though he barely knew her. He wanted to comfort her, but something held him back. He knew what it was. Diana should be doing this. It should be the other way round. He should be dead and Diana should be alive to console their daughter.

Kristine looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Kristine blurted out, "I'm so sorry for running out on you like that, and for shouting at you, I never meant to, I was just..."

All indecisiveness that Sirius had felt melted instantaneously away and he wrapped his arms around his daughter, holding her head against his chest. He clung onto her as if life depended on it, and she clung onto him, sobbing into his chest.

"You've nothing to be sorry for, I'm the one who should be apologising. I'm the absent Father, the one who's never been there, you've every right to hate me."

Kristine pulled quickly away; still holding onto his arms though, a horrified look on her face. She stared into his eyes.

"I don't hate you!" she exclaimed, "I've never hated you! I couldn't, you're my Father, even if I haven't met you before, Mum loved you, and so do I."

"I don't know. If I were you I'd hate me," said Sirius, although a small twitch that played at the corner of his mouth undermined the comment, "I'd at least want to throw heavy objects at my head for a while."

Kristine laughed and wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks.

"I really want to get to know you Kristine, if you'll let me," Sirius said, now completely serious.

"It's Kriss," she replied, leaning back into the hug.

*

A few hours later, Harry and Kristine were sitting in the deserted Gryffindor common room. Sirius had left only a few minutes ago. They had spent the afternoon talking, getting to know each other, trading stories. Kristine had found the story of how Harry had met Sirius particularly interesting.

Sirius, still being a fugitive in the eyes of the Ministry of Magic, remained in animal form during dinner in the Great Hall, posing as Hagrid's latest acquisition. Due to this cover, not many people were brave enough to approach Snuffles, as Hagrid's pets tended to have...hidden depths.

Sirius had had to leave at about nine 'o' clock, something about 'business' with Snape that Harry could only speculate over, but would be back in the morning to speak with them in Dumbledore's office.

"So," Harry said, "are you going to sneak out again tonight then?"

Kristine was so shocked by this unexpected question that she knocked over her glass of water as she sat it down on the table next to her.

"Wh..What?" she stammered, facing Harry, panic clear in her eyes.

"Come on. You didn't honestly think I'd not notice you slipping out at night and slipping back in again a couple of hours later did you?" he said matter of factley.

"I...I don't know, I guess...How do you know I've been sneaking out? Have you been checking up on me?" Kristine said, hiding her panic with irritation. Harry, however, was unfazed.

"Of course I have. What do you expect me to do, just sit back and watch you cut yourself off from everyone around you?"

Cut myself off? Kristine thought, and then suddenly was struck by both realisation and relief at the same time. He didn't know about Draco.

"I'm not cutting myself off from you Harry," she said truthfully.

"Then why won't you talk to me anymore?" he said, avoiding eye contact.

"I don't know what to say," she said.

"Just be honest with me. Kristine, I know you better than anyone, and I know you're hiding something from me, I just don't know what."

Kristine felt a now familiar pang of guilt.

"Harry, please don't think that I don't trust you, it's just that, I have no idea how to deal with this. When I think about it, it makes me crazy, but when I don't think about it, I feel guilty, like I'm betraying my Mother's memory or something."

"Kristine," Harry said quietly, "you haven't even really cried."

"Oh I cried," she said, looking at her feet, "I cried so hard I didn't think I'd ever stop."

"Why didn't you come to me?" he said, sounding slightly hurt.

"I didn't think about it. I'm not used to having someone else to go to, it's always just been me and mum, and when I knew that she had gone, I felt so alone, I just..."

She trailed off, and realised that silent tears were running down her face.

Harry walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands, lifting her gaze to his.

"You're not alone," he said, and then placed a soft kiss on her lips, "You're not alone," he repeated.

Kristine buried her face in his shoulder and they stood there in a long embrace, breaking apart when they spotted Ron and Hermione standing watching them suspiciously.

"Everything all right?" Ron asked cautiously, "No 'relations' going on or anything?" he said suggestively.

"Just what are you implying?" said Harry in mock horror.

"Oh nothing, just that this whole, 'we're just good friends' thing really is an act of devious deception."

"You're right," Kristine said seriously, "we're much more than just good friends."

Ron's face looked suddenly shocked.

"We're family," she finished, and Harry laughed.

"Yeah, I guess we are," Harry said smiling, "and as your newly discovered older brother, I feel it is my duty to tell you to go to bed and get some sleep."

"Just for the record, an older brother is the most likely person I would defy, but I'll let it slip seeing as I am utterly exhausted. See you all in the morning."

And with that she made her way up the staircase to her bed, smiling as she caught a couple of sentences from the conversation going on behind her.

"In my experience brother and sister don't kiss like that you know mate," Ron said.

"It was just a friendly kiss!" Harry said defensively, "Hang on...How long were you standing there!!"

*

"Kriss? Kristine, come on," a distant voice was saying as Kristine turned sleepily over trying to ignore the interruption to her dreams. "Hail, will you wake up!!" the voice shouted, jerking Kristine out of peaceful slumber.

"What the...Draco? What are you doing?!" she said, "I was asleep, what are you doing in here, it's,"

"It's eleven AM and you are still in bed. Honestly, how lazy can you get!" he said sitting upright on the edge of her bed.

"Eleven AM! It can't be," she argued, sitting up on her elbows to look at her clock.

"It is, and you were meant to meet me an hour ago for a day of pampering and relaxation, but you never showed up."

"Oh Draco, I'm sorry, I've just been so tired," she said sinking back into her pillow.

"It's okay. So, who was that dog sniffing around you yesterday, and I'm not talking about Harry?"

Kristine flung her pillow at Draco's head, matching his grin with her own.

"That was my Dad," she said.

"Wow, no wonder you're so ugly," Draco replied; just before he was knocked onto the floor by an all of a sudden, very awake Kristine.

"Take that back Malfoy or I'll make you eat this fuzzy pink pillow," said Kristine, now straddling a defenceless Draco Malfoy on the floor.

"I most certainly will not. Have you even looked in the mirror yet? Seriously love, a little hair care wouldn't go astray every no and again. Besides, I kind of like having you sitting there."

Kristine shoved the pillow in his mouth and got up off the floor, walking over to a small cosmetics table.

"Okay, I'll let you have that one," she said as she looked in the round mirror and picked up a hairbrush.

"Here," Draco said coming over to her, picking small pink feathers off his tongue, "Let me."

He took the hairbrush and began to gently brush he hair.

"So, how was it? Seeing your Dad I mean," Draco asked, looking at the reflection of him and Kristine in the mirror.

"It was nice," Kristine said, "For the first time in ages I felt happy, you know? Completely happy. There was no part of me that was elsewhere. When I'm with you, I feel amazing; elated somehow, but there was always that pain in the back of my mind. I missed her so much. I still miss her, but meeting Sirius, that made it better."

"I'm glad," Draco said, "I'm not overly enthusiastic about having to share you with other people, but I think I'll cope," he said, putting the hairbrush back down of the table.

Kristine turned around and put her arms around Draco's neck and gazed into his eyes.

"You know, I really like this outfit," Draco said.

Kristine's eyes narrowed. She was wearing grey pyjama bottoms and a small white vest top with a grey dragon printed over the front.

"What are you wearing underneath it?" Draco continued.

Kristine kicked him in the shin.

Draco yelped and stepped backwards. "Bloody violent women!" he said rubbing his leg.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Kristine! Are you up yet?" Harry shouted.

"Ah!" Kristine shrieked in panic, "Umm...hang on Harry, I'm getting dressed."

With that she grabbed Draco's arm and dragged him into the adjoining bathroom.

"Love you," Draco said amusedly as she closed the door on him.

Kristine grabbed a dark green turtle neck sweater, and quickly pulled it over her head, so as to give the impression that she was half dressed, and then opened the door to a superior looking Harry Potter.

"I knew you wouldn't be up!"

"What are you talking about?" Kristine said looking slightly flustered, "I was up."

"Oh yeah?" Harry said poking her playfully in the stomach, "Then why do you have your pyjama top on under your sweater?"

"How did you know that?!" Kristine said, eyes widening.

"I didn't, you just told me," Harry said grinning.

"Git," Kristine said.

"Indolent," Harry slung back.

"Scar-face."

"Lanky."

"Four eyes."

"Child of a dog."

"Hey, that one's new!"

"Which is why I always win," Harry said pompously.

"You so do not always win!" Kristine said appalled.

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO and if you say do not one more time then I'll tell everyone that you're afraid of puppets!"

"Bastard. All right then. Did you want something in particular, or were you just in need of a good argument?"

"You call that a good argument?"

"Potter!"

"Oh okay! I just came to get you for out meeting with Dumbledore."

"Oh my God, I totally forgot!! Go away Harry, I have to get ready, I've got a very important meeting with Dumbledore to get ready for!"

And with that she closed the door on Harry and collapsed in relief on the bed.

"Wow," Draco's voice said from the vague direction of the bathroom, "I had no idea your relationship with Potter was based on such maturity. I mean, its just shocking how you both have the grown up attitude expected of two saviours of humanity."

"Shut up Draco," Kristine replied from her sprawled out position on the bed.

"Why would I do that? This is much more fun."

"Yeah, for you maybe."

"Which is the best kind of fun. Scratch that, I just thought of a better kind of fun involving you, some whipped cream and a leather corset.

"Malfoy!!" Kristine exclaimed appalled, rolling onto her stomach to look the blond in the eye.

"What?" Draco said innocently.

Kristine stared at Draco until his resolve broke down and smile formed on his lips.

"I'm sixteen, what do you expect to be going through my mind. Besides, the closet thing you have to a brother is Harry Potter, and we all know what seedy thoughts run around in that excuse for a brain of his, you can hardly be shocked."

"Firstly," Kristine said holding up her first finger, "Harry is a gentleman, which is more than I can say for you right now, and secondly, this whole 'I'm a sort of good guy' thing of yours doesn't reduce your loathing of Harry in any way does it."

"What can I say, I hate the pipsqueak."

"You're the same height!"

"I blatantly refuse to accept that. Now, what's this about a meeting with Dumbledore."

Kristine had got up from the bed and started to tidy up the mess she'd made earlier.

"Oh, Sirius and Dumbledore said they wanted to talk to Harry and me today, in like half an hour actually."

"So I've been pushed out of your busy schedule then?" Draco asked, trying to be flippant, but still sounding a little hurt.

"No, not pushed out, just, pushed back a little. I don't know how long I'll be, but I swear, as soon as I'm finished, I'll let you know and we can spend the entire rest of the day together. You don't mind too much do you?"

"It's fine. Just don't go forgetting about be," Draco replied.

"Never going to happen," said Kristine stopping her gathering of bed sheets to smile at Draco.

"Okay. When you're done, just use the charm and come and find me."

Ok. Hang on, what do you mean 'use the charm'?"

"The necklace," Draco said, pulling the gold chain out from under his shirt, the broken heart at the end. Kristine reached down and pulled out her own. She hadn't taken it off since Draco had put it round her neck the night it had been made.

"Whenever we want to find each other, just hold the charm in your wand hand, and say 'locatus'. Watch."

Draco held the heart in his left hand, and as he spoke, the charm glowed a slight red, and gently pulled him towards Kristine. The two pieces of the heart connected and glowed briefly together as one, before separating in half once again.

"Is this a romantic way of keeping tabs on me?" Kristine said jokingly.

"I don't know what your worried about, I'm the one having all the secret steamy affairs. This locater charm wasn't my brightest idea."

Kristine laughed.

"That had better be a joke Malfoy if you know what's good for you."

"Are you sure you're in the right house? Seriously, you'd make a fair Slytherin," Draco said, and seeing the horrified look on her face quickly added, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Come on," Kristine said, "Clear on out. I'm running late. I'll see you later."

"Ok then. Oh and one more thing. Puppets?"

"Don't even think about going there Malfoy."

"Alright, for now. See ya," Draco said kissing Kristine softly on the lips before sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower. Kristine only had seconds to wonder how he got through a common room of students without being noticed, as she grabbed her clothes and dived into the shower.