Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 138

Only realizing what I had just blurted out, my eyes widened in shock, but it was nothing compared to the look of surprise on Draco's face.

     "Wh-what did you just say...?" Draco blinked a few times at me in confusion, thinking that he had heard wrongly.

      I looked around to see if anyone had heard me, but saw that Madam Pomfrey was still in her office and the other patients were sound asleep.

       "Lexi!" My head snapped toward Draco as he called me again. "What are you talking about!?" He asked sharply in a hushed tone.

        I had to think quickly. I had to answer him now. I needed to come up with a believable lie if I wanted to keep my parents safe.

      "It's — it's true," I said hesitantly. "We're related."

        "But — you're a Muggleborn — h-how is this possible —"

        "That's what I thought too," I said in a controlled voice. "Until last year I thought I was a Muggleborn as well. But I recently found out that — that my father isn't who I thought he was."

       Draco gaped at me in disbelief. "And who is your father?"

       I paused for some while, until I finally blurted out, "Sirius Black."

        That was the perfect lie; Draco would still know that we were cousins and could no longer be mad at me for pushing him away when he had kissed me, yet he wouldn't know that Regulus Black was still alive and was hidden under the name of Roger Hooper.

        Draco leaned back in his chair. He kept blinking furiously, as if it could help him get back to reality. As if he were checking to see whether he was dreaming or not.

        "H-how is this possible..." he muttered mostly to himself.

        "Er... w-well... before being sent to Azkaban, Sirius and my Muggle mother were together, and she ended up pregnant with me. B-but when he was sent to prison, my mother married a Muggle man, named Roger Hooper," I said the first lie that came to my mind.

       This was partly, after all, what I used to believe back at the time I thought Sirius was actually my father, before figuring out about Regulus.

       Draco said nothing. He just stared at me as if he had gone mad or had simply heard me wrong. He couldn't believe his ears.

      "That explains why you punched me last year when I offended him," he finally said.

       I let out the breath I wasn't aware of holding, relieved that he had bought my lie.

       "Y-yes," I said feebly, nodding.

        "Sirius is my mother's cousin," he stated, still mostly talking to himself rather than me. "Which makes you and I —"

        "Second cousins," I completed him, nodding once more.

        "But — that makes you a Half-blood."

        "Yes," I said more firmly, knowing that was actually true.

        But the moment I was starting to relax a bit, my heartbeat picked up and my heart sank once more when Draco's eyes traveled down my chest.

        "That necklace — I knew it was familiar!" he suddenly said hoarsely.

       "I — what —"

       "It was in a family picture," Draco went on and I decided to remain silent, already trying to come up with an excuse in my mind to get out of this one. "But it was someone else who was wearing it."

        "Who?" I asked slowly, trying to keep myself from stuttering.

       "Sirius's brother — I'm not sure if you know him or not — but his name was Regulus Black, I think."

        "I — I might have heard of him," I said in a small voice, looking away.

        "From what Mother told me, Sirius was already casted off the family before that picture was taken," Draco went on. "But how do you have the necklace if it was Regulus's? Unless..."

       I gulped, staring at him. My heart was beating so loudly that I could feel it pulsing through my chest.

        "...Unless Sirius gave it to you," Draco said and I felt myself calm down again. "Regulus had died years ago. The necklace probably fell into Sirius's hands after his brother's death, and so later on Sirius gave it to you."

        "That's — exactly what happened," I said, trying to sound casual, yet failing miserably. Although Draco was too deep in his own thoughts to even realize my nervousness.

        But then he grinned, looking up at me. "Well, that explains why you act so much like a Slytherin."

        "The sorting hat actually did consider putting me in Slytherin." I chuckled.

        But then, Draco's smirk faded into a small smile. "I guess what you did today proved why you were sorted into Gryffindor."

There was long seconds of silence as neither of us dared to say anything. Draco looked dazed, as if still trying to process everything.

       "Look, Draco," I finally said firmly and broke the silence, leaning slightly toward him as I was sitting on the bed, "you can't tell anyone."

       "Not that I was going to — but just out of curiosity — why not?"

       "Because — because Sirius has many enemies among the Death Eaters," I said after thinking quickly of a reason. "If they find out who I am... they might try to use me to get to him."

       "Oh..." he muttered, glancing down and I was just hoping that my made-up reason would be good enough for him.

        "Promise me that you won't tell anyone."

       By that, his head shot up and he looked back into my eyes, nodding. "I promise."