The Last Brother

AN: *Sigh*, yes I am finally updating. On the contrary to popular belief, I have not in fact abandoned this story. I have recently (two weeks ago) decided to go back to writing HP fanfiction, and I figured I might as well continue my old stories instead of starting new ones. I have updated Ice and Fire and Old Flames Can Be Deadly, this was next on my list, so...enjoy ;] (PS: I noticed I've made a lot of mistakes in my chapters in the past, mostly on Hermione's age and stuff, just to clear things up, she is 17, has just learnt to apparate the last time she was in Hogwarts and is going back to Hogwarts to complete her last year once the summer's over. Oh and things like the time have been a little screwed up, I'm working on it)

Chapter 11 – That's New

Jake's eyes suddenly flared, he was still looking at me, though he seemed like he was trying desperately not to turn his glare on the lying little house-elf just metres away from us.

I took a deep breath. "Chris, if you haven't noticed already, that would be the second time you've lied to us. My trust for you is disappearing, if it hasn't already."

I sent a suggestive look to Jake, and understanding what I meant by it, he nodded.

"You can go tell mum and dad that we won't be coming for dinner today, and if you have any sense at all, you'll stay away from us for a while." I closed my eyes and listened to Christian simpering.

After a while, I heard his soft footsteps padding away and out of the room, I opened my eyes. Jake let out a deep breath that I hadn't realised he'd been holding as soon as Chris was out of ear-shot.

"I cannot believe that pathetic, cowardly, scheming little elf! I specifically warned him what I would do if this damn ring hurt just by putting it on! And he still let me do it!"

"He was just following orders," I said calmly.

"Yeah, from our so-called bloody parents! And who do they think they are? What, do they actually expect us to be grateful about all this," he gestured to our faces, "at least enough to forget about the pain? That's the worst physical thing I've EVER had to endure."

"You've clearly never been put under the Cruciatus Curse." I muttered.

"And do you know what the worst part is?"

"No, Jake, I don't, but I know you're going to say it anyway, so go ahead..."

"Chris said that after the bloody transformation, Sharon and Daniel would like to speak to me!"

I shrugged. "So?"

"SO?! They knew about what we'd have to go through just to look like their freakin' children, and now they expect me to even consider looking at their faces! Let alone listening to them."

"Do you suppose these personality things have kicked in yet?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Because then I'd be really worried. Is this what the rest of our lives are going to be like? You constantly ranting about everything imaginable and me just listening?"

"I have no idea. But I don't think they've taken effect yet."

"How can you tell?"

"I don't feel any different to what I felt like when I was a Malfoy. That anger I have directed to everything living is still there, festering. I would've hoped that if I had to go through pain to become a 'true Lisvor', I would at least be able to get rid of it."

"Well, in my opinion, I think they are actually working a bit."

"Why on earth would you think that? I just said –"

"Exactly. Would the Draco Malfoy you know really admit to being the selfish, heartless person he was? That there was something in him that he really couldn't control which was the real reason he was the way he was?"

"Since when have you started talking about Draco Malfoy as if he was a different person?"

"Ehm, you just did."

Jake looked at me quizzically for a moment, then realised. "Oh right."

I sighed. "Well at least the new you is refreshingly honest and isn't constantly hiding everything away as if pure information could kill someone."

"Actually, some of the stuff I know probably could get people killed. But that's mostly stuff I overhead my dad talking about."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's take a look around."

"You mean you haven't already?"

"No, I only arrived here...wow, today. I can't believe the biggest change in my entire life happened all in one day."

"I can't believe you managed to convince me to come to this dratted place in one day. I expected myself to take longer to cope."

"Yeah I know, me too." I said as we started walking to the door.

Jake paused once we reached the long table, the two empty potion bottles were the only things resting atop it.

"Just one more thing," he grabbed his potion off the table and lifted his hand high. Before I could say anything, he slammed the little bottle to the floor.

It cracked open on the floor with a deafening shatter, my ears were ringing but I could still hear a few shrieks coming from some other part of the house. Not so surprisingly, I didn't hear a bunch of footsteps coming our way; they probably just figured it was us getting revenge.

"Vandalism." I shook my head disapprovingly.

"Oh please, don't pretend you don't want to do it." Jake looked at me mockingly.

Don't do it, Cameron...don't do it...I rolled my eyes and grabbed my empty potion bottle.

"To never having to feel that bloody pain ever again in our whole lives." I raised the bottle as if toasting to it, then let it drop.

There was still a really loud smash, but since I didn't put as much force into it as Jake had, it was less threatening than his.

"Vandalism." There was a slight smirk on his face as he imitated me, shaking his head like I had.

"Oh, shut up!" I punched his arm and we left the room, laughing.

Instead of making our way back to my room, we headed up a flight of stairs, leading to the highest floor, or so we thought.

"Hey, about the whole convincing thing," Jake said, "how did you manage to get me here?"

"Well, I think it was because of those Death Eaters showing up more than anything. You could either have chosen to run, which wouldn't have worked, apparated somewhere else, which probably would've gotten you killed, or you could've decided to live and come with me." I smiled, adrenaline rushes have always been my secret thing, and being in the face of possible immediate death definitely fell under the category 'adrenaline-rush-worthy'.

"What do you suppose happened to them? I know for a fact that Death Eaters don't like missing their targets."

I shrugged, and then a thought occurred to me. "Hey, those people who rung the door a while ago...you don't think...?"

"Maybe," Jake said, suddenly intrigued, "let's go find out."

I hesitated. "I don't think we should."

"Well why the hell not? These people tried to kill us! If it is them, I'd like to show them a piece of my mind, now that I'm prepared."

I looked at him sceptically.

"Ok, maybe the fact that there are a dozen other people in this house helps."

"But what if it isn't them? What if they're really important people and we're not supposed to disturb them?"

"Oh come on, Cameron! Don't you want to see if this blasted transformation affects our powers?" There was a mischievous glint in his eye.

I was slightly taken aback. "Cameron? Since when have you started calling me that?"

"Since you look nothing like Hermione." He said simply and looked straight ahead in time to turn a corner.

I raised an eyebrow, he sensed this and elaborated.

"You know when you first meet someone and they tell you what their name is? And then you sort of link their face and their name together so the next time you see them you're like 'oh hey! I know that person! Their name is...whatever their name is'. Or if you see their name somewhere you think of the face that goes with it? Well, I've always known, for six years, that the face of a brown bushy haired girl, with freckles, buck teeth and chocolate eyes belonged to Hermione Granger. Now you're this gorgeous new person with black hair and blue eyes and as far as I'm concerned, you look like the daughter of Sharon and Daniel Lisvor and you're name is Cameron."

I pondered this for a while. "You have a point. So you don't mind me calling you Jake?"

He paused. "I would appreciate it if you waited until I've accepted what I look like first, I still feel like that pale, cold-hearted boy with silver golden hair and grey eyes. Maybe by tomorrow I'll be okay with it, once I've seen what I look like after I've just woken up." Jake joked, I couldn't help but smile.

There was a silence for a while, it wasn't awkward at all, but it felt kind of natural. It wasn't long before we reached another pack of stairs that the silence was broken.

"Hey, what's this? You said there were only 5 floors in this house. God, this place is bigger than the Malfoy Manor." He looked at me.

"That's what Guinevere told me."

"These elves cannot be trusted with the truth." He muttered. I was shocked to find myself in agreement with him, maybe a tad bit of discipline is required to make house-elves a little more honest.

"You know what this means right?" Jake smiled evilly at me.

I rolled my eyes. "What?"

"They only want us to believe that there are 5 stories in this place. They probably didn't expect us to go searching for something hidden. There must be something secret up there." He looked upwards to the top of the stairs, I followed his gaze and my eyes widened.

It was dark, I couldn't see a single thing past the stairs, it was so creepy that I almost felt an urge to cower into Jake.

"Let's go." I said with a sudden, unnatural boost of confidence. "How bad could it be? It must just be like an attic or something."

Jake took the first step to the biggest mistake I would ever make in my entire life.

AN: And there it is, I know it didn't have much, but it was just kind of like a bridge between the transformation and the next chapter. Oh, and I'm changing the rating to a T, just because of the language Remember, reviews are loved and appreciated!

XD