Alexa hissed as she turned on her right side. Sudden pain that shot in her right wrist had forced her to open her eyes.  She shut her eyes tight as brightness evaded her vision. Putting her left hand over her eyes, she opened them again to look at her surroundings. She blinked her eyes one too many times to make sure what she was seeing was not her imagination.

There, standing in front of her was her cousin - Adrian Winters.

"Hey!" She greeted uncertainly, as she tried to sit upon the comfortable bed. She saw him looking around them and wave his hand as he muttered a silencing spell.

"Hey," Adrian replied mechanically. "How are you?"

"I could have been worse." Alexa smiled tightly. Adrian's determined gaze on her forced her to look around and see that they were in the famous Hospital wing of their school. Even in the situation that she was in, she couldn't help but appreciate how nicely those green-coloured, old-yet-maintained privacy screens contrasted against the signature white-coloured beds with sheets and bedpans. She blinked as she did her best to recollect her arrival in that unexpected location.

"Good." Adrian's reply forced her to look back at him. She grew more impatient and uncomfortable with each passing moment of awkward silence that enveloped the two pupils. 

"Wait!" As if just realizing something, she snapped back to reality. "Where is Tom? Where is everyone else?"

"Tom is with Professor Dumbledore. I don't know about everyone else, but Professor is taking care of some matters." There was gloominess when the eleven-year-old spoke and Alexa wondered if there was something that he was hiding from her. She was about to voice it out, but the boy silenced her before she could speak. "I am not here for them right now, Alexa. I am here to get some answers. And only you can give them to me."

Alexa clutched her comforter to her chest. The intensity and determination in the kid's eyes informed her that the dreaded conversation was here. And there was no running away. Not this time. She nodded her head as she looked at her lap.

"You told me that we are no siblings," Adrian spat, "why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't," still not meeting his eyes, Alexa spoke in a barely audible voice. "I never lied to you."

"Yeah, you did!" Adrian accused. She was lying to his face. "You told me we are no siblings. Then tell me Alexa," he spat her name as if it was some venom, causing the girl to flinch back, "why do we share the same woman as our mother. Why Sienna Winters is the mother of both of us?"

"Because she is not my mother." Alexa felt guilt eating her conscience, as she spoke her next words. "She is my aunt."

"This means that we are cousins," Adrian stated the obvious. "Then why did you lie me? Why did you say that your father had no brother when I asked you?"

"My father had no brother. Aunt Sienna was his sister. I didn't lie," Alexa repeated quietly and closed her eyes waiting for the storm that was about to come.

"And you couldn't have corrected me? Do you think this is a joke?" Adrian sneered. His eyes flared. When he got the permission to meet her, he had schooled himself that he won't lash out on her, especially when she just woke up from her concussion after three days, but this girl was impossible. "I spent 8 years of my life going from one orphanage to another wondering why have I got no family. And you blow away the first chance that I got to finally find my origins?"

Alexa trembled again. Her sin caught up to her. She had no idea that she had snatched a mother from a boy all those years ago. If not for Tom, she wouldn't have even found out that her aunt had a son - a family of her own.

"I am sorry Adrian. Please forgive me," she whispered. "I didn't want to risk your life. All I wanted to do was to protect you from afar. Just like your mother."

"What do you mean, just like my mother?" Adrian narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Your mum wasn't just my aunt. She was my guardian." Alexa took a deep breath as she confessed. "She looked after me for three years, until I got my acceptance letter and came to school."

"Wait! Three years until you turned 11 that means-" She observed Adrian as she waited for the information to sink in his mind. She knew this was going to hurt him and all she could do was watch. Her heart sank as she saw him looking at her with a broken heart. "You mean to say my mum abandoned me when I was three and looked after you as her child? All that time when I waited for her, she was busy nursing you? What did I do to deserve this?"

Alexa couldn't look away. She was his culprit. Her heart called out for him as she watched his pain. She never felt more hopeless. Her soul cried for him when she saw how he shook his head while denying his reality.

"Please Adrian. Please forgive me. Please forgive us."

Adrian took a seat. He was unable to stand anymore. He was still shaking his head in refusal. "Tell me, Alexa, why did you snatch a mum from a three-year-old?"

Alexa flinched again. The pain in her wrist intensified because of pain in her heart. "Please, believe me, Adrian, I didn't even know about you until this year. If I had I would have helped aunt in getting you back."

Adrian sneered. He was being cruel, he knew, but he couldn't help it. And Alexa couldn't blame him. She would have done, probably, worse than him if their situations were swapped, not that she would want anyone to have her terrible fate.

Alexa closed her eyes as she recalled the past she wanted to bury. "Mum, my real mother, was murdered when I was eight. She handed me over to aunt Sienna."

"And your father?" Adrian probed, a bit hesitant this time.

"I had just turned five when I last saw him. Only recently I got a confirmation of his death from his murderer," she confessed. Recalling last memories of her father were worse than those of her mother. She still remembered how she ran after him pleading him to stop, yet he had left. He had to leave without even turning back. He should have trusted her more. She deserved to be trusted more.

She opened her eyes to see Adrian was now looking uncomfortable. She could see a hint of pity and sympathy for her in his eyes, the eyes that resembled so much to those of her father. It was a painful reminder. She looked around them to confirm they were alone.

"Do you know what am I, Adrian?" She asked monotonously. "I am a part wolf. Aunt Sienna was a squib. When my responsibility was dumped on her, she left you with her trusted friend. She first wanted to see where she stood with me. She didn't want to risk your life when she wasn't sure how she was going to protect you. When we finally met, she realized that I wasn't a normal werewolf, that I could control myself, thanks to me being a hybrid. Did you know that she went back to get you? Did you know how shocked she was when she found her so-called trusted friend left you to some orphanage for some money the very next day? Did you know that she went from orphanage to orphanage to get you back in her arms? She didn't give up on you. Not even after her search ending at the orphanage which was burnt in this damn bloody muggle war. She did all this without letting anyone know."

Alexa observed as Adrian's eyes gained moisture. He looked ashamed of his earlier accusations. He was overwhelmed with emotions. "You said you didn't even know about me. When did you find all of this?" he asked with difficulty.

"Just recently. I have my sources to find things out," she confessed looking overwhelmed herself.  "Aunt might not have had magic, but she was the most dedicated person I ever knew."

"Tell me about her, cousin. Tell me all that you know about our family." Adrian requested. Some tears left his eyes.

Alexa smiled sadly as she reached forward and held his hand in her uninjured hand. "I am still haunted by my past, Adrian. I am not sure how much I can tell you. I want to protect you."

"Then let me know what you need to protect me from, Alexa. I need to know what are you risking for me." Adrian begged as Alexa looked at him. He squeezed her palm with his other hand in assurance.

~

Tom cut through the corridor on the first floor of the castle absentmindedly.

I-I am s-so proud of you, boy.

The words were ringing through his head. Over and over again. It wasn't something new that he had heard in his life. His professors, especially his potion master, had been using them on him since his first year in that ancient building, yet when Antonio Avery spoke them, they had felt different. Was it because Antonio was dying? Or was it because Tom actually looked up to that man as a father figure all his life? He had no idea. It took him some time to figure out that he had reached his current destination - the hospital wing of their school. He was there for his girl. He sighed to himself as he threw a sad glance around him. He wouldn't have left her alone if not for his urgent business with his least favourite professor in the school. Tom snickered to the irony of how tables have turned.

Tom was about to open the door of the wing when they opened on their own. He blinked multiple times to confirm that it was Adrian Winter, the cousin of his girl, who was leaving the place. He opened his mouth to question the boy, but the boy beat him to it by simply smiling in his direction and urging him to take care of himself. The Slytherin Prefect was left confused when he saw his tears-stained cheeks and stumble in his otherwise properly co-ordinated steps as if the first-year couldn't wait to seek solitude. The younger Slytherin looked overwhelmed with something that the elder Slytherin couldn't pinpoint. And it irritated him.

Once the moping kid hurried around the corner, Tom shook his head and entered the wing. His eyes pinned on Alexa who was looking outside. Her face looked unreadable. And it worried him. When did she awake? Was she in pain? Did her cousin harm her? Does Tom need to chase him down and put some sense into him? His mind wondered. 

"Sweetheart!" He broke her stupor with his nervous voice. He himself was still healing from his injuries.

"Tom." She smiled in his direction as she heard him. The said boy never heard so much pain, worries, and a bit of relief uttered in the same syllable. His otherwise usual name, sounded so much different when she called him back. And as if he knew her like the back of his hand, he knew something was dreadfully wrong. Her eyes looked tired. Her body, her composure, everything about her looked as if she was in some war and she had suffered a terrible loss, which ironically they had. Momentarily forgetting what he was about to tell her, the decision that was going to change his life, he bolted to her. Taking her in his arms he hugged her as she sobbed in his chest.

He realized that she needed him.

He realized that he needed her even more.

Her sobs warm his heart as he realized that his decision was going to affect her more than it was going to affect him.

~*~*~

I hope you liked this not so eventful chapter. I hope I did Adrian justice. He deserved to know, didn't he? Anyway, do you have any idea what is this decision that Tom keeps talking about? Please let me know what do you think.

Please vote, comment and share the story. It will mean a lot to me. And once again stay home to stay safe.

Thank you all!!!