SUMMARY: Harry Potter / Dangerverse Alternate Universe, covers up to the Battle at Hogwarts and the generation thereafter. Main characters are Drusilla Malfoy (original character, also vampire) and Hermione Granger-Lupin (canon character several steps removed). Chapter summary: Four year old Dru insists (again) that her parents tell her how they all came to be a family.

DISCLAIMER: All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. In addition, the rules of the universe belong to JK Rowling, without whom none of this would exist. We intend no copyright infringement and are making no money from this story. All additional non-OC characters belong to Anne Walsh, from her Dangerverse series. We are using these characters with permission. This is NOT a story set in the Dangerverse universe; this is fanfic about characters whose canon existence is the Dangerverse universe. We're grateful to Anne for her permission and support. OCs include Cassius Malfoy, Katrina Granger-Lupin, and Drusilla Malfoy. Pairing note: Drusilla was invented specifically as a love interest for Harry. In this universe, Ginny and Harry were never romantically interested in one another. We mean no disrespect to Harry/Ginny; that simply wasn't the story we wanted to tell.

RATING/WARNING: This is essentially a kidnapping/rape/recovery story. It contains strong threads of criminal sexual abuse, as well as the elements that go along with it (deep angst, self harm). If this is not something you wish to read in any form, please stop now (and read Dangerverse instead if you haven't already). If you still wish to read the story but would rather not see the elements mentioned above "onscreen," we will post warnings at the beginnings and summaries at the ends of graphic chapters, so you can skip the chapters and read the summaries only. If you are under eighteen, please either follow the plan in the previous sentence or ask a parent/mentor to read with you.

DEDICATION: To Robin, we hope you're pleased with the written form of the story you lived for so long. You are deeply missed.

DRUVERSE

By Robin and Tiffany, ghostwriting help by Alicia

CHAPTER 01: In-flu-ence

A four year old girl intently studied a ladybug. Every bit of color, every line, every shape interested her. She held her breath and moved closer, wondering if it would fly.

With a flurry too quick for a child to see, the ladybug took to the air. The girl missed the flight, not only because of the speed, but because dusk had fallen. She frowned, then stomped her feet. Darkness had come early because of the stupid clouds. The sky wasn't supposed to do this. She stomped again. She scrunched her face. She produced real tears – tears of rage. It wasn't fair. The clouds responded. They parted, creating a hole for the light of the setting sun. The rage evaporated, and the child happily went back to the spot where the ladybug had been.

"You're very talented, Drusilla, but remember what we talked about? You shouldn't use your powers if your mommy or I am not there," said a deep voice from behind the child.

"Daddy!" Drusilla squealed. She turned around and held out her arms to be picked up. The ladybug was forgotten. Without Drusilla's will to hold them apart, the clouds drifted back into place, covering the sun and allowing true darkness to fall on the yard. Drusilla nestled against her father's chest as he carried her inside. "Daddy, why can I do that? Make it light when it doesn't want to be light?"

"A long time ago," said Cassius Malfoy, tickling his daughter's feet as he set her on the couch, "years ago, in fact, I loved your mommy very, very much. But my daddy didn't love your mommy as much as I did."

"This is the kissing part, Daddy," said Drusilla solemnly. "Skip to the vampire part."

"Students aren't allowed in the Forbidden Forest, Cassius," said Kat, glancing around and behind them. "I seriously doubt students are allowed to camp here."

"Technically I'm not camping in the forest, I'm camping on the lake," said Cassius, gesturing to the huge houseboat barely visible through the magical camouflage. "Also, technically I'm not a student. I graduated a year ago. So come on, let's sit inside my mother's very comfortable magical camper. You said you had something to tell me."

"Are you going to get us in trouble?"

"Mother knows I took it. I think she even approves. She likes you, you know. As for Father, well, he's off doing whatever he does."

As Kat followed Cassius into the boat, she said, "Cassius Malfoy, if you get me expelled right before my NEWTs, I will…"

Cassius closed the door and shut Kat up for a kiss. When she came up for air, he said, "What will you do?"

"I will name our firstborn, 'Cassius is a Moron.' CM for short."

"CM Malfoy. Not a bad ring, but too much of the 'm' sound. How about 'Cassius is a Dunce,' CD for short?"

Kat hit him.

Cassius skillfully dodged out of the way, pulling Kat down with him so they both ended up on the couch. The houseboat rocked. "So," he said, "What did you need to tell me that you couldn't put in a letter? Did you find out where Sirius keeps his Firewhisky stash?"

"Yes, but I wasn't going to tell you that yet –" Kat broke off, clapping her hands in front of her mouth.

"Did he tell you it was going to be a wedding present for James and Lily?"

"No, he said it was going to be a wedding present for us –" she burst out laughing, probably realizing the truth at the same time Cassius realized it. Sirius had been lying, there was no Firewhisky anywhere under McGonagall's nose. "That filthy liar!" Kat said.

Cassius laughed with her. "Aren't you glad you never went out with Sirius?"

"Yeah…" but Kat stopped laughing quickly. "That is what I wanted to tell you. It's about your brother."

Cassius sighed. "Git."

"Yeah, but 'git' I could handle. Lucius says he wants to go out with me. But he says that's all my fault, that I gave him a love potion or something. You don't believe that, do you?" she pleaded.

"Please. My little brother fell in love with you all on his own. I caught him asking our father whether he had to choose a pureblood Slytherin. Our highly intelligent and unprejudiced father said that only purebloods could be sophisticated and beautiful. Lucius said that you weren't a pureblood and you were still all of those things."

"When he was twelve?"

"Yep." Cassius reached out to his girlfriend. The heartbroken pleading in her eyes wrenched his own heart. "I guess three years haven't done anything for the twit's maturity. He's a stupid git, Kat. You can do better. He's just parroting Father's prejudices."

"It's more than that. You haven't been here this past year – well, he's been sending me notes. Notes that disintegrate as soon as they've been read."

Cassius reminded himself to be gentle toward Kat. He'd been telling himself this every few hours after Kat's dad and adoptive mom had been killed the summer before. Gentleness wasn't naturally his first reaction, but he'd have to learn. Kat was beautiful, brave, tender, and strong despite what she'd gone through, and Cassius wouldn't lose her.

Kat relaxed into Cassius' embrace. "Stupid notes all said the same sorts of things, threatening to tell Dumbledore about the nonexistent love potions."

"I hope you ignored him."

"At first I sent notes back threatening to tell Dumbledore about the Chip and Dale underwear Lucius had when he was five."

Cassius chuckled. "Father never found out about Mother's fondness for some muggle cartoons."

"I wish it were that simple, Cassius. Lucius has hardened. This isn't funny. He's dangerous."

"So is Father, I think. Every time he sees something that even remotely looks muggle. He's scary."

Kat finally met Cassius' eyes, tears making a thick sheen beneath the lashes. "Lucius said I should be g-grateful that a pureblood like him would take an interest in me even though I'd bewitched and manipulated him for so long. Those are his words. He said your father had already arranged a proper pureblood marriage for you and I'd never see you again."

"Well, Father did, but –" Cassius kicked himself, first figuratively and then literally, or at least attempted before falling back on the couch in defeat. "Kat, I told Father that he was out of his mind. Lucius left that part out." He went to her and held her, repeating it over and over. "I love you. You only."

When Kat regained control, she looked up and said, "It wasn't just that Lucius told me you'd gone away. I didn't really believe that. But Lucius told me I had to – well, you know – with him, and that I deserved nothing better."

Cassius very carefully took his arms away from around his girlfriend, got up, beat the stuffing out of a pillow literally, and then sat back down beside her. Stuffing strewed the floor of the boat.

"I take it you don't agree?" Kat said with a chuckle.

"Well," said Cassius, "I have three things I'm going to do. Second I'm going to walk you safely back to your dorm. Thirdly I'm going to go sneak into the dungeons and charm Lucius' school bag so that every one of his carefully written scrolls becomes full of Peeves' dirty Christmas song lyrics, and yes, I can do that."

"I approve. What's the first thing you're going to do?"

"First I'm going to do something that I should've done a long time ago." Cassius got down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket, which he'd been carrying for longer than he really wanted to admit to anyone. "Katrina Granger-Lupin, will you marry me?"

"Daddy, quit thinking about the kissing part and tell me about the vampires!"

"I wasn't thinking about kissing your mother."

"Yes, you were. Your face is all red, and your mouth looks funny."

Cassius leaned over and kissed the top of his daughter's head. "I like the kissing part."

She indulged him for a moment, but then screwed up her face and fists. "Tell me."

There was a crack of thunder. It wasn't that far away.

Cassius reached out with his mind to calm his daughter – then stopped himself. Instead of using his powers – he hoped, oh, did he ever hope – he said, "That is wrong, Drusilla. You shouldn't change the weather for no reason." His voice was as calm as he could make it, as he prayed not to use his powers on his daughter but to let reason alone do what was necessary and to reason with the four year old. Superimposed over Drusilla was another child. Hardly older, really, almost thirteen, a little girl with fairer skin and hair than Drusilla had, whose powers made lightning and lots of it. In the vision, the lightning burned her alive, and the ashes fell away around Drusilla, making a twisted halo around the four year old.

The thunder stopped.

Cassius outwardly smiled encouragingly, inwardly praying his child had controlled herself without any of his influence.

"Daddy, I'm being good. I really want you to tell me about the vampires again."

"Okay, honey." He settled her more comfortably, absently building a fire in the fireplace of the large room. With as much of the teasing as he could make to return, he said, "It seems you already know all about vampires. After all, you have some inside information."

She stuck her tongue out. "I'm being good, Daddy."

"That you are." Cassius sat beside his daughter, deciding to tell her a little more than he had before. "Do you know what a clan is?"

Drusilla stumbled over the unfamiliar word.

"A clan is a group of people who are the same in some way, who might be related to each other. Or a group of animals. Or, well, a group of creatures. We have magic creatures in our world."

"Because we're magic. Our world is different."

"Right. But remember," and Dru said the rest along with Cassius, "muggles are people too." Cassius went on alone, "Very good, honey. So once upon a time, there was a clan of vampires."

"Were they all brothers and sisters?"

"Probably not, but I'm sure there were some families."

Drusilla snuggled more deeply into the couch, looking at the fire. "I want to be a group of families too. When will I have a new brother or sister?"

Cassius hadn't been able to bear to tell his daughter that Kat couldn't have any more children. Kat would have to do that part herself. "I don't know, honey. Have your mother tell you about adoption again. Or maybe you could have some of your friends over tomorrow."

"I want you to tell me about the vampires, Daddy. Right now."

"All right. There was a clan of vampires. They moved around a lot, but for awhile they lived not too far from here. We know that muggles are people too. Vampires are people too as well, they're just people who can do things that regular people can't. They can even do things that wizards can't. But my daddy, your granddaddy, didn't think that vampires were people."

"Granddaddy didn't understand. He must have not been very smart."

Oh, Abraxus Malfoy was extremely smart, Cassius thought. Smart, cold, and completely ruthless. He would never ever forget the satisfaction in Abraxus' eyes when the lightning stopped and Abraxus had calmly announced that he had taken care of the problem. Abraxus had killed his own twelve year old daughter, and since she had been so recently turned into a vampire, the law would do nothing. Legally the vampires, not her own father, had killed her.

"Daddy! Pay attention!"

"Yes, Drusilla," Cassius chuckled as he capitulated. There was so much of Kat in this kid. "So, clan of vampires that your granddaddy didn't treat very well. So they were mad, and finally, they attacked us."

"And they made you a vampire, Daddy," Drusilla said gleefully.

"Yes, honey. And guess what that makes you?"

"I'm a vampire! I can control weather. You control everyone's feelings."

"Influence, honey. Not control."

Two new words in the same night. Cassius saw this play across his daughter's face as she scrunched her nose, vulnerable in her effort to understand. "What's in-flu-ence?"

"I'll show you." Cassius picked Dru up and carried her into the kitchen. He set her down for a moment. "That's control. I made you go in the kitchen." He picked her up again, brought her back to her original spot on the couch, and set her down. "Now, if you go into the kitchen, I'll make you some hot cocoa."

Drusilla moved into the kitchen at the speed of one of those lightning bolts she'd been learning not to cause.

Cassius followed at a more leisurely pace and made the cocoa. It only took a few minutes. As he handed the mug to Drusilla, he said, "That was influence. I made you want to go into the kitchen."

"Oh," Drusilla said, peering at him over the top of her already half-empty cup. Cassius would probably never know how much she actually understood.

"I told you," Kat said fiercely. "I don't care. I'm going to marry you anyway."

"I'm not worthy of you," Cassius said, staring at his hands, feeling nothing but the bleak spread of creeping despair. They were safe, for the moment, in the Muggle hotel room where they would stay until they could move into the house Cassius had found – to support them, as a married couple, which he'd purchased before the world had fallen apart. Any other time, when he'd told Kat he wasn't worthy of anything about her, he'd been teasing. This time… "I've just been disowned. Well, good riddance to them," with a glare in the general direction of the Malfoys, "but I can't support you. I have powers I can't control. It's disgusting, but I actually want blood."

"Look," Kat said firmly. She knelt beside him on the floor, using her hand to tip his chin up, to meet his eyes. "Would you want me to leave if I couldn't support you?"

"No, but…"

"Then you're being proud. And pride goes before a fall."

Much as it hurt to acknowledge, Kat was right. "I'll give you that one, Kat. If I was just poor, we could get married anyway and we'll just scrape to get by. But how do you know I won't hurt you? Use my powers on you?" At the moment Cassius finished speaking, there was a flash of lightning from the direction of Malfoy Manor, on what had formerly been a calm summer night.

He had left Arianna behind.

Everyone had said such cruel things, Cassius included. They rang in his ears, increasing to a screeching cacophony.

"You let your family kick you out for my sake."

"I think they kicked me out because I'm a vampire now."

"They disinherited you because you're a vampire now, I think. But you're still their child. They would have let you stay, but you left so you and I can start a new family. Together. And that's still the plan."

Once again, she was right, maddeningly so, and Cassius attempted to absorb the truths. His father's hatred filled his heart and ears, even as lightning and thunder crackled through the room again and again. Cassius would protect Kat, for the rest of his life, but he had lost Arianna. It was Abraxus' fault the vampires had come at all. Abraxus hated Cassius. Abraxus loved Lucius.

"Let go," Kat said.

"I can't. My powers will go out of control." Cassius couldn't surrender to pain and grief; his feelings would bleed to everyone in the building, perhaps even further.

"I can help. I have to learn how to help," Kat said, desperation and earnestness coloring her voice.

And then it didn't matter, since the pain and fear had overtaken Cassius already. He held on to Kat as he shook and sobbed, and eventually tried to drag the shreds of their future back into place. Attempted to ignore the full scale lightning storm.

"Mommy, what's 'adoption?'" said Drusilla. She had her favorite blanket pulled all the way up to her chin, but her eyes held no hint of sleep.

"You know that, honey."

"I do, but I made Daddy –" Dru broke off, then said proudly, "I in-flu-enced Daddy to tell me all about the vampires again. And then I started asking him about me getting a sister, and he said to go ask you about adoption."

"Did he, now?" Kat murmured. She felt a stab of pain over the barrenness that she could not yet bring herself to confide to her daughter, but she chased it with the more mundane and satisfying thought that in that case it would be her husband's turn to read "Goodnight, Moon" eighteen times in a row. Or that evil Sesame Street book that had the characters announce at the end that they should read the whole thing again.

"Yes, Mommy," Dru said, oblivious. "So tell me all about adoption."

"All right," Kat settled herself in a chair beside her daughter's bed. "When you're born, your mother nad your father are your birth parents."

"I never understood that, mommy. You and Daddy are my birth parents. But you're also just my parents. So why do we use more than one word?"

"Well, because sometimes people are mommies and daddies who aren't birth mommies and birth daddies." Kat smiled, wondering how many times her daughter would ask her to repeat this. "My daddy's name is David. He doesn't have magic."

"He's my granddaddy. I think he's nicer than my other granddaddy. Muggles are people too."

"Yes, sweetheart." Kat fought the tears that suddenly threatened. How easily her tiny daughter said the things her in-laws would never acknowledge. "My birth mommy doesn't have magic either, and she's a person too. Her name is Jane. She went to Heaven and couldn't take care of me anymore. Then my daddy married a lady named Rose. Rose is my mommy too, she's just not my birth mommy. She's my mommy by adoption. And that's what adoption is."

"Adoption gives you more mommies and daddies?"

Once again, it wasn't a real question, Drusilla just wanted to hear it again. Kat made a mental note to look up the length of time children were expected to repeat things. All she said was, "yes, and adoption gives you more brothers and sisters too."

Little Drusilla grinned as Kat shut off the dresser light. One four year old girl had everything she wanted in the world.

"Kat, this is Remus. He's going to be your brother," David Granger said gently. "At least, he will if his mother answers my question in the way I hope she answers."

Kat had watched her father with the new lady. It had been just David and Kat for three years, and it had been very lonely. The lady's name was Rose, she'd told Kat that Kat could call her by first name, and she was very different than Kat's mother had been but was strong in a different way. Kat liked her. The boy was new. He was well groomed, but there was a lost, almost feral, look in his eyes. He would be very easy to hurt.

"Hi," Kat said.

Remus shrank away. "You can do magic, can't you?" he said.

"I just got my Hogwarts letter," Kat said. Pride crept into her voice and she let it. She hadn't known magic was real for very long. "Can you do magic?"

"I am magic." Remus turned back to his mother, asking a question with his eyes that Kat couldn't discern.

"I'm going to marry David," Rose said. "And they know about magic now, so you can tell them about you if you want to."

"I'm a werewolf," said Remus. "I have been since I was four. So I already go to Hogwarts. Every month Dumbledore has to lock me up there so I don't bite or kill anyone." He told the end of his story in a rush, defiantly.

Kat imagined turning into something else against her will. She shuddered. Then she imagined having someone who did turn into something else, something uncontrollable, living with her. For a moment, she let fear for herself and for her own safety flood her and thought of nothing else. Then she imagined being kicked out of every new home because others were afraid of her. She imagined how she felt when anyone else was afraid of her, even when she deserved it. And she remembered how terribly lonely the past several years had been. It would be good to have more family.

"I guess our parents better look out," Kat said to Remus. "We're a half-magic family and the kids have all the power."

Remus grinned.

Family tree and canon deviations:

Abraxus Malfoy Rose Malfoy

Slytherin -m- Slytherin

(canon) (canon)

I I I

Cassius Malfoy Lucius Malfoy Arianna Malfoy

Hufflepuff Slytherin Ravenclaw

(vampire: emotion (vampire: wild

control powers) lightning powers)

(original character) (canon, modified) (original character)

Jane Granger David Granger Rose Granger - Lupin John Lupin

Muggle - m- Muggle Muggle (not married) Ravenclaw

(original character) (Dangerverse) -m- (Dangerverse, modified) (original character)

I / adopts adopts \ I

Katrina Granger-Lupin / I \ Remus Lupin

Ravenclaw Gertrude "Danger" Granger-Lupin Gryffindor

(original character) (never went to Hogwarts) (Dangerverse, modified)

(Dangerverse, modified)

(Note: Danger originated in Dangerverse, as did our version of Remus. In Dangerverse, Remus and Danger are not familially related but are married to one another. In Druverse, as per the family tree above, Remus and Danger are half-siblings by blood and full siblings by adoption. They do not have a romantic relationship at any point in Druverse – either with each other or with anyone else.)