Chapter Two

The sun was blazing through the window by the time Hermione woke up, she shielded her eyes from the light; closing her eyes at the pounding in her head, Hermione rolled over groaning. She and Ginny had gone out with Luna after she got off work last night and she hadn't managed to crawl into bed until two in the morning. Hermione could vaguely remember seeing Seamus Finnigan standing on the bar at The Three Broomsticks, though how they got to Hogsmeade is a mystery.

Hermione woke up a few hours later, rolling onto her back she realized that her head no longer felt like it was being stepped on by a troll, but rather like a wand was tapping on the back of her head. She was debating about whether she should get up when she heard a tap on the window. Looking over she saw a tawny brown owl carrying her copy of today's Daily Prophet. Hermione got up to let it in, she slipped a knut into its pouch as she unrolled the paper.

"Witch Accused of Having Son Turned Into a Werewolf"

Hermione sighed, some people, she thought setting the paper down on her bed. Ever since the second Wizarding War, the Ministry has been sending out yearly cheques to those suffering with lycanthropy; which meant that this was not the first witch to try to scam some money from the Ministry.

As Hermione thumped from her bedroom she heard banging, groaning she turned to answer it wondering who could possibly be at my door at… 8::30 in the morning. Merlin's pants, I need more sleep. She was almost at her door when she heard the banging again. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Calm down."

"Sorry ma'am can't calm down." came a muffled voice from behind the door.

Pulling open the door Hermione found herself face-to-face with a big burly man dressed in auror robes. "Umm," started Hermione, "what can I do for you, sir?"

"We're evacuating the building ma'am, there's a gas leak."

"Sir, I'm a witch, now what's this really about."

"Sorry ma'am, the Dark Mark's been cast over the building, I'm afraid."

"What? That makes no sense, I'm Hermione Granger, I was there when Harry killed You-Know-Who."

Shaking his head, the man looked at her, "Merlin, so you are. But I'm afraid it still stands ma'am; now, if you'd like to come with me I can bring you down to Harry."

Hermione sighed, "Alright, I just have to grab my cat."

Draco was walking down a path along a sheer cliff on the edge on the Malfoy property, thinking about how Lucius was acting this morning at breakfast. His father hadn't been able to get Draco's test results ready until then; but he had obviously passed the test, even scored some extra marks, but his father had been on edge all night. Draco hadn't seen his father this nervous since The Dark Lord still reigned. Even his mother seemed worried, he had heard her crying in the parlour when Bellatrix came for a visit; he had sent the house elves in to spy, but all they found out was that Bella had no idea how it happened. So, Draco, now more confused than ever, went on a walk.

It was a cool day for the start of June, but the wind coming off the bay was warm. Draco's parents stopped letting him read the paper ever since the Ministry started bashing all the former Deatheaters whenever they ran out of news. Draco was at a loss, he had no idea what was bothering his parents and his aunt so; and with his birthday coming up, he wasn't taking any chances. He had to find out what happened, and soon. Legacy be damned, Narcissa was just too old to be under this kind of stress.

Draco was sitting on a rock staring out into the bay when he heard the distinctive *POP*; turning towards the noise, he saw that Hermi, his childhood house elf, had apparated onto a nearby rock.

"Master Draco," Hermi began, out of breath, "Hermi has been looking everywhere for you! Mistress Narcissa has been calling for you, Mistress Bella is leaving."

"Thanks Hermi," Draco said glancing at her, "Have you heard any more about what they were talking about earlier?"

"No, sir, sorry, sir." Hermi said staring at her toes, "Hermi is most aggrieved, Hermi will be trying harder."

Draco sighed, he'd lived with house elves long enough to know that Hermi thought she deserved to be punished. "Thank you Hermi, I'll be right along. You may go now, but I forbid you to punish yourself over this."

Hermi looked up at Draco with tears in her eyes, "Thank you Master Draco." And with that Hermi apparated back to the manor with another *POP*.

"Harry, what's going on?" asked Hermione as she came up to Harry.

"I don't know, we got a call saying that there's been a dark mark cast over your apartment. By the time I got over here, someone had already removed the mark and started evacuating the building."

Hermione sighed, "Okay, well thanks Harry, I'm going to go see Ginny, is she at your place or the burrow?"

Harry rubbed his eyes, it looked like he hadn't slept all night, "Umm…She's at the burrow."

"Great, thanks Harry, do you mind if I drop Crookshanks off at your place?"

Harry waved her off, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Have a good day Hermione."

"Bye Harry, and thanks!"

Hermione trudged down the road carrying Crookshanks, her head still hurt and her brain wasn't quite sure it should be up yet; but still, Hermione dropped Crookshanks off at 12 Grimmauld Place and apparated to the Burrow with a *POP*.

A warm breeze blew across Hermione's face when she appeared at the Burrow, she felt warmer on the inside too. Hermione loved the Burrow, she loved spending her summers here as a kid. Ron was still living here, even though he was away at a Wizarding University somewhere in the Alps; she missed Ron, but they had been on bad terms ever since she broke up with him after graduation. He spent most of his time at school now, but usually came home for the holidays. Around his family, Hermione and Ron usually just danced around each other; pretended things were the same as they use to be. Hermione sighed; she missed those days, she didn't need to be careful about what she said, or skip around unresolved feelings. But she brightened up when she remembered that he was dating Lavender Brown again; they'd been dating for most of the semester, so when Ron came back for the summer he'd have no thoughts left to spare on Hermione.

Composing herself, Hermione walked up the path to the Burrow, she breathed the fresh smalls of summer on the way and giggled at the gnomes playing hide-and-go-seek with Bill and Fleur's elder kids, Victoire, Dominique and Louis. She waved at them as she let herself in through the old batter front door of the Burrow; calling out a greeting, Hermione found Ginny, Molly and Fleur having tea in the living room.

As she walked into the room, Molly got up and bustled herself over to Hermione, "Oh, Hermione dear are you alright," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, as she folded Hermione into a big hug, "We've only just heard, they sent out another Daily Prophet this morning. I guess they haven't had such big news since the war."

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley-" Hermione had started to answer, only to be interrupted by a tap tap tap on the window; Hermione looked over as Ginny got up to let the owl in.

"Huh," said Ginny undoing the latch on the window, "I've never seen this bird before." Ginny reached towards the bird as it flew in the window, only to have it fly towards Hermione; as she undid the ties on the owl's leg she read the front of the envelope:

Miss H Granger,

The Living Room,

The Burrow,

Ottery ST. Catchpole,

Daven.

It was written in emerald green ink; Hermione dropped the letter, it was her results from her last theory test.

Draco walked into the dark parlor after walking back from the cliff; he knew his aunt would disapprove, but Draco was hoping that if he had her irritated enough she would spill about what had everyone on edge. He saw Narcissa and Bellatrix seated on the antique couch, empty tea cups set on a tray currently being carried away by another house elf. Huh, Draco thought, guess she wasn't ready to leave when they sent Hermi. "Mother," greeted Draco, taking a seat across from them, "Aunt Bella. How was your visit?"

"It was fine Draco," cooed Bellatrix, "I heard about your test results, 112%. Very good; that's better than your father and he got the full seven preparation years."

Nodding in approval, Narcissa agreed, "She's right Draco, I'm very proud of you. Lucius only got 105%. You did better than him by almost ten percent and you had five years less study time." Narcissa smiled and stood to give her son a hug. "Now, say goodbye to your aunt and she'll be back tomorrow for your final assessment."

Draco turned to give his aunt Bellatrix a hug goodbye, "Have a good night aunt, I'll see you tomorrow."

Bellatrix smiled, "Bye now Draco. Don't forget to go over your notes, it wouldn't do to be rusty, now will it?"

"Of course aunt." said Draco, showing his aunt to the door.

"Have a safe trip." Narcissa called as Bellatrix shut the door behind her and disapparated with the usual *POP*.

Draco turned to his mother in the foyer, running his hand through his hair and asked, "How was your visit mother?"

"It was fine Draco, thank you," Narcissa replied with a small smile, "Now if you'll excuse me, i must go see to dinner." She turned and wandered off down the long hall towards the old kitchen in the back of the house.

"Merlin's pants," mumbled Draco as he turned to go up the stairs. He sighed, Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck with Lucius. Draco clumped up the stair towards his father's office; it was on the third floor down a long hall way parallel to the front of the house. He was just about to knock when he heard some muffled voices coming from the other side of the door. Draco paused, he could only make out some of the words, "… muggle building… Potter… Dark Mark... Aurors-" Draco's heart caught in his throat; did he just say 'Dark Mark'? How is that even possible? The Dark Lord's been dead for three years now.

Draco backed away from Lucius's study and hurried back down the stairs to his room on the second floor; once he was there he started shaking. Draco didn't want The Dark lord to come back, and as much as his parents pretended they did, he knew otherwise. He ran a hand through his hair, so that's what his parents were keeping from him; and it has absolutely nothing to do with his revelation day. Draco breathed a sigh of relief, The Dark Lord can never come back, he thought, calming down. He was being ridiculous, he was just nervous about his birthday that was all. So that's what he told himself over and over again as he rolled over onto his bed to take a nap.