Disclaimer: I own nothing apart from Ariadne Aurora Malfoy-Granger. Everything else belongs to the genius J K Rowling.
Summary: It was a normal day for Draco Malfoy, but as soon as he stepped out of the fire place and brushed the soot off his robes he knew something was wrong. On this bed was a wicker Moses basket stuffed with a bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby girl fast asleep. She had nothing with her except a letter addressed to him and a golden necklace he knew too well. T for safety.
A/N This is just a short chapter in Hermione's POV, to bring in a pinch of drama in the story.
Chapter Four
From A Distance
Three months later...
Hermione
Hermione zigzagged her way through the tight crowd in Muggle London. She just kept her pace brisk and the hood of her coat low, almost covered her eyes as she tried to stay inconspicuous as possible and not attract any unwanted attention from the strangers doing their very last minute Christmas shopping.
She looked over her shoulder and sighed with relief when she finally lost the couple of burly wizards, snatchers most probably because of the way they conducted themselves, that were tailing her today.
These particular snatchers, weren't very clever as she took them for a wild goose chase around Oxford Street. They were likely working for the Death Eaters that were so desperately want to spill her filthy blood. They sent snatchers after snatchers to try and catch her but she always managed to evade them. However, once in a while the Death Eater themselves would make an appearance, but when they do they loved to play cat and mouse. There were times where they successfully cornered her but they would let her go again to capture her all over again. Hermione concluded that this little game of theirs is to make sure that she is weak enough before they kill her to prevent any harm towards the Death Eaters.
Her life wasn't always like this, running away from those after her and always constantly looking over her shoulders. When she left Hogwarts, she needed to clear her head. She couldn't bear to be around Draco knowing that it was her preventing him from accessing the inheritance that was rightfully his. With regards to Harry and Ron, well that's a different matter. They no longer saw her as a friend whom they shared so many adventures together. A friend that stuck by them no matter what and a friend who thought that the ties that linked them all together will never break. However, it was severely sawed off and no longer repairable.
She left the Wizarding Community because she had nothing else worth staying for. Harry and Ron were just strangers she shared so much memories and Draco was someone she had to leave behind for his own good.
So after she left Hogwarts and everything behind (her wand tucked in a box under her bed, with the intention of using it only to restore her parents memory) she went to find her parents. She found them in Australia with a life they always dreamt of. She restored their memory and they finally remember they shunned her out of their lives completely. They were outraged by her actions and blinded by hate that they would not accept her apologies and her explanation as to why she did it.
With nothing else, she moved from one city to the other and not staying for more than a month. She placed her wand into its box and never took it out again.
Until two years ago.
She was in Brazil when they came looking for her. Unable to move under the full body bind curse, they brought her back to a house with them. They tortured her both physically and mentally for three days before they finally let her go. That was when the game of cat and mouse started.
The group of Death Eaters, who all fled the country, involved three or four families. The Lestrange brothers were the main ones, next were the Carrows and the youngest brother of Dolohov. There were a couple more, but she did not know who they were. One Death Eater said they worked for Lucius Malfoy who sent them to hunt down the witch who made his son fall from grace.
She sighed at the mere thought of Draco. It was exactly a year ago since she last saw him and he had not changed one bit. Still pale and tall with a killer smile. She bumped into him whilst he was shopping for Blaise's gift and she was trying to lose the couple of Death Eaters that followed her that day. Hermione hesitantly accepted when Draco invited her for a coffee and from the corner of her eyes she saw the Death Eaters halt in their step, smirked menacingly at the scene before them and disapparated away.
The next time she saw them, they made it clear that Draco was in for it because he notoriously sent their fellow Death Eaters to rot in Azkaban. Draco always managed to persuade the Chief Warlock to sentence the Death Eaters to Azkaban as punishment for their crimes. Draco's method was a harsh one, prolong their sorry existence until their madness send them to their own deaths. Whilst other persecutors would sentence Death Eaters to death by the Kiss, many preferred Draco's method. He was cold, harsh and gifted.
Their encounter led to one thing to another, until they found themselves reliving intimate memories from their time together in the Head Tower.
She felt a tug on her heart-strings when she thought of her daughter. She missed her dearly. Hermione knew she shouldn't feel like this for she was always told people can't miss what the never had. But it broke her heart not being able to see her little girl. However she knew Ariadne was in safe hands, Draco would care for her and give her everything she will ever need.
Her little girl should be just over three months old, Hermione sighed once more. Thankfully her pregnancy with Ariadne was relatively easy. She had help from a muggle friend whom she stayed with for a while. Her muggle friend had helped her with the pregnancy and the birth of Ariadne at exactly midnight of Friday 5th of September 2005. A week later Hermione altered her friend's memory so the Death Eaters won't come after her and left little Ariadne in Draco's care with nothing but a golden necklace that Draco once gave to her and a letter addressed to him.
Out of impulse she apparated to the garden of Draco's house with no valid intention. She just had to.
Draco's garden was large with an oak tree at the bottom of the garden. Draco's garden had a row of tall hedges to keep nosy eyes out and a range of flowers and shrubs that Hermione knew Draco's freed house-elf Tilly tended to but without being seen. An old wooden swing hanged from a sturdy looking branch of the oak tree and Hermione under the Disillusionment Charm silently sat on it and watched the scene that unfolded in front of her.
Inside Draco's spacious glass conservatory, Blaise was sat on the leather sofa reading a book and would occasionally look down at the cushion covered floor where Ariadne was on her back. From Hermione's position she could see everything and hear every single thing. A small window of the conservatory was open a crack and soft music was playing out. She could hear Ariadne's babbling whilst she waved her legs in the air.
"Aren't you a beautiful girl, Addie? Yes, you are. The most beautiful girl in the world, sweetie." Blaise put his book down and crouched beside Ariadne to gently tickle her. She laughed a tinkling laugh and decided to try to surprise her dotting Godfather by trying her best to roll over.
"What are you trying to do Addie?" Blaise questioned lovingly. Ariadne replied with a string of baby babble whilst she tried to roll over.
"Are you trying to roll over? Oh Merlin, DRACO!" Blaise stood up and called for Draco whilst keeping his eyes on the little one.
"Accio Camera! Draco, she's rolling over! Addie is trying to roll over, come quickly!" Blaise exclaimed on the top of his lungs before he expertly caught the wizard camera that came hurling towards him.
The camera was followed by Draco who was shirtless and hair still wet indicating that he just came out of the shower. Hermione couldn't help but blush when she noticed that the water droplets on his body glistened when they caught the light, she shook her head defiantly to try and stop her self remembering roaming hands and skin on skin.
"That's it Addie, nearly there!" Blaise clapped his hands in encouragement and began taking photographs.
"Yes, sweetheart you can do it. Come now, don't give up yet." Draco crouched down when Ariadne gave up half way through but when she saw her father and godfather cheering her on, she tried on more time (she's a Malfoy after all, and Malfoys never give up!).
Blaise whooped when Ariadne finally did it and was happy that he got it on film too. Draco chuckled and smiled brightly, with a proud glint in his grey eyes. Ariadne giggled and babbled at her new achievement.
"You're a big girl now, aren't you Addie!" Blaise crouched once more and tickled her back and she just kicked her legs happily.
Hermione felt a lone tear staining her cheek and she wiped it off briskly. She was proud of her baby girl and she let out a quiet but strangled laugh at the realisation that she may never be able to be a part of Ariadne's world.
"But she is in safe hands..." She muttered to herself before she disapparated, left behind a proud Draco, a laughing Blaise and a babbling Ariadne.
Yes, she is in safe hands.
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